155

Cautiously you advance to the edge of the stagnant pool, your super-sharp senses alert to the slightest hint of danger. Using your innate Magnakai skill of Invisibility you take care to mask your body heat and scent least they should stir the unwanted attentions of any keen-nosed denizens of Ruel. You pause at the pool’s edge for a moment where, using your powers of Divination, you scan the surrounding darkness for invisible or hidden enemies. Sensing no threat, you continue to skirt the fetid pond and follow the stream to where it trickles out of the forest. There you are greeted by an unwholesome warmth. It rises from a decaying mulch of roots and fungi that squelch repulsively underfoot. Silently you offer up a prayer to Ishir before venturing further into this inhospitable domain.

For several miles you trudge through the slime that borders the stream. This sickly strip of mud forms a narrow pathway that is, in turn, bordered by the tall trunks and thorny briars of the forest. So dense is this tangle of trees and brush that you feel sure it could only be the result of evil herbcraft.

At length the stream widens and the forest begins to thin out. Soon you are able to leave the foul-smelling brook and enter the forest proper, where after a short while you happen upon the remnants of a track. It descends towards a bog from which arises a cloak of misty vapour. Warily you approach, for the fog clings to the morass and masks its dangers.

Now your senses tingle: there is evil all around. At once you reach for your weapon and, as your hand closes upon it, you feel something snake-like coiling around your left foot.

If you possess Grand Pathsmanship, turn to 19.

If you do not possess this Discipline, turn to 273.