33

You retrieve the book from your Backpack and thumb through its shiny blank pages until you discover two pages that have changed both in colour and texture. A cluster of rust-red lettering is enclosed within the black runic borders that outline these two sheets of creamy parchment. Once again, using your Magnakai Discipline of Pathsmanship, you study the complex text and are able to decipher much of its meaning.

The words tell of Zantaz, the Lord of the Pit, whose many accompanying titles include Reaper of Gloom, Armourer of the Fell Legions, and Guardian of the Gate of Dragonflame. It says that he presides over a ‘deep realm of rock, iron, steel, and flame’, and that among the many eternal duties he has been set by Naar, his primary task is to forge weapons of power for the Dark God’s champions. Zantaz has no secret name, but you are able to translate the text which details how one can leave his domain. It makes for uneasy reading. The Tome states that any who wish to depart must first ‘defeat Zantaz in mortal combat and cast his body into the Pit of Darkflame, from whence he shall be reborn’. Only by proving oneself worthy in combat against Zantaz can one cause ‘the Gate of Dragonflame to release the worthy victor’. The name ‘Zantaz’ is vaguely familiar; you are sure that you have heard it before. As you ponder the remaining text which lists his infamous deeds, you suddenly recall where it was that you heard his name spoken. It was many years ago, while you were still an initiate at the Kai Monastery, and your old tutor, Storm Hawk, was lecturing your class about the Drakkarim: the barbarian race of humanoids whose conquests in Northern Magnamund preceded the rise of the Darklords of Helgedad. Zantaz was the name of the warrior-god whom the Drakkarim worshipped.

Feeling a little unnerved by what you have discovered and remembered, you close the Tome and slip it back into your pack. You sense that the Moonstone is not to be found here in this domain of tunnels, and so you resolve to escape from here as soon as possible. But if you are to do so successfully, it seems you will first have to find and defeat Zantaz, the warrior-god of the Drakkarim.

You get to your feet and continue along the tunnel which leads out of the empty cavern. You follow this passageway for several hundred yards until you arrive at a junction where another tunnel crosses your path from right to left. Cautiously you scan the tunnel in both directions and notice that away to your right, little more than twenty yards distant, is an open archway. Although you can sense no living presence, the angle of view and the darkness of the interior prevent you from determining what lies beyond this archway. To your left, your tracking skills reveal that the tunnel leads eventually to a dead end.

If you wish to investigate what lies beyond the arch, turn to 260.

If you decide to ignore the archway and continue your exploration of the main tunnel, turn to 23.