218

The balloon lurches away from the mountainside, yet the effect of your heroic effort is dramatically short-lived. The crosswind proves to be stronger than your Kai Mastery. Cursing your ill fortune, you brace yourself against the inside of the basket as the outcrop looms nearer. Moments later, there is the sound of ripping cloth and you are jolted off your feet. Yranai falls on top of you and you lie entangled together at the bottom of the basket. Then the balloon is suddenly whisked away from the outcrop by a second crosswind.

You disentangle yourself from the old man and struggle to your feet. You can feel the balloon is rapidly losing altitude and, when you peer over the rim of the basket, you see the trees of the lower mountain slopes rising towards you at a dizzying speed. Yranai pulls himself up beside you, but when he sees shreds of cloth trailing from the punctured canopy above, he faints and collapses. Hurriedly you haul his frail body over your shoulder. Then you place one foot on the rim of the basket and get ready to make a desperate leap away from this doomed balloon as the top of the mountain pines come clearly into view.

If you possess Kai-alchemy, turn to 107.

If you do not possess this Grand Master Discipline, turn to 115.