(Stairs, going up seems important)
At the first opportunity you sprint away from the wooden crates and descend the staircase to a closed door. It is a sturdy portal, carved from solid rock and banded with strips of bronze. You test it with the toe of your boot and, to your surprise, it swings open with barely a sound.
Beyond the door lies a rough-hewn chamber lined with racks of ancient crystal spears and swords. Despite the millennia which have passed since they were crafted by armourers during the Age of Eternal Night, these weapons still hold a keen edge and gleam like new.
Casting your eye around this weapon store there appears to be no other exit save the one by which you entered.
(Yes I now have Telegnosis!)
Your advanced Kai skill detects a secret door concealed in the far wall of this chamber. It is finely constructed, virtually undetectable to the human eye, but a closer examination reveals a raised pimple of rock positioned at its centre. As you reach out to touch it, the heat from your hand activates a concealed catch and the secret door slides silently open, revealing a dark passageway beyond.
(Duh I’m heading through!)
The narrow passageway leads you to a chamber carved from glittering blue ice. Steps have been chiselled into its translucent north wall, a slippery staircase which ascends to a landing positioned high above the ice-cavern. As you climb the steps, the sub-zero temperature plummets even further, making you shiver involuntarily despite the combined protection of your Platinum Amulet and your Magnakai skills.
After a tiring climb you reach the landing to be greeted by the sight of an unguarded cave mouth. Through this opening you see a bleak and desolate wasteland of rock and ice. A blizzard is raging, whipped up by a fierce electrical storm that blazes above a distant mountain range. The jagged grey peaks are illuminated by the flashes of the storm’s ghostly, blue-white fire.
After checking your equipment, you reluctantly leave the cave mouth and set off into the raging blizzard in search of the city of Xaagon
For an hour you trek through a swirling white oblivion of a blizzard, trusting solely to your keen survival instincts to keep you safe from rock falls and hidden crevasses. Yet, despite your skills, it proves to be a difficult and treacherous journey: lose 3 ENDURANCE points.
Gradually, the storm lifts its heavy yoke. Although snow continues to fall, the wind loses its angry intensity, and for the first time since you left the cave mouth, you are able to see more than a mile distant. As you crest an icy ridge, you stop to get your bearings. You look to the south and see the brooding, grey-black waters of the Tozaz Sea lapping at the ice-locked Ixian coastline. To the north and west you are surrounded by unfriendly mountains, and to the east, directly ahead, lies a pass which cuts between two viciously sharp peaks. Beyond the pass you catch your first tantalising glimpse of Xaagon—the city of the Deathlord.
You establish that you are less than three miles from the crystal walls and monstrous towers of Xaagon. You resolve to try to reach the city before the storm resumes but, as you enter the pass, the blizzard returns with malicious vigour. Finding it impossible to continue, you stop and use your Kai skills in order to seek sanctuary from the raging storm.
In this narrow pass you detect only two possibilities for shelter: a cave on the north side, and a circle of fallen rocks a few hundred yards away to the south.
(The Cave or the Circle? The cave sounds more secure)
You lower your head and tug your cloak closer about your shoulders as you climb stoically towards the distant cave. You are within a few dozen yards of its inviting entrance when suddenly a crackling arc of lightning streaks down and hits you between the shoulder blades. The impact burns a hole clean through your Backpack and hurls you face-first into the snow and ice.
(Yes, I have Grand Huntmastery and Sun Thane)
The lightning strike leaves you dazed and shaken yet you have survived it without lasting injury. Your improved Kai Mastery enabled your body to withstand the massive jolt of electricity and discharge it away harmlessly into the ground.
You stagger to your feet and unsling your smouldering Backpack. After smothering with snow the parts which have been scorched by lightning, you unbuckle the flap to discover that two items have been completely destroyed. (Erase two items of your own choosing from your Backpack list.)
Thankful to have survived the strike unharmed, you shoulder your Backpack and hurry the remaining few yards towards the welcoming shelter of the cave.
(I get rid of one set of rope and the stone bowl)