### 61

Your light flares brightly in the moist gloom of the passage. A cavern lies immediately ahead, its high-arched roof a mass of dripping stalactites, hanging like thick spears of pearly white stone. Cautiously, you step across the cavern floor, your skin prickling, as peculiar sounds emanate from the shadows.

You wind your way through the labyrinth of tunnels, slipping on moss-covered rocks, grazing your head on low ceilings, and scrambling up and down steep ridges and rockfalls until you arrive at a smooth-walled chamber carved with precision from the hard black rock. A staircase ascends through an archway to your left, and directly ahead stands a massive stone door.

If you wish to examine the stone door, turn to 274.

If you wish to ascend the stairs, turn to 193.