### 202

Your ears are filled with a loathsome hissing as the bodies of your slain enemies dissolve into the mud. You stare at their smouldering remains, and a cold chill grips your heart as you speculate on why these foul servants of the Darklords came to this sleepy Talestrian hamlet.

Inside the abbey you discover the grisly answer. Scattered throughout the chambers and corridors are the bodies of dead monks, their lifeless faces frozen in masks of horror. Several have been stripped of their robes, presumably to provide a disguise for their killers.

‘Why would the Darklords want to take control of this abbey?’ asks Paido, horrified at the sight of such slaughter.

‘I fear it is part of their plan to conquer Talestria,’ you reply. ‘It is always their strategy to infiltrate a land with agents before invading. When invasion is launched, these agents rise up and attack from within.’

‘So you think that the Darklords plan to invade Talestria,’ says Paido, aghast at the possibility of such an event.

‘I suspect that their plan is already under way,’ you say thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps the destruction of Luukos was masterminded not in Xanar, but in Helgedad.’

Paido helps you to bury the monks in the graves already dug by their killers. As you cover the last of the bodies with soil you notice a small, pear-shaped stone lying on the pathway. Its speckled blue surface is mirror-smooth and, despite its size, it feels remarkably heavy. You suspect it is very valuable and decide to keep it. (Mark this Lodestone11 on your Action Chart as a Special Item that you carry in your Belt Pouch. If you already carry your maximum number of Special Items, you must discard one in favour of this new item.)

Turn to 55.

#### Footnotes

[11] Many sections in this book assume that you possess the Lodestone, therefore you should not discard it during this adventure unless you are forced to do so or given an explicit opportunity.