### 218

Your spirits sink as you contemplate your fate, for the only way you know of escaping from this gigantic underground grotto has now been sealed off. However, you are not completely without hope, for your senses detect a powerful presence. It is a feeling you have known before when you have been close to discovering a Lorestone, but never has the sensation been as strong as it is here in this dark, subterranean world.

As your eyes become accustomed to the half-light, you look across the lake to see tiers of grey stone rising out of the water. They are the steps of a gigantic staircase, which ascends to an arch of rock veined with glittering minerals. You skirt the edge of the lake and arrive at the foot of these steps to discover a cave-like hollow chiselled from the stone.

You are exhausted, and must now eat a Meal or lose 3 ENDURANCE points. (If you possess the Magnakai Discipline of Huntmastery, you are able to forage for food from the wasteland of Zaaryx and therefore you do not need to make any deductions.) Rather than attempt to go on, you climb into the empty hollow and settle down to sleep.

Turn to 97.