### 286

As you watch the Vassagonians leave, you edge nearer to Kraagenskûl and prepare yourself to launch a surprise attack. You will need all your speed and skill if you are to catch him off-guard. From the bottom of the stairs you hear the steel door click shut and immediately you spin around to face your enemy. But he has a plan of his own and it is he who catches you by surprise. A crackling arc of blue electrical fire surges from his hand and connects with your chest, shaking you like a helpless puppet on the tip of a fiery lance.

‘Now tell me everything you know!’ he growls, as he increases the current. It is a torture that he has employed countless times, and always it has elicited the truth from his human victims.

Your skin tingles and the charge causes you to shiver, yet you feel no pain. Staring down, you see that the crackling bolt is being drawn to the Golden Amulet that hangs around your chest: its magical properties are neutralizing the evil charge. Kraagenskûl senses that something is wrong. He breaks off his attack, his bulbous eyes filled with fearful suspicion. He steps back, and then utters a curse in the dark tongue, which echoes like thunder around the walls. Black mist pours from his fingers, swirling into a cone that grows in his bony palm. Shadow-shapes writhe at the core, and then gush towards you, engulfing you in a choking flood of deadly Crypt Spawn.

If you possess the Sommerswerd and wish to use it, turn to 57.

If you possess the Dagger of Vashna and wish to use it, turn to 171.

If you possess neither of these Special Items or choose not to use either of them, turn to 109.