### 35

You swing clear of the rigging and leap astride the Xargath’s neck, but it senses your presence and twists and bucks like a wild stallion to unseat you. Grimly you cling to its scaly hide, stabbing repeatedly at its ears and spine in the hope of disabling it before it breaks free. In desperation it tries to dislodge you, using its massive foreclaws to scratch at its neck in an attempt to hook you away.

Xargath: COMBAT SKILL 10 ENDURANCE 100

This creature is immune to Mindblast (but not Psi-surge).2

You can evade combat at any time by climbing the mainmast and hiding in the crow’s nest: turn to 277.

If you win the combat, turn to 66

#### Footnotes

[2] After much deliberation, we have here altered the Xargath’s ENDURANCE points score from 10 to 100, in line with Section 192. The massive difference in the Xargath’s COMBAT SKILL here can be attributed to the fact that you’re sitting just behind its head which is stuck in the deck, instead of standing on the deck in front of it. However, the original ENDURANCE value seems pitifully low to the extent that the combat is a foregone conclusion, even for a new character with only 3 Magnakai Disciplines and the lowest unmodified values for COMBAT SKILL and ENDURANCE. Additionally, the presented option to evade combat seems to indicate that the fight should be at least moderately challenging.