### 315

You force your way through the narrow, thorny corridor but it soon comes to an abrupt end. The Vazhag are now streaming into the gap, close on your heels; in seconds they will be upon you.

Then you see them. With a foul, snickering cry the Vazhag swarm comes leaping towards you, three abreast. You steady yourself, and then raise your weapon in readiness to meet their attack. The leading rat-men throw themselves upon you in a blood-crazed frenzy, hacking and stabbing with their rusty blades, yet you dispatch them in seconds with such precision and economy of movement that it would appear to an onlooker that you had hardly moved at all.

But for every Vazhag that falls, three more take its place, and within minutes you are in danger of being suffocated to death by the press of their loathsome bodies.

Vazhag pack: COMBAT SKILL 34 ENDURANCE 44

If you win this combat, turn to 172.