### 194

From deep within your being you summon the psychic energy you need to construct a fortress around your mind. The evil wave crashes against this defence and breaks into a million shards that sparkle for an instant then disappear into darkness. Your psychic energy has saved you from this concerted assault upon your mind. Yet, even as remnants of the psychic attack are fading, you sense another hostile entity is getting ready to appear.

From out of the black shadows of the pits you hear a dreadful rumbling roar: something huge is stirring deep within each of those dark forbidding shafts. As the ghoulish laughter reaches its pitch, you turn to see three giant, misshapen cat-like heads rise up into the light, each perched atop a snaky body as thick as the trunk of a tree. They bare their fangs and shake off the tangle of human bones that cling to their stinking, corpse-green manes.

The sight of these unholy creatures makes you reel back in shock and utter a cry of disbelief. Your cry is lost among the barrage of screeching howls, yet the cat-things react as if they hear it and, together, they come oozing out from their dark, noisome lairs and glide slowly towards where you stand.

If you possess the Grand Master Discipline of Kai-surge, turn to 80.

If you do not possess this skill, turn to 38.