### 215

From the cover of the leafy undergrowth you observe the primitive settlement for several minutes. During this vigil, you are bitten on the wrist by a small, ugly-looking spider which you crush immediately under your heel. The spider’s bite is poisonous, but you are saved from a long and painful death by your innate Kai healing powers which eradicate the venom from your blood: lose 3 ENDURANCE points.

As time ticks by you become increasingly restless. You can detect no signs of life around the settlement and you are haunted by the fear that you may have allowed your adversary’s trail to go cold. Prompted by this anxiety, you move closer to the settlement under cover of the thick jungle foliage. The line of deserted mud huts looks innocuous, but the words of the voice of Naar still linger in your memory. This humid jungle realm lies within his domain; it is therefore reasonable to expect that any inhabitants of this place will be wholly devoted to the cause of Evil.

You reach the edge of the undergrowth and pause to assess potential threats. The huts are semi-derelict, all bearing some signs of neglect and decay. The nearest one is a clay-tiled hovel that, like the others, appears to be empty. But when you focus upon its open doorway you see that a trench has been cut into its earth floor. You magnify your vision and at once you detect steps in the wall of this excavation, leading underground.

If you wish to enter the hut and investigate where these steps lead to, turn to 306.

If you choose instead to check the hut for traps, turn to 27.