### 207

You lower yourself through the hole and catch sight of Wolf’s Bane running away. He is clutching at his injured leg as he weaves and swerves to avoid the debris which litters his escape route. You move to follow him, but your attention is momentarily distracted by something that has fallen from his tunic pocket. It is a small disc of bronze that is engraved with alien symbols. (You must keep this Bronze Disc. Record it on your Action Chart as a Special Item. You must discard one non-weapon Special Item in its favour if you already hold the maximum number permissible.)

You pocket the disc and give chase. Despite his wounded leg, your adversary is more familiar with this treacherous cityscape and he widens the gap between you. Soon you have lost sight of him completely. However, he cannot shake you off his trail, and you have no difficulty following his tracks as they leave the building and wend their way across a desolate wasteland beyond. You follow his footprints to a gutted building, several storeys high, which is adorned with strangely angular gargoyles. The inside of this crumbling edifice is completely empty and your adversary’s trail passes through it to a rear exit. As you emerge on the far side, you catch your first breathtaking glimpse of this grim city’s tallest structure.

It is a great tower of gleaming black stone which rises from the depths of a fathomless moat and soars to within a hundred feet of the stormy grey clouds. Its pitted surface bristles with metal discs and antennae, streaked with rust, yet there are few windows and you can see but one portal. Wolf’s Bane is limping towards it. He approaches the deep trench that rings the tower’s base and, as he halts at the edge, a semi-transparent drawbridge extends from beneath the portal. It resembles a flattened beam of solid, green-grey light. This beam bridges the moat and provides your enemy with a means to reach the open tower door.

Powerless to stop him, you can only stand and watch as he crosses the moat and disappears into the tower. At first glance this stronghold looks to be impregnable, but you have gained access to far tougher fortresses in the past and you do not allow your spirits to be dampened by the difficult task of finding a way into this one.

Turn to 308.