### 168

Carefully you lower yourself through the hole and drop silently to the floor of the cellar beneath. You remain crouched where you land, not daring to move a muscle until you have scoured the darkness for any potential threat to your life. You detect an area of warmth radiating from behind a stack of rotting timbers, and slowly you inch towards it, your weapon drawn in readiness to strike.

You have moved to within a few yards of the timber pile and feel confident that you have tracked down your enemy.

‘Come out, Wolf’s Bane!’ you shout. ‘Don’t hide from me like some cowardly dog!’

You sense movement and draw back your weapon in anticipation of your enemy’s imminent attack. Then a loud, inhuman, blood-curdling howl issues from behind the pile of timber, and in a terrifying moment your confidence is shattered. The enemy confronting you is not Wolf’s Bane.

You glimpse the shadowy blur of a huge, black shape rising up from behind the timbers. Fangs gleam momentarily in the gloom as it opens its cavernous maw, and then, in the blink of an eye, it leaps over the pile and falls upon you.

Kataka: COMBAT SKILL 42 ENDURANCE 40

This creature is immune to all forms of psychic attack, except Kai-surge and Kai-blast.

If you win the combat, turn to 333.