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This gloomy cavern looks chillingly familiar, and when suddenly you recognize its derelict features a sense of fear and loathing pervades your mind. It was here you first encountered the Demoness Shamath with her army of attendants and dread automatons. You shudder when you recall how you seized the evil Deathstaff from this place, escaped from here by way of a Shadow Gate, and later thwarted Shamath’s attempt to resurrect Darklord Vashna from the depths of the Maakengorge. The chamber’s cracked and crumbling walls seem to reaffirm your past victory over the Demoness for you can detect no trace of the Shadow Gate nor of the supernatural creatures who previously dwelt in this once-splendid chamber. Cautiously you step out of the transporter beam and enter the cavern. The shattered remnants of the crystal dais crunch underfoot as you make your way across the floor towards a tunnel which gradually descends for more than a mile before reaching a circular cavern. The mouths of several smaller tunnels meet at this chamber, and all of these entrances are dark, save for one which radiates an icy blue luminescence. Before approaching any closer, you retrieve the Tome of Darkness from your Backpack and consult its pages.

The page that revealed to you information about the realm of Huan’zhor is now featureless, but the one which follows it has transformed; it has taken on the appearance of a thin sheet of ice. Sandwiched within its transparent layers are lines of blood-red writing interposed with intricate diagrams and astrological charts. Relying once more upon your Magnakai Discipline of Pathsmanship, you are able to decipher much of this sorcerous text. The writings confirm some of what you already know, and they also provide you with fresh information that may aid your quest. You have entered the realm of the Demoness Shamath, the Mistress of the Gates of Darkness. The Tome does not tell of her defeat by your hand, but you assume that this is because it was written long before your recent victory over her and her minions. Speaking as if she were still in control here, it says that she rules this domain from her Throne of Power which stands beside the Pool of Sorrows. You pass over the long list of unspeakably cruel deeds which earned her the right to rule this icy realm, and the revelation of her secret name ‘Gnekasha’ until you discover that which interests you most: details of how to escape from this realm. You swallow hard when you read that all those who would seek to leave the realm of Shamath must first ‘spill their own blood in the Pool of Sorrows’.

You close the Tome and stow it away into your Backpack, and then stealthily you approach the tunnel entrance which is radiating a pale azure light. When you halt upon its threshold and peer through its embellished archway, you witness a scene which both shocks and confounds you.

Turn to 275.