### 45

As the last gaoler drops his club and falls lifelessly to the grimy floor, you stagger back against the wall and gasp for air. When you have recovered from the exertion of this deadly unarmed combat, you immediately set about dragging the bodies away into the corners of the cell, beyond the field of vision of anyone who should look through the peep hole in the door.

While you are going about this grisly task, you notice an Iron Key hanging from a gaoler’s belt. (Mark this on your Action Chart as a Special Item. You need not discard another item in its favour if you are already carrying the maximum number of Special Items.) You leave the cell and lock the door using the bolt, and then you hurry along the corridor to the guardroom to retrieve your confiscated equipment (you may now erase the asterisks from your Action Chart).

As you are sheathing your Kai Weapon into your belt, you hear the sound of footsteps descending a flight of stone steps at the far end of the corridor. More gaolers are approaching; they have been drawn to investigate this lower level by the dying cries of their brother guards.

Desperately you scan the walls of the guardroom for some means of escape and suddenly you see that there is one other exit from this room—a heavy oak door which is banded with strips of black iron. You rush to this door and twist its handle to discover it is locked. With the sound of the approaching footsteps growing ever louder in your ears, you take the Iron Key from your pocket and offer up a prayer to Ishir that it will open this door.

Turn to 125.