### 22

Your dogged perseverance finally pays off when you hear the heavy locking mechanism click open. However, the effort required to unlock the door by this method drains your mental energy: lose 2 ENDURANCE points.

You pull open the iron door and discover an unguarded antechamber which leads to an echoing hall. Along the left wall of this windswept hallway are tall arched windows that command a view of the parade ground surrounding the inner keep of Skull-Tor. You recall Hulsta speaking about this keep shortly before his untimely death and, when you focus your Kai senses upon its imposing walls, you detect that it harbours the evil power that you have come to destroy. From the cover of the antechamber, you observe the keep and determine that entry to it can only be gained via a drawbridge which gives access to an archway located 20 feet above the ground. To reach this bridge, you will have to ascend to the next level of Skull-Tor. This will not be an easy task, for the hallway and the parade ground are swarming with Eldenoran officers and Vorka slaves.

To continue, turn to 260.