### 327

You retrieve the Potion of Mokradon from your pack and pour it carefully over the slices of cold meat. Then you cover the meat with vegetables and carry the tray to the guards on duty outside the Rune Hall. They prop their halberds against the wall and raise the visors of their helmets when they see you approaching.

‘Where’s Gragov?’ asks a guard, as you set the tray of food down on a small table beside the door.

‘He’s gone sick,’ you reply.

‘I hope it wasn’t something he ate!’ jokes his comrade.

You can hear the guards eating their food as you walk back along the corridor towards the iron stairs. When you reach the bottom step, you wait here to allow the potion to take effect. After a few minutes you hear the guards’ anxious cries as their eyesight fails them. Then there is a loud metallic crash, and when you hurry to the top of the steps, you see them both writhing helplessly on the floor. You rush forward and deal each guard a heavy blow to the back of the head, rendering them unconscious.

Turn to 120.