### 209

You pass through the archway and climb the stairs to a landing where a long, tubular tunnel leads to an adjacent blockhouse complex. Twice in the tunnel you are forced to use your Magnakai Invisibility skills in order to avoid a confrontation with Drakkarim and Hammerland bandits. When finally you emerge from the tunnel, you find yourself in a torchlit chamber that is lined with bookshelves. Most of the tomes are badly burnt or have crumbled with age and neglect, but there is one on a high shelf that is still intact. Curiosity prompts you to retrieve and open this book, and inside you discover a phial of blue liquid wedged in a hollow gouged from the vellum pages. You withdraw the phial and hold it up to the torchlight, and immediately your Magnakai Curing skills inform you that this is Finglas—a rare and powerful healing potion. If you wish to keep this Potion of Finglas, record it on your Action Chart as a Backpack Item. When swallowed, it will restore 7 ENDURANCE points.

After a search of the remaining shelves, you discover another of this chamber’s hidden secrets. It is a lever concealed behind a mouldering book. You pull the lever and a section of the bookshelf slides aside to reveal a hidden passage. You enter and follow this secret passageway to another door that opens onto a balconied landing. As you step through the door, it slams shut and locks behind you.

Turn to 6.