### 155

You lash out at the Krorn with the toe of your boot and strike it a glancing blow to the side of its head. The creature utters a guttural cry and staggers backwards into the chamber, clutching its bruised head with its ham-like fists. You force yourself through the narrow aperture and jump down into the chamber, but the moment your feet hit the flagstones you hear a high-pitched squeak somewhere above your head. You glance up and a shadowy blur flashes before your eyes. It is followed almost immediately by a sharp stabbing pain that runs all the way from your neck to your stomach. Something small and furry has attached itself to the flesh beneath your jaw, and it is feeding hungrily on your blood.

Instinctively you take hold of the creature with both hands and crush it in a vice-like grip. You hear its bones crack and you feel it go limp, and then you detach it carefully from your neck and hurl its lifeless body to the floor. A sudden wave of nausea wells up in the pit of your stomach and you feel your punctured neck begin to swell alarmingly. Your Magnakai Discipline of Curing slows the effect of the creature’s venom, but you have been gravely weakened by this unexpected attack and you feel barely able to remain standing.

The Krorn recovers its senses and snatches a halberd from a rack on the wall. It bellows angrily and slashes at your chest with this rusty polearm. The tip of the halberd slices through your tunic and gouges a furrow of skin from your chest: lose 3 ENDURANCE points.

To continue, turn to 321.