### 194

Your brave gamble pays off, for you are able to scurry through the breached wall as your cloak and Backpack ignite. On reaching the end of the fissure, you immediately drop to the dusty ground and roll over several times in order to smother the flames that threaten to engulf you. Your speedy action saves you from injury, and your clothes and equipment are also spared.

You are elated that you have successfully traversed the breach in the perimeter wall, but when the scorching dust clears for a few moments, your heart sinks like a stone. Another wall looms before you. This second barrier has only recently been constructed to shield the stronghold’s inner buildings from the fiery heat of the fissure. Its rough-hewn blocks offer many handholds to assist a climb, but the sooty stone and mortar are very dry and they crumble under the slightest pressure. Your first attempt to scale the wall comes to an abrupt end when a toehold collapses and you are sent tumbling backwards to the ground: lose 1 ENDURANCE point.

If you possess Kai-alchemy, turn to 221.

If you do not, turn to 144.