### 310

You tear the scrap of papyrus into small pieces and swallow them to ensure that Rimoah’s message will not be discovered by the enemy. Then you return to the mountain pass to rejoin Captain Gildas and his men, but upon arriving there you discover that his ambush has failed. Gildas triggered a rockfall to block the pass, but the Autarch’s men used the Claw of Naar to blow their way through the resulting obstruction. In the ensuing fight, Ranger Durasso was killed and Sergeant Paviz was wounded in the shoulder. You use your Kai healing skills to numb the sergeant’s pain, and then you scan the trail leading south from the pass for signs of the enemy squad. In the failing light you glimpse their black-clad forms hurrying away along the trail which leads towards the Bhanarian Plain.

Gildas and his rangers are too shocked after their deadly encounter with Autarch Sejanoz’s guards to attempt an immediate pursuit. You inform the dazed captain that Lord Rimoah was forced to flee in order to save Cloud-dancer and his crew from the attacking horde, and he nods his head in silence. You also tell him of the message that Rimoah left behind. Then you hear Ranger Yalin shouting a warning: the flying creatures are returning. Hurriedly you take cover among the rocks and watch as they circle above the pass. Your Kai instincts tell you that these beasts cannot survive for long beyond the mountain borders of the Doomlands, and soon you see them returning north to Naaros. When the last of the creatures has disappeared, you beckon Gildas and his men to follow you down onto the mountain trail. Here you discover the bodies of two Imperial Guards who were caught by the rockslide ambush and crushed to death.

If you wish to search their pockets and backpacks, turn to 80.

If you choose to ignore them, you may leave the pass by turning to 291.