Legion of Shadow (33 page)

If you defeat the batwing, turn to
120
.

296

The painted screen depicts a row of brown-robed monks, kneeling in prayer beneath a bright star. Pushing it aside, you enter the small stone chamber beyond. It is semi-circular,
with a black door in the middle of the facing wall. Strange glyphs have been carved into the wood, glowing with a faint, white light.

This must be the door that Fetch spoke of – the one that has been warded to keep the undead from escaping the catacombs. You rummage in your backpack and pull out the scroll of opening.
Turn to
197
.

297

The giant ghoul lies dead at your feet. You may now help yourself to one of the following special rewards:

When you have made your decision, turn to
879
.

298

Warily, you step through the doorway. If you have the word
leader
written on your hero sheet, turn to
220
. Otherwise turn to
201
.

299

You are roughly shaken awake. Opening your eyes, you discover Avian leaning over you. ‘What happened?’ he asks tensely. ‘How did you get here?’

Still groggy with sleep, you allow yourself to be helped into a sitting position. As your surroundings slowly come into focus, you discover that you are still inside the stone chamber. Only
metres away is the stepped dais and the strange, magical archway.

‘I said, what happened?’ insists Avian, shaking you once again.

‘I’m . . . I’m not sure,’ you reply, rubbing your aching head. ‘I remember falling asleep and then I was . . .’

Suddenly, the archway begins to glow. Avian looks over his shoulder, surprised. ‘What is this? Someone communicating . . .’ He rises to his feet, as a scene slowly starts to form at
its centre – a scene of chaos and destruction.

A grey-bearded man, encased in thick plate armour stands facing you. He looks panicked, as crowds of people race past screaming and calling for help. Behind them you can see towers and buildings
on fire – the ground shaking as further explosions rip across the skyline.

‘General Ravenwing,’ gasps Avian. ‘What is this? We’re being attacked?’

‘It’s an invasion!’ bellows the warrior, raising his shield as shards of rubble shower across the paved street. ‘The shadow gate has been opened. The legion is coming
through!’

Avian runs back and grabs you by the arm, yanking you to your feet. ‘Come on. We need to see what has happened to the city. If Talanost falls I dread to think what will become of
us.’ He pushes you roughly through the archway . . .

In the blink of an eye, you find yourself on the paved street. Behind you, an archway, identical to the one in the stone chamber, is glowing with a pale blue light. Avian steps out of it, a
white staff now gripped in his hands.

You scan your surroundings, staring in wide-eyed horror at the extent of the devastation. The entire city is aflame – most of its once-proud buildings reduced to charred shells of rubble.
And hovering above them, framed against the hellish purple skies, is a swarm of creatures, like floating eyeballs with tentacles. From these bulbous orbs, bolts of black fire tear through the
remaining buildings, sending stone and rubble flying in all directions.

‘Someone opened the shadow gate,’ says Ravenwing, shouting to be heard over the chaos. ‘We think it was one of the magic students at the school. They broke into the reliquary
last night.’

‘But that’s impossible,’ replies Avian furiously. ‘They would have needed the keystone . . . NO!’ He spins to face you. ‘It can’t have been! I was
sure!’

You back away, momentarily startled.

‘But you passed the final test.’ Avian shakes his head in confusion. ‘The magic food . . . it would have poisoned you. How? How did you betray me?’

‘Wait!’ you implore hastily. ‘I was made to do it. By this!’ You tug down your sleeve, revealing the branded mark.

‘Judah’s light!’ growls Ravenwing, drawing his sword. ‘Avian. What are you doing bringing
that
here?’

Before Avian can reply, there are cries of alarm from further down the street. A dishevelled mob of soldiers are spilling out of an alleyway, their armour battered and smoking. Behind them the
buildings buckle and shake – and then topple to the ground, as a giant creature stomps through them, snarling with rage. It looks reptilian, with black scales that seem to shimmer in the
purple half-light. In one hand it carries a mighty black mace and, in the other, a whip – its length rippling with black fire.

‘This is only the start of it,’ cries Avian, raising his staff. ‘Ravenwing, we need to gather the mages from the school. We need to form a perimeter.’

The general nods. ‘Can they hold against the might of these forces?’

‘We don’t have any choice,’ Avian replies. ‘We need to buy time for the king’s army to get here.’ He turns to face you, scowling in disgust. ‘I
don’t know who you are or what you have done, but if you have any shred of honour left inside of you, you will do what I ask.’

You nod frantically, the ground trembling and shaking as the giant behemoth advances towards you.

‘Listen to me!’ snaps Avian, gripping your shoulder. ‘Go back to the castle. I need you to find a man. His name is Cornelius, Jenlar Cornelius. If anyone knows how to defeat
this foe it is him.’

Avian presses something into your hand. Looking down, you see that it is a white key. ‘This unlocks the chest at the foot of your bed. Now, go! Cornelius is a hermit – he lives south
of the castle, on the edge of Black Marsh. Find him and bring me the information!’

He pushes you into the glowing portal. A heartbeat later, you are back in the castle chamber. You turn and watch as the giant creature bears down on Avian and Ravenwing. The behemoth gives an
eldritch screech, then belches black flame from its nostrils. Avian raises his staff – a white light bursting from the gem in its crook.

Then the portal flickers and vanishes. The scene is gone . . . and there is silence. Turn to
275
.

300

As you go to leave, you notice something glimmering beneath the lake. You drop to your knees, brushing away the loose snow, to reveal a gold chest suspended within the ice. If
you wish to try and break through the ice and retrieve the chest, turn to
644
. Otherwise, return to the quest
map
to continue your journey.

301

You flick through the parchment. Most of the spidery writing is indecipherable, however, a hastily-scrawled drawing of the stone circle grabs your attention. Four words have
been written next to it –
Malachi, Talos, Allura
and
Voldring.
Each name is ringed in red ink and a single word scribed underneath them. ‘Dangerous.’

302

You rush to attack Lady Roe, while Eldias moves to intercept the baron. The vampiress raises a blood-coated sickle, then gives a hellish ear-splitting screech as she flings
herself at you:

Special abilities

(Note: You cannot heal after this combat. You must continue this quest with the
health
that you have remaining. You may use potions and abilities to heal lost
health
while you are in combat.)

If you defeat Lady Roe turn to
455
. If you lose the combat turn to
424
.

303

You deposit the gold in the boy’s cap. He scoops it into his grubby hands, then stuffs it into the pocket of his breeches.

‘Well, who was it again?’ he asks, screwing up his face. ‘Ah yeah – Cornelius. Well I told yer I’d tell yer all I know, and it ain’t much. The locals call
’im the marsh man cos he lives out in that ’orrible swamp, all on his own. They say he’s a bit crazy – all that marsh gas gone to his ’ed – but he sees
things.’ The boy shivers, clutching his cap to his chest. ‘He knows the future. All of it. Those that find ’im . . . they get their fortunes told. And it ain’t always to
their liking.’

You ask the boy if he knows the current whereabouts of the ‘marsh man’. He shakes his head. ‘Can’t ’elp yer there, mister. I stick to the town, where I knows I can
make a decent living.’ He gives you a wink as he slaps his cap back onto his head. ‘Now, you want this tour or what?’

304

Exhausted from your trek across the swamp, you are relieved when the mists finally begin to recede – scattering at the head of a salty sea wind. Through the thinning haze,
a dark mangrove of tall trees and straggly vegetation is now revealed.

As you get closer to the mangrove, the water becomes steadily deeper, until you are wading up to your waist through the stagnant murk. The stilt-like roots of the trees quickly form an
infuriating maze, making your progress slow and tiring. Several times you are forced to sink beneath the water and swim, in order to navigate past the thicker, winding roots.

Eventually, you spy a solid island of reeds and grass. Several clumps of wrinkled, tubular plants are growing along its banks, capped with small black flowers. You assume that these are the
black mandrake that Bern spoke of. Quickly, you clamber up onto the hilly mound and tug one of the plants free.