"Sounds about right," Waif agrees. "But which ones?"
If you know which two jewels to use (and don't guess!) take those two numbers and then GO TO THAT PAGE
(For example, if you think it's the 5th jewel and the 9th jewel you would go to page 59). Once again, don't guess!
If you have no idea which jewels to pick, you'll have to choose one of the three exits and hope for the best!
To take the hallway on the left, TURN TO PAGE 155
To take the hallway on the right, GO TO PAGE 68
To take the center hallway, HEAD OVER TO PAGE 149
60
"Water!" you think quickly. "Give me your canteen!"
Waif has his canteen unslung in seconds. You uncap it and begin pouring, watching as the water flows in through the top of the altar and out through the many holes on all sides.
Nothing happens.
Maybe it's not enough, you think. Reaching into your rucksack you produce your own canteen. You empty it into the altar, watching as it too dribbles out the sides. The result is the same: the floor still grinds inevitably upward.
Waif looks at you with fear in his eyes. "Try something else!"
Put out the braziers' flames by TURNING TO PAGE 46
You could also try pouring sand into the altar OVER ON PAGE 151
61
Fingers crossed, eyes closed, you step on a black tile. Long seconds tick by...
Nothing happens.
Slowly you shift forward, adding more and more weight until you're totally committed. Finally, you're standing on it. Waif lets out a long, strained sigh.
"Good choice."
You glance down for the next black tile, it's simply too far away. You'll need to step on one of the other colors first...
Without hesitating you pick red. Again you move slowly, carefully, shifting your body weight until the red tile fully supports you. Again, you're safe.
"Avoid the white ones," you call back to your partner. You can hear him begin moving behind you. Together you make your way down the hall, being extremely careful not to touch any of the light-colored tiles. When the floor turns back to flagstone at the very end, you're both relieved.
Waif holds his torch back for one last look. "What do you think would've happened if--"
"Don't know," you say. "Don't care."
The tunnel ahead is pitch-black. Continue along it by TURNING TO PAGE 44
62
"Waif, help! I can't--"
You let go. You don't think about it, it just happens. Your fingers aren't strong enough to grip the rock one-handed. As they give way you close your eyes and brace yourself for that sickening, falling sensation reserved only for the worst possible nightmares...
But the feeling never comes. When you open your eyes again Waif has you by the wrist. His face is red from the strain of holding your weight. Grabbing him with your free hand, you swing your leg up and catch your foot on the next ledge. You pull yourself onto the stone platform, your chest still heaving.
"Thanks for that," you gasp once you catch your breath. "I thought for sure that was it."
Waif smiles and helps you to your feet. "No more climbing for you," he quips. He offers you some water from his canteen, and the two of you continue onward.
You made it! Barely. Good job anyway. FLIP BACK TO PAGE 25
63
The ground shakes. The air fills with dust. The wall comes down...
CRASH!
Pain spikes up your leg as a heavy piece of stone strikes your ankle. You yank your leg in, trying to stay as small a target as possible until the whole thing is over. Eventually the tremors stop. Everything goes still, and the dust begins to settle.
Waif comes running over, his face painted with concern. "Are you okay?"
You pull up your pants leg and start rubbing your ankle. At least there's no cut or laceration.
"Could be broken, could be sprained," you say. "Impossible to tell. Here, help me up."
With Waif's aid, you get back to your feet. Your ankle takes your body's weight with little problem. That's a good thing.
"I think I'm okay," you tell your friend. "Whatever it is, there's not an X-ray machine for hundreds of miles anyway. We have a few hours before the whole thing swells up, so let's not waste them."
You didn't think you'd get through this thing without a couple of bumps and bruises, did you?
Continue deeper into the city by TURNING TO PAGE 105
64
The sinkhole is still expanding. Leaving solid ground now would be a foolish move, and it probably wouldn't help your friend one bit. You have to think...
Quickly you reach down and grab Waif's own pack. Just inside the leather flap is a coil of rope!
"Here!" you shout down to him. "Grab it!"
You fling one end of the rope toward him, but Waif is still sliding. There's a blind panic in his eyes. Luckily, he has just enough presence of mind to heed you. He lunges for the rope with both hands, catching it only barely with his right.
You brace one foot against the nearest piece of granite and then you pull hard. Slowly, Waif emerges from the sands. First his shoulders, then his arms, then his waist are free. By the time his knees show, your partner is crawling his way up to the edge of the sinkhole.
Eventually the sand-slide stops. You lie flat on your backs for a moment, the both of you breathing heavy, staring up into the early morning sky.
"Thanks," Waif says when he can speak again.
You hold up his rope. "Thank this."
Whew, close call! The sinkhole blocks any chance of entering the city through Waif's shortcut.
You can keep on toward the East Gate (staying on the path this time!) by TURNING TO PAGE 133
Or you can turn back and head to the Great Gate by GOING TO PAGE 109
65
You follow the passage to the north, where it descends deeper into the desert earth. The air is colder here. A chill runs through you as the sweat of your prior exertion in the city begins to cool on your skin.
"It keeps going down," Waif notes. "And look at the walls."
The smooth paved stones give way to rough cut walls of pure sandstone. You see tool marks everywhere.
"This was their quarry," you say. "They took stone from down here to build up Atraharsis."
"Wouldn't that weaken the city's foundation?" Waif asks.
"I don't know. I'm not an engineer."
A distant roar reaches your ears as the passage widens into a system of caves. The roar grows louder as you approach the far wall. The wall is damp! It's even weeping in some places. In others, the light from Waif's torch glints off a few stones embedded into the walls.
"Gems!" Waif runs his hand over a few of the larger stones. The clarity is stunning. Pulling his knife, Waif pries loose one of the pale blue stones. It takes up most of his palm, reflecting beautifully in the light of his torch.
"This place is a mine!" he cries. He scans the wall and points at a tremendous gem, almost as large as his head. "Look at that! We're rich!'
You take a hesitant step forward. "Yeah..." Half of you is thrilled. The other half is not so happy about the amount of water seeping out of the wall. Especially in places where the wall is cracked, and around some of the gemstones.
"Come on," Waif says. He sets the torch down temporarily. "Help me with this big one."
If you'd like to be filthy rich, help Waif pry loose the big jewel OVER ON PAGE 22
Or maybe you should continue on. If that's your choice, FLIP DOWN TO PAGE 89
66
You place the star ruby on the dais.
"Look out!"
Waif yanks you backward as three large stone columns slam down from the ceiling. Little more than a foot apart they act as a crude stone portcullis, cutting you off from the alcove. Your gemstone gleams red behind them, even in the shadows.
"Maybe we can..."
There's the familiar noise of stone on stone as a door grinds open somewhere behind you. Numbly you watch as it slides
all the way to one side, clicks loudly, and immediately begins closing again.
"Waif, come on!" Anxiously you step into the shadows of the new corridor. When you turn back, Waif is still back at the portcullis, agonizing over the star jewel. The door is still closing... "WAIF!"
He's not going to make it. As the door all but seals the passageway, you scramble helplessly for something to prop it open. There's nothing around!
BOOM!
The door closes. But at the last possible second... Waif slides through. He does it sideways, with almost superhuman speed, his shirt tearing up the back as it gets caught between several tons of grinding sandstone. The torch flickers wildly in the darkness.
"That was foolish," you chide your friend. "You almost became a permanent feature."
Waif nods, still shaken. When he's finally okay you keep moving.
Up ahead the small corridor ends, opening in another area. The torchlight reveals a perfectly round chamber with an exit at the opposite end. It's entirely empty and nondescript, except for one thing:
"What's that sound?"
An odd, background noise fills your ears. It's more of a buzzing, or maybe a rushing sound. As you enter the room, it seems to originate from every direction at once.
"Where's it coming from?" you ask. "The walls?"
Waif tilts his head. "No, I don't think so." He approaches the opposite hallway. "Perhaps there's--"
67
The two of you are jarred instantly off your feet. One knee explodes with pain as you go down, and it's not until you stand up again that you realize--
"The floor is moving!"
The grinding of stone against stone is drowned out by an almost deafening roar. The air is suddenly alive, swirling with a cool wind and... moisture? Waif is pointing. Shouting. You can barely hear him. "The river!"
You look down, over the edge of the retracting floor which is already halfway gone. Beneath you, not far down, a portion of the underground river thunders past. It's loud, powerful. It sounds like the end of the world.
As the floor continues its disappearing act you're forced against one wall. Set into into stone, you notice something you didn't before: a small, diamond-shaped depression. A key goes here... you realize.
On the opposite end of the chamber, Waif's already made the deadly jump for the other exit. As usual, he made it. But it looks far too long a jump for you...
Do you have an object that would fit in the diamond-shaped hole? If so, use the chart below to add up all the letters in that word. Once you have the total, you can GO TO THAT PAGE
If you don't have anything, you'll just have to jump! Roll two dice (or just pick a random number from 2 to 12).
If you roll an ODD number, TURN TO PAGE 144
If you roll an EVEN number, TURN TO PAGE 45
68
You've no idea which gemstones to pry from the constellation. Rather than chance being wrong, you walk to the other end of the room.
"Pick an exit," you tell Waif. It seems like a good idea. So far your friend hasn't steered you wrong.
Waif peers into each of the three openings with the torch. "They all look the same," he shrugs. "Let's go right."
A minute later you're pretty far down the long corridor when it abruptly dead-ends.
"Hmm..." Waif says. "Maybe if we--" he stops. "Wait, did you just hear a click?"
"No. Nothing."
BOOM!
A solid block of granite explodes from the ceiling behind you, neatly sealing the corridor. It's big and thick and totally impenetrable. It must weigh several dozen tons.
You wait, half expecting another door to open... but nothing more happens. You're boxed in, surrounded by stone on all four sides. There's nothing to look at. Nothing to see. And they'll be even less, you're afraid, when Waif's torch finally goes out.
"Maybe someone will come," Waif offers. "Sullivan's crew, or perhaps someone else. Maybe if we shouted really loud..."
Fear grips you in the darkness. It's an awful lot of 'maybes'.
All you can do is cross your fingers and hope for the best. But for now at least, this is
THE END
69
You stand before the remains of a once-magnificent palace. The cracked walls sport carvings and mosaics, and the floors are set with tiles of jade, jet, and lapis. There were probably tapestries and rugs as well, but these are long gone. Victims of time, the elements, and the desert sands.
Waif stands beside you as you explore the residence's broken halls. He drops back slowly, however, as a distant sound picks up.
Somewhere ahead, you hear low moaning. It rises and falls with the wind, at times sounding like someone is in excruciating pain. Waif mutters something unintelligible and traces a sign of warding in the air with one hand. As you turn the next corner, the source of the noise comes into view.
It's a face. Set against the far wall is the large ceramic visage of a bearded man. His expression is twisted, his lips pursed together in what could be either a tight grin or a frown, depending on what angle you look from.
"Let's check it out," you say. But Waif is already a half dozen steps behind you. Whatever you're going to do here, it's obvious you'll do it alone.
If you continue to search the rest of the ruined palace before continuing, GO TO PAGE 132
Or maybe it would be safer to just head back to the street. If that's your decision, TURN TO PAGE 55
70
You act without thinking. With one hand you shove Waif out of the way. With your other, you grab his torch.
The spider misses your friend by mere inches. It lands, turns, and begins scurrying straight in Waif's direction. Sweeping your arm downward, you set the torch to it. The creature rears back as it catches fire and begins screeching like a wounded animal.
You help Waif to his feet, being sure to hold the torch out in front of you to ward off another attack. Instead the spider scampers backward and buries itself beneath a pile of sand.
"Did-- did you see the markings on its back?" Waif gasps. "That creature was deadly!"
This time it's Waif who hugs you as you help him to his feet. You push the lever back to its original position and watch as the west side doorway resets itself. Maybe it wasn't such a good choice. Especially when you consider a new thought that just crossed your mind...
Now Waif owes you one! Nice going. TURN TO PAGE 120
71
"The tower is green," you say. "The star emerald on the map is green. So let's stick to the program and take the green side."
You start up the four-thousand year old staircase, with Waif following close behind you. Other than the disturbing lack of any railing, the steps are sturdy, solid, and safe. For a while, nothing happens. Then, about halfway up...
"Donovan!"
The grinding beneath your feet alerts you just before Waif's warning. The jade steps have begun tilting downward! They disappear into themselves on an angle, turning the entire staircase into a spiral slide!
You skid downward, picking up speed, your fingers grasping the tower stones for any sort of handhold. Unfortunately they're just too smooth. Finally you resign yourself and brace your legs for impact. But where the floor used to be, you notice the bottom of the stair landing has retracted into the wall!
"Ungh!"
Waif is gone, no longer beneath you. Somehow he managed to swing his body over the side of the steps, landing hard but safely on the first floor. You on the other hand, go sailing into the pit. You fall another fifteen or twenty feet, squinting your eyes shut, willing your ankles not to shatter...
Luckily you hit sand. Soft, deep sand. When you roll to a stop you're staring at bones. Thousands upon thousands of tiny little bones and teeth. Waif's torch throws light on the scene from above. That's when you notice the walls of the pit are decorated with intricate and beautiful carvings of long-fanged, deadly-looking snakes.
"The Queen's viper pit!" Waif calls down from above. "I guess that staircase was for uninvited guests onl
y." You sit up with the crackle and crunch of petrified snake bones giving way beneath your weight. There must've been hundreds of snakes in here. Maybe thousands.
"Good thing the vipers died long before we got here," Waif says. When you look up again, a rope almost hits you square in the face. "Get up here. Let's take the other staircase."
Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?
Climb out of the pit and HEAD TO PAGE 147
72
There's little time! You pull the diamond-shaped amulet from your pocket as the thunderous roar of surging water grows even louder.
A key to use in distant thunder...
You whirl around, facing the wall. But as you go to plug the silver amulet into the depression, you drop it!
Before the waters pull you under...
"DONOVAN!" Waif's scream is frantic. You ignore him. Bending through the pain in your knee, you grab the amulet once more and this time pop it into the wall...
The ground stops moving instantly. Still, there's almost no flagstone left. You stand pinned on the edge, dripping with sweat. Unable to move, until...
"Yes!"
There's another shift as the floor begins grinding back to its original position. If you hadn't been ready for it, it might have jarred you over the ledge! Waif lets out a long breath as you're slowly returned to the opposite end of the chamber. When you finally step into the hallway with him, he throws you into a bone-crushing hug.
Treasures of the Forgotten City Page 5
