Andre - Page 15

Avesta would never charge into battle without armor. Neither would you. You can't possibly hope to escape around the demon, the staircase to your right is totally destroyed - the only option is down.

You swing the axe several times in front of you, just for show, and take a step forward into the portal. Needless to say, you fall.

It feels like you're falling for hundreds of miles through a blazing inferno, but you don't burn. The world around you is nothing but orange and red. Tongues of fire attack your arms and legs, creeping up your limbs and blocking your vision.

You hit the floor with loud thud. You brace yourself for a tidal wave of burning and throbbing pain, but it never arrives. You set the axe in front of you and use it like a cane to pull yourself from the ground. You're underground. Gentle streams of magma flow through cracks in the ground to illuminate the cave structure. The ceiling is hundreds of feet above you, covered with stalactites and some sort of hairy moss. You can't see any sign of the skeletal demon or the crevice in the basement floor.

A stitched creature approaches you from behind a stalagmite to your left. It is the same one that handed you the golden axe you now hold in front of your chest.

"I need armor," you tell the macabre slave. It cocks it head slightly to the side and frowns, pulling on the bloody twine that immobilizes its lips. "Armor," you say again, motioning to your chest with one hand. The slave doesn't seem to comprehend.

Without a word, it turns and starts to walk away. It motions for you to follow with a bloody hand that's missing three fingers. "Ugh," you shudder, imagining the pain in your own hand.

What do you do?

To follow the slave through Hell, turn to page 164.

To use the slave as a practice dummy for your new axe, turn to page 146.