300

You wake shortly after dawn to the sound of snoring dwarves and the low hum of the Skyrider. Gathering your equipment, you climb on deck to find everything in shadow, for the Skyrider is hovering beneath a massive outcrop of sandstone that juts out from the side of a mountain, thousands of feet above the valley floor below. Banedon stands at the helm, but he is no longer in a trance.

‘Kraan-riders,’ he says, pointing to the sun-bleached valley beyond the shadows. ‘They arrived with the dawn.’

You stare out across this alien landscape, a mountain valley filled with pillars of massive and precariously balanced boulders. The Vassagonians call this place the Koos—‘the needles’. The rocky columns reach so high into the sky that an avalanche seems unavoidable. Perched upon two of the columns are Kraan, their Drakkarim riders scouring the valley with telescopes. An hour passes before they take to the air and disappear.

‘Trim the boom-sail, Bo’sun Nolrim,’ orders Banedon, his voice barely audible above the increasing hum of the Skyrider. ‘We’ve a fast run ahead.’

If you possess a Black Crystal Cube, turn to 229.

If you do not have this Special Item, turn to 247.