55

The temperature rises steadily until you are bathed in sweat. Ahead, you see a chamber filled with steam that rises from its bubbling floor. You are about to enter the chamber when you catch a glimpse of the danger awaiting you; the stone walkway ends abruptly, only a few yards into the chamber. Ten feet below, lying before you like the surface of a huge bubbling cauldron, is a tar-sorkh: a mud geyser.

These geysers are common in Vassagonia. Much of the desert empire is unstable, but although it is subject to constant earth tremors, it rarely results in great destruction. The Vassagonians call these tremors: ‘Tasa-Dophiem’, which means ‘The Wrestling Gods’.

This particular mud geyser has been put to practical use. It provides a constant source of heat for the dwellings built over the chamber. The steam from the tar-sorkh rises into a pair of huge, circular chimneys in the domed ceiling, which in turn feed heat to the buildings above. Your only way out of this chamber is by climbing one of these chimneys. Although there are no ladders, the rock-hewn chamber wall offers many footholds.

If you wish to climb the left chimney, turn to 162.

If you wish to climb the right chimney, turn to 23.