| 162 Cautiously you press the stone into the wall. Deep within the rock beneath your feet you feel the slight rumbling vibration of ancient mechanisms slowly grinding into action. Almost by magic a thin slit of darkness appears in the stone wall before you. It is just wide enough for you to squeeze through but you have to take off your pack and weapons to do so. Throwing them into the gloom beyond, you slip through and feel the dust covered floor to retrieve them. As soon as you are through the secret door closes silently behind you. It is pitch black. Using your weapon as a prod, you move forward carefully, feeling out every centimetre of the way before you. Even though it is too dark to see you can feel the slight shift of the air around you, it seems the tunnel extends far into the distance but how far you cannot judge. Minutes turn into hours as you make your way slowly down the dark passage. Sweating heavily you wait with each step you take for the telltale click of a trap mechanism or the harsh call of some creature of the Horde that you have been discovered. But as time passes the passage becomes less threatening. It is only narrow, there is not much leeway for getting lost in the darkness. To the touch the walls on either side feel roughly hewn and the floor is heavy with dust. Each step you take raises a thin cloud of choking haze that slows your progress even further. After what seems an eternity of dry dust and darkness as black as a demon's pit you come abruptly to the end of the passage. Feeling around the edges of the wall you can sense the same slight breeze blowing from thin cracks in the stone work. The air here is slightly different though. On the breeze there is the distinct smell of ash, as if someone or something is burning wood nearby. With this new information to ponder, you straighten up in the passage and think about your next move. The rock before you appears solid and there seems to be no lever or other mechanism that will move it. You are at a loss as to what to do next. Fate however, decides to take the choice of your next move from you. Throwing your pack up onto your left shoulder it catches upon a lever protruding high on that side of the passage. Instantly the wall before you drops into the floor revealing a large opening out into a passage beyond. Straight into the hole you have opened topples a Mutan sentry, caught completely off guard, probably asleep against the wall. It is as surprised as you are.
| Turn to section 82.
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