| 22 Moving into the kitchen area of the Mess Hall you look aghast at the absolute filth layering its every surface. Only a quarter the size of the main hall it is covered from floor to roof in mould, rotting food and the scattered remains the Hordim's half-butchered victims. In some places vegetables have begun to grow in the accumulated scum. In others, eating utensils have been piled high in sticky oozing heaps only slightly indistinguishable from the crud that surrounds them. You smile at the thought that the creatures may very well succeed in poisoning themselves, the lack of hygiene looks positively lethal. From a quick inspection in the half light given by the fire there seems no reason to remain and you turn to go out. It is then that you spy the leg of fresh looking meat that hangs from the roof in the north-eastern corner of the Kitchen. It is on a hook near the entranceway. The meat looks like it is fit for eating, and as you can always use extra provisions you decide to retrieve it. Pulling an unbroken chair over to the corner, you stand on it in the hope that you might reach the hook from which it hangs. As you place your hand on the back of the chair to steady yourself another hand darts out and grabs you by the forearm. Startled, you jump from the chair. The hand is attached to an old Hresh dressed in a cook's apron. He is desperately trying to pull himself out of a pile of accumulated refuse and sludge. From the bruising and other wounds about his face it looks as if he has been the victim of a violent attack, and in the half light he has not yet realised that you are not one of his compatriots.
| Turn to section 73.
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