120

Ashur disappears in a swirl of dust and heavy leather coat, vanishing upward almost like it’s magic. (It’s not; Tarquin has already told you it’s just something he does.) You lose sight of him almost immediately and you’re left pressing yourselves against the sides of the tunnel, trying to mimic Ashur’s invisibility as closely as possible in case one of the mages in the room looks up at the wrong moment.

It feels like an eternity before you see the familiar ornamented hat appear on the far side of the chamber. You wouldn’t see it at all if you weren’t actively looking for it.

Ashur’s still checking out the situation, hat appearing and disappearing in the shadows as he scopes out different vantage points and tries to work out what’s going on. Finally, he looks up and signals to you as clearly as he can without being spotted.

It’s safe to attack.

“Who do we go after first?” Tarquin wants to know.

You look back at the chamber. There are an awful lot of mages to fight at once—perhaps too many. You could go for the mage who’s obviously in charge, but he’s a long way from any of you and reaching him could be tricky.

• If you attack all of the group at once, turn to page 121.
• If you target the leader specifically, turn to page 125.