25

You continue as before, latching onto one new hold at a time, this time moving to the left, as you can see that the hole below closes on that side. However, it is soon clear that the stone in that direction gets progressively more brittle and fragile, nooks and jutting rocks increasingly just snapping off when you put a little weight on them. It isn’t long before you are basically floundering for a good grip in slow motion. After you are merely a metre or less into the danger zone, both your hands’ anchor points fail and you go tumbling head over heels backwards. Test your luck. If you are lucky, your falling momentum is spent as you roll and roll upon hitting the ground. Lose 1 VITALS point. If you are unlucky, you land roughly on your legs and bump your head on the side of the carriage. Lose 2 VITALS points and 2 PROWESS points. Don’t forget to deduct 1 point from your LUCK score. Turn to 36.