You rejoin the Redridge Pass and continue northwest towards the canyon you hope to find.  You hear a shuffling noise and you could have sworn that the vines stemming from that rather bizarre looking cactus just moved.  Nah, just a vine on the ground... from a cactus... on a mostly dry and rocky mountainside... makes perfect sense.  You continue to rationalize this in your head as you walk along only to notice a similar movement from another cactii vine up ahead of you.  Suddenly you feel one of these vines wrap itself around your left ankle and sting you.

 

You pull and draw your sword but other vines have taken up the call as well and you are getting grabbed and stung all over.  You still have limited movement with your limbs, but you are out of balance.  The stingers must have injected you with something because you are feeling nausious.  You need to focus and get out of this mess before you black out or you might not wake up.  You look over at the cactii these vines are coming from and they have inexplicably moved closer to your position.  Very close in fact.  The needles jutting out from them seem to have perked up and gotten longer.  Whatever these things are, they've got you and you aren't about to become their prey.

 
You are still able to reach your sword, but with vines slowing your arm and your lack of balance you aren't sure you will be able to sever the thick vines that are holding you in place.  You could always apply some poison to it first, but just reaching the poison is going to be a challenge as you've stored that in your backpack.  You still have flint in your front pocket and a few pieces of tinder left, perhaps if you can get a small fire going you can push them back.  Whatever you do though, it has to be quick.  You can feel the venom from the many stingers affecting your mind and it is taking all your discipline to maintain your focus right now.

You light A Piece Of Tinder And Wield The Flame As A Weapon

You need to get out of this mess as quickly as you can.  The vines are thick, you are off balance, your arms are partially restrained, and you don't have much time.  You reason that in this situation your best bet is to start a fire and try to use it against the vines.  You lean forward and allow the flint and tinder to fall from you and onto the ground.  After a short struggle, you manage to get your hands on them and work feverishly to start a fire.  You worry that lighting the tinder on fire will make it difficult to hold against your enemies without burning yourself but you do it anyway and wrap a thick piece of cloth torn from your shirt around your hand before doing so for rudimentary protection. 

 

It hurts, but not to the point of burning you thanks to the cloth material  and you are far more concerned about survival.  You hold the fire up close to the vine holding your left arm and it releases and recoils almost immediately.  The others follow suit pretty quick, which is good as this tinder won't last much longer before it is burned to completion.  You hold out what's left of it to keep these cactii away and rush away. 

 
You've managed to get away, but the venom in your system is already screwing with your head and you don't think you will get much further before blacking out.  You go to the nearest area you can find without any cactii around and collapse on a large rock.  You don't awaken again until nightfall, but at least you have your mind and focus back, and you are glad you weren't attacked while you were out.  However, it isn't long after you awaken that you get a sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach.

You uh-Oh, What Is This?

The bad feeling in the pit of your stomach returns and you realize that eating all those pork rines and only pork rines for several days until seeing the old man did not do your digestive system any good.  You spring into action, find a secluded corner, and relieve the mess that was building up inside you.  Unfortunately, it is not until after this messy endeaver that you remember you neglected to pack bottom tissue when you left on this quest.  You've braved many dangers and survived several impossible situations but now you are going to have to make a decision.  A decision that is more frightening than any you have made before. 

 
 
To your left are large, round, orange leaves.  They aren't brittle and look as though they might work.  To your right are a bunch of ferns sporting three fingered leaves.  These are green with red spots.  It's time to make an all important decision.

You wipe With The Large, Round, Orange Leaves

You choose to wipe with the large, round, orange leaves and you find them quite well suited for the task.  With your keister sanitized you have now averted another dangerous situation and decide to continue on with your quest. 

 
The next three days of travel down the Redridge Pass are surprisingly uneventful.  You sneak past the occasional orc patrol and wild animal but nothing particularly difficult.  You half expect something to come jumping out at you from the darkness or to find some large camp around the corner but to your plesant surprise the way seems more or less clear.  Part of you wonders if it is a trap given the Craxil knows you are coming but then ... what choice do you have?

 
As you come up a steep incline you look down and with great satisfaction you find what you've been searching for all this time.  A colossal chasm, the canyon you've been searching for!  The old man said you would know it when you see it and damn if he wasn't right about that!  Still, this canyon is freaking huge.  It will take probably half a day just to get down to the bottom safely and once down there, there is a LOT to explore.  You know the underground cavern that houses the Craxil is accessed somewhere down there, so I guess you don't have much choice than to go down there and investigate huh?

 
You are about to cautiously decend when you hear the sound of hoofprints behind you...

You turn Around

You turn around to confront the source of the hoofprint noise and you see two humans on horseback.  Their eyes appear to be in a glaze and they are looking right at you.  Thing is, you recognize these two.  They were farmhands that were captured a few weeks back.  Everyone assumed they were eaten like most of the people who are taken.  For some reason the Craxil must have decided to make them thralls and this is abundantly clear in their appearance.  These must be some of the "riders" you've heard about.

 
They both hop down from their horses and draw swords.  Given you were already standing at the edge of the canyon when they showed up, you don't have a lot of room to maneuver.  You know that before they became thralls they didn't really possess much fighting skill, but you have no idea now.  You don't have much time to decide what to do here.

 
There is a small gap between the two of them and they are widening it in an attempt to come at you from both sides.  Perhaps you should bolt between them and try to get away.  Alternatively, there is a branch sticking out of the wall of the canyon not far below you.  You could jump down to it and try to climb down the wall of the canyon to a safer ledge.  Either way, you need to get away from these two.

You run Between Them

You make a break for it and dash between them.  You catch an unpleasant slash across the right hip and it is bleeding but you are still alive and running and that's what counts.  You contine down the Redridge Pass, determined to lose them and double back somehow.  Its only when you hear the hoofprints getting closer that you realize the tactical error you've just made.  The horseback riders quickly catch up to you and one of them puts his sword into the back of your head as he rides by. 

 
THE END