There is no such spell as this! Return to 188 and choose again.
But we already know that, of course. What we should really be turning to is...
"Xak!" you howl at the Salamander. "Xak, I speak your true name and banish back to the Plane of Fire forthwith! Begone fiend, and trouble these lands no more!"
The Salamander utters a low drawn-out scream of horror, but it is too late! A jagged tear in the fabric of space and time rips open behind the beast and engulfs it in a black void. Still screaming, Xak the Salamander is dragged back to the flaming plains of its homeland on the Elemental Plane of Fire. Just as suddenly, the hole in reality seals itself back up and winks out of existence, leaving behind only the Salamander's trident, which clatters harmlessly to the floor of the shrine. Add 1 LUCK point for your victory here, turn to 137.
But this not the end, somehow?...
*
You have defeated the Salamander of the Croaking Caves! You rush over to the altar and pick up the sacred idol. You have retrieved the Idol of Verlang! Your quest is over.
Suddenly and completely unexpectedly, there is an agonizing pain in your back, as if you have been stabbed with a giant flaming spear! And again! And again! Blood is already pouring from from your gaping wounds, as you turn around to confront your assailant. It is none other than the Salamander's trident, now hovering in the air of its own accord, like some horrific metal hornet. Again it strikes, wounding you grievously in the stomach this time, and you collapse to the now blood-stained temple floor, cradling the idol protectively to your chest. There no mercy from the flying trident however, for it stabs downwards repeatedly until your brutalized corpse is as still as the idol you were carrying...
But wait, there's an asterisk here, too! Can Verrema save us?
Even as you lay there dying on the floor of the shrine, you manage to turn and try to glimpse what fate as befallen Verrema the Black Elf. You see her run from the chamber, the trident flying along behind her, and then you hear a scream, and another, and another. Your last sight is of the trident returning to the shrine, now covered in even more blood and descending in a sharp arc in with with your unprotected throat...THUNK! Your adventure (and Verrema's) is over...
Unfortunately, that just means one more victim for the trident.
(Well, remember after our first failure, I rewound us all the way back to the Crystal Mines because we needed all the extra gold from there to purchase the vital information at the Under-Temple? The fact that we have reached endgame without using any of those information should have been a hint that we missed something important.)
Our only remaining chance is to use the Galehorn boon to rewind us back once again. Please vote on which spot you wish to rewind to.
Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: John Constantine
SKILL 7/7
STAMINA 10/23
LUCK 10/10
Equipment: Warhammer, Lantern, Cloth SkullCap, Small Pebbles (x14), Sand (x5), Stone Dust (x3), Rope (x2), Galehorn, Lumps of coal (x5), Jar of Bees, Potion of Healing (restores STAMINA to initial value), Potion of Transformation, Giant Tooth, Enchanted War-Hammer (+1 Attack Strength, but cannot Escape if wielded in combat)
Provisions: 0
Gold: 11
Boons: Galehorn,
SkullCap, Giant's Tooth, Potion of Firewater
Notes:
1) Anyone entering the maze of tunnels that forms the Crystal Mine itself, must first turn left and then travel in a clockwise direction if they wish to remain safe.
2) The Horntoads' favourite food is the humble bee. If in future we find ourselves in the presence of a beehive and wish to try and catch some, deduct twenty to the paragraph number we have turned to, and consult this new paragraph number instead.
3) Xak may be the name of the Croaking Caves Salamander? If in future we have the chance to speak the name Xak, add twenty to the paragraph number we have turned to, and consult this new paragraph number instead.
4) Zared the sage dwells in a cavern full of giant fungi. If in future we find ourselves in such a place and wish to contact Zared, add fifty to the paragraph number we are on at the time, and consult this new paragraph number instead.
5) Caught a Wasting Disease - must lose 1 STAMINA every time we are involved in combat, whether we win or flee from it.
6) New Companion: Verrema the Black Elf (SKILL 8, STAMINA 8), If there is an asterisk (*) next to the section number we're at, substract 15 from that reference and turn to the new paragraph number to see what Verrema has to tell us. Verrema will also join in any battles we face in the caves.
[/spoiler]