Several leagues from the walls of the gray city lay the crumbled ruins of a once great castle. Long shunned by the local townsfolk, decades ago a series of vast treasure hoards are rumored to have been discovered in the twisted mazes beneath the ground that the castle proper once stood upon. It is said that hungry beasts and deadly traps were the undoing of many an intrepid soul who wondered into the dank passages searching for their fame and fortune. Legends were made in those ages past; names the like of Erac's Cousin, Melk, Quorry Tarmikos, Tenser, Otiluke and Lord Robilar will live on for centuries. What names are not known though? What brave souls entered but never emerged to the light of day, tell their tale, again? Eventually though, the dungeons lost their luster as the treasures became smaller and harder to win, the traps were dismantled and the monsters slain; eventually only the desperate or foolhardy dared enter the dungeons beneath the ruins.
Recently, however, reports have surfaced of renewed stockpiles of wealth in the dark passages and chambers beneath the castles overgrown remains. Regions once deemed devoid of monstrous habitation have been reported to teem with activity. Traps booth magical and mundane are once more bringing explorers to their doom. Too, changes both subtle and gross have been noted in the very layout of the subterranean labyrinth, rendering old maps and knowledge dangerously unreliable if not outright useless. Something is definitely afoot, and honest folk for leagues in all directions find the prospect a most unnerving one indeed.
To the bold and daring, however, only one message needs to be heard. Although the natural world has nearly reclaimed the lands that the Mad Archmages castle once lay upon, the dungeons beneath are again ripe for exploration and new legends ready to be made!
From atop the hill you are able to see the forest for miles around. While the majority of what you survey is old growth with the occasional meadow, the top of the hill itself and a few dozen hundred yards surrounding it is much younger. Underneath the new grasses and trees, are the crumbled remains of what once was the walls and spires of a mighty castle that inspired awe and respect in all who looked upon its edifices.
Having trekked for three days, fighting the undergrowth all the way, you search through the reclaimed ruins for an entrance to take you into the depths of the earth. What looks to be little more than an animal path leads heads off the west side of the hillock. Beside an unusually large oak lays the remains of what look to be three stone arches. After the overgrowth is cleared away from them, stone staircases are revealed. A few rats scurry past, startled and upset at having been disturbed. The dank smell of moist stone assails your nostrils. Day light shows you that each is a ten foot wide passage descending into the fading reach of the light. If the light is not playing tricks on you, all three cobweb filled stairs curve slightly to the right twenty feet below.
What do you do?
