Zeni, with a measure of trepidation in her heart, pressed cautiously onwards into the dimly lit bowels of the dungeon, her eyes darting from shadow to shadow, seeking out lurking perils. The chill air hung heavily about her, damp and laden with the scent of ancient stone. Walls glistened with moisture, adorned by a cloak of green moss and the occasional luminescent fungus that cast an eerie, ghostly glow upon the surroundings.
As she rounded an age-worn corner, Zeni found herself standing diverged. The hallway continued into darkness beyond, but, in what appeared to be an alcove to her left was light. Thinking there was hardly a thought to be spared for it, she chose the path of least dimness and turned left, making her way into the alcove. After wincing against the light, Zeni noticed that she had arrived within a small, intimate chamber. Its walls were a canvas of ancient hieroglyphs and faded frescoes that whispered tales of long-forgotten times. Dominating the room's center stood a proud stone pedestal, upon which a rolled parchment lay, its edges worn by the touch of countless hands, the surface faintly aglow with an ethereal light.
Beside the pedestal, the figure of a solitary frog creature stood, its body hunched and frail, the once vibrant skin now faded with wrinkles and age spots. Sightless eyes, clouded and milky, spoke of the creature's blindness.
Zeni felt her heart race, pounding against her chest like drums of war. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she decided to attempt a more peaceful approach with the aged sentinel before her. With slow, deliberate caution, she approached the creature, her footfalls soft as a gentle summer breeze.
Sensing her presence, the ancient frog creature turned its sightless gaze toward her, its voice weak and raspy, like the dry rustle of autumn leaves.
"You seek... treasure?" it inquired, its grasp of the language fragmented and halting, a clear indication that it was not the creature's native tongue.
Pausing for a heartbeat, Zeni weighed her options, then chose honesty.
"Yes," she replied, "I think so, anyway. I’m actually not totally sure. I just know I’m here trying to get stronger—you know, trying to be one of those Rahhalah guys. I mean, I’m not sure if I qualify, because they’re all really, really hot. Like stupidly so, but, hey—maybe they’re looking for people to clean out the toilets or something. I could definitely do latrine duty. Whatever I gotta do to be part of the team, you know?”
She paused, catching herself rambling.
“But, uh…yeah! Treasure. Lay it on me, toad man.”
The creature seemed to mull over her words, its silence lingering. Then, with a feeble gesture, it extended a trembling, webbed hand, indicating the parchment atop the pedestal.
“Treasure...within," it said, the words forming with great effort.
With equal measures of gratitude and curiosity, accompanied by the faintest suspicion that the universe was either laughing with her or at her, Zeni approached the pedestal and delicately unrolled the parchment. She half-expected a puff of ancient dust to rise up in protest, but the parchment seemed to have aged with the grace and dignity befitting a relic of such importance.
As her eyes scanned the intricate lines and symbols that adorned the aged surface, she realized that she was looking at a map, and not just any map, but one that depicted the very dungeon she was currently bumbling, stumbling, and occasionally tumbling through.
She recognized the sketch of the big room with the concentric circle bridge, at least. It was drawn with such attention to detail that she half-expected the tiny figures etched onto the parchment to spring to life and start moving about in their own miniature world. The map seemed to be an amalgamation of artistry and practicality, with just the right amount of cryptic symbols to keep things interesting.
As Zeni studied the map, she imagined the cartographer who had so lovingly crafted it. Was he a daring adventurer, like herself, who had braved the depths of this dungeon to document its secrets? Or perhaps a scholar, hunched over a flickering candle, attempting to unlock the mysteries of the ancients from the safety of his cluttered study? She envisioned him with a wild, unkempt beard and a gleam in his eye that hinted at the knowledge he had gleaned from the map's creation.
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But, of course, there wasn’t much to truly tell if this was the map to here, or perhaps this dungeon's twin? She could see some variation from her understanding but also a lot of the same, for instance, she saw an illustration of scales and a heart—assuming that was the room she was in earlier.
Maybe all dungeons have got that? She wondered to herself. Like, maybe it was a real vibe back when they were first designing all these things.
She shook the thoughts out of her head and continued browsing the contents of the map. The layout shimmered in radiant ink, pulsing with Ka. She couldn’t quite tell the type of energy it was, but it felt old. Like she was viewing the echocardiogram of a rhythm lost to time; a fluttering, weakened thing barely holding on at the fringes of the…well, modern era. At the heart of the map, a small symbol beckoned to her—a depiction of a triangle with an eye in the center.
Well, what the hell does that point to? She wondered. Is the damn illuminati in here, or something?
The old toad creature watched her with sightless eyes, an incomprehensible expression playing upon its ancient features. It chewed on its lip before croaking out a question.
"Fate of... family?" it inquired, the question heavy with melancholy.
Zeni hesitated, her chest heavy with sorrow.
"I... uh, well." she said softly, regret lacing her words. “I…”
The words wouldn’t come. She’d been so resolute in her understanding that the beasts she’d just slain had been deserving of their fate, but now, actually speaking with one…she felt terrible. She tried again, but all she could do was shake her head.
To her surprise, the creature nodded, seemingly accepting her unspoken words with a quiet grace.
"Seek... and find," it rasped, each word like a dead leaf trapped in a swirling autumnal zephyr.
“Seek and find?” Zeni asked. “Like, this?”
She gestured to the symbol on the map.
“What is it, though? What sort of treasure?” She wondered. “Fabulous riches? Priceless artifacts? A Ka-infused toilet brush?”
The old toad merely nodded again, its expression an mystery wrapped in amphibian wrinkles.
“Seek…and find,” it repeated, the words a low, mysterious chant that echoed through the chamber like the distant call of some spectral choir.
Then, with the slow, deliberate shuffle of a creature intimately acquainted with the march of eons, it retreated into the chamber's shadows, its form dissolving into the gloom like a sigh on the wind.
With a whisper of thanks, Zeni carefully rolled up the parchment and secured it within her bag. She was galvanized by the tantalizing possibility of finding some sort of wonderful loot, despite her heart aching for the old toad’s loss.
Zeni continued her journey through the dungeon's labyrinthine corridors, her footsteps a rhythmic echo in the yawning chambers. The air was heavy with the oppressive weight of time, the whispers of countless untold secrets brushing against her skin like the ghostly caress of cobwebs. She couldn't shake the feeling that the ancient stones were observing her every move, their stony silence an unwavering witness to her solitary steps.
"Great," she mused, "even the floor has an attitude."
In a new chamber, a ghastly tableau presented itself: two monstrous, four-legged creatures lay dead, their carcasses grotesquely mangled and contorted. Six feet in length, their formidable shoulders would have dwarfed Zeni's petite form had the creatures still drawn breath. Cruel bone-blades sprouted from their shoulders, lethal weapons that failed to spare them from their grisly fate.
The macabre scene left Zeni with a feeling of disquiet, her mind conjuring dark visions of the kind of monster capable of dispatching such formidable foes. Casting a wary eye over the desecrated remains, she searched for any loot, forcing herself to become accustomed to the grim task of rifling through the dead. It was a grim necessity in this dungeon, a rite of passage that she needed to embrace if she were to prevail.
Disappointed by her fruitless search, Zeni left the mutilated creatures behind and pressed on, her peculiar path illuminated by the peculiar map that guided her to another peculiar chamber.
The room was a breathtaking mosaic of elaborate carvings and vibrant ornate detail, a tantalizing glimpse into a long-lost civilization steeped in mystery and splendor. Dominating the chamber, an intricate and baffling puzzle stood before her, a nod to the ingenious minds of its creators.
Zeni's fingers traced the surface of the map, her eyes drawn to the…upside-down double-chevron arrow symbol—her best guess as to what to call it—marking her current location. She realized that the symbol must’ve represented rooms containing puzzles. Her heart tightened as she saw the multitude of other markers littering the dungeon, a veritable gauntlet of trials that would demand her every waking moment.
“Just great,” she groaned. “A whole buttload of puzzles to frustrate me into a stroke.”
She scrutinized the puzzle, sensing that its resolution would require all her wit and patience.
“Okay then, let’s solve this mother.”
She cracked her knuckles and began stretching, prepping to whip the puzzle room into submission. Yet as she moved to showcase her dazzling brains, her gaze fell on the exit of the room. She found, to her extreme surprise, that it had been brutally forced open.
“Oh,” she breathed.
An icy shiver of dread crawled up her spine as she considered the likelihood that the same beast responsible for the slaughter in the previous chamber had wrought this wanton destruction. Her thoughts turned to the armored man, his fate uncertain. While he hadn't been an ally, she couldn't help but worry about him.
As Zeni prepared to step through the mangled doorway, a chorus of guttural roars erupted from the darkness beyond, a discordant symphony that set her heart pounding like a runaway drum. The abyss beckoned her, an ominous invitation to confront the unseen terrors lurking in the bowels of the dungeon.