“…And that’s what we finally worked out; he’s taken it to a bizarre sort of dungeon-palace-labyrinth. The place began as the ruin of some long forgotten culture, on a backwater planet no one would ever think to go to. Then he worked in tricks and traps and mazes to protect this one thing, the only thing truly precious to him.”
“And we came here to…steal it?”
“Destroy it.”
“It’s no exaggeration to state that the dangers of this exploit are severe. This creature does NOT want us to find this. It is intelligent in the extreme, possibly the most powerful thinker to have ever existed. The traps will be ingenious and merciless. Some of us are almost certain to die in this.”
“Tell me a bit more before we embark.”
A small dark boat bobbed on dark waters towards a tiny dock perched on a humble rocky islet. Upwards from this, barely enough to moor a small rowboat against the sea beyond, towered a slender pillar of ancient stone. A series of handholds were carved in, offering a ladder to those willing or able to climb the hundred feet or so to the top. The first trial of many, laying in plain sight but likely enough to turn many aside. It wasn’t the only way into Lratia; the Dungeon had many entrances. This was simply the first one they saw. Floating further on, they came to an entrance nearly in line with the water. Magically lit torches blazed in the grandly arched entry, the edge marked with strange sigils none of them could read. Ancient stone stairs led upward directly from the shadowy water.
“Lratia is now a sort of living thing; or so my studies show. There are so many layers, built intricately above and through each other eon by eon. It is said that not even its creator can name all the dangers, or find his way through; of course the treasure is never hidden from him. It is the one thing he can always see. That’s why we can’t remove it- it must be destroyed where it lay.”
Stepping within, the group came almost immediately to a blocked door. It looked to be made of ancient stone, and not moved in quite some time. Archaic, incomprehensible script lined the portal and nearby columns, but offered no clues. Scattered stones from a collapsed portion of roof lay strewn about, but mostly off to the sides as though the way had been cleared at some point.
