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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThat it was lined with deadly traps was painfully obvious. A few of them had read of these outer entries into the mythic dungeon- packed with fatal traps, they were design to intimidate curious thieves from entering any further – or killing them in the effort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They crept cautiously forward; but not carefully enough. Everywhere there were clearly visible pressure plates and even tripwires. They thought they were stepping over each, but suddenly one of them made a mistake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instantly flames erupted from concealed nozzles, a torrent of searing fire reaching to the ceiling and forming a wall across the entire width of the hallway. Leaping backward from the intense heat, they realized, too late, that the floor had been drawn back by some clever mechanical device. Downward they fell, hard on the hard stone, but not too far. No one was seriously hurt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then the floor closed up again above them, leaving them in utter darkness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Nobody move,” one of them advised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nobody wanted to. All of them stood, frozen in fear, wondering at the strange new sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Out of the darkness above them came a strange gurgling growl. Not just one, but several, at different points up and down the hallway. Clearly they had woken something from its slumber, or multiple somethings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As their eyes adjusted, they found that the chamber was not, in fact, utterly black. A dim light was filtering in from one corner of the small room, enough to illuminate a grim selection of bones littering the floor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Making their way towards the light, they saw it led to a passage, a short narrow tunnel barely large enough for a man. More wary now than ever, they slowly, ever so slowly, made their way towards ever brightening light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tunnel opened soon onto a wild gorge, but they soon saw there was no easy way up or down; the tunnel led them nowhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They stood there a moment, gazing at the narrow stream far below, the cliff walls thick with moss and small plants. If there was a bridge here, or some way forward, it was long gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Turning back, they found their way now barred; a stone slab had slid across the passage so smoothly they hadn’t noticed. It must have been tripped by something as they passed, distracted by the lure of the light beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now they were stuck, again, and a sort of double panic began to set in. Each of them came to feel, in a very real and direct way, that this was not going to be the sort of adventure they talked about afterward. In fact, the cold truth settled into each of their stomachs at about the same time- none of them were going to escape. They had foolishly come here to die, each thinking they were somehow better than the legions of those who had come before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mleyartanddesign.com\/state\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Gemini_Generated_Image_ze0zr5ze0zr5ze0z-1024x1024.jpg\")
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