You stand in a dim passageway running East-West, the floor strewn with rubble over which you have to clamber to make any progress. In the South wall are cut a number of rough alcoves, inside which you can see collapsed arches and walled up entranceways. You can go West into a large chamber, or clamber East twards a crossroads of passages.
You now stand at the crossroads between two passageways. To the South a narrow passage dissapears into the shadows, while to the North it runs to the bottom of a steep flight of stairs. A passage goes West, filled with rubble, and the same passage continues East towards what appears to be a wall of bronze.
On the ground lies the rusted remains of a suit of armour, enclosing a half crushed skeleton.
You are now in a narrow North-South passage, studded at all heights with alcoves crammed with bones and rags. Half way along you find a larger alcove low on the Western wall. Crouching down you see the dark form of a body stuffed into the space. You are about to pull it out into the hall when the figure starts up and grasps you with a bloody hand.
Examining the body in the light of your lamp you make out a bearded man dressed in light chain mail beneath silken robes. He has been struck through the chest with a black crossbow bolt, and there are other wounds upon his body. In an internal pocket you find a folded sheet of parchement, which reads:
Magister Subilat
To Theman Dorril
Since you Elphans are so fond of having things in writing I
have drawn up this letter of intent. By the name of the God
Thalmus I charge you to find the lost Bronze star and bring
it to our Shrine, declaring there the name of the one to whom
the star bears dedication. In return we shall give all aid
in your quest for the Door with the Four Locks, and to
overcome the dangers that block your way.
You can now proceed North to a crossroads, or South down the passage.
You now stand on a flight of stone steps, the ceiling above shrouded with huge grey cobwebs, which lead both up to the North, and down to the South.
You now stand at the Eastern end of a passage, which runs off to the East. In front of you is a structure made of glittering bronze panels that reach from floor to ceiling, and are completly covered with embossed images of the Gods. A passage leads around this structure to the North, and another to the South.
You now stand in a square room almost entirely filled by four huge and squat pillars carved at top and base with obscure designs. To the south, a wide flight of steps leads down into an equally wide atrium, at the far end of which glitters what appears to be water. In the opposite direction a narrow passageway runs North.
You are in the middle of a rectangular room with a low ceiling. In each corner of the room stands a huge statue, the head of each touching the roof of the room. To the South stand the two Sun Brothers, Sumer and Sufar, to the North they are faced by two black figures which look to you like Dark Elven, and you wonder with a chill what unholy place you have stumbled into. The only exit is a stairway South.
You are now in a corridor that runs to the Northern side of a huge Bronze construction. This passage goes both West and East.
You are now in a corridor that runs to the Northern side of a huge Bronze construction. This passage goes both West and East. In the middle of the bronze wall you see a small bronze door. You may knock on it.
You come forward towards the water, crossing a wide expanse of white marble. Ahead you see a wide channel of fast flowing water, running at an angle across the end of the passage, which turns towards the East. On the far side you see two black figures. In a single moment you take in their obsidian skins, the hair of jet, the armour of blue-steel, and realise that they are Dark Elven warriors. Then you see that one of them is already levelling a crossbow at you. You have only a moment to decide whether you will:
You are struck by a bolt in the heart, and...
You are struck by a bolt and wounded in the arm, but you dive into cover as more bolts shatter against the wall above you. Then you hear the sound of running, until finally you are left in silence. Finally you get up. You can go back North or round the corner to the East.
Somehow you dive out of the way so quickly that the loosed bolt contrives to miss you entirely. You crouch in cover as the Dark Elves loose a couple more bolts at you, and then free into the darkness along the far side of the river somewhere. After a bit you get up and look around. You can go back North or round the corner to the East
You now stand at the Eastern end of the Bronze edifice. Passages run:
You knock on the door and enter, finding yourself in a small space brightly lit by a single lamp which reflects many time off the metal walls. In the centre of the chamber a Dwarf with skin that shines like dark gold sits crosslegged, surrounded by hundreds of jars and flasks. Looking into the Dwarf's blank golden eyes you realise that you are confronted by a very powerful figure indeed.
Abruptly the dwarf speaks, its soft cultured tones rolling out around the room. "Greetings. I am the Dwarf Calgar, do you perhaps have any potions you might give to me in return for things to your advantage?"
If you have any potions you wish to give the Dwarf then enter them here, seperated by commas:
The Dwarf jumps suddenly to its feet. "The Iron Potion! You have my eternal thanks mortal. At last I am free from this place! I thank the Gods and whoever sent you too me." It reaches into its coat and produces a strange dagger, made from chipped obsidian. On it is the symbol of a rat's skull, and the letters ADC. "This is your reward." The Dwarf says. "It will slay the guardian beast that the Dark Elves have placed, and allow you passage to the Door with Four Locks"
You thank the Dwarf, and leave the chamber.
"Thank You, I will accept $sub ($st)". You hand your offer to the Dwarf.
"In return I tell you this. The Dark Elves are in league with a Prince
of Lycastria. They have blocked the way to the door to keep others out.
The beast that they have placed there can only be slain with a certain
dagger which you must find."
"Thank You, I will accept $sub ($st)". You hand your offer to the Dwarf.
"In return I tell you this. The Dark Elves are in league with a Prince
of Lycastria. They have blocked the way to the door to keep others out.
The beast that they have placed there can only be slain with a certain
dagger which you must find."
"I will tell you this also. Find for me a certain potion on the surface where I cannot go, and I will show to you where to get the dagger."
"You call that an offer, will you try to con me with nothing? Get out!" The Dwarf's eyes glow violently and you find yourself propelled out of the room and into the corridor.
You now stand in a wide East West running corridor. To the West it turns sharply South, passing a rushing subterrainian river Running at an angle across the tunnel. To the East it leads up a wide flight of steps. Somehow these steps look suspicous too you. You may attempt to leap up them, or take them cautiously.
You now stand at a crossing of two passageways. One passage runs South towards the Bronze building, and North, towards what appears to be a deep pit. Running at right angles from the West, another passage terminates in an Archway to the East.
You now find yourself standing in a small room, lit by a single huge candle in a corner. In the center of the room stand various bits of furniture, a desk, which has clearly been hurridly swept clear of stuff, a chair, a table, and what appears to be some kind of bed which has been dragged away from the wall, pulling down various curtains and dragging them across the floor with it. Beside the desk is a single large block of black stone, apparently tipped up from off the table and allowed to fall to the floor, where it has partly smashed. There are two exits from the room, an archway to the North and a smaller doorway to the South.
You make your way cautiously down a long and uneaven passage, feeling out the walls. After some time a blank wall slowly appears out of the darkness. Just as you realise that your trip has been wasted, the ground opens beneath your feet, dropping you into a passage below.
You throw yourself up the stairs as hard as you can manage. As you do so the steps slam up against the roof, nearly crushing you to a bloody smear. Somehow you manage to avoid the trap, and end up at the top of the stairs.
You start cautiously up the stairs. As soon as your weight leaves the second step however the steps slam into the ceiling like piledrivers, crushing your body into a bloody smear on the roof of the passage.
Moving up the passage you see that it ends in a deep black pit, far too wide to jump. On the far side of this another passage runs crossways to your own, but higher up, forming a small gallery looking down to where you are. Crouched in this gallery you make out a dark figure kneeling and dragging upon something. Do you Charge at the figure, or dive backwards.
You make your way down a narrow passageway, its floor damp with water dripping from somewhere up ahead. Finally you reach a flat wall, which clearly rotates to give onto a space beyond. You can go back to the crossways, or push open the secret door.
You are now standing in a rectangular room, the high ceiling supported by two rows of three thick pillars carved into the shapes of troll-like beings. At the far end of the room a flight of stairs rises up to the South. Close to you a large chest sits on the floor, its lid open.
You examine the surface of the table carefully. The wood is scored in long parallel lines, as if the blade of a knife had been dragged across it. These markes are stained brown with what is clearly dried blood. There is nothing else to see in the room .
You find youself on a steep flight of stairs which cut through a narrow crevase of rock. You may go either up, or down.
You now stand in a passage which curves from the West to the North, towards a wide area surrounded by doors in alcoves. To the West a broad flight of stairs goes downwards. This stair somehow alerts your suspicions, you can either leap down it in one bound, or cautiously sneak downwards. In the corner of the curve another, narrower, passage curves away to the South, going shallowly downhill.
You charge towards the figure, a foolish thing to do. The Dark elf stands upright and looses the crossbow bolt directly into your chest. You grasp the bolt, waver, and the topple forward into the pit.
You roll backwards as a crossbow bolt ricochets across the walls over your head. Then the Dark Elf flees down the upper passage, leaving you at the crossroads .
You push on the panel, and it swings rapidly around, propelling you forcibly into the room beyond, and then clicking shut behind you.
You climb the stairs and try the door, but it is locked firmly. The door is the thickest that you have ever seen, and bound with iron. It is beyond your ability to break down, the only way to go is down the stairs again.
Looking cautiously inside the chest you see a ripped piece of cloth and a small flask full of viscous brown liquid, upon which is a torn label, bearing the word ochre. You take the potion, and then look about the room again.
You stand in a sort of atrium, made out of pale marble. To the East stand a number of doors in alcoves. Opposite them a rough tunnel entrance opens to the West. To the North a wide corridor runs towards a pair of closed double doors. Between where you stand and the doors the floor is half tiled in Black, and half in Red. If you want to go that way then you must choose between the Red, and the Black. Finaly, to the South The atrium gives on to a corridor curving round to the West.
With a single leap you throw yourself past the stairs and into the corridor below. Triggered by your weight leaving the top step the stairs drive up like punching fists and slam into the ceiling, but you roll clear of them and are safe .
You cautiously make your way down the stairs. Half way down however your weight triggers a concealed trap and the steps smash your body to a pulp against the ceiling as they spring up. There is hardly even a bloody smear left of you.
You are now at the bootom of a curving flight of stairs, descending from a light passage above into a dark and forbidding tunnel running downwards to the West.
You crouch in a very low and uneaven cave, the dagger like minerals projecting from the ceiling almost cutting into you. To the West ruddy light pours in through the hole into the corridor where the Dark Elves' beast snorts and attepts to reach a huge iron paw into the space where you cour. The only viable exit is a low passage leading East.
You try each of the doors one by one, but they are all firmly locked or barred. Since the doors are all made of stone there is clearly no chance of opening them by force. The only thing that you can do is choose to investigate some other part of the room.
You make your way slowly down what seems like an endless dark tunnel, running the tips of your fingers against the damp walls to avaoid sharp turns. The passage is far too narrow to hold a lantern before you properly, and the little one that you manage to light and hang from your belt casts so many irregular shadows that it almost makes the way harder to fathom than it might have been in pure shadow.
At last the passage curves sharply to the right, you are no longer sure exactly which direction you are facing in, and slopes upwards. A little later it widens out slightly, comming to an end at a sheer wall of rock on the other side of a wide deep pit. Craining your neck to look up the shaft you see the opening of another passage at about head height on the other side of the pit. You guess that it might just be possible to leap down from there to where you stand, but to go in the other direction is impossible. With this sole exit blocked you have no choice but to go all the way back up the passage to the black marble atrium.
You start to walk nervously along the red half of the floor. About halfway along flames suddenly leap up from the ground, closing in on you in a ring. If you have a potion that protects against fire then enter its true name here:
otherwise...Quickly you empty the potion across your body and leap through the flames unharmed. You may choose to go:
You liar, that's not the right kind of potion! You know whats happened to you...
You venture down the dark passageway. Suddenly a thick and heavy portcullis plunges from the top of the passage and crashes down behind you. You have no option but to continue into the darkness.
You now stand in the black tiled half of a North-South passageway, the other half being red. You may go South to a marble atrium, or North to a pair of closed doors.
You now stand in a large cavern, both floor and ceiling studded with dagger-like spires of rock. Across the middle of the cave a silver stream of water rushes, plunging from the ceiling at the Northern side of the cave, and vanishing down a tunnel that runs off to the South-East. The only other exit is a very low passage to the West.
You now stand at the end of a long passage, one half of which is red and the other of which is black. Beyond these is a marble atrium, which you may reach along the red half, or along the Black half. To the North stand a pair of huge closed doors decorated in dark bronze. You can puh these open and go inside.
Your swing with all your might, but the blow just whistles through thin air,
and you receive a crippling blow to the chest in return. You may:
You push open the doors, getting a glimpse of a long black room beyond them.
Before you can see more a huge dark shape springs upon you. You cannot get a
good impression of its shape, only of black limbs ending in claws, before it is
upon you. Somehow you manage to draw your blade, and make to hack at it. You
may:
You now stand at the top of a vertigenous precipice, over which water plunges in a waterfall into a cavern below. To the side of the waterfall a very steep slick path runs down, dipping beneath the waterfall itself. You may try and make it down this path, or you can go North, upstream into the large cave you just came from.
You hack at where you hope the creature's feet are, and are rewarded with
feeling it collapse. Then you feel yourself plunge forward after it, held in
its many-armed embrace. You roll through the double doors and somehow loose
your grip on your blade. You may:
You stab at the heart of the black shape, and it gives an unholy cry as your weapon pierces it through. In that moment the creature evapourates into a choaking black smaoke, which you manage to avaoid inhaling, and vanishes. You may now enter the black room.
You roll away, and stray onto the red tiled part of the corridor. Instantly enormous flames leap up, and reduce you to ash....
You manage to keep your feet as you descend the top part of the path, but about halfway down you loose your grip on the slick, smooth, rock, and slide the rest of the way down to land in a heap at the bottom of the waterfall.
You attempt to strangle the creature, but its black subtance slips through your fingers as if it was nothing but a shadow. You feel a terrible cold creep over you, and then there is nothing but blackness...
You land a solid kick in the creature's middle, pushing it away. Diving forward you roll into the doorway and grab your sword, managing to regain your feet before it can get to you again. Now you can make out a half-spider creature in the darkness, weilding a number of long limbs that end in vicious looking scythe shaped claws. You may:
You now stand in a long hall made out of a polished black stone. At the far end of the hall stands a single finger of stone, like a gravestone. On the front of the stone hangs a glittering seven pointed star of bronze, inscribed with a double circle and then a knotwork ring surrounding a single huge ruby. Between the two circles you can make out the words:
You now stand in a large cavern, at the bottom of a waterfall, up whose slick side it would be impossible to climb. At the bottom of the fall freezing water sprays high into the air and then drifts back into a wide pool of the deepest blue. To the Left side of this pool a very narrow passage runs South to an exit from the cave, while to the right of you a line of wet stepping stones crosses the pool towards an exit running to the West.
You start to make your way across the water, but then huge scaly lizards burst from the water and attack you. You loose your footing and plunge into the water, still fighting with the creatures. Your sword falls somewhere into the depths of the water, and you feel claws and sharp teeth biting at you. Then the ground falls away and you and the lizards, still struggling together, plunge into a deep dark hole down another waterfall.
You hack at the creatures arms, and it roars in pain, then it sprays you with black liquid from the severed ends, which burns into your flesh like fire. You go down on the ground, doubled up in pain, and then it grabs you....
You now stand on the side of the pool opposite the waterfall, at the Southern end of the narrow path. A wider passage leads uphill to the East, and ends in a steep slope upwards, overlooking an apparently bottomless crevase. On the other side, some distance below you, you see another passageway continuing East, which you think you might just be able to leap across too . The only other way to go is back North to the foot of the waterfall.
You make it to the far side of the pool and climb up the steep passageway there. At the top it curves down again in a flight of steps. No sooner have you set foot on the topmost of these than it olds away beneath you, dropping you into a long and entirely smooth tunnel, along which you race without control, until you are suddenly ejected into bright sunlight.
Gathering your courage and strength you hurl yourself across the chasm. Amazingly you clear the gap, and roll to a stop in the passage below. Looking back it is clear that this was a one way trip, the only way to go now is a along a dark narrow passage to the East. You follow this through labrynthine turnings, sometimes feeling that you are in danger of being crushed beneath the weight of rock. You pass through unharmed, however, and emerge into a dark marble atrium far too the East of the chasm.