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A classic adventure following three heroes into a perilous castle for ultimate treasure. |
| [Introduction]
Since time immemorial, it has appeared once every hundred years, exactly at midnight, during a full moon. It has no true name, but the people of the land refer to it simply as Nightmare Castle. An immense fortress filled with all manner of wicked beasts and evil magic. Nobody knows how it came to be, but legends say somewhere within it's depths lies "The Ultimate Prize". What exactly could this prize be? Unlimited wealth? Ultimate power? Eternal life? Maybe something else entirely. Regardless, many have attempted to conquer this cursed place and claim it's treasure, none have succeeded. Tonight, three heroes will make yet another attempt where countless others have failed. Angela, the mighty Amazon. Califore, a powerful sorcerer, and Tink, a small but skilled and cunning thief. Together, they will brave the perilous traps, the terrifying beasts and sinister enchantments to reach the fabled prize. But if they fail to do so before sunrise, they will be cursed to wander these haunted halls forever. |
| The moon shined bright in the dark and starless sky. A cold wind stirred the night air as a wolf howled in the distance. On the edge of a huge open field that was once the site of a great and terrible battle centuries before, three figures stood, still as the grave. They stared into the darkness, with only their torches to light the way. The tallest of the three, a woman with a well muscled but still feminine figure and a large broadsword at her side, spoke. "You're sure it's supposed to appear tonight?" The second tallest, an elf dressed in green robes and a staff on his back, replied "Absolutely. It should show any minute now. It's nearly midnight." The third and by far the shortest of the trio, dressed in a simple cloak and hood with a sack slung over their shoulder and armed with a dagger, said "I can't wait to get my paws on all that loot!" The woman was named Angela, a member of the legendary female warriors known as Amazons. The elf was Califore, a master of magic. And finally, the third was simply known as Tink, a member of the Kathin, small, catlike people known for their stealth and shrewdness. Finally, as the moon was at it's highest, it appeared. Seemingly materializing from thin air, an immense fortress of black stone and lined with sinister looking gargoyles appeared. The legendary Nightmare Castle. "Alright." Said Califore "We have exactly six hours to find the prize and get out. Let's go." They approached the gates of the castle. The portcullis was closed and they could make out the silhouettes of skeletons along the battlements, aiming crossbows directly at them, preparing to fire! |
| California scratched his head, "I could freeze them, or create a shield, or..." Tink groaned, "Just do something! We do not have time for indescision." California raised his staff and muttered in an arcane dialect. Then he lowered his staff and looked puzzled. |
| "What the...?" Califore said confusedly "Why didn't that do anything?" Just then, a crossbow bolt hit the ground directly in front of them. "Warning shot." Said Angela "These bags of bones think they can scare us off that easily?" Califore, still wondering why his spell didn't work, tried another one instead. A bright flash suddenly illuminated the darkness, and when it cleared the three heroes were on the other side of the gate, while the skeletons looked around for any sign of their targets. "Well, at least that worked." Califore whispered as the group huddled against the inner wall, out of view of the skeletons. "We'll be easy targets if we make a run for the keep. We should deal with those skeletons now, while we have the element of surprise." The other two nodded, and prepared for battle. |
| Angela sheathed her sword, and pulled out a warhammer. "More useful for skull-cracking. Blunt weapons are best for these guys." |
| Angela tiptoed up on a clump of skeleton men and raised her warhammer. Califore began mumbling another spell. Tink stealtly laced rope between the legs of the skeletons. On a signal from Angela Tink pulled the rope with all its might. The legs of the skeletons became tangled together and Angela ran along the line crushing their skulls before they could recover. Califore's spell worked and vines grew up through the tangle of bones firmly affixing them in place preventing them from regaining an upright posture. |
| With the skeletons dispatched, the trio made their way to the entrance of the castle keep. "Hey, how come your first spell didn't do anything?" Angela asked Califore. "I only recently aquired this staff, so it's still getting used to my commands." He explained "Probably just a fluke it didn't work that time." As they approached the huge double wooden doors, they could hear a loud banging coming from the other side, the doors buckling with each impact. The three heroes got into their battle stances, ready to face whatever was inside. Then the doors exploded into splinters as an enormous minotaur, at least the size of a house and wielding a huge battle axe burst through. The beast charged towards the group, raising it's weapon to strike... |
| That was when the creature reached up, and grabbed a chandelier, pulling themselves to a halt. "Uh, sorry," they said. "Thought that you were more skeletons." "What?" Angela asked. "There's a swarm of them chasing me!" the minotaur said. "Dornik. Rune Knight. Hence the huge size." It was at that moment, the minotaur shrank. He was Angela's size, although his horns made him seem bigger. "And that spell's run out." It was also at that moment that the sound was heard. "We better run," said Dornik. "How many are there?" Tink asked. "Too many," said Dornik. "Could we just leave?" Califore asked. "Tried it," said Dornik. "Door teleports every time folks get near it. Lets people in, but not out." "There's others here?" Angela asked. "Let's just say that there's a High Elf Paladin and a Drow Elf Barbarian who have had a kid together, to say nothing about over fifty others who have been forced to put aside old hatreds in the interest of mutual survival," said Dornik. "Now, follow me to the inner keep." |
| They followed Dornick to a fortified corner of the inner keep. Califore clutched his staff to his side and stroked it lightly whispering, "Can't we just be friends?" "What was that?" Tink asked as they crowched behind the pile of stacked stones with the others. |
| "It's alright." Dornick said "I just opened this secret passage." They looked to see him standing by a doorway in the wall that wasn't there moments before. Following Dornick, he lead them to large room lit only by a huge bonfire in the center, filled with dozens of other adventurers of all races. "We've got some newcomers." Dornick announced. "How long have you been here?" Califore asked "Who knows?" Answered a dwarf barbarian "It feels like it's been ages. Which, if we're being honest, it probably has. The magic of the castle keeps anyone who enters from aging, so for all we know, we've been here literally for centuries." "By any chance, have any of you found the supposed treasure in this castle?" Angela asked, most of the crowd shaking their heads in response. "Most of us stopped thinking there was a treasure at all long ago." Dornick explained "No one knows what this castle is or where it came from, but one thing is for certain, it's alive." "What do you mean "it's alive"? Asked Tink. "This castle thrives off the legend surrounding it. It needs fresh, living souls to preserve it's existence. That's why it appears every century, to lure in more fools like us with the hope of glory, wealth, or whatever else they hope to find. It generates any number of threats you can imagine, to prevent escape. This room is the only safe place in the whole castle, it's reach doesn't extend here. I went in search of the prize, same as the rest, and tried to escape. That's when I ran into you three." "How do you know all this?" Asked Califore. |
| At this, a rabbitfolk person came up to them, and handed over a book. "Someone wrote this, we guess the original owner, and it explains most everything." "Most everything?" Califore asked. "You don't even need to know how to read to understand what's written," a catperson said. "There's a voice that tells it to you. About the only thing it doesn't explain, is a way out." "What have you tried?" Tink asked. "Teleportation spell, explosives, even simply a rope over the wall," said a Drow Barbarian. "Didn't work." "Merely teleported to another part of the place, wall repairs itself too quickly, and the moment you touch the ground outside the wall, you end up back inside," said a High Elf Paladin. "We even asked if we could please leave," the dwarf barbarian said. "The door pooffed to another spot. The place laughs at our attempts." "What about the skeletons?" Angela asked. "Don't get killed by them," said Dornik. "You become one of them." |
| "I hope my spell keeps the ones we encountered contained," Califore mumbled. "Don't get your hopes up they pull themselves together in next to no time," the rabbit folk stated. |
| "Well, we can't just stay in this room forever. There has to be some way to get out of here." Said Angela "There is something in the book about "The Heart of the Castle", but it's only a really vague reference. No mention of what this heart actually is." "Well, it's the only lead we've got. I say we all head out into the castle and find this heart, whatever it is. We'll split into groups of ten, watch each other's backs." "How will we communicate?" Asked Dornik ""Everybody line up, I'll cast a telepathy spell on us, should let us talk across long distances for a few hours." Said Califore. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was better than doing nothing. Our three heroes, plus their new companions set out from the safe room and began searching the castle, taking the west wing. They found themselves in a long hallway lined with doors. They decided to search each room, taking one door per hero. Califore, Angela and Tink stepped into three separate rooms, and the instant they crossed the threshold, they suddenly were in completely different locations. Angela found herself back in her home city of Amazons. "What the...? How did...?" Two other Amazons approached her "Sister! It's so good to see you!" One said "Come with us. The queen wishes to see you." Tink was suddenly in a room filled with gold coins and various other riches. The thing about Tink's race was they had a tendency to be easily distracted by shiny objects, especially valuable ones. Tink immediately dived into a pile of treasure, scooping as much as she could into her bag. Califore found himself in his wizard tower, where his wife was waiting for him. "My love!" She rushed into his arms and embraced him "Celia? But how am I here? I was just..." She cut him off by pressing her lips to his and pulling him into a passionate kiss. Califore's confusion melted away as he began to return the kiss, not noticing his wife's skin was turning red and horns were sprouting from her forehead... |
| "It's not real!" came Dornik's voice. "Snap out of it before they kill you!" |
| Califore pulled away from his wife just in time to dodge the tip of the creature's daggerlike tail as it struck for his heart. "Thanks Dornik, we better find the other two and save their skins." |
| Meanwhile, Tink was busy shoveling as much treasure as she could into her sack. It was an enchanted bag, meant to hold an unlimited amount of stuff, and Tink intended to put every last coin into it. With all this loot, she would be set for life and then some! Unbeknownst to Tink, an immense figure slithered and shifted beneath the hoard, as an enormous black serpent rose up from beneath the gold behind Tink, opening it's jaws and bearing wicked sharp, deadly fangs as it prepared to swallow the thief whole... |
| That was when something told Tink to look behind her. She groaned. "There's a big scary monster, right?" Thump! She turned, and saw that Califore had slammed his staff upon the head of a rather large snake. Well, it was big enough to have eaten her at any rate. The wizard was breathing heavily. "Never used a staff like an ordinary staff before." "I'm glad you didn't use magic," said Dornik. "The Yuan-Ti Beastmaster would be rather annoyed if you killed his buddy." "Why did it try to attack Tink?" Califore asked. "Mistook her for a large rodent or some such thing," said Dornik. He pulled out a fresh rabbit from his bag, and placed it next to the unconscious serpent. "That will do the scaly thing for a few days." "You're not going to kill it?" Tink asked. "Zilias likes chatting with this fella," said Dornik. "Usually, it doesn't bother the others." |
| "Uh, Where is Angela?" Tink asked. "Oh, right! The amazon! We should probably go get her before her room takes her out." Dornik stated. Califore checked to make sure his staff hadn't been damaged by the blow, "Right behind you Dornik." |
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