The Collapsed Stone Tower

Scanning the swamps from your tiny land patch, you spot what you believe to be the crumbling remains of a collapsed stone tower not even thirty feet from where you stand. The constructed form tilts to one side in the mirk and stands around twelve feet in height with a round cone roof of old red brick tile above walls of cobblestone and mortar. The structure itself is old and dilapidated with the constant sound of flowing water leaving a gapping hole near the top. While it isn't a loud noise by any means, it would indicate that the tower may go deeper into the muck than just the surface. A sickly black moss hugs the back with a seemingly special interest in the mortar as it spiders across the exterior. Although there are no visible windows or doors to the building, part of its collapsed remains have piled up against its base and act a ramp straight to the broken hole at the top, just below the roof that somehow still stands without so much as a shingle missing. There are no indicating symbols or features that could suggestion an identify who it belonged too. It just seems to be an old abandoned tower.

You aren't sure how you missed something so big and so close during your approach. Could have been your focus on the jumping or maybe the haze was thicker than it appears. The tower though did seem like a good start. If nothing else, it prove to have riches of its own ready to be plundered, and while the Relics Guild may attempt some for of taxation, you were out her for the lost treasure so who's to say anything you find isn't from it? Deciding that the tower is worth exploring, you leapfrog across the piles of stone and rubble cluttering the general area leading up to the base. You climb up the ramp of rubble with most of the rocks a little slick if not coated in an unsavory form of slime. Harder to traverse but not deterring in the slightest. You peak your head over the top of the mound when your eyes spot something that shines just inside the old tower's top. The spiked metal head of a grappling hook is wedged amongst the rotted wooden raptors and dangles a rather pristine rope down into the hole and past the shadowy vale that separates the light from the bottom. Just above the pitch black, you can see the source of the sound of flowing water, two small holes just below the surface of the swamp letting in small strings of sewage and water.

It looks like someone before you tried to make their way down to see what was inside the deeper part of the collapsed tower. Perhaps someone else with an eye for the chest? You get on top of the tower's climbing pile and grab the rope as you adjust the metal hooks to **** them deeper into the wood of the raptors. A quick tug is all it takes to assure you of the wood's sturdiness and so you waste no time in using the rope to head deeper within. You swing over the side with the rope in both hands and slowly climb your way down into the dark feet first. The rope tightens in your grip with and sounds strained from your weight, but not as much as the raptors high above. The rotten wood beams curl to the **** put onto them. Soon they are creaking with pain as black wood chips tumble down to fall into the bowels of the tower. Instantly, a surge of fear over takes you and your desperately climb back up to try and avoid what you know is coming.

Suddenly, just as you reach the top and try to swing towards the ledge of the opening, the rope above you gives way as the wooden beam snaps in two. The rope goes limp in your hands as you loose your footing on the wall and plummet into the depths below. The fall isn't long, but your rapid trajectory has your head collide with a waiting stone left partially hanging from its slot in the wall, forcing you to fall **** just before you hit the bottom.