The One with Gold!

You see a yellow glimmer out of the corner of your eye and spy a single gold coin at the entrance of one of the doorways.

You walk over to the shilling and pick the piece up. Inspecting it shows it is a little wet, and rather scratched up, but it's still a gold coin you can keep and the first bit of real treasure you've managed to find in this stank pit. Then, a second sparkle draws your eye, turning your head to find another coin further within the hallway... And another... And another. It seems that someone has laid out a thin trail of gold that leads into the hallway. An odd thing to be left in a place like this, but one mans trail is another's fortune. You follow it, picking up each piece as you go and walking down the hall.

The coins get gradually more dirty and more damaged as you follow their line, their little glittering parade in the dark corridors of this ruins. Some are more wet, coated in a thick gelatinous slop of some kind. It's thick and chunky but clear and oddly still warm. All the others are either scratched beyond recognition or near rusting away by the time you come to pick them up. Oh well, it all still spends the same, right? You keep trailing the coins, finding them in worsening conditions until you are stopped by a sudden brick wall and an old wooden chest. Looking up, you see that the walls are different, a more clay red color than the normal concrete grey of a stone brick, and the patch you came from is pitch black despite the clear field of view you recall as you chased the tiny riches, and this dead end is protected by a pocket of light though there is no clear source of where it is coming from.

The chest is primarily made of a dried black wood, but a slick steel frame covers the edges to prevent the corners from cracking. Although the age of it's wood and the decay of the coins you found on your way here would suggest the chest should be in no better state, it's actually very well kept. The metal parts are without rust, and while the wood might be aged they are without splintering, cracks, paint chipping, even mold which should probably develop in a damp environment like this. It's much too old for it to be the treasure you're looking for, but it's still loot.

You could open it and see what's inside, but it might be a trap.