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Chapter 3

Which way do you take?

Old Cobblestone Bridge (Stone Ruins)

You decide that your best bet to find treasure is, of course, to head into the structure that seems to be the closest thing to a dungeon in the swamp. Even if the chest isn't in there, it could still be hiding some forgotten riches or artifacts, maybe a few gold coins if someone thought it was a wishing well.

You make your way toward it, climbing up the ramped cobblestone bridge until you make it to the entrance at the top, an old window-like doorway with a curved arch about five feet tall letting you have a look inside as long as you push away the vines covering the entrance like a bead door. A set of black stone spiraling stairs are the only thing within the round stone cylinder room besides moss and more vines hanging off the roof, so you walk down them into the sunken depths of the ruins past the ground floor and below the layers of dirt covering the entirety of the structure. Each step is slick and threatens to make your trip down a quick and painful one, especially with the light being dimmed by your distance from the entryway, but you take heed and keep going with slow drops of your feet, the patter of which starts to echo in the stair well. You round the stone piller in the center for the final time and make it to the bottom of the stairs, entering a large black stone great hall with old vine covered columns standing parallel all the way down to the distant end and tattered tapestries left behind from its last use, decaying and slowly being eaten away by crawling algae feeding off its damp fabric, laid to rest high off the group and hanging amongst the vine on the ceiling. Moss and mushrooms have staked their claim in these ruins as well, covering almost every brick and boulder in tiny fields of moist vegetation, large matches of moss or wet dirt replacing parts of the floor.

A large hallway entrance stands between every two columns on each wall. Some are darker than can be seen by the light given by the mushrooms. Others either flicker with a distant light, or echo with voices and random noises. A soft wind crawls along the floor all the way up to your knees, coming from the way you came as if to tell you to turn back. You need to head down one of the many hallways, but can't decide which would be the best choice. The place is so large and filled with hallways it becomes too daunting to count them all. You need to choose carefully. If the stories you've heard are in any ounce real, whatever choice you make will be your best or your worst.

Which hall do you choose?

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