SHIROTH’S UNDERGROUND SECRETS
☾ A breeze through the house. A death in the family. These days you rarely notice either, or anything really. You and your companions have been turned to stone for longer than any of you remember. The exact amount of time is elusive these days.
This type of stoning process leaves most of your physical senses turned off, while you can still accumulate memories and be mentally aware of changes around you. It’s a hellish punishment even though the physical pain is removed from the experience.
There have been many breezes and many family deaths in the house sitting directly above this underground collection of trophies you are jailed in. You recall with terror the winding halls and pits of horror that were passed as you were carried to your current place deep underground. You remember hunting a being named Shiroth. You lost terribly. Shiroth’s minions transported you all to this ornate, dimly lit room.
And so time went on, and you and your companions silently watched, heard, and felt the seasons come and go. Since you can’t speak to each other, you aren’t sure if the others are still sound of mind in there, or if they’ve lost their sanity to the weight of time.
Today you think you felt something new. This wasn’t another breeze from the house above, it arrived with the scent of sweat and blood. Plus, you heard it. You know you did. Someone was running through the labyrinth and stopped to take a look at your group of statues.
“Well that’s not right.” The man squished his face right up to yours, staring you in the eye.
“Ah, so you're in there! Now this is a rare find!” He makes a motion with his staff and several spectral beings materialized before rummaging through the bag he had tied around his midsection.
“Hold on a moment, almost got it,” a distant voice shouted from inside the bag.
A single moment later a ghostly hand reached up with an artifact you don’t recognize.
The man slid his arm into the interior of the artifact and pointed it at where your heart was before you turned to stone.
“Sorry friends, this is going to be a little painful, but it won’t last long. Trust me! I’ve done this before.” He grins and an explosion blasts your chest, covering your entirety in a ball of odd flame and a percussive hammering feeling which is very painful.
You come to your senses as the wizard goes about blasting your other companions in the heart with this device. You can feel warmth again! You are no longer a statue of stone lost to time!
You may be thinking that it’s time to pay Shiroth back. The others are probably feeling the same. How much time has passed? Who saved you? Where are you? The rush of thoughts accompanying the first rush of oxygen and blood through your body in ages almost knocks you unconscious.
“Take a breath my friend. You’ll need a moment to clear out the dust.” The man rests his hand on your shoulder and more spectral helpers appear, turning you over to gently pat your back, causing you to lightly cough dust from your lungs. As you are laid back down to the ground in a resting position, you hear the voices of your companions fill the room with gasps and coughs.
That this man made it through this underground maze, to this room, to recover you all from a stone spell, is a miracle.
There’s much to discuss, but making it out of this room might be prudent. You all hear clattering metal and scraping coming from the distance outside of the room. It’s probably whatever monsters were after this magic-using thief. He did, after all, just laugh heartily while blasting stone from statues in an underground lair.
☾ So, how will you proceed?
Your weapons are long gone. Rearm yourselves by searching for weapons in the dungeon.
Run deeper into the underground maze.
Run out of the maze the way you came in. Towards the sound of monsters.
Tempt fate and spend time asking your new friend, the thief, all about himself.
Spend time collecting some valuables within the maze.
Leave a mess behind you to slow down the monsters. Break everything you can.
Result: -