In moments the shaking escalated to the point where the stalactites began to shake loose, falling and breaking off large chunks of the ledge we were now standing on.

The god-like weapon stood before us: a long spear radiating a golden aura, hovering above a dais in the shadowed chamber we had just stepped into.

Neither of us were prepared for the contents of the room that spread out before us.

We backtracked slightly, and his fingertips found an abnormality in the lay of the wall’s bricks. Upon pressing harder with the flat of his hand, then both hands, a section of the wall began to shift backward and its edges crumbled, as if the mortar holding it together were weak.

Brogah and I set ourselves at the edge of the circle and let the dance of the flame consume our minds for a while.

Leaping to my feet, I growled and crouched with sword in hand. I was ready to wipe this bastard off the face of the earth.

The arrow whizzed past my head by a mere inch before hitting its mark. Brogah seemed more shaken than ever, looking anywhere but at me as I threw him a mean glare.

The shock of such a nightmarish figure dominating the space of the cramped room sent my brain into a whirl, the likes of which I was not prepared!

“All who enter the castle shall encounter its traps and dangers. All who depart afterward carry with them the key to their deepest desires.”

What once appeared to be a majestic fortress now stood in eerie desolation. Its stone walls were cracked and overgrown with creeping vines while its towers leaned precariously, their tops shattered and open to the sky.

Broga spun from the Gaunt’s strike, landing in a heap at the edge of the forest. With the animal’s focus seemingly fixed on the ranger, I made my move.

In the distance, only a few meters from our campsite, a pale skeletal form condensed itself and trotted into view. Its eyes were white.