<center>(font:"ModernAntiquaBook")[ #Catacombs of Chaos ##A Dungeon Crawl ###by <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRealDominia"><3~Dom</a> <br> ###[[BEGIN|introduction]] ] </center> { (set: $room1Portcullis to "up") (set: $room1IronMaidenDoor to "open") (set: $flintsteel to false) }The catacombs beneath Castle Caligari have been overrun by undead. You've been hired by the family matriarch, Dame Ambrosia Caligari, to eliminate the source of the problem and to clear out any ghouls, skeletons, and zombies infesting the place. As incentive to do a good job and be quick about it, Dame Caligari has paid you 500 gold pieces in advance with a promise of 500 more after the job is complete. As an added bonus, you get to keep as much loot as you can carry. You don your leathers, strap on your sword, shoulder your pack, and descend into the ... (font:"ModernAntiquaBook")[ ###[[... Catacombs of Chaos|entrance]] ](set: $turns to it + 1)The (text-color:"brown")[door] to the castle is closed and barred. There will be no leaving this place until your task is complete. (text-color:"gray")[(display: "wanderingMobCheck")] [[BACK|entrance]](if: (history:) contains "tile1Blanket")[A (text-color:"maroon")[bloodstained blanket] lays crumpled against the wall.](else:)[A nasty looking [[blanket|tile1Blanket]] lays rotting on the ground.] (if: (history:) contains "tile1Graffiti")[A (text-color:"maroon")[dire warning] scrawled in blood marks one wall.](else:)[Some unintelligible [[graffiti|tile1Graffiti]] marks the passage of at least one prior adventurer.] There is an [[archway|room1]] to the east. A corridor runs [[south|tile2]]. The exit to the catacombs is [[west|entrance]]. (text-color:"gray")[(display: "wanderingMobCheck")]Upon closer inspection, you see the blanket has several holes clustered densely on some (text-color:"maroon")[dark stains]. Using one foot to sweep it aside, you disturb a nest of creepy crawly bugs making their home beneath it. The bugs scatter in all directions. Was that <i>(text-color:"maroon")[blood]</i> they were feasting on? (text-color:"gray")[(display: "wanderingMobCheck")] [[BACK|tile1]]{ The graffiti is lettered in a (text-color:"maroon")[dark substance] just slightly sticky to the touch. Upon closer inspection, you can make out:(set: $graffitiStyle to (color:"maroon") + (font:"JoseCarlosLatorreRegular")) <center><h1>$graffitiStyle[death awaits<br>turn back]</h1></center>You wonder what dire circumstance caused the writer to leave this warning in their own (text-color:"maroon")[blood]. } (text-color:"gray")[(display: "wanderingMobCheck")] [[BACK|tile1]] The passage before you is barely illuminated by (text-color:"lime")[a sickly green light]. The corridor runs [[north|tile1]] and [[south|tile3]]. (text-color:"gray")[(display: "wanderingMobCheck")](if: $room1Portcullis is not "down")[You hear metal grinding against stone and then a clang. ](set: $room1Portcullis to "down")Three sarcophagi, lids askew, lay empty and broken in the middle of the room. An Owlbear Skeleton slumps against the eastern wall, its skull resting against its rib cage. An [[archway|tile1]] and a lowered [[portcullis|room1Portcullis]] are set in the western wall. An [[iron maiden|room1IronMaiden]] stands upright against the wall in the southeastern corner. (text-color:"gray")[(display: "wanderingMobCheck")]Apparently, these catacombs were not simply used for burying the Caligari dead. The cabinet of the torture device is sufficiently large to fully enclose a human and has a hinged front with an large [[handle|room1IronMaidenInterior]] on one side. (text-color:"gray")[(display: "wanderingMobCheck")] [[BACK|room1]]There is no visible means of raising the lowered portcullis. (text-color:"gray")[(display: "wanderingMobCheck")] (link-goto: "BACK", (history:)'s last)The (text-color:"orange")[pottery fragments] appear to be from a medium-sized urn. Several shards show evidence of toolmarks where embedded gems or stones were pried off. You sift through the fragments but find nothing else of interest. (text-color:"gray")[(display: "wanderingMobCheck")] [[BACK|tile3]]You pick up the (text-color:"silver")[flint and steel] and stow it in your pack.(set: $flintsteel to true) (text-color:"gray")[(display: "wanderingMobCheck")] [[BACK|tile3]](if: (history:) contains "tile3Pottery")[Broken shards of (text-color:"orange")[pottery] litter the ground.](else:)[Broken shards of [[pottery|tile3Pottery]] litter the ground.] (if: (history:) contains "tile3FlintSteel")[The ashes of a small campfire are scattered here.](else:)[Some abandoned [[flint and steel|tile3FlintSteel]] near the ashes of a small campfire mark the passage of at least one prior adventurer.] The corridor runs [[north|tile2]]. (if: $room1Portcullis is "up")[There is a raised portcullis to the [[east|room1]].](else:)[There is a lowered [[portcullis|room1Portcullis]] to the east.] (text-color:"gray")[(display: "wanderingMobCheck")]{ (set: $wanderingCheck to (random: 1,10))(set: $wanderingSound to (either: "rustling", "gibbering", "scratching", "chanting"))(set: $wanderingScent to (either: "burning", "foul", "rotten", "musty"))(set: $wanderingTouch to (either: "bristly", "cold", "damp", "fuzzy"))(set: $wanderingMob to (either: "Wolf Skeleton", "Kobold Zombie", "Ghoul", "Owlbear Skeleton"))(if: $wanderingCheck is 1 or it is 2)[You sense something nearby.](elseif: $wanderingCheck is 3 or it is 4)[You hear $wanderingSound in the distance.](elseif: $wanderingCheck is 5 or it is 6)[The scent of something $wanderingScent wafts over you.](elseif: $wanderingCheck is 7 or it is 8)[You feel something $wanderingTouch brush against your cheek.](elseif: $wanderingCheck is 9 or it is 10)[$wanderingMob sees you and flees back the way it came!] }The hinges creak loudly as you open the horrific torture device. You see the razorsharp tips of spikes protruding from every side of the interior. Oddly enough, you see dim (text-color:"orange")[flickering light], almost like a halo, emanating from the edges of the back inner [wall. ]<wall|(click: ?wall)[(append: ?wall)[The device sits flush against the dungeon wall, is far too heavy to move, and is too deep for you to inspect further without actually getting [[inside.|roomIronMaidenInside]] ]] (link-goto: "BACK", (history:)'s last)So, you get [inside. ]<inside|(click: ?inside)[(append: ?inside)[And as soon as you do, the door slams shut. The Iron Maiden shudders slightly. You hear a loud grinding noise. Razorsharp spikes begin closing in, pushing into your leather armor. You're trapped! You're just about to start praying to any god that might listen when the back wall of the device gives way and you tumble [[out|end]].]]You feel rough hands dragging you to your feet. You are shoved forward, forced to your knees, and strapped to the frame of a guillitine. Your last words as you hear the snick of the descending blade are "death awaits ... turn ..." <center>The End</center>The air is damp, the temperature warm. Tiny star-shaped mushrooms, sprouting from nooks and crannies in the masonry walls, barely illuminate the passage before you with (text-color:"lime")[a sickly green light]. Dangling spider webs stick to your hair and leathers as you brush past. You hear several chittering insects and a few scurrying rodents going about their business. You make your way carefully over the broken flagstone floor. (if: (history:) contains "exit")[The (text-color:"brown")[door] at the top of the stairs is closed and barred.](else:)[A [[door->exit]] at the top of some stairs leads back into the castle.] The corridor runs [[east|tile1]]. (text-color:"gray")[(display: "wanderingMobCheck")]