The heavy iron door of your cell clangs shut behind you. Darkness presses against every corner, broken only by a faint sliver of moonlight through the barred window. Your fingers brush cold stone walls as your eyes adjust, and the silence is nearly suffocating—until a low whirring and creak shatters it.
With a grinding sound, the wall between your cell and the next slides open. Beyond, a strange room emerges, bristling with levers, pulleys, and curious contraptions that hum with quiet power. Candles flicker across polished wood surfaces, illuminating maps, diagrams, and jars of unidentifiable powders. And seated behind a large desk, seemingly untouched by prison squalor, is a figure in a cloak of muted grey—the Grey Man.
His eyes, sharp and calculating, settle on you. “Ah… so you’ve arrived,” he says, voice smooth, precise. “I am the Grey Man, master of this guild, and conductor of shadows. You’ve already shown cunning, loyalty, and nerve… but now, you and I will undertake the ultimate heist.”
He gestures to a map stretched across the desk. “Beneath forgotten shrines scattered across this continent lie ancient dungeons, secrets untouched for centuries. I need to know what slumbers below. But we cannot go in empty-handed—many tools, keys, and treasures must first be acquired to unlock the way.”
The Grey Man leans back, eyes glinting with anticipation. “Your first task is simple, though not easy. Travel south until you reach a swamp, hidden and treacherous. There, a mansion waits, its owner foolishly hoarding a precious trinket. Acquire it. Prove once again that you are worthy of the shadows, and the path to the dungeons will unfold before you.”
The machinery around him clicks and hums, as if urging you onward. The Grey Man’s gaze sharpens, and you feel the weight of the challenge pressing from every corner of the cell.
[Head to the South and Locate a Swamp before you can continue…]