Hobby Dungeon

Mind Delving

• Mindful Treasures

  You follow the downward stairs to the left, making your way down the dark and at first unwelcoming stairway. The moment the light from the entrance room begins to dim, however, you find that torches begin to come alight on the walls as you step deeper and deeper down the stair well. Every few steps you take, another torch sprouts to life to guide your way.
  
  
  
  At the bottom of the stairwell you arrive at last into this so-called dungeon, and find it to be about as far from a dungeon as you can imagine. Yes, the walls are constructed of the same stone as the entrance room, and the torchlight surrounding you is moody enough, but it is there that the similarities between this place and a dungeon end. Instead it more closely resembles a modern “Man Cave,” with a distinct aim plainly given towards creature comforts and leisurely activities.
  
  Comfortable chairs and tables dot the room, flat screens set here and there on the wall to add a notably anachronistic aspect to the stone walls. However one particular object grabs your attention first and foremost:
  At the far right end of the room is an oversized rosewood desk, well lit by the surrounding torches and burdened by an almost cartoonish number of drawers and cabinets. Atop the desk are what at first appear to be stacks of gold, glittering in the light. Such temptation is hard to resist, so you find yourself moving to the desk before reviewing the rest of your surroundings. On closer inspection the “gold” stacks are not stereotypical coins you might come to expect, but instead are golden rectangles. On these slim pieces of gold are etched mythical figures and the wording for spectacular spells, yet drawing a hand near the desk makes you feel the pull of the Master’s thought stream. If you continue to inspect, you will be pulled in to share in his mind. Do you enter the thought stream? YES. NO.
  
  You hear the Wizard behind you, the man seeming intent on staying out of your sight unless he has something to say, “Strange constructions in this place, I will admit that my favorite is the center piece.”
  
  You turn to survey just what it is the wizened fellow is talking about, and find a large round table set in the center of the room. It hadn’t caught your eye on initial examination simply because it was so very plain, especially against the backdrop of all that gold in the back of the room. You step closer to the table, wondering what could be of such deep interest. You find that the wood of the table has been carved deep, the image of vast landscapes expertly set into the wood. Across this landscape are similarly constructed wooden figures that… are moving? Yes, miniature human beings are marching through the forest in one corner, while small animals can be seen not far from their lilliputian footsteps. You imagine that if you take the time to comb over the entire table you will find a grand microcosm among the animate carved beings. However, as if in response to that flare of your imagination, you feel the pull of the Master’s thought stream. Do you enter the thought stream? YES. NO.
  
  After successfully drawing yourself away from the worlds the Master had carved into the table, you find yourself drawn to but one other object within the room. On the left side of the room is a source of hazy blueish light, the only other source of light other than the many warm torches on the wall. There hang a variety of monitors with blank blue screens, these many monitors attached to a variety computers, gaming systems, and controllers to outnumber any gaming convention.
  
  
  
  When you approach this screen it develops some static, vague images forming amidst the snowy hues of grey and black, and you feel as if the thought stream could consume you at any moment. Do you allow the stream to take you? YES. NO.
  
  Back to the Entrance Hall.