9. Being Trapped underwater, feet encased in leaden boots

The third night of their adventure she dreamed of the ocean in her lungs and her companions were forced to leave her as she refused to wake after spitting up gallons of water.

4. Panniers filled with crumbs

They opened the last chest in the room, the one laden with lead filigree and sun-bleached gems, and found, like all the others in the room, the crumbs of a feast and the carcasses of insects long dead. 

9. The Ability to make anyone believe their words. 

Truly ze had been blessed by The Sovereign Arbitrator themselves, and in zeir duty as judge, brought holy justice through adjudication. 

4. A bite from a fresh, ripe apple

Red like their name, the apple sat alone on a plate on a simple pillar in the center of the room. Never would they taste something more sweet and in their joy they found misery for the delights of the world would be pale and ashen in its wake. 

3. A Dead Face, crying tears of blood

He didn’t see it looking back at him at first; he was more interested in tracing his fingers around the carved, concentric circles of the mirror’s edge. It was his own face, reflected back through the twisted mirror, pale, rotting, and blood crying from the dead eyes. 

5. A small flame that can never be extinguished

The last scion of a noble house of Teneneron, The City in Night--they sought a light to extinguish the cursed darkness but found themselves a conduit as they were hollowed out and became a living candle to an undying flame. 

5. The cackle of a witch’s familiar 

They had scoffed at the pattern witch’s warning and tossed the oracle deck into the ocean. It was only as they saw the dancing lights and the harsh heat of sun through the root-rotten ceiling did they notice the laughing parakeets. 

6. Having to walk through a chamber of endless fire. 

Deep into the island they found a corridor of molten gold, and driven by their greed, they walked on burning shoes until their flesh melted and their bones split and cracked under the heat. 

It crept into her pack one night and gorged itself on three nights worth of supplies. Upon finding it, Vania flung the shrew across the room. The next morning she found it again, twice as large and having eaten twice as much. Each day, larger and hungrier, she wondered how long until she was it’s next meal. 

Hallowed Tif Ar Mortal

7. Their touch brings the dead back to life.. Sometimes. 

Blessed by Life and Existence Itself, she knew it was her duty to rid the world of death. Around her the bones sprung to life and the rot receded amongst the bodies. She knew herself to be Hallowed when the pit of bodies merged into a shambling being and taught Existence how to make more.

2. Unearthing a chalice from a god of Sorrow

The cup was half buried among the unopened amphoras, sealed with wax and rope. Michael cried when he released the cup from the earth and couldn’t stop until the cup overflowed  with his tears. 

1. The first lie their mother told them

Her lie echoed down the chambers in a cacophonous whisper only he could hear.It whispered over and over, through every room, in the clanging of the armor, and the grinding of the doors and in his ears as he slept. She told him he would always be safe but he saw in darkness the limbs and the teeth.   

2. Battling a horde of animated corpses

Xe heard the laughter and saw the flickering of a dirty robe in the halls before the bodies began to charge. They retreated and as each body fell Xe saw the woman touch each one again, coming back to life and shuffling towards them again. 

2. An Ivory hair comb

They recognized the quality immediately and ran their fingers down the ivory spine. It was useless in their short-cropped hair but they kept it close as a gift.

1. A lodestone that points to damned souls

He thought it at first a pendulum, the ones the witches used to guide and find, but all it accomplished was pulling itself towards him on the tight chain. He never once thought it was attracted to damned souls for he never considered himself cursed.

3. A perfectly tuned harp

Her sword nearly sliced through the strings as she felled the last of the beasts in the room. It was nearly the size of her and each string she plucked sounded in perfect harmony. It was a priceless treasure, but one of which she valued-little and had no means of carrying. 

10. Stealing a treasured item from a companion. 

Esserack had no need for the comb, their head was nearly bald and surely, a person of their profession had no time for personal attachments. Mary-Leen brushed her hair in the dark with the ivory comb and each day it grew shinier and fuller until it was drenched in her own blood.

9. A brilliantly shining serving tray. 

It was mirrored on all sides and reflected the light in rainbow patterns. He knew that this tray must be blessed but by which Decider he knew not. What he failed to realize was the deep engraving of concentric lines around the edges of the tray. 

9. They now know the day they will die

Engraved deep on the floor were the markings of an oracle map. She had seen them before once, when her grandma read her fortune. She picked up the bones of a dead beast and cast them across the floor. She had never been taught to read oracles, but she knew, clearer than any written message, the date and time of her own death.

5. Being Buried Alive

One misplaced step was all it took and they found themselves falling into an endless oubliette. Their legs cracked beneath them when they hit the floor, but they felt their body being pushed down further and further past the point of impact before they were swallowed by the pit itself. 

7. A nude figure, carved from ivory

Their face turned a bright red when they uncovered the rest of the statue. It was the most handsome person they had ever seen and they quickly hid it from the others. 

10. Stealing a treasured item from a companion

He had seen the figure too, though they tried to hide it amongst their possessions. The others didn’t know what happened to them when they heard a scream and only he returned.

3. Swimming a vile moat to find themselves where they started

The stench had seeped its way past his skin and into his bones and each gasp of air as he swam through the murk was more foul than the waters itself. When he finally found a shore, he looked down and saw his own footprints where he had entered the waters. 

4. Learning the words of a forgotten language 

She saw them in her sleep: the spire, the miasma, and the laughing snail. Around her in the pit, words swam and scratched and writhed into existence in the cave with no exit, and, of course, the corpse. 

5. The Cackle of a witch’s familiar 

It sounded like a large whistle of a dying animal that cut through the stagnant air of the depths. It bugled louder and and closer as the ice crept closer through the room and over Zer toes. 

1. Climbing a ladder for hours, to have made no progress. 

She thought she saw a light at the top and through her exhausting  climbed higher and higher to seek the fresh air. She panted and shook with every rung but when she looked below she had moved no further than a foot from the ground. 

1. Discovering a vase from a long-dead civilization

Depicted upon the surface of the amphora, a large field of people, sleeping and from their dreams a God but not one known to people. Not any more. 

8. Shoes that let them move twice as quick

It was a blessing to have found them, they moved fast, faster than any of their companions through the corridors, avoiding the traps and the dead but it was too late when they noticed the bruises and ligaments torn from their legs of a body that had moved too quickly. 

8. A Maze of tunnels, all alike

They had only just touched the tree when their vision turned white and they awoke to a locked door. They found a new path, then another, then a memory that they thought was theirs and forfeited the truth to the tree as it supplanted it’s own into the host. The fairies of the memory tree wanted a deal and their companions could not release them from its roots. 

8. The Sensation of their spine burning 

The crick in her spine was back and every step she took it screamed and pleaded with her to stop. She ignored it, there was nothing she could do anyway so she failed to notice the red hot ink spreading under her skin along the shape of her bones. 

5. Being Buried Alive 

The hall seemed endless at first but when they turned around they found the wall had come forward to kiss their back. They turned forward and found themselves facing the same wall, enclosed by all sides. 

10. The scent of a warm spring meadow 

Unlike their companions, she kept to the top side of the island and ventured down the beach where she was greeted by warm grass, a pleasant breeze and the smell of spring. 

10. A fine Crystal Goblet 

It rang clear when she ran her fingers around the top and shone with a sparkling light in the sun. She kept it for herself and would drink from nothing else. 

10. A portal to another place and time 

The dark orb was thick in his hand, squishy but not sticky and on all sides he found himself surrounded by stone archways and to look through them was to see Nothing. They called to him and he answered even though he didn’t know how to use it.  

8. A pit that leads to the Center of Everything 

He was welcomed with open arms by the Hallowed Following and taken to the center. There he witnessed a sanctioned murder at the beginning of all things and vowed to right it with his new family. 

6. The Caress of Tempting Beauty

The fur cape wrapped snugly around her shoulders and was soft on her cracked skin. She didn’t notice as it grew tighter and tighter each day. 

1. A flute that never stops playing

It was delightful at first, having something that played at all hours, but on the third night of no sleep from the noise they regretted having found it in the first place. 

10. A portal to another place and time

He had read about such valuable artifacts and the orb responded by snaking up his arm and resting atop his brow in a crown of tattooed ink. But he didn’t expect the torrents of screeches from The Dying God and the endless visions of his own death. 

1.  Drinking a rich mead

She sat alone at the head of the table and it appeared before her. One sip couldn’t hurt and she tasted the sweetest mead that instantly made her wretch. If only she hadn’t gotten sick off of it when she was a teen, maybe then she could appreciate it. 

8. Forcing a gate open, long rusted shut

Unlike the others, she knew how to remove the rust quickly and silently. What wasn’t silent was her screams as she was sucked into the black pit behind it. 

6. A door that opens onto a bright shining meadow 

The long climb was treacherous and filled with cobwebs and other dirt that clung to their skin but they instantly forgot all the horrors of my dungeon when the trap door opened into a bright, shining meadow filled with the joys of life and the sun upon their skin. 

3. A bit of song, strangely familiar

If only he could remember the words, maybe he wouldn’t have ventured further and further from the group into the Shamblers’ tunnels, looking for the song that was his name. 

9. A vibrant flower with delicate blooms. 

The roots surrounded the room and he even saw the corpses, some withered husks and others complete skeletons but he could not help himself as he crawled over them to make his way towards the blooming flower. 

9. The repeating chorus of a never-ending song

Zey knew zey were close for they could hear the chanting over and over, in zeir mind and in zeir hearts but zey could not find them. Zey searched for the necromancers, the ones that could bring back anyone, but all zey heard was the beating of the drums and the repeat of an out of reach promise. 

4. The voice of a forbidden love

She was draped in holy, white robes and held out her hand to greet him. He was the one they wanted, one who was fast and knew how to kill. She touched his face and whispered sweet poison in his ear. 

2. Sharing a feast with your fellows

She cried as she remembered the first day on the beach before they entered the accursed caves. They laughed and drank and ate their fill. It felt like a party. It felt like a dream. 

4. Panniers filled with crumbs

They prayed to Thulis, Decider of Rewards each night of their stay in my dungeon. What they forgot was Thulis is also the Decider consequences, and they knew they had entered a forsaken domain when their supplies yielded only crumbs. 

4. A secret that promises eternal Bliss

She stood before a stone doorway, inlay into the stone and carved smooth enough to reflect herself and the hallway. She placed her hand upon it and concentric circles formed around the edges growing closer and closer to the center and eroding the stone as they completed. She stood before the opening which held a darkness that to look into it was to see Nothing. She finally felt at peace when she gave herself to Existence. 

7. A golden chest filled with rotting fruit

The outside had shown brighter the closer they approached and for a moment they thought themselves blessed by Numismus, Decider of Value. But their face fell and then their lunch through their mouth as the stench and sight of rotten fruit mocked them. 

5. A bed filled with rich silks and fine linens

They saw the bed, at first, in their dreams, but could not see the face of the person who slept. They wandered deep into the bowls, guided by a force, a glazed look upon their face, and an unknown purpose.  They were all but dead by the time they found it: a large circular bed in the middle of the room on raised circular dias made of a mirror with carved concentric rings on the outside. They approached, barely able to stand and gazed upon silken sheets, soft, inviting, and still soaked with blood.