SIBLING RIVALS TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF CENTRAL DUNGEON’S SECRETS
Dateline: 02-04-519
Bereny’s oldest dungeon, Central Dungeon, is the site of an extraordinary race by
rival teams of adventurers to uncover its long-hidden secrets. And at the centre
of the action is none other than Bereny’s most famous adventurer, Duchess Glaze.
Central dungeon is the oldest official dungeon in Bereny. Its courtyard was opened
in the year 239, during the reign of King Mark I, but the network of tunnels it connects
to is said to be far older still, and to date to before the Time of Thunder. A few
years ago a flood in the lower levels undermined the structure of the dungeon and
its higher levels collapsed - compelling the Crown to close the dungeon to adventurers
while the courtyard and more accessible areas were made safe again.
To celebrate the re-opening of the dungeon to adventurers, millionaire businesswoman
and Wintred trader Lady Clementine Rose recently offered to fund a new expedition
into its depths. Even before the collapse, the lowest parts of Central Dungeon remained
mysterious, their secrets hidden. Although generations of adventurers have faced
its challenges and explored deep into its gloomy recesses, it is said that nobody
has ever reached the bottom of Central dungeon.
However Lady Clementine’s Rose Foundation has not had things entirely their own way.
A rival team of adventurers is being sponsored by her half-sister, Lady Tandere Brakk-Rose,
a candidate for the Wintred council leadership. And Lady Tandere has a secret weapon
on her side - leading her team of explorers is Bereny’s most famous adventurer, the
‘Mighty, Mighty Warrior Baroness’ herself, Duchess Glaze Fierien-Aiven, recently
confirmed as holding ducal rank in her own right by the King (in addition to her
marriage to the Duke of Poldoon).
Given the Duchess’ vocally anti-vampire stance, the presence on Lady Tandere’s exploration
team of a vampire and a were-rat has raised a few eyebrows, but Glaze’s participation
has unquestionably raised the public profile of the contest and added a sheen of
Ducal approval to Lady Tandere’s political aspirations.
The two teams have now ventured into the now unfamiliar depths of the dungeon. Both
the Rose Foundation and the offices of Lady Tandere Brakk-Rose are remaining tight-lipped
about what they have found, and indeed about what it is that they expect to find
that has triggered such intense sibling rivalry. Explorers who have penetrated to
the depths of other dungeons have reported that they open into the Underworld at
their bases - whether this is also true of Central dungeon remains to be seen. There
are rumours however that the explorers have encountered a race of subterranean elves
which have been unknown on the surface for many years.
