The Wyrm's Gilded Gauntlet
Enter the dragon-lord's hunt; the prize could save your sister, but the maze has a mind of its own.
Pauper, healer, and desperate sibling, you've entered the dragon-lord's legendary hunt. The winner's fortune could buy the cure that will save your dying sister, but the hunt is no simple race: it's a labyrinth of living stone that shifts its paths with every step. As other contestants fall to traps and each other, you realize something older and more personal hunts you from the shadows—a presence that knows your name and your deepest fear. To win the gilded prize, you must survive the maze, outwit your rivals, and face the thing that has waited centuries for you.
The story begins
The stone under your palm is cold and wet, slick with condensation that shouldn't exist this deep underground. The Gilded Gauntlet's entrance looms behind you, a gaping maw of darkness that swallowed the last of the daylight twenty paces ago. You press your back against the wall, feeling the faint pulse of the labyrinth beneath your fingers—almost like a heartbeat.
"Scared already, herbalist?"
You don't turn at the voice. You know it's Garrick, the blacksmith's son from the lower ward, his armor clinking as he moves beside you. He's trying to sound brave, but you hear the tremor underneath.
"Just getting my bearings," you lie, eyes scanning the corridor ahead. It wasn't like this before. The last time you were here—when you were twelve, chasing a stray dog—the walls were rough limestone. Now they're smooth obsidian, polished to a mirror sheen that reflects torchlight in wrong directions.
"Right," Garrick mutters. "And the maze just decided to rearrange itself because it missed you."
You don't answer. Because he's not wrong. The walls groan, a sound like a beast shifting in its sleep, and the corridor before you narrows, then widens again, as if the labyrinth is making up its mind.
Behind you, the entrance seals with a sound like a tomb closing.
What happens next is up to you.
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