Crunch crunch. The crunching of the leaves under your feet echoes throughout the dense lining of trees. You've been here many times, but for some reason this time feels different. The booming voice of your King resonates in your head, "Don't return until you've found my precious Lilli". You wonder to yourself, "Who is this 'Lilli', and why have I never heard of her before?". After all, you are the Kings most loyal apprentice, and both of you have been through thick and thin with each other for the past 25 years. \n\nYou arrive at the designated spot to search. All this time you were hoping "Oh I hope it's not a dark, damp cave again.". Much to your dismay, the King has yet again sent you to a dark, damp cave. \n\n[[Proceed into the cave.|A1]]\n

As you squeeze through the crack the light gets brighter and brighter. You reach the end of the crack, and step into a bright area. It takes your eyes a few moments to adjust, but when they do you see a huge crowd of people around you. As you begin to take in your surroundings, you hear the sound of cheering. It takes you a second to realize that you are back in the city, surrounded by all the citizens. \n\nThe crowd starts to shift and reveals the King. The King walks to you, smiling from ear to ear. "Loyal apprentice" he says "You have completed the trial. You have proven how strong and courageous you are. I hereby grant you the title of Royal Knight. Lilli is yours. Treat her with respect, and she will forever bring you safety!". \n\nYou feel tears filling your eyes and you fall to your knees. You did it. You passed the trial that you didn't even know was a trial. You hear the King speak again. "Please brave Knight, join us for a hearty celebration, in your honor.". You wipe your eyes of the tears, stand and nod. You walk towards the King, while people cheer your name. \n\nYou are forever remembered as the rightful wielder of Lilli.\n

After examining the door, you head over to the 4 Chests. Each Chest has a number engraved on its lid; 1, 2, 3, and 4. You figure the key to opening the door is hidden in one of these Chests. \n\nThe Chests all are identical in both size and look except for the numbers engraved on them, so there's no telling which one holds the key to opening the door. Which Chest will you open?\n\n[[Open Chest 1|H1]]\n[[Open Chest 2|H2]]\n[[Open Chest 3|H3]]\n[[Open Chest 4|H4]]\n

As you reach for Lilli, you hear a loud "BOOM" followed by a deafening roar. You look around, but can't see anything other than the area surrounding the display stand where Lilli was. The floor shakes below you, and a shiver crawls down your spine. You quickly grab a torch and flail it around, looking desperately for whatever just made that sound. In a dimly lit corner, you notice a big black blob. You slowly walk closer and realize it's no ordinary blob, but a huge Hill Giant. \n\nThe Hill Giant wields a huge club, about 4 times the size of you. You are frozen in fear as the Hill Giant walks closer to you. You've never seen something so giant before in your life. The Hill Giant lets out another roar, and you are brought back to your senses. You realize the only thing you have to defend yourself is your dagger, and this would only tickle the Hill Giant. Without even a second thought, you run over and pick up Lilli. You ready Lilli as the Hill Giant starts running full speed towards you. \n\nThe Hill Giant lunges its club at you, trying to stagger you. You dodge with much finesse, and run towards the Hill Giant, letting out a loud scream as you approach it. You swing Lilli at the Hill Giants leg, severing several tendons that keep the Hill Giant standing. The Hill Giant crashes to the ground. You jump out of the way before the Hill Giant falls on you. Your body moves with lightness, almost as if you are being powered by an external force. You realize Lilli is giving you this power. It's something you've never felt before. This power is overwhelming. \n\n[[With a deep breath, you ready Lilli for the finishing blow.|J1]]\n

Upon entering the dark, damp cave, you are greeted by the sound of quiet snoring. You look around and see 2 small wolves sound asleep on the rock farther along the path to your left. It would probably be best if you let them rest. \n\nAs you walk farther in the cave, you are stopped by a split. The cave offers 2 ways to go; left passing the sleeping wolves, or right, the obvious safe way. Which way do you proceed?\n\n[[I'm not scared of wolves! I'll head left!|B1]]\n[[Why would I even think about getting mauled by wolves? Right is the obvious way to go!|B2]]

As you walk down Path 3, you notice puddles on liquid on the floor. The liquid is thick, and you can see rainbows in the liquid depending on the way you look at it. The reflections of the torches on the puddles is so mesmerizing that you don't notice the left turn in front of you. \n\nYou smash into the wall and knock down a torch. The torch falls to the floor and lights the path on fire. The liquid on the ground turns out to be oil. You try your best to outrun the fire spreading but the fire is too fast for you. \n\nAs you try to scream, no sounds come out. All you hear is the crackling of the fire. The fire cooks you extra crispy.\n\nMaybe you should've taken a different Path...\n

Lilli

As you travel down Path 1, you notice a very unpleasant smell, but for some reason this smell is familiar. As you keep walking down the path, you hear the sound of evil snickering that sends a chill down your spine. The snickering stops you dead in your tracks, and you hear a voice say, "Me hungry, dinner be here soon. I smells it.". You hear the sound of footsteps, then the sound of running. As you are trying to regain your state of mind from what you just heard, you see a small green troll running at you with its mouth agape. The troll is bearing its sharp teeth and running at you full speed while laughing manically. \n\nYou can't move. The sight of this troll is like nothing you've ever seen before. You've seen your fair share of trolls throughout your adventures with the King, but this one is different. This one is pure evil. As you are frozen in fear, you feel its razor-sharp nails dig into your skin, and its teeth sink into your leg. You fall to the ground, never to be heard from again.\n\nMaybe you should've taken a different Path...\n

You wander what seems like forever up and down small hills, through twists and turns, and finally reach a small resting area. You notice 4 suspicious looking urns in the middle of the room, each affixed to its own pillar. You also notice a door right in front of you, with a large lock on it. You figure the key must be around somewhere. \n\nYou wonder to yourself, "Why are these in the middle of the room? What's so special about these urns?". As you approach the urns, you hear a voice in the distance "Remember: 4, 1, 3, 2.". The voice sounds ominously like the king, which you find odd, since he is back at the city. \n\nYou disregard the odd voice and step closer to the urns. You know there is something in one of the urns, and feel a sense of disrespect for yourself for having to dig through urns. Who knows who these people could've been. \n\nWith hesitation, you reach for an urn. Which urn do you open?\n\n[[Open Urn 1|F1]]\n[[Open Urn 2|F2]]\n[[Open Urn 3|F3]]\n[[Open Urn 4|F4]]\n

Path 4 seems to twist in every direction, with very little light to guide the way. You ready your dagger, just in case worse comes to worse. You don't like the idea of hurting anything, even if it's trying to kill you.\n\nAs you reach the end of Path 4, you see a room with 4 levers in the center and a raised-up bridge. Each lever has the word "Apple" carved into it. You think this is odd, but overlook it because you have already come to the conclusion that this cave is odd in itself.\n\nYou approach the bridge and look down. All you see is darkness, so there's no way around it, you have to lower the bridge. You figure that you have to pull one of the 4 levers to lower the bridge. Which lever will pull?\n\n[[Pull Lever 1|D1]]\n[[Pull Lever 2|D2]]\n[[Pull Lever 3|D3]]\n[[Pull Lever 4|D4]]\n

As you go down Path 2, you notice that the path seems to never end. After what seemed like forever, you reach a pitch-black path. As your eyes take time to adjust to the darkness, you put your hands out in front of you to feel for obstacles. As you keep walking, you feel a jelly like substance on your hands. You notice your hand getting sucked into the jelly like substance, then your whole arm, then half your body. Oh no! It's a Gelatinous Cube! You've heard about them, and knew the victim was as good as dead as soon as they were sucked into it. You try with all your might to dig out of the jelly, but to no avail. The Gelatinous Cube makes you its next victim.\n\nMaybe you should've taken another Path...\n

As you open Urn 1, you find a Small Bronze key. You proceed with the key to the door and insert the key in the lock. You hear a "click". As you reach for the door handle, you hear the sound of bones rattling behind you. You quickly whip your head around and see a Skeleton Knight coming at you with its sword ready to chop you in half. As you try to run, the skeleton throws one if its bones and trips you. You fall face first onto the ground and feel a sharp pain in your back. The skeleton pierced you with its sharp sword, and you become a minion of the Skeleton Army.\n\nMaybe you should've tried another Urn...\n

As you open Urn 2, you notice a Small Gold Key. You take the key and insert it in the lock. You think to yourself, "Gold is good, right?". After you turn the key, you hear a "CLICK". As you reach for the handle you hear howling. You wonder how that could be, since those wolves you saw last fell into the abyss. \n\nYou look up and see 2 small wolves ready to pounce on you. The wolves jump down from the ledge that hung above you, and land on your shoulders. You feel the wolves’ claws pierce your skin, and you fall to the ground in pain. As you lie on the ground, you feel their claws less and less until you can't feel anything at all. You've become a good snack for the wolves.\n\nMaybe you should've tried another Urn...\n

As you open Urn 3, you notice a Small Iron Key. You take the key over to the door and insert it into the lock. You hear a loud "click" that echoes throughout the chamber. The lock falls off the door and the door slowly creeks open. You peek inside the room and see 4 chests. "Oh great" you think to yourself. "More puzzles.". You've made it this far without meeting a horrible fate, maybe this one won't be so bad.\n\nYou venture into the room and the door slams shut behind you. The slam rattles the floor and the walls, and you feel small pebbles hitting your head. Seems the cave won't hold up much longer with that much slamming going on.\n\nThe room is big, and you see a huge circular door at the end of the chamber. You walk up and examine the door. It's at least 4 times the size of you, and you feel intimidated by what may be hiding behind it.\n\n[[You're almost there! Keep it together! You have to find Lilli!|G1]]\n

As you open Urn 4, you find a Small Silver Key. As you insert the key into the lock, you feel a small shock. The shock makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. You hear a faint "click". You reach for the handle to see if the key unlocked the door. When you place your hand on the handle, you feel a painful shock. The shock gets more and more painful until you are charred. No one will see you or your electric personality again.\n\nMaybe you should've picked another Urn...\n

As you reach for Chest 2's lid, you are plagued by thought of how you're going to escape this dark, damp cave. The door slammed behind you and the bridge gave out...there has to be some other kind of way out.\n\nYou shake off the initial fear of the thought of never escaping and slowly open Chest 2's lid. At the bottom of the chest, you see a small button, about the size of a pea. You press the button and hear a loud "BOOM" come from the huge door. The door is made of heavy metal, and scrapes along the floor, making a deafening noise. You cover your ears and close your eyes to shield them from the debris the door is kicking up. \n\nOnce the door opens, you find a long looking display stand in the middle of the room. You slowly make you way to the display stand and look at the item on display. You find it a little odd that there's a display stand in the middle of a trap infested cave, but then again, you've already established that this cave is odd, so you don't pay it any mind. \n\nSitting on the display stand is a very expensive looking sword. It shines in the light of the torches surrounding it. You examine the sword closer and notice a name engraved on the sword "Lilli". "That's it!" you yell. "All this time I was looking for a sword and not a person! It all makes sense now!". \n\n[[Time to find a way home. Take the sword and leave this dark, damp cave!|I1]]\n

As you reach for Chest 3's lid, you see the chest shake a bit. You note this as odd, but proceed to opening the lid. When your hand touches the lid, the chest opens by itself and you see a pair of huge, glowing yellow eyes. The chest grows 3 times its size and lets out a high-pitched screech. It's a Mimic! You've only read about these monstrosities but have never actually seen one in person. As you are frozen in fear, the Mimic grabs you. The Mimic lets out a terrifying screech in your face before devouring you. Someone will find an interesting treasure next time they defeat this Mimic.\n\nMaybe you should've checked a different Chest...\n

As you reach for Chest 1's lid, you realize, "Wait, if the door slammed on me in this room and the bridge let out, how on earth am I supposed to get out of this dark, damp cave?". You let that thought go for a while and slowly open the lid. As you open the lid you hear a faint beeping noise. Before you realize it, the chest blows up in your face, leaving you a pile of giblets on the ground.\n\nMaybe you should've picked another Chest...\n

As you ready Lilli, you feel a huge sense of power flow through you. You narrow your eyes and quietly say "Your time's up bastard.". With ease, you charge at the Hill Giant. You leap into the air and lunge towards the Hill Giants head. You strike the Hill Giants head, and keep slashing. The Hill Giant roars in pain and tries to swat you away. You swiftly dodge the Hill Giants swatting. The swatting gets slower and slower until the Hill Giant crashes face down on the ground. You land on the ground, skidding backwards due to the sheer force of the Hill Giant falling. You stand up, realizing that you had just defeated one of the most horrifying enemies you've ever witnessed. \n\nYou fall to your knees, worn out. You are covered in various dirt and debris. You work up the energy to stand, and grab a torch. You slowly walk around the room, looking for any type of exit you can find. After what seemed like forever, you find a small crack in the wall, just enough for you to fit through. You see a light at the end of the crack, and decide to squeeze through the crack.\n\n[[Go forward! The King is waiting!|K1]]\n

As you reach for Chest 4's lid, you begin to think that this quest is all for nothing. Why are there so many puzzles in this cave, and why do they all involve 4 specific items? You note to ask the King why he sent you here when you get back home, and proceed to opening the Chest's lid. \n\nWhen you open the lid, a trap door opens up beneath you. It takes you a second to register what just happened, but you soon realize you are falling faster and faster. You splash into a lake underneath the dark, damp cave. Hitting the water at such high-speed hits you like concrete, and you pass out from the impact. Your swimming skills won't come in handy in this condition, and you become tasty fish food.\n\nMaybe you should've checked another Chest...\n

As you head left, you try your best not to make a single sound while sneaking past the sleeping wolves. As you sneak by, you see the smaller wolf twitching its front and back legs, almost like it's dreaming about running. You crack a smile, and keep sneaking by, making as little noise as possible. Much to your amazement, you snuck past the wolves without waking them up. \n\nAfter sneaking past the wolves, you enter a seemingly odd chamber. In the middle of this seemingly odd chamber, you find a table with 4 chairs around it, each on a suspicious looking track. In the middle of the table is a plate with 1 perfect looking apple on it, as if the apple was just picked and put there. The table looks old and worn, as if it had seen extensive use in the past. You think to yourself "This is odd, even for a dark, damp cave.". You decide to examine your surroundings a bit closer. \n\nUpon closer examination of the table, you find 4 numbers carved in one of the legs; 4, 1, 3, 2. You wonder to yourself "What on earth could this mean? Maybe I should examine my surroundings a bit more.". As you look around, you notice a single number on each chair leg. "Aha!" you say out loud, as you pull each chair on its track in order, 4, 1, 3, 2. As you pull the last chair out, you hear the sound of a door unlocking, and see a suspicious looking wall open as if it were a door.\n\nAs you head through the opening in the wall, you notice 4 paths you can follow. Each path has a sign with a single number painted crudely on it; 1, 2, 3, 4. Which path will you take?\n\n[[Take path 1|C1]]\n[[Take path 2|C2]]\n[[Take path 3|C3]]\n[[Take path 4|C4]]\n

As you walk to the right to avoid possibly waking up the wolves, you keep thinking to yourself, "Why on earth would anyone in their right mind even think about passing by wolves? Who wants to have to deal with that?". As you are lost in thought, you trip over a vine. As you are falling, you reach for the railing to your right. As you grab onto this railing, the bolts fail and the railing smashes to the ground, echoing loudly throughout the cave. You hear the 2 wolves start racing towards where the sound came from. You lay in shock as you hear the wolves getting closer and closer until you no longer have the ability to hear anything.\n\nMaybe you should've taken the Left Path…\n

Paige Lehmkuhl\n

As you pull on Lever 4, you can't stop thinking about who Lilli is. You've heard the name before, but you never really thought about who it is. You know the Prince and Princess like the back of your hand, but Lilli? Who is she? Why has the King never mentioned her outside of a few times?\n\nAs the lever gets pulled, you hear the sound of a door opening. You look around and see nothing out of the ordinary. You walk around the room and notice an open casket door. You note that as odd but don't pay any mind to it. This dark, damp cave has made you seem to not care about anything out of the ordinary now. As you walk to close the casket door, you hear the sound of shuffling behind you, then an ominous hiss. You slowly turn your head and see a ghoul right behind you about to slam its hand axe down on your head. Before you have a chance to flinch, the ghoul slams its hand axe into your head, making you its next tasty meal.\n\nMaybe you should've pulled a different Lever...\n

You pull on Lever 2. The lever seems to pull easily, and you are almost thrown back because of how much power you gave it. As you stumble to regain your balance, you hear a loud "BOOM" from your left. As you look for the source of the bang, you see a large boulder rolling towards you. The boulder picks up more and more speed as you try to outrun it. The boulder gets closer and closer to you until you are a flat, gooey pancake on the ground.\n\nMaybe you should've pulled a different Lever...\n

As you pull on Lever 3, you can help thinking why on earth the word "Apple" is carved on each lever. What does the word apple have to do with pulling levers? As you are lost in thought, you don't notice that you pulled the lever all the way. You are brought back to your senses by a loud "CRACK", and see arrows coming at you from all sides of the cavern. The arrows pierce through your skin until you're nothing but swiss cheese.\n\nMaybe you should’ve pulled a different Lever...\n

You pull on Lever 1 with all your might. The lever seems to resist being pulled but it finally gives. You hear a loud "click" and then a loud "boom". The bridge crashes to the ground, echoing throughout the cavern. You're sure that woke the wolves you saw earlier, but figure they don't know where you are by now.\n\nThe bridge looks dangerous. Some of the wood is rotting, and some is broken. It looks like the bridge will give any minute. You carefully cross the bridge, repeating "Please don't give" under your breath with every step you take. The bridge twists and turns, and you almost fall numerous times, but you make it over to the other side. \n\nAfter you cross to the other side, you hear the sound of running. You glance behind you and see the wolves from earlier running full speed at you. As they start running across the bridge, the wood starts to give. As the wolves reach the middle of the bridge, the bridge collapses in the middle, making the wolves fall into the abyss. You think to yourself "Poor things", but you keep moving. You have to find Lilli. Who knows what could have happened to her.\n\n[[Stay on track! You have to find Lilli!|E1]]\n