Lost in Shadows.  Living in Darkness.  Such is The Way of the Ninja.

You explore deeper into the deserted cave; in the far northeastern corner, you discover the entrance to a storage room behind an old, hanging drape made of thin leather hides stitched together with care.
You see: some dusty shelves, a dusty old tablet, and a pile of dirty rags.
Obvious exits: northeast, out.
> examine tablet
When the dust and grime are cleared away, you find that you are unable to decipher the mysterious message written in an ancient language.
> examine rags
Just a few scraps of garbage from a long-forgotten time.
> examine shelves
These crudely carved shelves are covered in thick layers of dust.
> search shelves
You find a small shard of a jewel.
> ne
Behind the drape, you find that many small animals have come and gone before you, leaving the place ransacked and in disarray.  Storage urns of food have been tipped over onto the grimy fur rug, and other storage containers have been shredded or shattered.  The place is in ruins.
You see: a big fat mess.
Obvious exits: southwest.
> clean mess
You tidy up a bit until the place is neater to small degree.
> lift rug
You find a hidden trapdoor underneath.
> open trapdoor
The aged trapdoor creaks rustily as you open it.
> d
The trapdoor falls with a BAM! the moment you let it go; try as you might, you can't get it to open again from this side.
Before you opens an underground tunnel lit only by clusters of glowing fungi.
You see: lots and lots of fungus and a stuck trapdoor above you.
Obvious exits: forward.
> examine cluster
A colony of mold.  Whoop-dee-doo.
> pick fungus
Damp on the outside, brittle on the inside, it ceases to glow when you separate it from the greater being.
> eat fungus
Mmm, tastes like chicken.
> forward
You walk and walk and walk and walk for ages on end until your legs feel like jello and your breath comes out in pants.  The tunnel curves at times, turning left, then right, curving up, then down... or does it?  A dimly lit fantasy formed by the crumbling sanity running your imagination?
Eating more fungus gives you enough sustenance to go on for awhile, but at last you collapse, your mind slipping into the open arms of oblivion.

...You slip in and out of hazy consciousness, aware that you are being moved...
...You awaken.
You are lying on a couch in an amazingly large and bare underground room carved in rock, with torches flickering along the walls.  In the middle of the room is a pulsing orb hovering in the air before a woven straw pallet.
No obvious exits.  (Odd.)
> stand
You try to stand, but even that small an effort drains your energy.
At your movement, the orb begins to act agitated and glows brighter.  A pure essence streams out of the orb and solidifies on the pallet into a tall, lanky girl garbed in a ranger uniform.  She nods solemnly in greeting to you.  "Glad to see you're awake, hon.  Was a bit worried 'bout whether you'd pull through."
> look at girl
The girl smiles at you warmly, her silver irises swirling in the semi-darkness with each pulse of the orb floating in front of her.  She has tanned skin and long ebony hair, and is wearing a leather jerkin and plated arm greaves over light leather leggings and fur-lined calf boots.  A standard-issue scout knife is sheathed in a combat weapon belt around her waist.  The mark of Agrona, the goddess of slaughter, is tattooed on her chest with the Elven script, "Strength and honor".
> say where am I?
"Ah, yes.  Welcome to Afagddu, or as they say in common-speak, the place of utter darkness.  This is my underground haven beneath the Midlands, the hub of many tunnels to many places which was shaped long ago by the Ancient Ones.  However, I should be asking the questions...  Now, do tell: why have you sought me out?"  As she speaks these words, she rapidly taps a complex pattern on the surface of the orb.  The room shimmers, then closes in; now you seem to be floating in a void of darkness with several glowing buttons in front of you, waiting for you to push one.
 

My sincere apologies for the crummy graphics... button making isn't my thing, I suppose.  I will be replacing these soon, I hope. Also, the buttons don't work yet-- on purpose. I'm still designing those pages. -Rhee S. 1