< They Fought The Law | Ex Pulplogs | Further Explorations >
ST They left Carmine to watch over the tired Corve while she worked her magic on the pair of them, clearing up the last wounds from the earlier explosion and cleaning restraining ooze from Corve where it has gotten on him when he was frantically pulling it off Xar. The tunnels around them needed to be scouted in case more of those giant spheres came at them.
ST Unlike the tunnels they had been walking through prior to entering the gallery these tunnels are lit by a uniform glow coming faintly from the entire ceiling as if it were cloudy glass diffusing the light of a sunny day. Whatever its source it lit the corridors well and Xar could hear no trace of further sphere guardians approaching.
Myrrh "Hmmm...some sort of bioluminesence? Fungus maybe?" Examines the glowing.
Xar`Rex "Essence, most likely."
ST A short way down the hall from the gallery the two explorers come to a chamber maybe twice the size of the vast gallery behind them. A perfect hemisphere with exits every forty-five degrees the chamber is tiered with three levels, each level holding a number of house-like structures. The central space is open and dominated by a stone pillar that reaches from the bottom of the hemisphere to its peak.
ST From the pillar, bridges extend outwards to intersect the upper tiers. Doorways open into the pillar every 90 degrees. Inside just seems to be a small, empty room.
Xar`Rex "A living area?"
Myrrh "Maybe. It could have been a guard house? We'd have to look around I suppose."
Xar`Rex We should stay together. It is dangerous here." The enormous lizard says.
Myrrh "Yes but there's alot of houses to cover."
Xar`Rex "We will not have time to see them all. Let us look at a few on each level."
Myrrh "Alright, we should be safe from the orbs...I doubt they could squeeze through and I doubt they're allowed to damage the place."
Xar`Rex "I hope so." He shrugs his shoulders with distaste, where there is still some sticky goo on his feathers, then strides towards the nearest of hte dwellings'
ST The nearest dwelling is, as all the rest, a two-story affair built into the rock from which this entire hemisphere chamber was carved. It extends up to where the first tier juts from the wall, its roof being the underside of that tier. There are two windows on the upper floor, one on the lower. On both sides there are maybe 10 feet between it and its neighbors. Patches of dirt fill those ten feet, full of dead plants.
ST The small home is has remnants of brightly colored paint peeling away from its stone. It isn't large, a handful of paces across. The single entrance is sealed with a heavy-looking stone door.
ST There does not appear to be a keyhole or knob or handle...the door is just a flat sheet of stone in a decorative frame.
Xar`Rex raps on the stone door, trying to find a mechanism to unlock it
ST The door remains closed. Xar's rapping echoes loudly in the silent cavern.
Xar`Rex idly considers whether or not a more heavy-handed approach will summon MORE guardians..
Myrrh examines the door, sure there's probably some sort of voice command mechanic...
Xar`Rex "Do you think the guards will come if I break it/"
Myrrh "Well if they came because we picked something up it might be a good bet."
Xar`Rex cheks to see if any of the windows are open
Myrrh myrrh looks for some sort of reciever, if it's by voice or by sight it has to see it from somewhere.
ST None of the windows are open but Xar does notice the amazing *lack* of any sort of obvious enchantment, crystalline technology or other methods of detecting an outside way to enter. From this, Myrrh deduces that the door itself is enchanted to accept the touch of its registered owner and open.
Xar`Rex looks around to see if any of them are open
Myrrh tries touching the door. He IS a solar after all...they probably had failsafes for that sort of thing.
ST None of the homes Xar can see look open. And Myrrh's touch fails to open the door. It does not even bother to acknowledge him! Rude door.
Myrrh "Hmph. Well I'd rather not chance another attack by the balls..."
Xar`Rex "Then we will learn nothing here. Shall we go on?"
Myrrh "Yes, let's see if one has come open during hte passage of time...
Xar`Rex "I wonder what happened to the people that lived inside."
ST As they walk around the ground floor circle of dwellings, Xar notices one with an open window on the second floor.
Myrrh "I'm not sure...if this place was built before the uruspation maybe the dragon blooded came and killed everyone..."
Xar`Rex "This used to be Brume, was it not?" he points up to the open window. "There, maybe."
Myrrh "Yes but if they made the place specificly to fly...Well I don't know if you can get in but I could probably squeeze through.."
Xar`Rex smiles "I can get in."
Xar`Rex grasps Myrrh by the shoulders, and takes off with powerful wingbeats, flying them up to the open dwelling, and depositing Myrrh, then landing.
ST It's a tough fit for Myrrh, he has to do some considerable work to fit his shoulders through, but he manages to get inside without hurting himself. Xar, who would never fit inside normally, slithers in with a rather disgusting smooshing and squishing of his body. Once he finishes slithering through, he regains his normal, non-mushy form.
ST The two are now standing inside a small, dark room dominated by a wooden bed with dust, mold and rags atop it that were probably once a comfortable mattress and dressings. There is also an armoire against one wall, closed. It too looks a bit moldy and certainly worn by time. The only thing still pristine are the walls, floor and ceiling.
ST And, also, a stone cube in one corner of the room.
Xar`Rex stretches, making sure all his joints are back in order, then looks around, crouching by the cube.
Myrrh "Xar...how did you do that?"
Xar`Rex "It is one of the paths of my people." he replies mildly. "I am learning to have great control over my body."
Myrrh "That's nice, although I wouldn't let Carmine see you do that, she might get confused."
Xar`Rex "Confused?"
Myrrh "Well...it looks a bit creepy is al i'm saying. Atleast to Carmine. She still doesn't like the whole stomach bug thing."
Xar`Rex "It is perfectly natural. I assure you."
Xar`Rex "I will soon be able to take on the form of another breed of Dragon Kings if I keep my studies."
Myrrh "Hmmm...shapeshifting huh?" Walks over to the club to take a look at it.
Xar`Rex "It is similar to the changing of my hide to stone, but more..internal." he too looks at the odd piece
ST The stone cube has two markings on its top. One is a water drop surrounded by a circle, the other is an X inside a circle.
ST It appears to be rather spectacularly unspecial. Just a grey-white stone cube that reaches to Myrrh's waist.
Xar`Rex blinks at it
Myrrh touches the water drop.
ST The top of the cube disappears, revealing a basin. The rear edge of the basin opens slightly and water starts pouring from it.
ST Three new symbols appear: a red water drop, a blue water drop and a second X.
Myrrh "Running water! Amazing!" Presses the red drop
ST There is no instant response until the water eventually starts to steam.
Xar`Rex blinks
Myrrh touches the blue drop.
Xar`Rex "I did not know this still existed."
ST The steaming stops and, when Myrrh touches the water cautiously, it is cool and becoming colder.
ST The water eventually stops flowing when the basin is full.
Myrrh thinks for a moment and dabs his finger in the basin and tastes it.
ST The water tastes just fine, if icy cold.
Myrrh "I wonder where it's getting the water..."
Myrrh tries to move the cube gently.
ST The cube will not move from its place nestled in the corner. It is most likely attached in some manner.
Myrrh "Hm. I should take some of this water back as a sample...we should try to preserve this place if we can ever get this place flying again."
Myrrh checks the other rooms
ST There is a second bedroom, identical to the first except that it has two smaller beds in place of the large single bed and it has a closet, not an armoire. There is another stone cube in the corner.
ST There is also a true bathing room, with a wash tub set into the floor, a normal-looking sink and other facilities. Far more elegant and sophisticated then those Myrrh has seen before, but still just a bathroom.
ST The only interesting feature of the upstairs of the small dwelling is the skeleton laying in the hallway, sprawled on the floor near the stairs down to the first floor.
Xar`Rex "Do you think there is time to take a bath? My back itches."
Myrrh "I guess not everyone got out..." Examines the skeleton, looking for an obvious deathwound. "Sure, I don't see why not. If it works that is."
ST The skeleton doesn't appear to have any broken bones, missing parts or obvious signs as to its cause of death. Someone better trained then Myrrh in wounds and human skeletons might be able to say more, but Myrrh can find no reason that this skeleton is laying here in the hallway.
Xar`Rex runs a nice hot bath, and slips in!
Myrrh explores the rest of the house while Xar bathes.
ST The bathtub is in perfect working order and the large reptile enjoys his bath! Mmm. Bathing.
ST Exploring the ground floor of the house results in the discovery of a First Age kitchen, an eating nook, a small living room and two more skeletons. These bodies are sprawled close together on the floor of the living area.
Myrrh "Hmmm...the man in the hallway only had a small moment to run. Whatever happened happened quickly." Examines the two skeletons, such a shame...people shouldn't be killed in their homes.
ST Once again, Myrrh can find no evidence as to the cause of death. Nor he is actually able to tell if these skeletons are male or female
ST There are bits of dust and desiccated scraps of what might be leather, skin or maybe just clothing around the bodies but they have clearly been here a very, very long time. None of them have any metal on them which may be evidence of robbers or just that they did not choose to wear any.
Myrrh "That is strange." Takes a look around the living room for anything that might give a clue.
ST The living room has a few shelves full of dust and some small bits of metalwork and stonework art that have survived, but nothing really interesting. Just a small home with three dead people inside.
Myrrh lacking the proper knowledge in the morticians craft Myrrh simply says a small prayer for the obviously many times reincarnated souls of the people here. He then waits for Xar to get done cleaning up.
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