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ST Xar finishes cleaning himself and joins Myrrh, still dripping wet, in the living room of the small apartment where he joins in the peering at the two skeletal corpses. Xar is no more medically inclined then Myrrh and so the two are unable, even with their vast intelligence, to determine why there are three dead bodies on the floor. They can only assume something unpleasant happened.
Myrrh "Maybe it was some sort of gas? It couldn't have been an attack, there are no broken bones.."
ST Xar peers at the two bodies laying side-by-side, sprawled upon the floor of the small first-floor living room. With no wound marks or damage the skeletons can tell him as little as the third skeleton laying upstairs at the edge of the stairwell that brought him down here.
Xar`Rex "Maybe they died when the city fell."
ST Myrrh doubts that very much, considering the age of everything down here. He would wager these people have been dead for centuries, at least.
Myrrh "If they fell there would be blood stains or their bones would be shattered. These people died centuries agin."
Xar`Rex "Why did no one find them when the city was still flying then?"
ST What is troubling about that is if these people have been dead that long why is this home so undisturbed? These tunnels, all of them since they found the Gallery, seem to be part of some vast underground settlement but none of the inhabitants seem to know anything about it. Even Corve admits he has never heard of it.
ST Thus, Xar's question is a very good one. And a troubling one.
Myrrh "That is a good question...Maybe the field that protected it disguises it? or makes people forget? It wouldn't be the first time with first age technology..."
Xar`Rex "I do not know. It seems strange that so many people could live here and not know there were so many dead. I wonder if they are in all the homes... We should look in the windows to see."
Myrrh "Well the place also seems untouched. If the city SANK wouldn't the bodies and items be flung everywhere? Look around you, the place hasn't been touched in generations."
Xar`Rex "Well then they died before it sank. But it still sank."
ST For that matter, why weren't the items in the column gallery scattered around and smashed when the island sank? How did ANY of this survive a fall from the sky?
Xar`Rex "There must be some sort of protection. They must have guessed it would fall some day."
Myrrh "That didn't seem to help the people here."
Xar`Rex "They died long before it fell... look at all this dust?"
Myrrh "Maybe there's some sort of control for all of this..we wouldn't want to turn it off of course. That would flood the place.
Xar`Rex "Yes, that would be a bad idea. Many things would be ruined."
Myrrh "Well let's go look for it then. Maybe we can get those balls to stop trying to kill us."
Xar`Rex "A good idea."
ST Neither of the men hears anything odd as they leave the house by the front door, simply pushing against it results in it swinging soundlessly open and waiting quietly for them to pass before swinging silently shut.
Xar`Rex tries the door after it closes
ST The door does not budge.
Xar`Rex "Hmph."
Xar`Rex moves on.
Xar`Rex looks for something that might be considered a central control, or a more imposing building, or possibly a control panel
ST As far as Xar can see the entire hemispherical chamber is composed of identical housing units like the one they just exited. He judges there must be hundreds of them between the three tiered floors of the place. Aside from the way they entered this chamber there are seven other passages that take them out of it, as well as the massive stone pillar standing in the open center of the hemisphere
ST That pillar looks like some insanely huge version of the carriage tubes Xar was vaguely familiar with from memories of the long-destroyed Dragon-King city of Tikanhautla in the Southern mountains.
ST Myrrh hears something strange from inside the house they just left, a clattering noise that crescendos quietly, then a shuffling sound...and then a soft impact to the door. As he turns to look, he hears it again and sees the door start to open from the inside.
Xar`Rex moves over to the central pillar, tapping on it curiously
ST The vast pillar, some 20 paces in diameter, is made of stone. There are entrances into its interior every 90 degrees. Peering inside one of these entrances reveals a small carriage-cabin that looks fairly familiar. Just a small room with a panel of Old Realm numerals on one side of the door. Obviously this is how one moves from tier to tier.
Xar`Rex enters the cabin
Xar`Rex tries to discern how the controls work!
ST Once Xar steps into the cabin it waits a few seconds before the Old Realm numerals for 1-10 light up on the panel beside the door. There is a soft, friendly-sounding chime that sounds and continues to sound for a few seconds, growing faster. It is probably warning other potential passengers that the carriage is about to depart.
Myrrh scratches his head confusedly and listens to the door they came from. "Xar, do you hear that?"
Xar`Rex "Hear what?"
Xar`Rex "That is the mechanism working, it is about to depart."
ST There is another soft thud to the inside of the door Myrrh is peering at and, again, it opens a little crack further. Xar can not hear the thudding and he doesn't notice the door slowly opening. Myrrh does.
Myrrh "Xar...we need to move. Quickly..."
Myrrh backs away from the door.
Xar`Rex "Well step inside of here, and we will go up."
Myrrh goes with Xar into the chamber.
ST As Myrrh steps into the carriage car the door to the house they had left swings open silently to reveal a shambling mass of bones that has, for the most part, re-assembled itself into a man. Shreds of dark Essence cloak the bones, holding them together and the faint shadowy form of a heavy-set man with an angry, twisted face is visible around the skeleton. It lumbers for those who disturbed it!
Myrrh "Oh dear..."
Xar`Rex looks up and notices the ghosty thing
Xar`Rex "Oh. Well... we are in a shadowland."
ST While not entirely accurate, Xar's statement is close enough. And there does appear to be a very angry Hungry Ghost bearing down upon them while they sit in a carriage cabin that is politely awaiting this new passenger.
Xar`Rex promptly lobs a fireball at the thing, and as it emerges from his maw, it glows black!
ST The dead creature takes the fire full in the chest and face, despite a rather poor attempt to stagger out of the way. It's bony jaws open in an anguished howl as Xar's midnight fire crawls over it, burning away the Essence that holds the thing together, charring the bones to dust. It thrashes about screaming and roaring as it tries to get into the cabin before it expires
Xar`Rex closes the door!
ST Xar tries but he finds no door-close button! Only the numerals!
Myrrh trains his rifle at the creature, just in case...
Myrrh "Hit a button!" Tries to whack the thing with the butt of his rifle.
ST The flaming, dying dead thing does something very odd. It reaches into its burning chest and breaks free a rib. Using the last of its strength it throws the rib at Myrrh!
Myrrh steps a few inches to the side and lets the bone harmlessly pass by him.
ST The bone clatters against the back of the car. Roaring in anger and dying pain the beast claws desperately at Myrrh, trying to pull him from the car!
Xar`Rex pokes buttons frantically!
ST Pressing one of the numerals, the numeral for 6, Xar sets the door to closing. Slowly.
Myrrh "Ah! Get away from me you thing!" My brings the butt of his rifle down on the things skull like a club, hoping to break the thing into pieces or atleast knock it down!
ST Myrrh easily avoids the thing's swiping phalanges but the monster just as easily avoids Myrrh's attempt to attack him! However Xar's burning black flames are doing quite a number on the creature and it looks quite ready to expire at any moment. When finally the doors close they snap the creature in half, leaving Myrrh and Xar inside a small chamber with a ribcage and skull.
ST Soft music plays from somewhere in the cabin.
Xar`Rex blinks down at the bones, nudges them with his toe-claws.
ST The skull roars angrily, but it is already crisping into black ash. The stench is rather horrible.
Xar`Rex "A ghost-that-hungers? So death-rites were not held for these people."
Xar`Rex is not terribly bothered by the stench.
Myrrh "No, I suppose not. The place has been in relative stasis for centuries..."
Xar`Rex says a general prayer for all of the fallen in the city. It may not help, but he feels they deserve it.
ST The creature one the floor yowls one last time before slumping into foul-smelling ash.
Myrrh "I wonder what floor the control room is on..."
ST There is a ding to announce the car has arrived at Floor Six, which Xar pressed. The doors open and both men are presented with a rather interesting view...
ST Instead of more housing units or another gallery of columns or even a vast army of deadly white spheres Xar and Myrrh are looking out across a vast space that must stretch for several miles. Walkways of stone crisscross the space from similar car entrances but, for the most part, they are looking out over a huge basin of stone.
ST No, not a basin. A cavern. An awesomely large cavern. In the depths below their current vantage point, standing inside a car clinging to one of the cavern's walls, they can see almost all the way across. Only a few of the hundreds of buildings below reach this height. Those that do are intersected by stone walkways like the one that leads away from their car.
Xar`Rex "Well, this is pretty."
ST Other buildings are one or two stories, housing units or offices.
ST Some reach nearly to the ceiling of the cavern, huge towers or pyramids, spiral-shaped buildings. An entire underground city. They even see a few hemispherical domes like the one far below them now, apartment complexes.
ST The ceiling of the cavern is painted or treated, possibly enspelled, to show a bright sunny day with drifting clouds. Amongst the buildings of the small but vastly impressive underground city are parks and stands of trees or huge fungal forests that have long-since sprawled over their once carefully tended bounds and begun claiming swathes of the cityscape for themselves.
ST In the entire city there is not one light nor sound nor sign of life. The light comes only from the ceiling's false sunshine and the occasional carriage car tube fastened into the walls of the cavern.
Myrrh "Amazing..."
Myrrh gawks at the size of it all...so complex!
Xar`Rex "I did not know there was so much room inside of the islands."
Xar`Rex "I wonder if there is an underground city in Brume as well..."
Myrrh "Maybe. Maybe not. This must be what the cult was afraid of. Something in here."
Xar`Rex "Perhaps...but what could be so important, even in this First Age city, that it could affect them? And why would they ask for money instead of just bringing the islands down if they fear what is inside/
Myrrh "Well that way they get the money as well as knowing that they have destroyed it...or maybe they needed to stall."
Xar`Rex "Hmmm I suppose you are correct."
Myrrh "Well, I wonder if this level has the control room..."
Xar`Rex "We shall find out!" He looks around for controls!
ST This "level", if it can be called that, is simply the car, a stone walkway, and the building into which the walkway leads through a massive archway. The building itself is a grey stone tower constructed of increasingly slender rounded levels.
Myrrh "Maybe it's further up?"
Xar`Rex shrugs, "We can try." He pokes a higher button
ST The doors shut and the car whisks Myrrh and Xar a level higher. When the doors open they are still looking out over the vast cavern. There is another walkway leading from the car towards another building, a tall and narrow pyramid of black, shiny stone.
Xar`Rex "That looks interesting. Let's go there!"
Myrrh "Do you think it has a door though?"
Xar`Rex walks over to the black thing "Let us find out!
Myrrh follows Xar, maybe this is it. It certainly looked impressive enough.
ST There is, indeed, a door. At the end of the walkway the black pyramid has a triangular door that disappears silently and without any sort of flash when Xar steps close enough. Inside is completely dark, giving no hints as to what is contained.
Xar`Rex blinks, and lights himself on fire.
Myrrh "That might be a bit dangerous Xar...let me."
Myrrh thinks for a moment and then shrugs and heads inside.
ST With the somewhat cheery light of Xar's flames to light the way the two men step inside the glossy black pyramid building. It becomes clear quite quickly that this is not the sought-after control center for the entire city. If such a thing exists, it is not here. What they find, wandering through hallways and peering in the occasional open door, are clean, spotless rooms of black stone.
ST Each room they peer into contains a single bed, also of black stone. Any mattress or linens have long since gone to dust, but the beds are large and may once have been very comfortable. There is a table, a nightstand and dresser, one of those stone bathroom cubes. Everything made of the same glossy black stone.
ST Each bed holds a skeleton.
Xar`Rex "Um. A hotel?"
ST Sometimes there will be a skeleton laying on the floor of a room, or in the corridor. Those most often have a dull silver band around the right arm, maybe the last metallic remnant of some kind of uniform.
ST One of the rooms they look into would seem to disprove Xar's idea. A massive black stone table surrounded by small orbs, fallen to the ground. On the table there is a skeleton and on the ground there are several more.
Xar`Rex crouches down and inspects the silver bands
ST Numerous small, mobile tables are scattered around the room, covered in what even the two laymen can recognized as surgical tools. All the bodies on the floor have at least one silver band around the arm, some have multiple bands.
Myrrh "Hmmm...a hospital. I wonder what those orbs did." Bends over and inspects one.
ST The orb is small, two inches across. It weighs almost nothing and seems undamaged.
Xar`Rex "They could have some use still, if we can figure out how to use them." He picks another one up.
ST Xar ponders for a moment, then feeds the sphere a mote of Essence. As the warm energy flows through his hand and into the tiny sphere it flickers once or twice and then glows steadily and floats into the air above Xar's open hand-paw. The little sphere is glowing enough to illuminate the room.
ST Myrrh doesn't think of it at first, but once he sees what Xar's does, he gets the idea and his sphere too rises above his hand and starts glowing brightly.
Xar`Rex tries to get it to follow him
Myrrh "Must have been lighting for the surgery table?"
ST The ball of light responds easily to Xar's mental commands, even able to perform complex aerial maneuvers if asked. A bit of experimentation shows that he can control the color and intensity of its light and make the small ball hover however he likes or even go through patterns in the air
Xar`Rex "I like it! I will keep it! Let us get one for each of us."
Myrrh "Those could definitely come in handy some day." Takes the remaining orbs and stuffs them into his nearly bulging bags.
Xar`Rex takes some as well, although the one that he considers 'his' just follows him.
Xar`Rex picks up any of the surgical tools that look less familiar than the others, in case Carmine would like them.
Myrrh "I suppose we need to go further up."
Xar`Rex looks around for anything else that looks fun, before leaving
ST Nothing aside from some skeletons!
Xar`Rex takes an armband thing too
Xar`Rex heads back to the 'vator
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