FINAL INVESTIGATION

[strangerpeople]

FINAL INVESTIGATION

[It is time.

The chill which had come from the now-open, unnumbered room has now begun to seep into the rest of the Depths. It seems to call to the Titled, beckoning them to come forward and to face whatever is now beyond that door.

Fie and Rubedo were right - that room was, indeed, the exit to the Depths. And at the end of the staircase is a door, which the Skeleton Key can very easily open. A few seconds later, the door at the top of the stairs opens.

And the city within the cave below is revealed to them, as they stand on a platform high above the ground.



The ruin still looks as new as it did the day it was built. The air here is cold mountain air, though the only light seems to come from one massive building carved into the very rock of the cave. There is nothing coming from the mouth of the cave save for snow.

On the door they just came through is a single parchment of paper which reads "LEINALZIND OUTER DISTRICT." Each building, they will find, is labelled similarly. Which means there is only one conclusion.

Welcome to the city of Leinalzind, Titled. And good luck, teams.

You will need it.]

Comments

[bythewaves]

[ .................are they discernably human ashes or just. ashes. because that looks real bad from where he's standing ]

[strangerpeople]

[They are someone's ashes, though whether they are human is debatable. And they don't seem to be the only ones - there are several piles of clothing, circling the strange golem.]

[bythewaves]

[ That is HIGHLY UNNERVING is that golem looking at all functional ]

[strangerpeople]

[It doesn't look to be functional - or at least, however it works, it's not on right now.]

[bythewaves]

[ STILL UNNERVING.

How many bundles of clothes are there and is there anything of use in those piles. ]

[strangerpeople]

[Fifteen.

There is nothing of use in the piles.]

[bythewaves]

[ ... that is EVEN MORE Unnerving.

Fine. He's going to very cautiously examine that golem then. From behind. Does it look to even the slightest bit be turn-on-able or have any obvious switches or levers ]

[strangerpeople]

[No, though the gem seems to be glowing. That looks to be its power source, even if there otherwise seems to be no discernible way to turn it on.

What do you do now?]

AREA CLEAR

[strangerpeople]

cw: possible indications of animal abuse

[strangerpeople]

[There is - a pack of half-starved, sick dogs, all stuck in cages. When they see Killua, they go insane, banging against the cage and yelping with glazed eyes and aching bellies.]

[bythewaves]

[ On the one hand, he is definitely going to regret this.

On the other... well.

What happens when he pokes the shiny gem. ]

[zephyranthe]

[Oh hey. It's this guy.]

Pretty sure we did. But its body was gone the week later, so I guess this explains where it moved.

[But anyways... goddammit why didn't she bring any of Papyrus' bread in case. Well let's... chat with a dragon?]

Yup. You're still alive?

[carries_war]

[Bork bork! Sisi grabs the offered food and runs off to eat as Jr. walks up and looks into the barrel, before reaching in and grabbing something. Don't mind him talking with his mouth full, food that isn't people!]

Damn, forget what I found, this is the most important discovery here!

[strangerpeople]

[The dragon shifts, though it's pretty clear it's not really going anywhere. It doesn't seem to have the strength or ability to do so.]

SoME of uS aRe...stiLl...yeS.

[It's voice is flanging, with a very strong hint of a..Swedish? Norwegian?...northern icy area accent.]

NOt...the drAGon. HE is dEaD.

[strangerpeople]

[Well...Mags will definitely feel a strange sensation of...warmth. Coming from the gem. Heated, somehow. Aside from that, nothing.]

[zephyranthe]

[I don't even know if Norwegians or Swedes exist in Zemuria um. Oh well. He'll just be that not-dragon dude with the weird accent to her. But from the battle, she vaguely recalls all those different people that were kind of stuck inside the dragon, so...]

So you guys are all still trapped in there?

[sucks bro]

[bythewaves]

[ ... Warm is better than burning or activating machine to kill everyone.

Is the gem removable. If not, is there anything else interesting in the room ]

[strangerpeople]

yEs. AlL of Us...tOO mANy.

I stIlL heAr thEm. TheiR scREAms. ThE drAGon as...ThEY foRceD uS into HiS miNd...i wAs oNcE a MAN. A NoRD.

NoW...I aM ThiS. NoThINg beFOre, iS lIke...tHis.

[lightnen]

[ Despite all his senses being on alert, it didn't quite prepare Killua for the dogs that started banging against the cages abruptly, not initially having seen them before now.

It took only one look at how crazed they were acting, yelping in such a desperate manner while trying to get to him that he could tell these dogs weren't at all taken care of well.

Did that mean those implements could have been used on the dogs too? ]

...If I had anything I could give you, I would have already. Can't believe they're treating animals like this.

[ Shaking his head, Killua turned his attention from the poor dogs and looked around the room, seeing if there was more to this or if he'd found everything here besides the dogs here. ]

[strangerpeople]

[The gem is removable, but it's pretty big, so be careful!

And otherwise, no, Mags has explored everything in this room to see!]

[zephyranthe]

[Actually, the term Nord pings her because... there's a place she knows of with that name. Still, he doesn't sound like he's from the Nord Highlands, and she hella hopes that he isn't because that would... suck for Gaius.]

How'd the dragon manage to do that?

[strangerpeople]

ThE draGon? No...tHE ThaLMoR. tHey...diD soMEthiNG to us ALl. tO the DraGoN, To eVeRYone tHey HaD.

tHey...i Do nOt KnoW hOw. TerrIbLE maGic. NEcROmanCy? pErhAPs.

[zephyranthe]

Thalmor...?

[...]

Can you spell that?

[...Look, this is important okay]

[strangerpeople]

[...hm]

T...H...A...L...M...O...R...?

[zephyranthe]

Okay, got it. Thanks.

How many of you were there when that magic happened?