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

[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?

[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.

[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]

[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.

[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?

[strangerpeople]

DOzeNs...

[zephyranthe]

[Hmm... well okay. But maybe now she'll try to Present Evidence to this guy?? Like the scroll, the weird red gem they found in Eric's room and the note with the handprint]

Does any of this stuff look familiar?

[strangerpeople]

...tHat...! ELder....sCroll...!!

[zephyranthe]

[Well, that's a reaction. She'll hold it up more.]

You know what this thing is?

[strangerpeople]

YeS...wHat dOes it sAY??

[zephyranthe]

I dunno. Last time I tried to look at it, it blinded me. Can you read it?

[TIME TO FLASH IT IN HIS FACE TO BLIND PEOPLE AW YEAH]

[strangerpeople]

[S K R E E]

N O I CanNot HuRTs...TiME...dRagoNS aRe...!!

yOu Must haVe...AncEstOR GRoVe...

[zephyranthe]

[Oh uh. Well that doesn't sound good. She'll just. Put it away now.]

...It hurts time?

[What the fudge are you saying man, she doesn't get it]

[strangerpeople]

ThiS bOdy...SuSceptibLe to ChanGes in TiMe...drAgons...aRe aFFectED by tiMe DIffERENtly thAn oThers, eVen in jUSt this bOdY wiTh no DraGOn souL...tHEy fEEl it...and eLdEr SCrollS...tHEy can CHanGe tImE...

[thiscomicsucks]

[ F I E ]

Wait, this scroll can alter time? How does that even work?

[zephyranthe]

[CAN'T STOP WON'T STOP

...........................................But well, this thing is. Actually a pretty big deal, huh.

Well! Nice to know that the scroll has a utility aside from just blinding people.]

So we could travel to the past using this?

[Or could they bring back the people who were gone...?]

[strangerpeople]

No, iT...chAngEs what iT WiLl, you caNNot conTroL the knOwLedGE withIN...bUt...iT beIng heRE...thERe is aLWayS a ReaSOn an ElDer sCRolL aPpeArs. iT aPpeARs whEn it mUst...

[thiscomicsucks]

...So...this scroll...appeared because it was supposed to?

[To Fie.]

I don't remember seeing anything like that with our group. Where did you find this one?

[zephyranthe]

Did you have a room with a tree and chickens and stuff? 'Cause I found it in a hole in the roof.

[zephyranthe]

[So they can't use it like that... damn. Still, it sounds like there are other instances of Weird Things Happening before, maybe?]

Like what kind of reason?

[strangerpeople]

a tIme of GrEat chANge.