eswareinmal | Level 5: Things that are all too common [Orb / GHB 15]

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Level 5: Things that are all too common [Orb / GHB 15]

Hey guys! Did you know that there's a basement to Hero House?!

[[The background is pretty dark, the glow of something just to the side making it so Bakura can be seen, but not much else]]

I found the door to it in the kitchen, it was shut up pretty tight and since it's a trap down to get down here, it was pretty easy to miss! Looks like there's a pantry down here, though I'm sure everything's old and rotted by now. Sure smells that way! [[Yet he's so very very cheerful]] Looks like it runs the length of the house too! I'm going to go--

[[He pauses, turning to look behind him and moment in silence before turning back to the orb]] Thought I heard something.. though I guess if anyone's upstairs it would--

[[There's a suddenly strange sound like a wind that can be heard quite loudly through the orb as Bakura gives a small exclamation, the image going crazy as if the orb was knocked into, showing the ceiling above, then the dim stone walls, then nothing at all as everything goes black.]]

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[[Bakura peers, raising his light up]] I can't tell... I think-- aa! Here, that looks like it has a hook for a lamp of some sorts, doesn't it?

[[Or something anyway. It's some sort of hook.]]

I guess since it's just a basement, they just brought individual lights down, rather than leave any behind...?

It's possible. If the house was old enough, and if they only ever expected to send servants down here anyway, I can't see why they would waste money on extras down here.

[She turned and shone her light back the way they'd come from, and then shrugged a little.]

Honestly, even my most educated guess is just that. I don't know nearly enough about human cultures and customs that are not, well. Modern, where I'm from. I never spent a great deal of time studying living races. My specialty has always been the Protheans, and they've been extinct for around 50,000 years.

And this place doesn't exactly follow any logic outside of a storybook...

[[He pauses, a small shiver running through him before he rubs at his arms]] I think there must be a draft somewhere...

Hmm.

[She turns, looking around slowly.]

I don't see anything odd. Well, that I recognize as out of place, at least. Let's check the side rooms. Perhaps one has a chute or something?

It'd have to be a pretty big one to cause a draft, I'd think! Though that could be pretty cool to find. Like a series of underground mines or something?

[[The first of the side rooms is clearly servants quarters. A small shabby bed, a small desk with a cheep lamp and a few books on it and a small dresser all but filled the room, leaving it a bit cramped feeling.]]

They could be used to move materials, if there was cooking done down here, or heating.

[She moves over to examine the desk for anything of any interest, papers or the like.]

Is there anything left in there?

[She pointed at the dresser.]

[[He walks over, pulling open each drawer]] Doesn't look like it...

[[There was only one paper, the start of a letter talking about an impending holiday and the writer coming home to see her family. The books were what looked like pulp novels, much like the ones in the king's library.]]

Alright.

[She shook her head.]

Let's check the next room. Might find something in one of them, and since we're already down here...

Worth a try! They likely wouldn't have cleaned them all out, right?

[[Though the other two rooms showed a similar lack of anything interesting. However...]]

Ne... This room's the same as the one across from it... but there's another one next to that other one where as this one is the last in the row. You'd think there'd be another room on this side to match up...

[Liara frowns, looking at the ceiling.]

We should still be under the house.

[She looks back the way they came from, shining her light over the walls.]

And there's nowhere else I see that isn't at least predominantly symmetrical, either.

A hidden room, maybe? Maybe like.. aaa, I forget what they were called, where they would sacrifice someone to ensure the building would be sound!

...though that's a little dark for a place like this...

This is a place being overrun by thorns that aren't touched by fire or any other normal means to fight invasive plant life.

[In other words, whatever the city is like, Dark is just around the corner.]

Still, there are any number of reasons to close off a room. I'm not sure I'd call it hidden, or they'd have sealed off both of the back rooms with a wall across the hall, I'd think. Then you'd never notice the missing door.

[She's examining the wall, now, looking at it, feeling it with her fingers.]

The other rooms...their doors line up, don't they?

[She turns, and moves opposite of the door to the unpaired room.]

Shall we try knocking? Magic doors respond to that kind of thing, don't they?

Sometimes! Worth a try, at the very least!

Stand back. Just in case.

[She waits for a moment, and then knocks where the door seems like it should be with one hand, the other pointing her light at the lower half of the wall, in case it does open.]

[[There's no motion, but a chill breeze seems to blow through the room, making Bakura shiver. It sounds hollow enough behind the wall, as if she would have knocked on any of the other walls with rooms behind them.]]

...Should we get something to make a hole, do you think? I've never broken into a sealed room before...

[Liara pushed on the wall for a moment, and then shook her head, smiling.]

Breaking into sealed rooms is something of a specialty of mine, actually. Though I don't think this one has been closed up for several hundred centuries.

[She stepped back, looking over the wall closely, tapping on it as she walked back and forth along it.]

I think I could probably just knock a hole here, as long as I am careful of the supports.

[[Bakura nodded, also moving back out of the way]]

Need me to get anything?

Not yet. But you should stand back.

[Surrounded by a sudden wash of blue light, she pulls back her fist and drives it into the wall where the door should be, a concussion wave rippling out from where her fist makes contact. This kind of punch can knock over a Krogan...putting a hole in a wall should be cake.]

[[Even standing back, Bakura jumps, instinctively putting up a shield to protect the rest of the building from the shock of the impact. Even still, the house seems to shake as the wall falls, a cloud of dust wafting up and bringing with it an very unpleasant smell.

When the dust clears, a small room, near identical to the other three can be seen in the light shining inward.

With one very distinct difference.

The bed of this room is occupied. A thin skeleton, half curled up on the very stained and half rotted mattress underneath it. ]]

[Part of the wall, part of the wall. Liara throws a slightly sheepish look over her shoulder at Bakura as the dust settled. Shining her light into the room, it only took a moment to notice the remains. She froze.]

Goddess.

[She motioned for Bakura to stay back, though not really to keep him from seeing the body.]

Do humans leave their dead laying about normally?

[She looked back at him.]

Because I've never heard of anything like that.

[[Bakura had pulled his shirt up to cover his nose and mouth at the horrible smell and dust, resulting in a slightly muffed voice]]

No... normally they get cremated or burred, almost always with something to signify where their remains are....

Maybe there really was a sacrifice to the building... [[He hadn't expected to be right about that. It was actually a little disconcerting to think that the people here were capable of something like that... or worse...!]]

But why furnish a room meant only for a sacrifice?

[After a moment, she steps forward, through the hole, and moves carefully to the bedside. When she speaks again, it's not at Bakura.]

What happened to you?

[She knelt by the bed, to get a better look at the body.]

Sometimes rooms like that were filled with offerings or distractions... normally if they used a child, there'd be toys and games in there so that the child wouldn't realize what was going on...

[[It's a little difficult to get a clear picture of the past from the poor state the skeleton was in. The conditions seemed to have been just right to expedite the decay, leaving little but bones behind. But a close look at the skull would show the distinct mark of damage. A blow to the head.]]

Hmm.

[Gently, she reaches out to feel the edge of the hole. Her expertise was more technological, because of the nature of her studies, but she was still a trained archaeologist.]

You don't have to distract someone after hitting them over the head. I am not sure if this would have been fatal, but it caused damage.

[She leans over a little more, moving down the body, trying to spot any other signs of damage to the bones.]

Is there anything on the desk, or in the drawers? Don't remove anything, we simply want to know who this is.

[[The rest of the skeleton was was would be expected from someone living in that realm. Closer examination showed it was a woman's skeleton. Average height and in decent health before she died, nothing to hint at any hardship suffered before the one that had ended her life.

[[Bakura carefully steps over the pile of debris before going to the drawers]] No... they're all empty... It doesn't look like anyone was living here when they sealed it up....

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