After walking for so long any change was exciting. Scott did enforce the idea they should not get reckless and rush ahead, as treasure probably meant danger. But even he was walking a little faster now.
It wasn’t long before what appeared to be the end of the tunnel was in sight. At a distance it was the lack of glowing web that cued them in, and as the party got closer they actually found a closed set of what appeared to be double doors, lacking any handles. It wasn’t a mimic, Cyn made sure of that, but it did seem a little on the small side. Dana and Hex would have to duck slightly to walk through it. Like the mimic, however the doors appeared in suspiciously good condition and completely free of web, as if they did not belong there or someone was doing upkeep on them.
“Maybe we did manage to just stumble on a way out of here.” Hex sounded…disappointed. Had he actually wanted to fight his way through the infested tunnel? And also wasn’t this the direction he had sensed treasure?
Scott approached the door first and reached out to touch it, then the Guardian pulled his hand back with a shake of his head. “Doesn’t look like it. I assume when you touched the other door, Sam, you got a message?” The Warrior nodded in response and Scott continued speaking as they all looked over the door, “Don’t see a way to open it. There's not even many gaps to try and pry it open.”
Dana walked up and just knocked while Scott and Hex were looking for some way to get the doors open. As she did, they heard a series of mechanical whirrs and clinks that had the entire party scrambling backward, readying their weapons in alarm. The sounds only lasted a few seconds before a small, previously invisible, panel opened in the wood.
Out of the panel shot a small ball of light that touched the ground right in front of the door, and changed into a three dimensional image of a small person. ‘Person’ in the sense the translucent hologram was humanoid shaped. The image itself was about two and a half to three feet tall, and appeared to be clad in a set of full plate armor, including a helmet that fully covered its face. It also carried a sword on its hip and a shield on its back. For a few moments the party and hologram appear to just stare at each other silently, with the image only moving its head to look at each one of them in turn.
Dana spoke first, seemingly to the party and not their newest addition, “Maybe I should stop touching strange stuff.”
Before any of them could respond to her the image spoke back, its voice too neutral to determine gender. “Perhaps not, Archer. If your friends had actually tried to pry open the door it would have activated our defensive measures. And it would be a pity to have to kill you, since we have not had guests in a long time.”
Cyn had suspected the hologram was not a recording based on it appearing to actually look at each of them, but that they seemed to speak the same language was a surprise. Maybe they were from the same dimension, or it was because they were inside a dungeon?
Scott spoke up, taking a diplomatic route, “Apologies to you and yours. Didn’t know there was anything smart enough to talk living down here, and we were just looking for a way out. Do you happen to know one?”
The image turned to peer at Scott a moment before seeming to believe the Guardian was being sincere. “Apology accepted, as no harm was done. As for a way out, no, I don’t know where one is. There is one somewhere in the mine, but I believe our last guests said it was destroyed or damaged beyond their ability to repair by the Illuminants.” The image paused a moment before continuing, “I have been given permission to allow you to enter our city, so long as you pass the admittance scan, and you can ask the remaining miners yourself.”
Scott was nodding along slowly with the hologram's words. “And what is this admittance scan?”
“It is standard procedure.”
“It gonna hurt, damage, or steal from us in any way?”
“It will be uncomfortable. Should you fail we simply will not open the doors, and so long as you leave peacefully no harm will be done.”
“Excuse us a moment, we have to discuss this before making any decisions.” The hologram nodded, as if it expected as much, and vanished. The panel on the doors also closed as the Guardian quickly held up his hand, gesturing for the party to follow him back down the tunnel a ways.
Once they stopped what was hopefully far enough away to not be overhead Scott spoke. “Sounds like a standard quest set up. I bet those miners it's talking about send us where we already know we need to go.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. The hologram had not been particularly subtle about it. Sam spoke up, “We should still enter the city, shouldn’t we? We might learn more, or at the very least maybe get some supplies?”
“I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of strapped for cash for supplies.” Dana’s words actually made Cyn want to enter the city more, reminding her how starved of basic information they all were. Would they even use paper money? A barter system? She really wanted answers.
Scott also thought they should enter the city. “Even if we can’t get supplies, the miners might have some insider information that makes the boss easier on us. A weakness of some kind.”
Cyn spoke up, having had another idea that made entering the city make sense. “A city is also bound to have at least a few professionals. Without knowing how long we will be stuck in this dungeon, we might want to consider picking up a profession ourselves depending on the options.”
Hex agreed with that reasoning immediately. “If cooking is available to learn, I’m doing it. I don't care how long it takes. Anything to never have to put one of those wafers in my mouth ever again.”
No one needed to be convinced further after the Rogue’s comment. The wafers were truly heinous. Now that Cyn thought about it, that might be the point. They were so bad that it encouraged them to take time learning new skills. The same could be said about the underwhelming potions, the poor quality enchant on their waterskin, and even the fact they had been thrown into this with limited starter gear. Just enough gear to let them know useful gear existed , but still making them fight in practically just street clothes at first. Or in Sam’s case, nearly naked.
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All in agreement, they walked back to the doors. Scott seemed to naturally want to take the lead and knocked. Moments later the hologram was back, looking at them expectantly. “Are you ready for the admittance exam?” The party nodded, and a second small panel opened. “I thought so. Please stand still in front of the scanner, one at a time. I will let you know when it is acceptable to move again.”
Hex got in front of the newly opened panel first, the rest of the party moving to be against the far wall to watch.. After a few instructions from the hologram to get him into a better position, a laser-like beam of light shone out and moved rapidly across the Rogue’s body in a systematic pattern. Hex jerked slightly when it first hit him, but was able to remain still for the entire minute the scan took.
As soon as the laser disappeared the hologram spoke. “Pass. You may move now. Next guest please.” Hex warned the party it felt like when Cyn had used Inspect on him, and was probably a better version of it if this city was actually able to see anything about them. The warning helped each of them brace for each of their own scans, and the script repeated identically for Scott and Dana. Sam was told his Illuminant rope, still being worn wrapped around his chest, would be confiscated if he took it inside. With no real recourse, it would be left a little down the hallway while they visited the city. Even if it was gone by the time they came back, the party knew where to get more.
Cyn was the last one to be scanned. Once it was over, instead of the expected script from the hologram, she got a sight filling pop-up.
Cogtopia has requested to view skill: [ Freeform Mana Casting (Unique)(Passive)]
Requesting entity will be unable to use or alter skill.
Do you accept?
[Accept][Refuse]
“The scan has flagged a non-standard skill and labeled it as potentially dangerous. It is standard procedure in this case to have our council manually evaluate your threat potential. Please accept the prompt to allow them to look at a detailed description of it.” For the first time the hologram’s voice changed, from its neutral tone to one of surprise. Between the formality it displayed during the scanning process, to the delay before speaking after Cyn’s scan, she suspected it may be reading from a literal script. Ignoring the very intense stares from her silent party she quickly accepted the prompt and watched the scanning panel on the doors close.
“Thank you, you may move now. It may take time for the council to come to an agreement about if you have passed the scan due to the circumstances. Our welcome committee is ready to receive four of you, if you are ready.”
Cyn’s party quickly shook their heads, except for Hex. He hesitated a moment before asking, “If I go inside, will I be informed once a decision is reached?” Scott tried to smack him in the back of the head, but Hex was easily able to sidestep the Guardians hand. The Rogue’s reflexes had improved.
“So long as you make yourself easy to find, that should not be a problem to arrange. I am sure we can…” The hologram trailed off, leaving the party waiting for it to continue a few seconds later. “Nevermind. Due to her low level and lack of evolutions, the council has unanimously agreed the Mage Cynthia Price is not a threat. All of you have passed the admittance scan.”
Some part of Cyn’s pride felt a bit insulted at being deemed ‘not a threat’ unanimously, but it's not like the council was wrong. She really wasn’t a threat to anyone…yet. She was pretty sure most people would agree that a healer should not be threatening, but Cyn was quickly gaining the determination to be the most threatening healer anyone had ever seen. A desire totally not born out of sheer spite.
“Are we ready, then?” Scotts question was aimed at the party, though he was still giving the stink eye to Hex. When they all agreed, the hologram vanished and the whirring noise started up again, this time accompanied by even more electrical and mechanical sounds. Slowly what the party had perceived as a pair of double doors began to rise up. It was a cleverly disguised portcullis. Even if they had noticed the odd gap between the ‘doors’ and ground, when closed the bottom of the portcullis sank deep enough to be nearly impossible to pry open from below.
The Guardian led them in cautiously walking through the opening and into a large room drastically different from the tunnel they came from. Dirt and web-covered cave gave way to polished gray stone floors and ceiling. The walls were marble-like, shining white where they were visible. Taking up either side of the room was a mass of machinery, a chaotic looking mix of old fashioned looking gears and cogs alongside what appeared to be an almost modern computer display. Directly across from where the party entered there was another archway, and from what Cyn could see it was an equally polished hallway.
More eye catching than the room itself, though, was the people in it. None taller than three feet, there were a dozen of them frantically running around. They all had exceptionally pale skin and hair, and the proportions Cyn would expect to see on an adult not a child. On a few she caught sight of small, pointed ears peeking out under their hair. One, seeming to be attempting to direct most of the others, had a wrinkled face as if he was elderly. So clearly they were just naturally sized that way. And Cyn was just guessing that one was a man based on his voice, the loud rasp easily distinguished from the general cacophony. As far as she could see, they lacked any visible characteristics normally used to indicate if they were male or female. By human standards, anyway. Everyone seemed to just be wearing loose tunics, pants, and shoes in neutral colors, except for one. One of the people was approaching the awestruck party directly from one of the machine monitors, removing a familiar helmet that matched its plate armor.
Cyn barely noticed however, as her attention was on what looked to be a very hastily painted series of colorful banners hanging above the archway ahead of them. There was even a giant roll of paper and other craft supplies sitting nearby, indicating exactly how last second this plan was. The final banner, paint rolling down in places as it was not even dry, was still being hung by a trio of the natives. They did not use a ladder and instead were precariously stacked atop one another's shoulders.
COGTOPIA WELCOMES NEW GUESTS
HENRY SMITH III
SCOTT BATES
DANA FOSTER
SAMUEL NGUYEN
CYNTHIA PRICE