The Great Tower was the central piece of transportation for the entire Dungeon.

If one unfocused their eyes, it was a gigantic cylinder with a clock as its crown at the first floor, a megastructure a thousand feet across and several dozen times as tall, further than anyone could see up or down.

If one focused, they’d see a dizzying network of moving parts within and without, framed by a great shell of stations and pulley systems.

The outer rim was covered in square metal cages, thousands of them, arrayed in tight formations, stopping wherever the platforms around it allowed, to pick up individuals and small cargo like simple luggage. The inner ring was a latticework of countless metal beams framing moving platforms, for larger cargo like supplies, or simply large crowds. The center ring of platforms was the biggest and hardest to get access to, used for moving gigantic shipments of steel, stone, and machinery, right in the center of the tower.

Even now, all around them, she could see small bridges of metal extend from the metal plates around the Great Tower, inching towards it, locking to platforms, lifts and cages, before retracting with well-oiled mechanisms once they were clear.

It was just as jaw-dropping and terrifying to behold now, as it was the first time.

A touch on her elbow startled her, and she spewed mana around herself by reflex with an involuntary jerk, only to relax when she realized it was just Kat holding their tickets, gesturing towards their lift.

As they moved forward, she lingered on the ticket that Kat shoved into her hand, crumpling it a little as she reached up to tug her hood down.

It was so fucking loud.

There were so many people here.

It made her intensely uncomfortable.

She shoved the ticket into her pants pocket. Twenty coppers per person, ten for pets and animals smaller than a person. One silver for them in total, because Scruffy was considered more of a pet than a person, at least generally.

A week’s worth of labor for a factory worker, if she remembered right. A long trip with the lifts was expensive, but it was worth it.

Hopefully.

She couldn’t help but feel some frustration at paying for what was once built to be a public commodity. The Kingdom had built the tower without expectation of pay.

But of course, gangs existed, so like the leeches they were, they grabbed on and refused to let go.

The cage, or lift, stayed open for another ten minutes after they had settled into their corner. Some people came in after them, a small group. They gazed at her in particular with an air of caution that made her stiffen, tensing.

Not even one fifth full, the lights above the lift’s doors began flashing in warning.

A minute later, they closed, and she let the eye on her neck gaze out into the passing world from beneath the murk of her cloak, drawing comfort from Katherine’s hand occasionally grasping her wrist, as if she could feel her tense discomfort but couldn’t quite help her with it beyond a bit of token affection.

She still appreciated it.

She whispered the instructions to herself occasionally, mildly paranoid she would forget them, and before long, they were in front of the church in question, legs aching and chest tight.

She had been expecting a little chapel, maybe a place of prayer.

This was more of a cathedral.

A gothic structure made of metal, painted pitch black in anti-corrosive paint, nary a single nail nor welding mark upon its complex surface, towering within its shadowed crypt of buildings, its black, aggressive spires just mere feet below walkways and weaves of wire.

For such a majestic building to be nestled within such tight confines was a strange thing to see. This looked like something that should be towering over a square, a marketplace flanking it on either side.

Despite the tight alleys around it however, there were still people here.

Outside the gates were two men wearing feathered cloaks, standing at ease on their posts beside the massive double doors, the crow-shaped masks upon their faces leering eerily at passersby, the giant round goggles glinting in the sparse light.

Or maybe it was her imagination.

As they walked forward, she caught glimpses of more feather headed men patrolling around the building and alleys, likely to ease the worries of the worshippers, or simply to declare their presence.

As they neared, she noted what kind of people would attend a gathering of the Six-Eyed Crow’s church.

It was rather surprising to see that it was mostly groups. Few people walked alone in the Dungeon if they could afford not to, of course, but it was such an… ordinary sight, to see a family going to a church, no matter how weary their eyes as they passed them.

Or a young girl flanked by two tall, hard-eyed men that resembled her, likely her brothers. Something normal outside, but scarce below.

This was a place where a sense of community existed, at least enough for people to trust bringing their relatives.

She could have sworn she heard cawing as they neared, and her brows furrowed a little.

They walked up the steps, and just as they were about to pass, a guard extended a gloved, armored hand to indicate they should stop, his beady-eyed mask trained right on her.

Of course, the doors were far too wide to be blocked by one man’s arm, but it was the spirit of the gesture.

They both paused, but she stayed calm. The man didn’t seem aggressive, even his gesture was rather slow, almost reluctant.

“Greetings, brother forgotten. I’m afraid that golem parts are rather frowned upon, within these halls. The taint of the Dungeon has no place within a holy place. Can you remove it?”

She opened her mouth, closed it, licked her lips.

...Should she be offended he thought she was a man?

“She is blind. It is the only way she has to see.” Katherine spoke out for her, and both guards eyed her own eye with a sense of hesitant… stiffness. Disgust or wariness, she couldn’t tell from under their layers.

“Alright. But do use it as little as possible. Have your friend assist you if you must. We have no reason to give its eyes more than they already see.” The guard finished, his voice thrice-muffled by his mask, giving it a rather intimidating, distorted trill, and with that cryptic wording, he lowered his hand and nodded to them.

She shut off the eye for a bit as they climbed up the stairs just to appease them, sending out small pulses of mana, just enough for her to feel vague shapes within a six foot radius. It was enough to not embarrass herself.

Then they were inside, and Katherine gasped, her steps pausing beside her.

She flicked the eye open, and her brows raised high, her jaw slackening.

“Whoah…”

They sat in the middle of a long, twenty foot wide walkway that separated the pews on either side. The floor looked oddly twisted, glittering like an expanse of glass shards melted back together..

Maybe it was, she couldn’t tell.

Above them, a solid hundred feet tall, stood the half-cylindrical ceiling, supported by spiraling metal pillars twisting like metallic ropes, four feet wide each, pierced through by jagged metal spears, dozens of them for each pillar, uneven and seemingly randomly placed. Their speartips were capped with powerful light crystals, lighting up the whole church.

And upon every spear sat a murder of crows, cawing and croaking and preening, swooping down to observe the worshippers, some of them even landing on people’s heads and shoulders, pecking at their hair or hats.

The half-cylindrical ceiling ended at a dome, highlighting the altar at the forefront of the church and the massive church organ that loomed over it. She could see various spots where the ceiling just opened up to the Dungeon above whenever a crow would get near it, an automatic enchantment that baffled her.

From the center of the dome extended a massive chain that held a chandelier, except instead of crystals, from its chains hung two semi-circles of gleaming silver bowls, where hundreds and hundreds of crows sat and ate, two diligent servants scooping up any falling feed or feathers that drifted down to the altar.

Her gaze wandered back up to the pillars.

From some spears hung strange dream-catchers, woven spiderwebs of rope and glittering glass, while from some others hung nets full of gleaming silver coins, shiny bottle caps, burnished bronze, small skulls, fragments of broken mirrors. On either side of the altar, just before the pews, were two long tables, where she could see people go up to and offer up whatever they wished to part with.

There were not many people in the church right now, little less than a dozen, spread out healthily over the massive cathedral. But she could see some of them up front.

She saw a man go to said tables and give the broken bottom of a bottle, a girl a few copper coins, another giving a furry coat.

The only thing that was rejected by one of the altar servants was from a man who tried to give a bag of something to the table and was turned away with it held in his hands.

The lights from the spears and the chandelier covered in feeding bowls glittered off the floor, the metal surfaces, the black-painted pews, the dreamcatchers, giving off a bizarre effect like the fragmented insides of a colorless kaleidoscope, or light reflecting into a flat surface through shifting water.

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It was nowhere near strong enough to be blinding, but the inside was bright, brighter than she was used to or was expecting from the half-lit windows of the cathedral.

“What on Ergos…?” Katherine mumbled, taking a hesitant step forward, and Emhreeil let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

“This is incredible.” She murmured, and then startled when a black form rushed down from above to noisily flap above her head, and land on Katherine’s, who jerked and hunched her shoulders in surprise, a half-aborted motion leaving her hands half-raised as she tried to look up at the…

No, that wasn’t a crow, that was a raven. It was way too big to be a crow.

It croaked oddly as it shifted on Katherine’s head, trying to find its balance, wings spread out in case it fell.

She just turned her torso towards the spectacle to stare.

Katherine’s hands lowered, giving her a wide eyed look that screamed ‘help me’, which she ignored because what was she supposed to do? Shoo away the holy bird that had chosen Katherine as its perch? That would likely get them kicked out.

“Uh. Just leave it?” She suggested with a small shrug.

Then the bird cawed, a very, very strange caw mixing with a trill.

Katherine didn’t seem to notice anything wrong with it, but she did.

She was the one who had to mentally translate unintelligible animal noises into words enough times to be able to connect the caw-trill sound into something that sounded like ‘hello’.

Still, she wasn’t sure if she’d heard right. It felt like she was just hearing something and giving it meaning in translation.

“What?” She asked, somewhat dumbly, and the raven turned to her.

It let out the same noise, slightly altered, a croaking trill this time, and it was unmistakable.

It was literally saying ‘hello’. Quite cheerily as well, if she could ascribe human aspects to its behavior.

Katherine’s brows furrowed as her eyes moved up to the raven, then down to her and back, mouth open in confusion.

“Are you intelligent?” She asked, bluntly, and she got her answer when the bird’s eyes seemed to sharpen even further, its gaze shifting down to stare very pointedly at her… hips?

No, her pockets, where the golem core and compass were.

She sucked a breath through her teeth, suddenly nervous.

What the fuck was this place?

The raven jerked its head towards the altar, and she turned to see a man emerge from behind the metal statue of shifting fabric and feathers, the only one she’d seen with their face uncovered.

Then he began walking towards them.

Thankfully, the walkway was long, so she had time to glance back at the bird, curious and disturbed.

Unfortunately, whatever hint of higher intelligence she’d seen in its eyes seemed to have left. It just kept repeating ‘hello’ over and over again, pecking at Katherine’s hair occasionally as her friend stiffly stood there, unsure of what to do or if she was even supposed to move.

It took two minutes for the old man to reach them, a kind-faced, gray-haired individual with a mild smile on his face, feathered cloak swaying with his steps.

“Greetings, sisters forgotten. I saw you sitting here, lost. Is there something that troubles you? Any troubling dreams, any odd objects you’d like to part with?” He asked, and she realized what he was doing.

Still, shouldn’t they at least get some privacy? This felt a bit strange to just… do in the open.

She nodded.

“Yes. Are you the bishop of this church?” She asked with confidence she wasn’t quite feeling, and the man’s smile widened as he nodded.

She squared her shoulders.

“There are some things that trouble me… Father. And some things I’d like off my hands.” She started haltingly, unsure of church-speak. She had seen the Dove Church’s naming conventions. Did the Crow’s Church use the same?

Judging by his demeanor, she didn’t offend.

“I saw a… dream. I saw a ghoul on a conveyor belt, and it turned around to smile at me.” She said, and the man’s brows straightened, his smile shifting a little.

“I see. What would you like to be rid of?” He asked, quietly, and she briefly glanced around them.

Strangely, nobody seemed to be paying attention to them. But she couldn’t feel any magic around. Coincidence, hopefully?

“I’d like to part with these. If you understand.” She added, and with stretching fingers, managed to squeeze both the golem core and the compass into her hand without dropping either as she presented them, blindly hoping that she wasn’t about to give away something as precious as an untouched golem core.

That thing was usually worth at least fifty silvers, half of a gold coin. Enough to buy a half-decent, detachable prosthetic.

The bishop’s eyes glanced around, the motion so quick and violent that it was disturbing considering how still the rest of him looked, smile included.

His hands came up from beneath his cloak, and gingerly took the ‘offerings’, a crystal-looking ball covered in runic scratches, and the plain-looking compass. With sleight of hand she wasn’t expecting, a single ring was dumped onto her hand, more felt than seen, as if just materializing above her palm.

“Compensation.” He clearly whispered without his lips moving whatsoever, and she could only wonder how he did that.

Her attention turned to the jewel for a moment, a rather plain thing with a simple crystal at its top and a silver body. A faint sensation registered a moment later, the prickly feel of mana compressed into the silver touching her hand.

She stiffened in surprise, her fingers slamming shut around it.

An enchanted ring for a golem’s core? That was… a good deal. An amazing deal, even, depending on what exactly the ring did.

As inconspicuously as she could, she snuck the ring into her left pocket.

“Hm. Is there perhaps some wish you might make of The Crow, in light of your generous donation?” He asked as he openly cradled her ‘donation’, and it took her a moment to realize what he was asking.

The man in the sewer mentioned a minor favor. And she was going to cash in.

“I’d wish… very fervently, that The Crow might let me meet a vampire who could turn me. I’ve already… set on the path, so to speak.” She breathed out, just loud enough for him to hear.

He simply nodded, not a twit of surprise on his face.

“We shall ask.” He whispered again through closed lips, and they all stood there awkwardly for a moment, unsure of if there was more to say.

The man extended his arm to the raven on Katherine’s head and the bird took the offer, hopping off to perch on his wrist.

“Farewell, sisters forgotten. Come back whenever, should you wish to know more about The Crow. Or perhaps simply to bring the little one to play with the other little troublemakers. And remember… should you find an unwanted soul, a scavenger, or something cursed and spurned by fate, do direct them to us. The Crow protects the unwanted.” He said, glancing at Scruffy with a slight smile, whose eyes widened, half-hidden behind Kat’s leg.

She was surprised by his demeanor towards Scruffy. Most public establishments, and even some places of worship as far as she knew, didn’t even allow goblins in them. Or maybe that was just The Dove?

The odd duo simply walked away, the raven mindlessly cawing its greetings to the bishop as he laughed heartily and stroked its head.

She turned her torso to face Katherine, and noticed her blank, empty stare, tainted with a hint of confusion.

She swallowed.

“Well that was… a lot faster and less troublesome than I thought it would be.” She said, and her words seemed to shake Kat back into awareness. They didn’t really have anything to say, so they just turned and walked away, out of the cathedral, back out into the open square.

“That whole place was really creepy. It screamed 'witchcraft' enough to make my skin crawl... What did he give you?” Katherine whispered as they wove through the thinning crowds.

“I’m not sure. It’s an enchanted ring, but I can’t really test what it does out in public. I’ll wait until we find some place to sleep.”

Katherine nodded, straightening the backpack on her back.