Chapter 7 The Royal Saskatchewan Museum

Bill, Leeann and I had been sitting downstairs in one of the offices having a bite to eat as Bill and I discussed the museum. It was located on the corner of Albert Street and College Avenue. It was set back from both roads several hundred feet and the back of it opened onto the green trees of Wascana Park.

“Little factoid for you Omachiw. A long time ago where the museum is a large hotel was supposed to have been built. In fact, the foundations, basement and the steel framework of the first few floors of the hotel had been completed when the project was called off. At the time WW1 was happening and then the railway line building it went bankrupt. It was called The Chateau Qu’Appelle look here, this is what it was supposed to look like.”

Looking at the old pictures Bill had handed to me I listened as he continued to ramble on about the history of Regina.

“Fortunately, I managed to save a lot of the old historical documents that were being stored here as a lot of the Canadian works were in the public domain in Canada because their copyright had expired and the museum grabbed the files.”

“It was designed to be a grand structure as were most of the great Canadian railway hotels. In the end, the steel framework extended up 6 stories when the demolition occurred. The steel girders were recycled for use when the Hotel Saskatchewan was constructed downtown across from Victoria Park. The current Museum was constructed at an angle with a huge front yard because it was cheaper to put soil and grass over the basement than knock down the walls and pull up the pillars. There are thousands of feet of empty rooms buried 10 meters down. Weird shit eh.”

“The Queen city has a pretty cool history; the Hotel Saskatchewan has in its basement one of the diesel engines from a WW2 German U-boat. That is a story about how the hotel received the engine but I don’t know all the details.

I tuned out Bill but Leeann listened with interest as he also talked about the Texas Book Depository building in Dallas and how Regina had the same building built on Broad street the only difference was that it was a few stories shorter but the original layout was the same.

It was an interesting history of a world that did not exist. What did exist was the RSM across the street. “Hey Bill, those dioramas that you use to portal all over, didn’t you tell me a while ago that some of them have identical copies in the museum. Would it be possible to use one here to portal over there?”

Bill thought for a moment then said, “Sure it should work, but you would emerge in an unknown environment that we know nothing about. What we do know is that there is a strong magic what I call wild magic that manifests there. I cannot really tell you any more about it except that it does not respond to me.”

I thought about what Bill had just told me when Leeann suddenly spoke up, “Why are you doing this Omachiw, it is a death sentence, is it because I chose Bill over you?”

I looked at her with surprise and then shook my head and said, “Nope, the reality is that I have a task to do in this world, and the only way to do it is to become stronger than anything I might encounter. I need an edge and that is what I hope to find there. Having you chose Bill, I won’t lie, it hurt but at the same time, you two were meant for one another. I could not think of two other people who complement each other like you two.”

Bill was a little red-faced but spoke up and said, “Thanks, Omachiw, I appreciate that. Uh, this is a little weird but hey man, you are my friend.”

I stood and grabbed them both by the hand and said, “Listen I don’t know when I will be back but when I do I want to see a little one running around. Ignoring LeeAnn’s blushing face and Bills grin I squeezed their hands. "Right, enough of this snowflake shite, let's get this done, I will get my pack and then portal over, wish me luck.”

I was not one for big goodbyes and so minutes later I was upstairs in front of one of the dioramas. Turning I waved at Bill and Leeann and then stepped into the diorama. After a couple of seconds of darkness, I was in a warm environment, with the hum of nightlife all around me and the stars bright overhead. Looking behind me, I could see what looked like a curved wall, that would-be part of the museum proper. The diorama stretched behind me a world of its own.

I turned and made my way into the diorama world, my hope was to find a village and spy out the lay of the land. Maybe I would find some people to battle, the chance of getting a good drop was high. After spending about 8 hours exploring I was back at the museum, there was nothing in this jungle world that I could find.

I slowly stepped out of the diorama and stood for a moment, then slowly made my way down the passageway.

Soon I could hear movement and then smell the sharp odor of tobacco being smoked. With all the changes that had happened tobacco was now a plant that grew everywhere, it had mild properties that gave people a minor buzz. Cancer was not a problem anymore but for whatever reason, most humans did not smoke anymore. The Dwarves back east apparently smoked like a chimney. Go figure.

The hallway was in shadow and I moved silently, standing in front of me were two men, I could not tell the race, they were in front of a Diorama of a village, fires were burning and it was apparent that people were closing out the day. The 2 men were standing with their backs to me looking at the village, no one was paying any attention.

Sneaking up behind them I pulled out two knives and with one thrust I reversed the knives and hit both men just behind their ears with the heavy pommels.

I dropped the knives and grabbed both men and pulled them back deeper into the shadows. Retrieving my knives, I quickly searched both men. One had a few copper coins and some grey weapons. The other had two green bracers on, both had a +5 to strength.

Thank you, I thought as I made my way back to the diorama. Both of the men would be out for at least a couple of hours and the rawhide I had bound and gagged them with would keep them silent until I was done here. Stepping over the small railing that separated the diorama from the hallway I slowly made my way into this world.

The smell of wood smoke was heavy in the air from the many campfires. Making my way like a shadow from dwelling to dwelling I paused to listen before moving to the next, all I could hear was the sound of people ending their day. Soon I was at the place I had spotted, it was clearly the hut of the chief, this man would be a minor boss in this jungle, and while I had managed to stealth my way through the village I could expect a fight now.

I was strong and fast and had a few advantages but I knew that bosses had a high resistance to spells, and it usually meant that physical attacks would have to take him down. I could not count on my spells, so I methodically unloaded the Henry and then reloaded it with CCI shorts interspaced with tracers. Then I double checked the load in the Dominion Arms Raider 12 Gauge side by side shotgun pistol. I holstered it and then made my way to the entranceway. As I crouched in the shadows I screwed on the John Deere oil filter I had converted into a silencer onto the Henry.

I stood there for a few minutes and then slowly slid closer, sure enough, I could see two guards standing outside the closed door of the Chief and judging from the grunting I could hear coming through the door he was not alone. Damn it, it never gets easy.

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Deciding on my course of action, I chose to try to silence the 2 guards before I engaged in close combat with them. Sighting in on the throat of guard 1 I squeezed off the shot, then switching targets I popped another round off into guard 2. They both fell to their knees while grabbing their throats, but as I entered the room they both lurched upwards and drew their knives. Advancing on me I could see that they were done but before their bodies failed they would attempt to take me with them.

Sighting in on the closest I put one into his knee and watched it shatter as he fell back with an agonized moan. Fortunately, the chief was entertaining a screamer and I doubt he could hear anything but the girl. Moving my aim, I shot from 5 feet away and watched guard 2 jerk back as the tracer round flew into his eye socket and into his brain.

It had made a pretty green line as it traveled the few feet before killing the guard. Not taking time to stop I swung around to the first guard who was fading fast as his lungs filled up with blood. His hate-filled eyes glared into mine as I bent down and whispered, “Somnum.” Staring at him I slid the sharp point of my stiletto into his left ear and then with a twist withdrew it as the light faded from his eyes.

I did not enjoy killing, but I did not shy away from it. In this new world, it was them or me and I preferred it to be them. Taking a moment, I looted both bodies and found that both men had the same green ring on that gave +7 towards defense. The rest of their gear was alright but not what I would want.

Standing up I walked over to the bedroom door, the rhythmic pounding of the bed and the heavy yelping of a man was accompanied by the loud gasps and swap moans of a woman. I opened the door and slid in then closed the door. The room was lit by a number of candles which cast wild shadows of the two-people engaged in achieving the maximum benefit of the Coital alignment technique. Yep, the dude was really grinding the corn as they say.

They did not notice me standing by the door and I took a moment to observe the Chief. He was a large man with a heavy paunch but his arms were hugely swollen with muscle and he was tireless as he continued to stroke into the woman. His face was broad with fat lips and a receding hairline, in short, he looked like a Neanderthal.

The woman underneath was solid with muscle, but her breasts were full and firm and her face was fair. She to had high cheekbones but her eyes were slightly slanted and her hair was a deep coppery red. She had an exotic look and was pretty enough to be attractive to any man or woman who swung that way.

As I stared at them her eyes opened and she saw me standing there, but did not stop from moaning and thrusting her hips towards the chief. Once we made eye contact I sprung into motion using the lever action of the Henry repeater I managed to fire of about 7 shots into the chiefs back before he turned around a surprised look on his face. Seeing me he grimaced with hatred and tried to launch himself at me, the 7 bullets in his body not stopping him at all.

What did stop him was the girl, she wrapped her legs around his waist and squeezed, this allowed me to get 6 more bullets into the chief’s chest from close range. It was like shooting a grizzly, the 22 caliber bullets would eventually kill him but he would kill me first. I watched as he reached back and slapped the girl knocking her half off the bed.

While observing this I dropped the Henry onto its sling and pulled out the Dominion Arms Raider 12 Gauge side by side shotgun pistol from its holster and fired off one barrel straight into the chief’s head. Half his face exploded and he dropped onto the bed for a second before attempting to climb back up.

I had enough of this and walked over to the side of the bed and holding the gun under his chin I let go with the other barrel. The slug blew the top of his head right off, and I was able to see into the cranial cavity as the body fell to the side. The two shotguns blasts were terribly loud and I knew that sooner than later someone would be coming to investigate.

I quickly looted the body, finding 2 rings, of + 10 endurance and a necklace that gave + 8 to agility. No wonder the old boy could keep going like that, he was stacked for being a fighter but had clearly found other uses for his equipment. Knowing that this was a miniboss I knew I could expect to find some more items so I looked at the foot of the bed and there was a trunk covered up with fur.

Opening it I found it contained an old journal from B.C. and a couple of scrolls, pocketing them I also noted underneath everything was a whip. Opening it up I watched as it glowed with a fiery red light along its 12-foot length. It was a blue item called the Whip of Fire. I quickly coiled it and hung it from my belt, as soon as it was coiled the red glow was gone. Taking one more quick look around I saw that the girl was on her feet staring at me with a desperate look in her eyes. I shrugged and turned to leave when suddenly she was beside me grabbing my hand.

Looking at her I saw fear and confusion but the determination was also there. She lifted my hand and put it on her naked breast and then put it down then pointing at me she then pointed at herself and once again lifted my hand and held it to her chest. I gathered that she wanted to come with me but damn it this was not in my plans to rescue a cavewoman. I turned to leave and heard her cry out and glanced back, she stood there staring at me with tears in her eyes.

I felt my resolve begin to melt and then made a choice I prayed that I would not regret. Reaching back, I grabbed her and started towards the door, I was running very low on time. She grabbed a bag hidden under some furs and then a long spear leaning next to the door and followed me as we left the abode of the chief. Circling left around the building we went back into the nearby tree belt and then made our way around the village in a long circle.

Soon I could hear shouting and then the sounds of people being awoken, I knew that a search would be underway for us and I did not want to be nearby when that happened. Finally making our way back to the front of the diorama we hopped over the little railing and then avoiding the two unconscious guards we went back to the first diorama I had checked out.

We soon arrived and stepped into the new world, it was warm and the sun was about to come up. Each portal led to a different location with unique climate and times. It was something I found amazing but now was not the time to ponder that. I led the girl to where I had discovered a small stream with clear water slow current and a sandy bottom. I pointed at the water and said, “Go clean up you smell like a brothel that fat stinky guys frequented. She just looked at me so I led her to the water holding her hand. Pointing at her and the water I motioned for her to go into the stream.

After 15 minutes of attempting to get her to enter the water, I simply removed her clothing which caused her eyes to widen and then took off my clothing. Then grabbing her hand, I led her into the water, it was slightly cool but within a moment it was comfortable. I grabbed a handful of sand and began to use it to scrub at my arms and chest. Turning I noticed that she was staring at me, at my arms and shoulders, my back and chest with the portrait of Mary.

She gently reached out and began to trace the whirls and pictures that were visible, her eyes deeply staring at me. Eventually, she stopped and I once again showed her how to use sand to scrub off. We finally came out of the water wet but clean, and I opened my pack to pull out a pair of shorts. Putting them on I pulled out a towel and handed it to the girl, she began to dry herself off.

Grabbing all our clothes I went back to the stream and began to wash them, I want no stink to remain on her clothing and my stuff was beginning to smell a little woodsy. We were about 4 kilometers into the diorama world and had cut through some thickly forested land, I felt a fire would be safe.

Going into the bush I snagged several dead trees and dragged them to the little beach where I tried to get a fire going. My attempts proved unsuccessful as the wood was damp from a recent rainstorm and my frustration grew. I was ready to give up when I remembered the whip, grabbing it I snapped it against my pile of wood and watched as it instantly burst into flames. The girl gasped and backed up a foot, I was surprised also and as I coiled the whip back up thought about what I had just done, it was a hell of a weapon.

I was dog tired and the sun was now shining on my little spot in paradise so grabbing my bedroll I spread it on the sand and then using my pack as a pillow I laid down and prepared to sleep. Within a minute I could feel the girl lay down next to me and a couple of minutes more snuggle closer to me. I slipped my arm around her and within minutes we were both asleep.