Chapter 94
Koots had run them from the map room to a much larger room with double entry doors that swung open smoothly when Koots had pushed on them. The group had said their thanks to Fred for her help and she had remained in the map room as she said she had some research to do. She had pointed to her three closed books on the table in the corner with a smile.
Jay's group now found themselves in a cafeteria large enough for a school. The floor was covered in tables and chairs and it looked as if lunch would start at any moment. Koots and Jay's group were the only ones there.
Koots got Glenda's help lifting a crossbeam and setting it in to its fittings across the doors, locking them against any further entry.
“What if someone else comes here for lunch?” Norri asked.
“Ya, that reminds me, how many people are there in here? Just you and Fred?” Aiden added.
Koots nodded as he led them on a winding path through all of the tables and chairs and up to the front where a large kettle was set next to some bowls.
“Well if someone else comes here we'll hear them screaming to let them in. We let them in if we can. If we can't they will run to their secondary destination just like I told you to. Always have another spot to run to in case the first spot is blocked.” Koots said as he grabbed a smooth wooden bowl and used a long ladle to scoop some gray goop out of the kettle and in to the bowl.
Norri made a disgusted face at the appearance of the food – if that was what it was.
“As for how many people are here that is a tough question. It isn't as if we do a census. I'd guess between twenty and thirty all spread out. Some stay in one room the entire time studying, others explore rooms in search of something specific or just for the joy of discovery. Most of them came here either because they had no choice or because they thought they could work out how to get out once they got inside.” Koots said as he set his bowl on a tray and moved along to get a cup and fill it from a spout.
M'redith looked unhappy about that but didn't say anything.
“Occasionally someone will disappear. Were they eaten? Did they become lost in a hidden passage? Or did Ashagi let them leave? There's no way for us to know, all we know is that they're no longer here.” Koots remarked with a shrug as he looked around at the group just standing and not approaching the counter.
“Go ahead,” he said when no one made a move to take a bowl. “It's gruel, mostly tasteless, but nutritious. The kettle is magic and probably used to make some pretty good tasting food before the magic weakened on it. Still, it works enough to keep us all alive so I can't complain.” Koots said as he sat at a nearby table, sliding the chair out to make room for his hump.
He used a wooden spoon to taste the food. “I changed my mind. I can complain – this tastes awful as usual.” Koots sighed and went back up to the counter and took a cup and filled it with water from a nearby spout which hung over the counter towards one end of it.
The group laughed but weren't really in a laughing mood and the laughter sounded a bit forced. Everyone, starting with Jay, finally grabbed bowls and took turns filling them with the awful looking gray goop. It didn't smell bad, it didn't really smell at all. After everyone had been seated Jay took a hesitant bite and was surprised that it was basically tasteless like unflavored oatmeal. The mouthfeel was the most disturbing feature of the gruel.
Jay made an unhappy face, “This is.. unpleasant but doesn't taste bad if that makes any sense.” His face was drawn down in to a frown as he spoke.
“Oh that was really convincing. Look at your face! You look disgusted!” Aiden insisted with a crooked smile.
M'redith leaned against Jay for a moment for comfort before eating a spoonful of the gruel and making a half disappointed and half disgusted face.
“Uhg.” said Norri from across the table, more of a sound than a word. “This feels slimy.” she said as she coughed in an attempt to not gag.
“Stop! Don't say things like that, it's gross enough already!” Aiden said as he shook his head and tried to swallow another mouthful of the stuff.
The group finally settled on eating quietly as they choked down the foul feeling gruel. Slimy, goopy, rubbery, chewy – even if it was mostly tasteless it felt gross to eat. The group had discovered that there were worse things than bad tasting food.
After everyone had finished Jay got up and took their trays of food and looked around before Koots pointed him towards a bin. “Put everything in the bin, magic should do the rest. It seems the cafeteria was mostly automated before Ashagi took it over.”
Jay shrugged but said thank you before he carried everything over and deposited in the bin.
“What now?” M'redith asked politely.
“Now? Now you all get to catch your first glimpse of the library itself.” Koots said seriously, his face looking serious as well as his hump wobbled about precariously behind him.
By the time Jay returned to the group everyone was standing up and getting ready to move.
“When we get there stay silent unless you're trying to warn me we're about to be attacked. I'll point things out as we go when it is safe to do so. Follow me, don't lag behind, and do not wander off on your own. Ok?” Koots asked after he had finished and everyone nodded in reply.
The group stacked up next to the double doors and Glenda removed the crossbeam from its fittings. Koots gave the door a kick and then another when he heard only silence. Finally he decided that the time was right and he led the group back in to the hallway.
It was empty of monsters but a single bloodstain marred the floor, evidence of a past battle where someone or something had not escaped unscathed.
Koots led them on a jog through the twisting and turning passageways until Jay was thoroughly lost. They had descended a number of stairs and Jay wasn't even sure the area they were now in was on his map at all.
New sounds began to hem them in from all sides, a chittering scrabbling sound that differed greatly from the shrieking wails they had been surrounded by on the floors above. Whatever made the sounds moved faster and made gibbering noises instead of the more familiar screams.
Koots came to a halt before a wide oak door banded in black metal. He did not kick the door twice nor even once but instead opened it a crack and peered through the narrow opening, putting his boot against the base of the door so that it could open no further. He pressed one eye up against the crack and stood motionless for a moment before stepping back and gently opening the door in an attempt to be as quiet as possible.
The door swung open and Koots led the group inside. Glenda shut the door silently behind them.
It wasn't dark but gloomy and the air had a light haze to it that made it difficult to see very far ahead of oneself much like fog. Only this fog had a grayish hue to it. The air smelled of old books along with an undercurrent of sweetness that turned Jay's stomach.
Jay looked about and found that Koots had led them to a vast library. The room was the size of a warehouse and was lined with shelves which were all stuffed with books. The shelves were like the spokes of a bicycle wheel all sprouting out of the central desk. Koots made no move to approach the central desk but waited until he had everyone's attention and pointed towards it in the distance.
Above the central desk hovered a vast black mass. It wasn't a cloud of fog or smoke but a physical thing that roiled and bubbled as its surface rose and fell back upon itself, always staying centered over the central desk. Koots spoke in a quiet voice in low tones.
“The central desk is where you will return your book. Monsters patrol the shelves in predictable patterns.” Koots explained as the group saw a number of monsters cross the open path between them and the central desk, the monsters moving to a different row of shelves as they patrolled.
The monsters didn't see them and appeared to be concentrating on their immediate surroundings only.
Koots pointed above them and Jay caught a glimpse of something black and billowy like a cloak. “Not all monsters walk.”
Jay looked up and could barely make out a number of flying shapes. Making it to the central desk would be more difficult than he had first thought. “So we just reach the desk and leave the book on top?” he asked.
Koots shook his head and replied quietly, “Have you never been to a library before? There's a book deposit slot at the desk. Drop your book in to the slot and you're done. Easy right?”
M'redith gave Koots a look as if he were crazy.
Koots looked back at her and shrugged. “You're the ones that want to return the book, I'm just giving you the info.”
“Ok, and what about that nightmare cloud above the central desk? No one is going to mention that?” Aiden said almost silently as he leaned towards Koots so he could hear him better.
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Koots nodded, “Most people seem to think the black mass is Ashagi, or at least a part of its form. It isn't as if anyone has had a conversation with the thing!” he finished a bit louder than he had meant to and clapped a hand over his mouth.
Koots quieted down and let the group watch the monsters move about and learn some of the patterns. The monsters were difficult to make out in the gray fog like conditions.
“This is going to take hours to learn all of these patterns.” Aiden groaned after they had been there for what seemed like forever to him.
“What, you got somewhere else to be?” Koots remarked with a grin.
Norri chuckled before she quieted herself down. She didn't want to be the one to attract any monsters.
After a while Koots finally spoke up, “Come. Time to leave. You can return on your own to map out their movement patterns.” Koots led them along a long bookshelf lined row until they had reached another door.
They all moved in to the adjoining corridor and Glenda pulled it shut behind them. He ran them up some stairs and almost fell on them when his hump slid over from one side to another sending him careening off to the side instead of forward. Thankfully M'redith was there to grab him and help him get steady and back on his feet.
“Sorry!” he said quietly.
M'redith nodded as if it were no big deal.
Koots brought them up another set of stairs in to a wide hallway, almost a boulevard it was so wide. A cart could have easily driven down the hallway it was so wide. It led in to the distance with various rooms branching off and Koots ran them down the hallway until he had found a door with an oblong circle burnt in to the wooden surface.
He whipped open the door and motioned everyone inside before entering and closing the door himself.
The group looked about the room as the door clicked shut. The front and side walls were covered in blackboards, one of which still held scribbled figures in faded white chalk that Jay could make out but not understand.
Nine desks were lined up in rows of three in the middle of the room and at the head of the room was a six foot tall portal frame made out of a shiny red material which Jay was not familiar with.
A low bookshelf lined one wall and barely fit underneath the hanging blackboard. The shelf held a number of books which were neatly arranged. At the back of the room stood numerous shelves all lined with strange devices. Inset in to the back wall was a closet door which was ajar.
“Where are we? I'll give you two guesses!” Koots said excitedly.
“Portal room?” M'redith asked.
Koots nodded and the group seemed to cheer up. They needed at least one Siphon Rod and the portal room was their best chance of finding one. “Can I make a suggestion?”
M'redith nodded as Glenda and the others looked on.
“Don't touch anything unless you know what it does. Just because this stuff was left here doesn't mean it doesn't work anymore.” Koots practically begged the group not to touch anything.
“Ok, spread out, see what we can find.” M'redith said confidently and her group spread out and began picking through the various objects in the room. They were looking for a rod, a rather easy to identify object. A rod didn't look like anything else and should stand out in the mess.
Aiden searched the desks. They were the type where the top lifted open allowing the student to store things inside the desk. Aiden checked each and found some writing implements and a few ink kits but nothing worth taking.
Glenda looked around the portal frame to see if there were any rods left lying around. There weren't.
Norri and Aiden checked the shelves along the back wall.
“What about this?” Aiden asked as he picked up something and held it out.
“Careful with how you point that thing!” Koots yelled at Aiden who sheepishly lowered the object and instead held it in one open hand. It looked like a branch that someone had chopped off of a tree and was one foot long with one end wrapped in three inches of leather.
Koots shook his head. “That's a wand not a rod. And careful, you've no idea what it casts!”
Norri shook her head with wide eyes and Aiden carefully stored the wand in his backpack. Maybe it would be useful later should they ever find themselves in need of a random spell cast by a wand.
M'redith had gone through the closet door and was searching the closet. There were a number of boxes, some with tattered leather bits and empty vials. Others held mostly disintegrated clothing, possibly protective aprons. She had searched through one box after another until she came upon a wooden crate. She lugged it out in to the portal studies room and inspected it.
It was a one and a half foot cube and the wood was finely stained with a dark black color. The top of the crate could be slid off once a latch was removed. M'redith carefully slid open the crate. Inside was a mess of straw that she removed. Underneath that were nine vertical compartments laid out in a 3 x 3 grid and lined with straw. Four of the compartments held a rod, each white with a black textured grip. The base of each had a tiny version of Gaia's makers mark.
“I found some rods I think!” M'redith said excitedly and the others came over to look.
Koots looked at the box and shivered. “You lot are crazy for wanting to handle those rods. Too dangerous for my liking. Oh I wouldn't do that,” he insisted worriedly as Aiden moved to take a rod and put it in his backpack.
“Why not? How else should we carry them?” Aiden said with a shrug.
Koots' eyes bulged momentarily in shock, “Extremely carefully, that's how! Keep them in the padded box until you need to use them and don't point them at anything you don't want to suck the magic out of. Goddess you shouldn't be handling these things at all!”
Aiden gingerly replaced the rod back in to its compartment and took a step back away from the devices.
Jay hadn't been paying attention to the others and was searching the front of the room. He had started back with M'redith in the closet and worked his way forward with his Treasure Sense active. He hadn't gotten any sign of treasure until he had reached the front of the classroom. Something about the front blackboard was giving Jay the tingles.
Jay inspected the blackboard's edges as he searched for a latch or a button that might open a hidden compartment. He noticed that the top of the board's edge felt as if there were hinges attached to it. He stopped and considered a moment before he grabbed the blackboard and tugged hard. It did not want to give at first and Jay had to use his strength to finally pop the bottom of the blackboard off of the wall. The entire board swung upwards on hinges that lined the top edge of the board.
“Goddess sakes! I didn't even know it could do that! How'd you find that?” Koots asked excitedly.
Jay chuckled, “I've a knack for finding hidden treasures.”
Aiden laughed, “Don't let him fool you, he has a Class Ability that finds hidden treasure for him.” Aiden pushed Jay playfully and Jay almost dropped the blackboard. Jay gave Aiden a glare but couldn't hold it and his face cracked in to a smile.
Jay shouldered his way under the blackboard and searched the wall behind it. One section felt rougher than the surrounding wall and Jay pushed and prodded until it swung open, revealing a two foot long cubby.
The small cubby was carved in to the wall and contained only a scroll, tied and knotted shut, and a rod much like the ones they had found. Only this one had a bright red tip. Everything else about the rod matched the other Rods of Siphoning perfectly.
“I think I found another one!” Jay said happily and he walked it over to M'redith who took it gingerly from Jay while being careful to keep it pointed at the ceiling. She gently placed it in to the crate and slid the top cover shut.
“Great, who is going to carry this thing now?” Aiden asked grumpily.
Jay tilted his head and thought for a moment. Finally Jay shrugged as if he had come to a decision. “Let me try something.” Jay said as he opened his backpack and pressed the opening against the box.
Aiden shook his head, “Forget it, can't you tell your backpack is too small?”
Jay smiled as the box appeared to warp and was sucked in to the backback, the backpack did not appear to change whatsoever as the box was stored inside and Jay grinned as he mentally ordered his inventory to appear.
The standard five by three grid appeared with a number of the squares occupied by his belongings. His toy chest was in one square, his drawing and writing tools each had their own square. Other squares held his other belongings. One square held a miniature picture of the box full of Rods of Siphoning he had just placed in to the bag.
Jay's Traveler's Inventory system did not seem to care too much about bag space. As long as the object wasn't larger than a foot or two it fit in to an inventory square without issue. The bag could hold up to fifteen squares of objects, each object taking up a single square. Jay was thrilled that it worked and grinned happily.
“How the Goddess did you just do that?” Aiden asked with everyone else looking curious as well.
“It's a Traveler thing I think.” Jay answered honestly while still smiling.
A moment later Jay stored the knotted scroll in his bag as well. He'd figure out what that was later.
Norri clapped her hands excitedly. “Two down, one to go!” she said alluding to the fact that they only needed one more item and they would have everything that they needed for the Dungeon of Rebirth.
“What about food though?” Aiden begged.
The group laughed but they all agreed with him. Everyone missed the meals back at the Guild not to mention how badly they missed the foods they could purchase for themselves in K'tharkle. Jay reminded himself to be sure to buy some food next time.
Koots helped them put the room back in to the same condition they found it in. “Ashagi can get touchy if you leave a mess,” he insisted. The rest of the group humored him because although they couldn't be sure there was always the possibility that he was right.
“Next stop, dinner?” Koots asked.
Aiden made a gagging sound but agreed. “I'm not sure which I want to eat less – gruel or the chalky wafers.”
The group sighed and gathered around the exit door as Koots kicked it once, twice, then whipped it open and ran off in to the corridors, Jay's group trailing closely behind him.