"Well, that's a lot more explosive reaction than I ever thought possible coming out of you, Brezan," Norbert said, grasping the skeletal arm as he squeezed against the gloved appendage. Realizing that his grip wanted to do anything to the man, the bartender released his hold on Norbert.
Leaning backward, still holding his beverage in hand, Norbert took a sip, sighing as he felt the cool liquid go down his throat.
"How did you know? Are you with them?" Brezan asked him.
Norbert looked blankly as he took another sip, happy that at least that was satisfying. "The only group I'm with is The Frontier. And possibly a Solution, but I don't know if you know about them," Norbert said.
"Never heard of the second group, so what will you do now?" Brezan asked Norbert again, getting defensive once more, Norbert imagining the man as a dog, its fur standing on end to make itself look as big and intimidating as possible.
Norbert just shook his head, now annoyed by this conversation. "Have a look; explore what's here. I have nothing better to do for the next day," he said.
"How about training?" Brezan asked. Seeing the half-skeleton, Norbert was starting to get desperate. He wanted to stop Brezan from going down there.
"Unless you have ten elixirs under the bar, a day's worth of training isn't helping much," Norbert said. The only thing he would want to train was imbuing energy into his own weapons, but he knew he didn't have the time to recover in case it went wrong, and the eyes that were possibly watching him wherever he went.
Downing the rest of it, Norbert slid the glass back to Brezan. "Enough chitter; where is the tunnel?" Norbert stated, not questioning as he spaced out every word, letting Brezan know .
"You’re going to tell him, boss?" a voice came from behind the swinging kitchen doors. Norbert saw the other waitress with her long blonde hair step into the room. Hearing everyone shuffling, he turned around on the bar stool and saw people's hands had left their cups and cutlery, now all hidden under their tables.
"I don't want a fight if I can help it," Norbert said to everyone in the room, placing both of his hands on top of the table, letting all that could see that he had no weapon in his hand. "Will you let me see the tunnels?" Norbert asked once more, trying to sound as kind as possible in the current situation he found himself in.
The bartender looked for several moments before sighing, taking an envelope from underneath a bottle. Opening it up, Brezan perused it for a moment before handing it over to Norbert, not understanding the language that was written.
"So, is that a yes?" Norbert asked, waving the envelope around.
"Yes, it is. As you have asked to look down there, you are allowed to enter by the authority given by Count von Count," Brezan said, slightly gritting his teeth, annoyed at the outcome. Vivienne, come to escort Norbert to the underground!" Brezan shouted.
The maid's head popped up to the upper floor where the ladder was. Giving a thumbs up as she disappeared again, Norbert looked around and tapped his fingers in a rhythmic pattern, going down them until she returned.
Seeing her in the same clothes she wore last night, once more her body nearly entirely covered by the leather strips about a hand-width wide. The leather was dying darker than the normal tan it would be, turning into nearly black.
Waving forward, Norbert gets off the bar and heads towards the stairs leading downwards. Stepping down, Norbert remembers something: "If my two little fury friends come, let them know where I am." Norbert says, continuing down before anyone up there can say anything.
Walking down the stone stairs, even here, the same sandstone that the house above was made of, Norbert digs his heel slightly into the steps, feeling the grains of sand underneath his foot.
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Going down the first steps, Norbert sees the hallway with doors on either side. Vivienne turns around and goes behind the staircase, and Norbert follows, seeing a second set of steps hidden away there. Going deeper underground once more, he is now almost able to feel the weight of the earth on top of him.
This far down, not even the smallest bit of light could be here, no matter what time of day it was. This floor looked the same as the one above him, with the doors on either side. Norbert realized that most of the guests and storage would be down here, making sense with the lack of sun that would break them apart.
Following Vivienne down here, the woman was taciturn as Norbert followed behind. His helmet on his face again, he looked around each door, making sure nothing would jump out at him. The number of people you could hide down here became much more than he thought the building could contain.
Vivienne opened one of the doors, stepping through into the room. Norbert followed behind, silently closing the wooden door behind him. Looking around the room, crates of items were scattered about. Seeing one being popped open, I realized they were in the room that stored some of the food and vegetables in the crates. Within some of the others were sacks of grain, already prepared and ready to be used.
Vivienne walked towards one of the crates and pushed against it, hearing it slide against the stone; marks on the stone floor where the same movement had been done before.
Underneath, Norbert did not see a trapdoor as he expected; it was just a gaping hole, darkness the only thing down there. Vivienne jumps down, being consumed in the darkness. After half a second, Norbert heard her impact the ground, the only sound the woman had made since coming underground.
He changed his vision to see better in the dark, and the world became grey as the details down in the hole became known. A section of the pathway was visible, the junction where Vivienne was standing, before a hole formed, going deeper into darkness.
Jumping down, Norbert landed on the same ledge around them. Looking around at the darkness, he saw only a small expanse of the room. Down here, a staircase was etched into the solid stone, and Norbert looked at its grey walls.
"So, where is this tunnel?" Norbert asked Vivienne, looking around the room but not seeing anything.
Only a single white finger pointing downwards is his only form of direction. Norbert leaned slightly forward, looking down into the inky blackness that surrounded it there.
Seeing nothing there, Norbert looked back up at Vivienne. "Ladies first?" he asked her, hoping that would persuade her to jump into the abyss of darkness beneath his feet.
"Not this time," Vivienne said, her voice seemingly coming from all directions as Norbert's feet went out from underneath him.
Before he could do anything, Norbert started free-falling into the blackness, his vision entirely consumed by the lack of light around him. He continued his fall, his back hitting the stone wall of the chute beneath him, quickly going from vertical to horizontal.
Feeling himself slowing down, Norbert was hit with a wave of light. Clamping his eyes down, he quickly changed his vision back to normal. Two hands grasped under his arms, lifting him up. Letting himself be carried away, he heard a rushing of the wind behind him.
Blinking his watery eyes open, Norbert held one arm up in front of his eyes to block the light that was shining through. Seeing the chute they came down, a half-cylinder, he was able to easily see the other side and up out of where he jumped from.
Further to the side, Norbert saw the steps that he had seen the top of before, just to the side. As he looked at the stone, quite obvious and almost able to see the storage room and a crate above, Norbert realized that there was something done to the place to hide it, sucking out the light.
Vivienne stepped gently out; she turned around, looking at where Norbert was and the slide that they had just come out of. The two people pulled Norbert out of the way, seeing that he was at least on his feet and not getting in anyone's way.
Turning around to say thanks, Norbert was still shocked, seeing the rotten flesh hanging from their limbs. With the clumps of hair sticking to their heads, Norbert could not determine if they were once male or female. Everything that could have been identified now was either no longer there, eaten away by the ravages of time, the worm that came out of one of their eye sockets, or from what they were wearing, tying everything in place and holding it all together.
He was jumping back in surprise, seeing their reaction turn slightly worried at his reaction. Holding his hand over his heart, Norbert breathed in quickly, trying to calm himself down. He looked at his arms, thankful they didn't leave their bodily juices on him, not knowing what would happen to the stain under the sun.
"Now you see why most people don't come down here. Welcome to the tunnels." Vivienne said, grasping Norbert's shoulders and spinning him around, pointing him towards the rest of the tunnel. Norbert looked at the extravagance of it as he stared in wonder.
"This really shouldn't be called a tunnel, you know," Norbert said, mouth agape as he looked around the village under the city.