Here before him was a motionless city deep in the heart of the Drake Grave Mountains—the system had called it Sozzelrift Underhome. This place was more akin to a strip as it followed the natural curves and elevation changes inside the underground chasm. It sprawled out at the very bottom, but there were open holes scaling up the great earthen sides that surrounded the main thoroughfare. Quintin was located at one such entrance hole looking down on the dull strip-city, colored in the muted blue of myriad [Starmoss]. Walk paths were meticulously incised into the rock walls and created a trail down to the city from the various holes.
Vertigo assailed his senses, the awe-inspiring vertical drop caused his heart to palpitate erratically.
The cavernous space was overwhelmingly huge, but the buildings down below, at the bottom, were still packed in. They were built to follow a straight-wide thoroughfare road that cut through the middle of the dense arrangement of homes, stores, and other places of interest. Big buildings, small buildings, there was no real order in magnitude—as if the city itself had as grandiose an ideal as the place it inhabited.
He slowly maneuvered himself back a little bit to contemplate what to do. There was also a [System] notice he wanted to check out now that he had come to this fork in the road.
[Quests]:
[Completed]:
[Active]:
*[Nyathamon's Quest]
*[Contract: Goblins in the Cave]: √: turn in.
*[Mystery of the Amphitheater]
-Rank: Ancient
-Exploratory
-Unfulfilled
1. Investigate the presence spoken of in the nameless [Dwarf's] journal.
2. Optional: Find a use for the two keys from the journal.
3. ???
[Rewards]: EXP. & [????] item.
Maybe one of these days I'll actually complete a quest, he thought, my [Quest] Log seems determined to continue its upward growth.
Now that he was away from the mind-boggling depth, he had the ability to think clearly once again. He thought back to the picture of the city in his mind and realized he had seen a building there in the maddening amount of shapes. A building with a design that was all too familiar to him; the domed Amphitheater. It wasn't immediately recognizable because it was partially hidden within the cavern walls, almost like it had been crushed half-way by a rockfall.
Quintin edged forward a bit, and on closer inspection, he noted that many buildings seemed to have been the target of falling debris. Buildings with whole sides broken off, pockmark craters in the road, and fallen spires all told a tale that some sort of a disaster had occurred.
His thoughts were divided. Had he been gone for too long now? He didn't want to upset the Vice-Guildmistress, but part of him started to wonder if he even should go back at this point. He knew he had gotten lucky as it was perfectly within her powers to hold him back, forcing him to remain close at hand—or worse, have him followed around by a chaperone. All of this was regardless of what the Guildmaster had written. It was clear to Quintin that Cassida had a certain amount of respect for the man, even if her words betrayed that idea.
I still need to meet back up with Vissitri too. I kind of expected him to come and find me with some bullshit power of his. Well, I can stow that decision until after I investigate the domed place. Maybe it's the [Quest] location so I can complete an 'open-world' task—as Oltoi would say; 'No muss, no fuss. Open world, open and unfurled.'
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The stone steps were slanted and went up and down from his position. He thought that maybe if he went far enough up he might find another way to exit later. During the descent he curiously regarded the different sights, all the while keeping his ear trained for any unusual sounds. The journey down went smoothly once he got going, and soon enough, he found himself at ground-level.
His sight-line over the city vanished with it as the buildings boxed him in. The only path forward was a narrow side road that led to the arrogant thoroughfare that cut them apart at the end. Quintin picked up a small portion of exposed rock on the road and squeezed it with his [Grip]. It crumbled into a fine powder and flowed through his opened fingers soon after.
He [Identified] another one as he made his way down the side street.
[Cobblerite]
-Uncommon
-Stone Material
An uncommonly seen stone sometimes used for building.
Its most defining characteristics are its longevity when set,
and its resiliency to certain damage sources.
Whatever damage-type these stones are resilient towards, it's certainly not [Crushing]—or at least not to the levels that destroyed much of this city, he mused.
Once at the thoroughfare, he paused to look around. It was a battle site. The road was filled with pockmark craters, and the scars of bladed weaponry were like graffiti depicting violence on a grand scale. Whole sides of the nearby buildings took on an open, blasted apart look—an interior-meets-external design scheme, exposing the decayed insides of what once were people's homes.
I wouldn't have gone with the Fall look; too open to critical review by the neighborhood, Quintin thought darkly.
The dome of the Amphitheater rose above its surroundings and made it easy to spot. He guessed it would take him ten minutes at his current pace, which was on the slower side. He was carefully trying to remain quiet but found that his metallic feet were no longer noiseless as they had been before. He still had no idea why, or what had affected him back then at the [Goblin] den. He was nearing -what he hoped would be- his investigation target. Right before a turn that would take him there, he randomly decided to enter at least one of the houses to check out what the inside looked like.
The inside of the house was mostly empty, but there were some small objects that looked like they would crumble at the barest touch. Rotten wood was strewn about at random from their collapse long-ago. He made his way around the medium-sized building; most of the items he saw were unidentifiable in their ruined state.
Quintin was about to leave when a brief outline registered from [Sinisphere]. A soft whooshing sound came with it, but then the outline went away and everything was calm once more. He looked around the room he was in, then back toward the doorframe that led to the living-room-like area prior to where he entered. As he poked his head out, what greeted him was a stationary, hairless, and pale creature with a purple tongue drooping down to its diaphragm.
It stood in the entryway, at about his height of six feet, but it had long, lanky arms with claws that touched the ground. Quintin lowered his posture as he [Identified] it.
[Eluded-Blood Ghast] Lv. ??
-Undead
-Elusive
-Alignment: Diabolical
HP: ?? MP: ?? SP: ??
An evil creature that spawns from malevolent energies.
Suspends its animation while it awaits prey.
*Has detection immunity to most abilities.
*Malevolence detection is severely limited.
*Warning: Has an ultimate ability.