For all the risks, it really isn't a bad plan, all things considered. By following a human inside, any attention brought on by the opening door and mechanical chime will be focused upwards rather than at their feet, and even if one were to be looking down, those very same feet would provide at least some measure of cover, meaning that even in the worst case scenario where someone happened to be looking right at that spot, they still could potentially go unseen. None of this offered much comfort when it came to finally taking action, of course. Even hiding under the parked vehicles and watching the humans pass by was a heart pounding experience. Deliberately getting even close to one of the massive creatures, the sort which can easily destroy them entirely by accident, isn't one that any of the three mice looked forward to.
It would be incredibly easy to procrastinate, come up with plausible reasons why they should keep waiting for just the right opportunity, an opportunity which could very well never come but instead the three vow to make an attempt right away while they can still work up the nerve. As a result, they don't have to wait long. The business isn't an incredibly busy one, which is sort of ironic when you think about it. While the general area has a lot of foot traffic, most of it is directed towards the sub structures connected to this one, particularly the nearby food vendor which the mice can't identify but the strong smell of baked bread gives the general purpose away all the same. Still, it's only a matter of minutes before a pair of heavy boots, presumably with feet inside, stomps along the stone sidewalk, turning towards the metal and glass door. The face of the Maker is naturally invisible from here, but even at best, at that height they always look shadowy, empty and without much sense of expression or intelligence. All that are visible are the boots and a set of loose camo-colored pants flowing overtop them.
"Now!" Kay calls out, just as the heavy boot comes down onto the black rubber mat.
The loud chime is heard, ringing out as though it is an alarm warning of unwanted intruders in the Makers midst, and with a soft whoosh the metal door slides sideways, opening the portal to the Maker's sanctum. As for the human himself, he doesn't slow his gait, stepping inside and with a similar soft windy noise, and the gateway is sealed once more, the whole thing only taking a few seconds. A few seconds are all the adventurers need, however, darting out in a v-shape, first rushing in directly behind the oversized heel and once the path opened, another quick dash along the inner wall.
The three had only a rough idea of what awaits them inside, able to see in through the huge window, but that same window didn't go all the way down to the ground. They could reasonably extrapolate what would be there, in this case a set of heavy metal shelves, but couldn't be entirely sure what measure of cover they would offer. As it turns out, it is quite ample. The three enter without leaving so much as a footprint, the Makers entirely oblivious to their presence. The shelf itself goes all the way down to the floor but there is still space behind it, very little for a human to reach in behind, but downright comfortable for a mouse.
"Wow, I can't believe that actually worked!" Frederich says in an excited voice.
"We still need to be cautious. Hopefully that was the most difficult part and we'll be able to remain out of open view from this point on." Mia says.
"Shouldn't we be whispering? It seems strange to be talking at full volume when potential enemies are all around us." Kay interjects.
"Nah, it's fine. Makers have pretty poor hearing." The male armored mouse replies.
Kay isn't entirely convinced but doesn't feel like arguing. Instead she simply nods her head.
"So... now what?" Mia asks.
The nameless mouse was worried on entering that she'd find herself engulfed in a sea of blinding green light from all directions. Thankfully that proves not to be the case. Although by all rights the pillar should still be consuming the entire building, it shrunk dramatically as she approached. Now, it is represented simply by a small light in the distance, still bright and bordering on blinding, but little enough to pinpoint an exact location even through the walls and shelves.
"I can see the general direction of it up ahead, but I can't tell the exact location. All I can tell is that it's further ahead and significantly higher up." Kay answers.
"We can't see much from down here. Maybe we should look for a higher vantage point? These shelves here look pretty easy to climb." The armored mouse says.
"Won't that make us more visible?" The sorceress asks back.
"Maybe, but we're going to need to go up eventually. Might as well try early. We can't be sure there will be many ways to get up higher as we go deeper in, but going down should be considerably easier." Kay says.
The three begin to climb the metal mesh which makes up the rear of the display shelf. It's not a difficult journey, even for the less athletic Mia, as mice are naturally good climbers and this wall with it's diamond wire pattern offers no shortage of evenly placed grips and footholds. The drawback of the open framework is the transparency of it, of course. Sure, there is no shortage of merchandise adorning each of the shelves to block their path, but were a human to look between them at just the right place they would surely see small, dark forms working their way up the metal rack. Things are going very well at first, but they run into another snag. They might only be slightly visible from the front of the shelf in their current position, but as they reach the height of the window, they'll be completely exposed from the back. Perhaps less of a risk considering there will be a thick glass barrier between themselves and any onlookers but the last thing they want to do is attract any extra attention.
"We should be able to slip through the mesh here. The shelves have a lot of stuff on them, giving us plenty of places to hide. We'll still be closer to the Maker's eye level, so be careful." Mia says.
This proves easy enough. If one didn't know better they might think that such shelves were designed to serve as a sort of playground for mouse sized creatures. The three duck behind a series of plastic packages, framed with cardboard and suspended from small metal hooks all of which contain an assortment of strange metal bits and other objects, lined with garish labels and packaging which the mice cannot even hope to make sense of. It's not quite perfect cover, and an observant person might well notice three pairs of little furless feet poking from beneath the hanging displays, but the adventurers have no intention of remaining there for long. Their next goal is reaching the corner, past the window. From there they can hug that wall which will lead them into the depths of the relatively long and narrow building.
The store is mercifully uncrowded, but as the nameless mouse had observed before, more than zero Makers is too many, especially in an enclosed space. Outdoors one could always simply run in the other direction or wait for them to leave, but here? There is a clear sense of being enclosed with them, and while there are only four inside (at least four that are visible from this vantage point), a mouse being in close proximity to more than one human is relatively rare, and even one is quite risky. The three know full well that they are invaders within the sacred Maker temple, and while none of them were what one would call spiritual, the general messaging sinks in when heard for their entire lives. On the bright side, the inner walls are the best place for such small creatures to go unnoticed, and so they do.
They duck around the assorted displays and packages, always keeping one eye on the inner portion of the store, at least the limited portions they can see. They have a much clearer view than they had earlier when forced to peek around the bottom of the metal rack, but still couldn't see over the many tall shelves and displays which make up the middle of the store. It helps that humans are far from stealthy creatures. When one does approach, they give ample warning of their coming with the heavy footfalls, giving ample opportunity for the mice to better conceal themselves. Such concealment isn't perfect, of course, and could well have failed were any of the Makers actively searching for them, but the humans of course have their own priorities, paying very little attention to anything outside of their immediate goals. Sure, there are the occasional frights as the three hid behind more of the hanging plastic packages only for a massive dark hand grasp one of the wrapped items immediately in front of them, threatening to leave them all exposed. This would have happened had he required two of the packages rather than simply one. Instead he took the outside item and walked away paying no mind to the last bag hanging on the hook much less anything which might have been hiding behind it.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The shelf itself hugs the inner corner making an easy vehicle for transportation and once they reach said corner, climbing further upwards proves quite easy, the similar design of metal rack set up to make maximum use of the blank wall whereas the other was limited in height so as to not entirely block the window, only reaching halfway up it to display a few choice items to any potential passers-by. There is an air of relief as the three reach the top. They aren't necessarily safe or invisible, it's still a shelf full of assorted objects and while a little high, well within reach of an even average sized Maker, but it's clear that it isn't a place reserved for the most choice items. It's a place few are likely to look, one that has an abundance of cover, one that isn't clearly visible to most of the store and, perhaps most importantly, one that offers a nearly complete view of the inside of the structure.
The general layout isn't too unfamiliar to the mice, at least not to Mia and Frederich. It is comparable to the general store, at least in principle even if considerably less cluttered. The original general store was destroyed in an incident not worth getting into, and was famed for being a terrifying labyrinth of passageways, dead ends and haunted by the condemned spirits who found themselves forever lost within its walls. The rebuilt structure was made considerably more organized, at first, but the owner's habit of prioritizing inventory space over easy navigation was beginning to raise its ugly head once again. The overall logic to this place was quite understandable: Shelves full of inventory which customers could browse, a large desk at the back, permanently staffed by a human which would take money in exchange for said inventory, and a few other people simple wandering about, either looking for some specific item among the thousands littered about, or simply looking about for the sake of looking.
The confusing part, at least for the mice, is the question of what this place actually sells. Had they stumbled onto a food or clothing store, it would have been quite obvious, even if many mice are still rather confused over whether or not Makers actually wear clothing or instead simply have dramatically varying types of skin. There are a few larger items which could have maybe been weapons, which hung front racks, but these were the minority. There were no obvious potions or armors or even books about, just endless amounts of strange assorted things, little more than raw materials but far too finely crafted to serve such a purpose.
"Wow, look at all of these!" Mia says, her voice finding that especially high pitch it reaches whenever she finds something particularly exciting... well, exciting to her, which seldom translates as exciting to others. This situation hardly proves an exception to that rule. She is digging through a large plastic tub full of strange octagon shaped pieces of metal, each with a large hole in the center.
"It's very... shiny?" Fred says, unable to come up with a more useful observation. He isn't wrong, the glossiness of the material is far beyond anything one could hope to find within the mouse city.
"There's all kinds of them of different sizes! And look, there's a thin spiral cut inside!" Mia chirps.
"Uh, yeah, that's really nice." Kay says, making the barest effort to feign interest.
"It's not just nice! It's meticulously crafted to precise dimensions, and the sizes aren't random, either! There are several different set sizes, and must be thousands of each! And this is just one little bucket, out of the way. Do you know what this means?" the young sorcerous asks.
"Um... no?"
"These aren't just random bits of metal, they're specific tools all precisely designed for an exact purpose! And look, there's some more over here!" she says, hopping into another nearby tub, pulling out a long, narrow screw, making far more noise that she should in the process considering their situation, but by the standards of the room size it's still hardly audible. "This is how the Makers build things! They don't just carve buildings and stuff out of huge pieces of stone! It all made of countless little pieces, made just right and combined together into something greater!"
"We really shouldn't linger here..." Kay interjects, her limited feigned interest falling away entirely.
"You know what this means, right? We can do the same! It's not about just sticking things together that are loosely the same shape. With the precise tools for the precise task, one can make objects of not only any size but of proper strength and stability!" Mia exclaims. "Of course that's easier said than done... I wonder how these are made? Clearly not by hand, as there are too many of them and the specifications are too exact... ooh, here's what I mean!" she hops out of the plastic blue tub with surprising agility, hopping over to the corner of the shelf. "Look, that's the same as this screw thing! Yes, that's why the spiral pattern exists, so it doesn't just fall out. There must be a similar pattern cut into the hole here. This way, it's not like two different pieces stuck together, it's as though they're fused into a single piece, and who knows just how far that principle could be taken? You could have hundreds, thousands of individual pieces merged together to take whatever sort of shape you wanted, the whole thing being as strong as a solid piece of steel!"
"Mia." Kay glares at her, saying only that single word. That one word is enough to break the spell that the tools have over the young sorceress.
"Oh, right, I'm sorry." she replies, lowering her head, her tone reverting to its soft, shy nature. "This place is dangerous and we can't stay here any longer than is necessary. Still, I wish I could take a few of these home..." she looks up once as she does to see the naked mouse's disapproving look. "I know, I know, they're too big, too heavy and stealing from a Maker's shrine is a bad idea."
Kay nods her head. "Come on. Let's get out of here as soon as possible."
The trip along the far wall is a quick one, but not without its dangers. At one point the space between two shelves proved quite precarious. Frederich, a well trained and exercised youth managed to leap the gap easily, even with his relatively heavy armor. It's a similarly simple task for Kay with her unusual physical abilities. Mia, however, was another matter. While not an impossible jump for her, had she done it perfectly, instead her foot slipped just a little bit right at the edge of the gap. Whether the fall would have injured her or, perhaps worse, drawn the very much unwanted attention of the Makers, is hard to say, but thankfully it doesn't come to that, with Kay catching her by the wrist, pulling the small mouse up to safety. This near tragedy does represent something of a turning point in the exploration of the business, however, the transition from the store to a small office, and it is here that the goal of their quest finally reveals itself.
While certainly an impressive place by the standards of mouse technology, it's somewhat underwhelming compared to the sheer variety of shiny things within the store. A few shelves remain, purely for practicality rather than being designed to be browsed through by customers, holding some random items for restocking any emptied displays. A simple wooden desk sits at the center of the small room, the whole area rather isolated from the remainder of the store with the leap between the two shelves being the transition from one space to the next through a thankfully open wooden door. At the far end of this small space is another door, a larger metal one which the mice recognize as leading to the back entrance of the structure. A plush chair on wheels sits before the desk, and on the table are an assortment of items, none of which would be without interest to the mice had they more time and safety. Had they the opportunity and found themselves capable of using the computer, their entire world could have been turned upside down, but so far as they were concerned, it was just another large and unknown box-like item, one of many the Makers tend to use. Far more significant, at least to Kay, is the small, bright green object sitting atop said table.
"There it is!" Kay says, her eyes wide, transfixed on it.
"What? I don't see anything." Frederich replies.
"That small, flat thing, right next to that big silver box." She replies.
"Oh, I see it. That metal thing, right? Well, at least it's small enough to carry. I can't tell what it is, though." Mia says.
Kay doesn't even recognize it as metal, it's simply a glowing green entity from her perspective. As for the others, they at least recognize it as something unusual, even if not a completely alien design, somewhat comparable to the many metal items littered about the store. The object of their quest is finally within their grasp.
"Um... now what?" Frederich asks. It's a very good question. Getting onto the desk isn't impossible, but not without its problems. The biggest one being that it will leave them very much exposed, the open door offering a clear view to the rest of the store, and also while they can jump down to the table from the shelf, getting back to the shelf isn't really an option. It's a simple wooden framework, rather than a mesh design. Plenty of cover exists in the main store, of course, but reaching it will involve exiting through the open door of the office, walking across the floor, being in plain view all the while.
There is another non-trivial caveat as well, one which would have been far more deserving of attention had they not been so focused on the treasure before them: the tired and overweight human sitting at the desk, his eyes focused on the bright, glowing monitor.