In a hill is a half buried door. The door itself is out of some kind of stone and has intricate decorations. Nothing shows high tech, so I hope at least for some kind of magical remnants I could use.
The Door itself is sealed shut and does not budge. No way for us to open it or remove it without fully destroying it over days.
“Snow, do you think you can create a Shadow Gate through it?”
“I need a Rat on the other side, otherwise there is no way. Let me try to find a crack.”
With a wave her Shadow spews out a few dozen Rats and they search for a crack to squeeze through. We wait for them and just sit down for a while.
“They found a way in. It is rather roomy inside, so I will be able to bring us in.”
With laying her hand onto the door she starts creating a Gate through the door.
“Strange…”
“What is it Snow?”
“This Door does not want to let me through. Well it is just resistance and I can force it. Maybe it was stronger, when the Kingdom was still standing?”
Promising start. If they can stop teleportation or Gates, then this means they knew much about Magic. If even now the Magic is still working somewhat, then there might be something we could find inside for our work.
“After we are through, can you spread out some of your rats? Red Horn said we will be in some kind of battle, inside or later outside.”
“Roger! Gate is open, lets go!”
With that she just gets consumed by the Darkness. I myself jump through the still open Gate and come out on the other side. The place itself was dark, luckily we had some magical light and a oil lamp with us for such happenings.
“Looks broken everywhere. Down there is some light. Do we go there?”
“Not yet. I want to look at the ruins more thoroughly. There might be hints I want. Can you maybe look with some Rats for dangers?”
“Okay. Can I have some snacks while you at it?”
“Sure, just don’t eat all at once. We might be here for a while.”
The door was not a door, it was a piece of a wall. If that piece of wall was that thoroughly decorated, then they were either high in vanity, or they had an intricate culture. Both shows at least high technology or magic. Maybe both? We will see.
Pieces of the Wall were strewn across. The material has magical properties, but I should not take too much. Those ruins are property of the Steppe and I will not make myself an enemy for robbing their ruins.
“Found something. A big metallic man who stomped my Rat.”
“Metallic man? Golem?”
“Dunno.”
Well there is the enemy within. Now we just have to make a plan.
“Anything I should know about him?”
“Um… Three red eyes, one arm was missing but his feet were heavy.”
“By the way, when you lose a Rat, does it hurt or makes you weaker?”
“No, just makes me not able to summon her again until she is grown back.”
So her rats are limited. Good to know, but also worrying.
“How many do you even have?”
“Um… I can not count that high. Sorry.”
That makes it more assuring. Hopefully she does not run out of stock somehow.
While still searching for scriptures on the wall, I also keep my eyes open for possible attacks. The wall itself has some scriptures, but they are brief and not really descriptive. While seeing them I note them down in my Realm, maybe I can later find out what this language means.
Further inside are some lights still working. Looking at them, they have some functions I can copy. Their way they work is with Miasma, really strange for a human place, but they draw their own from the surrounding, so it is a great find!
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
And also the Origin of the three dimensional Runes is solved. They are from this Kingdom. Still intricate, but this one is way simpler. It is great for learning how to use them. I hope one light will not be missed, I need only one anyways.
Walking through the occasionally lit corridor the place goes down. What was put that deep into the earth? What did they store here? So exciting!
…
“What is this place Null?”
“To be honest? I don’t know, but it is some kind of Factory or Industrial Complex.”
“Well complex is it. So many corridors.”
“I didn’t mean… Well you are right. It is big and complex. The whole thing had to be built underground to be that stable. Just what for?”
The corridors were snaking through the earth and seem to go rather far in different places. Slowly we find our ways deeper down and search for the reason for such a large Facility.
After the final corner we come into a large Room filled with pillars, slowly humming and absorbing Miasma while pushing it into different directions deeper below.
“So that is it. A Miasmic Plant! They sorted and converted the extreme Miasma they created with the Summoning. But where does the Miasma go?”
The whole time I was more interested in the pillars. Luckily they were all differently inscribed and partially transparent so I could see the Runes inside. Two of the twelve were broken, but some of the runes are still visible.
Taking a part of the crystal remnants to have a sample I inscribe every single detail in my notes. This will be so beneficial to not only sort but convert Miasma.
While scribing I did not even notice the heavy footsteps of the supposedly Golem. I only noticed its arrival, when Snow mentioned him.
“Null? The tall metal man is here.”
“Huh? Oh yeah, I remember now there was something. I totally forgot!”
The Golem itself was looking fully mechanical, so maybe a Robot? If it is a Robot, maybe there is worth a try in…
“Intruder, verify yourself.”
A female metallic voice asks for my credentials, now to make crap up on the fly in quick succession.
“Maintenance Officer Null, Serial eight two zero six four. Coming as requested for damage surveillance. State your Identification yourself.”
“...Error, No Officer with this Name in Database. You will be removed from the Facility.”
His eyes flash, but I am not done yet.
“Requesting you to do a self check. Inquiring the actuality and integrity of Database.”
“Invalid request. You have not the authority to call for a self check.”
“I have the authority as of the recent Database update, Requesting override to force self check, as I am seeing major damage on your mechanical parts. A forced integrity check of the Database is needed.”
“Error… Attempting routine self check. Damage to right appendage detected. Validity of request possible. Please wait…”
Maybe we can go out of it without a fight. Bullshitting myself through the routines was a good idea. Luckily their Hero seems to come from my own or a rather similar World and gave them extremely predictable things at Hand.
“Database integrity a hundred percent. Last updated five thousand seven hundred forty two years, two months and six days ago. Database outdated, searching for update… please wait…”
Whew, it works! Now if we just disable him before...
“Aborted, no transmission available. Start defense Protocol. Disabling weapons, start protection of Facility.”
...shit…
“Snow, evade!”
His left arm came crashing down. By the way, why do I call him a ‘he’ when it has a female voice? Maybe it is the rather imposing body and massive frame. Could be as Snow called it at first a metal ‘man’? ...Argh! We are in a fight!
“Snow, try to hold its attention! I search for a weak spot!”
“Roger!”
While he is trying to catch that agile rat girl I am searching for a weakness. The left arm is missing, so maybe…
crunch
“My Claws! They did break on his skin, you meanie!”
Those were made out of heavy black steel. And they did not even scratch it, so brute force is not viable. But if not external, maybe internal?
“Snow, take me in and let Surge out. Try to get him into the open hole on the left shoulder!”
“Huh? Oh, Okay.”
With a jump over the next haymaker of the colossus, Snow came to me and put Ava into her shadow and took Surge the Mouse out.
Rolling away from the next stomp of the huge menace, she takes Surge into her hand and runs around.
“Initiating eye lasers. Error, no weapons allowed.”
Jeez! Maybe it was worth to make the talk. That thing has Eyebeams! I do not know how much more weapon it has, but I am now really REALLY happy I made that gamble.
“What is an eye laser Null?”
‘Later, first bring me to the cavity. We need to work quickly, before that thing changes his mind on weapons!’
While he flails precise around, Snow was faster than that hunk of metal, and could evade into the direction of the missing arm. I see some gears move inside the shoulder, so it might have forgotten about its inability to use the right arm. No database error… as if! It can not even remember its own checks.
“And in you go!”
Snow rather rudely throws me right into the opening. Inside I have to at first escape the gears from making me into Surge smootie. Afterwards I bite on what looks like insulation material for cables and blast the innards with Lightning.
...Some jerks, but nothing like it stops. I need to go deeper.
Finding a rather organized place with many cables, next to a suspiciously round and sealed off part I try my luck again. First gnaw some of the horrible tasting Insulation away.
When I say horrible, I mean horrible. The taste is nearly overwhelming me with the instinct to not even touch that stuff again, but I keep at it. After an ungodly long time, that is a few seconds of mind numbing taste inside my mouth the insulation is through and I surge again.
This time it had a way better reaction, but still not enough. Ugh, I need to go at it again? I would rather die than going near that stuff with my tongue, but I have to be brave.