When we confirmed there were no other undead hiding in the eight closest rooms, we went back and checked the cabinets in the labs. They were mostly full of other types of glassware, tools, and other assorted odds and ends.
Seeing the metallic tools reminded me of the thing that the one zombie had tried to stab me with and I went back to check it. The hunk of metal was just an angled bit of iron that came to a rounded point on one side about as long as a bookmark and half as wide.
Scoopula. The word came to my mind unbidden and I blinked, staring at the tarnished and ancient object. I was sure that was it’s name for some reason, and I could only guess that it was one of the random bits of knowledge that stuck around from that chemistry class I had to take before I finished school.
Since it was a basic tool and not something that was of any use or value, I set it onto a table in the nearest room that we had been studying before going back to examining things with the girls.
When we finished checking the labs, we continued down the hallway to the lone door before the turn. This one was locked shut, and the slab-key that we had found did not fit the lock. It took a bit of effort, but since I’d been judicious in my use of mana earlier, I had more than enough to use Manipulate Element to sense the layout of the lock.
The mechanism was extremely simple, just a flat slab of iron about four inches tall and two wide that extended into the wall another five inches. It was easy enough to shape the stone into a trench to allow the door to swing free, which it did under severe protest.
Squealing loudly from the accumulated rust and lack of grease, the door opened to a narrow room overlooking a pit that compressed down from about ten feet across to just shy of six feet before vanishing into darkness. I could faintly hear the sound of moving water from the pit as well.
Glancing upwards, I saw several corroded and ancient spouts that looked like drains in the ceiling which I bet would be the exits for the drains in the autopsy theater above us.
“Waste disposal,” I muttered, glancing back down at the pit. The hole below was large enough that a body would fit through it, to vanish into whatever underground river raced beneath us.
“Ew,” Kassandra said eloquently, and I just snorted and rolled my eyes.
A quick scan of the room confirmed that it was nothing more than an access room, probably to toss out failed experiments or even rotten food. Maybe the remains of the dissected subjects from above as well, once anything useful was taken out of them. But nothing beyond that. So we hurried back into the hallway and I resealed the door again.
At Rieka’s suggestion, I used Manipulate Element to put raised letters in the language of the Queendom that explained what lay behind the door, to save the researchers time in the future.
“I’m just glad that it’s been long enough that place no longer stinks. I bet it was rank when everything was fresh,” Jane said with a shiver of disgust.
“Agreed,” Shayla murmured as we turned to head along the tunnel to the turn.
Making that right-hand turn, the tunnel continued for about thirty feet before terminating in a set of double doors that screamed ‘SECURE’ at the top of their lungs.
While the doors in the rest of the complex had simply been flat, metal doors without much to accent them, these were solidly built of iron. They were much like the massive security doors back at the entrance, the ones with warding built into them which Kassandra had to remove in order to access the facility. Runes marked the edges of the doors and a large iron ring sat in the middle towards the inner edge of each door to serve as the handle.
In between the two rings, just below them at about belly-button height was a slot in the right-hand door, outlined with a ring of tarnished copper against the dull iron of the door.
“There’s your lock, Kass,” Jane said, elbowing my dwarf lamia lightly and shooting her a grin. “I’m glad we found it already. Was half-worried that we’d have to take that key to some other facility or hang on to it for months before we found the lock it goes to.”
“You aren’t living in some kind of storybook, Jane,” Kassandra shot back with a wicked smirk that just got a raised eyebrow and a defiant grin from the mouse kin. “If you were, you’d have already been seduced by my Liam.”
That statement got a more vehement response out of Jane, the mouse-kin woman sputtering in surprise and flailing her arms around in denial. From the blush that rose up on her cheeks though, I had a feeling that Jane was protesting a bit much.
Especially given the clues that the others have dropped at me for her, I thought with a sigh. I feel greedy for even considering adding someone else to our little group though. Or is it a harem? Might as well call it one. I’m already a dimension-traveling fairytale creature to them. I didn’t suppress the snort of amusement at the thought, but my girls were too busy teasing Jane to notice it.
“Who wants to do the honors?” Shayla asked once the spat had calmed down.
“I hate to ruin your fun, but as the one who is supposed to be protecting you all, I should probably do it. Just in case it sets off some kind of booby trap.”
“Aww, but I thought those were your favorite. I know I love having you trapped in my boobies,” Kassandra teased, her brown eyes dancing in amusement behind her glasses even as the other girls groaned at the bad pun.
“I’ve half a mind to make you do it, Kass. Especially after that bad joke,” Rieka grumbled before tossing me the metallic card. “You do have a point, Liam. Just be careful, okay?”
“All of you stand back then,” I ordered, and the girls complied, falling back to the corner of the hallway as I studied the door again carefully.
The keyhole was obvious, and it almost felt too obvious to me. Like it in and of itself was a trap, but despite the fact that we were in what amounted to an ancient dungeon hidden deep under a mountain, I didn’t actually think that the original owners of this place would have put traps around.
Closest we had to a trap anywhere else was the war-golems that animated when we got too close, I thought before carefully matching the key-card up to the door and sliding it in.
There was a rasping noise then a sharp click as the card slotted into place, stopping with about half an inch beyond my grip still protruding from the door. Giving it a jiggle, I didn’t feel like there was anything that would let me turn it, so I gripped the ring-handle on the door and gave it a yank.
At first, the door resisted the pull, and then there was a quiet pop sensation that ran through the door, a feeling that reminded me of the ancient freezer my father used to keep in the garage for storing meat and other things. The door would fight you some to break the initial seal, but once the seal popped, it was easy to open the door. These did the same thing.
There was a quiet hiss of moving air and I felt a faint pressure wash past me as air escaped the room in the wake of the seal giving out, but it faded a moment later.
I paused and waited, the door only open an inch or two, for something to happen. When I counted to twenty and had nothing occur, I turned and waved the girls closer.
All four of them hurried down the hallway to me, with Kassandra leading the charge to press herself against my back and wrap her arms around my waist in a hug as if it had been weeks since she’d seen me rather than mere moments.
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Ah, and there it is, I thought as I felt a small hand squeeze my butt before Kassandra released me.
I shot the dwarf lamia a questioning look and she just blew me a kiss with a grin. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the door.
“Shayla, counting on you for light. I don’t know what’s beyond here, but it was sealed tight, whatever it was,” I said, getting back onto track, ignoring a second pinch to my butt that felt like it came from a slightly larger hand.
“Of course, Liam!” Shayla said with such feigned innocence that I wondered if the second pinch might have come from her.
Whatever, if it helps them calm down, I thought. I knew my girls would focus when push came to shove, and if playing a bit of grabass down here in the dark was what they needed to keep from freaking out, then fine.
I pulled the door open further and Shayla sent her light orb into the room, keeping it close to the ceiling to prevent from blinding us. The four girls stood at the ready behind me while I studied the room and what the light revealed.
The room on the other side of the heavy doors was moderately sized, about twenty feet by thirty feet. Unlike the halls leading up to it, this room's walls were done in large plates of white marble with gray threads running through it. With the addition of Shayla’s light to the room, it felt like stepping into a warm summer cloud.
There were two large tables in the room made of a honey-colored wood with a pair of chairs each. Both tables had stacks of loose sheets of parchment on one side along with a jar full of quill pens. Behind each of the tables was a rack that held more pens, sealed jars full of a dark substance I guessed was ink, and other writing implements.
On the right side of the room were dozens of small cabinets that looked like they had been designed to hold scrolls, loose sheets, and books as well as a bookshelf that was half full of large books.
“A records room?” Jane murmured, and I felt her gripping the side of my leg. I glanced down to see her peering around me, her ears twitching curiously while she studied the room.
“Yep. Looks like it. Spread out and have a look, but be careful. If anything feels off or gives off an aura, don’t touch it,” I said after giving the room another look over. Between the cabinets and the tables, there wasn’t much in the room besides a pair of hanging globes that I guessed would be lights if they still functioned.
“Everything feels like it’s giving off an aura, Liam,” Kassandra said before poking me in the side. “We’ll be careful.”
Taking the promise as the best I was going to get, I stepped aside and let my four charges into the room. Something about the whole place felt odd to me, but I couldn’t quite place it. It wasn’t until Shayla said something that it finally clicked to me.
“The ink is still good in these bottles.” The moth woman had gone around the room to give it a quick inspection, stopping to study the carvings on the shelves or lettering on the bindings of books but not pausing for long.
“It is?” I asked in surprise, and got a nod from her. “That is weird. You found other inks that had long since dried out.”
“Right? And the paper isn’t dried out. Given how old the rest of this place is, and the weight of time on it, I wouldn’t have expected any of these to be preserved.” Shayla gestured to the tables with the loose sheets of blank paper on them.
“Preservation spells?” Kassandra suggested from where she was studying the half-full shelf of books before pulling one down and opening it to look. “I can’t read any of these. I recognize the script as ancient human writing, but I’d need time to translate them to even know what they are about.”
“I’m betting,” I said while glancing around the room. “That this is where they stored the records of their research. It explains why they were so heavily locked down. Even the rare supplies room only had the two golem guards on it, but wasn’t actually locked.”
“But you’ve used your earth magic to shape through locks and closed doors a bunch here, how does a plain lock make this more secure? Humans had magic too,” Jane asked from where she was studying a scroll she’d taken down. It was tied with a bright, vibrant blue ribbon in a neat bow.
“I didn’t try it on the door, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I tried that and set off a trap. So I’m glad I didn’t try,” I said dryly, getting nods from the others in agreement before I turned my attention back to the desks and papers there. “Something kept this room preserved…”
“Hey Liam, come read these titles so I can figure out if there are any worth keeping?” Kassandra asked.
I pushed aside my concerns to do as she requested. I could wonder about the room later, for now we needed to see what was all here and if anything was too dangerous to leave behind.
<><><>
Most of the books were simply anatomy studies on different types of creatures, as well as experiments on what different parts of them could be used for. Each book was a loosely bound collection of notes regarding a different type of creature, with each shelf being dedicated to a different element. I figured that the top two shelves had been for storing things relating to time and entropy aligned creatures, but they were totally empty.
Either the first of those two they caught was the downfall here, which I believe, or the DSR folks managed to ghost their way in here somehow. It blows my mind that they could possibly do something like that, I thought before focusing on what was in front of me.
Kassandra had opened up her notebook and was taking notes as I read the titles off to her. While I didn’t recognize the script itself, it didn’t match anything that I recognized from Earth, the benefits of being a Traveler was paying dividends right now.
Specifically, the ability to read and speak any language that I encountered.
It had been explained to me by Cariad that the adaptation was a default power awarded to all Travelers as part of their initiation to allow them to treat with and understand any being that might summon them. Something that would further the goals of the System itself, which were a side effect of successfully being summoned and completing the tasks set before them. So it behooved the System to ensure that Travelers could understand what was going on.
We sorted the books into two piles. The anatomy study ones we set to one side on the shelves, while the others were research into the summoning process or spell constructs. The girls claimed the books for spell constructs, saying those would be worth it to study or to give to someone who would need them or a friend.
“I still don’t get why we don’t just take everything,” Jane whined as she stared up at the masses of scrolls that we were sorting through next.
“Because, we need to leave some stuff behind for the queen,” I reminded her. “If we take everything, then it’s going to be obvious. As it is, we’ve already taken the best stuff. Not to mention, her scholars will be able to put them to good use as well as properly translate them. I’m still not sure if taking the books we have is a good idea.”
“It just feels wrong to be abandoning knowledge in the hopes that whoever gets it next is going to be willing to share,” Jane grumbled and I couldn’t help but smile down at the mouse-eared woman.
Remembering her positive reaction to it before, I gently patted her on the head, rubbing the back of her rounded ears lightly.
Jane tensed for a moment before relaxing into the touch and leaning into my leg. She continued to mutter imprecations and complaints, but didn’t go beyond that while we sorted through the scrolls next.
We soon figured out the organization strategy for the scrolls. The color of ribbon they were tied with denoted the element of the creatures they were related to, and each of the cubbies were a specific creature. Which led me to believe that they would accumulate the reports and notes in a cubby until there was enough to form one of the books, then they’d bind it together.
All in all, it felt like any other sort of research library. Nothing strange beyond the fact there were rather visceral drawings of the different dissections done of the creatures that they’d worked on.
I was working my way along those, opening them up to read what it was about so we could note it down and then putting the scroll back, when Rieka squeaked in surprise from behind me.
The noise startled me enough that I whirled in place and immediately used my Shape-Shifting to alter my arms and turn my left into a scorpion tail while the right shifted into an oversized dactyl club before I even realized what had happened.
Rieka had been studying the desks and writing supply racks themselves, since there was only so much space near the documents, and had apparently done something as a section of wall in front of her had shifted, revealing an opening that was about a foot square recessed into the wall.
“What’s that?” Kassandra asked, immediately turning to slither over to her friend and push herself up taller on her coils to peek into the opening.
“I was studying the patterns in the marble, trying to figure out if I knew what quarry area it might have come from, when I saw what I thought was a line of gold in the marble. I picked at it and then there was a click and this swung open,” Rieka explained as the rest of us came to stand behind her.
My princess pointed to the thin thread of gold that she’d found and I nodded. It was almost as thin as a hair, and would have been just slightly recessed into the wall. Reaching past her, I tapped the thread again, and with a whirring noise, the opening sealed once more. The panel of marble swung back to cover the opening before merging seamlessly with the wall. The only indicator of its presence was the hair-thin thread of gold that was just recessed enough that it barely caught the overhead light.
“I’d have missed that,” I murmured, shifting my arms back and wiggling a fingernail into the thin slit to depress what I was now realizing was a hidden button.
The panel slid back once more and we all leaned in to see what was hidden in the concealed space.
It was another book, this one smaller, about half the size of a normal sheet of notebook paper. It was about an inch thick and had the title stamped into the front, which I read aloud for the girls.
“Facility Logbook.”
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