TSW - Chapter 8: Process of Elimination (1) - Blessing

With the help of the pale figures under the strict command of Lina, the group trudged up the stone passageways to the surface with the near catatonic Raneaux. The route up had been obscured by a hollowed out barrel of ale, large enough for a person to stand in and as soon as the group could smell hops and stale alcohol they knew exactly where they were. They wondered how it could have been kept a secret from them and how long it would have been until they had discovered it by themselves. Xera took a quick glance over at Mhaast who was carrying Raneaux and looked down at the floor. This was not what he had wanted for her and looking back, it seemed Danton was taking it far worse than him. In the process of exiting out of the barrel, the pale figures had vanished, leaving the group in the locked cellar of the Drunken Talon. There was no way they could easily explain their sudden arrival to Mavis, nor their reasoning for being behind a door she had most likely locked herself. Danton threw himself into the opportunity to pick the lock which he did without warning and without a sound.

In the bar area and completely alone, Jarvan and Mavis were finally free to enjoy each other's company without the fear of customer or employer. Their passionate kiss was soon cut short by Jarvan's realisation he had not prepared Danton's room and soon a lovers' quarrel ensued. In the brief moment of distraction, Danton managed to slip himself over the bar and to the front door. He stumbled in with a limp being as loud as he could. Jarvan rushed to his master to tend to him, full of constant apologies, while Mavis went to helped prepare a place for him to sit.

Danton had already worked out that Jarvan and Mavis were romantically entwined and a burden now weighed upon him. Things were changing far too rapidly for him to control and for the best part of it, would take him away from Darkperch. He had never known life without Jarvan and the thoughts running through his mind scared him a little. As he was tended to, he told them they he needed to talk to them privately which sparked fear in Jarvan. Guilt now riddled his concerned face. He helped his master upstairs and into his room before diving straight into fixing up the place. All Danton could do was sit there for a moment and take stock of what had just happened and swallowed his daily Nastrond. The effects were a little more potent but it didn't deter him from what he had to do and summoned Mavis in.

She seemed older today or perhaps Danton had not really taken stock of her. She seemed slightly older than Jarvan, perhaps in her early fifties. She had been bolstered by her lifestyle here but she was greying slightly almost a match for Jarvan's slowly silvering hair. She looked down at her feet as she entered. He couldn't really tell why she seemed so demure now, she had always been so boisterous. Perhaps she knew? Mavis spoke up before Danton could and asked him it was this to do with what they had spoken about earlier, about Darkperch. He  told her in a yawning tone, that things would change around here but not as expected. He explained in-part the agreement he had brokered underneath the village, about how Lina would relinquish her control and wouldn't contact the Hawk-Eyes for a replacement to safeguard the area. He didn't tell them about the price of what this cost, nor the terms of the contract or Lina's sinister nature. She asked why the young Hawk-Eye wasn't returning to Auspar and again Danton dodged the question. Jarvan looked on at his master puzzled knowing full well he was holding back. He knew how the Hawk-Eyes worked and it was strange to him that Lina would not return to her superiors but it was all washed away by what Danton said next.

He said to Mavis that although she had not wished it, she was now in control of Darkperch to run as she saw fit. She raised an eyebrow at him,  expecting him to say he was in total control of the village and not her. Out of his breast pocket he took out two of the crystals he had scavenged from the light field matrix that had kept him locked up. He offered one to each of them and made sure he clasped their hand with his other as they took it from his palm. He smiled at hem with one of the first genuine smiles he had had in a long while.  This did not sit right with Jarvan, nothing about this made sense. Danton exhaled a little and again smiled while looking at them both. He told them they had his blessing and this was a token of his good faith in the matter. It all finally clicked in Jarvan's head and wave of embarrassed relief washed over him and an outburst of gratitude ensued.

With Mavis and Jarvan upstairs and confined to Danton's room, it allowed the others to find rest upstairs.  Xera told the group to sleep  and recuperate and he thanked Mhaast after he tucked Raneaux into bed. He told him to talk to Willow in the morning about what had happened but by the look on his face he could tell Mhaast was unsure. Xera had a throbbing headache but couldn't tear himself away from looking over at the hopefully sleeping Raneaux. His eyes and thoughts were never taken off from her as she had yet to speak or move since leaving Lina. His mind refused to let him sleep but his body called for slumber and hearing the outburst from the room next door gave him the nudge he needed to fall into bed.

Willow didn't bother to light candles as she went to sleep. Her eyes were too tired to read and in part, she didn't want to look at herself. She could write without light and within a few moments scrawled a sign that read Yes, I'm fine. Keep out, which then adorned the door to her room. In the brief glimpse she had gotten while scampering upstairs, she saw that he skin was in part translucent but was becoming a a darker shade of sickly green. Her dreams gave her no respite. She saw a man dressed in ornate purple robes hang from a statue. She was haunted by the laughter of the pale figures and of Lina's. She tossed and turned not wanting to dream and yet not wanting to be awake.

Mhaast walked past her room and noticed the message and shook his head. After everything that happened he needed to repair himself and that, he knew, would have start with a stiff drink. He heard murmurs coming from Danton's room and he caught the eye of Mavis who was peeking out to see whose door had just shut. She gently pushed the door back and whispered some more before Mhaast startled her by coming right up to the door and asking for a drink and for Danton. Danton motioned to her to let Mhaast in and as she opened the door she stumbled back into the arms of Jarvan. In the light of the hallway she had not noticed his tail and it was apparent to everyone that she had not seen a mutant before. Danton firmly kept his jaw shut. Mhaast on the other hand had other ideas. He wanted to speak to him alone, preferably with a drink in his hand. Mavis bit the bullet and tried to question Mhaast on where Lina was. She said she needed to know as Silas had been here during what was now just shy of a day of chasing after her. He looked over at Danton and saw his shaking head and tried to avoid her questioning. He countered her inquiry by asking why he had visited so soon. It was explained that Silas had had a falling out with Jethra over the killing of two of his followers and his recent discovery of how Jethra was using Silas' money to fund some sort of automaton search party. He had seemed overly agitated when he had come to the inn, which was probably compounded by the fact none of them had returned in a time scale he saw fit. This was definitely the Silas Mhaast knew and in fact this was even more of a reason for a drink.

With Mhaast turning the conversation back onto whiskey it sent Mavis into a panic. Neither Danton or Mhasst had any idea where Lina was but they were both calm about the fact. It shocked her that they were so relaxed when it came to Silas's threats and soon her fear started to spiral as she went pale. Jarvan knew she definitley needed a drink and offered for Mhaast to accompany them downstairs for one on the house. He agreed but tossed two shins to Mavis as a tip. She threw them back as if they were cursed, telling him plainly she wanted nothing to do with Silas' money. He looked at her cockeyed for a moment as they left in front of him. When they had gone Mhaast turned to Danton and told him to check on Willow in the morning as she wasn't looking well and her skin was turning a darker shade of green. He replied he would look into it before shutting the door behind Mhaast.

Willow sat bolt upright jolted awake by her visions and unable to sleep any longer. She rationalised it all by blaming the footsteps on the stairs for waking her up. She lit a candle on the bedside table and pulled her most cherished book out from its hiding place in her room. She looked at the one tale that was hers. The tale of the witches the king and the shadows. She didn't want to read it again, just glancing over it gave her comfort. She had no idea how long she had spent lost in it and was only brought of it when a stumbling Mhaast came back upstairs to flop into an empty room. She looked one last time at the prints n and in the dim light and in her half sleep deprived mind, she swore she could make out the same door as that of the one she had been locked behind in the room of broken toys. She shook the notion from her head not wanting to worry about something so tiny and luckily the book had done its job, it had given her calmed her mind and allowed her to sleep.

TSW - Chapter 7: Remnants (7) - Chambers 9 & 10

Her body lay on two separate floor panels. It was a clean kill and the nature of the creature had left no traces of blood. Below the lower half of her torso, the hexagon was green. Xera was a little confused. In the fight that had ensued he had not seen anything of the sort and so went in for further inspection. His orange hexagon butted up against the green and then disappeared as he stood over the corpse. Whatever was causing it had masked his own. He thought this might be possibly due to her carrying a marker that allowed her to pass through certain security measures and with his body half turned away, he reached into her cavity. The insides were still warm but dry and dusty .Most of the organic material had dried out, leaving her skin as a husk. A small hard and flat piece of material lay distinct from the rest of her and he immediately  withdrew his hand and breathed a sigh of relief. The card now changed his orange hexagon to green and with this, it also allowed him to remove the barriers back towards the river.

As Mhaast followed Xera through however, he felt a brief pulse of energy and heard a rattling coming from the storage room. This clatter turned into an almighty crash, supported by the hum and buzz of jets. The dormant machines covered in blood had now woken up and repeated an indecipherable phrase over and over. Bones, body parts and blood were all soon mopped up and placed into the shredder on their backs. They quickly analysed the bloodied body of Mhaast as their next task. Mhaast yelled at Xera to run. The pounding of feet on the stone echoed in the corridor, both of their hearts now racing. Neither of them were ready for another fight but that was not their choice. Two machines blasted forward towards Mhaast. One was quickly dispatched by the blade of his great axe. The other however, with its scissor like pincers, lodged themselves in his flesh. Its curved tail wrapped itself around his body and within a blink of an eye, he was thrown backwards and into the clutches of two more.

They held him fast trying to dissect him, inject him with chemicals, clearing the stain of his existence from the laboratories. Xera prayed that Shatterstone wouldn't kill Mhaast and fired indiscriminately down the corridor, hoping to damage as many of the machines as possible. One fell almost immediately, the crystals gumming up the jets that kept it afloat. As it tried to gain altitude the engines overheated, the clink of debris whirred inside. They overloaded, sending a shard of crystal at speed towards Mhaast. He managed to wrestle one of the machines that kept him restrained into the path of it, allowing him a brief opportunity to free himself and to fight for his life. It was a battle he barely won. He was now a broken man, his implants burned in his flesh and sparked in the darkness. His breathing was laboured and he tried desperately to stem the flow of blood.

Danton for a brief second witnessed where the cape had taken him. A enormous writhing mass of flesh surrounding a singular orange eye bared down on him in the dark void. He had no time to react, no time to save himself. He shut his eyes and braced. There was nothing. When he opened his eyes he was back in the cavern, a good few feet away from the exit of the tunnel the laser had created. He called out for Deanna but there was no reply. He bit his lip and continued onwards alone. He could hear old mechanisms buzzing, the juddering of a chain against cogs and the roar of water and then there was silence. She shook his doubt off and searched the room. He found a small metal disk which he thought had little significance. He rubbed his forehead while still holding it and it attached itself to him. It was as if he had been struck over the head with a metal bar. He found himself in a corridor. A stout but well built man who was carrying books was knocking at the door at the end. He pleaded for his daughter to let him in. He told her he had brought new books on fairytales for her. A young girl quickly opened up the door and there was s something in her eyes that Danton recognised. The man's voice turned sombre before telling her that she had been found out by the family and like every young girl, must now marry the man the family had arranged. She cried out and grew angry before slamming the door and the vision faded from view. He woke up with a pounding headache and more confused than he had ever been.

He staggered out of the cavern and was about to take the opening to the right, until he saw a group of tall figures lit by firelight. Their arms were longer than their legs and their skin was pale. He backed away slowly down the left passage. Danton soon started to hear voices, Mhaast's and Xera's. They had obviously crossed the river somehow but he had no idea how or where. They seemed to be getting along but the conversation was about him. Xera spoke about how he distrusted Danton and Mhaast said he had good reason to believe the same.  Danton was perplexed. He had never met Mhaast before today so how could he have reason not to trust him? Perhaps it was Silas' influence but Silas didn't know Danton would even be here, or did he? He interrupted them before their defamation could go any further and he found them soaked from head to toe. They explained that as they tried to cross the river, laugher filled the air and a flood of water surged through, washing them downstream to this opening. However they quickly turned their attentions back onto Danton, questioning why he was alone, and how he could have lost both of his compatriots.

Danton tried to explain himself but they wouldn't listen. They blamed him for Raneaux's and Deanna's disappearance and demanded to know what happened. As he opened his mouth to defend himself, his jaw unhinged and split apart, his fangs protruded and his serpentine tongue hissed. Both Xera and Mhaast took a step backwards while Danton tried to push his jaw back to where it should be, his hands were shaking. There was no time for an explanation, a song now drifted in the air. A female voice coming from further down the cave system. Danton tried to defuse the situation by telling them to follow him and soon the source of the voice was found. It was Deanna, trapped behind a thick wall of metal that spanned the entire width of the cave. They could see she had already started to try to melt the metal with her beams of light but the process was slow. Aided by the three of them, she was quickly set free and Danton rushed to her side. She was exhausted, dirty and scared of the pale men that abducted her from the cave. The floor lay littered with broken toys.  She tried to find out where Danton had disappeared to, to which both Mhaast and Xera raised an eyebrow but he again shifted the conversation over to another topic, this time Lina. He told them he had seen the creatures that took Deanna further back and told them to prepare for a fight.

As they approached however, they heard the giggling of Lina and Raneaux. The pale figures parted, revealing that Raneaux and Lina were playing with toys on the floor next to a fire.  Danton gently asked her if she was okay and that her Uncle had been worried about her. He tried to convince her that Silas had come all the way from Auspar to see her, to which she coldly replied he did not. She was different now, her age belied something older, more powerful. Her voice was stern with an edge of disgust but it was still the voice of a child. She bluntly told Danton that Silas had not been in Auspar, he had in fact been in Qi for quite some time with Mhaast. A flood of desperate and panicked thoughts flooded his mind. He asked Mhaast why he was in Qi, and why he had associated himself with Silas. Mhaast's posture rose, his tail scratching the floor. He told Danton he had heard rumours of what he had done in Qi after he had escaped from Danton's clutches.

He  told Danton that he was Tahmas Marish, the man that he had had kidnapped for extra traction in the city of Qi against his family. He had returned to find his name written on a tombstone and his family were against his reinstatement. He was told to seek a new name and told him to alter his appearance, resulting in his metallic state. Danton may not have killed him but he had taken his life. He turned to Xera and told him that Danton had had him captured on way to meet a woman he was betrothed to, although both of them had known they did not love each other. Deanna started to cry but it was not for Mhaast. She was angry and insisted that Willow had loved him and demanded to know why he didn't love her. He took two steps back before his jaw opened wide. She nodded in recognition of his realisation and confirmed she was Willow. All eyes now fell upon Danton. Down in the dark underneath Darkperch, his legacy was now in front of him. The sins he had committed against these two now laid bare. Mhaast admitted that he expected Danton to be worse, ruthless, uncaring but that was not what he had seen. He had his doubts about what he should do and asked Danton what he would do if the positions were reversed. He swallowed his pride and bowed his head for execution.

Lina then started to laugh. It pierced the tension and brought the focus back to her. She told them all how funny they were with their petty conflicts and told them they needed to play more. She offered a place to sit with Raneaux which sent shivers down their spines. Raneaux had not said a word, she had not moved and perhaps not even blinked. Her expression was blank and her movements repetitive. She batted a ball between her hands on the floor while never taking her eyes off the wall behind the group. Danton tried to reason with Lina but she was in control. He asked her to return to the surface to see her uncle and she agreed, only if she could keep Raneaux. They had no room to argue. He asked about the control of the village, to which she said she hated the idea. All she wanted to do was play with her friends down here. If he sought to take ownership he could, in fact she gave the responsibility of the safety of the village to all of them and in turn would suffer if Darkperch was to fall.

TSW - Chapter 7: Remnants (6) - Chambers 7 & 8

Danton sighed for a second and tried to comfort Deanna. She was now sat on the floor her knees brought to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. He could hear her sobbing and wandered why the woman had left. Deanna was unresponsive, she gently rocked forwards and back her eyes turning red with tears. He shook his head to break away from the sight of Deanna. It was now down to him to get them out if he could. He patted himself down to look for the mechanist's tools he had taken from Coe and pulled out a screwdriver. He examined the panel above and below seeking a weak point. There was an obvious panel below him and steeped gingerly to the side, knowing the dangers of coming into contact with wall of solid light.

Below him lay a matrix of crystals and beams of light. They reflected in different crystals, changing their paths before exiting the box that the crystals were housed in. He toyed with the idea of removing one or two to see where the light would go, and found that removing one allowed the beam of light to continue to the casing, which started to smoke a little. He then tried to place the crystal in the field of light. It was like forcing it through treacle, the barrier buzzing as it was being pierced. Eventually the crystal was partially through but the light did not seem to part like falling water. It enveloped the crystal leaving Danton no room to escape. He removed two more and with the same difficulty forced them through. They reacted almost instantly when the last one was placed. The crystals focused light, as he had already seen and now they were doing the same to the barrier. A continuous beam of light, much stronger than that below him now started to burn a hole into the side of the control panel. It was a slow smoulder and with what he thought were a few spare moments he tried to pry the rest of the crystals out, the beams of light now causing them to overheat.  With the beam unwatched it had gathered power and had soon burned through the outer casing and was now causing a fire inside the machinery. The barriers soon dropped only moments before the contraption erupted in a violent explosion of metal, rock and flame. Danton had at least a notion of what he was doing in the back of his mind and was prepared for any event but Deanna had been face down and curled up. She was caught in the explosion, her skin sliced by the debris. She yelled out in pain and clasped at her wounds, her blood felt tacky between her fingers.

Danton dived over to her to tend to Deanna's wounds but she recoiled. She was angry that he hadn't warned her and blamed him for the injuries she sustained but most of all, she didn't want him to notice her blood. He didn't know how to react but the felt the blame in the pit of his stomach. Part of it was from her but most was caused by his own guilt. He had lost Raneaux and in his mind had nearly killed Deanna.  He swallowed his emotions and turned his attention to where had had been standing. The crystals had survived so were pocketed for future use. The control panel completely destroyed but the beam had not merely cut through it, it had also tunnelled its way through the cavern wall to the other side. With a little coaxing, he convinced Deanna that this was perhaps their best bet for survival and went in first. His idea fell short as a few feet from the other side, the tunnel narrowed and he became stuck. One hand lay in front while another was stuck behind him. Without thinking he awkwardly reached for the cloak and tried his best to cover himself with it. Deanna looked on in frustration before he completely vanished from view. Seconds past and panic set in, the fear of going back to the chamber before was nearly outweighed by the fact Danton had left her. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe calmly. He still did not return. In the darkness behind her a pale spindly hand hesitated over her ankle before grasping it tightly and dragging her out.

Across the underground river Mhaast and Xera had started to hear buzzing noises from the cavern behind them. Mhaast was a little apprehensive, the fact that the automatons ns were still alive and the security measures were still active meant that this place could still be in use. He told Xera to stand back as he fiddled with his shoulder augmentations. A small hatch opened from his left side and to Xera, a small cannon somehow, almost impossibly folded out from the aperture. It moved with his head movements, tracking his eyes to his intended target. He approached the shadows cautiously and rolled a glowglobe across the floor for light. Five winged mechanical insects were stabbing into the corpse of a dead monstrosity like he had seen earlier. Upon noticing him they rose into the air and were greeted by a barrage of pellets that had been fired from Mhaast's shoulder mounted artillery. The shells burst into a brilliant flames a spectacular light show that melted the metal of the creatures until they were nothing more than molten puddles.  This was met by the synthetic shriek of a woman which sent shivers down Xera's spine. 

The woman covered in black hexagonal scales emerged from the crack in the wall. Her body twisted and contorted in inhumane ways but her dark orange eyes always fixed forward. With unnatural speed and obvious anger she lashed out at Mhaast slicing into him over and over with her claws. Xera had hardly any time to react, only able to fire off a few bolts of Shatterstone before Mhaast's body blocked his aim. Mhaast soon felt himself slipping, his augmentations were slowing him down. He had upgraded his body for a purpose, to be faster and stronger than any human. He felt betrayed by his own body which fuelled his anger. He was desperate to prove to himself that all he had sacrificed had not been for naught and channelled his rage into his great axe. Moments later, with his wounds bleeding onto the floor, the woman fell to ground. She had been cleaved in two. 

TSW - Chapter 7: Remnants (5) - Chambers 6 & 7

Deanna was loosing control of her composure. Faced with the hideous laughter and silence from the other side of the cave in, she did what she could with reckless abandon. A beam of light pierced the rubble and blasted it away. The dust quickly settled in the chambers, Raneaux had disappeared. Danton knew what he would find on the other side but did not want to admit it. The laughter and the memories of the shifting house from weeks ago played in his mind. Nothing there had seemed real either. They had been pawns in a game they were forced to play and here again they were being toyed with. He tried to calm Deanna's nerves to no avail and felt the only way to do so now, was see it to the end.

He pressed onwards trying to find a semblance of Raneaux. The cave gave little clue as to where she had gone. A shadow on the floor ahead left a lump in his throat. It was a body, he was sure of that, covered in a cloak. Raneaux had not been wearing such an item but couldn't rule out the possibility that she was underneath. He left Deanna to explore what she wished as he silently investigated. His hand trembled as he lifted the garment and sighed with relief as the body underneath was not hers. The figure had been preserved in the dry air down here, a man much older than himself covered in puncture wounds. The skin was dark around them, blackened but not charred. It had started to spread across his skin in a geometric pattern of hexagons, plate like but still his skin. To the side of the body, an unmarked canister lay on the ground. He took it in hopes that it may be valuable and with that, he turned his attention to the cloak. It was covered in circuits with wires laced into the fabric connecting them. He pulled it up around his neck and for a brief moment and Deanna was now alone in the cavern. He appeared again moments later as if he had never left but now breathless, aching and with the cloak covered in blood. He had no memory of where he been. If Deanna saw the marred cloak it may panic her further and he quickly bundled it up around the canister and stowed it out of sight.

He grabbed her by the hand, noticing that she trembled in his grasp. His words failed him so he gently lead her through the opening at the other end in hope for answers. Another body lay in the next cavern. He tried to steer her away but her curiosity drew her to it. He had no qualms in letting her satisfy this notion, presuming the body to be deceased. It too had the same geometric skin as the body before but this time the woman here was covered head to toe. She wore no clothes and had no hair and the extent of whatever transformation had befallen her was easily seen. The body however was not a corpse. In a blink of eye it was stood on its feet, its eyes a glowing muddied orange. Deanna's grasp tightened as she stepped backwards.

The woman addressed them both, with eyes scanning every inch of skin. Her voice was synthetic and vibrated like an insect's wings. She denounced them as human and coldly catalogued them. Danton tried to converse with the woman but she answered no questions, she only posed them. She noted how their hearts were racing and from the walls, the woman summoned five wasp like creatures almost a foot long. They circled the two of them adjusting their flight as Deanna shifted on her feet. The woman tilted her head in what seemed to be confusion. She told them both that their existence was inconclusive, their forms masking their inhumanness. Deanna argued that she was human, nothing more nothing less but her appeals were refuted. The woman told them that modifications were needed for conversion and they were escorted by the buzzing drones further into the cave.

It seemed that the stone had not changed most of this cavern. The metal plated walls were unmarred and the floor rose half an inch from the stone with hexagonal plates. A hum of machinery was now distinct from that of the wings of the creatures that flew around them. They passed a fenced off fissure in the middle of the room which dropped down to only darkness. They were forced  up a small set of stairs and around the corner towards a faint glow of light. In front of them was a machine set in-between two large hexagonal platforms that were raised from the floor. Above each was the same, lowered from the tiled ceiling above. Wires passed from the central contraption  along the wall to the bottom of the platforms. Danton and Deanna were  separated and stood on each platform. The woman turned her attention to control panel in the middle and started to operate it. A solid light, just like the barriers from the room with the stone table now caged them in. A few seconds passed before three beams of light crossed above their heads from corner to corner. They generated an intense heat and buzzed louder than the wings of the insects and the machinery put together.

The hexagonal cross started to lower, which instilled panic in both of them. No matter how much they pleaded, the woman did not respond.  The insects crawled in the walls again and disappeared from view. In a brief moment of composure, Deanna tried to reach into the mind of the woman, hoping to find a semblance of humanity. What she found were confused and conflicting thoughts, a mind that held many voices all in conversation. Only one was the woman's and she was angry. Their scans were inconclusive, they were neither human, nor inhuman or beast. The woman's voice then responded to calls for her attention. Two humans had apparently entered another laboratory and their scans were far more conclusive. One was augmented with meta but they were both ripe for conversion. She stopped her scans, the beams however still left over their heads and contorted her body in unnatural ways to fit into the crevice in the rock to the left of Danton and followed her insects.          

TSW - Chapter 7: Remnants (4) - Chambers 4 & 5

With the first creature dead, the other was now bearing down. Xera could only look on as the creature battered Mhaast again and again. With its form now fully flesh and metal, it was harder to hit. Its movements were unpredictable as it constantly gained strength and stamina. For every second it was still breathing its mass increased; the valves and tubes pumped more chemicals into its body, the electronics stimulated more and more muscles. Mhaast tired to match it force for force but found himself outmatched. Not only could it hit harder and faster, it was able to somehow split its concentration between the two effortlessly, striking with one movement, then dodging the blasts from Shatterstone.  Even with Mhaast's great axe it was a slog of a fight, it wore down his systems and his endurance. A few lucky strikes against its enhancements debilitated it but it still kept coming. With one last swing Mhasst tried to hew into the flesh of the creature, only to miss. In such close quarters however he managed to head butt the creature and with all its other wounds, it fell to the floor dead.

They were both drained and exhausted. The security measures down here, wherever here was, were nothing short of devastating and they hoped that the others were faring better. Xera tried to contact Raneaux but his thoughts were unanswered. He didn't know if she was dead, alive or perhaps the caverns were preventing their communication but they had to press forward. He didn't mention to Mhaast about Raneaux, it was probably best he didn't know. As they both looked down at the bodies of the two hulks, they came to the conclusion that they had nothing of note to take. Mhaast had considered trying to remove their augmentations for himself but not knowing much about anatomy and due to how foreign these creatures were to him, he did not want to damage the implants let alone try to enhance himself with broken pieces. Like the table before, the stone slab in this room also had a port that he could interface with. More undecipherable information streamed through his mind. He found what possibly could be a way to change everyone's hexagon to a neutral white but in the process he was blasted away from the console by a bolt of energy. As he crumpled to the floor in pain, he found both he and Xera were now upon dark orange. He rubbed his head with what he thought was his hand but found that was instead his new tail and the shock brought him to his feet. It was decided then by both of them that messing with the ancient technology was a stupid idea and was not to be repeated.

They turned left as they headed out of the room, a little more cautious of the stonework around them. The passed the bend in the pathway and it opened up into another forked path. To the immediate left was  what seemed to be a workshop. There were shelves and tables, more metal than stone around the outside of the room. They were covered in scraps of paper, broken machinery, pieces of metal and most disturbing of all, rotten body parts. There were four, almost pristine white machines that lay littered on the surface of the tables. They seemed to be the source of the rot, splattered with dried blood that had once pooled underneath them. In the dim light, one started to spark and shudder. Its mechanical limbs whirred, pincers on one side sliced through the air while the other, fluids and dust were sprayed against the wall. A rumble came from what seemed to be a hopper at the back of the machine between the two jets that were built into it. This was where the blood was most obvious and soon the reason became clear. A warped and mouldy foot was spat at their feet before the machine faded back to its original state. Mhaast could sense these machines were still functional on some level, perhaps sleeping in some powered down state. They backed away with fear slowly gripping them. This was a mistake. Unbeknownst to them they passed another set of pillars, setting off another security measure. The corridor they had entered from was now closing shut, five sets of foot thick metal rose up from the ground with a heavy echoed thud. They were individually blocking the way back from a few feet away until one by one entrance was no longer discernible from the walls of the cave. 

On the other side of the labyrinth of caverns; Danton, Deanna and Raneaux had been following what seemed to be signs of Lina. A scrap of cloth had been found next to a narrow pathway in the rocks. Raneaux had ventured in first, being an experienced caver and delver for artefacts. She told both of them to wait for her to return. It seemed to her that the pathway had been much larger and a possible cave in had nearly blocked the entire path although she was unsure how recent it was. She presumed it was safe enough for her to crawl through but for both of them to follow her. She knew  she would have to secure it first. Reneaux soon disappeared from view, slipping in between the rocks. A minute or so passed and she could still be heard trying to scramble through. Another minute went past and they could hear her swearing at the rocks, a side of her Danton hadn't seen before. She seemed more open and honest, perhaps being in civilization had closed her off, shut down her true self. There then came a sigh of relief as she seemed to have made it through to the other side. Danton then waited for her to call them through or at least offer them guidance on how to proceed. There was nothing. Another minute passed and the cavern was still silent. He thought about calling out to her and as he parted his lips to speak, a shrill scream deafened him and Deanna, followed by the ever present laughter.

TSW - Chapter 7: Remnants (3) - Chamber 3

The fog soon dissipated, sucked through the cracks in the walls. There was a brief moment of confusion as the group gathered their thoughts as they regained their sight.  Although Danton, Xera and Raneaux had presumed Deanna had been in similar circumstances; her initial emotional breakdown and continuous sobbing proved otherwise. The dim light provided enough for Danton to see her clearly but he constantly blinked in disbelief. Her skin was turning pale and translucent. It was similar to the creatures they had encountered but there was something different; her skin did not have a pinkish hue, it was in fact turning green. She looked at the group and saw their eyes staring at her and she instantly withdrew into herself. A curled up against the wall and huddled, pulling her knees into her chest. Danton went to go comfort her but the conversation was awkward at best, he fumbled over his words and she seemed unable to stop crying.

Mhaast looked down at both of them, a little confused about the way Danton was reacting. It was not until Xera shouted at him that he broke his concentration. He seemed frightened, although intrigued. The fog has left its mark on Mhaast as well, although he did not feel it at first. It was only when Xera pointed out a biomechanical tendril that he felt the change. It was a composite of flesh and metal, the same as his own body but it seemed to resemble a scorpion's tail protruding from his lower back. With hardly any effort, he found he was able to control it as instinctively as his own limbs. Raneaux was not concerned with any of it and was back with the stone table. She had been trying to work out what the room was used  and if she could deactivate the field that blocked their way.

Now a little more confident in his walk, Mhaast strode over to the table and plugged himself back in. He gave a wink to Raneaux as he did so. The language that had initially confused him was slowly forming into words he understood. There were snippets of  brief phrases, 'containment lockdown', 'experiment chambers' and 'security protocols'. Xera assumed on this information that the hexagons beneath their feet were a kind of identification and presumed that the colours all of them bar Raneaux were sporting were not in their favour. Mhaast found more information, a possibility to change their status via a security panel but the map he had found within the stone systems resembled nothing of their surroundings. He was thankfully however able to remove the light barrier but other than that, he was stumped.

Deanna, with a lot of coaxing, had finally calmed down although her mind raced with what she was becoming. She desperately wanted to escape and led the way back to the central chamber, grabbing Danton's hand so he kept up as they passed the creatures that were still losing their minds. She breathed a little easier being by the water and hardly noticed Danton's hand lingering a little longer in her grasp. Xera coughed as he looked over to them both and Danton quickly pulled his hand to his side. For a split second Lina appeared to Deanna, in a room full of toys surrounded by tall pale figures. The room was dim and the figures were  illuminated in the darkness. She had a smile on her face, seemingly content. Deanna  dared not blink in case this was real but her eyes succumbed to dust and as she blinked she found herself being helped up by Danton from the floor. They were all concerned now.  She had fallen without speaking but her eyes remained open for more than a minute, staring blankly at the cavern ceiling. Danton was visibly shaken, a side Xera had not seen which made him nervous as well. His bravado tried to cover it up, telling Mhaast and Xera to search the side of the cave system where they were currently, while he and the two girls crossed the waters to the other bank to explore.

This didn't sit well with Xera but seeing how well armed Mhaast was gave him comfort and the man's ties with Silas would hopefully mean he was seasoned fighter. After Raneaux  re-established her mental link with them, they left the three and headed to the second pathway. The stone floor gave way to more metal plates. The walls too resembled that of the cavern with the stone table. To the right of them they found another set of pillars opening out into a smaller chamber. The path ahead  wrapped around to the left and blocked their view so they decided to take their chances on the room. There was a stone table inside, angled facing the back wall. Flanking this were two statues. They were similar to that of the creatures they had encountered before but far larger. Every muscle in their bodies were nearly bursting out of their skin casing. The sculptures were similar in composition to that of Mhaast; with tubes, wires and ports at every angle, as well as a myriad of implants and plates.

Xera hesitated for a second before Mhaast pushed him through into the room. Their light orange hexagons beneath their feet darkened. An audible crack of stone came from the back of the room, as the wires shook, and the tubes started to throb with a grey liquid. Mhaast launched into the left one as soon as he heard the sound. He cleaved his great axe into the creature, dismembering an arm before it was able to fully gain consciousness. The stone-like quality of both of them were slowly fading into flesh as Xera fired a bolt of energy from his Shatterstone. They pummelled the creature again and again as it was brought to life, turning from rock and flesh to body parts and crystal.  The last bolt fired by Xera finished off the creature. It's body fully crystallised on impact and it explosively shattered, sending shards of crystal towards Mhaast. As he took cover to avoid the shrapnel, the second statue had come to life. It loomed over him, breathing heavily with the sound of pistons  and pulsing liquid echoing in the chamber.

TSW - Chapter 7: Remnants (2) - Chambers 1 & 2

The laughter sent shivers down Danton's spine. There was something all too familiar about it. He turned to Xera to see if the look in his eye confirmed his suspicions and the returning glance had the same tone as his. He swore to the walls of the cave over the rushing water before the movement of his arm quelled them into yelps of pain. Xera offered his assistance to help with Danton's shoulder, him being the only one who had read anything remotely about medicine but his utter inexperience with such things only made things worse. It was Raneaux in fact who managed to restore Danton's shoulder to normal, although even she admitted she had never had to do it herself but had suffered the same way before.  With Danton now  not feeling up to finding Lina in his present state, he demanded that he should rest and the others should follow suit or at least dry off. The rest was backed by the sound of the river running through the cavern but it masked a drum beat. As they recuperated, the group could slowly begin hear it. It was a hushed rhythmic  tone that slowly grew into a forceful beat.  The group drew their weapons, the rest would have to wait.

From the shoreline, this side of the cavern held two pathways. One was to the left and one to the right, each was carved out of the wall in front of them.  The drums were coming from right hand side and with Danton's leadership, they sought out what was causing it. Shadows danced on the walls of the next cavern by what was presumed to be  firelight. They were grotesque and misshapen. None of them were exactly the same but all were stood on two legs, almost human. Mhaast was the first to venture forward and saw the reality. The casters of the shadows were pale brutes that might have once called themselves humans . They were hairless and almost featureless apart from their overly developed muscles and  pinkish hues of veins under taught skin. Each carried a large metal object, all of which were taller than Mhaast himself. They were not drumming but banging their clubs against the ground around the fire in some tribal dance. His first instinct was use explosives but was stopped by Danton as the rest of the group spied onwards. The cave these creatures were in was carved out of what seemed to be the side of the passageway and with careful footsteps they could easily bypass.

Danton had a plan already in his mind when he suggested the stealthy option. He had a device he had picked up from Coe but they could not be in range when it was let off and they needed to move quickly and quietly. However neither happened, which included himself.  The ground was soft and stony and each footstep crunched. It soon turned into a mad dash as the abhumans turned towards them pounding the ground. Their grunts and sniffs made it clear the group was not welcome or perhaps may be their next meal. Danton yelled for Xera to throw the shoes he found at the ranch to distract them with light and sound, giving Danton time to arm the device. He told the others to keep going as he lobbed a small squat wooden orb riddled with holes towards the creatures. As it hit the ground, a thick cloud of gas poured out enveloping the brutish creatures. Their grunts soon turned to cries as they started to panic, they turned on each other with savagery, while some shivered in the corners staring at the blank space in front of them and others turned their clubs against the walls in a futile attempt to win against it. As exactly as Coe had promised, madness had taken their minds. Danton could see now that their clubs were not just lumps of metal but pipe work and what seemed to be parts of machinery. There was something familiar, very familiar about it. As he caught up with the rest of the group it hit him, it had the same hallmarks of the place they had found in the Feldspar Maw, technology and craftsmanship not created by living man. He couldn't tell Xera in case it spooked Deanna and Raneaux or alerted Mhaast to ask what really happened to the citizens of Darkperch.

Mhaast congratulated Danton with a pat on the shoulder that he had dislocated. Danton glared over and tried to stop his fangs from protruding and he winced in pain. Mhaast apologised, seemingly innocent of causing pain intentionally. Ahead, the pathway split in to two directions. None of them knew which was way would find Lina but opted to take the same path again as before, sticking to the right hand side. The cavern at first opened out into a room that contained musty furs, gnawed on bones and the remnants of a fire. This was presumably was where these creatures slept and ate. Curiously though, the settlement didn't pass two  pillars encrusted with moss and silt. They were barely noticeable, jutting out opposite each other from the walls barely three fingers thick. The group neither noticed the pillars nor the deliberate end to the sleeping arrangements and went further into the chamber.

The floor rose a little before opening out into a wide room with a large stone table in the middle. Around the edges of the cave were sporadic plates of crystal in the slow process of being claimed by the rock. Xera could feel a hum in the room which no one else could sense. It drew him to the centre and the table. He saw it was made of rock but his senses convinced him it was machinery. He tried to force a corner off and found the shard of rock riddled with holes and strange indentations, this convinced him further of his own theory. He looked over to Mhaast and asked if his implants allowed him to interface with machinery and he nodded back a little sceptically. Xera traced over the surface of the table with his fingers and found what the thought could be a port or a socket covered by lichen. He told Mhaast this was the entry point and with reluctance Mhaast removed the upper part of his left hand index finger and plugged in. His body was flooded with a language he could not understand and it burned in his mind. His eyes were soon scrunched tight and his teeth became clenched. The table criss-crossed with lights as thin as a width of hair and ran down to the floor, changing at regular angles like channels up to the walls and to the crystal panels. Fervently, Xera chipped away the side of the cavern and found the stone to cover metal plates. He peered through the crystal and found misshapen bones  in hidden alcoves behind. 

Above them, the stalactites that roped together where cracked open by Deanna with the help of Danton. They revealed them to be tubes of liquid white light and not rock as first thought. Danton swallowed his apprehension and turned his attention to Mhaast. He was still connected and seemed to be in pain. With a sudden yelp he yanked his finger away, curled in whisks of smoke. He blew on his fingertip and as he looked down, he could see that where he was stood was a pale orange hexagon of light emanating from the rock beneath his feet. The rest of the group all bar Raneaux, had the same colour beneath them. Raneaux's was in fact pure white but equally unexplainable. With each step they took, the hexagon moved with them in a tiled fashion.  This was something that excited Xera but shook Danton to his core. He thought back to what happened in the mines, in whatever place they ended up in and the deaths that it caused. He told them the room was most likely a danger and ushered them out. As they reached the pillars, a curtain of dark orange light barred their way. It was solid and when struck, rippled out in a tiny honeycomb pattern like a drop of water on a pond. Not one of them could pass through barrier. They pounded on the wall of light again and again. From behind them a thick yellow fog poured in from back of the cave. It rolled over the stone table obscuring it from view. None of them could escape it.