Descent into Darkness [Harps]

[Old Gobbo]

Amherst nodded grimly. "'Decontamination Room', eh? I'm not sure I like the sound of that."

As he moved further down the tunnel, the light from the hole they came down from became less and less. Amherst was prepared to pull out a lantern when he noticed a blocky light attached to the wall near the ceiling. It was old and dust-covered, but it was there. Looking further down the corridor with his bird eyes, he noticed more. This place had electricity. It had lights.

His eyes spanned the corridor looking for a switch to activate them, and there it was. An old-fashioned air break switch, like the kind you'd use to start a generator or (he shuddered) an electric chair, was on the wall just ahead.

He moved forward to it and, deciding to show off a little in front of the kid, he turned back to Joel with a flourish. "Let there be light." And, with that, he threw the switch. Nothing happened for a second and, then, a groan occurred deep in the earth. It became louder like large gears shifting or machinery moving. The echo of the noise moved up and down the chamber and there could be no doubt that the entire complex would have heard it.

Amherst winced until the sound stopped and then, with a few blinks, the lights slowly turned on. "Um, voila?"

[Harpsdesire]

Amherst's serious tone made Joel wonder for a moment if he should be more worried about this whole thing. He supposed 'decontamination' could be an ominous sort of of word, but it was probably just where the old scientist used to change out of his lab-soiled clothes before entering the tunnel that led back to his house.

That was a cautious step for someone who ran the sort of experiments Joel expected to find down here. It's not as though he was working with dangerous substances... or... Oh. Finding that this line of thinking was quickly becoming quite counter productive, Joel resolved to stop thinking about it at once.

Of course, that's the sort of thing that inevitably leads to even more thinking about it, so it was a relief that Amherst almost immediately distracted him by pulling a large switch on the wall with some degree of flourish. He felt his heartbeat speed up a little as the corridor filled with a loud metallic groaning. Just a generator, of course, but the sound was unsettling in the extreme when he wasn't expecting it.

"Well." Was all he could say at first, and then, "I think we've lost the element of surprise." He grinned as the lights flickered on. Joel extinguished his lamp and was glad that he hadn't bothered activating his Spade night-vision.

The hallway that had looked creepy in the dimness was hardly more appealing in the yellowish lamplight. A packed dirt floor strewn with the odd broken piece of some esoteric instrument gave way to a heavy metal door up ahead, which was held closed by the not-especially comforting presence of an enormous bolt that was driven heavily into the rough-hewn solid rock that formed the door frame.

It really, really looked, Joel thought, like Bauch had been trying to keep something inside.

[Old Gobbo]

Amherst felt like an absolute moron and he heard the voice of his father in his head. A flourish leaves you dead. A guardian doesn't fight pretty, he fights well. Amherst shouldn't have tried to be impressive. His job was to protect the little tyke and, so far, he'd done a piss poor job of it.

He eyed the door in front of them and noticed the bolt. "That's not a good sign," he said. Amherst couldn't use his sword to pry open the door. They metal of the sword would snap under the strain. The bolt was massive, at least a solid 2 inches diameter. The bolt was an effective wedge, for any force from the other side of the door.

But Amherst and Joel had come prepared. The door to Bauch's house was locked and the two had to force their way in. A quick trip back to the ground level allowed Amherst to retrieve the crowbar they had to use.

Amherst wedged the crowbar into the frame and pushed. [16] The metal door groaned and bent until finally the bolt popped out (grazing Amherst in the side as it did so) and the door swung open. Amherst rubbed his side where the bolt had hit him and his hand came away slightly wet. Looking down, he saw that the bolt had splintered when it came loose.

It was only just. A little bleed for the flourish he'd performed earlier. "Are you ready for some decontamination, my friend?" Amherst asked as the next room seemed to almost beckon them in.

[Harpsdesire]

"No, probably not." Joel agreed cheerfully. Anything that was dangerous enough that a bolt like that was needed was surely going to be awesomely worth the trip.

Speaking of worth it, Amherst seemed most intent on really earning his considerable fee-- he was inside the formidable bolted doors in a surprising rapid span of time. Maybe the bird was also feeling the thrill of adventure and discovery that drove Joel? The boy considered this. Probably not. While amiable enough, Amherst didn't strike him as the type to be easily thrilled.

Joel worried only momentarily in passing about the broken deadbolt, and completely failed to notice the Guardian's minor injury. Now that the door was open, foreboding and inviting at once, he had eyes for nothing else. "I'm always ready for decontamination." With a wild, almost manic smile, Joel headed for the door. He only just remembered in time that he was to let Amherst go first.

Beyond the door was a room that was at once sterile-looking and dingy. A chemical show stood in one corner, there was a large utility sink, sterilizing units of various description and a few long lab tables scattered with instruments both surgical and fanciful. Yellow light fell from dusty bulbs to form sharply defined shadows and throw strange twisted shapes against the wall after it passed over several strange unidentified devices.

It was a surprisingly large space. Perhaps there was quite a lot of decontamination to be done.