Is the right moment for a jump-scare, do you think? Red opens the door and two hooting monsters leap out on him, long shiny talons slicing at his clothes and ripping skin and muscle apart? Maybe he'll get a chance to scream before blood fills his throat, or maybe that there's two of them will mean he never gets a chance to make a sound....
The room The floor of the room was bare, like everywhere else in this building. Either rugs and carpets had long since rotted away, or such comforts were of no concern to the previous (or perhaps even current) inhabitants. The windows, at the end, looked over the docks again, and from this height I could see details that had been hidden before, including two rickety shacks pressed up against the land and only just above the level of the river, one of which had a thin plume of grey smoke escaping from the chimney. But all of that was put aside pretty quickly as I stared at the side wall of the room, which was entirely occupied by a colourful, detailed map of what had to be the entire city. The river was easy to pick out, and with that I could identify the building that we were in, at which point I discovered that there were little key-hooks set into the wall across the map, and on some of them there were still keys still hanging. The keys were made of some black metal that didn't scratch when I ran my thumbnail over it and didn't smell like steel or copper. There were four in total attached to our building, and out of curiosity I took the four and tried them in the door across the way. Three refused to turn, but the fourth -- naturally the last I tried -- clicked cleanly and rotated smoothly and the door opened. Inside that room were three low bookcases, laden with books, a desk and a chair of an odd design that made me wonder how tall the people who had lived here must have been, and a cabinet containing several more bejewelled fish skeletons, a box of five rings that looked to be all gold, a necklace made of gold and a silvery metal intertwined and an ornate knife that looked like it was either intended for rituals or display. The case opened easily and the blade proved to be startlingly sharp. I scooped the contents of the cabinet into my pockets, for safekeeping obviously, and looked briefly at the books. They all seemed to be written in another language, so I left them, and returned to the map room, marvelling at the detail and trying to work out where we'd already been in the city. As I traced our route backwards, thinking about where we'd turned and why, I noticed that the colours used on the map were changing, becoming darker and less varied. Putting my finger over my current spot, I looked beyond, and saw that somewhat further east there was essentially a black square on the map, something that seemed to hold no detail, just represent the source of the darkness that emanated out. Even as Ben and Jimmy, calling my name, came into the room I realised that I had a pretty good idea now where the creatures from last night must live.
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Is the right moment for a jump-scare, do you think? Red opens the door and two hooting monsters leap out on him, long shiny talons slicing at his clothes and ripping skin and muscle apart? Maybe he'll get a chance to scream before blood fills his throat, or maybe that there's two of them will mean he never gets a chance to make a sound....
The room
The floor of the room was bare, like everywhere else in this building. Either rugs and carpets had long since rotted away, or such comforts were of no concern to the previous (or perhaps even current) inhabitants. The windows, at the end, looked over the docks again, and from this height I could see details that had been hidden before, including two rickety shacks pressed up against the land and only just above the level of the river, one of which had a thin plume of grey smoke escaping from the chimney. But all of that was put aside pretty quickly as I stared at the side wall of the room, which was entirely occupied by a colourful, detailed map of what had to be the entire city. The river was easy to pick out, and with that I could identify the building that we were in, at which point I discovered that there were little key-hooks set into the wall across the map, and on some of them there were still keys still hanging. The keys were made of some black metal that didn't scratch when I ran my thumbnail over it and didn't smell like steel or copper. There were four in total attached to our building, and out of curiosity I took the four and tried them in the door across the way. Three refused to turn, but the fourth -- naturally the last I tried -- clicked cleanly and rotated smoothly and the door opened.
Inside that room were three low bookcases, laden with books, a desk and a chair of an odd design that made me wonder how tall the people who had lived here must have been, and a cabinet containing several more bejewelled fish skeletons, a box of five rings that looked to be all gold, a necklace made of gold and a silvery metal intertwined and an ornate knife that looked like it was either intended for rituals or display. The case opened easily and the blade proved to be startlingly sharp.
I scooped the contents of the cabinet into my pockets, for safekeeping obviously, and looked briefly at the books. They all seemed to be written in another language, so I left them, and returned to the map room, marvelling at the detail and trying to work out where we'd already been in the city. As I traced our route backwards, thinking about where we'd turned and why, I noticed that the colours used on the map were changing, becoming darker and less varied. Putting my finger over my current spot, I looked beyond, and saw that somewhat further east there was essentially a black square on the map, something that seemed to hold no detail, just represent the source of the darkness that emanated out.
Even as Ben and Jimmy, calling my name, came into the room I realised that I had a pretty good idea now where the creatures from last night must live.
Greg - hah. Ha.
No.
Hmm, smoke at the dock. But that's quickly forgotten with the discovery of the map and keys, both of which are excellent additions to the setting.
The fancy fish intrigue me. Like, a lot. And it's hard not to find that very sharp knife at least a little worrying...
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