Utterly Mad

"So this is it then?" Ferret said, more a comment than a question. The short back "yard" was filled to a depth of a few inches with stagnant, filthy water but the access hatch in one corner was just barely above the surface. Several bins and crates had been stacked around it, and over time the latter had given way to rot. In the diffused light of day, Lydia was harder to make out, but still visible enough. "After the societies little 'stunt,' the church forced the bakers out of business and installed a new hatch over this access. Fortunately, not all in the church were in favor of the way church officials went about things, and more fortunately, the society was in the business of hiring on reformed 'treasure hunters' and what we referred to as 'previously unemployed locksmiths.'" It took ferret a long moment to realize that what lydia was implying was that the historical society kept criminals on hand. "So long as they maintained a clean record and weren't too violent or greedy." Lydia finished, as if hearing Ferrets thoughts. "Anyway, we had the locks changed. The hatch will open with just about any combination. Try 'five, one, one, one, five.'" Ferret did as she said, despite their age, the simple brass mechanisms beneath the the numbered dials turned easily, and with little resistance. When the numbers were in place Lydia made a wide twisting motion with her hands, like she was turning a valve. Ferret grabbed the handles on either side of the hatch and sure enough, it lifted about an inch out of its frame, and then swung around horizontally to reveal the inky blackness below. The moment it was open, water from the yard began to trickle over the hatches rim giving Ferret a good measure of how far, by sound, the water in this part of he undercity was from the surface. "The walk way will probably be underwater in some places by as little as a few inches or as much as a few feet." Lydia said, leaning over the opening, "It'll be dry here though, but that will change once you start heading towards the chapel. You'll know you are getting close when you come across broken masonry." Ferret thought about what lay ahead. On the way through the overcity, Lydia had given Ferret a sparse, nervous tour. It was fortunate that Lydia had been so quiet and Ferret had chosen to keep her questions to herself. as they had rounded a turn onto one of Gulgatha's major boulevards, a huge serpentine form composed of old bone and metal had erupted from the water. At the end Ferret had guessed to be it's head, the thing seemed to have the largest skull she had ever seen. Ferret had seen a wolf skull once, but had never seen a wolf quite large enough to have given up a bone that big. 'Larger than the moose trophy from Zantia back at graysons inn.' She thought before Lydia had grabbed her, physically, and pulled her back around the corner. "Shh..." She had beckoned Ferret to come with her silently, and quickly. The serpent had not spotted or sensed them, it had simply been ambushing some large bird that had come down from the walls to find fish. "It's a good thing you and I are born Gulgathans, or that thing would have torn the doors off the college to get at me long ago and you wouldn't have made it far past whichever gate you came in through. It's a greater demon Ferret. We should vacate these streets as quickly as possible." Later, Ferret had asked about "born" Gulgathans, how was that possible when Ferret was only seeing the city for the first time. "Maybe you weren't born here, but your family is still revered, in a way. Bha-Yahnese men and women would have been stopped and turned back by Gulgatha's 'emergency' border guard, and if they made it past that, the demons here in the city would have swarmed over them. The hand of the necromancer is still on the great houses of Gulgatha, even if those houses don't hold the city anymore. Don't go thinking it protects you completely from demons though, they owe no allegiance to the old masters. Just that they can't 'feel' us." Ferret was thinking of that demon again as she gazed down into the blackness of the hatch. "Will there-" Lydia interrupted, "Almost certainly. Lesser ones, but still dangerous. Possibly greater demons as well. They look like they are made of bone, but don't let that fool you. They have soft black bodies. If you encounter one, draw your sword, and don't let them touch you." A flood of information suddenly came from Lydia, "Don't listen to anything down there. Especially pleading or calls for help. Stay in the light, and if your light doesn't penetrate into the darkness, then it's not natural darkness, stay out of it. Best to stay away from unknown lights too. If you get hit by a thrown object, try not to panic, and for your own sake if everything goes completely silent, run and don't look back." Lydia was holding herself and shaking violently, almost in a panic. Memories of her own experiences in the undercity ran through her consciousness in a stream, one after another, and Ferret could almost see them reflected by the blatant horror which had been burned into Lydias eyes. "Please, please don't go down there. We can find another way. Please?" She steeled herself against what she was to face. Even so, Ferret was terrified now. She only shook her head. "There is no other way." Lydia was suddenly gone. "I'm sorry." Ferret said to the empty yard. She hadn't known Lydia long, but now that the spirit had fled from her, from the darkness before her, Ferret had never felt more alone in the city of her forefathers than she did in that moment.