There was a rumble; the room light up brightly from bright crystals on the ceiling. As they looked up, they saw another crystal being lowered from the ceiling on a long, rusted chain. It pulsed yellow, and a strong, commanding male voice was heard around them.
Congratulations on finding my tomb, adventurer! This is a prerecorded message in the unlikely event that all of my homunculus servants fail. By entering my tomb and turning on the master control you have implicitly accepted employment in the Caverson family. Welcome! And have a nice day.
...did you get that, Caroline? Yes, I know. I know, stop reminding me, I'll take the medicine in a bit. Thank you.
The message stops, and there is a creak beneath them. A section of the floor opens up, dumping them both down, into the darkness, landing on something soft in the pitch black.
Of all the graveyards in all the towns in all the world, she had to walk into mine.
The mage was of course taken by surprise and ended up screaming a bit on her way down before she landed on something not so hard. She was reminded of a gloating little prodigy in her class that used wind magic to nearly float in the air, how she envied him now more than ever.
Trying to stand up from whatever it was she landed on, she removed her remaining torch and proceeded to light it with a new match she kept in her bag.
Getting the flame going she proceeded to walk a bit and call out to Zane, "Doctor? Zane? Where are you?"
Zane only had time for one thought as he fell: "I freaking knew it.", shortly thereafter, he hit the ground. It was softer then he expected, however, so he didn't sustain any major injuries. Standing up, he saw Serenity's torch and heard her calling out his name.
"I'm right here! See, I'm not so crazy after all. At any rate, mind lighting my torch for me?"
Zane then moves over to where she stood and held out his torch, while looking at her
"Are you all right? I landed in something soft, how about you?"
She turned to face him, smiling in relief while lighting up his torch,
"I never said you were crazy doctor, only suggested that you read often in your spare time, which if that is the case, I don't mind borrowing one your books." she grinned.
Serenity looked over herself once more and only felt a slight discomfort from the fall itself, "I'm alright, same as you I landed on something soft though I'm not sure what."
Raising her torch a little over her head she looked around the room to see where they were exactly.
The "something soft" they landed on turned out to be a cushion made of some sort of translucent blue gel. It was a little sticky, and the back of their clothes were now covered in blue. The room ahead was smaller, with a series of wardrobes on the far wall, with a similar yellow crystal placed into the wall. It seemed to sense their presence, and flickered to life.
We had to put this in at the last second. The stairwell got melted last week and we haven't had time to fix it. As stated in the pamphlets that were posted on the master control post, you may choose from the complimentary company jumpsuits in the wardrobes in front of you. Men to the left, ladies to the right. Trust me, you'll need them. It paused for a moment.
When you're done with that, step into the door on your right and start on the first experiment. You'll be compensated at the end of your experiment battery....how does 60 gold sound? Probably pretty good, you money-crazed tomb robbers. Oh, I kid, I kid.
It stopped again, and went quiet.
Of all the graveyards in all the towns in all the world, she had to walk into mine.
Looking down at the gel, Zane wrinkled his nose a bit
"Ick... No wonder it felt so weird... Speaking of which, we may want to take the man up on his offer, the jumpsuits are probably pretty clean, comparatively speaking... Though 60 gold isn't all that much in today's economy... That's just enough to buy 2 jars of my enhanced creams and salves... Well, at any rate, I'm going to go get changed... No peeking now, alright?"
As he said this last part, Zane grinned widely, and moved over to the left wardrobe, taking one of the jumpsuits, and began to undress, waiting for Serenity to go to her side before removing his pants, and then sliding on the jump suit and zipping it up.
Whoever this man is clearly was insane, or so Serenity thought. Still, she couldn't hide the fact that she was kind of enjoying herself so far, not ever having had an adventure like this.
Though she wished she didn't learn what it was they landed on. She looked behind Zane to see his back and then realized hers must look the same and dreaded the cleaning she'd have to do once they escaped this tomb.
"You have a shop in town? I would expect that you'd run a clinic. I'll have to stop by and see for myself then. Maybe I will spend my gold, if there even is any at the end of this test."
Watching Zane go into his room, she walked into her changing room and looked for the jumpsuit on the wall.
"I hope its not much to ask that you behave yourself doctor? I'd hate to have to hurt you," she said playfully.
She removed her clothing and became a little horrified of the damage the gel had caused, her back must be a little stained as well.
The lady mage was sure Zane wouldn't peek but she kept one eye open at the door just in case. She finished putting on the suit and folded her clothing neatly into her pack.
Serenity joined Zane outside, "Why don't I give you the honors this time and have you lead the way, doctor?"
"Well, to be honest, I do in a way. At my house, I heal for free anybody who is too sick or too poor to get help from the normal doctors. I have a stall on Merchant's Alley as well though, and there I sell Creams and Salves with various properties. They do have some side effects of course, as do all medicines, but I use a portion of the profits from that to help fund my healing."
As he talks, Zane passes through the threshold of the next room, unsure of what to expect
Before them the room was long and rectangular, spreading out for a few dozen feet before them. The floor sloped downwards a bit, and covering the floor, at least a few inches deep, was a blue liquid. There was a burst pipe on the wall next to them that dripped it, slowly.
A crystal on the wall hummed to life.
Now in this room we test the various colors of repulsion gel. You'll see a table in front of you with test tubes and a pad to heat or cool them instantly. The gel will change colors depending on if you heat or cool it, and if you mix them. Each color can be heated or cooled, and some colors you can only get by doing a combination of both. You'll need to get a vial of purple gel, one yellow, and one white.
Also, during this test we're going to have a giant magical superconductor above your heads in the ceiling pointed straight at you. No idea what it'll do. I'll be honest, we're throwing magic to the wall and seeing what sticks. Best case scenario, you get some superpowers. Worst case...well, you get some tumors, but we'll cut those out for you. You miss three years tops off the end of your life, but you extend the cause of science at least a century. I punched those numbers into my calculator, and it made a happy face. Get sciencing!
Of all the graveyards in all the towns in all the world, she had to walk into mine.
Zane looks at the test tube set up and shakes his head
"This is just like the chemistry experiments that the old man I was apprenticed to had me do... Yet one more thing that I owe ya for Venture... At any rate, lets get cracking ehh? Might as well just do the first few steps as quick as possible so we can get the best spread as fast as possible."
Zane quickly makes his way over to the test tubes and grabs 7 of them, then leans over and dips them into the blue gel, and places them into stands. He places two on the pad and heats them, and then cools 2. After that, he mixes one tube of blue gel with a heated gel tube, and then mixes another with a cooled gel tube. He then places all 5 filled tubes on a rack, and stops to inspect their colors.
"So... we've got yellow, green, and orange. Well, at least we're part way there. 33% is better then 0%. Whelp, back to work."
Zane leans back to the vials and sets a yellow in another rack, then produces two more oranges and mix them with a yellow and a blue. He then mixes a yellow and a green, just to see the result. Following that, on a whim, he mixes one of every color he had produced so far together. He places these on a rack, and then inspects their color.
"Well there goes nothing. Lets see what we've got, ehh?"
(Blarg, this is way more complicated than I thought.)
Zane just so happens to make the right mixtures. Once the right colors are put into the test tube rack, a door on the far way open. Once it did, a pipe above their head burst, spraying them with blue gel.
The crystal buzzed to life again.
Good job. Oh, and here's something the lab boys just gave me for if you get covered in the repulsion gel.
There was the sound of turning pages, and the voice started again haltingly, as if reading from something.
Do not get covered in the repulsion gel. We haven't entirely nailed down what element it is yet, but I'll tell you this much, it's a lively one, and does not like the human skeleton.
So there you have it. Onto the next test.
Of all the graveyards in all the towns in all the world, she had to walk into mine.
"You're quite the smart one," Serenity complimented, "I'm sorry I couldn't have helped more."
It was such a strange thing, these tests, all the while that Zane was solving the problem she wondered how these gels could have possibly excelled science.
"I don't suppose you've heard anything about the man that voice belongs too? Caverson? You've been living in town longer than I have I assume?"
Last Edit: Aug 7, 2011 20:48:15 GMT -5 by Serenity
Zane blushed and then squeezed some of the gel out of his hair
"Not really, ma'am, I just had a good teacher... And that was all luck, if I'm to be honest... At any rate, I'm sorry, but no. I really haven't been here long myself, I just acclimated quickly."
Zane looks towards the next door and then begins moving towards it. Once he reaches it, he looks bac kto Serenity and grins.
"Well, we best keep moving then. The faster we go, the quicker we get our 60 gold"
He then makes his way through the door, into the gloom of the next test chamber