Part 1 - Chests and Fear
Once more I delve deep under the mountain to the excavation Lady Calypso and I have discovered far to the west. The chests hidden in the depths prove bountiful and well worth the effort, but that silence...
That damned silence. I feel compelled to keep it lest i disturb this living thing that coats the walls and ruins here. Once I made the mistake of causing a sound and immediately heard a howling shriek of displeasure. I do not wish to find out what it is calling from the depths.
Part 2 - A Terror in the Dark
Of course my curiosity (or my greed) got the better of me. I had learned from the remains of whoever once lived here, that wool and its sound absorbing properties help can help and tried to isolate one of the sensors to remove it. I failed to do it completely and another deeper shriek called out.
Something - I dont know what it was - clawed itself from the ground. I fled as fast as my wings could carry me, no longer caring for the noise I might make.
Part 3 - Fly you fool
The beast that emerged is a fearsome foe indeed. Fortunately, much like the organisms it so clearly resembles, it primarily seems to function on sound, though I head it sniffing about, implying a olfactory sense as well. I, very wisely, decided to keep my distance and found that the strange darkness it and the shrieking growths that attract it cast upon the area declines as you get away and most importantly, after not finding anything to unload its wrath unto, the monster will eventually retreat under ground once more.
Unfortunately, all this knowledge led me to eventually become cocky once more and I tried to attack the beast from a far using Belthronding and Dailir. I quickly learned though that this being is far from helpless from afar. It unloaded a sonic blast that tore through my armor like the magick I had woven into it were nothing and wounded me substantially.
Once more I fled into the safety of the higher caves to recuperate and let the beast tire itself out.
Part 4 - Secret Rooms
A solemn routine has begun to set in, but was now broken: I have learned to avoid the pitfalls of the Plague that has befallen this place, but over time I need to commend whoever built these halls. They may have failed to defeat this affliction in the end, but they clearly did not go down without a fight either.
I can tell from the wool covered paths, and the many tools left behind that they were in the process of working against it. I even found some new and fascinating enchantments, which allow one to move silently without sacrificing much speed in the process. But all of this pales with what I have now found.
This civilisation, the progenitors if you will, had begun to utilise this organism before their end. I have found contraptions that link the sensors to redstone, powering automata like doors and have even found a secret laboratory beneath the center of the city. I wonder what their final days must have looked like. Did they go down with their heads held high, or did they cower and hide from the monster that became their doom?
Part 5 - A Thought on this Darkness
At last I emerge from the depths, a new learned appreciation for sunlight found and several fascinating artifacts richer. But as I leave something is gnawing at my mind. The silence from below seems to have followed me up here and in quiet moments I find myself reflecting on what I learned. I even tried piecing together the shards of the disc of sound I found down there.
All I can make out is murmuring that worsens my thoughts. Someone seems to be stepping closer and a ritual is begun. I hear a haunting, beautiful melody. Whatever the progenitors were and thought themselves of, they clearly could produce artists that transcend their culture. The music fades and further ritual steps seem to be taking place. At last I think to hear a panic to that persons actions as they try to do something. And then at the very end, the sounds emerging are pierced by something that now haunts my mind: A sensor hearing something and the cacophony of shrieks that follow from the organism. Silence follows after that.
I cannot bring myself to listen to it again, but I dont need to. It is burned into my memory. And like that it has been festering in my mind. Today I finally connected the dots that were bothering me. Early on I learned how this organism, this plague upon the land spreads. It consumes the experiences and memories of beings slain. I killed a monster on it and it grew.
Finally I understand what has been bothering me since my return from the progenitors city. I understand where they all went and how their civilisation died.
The organism, that silent affliction grows from and feasts upon the death of beings and their experiences. The progenitors did not abandon their city. Their deaths were the fertile soil upon which their doom grew and now feasts.
I hope I never have to venture this deep again...
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