Part XCVI: Discouraged Hopes
Date: Kapton 7th, 114 A.U.
It was the skeletons that first met them as they first entered into the city. Bombed-out depressions littered the ground around it, the front gates of the city blasted open. Skeletons fell all around, casualties of war that had never been buried. As they came into the gates, they faced the ruins of a city ravaged by war and time, buildings broken down and bombed out, and then left to decay into ruin. The palace of the Sla’ad still stood, but as they came closer to the chief palace, they saw that it had been ransacked and glutted by the troops that came in, many of the fancy ornaments that might otherwise be on it having been taken off long ago.
“I would have expected the palace to be hit more heavily,” Jroldin was saying.
“The Sla’ad evacuated the city before that,” Reynyagn replied. “Although it may not seem like it, the palace is a military arsenal. Hordes of machine guns and anti-aircraft missiles were lodged within, though concealed from plain sight. It was the primary defense of the city back in the day, but when it became clear that it was not enough, they evacuated the city.”
“I see,” Jroldin replied. “Are we exploring it then?”
"If we are to find traces of the Arglem anywhere, it would be in here,” Reynyagn said. “The discussions took place in this palace, and so I would think that any hint of where it might be would be found in here. They would have had to kept diagrams or maps of where it is somewhere.”
“Unless they burned them or disposed of them by some other means,” Brother Tomas reminded him.
“Yes,” Reynyagn said. “We are indeed hoping that they did not dispose of them—at least not completely. It’s a shot in the dark at best. But it’s our best shot. And since we have to be apart from the other group, we have to do something. And given that there’s just three of us here, well—we won’t be wasting a lot of manpower at this.”
“The tourist’s guide to the Sla’ad Palace,” Brother Tomas murmured, flipping through some of the pages. “Look at this!”
“Yes,” Reynyagn said, running over. “It was a bit of a tourist attraction in spare time, although only a few floors were open to the public. I know that the defense systems were apart from the area open to the public, but we might be able to find something to help us.”
“Looks like the throne room was here,” Jroldin said, pointing.
“Ah yes,” Reynyagn replied. “The throne room. The throne was actually removed a couple decades before the city was destroyed since it wasn’t comfortable enough and they wanted to renovate it into an office similar to the ones that the other rulers had, but the name still stuck. That might be the best place to go.”
“Ransacked. Utterly ransacked.”
“I suppose it isn’t too surprising,” Brother Tomas responded. “Given that this was indeed the main command center of the Sla’ad, I suspect they had a lot of buttons in here and other important papers that were kept here that the attackers decided to take.”
“Aye—though they didn’t have to take everything in it,” Reynyagn replied, putting his hand on the bare walls. “But I suppose this option is taken out. What other important rooms can you find on the map?”
“Just lots of reception rooms or museum rooms, or other rooms that really have no relevance to our goals here,” Brother Tomas said, frowning. “It points out a couple of staircases that lead up into the restricted areas though, so I guess that’s where we’re going to want to be heading.”
“And unfortunately, I don’t think we could find any maps up there,” Reynyagn mused. “It’s not like you’d have maps of the entire facility.”
“If it was partially stationed as a military camp, you might,” Brother Tomas pointed out. “I know that there are maps in some of our military structures back in Araelia, so we might be able to find something like that on the walls here.”
“True enough,” Reynyagn replied as they exited the room, going to the nearest staircase. “I do hope that we are able to find something up there, though. To do all of this searching and not to be able to find anything would be rather disappointing.”
“I’m afraid that we might have to be disappointed already,” Jroldin commented. “Look.” Reynyagn looked up to see a staircase leading up. The door was open, and a previous security keypad that would have required a password to get into was blasted open.
“I see,” Reynyagn said, pursing his lips. “The attackers one hundred years ago were a step ahead of us. It’s unlikely that we’ll be able to find anything up there. But we can hope.”
“I couldn’t find anything in my section,” Jroldin said discouragedly, again meeting up with the rest of the group. “Everything of importance was ransacked, and anything behind was either furniture that didn’t have any hidden drawers or anything, or just litter that the soldiers left when breaking in.”
“My section was the same,” Brother Tomas replied. “I’m afraid that our searching here has been mostly a wasted effort.”
"Hopefully the other team will have gotten further then,” Reynyagn replied. “Because our searching here? Well, it seems to have been a wasted effort.”
Date: Kapton 7th, 114 A.U.
It was the skeletons that first met them as they first entered into the city. Bombed-out depressions littered the ground around it, the front gates of the city blasted open. Skeletons fell all around, casualties of war that had never been buried. As they came into the gates, they faced the ruins of a city ravaged by war and time, buildings broken down and bombed out, and then left to decay into ruin. The palace of the Sla’ad still stood, but as they came closer to the chief palace, they saw that it had been ransacked and glutted by the troops that came in, many of the fancy ornaments that might otherwise be on it having been taken off long ago.
“I would have expected the palace to be hit more heavily,” Jroldin was saying.
“The Sla’ad evacuated the city before that,” Reynyagn replied. “Although it may not seem like it, the palace is a military arsenal. Hordes of machine guns and anti-aircraft missiles were lodged within, though concealed from plain sight. It was the primary defense of the city back in the day, but when it became clear that it was not enough, they evacuated the city.”
“I see,” Jroldin replied. “Are we exploring it then?”
"If we are to find traces of the Arglem anywhere, it would be in here,” Reynyagn said. “The discussions took place in this palace, and so I would think that any hint of where it might be would be found in here. They would have had to kept diagrams or maps of where it is somewhere.”
“Unless they burned them or disposed of them by some other means,” Brother Tomas reminded him.
“Yes,” Reynyagn said. “We are indeed hoping that they did not dispose of them—at least not completely. It’s a shot in the dark at best. But it’s our best shot. And since we have to be apart from the other group, we have to do something. And given that there’s just three of us here, well—we won’t be wasting a lot of manpower at this.”
“The tourist’s guide to the Sla’ad Palace,” Brother Tomas murmured, flipping through some of the pages. “Look at this!”
“Yes,” Reynyagn said, running over. “It was a bit of a tourist attraction in spare time, although only a few floors were open to the public. I know that the defense systems were apart from the area open to the public, but we might be able to find something to help us.”
“Looks like the throne room was here,” Jroldin said, pointing.
“Ah yes,” Reynyagn replied. “The throne room. The throne was actually removed a couple decades before the city was destroyed since it wasn’t comfortable enough and they wanted to renovate it into an office similar to the ones that the other rulers had, but the name still stuck. That might be the best place to go.”
“Ransacked. Utterly ransacked.”
“I suppose it isn’t too surprising,” Brother Tomas responded. “Given that this was indeed the main command center of the Sla’ad, I suspect they had a lot of buttons in here and other important papers that were kept here that the attackers decided to take.”
“Aye—though they didn’t have to take everything in it,” Reynyagn replied, putting his hand on the bare walls. “But I suppose this option is taken out. What other important rooms can you find on the map?”
“Just lots of reception rooms or museum rooms, or other rooms that really have no relevance to our goals here,” Brother Tomas said, frowning. “It points out a couple of staircases that lead up into the restricted areas though, so I guess that’s where we’re going to want to be heading.”
“And unfortunately, I don’t think we could find any maps up there,” Reynyagn mused. “It’s not like you’d have maps of the entire facility.”
“If it was partially stationed as a military camp, you might,” Brother Tomas pointed out. “I know that there are maps in some of our military structures back in Araelia, so we might be able to find something like that on the walls here.”
“True enough,” Reynyagn replied as they exited the room, going to the nearest staircase. “I do hope that we are able to find something up there, though. To do all of this searching and not to be able to find anything would be rather disappointing.”
“I’m afraid that we might have to be disappointed already,” Jroldin commented. “Look.” Reynyagn looked up to see a staircase leading up. The door was open, and a previous security keypad that would have required a password to get into was blasted open.
“I see,” Reynyagn said, pursing his lips. “The attackers one hundred years ago were a step ahead of us. It’s unlikely that we’ll be able to find anything up there. But we can hope.”
“I couldn’t find anything in my section,” Jroldin said discouragedly, again meeting up with the rest of the group. “Everything of importance was ransacked, and anything behind was either furniture that didn’t have any hidden drawers or anything, or just litter that the soldiers left when breaking in.”
“My section was the same,” Brother Tomas replied. “I’m afraid that our searching here has been mostly a wasted effort.”
"Hopefully the other team will have gotten further then,” Reynyagn replied. “Because our searching here? Well, it seems to have been a wasted effort.”
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