Part 53: The Haunting of the Holding Cells
The Haunting of the Holding Cells
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Shaper researchers have extremely high storage needs. When they are trying to shape a new sort of creature or modify an old one, it takes time to see whether their efforts were successful.
It is not enough for the altered creature to not go rogue or die immediately. It must be observed for some time to ensure that the changes made did not cause long term difficulties.
This unpleasant job takes place in networks of cells like this one. Here, hardworking serviles and Guardians take the experiments, hold them in cells, and observe them carefully.
Of course, if the creatures get loose and interbreed, it can cause real problems. But that sort of thing could only happen in the unlikely event of the facility being abandoned for a few centuries.
After you take out the drayks that swarmed you upon entering, you find a dead outsider. The unlucky mage has suffered the indignity of even their bones being gnawed by the rogues.
You locate some nests and even an oddly warded hitching post. You don't know enough to interpret the wards, but you guess that the post must have served as a holding cell. It wasn't very effective.
Or was it? Too bad you can't drag the rogues here.
Bones crunch underfoot with each step. The drayks don't let up, but even their hunger doesn't shield them from your vlish terror squad.
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This protective rune was glowing fiercely and putting out an awful lot of heat, sufficient for keeping any creations from wandering into here.
The moment you got close, the heat dissipated. It must have been designed to automatically give access to Shapers.
You pick up some thorns and pods here in anticipation that they will shortly prove quite helpful.
The next ambush is the fiercest yet. You resort to your reaper baton as you direct your creations in battle against mixed forces of ur-glaahks and drayks. Talow consistently terrorizes the drayks, which helps keep your foes' numbers down low enough that you're able to win the upper hand.
Those who don't rout are summarily killed.
Some drayks have somehow survived being penned. They are, of course, utterly mad.
This locked door rebuffs you.
In the furthest access hallway, you find a surviving essence pool that's protected by a thorn barrier.
Something doesn't smell right.
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This poor servant mind has been killed. Several javelins stick out of the body. It doesn't look like it happened long ago. It looks like Sholai work.
It was not a wise thing to do. You would guess that the rogues were not running around loose until the being in charge of keeping them controlled and in hibernation was slain.
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The case contains several ceramic jars, each sealed with wax. Someone recently decided, in a fit of vandalism, to smash most of them. One remains intact. You take it.
You wonder if Trajkov knows how many servant minds his people have killed.
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There is a control panel here. Unsurprisingly, it is still intact and basically functional. Shapers designed these things to last a long time.
It has an array of controls, each with a simple label.
The switch labeled "Control Loose Rogues" breaks off in your hand. The "Pool Access" switch causes a grinding noise back the way you came. "High Security" clicks. "Records" clicks. "Heat Modulation" causes a humming noise. "Gate Pylon" clicks. "Cell Gates" goes click, click, click, click. You hope you've shut some pests in.
Nearby is a case that contains a bunch of decaying records, some old quill pens, and a key. You leave the trash and take the key.
This is a shade, an insubstantial sub-life form made by a Shaper to gather information or explore dangerous areas. They are held together more by magic than biological processes, and they are very difficult to make.
This shade says, "You are a Shaper. I can speak with you. I am a shade. I was made by Danette. I was made to give information about this complex to explorers."
To explorers? "What do you want to tell me?"
"Danette knew that, whether or not Sucia Island was unBarred, someone would eventually return to interact with the Geneforge. The Geneforge was operational when Danette left and was expected to remain so for many years."
"What should I know about the Geneforge?"
"It should not be destroyed. It is an incredible invention. Its power must be carefully controlled, but its power guarantees that Shapers will ever hold dominion over the lesser people of this world." The shade recites its lines tonelessly, but each word is full of the sense of the one who programmed it into the shade's memory.
"How could I use the Geneforge?" you ask. It can't be as simple as wearing the gloves and running your hands over a pool.
"You should not, without the explicit permission of the Shaper council. The power you get will be overpowering. You must be carefully controlled."
If the Council had wanted to carefully control you, they would have sent someone to help you. They would've sent someone to help Goettsch. "I have that permission. How can I use it?"
"All you have to do is touch the surface. But you must have the specially made gloves. They will act as a conduit for the modifications the raw power of the pool will make in you. Without the gloves, the changes the Geneforge makes will have a random element. You may find yourself without needed internal organs."
Could it truly be that simple? "Where can I find a pair of these gloves?"
"I am sorry. I am basically a recording of Danette's instructions. I cannot provide analysis of events which have taken place since my creation."
Fair enough. "What would the Geneforge do to someone who used it?"
"It would rewrite their genes. They would become a new, glorious sort of life."
"How could I destroy the Geneforge?"
"You should not. It is the greatest invention of the Shaper people. Its power and promise must not be cast away."
It is a great accomplishment, but not, you think, the greatest. It is the most dangerous thing your people have made; you can't imagine anything worse -- it has exposed the weakness, the fault in your entire society... and now outsiders have found it. "The Shaper council ordered it destroyed."
"In that case, you could deactivate it with the matching control rod. There was one such rod left on Sucia Island."
"Where is it?"
But the shade merely repeats its apology.
"Where might I find out where it is?"
"Records of the disposition of all major items left on Sucia Island after the Barring were left in Kazg."
"Are those records still there?" You hope it's the control rod you already have, but what if it's not?
Again, the shade apologizes.
"Why was this island Barred?"
"Our skill at Shaping had grown to the point where any person could, in an instant, gain incredible power. We could rewrite the very instructions of life, remaking people to give them incredible powers of magic.
"Danette said that this made the Shaper council afraid. They felt that this power could never truly be controlled. They were so paranoid that they even thought outsiders could steal our powers."
"And didn't they?" But the shade only apologizes. You ask, "What happened to the Shapers?" And again, an apology. "Who was Danette?"
"Danette was one of the three Shapers in charge of this island. She was the director of research. Corata was in charge of supplies, power, and equipment. Defniel operated the school and took care of other administrative duties.
"Danette wishes it to be known that she was the true genius and author of Sucia Island's greatness." The shade repeats the long-dead Shaper's bragging without any inflection at all.
The shade won't know anything about the Sholai, so you don't even ask.
There's a doorway near the shade. You open it and then flinch back.
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These passages contain heating elements, which warm the air above them and thus, indirectly, the rest of the complex.
The passage of time has affected the pads differently. Some of them look a lot hotter than others.
You'll have to backtrack. Those switches probably opened some locked chambers, anyway.
Why must there be molten segments of floor barring your way? Why did this seem like a good security measure?
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This is a dead Sholai. He was murdered, with a dagger by the look of it, and the body was dumped here. There's nothing of value on the corpse.
Maybe he was a rebel.
Though the records are useless, the canister is not. It improves your battle magic, which will probably be a great help to you in the near future.
Past another locked door, you find a huge lab notebook.
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These extremely obscure and technical notes describe the large amount of work that had gone into creating a new, stronger variety of glaahk. The results invariably included the creature going rogue immediately.
The notes end by saying that the current, most promising specimen was put into hibernation, to be awakened when Sucia Island was no longer Barred.
There is a note to the effect that the researcher was very confident that the glaahk would never actually wake up and start wandering around.
The experimental glaahk lunges for Geokinesis as soon as it wanders too close to the connecting hall. The glaahk, weakened by age and hunger, doesn't survive meeting you.
Just not a very good reward, period. At this point, vendor trash is useless.
This, however, is pretty friggin' great.
The shield you find among the dross left by Sholai interlopers is fantastically enchanted. You swap it for your reflective shield and revel in the sudden boost of your magical powers.
The circle and post that the glaahk was once bound by probably could have used some more wards.
You kill another rogue and then check out a pair of chained up books.
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These lab notebooks were thick with observations. Creations put into this block of cells were constantly watched and evaluated. Shapers carefully looked for signs of the results of their experiments.
The creations, once they broke free, took out a good deal of their rage on these books, shredding and burning them. The fragments that remain reveal a chilling array of grisly experiments and horrible and painful mutations.
You are but an apprentice. This is the closest you have ever been to the inner workings of your people's research. Some of the more unpleasant descriptions make you feel a little ill.
You gingerly close the tattered covers and swallow your distaste.
The cells are all open. Many contain nothing but the remains of whatever experiments were kept there.
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A blast of heat hits you when you step into this narrow tunnel. It's a hot, dry, access shaft. Small shafts run through the walls and ceiling, delivering warm, fresh air to the rest of the complex.
It's amazing that all of this is still working. It's a testament to the quality of Shaper design and the industriousness of the servant minds who maintain the equipment.
However, it's also a very dangerous place in which to wander around.
You find a number of pylons tucked away back here. Unfortunately, the control panel must not have worked, because they still attack you. Or maybe you only managed to activate the defenses... And the spore control doesn't help either.
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This servile has been here for many, many years. The heat and dryness of these tunnels has completely desiccated him.
His robes crumble to dust at your touch, revealing a key on a thong around his neck. You carefully take it.
This control panel doesn't help either.
You wish you knew where you went wrong with these things.
Finally, you find a door to get out of the maintenance access.
It leads back to the heating elements, of course. But some of them are cool enough to walk safely on, and that allows you to reach switches that seem to shut off even more heating elements.
You take this path alone, unwilling to risk your creations on more of these damned hotspots.
For your trouble, you find a locked door leading north. Your key unlocks the door control lever, and you find yourself looking into Trajkov's little domain.
I wish the Vats had been omitted and replaced with just this area! It’s a good one with more relevant information. Maybe they could have been combined instead.
Next time: Unknown Unknowns
The people have spoken.