Athenos

Chapter 5, Search

After Ms. Carol learned of everything, she revealed to us that she was actually quite an important woman, the Secretary of The Council of The Greats. "So, the gem led you here?" She asked again for the 15th time. "Yes, yes, yes!" I groan. "But there's nothing here, this house was constructed by some builders, and yes it was during the era of The Horrendous Murders, but we would have known if something like that was just sitting underneath the house." She explained. "Or is it possible that the important part of the dungeon may have been here?" Ranchvoc asked. "Elaborate." Me and Aurelius say at the same time. "I mean, we do know that The Facility was destroyed right?" "Yes." "And that the case file never mentioned how, right?" "Correct" "So could it be possible that The Facility was buried and the location was never revealed so that operations like this would never be possible? And this unassuming house was built on top of land people thought was normal." Ranchvoc said. "Ah, there's the ol' Tiger of The Elerzun." An elderly voice inside the house said. "Grandpa? Sorry, did we wake you?" Ms. Carol asked while looking at the elderly man. "No, no, my dear. You know me, not even a Dragon's roar can wake me from my sleep." He replies, I infer he's a deep sleeper. "Tagoth?" Ranchvoc asks, squinting his eyes as disbelief melts away into recognition. "Ha-ha ye old tiger!" Tagoth laughs out while hugging Ranchvoc. "I thought that the ceiling of The Patriot Pub done blew you out! Little did I know you were tougher than some plaster!" Ranchvoc laughs out in response. "You two know each other from before?" Aurelius asks. "Yes, we were detectives for the Elerzun." Ranchvoc says. "That is, until he faked his death." He adds. "Oh, I had to, or my little Carol would have been all alone, and you know The Elerzun, they just wouldn't have let me go." "There... there was an accident with her parents, my son and her mother." He adds, solemnly. "Dear God, my condolences" Ranchvoc takes of his helmet. "When I saw him, he was just a little newborn. May God have mercy on his soul." "Where are my manners? Please sit my King and Commander, would you like something to eat or drink?" Ms. Carol asks, trying to lighten the mood. Aurelius takes a seat but I remain standing. "No, we have a more pressing matter at our hands. The Facility." I politely refuse. "Yes, let me just fill Tagoth in." Ranchvoc says. He and Tagoth walk over to a small desk with two chairs and begin talking. "So, this Facility how do you plan to access it?" Ms. Carol asked. "That's the thing we're trying to work out." Aurelius responded, getting up from the sofa. Tagoth and Ranchvoc return to the conversation. "Let's go to the basement of the house, it is the lowest point, and if the dungeon is buried beneath we can plan on how to get inside." Tagoth said. "All right, let's go." I respond. Ms. Carol takes us down a flight of stairs to a door that she opened with a key. "This is the basement." She said, opening the door. The basement was mostly empty, except for a wooden rack for case files of The Elerzun. We all filed in to the basement. It was a decent sized room, enough to be a living space for 2 people under comfortable conditions. "Okay everybody, search for an access point or something." Aurelius directs us. He goes to the far wall and feels it here and there for any secret mechanism. Ranchvoc heads toward the file rack and moves it from its position to survey the area. I crouch down on the ground, take out my sword, and hit the floor with the bottom of my hilt to see if it was hollow. After about a minute, Ranchvoc calls out "I think I've found something!" We all head towards him, Ms. Carol and Tagoth included. The wall had a symbol of a skull with purple crystallites surrounding it. "Who exactly had this house made?" Aurelius asks. An idea sprouts in my mind. I crouch down on the ground and repeat the striking process near the symbol. Indeed, there was a hollow portion beneath. "So, what do we do?" Ms. Carol asks. "Let me try pushing it." I say, I advance my index towards the symbol when Tagoth suddenly shouts, "Wait son! You don't know what that'll do to you. Here, take the stick and press it." He hands me his walking stick. I use the stick to lightly press it and it retreats into the wall. An entire segment of 5x10 feet of wall retreats even further into the wall and vanishes into the ground. A spiral staircase illuminated by purple and neon green crystallites is revealed.