Through the darkness and dankness of the long-forgotten tunnel, a will o' wisp of bobbing green light makes its way down its length – a lantern formed by a glass sphere of green glowing liquid held in a light frame of wood, carried by a cheetah by the name of Autumn-Storm. Beside her is a dark-furred Eeee, Alptraum, who has a burden of his own: a small, soft-shelled egg-like object retrieved from the depths of the Tower of Babel. So far, they have avoided any serious incident. Ahead of them, all that remains is a single long stretch of tunnel leading back out to the Streets Below Babel.
"Not to be even more of a doomsayer on this, but we should be careful exiting here. If it really was supposed to be a suicide mission, people might be waiting outside to make sure we don't make it back," Alptraum whispers, then cants his ears forward to listen. "Even if it's safe enough for us to walk out, I don't think we should arrive at the egg drop-off point at the same time, just in case. 'Could always claim that the tunnel collapsed and we got separated. In reality, one of us stays in shadow and watches – bailing the other out of danger if need be."
Autumn-Storm just shakes her head at this. However, a rumble echoes through the walls, hinting at some catastrophe somewhere distant and behind the two fleeing intruders. Autumn-Storm falters in her stride – even without keen Eeee ears, she heard it, too, and worry creases her face.
Alptraum's brow furrows. "I think one of those bugs just exploded. Were we spotted back there? I heard nothing," Alptraum mutters. "Quick, mute the light and let's listen a bit – see if anyone is coming this way."
Autumn-Storm nods, and pulls her shawl from around her neck, using it to drape over the lantern. The dim light is quickly blotted out by this covering, and the tunnel falls into blackness. All that can be heard – for the moment – is the occasional drip of moisture, the skittering of insects and vermin.
Alptraum turns to face the way they came and focuses his ears.
Silence. Then another boom, but this one more muffled. Could that really have been in the chamber they got this "egg" from? They have traveled quite some distance through this tunnel, but the door was not that thick, and the distance was not that far.
"Autumn," Alptraum hisses, "I think someone is attacking the tower. I bet we were supposed to be a distraction for the attackers."
All the reaction that can be detected from Autumn-Storm is what sounds like a frustrated gasp.
"Uncover the lantern and let's get moving. I do not want to get caught down here," Alptraum then adds. "But, let's move cautiously and carefully."
Green light again illuminates this part of the tunnel, and as Autumn-Storm puts her shawl back on, they can both see that a fine mist has accumulated around their feet, which was most certainly not there before.
Another thing that wasn't there before – a faint sound of buzzing coming from down the corridor … down the way they're trying to walk, that is.
Alptraum looks from one side, then to the other for a hiding place. "Something's coming," he hisses, "Look for a place to hide."
Autumn-Storm nods, and rushes to the side, finding some collapsed blocks and some smaller grit and pebbles that have been washed here by the waters that occasionally flood the lowest streets in the rainiest seasons. Meanwhile, the buzzing grows louder. To Alptraum's ears, it sounds like a swarm.
"Insects," Alptraum hisses, trying to find cover similar to Autumn-Storm's, then decides something and heads over to her. "Room for me over here? I can try and use my wings to shield us both from them," Alptraum says hastily.
Autumn-Storm nods and scoots over a bit. It's a tight squeeze into an area where some of the blocks have fallen out of the wall – not wholly on their own, judging by the deep and rough claw marks, but with a bit of help from one of the local denizens. Fortunately, if there was any sort of den or nest in this cubby, it has been long since abandoned.
Alptraum pulls in very close to the cheetah, then wraps his arms around her, holding the egg gently against her stomach. He then carefully extends his wings around them as best he can, pulling them in tight to hopefully envelop them in a leathery cocoon to protect them both. "I hope they just pass us by," he mutters grimly.
Autumn-Storm's hand presses lightly into Alptraum's arm, signing, "If not… ?"
"I haven't thought that far ahead," Alptraum admits. "We might be able to light your shawl and use the flames to fan them away and run."
Down the tunnel, some small creature lets out a panic shriek, followed by the answering cries of the rest of its den. These shrieks turn more shrill, as the buzzing gets louder, and then into high-pitched screams, joined with sounds of tearing and rending – and then they go silent, leaving only the drone of the approaching swarm.
"Back to the tower, now!" Alptraum hisses and unfurls his wings quickly and squeezing out, then he takes off in a mad dash back towards the tower, clutching the egg.
Autumn-Storm is right behind him, sprinting for all she's worth!
Autumn-Storm shoots past, a greenish blur thanks to the strange light of her lantern. The will-o'-wisp launches on ahead … and Alptraum is very conscious of the growing volume of the buzzing and snapping behind him. Something buzzes near his ear, and in the retreating light, he can see the glistening shell of a scarab-like insect with flitting wings, and very sharp-looking pronged mandibles that tentatively snap at the air. It is not that large – small enough to palm in his hand, and certainly easy enough to squash … but by the sound, there are so many more of them!
Alptraum runs all out, pulling his wings in tight to reduce drag. "This is insane! This is so not good! he thinks.
He feels a sharp pain in his wing. Then another. Those things are nibbling at him! And those mandibles are as sharp as they look – stronger than they look.
Alptraum winces and grits his teeth. He tries to shake his wings slightly and get the insects off. His eyes narrow and he tries to push his legs harder, to escape.
Ahead, the bobbing will o' wisp has halted, has lowered to the ground. Alptraum can barely make out the sight of Autumn-Storm wrestling with the door … but the sharp pains in his arms, in his wings … in even more tender places … are very distracting. At least they haven't found his eyes yet. But that's only a matter of time…
"Nnngh," Alptraum growls, squinting to protect his eyes and tries to focus in on the cheetah and block out the bursts of pain on his body. Onward he goes.
The door is only partway open when Alptraum reaches it. Autumn-Storm reaches out to grab him, and haul him inside, abandoning her lantern outside to the swarm.
Alptraum, gasping and wincing, leans back hard against the door, trying to shut it, and trap the swarm outside.
Together, they manage to slam the door shut. Immediately, Autumn-Storm starts swatting at the bugs on Alptraum that dig their barbed heads into his hide. She gasps in horror, plucking those she can reach, and throwing them to the ground, crushing them with the pommel of her dagger.
Alptraum starts to frantically swat the insects off his body as well, along with an occasional violent wing shake to dislodge them. "Ow, ow, ow ow!" he growls in pain.
Alptraum feels a sudden, sharp pain in his side. With some shock, he realizes that Autumn-Storm has just stabbed him! Or … then, the sickening realization hits him. She stands there, panting, clutching her dagger, the point of which is imbedded in a bug that had dug its way into Alptraum's hide! If she hadn't stopped it…
Alptraum's eyes go wide and his jaw hangs open. He releases her dagger and grits his teeth, saying, "Cut it out. I'll try not to move. Just … be quick, please."
Autumn-Storm nods, whimpering slightly, and with very careful work, extracts the offending insect. "That's the last one," she finally signs, her hands barely visible in the pale green haze of the chamber.
Alptraum clasps his hand over the wound left from extracting the insect. "After hearing these things kill the vermin, I knew we had to head back, no choice," he says slowly, catching his breath. "You all right? None got to you, did they?"
Autumn-Storm shakes her head, as she tears off strips from her shawl and starts bandaging Alptraum's wounds. In the distance, there is another boom.
"Thank you," Alptraum says, trying to hold still for Autumn-Storm. He then looks down, checking on the condition of the egg they came this far to obtain. "We have to get out of here without being seen. I hope this is an attack, better chance to get out in the chaos," Alptraum says.
Autumn-Storm nods, tying off the last of the bandages. "There are other passages … but I have seen no maps beyond this point."
"I've seen some of the Tower. Not much, mind you, but some," Alptraum replies. "I'll try to get us out. Hopefully, we're near some place I have seen. Tell me which way the passages are and I'll lead and try to track by sound when there's little light, okay?"
Autumn-Storm nods. "Well, there were several passages leading out of … of … the 'egg room'. I'm not fond of going back in there … especially not after what you told me about the dangers there. If we search around here, we might find another passage. I don't know what all these machines do, but I'll wager we shouldn't mess with them. We haven't fingers to spare."
"Right. Let's look for a passage in here first. I have no desire to go back into that room either," Alptraum says, then walks off to explore the room they're in, mindful of the machines.
Autumn-Storm wraps up the "egg" in what's left of her shawl, after taking it from Alptraum during his "pat-down," and holds it close to her body, as she helps Alptraum search. As he goes around a corner, he sees some light – a passage leading into some small cul-de-sac chamber where he can hear someone milling about, muttering to himself: an older Eeee, and one presumably who's developed a habit of talking to himself. "Confound it, the stability is shot all to pieces. How can they expect me to do my work with all that racket up there?" Another boom in the distance, and the bat lets out a squeak and starts slapping at various levers and dials. Some of the machines in the main room hiss violently, letting out gouts of steam.
It looks like there's another access, past the "cul-de-sac", and with some stealth, he and the cheetah might be able to head down that darkened passage without alerting the Eeee. Of course, there's no telling where it goes, but the same can be said of any alternative at this point.
Alptraum looks around the room for some junk he can toss to the far side of the room to draw the bat away and let them sneak into the passage.
Alas, the room, unlike so much of the Streets Below, seems to be meticulously kept free of "junk" lying about. The floor is clean, and the machines are free of any small objects lying in or behind or about them.
"No junk to use as a distraction. We'll just have to sneak by. Go first. If he sees you and comes after, I'll try to knock him out. Sound good?" Alptraum signs.
"At this rate," the strange old Eeee mutters, "I'll have a premature hatching. Or maybe a dozen of them! Oh, curse, curse it all!"
Autumn-Storm nods seriously to Alptraum … then darts past the open doorway, slipping into the shadows on the other side. She is silence and speed, and the Eeee shows no sign of being the least bit aware of her passing.
Alptraum draws in a breath, then signs toward the shadows Autumn-Storm slipped into, "Coming … now!" Alptraum then moves quickly, trying to remain as quiet as possible and sneak by.
And if Autumn-Storm was impressive in her stealth, Alptraum does her one up. Not a clue. The old Eeee hasn't a clue that there are uninvited guests slipping by. "… Why, if I had one shekel for each time the General insists I come up with a new way … " As they huddle in the dark opening, Autumn-Storm signs in the faint light, "I think this way goes up."
"Good," Alptraum signs, pausing a moment to listen to the old Eeee. "They are growing an army down here. But, for what… ? Anyway, let's go."
Do minutes or hours pass as they work their way through the complex? It is so hard to tell. Guided by Alptraum's keen ears, they have been following air flows as much as anything else, on a path that might lead them toward some sort of familiar territory, such as the central shaft. Along the way, however, they come across a large chamber that has signs of being blasted to oblivion. By the looks of the debris, at first Alptraum is inclined to think that somehow they have backtracked to the "egg room" and that it had suffered a great catastrophe … but, no, his bearings couldn't be that badly off. There are many passages to navigate here, but it's not a true labyrinth, and there is some order to its construction. No, this is another room, though any sign of a hive full of growing warrior-demons has been reduced to ash and slime.
A body of an Eeee lies sprawled in some wreckage, and the air is full of a toxic, unpleasant odor, beyond just the smell of burnt flesh and shell.
Alptraum makes his way over to the fallen Eeee and kneels down. Carefully, he reaches out to feel for a pulse. "What happened here?" he wonders.
The Eeee is still alive, though just barely. At Alptraum's touch, the broken man stirs. "Hngh. Curse … " Down the hallway, Alptraum can see another body, this one a little more intact: a female cheetah. Autumn-Storm rushes ahead to this one, dropping to her knees, though carefully settling the "egg" to one side as she does so.
"Easy now," Alptraum says softly. "What happened here?" he inquires, looking up and over at Autumn-Storm as he does so.
"Intruders," the Eeee rasps out. "Set off … megiddo beetles before … disarm. Outside … must not know … Rephidim … would destroy … destroy … " He coughs up blood. "Don't … don't let them … get away!"
"How did they set them off?" Alptraum asks quickly, wincing.
"Entered the … containment … touched … the green lights… Supposed … to guard against … being stolen… Better … to eradicate it … than fall into … enemy hands!" the Eeee coughs out.
"Who was it?" Alptraum asks next, looking at the Eeee, then over at Autumn-Storm.
"Savan … Savanites," the Eeee hacks out. "Why? … Why did they take it … then touch the green lights? … They almost made it… Why?"
Alptraum can hear Autumn-Storm sobbing quietly.
Alptraum pats the man's shoulder and says, "Rest now." HE then gets up and goes over to Autumn-Storm. "Know her?" he asks quietly.
Autumn-Storm nods, wiping at her eyes. With trembling hands, she signs, "Feather-Light. I didn't know … that she was … on this mission. She's … so young." The cheetah girl looks barely more than half Autumn-Storm's own age – hardly the ideal of an intrepid agent venturing into an enemy stronghold.
"I'm … I'm sorry. Was Clenching-Fist the organizer of all this? Did she know him too?" Alptraum signs, then reaches down to check on the Savanite too, presuming she has already departed this world.
Alptraum's assumption is correct. The girl is dead, and has been so for some time, Alptraum can gather, likely having to do with the many wounds suffered from shrapnel from the blast. Autumn-Storm nods in answer.
"Then, if he didn't tell you she was going to be here too. He may have known, Autumn-Storm," Alptraum signs, expression growing sad. "I'm so sorry, Autumn-Storm. Each blast we've heard must've been… " He doesn't finish the sentence.
Autumn-Storm lightly sets down the egg … and then hides her face in her hands. Her body shakes.
Alptraum lightly wraps his arms around Autumn-Storm and hugs his shaking friend gently. "I don't know what to say, except, I'm sorry. It doesn't seem near enough – I wish I could ease your pain. I wish I could have stopped this before they all died," Alptraum whispers. "We need to get out of here. If not for ourselves, then for those who died today. If we can, we should try to find them justice."
Autumn-Storm nods. "If … if this was all … a distraction … for some sort of battle … I could understand a … sacrifice … but to not know… "
"I don't know what it was for," Alptraum says. "But, if they had known, they could have found other ways to set the beams off and lived. A book, anything, just throw it in. This was cold and heartless," Alptraum then adds and looks back at Feather-Light. "I … if there are any Gods, may they be watching out for you now, Feather-Light. May you find peace," he silently prays.
Autumn-Storm nods. "No witnesses," she signs, with trembling hands.
Alptraum nods sadly, then clasps Autumn-Storm's hands momentarily to steady them. "Brave heart, Autumn-Storm. Let's go. There's nothing more we can do here," Alptraum says gently.
The cheetah takes a deep breath, then nods, and looks to the egg. "I suppose I was not meant to come out alive with this … but I am taking it anyway. We have gone to too much trouble." She gingerly picks up the egg in the bundled shawl, and stands upright again.
"And it might give us bargaining power," Alptraum signs, then nods. He stands now too and surveys the room, then walks back toward the entrance. "We'll find who's responsible, somehow," Alptraum signs, looking back at Autumn-Storm.
More wandering through the corridors, and a draft leads them in the direction of … the central vertical shaft. Here, they find more bodies – though this time exclusively of Eeee – sometimes armored, sometimes wearing uniforms of the Guardians of the Tower, but having a look of being butchered as they tried to flee. Fires burn, and strange glowing splatters eat acid holes in the walls. As they reach the central shaft, a railed balcony leads out, its hive-like surface spreading outward into a dock for some large dragonfly-like creatures that rest in chitinous arms just off the platform. Shouts and screams can be heard, battle cries and panicked calls. Chitin-armored warriors do battle against other chitin-armored warriors, and unarmed Eeee – the sort Alptraum would have seen during his tour conducting experiments – flee for cover, many of them failing to find it.
Down below, a huge, partially organic thing floats. It looks like the gondola of the General's airship, though it hovers without benefit of an envelope, suspended by some unseen supports undoubtedly below it and out of sight. Some of the Eeee of the tower flee into openings in the hull, while other Eeee – wearing tabards of red splashed with crescents of white – cut down those that they can reach.
Autumn-Storm keeps well clear of the Eeee bodies littering the floor. One lies slumped over the rail, several bolts sticking out of his back as if he had sprouted quills like a Xient. His breaths come in quick rasps, and each one looks as if it could be his last.
One of the Eeee in the red tabards hovers briefly in mid-air in the center of the shaft. "The General is boarding his ship! All flights, attack! He must not escape!"
Alptraum looks out in horror. Instinctively, his hands slips down to the dual-daggers he has strapped to the back of his belt-sash and draws them free. Inwardly, anger and sadness surges through him again. He wishes he could stop this. This is wrong. Alptraum runs over to the gasping Eeee and asks quickly, "Who did this? What are they?"
The Eeee looks back at Alptraum. Familiarity strikes Alptraum – He's fairly certain that this fellow was one of the many he saw during his tour … though certainly nobody he learned the name of.
"Loyalists," the Eeee spits out. "Rephidim loyalists. Winning the Tower for the Temple." He winces. "It's you, eh? Which side are you on?"
"I'm on the side of our people," Alptraum replies firmly. "I don't know what is going on here, but I'm not letting our people be conquered."
The Eeee engineer laughs mirthlessly. "Both sides are our people. Half want to serve Rephidim … half don't … though a bunch of us would rather just get out of here alive right now, I'd wager." He looks out across the shaft. "If you go with the half wanting to be free … you see the balcony opposite? The other release is there. Sure, the General's flagship could just rip free, but it'd be a lot faster and do less damage if someone could pull the lever in time. Ranfro must be dead, or else it'd be pulled by now. I've got mine." He clutches a broken chitinous lever. It looks as if he snapped it off afterward, to make sure nobody could reverse the deed. "Kindly Ones look after you, General. Goodness knows nobody else will… "
Alptraum stands and says, "Autumn-Storm, find cover. I'm going to try and release the General's ship." He then extends his wings, testing them for damage from the insects.
"You're going to do what?" Autumn-Storm signs, looking incredulous. "Isn't he the enemy?"
"I don't know what the General is, but would you call those who sent your friends to their deaths your friends?" Alptraum asks, slipping his daggers back into their sheaths on his belt-sash.
Autumn-Storm shakes her head, and doesn't meet Alptraum's gaze. "I don't know anything anymore," she signs.
"Neither do I," Alptraum admits, walking over to Autumn-Storm. "But, I can't leave these people here to be slaughtered. I have to do something. This whole thing has felt wrong from the beginning." He then looks out over the shaft, trying to figure a flight path, then gets an idea. He looks around for a fallen Eeee, perhaps one wearing a red tabard.
There is indeed one with a red tabard, conveniently to hand, though the tabard has a hole burned into it … perhaps the result of one of those experimental weapons from the laboratory. (Certainly, there's enough evidence here and there of such devices being used … and apparently malfunctioning as well.)
Alptraum pulls the tabard off the Eeee, then looks at Autumn-Storm. "If you don't want me to go, I won't," Alptraum says, then glances across the way again, going back to figuring a relatively safe flight path.
"I can't make that decision for you!" Autumn-Storm signs, meeting his gaze at last with a pleading look. "I don't know if I can make any decision. What judge of character am I? Clenching-Fist! How could he do this? I love him!" As far as the path goes, nothing looks truly safe – no real surprise – but the attackers seem more concerned with mounting an assault on the General's flagship, or pursuing some of the fleeing engineers and scientists. There are several likely avenues … as long as luck is with him for once.
Alptraum starts pulling on the tabard as a disguise. "Then I have to make a leap of faith here and do it. These people sent yours to die. They're cowards – they weren't willing to go themselves. It might not be much, but spoiling their plans may be some justice to those unknowingly sent to die," Alptraum says, looking back into Autumn-Storm's eyes. "And … I know you love him. I don't know what to say about that, except you deserve to be better treated. Find cover and I'll try to make it back over here. If I get taken down, just go. And I beg you to leave Babel and start a new life elsewhere. Find someone whom deserves your love."
Autumn-Storm looks up at Alptraum with tear-filled eyes. "I wish it weren't like this." And then she turns and ducks down the corridor she came through.
"Remember, I will try to get back here. Take care, Autumn-Storm, I hope I will see you shortly," Alptraum calls after her, then turns and takes to the air to fly over to the other balcony.
"For the glory of the First Ones!" cries out an Eeee in embellished armor, as he sweeps down, sword drawn, pursuing a couple of fleeing engineers. "You shall create no more infernal blasphemies!" In another direction, a wounded soldier holds a trembling giant larva under one arm, squeezing it, prompting it to convulse and shoot flaming globs of goo at airborne targets. "Die, Temple scum!" the bleeding warrior shouts. Another Eeee in a red tabard goes plummeting downward, not all that far from Alptraum, in a trail of flames.
Alptraum winces and tries to wing wide and away from the fighting. "Keep alert, Alptraum. This is not your flight act in Sylvania, and you are not in good condition," he reminds himself.
"Come for more, eh?" the larva-launching warrior cries out, and it suddenly occurs to Alptraum that the warrior is looking his way … and just in time! A few flaming globs of goo go shooting his way, but Alptraum manages, in the nick of time, to fold his wings and drop a few feet to avoid being incinerated.
"We've got to release the General's ship," Alptraum calls up to the armed Eeee. "I put this on so they'd let me get close. Look at the burn in it!"
Unfortunately, with all the shouting, screaming, and occasional exploding going on, Alptraum's voice simply doesn't carry far enough … and flying closer is bound to be misinterpreted as hostility long before he gets close enough to make his speech. Still, he's far enough away that he might be able to avoid the blasts, as the weapon seems better designed for attacking large targets … or targets that are distracted and not actively attempting to dodge. Eventually, the warrior trains his sights on other targets within his arc of fire, and Alptraum makes it to the opposite balcony. There, a dead Eeee clings to a lever, hanging from it – failing to actually gather enough strength to pull it in his final moments.
Alptraum lands on the balcony, lacking his usual grace when doing so. His eyes narrow and he grabs hold of the lever, not even bothering to pull the dead Eeee from it. Alptraum then pulls, as hard as he can.
Alptraum's muscles are wracked with pain, as he keenly feels all the places where the boring insects assaulted his flesh, but determination strengthens him, and with a mighty wrench, he pulls the lever downward. Ratcheting noises echo through the chamber.
Alptraum looks around quickly and spreads his wings again. "Got to make sure the ship gets free, then I am out of here," he thinks.
"What are you doing?" a red-clad warrior cries out, circling near the balcony. Below, the flagship starts to rise. Gusts of smoke and mist shoot out from its sides, and a loud buzzing noise fills the air, though with a mechanical edge to it.
"Vengeance for those you sent to die," Alptraum replies with a snarl, then spits. He draws out daggers and brings them to bear, then kicks at the lever, trying to break it off.
SNAP The lever breaks off cleanly! "TRAITOR!" the red-clad warrior shrieks as he charges, chitin sword pointed at Alptraum, rushing the balcony.
Alptraum brings one dagger up for defense. His other hand snaps back, then throws the dagger right at the on-coming Eeee. "Let's see if you've still got it, Traum," he thinks grimly.
"GRK!" The attacking bat clutches at a knife handle that has suddenly sprouted from his nape, and tumbles out of control, sweeping past Alptraum and crashing with a crunch into the wall just above the entrance. The chitin blade clatters to the ground, and the bat slides down after it, landing in a twitching heap.
Alptraum kneels down beside the twitching bat and pulls his dagger free, then wipes it clean on the bat's tabard. "And now, you can greet death with the same willingness you were giving it to others," Alptraum hisses. He stands, spreading his wings and taking off again. "Time to head back, find Autumn-Storm, and get out of here!" he thinks.
Even as he takes off, the huge ship rises past the balcony he was resting at. Through a portal, he sees a strange sight – a creature like what he saw in that hive cell, as if a child version of Chezek, gazing out of the window. Some of the red-clad warriors hack at the sides of the ship, but to no avail, and at last even they begin to pull away. A few cheers go up from below. "He flees! The Tower is won!" someone shouts.
Alptraum glances toward the odd creature, then wings on, back to the other Balcony. "I have got to ditch this tabard," he thinks.
This time, he makes it across without any trouble. The Eeee who had been wielding the larva-gun has either fled, or must have been cut down in the intervening time. While the huge bug-craft (It looks even more insectoid from below) rises, it is followed by several Eeee that flank it, riding strange dragonfly-craft, or under the power of their own wings. The monstrosity lifts up through the now-open top of the tower, and hovers there a moment, before drifting off eastward. A few oblong objects, however, fall from the craft, down the central shaft. When Alptraum alights there, he can tell that the Eeee engineer who had told him of the lever has passed on from this world … and Autumn-Storm isn't anywhere to be seen.
Alptraum rips off the red tabard he wears and heads into the hallway where he last saw her. "Did she leave me behind?" he wonders. "Or just seek cover, like I asked her to?"
As Alptraum looks about, he finds that, for one thing, there seems very little by way of "cover." At last, however, as he works his way along, a pair of spotted ears perk over a hulk of some large bug-beast that has died in the battle – followed by a pair of cheetah eyes.
"Autumn-Storm?" Alptraum tentatively asks, then walks toward the cheetah.
Autumn-Storm steps up, and signs, "Is it over ye – " But even before she finishes her question, there are some explosions outside, in the central shaft, and cheers of triumph turn into screams of terror, joined with the sounds of buzzing … a very particular sort of buzzing that sounds just like what Alptraum and Autumn-Storm heard during their flight through the secret tunnel.
Alptraum curses! "You know, I never thought there might be a third party involved in this. Time to go, now. Run! Away from the buzzing!" Alptraum says quickly, then does just that.
Autumn-Storm proves to be very good at running, and the two of them dash madly down the corridors, at one point rushing right past a couple of looting warriors in red tabards. The screams they hear behind them inform them that their choice to flee was well-taken. This goes on for some time, and Autumn-Storm's pace slows down to one Alptraum can far more easily keep up with (especially since he has the advantage of being able to glide or fly to get around certain obstacles), and at last, they get down much further … until they stumble into one of those "egg chambers." There's a definite case of deja vu here. This one hasn't been destroyed, though the hive holes are almost entirely empty, and the central "nest" is devoid of eggs. The explosive bugs lining the ceiling are still there, however, complete with their scanning green beams of light. There's a single prone figure lying in a puddle of slime.
Alptraum runs over to the figure to see who it is, but mindful of the beams.
For an instant, Alptraum is struck by the proportions of it, that it is a child lying sprawled and helpless in a puddle of slime … but then he sees the hard shelled surfaces, and realizes that it's one of them. Save that it has the proportions of a child, it is the spitting image of Skekos of legend, looking like a strangely armored cross between Eeee and skedat.
Alptraum skids to a halt and says. "Can you hear me? Can you move? You have to get out of here!" Alptraum says quickly.
The creature just makes a pained whimper, struggling to raise itself, but collapsing again.
"It's just one of those monsters!" Autumn-Storm signs. "There's no time! Run!"
Alptraum looks this way and that in a panic, ears tracking the bugs. "Look, you have to get up and run. Now! I can't carry you! Get up!" Alptraum screams at the creature, then turns and runs.
Alptraum sighs and skids to a stop a few feet later. He then turns around and goes back to the child and tries to lift it up. "Why am I doing this?!?" he wonders.
Just then, a swarm of those horrible bugs bursts into the chamber. They rip and tear into everything the least bit organic. Alptraum can smell the blood of their previous victims. There is certainly no time to waste … but the only exit he knows of … is that secret door, the one that only a little while earlier, he fled through, to escape another plague of these monsters!
Alptraum swallows and takes off running again, this time with the strange creature in his arms and runs flat out through the door he thinks Autumn-Storm went through. "I must killed a gypsy in a form… wait a moment!" Alptraum thinks, trying to NOT think about the bugs in the room behind him.
Oddly enough, Autumn-Storm has the secret door wrenched open. He can see the dim glow of the lantern that was abandoned out there – as apparently the bugs didn't find it edible. (Also, either they're no longer waiting out there, or else they've eaten Autumn-Storm and are cleverly hiding in ambush for him.)
And Alptraum goes through the secret door, then sets the child down. He starts pulling the door shut again to put it between the bugs and himself!
Panic. What a wonderful booster of adrenaline. With a wrenching shove, Alptraum manages to slam the door shut, crushing a few of the fastest bugs, and he outpaces those that managed to slip through. Autumn-Storm is already ahead of him, bolting down the corridor.
Once again, Alptraum scoops up the child, trying to be mindful of the spikes. He then runs after Autumn-Storm, shouting, "I'm right behind you!"
As they run along, they pass signs of the destruction caused by the boring beetles. They also pass several mounds of a blackish, unidentifiable goo, though it would probably be best not to stop for a closer investigation. At last, they make it outside the tower, to the darkness of the Streets Below – a darkness only broken by Autumn-Storm's green-glowing lantern. Since she has the "egg" in one arm and the lantern in her other hand, she doesn't free her hands for any chatting, but she nonetheless manages to convey "This way," and "That way," a few times, leading Alptraum to the bases of one of the buildings, and to some stairs leading upward – hopefully to friendlier domain.
Alptraum follows along, somewhat lost in thought and reacting to her gestures out of instinct. "What happened back there? I bet the General had a trap ready to deal with those who invade the Tower, those bugs. Short victory," Alptraum considers, "Did I even do the right thing? I don't know anything about the General, break into his Tower, then save him or her? What do I do now? What do I do with this creature? Sure, I saved it. Now what? And what do I do about Autumn-Storm? All I can do is just be there for her." He sighs, then shakes his head and comments, "You know, Autumn-Storm, sometimes I think I think too much. Let's find someplace safe and rest. We can figure out what to do next later."
