Dom suspected that if Gan Ning's thinking was correct, then the largest doors would open up in to the Town Centre, which was the key building they needed to find so they could finish their excavation of the Ancient Underground City and hopefully be able to relocate some of the buildings from within. Dom also hoped that from inside they could get some more answers to their ever growing list of questions.
Dom looked to Gan Ning who had just asked which door they should enter first, and his mind was telling him he should go through those doors, but he looked to the other two and felt that he wanted to explore those first.
"Let's go through the door with the Warriors on it first." Dom said, looking to his right.
"Not what I was expecting you to say." Tomoe said from behind him, as she and Gregorios walked towards the doors and started to push them open.
The doors were pushed open and a large cloud of dust appeared, blowing down the corridor and covering everyone that was there. Dom covered his eyes and coughed loudly as the musky dust entered his lungs. Gan Ning patted him on his back whilst also coughing himself.
"Well, that wasn't pleasant." Dom stated as he walked through the doors that had been opened.
The room was large and open, with a desk at the front and several doors that adjoined the walls. On some parts of the wall were wooden racks that had weapons on them, as well as others that had some helmets and armour. The floor was littered with skeletons of more heavy set warriors, some wearing their armour, where as others were naked bar some rags that remained. Some of the skeletons had weapons, but it seemed that those inside the room had been caught off guard and unprepared.
Dom walked towards a skeleton that was lay on the desk, a familiar looking arrow lodged in it's eye socket. In front of it was some parchment with unrecognisable text on it, a quill still in the skeletons hand as if it had been writing when killed.
"This looks very much like a Warriors Hall." Gregorios commented as he looked around the room, "That must be the commander or quartermasters desk, and those must lead towards the bedrooms."
"They look like they were caught unaware." Gan Ning stated as he looked over some of the bodies, "Very different to those we found at the Vault."
"This one was caught with his pants down." Trojan joked, pointing at a warrior that seemed to have his armour around his ankles, rather than fully on like some of the others.
"This must have been closer to the start of the battle then." Dom agreed, "The Warriors Hall must have been targeted quickly to reduce the forces that were available to defend."
"Then whoever attacked them must have known the internal layout before hand." Tomoe replied as she looked around the room. "Possibly some form of betrayal?"
"Possibly." Gan Ning agreed, "But I'm not sure what sort of person would betray their kingdom to another species."
"There is a lot we do not know." Dom interrupted. "System, please show stats."
[Unknown Ancient Palace Guard Warriors Hall
Warriors Hall Grade - Unknown
Warriors Hall Level - Unknown
Unknown facts]
"Palace Guards." Dom commented as he looked at the very little information that was provided.
"They should have been better prepared if they were Palace Guards." Gan Ning commented angrily, "They should be the most elite warriors that were available."
"Let's have a look at the other room across the corridor." Dom replied, "Gan Ning, at least your men have some more loot to collect."
"The amount of weapons and armour we can find in here will be very helpful." Gan Ning agreed as they all left and looked at the building across from them. Gan Ning passed some orders to one of the Legionaries that had waited outside, who headed down the corridor to pass on his messages.
"Let's get it open then!" Gregorios stated as he and Trojan pushed these doors open, everyone covering their mouths for the possible dust storm that may come. As the doors opened, the dust storm did appear and more coughs could be heard.
"These rooms haven't been opened for a long time." Tomoe commented, "I'm going to need a bath when we return later."
"You aren't the only one." Dom agreed.
They stepped in to the room and Dom was shocked at what he saw, the room was very similar to the stables he had back at Riverside, with a long corridor with stable like doors in place. There were several armoured skeletons lay here and there, as well as some unarmoured skeletons. However, the thing that caused him the shock wasn't the humanlike bones that he saw, but the others. Large snake like skeletons lay across the room, tangled amongst themselves. Some of the stable doors were open and snake skeletons could clearly be seen trying to exit their stables.
On the far wall, Dom could see a rack with leather harnesses on it, and he wondered if these snakes were used as a mount for the owners of the Ancient Underground City. He wondered why he hadn't seen any of these skeletons around the rest of the Ancient Underground City and why no one else had mentioned them.
The room was covered with arrows, and Dom could imagine that the attackers had created a blockade at the door and unleashed a steady stream of arrows in to the room so that nothing could escape the rain of death. He walked in to the room and headed over to the first snake skeleton that he could, followed closely by Gan Ning and Tomoe. He bent down and had a look at it, the snake must have been around ten metres long, a small leather seat strapped to it's skeleton.
"I wonder if these are the same as the Red Snake and the eggs that I have gathered?" Gan Ning asked as he stroked the skull of the large snake, several arrows lay around it's skeleton, a couple wedge in the gaps of it's vertebrae.
"Very possible." Dom said, "I wonder why we haven't seen any of these with the other skeletons?"
"Most likely the enemy knew the danger of these and killed them in the initial attack." Tomoe replied, "It's what I would do, I just wonder why none were out on patrol in any of the corridors, you would have expected to have found at least one or two of them."
"Maybe something happened and they were all locked away?" Gregorios said as he also looked around.
"Another question to ask to our ever growing list." Dom lamented, "System, please show stats."
[Unknown Ancient Beast Hall
Beast Hall Grade - Unknown
Beast Hall Level - Unknown
Unknown facts]
"A Beast Hall?" Dom queried to the system, as the group looked at him as he said it.
[A Beast Hall is similar to a Stables or a Husbandry, spawning another form of creature. No further information can currently be gathered about this Beast Hall due to it's age and lack of activity.]
"What's a Beast Hall?" Gan Ning asked.
"A place similar to a Stables or a Husbandry?" Dom replied.
"If we can get a Beast Hall, then maybe we can charge in to battle on the back of snakes?" Gan Ning replied excitedly.
"It seems that this is what they did." Tomoe agreed, "But I can imagine charging in to battle on the back of a Sabre Tooth Tiger instead."
"There isn't much we can take from this building from initial looks." Dom said as he continued to look around.
"I agree, but we should take a skeleton back for Hua Tou to look over." Tomoe agreed as Dom turned and walked back out to the corridor, one room left to explore.
Dom decided he was going to push this one open himself, slowly rubbing his hand against the engraved door as he traced his fingers around the crown that was in the centre. He thought of the crown from the prince they had found earlier and the throne room on the other side of the building. Suddenly feeling the loss of the fall of a kingdom full of thousands of souls. He pushed the doors open, which squealed as the hinges moved for the first time in hundreds of years.
Light hit Dom's eyes as the doors were opened, showing a brightly lit marble room, different from any of the others that he had seen so far in the Ancient Underground City. Tall pillars adorned the room as they entered what seemed to be a great hall, much bigger than the one that Dom had left earlier in Riverside. There were stairs that headed upstairs in the distance, but what interested him were the rows upon rows of tables and chairs that ran down both sides of the great hall. At the far end was a head table, with five large stone chairs, where Dom assumed the leaders would have sat.
As with all of the other rooms, Dom could see plenty of skeletons, with lots of armoured skeletons near the door, pilled unceremoniously after a defeat. Some of the tables also had skeletons on them, as the great hall was full of plates and cups from what seemed to be a meal that was taking place at the time. The head table also had a couple bodies, with the largest central seat and that to it's left with bodies that were sprawled forwards.
Dom walked down the central aisle towards the head table, followed by his entourage who looked around at the well lit room in awe, the great hall making Riverside's look like child play in comparison.
"Definitely unexpected." Gan Ning commented as they walked down, "Being attacked whilst eating, in your own hall."
"I want to know where they were attacked from." Tomoe commented, "There is no clear entrance or pattern."
"I'm sure we will find out soon enough." Dom said as he reached the head table and looked at the two large skeletons, the central one being the largest one he had seen so far, wearing the remains of a silken like fabric and a heavy crown on it's head, much bigger than that of the princes. "This must be the leader."
He gently took the crown from the skull, feeling it in his hand, the weight was heavy and it was made for a head much larger than Dom's own.
"System, can you show me the information?" Dom asked.
[Unknown Ancient Crown, from Unknown Ancient King of an Unknown Ancient Race]
"The King's Crown." Dom commented as he looked over it once more, he placed the Crown down on the table and turned to look down the room as some of his men entered and looked around in Awe. He could imagine himself sat at this table, hundreds of his best Warriors sat eating with him. He then tried to imagine that world crumbling as they were attacked as they ate, an enemy charging through the doors and unleashing a barrage of arrows at them, before following up with swords and cutting everyone down.
"It's sad isn't it." Tomoe said as she stood beside him, looking down the room. "We can't let this happen to Riverside."
"No, we can not." Dom replied, before deciding to do what he came here for, "System, show me the stats."