• Placeholder • [Nauta, PH] Malchemical Conundrum

[Mal]

Ashan 80th,

This is a holder for place holding, where holding of places occurs. Please hold your places here, and place your holds within.

[Nauta F'mos Geey]

The most recent catastrophe in the form of Padfoot’s Freakshows made the Underground even more dangerous than it was already considered to be. Fortunately even with the increased guard presence to control the terrible mutant menace which plagued the city, F’mos found no trouble even as he made his way towards the epicentre of the season’s problems. It would seem that the mutants which spread all over Etzos stretched the Black Guard thin and their presence in the Underground could almost be forgotten. The Aukari’s only encounters with any Black Guard had been just about after he had entered the Underground but with them so busy being on the lookout for the mutants, they had no time to scrutinize another of their own sent down to help reclaim control of the tunnels.

He noticed as he made his way that not only there were less Black Guards to be seen, but there were less people about in the Underground as well- no doubt too worried about their own safety now that the mutants were known to everyone. F'mos felt the same way as the odd person here and there were met with suspicion from himself as he mentally questioned if each and every one of them were mutants. Nevertheless, they kept far away from the Black Guard member which patrolled the Underground which the fake was grateful for the deeper he went through the tunnels. There were only a few times F'mos had to be diverted from his path; when he could not decipher the many markings which acted as road signs of the Underground and, when a tunnel felt too off for him which in his paranoia made him believe it was the lair of some mutant due to how unnatural it was.

Eventually F'mos reached his destination with an interesting observation. While the Downtrodden had been the source of the mutants, there was no one around as the area had been thoroughly vacated. He had expected some Black Guard around at least, just to maintain the illusion of security or to nab the mutants and their creator should any return; at least some looters like him for a chance at any mutagen which remained, but no. The Aukari simply had to walk up to the door of the Downtrodden which looked to have been bashed in recently and give it a push to open it- a loud crash as it did as the hinges gave way. He should have been alarmed by the sudden noise and be more cautious in case it got the attention of anything else but encouraged by how easy it was, the alchemist quickly went in to claim his prize.

Again, it felt like another one of those possibly mutant nests he tried to avoid on his way to the Downtrodden although it was not something which worried him. It was the source of the recent mutant outbreak and should not be something he did not expect. That said as it was evidently abandoned, the Aukari could not even see anything in the building other than black shapes from where the little light from the door shone on. As his only visit to the Downtrodden was rather recent and was to investigate on behalf of his concerned employers, F'mos could still sort of remember the layout of the establishment and eventually, he found one of the lights for customers once his hands stumbled on it and lit it up.

The light only went so far but it was enough for F'mos to be confident he was no longer in any danger of tripping over anything and picked up his pace. A quick check in the first room determined there was nothing of interest left to him- either Padfoot and his people had left already or someone else had beaten him to any opportunity of looting the store. Nevertheless the panicked people of Etzos when they needed to determine if they had eaten anything in the Downtrodden and, the warnings to not eat anything in the same had F'mos assured he knew where any mutagen left over would be. As a cook himself, they would definitely have to be at the back where the food was prepared and disposed of. The one place he did not have a chance to get into on his last visit.

As he rummaged through the kitchen at the back with his focus especially on the leftover brown substance in one of the large pots, he felt a tap on his shoulder which he ignored as part of his excitable imagination until he felt it again a second time. His very excitable imagination as he thought he saw someone who had been right behind him all along when he turned which caused him to stumble back, the light in hands extinguished as fell to the ground when he was caught off guard. Whilst he searched for the candle to light it again, he had a chance to convince himself after he calmed down that he was the only person in the abandoned Downtrodden. There was no way for someone with metal teeth, as he was able to identify as the light reflected off them, to exist. It was an impossibility only made real by his own worries.