Touch of Fate

Chapter 276: Cabin Fever

Chapter 276: Cabin Fever

Stepping through the door, Mike cautiously scanned the entry hall. After finding nothing of interest, he proceeded to carefully check the other rooms on the first floor, of which there were five.

To the left of the front entrance was a study of sorts, complete with a desk, a few tables, several reading chairs, and shelves filled with books. Habits from his old life kicked in, and he spent a few minutes scanning through the selection. It quickly became apparent that the previous owner of this demi-realm was some kind of researcher or sage, specializing in plants. Most of the books focused on botany, plant biology, and geography, but there were a few works on magic as it applied to plant life which might be useful for his own studies.

Unfortunately, it was readily apparent that the contents of this library were in poor condition, evidently having been left here unattended for a great deal of time. He would need to be very careful when handling them.

[Perhaps there is an application of Healing Magic that can be used on once living things...Might be worth experimenting with once I've finished exploring this place.] He thought while carefully setting down the volume he was examining. The idea had some promise, but he felt like anything he did would have about as much chance of creating some kind of zombie book as it did repairing the damage.

The next room they visited was a fairly spacious kitchen, complete with magic items capable of producing fire, water, and even a few rudimentary seasonings. There was a sort of cold storage closet that seemed to be permanently chilled by magic. The few food items remaining inside were desiccated to the point that Mike needed Appraise to even identify them, but indicated that the previous inhabitant had a fairly standard diet. Another closet, that seemed to function as a dry pantry, contained similarly spoiled products that had thankfully long since stopped rotting.

"This will take a while to clean fully, but will come in handy when traveling." Tal commented while examining a collection of cooking implements stored in one of the cabinets lining the walls. She tried pulling out a frying pan, only to have the handle break off in a shower of rusted metal. "We'll need to replace most of this."

"Shopping trip it is." Mike answered while sniffing the contents of a stoppered jug he found in the pantry. It might have once contained wine, but it had long ago become something close to vinegar. Putting it back on the shelf, he made a mental note to simply toss and replace everything in the kitchen.

Finally, there was a door that led down into the basement, but they decided to finish exploring the rest of the cabin before looking into it.

Another two of the rooms on the first floor were bedrooms with a few pieces of furniture and a closet-like chamber that was this world's version of a washroom. Mike got the impression that these were meant for guests, based on the uniformity of the layout. After a quick inspection, he concluded that nothing of value or interest remained inside of them, and most of it was in poor repair. With the exception of the wooden parts of the furniture, it seemed pretty much everything else had rotted to the point of near unusability.

[Based on the description of the doorknob's creator, this space should be about a thousand years old, assuming of course it didn't exist prior to the knob itself.] Mike thought while trying to recall what he could from the archaeology class he took in college. Judging based on the decay of materials was not exactly a textbook strategy, but as best as he could figure, the cabin was probably somewhere in the region of a few centuries old, and had likely been left unattended for several decades.

The last section of the floor was dedicated to a sort of common area, complete with a dining table and eight chairs, a couple couches, and a fireplace operated by magic. It seemed to extend away from the rest of the cabin in a separate area of sorts, which made it possible to have long rows of windows on three of the four walls. Additionally, there was a door that led out onto the porch. Much like the foyer, this room also had a high ceiling that extended to the second floor, with another balcony overlooking it. After poking around for a bit Mike stepped out onto the porch, noting that the floorboards creaked a bit ominously as he did so.

Ignoring the fact that it was a manufactured image, he took a moment to savor the view. His vantage placed him slightly above the illusory treetops, allowing him to overlook the gently rolling and forested foothills that stretched nearly to the horizon, before slowly turning into a tall, snow-capped mountain range with its peaks shrouded in mist.

To his left, there was a wide and placid lake that lay within walking distance. A quick check with aerosense told him that the portion nearest to the cabin actually existed, albeit without any real water. That said, there appeared to be a depression of sorts where he could mimic the presence of a lake, should he feel inclined to do so in the future.

Finishing with the first floor, he moved onto the second. The staircase from the foyer lead them to a sort of landing with a few chairs and tables located near the two balconies. Another three doors extended off from it, the first of which turned out to be for a sort of large storage closet or attic. It was filled with random junk of the kind that one accumulates over a lifetime, most of which didn't serve any practical purpose.

One whole section was devoted to a set of large storage cases containing various preserved plant specimens. Not being of a botanical nature, Mike quickly got bored of sorting through the extensive collection, especially since he had to rely on Appraise to get any kind of information at all.

After a few minutes of dedicated searching, the most interesting thing they'd found so far was a trunk stuffed to its brim with a variety of tribal masks, carved and painted in the shape of stylized animals. While fascinating to look at, they didn't have any unusual properties, appearing to merely be art objects that the previous owner had been collecting for some reason.

Moving on, they next encountered a large room with several full-sized windows that seemed to function as the master suite. A once luxurious bed dominated one side of the chamber, and was accompanied by two bookshelves, a nightstand of sorts, two dressers, a wardrobe complete with a large mirror, and a writing desk.

They took a quick survey of the rooms contents, and discovered little besides a large amount of women's clothes in the dressers and wardrobe. The books on the shelves were of a slightly different nature than the ones downstairs. While botany and plant biology still featured heavily, there were more works of a literary nature, with a tendency towards somewhat tawdry romance novels.

"This is just an educated guess," Mike commented while scanning the books, "but I think the previous owner was a woman."

"Indeed." Tal replied in a flat voice while eying a set of lacy undergarments that would have looked a bit silly on a man.

After a few moments, she spoke again. "I also found this, but I was unsure if I should open it."

She was holding a thin, leatherbound book that appeared to be on the verge of falling apart. Carefully lifting the cover, Mike quickly determined that it was a journal or some kind of research log, however, most of the writing was so badly decayed that he couldn't read it.

"Hmm, I bet this will have some clues, but I'm afraid that I'll need to be very careful while reading it."

"Then you can understand the contents?" Tal asked.

"Yeah, it looks a bit faded, but I can make out parts of it."

The elf was silent for a few moments before replying. "Do you know what that language is?"

Something about the question struck him as a bit odd, and he quickly realized that his Communication Magic had been working while he was focused on keeping the cover intact. "Honestly, no, but that doesn't mean I can't read it. I'm not sure if I ever told you, but one of my skills lets me understand and use languages. It's the reason we've been able to communicate like this."

She nodded. "I suspected that it was something of that nature, but I didn't wish to pry. I assume it also applies to the ancient magic languages, right? That would explain a number of your more outlandish deeds."

"It does."

Tal paused for a few seconds, her emotionless face becoming more opaque than usual. Finally she shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. "My apologies, I was simply marveling at the way I've become numb to the outrageous. It appears that my association with you has warped my common sense to a rather distressing degree. In any event, would you perhaps be willing to discuss the details of your skill with me?"

As she spoke, he could almost sense a sort of tension in the air. Despite the somewhat off-hand way she asked about it, it was clear that this was an important matter to her. Saying the wrong thing here would be bad.

[Kind of wish I had something like dialogue options in situations like these, since I'm already living in a game-like world, but I guess that's asking too much.]

Mike hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was a good idea to share this kind of information, since it technically related to his reincarnation and the Ancient One who made it happen. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that it would be fine to tell her some of it. He trusted Tal, and didn't think that the revelation would change anything about their relationship.

"I can do that, but I don't think now is the best time to be talking about it. We still have to explore the rest of this cabin at the moment. However, once we are done we can continue this conversation."

"Very well, I'll hold you to it." She replied simply. Walking towards the door, she shot a look back at him. "Shall we move on to the next room?" Her agitation had faded and been replaced by her usual calm demeanor, causing Mike to relax a bit in turn.

[Maybe it's time to tell everyone?] He contemplated while following Tal to the next door. This one belonged to yet another guest room. It was a bit hard to tell with all the decay, but he got the impression that it was used more often than the ones downstairs.

"Perhaps the previous owner was a traveling scholar or adventurer." The elf suggested after they determined that it had the same layout as the others. "She would only need so many rooms if she planned on journeying with companions. Judging from the nature of the carvings on the support columns, I suspect that she was a devotee of Lysande, and might have even been one of his clergy. It would make sense if that was the case, since they often travel in groups."

"What makes you say that?" Mike asked as he looked over one of the columns in question.

"See the image of an eye laying atop an outreached hand?"

He nodded, finding the carving a bit creepy.

"That is a common theme in artistry dedicated to Lysande, as it represents the accumulation of knowledge even at the expense of oneself."

"That sounds a bit...fanatical." He muttered, not really expecting an answer.

"Priests of the creator gods are frequently quite intense in their dedications, but I've encountered several over the years that are fairly reasonable outside of their faith."

"You make it sound as if faith is somehow unreasonable. I mean, we know the gods exist. Isn't worshiping them to be expected?"

Tal gave him a look that would have been incredulous, if her face was capable of forming the expression. "The gods are irrational beings who will act as they see fit, regardless of whether or not you worship them. This is especially true in the case of the creator gods. You may receive some benefit for your devotion, but outside of Divine Magic users, few will be rewarded for their efforts. While I do not wish to condemn anyone for their faith, it seems the height of folly to sacrifice one's own life to serve an uncaring being."

[Hm, I didn't take her for the irreligious type, but perhaps that makes sense given her background. I imagine that the persecution she suffered for being a Spirit Mage was partially motivated by her people's religious beliefs.]

He let the topic drop, and they continued down to the basement in silence. Rather than the exterior entrance, they decided to use the stairs in the kitchen. As soon as they began descending, Mike noticed a soft, low-pitched hum that grew louder the farther they went.

At the bottom of the stairs, they encountered a solid metal door that had survived the passage of time without any sign of deterioration. A quick Appraise told Mike that it had been enchanted to both resist corrosion, and bar entry to anyone save the owner of the demi-realm.

Signalling Tal to be ready, he reached out and grabbed the handle, noting that the humming seemed to be coming from within. Steeling himself, he pushed the door open in a rush before taking a step back. As soon as he did, the noise he'd been hearing stopped, and in its place came a voice.

"Ah! Visitors! It's been so long since I've had visitors! Please come in!"