#(important occurrence)

[fieriframes]

[This should be seen as a highly important occurrence.]

[shale-underworks]

"According to the map, we have to go this way... Past all these spike pits... Okay. I have an idea. Would you guys mind carrying me?"

Slowly, Rain and Mio transport Shale and the silk spools through the room. It's a bit nerve-wracking, hanging over a bunch of sharp spikes that will kill her if she falls into them, but the flying part is kind of fun.

As Mio lowers Shale gently onto a rocky platform, she hears the sound of claws scraping above her. Mio yoinks her out of the way just as a diving pharlid pounces on the space where she just was.

"Gah!" From what Shale knows, pharlids don't go out of their way to attack people, but they're not opposed to it if they get the opportunity. Especially if they're haunted.

Mio drops her off at the next bit of floor instead. From then on, it carefully checks each platform for pharlids, and if it finds any, Rain scares them off by threateningly slashing its claws around.

"...Alright, let's take a break," Shale says halfway through. Rain and Mio settle down next to her on a platform. "You've been really helpful, by the way, thank you."

She... needs to talk to them before they get to the Exhaust Organ. She's not entirely sure they'll understand—no, she's pretty sure they will. She's just never asked them something like this before.

"As you might have guessed, I'm... not going back to the Underworks after this." She's vented to the cogwork underflies plenty about how this place sucks, and a bit about how she's wanted to leave since she got here, so it's probably not too much of a surprise. "I'm going home. I don't know how to get back, exactly, but I'll figure it out."

Rain and Mio lean closer.

"Do you two... want to come with me?" It's not really fair to the other underflies in the Cauldron—she likes all of them, but she didn't really think about this until now, and Rain and Mio just are the ones who ended up coming with her—but it's better to help two of them than none. "It'll probably be dangerous, and I won't be able to fix you if you get damaged, at least not until we get to Bellhart. But it'll be better than the Underworks..."

Rain and Mio don't move for several minutes. Shale waits patiently. Then Rain bobs decisively up and down. After a few seconds, Mio slowly does too.

"...Thank you." She hugs them both; Rain purrs and Mio chirps happily. Then she stands up. "Now, let's get going."

[shale-underworks]

I made a reference for Shale!

I also drew her pre-Underworks (design subject to change)

[shale-underworks]

Prologue Part 3 (End)

The elevator doors slid open. The bottom of the shaft was a dark stone room with someone sitting by the exit—a bug with a grimy, scratched up shell on her back. Shale would later learn she was named Daze.

"Where am I?" Shale demanded. "Is this the Citadel? This doesn't look like the Citadel."

"It's not. Welcome to the Underworks," Daze said. "Now let me see that backpack." She was big and fairly intimidating, despite looking to be just barely an adult.

"I-I—excuse me?" Oh, Shale needed to get of here. She stumbled back into the elevator and hit the lever again. Nothing happened.

"Yeah, that was a one way trip," Daze said bluntly. "You're stuck here doing hard labor for the rest of your life. ...Until you starve or get haunted or fall into a gear pit, anyways."

What. What the fucking hell.

The room felt like it was spinning. This couldn't be real, right? It was just—some sort of prank, misunderstanding, Shale would talk it over with someone and she'd be on her way back home. It was all just a dream, she'd eaten some weird hallucinogenic berry in Shellwood, she'd open her eyes and wake up in pile of leaves or her bellhome or the middle of a roleplaying session. Okay, probably not, but she couldn't just be stuck here forever, she couldn't—

Shale was temporarily distracted from her thoughts by Daze apathetically ruffling through the backpack she'd left on the floor. "Hey! What are you doing?!"

Daze didn't answer. She took the small amount of food Shale had left, her empty water bottle, the scrolls she'd been meaning to read on the trip but hadn't gotten to, and the rosary necklace she'd left inside (Daze's eyes lit up at that).

"Give my stuff back, asshole!" Shale glared as hard as she could, but she wasn't about to try fighting someone more than twice her size. She was shaking again.

Daze ignored her and left. Shale curled up next to her empty backpack. She wanted to go home. She needed to go home. One of her interns was doing well and she needed to promote them, and her favorite tavern was holding an anniversary event next week, and Marin had said he'd make her favorite curry for her when she got back—

Shale pushed her glasses up, buried her face in her arms, and began to cry.

[shale-underworks]

Prologue Part 2

Shale stumbled through the front door of the Citadel and sat down hard. She was sore all over, and cut and bruised from the climb, and she had no idea how she was still alive. She shakily wiped the sand from her glasses.

The trip hadn't been so bad at first. She'd gotten through Shellwood with minimal mishaps—sure, she'd gotten knocked into the pond by a gahlia, but a nice pondcatcher had fished her out and given her advice on the best route to take. All in all, it had only taken a couple cycles.

The Blasted Steps had been a completely different story. Sand, sandstorms, sandcarvers; giant steps that she was barely able to climb; petrified husks of bugs who hadn't made it lying there like eerie statues; judges. The judges had been terrifying. They struck down pilgrims seemingly at random. Shale had wanted to turn around, but she'd been scared that if she showed doubt or hesitance, they'd kill her. She still didn't know how she was going to get back through them.

"Why... the fuck... did I do this..."

And yet, here she was. Staring up at giant scales under the highest roof she'd ever seen. Maybe taking her lucky magnetite dice along had helped?

She got up eventually. She was too tired to climb the scales right now, so she made a mental note to come back later and headed for what looked to be an elevator on the other side of the room.

...She was actually going to see the Citadel. What she'd seen from outside was grand enough (petrified corpses notwithstanding); it must be even more amazing on the inside. Eternal paradise or whatever... What if it was so good she didn't want to go back home?

She stepped into the elevator. The doors closed immediately, which was a bit weird? She reached up and pulled on the lever. The elevator started to ascend—

Wait, no. Now it was going down. That was... concerning.

The elevator was slow, so Shale sat back down. She took off her backpack and set it next to her. She coughed and nervously gripped the dice in her pocket as the air began to get thick and smoky...

[shale-underworks]

Prologue Part 1

It all started over a session of Shale's homebrew roleplaying game.

"This is ridiculous," Marin said. "There's no way there are robot furms in the Citadel."

"Who cares? It's cool," Shale said, absentmindedly fiddling with her magnetite dice set.

"It's a mockery of the shining Citadel!"

"Dude, chill," Shale's sister Bas told him. "It's just a game."

Perrie interjected. "This is supposed to be set in the real world. I mean, I could excuse one or two things, but bugs that are half made of metal? Swarms of tiny flesh eating robots? Weapons that shoot lasers?" Te fretted anxiously.

"Look, it's not my fault you guys decided to go here. The campaign was meant to take place in lower Pharloom! How am I supposed to know what the Citadel is like?"

"You could check it out yourself," Bas joked. "The exercise would certainly do you some good."

"Ha ha. Very funny."

"You could," Marin said. "It wouldn't be that hard. Just through Shellwood and the Blasted Steps, and then bam, Citadel! So easy for you." He leaned back in his wheelchair. "I wish they'd get those elevators in the big drop working..."

"I know you want to go to the Citadel," Shale said. "Me, I just want to stay here in Bellhart."

And yet, for some reason, she thought about it. She thought about it as she managed the family business, as she tried and failed to keep potted plants alive in her bellhome, as she played through and finished her campaign and let Perrie take a turn GMing.

It really wasn't that far, compared to the full pilgrimage route. And though she was good at managing resources and employees, it could get pretty boring. She could just go in, take a look around, go right back home... She could tell Marin if it lived up to his expectations, she could give Perrie scientifically accurate ideas for ter new campaign, she could bring back gifts for Bas and Mom. She could see if there really were cool robots in the Citadel.

And so one cycle, she packed a backpack, told Mom she was taking a week off, and set out.