Atlantis in the dark........

"Quick!" shouts Fred in desperation. "Look for anything that looks like it could transport that wyrm to wherever it went!!"

This order turns out to be harder than it sounds, because although the hoard of Minestus is surprisingly sparse for a wyrm (being that he focused his energy on magical equipment and magical items), there are literally dozens of possible suspicious items in this cavernous place!

******************************************************************

Minestus and his pet land with a slight thud onto old, weathered streets.

"Great," mutters Minestus absently as he cranes his neck around to get his barring "Even the INDEPENDENT routes are having trouble! I'm going to have to do something about that destroyed nexus that got slagged up in Gala, because this business of having to just travel by ordinary means....by wing or foot just plain sucks rocks!"

Distant moans and clankings remind the wyrm of the challenges he had experience last time here, so without further word, he grabbed a large piece (dragon sized) of colored chalk and sketched a crude circle of Protection. It wasn't the best, but would do for the task at hand. He turns after laying out the mat that will serve as the sacrificial altar, lights a few candles and incense after morphing into human form. Then he smiles at the shivering duke, who's pointing at the dark....shadowy figures with crimson eyes standing solemnly outside the circle.

"You needn't worry, pet." chuckles Minestus. "They shant harm us. All the shadows around hear just feed on negative emotions....such as fear and such. This business should be well and done before the REALLY terrible menaces come out! Now.....just lay here and close your eyes!"

Drederigo smile at the darkly handsome man who's holding a bronze knife, and complies with the request. On an ordinary day, he'd be reaching for his sword. Even in his addled state, the duke would have recognized the obvious nature of what the dragon planned on doing.

Minestus pauses as a thought suddenly strikes him. Though this now nameless city is underneath the waves, it....shouldn't be this dark. SOME light should be filtering down through the brimey depths, yet....the "ceiling" above them (the magical barrier that some mage had put over the city for reasons lost to history well BEFORE Atlantis sank) is dark as pitch. Suddenly, an obscure piece of information draws itself up and makes it's 'resence known in Minestus' head.

"Atlantis has biological filters in it's transport system......and a biological exclusion element into that shield overhead!" the dragon mutters. A wave of the hand reveals that the barrels he had brought are now filled with......a soup that once had been single celled assasins.....but now are just disassociated strings of chemicals! "Well, I'll just go and take care of this business back at the lair....after I get what I came for!

And he needed to hurry, for he understood now what was blocking out the sunlight!

It had to do with some very basic factors built into the Phage. It had been designed so.....once released.......to actively seek an multiply to cover ever spot on Terra that somehow was not infested with it. Through the magical nature of the Phage, it had detected this still Phage free city....and every day more and more Phage organisms swarmed to try to enter. This had led up to a very thick.....and increasingly weighty load upon the shields of the city. Soon, the shield would buckle and break.......

Minestus didn't want to be there when it happened....because a quick mental calculation told the dragon that this shield only had a few days left.....if that.

The dragon begins to solemnly chant....and the spectres silently watch......

1. Back in the Southern Caves, Probe suddenly stops as his eyes fall upon an ornate mirror off to the side of the treasure hoard.......
2. Back in the Southern Caves, Probe suddenly stops as his eyes fall upon an ornate mirror, and it suddenly makes sense.....

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