Underground Tunnels Connections and Cronk pt1

JP with Omni, Redsword, mdman

Paris, France
Early Morning
Underground tunnels connections

Sung had gotten up and met everyone for breakfast. There was mostly small talk among the team. Afterward, everyone got ready for their assignments. Sung looked at Mr. Dumont Sung was dressed in Canvas work pants are walnut in color. Sinclair Edwardian Club Collar Shirt White in color. Captains Mid-Calf Bootblack. Flexible faux leather finish, with a sturdy rubber lug sole and 1" heel. Straps and buckles for easy on-off Leather or deerskin dress gloves were a staple of a refined wardrobe, the finishing touch for any outfit. Gunners Canvas Trench Coat. This medium-weight coat is well suited for outdoor adventures of every sort. Watch and chain in his vest pocket. Good quality quartz pocket watch features a shiny silver tone finish. Sung had a small pack with various pieces of equipment in it. though it was in a lather case it looked to be a sword was sticking out of it. Sung made sure Mr. Dumont had everything they needed before walking outside to their ride.

Dumont dressed himself in a light brown tweed three-piece suit with a darker brown necktie and made sure to wear a pair of shoes whose leather was more worn-in so that he would be more mobile and light on his feet. As always, he carried his MAS 1873 army service revolver and le vengeur dagger strapped underneath his overcoat for protection. In his waistcoat was a brass pocket watch attached by a leather braid and around its pendant was a ring of braided red-gold hair, a lock which he cut from the head of his late friend, Ansil Aberly, Gemma’s brother. The gnome was a good friend and was one of the team members killed on his previous mission just a few months prior. Inside his overcoat, Dumont kept a small clip of Francs and a few odd coins and a box of matches. Dumont cleared the wooden dresser top of the tobacco mess he made, scooping the remnants back into their pouch. Then he stashed it, along with the gold pack of J•B papers into a drawer. He fed the row of cigarettes, which he had rolled by hand the night before, into a small, thin leather case decorated with a geometrical African motif. Lastly, he slipped a few spare bullets from the box on the table and stuck them in an outer pocket, picked up his matching herringbone flat-cap and an umbrella, then promptly headed downstairs to join Mr Sung and Gemma Aberly in the ‘orseless steam-coach. “Mr Sung, I am ready to depart, but first let us make sure we have some source of lumière in the dark tunnels. Oui?”

Cronk, after not having any success in the tunnel he chose, doubled back to the intersection he came from and chose to follow another direction. He knew the evil doctor had to be somewhere in this system of tunnels. It would be where Cronk would hide away if trying to stay out of the public eye. He sighed and brushed sweat away from his brow. Hearing a dripping from the new direction, Cronk followed the sound to find a small spring bubbling up from the side, which flowed away into the darkness. At least Cronk would not die of thirst. Squatting, Cronk dipped his hands and brought the water to his mouth. It was cool and refreshing. The doctor, if he knew these tunnels, is probably near here, Cronk thought. He needs to quench his thirst as well. Cronk’s ears picked up a scraping sound from the direction he was headed. He looked and squinted, just making out what appeared to be a figure rounding the bend, going away from Cronk. Cronk quickly pursued.

The ride was long as they drove threw the city arriving at an old building. The Rumors were that they were remodeling and found access to old tunnels that lead to others under the city. Lucky for the team the organization owned the building. after they got inside it was obvious why the remodeling needed to be done. the smell of old stale air and mold hit you as they went down the stairs. The walls were damp to the touch it was dark and with a small chill to the air. It felt like going into a long-forgotten place. Left to the sands of time. when Sung and Dumont got to the bottom Sung pulled a light from his back and handed it to Dumont "I hope you can work this better than me." commented Sung with a smile. The tunnel was not very big almost could not walk side by side and had to duck now and then it did not take an expert to tell this tunnel probably when back to the 1200s maybe more.

Dumont took the tin bullseye lantern from Mr Sung and removed the glass jar full of water that was stocked within it. Dumont took a 1” chalky, rectangular, pale green pellet from a drawer housed in the base of the lantern and dropped it into the jar which was capped by a metal lid in the shape of a bottleneck or reverse funnel which allowed the burgeoning vapor to wisp out and into the cool tunnel air. This special pellet was lux lapis, sometimes called luxium, a mineral stone that was pale green in color, almost to the point of white, and appeared to glow faintly in the dark, especially in humid environments. The lux lapis reacted chemically with the water, giving off a bright radiant glow of a ghoulish nature, the swaying of the vessel gave the reflections an appearance of water refraction on the tunnel walls. Dumont adjusted the glass lens on the bullseye lantern to allow him to focus the light for distance. If he needed to, he could also dim the source of light by closing a revolving cowl. As the luxium slowly dissolved, it gave off wispy vapors from the top of the lantern. He knew the pellet would burn for a couple of hours before he needed to use another and/or replace the water which would be acidic. “Voila.” smiled Dumont. “May we continue?”

Cronk believed he was catching up to the evil doctor when he decided to rest on a rock to think. This would normally take a while for Cronk. It took much effort for the gears of his brain to churn. Cronk estimated that he had been going this way for two hours. He initially thought he had seen someone turn a corner in the corridor but sometimes the darkness of the underground can play tricks on a person. Cronk was about to turn around and head back to the intersection. There was still one direction left not searched. However, that changed when Cronk’s left foot brushed against something on the floor of the tunnel. Cronk bent over from the rock to investigate. His left hand reached down. It felt like a smooth glassy cylindrical object. Picking it up, Cronk recognized a syringe, like the one used on Quinn. Maybe even the exact one. It was empty, although recently held something. There was a small hairline fracture in the glass, most likely caused by it falling to the ground. The needle still was attached. Cronk did not wish to accidentally poke himself. He witnessed what it did to Quinn. Ripping his sleeve from his right arm, Cronk wrapped the syringe inside it. A low guttural growl developed from Cronk’s throat. It was below 20 hertz, so it was so low a human could not hear it. It registered as infrasound. In the old days, Orcs tended to use this growl to instill fear in their foes. It caused nausea and headaches, along with an overwhelming sense of dread, similar to the infrared growl of a tiger.

Sung gave a grin "ye,uriga gaza," Sung said in Korean. "Yes, let us go." They started their walk down the long tunnel inspecting as they go there was no real sign of any activity. Just dirt and damp walls. there was one thing that Sung did not seem happy about seeing rat droppings. They came to a Y split in the tunnel. stopped and looked at Dumont. "suggestions" Sung said pulling out some chalk from the pack. " I could try something to see where life energy is flowing if there is any," suggested Sung.

“That is a good idea if you can manage it, otherwise I choose to go to the left. I am not sensing anything untoward in the immediate vicinity from either direction,” replied Dumont.

Cronk looked at the wrapped syringe. He remembers Quinn often saying to him, “A focused mind is the strongest force in the world.” Cronk knew he was on the doctor’s trail. As he got up to continue the pursuit, Cronk noticed some movement. He looked to the wall, seeing a centipede that was ten inches long. It crawled down the wall, over one of Cronk’s feet, and continued in the direction from which Cronk came. Intrigued, Cronk followed it. He followed it for fifteen minutes before he realized he was backtracking. Angry with the centipede for distracting him, Cronk stomped on it. Now, the bottom of his shoe left a print from the juices of the centipede as Cronk turned to follow the doctor.

Sung looked down both tunnels pulled out a smoking pipe packed it and lit it taking a few puffs. He kept looking standing there smoking some just watching. Then it was obvious what he was doing. "Mr. Dumont. I see why you chose the left," said Sung as the smoke drifted in that direction. Sung walked over and handed the pipe to Dumont. "Hold this please," asked Sung. He walked back to the middle and closed his eyes and started to breathe deeply. He started to move in a circular pattern. "geulin deulaegon daseos sirioc beonjjae hyeongtae" Then he stopped and stand there with his eyes closed. He opened them "More KI is coming from the left But a stranger flows from the right." informed Sung.

Standing there holding the pipe and watching Mr. Sung work his magic, Dumont couldn’t help but crave a smoke himself. He was about to light his cigarette when Sung informed him of his auspices. “A stranger to the right, you say? That may be our man.”