Chapter 2: Expedition to Farsky

As Desoto begins to whistle again, the door reacts exactly as it did before, phasing into the electromagnetic spectrum. As you pass through, your interaction with the energy field curls off harmless petals of energy that blow away in the wind.

The interior is dark and still. The wind doesn't pass through the barrier, and the world grows quiet without it thrashing about. The air is heavy and stagnant and smells of decay. As Desoto's tune ends, the doors return to solid matter, and you are plunged into complete darkness.

While you are standing about and in mid-conversation while figuring out what to do with the lights, all sound suddenly ceases. Your own voice, tapping and stamping on the floor, nothing.

Desoto fishes a glowglobe out of his pack. "What do we do now? he mouths.

The light illuminates up the stairs and into the room above. Golden reflections dance in the glowglobe's pale light through the entrance.

Hashia shrugs and points at the stairs. She shifts her grip on her weapons and moves toward it, looking around every few steps in case something might be sneaking up on her. I'm not paranoid, I'm not!

Before they stepped past the Barrier, Myrage started babbling a story about a game he used to play, but grew confused when the silence dropped on them like a bag of bricks.

You stride up the stairs and come to a large, circular foyer, illuminated only by your glowglobe. The center is dominated by small, lifeless tree, and the walls are covered in hundreds of lifelike golden hands, each on reaching out as if trying to grab things from you. Some of them hold the tattered remains of hooded cloaks that have deteriorated over time, and another of the hands holds a long staff made of white wood and inlaid with silver veins. An fist-sized multifaceted metallic orb is suspended at the end of the staff.

There is an exit that leads further into the observatory, which branches both east and west. To the south, directly across from the foyer, there is another door marked with a gridded wave. No light comes from either direction, and no sound.

Lucina steps up to the tree to see if it was once alive or if it's a piece of technology from a past world.

After a brief moment of confusion, Eunbyeol begins silently babbling to herself about something. She points at various objects that apparently take her interest, but why that might be, is unclear as she's making no effort to actually make her gestures mean anything

Lucina examines the lifeless tree. The bare branches have the feel of real wood, though they are now dry and brittle. It is situated in soil pot that is inset in the ground and flush with the stone floor.

Myrage looks at the staff held in one of the golden hands. He attempts to look over it first before trying to pry it from its grip.

The lifelike golden hand reveals no secrets. It proves to be supremely unyielding, not letting go of the staff no matter how hard you pull.

Does the statue itself rotate? Eunbyeol pushes on it to find out.

There is no statue, but rather hundreds of golden hands protrude from the round wall of the circular room.

Suddenly sound fills your ears once more, for no apparent reason. The sound of your own heartbeat, the swish of your clothes as you walk, and the sound of your boots clicking on the cold stone floor all return to you.

In addition to Eunbyeol's voice you hear some additional noises:

To the right is the faint sound of a distant creature. The noise is difficult to distinguish; it might be snoring or sobbing, but it is raspy and rhythmic, like breathing.

To the left, the faint sound of calm music plays. You make out metallic chimes, low chanting, and twangy sitar chords

Myrage cocks his head in both directions, cupping a hand to each ear to try and hear them better, but just hears what he hears.

"'Ey, sound!" he says in an inside voice to not be overly loud. "I'mma thinkin' I might check out that breathing sound first. Anyone wanna come?"