Wondrous Basement 1 – Pyramid of the Great Western Jungle

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon. The world was gray as the sound of the raindrops hammered against the window of the bar. Silas sat at the counter, his head laying on it, looking out of the window, daydreaming of what could have been if he only had made other decisions

A mumbled voice called out for him, it took him a moment to notice it was the bartender, a viera named Nayr, he focused and the voice became clear:” Is everything alright Mister Silas? You look like you had a bad week”

Silas nodded slowly, taking a look at his seventh beer that evening.” Well, it was the craziest week I had in my entire life, Mister Nayr!” He threw his hands up in the air to emphasize how bad it was.

We see the full moon glistening in the night sky, hearing all the noises the dalmascian jungle makes at night. A fire crackling is the only thing that reminds of the people who decided to venture into this dangerous jungle. Around the fire, we see Silas fully geared in his jungle explorer gear, with him a pair of twin sister Miqo’tes, one light-skinned and fair as the morning dew on a spring day. One-horned and dark-skinned, a devilish but seductive look to herself

“As I was telling you two, there will be no more catnip on this expedition! You already tried to undress me last night while I was sleeping. Good thing I wore an extra layer of clothing.” Silas said while sighing. ” But Mister, you said you needed guides to find the hidden places of the jungle and said the payment would be generous.” The light-skinned miqo said with a grin

“My Sister is telling the truth” whispered the black-skinned smiling, revealing fangs as white as her sister’s skin.

” I know, I know what I said, but you two didn’t mention THAT before we agreed.” Silas released another sigh as he stood up. “I will be taking a look around. You said tomorrow by noon we would have reached the old pyramid if I recall correctly, and I don’t trust you two to leave me be in my sleep.”

Silas stood up and looked one last time at the twins as he shook his head and mumbled.” The people in the village warned me, but I wouldn’t listen.” He walked into the jungle enjoying the sounds and all the surrounding life, even at the night. He traveled not far away as he came to a clearing where quite a few jungle elephants seemed to have gathered. He threw himself into the bushes to not disturb the mighty beasts.

They seemed to be engaged in some sort of ritualistic behaviour regarding the full moon. At least a dozen had gathered around their trunks stretched out seemingly reaching for the moon. Silas looked in awe as he stepped on a branch that was right next to him in the bushes.

In unison, they turned around looking directly in the direction of Silas, his eyes widened and he thought:” It’s time to go!” He sprung up from the ground running back into the jungle hearing a few angry elephant noises behind him. He didn’t stop until he came back to the clearing where the twins sat eating some grilled meat

” You look like you could need some company tonight, Mister.” The light one asked biting at her meat, a single droplet of juice running down her grinning face. ” I ….. no! I just escaped some beasts and you two are just sitting here enjoying a meal!”

The dark-skinned one grinned at her sister:” He is truly a timid one, we might need to tie him up”. Silas looked at them in shock as he couldn’t believe them.” There are elephants praising the full moon and you jest about THAT?! You two are unbelievable!”

” Anyway, let us sleep. The pyramid awaits tomorrow and we should get some rest if these blood-sucking bastards grant us any.” Silas was about to open his tent to went to bed when he heard from behind him.” Not only blood might get sucked.” From behind. He waited a moment, shook his head, and entered his tent to get a bit of rest before the morning.

The next morning came, and the twins awaited Silas outside of the tent. ” Ready for the last part of your expedition, mister? The Pyramid is not far from here so we should get moving. We also might need to discuss our payment once more, I and my twin sister decided we should get a lot more than what we got till now.” The dark-skinned one smiled an evil grin. ” Yes, yes indeed, your payment was not what we expected!” The light-skinned one replied to her sister.

Silas decided to ignore both of them, to not get into any more trouble.” Let us go, ladies, the ruins of an ancient civilization await!” The twins looked at each other, nodding, then went ahead into the jungle. Silas followed them into the lush greenery, trying not to look at them too much. He whispered to himself.” How did those two survive in the jungle so long?”

The way was quite uneventful. The occasional hand which grabbed his butt Silas could easily ignore but as the pyramid showed up over the trees Silas couldn’t contain his excitement.” You two actually brought me here! I got to apologize, I had my doubts, but you proved them wrong!”

He hugged the two, but as they started to rub against him, he released them, looked at them with a stern gaze and said.” You two wait outside. I could not forgive myself if anything would happen to you two, so wait here till I get back!”

Silas ventured forward to the pyramid right in front of him. It was a massive block made of a substance looking like pure obsidian, no cracks or slits could have been found. As his hand touched the stone, it felt incredibly cold, although it was so hot the air was glimmering before his eyes. ” Interesting. ” Silas took notes as he was looking for an entrance

Silas stopped as he found something etched into the weird stone, gazing closer and closer at the panel. Suddenly he heard a voice from behind.” Watcha found there, Mister?” Silas sprung up in shock turning around and seeing the twins, which also were surprised by his sudden reaction. The black-skinned one slipped on a mossy rock and bumped into Silas.

Silas, trying to balance out did stumble back onto the pyramid, touching the panes with his back. A voice behind him called “Access granted”. A small door opened up behind him, the sudden loss of the wall led to Silas stumbling even further back falling into the opening in the pyramid, a hole with a rather steep drop in form of a slide. The white-skinned guide tried to hold onto Silas as he was about to fall down the slope, a sudden pling marked the loss of the button that hold his pants.

A faint ” ahhhhhhhhhh” and the pants were all that was left of Silas with the twins

The twins stared at each other. Looking at the pants and the coin purse on it.” Well, I guess we got paid after all.” ” Not quite what I had in mind sister…..”

Silas awoke in the dark, no pants, no coins, and a big bump on its head. He rubbed the bump and stood up to look around.” Where am I?” His hands felt for the walls. He stumbled a few steps till he found them, as his hand came in contact with the cold stone-like material the voice was calling again.” Mainframe damaged, the emergency energy system will be rebooted, internal analysis needed.”

Suddenly the ceiling started to glow in a cold white light and the pyramid seemed to shake for a slight moment. Worried he had awakened some ancient magics Silas looked around, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

He followed the Tunnel into a big room with a lot of which seemed like stone altars. ” What are those?” He took a few steps slowly, raising his hand to touch them, stopping in the last moment and thinking:” What if I touch them and they awaken something as well?”

He thought about it for a second but then he thought:” I am Silas Amaren, adventurer and scholar! I should not be afraid to touch a stone. I even survived the onslaught of these miqo’te twins. Nothing that will be in here could frighten me anymore!”

With his newfound confidence, his hand wandered forward to touch the stone altar in front of him. The voice, kinda familiar by now spoke again:” Manuel input received, all systems start, course to home star will be calculated.”

Dozens of lights began to flicker over the altar as the pyramid started to shake again. Silas looked around as he began to feel like this was a bad idea after all. ” Home STAR?!”

With panic in his eyes, he looked around. ” I need to get out of here!” The tunnel he came in here first was the seemingly only way out, so he decided to take the chance and started running towards the long and barren tunnel. Outside of the pyramid the twins stood in awe as the seemingly solid pyramid started shaking slowly, freeing herself of the shackles of the earth.

Silas was running for his life, his lungs felt like they were on fire.” Was this damned tunnel so long when I first came here?!” He could feel the pyramid moving under his feet, the air filled with some strange energy. ” What in the seven hells is this thing?!”

The ancient voice was echoing behind Silas.” All systems are active. Jumping unit at full capacity, starts in T-Minus 10…..9……8…….7……”

Silas stopped in front of the slide, and he fell, looking up, and seeing the sky on the upper end. As the countdown started, he pressed his feet against one side and started to climb the slide up, unable to catch his breath. ” 6…..5……4……3…..”

“You can do it! You must do it! There are people waiting for you!” He whispered to himself as he pushed forward, the familiar blue sky getting closer and closer

” ……………….2…………………..1…………………………..” Silas was so close yet so far, he saw his life flash before his very eyes as some fabric hit his head. ” Is that a leg of my pants?” For a short moment, he was surprised, then he grabbed the makeshift rope holding on with every ounce of strength he had left. Right outside the opening, the twins groaned as they pulled with all their Might.”…………………….start”

The air around the pyramid started to crackle from all the energy, a short moment of absolute silence, then a deafening boom, and the pyramid was gone, a hole where it once stand

Silas lay on the ground breathing heavily looking at the sky and thinking to himself.” That was waaaaay too close.” A hand with light skin slowly reached for him from the side. Silas closed his eyes then opened them and screamed at the light-skinned miqote.” I just escaped certain death and you want to touch my barren legs!”

The light-skinned miqo stopped mid-move, pulled her hand back, and just muttered” Sorry” before turning back to her sister shrugging

Silas sight again.” My goal was to explore that pyramid, and now it’s gone. Let’s head home you two…. .and thank you for saving my life, truly.”

The twins grinned at each other.” We could not let such a pantsless Sir die, that would be quite the waste.” The dark-skinned one said.

Silas just smiled.” You two, please don’t change!” On their way back, Silas got his pants back and even though they were not able to explore the pyramid. They were able to track down the mythical one-horned zebra, a far relative of the unicorn, which only shows up to people who are not pure at all.

We are back in the bar. Nayr still polishing the glass as Silas finished his story.” So you see Mister Nayr, not only did I not get to explore the pyramid, I also had to fend of those twins. It was quite a hassle, but the adventure was quite worth my time.” He smiled as he put down some coins on the bar.” This will be it for tonight, Mister Nayr, till we meet again.”

Story by: Silas Amaren