Continued from here
Consequence arriving from here, specifically the book that Zemos discovers.
It took a good moment, but after handing over the coin to the Emperor of the Burho Beneath, Zemos was given a perfunctory tour by some urchin that was in the employ of the Emperor.
"Sir, I can show you everything down here." The youngling said behind his face cloth mask. "If you..."
"Thank you!" Zemos said, turning to look down at the urchin, but shaking his head. "But I need only to find a place to take shelter... some place where I can easily access both sides of this city."
"Both sides?"
"Above and below. It seems useful to move around between them." Zemos reached into his satchel, and removed a note from the folds of a book he had. Inside it detailed an address of a place in Yaralon, specifically near this Burho. "Do you know where I can find this address?"
The child thought on that a moment, and then nodded. "I think I know the place. I guess."
So the child led him along through the tunnels of the sewers. Meandering twists and turns, but no serious obstructions. People down here didn't seem to bother with each other. It was unclear to Zemos whether this was because those below didn't seem like they had anything worth taking, or if it was because of the Emperor's influence, and his list of rules. A small list of rules, which boiled down to minding one's own business, and not taking something that didn't belong to you.
It was an odd sort of compact, but one that kept the cohesion of this under-society strong among itself. Still, Zemos was sure there were always exceptions. Every edifice inevitably dealt with a few cracks, through which the puss and corruption could seep through.
YES BROTHER FATHER! The egg insisted.
Find the ways, the secret ways! Bind the honey comb with green slime.
Zemos must've been so lost in reverie, thinking on the anti-poetic wisdom of the Egg, or else ruminating on its signals, that he failed to note that the child had stopped in front of a gaping hole in the mudstone, leading upward into a ray of light. The floor boards above were rickety and ajar, leaving room for the moonlight to stream through. It took a moment for his compound eyes to adjust to the darkness, but eventually details became clearer. There was a filth-strewn hay pallet on which he could sleep. There were crates and barrels that could be used to store valuables, like bones and body parts. And there was a rope leading up to the world above, through a small opening in the floor. Above, a modest single-room hut, with just enough of the amenities that kept it just above livable.
The Yithnai nodded to himself, and then to the child that'd escorted him here. "You may go now, I am satisfied with this space."
The child stood awkwardly for a moment, and then nodded and ran off. Presumably he'd been given a idalinium token by the Emperor Beneath. So Zemos didn't worry too much over some unpaid debt.
Instead, he began inspecting his surroundings. In the morning, he'd look around the Burho Beneath, and see what he could see.
The next morning came easily enough, and Zemos rose from his straw pallet. Being accustomed to rough living, he didn't mind the lackluster accomodations, and in fact felt right at home. It wasn't too different from his humble set up in Viden, really. Or when he'd been a slave to Sybil Malach. Well, at least he didn't have to sleep with anyone on command, anyway.
He went out into the sewers, his compound eyes taking in every mud-stone crack and mortared crevice, mostly ignoring the filth that trailed through the center in a sort of river. He stopped at a large cover of stone that rested above his head, venting some of the foul air and letting fresh air into the Burho Beneath. Zemos inhaled that air, feeling refreshed by it. Somewhere in the sewer, he heard a slate opening elsewhere, possibly one like the very stone he was standing beneath. There was a thud, and a splash.
Curious, he ventured to find the soruce of the disturbance. It didn't take him long. Rounding a few corners, into a darker section of sewer he found a body floating in the filth. Apparently someone had died in a duel. Zemos didn't know if it was odd to leave the loser in a duel to the death to the rats of the Beneath. Presumably they had people who regulated such matters, and prevented the unsanctioned disposal of bodies. This seemed scented more like a filthy murder.
A shame, the body looked healthy. But what society lost in that healthy young specimen, Zemos gained a servant. He reached out his hand, and let the ether trail even further toward the body. Soon enough, it began animating, its limbs rigid with the early stages of rigor. It was almost fresh, possibly only a few breaks dead. The Yithnai was positively intrigued by the possibility of trying his magic on this creature, to see what he could create.
The thrall stood upright, then waded through the filth and clambered onto the side-walk of the sewers. Zemos stood at attention, waiting for it to make its way toward him. He'd dedicated the ether to a single husk, but he was determined to make something new, to indulge his creativity here. His etheric senses probed the corpse's body, sensing its durability and strength. It was definitely strong, but it seemed to have suffered a fracture on the left hand. Looking to this flaw, Zemos felt a remarkable compulsion. A compulsion to shape the bone, and reform it. Could he even do that? The spark seemed to whisper possibilities to his mind.
Sure enough, when he activated the ether concentrating on those bones, he found he could shift and strengthen the bones, making them even more durable than before. The bones came together nicely as the thrall's hand muscles twitched and moved the bone around inside them to accomodate the shape forming. Wondering to himself, he willed the bone to fuse with the keratin of the thrall's nails. Surprisingly, this worked well, and formed a set of sharpened claws at the left hand of the thrall.
Now inspired, and determined to create something more lasting and potent out of this thrall, he turned tail and headed back toward his new abode. There he would experiment more with the dead bones inside of this creature, and create something new from the dead flesh.
Breaks later, Zemos had the corpse cleaned as well as he could, using what water he was able to gather from the city above. Meanwhile, he kept the body in its state of prservation through the use of his necromancy, keeping the body from rotting any further before he could enact his designs upon the flesh.
He had half a mind to make this his avatar, his proxy in the Burho Beneath. The use of link would be proper toward that end, or perhaps he could use it to traverse safely the perilous realm above. He didn't know quite yet. All he did know, was that he had a fresh body before him, ripe for experimentation.
So as his etheric tendrils searched the body, he felt the spots of undead resilience that were ripe for expansion. The body had a good mass of fat, which, from what Zemos read in his green book, would be largely used up and cannibalized by the thrall to form its strengthened muscles and bones. He had in mind to create a gaunt creature, a faster, stronger, and more agile version of the husk, which nevertheless took more etehr to sustain. He could worry about the particulars about maintaining its existence outside his range of influence later. For now, he was concentrating on the purposes of creation.
He strengthened its arm and hand bones, similarly to how he'd done with the other broken hand. Forming a set of identical sharpened claws at the end of his hands. This process took whatever matter and nutrients it could from the dead fats and dermis, to reinforce the porous structure of the bones and make them more solid. He repeated this exhaustive process several times throughout the night, strengthening its bones as he siphoned and cannibalized the fatty tissue to reconstitute into stronger and thicker bones.[/knolwedge]
In the end, he came away with a creature that, while far less human-looking, was nonetheless very agile and limber, strong and fast on its movements. It wouldn't shamble, but would be able to maintain an almost human-like, graceful gait. He'd created his finest thrall ever, in that moment.
A friend as beauteous and valuable as this was precious. It only needed a name...
