The Basement (#1006)(an instance of generic integrating room made by Soma)The first thing you notice is a smell that makes you feel slightly nauseous, as though a leak has sprung and somewhere someone has left open a refrigerator of moldy food. While your cement surroundings do little to calm your senses, neither does the chill in the damp air. Looking around, you can see that this room must have once been used as a storage area of sorts. Metal shelves line three of the walls and several boxes, now devoid of any valuable content, are strewn around the floor. Piles of shredded paper and linen, obviously nests of a sort, are spaced out along the fourth wall. Exposed ductwork lines the ceiling and naked, partially chewed wires are scattered on the floor. A soft scratching sound can be heard within the walls, occasionally getting louder as whatever resides inside drags heavier objects towards the nesting area. EXITS: You see a stairwell leading up to a grimly lit landing. [ up ] Stairwell. You tire of looking at rats gnawing holes in cardboard boxes, so you sprint up the stairs, carefully avoiding the dangling light fixture near the top. You see a narrow hallway, leading towards a lit doorway. [ west ] Tiny Alcove. Carefully placing one foot in front of the other, you walk toward the lighted doorway at the end of the hall. |