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As you leave the brewery, you assure Florette that you'll be good on your own, and thank her for taking you to the Undercity.
Florette: "I had a feeling you'd like it here! Oh, and if you need anything, look for the nearest checkpoint. Ponies like Revel are always there to take care of you. Goodbye now!"
You bid farewell to Florette, and once she is gone, you turn to the nearest city map. This time, most of your party seems interested in visiting the library, save for Smoke who can't read Ponish. Still, you manage to convince her to come along by promising to read everything out loud for her.
With that settled, you head east to the Hold district, and find the library. Once inside, you are greeted by a sight that reminds you of a small Equestrian arcade: rows of machines with large screens taking up most of the area, and shelves holding collections of cartridges, classified in no obvious manner.
You stop and double-check the sign at the entrance, making sure that this is indeed the library. And it is. Though despite looking around the room multiple times, there are no books nor reading tables to be found.
The visible confusion on your faces draws the attention of the only other pony here, a rotund stallion — likely the librarian —, who moves to greet you at the door.
Librarian: "Uhb, exguse be. Cad I help you with sobthig?"
You tell the librarian that you came here to learn about the history of the Undercity. He gives you a long, hard look from behind his thick glasses, then he nods approvingly.
Librarian: "Oh, I see. You bust be dew here. Cob this way."
The stallion leads you to one of the machines, which he calls a terminal, and grabs a cartridge labelled "Knowledge Base" from the shelf. Then, he inserts the cartridge into the terminal, and teaches you how to use it.
From what you understand, the cartridge holds the archives of hundreds of books, which you can browse by category, or search through by title or even by content. It takes you a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the controls, but you eventually manage to get the hang of it.
After thanking the librarian for his help, you and your friends huddle in front of the terminal, and begin to do some research on the origin of the Undercity.
You learn that while it is unknown exactly when the Undercity was founded, its first record of existing dates back about two hundred years, some time after the new Elysian waterworks were built.
The abandoned underground tunnels were quickly taken over by bandits, though the difficult living conditions there required utmost cooperation between rival gangs. Over the years, the hideouts slowly merged and grew more and more self-sufficient, until banditry ceased completely.
To avoid further conflict, the Order of Dawn decreed that the Undercity be removed from its legislation, so long as its inhabitants remained sequestered. Since then, it continued to grow independently into what it is today.
Smoke: "Why would they want to avoid conflict? It sounds like fun!"
Moonflower: "Ooh! Ooh! Does this thing know anything about the Yggdrasil tree?"
You try searching for Yggdrasil, but only one result comes up: a document marked as incomplete, titled "Sunset Sail's Log".
The captain's log is dated about five hundred years ago, and details a few journeys of Sunset Sail, a famous seafaring explorer from Equestria. Among tales of braving storms and skirmishing with pirates, one voyage lead her to the discovery of what she describes as the legendary sunken continent of Midgard.
Nested within the island's bay, she came across a beautiful yet impossibly large tree, matching the description of the fabled Yggdrasil. Then, in an anticlimatic turn of events, she headed home to resupply.
Apple Basket: "I reckon the Mists really weren't there back then, like Rosie's grandma said."
You read further, and find that upon her return to Equestria, Sunset Sail was contracted by the then-renowned Paladins of Dawn, who sought passage to the newfound Midgard. She recounts that they were in possession of a dangerous artifact, and claimed to be self-exiling to keep the rest of the world safe.
Curiously, the last journal entry is a short poem about King Empyrius. It reads:
"Empyrius leadeth knights across the sea,
Hath left behind his land and history.
Gone to vanquish Darkness once and for all,
Mad following behind only to fall.
His companions kneelen 'fore his wisdom,
Crown upon his head, he foundeth his kingdom.
Is this truly the last we hearen of them?
False, saye I, for evil is the gem."
Enter a comment
That's quite a lucky and ominous find. There might be more lucky finds of information in the archives here, but how to find them? Also, we don't want to stay too long either, as we have other business to take care of along the way.
Also... rope. If we don't have it, we should get extra lengths of rope. Because staying connected in the mists might become very important.
The Mists looks like they are caused by the presence of an artifact similar to our Philosopher's Stone, that was brought here to keep Equestria safe from it.
It's probably not the same Stone that we have, because removing it would probably cause the Mists to disappear (as it did in case of the storm above the Siren village).
This would also explain why Midgard has rules against the use of magic - doing it near such a powerful evil artifact can be dangerous.
The "sunken continent" part is interesting - either it's no longer sunken, or was larger before, and now only a part of it remains.
or at least a piece of it. Maybe him bringing back the piece created the fog in
the first place? Or maybe something else caused the fog to appear and Empyrius was unable to find Yggdrasil? In any case, it seems like Empyrius himself knows more about Yggdrasil and the Philosopher’s Stone. We need to pay him a visit. Of course, we should also leave the rest of our group and the Philosopher’s Stone in the Undercity, in case the King isn’t as nice as he seems.