The Chained Watcher

Empermitcraft

~~~

Leaning against the wall while letting the other players engage with lore, Martyn draws on his training with the Listeners to pitch his voice beyond audible range, a frequency similar to sonar, but designed to echo through solid rock to give him an idea of the shape of the nearby empty areas.

Some caves, to be expected, some of the terraforming is hollow too, the Rift is clearly hollow layers... Oh? That's a big hollow. And it's got a normal-hallway-sized extrusion extending almost all the way to here. That's got a fair chance of being the lounge Grian mentioned.

Disguising it as a fidget, he taps, 'Hidden hallway, left of Rift, likely target location.'

Jimmy glances his way, and nods. They've already worked out the plan beforehand. Wait a couple days so he'll let down his guard, then sneak in to document everything and search for any signs of a hidden agenda. Ideally, they'll be in and out, without Grian being any the wiser.

There's actually surprisingly little taint of Watcher magic lurking here. A couple wisps here and there, but that's only noticeable due to his extensive experience in detecting Watcher magic. Anyone less skilled wouldn't notice a thing.

Grian flies out, leaving all the Empires members staring up at what seems to be the only exit from this part of his base. He'll find some time to plan the infiltration with Jimmy after he gets a base started.

~~~

Finding a good time to sneak back into Grian's base was both easy and not.

On one hand, Grian has a tendency to show up on people's streams. That makes him pretty easy to keep track of as long as someone's streaming.

On the other hand, he is so very, very hyper. It's impossible to guess when he'll get bored of his current distraction and head back to base, or even just drop by to pick up materials. There's no way to guarantee with 100% confidence that he won't return while they're intruding.

That's just a risk they'll have to take though. If push comes to shove, and Grian attacks, they can pin him until he calms down and backs off.

Jimmy gives him a nod, and the two of them pull just enough magic to perform a short teleport. There's a slight bit of resistance, likely a very basic ward to prevent accidental teleportation like ender pearls and chorus fruit, but its gentle attempts to redirect their destination to outside the warded area are too weak to deflect a deliberate, chosen destination.

A cozy, well-lit hallway made of wood greets his eyes. A bit weird, to be honest. Watcher structures tend to feature a fair amount of decor, even if some opt for murals over statues. This hallway? There are some decorative plants, and there's a strip of carpet, but it's very normal, in both size and decoration.

The room beyond is more what they were expecting though.

With a ceiling reaching up high enough to accommodate even the tallest Watcher they've had the misfortune of running into, standing at the entrance makes one feel small, not dissimilar to the feeling of smallness one gets looking up at a cloud-piercing mountain. Stone vines crawl up the sides of the walls, covered in gargantuan blooming flowers. The style is similar to what Watchers focused on the manipulation of flora tend to favor, but the things filling the room break that impression immediately.

Scattered all over this side of the room are a ton of chairs, beds, beanbags, hammocks, and other assorted things you could imagine someone resting in/on for relaxation. There's also an entire tree, potted, sitting vaguely in the middle of the close side, heavily laden with fruits visually identical to the one Grian had offered during MCC.