This Mad World

This being a written account of the adventures of one Bartholomew Benton, a member of the Explorer's League.

Characters
In an endeavor to ensure the universality of my text, I shall name all my human characters here and now. Some may not appear in name more than once, but deserve mention.

The Expedition

 * Myself, Bartholomew Benton: A Explorer's League agent tasked with mapping a convoluted portion of the Arcadian Sewer System.
 * David Werken: A stalwart friend who has traveled with me for years, acting as my bodyguard and sometimes my batman.
 * Jared Menks: A mapmaker sent to assist me.
 * Lisa Barlaby: Another League agent. Some medic and combat skills.

Umbra
A monster hunting group sent to protect me as I map the sewers.
 * Umbra Arch-Hunter Halifax Redditz: The Leader of the Umbra Hunters
 * Umbra Hunter Richmund Alsal: Second in command, younger than most of the hunters, but a skilled gunslinger.
 * Umbra Hunter Teri Polecat: An experienced Umbra Hunter.
 * Umbra Hunter Bertrand Necronimus: Another experience Umbra Hunter.

Story
Here begins my account.

The First Portion of Exposition
It was year 10010, and I was young. I was part of an expedition to map out an uncovered section of the Arcadian Sewer system that had been uncovered by workers attempting to set up a factory on the outskirts of Barteo without the help of City Builders. The reason for my intervention was originally survey. Could it hold weight? Could it be covered over, or was it necessary to fill in? More importantly: did it have monsters? Most readers of this account will laugh, monsters!

But it was very serious business. Our ancestors, in times past, created abominations to protect their sewers from enemy attack. Strange in hindsight, but I do not judge the ancients. With me at the time was David Werken. He was my dearest, oldest friend, well educated in history, literature and geography, as well as being a capable swordsman. He and I have traveled thousands of miles and even visited the Estellion Sky Empire several times during our journeys.

We had just returned from Narthus. There, we had excavated ruins of an ancient city from the First Faceless War, Heatherguard. Though informative, there was little big discoveries, so we returned to my summer home in Barteo to vacation for a week. There we were contacted by the Explorer's League. We were, of course, happy to help. Not only was it merely half an hour's drive from my comfortable house, we were being handsomely paid for what we thought was easy work!

When I arrived on the scene I was met by a burly, ugly man named Rudrick who served as the overseer for the project. He described his problem to me. There was a very substantial section of sewer underneath an important support structure. Now, this would normally not bother most construction workers. The barriers between the 'floor' and the sewers was some of the toughest concrete that had ever been laid. But not here, here is crumbled in a disturbingly jagged fashion.

Rudrick described a poor wage laborer who discovered it. He had been impaled by a sharp edge on the side of the new pit. The stolid Overseer was a superstitious man, and he did not want to move another brick before we had checked things out. He did not want to anger whatever mighty being had caused something that could not even be damaged by normal drilling machines to crumble. He arranged for a winch to be set at a safe distance to assist our descent.

The laborers, driven by a strange fear, had not moved to retrieve their comrade. So their was a man dangling from the floor into a black abyss. The head flopped disturbingly in the stiff wind that came out of the sewers. David commented that his neck may have somehow snapped. Fortunately for David and myself, there was no smell coming out of the sewers. We surmised that, sometime during the construction, a City Builder had forgotten to open the necessary gates. As this was a precursory expedition, all we had was a flash light and extra set of batteries each, a camera with a powerful flash, and David's sword, in case of giant vermin.

We walked a mere minute each direction, keeping close to one another and talking to Rudrick about what we saw. We were about to turn back, when David noticed peculiar markings on the wall. I would have ignored them, as to me they were merely some scratchings that an animal made years ago. He pointed out recurring characters, as well as the gleam of the metal, indicating a certain level of freshness. He and I took pictures and quickly left. Arcadian Sewers are made of a very strong and well alloyed steel. One can bend three combat knives on it to make a cut an inch long. These markings were about two inches high by a foot long.

We sent the information back to our headquarters. We were both shaken by this encounter. We did not expect anything of that nature. Maybe a giant sewer rat or some other relatively mundane thing. But writing in Arcadian Sewer walls? Not something that one wants to see. Arcadian Sewers have had a bad reputation, well deserved. We were relieved when we received word to close up the hole with some sort of removable cover. They were sending two agents to assist, as well as a few porters. They also mentioned sending word to Umbra, the monster hunters, in case this fell under their purview.

I felt confident that everything was now settled for the time being, but David could not relax himself. Something had disturbed him about those symbols that I could not empathize with. I was the one prone to unsettled moods and nervous twitchings. He later left me alone to observe the placement of the stone across the hole. Once he left I relaxed and called an old girlfriend for lunch. It was more to treat myself than her, but we both enjoyed it. We both returned to my house to discover David ransacking the library of reference books we used for research. I immediately grabbed his arm as he tossed a priceless tome over his head. I remember the conversation.

"David! What has gotten into you?"

"I've seen them before! I can't find it!"

"Calm down!" I motioned at the sideboard and the girlfriend, Laticia, grabbed a glass of brandy. "Drink!" I commanded him.

It mellowed him a little. "I keep seeing it. In my head! It won't let me have any peace!"

I helped him into a chair and sat on it's opposite member's arm. "Why not? They are only words. We have seen many ancient and mystical languages before. Some which, as you know, were meant for more cabalistic and Faceless purposes than those scratches."

"Yes yes! But even those were forgotten, ndabut they did not stick like these do! It is like they beckon me to go further. To see what is on the other side. I feel like Fate is standing over me with a sledge hammer, waiting for me to inevitably enter those sewers again to strike me! I can see it now. They must mean my name!"

"There aren't enough characters, David." There were actually three less.

"I know, I know." He sat, staring into the distance. "I'm worrying about nothing. It will be fine. Nothing more than a mapping and maybe an extermination action."

"That's the attitude." I left him sitting there. He had gained a haunted look that said that he was going to accept whatever happened. A fatalism growing in him. I should have done something for him, but I was preoccupied by our guest. Though I later saw him pouring over his cryptography books, attempting to break the code. I left him alone, thinking that he would revert back to his usual temper.

The Beginning of our Quest
It took four days for everyone to arrive by train. I was greatly surprised that we were joined by a military expedition from Umbra, the famous monster hunting group. Arch-Hunter Halifax Redditz, a large, competent human/elf half-breed, led them, and placed himself under my care. He wasn't particularly happy to do so, but I'm sure that any negative feelings would be ameliorated by some sort of hunt that was sure to take place in the forgotten sewers. He had a particular habit of twirling his Cartridge Revolvers whenever he was waiting.

He was accompanied by the young Richmund Alsal. I say young, but I mean it uninsultingly. He could not have been more than twenty-three. His eyes were striking, and on closer inspection, fading scars radiated out from them. Someone had attempted to gouge out his eyes, I guessed. His eyes though, demanded my attention once more, they were dual colored, blue and brown, in a 'yin-yang' sort of shape. I thought him blind, as he had no pupils. He seemed to be some sort of martial artist. Richmund seemed to command the respect of the other two, Teri Polecat and Bertrand Necronimus.

Teri was a Cartridge Revolver user, of high caliber. She had a choleric temper, which she demonstrated on the taciturn Bertrand. She also constantly violated his personal space. This led David to comment on whether she liked him or not. I may say that she had a great propensity for violence, which was only stopped by Bertrand's intercession for him. I considered Bertrand the ice to Teri's fire. He was cool and possessed of himself. He was an accomplished Gem Cartridge user, and uses large gloves as a medium.

From the Explorer's League, there were two sent to assist me. One was a nervous mouse of a man named Jared Menks. He was thin and quite wiry, as well as possessed of a nervous disposition. He was a cartographer by trade, adventurer by a very long shot. He was supposed to be some expert about the Arcadian Sewers, but by his own admission, was scared to death of the monsters that inevitably reside in the shadowy depths. He had a variety of Church of the Light's religious symbols around his neck. I regretted asking about them, as he spent the better part of two hours describing each one how charmed they were about whatever that was boring.

Moving on, there was Lisa Barlaby, his partner in crime. She interested me a great deal more than Jared, but it was not to be. She was quite smitten by Jared. It seemed that the League remembered the escapades of my past, and only added people to my teams who seem quite