King Rufius welcomed us and invited us down to his home for the evening meal. He kept the whole thing under wraps, to make sure that the populous wouldn't mob up in a mass hysteria. "Cuz that's what happens when one learn s of the end of the world," Rufius said.
We had an...aquatic dinner, to put it slightly. I had no idea what would be considered clean or unclean in Oddworld, so I let the iffy animals slide. What can be said of Oddworld cuisine? or at least, Ichavian cuisine? No matter what it smells like beforehand, they always find a way to make it delicious in the end.
"So tell me," Rufius said, in between bites, "What brings the Harold of destruction to our waters?"
I chewed and swallowed.
"This," I said, holding up the map. Since there was no sun, the map didn't show.
"A coin? What does a coin have to do with anythin...is it an apocolypse coin? is it an Apooocoolypse coin?" While saying this, he got up and ran to me, grabbing the coin and holding it up to his face, eyes growing huge.
"I don't think so," I said, taking it back, his eyes stayed glued on the coin, "It's a map of Oddworld." I said.
"But how could a giant map be fit onto such a tiiiiiny coin?" He asked, snatching the map back, and holding it up to his eye, acting like an ADD child with something shiny.
"Well," I said, grabbing it back, "it only shows with sunlight. Which we don't have down here."
"But on the contrary," Rufius said. "We do we do. Open the skylight!"
A switch was flicked, followed by a loud rumbling as the ceiling parted to reveal a clear shell, revealing the lake above. The sunlight was exceedingly bright, for having to go through all the water.
"We Ichavians take pride in the clear waters of our lake." King Rufius said proudly.
"even though it is clearer than most lakes I've seen," I stated, "Are you sure it will work? because the light is refracted by the water no matter how clear."
"There's no harm in trying," Abe said, Rufius nodded in agreement.
So I held it up to the light...nothing. I started tilting it around when suddenly a flash of light, and the map appeared\
...but it was...different.
"That isn't the same map," Stranger said.
"I think that's obvious, Stranger," Munch noted.
"Maybe the refraction is making the map incomplete," I said, putting in my 2 cents worth.
"Maybe," Rufius acknowleged, "Or maybe...it is a different map entirely" he walked up to the projection.
"I'll assume that this is us, right here," he said, pointing at the red dot
"Yeah," I said, "what about it?"
"I'll guess that on your other map, it showed a lake here, correct?"
"That's right," Stranger said, thinking about it.
"As far as I'm concerned," Rufius continued, he pointed at the area around the dot "THis does not look like a lake. In fact, it looks like...aha!!"
His eyes got big. He ran over to one of his hover chairs, sat down and floated back up to the map.
"Now I see it! this is...yes, and this...yeah, Yeah!" He's wizzing all about the map.
"This is a different map!" he said, turning back to us.
"But of what?" Abe asked, impatiently.
"Of the Oddworld Underground!" he said, excitingly.
"THe WHat?" we all said in unison.
"Oddworld Underground, All collections of tunnels, mines, and other subterranean activity...wow, this is quite a find" he continued wizzing about, muttering to his self. he paused.
"What is this dot over here?" he asked, pointing to the second dot, "I assume it is your destination?"
"Yeah," I said, "It is, actually"
"Well then!" he said, returning his seat to it's place. He hopped off, "let's get you guys on your way, And since we know have an underground map, you can get going in style. I'll draw the maps!"
"Maps?" Munch asked, "but we have this one right here," The king burst into laughter
"Oh Munch, you and your sense of humor," He patted his back and went to the table.
"I don't get it," Munch said, looking up at me.
"We need light for this map to work, and refracted light for the underground map. I don't think we can get that in the tunnels."
"Oh, right...silly me" Munch looked down at his foot.
"Keep that map showing," Rufius ordered, "I need to draw the maps of the tunnels leading to your destination."
"Will we be..." Stranger started.
"No, you won't be traveling alone, I'll send my best guides with you, and plently of provisions, so don't worry."
"that wasn't what I was going to ask, but whatever," Stranger said slightly under his breath.
"okay...and here...little squiggly here...and DONE!" Rufius stood back up, and walked over to us.
"Here you go, nice Ichavian maps, the finest."
I unrolled the maps. I couldn't believe it. Rufius had only been drawing the maps for a couple minutes, but they appeared to have taken hours. The detail was incredible, down the label that said 'look out for rock here.'
"These are incredible," I said, "You guys are amazing."
"We better be," he said, "be kinda dumb if you made us lame."
Lol...
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