As daunting a task as it may be to piece together information about a person by going through their personal effects, I believe I have reached a tentative hypothesis regarding the chosen of this world thanks to my shameless graverobbing.
In short, I can say with some certainty that they were a compulsive hoarder with the organisational skills of a schizophrenic toddler.
I can barely begin to understand it. A room of storage chests, barrels, and a trash can, filled seemingly at random, trash can included, with an assortment of various metals, gems, dirt, like, a mountain of dirt. Literally a mountain of dirt, and just random trash. One barrel just contained a bunch of statues and gravestones, another had some old bandages, a used bandaid, an open tin of metal polish… There's even a chest just full of different types of fish. I can only assume that reverse entropy is to thank for them not being mostly liquid at this point.
In terms of the furniture itself, total mess. Everything is so densely packed together and laid in such a weird way that it's hard to even walk through the room without climbing over something, let alone imagine how they got any work done.
I'm including a list of the more interesting stuff I found below. If I don't mention it, it's probably because it was hidden under something. Probably more dirt.
Okay, so.
Item one, a working forge. Unknown material A. It's bright red and touching it set me on fire almost twice as long as touching the furnace I set up myself at flower base one. I assume this means it burns hotter? I really need to invent a better thermometer than my own combustibility.
Item two, an olde tyme anvil...e. Unknown material B. Bright pink and nothing I've thrown at it has so much as scratched it. This was for some reason on the opposite end of the building from the forge, meaning that the chosen presumably ran this gauntlet multiple times while making anything.
Still, I always fancied trying my hand at some good old fashioned blacksmithing, I guess a universe where burnt fur grows back in a few hours is a good place to start.
Still going to be moving the anvil though.
Item three, glass ball, cracked. Material seems to be regular crystal glass, but touching it hurts. And no, I didn't touch the sharp bits. Obviously. Not sure of its intended purpose if it was functional, but whatever it is, I assume it isn't functional now.
Item four, weird drippy table. Constantly exudes a sweet yellow liquid, table itself appears to be… wax? Weird food prep thing? I have my magic cake if I want a sugar rush, so not sure what use I'd have for this.
Item five through seven, a table, sat next to another, smaller table, with a chair set between them. There's an empty glass bottle sat on the big one. I don't see why they'd need two tables like this, but it's the same wood as everything in this place. There's an empty piggy bank on the table, but I've never seen anything approaching money here either.
Note to self: Should I try minting my own currency? I doubt it would work, but symbolism, right? I could try "buying" something from Cosmo as a loophole to the whole "help" thing?
Item eight, a safe. Seems to be simple iron. Empty and unlocked. Is theft a problem here? I'll stick to hammerspace.
Item nine: A sink. Material… Seems to be carved out of a pumpkin, actually. Yeah, there's a lot of pumpkins in the chests too. I haven't seen any pumpkin plants around, could they have been lost to the corruption?
Anyway, yeah, taps seem to be iron. It's not hooked up to anything, but turning the taps makes water come out, flow into the drain… And that's it, it's gone again. No idea where. I've even picked it up, still does the same thing when it's upside down. Weird but cool, I guess. If I needed to drink.
Well, that's all for furnit- wait. Revision to item six. What I thought was a chair was, in fact, a toilet. Gross, but not as gross as wondering what everyone else in town has been using.
As for the storage containers that don't just contain junk, it's mostly a mishmash of human-sized gear, useless for me and most of the weapons seem worse than what I've already built.
Anyway, here's the goodies I found so far.
Item ten: A rock. Material… I dunno, rock I guess. It's red and grey, it's hot to the touch, and when I'm holding it, swinging my tails or trying to hit stuff I set on fire. A good kind of fire! The kind that Knuckles gets when he swings his fist super hard type fire. I'm not sure how useful it is, but the way it looks when I swing my tails is so cool I wish I had a mirror. Or knew how to make mirrors here.
Item eleven: A scarf. Material: Some kind of leather? It kind of looks like it has an eye on it. I dunno, scarves are cool so I'm wearing it anyway.
Item twelve: Seven crystal hearts. Well, zero crystal hearts. I am torn between being completely weirded out that I just ate a bunch of glass and gross without meaning to, feeling really good afterwards, and wondering why - and how - the chosen was just collecting them without eating them. Is this drugs? Am I a drugs person now?
Item thirteen: Goggles. Smell sweet, look sweet, do nothing. Still taking them anyway. If nothing else I'll be prepared for my next sandstorm.
Item fourteen: Rifle. Gears powered. Between it, a paintgun, and an old flintlock musket, I now have a working understanding of how a "traditional" firing mechanism works here, and a seemingly infinite amount of paint pellets to shoot with them. My first job as "blacksmith" is apparently going to have to be casting some real ammo since that's the one thing I haven't found so far.
This isn't quite as exciting as it might have been if I hadn't just built myself a giant raygun, but still, alternatives to the beam array distributor are welcome. Skin was immune to fire, no guarantee I won't find something immune to laser next.
Item fifteen: Hammer. Primarily unknown material C. Okay, this thing is cool. It glows silver, and not just when I swing it with my new favourite rock. This hammer is as tall as me, covered in gold trim and rubies, and just generally looks like the kind of thing you'd find on the cover of one of Amy's fantasy novels, right next to the burly shirtless mobian. Hopefully being burly isn't mandatory, though I wouldn't mind being shirtless again.
Item sixteen: Last and not least, this drill seems to be made out of the same stuff as the anvil. According to the sky outside, and my new gold pocketwatch, it's evening now, but in the morning I'll be heading out to see if this can break through blackrock. If it can then-
A thunderous banging erupted on the wooden door to the chosen's workshops. His dictation interrupted, Miles quickly slipped the page, and his second tail, out of sight, trying to look as innocent as it was possible for someone caught red handed to look as the door creaked open.
A pair of fox ears poked around the doorway.
"Maria?"
"Whatever you said your name was, you need to get out of here now. Run as far away from town as you can, get underground." The fox girl's hoarse whisper from the gloom outside.
"Huh? What's going on?" Miles tilted his head with a frown.
He had already planned to leave, but travelling at night, and underground in general had both proven themselves to be unpleasant choices for one such as him. Had his cover been blown?
The rest of Maria stumbled into the doorway, her skin sprouting tufts of thick orange and white fur as he watched. The candle flickered as crimson spread across the sky outside, the rumble of distant thunder sent a tingle of fear creeping down his spine as a thousand burbling moans cried out in its aftermath just on the edge of hearing.
Maria stumbled close, voice turning more guttural with every muttered word she spoke, fearful eyes glittering gold in the failing candlelight until she drew close, clutching him in her furry arms. Her entire body trembled as she pushed her lips close to his ear.
"This is going to be a terrible night."
