Machinery
As Orpheus strode into Hadestown, head held high, his ears rang with the sound of machinery. Gears spun, engines whined, coal cars shuttled their bounty back and forth, and he could barely hear himself think, let alone his song.
Finding a safe spot in a nearby alleyway, Orpheus watched as workers moved forward, their pace steady, backs strong, and heads kept low. They moved like machines themselves, never straying from their allotted paths, and he wondered if anything could get through to them.
When he dared to move forward in search of Eurydice, shoes scraping the pavement, the blast of a steam whistle made him jump, and the lyre on his back made a twang that stood out among the noise. Orpheus gasped as the workers slowly turned their dead-eyed gazes in his direction.
Like a cog in Hades' machines, they moved inexorably towards him, and Orpheus ran for his life.