The next room was very different from the rest of the tunnels, Whisper noticed. Instead of carved stone and marked passages, it was earthier, mustier, with a strange scent in the air. Instead of lampposts, these tunnels were lit with tall sticks burning with a dancing, crackling light, the dried faces of many bugs hanging off them and adorning the walls. There was a sealed door directly across from Whisper, and she doubted she could get past it. So Instead, she looked upward.
The torches were lined along a weaving path heading higher and higher up, a steep climb yet easy enough for most bugs. Whisper decided to follow it and see where it led. She could only imagine what lay at the top. Another foe would certainly be nice.
As she climbed, she could almost hear faint whispering among the crackles. The words were quiet and unintelligible, and seemed to come from many bugs. But nothing moved or spoke besides Whisper and the dancing lights. She wondered if she was imagining them.
Something buried deep in her suggested that it was a very very bad sign to be imagining things. A flashing vision showed her falling, her shell breaking as she stared at a distant pale light. But it was gone as quickly as it had come.
Finally Whisper reached the top, where she was greeted by the site of a massive mound carved into the side of the wall, flanked by more of the posts (torches, Whisper realized) and framed by many imposing white spikes. A strange purple light glowed from within, and she heard a mysterious chuckling from inside the gate. It was a rather unnerving sound, and Whisper pulled her scepter to the ready.
Then she walked through the gate, to be greeted by the sight of a large chamber lined with masks. At one end of the room was a strange covered alcove, filled with mysterious plants and more of the burning dancing light (fire, Whisper guessed), which was smoldering with a soft pink light. In the center of the room was a bench made from white spikes, masks, and various insect fragments.
At the far end of the room was a sealed gate, a very strange bug sitting next to it. Their body was mostly black, much like how Whisper believed she looked under the cloak, and around their neck were a ring of small bug masks, which rattled when they moved. Their face was covered by a strange, polished coiling shell, and a pair of small white eyes stared out from beneath it. Beside them was a large staff, topped with another mask and threaded with dried leaves. They seemed to be the source of the chuckling.
Upon Whisper approaching, they turned and spoke. "Ohohoho! Another stranger appears from the shadows! My, you're a strange one indeed. You bear a striking resemblance to the other one, but you seem taller and are wrapped in pink and blue! Ohoho, and perhaps it's just me, but that face of yours doesn't seem quite as empty as your fellow bug! I must say, I am quite curious as to what you truly seek and hope to accomplish! Perhaps you are also here because you require my assistance?"
He scuttled up to Whisper, his eyes landing on the branch in her hand. "Ohoho, what is this? You carry a weapon unlike any other bug I've met! Yet perhaps I might know what it is, if my memory proves favorable."
He carefully studied it, humming to himself thoughtfully. Whisper held her weapon close to her chest warily, not liking what was going on. The scepter seemed to want to stay away from him for some reason.
Finally he said, "Ohoho, this is certainly nothing I've seen before. It seems familiar, but I cannot seem to place what it is! You must have come from somewhere very deep to acquire such an archaic weapon. Perhaps you could find answers in Deepnest, were you to ever travel that far. Although I suspect this comes from somewhere even deeper than that. Ohoho! Such an exciting mystery!"
Whisper sensed a sudden release of pressure she hadn't sensed before from the scepter. It was as if it was…feeling relieved? She had no idea what that meant, though.
The stranger continued, "Even with such a weapon as that, you certainly must desire more power if you are to go deeper. While the other one continues my little quest, perhaps I have enough power to give you the same boon I gave them! A nasty little spell of my own creation, ohohoho!"
He rose his staff, chanting and waving it as he did so. Whisper felt a rushing power from within the room, as white wisps of soul poured from the walls and masks and began to weave together into a floating, glowing shape. Whisper felt entranced by it, her scepter beginning to glow softly as well. As soon as the spell had finished weaving together, Whisper leaped up, swinging her scepter into it. It glowed brightly, draining the soul into itself and infusing Whisper with a whole new power.
But with it came a sudden surge of pain, something screaming inside her as the spell was absorbed. She felt a craving for revenge, fury at being consumed by the light, a hundred bugs' desire to break free from these broken husks and escape the fallen kingdom. It became too much for Whisper to bear, and everything turned black.*
When she came to, she was flat on the ground, staring up at the interwoven ceiling. Her scepter hummed softly in her grip, the soul within greatly amplified. She knew not what power she had now, but it felt quite strong.
Nearby, the stranger slept, the alcove having dimmed while she was out. Up above, Whisper heard rumbling, and strange ringing blasts that shook dust from the ceiling and made the husks rattle.
She decided it would probably be a good idea to see her way out now, before the room collapsed like it had in the False Knight's arena. She was strong, but could not exactly fight a collapsing ceiling.
She silently slipped out the gate and down through the tunnels, feeling a surge of annoyance at seeing the door still sealed. She decided to backtrack, and perhaps find another route to go down. Something suggested that this new power she carried might be able to defeat the Elder Baldur, and help her finally explore the green chambers beyond.
However, it was gonna be quite a long trip to re-navigate all these tunnels. And Cornifer's map wasn't exactly the most helpful with all the blank spots on it.
Whisper didn't mind though. She was undoubtedly curious about what lay behind the Baldur, but she was also curious to see what else she might have missed in these tunnels. Perhaps it could even help her on her search for a voice.
So she turned away from the sealed door, and delved back into the tunnels, unaware of what awaited her deeper within.*
Unfortunately, after a while, she had become quite lost, and was now wandering a strange open side tunnel, lined with old empty huts. It wasn't as well-kept as the main paths, and Whisper supposed it hadn't been considered important.
A couple wandering husks patrolled the area, but Whisper easily dealt with them. They were nothing like the other threats she had had to deal with so far, and she cared nothing for them.
Around her, iron fences lined the path, glittering in the cold lights of the tunnel. Ahead, Whisper spotted a large building, much larger than most of the huts around her. It seemed to be much nicer than the rest. Perhaps some sort of official building of the kingdom?
As Whisper approached the open doors, she could see a truly massive Gruzzer sleeping inside the building, its fat body gently glimmering in the light from the lamps above and the windows around the circular room. In the center was a spiked memorial, its purpose a mystery to Whisper.
The giant Gruzzer was definitely a powerful enemy of some sort. Whisper felt a warm thrill run through her at the thought of fighting it. This was what she lived for - fighting the strongest, most vicious bugs of Hallownest and taking them down. This would be a fun challenge for sure!
She leaped into the room, dashing towards the sleeping bug and striking it with her scepter. With a loud snort, it instantly woke up and buzzed into the air, its eyes narrowed indignantly. Whisper felt pressure behind her mask again, and another chime rang out as the gates slammed shut, accompanied by another quiet whisper. More music started resonating in her staff, a quieter, steadier rhythm than the False Knight's.
The giant bug buzzed angrily and flew towards Whisper at high speed, which she quickly dodged. The bug slammed into the wall, cracking it and making it angrier. Whisper got off another blow on it, this time determining the name of the creature. A Gruz Mother!
It didn't seem nearly as threatening as the False Knight, now that Whisper was closer. It was simply a very big female Gruzzer. This wouldn't be much of a challenge at all, something Whisper was disappointed with.
Of course, the Gruz Mother wasn't letting her think for long. With an angry buzz, it slammed into the ground, then used its tremendous fatty bulk to bounce up into the ceiling. It repeated this over and over, bouncing angrily towards Whisper and cracking the earth with every bounce. Whisper narrowly dodged, the room shaking around her as the Gruz Mother reached the other side and resumed hovering.
So it seemed its massive weight was its only weapon. Simple enough to deal with, Whisper supposed.
As the Gruz Mother prepared to attack again, buzzing around the room, Whisper tried to lure it back towards her. She waved her scepter intimidatingly, hoping to get it to fly back towards her.
The Gruz Mother took the bait and charged again, and Whisper waited for it to get close before leaping. As the giant fat bug passed beneath her, she tried to land on its back to deliver a crippling strike.
Unfortunately, while fat, it was also short. So its whole body passed before Whisper landed on it, causing her to hit the floor instead. Staggered by the shock, she struggled to get up.
The Gruz Mother sensed weakness and immediately started bouncing again. Whisper tried to dodge, but it still managed to slam into and crush her into the ground again. However, it kept bouncing, so it wasn't long enough to totally break her. Still, Whisper felt dazed, her shell cracked again. The Gruz Mother started buzzing around again, as Whisper stood back up to properly fight it more.
The giant bug came hurtling for her again, snapping one of the spikes off the monolith as it did so. Whisper dodged and hacked at it again, drawing orange blood. The Gruz Mother buzzed angrily and tried bouncing again, but Whisper was picking up on its moves now and dodged this one easily. She started coming up with another strategy, her eyes locking onto the memorial in the middle of the room.
She leaped onto it, raising her scepter defiantly as it glowed with soul. The Gruz Mother hurtled right for it, and Whisper marveled at its stupidity. She backflipped off the memorial as the Gruz Mother came rushing in, and it slammed right into the statue. The spikes dug into its flesh, and it buzzed in pain. It shattered the memorial off of itself, preparing for another strike. However, it was definitely weaker now, bleeding profusely from the gashes Whisper had left and the gouges left by the spikes.
Whisper felt that new power rise up within her. The scepter urged her to test it, use it to finish this ridiculous weakling of a boss and learn what exactly that stranger had given her. Whisper focused her soul, not to heal her wounds, but to instead do something else entirely.
Shooting from the end of her scepter was a screaming white blast of soul, which plowed into the Gruz Mother and burned into it. With a wailing bellow, the Gruz Mother fell from the air, steam rising from its wounds. It plowed into the ground, sliding across the room and scattering debris everywhere, until it finally came to a stop near where Whisper had entered from. It twitched a few times, then was still. Just like that, it was dead. Whisper felt very disappointed. That had not been nearly as tough a fight as the False Knight.
But the gates did not open. Whisper felt suddenly alarmed - had she been trapped here!?
And then she noticed the corpse of the Gruz Mother pulsing and twitching, as several somethings pressed from within against the skin. Whisper readied her scepter for whatever tore out.
With a loud burst, the body ripped open, freeing eight Gruzzers to bounce around the rather small room. One rammed into Whisper's mask, while another bounced against her scepter. Whisper started cutting them down left and right, trying to avoid getting hit and taking even more damage. These things were no threat normally, but in a small room like this they were much more dangerous.
But it was easy enough to kill them all, and when the last one fell the gates opened again. Another chime echoed, and much like with the False Knight, golden light flowed from the Gruz Mother's corpse and into her scepter. This one was definitely much weaker though, and Whisper doubted this energy would help her at all in any way.
Whisper then continued out the other door, leaving the dead family behind her. Ahead, she noticed a cliff, as well as a tunnel beneath it. Atop the cliff was a rosy light and a strange hut, as well as the sound of someone humming.
However, the cliff was far too steep to climb, and had a large overhang to make things even harder if it was. So Whisper was forced to ignore the humming and go down the tunnel instead.
Down there, she was immediately charged by a horned bug, but she easily dealt with that one. A jumper was wandering around as well, but a quick strike from behind proved more than enough. Then Whisper looked around.
There were more empty huts down here, but two in question stood out. One was in far better shape than the others, and had a shiny lock on it. It seemed almost as if it was still lived in, but Whisper saw no signs of anyone home at the present.
The other hut was next to it, and unlike the others the door was hanging open. Whisper heard some quiet babbling from inside it, and walked over to investigate.
Inside the hut was a very small bug with large eyes, which were clouding over with orange as he babbled on. Whisper listened curiously.
"...ugggghhh, Oro you oaf, you wield your nail…like a club…"
"Esmy…how much deeper…do we have to go…"
Whisper noticed he was still talking intelligibly, even with the evil light trying to take over his eyes. She wondered if that meant he was saveable. Carefully, she prodded him with her scepter.
The small bug shuddered and blinked, the light disappearing into black. "Oh! What?! Who are you?!" He stared at Whisper, an odd glitter flickering through his eyes.
Whisper tried to speak again, but as expected nothing came out. The small bug stared at her, then looked around and sighed.
"...I see. This old village. What a strange dream, to have led me down here! If you hadn't found me, I don't think I would've ever woken.", he continued, "I'm Sly. Usually I live an uneventful life up in Dirtmouth. The air in these ruins doesn't agree with me, so I'd best be getting back. If you return above, come and see me. I'm probably the friendliest face left there, and I can thank you properly for your good deed!"
He walked past Whisper and through the door, but before he left he turned back and said, "You seem to remind me of someone I used to know, a long time ago. Very curious, that. Perhaps you'll find some trace of them much deeper below. Ah, but there's no time to chat. I must be getting back to my shop before some clever bugs try to get to my wares!"
With a quick patter of his tiny feet, he ran off into the gloom and disappeared, leaving Whisper puzzling over his last statement. What could it possibly mean?
Was there another like her and Ghost roaming around? And if so…who could they be?*