The inside of the room was illuminated by the same soft glow that lit the rest of the below deck rooms, light filling the air from unseen sources that provided just enough to see by. And what there was to see!

The cabin was luxuriously decorated with the popular fashion of some two or three centuries past. The walls were lined with walnut book cases whose delicate looking but sturdy construction matched the massive desk in the center of the room. A great deal of time and effort had gone into making the furniture. The surfaces were all covered in an artistic design of carvings, wood and mother of pearl inlays, and bas relief that gave the impression the wood was not only somehow alive but actually flowering with vines that twisted and turned along the legs and the edges. All of the shelves were filled with books. A nook in the rear of the cabin revealed a raised platform nestled between the shelves, a small loft that looked as though it once served as a small but cozy bed.

Dust covered the room, making the once lush carpet beneath their feet all the thicker. This compartment had not been flooded, that much was obvious! Even the books looked in fair condition for all their supposed age! Better at least than the man who sat behind the desk. Or rather, what was left of him.

Dressed in the elegant fashions of times long past, the corpse was seated in a high leather chair behind the desk. The beard on his face made it evident that it was most likely a “he.” More mummy than skeleton, a wineglass rested in one cupped hand while the other hand rested casually upon the top of the bare desk. Small spectacles rested on his forehead. It was as though he had pushed them up there away from his eyes, taken a drink, and calmly died. The sight of him just sitting three and seemingly looking right at Ivy and Jötz gave the room a creepy, haunted feeling that made even the Jaeger take a step back. Jötz had seen plenty of dead people in his time. He’d even created a few! But there were some scenes that even a howling, furry monster of destruction simply had to shake his head at and walk away.

Only he already knew the chances of Ivy walking away as well were slim to none.

Jötz raised his eyes to scan the rest of the room, frowning as he wondered where all of the gold and weapons and crazy-crazy death fun he had expected were. “Dey say he vas buried mit his treasure,” the furry monsterman whispered to the Spark. “So vhere ist all da shiny shtuff?”