Branch
Branch
You return to The Animal Zone.
Branch
This is the pet shop you're looking for.
Branch
Doesn't look like anyone's been selling kibble here for years...
Branch
The Weeping Eye may have relied on the sound of animal cries to cover the interrogation.
Branch
See if it's locked.
Branch
You lift the shutter gently, it resists. Locked.
Branch
You lift the shutter gently, it resists. Locked.
Around you, scattered pairs of eyes watch as you jiggle the shutter. Too many people around for a break-in.
Come back at night, or find another entrance.
Break in.
You slip your lockpick into the keyhole at the bottom of the shutter. You hear it click open.
Lift up the shutter partway.
There's a loud metallic clank, and then it lifts up, surprisingly smooth.
Thick spiderwebs stretch and break.
You duck low beneath the shutter and out of sight.
Branch
End of this branch
Branch
You try again to shimmy your lockpick into the shutter but miss, causing the metal shutter to clang and wobble.
You'll draw attention to yourself if you're not careful.
Branch
You can't get your lockpick into the keyhole. It's sticky.
It's you versus decades of spilled drinks, animal piss, and grease.
Break in.
End of this branch
Slip through the shutter.
You creep under the unlocked shutter again.
Branch
The cobwebs have already re-formed, strands of freshly-woven spider silk cling to the back of your jacket as you duck inside the building.
Read the graffiti.
CARL WAS HERE M + Y <3 UNSTOPPABLE TRADE FOREVER MAURITO IS A DOG RAPEST
Branch
Leave.
You turn away from the storefront.
A dusty and disused storefront, closed with a metal shutter. Above, a faded sign names the building 'The Animal Zone'.