Chapter 64: Head

• Alan's eyes adjusted to the poor lighting inside of the Skull’s base. Smoke permeated the air, stinging the new arrivals eyes and throats. Their body functions soon adjusted after a few stifled coughs and they moved further inside following a wide tiled hallway. Though the smoke was annoying it served a unique purpose. 
• Guards had been placed all around in blind spots, so that those upon entering couldn't see them right away due to the combined smoke and low lighting. For example, at the entrance a pillar was on either side of the doors, behind the pillars, in the smokey gloom, two guards on each side stood at the ready. Dressed in bone made armor and glaring through human skull masks, they gave off an imposing attitude to onlookers. They were the men directly under the Eyes and Heads influence. No Hand could command them unless directly said too by the Eyes or Head.
• The arriving group ignored them, after all, they were on the same side and had been here multiple times before. Wall torches lit the way casting flickering shadows all around the hall as the drafty wind tossed them about. Their footsteps echoed on the tile flooring and no one spoke a word the entire time. Soon they arrived at the first lobby.