Re: X3F-1622: Petropolis (SG-X2)
The witherwind appears to only blow down off the mountains in the afternoon, which would be consistent with normal thermal effects--low ground is still radiating heat upwards but the mountains are colder so the cold wind is dropping down to fill the void.
The team heads up the wide ramp around the perimeter tat the ground floor. It also leads downwards. It isn't until you reach level 7 before you realize that the ground floor is 4 levels high and 2nd floor is double height level; thus, the ground floor is levels 1-4. This is only determined by the length of the ramps--four times as long (all the way around the tower) as the upper ramps for the 1st floor and twice as long (halfway around the tower) for the 2nd floor.
On the 2nd floor, there is a large doorway on the right that led to a short hallway to a large circular chamber that had circular rows of tiered seating along the perimeter of the room. The center of the room is flat floor 50-feet across. This was where you meet with the Elders.
You reach the top of the first section, which you know is the top because there's no more ramp, but there's still a 50-foot diameter opening in the middle of the level with a column in the center that continues upward. At least now, there's a faint glow of light up above. It vaguely looks like it might be daylight, but you can't really tell.
Going through one of the doors, you go down a hallway to another hallway that becomes a ramp up. You walk up this ramp that seems to spiral along the outer wall of this monstrous structure. From time to time, you pass a tall narrow, arched-top window that seems to look outside. Unfortunately, all that can be seen is the smog, though it seems to be less dense the higher you go.
Another twenty minutes take you up to the top of this second ramp.
You get a better sense of the size and layout of the place. It was just a bit too big to tell if it was totally circular or perhaps an oval, egg shaped or something similar.
Internally, it was built in concentric circles. There was a 'solid' core that presumably held the mechanicals and infrastructure, which still seemed to be working for the most part. Around that there was a hallway, then another ring of habitats, another hallway, a second ring of habitats, an access hallway, and then finally the outer ring of ramps.
On the 'ground floor', the two rings of 'habitats' were guard rooms, storerooms, and meeting rooms, as well as four lavatories around the outer ring. There were also four connecting hallways.
The second floor consisted of four large gallery-like rooms, one of which is where you met with the Elders. The inner ring was habitats for the Elders or other important people. Tauranchula showed you one such habitat, which consisted of a central living area, two bedrooms off to one side, and a kitchen and bath off to the other side.
At the 7th level (and all upper levels), ceiling height is only 15 feet. The levels then are grouped in by 5: habitat level, general (work) level, habitat level, play level, habitat level. This then repeats 2.5 times as you climb to level 20.
Level 19, a habitat ring, is only partially inhabited as it is borderline dangerous. Level 20, which would be a play area, is empty due to toxic fumes. All levels above this are also full of toxic fumes.
Neither Tauranchula nor the elders know how many levels there are in total. And you could never get an estimate of how high the tower was from the outside because the upper part was obscured by the smog.
If it wasn't for the difference in levels between outside smog and inside foul air, you'd think they were the same. Even the content is different (maybe), but there still might be a correlation.
You did your rescue on Levels 21, 22, and 23. That was as far as you made it.