Eureka Subway, Part 1 - RPLOG

Participants

• Junes
• Narwen
• Pteryx
• Theia
• Ysadora

Date

23/7/2023

Log

(Pteryx) Pteryx tries to walk behind the group. The mutant's brightly coloured shirt contrasted just about everything about this situation, socks and sandals, on his back legs, a pair of rather worn short jeans, he looked to be about as unbattle ready as possible should things go rough. Some small drones surround him, possibly to make up for his own lack of dexterity. Plastered on his face is a growing sense of dread, as he walks along the others going in the same direction. Looking for just about anything to break the ice, he says as loudly as possible, "Uh, every heard of them mutant that lost their left arm and leg, well they're all right now!"

(Theia) Brushing tunnel dust off one rolled-up sleeve of her black leather jacket, Theia hurries down the tunnel with her head bowed, clearly keen to spend as little time as possible in the dirty tunnel. In her haste the feline accidentally nudges the wall of the tunnel on more than one occasion, much to her clear annoyance. Reaching the room she was directed to before any others, she finishes picking bits of rock out of her pale hair and awaits the arrival of three familiar mutants she recognises, one hand resting on her hip just above her holster. "Hey guys! At least I'm not stuck down here all by myself... you here for Elena's notice too?"

(Ysadora) Ysadora picks her way carefully through the mines. The dust in the air has combined with the water vapors hanging around Ysadora to form a patina of grime that coats her clothing and clumps her hair into a matted mess. Every once in a while, she stops to shake the excess off like a dog. "Um... Elena Martin, Elena Martin... Does someone actually have an office down here?" Despite her grimy state, Ysadora's voice and manner are upbeat. "It's cozy enough, but it'd be even better with some wooden walls or something." Sputtering light fills the tunnel as Ysadora raises one hand holding a candle. Another hovers limblessly behind her, loosely grabbing the handle of her scythe.

(Junes) Junes came running in nearly tripping but tails moving to readjust their weight as you see a chimeric skunk look back up with a wave "wow good to see you all! sorry i got caught up a bit" district their unusually open sweater and tights off "any prep we should take or plan?" patting their backpack

(Narwen) Elena's Office in the Mines

It's dirty, it's dusty, it's noisy. The Eureka mines began life as Termite tunnels, and this office sits in a side branch of hard-packed earth. It has a mix of sturdy, industrial furniture that's been dragged down here -- filing cabinets, an ancient battleship-grey steel desk -- and a few unvarnished wooden chairs that look to have been put together on the spot. A fold-up camp bed in steel and canvas, heavily chewed up by nanites, is propped upright against a wall. There are no computers or electronics in sight; the most advanced piece of equipment is probably the stapler.

The air here is cool but a little damp, and room smells of that, of paper, of rust, but mostly of its main occupant: a human female. The earth muffles the noise of the city above, but less so the constant irregular sound of pickaxes striking rock, less-frequent thumps from something heavier -- hammers? some mutant's iron-hard fists? -- and the constant chatter and cackling of the miners.

(Narwen) It was a small adventure just getting here. The entrance to the mines is easy to find -- just follow the sound of pickaxes -- but the inside is literally a warren: old Termite tunnels, dug out and then abandoned, now taken over by workers from the city. An exhausted group of miners, heading out after their shift with cash in their pockets, pointed you in the right direction to get to "the Boss's office". And here you are, shuffled into an appendix of the tunnels that barely fits even this many people plus the battered, industrial furniture.

"Listen, thanks so much for coming. I'm Elena. I run the mine, day to day." She's standing with you, leaning against the desk and running a hand through short-cropped brown hair -- and it's actual hair, not fur. In fact, as far as you can tell, she's entirely human. Not so unusual out here in Eureka, but a strange sight for anyone coming from Fairhaven. She's maybe five-six and lean, boots and denim, wearing a hard-hat like all the other workers you've seen. There're bags under her eyes. "I wasn't sure anyone'd show. I can't pay you, can't offer any reward -- the mine belongs to the city, and the city doesn't give a shit as long as ore's coming out -- but if you can find Linda I'll buy you a drink or six." She breathes in and out, organising her thoughts.

"Linda's from Third Shift. Doug here's the shift lead," she says, gesturing to the other new face, some kind of human-rodent mix, taller and a lot heavier, wearing orange coveralls. "The missing worker's named Linda McKee. She's a bit shorter than me, mostly human but got a bit of coyote in her. Red-brown hair, tanned. Tail. She would've been wearing coveralls -- grey, right, Doug? -- and boots plus a helmet and lamp. She's been gone a day and a half now. Everyone's supposed to take spare water with them, but if she didn't, or if she lost it, and she's stuck somewhere, she may not have a lot of time. We already searched all the active parts of the mine, plus the tunnels we've worked out. Spent a whole shift on that, and I can already hear the Council typing up angry notes about the drop in output. There's no cave-ins, no flooding, and she's not asleep in a storeroom somewhere. But," she continues, taking a breath, "there's the old tunnels, all the mess the Termites dug out and whatever that leads to. We don't go down there, because -- well, because we're not idiots, basically. I took a look at the entrance to the upper part last night, didn't see anything, but I'm not sending my guys in there and losing a whole crew. Needs someone who can actually handle themselves." She smiles wanly. "That's you, I hope."

(Pteryx) Pteryx stares with curiosity, human!? Pure human!? Though he tries to catch himself from the moment. The skunk beast tries to get up on two legs, reaching out for mayhaps a handshake... Showing off 4 arms before he crashes back to all fours... "Dag nabbit... Howdy huma... I mean Elena, thanks fer them physical description on the missin, any er, unusual behavior frum em as of late too?" Lookin 'round the place, this... did not look too safe as a working condition, but them workers seemed to know what they're doin.... "Oh right, howdy, names' Pteryx and if we find yer missin, also a human? We can fix em up in too shakes of a lambs tail! Or at least get 'em stable enough fer sendin ta a hospital..."

(Theia) The snow leopardess raises an eyebrow at that last part of Elena's explanation. "So, you won't go into those old tunnels because you're not idiots... but *we* are idiots for even considering it? How does that work, then?" Theia lets out a long sigh, before unfolding her arms, both her expression and her voice softening. "Listen. I'm sorry about your miner. We can go look for her. And as you were upfront about it, we can do it for no pay too... we just need to know what we're getting into. What's down in those tunnels that's gotten you so concerned?" After waiting for Elena's response, the feline nods thoughtfully. She turns to the rest of the group to see if they're happy, before continuing. "And while I get that you can't pay us... salvage rules apply here instead? If we find something of value down there, it's ours if we can carry it out and we get a cut if we can't? You're asking us to risk ourselves, after all!"

(Ysadora) Ysadora waves with a free hand. "Ysadora here! I wear many hats, but I work with the Embassy sometimes so that's probably the closest official business I can claim this time. Hey Theia. Pteryx. Junes. We should be able to handle this, right? What's down there in the 'old tunnels' that's a match for a buncha veterans like us?" After slapping Pteryx heartily on the back, she glances at Elena briefly but doesn't actually wait for an answer. "Do you have any other information, or uh...something Linda might have worn?" Realizing how this sounds, Ysadora raises a couple hands with palms out. "Not like, anything sexual, but maybe one of the others can get a whiff of her scent to help track her down.

(Junes) Junes nodded to ysadora before giving a quick hand raise to elena and doug "junes! and yeah i wouldn't mind going in after her but she has a point" looking to the snow leopardess and then surprised at pteryx "i thought you saw other humans around before? huh" brushing at their okami head and looking down at their currently different form, primarily skunk but waving into view are the familiar nine kitsune tails with a range of colors and utility "any natural dangers like structure and gas leaks? oh and" pulling a small compass out of their bag curiously to look "any directions or things she said before heading down?"

(Narwen) "I try to run a tight ship, but we're working with manual tools and the nanites chew everything up. It's as safe as we can make it, and we make it as safe as we can with what we got, but we're on hand-me-downs here," Elena says, starting to lean forward, then sinks back and waves a hand. "Sorry, sorry. Not your fault. The old tunnels're what the Termites dug out. They're not shored up, and-- well, I can't tell you exactly, but I'm pretty damn sure there're ferals down there. Big bugs, not sure what else. We're tough but we're not soldiers." The question about salvage seems to faze her. "The mine belongs to the city, if you pull ore out you gotta turn it in -- but I guess if you find other valuables, that's none of my business. Can't say I expect you to, though. Doug, you want to tell them about the shift?"

Doug reminds you a bit of a beaver, though he's something different, without that wide, flat tail, and he's only partly infected: one arm, his legs -- which are stumpy in proportion to the rest of him and end in blunt-clawed paws, no boots -- plus part of his face and one ear sticking out from the hard hat. Maybe his general body shape too, unless he's just naturally round. "She clocked on. I saw her from time to time working the face. Don't remember seeing her towards the end of the shift, but people work different parts, or take breaks, or punch out early. Sometimes they punch in and plain forget to punch out. It happens." He looks away for a moment and sighs through his nose, making a whistling noise. "Mostly happens to her. She's been distracted recently. So it took a while to realise she was gone, then a while to check she wasn't in any of the places she's supposed to be, then a while more to send runners to make sure she wasn't just in a bar, drunk off her ass. I was sure she'd just be in someone else's bed and show up the next day like nothing'd happened. Was all set to chew her out. But she never showed." He shakes his head. "She sometimes missed a shift, but I never knew her to miss a payday." Ysadora's question comes back to him. "Should be a change of clothes in her locker. Maybe more, couldn't say."

(Pteryx) Pteryx wings puff out on Ysadora's slap, "Eek, gotta couple frayed nerves 'round these parts... Red-brown hair, tanned, coyote tail, standard grey miner's uniform..." His head shivers along with his drones, a kind of headset with a large antenna on his left ear has its emblazoned Z glow a bright green. "Ugh, it ain't nano magic doohickey stuff but them brain tech still tingles... Drones should be set ta focus on folk matchin them description!" Trying to whisper to Junes, he mentions, "They still ain't too common..."

As Elena's description of what may lie ahead of the group, Pteryx lets out a sudden loud laugh, with no joy in it, only nervousness... "B--bugs ey?" A shiver cralws through his whole system. Taking whatever he could get from the... rather haphazardly mutated beaver morph? the only thing he could really get out of was... "Distracted?" A histry of alchohol use was moot in the age of nanites, so there wasn't much he could think ado with such information. "Well sounds like itsa good think ya had a search earlier than later! More likely ta find folk that way!"

(Theia) Nodding along to Elena's words, Theia seems satisfied with the answers she received. Well, most of them. "Bugs... are not fun. But that can't be helped I guess, can it? Lets try not to waste too much time down there..." The feline turns around to Junes, in a somewhat different form to the last time they met. "Heya, Junes... how's your sense of smell in that form? Not sure if your, uh, 'changes' have made that better or worse. Might be worth a try?"

(Ysadora) Ysadora nods, then places a hand on her forehead to stop it from rolling off her shoulders. "We'll get started then, unless you've got more you think might be helpful. Which way's Linda's locker?"

(Junes) Junes shrugs "always can track in whatever form... usually anyways im used to being mixed up but yeah i can track just fine, hmm if we know what bugs are here hopefully we could defend against em better but for now those clothes should definitely help with finding her so to the lockers!"

(Narwen) "Yeah, let me take you to her locker," Doug says, leathery hand on the door, then pauses as Elena steps towards the group.

"Thanks again, I really appreciate this," she says, starting to reach out her hand for a shake, though with a slightly awkward glance to Pteryx as she does so. "Just let him know if there's anything you--"

All of a sudden, a rumbling starts -- you feel it as much as hear it -- and the place starts to shake. Dusty earth trickles down from the ceiling. It's not violent, but it's not stopping.

(Pteryx) In a panic, Pteryx opts to duck and cover! Throwing himself under a steel desk, his drones following him. "Uh, is that one of em quakes!?"

(Theia) Instinctively dropping into a half-crouch the moment the earth started the shake, Theia raises an arm to shield her head from the shower of dust from above - and thankfully nothing more than just dust, for now. "What in the heck is that?!" she shouts Elena's way. "Is this your guys' doing?"

(Ysadora) Ysadora quickly slaps her hands to her body, one pair to her head, one pair holding her feet, and the others clustered around her torso. Trying gamely to keep herself together without falling over, she shouts over the noise: "Is this normal?!"

(Junes) Junes looked up with a tail shielding their eyes of dust "we better move on fast, that doesn't sound good so once this is open we should head down there fast before things get worse..."

(Narwen) Elena's under the heavy desk, squeezed in next to Pteryx. Doug's standing in the doorway, more or less blocking it. You see them exchange a look at the rumbling continues -- but this is not The Big One, and nothing collapses or even falls. As it goes on, you realise there's a pattern to it -- it's not continuous but more like thumpety-thump, repeated again and again. The sound of pickaxes from the rest of the mine has stopped, replaced by surprised yells. After perhaps ten seconds the noise starts to die down, then fades to nothing.

"Everyone all right?" Elena asks. More or less simultaneously, Doug has ducked out of the office and yells out into the mine: "Everyone all right?"

"That wasn't us," says Elena. "At least, I hope to God not. Never heard anything like it, and it sure as hell wasn't normal."

(Pteryx) With nothing colapsing, Pteryx takes a curious peak out of the desk... Hearing them 'quake' has a pattern, "Huh, kinda sounds like a big machine? Ain't nothin natural from them kinds of sounds., or ain't nothin I can think of"

(Theia) Still visibly on edge, Theia stands back up straight and unclenches her fists. "I have no idea what that was either, but that can't be good... you think it's a coincidence that your miner vanishes mid-shift, and then a day or so later this happens?" She turns to Doug, or where he was standing anyway. "We should go see if the other miners are okay, once we're done here at least..."

(Ysadora) Ysadora frowns, her normally cheerful eyes now creased with worry. "I'm with Theia. If there wasn't a cave-in before, that could have changed now. We'd better hurry and check things out." She blinks, momentarily nonplussed. "You know, I'd say that sounded a lot like a train. A subway line or something. But that can't be right; Eureka doesn't have a subway or we'd have heard about it by now, right?" Ysadora swivels to Elena and Doug, looking to them for confirmation.

(Junes) Junes nodded to ysadora "totally sounds like a train but who knows maybe its another piece of...well unearthed it seems history that was hidden away, i wonder how far it goes but anyways we definitely need to go down, get her out and then see if we can find that crazy train and get them to stop so you all can reinforce the place before it gets more unstable, got a key for the locker?"

(Narwen) "It'd be a pretty damned big coincidence," Elena says, pushing her way to the door. "I've gotta see to my guys, find out what the hell happened, make sure everyone's okay. Doug, you get these people what they need, okay?"

Doug looks at you, shrugs, and starts leading you to the locker room. "Hell of a day. Does sound a bit like a subway, don't it? But we don't have one here in Eureka, long as I been here."

You arrive in the locker room. Doug taps at Linda's with a blunt claw. It has a big 'DON'T MESS WITH MY STUFF' sign taped on it, and there's a padlock. "Don't got the key, though. Locker's personal. Could get some tools?"

(Theia) Looking somewhat confused as they all head into the locker room, Theia turns to Ysa and Junes in turn and asks "'Trains'? What's that? Is that something from the Old World? The same as a 'subway'?"

(Junes) Junes quickly went into their bag and pulled a small case out, opening and bringing a few careful tools out, one tool being stuck into the tip of a tail while two others in the other hands, left hand tilting a tool deeper and up slowly, right hand ready to tilt the tumblr and tail slowly going forward as their left hand does most of the legwork as the tail goes further and finally a click, their right hand turning as the lock opens!

(Pteryx) As curious and worried as Pteryx would be on the status of them other folk 'round from them disturbances, he had an assigned job already, look fer them Linda folk. Seein them locker they had though, well he sure had no idea what ta do with it locked. Being just as confused as Theia, he'd also find himself asking aloud... "Ain't heard of them stuff either. Pre PDay artifacts I reckon?" Hearing a click, looks like Junes already solved them locker business.

(Ysadora) Ysadora searches for the words. "A train's a mode of transport from before P-Day, yeah. They're so useful, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody reinvented or repaired one, though. It's just a big engine that runs on tracks, fast and direct and can carry a lot of stuff, but more limited than a car. A subway's basically the same thing but underground." Ysadora leans forward as she speaks, craning for a look inside the newly-cracked locker. "...I wonder what kind of stuff she's got in here she doesn't want touched, eh?"

(Narwen) The padlock is a pretty cheap one, and the main thing that makes picking it tricky is just how much the nanites have chewed it up inside. But Junes manages to pop it open after a minute or two of work, and the contents of the locker are revealed. One set of casual clothes -- way more suitable to a club than a mine -- that are relatively clean, and another stuffed at the bottom. A bottle or two, half-full, looks like liquor. A battered purse holding keys, wallet, and other personal items. There are a few faded photos taped to the side, mostly showing people -- including mutants -- celebrating, and one with a naked foxboy raising his eyebrow to the camera.

(Pteryx) "Welp, sure hope them Linda don't get too angry at this... if they're still alive or conscious." Having a gander at the locker, he doesn't take too much interest in them stuff, 'cept fer them naked foxboy photo. With a lecherous grin, he wolfwhistles, "Guess them Linda's got good taste!"

(Theia) Nodding at Ysa's explanation, Theia finishes dusting herself off from the earlier 'quake'. "That makes sense - I think I've seen those metal tracks above ground in various places, always wondered what they were for..." The feline indicates at the more ruffled set of clothes at the bottom of the locker. "Junes, those look worn, they should have Linda's scent on them - these work for you? I don't have the nose for this sorta thing, I'm afraid."

(Ysadora) Ysadora pokes around the locker with one of her hands, raising up the club clothes for a critical eye. "Her fashion sense wasn't terrible, I suppose." Folding it up, she hands one of the pieces to Junes before grabbing another. "Awful color coordination, though." Although she speaks with confidence, Ysadora isn't exactly showing the peak of fashion in her simplistic black-and-white outfit either.

(Junes) Junes swiped their face with a tail and put the tools away, seeing the clothes they grabbed the purse and took a whiff "yeah this should help, the clothes maybe too but this might have a photo in here and well, purse is used more I think so stronger smell?" putting it on their shoulder "id be more excited on the train but is anybody else missing or just linda?" looking up to sniff the air seeing if a trace of her is here "and should we have a plan before we go down there or with these quakes should we just head in and plan as we go"

(Narwen) Junes grabs the purse and clothes. Purse first: there are some interesting smells there, but they're mostly drowned out by leather, and it's difficult to get a lock on the owner good enough for tracking. Still, there's something off, something chemical... there! A little plastic baggie, mostly empty, but with a few traces of dust or powder at the bottom. Being wiser than to sniff _that_, Junes turns her wolf-like to the worn clothes and gives them a good ol' snoof. Yep, they smell mostly like a female mutant, human and coyote blended together. Junes files that information away. A few other scents hang in there, but they're faded and weak in comparison, probably just people Linda hung out with.

(Narwen) Just then, the rumbling starts up again, just the same as before: rhythmic thudding that shakes the mine gently. It's definitely coming from somewhere down below. The mine goes quiet again, then voices start up. It's bare seconds before Elena, now wearing a high-vis jacket, runs through the locker room. "This is too much. I've got to get this place evacuated," she says as the rumbles die down. "It may be connected to Linda going missing, but I've got fifty other guys to keep safe. Doug, can you..." she begins; he nods to her and answers: "On it." Elena turns back to you. "I can't ask you to risk it -- but I won't tell you not to. Either way, good luck." And with that she's moving on, yelling at people to head to the exit.

Doug looks at you. "Can take you to the old tunnels, but then gotta get out m'self. Got kids need me."

(Pteryx) Lookin 'round shifttily, Pteryx has one of his drones get near the foxboy photo. Emiting a quick flash of light before going back to circling the gremlin sized skunk beast, currently just whistling to himself, trying ta look busy. With the rumblin and shakin back, and no steel desk ta hide under, Pteryx can only find his nerves fraying. "Uh, what should we do!?" He yelps in panic!

(Theia) When the shaking started up again, Theia was simply shaking her head at Pteryx's drone's 'sneaky' photo-job, the slight grin playing at the corners of her mouth making it clear she felt more bemusement that anything else. As before she instinctively drops half a foot down as the quake hits, knees bent, eyes and ears alert for any sign of danger. It takes a few seconds for her to recognise the symptoms of the quake and acknowledge that she's not under attack, removing her hand from the gun at her belt and instead trying to shield herself from the dirt falling from the ceiling, for as long as it takes for the rumbling to cease. The feline simply nods at Elena's retreating back as she leaves; she couldn't exactly argue with her there, getting the workers safe had to come first. She turns back to the rest of the group before asking, "Do you want to head down there? We might get trapped down there. All it would take is one tunnel to collapse and our way back to the surface would be cut off. I've got a backup plan", she notes, bringing out a small vial of semi-clear silvery liquid from a pouch at her belt, "but it would only really work for myself... if you want to leave with the miners, I wouldn't blame you."

(Ysadora) Ysadora stashes one of the smaller items of clothing from the locker just in case. Then, she turns to Theia. "Of course I want to go down there. What's the worst that's gonna happen? Buried alive? Too late for that!" The ghost smirks. "I guess I wouldn't begrudge anybody who wants to duck out, but we've all got our own ways of dealing with the unexpected, I'd reckon."

(Junes) Junes smiled to ysadora "you sure do love your dirt naps, anyways im in too but how about you pteryx, staying or going but no hard feelings either way" looking to Elena with a nod "just point us to the way and ill get us the rest of the way by scent hopefully" they were glad ysadora held onto the clothes and took a baseball bat out just in case

(Pteryx) Never having been one to make big decisions, Pteryx goes along with the general group concensus. "Down it is!"

(Narwen) Doug leads you down through tunnels lit by rickety strings of bulbs and, very occasionally, some kind of glowing nanite sphere, paws slapping down as he picks his way between abandoned pickaxes and sacks of raw ore. The path winds this way and that, but mostly down, and the tunnels change from packed earth to chipped rock to oddly rounded, almost organic-looking shapes. Junes walks up front with him, sniffing at the air. At first it's a complete jumble of scents, all the miners mixed together, throwing off sweat and fear and lust. But as you get further in, Junes picks out a trace of the same scent from the locker, faint at first but coming clearer as there are fewer and fewer competing scents until that's the only recent one in the tunnel. Linda did come through here.

"Gotta turn back now," Doug mutters, coming to a halt. After the yelling a few minutes back, it's strange to hear him speaking softly, not much louder than the occasional drops of water that splash down from the ceiling. Still, he hesitates. "You got everything you need?"

(Pteryx) Lookin 'round, them place was dreary... Pteryx dpuble checks all his drones... no actual quakes so far, just shakes, so none damaged... Still feelin them antenna on his ear and a first aid kid strapped to his side, seems like he's still got everything he'd need. S...so, Ysadora, you know these kindsa places right, real spooky down here..."

(Theia) With a kindly pat on the shoulder, Theia lets Doug return to the surface. "We're all good, thank you - stay safe, and we'll see you topside." Her voice is confident, but she does unclip the cover on her holster just the same, just in case things don't go to plan further down the tunnel. As the mutant vanishes back up the tunnel, she turns back to the group and tries to defrost the tension slightly. "At least it's not as dusty down here, right?" With that, she heads further down the tunnel to hopefully find the source of the ground shakes.

(Ysadora) Ysadora pats Pteryx comfortingly on the shoulder. "Sure! I love being underground. It's just so cozy. Although...I don't know this place, as such." She keeps her voice low, mimicking Doug's whisper as she follows along just behind Theia. Her eyes shimmer with a dull blue in the darkness. "There could be any sort of thing down here. Have you heard the old saying, 'dug too deep and too greedily'? Mines always seem to end up finding stuff that was supposed to remain buried." After a moment, Ysadora seems to realize this might not exactly be comforting to Pteryx. "But look on the bright side! There's a subway or something down here, and that means people, which means civilization, and I'm sure it'll all be safe and fine."

(Junes) Junes went into their bag and took a flashlight out, flipping it on and shining it forward and said to doug "stay safe, hopefully nobody else is down here but we'll find out" turning back and holding the bat in their left hand while looking at their tail briefly wondering before shaking it and looking forward with the light in the right while quietly speaking "yeah best to keep it lower if we go deeper, hmm and if we find a way to the train should we investigate there after getting kinda out?" sniffing for traces of her as they continue forward

(Narwen) The tunnel suddenly seems awfully quiet and dark after Doug heads back, but you keep going. It twists and turns repeatedly -- it's hard to imagine why people would make it this way, but all to easy to picture some giant worm or serpent eating its way through the earth. The flashlights pick out spots in the tunnel, and Ysadora's lonely candle sheds light in a tiny sphere, enough to light you up but not much beyond. For Ysadora and Theia that's enough to see the tunnel clearly, though for Junes and poor Pteryx there is a lot more dark than light. The path forks a couple of time, but with some careful sniffing, Junes is able to pick out Linda's scent and keep following it. The next section opens up into a larger cavern, scattered with stalagmites, and you can hear a trickle of water running through it somewhere.

(Pteryx) The skunk beast not really being one to lead, Pteryx just tries to nab one of Junes' tails to hold on, they seem to have some sense of direction with them scent they look ta be sniffin 'round! He has his drones float over and ahead, to try lighting some spots in case of... whatever could happen down here. All the light from the drones may draw some unwanted attention if any though.

(Theia) "Now this was not dug out by termites..." Theia wonders, more to herself than anyone in particular, as she tries - and fails - to make out the far sides of the cavern with her keen eyes. Her pointed ears twitch and pivot off towards a point in the far darkness, and she becomes very still for a few moments, clearly focusing on something. "There's running water over... over there! A stream maybe? It's more than a trickle, at least." she exclaims, a pale-furred digit indicating a point deep in the cavern and beyond her eyesight. "How do we want to do this? I dunno about you guys, but I do *not* want to get lost in this cave..."

(Ysadora) Ysadora lifts her head to blow out the candle, instead relying on her darkvision to paint the cave out in monochrome. With the light snuffed, she nanomagically fades away until all that remains is a ghostly silhouette against the darkness of the cave. "I'm still with you," Ysadora whispers. "If there IS anything nasty down here, I'd rather get the drop on it." Sha pauses before answering Theia, "I've got a pretty good sense of direction, but that might not be so reliable in a windy place like this. Hey Junes, didn't I see you with a compass earlier?"

(Junes) Junes looked back and shone the flashlight over looking for the water as they try to listen for the source and brings the compass out once again, handing it out and waiting for a phantom to grasp it before shining a light and finally the water is seen but realizing something "hey theia you could see the water in this darkness...mind if i do something?" asking while still holding the compass out "and hmm should i leave something for us as a crumb trail actually?"