quest log | following rumors

[moustre]

Who: Those signed up for the the High-Risk Quest "Following Rumors".
When: 06/10 to 06/13
Where: A cave deep within the Wilde.
What: From the quest information itself: "A few of our divination experts have spoken of a cave untouched by the corruption in their scrying, which is right exciting! We'll be sending in our Witches as well, but I'd like to offer this opportunity to those who've come in through The Looking-Glass House, too. It should be safe enough for just about anyone to visit, so find a friend or two and come on! Stuff like this is a rare find, dearests - it might give us a good hint about how to combat our corruption problem, too."
Warnings: In various prompts: spiders and other insects, corpses, risk of injury or death, magical corruption, physical sickness, hallucinogenics, and other imagery that may be disturbing. Each prompt header will be labeled with the appropriate warnings, so make sure you choose what you're comfortable dealing with, either ICly or OOCly! Additionally, sign ups aren't closed - if, after reading through the log, you'd like to sign up, you can still do so and play on here at your leisure.



The Way There

Most journeys into the Wilde don't actually go too far; those that do travel outside of the city end up somewhere in the land between, with its smaller patches of growth that feel as if they should be part of a forest, or at the very edge of the massive forest that seems to be ever expanding. Even now, new sprouts push through the dirt, some even as tall as a man despite being obviously new - they're still green and flexible, without any noticeable bark. The quests the Wilders take - and have put out at the Coven, as far as last month went - go a little deeper, to where the trees become far more autumnal, colored in golds and browns and oranges.

The cave spoken of is deeper still.

As the group marches in pairs, the trees turn from vibrant summer green and lushly decorated in flowers and fruits to the tell-tale colors of fall and winter, their bark gradually becoming more and more marred by an inky blackness that's sticky to the touch - sap, bleeding from the cracks between the bark. What animal life had been at the edge of the forest fades into a hollow quiet, the air becoming more oppressive - not unlike a certain shared dream experienced not too long ago. The silence is unnerving even to those with iron-clad hearts, giving off the feeling that something is about to happen -

and then suddenly, the feeling disappears, even as the quiet remains.

The area around the cave is lush with foliage; the trees look healthier than their counterparts outside of it, their bark free of any leakage and their branches hardly out of control. Closer inspection shows this is due to scraping and trimming, and after some discussion, the Wilders and Witches set up camp outside of the cave and gather together the group. Everyone is given the same basic necessities and instructions on how to use them, in a bag containing:

• A grappling hook enchanted to return to them with a tug
• Around twenty-feet of rope
• Three spell scrolls (a light spell, which will conjure a small ball of light that shows about a radius of twenty feet around the caster and lasts as long as the scroll remains in one piece; a minor healing spell with three charges; and a single-use flare spell that can be used as a distraction or to call for help, should the need arise)
• A tinder kit
• One day of rations
• A ring that glows when danger is nearby; it's enchanted to fit on anyone's finger, regardless of size

For characters unsuited footwear-wise to spelunking, they'll also receive a pair of sturdy boots.

The mission is simple: explore the cave and report back with their findings. It isn't just those who signed up going in; other Witches are suiting up to head in as well, talking in low voices about the probability of something like this even existing, especially with how deep they are in the Wilde. It isn't as if they're anywhere close to the center, but it's still in Wilder territory - they're far enough out that a few of them are nervous about encountering one of the bigger variety of Shades. Despite the reassurances that this cave is clean, and the fresh feeling it gives off, the murmurs continue until the mission officially begins.

Smugha Cave

The cave itself feels refreshing compared to the oppressive air felt on the way here, not unlike an oasis in a desert. Cool in temperature and a little damp, it's mostly dark aside from the sunlight coming in the front and the bio-luminescent cave flora that climb the walls - though those are still too dim to really see by. Heading further in reveals sharp cliffs with stair-like structures carved into them, inviting an easy way down into the depths, and landing at the bottom of these is a wide, dark room, even colder than the last.

It's time to start exploring.

I. The Water (cw: magical corruption, physical sickness)


For a cave located in the middle of the continent and in the depths of the ever-reaching forest, there certainly is a lot of water. Damp to the point that it might be considered humid if the cave was any warmer, puddles form beneath long stalactites, and shallow pools of water pour into each other from landing to landing; they populate the floor too, making walking a little treacherous. A few of them glow and glimmer with a faint, pale blue light from the magic runes found around them - these ones, at least, can be read. They're not so different from the script used in Aefenglom itself, though the way they've been carved into the stone makes them a little sharper in shape - for those in study at the Coven, or in spells in general, it's evidently a cooling spell. That isn't so hard to figure out though, as the pools of water surrounded by them have a pleasingly cold temperature, while those without them are near scalding. A few of the latter have runes around them, but they're not glowing like the rest - feeding a little magic into them changes this immediately, and steam rises in a sudden blast as the water cools rapidly. The opposite can be done for the colder pools too - taking their magic somehow or ruining the runes will make them bubble and boil as they surge in temperature. It'd be best to mind oneself around these, as unlike in a dream, any injury sustained in the waking world is a little more permanent and painful.

Three pools in particular have to them a translucent green shimmer, made a little more blue-green by the cooling spell carved and activated around them; they're deep enough to wade into, or even just sit by and rest one's feet in - both of which feel like very attractive ideas to anyone who looks at them a moment too long. The water is pleasantly cool, and those who take a quick rest in them will feel more refreshed than they have in years. Their worries will fade, the anxieties they've held in the back of their mind seeming to slide off into the water, but in place of it something new occurs: within fifteen minutes of resting in the pool, they'll begin to feel sick, and grey spots begin to appear on any wet skin. Longer than that, and those residing in the water will find their spots turning black instead, and a lot harder, too. This affects Witches quicker than it does Monsters, curiously enough - for Monsters, it takes almost double the time. Getting out and getting dry will temper the effects back down, though the feeling of being not quite refreshed lingers.

That isn't all the water the cave has to offer - the large cavern has a sudden, massive drop in the form of a sinkhole on about halfway across the room; it leads to a similarly massive underground lake. Traveling around the rim of the sinkhole shows there's multiple waterfalls pouring into it soundlessly, pooled together from the pools of water running into one another. Thankfully, there's another way down other than just diving headfirst into the darkness - twin tunnels on each side of of the sinkhole, not quite natural in nature, lead down to the lake in a gently winding slope.

Starting shallow before getting much deeper in the middle, the lake also has an inviting feeling to it, stronger in its suggestion to simply take a load off, to let anxieties and worries simply soak and sink away in its pleasantly tempered waters - but it also has a stronger reaction in those who enter its depths. Within five minutes, those within it begin to feel sick, the grey spots showing up on their wet skin, and the rate of their blackening and hardening is quicker as well. This, once more, affects Witches quicker - and, just like before, getting dry will make alleviate the sickness and the spotting both, with the discomfort lingering long after.

In both the upper and lower caverns, there are tunnels leading to other parts of the cave - they might just be worth checking out...
II. The Upper Tunnels (cw: risk of injury, spiders and other insects, hallucinogenics)


The tunnels leading from the upper cavern stay relatively horizontal, with small hills and valleys among their turns and a lower ceiling that might have people higher than five-and-a-half-feet ducking a little; they're more like a labyrinth than anything else, with empty metal sconces beginning to appear further within them. Sharp, thick nails have been hammered into the stone as well, with leather pouches rotted and torn hanging from them - whatever were in these hasn't remained, either due to wildlife or decay. Small rooms and caverns shooting off from the tunnels hold much of the same, albeit with a few other items: jackets and other clothing, Coven robes, specially-tailored Monster wear, instruments with snapped strings or clogged holes, candles burnt to the wick. One room in particular holds a few bookshelves, though the wood is also in poor condition due to the dampness of the cave, and the books suffer for this as well. What ones can be made out seem to be standard fare: the type of books one might expect to find in the fiction section, ranging from romance to horror to fantasy, and a few Coven textbooks on spellwork, specifically basic transfiguration. Not all of this is so old, however - some of it seems newer the closer explorers get to the "end" of the tunnels, either landing them in a room or at an ordinary dead-end.

Unfortunately, the tunnels aren't as safe as they seem: giant spiders make their homes among the caverns and tunnels, made obvious by the webbing that appears before their funnel-like traps. They range from the size of large dogs to horses, but all of them have the same venomous bite that causes hallucinations, deliriousness, and fatigue. Among giant mushrooms whose spores paralyze those who breathe them in live similarly large millipedes, incredibly long and vicious; they attack in pairs, but thankfully just have very, very painful bites. Last but not least are bats - regular sized, plentiful as they might be in any cave, and just as annoying, too.
III. The Lower Tunnels (cw: risk of injury or death, imagery that may be disturbing, corpses, physical sickness)


Meanwhile, the tunnels leading from the lower cavern have higher ceilings and are mostly flooded (about waist-high) due to the nearby lake; water permeates through the rock in rivulets, darker than the lake above, and give a similar effect to the water in the lake itself. Thankfully, they're also mostly iced over - walking on them takes practice and a careful eye, considering the ice is thin in places. The air becomes more frigid as the tunnel dips down, with smaller caverns sharing the same fate: covered in ice and icicles, their entrances sometimes a little too squished to get through without breaking the ice or being particularly small in stature. Those traveling might notice a trend if they look a little too closely at the clearer parts of the ice as well: scratch marks gouging into it, as if something'd been trying desperately to get out. The longest tunnel opens up into a frozen room, as tall as the lower cavern itself, sconces lit with pale blue fire - magic, and obviously so. The walls glitter beautifully with the light, but looking down into the depths below, past the sheet of ice that allows travel, reveals something horrifying: dozens of thin husks and corpses of animals and adventurers both, held in place by the ice as it stretches down like spikes into the water. Witches, Monsters, Shades, other creatures - not a single one spared, with a mix of infected and non-infected among them.

These tunnels aren't exactly safe either: ice-breathing salamanders the size of elephants can be found resting in some of the caverns - though they might be hard to see, given their pale white and blue scales. While not infected (curious), they're incredibly aggressive and attack those who wake them or get too close. Their bites can inflict frostbite the same as their breath can, so caution is advised in dealing with these. When killed they remain intact, their blood creating an extra layer of ice on whatever it touches due to its chilly temperature, not unlike liquid nitrogen.

Unfortunately, they're not the only things those adventuring in the depths have to worry about. To be precise, Shades of Monsters and Witches also roam some of the tunnels shooting off from the larger, main one; the latter pulses brightly with white veins of magic on their blackened skin. Both types of Shades are sluggish, likely due to the cold and the lack-of pure magic, but are experts on dealing with walking on ice. The Witches in particular are ticking time-bombs, every spell they cast - primarily of snaring-type spells, desiring the magic and flesh of whom they capture - risking an explosion, but when they do supernova... It's fairly localized to somewhere between five to seven feet of the Shade in question. Those within that radius, however, will feel physically sick and find their skin or fur-scale-feathers-so-on turning into sharp, black shards of ice and infection due to the corrupted magic exploding from the Shade.

Either way, once killed the Shades fall apart and turn into thin, brittle corpses of what they used to be; they're old enough that when touched, they simply crumble as if made of ash.
IV. Outside The Cave (cw: nothing)


For those seeking a little relaxation or recovery can make their way back outside - or be helped that way, given their flares. There, Witches can take care of them, food can be shared, and in general, people can take a breather. As the first day closes, and the cave proves itself to be bigger than expected, Witches will also offer to teleport people back to the city should they wish to go - staying would be nice, but they aren't going to force anyone to stay who doesn't want to. They'll also be collecting information from those who've ventured inside, encouraging each person to share with each other their findings as well.

(Note: Essentially, this is more of an open/breather prompt, considering the heavier nature of some of the prompts above; any injuries or infection sustained can be healed here, extra supplies can be gotten, as well as anything that might need specialized storage - such as bottles, cages for small animals, and so on. Characters can be teleported back to Aefenglom in small batches occurring every hour should they choose, but they cannot be teleported back; it's a one-way trip. Otherwise, at the end of the three day stay, the same trek will be made back to the city, and the quest will be considered "completed"... Until further notice. Any questions can be asked here.)

Comments

[vytal]

[ let's be real, they probably will. can't have anyone causing trouble on this Very Serious Mission, right? ]

Agreed. And actually...

[ now it's her turn to sound suspicious. cunning, more like. ]

I was wondering if you could show me how to use it? You know, for practice.

[guillotine]

[ Nobody asked Nel to test any of the medics because it isn't, strictly speaking, any of her goddamn business. Nosy agent, will snoop. ]

Your expertise will come again.

[ A seated position makes it a little harder to pull off, but she nevertheless manages to bow without looking like a total fool. ]

It is nice to meet you. I do empathize... something of mine was stolen when we arrived, and I haven't taken it back.

[divineconfetti]

( he says it not because he thinks she needs such consideration. from what little he knows of her, he gets the sense that she most likely would not need such help. but, with that promise, she would be able to fight without too many concerns for defense. if it looked as though the beast — or whatever else might be down here — might get an advantage over her, he would make sure it didn't. in the same breath, he would hope for the same from her. between them, it wouldn't stand a chance.

as wolf swings out into the open air over the cavern's floor, he cannot so much see lady maria due to the bulk of the beast in the way, but he can sense what she has done. the sound of a sharp blade rending through flesh is one that is hauntingly familiar, accompanied by the refrains of the steam and hiss of blood. the creature bellows and whirls towards her, rounding around towards its tail as she leads it in a circle.

wolf lands light on his feet a short distance away, on the other side of the beast. he hears her call out, and the thought is curious, but it makes sense. even standing as close to it as he is, it seems to radiate a cold energy. he doesn't respond verbally, but there's a harsh snapping sound as he rotates the tools in his prosthetic, selecting something he had brought in here on a hunch — one that had been correct, it seems.

the salamander has rounded enough that he can see maria out of the corner of his eye; he sees the tail crash into her, though she still seems to be holding her own. it's his turn to dart forward now, extending his left arm. there's a pop, and a sizable gout of flame is expelled from a vent on a barrel attached to the rotating gear of the forearm. the air shimmers from the sudden heat, and as the flames lick across the side of the beast, it roars. the flames have a far more profound effect than they might have on normal flesh; it is similar, but it is also like ice melting — the effect goes far wider and deeper than he might have anticipated. it's just too bad he doesn't have a jar of oil... that would have made short work of this thing.

bleeding from deep wounds and now sporting a large and grievous burn on one side, the creature is not doing very well; it begins to thrash in one direction towards maria and then in the other towards wolf. he dodges back, kusabimaru raised to deflect any blows. he gets in a slash here and there when he senses an opening, but as it is, he is reminded of his fight with the blazing bull. it will rage, and then it will tire. and then it will die. )

[civicbooty]

[ That tells him nothing about the arm, which — Aymeric thinks, scrutinizing it for a moment more — looks like exposed bone, now that they're closer, with twine and metal imitating muscle. How can that be possible? How, more pressingly, can he wield a sword with it?

The cavern interrupts his wonder with a steep drop.

Aymeric frowns at it, peering over the ledge. The light of the spell doesn't reach the bottom as well as he'd like; the floor of the tunnel is dark. He turns to survey the rock around them: the jutting stalagmites could take a rope, and the grappling hooks are enchanted. He shrugs his own off his shoulder, wraps it around a stalagmite as securely as he can manage, takes a step back, and tugs sharply, leaning away, letting it bear his weight.

The rope creaks, but the hook and the knot hold. ]

This seems a strange formation, does it not? [ He drops his bag at Wolf's feet— ] Pray cast this to me when I reach the base, if you would— [ —and he wraps the rope around one of his gloved hands, backing toward the edge. ] How does a ledge so high come to be in a cavern so otherwise small?

[ He pauses, glancing skeptically behind him as he starts to descend, one foot balanced on the edge of the rock. ]

If I land in a lake, I suppose this will be a foolish question.

[interlucere]

[ What a coincidence, Lux also loves trivia time. Believing that the salamander is magical in some way makes sense, but that's only scratching the surface of more important questions. ]

If there is something magical that made it so large, I imagine we'll be able to find the source down here. [ She both hopes they do, and hopes that they don't. That isn't anything they could contend with. ]

Hmm, you may be right. But that would still mean that there would have to be something to satisfy its appetite when it does grow hungry. [ A beat, and a wry smile. ] Something other than a few hapless adventurers, at least. Hmm, I wonder if it sheds after it eats something...

[ Lux why would you put that thought out into the wild. ]

[scaling]

If you mean large by our world's standards, that thing might not need to eat for years. [ A pause as he digs another mark into the wall with the hook. ] Long enough for people to wander down here...

[ Lux's thought is fascinating in an awful way. If it's growing, it's got to shed, right?

Akira follows behind her with an amused look. ]

If we double back that way, we can keep an eye out for any piles of old skin or human bones. [ Just for you, Lux. Just for you. ]

[grakraka]

[Imagining it shedding delights him, as does the idea that maybe it doesn't have to eat for years. What a neat monster, actually. It would be fun to read about it. Maybe they have books about it? He'll have to check.]

Oh! What about fossils? That might be fun. Or animals frozen in the ice for a millennia. Though bones in general would be an interesting find. As a detective, if you see any, you have to tell me immediately.

[This is a teenager who saw Jurassic Park and probably obsessed over it.]

[interlucere]

[ Akira why are you like this. SHE DEFENDED YOU EARLIER she just came to have a good time and she feels so personally attacked right now. ]

You're welcome to carry them out, Akira. [ She's not that kind of witch, thank you very much.

But Akechi brings up a very interesting point, and as she glances back at him, her eyes light up. ]

I wonder if we might find a giant poro frozen in the ice here. Or perhaps old Iceborn relics!

[ This place is like the Freljord, so it's entirely possible! ]

[whomthebelltolls]

[It's hard not to hear the firearms coming, but at least it's a good sound. A human sound. Something that doesn't necessarily immediately mean she's going to get bitten or clawed open. In a place full of monsters, it's a welcome sound. It also means she doesn't need to be so on edge when she hears what must be a humanoid figure slip in behind her.

She has some respect for people who use firearms on main. They were never really that popular as more than a sidearm where she's from, but that might also be because of how Blood works. A strong weapon, however it is, though, is just what she needs. She might be able to take the lizard all on at once, but some backup is never too harmful.

She'll just not risk both their necks if he gets into a tight spot.

She nods in return, however, setting herself to facing down the lizard as it starts to move, startled from its slumber as it is. Ranged support is also a good thing, and she grips her sword, holds up her light to quickly and expertly assess where the weak points are likely to be on this lizard, and begins to step forward, rising to meet the lizard's charge almost head-on. Though, of course, at the last second, she's very prone to just... circling around it. The best way to attack one of these things is the rear, and that's what she's going to hold to, as her sword lashes out at the end, slicing for soft flank and belly.

Where he targets, well, that should provide a good distraction the other way.]

[whomthebelltolls]

No, I suppose it doesn't. But this is very far out of the way for them to make some kind of entrapment like that... and then what, they were trying to catch members of parliament? They've caught nothing but people with cold steel and magic and the willingness to use it. Surely, a plan hatched closer to the city would have a better chance at making their enemies pay with the blood they wish to spill...

[She is dead exhausted, but she's not too tired for some serious speculation. Call it a habit of her ol' university student mind.]

I'm not sure, but if it is a trap, I wonder if we are not less safe out here than within the winding tunnels. But I'm not leaving yet.

[lonewanderer]

Could be trying to thin numbers. Wilders who go out to investigate things and don't come back means fewer Wilders.

[ Assuming any were died or taken out of commission, but perhaps whoever set it up wasn't expecting the new arrivals. ]

But that's all a guess.

[ She brushes some hair behind an ear, scowling when some of it wraps around one of her new claws. ]

If it were a trap they were ready to spring in person, I think they'd have done it already, when more of us were in the tunnels.

[whomthebelltolls]

[And it doesn't stand a chance. Her blade is quick to slash out, cut deep within more of the lizard's flank, to cripple the leg so it can't move as easily, and toward the muscles at its tail to limit its rearward defense. The bruise hurts, but it'll be alright, and she barely gets the chance to catch her breath and get to work where the next set of muscles she'd like to sever are before she sees the answer to her question in all its flaming glory.

That's not magic, but then, it doesn't really have to be, as long as it's effective. And oh, is it effective. This lizard is dying rapidly, because her companion has a sword, as well, and both of them are well-trained in the art of how to use them to deadly efficacy. She feels better flexing around a bit, as much as the bruise stings, and yet it's her turn to shift, to spin, once the thing is badly crippled, and she can see, within the melted flesh... an opportunity. One to drive her blade up beneath the ribs of the creature, through the softened flesh, and into whatever lesser protected vital areas might be there.

It will not be long for this world, at all, and then perhaps they can see what became of everything down here.]

[whomthebelltolls]

Quite the risk, though I suppose desperation breeds recklessness. [That, she can understand, as negative as it seems.]

So just a deathtrap, waiting for unsuspecting souls. My question, though... is why then did it look like it had been lived in? There were books there of varying ages. If it was just something to set and forget, they'd all look the same, but the collection had been added to.

[justbeingknife]

[ Well, that sort of got away from him, but hey! Point was, they were winning this battle. Majima slipped, ghostlike, from the range of the creature's teeth as it whirled in response to the fire, and drove his blade into the creature's throat from beneath, slashing open its windpipe before withdrawing once more.

Now the creature was whistling as well as writhing, frosting the surface of the cavern floor. It was ugly as hell... but only an animal after all, it seemed.

He dipped the tip of his knife in the air as he stepped over a shallow pool of water, a motion that seemed like absent habit. ]

[gunsmithed]

[ Percy's alright sighting it as the thing appears, and lizard it might be it is demonstrably not...a dragon. Some tightly-leashed tension in his shoulders immediately unspools, but it doesn't affect his aim any. If anything, it might improve it.

It takes patience to wait until the woman engages, the lizard hissing in response, but all Percy needs is for the thing to rear back at exactly the right angle to put a bullet through one of its eyes. The scream the thing gives is almost drowned out by the sound of the shot and it rears angrily towards him, but Percy has already ridden the kick of the rifle and used the momentum to send him running in the opposite direction of where he'd watched the woman go.

The lizard can only chase one of them, after all. There are worse ideas than making himself a target to give the swordswoman a few openings. He might have to reload as he runs, but he's done stupider things. ]

[scaling]

[ Hey, don't mind if he does. He's learned that even what seems like junk can turn a decent price. One man's trash and all. Except human bones. ]

There's more than enough ice here, there's got to be something frozen in it.

[ If they ever find something other than the glassy walls of this tunnel, though. It's stretching on for a while now without any further openings. Akira decides to space out the path markings a bit more. ]

What's a poro? [ And an Iceborn relic for that matter, but he can at least draw some kind of conclusion about that one. The other thing is completely unfamiliar. ]

Smugha Cave, A

[hearthebell]

[L hasn't yet drawn too near to the pools, but he's starting to feel their pull. As others have already started to wade into their depths, bobbing under, coming up for air, the heavy boots that seem too large and awkward on his spindly frame start to slip off, and he's barefoot on the cavern floor, that vivid green glowing in his dark grey eyes.

Another raven-haired young man stops him in his tracks, hand splayed against his bony chest, and it snaps him out of it somewhat.]

I know.

[The response is automatic and abrupt, but not snappish. He's more grateful than annoyed, even if he dislikes being made to feel foolish. He blinks, turning his attention fully to Kylo, a witch he hasn't yet spoken, taller than he is but about the same age.]

Don't you feel it?

3

[topslug]

[ The tunnels they've been passing through have left Yako uneasy, the signs of life somehow worse than if they'd found it abandoned. If so many people lived here, where did they go? It doesn't take a genius to figure something's gone wrong.

Tense as she already is, the sudden footsteps make her stiffen -- and she very nearly shrieks as she's suddenly grabbed and wrenched around, pressed to a wall. There's almost something terribly familiar about it, except of course, she's never really spoken to this man before. ]

What -- [ She intended it to come out as a hiss, but the footsteps come closer and Yako wisely shuts the hell up, barely breathing until the sounds nearly come right on top of them ... and then leave. She can't see through the illusion, but she can hear it well enough -- as much as she can over her heart still in her throat, her pulse rushing in her ears. Which is, incidentally, why England's sudden elation gets him a very unimpressed look. ]

You didn't know that before? [ All the same, she reaches out with one hand to curiously test the solidness of rock that wasn't there before. ]

[keepscalm]

[Her reaction is entirely reasonable and England has the decency to look embarrassed at his outburst. He clears his throat and averts his eyes, watching as Yako reaches out towards the rock. Her hand passes through it easily--it's a convincing illusion to the eye, but it has no physicality.] Apologies. It's just that I haven't been able to do a lick of magic since I've gotten here, and I was very practised in it at home.

[This does explain a bit why he doesn't seem all that bothered about the gigantic spider.]

a

[topslug]

[ Well, if that isn't a familiar voice. There's a bit of a lack of appropriate outdoorsy Victorian women's clothing, at least if Yako feels like being able to actually run and jump outdoors, so she's opted for a hunting suit -- though being cut down to fit her size, with a cap to match, she looks a bit more like a newsboy than someone out on an expedition. ]

Perhaps it's the magic in the air. [ And then she smiles. ] I see you managed to find your way out of the city after all, Mr. Hero.

[ The name is only slightly teasing; she never quite got his name. ]

[topslug]

[ At least he's said sorry. Yako calms down a little herself, once she's established that it isn't some crazy person who yanks others around that she's ended up exploring this section of cave with, and she frowns a little at his explanation, tipping her head. ]

That's odd. I figured out I could do magic pretty quickly since I got here ... how long have you been in Aefenglom?

[divineconfetti]

( there is much about the prosthetic wolf would struggle to explain. he did not invent it, and he wasn't even the one it was invented for — it had been something handed down to him. he knows how to maintain it now, and he could affix a new tool to it if given time, but there was much more about it that was shrouded in mystery.

fortunately enough, however, it's his left arm, and wolf wields a sword with his right. not that he doesn't use the prosthetic in combat, but this allows him to do both at once.

wolf's eyes scan the grappling hook, where it is secured to the stalagmite. it looks steady enough, so he leaves it as-is. he takes the bag from the taller man, holding it carefully as he began to make his way down the sheer cliff-face. wolf is thoughtful; it's not usually in his wheelhouse to wonder the why and how of things. he merely assesses the situation and deals with it. ) I am not certain. Parts of this cavern were lived in, and there are also signs of something having happened. Either might provide answers natural law does not.

( he checks on aymeric's progress as he steadily makes his way down towards the cavern floor. or what he hopes is the cavern floor. more water here would prove problematic.

he squints through the darkness. even with his keen vision in low light, he can't quite see to the bottom. ) Have you reached the ground?

[divineconfetti]

( it may be larger, but it is facing two opponents who are well-versed in taking apart beasts such as it. their swords sever muscles necessary for its limbs to move properly, effectively hobbling it. it bleeds freezing blood from sizable wounds on both sides, and even though it continues to thrash its head and tail back and forth, they seem to be the throes of a creature that knows a bad fate has befallen it.

as lady maria seizes the opportunity and plunges her sword into the wound that wolf's flame vent had opened up. the salamander can't even seem to find the energy in it to roar; it simply splutters, a horrible wet sound bubbling in each breath. to wolf, it seems to him that its posture is broken, which means that it's time for him to end this.

he runs at the salamander, leaping up onto a bleeding foreleg and then again onto its shoulder, the keen edge of kusabimaru opening up a bleeding path around the amphibian's neck as he made his way onto its back. he can feel the cold radiating off of the creature from the contact as he stands on it, but it doesn't stop him; he brings his katana up and then drives it down into the top of the beast's skull. a "death blow," as it were — just gotta do the sekiro mechanics.

one last, gurgling breath escapes the salamander before it collapses under him. he pulls his katana free and jumps away from the corpse, which is a good thing, because standing for too long on it might have given him frostbite.

he flicks kusabimaru, then cleans the blade of the cold blood before sheathing it. he glances towards lady maria to see that they are both similarly baptized in the stuff. ) Are you well? ( she had continued to fight after the blow to her ribs, but that was no promise that she was not injured. )

[civicbooty]

[ Cautious footsteps answer him. For a moment Aymeric says nothing, turning in a circle, and then—

Oh. ]

The ground is ice, I fear.

[ He peers off deeper into the tunnel, but it's useless with the bag and the scroll still above. He steps away from the rope and kneels, examining the surface. ]

I cannot say how deep the water is, but it appears to be frozen well enough.

[ Or it hasn't produced any suspicious sounds under his weight, at least — yet. ]

[keepscalm]

[His embarrassment deepens, evident in the tense line of his mouth and the slight flush of his face.] Since the beginning of May. Or whatever they call it here-- Maiuril? I was in the first batch of arrivals. [Not being able to do any magic for such a long time is clearly a bit of a sore spot for him.]