Undertunnels Infestation - RPLOG
Participants
Date
29/10/476
Log
A fine...well, it's a little hard to tell the time this far underground, and it probably doesn't matter, anyway. Above ground, it would be early evening, but it's by and large dark beneath the streets and general sewer systems of Firmament, where a number of folk have gathered in a small room near the entrance that's been marked out as a camp of sorts. Various interested individuals have been lumped into small groups of varying sizes and sent off down into the network of tunnels that stretches under the city, headed straight for as yet unmapped regions of the creator ruins. The whole thing seems to be a rather organised and formal affair, if a little harried, judging by the way both guardsmen and academicians appear to be acting.
Selena makes her way through the crowds, having picked up the memo about this particular expedition from the freesword's inn. At least for once, her standard attire of trousers and a blouse might come across as less of a generic choice and more of a functional option - much less for the creator ruins with all their loose wires among other things. For a few moments, she seems to be distracted by a familiar being or two; others from the academy evidently in the mix as well.
Angus had heard through the grape vine that the undergrounds were going to be searched, and there was no way he was going to not be part of that. He makes his way through the crowd, his cloak forgotten this day as it would be of no use in the underground. "Hello there Selena." He greets the Wolfess, tipping his hat.
Iguana-dragon had heard of the expedition as well. The last time he was down in the sewers he ended up having to swim out of the underground through various passages. Of course he was going to be there for it, for how else was he going to help with everything that needed to be done? He stays close to Angus, acting as bodyguard this time around even if unasked-for. For attire, he's dressed like before down here.
Indeed, one by one, the small groups are assigned their locations, and tasked with reporting back afterwards - it's not too long before the three are up at the head of the line. "And that should cover what we don't know of the limestone formations even further down," the fellow in charge of the operation, a clever-clanned owl, dictates to a nearby scribe. "Now we can probably move on into the tunnels - there've been a few that've been cleared of rubble of late.
"As for you lot," he says, marking out a small part of a mastily scrawled map on a table depicting what's been mapped out of the undertunnels so far, "I'd like you to examine this particular area - head on over, look for anything that might be remotely out of place, come back and let us know if you've found anything. I know it's awfully vague, but everyone's on edge, worrying that something may be lurking so far udnerground without knowing what that might be. It's frustrating, I know, but..."
Selena greets the fox with a smile and half-wave, "Angus, it's good to see you too." She replies, directing much of the same greeting to Mazurek - though the dragon is met with a look as though to say 'really' at the 'attire' they wear. The delegations done, she takes a few moments to examine the map herself. "Well, there wasn't too much the last few times I've been down here - Besides the lost and some machines, that is. Well, those and steam wraiths."
Angus gives Mazurek a curious look, wondering why he seemed to be sticking so close to him as he moves over to study the map. "...As long as it's not the same goop we found in the basement we should be fine." Muttering to himself he stands back up and lights a torch, holding it up in his right hand as he looks to the others. "We ready?"
Mazurek looks right back to Selena and asks, "What? You think some of the gunk that's down here will be easy to clean out of clothes?" He, too, looks at the map when it is put on display, only to look at Angus inquisitively, "Let me guess. There was something important that I missed? Last I was down here was apparently when Selena was down here last for any length of time."
"Thank you for understanding. It's hard to look for something when you don't know what 'it' is, but apparently something must be done in order to...well, give the appearance that something's being done. I've never been one for politics myself, and wish it didn't exist. If there aren't any more questions, I'm sure you can continue. How much you're paid will be dependent on how detailed and accurate your subsequent report is. With that, he turns to the next group in line tiredly, filling them in in the exact same manner. The well-explored portions of the tunnels lie ahead, leading to the maze-like network of passageways that stretches off to the east. Best to not get lost in there.
Selena shakes her head. "I don't expect a lot of gunk here. There's more water than anything in the sewers, and I've yet to see any gunk in the undertunnels." She replies simply looking back to the fox. "I don't expect anything that some water magic and a little time can't fix." she replies, "Though I suppose scales are easier to clean than fur, hmm?"
The assignment of the task is met with a raised eyebrow and mild surprise; "That's descriptive. Well, at least it shouldn't be hard to find something, but if we'll find what you want... Well, that's another question."
Angus flicks his ears as he hears what their assignment will be about. "We will make sure to 'pretend' like we actually care." He snaps a little coldly before turning around and walking towards their designated tunnels. "And yes Maz, you missed something important. Over one hundred somethings disappearing, shall we continue?" He asks, giving Maz a slight smile as he bows and offers him the lead. Lizards first!
Mazurek is the largest of the group, and as such he definitely has nothing to fear here! Okay, maybe he does, for it is the unknown and all. As the fox tells him to take the lead in an indirect fashion he does just that, "Stuff can easily be removed from scales easier than fur, yes. I suppose that can be true for the thick skin the dragon form gives me as well. I never knew the reason behind it not allowing me to keep the scales I had. Then again, someone did try to explain it as being earth-aligned when I asked that very question some time back."
Selena coughs quietly before tapping the fox on the shoulder - "You don't have to snap about it." she says a little bluntly, though her voice carries a tone of surprise at the sudden change in mood the fox seems to have exhibited. The dragon's comment is met with a shrug. "Well. Until it gets under the scales or between them, from what I've heard." She notes, following along cautiously.
As the group sets down the undertunnels towards their assigned location, leaving the hubbub behind, the tunnels grow progressively darker and a little damper. All is quite silent save for the occasional skittering of a machine servitor as it trundles up and down the hallways, but the little golems are now a well-classified and familiar sight in the tunnels as a whole.
At length, though, the tunnels widen and begin to branch out repeatedly into the many tunnels that form the labyrinth, punctuated every now and then by yet more machine servitors. It's a little odd how they manage to navigate the tunnels so perfectly...best not to get lost in here, though. The air smells a clean and a little damp, with only a hint of metal.
Selena glances about the tunnels as they become more humid, eventually taking it upon herself to try and work a little fire math to provide a light for the group. The servitors don't seem to bother the wolfess more than the dark, dank cave atmosphere.
Angus shakes his head. "If they want to pretend that's their choice. I'm not burying anymore bodies." He comments just as coldly, before he stops and pinches the bridge of his muzzle with a sigh. "Sorry, just. Ya, it's actions like that that fill graves...." His ears droop for a bit before he looks up at Mazurek. Shaking his head as he laughs a bit and continues down the hall, watching the servitors with a little curiosity.
Mazurek eyes the golems, or whatever they are, while they go about their business. He hasn't seen them before, really. Still, he does not divert from the path they had set to check any of them out. He does not join in on the conversation going on, instead focusing on remembering where they need to go.
The tunnels stretch on into the distance - if everyone remembers right, the group has reached the beginning of uncharted territory. The walls are still smooth creator steel, the lights dead a long time ago. By the light of Selena's spell, it's easy to take a view of the numerous tunnels that stretch out into the distance, although a fair numer of them are merely service tunnels, barely wide enough for the servitors to fit through, let alone Angus or Mazurek's draconic form. The air has dried out somewhat now, although there's a little something or the other to the air now. It's a little hard to tell what it is, certainly not a conventional smell of any sort, that's for sure.
Selena pats the fox on the back, putting an arm around his shoulders for a moment. "And you need to try and keep positive. It might be a bad idea to send beings down here, and to be honest I agree - but brooding about it doesn't help prevent it happening again."
the slow walk doesn't seem to bother her, though reaching the service tunnel she sighs. "Not one of these things..." She mutters, rummaging in her bag for a moment. "I'm going to mark the frame of this with something." she comments, taking out some paper and ink. Not the best marker, but there's not much other option with creator steel.
Angus sighs a little bit as he leans against the Wolfess. "Alright, I'll try and think positive." He mutters, his tail flicking as he does try and think of something positive that can be taken from this. "....You're rather quiet Mazurek, everything okay?" He asks, nodding to Selena as she comments about the marking the frame. "That might be a good idea, would hate to get lost here."
Mazurek sniffs repeatedly upon catching the odd scent, even flicking his tongue to taste the air for further identification. He might not be speaking but he is doing something while the wolfess is drawing her map marker. Settling to all fours he gets down low to see if he can identify the source of the scent, "You smell that, right?"
Selena leans over a little, taking a moment to try and smell the scent mentioned. "Now that you mention it, yes..." she replies, rubbing her nose for a moment before sticking a small note to the service tunnel's frame. "I don't like the prospect of squeezing into that tunnel to find out, to be honest."
Angus lifts his muzzle to try and identify the scent. "Huh....that's an interesting scent." Nose schrunching up a bit before he sneezes! "GAh, geeze!" He rubs at his nose, sniffling a bit before he turns to where the scent is coming from...
Mazurek remains on all fours and approaches the tunnel that is the source of the scent. He knows the scent of eggs, given his species and all, and he lets out a low growl, "Who laid a clutch and let it all rot down here?"
The particular service tunnel the smell's coming from is a bit of a squeeze, but it might be possible for Selena or Angus to fit through with a little wriggle room to spare. Mazurek probably isn't going to be fitting in as-is, though, with his draconic bulk.
As everyone is debating on what to do, a small machine servitor trundles into the service tunnel...and doesn't come out. All is silent, then the steady background hum and whirr of the Undertunnels starts up once again.
Selena shrugs, looking back to Mazurek. "I have no idea. It could be some kind of cave creature, but there's nothing that can be done right now about that." she notes, though the servitor's foray into the tunnel and lack of a re-emergance prompts a curious look from the wolfess. "...I don't like the sounds of that. Those servitors always make those skittering noises when they're in the service tunnels..."
Angus quirks an eyebrow, and then cocks his hat a little to the side. "Welp, rotten eggs or not. One of us should probably investigate that." He didn't ask if anyone wanted to go, instead drawing his Rapier as he walks over to the tunnel. The Creator runes coming to life to bath the area in a white light from the flames.
Mazurek stops at the mouth of the tunnel. He groans a little with a shake of his head, "No, wait. Angus, let me go in first." He eyes Selena next, "This is another reason why I wear so little." His form begins to shrink as he focuses on deactivating his draconic form. The loincloth twitches a little but does not fall off as the transformation completes. Immediately afterward, now at seven feet in height, the Iguana turns to head into the tunnel ahead of the other two. His normal form has scales, too.
The tunnel's a tight fit for Mazurek and Angus, but both iguana and fox manage to wriggle their way in after the servitor, inching forward on their elbows and knees. The smell only gets stronger as one proceeds further down the service tunnel, until the end is in sight.
The tunnel opens up into a small storage room of sorts laden with pristine pieces of creator technology neatly placed on shelves, a ramp leading down from the tunnel to the floor - some lines are exhausted of their supply, though others seem quite full - but sadly, all is kept locked behind some strange defences resembling glass. But what is most interesting are a number of servitors lying about on the ground, all of them immobile and in advanced stages of corrosion. On the other end of the room, what looks like it used to be a ventilation opening, although the fan blades are as immbole and corroded as the servitors lying on the ground are, wreathed in the stinking grey mist that trickles down from the shaft.
Angus stares at the corroded servitors in confusion as he sheaths his rapier and instead draws his pistol. "That's odd..." He mutters as he stays at the top of the ramp. He eyes the mist curiously, wondering if its the cause of the corrosion as his ears keep moving. Trying to pick up on the slightest sound as he cocks one of the hammers back on his pistol.
Mazurek, being in the lead, crawls out of the tunnel after emerging into the larger chamber. He had groaned a little at the tight confines of the tunnel thanks to his bulk. He ends up sighing with some relief while he crawls into the room and down the ramp to the floor of the chamber itself before turning to help the other two out of the tunnel. He doesn't transform back yet, not feeling the need to do so at the moment.
Selena makes her way through the tunnel behind the other two with a sigh and shake of her head. The corroded servitor gets nothing short of a concerned glance from the wolfess - a bit of quick air magic blowing the misty air up to the walls, and just a bit of water magic freezing it in place against them. "Right, so... We have a rusty servitor and lots of parts; is there anything else in here that we should be paying attention to?" She asks, somewhat concerned - "Between the smell and the rust, I don't think I'll like what's behind this..."
Angus turns, giving Selena a nod of appreciation before he walks over to the vent shaft. "Don't know, try and look for the servitor that just came in here?" He asks as he walks over to the corroded fan, which he then kicks....
The mist doesn't seem to be sentient, but being largely immaterial, it's not sure if there's anything more that can be done about it at the moment - especially more keeps on pouring in through the vent. Thankfully, the strange barrier that only lets the servitors through seems to be holding back the corrosive mist, although one's not sure if it'll hold indefinitely. Whatever everyone plans to do, it would be wise to get it done before Selena's spell is overwhelmed and the room is filled.
Selena coughs, politely adding; "Try to keep it down, there's a lot of calculations and reassignments to do for this particular spell." as the fan's kicked by the fox. She doesn't seem to be too bothered by that distraction, but...
Mazurek watches the others go about doing what they do. He rubs his muzzle slowly before deciding that now would be the time to transform again. Once that is completed he actually moves up to the fan along with Angus and kicks the thing as well, only with a roundhouse kick instead. Hopefully he doesn't destroy a blade...
Angus turns to give Selena a nod, before he has to duck underneath Mazurek's flying kick. "Sheehs, watch out!" He snaps in a load whisper, before he moves over to inspect the corroded servitors.
Kicking the fan over the ventilation shaft doesn't turn out to be the best of ideas. The already weakened blades shatter into a goodly number of fragments, which only ease and accelerate the remaining flow into the storage room, now unimpeded. Creator steel doesn't quite really rust, but as the servitors show, it does corrode. They don't appear to have been touched physically, but are clearly rotted away both from the outside in and inside out. Who knows if there's still remnants of that mist on or inside their chassises, if one tries to pick them up...
Whatever the case, the room is filling fast. Best to get out of here soon.
Selena shudders a little as the air flow worsens and the steam begins to flow into the room. Well, it was worth trying; the wolfess lets her spell end, rather redirecting her efforts to the ventilation shaft pumping the stuff in. "The both of you, out!" She demands, waiting for them both to leave before making for the exit herself - the servitor remaining squarely in her sights should nobody else pick it up.
Angus ducks as he hears the Fan shatter, hearing that it was time to go as he grabs one of the corroding servitors and drags it out with him. "Yep, definitly time to leave!" He dashes to the tunnel, hoping that he could actually get through there without a problem.
Mazurek was actually expecting...something else to happen when he kicked the fan blade. Noticing the increase in the gas right afterward, he turns to the other two and notes that the fox is retreating with one of the servitors, or trying anyway. He also notices the wolfess not rushing off and howls out to her, "Both of you, get going! I am not leaving either of you behind!" Rushing over toward Selena he adds, "I don't need to breathe! Go!" He literally stops breathing and heads over to help Angus with the servitor. Being much stronger in this form he could probably pick it up and carry it himself. If that's the case he shoves the fox away toward the exit.
The servitor pricks and stings at Angus' skin and fur when picked up, causing no end of itchiness, but nothing horribly and overtly conspicious happens to him as everyone squeezes back through the service tunnel. It's a bit of a suqqze and it's quite possible that everyone picks a few bumps and scrapes in their escape, but whatever it is, the mist doesn't have any mind to actively pursue them and continues filling the storage room at its own pace. How long will it be before it spills out into the rest of the undertunnels, one wonders?
Selena doesn't seem particularly pleased with the dragon - though certainly not waiting for them either if that's how they're reacting - moving off and allowing the spell to drop behind her only when the rest have left or she's forced to dally with a quiet, "Don't tell me not to do my job, then..."
Angus drops the servitor when they are out of the room. "Gah, what in the name of the creators!" He shouts, twitching and shuddering as he starts to try and scratch at the itchiness that seems to have come over him after grabbing the servitor!
Mazurek is forced to transform yet again just to get back through the pipe. After reaching the other side he states to Selena, "I apologize, Selena. Even with your spell going we were being overwhelmed. I think that gas singed my tail a little in the process of escaping. It's itching some." He draws his tail around and up, holding it two feet from the end while staring at the tip.
As Mazurek leaves the service tunnel, all eyes are drawn to it, but nothing wells up after them - it seems that the acid mist is going to take some time to fill up the room completely, perhaps even find its level short of the tunnel's exit. Everyone seems to be safe, for now. The last of the residue appears to have rubbed off the servitor in the escape, consumed in making an itchy fox itch, but at least it seems safer to pick up now. It seems that this would be the end of this little jaunt, unless anyone has any other pressing concerns.
