Lost Investigations - RPLOG
Participants
Date
16/9/476
Log
Damp from the sewers above, the air in the Undertunnels is clingy and musty at best and cloying at worst. This hasn't stopped a small camp from being set up in a bottle-shaped nook formed from a collapsed corridor, sacks, boxes, tents and all, complete with a large cooking fire in the back. A few beings mill about their business, vaguely visible from the entrance, but today's main attraction is a rather small, large-eared, long-haired cat, waiting at said entrance, a hooded cape drawn about her shoulders in a bid to keep off the worst of the Undertunnels' dirt off her fur.
Selena descends the ladder, rubbing her nose slightly. The wolfess mutters something about the stench from above, though really - it IS a sewer.
Approaching the small camp, she hails the cat. "Good evening... I'm Selena, I came about the note you left? THough I wasn't expecting a camp to be set up in here of all places but I suppose it's the safest part of the tunnels..."
Angus descends shortly after, before he turns and blinks in surprise when he notices the camp. When did they move down here, why were they down here? To many questions were forming in his mind as he follows Selena over to the cat, giving them a nod in greeting with a smile. "Angus Solacious, are you the one that was in need of assistance?" He asks, his head on a swivel as he looks around at everything that he thought was curious.
As the meeting place was down in the sewers, the Iguana has chosen the form that would be most suitable for such a trip. He slides down the ladder effortlessly, having chosen his Dragon Form so as to keep his griffon feathers from becoming all dirty and whatnot. He likes those feathers and they'd take forever to preen clean. He was expecting a camp of rats, or even gators, down here and is actually surprised that the one they meet is a feline instead. His turn to introduce himself, the 12 foot dragon bowing, "Lunch, at your service." Said with a straight face, too.
Sewers? There probably aren't too many people who'd want to take a job like that, right? Regardless, a lion makes his way for the undertunnels and heads down the ladder along with the rest of the group. Last but not least of course. "Good day to ya lads 'n' lasses," he says, hopping off the ladder before actually making it full to the bottom. "Ooh! A feline just like myself," he says excitedly as he rapidly approaches the group. "I'm 'ere for guardin' an' what have ya."
Mirana comes down the ladder with quite a bit of trouble, But before too long Mira along with Amy are down on the scene. She'd been here quite a few times, interested by the creator machines around. She wonders exactly what could be wrong though, spotting... her bother and Selena. She chooses to ignore them for now, walking up closer to Dio, "There was a note of some need down here?" she asks.
The long-haired cat scratches her large, floppy ears in a mixture of embarrassment and worry. "Yes, Nadia chose this spot because it's defensible and there's a draft in the place, so that means there's airflow and we won't -" oh, what am I doing? "My name is Natalie, and I'm a naturalist with the Academy. Those back in the camp are Lance, Matthew and Nadia, but...well, I asked the last supply train to put up the notice for us because Nadia won't escort me there, and...it's just a long story."
"My task here for the Crown is to study in detail the creatures known as the Lost and prepare a report on whether they face a potential threat - Firmament is just above, after all. I've made a start, primarily due to treasure-seekers passing through, but I'd like a closer examination of a site that's been reported to me down by the lakeshore in the underground gorge below the ruined Creatory facility. Nadia says it's a waste of time and too dangerous to go there, even with two of us...hence the need for you."
Selena glances about the gathered beings, Mirana being regarded with a slight frown - though she doesn't say anything to her. The almost comical ear-flop is met with a chuckle. "I thought I recognised you. Though I don't spend much time out of the magic wing of the academy." Despite having the time, she doesn't pry about the 'long story', rather nodding to the cat. "Well, all the previous expeditions through the undertunnels alone have been dangerous if I'm not mistaken. There's no shortage of lost here."
That said, she greets the others properly; "Angus, did your shift go well? And Mazurek. I haven't seen you for a while. You seem to only show up when something needs doing, lately. Dio, good to see you as well." There's a few moments of pause before she finally adresses the other solacious with a slight sigh; "Mirana."
Angus looks over the gathered group curiously before turning back to the cat. "hm, last time I was in the undertunnels it was rather....unpleasant..." He mutters, remember back when he came here in disguse. His tail flicking as he remembers how well that went others found out who he really was. "hm? Oh, it was rather boring to be honest. Not even a pickpocket to deal with." He mutters, still rather thankful to the Wolfess for the coffee. His tail flicks as he looks over the others, his gaze stopping on his sister as he notices she is here. "Ah, hello Sister. Didn't realize that you were joining us." He comments, trying to act a little friendlier as he gives her a smile when she avoids him.
Mazurek has never been down in this area before, not that he has been doing much lately as it is. Being addressed directly by Selena has him turning to her and bowing, "I have been keeping to myself lately is why you haven't seen me. Working on my lair a bit and even visiting the quarry to work the ore there."
"Oh! Two lasses! An' the liony one. Good to see ya again," Dio waves as the two new arrivals descend into the tunnels. As they begin walking closer to him, the lion delivers a friendly and slow tap-punch upon Amy's shoulder. Boop. But there would be more time for play later, so he quickly turns around to the rest of the group. "Good to see ya too, lass," he smiles before listening to the cat's briefing. "I 'aven't been down 'ere myself, so it's all new to me. I'm curious 'bout what kinda danger she was expectin'. Beatin' ya up kinda danger I'm guesin'?"
Mirana looks to Selena, and getting only her name in greating chooses to simply ignore her again. "Anything I can do to help out, my shift only just started." She says waddling a bit closer to the cat and wondering, "I've been down here more then a few times, but any additional information past the obvious would be helpful." she says, "What have your studies shown so far?" she asks watching Amy a moment. She looks over to Angus, was expecting something much different from him, "Well, thank you brother, Dio." THen she looks to Maz, "Well, you look much better then last I saw you." she says.
Amy looks over to Dio and frowns, "I'm on shift, and my captain is standing right there, do you mind?" She asks taking a few steps to be up with Mira again.
"The site in question is quite far below the surface, by an underground lake. Others passing through the place in search of Creator treasure first brought my attention to it - the Lost certainly seem to be attracted to such trinkets and the like - and since then the closest I've gotten was seeing it from the ridge above.
"The presence of some sort of ritual ground implies that the Lost, at the very least, have some sort of social structure and hierarchy in addition to their intelligence and ability to use tools, and although they might not be able to survive on the surface world - most creatures that live their lives wholly underground do eventually die when brought under the sun - they still might be able to do a lot of damage in the meantime." Another practically comical flop of her ears as she scratches them. The constant damp and dirt must be aggravating. "If there aren't any more questions, perhaps we can set off."
Selena doesn't seem to be opposed tot he chilly response from Mirana - though given her own it's likely not too surprising. Angus's comment is met with an emphatic nod, and Mazurek's with a chuckle. "Lair? That's... An interesting way of describing home." She replies, Dio's enthusiasm is, as always, responded to with a chuckle and smile. "Since it's the Undertunnels, there's the old creator machines, steam wraiths and Lost. Mostly the lost, given where we're headed. Or so I'd assume." The wolfess keeps an ear turned to the cat, though - best to know what's known about the area than not, after all.
Angus nods in response to Mira before turning back to the situation. "Either way it's still bad, last time I ran into lost they nearly overran our entire group..." He mutters, looking around a bit before he turns back to the feline. "Mind if I snag a torch? We will definitly need the light." They would need rope as well, he starts going through a mental checklist of what he should of brought with him last time in the undertunnels.
Mazurek smirks, "Well, what else can I really call it? A lair fits perfectly when it is a cave whose main entrance has a watery entry point only accessible down in the thirty foot range past the shoreline. I've dug some other entrances to serve as back doors for the sake of making it easier for any visitors to use. It's a slow process of digging it all out to feel like home while shoring things up with some pillars and such." He shrugs and turns toward the others, "Sounds like we're in for some interesting times down here. If there's need for some underwater exploring, I don't need any breathing gear to help with it." Dragons don't need to breathe if they don't need to, after all...
"These Lost are an interestin' bunch," Dio comments as the briefing continues. "I'm getting kinda curious myself. Perhaps I'm becomin' a scholar as well..." The lion is silent for a few moments, but it is quickly broken with a short chuckle. Even he couldn't take himself seriously with such a remark. "Anyways, some torches an' all the standard gear an' we should be ready to head on out." Putting a hand next to his hip, he gently wiggles the sword hiding just under his coat and gives a confirming nod.
Mirana nods to Amy, who unsholders her pack. Mira gets to work getting her own creator devices up and ready, it taking her much longer then it used to, but, after much back holding and grunting she has them up and ready. "Dangerous shouldn't be too much of a problem. I've patrolled down here with just myself and Amy and not had that great of trouble, though we never did go down too far." She says. "And if that is all you have, yes, lets be on our way." Looking about she smiles to Angus, Dio again. Then gives a very odd look to Maz, "Might.. I ask why not live in a house?" she wonders.
"Of course. Get whatever you need before we set off - if you don't have it, I can probably persuade Matthew to part with some. It's for research, after all," Natalie says with a sigh.
When everyone has retrieved everything they need, Natalie leads the way out and into the darkness of the tunnels, having shouldered a pack of her own and a glowing globe of light in her hand. The trip through the tunnels in uneventful - machine servitors are to be found skittering up and down the Creator steel walls, but remain largely docile and uninterested in the party.
Abruptly, though, the tunnels come to a ruined, wrecked end in a collapsed corridor opening out into a natural limestone gorge. The air here is even wetter and heavier than that of the sewers, and everyone climbs down and out of artificial onto natural, whereupon Natalie points downwards at a stream and lake, both lit by glowing lichens and fungi that illuminate much of the place as well. "There it is. I've never dared to get any closer. The Lost are thick as thieves down there. We'll need to climb down, though."
Finally, something to (Sort of) agree on. Selena also gives Mazurek an odd look - "...You have strange tastes in where to live." The wolfess comments, then shrugs - "Up here is the safest part of the tunnels, for whichever reason. The further in you go, the more lost there are, the more dangerous creator tech there is and so on."
That said - she seems moderately surprised with how quiet the journey to the caves themselves is - certainly not a bad thing, though. The sudden spike in humidity makes the wolfess a little uncomfortable, shifting slightly - all that water in her fur not helping. "You can certainly tell why there's all that plant life down here though, it's wet enough..."
Angus followed in silence, trying to remember what he could of the lost that he encountered as he held the torch in his right hand high as he notices the humidity spike. Looking down over the sheer drop he whistles. "I can understand why the lost would congregate here, probably one of the only sources of water within a few miles." He debates on dropping his torch over the edge to see how close the lost were to the cliffside, he didn't want to fly down just to get poked full of arrows.
Mazurek shrugs, "What's in a name? Ixitixl and I wanted to live in a spot where we wouldn't be disturbed and that made for a very perfect spot. Haven't seen him for some time, though. His trip must be keeping him pretty occupied, leaving just me and Donny living there when the kid isn't at school." Stopping at the edge of the sheer drop along with the group, the spike in the humidity has caused his body to sweat some even if he doesn't feel it all that much. Briefly looking to the others he comments, "Well, we're here. Down we go." So saying he jumps off the ledge into a freefall of a few feet before spreading his wings to glide to the bottom.
Never knowing when it might be useful, Dio takes a bit of rope and coils it around his torso for easy transportation. Perhaps a bit strange, but it gets the job done! With a hand firmly attached to the hilt of his blade in case of any danger, the lion follows behind the group, marveling at all the strange creatures and things they pass on their way there. "Quite a drop. An' an awful bit of humidity... Probably should've left my coat at the inn," he grumbles under his breath. "Anyways, I can lower some of ya down with this 'ere rope. I can fly down there as well, so I can be last down. Should probably be a bit safer than takin' a climb if ya can't fly."
