EVENT ★ MAT GATHERING

[futurologists]

The investigations in the sungazing log have lead to a number of discoveries, including trace amounts of solar radiation and seemingly temporary lights in the sky that match no known star charts currently in Chantes. On the 15th, Rick will announce via the verdict over the network: the sun isn’t gone. un: 82736775 Those of you who actually did your job instead of screwing off (and breaking my shit! Yes, I know all about it), congrats. We've made headway on our dumbass situation. The sun isn't gone (obviously). There are radiation levels suggesting that it's still there somewhere, but it's weirdly faint. Concerning item number one. Concerning item number two: there are lights in the sky but they're not native stars. They're red in the west in the morning, and in the east in the evening. This suggests a solar cycle that we just can't observe (with a western sunrise apparently). There are no moons visible; supposedly there should be two. Go figure. The most interesting observations came from the storm, during which the "star" readings went off the charts, dawg. All lit up like Christmas and shit. Hypothesis: the darkness is not because homeboy made anything "vanish with magic," but because he stuck a big "blanket" between the planet and the sky. The "stars" are likely just holes in his dumb bullshit. So let's get this solution rolling so we can get off this godforsaken rock. This is where you losers come in. I need things . . . The mystery of the disappearing sun might be clear, but that doesn’t mean the problem’s solved. Now’s the hard part: creating something that will dispel the darkness. Fortunately, with the right ingredients, science might be able to win the daylight back. All recruits will be encouraged to help with some good, old-fashioned teamwork and fetch quests. SCAVENGER HUNT The list is as follows: Iron ore. Collecting it seems easy enough, but a dangerous serpentine creature capable of breathing electricity known as a Behir lairs nearby. If hungry, it will ambush characters and will not stop unless it succeeds or is slain. Following the rich iron supply, characters will also find a series of winding underground caves and caverns. Inside are items such as glowing cave mushrooms that are likely radioactive. Blue mushrooms maintain their coloring due to a rare solute in the cave water, helpful for optimizing fuel. Green mushrooms are useless and if you collect them you should feel bad. Bat guano. Bats indigenous to the caves also seem to be affected by the contaminated cave water, however -- they’re enormous, blood-sucking, and have developed a mild venom. While one bite won’t kill anyone, the bats have numbers, ultrasonic screeches, and bad tempers. Plutonic rocks. The source of the odd cave life, an ancient scattering of some massive meteorite resides deep inside the cave. They’ve got rich veins and chunks of crystal, the bigger the better. (We’d tell you what these space oddities are for, but we think it’d blow your minds.) Cave Minnows. The fish inside the cave lakes are easy to spot since they’re bioluminescent, but only the small, quick ones metabolize the correct oils for this project. The large ones will simply try to drag you into a death roll the -- surprisingly deep -- waters. Glowworms. See those lights hanging overhead? They’re not bulbs, but bundles of strange, glowing cave worms. Reaching and handling them might be tricky, and keep careful watch of them. They’ll burrow into anything, including your packs, your collected materials, or worst of all, you. Rock salt. Delicious! Potassium nitrate. This one is easier to find in Chantes itself: an old woman in town has a giant jar of it that she uses for pickling. Recruits may attempt to wile her out of a cup, or steal from the elderly. Wildcard. If you don't mind volatile reactions, go ahead and science on your own. Or see anything else that might be useful? Grab it and go. As a side-mission for the cave items, it seems the 15th is also the only day of the year that the night-blooming cereus plants are open around the cavern entrances. These flowers must be handled very delicately or they’ll wither and die, and local insects of all shapes, sizes, and aggressiveness will be drawn to them, so collectors beware. These flowers will have no bearing on the sun solution, but the goblin church will ask outgoing adventurers to bring some back with them. These items may come into play in February depending on IC actions, but otherwise they make for some pretty decorations! And finally, a big thanks to ricksybusiness for submitting their player plot and working with us. You go, Rick Sanchez.

Comments

rin tohsaka | ota to any and all scavenger hunt partners!

[defenceless]

[when she's not mumbling about]

That crazy drunkard— [and] I bet he's found a lot of solutions to our problems at the bottom of his beer mug! [and] He must have been hammered to make this stupid crap up.

[among other greatest hits, rin tohsaka traverses the wilderness and caves with surprisingly calm composure. she's well-equipped for any scavenging as she has a giant backpack over her shoulders, a pair of glasses on her nose, and a shining gem-like pendant around her neck that both wards away predators and grants light. (yes, the short skirt and woeful lack of pants are still a problem.)

it's possible to spot her just about everywhere. rin can be found:

• plucking iron ore out of the earth. gee, i hope that unconscious behir at her feet isn't her fault...


• collecting mushroom samples. you heard that right. mushroom samples. somehow, she has a tool that looks a little like a scalpel, and she's either slicing off sections of the mushrooms to shove them into an open bag or tugging them out of the ground (with gloves). blue ones only, she'll do that smashed geezer a solid.


• dissecting a bat on the cave floor. they have venom!


• retrieving plutonic rocks. someone is a bit too starry-eyed at all the giant hunks of crystal. shouldn't she be doing something productive instead of muttering questions like, "i wonder how much money i could get for these?"


• fishing for cave minnows. with a simple mesh net. don't judge.


• capturing glowworms. rin knocks the groups of worms down with a long stick, and holds an open-mouthed glass jar underneath as the creepy crawlies drop inside—that way, they won't eat her baby swan (who she did bring along?).


• and, last but not least, grabbing some cereus flowers. these rin treats with the highest degree of care, and she sets them inside their own protective vase, the light of her gem pendant scattering insects.]

Iron Ore ...no imouto ga--

[satsujinki]

[With a little jar of fairy goo around his neck, Shiki made his way through the caves, looking for an untampered section of tunnels to go through. There was the occasional shake in the caves as things were trampled and a giant monster seemed to be terrorizing people, but Shiki felt ease in the fact that he had fully gone insane.

Truth be told, the mess Rick made of his room at the inn made it barely comfortable enough to sleep in, so he spent a considerable amount of time working in lieu of relaxing. The venture into the cave was enough to incite a panic in him, but somehow the danger didn't keep him completely out of it.

The grocery list of items to collect was immense and there was little expertise he had in any given field. He wouldn't bother fishing in the cave--knowing just how long it would probably take him. Working with iron didn't seem like a viable option either, until he took his glasses off to wipe away some sweat. When his eyes found the lines and points in the walls of the cave, he felt a wave of nausea wash over him, but found it suppressed by the darker parts of the cave.

He spotted a vein of iron, following it with his eyes, cautiously. The iron had separate lines of death which didn't match the stone around it. With his knife, Shiki started cutting a section of the cave wall out, watching where the points met in the rocky surface. It was dangerous, but he had already grown adjusted to seeing what weakness was fixed into which part of the wall. He knew what would kill the stone around the iron veins without killing the entire cave around him.

Shiki huffed, pulling out a large lump of iron from the wall that had been covered in sand and remnants of rock--all of which collapsed the moment he killed the stone. What should have normally taken quite a long time to excavate--Shiki had liberated in an instant, clean as a whistle.]

LAST PROMPT FLOWER YEAH YEAH

[viscontree]

Rin, does your pendant have magical properties?

[Rin spoke about magic in great detail last time they spoke. Her display of magic was something he took note of. Seeing it again gets him thinking about the magical lineage that Archer told him about. They're here to investigate and scavenge items, he knows. Things like magic and mysterious objects manage to catch his curiosity so he stops and asks about it.]

ROCKS

[boneafide]

You could probably get a lot of money! Crystalized-anything is pretty expensive! But don't we need these for the mission?

[He'll carry your books for you, Rin. Of course he'd volunteer to carry anything anyone needed him to!! ]

minnows!

[sediments]

[ Standing in the shallow waters of the lake, his pants rolled up, the enchanting appeal of the glowing fish has faded by now for Bolin, who's expression has crumpled from semi-determined into something far less enthused. Goosebumps start to form over his skin, cooling down now that he's no longer swiping at the water with a net; there's no wind or snow this far into the cave, but there's still a distinctive chill. He's not too concerned with the temperature however—he'll just lavabend a nice warm patch for when the cold gets intolerable.

Shoulders slumping, he looks over at Rin with a slight frown. ]

Maybe we should move onto something else?

[ This kind of job is probably better left to someone like Korra, who could just freeze the water and extract the fish, or just force the water to flow into her net, taking the fish with it. The minnows are just too agile and quick for Bolin, who doesn't really have the patience for fishing. ]

Let's grab some rocks!

Sigma Klim | OTA

[nicearms]

I - BATS
[ It's probably the least glamorous job on the list, but someone's gotta do it... Just as soon as he can figure out how to displace a disproportionately large number of bats without being mobbed and deafened. ]

[ He's tried shouting a few times, tossing some rocks at the walls far down the passageway opposite, but to no avail. The bats are planted firmly over their treasure troves of literal shit. For half a second, Sigma debates aiming something directly at the bats, though a passerby is enough to quell the impulse. (Thank god.) ]

Hey, [ Shouting hadn't bothered them so far, he'll hail whoever at a normal volume. ] You think these bats'll still have terrible eyesight if their cave is always glowing like this?

II - FISH
[ After the inevitable bat shit fiasco that's going to occur above, he'd probably rather sprint back to town and crawl in a bath and stay submerged til the water was icy, but these cave pools are gonna have to do for now. ]

[ Leaning over the water's edge to scrub clean his hands and arms, it's hard to miss the little glowing fish suddenly darting around his fingers. Whether they were attracted by the filth or the prospect of human flesh, well... neither's a particularly pleasant prospect, but at least they're too small to do any harm. Didn't they need to collect these as well? ... They're actually sort of fun to try and scoop up. ]

[ At least until a massive specimen rockets up from the deep and clamps its lips around his wrists. Thankfully he's got enough of a footing to avoid being dragged in bodily, but that just puts him in a standoff with a big fish who's taken it upon itself to try and writhe its prey's arms off. ]

[ A little help here?? ]

III - ROCKS AND WORMS
[ He's had enough of the local wildlife trying to terrify, maim, or otherwise inconvenience him for now. Gathering rocks sounds like a relaxing alternative... Right up there with watching paint dry, but he'll take it. ]

[ In a tall, narrow passageway, Sigma's somehow managed to spot some loose veins in the craggy overhangs above. Shimmied his way up to them with a foot on either wall and set about loosening them. Halfway through wrenching a particularly heavy hunk of crystal out of the wall, however, he seems to have knocked more than just the natural architecture loose. Sure enough, suddenly there's the distinct feeling of several wriggling luminous creatures plopping down and promptly becoming intimate with the back of his head and collar. ]

[ Letting out an incredibly inelegant noise between his teeth, he nearly bails the ten or so feet he's climbed altogether (whoops, hadn't felt like nearly that much), but slips forward just enough to catch sight of a figure passing by underneath and catch himself long enough to announce himself a little more eloquently: ]

Look out—!

[ PLEASE GOD MOVE THEY'RE SLIMY AND COLD BEING PINNED UP HERE IS LITERAL HELL ]

IV - WILDCARD
[ You know the drill. Write me shit or I'll write you shit, just ask. PP me at pwnyo if need be! ]

the one where sigma nearly gets eaten by a fish

[dearkafka]

[Kaneki's just been wandering through the system of caverns, keeping a vague mental map of at least the direction of where he'd come so he didn't get too lost (this has probably already gone wrong in some way). It was the sound that brought him towards the cave with the deep pools; not that the water really made a sound, per se, but there was a strange sort of echo that seemed different from the rest of the rock around them.

He realizes he wasn't the only person, though the other ALASTAIR recruit seems to be splashing around for... some reason. Kaneki was approaching, about to ask, when a much more sizable splash heralded the fish lurching from the depths to catch the guy's hands in its jaws.

Kaneki's eyes widen slightly as the guy struggles back to avoid being drug into the water. Well, that's not something you see every day.]

Hold on. [He's quick to act, though, darting to Sigma's side, one hand firmly on his shoulder to keep him on terra firma. And the other, well. Somewhere, nestled deep in his memory, he remembers watching some kind of special on sharks. Humans in a shark cage, discussing what to do should they actually become face-to-face with one. Now, this fish isn't a shark, but the same principles should apply, right? Well, one would sure hope so.

Because with the other hand Kaneki just punches the fish on the nose with the full hope that it would let its hopefully-soon-to-be-erstwhile prey go.]

graham humbert ➹ open

[dishearten]

( Graham seems to do best when he has an objective, so he's quick to help whoever needs it. still, there are a few tasks that he's got ideas on accomplishing on his own, and he'd be appreciative of any help.

mining for ore isn't easy work. especially when monsters are quick to attack for it. he can run a pickaxe or his bow and arrow, not both; so help would be appreciated.

fishing for minnows. he's made a net out of very fine rope and is using it to haul minnows out and collect the worthy specimens in a bucket. the problem is his wolf is not great at holding the other end and he keeps eating them. a human partner might work better.

collecting a night-blooming cereus plant. he wants to take one to Seiglind, for research purposes. problem being is they're very fickle and he needs a way to get it to her safely. he's trying to take one up around the roots and bring it back in a pot, help would likely be appreciated!

need him somewhere else? wildcard me. he's pretty handy with a bow and also capable of heavy lifting, if the situation requires. )

fishing time

[ninmu]

[ not a human partner, exactly, but perhaps he can help anyway. Melan's having a somewhat similar problem, except he doesn't even have a net. Or hands. Capturing such small fish with no fingers is almost impossible, and they're way too tiny for him to try and spear on his blade. The poor Monomakia is crouched by the edge of the water, staring down at the surface with the same blank expression he always has. Tinged with a little bit of frustration this time, maybe.

When he sees someone else coming his way - and someone having more success than him catching the fish, to boot - he's quick to get to his feet, turning to face him with a click. ]

You have a net. [ genius!! ] Where did you get that?

Raidou Kuzunoha XIV | OTA

[capital_asset]

Iron Ore

[Raidou is very, very glad he'd thought to bring Barong with him on this particular expedition. An electricity-breathing monster is much easier to deal with when you've got an electricity-absorbing demon to not only run interference but confer that same ability onto you. The behir had seemed more than a little confused, right up until Raidou and Scathach had killed it.

He really hopes no additional behir decide to take it upon themselves to avenge their... relative? compatriot? So far, none of them have - which puts them above certain species of demon in the common sense department, at least, although Raidou isn't going to let his guard down just yet. Regardless, he'd really like to collect the necessary iron ore and get out of here with a minimum of bloodshed on any side.

Of course, that doesn't mean he won't help out anyone else who runs afoul of any.]

Bat Guano

[Other things Barong is good for: electrocuting bats. Somehow, Raidou doubts they're going to be at all popular with the local wildlife by the time they get out of here... although he'd like to think that calling out Lilith to merely put them to sleep for a while could count as a point in their favor.]

Plutonic Rocks

[He really hopes these things don't turn out to be the functional equivalent of Mikaboshi's Uranus Stones. He'd rather not sicken and die from collecting rocks.]

Glow Worms

[Lilith is helpful here, too, since she and her snake are immune to just about any damage they could try to do. Which doesn't stop them from trying, for which Lilith gently scolds them as she scoops them up anyway. She waves off any assistance from Raidou, merely taking the container he'd planned to store them in and depositing the worms inside it in his stead. Raidou feels oddly superfluous.]

Rock Salt

[There has got to be a catch. Somehow. Right?]

Cereus Plants

[It's this task that makes him the most nervous, oddly enough - not only because the flowers are so delicate, but because he's not sure what these will even be used for. Asking outright had proven less than informative.

Raidou doesn't like dealing with gods he doesn't know. And he doesn't know nearly enough about the goblins' gods.

Of course, there's also the question of how he's going to keep these flowers from harm - which is the other thing that's making him nervous. He doesn't want to end up killing them while he's trying to protect them, and himself, from all these insects.]

bats

[winces]

[ she hadn't meant to go as deep into the cave as she had. in fact, she'd meant to turn back around two minutes ago, but strange lights and sounds from deep within call her forward. hence why she comes rushing towards raidou and his summons, armed with nothing but a small hunting knife, a battle cry of some sorts coming forth from her mouth before she suddenly stops cold just a few feet away, eyes widened at the scene.

she thought she heard some sort of crackle, and screaming (do bats scream?) but the scene she walks in on is rather oddly calm. namely, raidou just standing there. unharmed.

surrounded by a number of burnt bats at his feet. ]

Oh. [ a beat. ] You're okay.

[ she lowers her arms, feeling like she may have overreacted. possibly. ]

Sieglinde Sullivan | OTA x2, Locked x9

[grunehexe]

Cave Crawl ⚒ For Ran;
[Sieglinde has had some strange conversations since she came to Chantes, but weirdly enough, some of the strangest have been with Ran. Some of the strangest would likely continue to be with Ran, because Sieglinde is... stuck. At least, that's the only explanation for why there are a pair of tiny feet, attached to kicking, stick thin legs, and the bottom half of a black dress sticking out of that crevice there. ... a little help, please?]

Mushrooms ☢ For Riza;
[Riza had been one of the first to help Sieglinde gather medical supplies in Chantes, accompanying her out to the forest edge. This time, though, instead of a donkey... Sieglinde is accompanied by a dog with a face made of exposed bone in contrast to the flesh, blood, and hair on the rest of its body. It, and Riza's company, has been most welcome- but now, there are mushrooms to think of.]

- Do you have gloves?

[She does, already pulling on a pair of slightly oversized leather gloves and eyeing the glowing mushrooms excitedly.]

Cereus Flowers ❀ For Gilgamesh;
[Sieglinde had initially planned only to contact Gilgamesh to inform him that she had finished with the magical grimoire he had lent her, just to request another. But the message had come, and the timing lent itself to an escort. She promised herself she would be much more on guard- that she wouldn't be taken in by the considerable charms she considered the King of Kings to possess.

Which was. Much harder when she was being carried by him, mind. But those less than pure distractions are momentarily forgotten at the sight of the field of white flowers in full bloom at the cave entrance despite the darkness all around them. Though she'd been halfway through a sentence, (an observation of why they ought to go look fo saltpeter when she could just make it)... she forgot to finish what she was saying, grip on Gilgamesh's shoulder tightening.]

Bat Guano ☣ For Alice;
[Not many people could have fun around ankle-deep bat guano, but then again, the both of them knew Sieglinde wasn't quite normal- and neither was Alice. As much as she wanted to wade in and start looking for choice bits, the older, the better, Sieglinde knew better than to put her feet anywhere near something that might lead to a higher risk of infection. She was rummaging in her bag for something to cover her shoes with, though, when she hears a heavy fluttering of wings, gaze darting upward. Obviously where there was guano, there was bats, but... didn't those wing beats sound a bit... heavy?]

Rock Salt ⚖ For Lea;
[While Sieglinde was quite interested in searching for some of the ingredients they'd been tasked to find, rock salt was... not one of them. Still, a job was a job, and she had volunteers to assist her... and perhaps she could try out a spell or two with it if she collected extra.]

It was around here somewhere...

[She'd found a vein during an earlier exploration, but. She frowns over the lantern she's holding in her lap, keeping Lea's hands free- which was only fair, since she was occupying one to carry her.]

Plutonic Rocks ⚛ For Kida;
[Though Sieglinde had avoided actually riding the creature that ALASTAIR had sent Masamune for her, the cave ended up neccesitating it. Astride the withers of the skull-faced canine, Sieglinde was slightly nervous, but Kida was reassuring, (Kida always was), and so she followed the older woman deeper into the caverns, fingers fisted tight in the beast's fur, the light of the glowing lantern strapped to its side slowly eclipsed by the glow of something else. As they approached, Sieglinde's eyes widened, taking in the rock, the crystals-]

It's beautiful...

Potassium Nitrate ⚠ For Levi;
[Once she'd figured out that "potassium nitrate" was just a fancy "science" way of saying "Saltpeter", Sieglinde had stopped looking for it. Why look when she could just make it herself? But in order to make it...]

Here we are.

[In front of a field of bat shit. With the person she's roped into assisting, pointing proudly at their find as if it means something.]

Cave Minnows ☠ For Alisha;
[Everyone's busy, and everyone's scrambling to get what they need- so it's not hard to contact some of the people she knows, those who would be willing to accompany her where she needs to go. The skull-faced dog that accompanied her was staring into the water, glowing eyes locked on the movement of the fish beneath the surface, but Sieglinde is staring down, arms crossed, before she turns to Alisha.]

Have you fishing experience?

Glowworms ☼ For Archer
[Thanks for lending out your servant, Rin. Sieglinde is trying hard not to let herself look down and to the right, because honestly, that armor left nothing to the imagination, but thankfully something else catches her eye. Tracks in the ground, like holes bored through the stone... and a glow overhead that draws her gaze.]

- what is that?

Science for Personal Gain! | OTA
[It wasn't every day you have a chance to get a hold of this much saltpeter... so of course she'd give some to this Rick person, but she had her own experiments to think of as well. Her own cure to experiment on until she finds the answer. She's had bat guano collected before stewing in water overnight, and now comes... the fun part.

She's sitting by a stream near the cave entrance, gown spread out beneath her, hair done up nicely, a rather prim picture thanks to Sebastian's butler skills despite the fact that she was wearing oversize leather gloves and... sifting through wet bat shit and pulling out crystals with a trimphant Ah-ha.

You know you want to help out.]

Someone Catch that... Dog? | OTA
[While you're exploring the caverns, crawling the tunnels, do you see those two pinpricks of red in the dark? It gets closer, closer, until hints of pale ivory appear, the outline of a skull, the sound of padding feet, a low panting. It gets closer, and closer, until a voice rings out from the darkness behind it-]

Isengrim, get back here this instant!

DOG

[boneafide]

[Papyrus is... no stranger to chasing down dogs, really. Once he hears someone call out to probably this dog, Papyrus braces himself, and aims to tackle the dog (carefully, mind) to stop it from running further into the cave.]

riza hawkeye | ota

[strictdiscipline]

I - THIS IS DRIVING ME BATSHIT INSANE

[Collecting bat shit is probably the least glamorous of all the tasks listed out by Rick, their local mad scientist, but someone's gotta do it and Riza's never been one to complain (much).

A. Things don't start off too bad, her lantern fully functional and a companion next to her, willing or otherwise. They deteriorate pretty quickly as the rustling of wings fill the air, followed by small furry bodies descending down upon them. It's a struggle to keep them off—and to stop an errant wing from finding its way into her mouth as she yells out:]

Any ideas?

[B. Of course, the cave is vast and the bat population large, so sometimes bat attacks happen when she's got no immediate assistance around. Off in the distance is a flash of light, blooming and then fading somewhat in a pattern not reminiscent of any ordinary lantern. Rounding the corner reveals a sight to behold: Riza, sitting on the ground with her back against one stony wall and one hand pressed hard on her shoulder, panting heavily and hair in a state of complete disarray. Littered on the ground are a number of smaller things, some flailing their wings and others completely still. All of them are aflame to varying degrees.]

I don't suppose you have any water on you?

[To extinguish the little bat-fires, ofc.]

INTERLUDE - WHAT IS THIS, DOGGIE DAYCARE?

[Riza might have had years to hone her patience but Hayate certainly hasn't, and the combination of bat droppings and now little worms wriggling into his skin have finally reached a point where enough is enough. Plopping his butt on the ground, he takes a moment to scratch behind one ear — dislodging a small wriggling thing that immediately makes for the nearest crevice — before letting out a low whine and refusing to budge, regardless of all the reprimands sent his way.

Puppy persistence wins out in the end, and any recruits hoping to pick up a few jars of brightly glowing cave worms might be treated to the sight of Riza, teeth grit tight and sitting cross-legged on the ground, carefully picking glowworms out from Hayate's fur while those same worms crawl their way all over her body.

(It's gross, it's so incredibly gross, why does her dog suck so much.)]

II - OBLIGATORY HOT SPRINGS CAVE LAKE SCENE

[The thing about being military is that while it certainly trains a person to put up with a number of gross and disgusting situations, it doesn't do much to cancel out most women's deeply rooted desires to be clean. Therefore the lake comes as a godsend, and whatever fish-collecting task that's been placed before her is immediately shoved to the side in favor of washing off. (Hayate's also of a similar mind, choosing a shallow end of the lake to splash around in while curiously nosing at some of the smaller fish.)

A. Those with sharp eyesight might notice darker markings underneath the fabric of her shirt as she kneels in the lake, one hand combing through her hair. Further observation — or perhaps more aptly, further blatant staring — will reveal the full reach of the faint marks, all differing line weights, to be the entirety of her back, from the nape of her neck down to the end of her spine in a strangely intricate pattern.

Ask her about it?

B. —Or don't, because the larger fish in the lake have sensed movement and light outside the confines of their watery abode, and choose that moment to move as a group to tug at the jacket currently being washed clean. The abrupt motion pulls her facefirst into the lake, her yell of surprise cut off by a mouthful of water and a school of fish ready to enclose her within their scaly grasp.

This damsel in distress thing is getting real old...]

WILDCARD

[ ooc: wanna fight giant electricity monsters? accidentally cause a miniature avalanche inside the cave? make flower crowns out of the cereus blooms? search for something completely different? let's do it. make up something on the spot or leave me a blank comment and i'll write you a (hopefully not awful) starter. ]

B

[satsujinki]

[Shiki didn't quite spot Riza in trouble right away--crouching down by the edge of the water to find her very interesting little dog, giving him a smile when he came out into the open. It had been tough to find, but it seemed he found the underwater lake that had been mentioned in passing by the locals in good enough time that he could sit around and look at it to pass the time.]

Hey, boy, what're you doing here? [Of course, the dog didn't seem terribly interested in him--presumably caught up in Riza's fairly dire death struggle.]

koltira deathweaver | open

[respired]

i. it would behir you to listen;

[Koltira's barely scraped the iron vein in front of him when he hears something hissing. Something large, sinuous, and probably upset. The air crackles around him, becomes charged, and he draws his sword as he turns. The creature is not a dragon, but it's close enough for him. The runes on his sword flash red, and he turns to anyone who may be already inside or just approaching.]

I'll draw its attention. Strike it down.

[Reddish black energy coils around his hands. Though he says nothing, the behir turns to him, its eyes focused, its mouth open. For the moment, at least, the thing seems to have designs only on Koltira. He rushes forward once he's sure his command took hold, and he strikes. He expects anyone else present to do the same.]

ii. we guano get out of here;

[Koltira's thinking of a story told in the Argent Dawn camps. Something about an unfortunate captain and his unfortunate station in Zul'drak, relegated to collecting exactly these materials. Or, rather, overseeing the many adventurers who brought back such things for his approval. Koltira's not particularly bothered by bat droppings--the scent barely reaches him--but he handles the stuff carefully all the same. He's kneeling down to harvest a sample when he hears the screeching. The multiple screechings.

Koltira turns on his heel, glaring up into the darkness as several bats bumrush him from above.]

Damn!

[He uses his sword as a shield, and it's not particularly effective. Byfrost is enormous, but it's not nearly broad enough to offer much protection. Aerial combatants are not Koltira's specialty -- not unless he can bring them down to earth. Hard to do with three sets of grasping claws are yanking on his hair, though. He growls from beneath the growing cloud of screechy bats.]

Distract these things for a second, would you?

iii. wither this; wither that

[If the goblins wanted their flowers, they would have their flowers.

Unfortunately, Koltira is not a friend to even the hardiest plants. Delicacy does not come easy to him anymore, and even if it did, his touch is cold. Sometimes withering. He reaches to grasp the stem of a flower and it all but wilts in his hand. He scowls, and looks around for anyone nearby.]

I would honor the church's request, but I am ill-suited to carrying these flowers. Help me, and I will be in your debt.

iv. paranormal radioactivity;

[So, precious and fragile flowers are difficult for him. Radioactive mushrooms, on the other hand, he can tolerate. Their radioactivity--and whatever else--doesn't affect him. He grabs them in great bunches, stuffing them unceremoniously into a bag hanging from his belt. As he works, he nods to his comrades.]

I will handle those for you, if you like. They're no danger to me.

v. wildcard

[Koltira Deathweaver knows his fetch quests. He'll be all around the caves and surrounding areas--if you need a rescue, a bodyguard, or just someone to share bag space with, he's your guy.]

IV

[boneafide]

[With the flowers he helped Koltira obtain carefully tucked away in a glass container, wrapped up in his scarf, and then put in his backpack for extra extra safekeeping, Papyrus continues to follow Koltira around for the sake of keeping the other company for a while. The other needs it, after all.

Hilariously, the radioactive mushrooms also won't affect Papyrus- having no skin or organs to poison, really. In fact, he's looking at the mushrooms with a sense of curiosity instead, and then eventually, picks one up himself.]

They don't seem dangerous. In fact, they look like the ones I've seen in Waterfall!

[After looking it over for a while, he squeezes it, and then seems disappointed after failing to hear anything. Apparently, he was expecting a small squeak.]

alisha diphda | mostly ota

[1300yen]

closed • barry (mushrooms)

[The scavenger hunt for all these items is important of course, no question about that, but that doesn't mean Alisha can't take at least a little time to appreciate the sights around her, right?! She's somewhat fascinated by the glowing mushrooms, having never seen anything quite like it. However, being from magic medieval JRPG land means that most of the technical terms go over her head; in this case, radiation specifically, so she doesn't realize why reaching out to pick a mushroom with just a simple gloved hand might be a bad idea.

Now might be a good time for someone more knowledgable in the sciences to help her out, just saying!!]

i. that's one way to use a spear (glowworms)

[While a spear can be a useful weapon in a lot of ways, Alisha never thought it would be useful for... Scraping worms off of a cave ceiling... Truly, there's always something new that she never thought she'd be grateful for here. She has no desire to jump up or climb to get the things down though, so you'll be hearing no complaints from her. Hopefully the worms can't cause any damage to her spear! Hopefully.

There are a few containers she has set on the ground to catch the worms, but if she hears anyone approaching, she'll be sure to warn them.]

Be careful not to let any of the worms fall on you! [No one wants to get worms dropped on them, right?] Feel free to just walk around me if you're heading further in.

ii. who doesn't appreciate a pretty flower (cereus plants)

[Alisha saw no harm in fetching a few flowers for the goblin church, and so she's brought a pot or two for the purpose of bringing some back. And, well... She might be a knight, but that didn't mean she didn't care about the nicer things in life, like nice clothes or pretty flowers. (The fact that she wears a pink uniform probably makes it obvious enough.) Seeing as how the flowers themselves seemed to be completely harmless (unlike... most of the things they needed to collect here...), Alisha was hoping to maybe keep one for herself.

Unfortunately, despite her appreciation and fondness for pretty flowers, that doesn't mean she knows how to care for them. Having a green thumb is sadly not on her list of skills.]

Like this? [Tugging the roots a little hard there, Alisha...] Or no, maybe more like this? [Won't someone help a poor girl get a nice flower!!]

iii. wildcard

[These open prompts too lame for you?? Don't worry I agree. Feel free to ask me to write something else up for you, or write something and leave it here if you'd like! If you wanna hash things out just PM me here or at ghostory.]

[sanicspeed]

[At this point, SOMEONE has to realize that Barry has some kind of super speed. Mostly because of how fast he was there grabbing Alisha's arm and pulling her back a bit. Stuff glowing in the dark without a proper container was not good.

And definitely a good way to get sick.]

Whoa there! Don't get so eager to touch one of those things.

closed prompts

[beyourrock]

Closed | Gilgamesh "Iron Ore"

[Pearl could hear the scratching of nails in the darkness. The occasional hiss or growl. But whatever it was, it was following the Gem. She made sure to keep her gem from glowing in the dark interior of the cave. She didn't wish to draw attention to herself. Her eyes have adjusted to the darkness as well as she could. Lately she had been using her gem to light her way, but this wasn't the time to use it.

She could see glints of iron ore on the walls of the cave. The right direction thankfully. With spear in hand she continues her way down the narrow pathway. But she was on high alert. Knuckles white as they held onto her spear, as if for dear life. Just get the iron ore. Nothing so bad about that. However, this mission proved difficult when there was a creature crawling about the cavern.

Another hiss and Pearl feels herself lurch to the right, having heard the hiss from the left, yelping in response.

That's until she feels something solid. Not rock. She's quick on her feet and faces whoever it is. Spear to their throat, keeping her distance. She dares to let her gem glow a fraction, just enough to see who it is, eyes narrowing.]

Closed | Saber "Cave Minnows"

[The lakes within the cave amazes Pearl. She keeps her distance from the edge of one lake in particular, mindful of those especially large fish she catches shadows of in the water. All this running around for materials had made her a little more than exhausted.

She finds herself a perch on a rock formation, just a few yards above the water, seeing a very very dull reflection of herself. Feeling more at ease around here, she lets her gem glow a little brighter. The fish within the lake seem to brighten their own lights in response to hers, swimming up to her rock formation as if it were a homing beacon.

Pearl laughs softly and sets her spear down beside her, sitting on the edge of the rock, and letting her feet hang, adjusting her leather gloves on her hands.

Sometimes, it was better to just relax and take in the sights. There was no need to rush things.]

Closed | Riza "Plutonic Rocks"

[Pearl found herself drawn to part of the cave that seemed most out of place. And yet, familiar to the Gem. She runs her hand along a crystal vein that ran along a huge expanse of the wall. Her gem lightens up, like a flashlight, turning her head to let it run along the wall's surface. She stares on, wide eyed, as her fingers fall away from the wall.]

Don't you think it's strange no one has bothered to harvest this?

[To her, it'd seem barbaric, but she has to sit back and realize that these aren't Gems. These are minerals.]

[babbylon]

[Inwardly, Gilgamesh has been excited—delighted, even—since the moment they entered the cave together. It felt like adventure. It felt like opportunity. At last, he could prove himself to his Master, at last he could show just what the strength of a King was good for. For Gilgamesh had sensed the malevolent presence from the start, and knew they would have to face it eventually.

Gilgamesh's eyes flicker about, vivid in the dark, trying to pinpoint the source of the disturbance. He'd wandered off for a bit to check out something suspicious so he really shouldn't be surprised that he's greeted by a lance to the face once he returns. Gilgamesh puts his palms up, chuckling.]

It is only me, Pearl. What we seek lies further ahead.

[Gilgamesh moves to pass along the narrow ledge, but in her thoughts, he relays to her:]

On your guard. It will attempt to strike when we are vulnerable.

Ban | OTA, not really scavenging!

[perma_banned]

[The inclination to act as a scavenger and get supplies for a big project didn't really appeal to Ban--but, as he watched people walk on their own in the direction of the caves, a little old goblin woman shook her head in disapproval.]

It's nice they're planning on getting those plants, but that cave is very dangerous. They could seriously get hurt in there--maybe not even come out, alive.

[Ban, who had his heart set on retiring to the inn for the entire day, rolled his eyes and followed suit towards the caves. There were a few people around who, with their god-blessed souls, were way too promising to die somewhere in a dark cave. He followed, a disgruntled look accompanying him the whole way.

A few walks around the tunnels of the cave lead him to a fairly large room, where a gigantic lizard dozen a dozen legs came at him right away. As electricity rippled along its scales--Ban gave it a sharp kick to the face that sent it crashing into a nearby wall, temporarily knocked out.]

Where could they be~?

[It didn't help that he was prone to getting lost, either. Ban, wandering around the dark after he kicked the giant lizard, found himself popping up just about everywhere, interrupting people at focus in collecting what they needed with a deadpanned expression to suit anybody's surprise.]

...Where am IIIIIII~?

(OOC: General prompt! If you'd like, please reply with an item up for collection and I can jot down a prompt. You can toss up one as well--anything works just fine with me. I'm at dannication if you'd like to plot.)

[boneafide]

[Of course, they had their checklist. Worms, flowers, mushrooms, etceteras.

But what Papyrus was enthralled with right now were a series of rocks embedded in the walls, some with beautiful crystals peeking out. He has a small pickaxe that they were given to get that iron ore out of the walls, but he's a little worried he might break the meteorites trying to break off some smaller pieces. Even then, he's actually just having a nice time sitting by the bright gems that glow in the light of the lantern he brought with him.

That nearby voice sounds a little familiar though, and so he calls back out-]

Hello? Is someone there?

Undyne | open

[aspearation]

[ A. Which way to Temmie Village? ]

[ As Undyne makes her way deeper into the caves, she stumbles upon the glowing mushrooms she'd been told to look for. She didn't expect them to be so bright and blue; the green ones largely escape her notice. With a big smirk, she kneels down, leaning on her spear as she does, to poke at the mushroom. For a brief second, she's disappointed, until she turns to another adventurer who's made it this far. ]

Come here, look at this!

[ She pokes it again, with the same effect. ]

They don't even do anything, are these the right ones?

[ B. Just because she can. ]

[ The rocks itself isn't what poses a problem from Undyne, as she finally finds a big one studded with crystals, deep within the cave. She cradles it in her arms, in an attempt carry as much of it out of the cave as she can, but realizes that it makes navigating a little difficult. There's no good way to carry it except for in her arms, but when she does that, she can't exactly see in front of her. She might be reckless, but she's not going to get anywhere if she doesn't know where she's going.

Setting the rock down, she waits briefly for another adventurer to make their way into the cavern, to hail them over. ]

Hey! Help me get this thing out of here!

[ C. Wildcard ]

[ Want something else? Undyne is giving her all into the gathering effort; she's around to help anyone who might need a little extra muscle, some protecting, or might just find themselves short of a weapon in the face of some cave beasts. Feel free to ping me at culling if you want to work anything out first! ]

A

[sanicspeed]

Put that down!

[Oops, he's a little short about it. But he knows that kind of thing is probably dangerous, being all about the science and all.]

You'll end up getting sick !

Kida | closed

[adlantisag]

A. for Saber // plutonic rocks

[ It feels like home. She doesn't say it outright, but as the cave is discovered she steps inside alone, explores it, enjoys the glowing cavern ceiling over her head. The bats are new, but a quiet step and a hand over her pendant keeps them silent; the worms tickle at her skin, but she makes a paste out of the water and some murky algae, and they slide off.

For a while she abandons the mission in favour of simply wandering the mazelike passageways, memorizing the feel of porous stone beneath her fingers. It's warmer inside, so by the time she reaches the depths of the caves she's carrying most of her winter garb under one arm, her spear in the other hand used a walking-stick.

Her pendant lights the way; it's glowing even more brightly than usual, humming with a heat and energy she hasn't felt since she left her homeland. She follows the intensity of its pulse, and it leads her to a large cavern, dotted with rocks that glow just as it does. The floor of the cavern is flooded, and while she knows the water is meant to be dangerous, she can't help the ache she feels, the need to rush in. When was the last time she swam?

She's got two bare feet in the water before a sound makes her turn; she must be a sight, in her tunic and rolled-up leggings, her pendant glowing and her markings and eyes catching the light. Ankle-deep in water, with the glowing stones backing her, she almost looks like this is where a girl like her belongs. ]

Who is there? Show yourself.

B. for Ban // mushrooms

[ Poor Ban's been roped in mushroom collecting. Kida has two woven bags full, one for the glowing type that Rick can apparently use and another one for the edible kind. Where moisture lives, so do fungi, and Kida's delighted at the prospect of cave mushrooms, varieties she knows. Small succulent white mushroom, broad-rimmed mottled brown ones, even the strange green ones. ]

Ban!

[ She calls him over, motioning to a particularly large, particularly stubborn fungus. ]

It's too big. Pull it out.

C. for Masamune // cereus

[ Masamune joins her at the cave's exit. She knows he hasn't been fervent about the turn of the mission since their escape from jail, but that hasn't really stopped her from enjoying his company. ]

Will you carry this for me?

[ She hands him a leather satchel full of the day's prizes, and they make their way out into the night, out into the cold again. ]

Ah, Masamune--look.

[ She recalls what the goblin elders had told them: it only blooms once a year, and if you could bring some back...

But she hadn't thought they'd be so lovely. ]

Baaaaaan

[perma_banned]

[After finding Kida, Ban figured he could pass the time by figuring out more interesting things about the caves. He had hoped there would even be some veins of gold around, but such was his disappointment. She was in good health and there were no true valuables he was interested in.

Even so, she was pretty intently hunched forward in a precarious position, persistently tugging at a particularly stout shroom while Ban observed in silence. Sobriety did very little to lend patient to the Sin of Greed.]

Ah~? Don't be so rough or you'll break iiiit~.

[Ban approached--squatting down to look over Kida's quarry--which she was fervently tugging at.]

Try wigglin' it a little before you go askin' me to do all the work.

Sakura Kinomoto l Cardcaptor Sakura l Open

[keystaff]

Okay, so even Sakura can tell Rick seems rather. Well, drunk. But she still wants to help somehow, and figures if she goes along helping looking for these things it will mean they have that much more supplies, and she can assist in healing anyone who might get injured in the process.]

Let it Glow, Let it Glow, Let it Glow!

Ooooooh. They're so pretty! Almost just like the Glow Card!

[Except. Well, the Glow Card doesn't suddenly attempt to burrow everywhere like this. Which Sakura just might be realizing too late when she stops being so distracted and tries to start collecting some of them.]

Okay, you're not pretty anymore! Get...get off!

Fishing Time!

H-hoeeeeee?!

[Fishing seems easy enough, right? In theory. Except, maybe not when you're so young and small as Sakura. She just might be struggling and about to be pulled into the water by a particularly large and strong fish.

Help? Of course, she could be cheating and using Watery, but she doesn't want to harm the marine life if possible.]

Flower Power, aw yeah!

[Sakura can be found admiring the flowers, kneeling next to them while also being very careful and deep in thought as to just how to transport them. In a pot? She should probably gather some of the dirt, the soil too, right? With some water.]

I don't want to end up killing it.....

fishing

[servant]

Sakura?

[Merlin's pretty used to gathering things for Gaius, though most of those things don't glow or bite. So he's starting with the minnows when he hears her call out. His eyes get wide when he spots her struggling, and he hurries over to help.]

Hang on, I've got you!

Alice Liddell | OTA

[digophelia]

A - Iron ore (if you feel like getting into trouble)

[ As always, Alice chooses to go alone, armed with just her knife. The dim lighting of the cave from the mushrooms protruding from the walls is a godsend for Alice, who refuses to enter in without a torch or a lantern of some kind. The soft glow of blue and green remind her of the night skies of Wonderland as she goes further and further into the cave. It's such a shame, it would have been pleasant to stay longer and look at them, but a mission is still a mission.

Silence envelops the cave as much as the damp, cold air; only the distant sound of water dripping, her breath, and footsteps can be heard. Though when she hears the distant noise of the serpentine creature off in the distance, Alice stops to listen for it to approach closer. Thankfully, she's picked up what she could along the way before this came a problem. Dirt smudged across her pale cheeks as she pushes her hair out of her face, Alice foregoes any sense of caution and moves closer to one piece of iron ore protruding out of the rocks. She tries to be quiet, torn between running up and grabbing the piece and taking off from the cave before a confrontation can happen.

Between the scuffle of her boots making their way up on uneven rocks, the sound of rocks hitting the bottom of some unknown part of the floor echoing down bellow, Alice isn't successful on remaining silent. ]

Oh, damn.

[ It's the first time she finds herself cursing here. After all, she wanted to avoid a confrontation of any kind and wasn't to keen on taking on giant creatures. It is what she said to Ban -- "We do what we need to survive, don't we?". Nearly slipping off, Alice quickly jumps off to more stable ground, breaking out in a run. With little hesitation, the vorpal blade is drawn from her side after securing her bundle of iron ore. Just how many arms does this thing have?

How many it had, it didn't matter because Alice wasn't going to stay around to find out with it storming out of it's hole, hissing at her.

She has all the best luck. ]

B - Night Flowers

[ After the first attempt at snooping around in a cavern, it's a wonder that Alice braves it again. Mild injuries aside, the descent down into it is a slippery one with boots that really don't have as much traction as she would hope. No matter how uncomfortable or daunting these tasks were, Alice was back again. She was dirty and certain that her riding dress could have been torn as she plopped down onto the cavern floors- ]

Why not? I haven't made enough use of my bad luck already.

[ She remembered the most crucial advice was to handle the flowers with care. Monsters and such aside, that seemed more daunting. Her eyes trail back up to the walls she so scrambled her way down, with a bit of a frown and then to the flowers, dimly glowing. To her, after everything she had collected and did today, taking these flowers from their beds under the moon seemed sad, in a way. With a bit of a sigh, Alice did what she could to pull her long hair back, at the sight of insects. Alice, who braved caves, battles, and monsters wasn't prepared to face off with creepy crawly insects almost large as her head.

Disgusting, she thought, adjusting the collar of her dress, hoping that the thick, long sleeves and the trousers underneath were thick enough to deal with this task. ]

C - Wild card

[ Alice will be down for any other assistance afterwards! ]

A!

[dishearten]

( one would think that being cursed for thirty years would mean that the skills of before would fade. decades was a very long time to go without practice, after all. firing a bow was not something one would think that would be so easily picked up again after so long without. the bow he uses in Chantes is not the same as the one he made himself so long ago, and in some respects he's still relearning the old habit.

when it comes down to it, though, he was known for never missing — and when it matters there's not an option of firing twice.

he barely can tell who is running from the creature in the rush of the moment. it doesn't really matter, though; as long as they're a member of ALISTAIR then he'll do what he can to protect them. his arow is a whistle in the dim cave, and considering the circumstances it's almost alarming that it stays true to where he intended it, landing in a sallow eye socket and causing the creature to recoil with a snarl. that's not going to make him a friend of the monster, but what he hears from others is there's no making friends with this creature.

his wolf is an uncertain snarl at his feet, unsure whether they should run or attack. even with an eye out, the monster continues forward, and if Graham bought Alice any time at all... it wasn't much. )

We can distract it. ( if she wants to run and avoid the fight, then he'll at least give her room to get away. he's not sure that he and the wolf are capable of killing the monster, he's never seen anything like it before. they'll certainly try, though. )

Closed + OTA Wildcard

[keeper]

Closed to EREN:
[ The dancing patterns of the bioluminescent fish are almost mesmerizing, and for a moment Aqua simply stands close to the lake's edge, admiring the peculiar trails of light under its surface. (Studying them too... It seems it'll take more than a quick hand to catch one of these creatures.)

She touches the point of her Keyblade to the water, slow and careful as to not scare away the nearby school of minnows, and whispers a spell that shimmers down her weapon and ripples out into the lake. The small area in front of her solidifies into a block of ice (inside it a handful of unsuspecting fish), and she retrieves it immediately, suppressing a shudder as her feet and ankles are submerged.

By the time Eren finds her she'll be knee-deep in the dark water, trying to pull in a second clump of ice... (It's a slippery affair and she ends up awkwardly herding it in using both her arms and legs...) ]

—Eren! ...Do you have a spare moment?

[ She could use some help, these minnows look like they're swimming farther and farther away from the shallows... (She also assumes he's here on assignment, judging from his strange getup of belts and boxy equipment.) ]

Closed to LANCER:
[ What... a lovely list of items they've received... (Surely it can't be so different from collecting ice cream ingredients, right...)

From the top seems like a good and methodical place to start, and there's no lack of iron-rich ore lining the cavern walls just inside the entrance. Aqua stoops to pick up one of the heftier rocks, inspecting it against the blue light of her Wayfinder, and is about to tuck both objects away when she hears the distinct sound of heavy scales grating against stone, somewhere not so far behind her.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly draws herself to full height...

—And dives forward as an enormous maw snaps viciously at her, rolling quickly back up into a full-out run. She has no idea what it is chasing her but doesn't plan on finding out just yet, and barrels deeper into the cave in hopes of reaching a proper space to mount a counterattack. (Her path is faintly lit by the strange plants and crystals embedded along the tunnels... Also by the sparks emitted from the beast at her back as it scrabbles along in furious pursuit.)

A crackle of electricity lashes out from behind her, and while it misses Aqua by several feet it tears up the ground in front of her, causing her to lose her footing and tumble forward and down on a sudden, steep incline. She's deposited at the bottom of some uncharted cavern, given only a few seconds to collect herself before the Behir inevitably catches up... ]

Closed to LEA:
[ She would've been happy to skip this part of the laundry list, but all her wandering and sidequesting has brought her to a giant nest of bats regardless. (They're bigger than Axe Flappers, and the smell...)

They also happen to be dozing at the moment, wrapped up and practically breathing in perfect unison, and she does her best not to grimace too much as she procures an empty bottle to collect the closest batch of droppings... (She should head back afterward and rid herself of this as soon as she can...)

Hearing a faint shift of fabric nearby, Aqua glances over to see a familiar figure.

Lea...?

Verbal greetings probably aren't a good idea; she nods wordlessly at him and points upward at the slumbering bats overhead, then brings the same finger to her lips. ]

WILDCARD!!
[ You name it! Can be reached via PM or noctium. ]

hi omo I'm alive...

[counterattacked]

[You're a Nomura character you have no higher belt getup ground here, Aqua.

Anyway. After all this time spent sitting on his hands, Eren's quick to volunteer for the scavenger hunt. First in line to support the idea of doing something that might actually start to fix the problem of the blacked out sun, and lets be real, first in line to escape the stifling confines of the city for once. Enthusiasm isn't everything, though. Shiganshina was a pretty backwater city in comparison to most. But it was still a city... Eren had worked fields and landfills as a refugee, but he's not enormously experienced with hunting or fishing compared to his more rural classmates. The minnows have escaped him thus far—in no small part because the quiet and patience required for proper fishing doens't remotely come easy to him.

For all it's unconventional, Aqua's method might work a little better. Eren's all about trying the unconventional, if it might work. He does stop shock still for a second like he's trying to figure out why the hell Aqua's dead set on fishing frozen chunks of river out. (Not like they've got a shortage of ice going around, with the sun still refusing to show.) But soon enough he catches the blue light of the bioluminescent fish refracting through the block and it falls into place.

Of course, while Aqua's busy with the cumbersome block, she's easy pickings for the larger aggressive fish. No sooner does she ask for help than a black fin breaks the water, splashing wildly. Eren wastes no time in clipping a blade into a holster and darting into the icy shallows to Aqua's side.

Spear fishing is also an art he's...rather unfamiliar with. At least for now the big (y'know, for a fish,) guy is content to circle them threateningly, trying to funnel them deeper into the water. He hisses through his teeth as the giant minnow sends another icy spray their way.

Over his shoulder, he asks—]

Can you hold on to it?

[The block of ice. If he clears the way.]

Gintoki Sakata | open and closed

[naturallywavy]

MUSHROOMS — OPEN
_{[ This prompt is nothing but a copyright infringement. Honestly, you walked straight into this one. Gintoki is picking up a green mushroom with ease and shoving it in a small bag that he has strapped around his body. With a very cool tone to his voice, he looks at you with a half smirk on his face. ]}

Hey, hey. Don’t look so glum about it.
_{[ He pats his bag. ]}
Got’em right here.
_{[ what's in his bag… other than mushrooms .. ]}
I probably don’t need’em anyway— these extra lives.
_{[ ....son of a bitch. ]}


BATS — OPEN
TAKE A SHIT IN THE BAG—!!
_{[ There isn’t much to this prompt other than the fact you’re gifted with the spectacle of Gintoki holding out a plastic bag and starting to antagonize a bunch of drowsy bats. Yeah, he’s yelling at them. Somebody tell him how dangerous they are. ]}


CAVE MINNOWS — CLOSED TO OLIVIA
_{[ He had brought with him a few supplies for this task, but he was certain he might go about other means of collecting these fish. ]}

This is a pain. Don’t you think it’s a pain?
_{[ He settles his lantern on the ground and looks at the water with distaste. He was mainly dreading getting any colder than he already was, but this job had to be done. ]}

What about people’s nips? Hey, they’ll freeze off. Did they consider that when putting a lake here with minnows in it that we’ll need? <sub>[ ‘they’ … they who. who was he talking about… nothing about this sentence made sense. Anyway, Gintoki sits Indian style with a plastic bucket in his hand, scooping down anytime any he feels like the fish are getting close to the edge.

Boring. ]</sub>

FLOWERS — CLOSED TO GILGAMESH
_{[ You know, he could have easily gone home and rested after he had obtained most of the items that were needed which all seemed kind of random to help with their situation, but whatever. Somebody caught his eye when he was passing one of the cave entrances and… ]}

Oi, oooi, Gil-kun. I didn’t know you had a soft spot for picking flowers. Who are they for?
_{[ Well. Now he has every reason to stick around and maybe he can pick a few too. He’ll show you.
With a flat tone, he cups his fingers around his lips: ]}

Everyone, everyone. Gil-kun has a crush--

SHROOMS

[troublebusted]

[ Nico is sure she should have just turned down this scavenger hunt. What is an idol like her doing in a dank and probably dangerous and definitely disgusting cave system? And do mushrooms glow this much normally? She's pretty sure mushrooms can glow or something, but this seems rather bright for something safe to handle. She once again thinks that she should have just stayed in bed this morning as she tries to pick one up with the disposible chopsticks she had on her when she ended up in this dimensional mess. It's not working very well. She may have to just grab it.

Still, she is safer than she is on her own. Whatever else she might think of Gintoki, his rescue of her on that day she'd rather not think about suggests he's at least fairly good at -

She looks up when he speaks and, initially, she doesn't get the reference. When she does, she wishes she hadn't. Well, her expression isn't so glum anymore, but it's not exactly amused (as per here). ]

Oh my god. Really?

[ Why is she here. ]

Hellboy / open

[hellshaped]

OUTSIDE.

[Hellboy spends some time outside some cave mouths, poking around in foliage with a hoof. He may have lost a contact, but more likely he is looking for the cereus plants. He's become friendly with the goblins, and is more than happy to help them out with whatever they may need.

Despite his size, Hellboy is able to handle things delicately with his normal, flesh hand. Using the right hand would just be an exercise in futility, so he instead just holds a jar with it, carefully picking flowers with the left and depositing them in the jar. It's going smoothly until he starts hearing a buzzing in his ears; he assumes it's just a curious bee seeking out the plants, so he waves his hand in the air without looking.

The buzzing doesn't go away, so he finally looks up -- it's not a bee. It's a lot of bees. He is in the middle of an entire swarm of bees.]

Crap.

WE HAVE TO GO DEEPER.

[Inside the caverns, it's not so different from outside. Without a moon or stars, darkness blankets the outside world just as much as inside here. In fact, inside the cave has slightly better visibility -- Hellboy can actually see details for once, courtesy of the strange, glowing fungi on the walls and the floor and the ceiling.

The clacking of his hooves echoes in the cave a little unnervingly; he's usually unaware of the sound his feet make, but having it bounce back to him like that only serve to make him hyper-aware of his own body. It's unsettling.

He has various pouches hanging from his belt for collection purposes:

Blue mushrooms go in the pouch. If he could have wrangled a lead-lined pouch, he would have felt better, but you have to make due with what you got. He also occasionally stoops down to root up green mushrooms -- they're supposedly useless, but if he drops them into a glass jar (also attached to his belt), they make an effective lantern.

Rock salt and plutonic rocks both go in their own respective pouches. The rocks are heavy and he stops every now and then to adjust the pouch, wondering if he could get by easier by carrying it. There may or may not be flapping in the distance that he doesn't notice, too focused on adjusting his samples.

Cave minnows are a little trickier. How is he supposed to collect them? He supposes, as he stands at the edge of a lake, he could dump the green mushrooms and put the fish in the jar. They both glow, after all. He unhooks the jar from his belt and studies it, wondering if the fish need to be alive to be useful.]

GLOW WORMS.
[note: body horror is not my thing so pls no flesh-burrowing.]

[Deeper inside the cave, past the lakes of glowing fish and the very angry, very large bats, there are a few caverns filled with low, luminescent light.]

Wow, [Hellboy murmurs to no one in particular, tilting his head up to watch the lights on the ceiling. Upon closer inspection, he notices that each glowing 'finger' is writhing, and he's stuck somewhere between revulsion and still feeling something close to awe. It's beautiful and strange, and it gives him a familiar chill up his spine. Chantes is weird, but everything has been pretty straightforward so far. The worms are like something from another planet, their existence bringing forth questions he knows don't have an answer.

Gingerly, he reaches up to touch the carpeting of glowing worms.]

worming it up yea

[twinpeak]

[ Just as Hellboy extends a hand to a bundle of the worms, a single word out of disgust echoes off the cavern walls, even as said at normal volume: ]

Ew.

[ And it's... just Dipper, carefully tiptoeing his way into the open space, shoulders hunched. Putting on a much more blatant display of just how creepy he finds the clumps of squirming worms illuminating the area around them, his nose wrinkles as he closes the distance between himself and Hellboy. ]

Are those even safe to touch?

Phoenix Wright | OTA

[wright_idea]

A: Mushroom Mushroom

[In all honesty, Phoenix was starting to get antsy sitting on the sidelines all the time. So when the request went out to help find the things necessary to bring back the sun, he jumped on it with a bit more enthusiasm than he probably normally would have done. It's only shortly into the trip that he realizes this might actually be, you know, dangerous, but darn it, he promised and he's not backing out now.

Even if he swears he keeps seeing shadows move.

At any rate, picking mushrooms doesn't seem like such a hard task, right? Even a guy like him could do it, right?

Right?

Somebody should explain to him the uselessness of the green ones though, like the one he's reaching for right now.]

B: We Can't Stop Here, This Is Bat Country!

[Am I seriously going after bat poop? Really? Is this where my life is going these days?]

[He hasn't gone in yet to get it. Mostly because holy hell, those are big bats, and he's scared what will happen if he wakes them up.]

[Okay, just... they have good hearing, right? Maybe if I can do something to distract them somewhere else... not that I know how to do that...]

C. Gone Fission

[Yep. Those are fish. Which is why he brought a fishing rod.

What? Did you think he was going to dive in after them? He's not insane.

But he has, perhaps underestimated the strength of the big ones, based on the fact he's currently holding onto said rod with a death grip and trying to pull SOMETHING out, which is trying to pull back in the other direction. The other thing is winning.]

Leggo, I'm not done with it yet! Gah!

A

[capital_asset]

I think we're only supposed to bring back the blue ones.

leonardo | ota

[kamiizumi]

i. what the crap is this?
[The dark doesn't seem to bother Leo much.

He presses forward with caution, but still a fair bit of speed - sometimes stopping when the silence is just a bit too heavy, waiting until something can be heard faintly scurrying around or dripping and echoing before he starts moving again and letting the natural sound mask his own. Of which there isn't a lot.

Depending on present company, his efforts may or may not mean jack all.

He stops again, listening for something.

Can he actually hear it? Is someone else failing to shut the hell up?

We just don't know.]


ii. beware the power of the light side
[It's a lot less dark in here.

The worms hanging from the ceiling are kind of pretty, if he had any time to stop and think too much about what's pretty. But Leonardo is the kind of guy who gets the job done first and worries about the rest later, so the gaze he's fixed on the glowworms is less appreciative and more appraising.]

Cutting them down would probably damage them.

[And since their instructions didn't specify that dead glowworms were okay, he tends to assume that they're not.]

ii

[winces]

( ooc; i'd like to avoid any body horror, if you don't mind! :x )


[ similarly, olivia is trying her best to ignore what the pretty hanging lights actually were, but it's proving harder and harder to do every time one drops from the ceiling and wriggles along the ground.

she shudders, hunching her shoulders in a bit more as if that might somehow keep herself from getting dropped on. ]

We could just... pick up the ones that fall...

[ but who's to say if those are any better than the ones still hanging. ]

Rick Sanchez / open

[ricksybusiness]

[Rick is outside one of the cave mouths, sitting in a chair he probably dragged here (or paid someone to drag here), since it looks suspiciously like the chairs one may find at the Voclain: it's intricately carved and solid, and probably very expensive. He is periodically drinking straight from a bottle of alcohol, and there are a few empty bottles scattered by his feet.

He has a few buckets and baskets spread out, ostensibly for sample collecting, though they're not labeled and he's not really advertising his presence. Nor is he particularly making clear that he is 82736775 -- those of you who aren't in the know will probably just have to make an assumption why he's here. Otherwise why would some guy just be sitting around with a bunch of buckets?]

[boneafide]

[Now, Papyrus is sometimes not to bright. But, a guy sitting outside a cave, with a bunch of buckets?

He's probably some kind of Retail NPC, isn't he???

Enter a walking, talking skeleton, who has a very large, very full backpack, and also another bag in his hand. Logic says he shouldn't even be able to carry these things, considering the overall weight of a skeleton, even with his fake-armor on, is about 40 pounds wet.]

Hello!!

Are you selling buckets??

Shiki Tohno | OTA + Closed Thread

[satsujinki]

[Max]

[Shiki hadn't exactly thought ahead to ask anyone local if there was anything weird about the caves. He saw people going in droves to the mouth of the cave and decided it was probably safe enough to do some work for himself. He brought a bag with him and a row of leather set inside it, with only drinking water to accompany him. Dressed up thick and clutching his goo-laden lantern, Shiki dragged his feet the whole way through, raising his nose to most anything he passed by. The mushrooms looked dangerous at times--ones that weren't really familiar to him. The thought of them being poisonous crossed his mind, so he passed by them without hesitation. The idea of chasing down bats didn't appeal to him and he was just plain beyond any inclination to do anymore fishing.

What he was doing was simple enough for him--stabbing parts of the wall with his knife to loosen up iron ore. Despite the fact that his knife looked fairly normal despite its expert craftsmanship, the wall loosened with ease and out came iron, pure and strained from the minerals that would have otherwise clung to it. He made a little pile of the iron ore he gathered on a leather mat, his glasses tucked into his jacket for safe keeping. Despite the usual grey tone they took, Shiki's eyes were a soft, glowing blue in the dark--though, the lantern he carried did a bit to obscure just how bright they were.

Further down, there was the low growl of a beast--closing in on his scent, but it wasn't quite close, yet. It was still looking for him.]

[OTA]

(OOC: If you've got a wildcard thread you'd like to do with me, here, let me know! My plurk is dannication! DW PMs work fine, too.)

[mightymax]

[Getting iron ore out is easier than fishing, at least. She watched others do it, and while most brought their own tools, like Shiki, some of the ore was loose enough to come out with just bare hands. Only if you were lucky, of course--most were stubborn, but then, she could be, too. She only has a small pocket knife to work with, which is certainly not as sharp as she needs it to be, but it's better than nothing.

For now, however, she passes Shiki as she looked for another spot worth mining. In one hand, she carried that same style lantern, bathing her entire vision in blue. In the other, she seemed to have an old pouch that could almost be mistaken for a really dirty rag, but it did its job well. She nearly misses her friend, and certainly doesn't notice the distant, low growl. With the cave seeming almost alive in the first place, it didn't even seem out of place.]

Hey, stranger.

[She nearly trips on his leather mat. Only after she looks for its owner does she spot him. The glow from his eyes seem intense, but ultimately, it's swallowed up by the light from their lanterns.]