[PrP] Tunnel Crawl

[Quick]

Thomas's timid response earns something close to a giggle. God, this little trip is going to be fun. Just messing with the Cleareyes could make it worth it.

And Donovan's in a good enough mood to play along. Quick makes an incredulous face, following the others as they fall into step. "You? Outrunning me? That's not happening again."

Eyeing the safety gear strewn about, Quick opts for the package deal. Better safe than sorry, right? Once his vest, hard hat, and flashlight are in place, he wonders just how ridiculous he must look. He'd get over it. Eventually.

"At least there's stairs. Easier than free-climbing." he adds, nodding along with Ingrid's description.

With Donovan ahead of him, Quick wastes no time in approaching the stairwell in turn. Mindful of how old the structure must be, he flips on his flashlight and shines it to light his passage downward.

[Thomas Land]

The Mole-Man looks stricken as Ingrid explains the situation. Why, oh why, did he volunteer for this? He knows what lurks in the dark. He's lived in the dark with just such horrors.

Still, who better to help with this little mission, then someone who knows what could be waiting for them?

So, with a nod and a "Th-thank you," to Ingrid, Thomas gears up. Adding another flashlight to his pack, and donning the vest and helmet. Aware that he's only adding to his ridiculous appearance.

Seemingly ignoring the banter between his fellow explorers, he gives Ingrid one last look. "See you, hm, when we get back then."

With that, he follows Quick and Donovan into the underworld.

[Yumyumcrow]

The stairwell is narrow and steep. Their first obstacle is cobwebs: old and stretched, they flap in the wind, dissolve at a touch as the Lost plough through them. The darkness is deep and shadowless, distorting sound and space with its etheric solidity.

At the bottom, the stairwell takes a sharp turn and opens into a wider corridor that runs west-east. The torch light picks out the curious walls, a mix of rough hewn stone and grey brick, curved overhead. A track runs along the floor, rusted but still solid and, if initial observation holds true, probably still usable.

To the west there are faint watery sounds.

At the fringes of their light, the corridor gains arches but its too gloomy to tell if they are passages or just supports for the roof.

The ceiling has a line of naked cables and dead bulbs, crusted in dirt. To the west, this cable becomes snarled with parasitic new growth, vanishing into the darkness.

Dust hangs in the stagnant, still air.

[Donovan Ackerman]

“Good,” Donovan replied with a smile when Quick said he wouldn’t be outpaced. He knew it had grated Quick. To show improvement meant the Levinquick would be channeling himself in the correct direction. Though it remained to be proven.

As he heads down the steep stairs Donovan brushes away the cobwebs. Or tries. Somehow a great many seemed to end up still catching in his hair, adding to the mess of twigs. Not that the Summer seems to really notice. Turning on his light he stayed focused on his footing. Freeclimbing it might not be but it was still a narrow set of steps.

At the bottom he stops and waits for the others while examining his surroundings.

“There’s water comin’ in from somewhere,” he called back, shining the up to the cable “Ain’t getting’ that much growth without it.” The light went west, towards the sound of dripping and drizzling. Probably got breached by the roots and nature ran its course from there.

“Hmm,” the Woodwalker growled idly kicking the metal track on the floor to see how solid it was.

He turned east, light again running down the tunnel. No immediately obvious cave-ins.

He sighed, fighting back several instincts. This wasn’t an animal’s den where he had to set a trap at the entrance and wait. After making sure there were no other secondary entrances and blocking those. This was an exploration mission. They had to go further in.

[Quick]

Quick can't help but cringe as the more stubborn cobwebs stick to him. He preens himself as he continues downward, picking off the big dangling bits. Blinking as Donovan's voice echoes back, he glances towards the west corridor. His own light adds to the Woodwalker's.

"Sounds like it... guessing the tunnel isn't supposed to fill with water?" It made sense to him, at least. If these were to fill up or flood while people were passing through? Bad day.

He follow's Donovan's gaze, again, down the eastern corridor. It doesn't look much worse for the wear. For an old tunnel system. "Think we should check that way first?" he asks, tapping Donovan on the shoulder and pointing down the west corridor once more. Towards the sounds of water.

Over his own shoulder, he glances back at Thomas. "No offense, but you any good with tunnels?" Thomas is a mole-man, after all. The Elemental can only hope some of the low-light senses, digging, or general sense of navigation of the little furry beasts had rubbed of on him. "Chime in if you've got any ideas. Don't be, you know, 'shy' or anything."

[Thomas Land]

Thomas clicks on his flashlight as he joins his fellow Lost. His beady eyes glow faintly red in the ambient light.

"Yes, water. Certainly," he answers Donovan. He cocks his head at the far off sound of it to the West. "Perhaps we should, hm, investigate that first. Make sure it isn't a sign of cave-in. Or, well, deterioration."

His attention turns to Quick. "I've spent plenty of time in, hm, dark places of every kind." Though it doesn't sound like he relishes the memories.

Turning his flashlight beam in the direction of that rushing water, he peers into the darkness, waiting to see what his companions decide.

[Yumyumcrow]

Donovan finds that the tracks are still sound and solid. A bit of cleaning and a modicum of maintenance, and they'd be as good as new.

The consensus appears to be to head west, toward the sounds of water. The group heads west, in a tunnel that has no side passages. The arches turn out be more supports for the ceiling and a means to break up the unrelenting rock. Vines and creepers continue to snag and snare at the power line running along the ceiling: at first with anaemic and sickly growths; later with much more vigour and leafy growths.

Water begins to drip from the ceiling and run in rivulets from the walls. The ambient sounds gather in strength, just beyond the light of their flashlights. The leafy growths above grew into a thick carpet that spreads and stretches onto the south wall, which opens into a curiously muddy side passage.

[Donovan Ackerman]

Donovan’s pulse increases at the unexpected touch on his shoulder. He turns quickly to make sure it’s actually just Quick. Though that doesn’t necessarily help with his current adrenaline levels.

“Yeah,” he replies turning back to look down the western tunnel “Seems most likely place we’ll find structural insecurities.”

He started walking confidently down the hall, following the iron rail. His heart still racing.

The flashlight beam wanders hither and thither, over the increasingly lush foliage. Which actually worries the Woodwalker more than the small streams running down the walls. He casts his light around some more, looking for breaks in the wall.

“Wouldn’t be expectin’ this much leafy growth without much sunlight,” he commented as he continued to search for where such light sources could come from. “It’d be unnatural for it ta be this lush without a big hole in the ceilin’ somewhere.”

He paused only momentarily when he came to the southward leading passage before he marched determinedly to his left.

[Quick]

Quick's eyes follow the power lines, and he frowns to himself thoughtfully as he observes the viney growths. "Think these lines could ever be repaired? Without, like... the city getting involved?" He gestures with his flashlight, waggling the stream of light along various lengths of wire as he does.

It takes Quick a moment to catch on, but the farm boy is probably right. And he would know about plant growth. "And if there is a big hole... do we leave this section alone?" Even a the words leave his lips, his eyes are drawn to the passage by the south wall. The Elemental doesn't know what all that mess could be from. Landslide, maybe? He'd have to give it a closer look.

On his approach, he pauses just before entering the side passage. He shines his light down, around, and above, hoping to make sense of things before venturing further. "Guess staying clean isn't an option..." he mutters, forgetting his present company.

[Donovan Ackerman]

Donovan shrugged.

“Probably can get ‘em repaired. Little elbow grease. When you to get somethin’ done, don’t need no city to get it done.” It wouldn’t be an easy job. The Wizened had never reinstalled building wiring. However, he was sure it could be done without side help. Hell, he could probably do it faster with a little reading on how. Assuming no one was looking.

“If the big hole’s obvious, yep,” Donovan replied almost absent mindedly as he passed the foliage “Though, this is already less to my likin’. Even assumin’ there is a large whole these leaves gotta be growin’ for some reason. If it ain’t sunlight… well then... we probably oughta be lookin’ a gate of some kind.” Donovan didn’t know the science behind it, but he knew roots didn’t sprout greenery underground. If this growth was unnatural, then the Hedge offered a convenient excuse. They were close to the heart of the Freehold after all. Would it be odd for the Thorns to infect the normal world. Then again, if the mortal realm was ‘underground’ how were there leaves sprouting here when the fey realm provided sunlight?

The flashlight continued to search for answers as he slogged through the mud.

“We were aAsked to search through tunnels. Be glad you ain’t spelunkin’,” Donovan said. Though from his voice he was still paying more attention to his surroundings than to his companions.

Growths

Zero successes if this doesn't relate to goblin fruit 1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-11-09 18:46:27		Donovan rolls 6 to Int+Occult+Goblin Fruit Specialty if applies (10 Again)		4, 7, 5, 1, 5, 9		1 success