Scene #3828: A Totally Mundane Adventure

Owner	Pose
Dominic Masoch	Offered as Extra Credit to Alexander students, a paid mission and tourism opportunity to Multiversals, and a generally interesting chance to see what a Dungeon Evaluation looks like, the Preliminary Evaluation of Site #322-A9 promises to be a very interesting excursion to the land of Ifrit. The deserts of Ifrit are rarely a pleasant place to be out in. Luckily, transportation to and from the Ifrit Desert is luckily handled by a covered and fast-moving airship that zips over the sand and keeps the interior climate controlled enough not be hellishly uncomfortable, albeit still slightly warm. Stepping out upon arrival, however, is a different story. Immediately, despite the evening hour, blasting heat sets in. It's a short walk across the sand to a particularly large dune with a cave formation in it. One would think the sand would fill the cave, but instead of slides down into it seemingly endlessly. The upper and lower thresholds of the cave see lines of rock formations that ring the entrance, as well as parts of the floor sporadically for some way back. Contrary to the dry heat of outside, the heat that comes out of the cave is humid and damp. Dominic is standing near the entrance wearing jeans, a button-up shirt, a crisp tie, and a very old brown cloak around himself. Atop his head is a ball cap. He explains somewhat practicedly, "The humidity of the cave makes us think there could be water at the bottom. If that's true, this would be a prime dungeon for regular retrieval missions to supply water to local villages for less than the cost of importing it from other parts of the plate. We're going to evaluate its difficulty, explore the interior, and then rate it. It should be pretty easy for you all."
Ellard Asha	Anyone who knows Ellard knows his hair rolls through the color spectrum. Today's highlights are electric pink. He rocks it though with his platinum hair. Ellard is equipped as he always is. On his arm is his huge tower shield. On his back is his wooden bundle he is never without. He also is wearing a pack with supplies. Those cryogrenades are going to come in handy here. His breastplate/leather jacket, and plated jeans finish up his armor. He has a red band around his head for keep the sweat out of his eyes. Ellard, as always, is glad to be here. Especially since Victory Day is over and he's not in Odin anymore. He pulls out his mCamera, pulls it up to his face, "This is Ellard Asha, I'm going to be one of the first people to run a NEW dungeon, subscribe to my channel!" Then he clicks it onto one of the plates over his chest.
Kyra Hyral	EVERYONE THAT DOES A DUNGEON RUN NEEDS A WHITE MAGE. This is essential! And since Dominic was reportedly the one behind this dungeon run, given his recently acquired job of dungeon evaluator, of course the redhead known as Kyra was entirely on board. She knows he's been spending a lot of time in the Ifriti desert in particular. This is why, for this dungeon, she's seemingly packed light and taken some sunscreen pills beforehand to protect her super pale and sensitive Ramuha skin. The hoodie she wears is nowhere in sight, leaving her behind with a white tank top, the straps to her gun holsters, and her skirt. She's even opted for more reasonable boots. "Oh wow." she says, as Dominic explains the presence of water, "So this is a humanitarian dungeon exploration too, huh? That'll look good on the resume." Kyra gives her boyfriend a double thumbs up.
Audrey Stormfist	If Audrey COULD work 72 hours straight, she would. Unfortunately there's some clause in KIRIN documents stating any one field agent is required to take a nonspecified number of hours, plural, off between each 8 hours period of work, 24 to 48 during emergencies depending on how badly the troops are needed. Given the current state of the Zaibatsu she's been clocking those extra shifts in pretty consistently. So, this is time off. The Heritor's life, outside being Souji's muscle, largely consists in studies (not so much lately) and dungeon-related activities. Seeing an evaluation first-hand isn't something she can pass up on. In contrast to Dominic's style, she as ever rocks the KIRIN officer reinforced coat and all, never skipping a chance to represent (and, perhaps, lacking a wardrobe; legends say she might own one shirt somewhere, maybe). The only difference from her usual style is that she looks restless. Not so much as to miss the trip, at least. "And what are your predictions, rank-wise?"
Eclipse	Exploring caves, ruins, and other such places was common in Eclipse's world- she'd done it herself a few times. So when she heard a call for people to join in with such an excursion in a different world, she was glad to accept. She's not quite sure what all this "evaluation" and "rating" stuff was about; she was more in it for the adventure and the company of a pack of adventurers. Speaking of... she looks around, sniffing a bit at the group of companions. They were pretty young! When she was their age, she was still training close to home, not traveling far afield. But then, they were from another world. Maybe they aged differently here.
Xiao Li Yu	While not really interesting in SPELUNKING, Xiao hasn't been back home in...FOREVER. So why not take a little extra credit, pay home a visit, and get this over with? So here she is, with the rest of the group. Having been more than familiar with the place, Xiao is dressed light. A black cheongsam, arms bare for once. Without sleeves to hide her inventory, she's wearing her usual black gauntlets on her arms preemptively. "Sounds like a simple plan. I like it." She nodded to Dominic. Simple was good. Simple meant they could go in, not die, and come back. ...But wait, when was anything ever that simple? "Well, come on! Let's get into formation and get a move on!" Oh well. They'll deal with things when they came
Lyria Mason	Extra Credit was always good, and Lyria was also happy to get a change of pace from the work she'd been up to lately. She really needed to clear out her head as she had no idea how tha tother stuff would pan out. She however pausing at the humidity, it was more like home than she'd expected. "That's a very good point if there is water, it would mean more missions to collect and bring it back. Or set up some system to pump system. Ya Kyra it really is, good set up."
Dominic Masoch	Dominic seems fairly permissive of Ellard recording while he's inside, "One clause about that camera. If you come across any classified or lost treasures, Alexander holds the right to request you edit that out of your footage. The chance is minimal, but every so often a dangerous artifact is found on first evaluation and placed in secret storage," He smiles to Ellard welcomingly, "But be sure to turn on its night vision, or at least bring proper lighting," He reminds him. He gives Kyra an equally welcoming smile, "Yes. Many Ifrit dungeons are structured around underground water caverns. The diminished Gil cost for paying adventurers due to the the added value of 'looted' materials can make it cheaper to pay adventurers to retrieve large quantities of water than to import it." He explains with an adjustment of his cap. Despite the cloak he's wearing, he seems comfortable and used to the heat. "Rank-wise, we're predicting a Mid-Range to High-Tier C-Rank equivalency in difficulty. Monster activity in this area is low so the greatest predicted risk is loss of direction. We do believe there will be monsters dwelling in the humid cave, however." He advises as he looks to Audrey and asks her seriously, "Are you feeling alright, Audrey? You don't look well." Maybe, despite her absolutely unchanging and stoic appearance, he can tell somewhow. "By all means, head inside at your leisure. I'll be your base camp support and provide logistics over the radio," He waves to a nearby tent that he starts to shuffle towards, sitting down next to a large magitech radio and putting on a headset, "The payment upon completion will be three thousand Gil or Credits apiece, your choice on currency, as well as any recovered materials you wish to take with you."
Dominic Masoch	Proceeding past the jagged rock formations that line the entrance to the cave takes some careful footing, particularly due to the steep decline down into the depths of the desert that the cave allows. However, despite how deep proceeding down the cavern seems to go, the heat doesn't relent. Past a certain distance underground, the heat should peter off into a cave-like coolness, but it remains consistently hot and humid in the tunnel. The sand from the desert above gently flows downwards, making it important to keep a careful footing on its shifting surfaces. The walls are much less sandy, and instead look to be smooth and dry, with an almost yielding texture to them as people descent. It's a spacious tunnel, at least, and seems to gradually deslope after fifty yards or so levelling out when they come to a large cavern. The source of the humidity becomes apparent here, as there are hills and dunes of sand, but between them are pools of what appear to be a corrosive acid-like substance. The only thing keeping them from spilling out is that they've melted the sand around them into glass 'bowls' that keep them contained. Coming over one of the dunes is a stranged winged beast, muscular and loping, it walks on four legs but seems to also have two arms and a goat-like face. As soon as it crosses the dune, it lets out a bleating noise and another joins it. As if sensing a threat, one of them glows a light blue before attempting to cast 'Silence' on Kyra. Apokrypha x2 - http://i.imgur.com/rSCzRL5.png
Lyria Mason	Lyria Mason says "I take it the same goes for my drones as well, Dominic? Right I understand but we better get more credit for it." She thinks for a moment as she does seem concerned about Audrey for a the moment. Given Dominic's reaction to her. Still they must move, and moves Lyria does. She does have her cutlass and one pistol out as she decends into the depths of the cave. She sees the strange, likely toxic substance and cringes but not for long as a monster appears with a friend, she opens fire with her pistol then shifts trying to turn some of the sand into a blade to attack the monster from below.
Ellard Asha	Ellard twists the camera until it glows a little green, nodding his head. "Of course, I'll let them review it first before I post it. Sad I can't do it live." He shrugs his shoulders, making his plates clank together, but smiles nonetheless. He grasps the leather straps of his shield, tightening them on. In truth, the heat isn't so bad. It's a wet heat, though, so Ellard's going to have swamp ass something awful at the end of this, BUT, it isn't a lightning storm or an EMP field, so he can deal with it. He takes the slope at a gentle jog, not using his usual brash racing pace. Instead, he tries to put his foot down carefully to keep his balance and not slide down the slope and take a tumble. Ellard starts looking around. He squints. Waaaait a sceond. Waaait a second. He is about to flip something out when he turns his head to the winged creatures. Attacking Kyra?! "HEY! Yo!" Ellard waves his arms over his head at the beasts. "Over here, buttheads! HEY!" He rushes up the dune in great strides, holding his shield back to swing around in a shield slam. "COME GET ME!"
Kyra Hyral	"C-rank, huh. Nothing we can't handle, from the sound of it. Though what about you, Dominic, don't they grant /you/ extra ranks if you're doing surveys?" Kyra waggles her eyebrows at Dominic, fully okay with building him up. Especially around Audrey. Kyra does give the monk-heritor some sidelong glances, assessing what she looks like these days, fully expecting her to be losing a little sleep based on what she's been seeing of her in the news. Wisely, she doesn't offer any comments but Audrey can tell by the look that she's probably thinking about some of those highly-publicized Zaibatsu events. "Wait, you're not coming in with us?" Kyra looks to Dominic, startled, "But who will..." she looks between Audrey and Xiao. "...uhhhh...yeah, I'll just be in the back. Way back. So I can see everyone better." She's not going to be anywhere near that notorious Audrey, given the past drama between the two. As they descend, Kyra does stop briefly to take a sample of those acid pools quite carefully with a set of gloves and a test tube. As she does this, she hears the bleat of monsters and looks up. Kyra never gets the chance to cast buffs on the other party members before she is hit with a Silence. She makes a look of annoyance as she pulls a remedy off of her bandolier that she keeps just for this very situation. If anything, it slows her down and prevents her from yelling at the others to go kill the monsters.
Eclipse	Eclipse considers some things as Dominic explains the mission. "Perhaps," she suggests, "we could let the animals guide us. Track them to their watering hole." It seemed to her that any living things that were taking shelter in the cave would naturally head for the water. Thus, the best path to take through the cave would be the path most traveled. But before they can get to tracking where creatures had gone, it seemed they'd have to deal with the creatures that were right here. "I am sorry, but you're in our way!" she calls to the beasts. "You will be prey for the Midnight Howler!" She draws her sword smoothly from its sheath, as it makes a sound like a wolf's howl. Bringing forth her shield as well, she approaches the monsters, now hunching forward ferally. Swinging her sword in the direction of one of the monsters, a thorny vine extends from the blade, attempting to grasp at the enemy and pull it towards her.
Audrey Stormfist	"I'm fine," Audrey insists to Dominic. It's a blatant lie, but it's probably not something anyone present can make her stand down on. Maybe Xiao, really, but that'd be a stretch still. Without another word, she heads down, along with the party; predictably, she takes up a position at the head of the group, her Jobs making her something of a mix between a tank and damage dealer. Avoiding the immense glass bowls of acid if their steps take them too close, careful not to touch anything that glows with the same shade. She doesn't return Kyra's glances, either; free of suspicion, the White Mage might nonetheless feel like the silent treatment is probably worse than having Audrey yell at you. At least then you know what she's thinking. At the sight of the monsters, the Heritor barks to the group: "Kill them together, not individually." Restless or not, she's kept her sharpness. Lyria opens fire on one of them, so Audrey sets her sights on the other. Her fists clench, her magitech gloves go into overdrive, and she gets into melee with a quick dash. Her usual tactics here are lacking; lightning coats her hands and she goes hogwild. There's even the telltale sound of magitech cannons firing when her fists connect. Arms, legs, wings, even the tail, if she isn't punching them off she's trying to rip them off.
Xiao Li Yu	And so they made their way down. Bearing the misfortune of having a frontliner's Job, Xiao took point with Audrey, keeping her eyes out for anything strange. The depths weren't so bad. The incline was mildly threacherous, but with her AANS, it wouldn't be a problem if she slipped. But she'd walk first to conserve MP. Always conserve MP. Eventually, the path widens out into a large cavern, dunes of sand piled up, along with... "Is that...? Oh wow." She'd have gotten a sample, were it not for MONSTERS. The Spell Fencer let out a short sigh of lamentation. "Let's deal with this first. Then I can have my sample~" Nodding to Audrey, Xiao veered off, going after the one that Lyria had shot at. "Hmm....Let's try...Blizzaga." She mumbled, a shimmering blue aura immediately flaring up around her. Clenching her fists, she dove straight at the creature, pressing a palm against it's side. An instant later, a forceful blast of ice burst out from her palm, aiming to blast a current of freezing cold air into the beast and immobilize it.
Dominic Masoch	Several gunshots strike one of the Apokryphos before a blade of sand emerges from under one of the monsters, slicing upwards and staggering it long enough for Ellard to catch it with his shield and send it tumbling down a dune. It lets out a bleat of pain as it rolls and then lands squarely in the acid, immediately beginning to sizzle and thrash before vanishing into the pool. As it lands in the acid and dissolves, there's a change in the environment. WUMPH The entire cavern shakes with an abruptness that goes along with that echoing noise. Sand shifts and shakes, but nothing falls from the ceiling thankfully. It seems too sound for a cavein. Rather, the shifting dunes just exposed twisted and rusted metal devices and the bones of creatures half-sticking out of it. Less interesting, at the moment, than the monsters. The remaining Apokryphos is grabbed around the leg and dragged by a thorny vine that comes from the howling sword. Dragged through the sand, Xiao's Blizzaga encases it in a full block of ice that puts up no resistance to the dragging further. It is intercepted by Audrey who brings a massive beatdown upon said block. After enough blows from her fists, it shudders and then explodes into ice chunks. It leaves behind: 1x Silence Dust 1x Apokryphos Horn 1x Tattered Wing The other one left nothing and the loot dissolved. BA-BUMPH The cavern shakes again, though it's not hard to see why no one noticed these seismic disturbances on the surface with how far below the ground everyone must be. There's another warm rush of damp, humid air that floods the cavern and a few pools of acid slosh dangerously.
Kyra Hyral	Kyra drinks down a remedy, clearing the Silence status. Since Kyra is not actively engaged in the monsters herself, she does notice the very odd reaction their environment has when one of the Apokryphos is dissolved by an acid pool. It reminds her of...certain biological processes and suddenly makes Kyra feel very, very nervous. "Hey Dominic." she says through the radio, "What's the background on this dungeon anyway?" she looks to the metal devices and bones. Kyra goes over to inspect them a bit more closely before she follows the rest of the group down. "How exactly did it come to the evaluator's attention?" She moves away from the pools pretty quickly when they shimmer again. She also tries to snatch up the horn that was left behind by the other monster. For science.
Ellard Asha	That's super gross. Ellard turns his head from the melting, wincing. It's a monster, sure, but man, watching something liquefy slowly is super gross. He turns his head quickly to make sure the rest of the group has everything handled. FIVE MINUTES AGO. Ellard looked back over the desert as he sat on the airship. "Man, you know what would be really cool? To ride a sand worm. Do you guys think we are going to be able to do that today?" He seemed a little TOO excited about the prospect. Ellard lives for this kind of stuff. NOW. Ellard twists on the spot, pulling out a knife. It's not enough to use as a sword, it's not really a knife you use for killing, it's more of a survival knife. The kind that is sharp and used to cut rope. He turns RIGHT towards Lyria with a manic gleam in his eye, then turns towards the nearest wall of the cave. He runs straight at it, knife hand lifted, driving it down with a big goofy grin.
Dominic Masoch	Dominic radios back to Kyra, "Ifrit has a lot of dungeons that come and go in sandstorms. We lost six this year in this general area when a big one came through, but when we were trying to relocate their entrances we got tipped off to a newly opened cave system that wasn't on the maps. The locals came down this far, saw the monsters, and called us."
Dominic Masoch	The knife scours a deep groove in the wall. The way the wall grooves, it wasn't stone. He doesn't puncture all the way through, or even seem to come close, and it puts up an incredible amount of resistance to his knife when he pushes it into the soft and rubbery material. Where he does manage to dig in, though, the wall splits apart cleanly and stays like that for a few moments. And only a few moments. Because seconds later, a huge spray of the caustic substance that is pooling on the ground is spraying right towards Ellard's face.
Lyria Mason	Thankfully the monsters do not last that long the monsters are smartly taken care of. She get a bit creeped out but not that much by Xiao's comments on the comm. The young woman did enjoy the more unsettling side of science and learning. There was much changing her after all. She however looks away as the monter melts in the acid. She does notices what's been left behind. She gives Ellard a bit of a look and tilts her head pauses at Ellard then watches /just/ what he's doing. She's so distracted by what he's doing she doesn't evne think to use her own powers to feel out the rock. "Ellard! LOOK OUT!"
Audrey Stormfist	Hurling things in the acid is unorthodox but if it works, it works. She seems to have no interest in the leftover monster parts; really, she's here to blow steam and kill time until she can get back to work, or at least feels tired enough to rest. She returns to Xiao's side, watching as Ellard... stabs a wall? Or, evidently, that's not a wall at all, and now it's gushing acid out. Well, that happened. She grumbles in annoyance, trying to figure out what sort of insight he was on to when he drove that knife in. "Xiao, please tell me we are not inside something organic."
Eclipse	The monsters are defeated, with some help from the acid pools, but that shaking has Eclipse worried as well. "...I have a very bad feeling about this," she says. Especially once Ellard starts trying to poke a hole in the wall... and succeeds, releasing a spray of acid before she can even react. "Khh... this can only mean one thing..." Among other things... they probably weren't going to be finding any water here. None that they could use anyway.
Xiao Li Yu	While Ellard and Lyria looked away from the acid pool, Xiao intently watched as the poor dead monster got liquified in the acid pool. Truly, truly fascinating. "....?" Though afterward, she did notice the pools shimmer. "Hm. Ground appears to be stable." She raised a hand, ice aura fading away from her. "...Hey, Dominic, how is it above? Has there been any worrying level of seismic disturbance? These acid pools are shimmering in such a way that seems to suggest it." That aside, she still needed to collect samples! Producing her sample kit from...somewhere, she knelt down with a vial and a pair of tongs, dipping it in to collect some of the fluid. At Audrey's question, she smiled. "Well! I'm glad you asked, Audrey! Judging from the way in which these fluids broke down that monster, I'm willing to bet that we just may be inside the belly of a beast! isn't it fascinating? Why don't we press onwards and see how the intestines look!" ...She's joking. Right? Probably. Maybe.
Ellard Asha	"Ha!-oh sparks." Ellard twists down and away. He keeps the wooden bundle on his back away from the acid, instead bringing his shield up and pulling his head down and to the side, arm over it. Acid sprays out against his shield, splattering up and down over it, etching away the metal in heavy furoughs. He seethes in pain, sucking in a sharp breath as he drops the knife. He staggers away from the wall, some of his armor plates warped and having run like wax. Staggering quickly away from the pool, hissing in pain, he stands among the bones of a large creature before settling his shield back in place. "Five gil says we are in a sandworm." It should be noted that Ellard is /way/ too excited about this prospect. "Isn't that AWESOME?!"
Dominic Masoch	"Aaaah, no seismic disturbances down here. Why, are you guys seeing subterranian problems? If you're in danger of a cave-in, you can call the operation off and we'll get engineers down there to check things out," Dominic reassures to Xiao, adjusting his headset up at Base Camp while he reads a copy of Fencing Monthly, Galandia's top-rated magazine for Fencers. Not to be confused with Monthly Fencers, which is the top magazine for Thieves. It gets confusing. Glass tubes and vials work as well for Xiao Li Yu as they did for Kyra, letting her take a sample as she sees fit and store it for later usage. The Tongs she used, though? Those are goners, the acid eating away at the metal and corroding them almost immediately when exposed to air. If this IS a stomach, which the GM will neither confirm nor deny, there's an unorthodox number of exists to it. There's about a dozen, in fact, that lead off in all different directions. Two passages on either side of the stomach seem to lead roughly upwards in a symmetrical sort of way. Another large passage is opposed the way they came in. And yet another seems to head upwards and between the two symmetrical passages. There's so many ways people can choose to go! That wall is leaking a steady stream of acid that shows no sign of stopping and is slowly beginning to pool up a bit as sand shifts and melts, trying to find another glass-bowl runoff for it to go into until the gash in the wall melts itself shut, which is happening very slowly.
Audrey Stormfist	"Well, unless it stays very stationary for the upcoming future, it means this dungeon isn't a dungeon and is just a very, very large sandworm. So if you cared at all about the rumored water here, it's not very good news," Audrey replies to Ellard, before glancing back to Xiao. "... though it's possible this is a corpse, or just something not unlike a stomach but still natural. Aren't hostile areas like this as common on Ifrit as on Odin?" She doesn't exactly come here very often, so she lacks local knowledge. Well, whatever. Now they have to choose where to go. Lots of exits. "If this IS a stomach, we can just take a snapshot of the room and look it up to see if it maps out to any known creature's anatomy." Which she does. Courtesy of the screens on her gauntlets, she maps the room quickly, and then throws up a search. If it's a known creature they're in, it shouldn't be hard to find a 'map'. If it's not, oh well.
Ellard Asha	Once Ellard is out of the way, he takes full stock of the situation. It doesn't LOOK like a stomach, but Ellard is sure they are in something alive. But if it's a worm, going down further just means coming up to the butt. And Ellard doesn't want to come out of the butt of a Sandworm. But if he goes upward... He brushes off a bit more sand as he considers their situation, then finally, he slaps his glove over his eyes and extends his hand. "Eenie Meanie Minie Moe." He starts tapping his arm towards each exit as he goes, "Catch a mad cat the toe." He swivels in the spot, moving his hand each way. "If he hollers, let him go. Eenie meanie minie moe." His hand points on the westward side exit that leads upward. Ellard lifts his hand from his eye. "That way."
Dominic Masoch	Scanning... Scanning... Scanning... No known creature in the database matches the size and internal dimensions of the picture you have submitted. Did you mean to search: 'Caves'?
Eclipse	"It may not be a worm," Eclipse points out, "but it seems likely to me that we are inside some gargantuan creature." She watches as the wall heals itself. "If it were the case, would it render this mission moot?" A living creature would move around, and not really be a reliable place to get stuff from. Unless it were killed, which would be... quite the undertaking. "...I am, of course, willing to continue regardless. We could still find something interesting, after all."
Lyria Mason	Lyria Mason is going to take a moment ot feel out the ground with her Geomancey. She does take a look over to Xiao for a moment. "I will be checking this myself." She reaches out with her powers and she attemsp to see what she can feel. Ellard has an idea and Audrey has a idea as wlel hopefully they will pan out, but for now she focuses on what she can sense.
Xiao Li Yu	Xiao smiled at Audrey. "Well, whatever it may be, I'm curious now. We should press on." A hand is waved after she stowed away her gather samples. "As for Ifrit and Odin, Odin is definitely the much more perilous place by far." She chuckled. "Not that Ifrit isn't fraught with it's own brand of danger, but if I had to choose..." No need to continue. She watched as the Heritor attempted to search out the surroundings for a match. ...Nothing. "No results?" Hmn. And then Ellard and Lyria decide to do their things. Lyrias gets a nod. "Yes, tell us what you can find. Meanwhile..." She ambled off after Ellard. "Let's see what lies above..."
Audrey Stormfist	"If this IS a creature it's not on the net. So we've either discovered a brand new, massive beast, or this is..." Audrey hesitates, but settles on: "... normal." Used to Ramuh as she is, sometimes she forgets the other continents are incredibly hostile and uncivilized. It's no wonder they give birth to barbarians and warlords. She has no reason to object to Ellard's exit choice though, right now any of those 'caves' are as good as the next. So she follows after him, just as Xiao does.
Kyra Hyral	"Yeah I'm ninety percent sure that this is a living animal." Kyra speaks up, repeating this in the radio for Dominic to hear, "Uh, I don't think any of the 'water' we get out of this thing is going to be at all useful for any nearby villages." The white mage sounds extremely unenthused by this particular dungeon and subtly equips several disease-causing rounds in her dart launching gun since she highly anticipates needing to induce vomiting in the future. "I mean, I guess I could..." she tries to take a sample of it with tweezers.
Dominic Masoch	The ground that Lyria can feel and sense through extends to 'the sand in this cavern' and not much else. It seems that the extent of the actual earthen material is only what is immediately available and it seems to stop at the borders of the cavern. "Oh is it? That happens every so often. Don't panic," Dominic advises remotely, his voice audible for all to hear, "Last week we had a team go into a cave, turned out it was a Zone Eater. Most important thing is to just be calm. You guys can keep going for as long as you feel safe, I'm going to mark this down in my notes. We're prooooobably going to disqualify it from being a dungeon if it turns out to be alive, but the academy wouldn't mind the research. Just come back out of the... 'Mouth', I guess? We'll call it that for now. Come back out of the mouth when you're done looking around." Ellard picks a path to lead people down! It's the upwards one that runs similar, but different, to the two symmetrical passages. A good choice, or perhaps a curious one. There's another heavy THUMP and a shaking in the cavern as people proceed down that passage. There's another rush of wind that seems to try to push the party back down towards the stomach, though proper endurance can prevail against it. The passage is smooth and tubular, winding upwards with little in the way of steep curves. The walls are occasionally pitted with claw marks, old scorch marks, and ichorous black residue. It leads up into another cavern, this one having a massive hanging mass in it. The entirety of the inside of the chamber is supported and architectured by copper-colored metal frameworking and clear tubing that runs into that hanging mass in the center of it. It looks MOSTLY dormant for now, old and long forgotten. More bones and debris litter this chamber, lots of magitech machinery from the looks of it, but also unidentifiable monster leftovers.
Kyra Hyral	Kyra is very careful in her sample-taking, afraid of really awakening the monster. Since this is clearly now a monster and not an actual dungeon, Kyra goes ahead and finally puts on her wearable video camera to document the inside of the creature. As she moves in deeper, she grows more and more uncomfortable. "If this isn't actually a dungeon, we're not going to get class credit for it either. Let's just keep this quick and get out fast, I don't want to be /eaten/ by a giant monster." It quickly does become clear that this is a big, nasty giant monster. "Hm, given the wind, it looks like we're moving down into one of the lungs." She looks at the claw marks and scorch marks and...shivers. "But this seems...I don't know, it seems like it has metal in it too...uh, I hate to suggest this but..." She calls to the group, "It's like we're inside a giant, displaced nightmare golem. Er, sorry Ellard. Um. Trigger warning? Anyway I am a hundred percent not okay with being inside this thing."
Ellard Asha	Ellard shrugs to the others. "Good a guess as any, we don't have any basis." He smiles, "Plus, I haven't died yet, so I must be doing something right, right?" He looks at Lyria though, waiting for some sort of confirmation. Without one, he nods in appreciation of her work, shoulders his slightly melted shield, and starts proceeding forward again, leading the way with shield out. At the first rush of wind, Ellard gets knocked back onto one foot. He wobbles, only to set himself right, shield out, and start using it as a wind break for those casters with WIMPY WEAK TINY LEGS, taking heavy steps forward with each push to keep him going. Ellard looks up. He squints again. He opens his mouth, then closes it. "Okay. Is..." He frowns. "Alright, I really have no idea what is going on." He thought this might be a mouth. It's even got that dangly thing right there! He freezes at Kyra's warning. There's a moment where he simply locks up. HIs entire body goes rigid, and his breathing suddenly sharpens. But he catches himself quickly, "Hey, no, why would I be worried about something like that?" He grins, waving his hand, "Besides, aren't they entirely metal? Maybe this is a mouth? A mouth with... indoor plumbing? This place is getting weird."
Eclipse	Eclipse follows Ellard, intrigued by what they find. "...Someone took up residence here? A unique sort of home to be sure," she says. "I suppose that just as my people live in a forest, amongst plants, there are those who would live inside great animals." She sniffs about some more. The smells in here are likely... pretty interesting. Kyra's and Ellard's comments concern her. "...Yes, it could also be a creature with... metal parts." Either was possible.
Audrey Stormfist	"We're not at risk of being eaten, Hyral," Audrey says, not even bothering to stare or glare. "If we're inside a creature, we've already been. You should be worried about being digested, at this point." Technicalities aside, it's the metal and magitech that catches the Heritor's eye, and the way it supports the room. "This looks like it was built here. The golems from Odin don't have this... design and structure to them. They're chaotic masses of metal. This is orderly. This is deliberate. Or at least, it's the impression it gives." Eclipse might be on to something that someone built this here and that it isn't a natural part of where they are. Or what they're in. "Well, there aren't a thousand ways to figure out what this is." Audrey taps the display on one of her gloves and just tries to interface with the mess around them. Maybe one of the machines still has power and can respond to a ping. If they're lucky, more than that.
Lyria Mason	Lyria Mason isn't getting much luck, she knows she's more in tune with water but this is very odd. "I can't sense much more than sand and not much past the borders of the cavern. This is getting strange, like a sudden fog. Well onward we go, Elldard." Lyria pulls her goggles down, which seem to have a built in functions. "I intend to stay calm Dominic, don't worry." She'll follow after Ellard as her powers didn't do much to help save confirm there's something strange about this place. AS they get deeper and deeper she notices the insides and wonders even more at the signs of battle she sees in here. Lyria also being a Machinist starts to look over the magitech machinery hopeing to place or date it if she can. "It's still an adventure Kyra!"
Xiao Li Yu	"I think I'll survive without the credit. This is already fascinating as it is, after all." Xiao replied towards Kyra as they plodded upwards. "If this is a Nightmare Golem in any case, then I-" Pause. Glance at Ellard. "-Would love to take it apart and study it!" ...But ho? The thing is massive enough for them to be walking around inside of it. There there's a will, there's a way, dammit! The first rush of wind gives her pause as she shields herself with an arm and braces her stance to not immediately bowl over. After it passed, she proceeded on to check out the surroundings. "Hmn...These markings definitely lend weight to the theory of this being a living creature." There was basically little doubt now. "Why don't we find the brain and take samples!" Yes Xiao, that's a wonderful idea. So let's do it! "Brain, brain, where's the brain..." She hummed casually, plodding past the hanging mass of...whatever that was, and looking all around as she- "Oh? What do we have here?" Stopping in front of some old machinery, Xiao knelt down to examine it with Lyria. "Hmn...it looks quite old. I wonder if it still can function..." Let's poke at the old machinery. THEN find the brain.
Kyra Hyral	"Then in that case, I'm going to have myself promptly /uneaten/." Kyra says tersely, "I don't know what this thing is but I definitely don't like being inside of it." She lets that be the last of her complaining and promptly leaves the chamber, retracing her steps as she looks for the way back to the entrance. She gets turned around into the other symmetrical path of what she had resoned earlier was a lung. This is extremely odd behavior for her. She has always been very adamant against splitting up. But combined with the fact that there probably weren't actual monsters in the dungeon that was effectively a living, eating thing, and that she's generally quite spooked about being inside a giant monster, she is not having a good day. In fact, she might even seem to be on the verge of a panicked breakdown. At the very least she could have it somewhere else in the monster not around her classmates.
Dominic Masoch	It's not a mouth! A mouth would have teeth! If this were a living creature, that is. Regardless, the inactive machinery that encases that large, hanging mass seems to be old, but still holding strong, as if designed to last an indefinite period. The cavity in the cave system where you have all arrived has the majority of its machinery on one side, much of it being tubing that leads into that lifted mass and then away into walls to elsewhere in the cave system. Audrey has a pretty decent idea in trying to interface with it. It seems to have literally the minimal amount of functionality and power left in it for the machinery to keep from stopping entirely. It's almost as if it's in an incredibly prolonged sort of low-energy mode. But... her magitech cannot interface with it completely. Not because it's too old, but because it's too advanced, despite its incredible age. Trying to ping it results in her screens and displays coming up with a message: P^&EC) UL@#!- CODENAME: A&%A W{+[N ANTI-^&*(# DEF@!^$ SYSTEM
Eclipse	Eclipse pokes a bit at some of the machine parts. "...They were building things here. Perhaps, weapons that needed to be kept secret?" Just a wild guess really- she had no way of knowing the purpose of the devices just by looking at them.
Xiao Li Yu	While Audrey tried to interface with the machines, Xiao stood up and peered over her shoulder. "...Hrm." She brought a hand to her chin, looking over the garbled characters. "....Curious."
Audrey Stormfist	"If one wanted to build something in secret this would be a pretty good place, yes. Evidently it was lost for quite some time, though," Audrey says, adding to Eclipse's guess before watching as Kyra storms off. How... unusual. Well, whatever. Of all the people here it's not her who'll complain if Kyra decides to walk away. If she gets herself killed on the way out, all the better. "I guess the systems aren't compatible. Xiao, do you think we can take that thing and carry it out? I suddenly want this entire thing in one of your labs. Failing that, I'd settle for the central, hanging part over there. That looks extremely important."
Ellard Asha	With one hand, Ellard comes up and smoothes his hand through his hair. "Well, I don't know, this is still pretty cool. It doesn't seem to be waking up, but we definitely don't want to be in here for too long. I'm not sure we could punch our way out." He stands there for a moment, rocking back and forth on his heels. This place is WEIRD. It's like some sort of lair, but alive? With machines? That means someone has been here before, and by all rights, it is old as hell. "Nope." Ellard punches his fist into a palm, "Nope, we gotta move through this entire place. This place is sparking old and I bet anything we are going to find something important down here. We should map this entire place!"
Dominic Masoch	True to Kyra's belief that it is mostly monster free, she finds almost nothing stopping her from exploring off down some other cavern. Going back down the cavern, there's a heavy THROB from the large mass inside that cavern and another gust of wind that might trip her up if she doesn't have good footing. But the wind seems diminished by all the people in the chamber breaking the airflow from that mass. Once back down in the acid-pool cavern, it wouldn't be hard for the White Mage to find her way back towards the MASSIVE tunnel she entered the acid-area through initially. Or she can poke around a bit, there's lots of bones and corroded machinery.
Xiao Li Yu	Auddrey's question earns her a shrug. "The entire machine? That might be a bit of a tall task." She smiled after, looking about. "If there's some kind of memory storage device though, we could just take that and decipher it using our systems." She knelt down to the machine Audrey had tried to interface with, feeling around for any removable parts or coverings that could be opened.
Kyra Hyral	Kyra wobbles and suddenly steadies herself against the wall as the gust of wind blows through. The lack of monsters continues to support her hypothesis that anything that hangs out in here for too long is killed and digested by the environment. She's happy to double back and leave her classmates behind even if they do go on about what an ADVENTURE it is and how they need to explore everything. "Maybe if it was a dungeon." Kyra mutters as she steps over a huge skull. As she rounds the main digestive chamber, she does at least stop and linger in this room, thoroughly checking over the remains. If there was any actual 'treasure' in the 'dungeon', it was probably something in here amongst the debris.
Dominic Masoch	Placing a precise time and date on the machinery that Lyria is inspecting is hard. Because it's not a design that has ever been documented or placed into a schematic. It doesn't show up in any database on the Mognet or anything that can be cross-referenced. Not only is the layout and composition of the machinery totally unique, it looks like it should come from 3 decades in the future of magitechnology rather than untold periods of time in the past. It's a technological mystery where it came from.
Dominic Masoch	The sheer size and mass of the machinery and the 'heart' that hangs in the midst of it makes it seem like a daunting task to recover it. It might not even fit through the entrance of the cavern, all told. Xiao's ongoing attempts to find something she can pry up or look for removable parts proves difficult. It's an almost seamlessly genius design, with anything sensitive buried deep into the walls of the chamber under layers of plating and tubing. I say almost seamless, though, because with some work she can at least pry up a particularly loose piece of the strange metal, about the size of a floor tile. She can take it out with her if she wants. Underneath it is mostly tubing that seems designed to carry something to somewhere else, as tubing is intended to do.
Lyria Mason	Lyria Mason says "This stuff is old, and it's well made." she's getting an idea of just how well done this stuff is. She lets out a low whistle as she starts to inspect the machinery in greater detail. She uses her Mphone to check things out and finds nothing, she hits up the school databases, her own, nothing. Not a single match she keeps going over it until she finally speaks. "This is more advanced hardware than I seen anywhere, it looks like something I'd expect to see in thirty or more years from now. This is old and more advanced than anything we have..."
Dominic Masoch	As Kyra inspects the debris, she begins to notice something strange. Namely that there's beings here from multiple plates: Fish bones that seem to be archaic ancestors from leviathan. Drake and Dragon Bones. Dried Cactuar husks. Bird bones that one would see on titan. Even traces of Nightmare Metal all mixed in. That's most of the metal and machine debris laying around. It is, to say the least, odd to imagine how one creature would possess ancestors from nearly every major plate in its stomach simultaneously.
Audrey Stormfist	"I guess a sample will suffice. Call R&D and have them send engineers to secure the location. This might not be a viable dungeon for Dominic, but we can organize further delves here if our men can keep it in place. Prevent the landscape from swallowing it again, prevent it from moving. Maybe even dig it up and see what this thing looks like from the outside." But Audrey knows it won't be that easy. Sending this many resources from Ramuh to Ifrit is, one, going to be a paperwork and political nightmare, and two, might draw undue attention to the location. Who knows, though. Souji might consider this a priority project now and put in extra work to make it happen.
Eclipse	Eclipse is pretty well-versed in nature from her world, but doesn't know enough about this one to pick up on what Kyra notices. Still, she's intrigued by the bones, trying to imagine what sort of creatures they come from. "I may have to return to this world again soon..." she comments.
Xiao Li Yu	"Will do." Xiao mumbled, picking out that loosened piece of machinery. "Hmm, this will do." She tucked it away, examining the device for a bit longer. "It's design is so advanced though. It belies it's ages appearance. Makes me wonder how the people of the past, if this is their work, managed to do it." "....." She then took out her mPad and began snapping pictures of the design. It'd serve as reference and information. Once done with that, she stood up. "Now then..." Stowing her mPad away, she then stepped aside to make the call. "It's me. ...Right. We have some interesting information. Right. We'll send it over. See if you can't get permission to get a team out here. You'll have buckets of fun. No really!" Chuckling to herself, Xiao ended the call and sighed. "I think we may be approaching the end point here." Pause. Grin. "...Unless we want to find out what the rectum looks like?"
Audrey Stormfist	"Our world is always welcoming adventurers, if that is your thing. We have a quest board and all," Audrey tells Eclipse, before glancing back at Xiao. "No, let's leave for now. As for who built it and how... technology this advanced could come from the Divines. When you consider what Odin is, as what is essentially a corpse, don't you wonder what it was like when it lived?" Though to compare this thing to Odin might be a bit much. "Well, we'll figure it out. Matter of time. Something like this can't possibly have escaped the notice of history. There has to be someone somewhere who knows something."