Mission: The Cave

[wrfiends]

[With Garden in Trabia at present, the trip to the mysterious cave -- on the fringes of the great crater caused by the Lunatic Pandora's Lunar Cry test all those years ago -- was a simple trip by snowcoach loaned out from Trabia.]

[The mysterious cave itself, though, was not exactly muggy, but it was warmer than the outside by virtue of its insulated nature. Count that as a point in its favor, but several others opposed it; the cavern had no light, natural or artificial, whatsoever. It stretched out in front of them like a gaping maw, with only the occasional hint of noise echoing from its depths.

[Enter? Y/N]

Comments

[tiamat_shot]

[Seemed like the best time in general to go there, really - strike while the iron is hot, and all. Of course, Emias had no idea who he was partnered with.

And it had to be the chameleon he got chewed out by a few weeks ago. Esbro or something like that. He didn't really care about his commanding officer's name, as he knew he just had to be civil for as long as this mission took.

"Civil", it should be noted, involves being as quiet as possible and trying to avoid eye contact. Really, all that's left before stepping in is for the moogle to pull off his pack and do a quick inventory check.

Several makeshift torches - Oil was useful paramagic when you figured out how to cast it on rags, then wrapped those oil-soaked rags around something else, after all - along with a decent share of recovery potions, a few humanshape potions (more for his commanding officer's sake than his own - he had fur, but Espio was a lizard), and backup ammunition for his rifle... looked like everything was there.]

On your order, sir.

[espio]

[Espio, for his part, isn't carrying a lot. He has his usual stock of items, his usual magic and junctioning set-up and... two flashlights, one battery-powered and a wind-up one for back up - though he figures Emias' makeshift torches will be more useful. He's kept his polymorphous potions close enough to his skin to stop them from freezing this time, refusing to repeat his mistake from his last mission here. And of course, he's in human form.]

I wonder how much use firearms will be in a cave.

[Shrug. He expects the fuzzball knows how not to kill himself.]

Well, this should be fun... let's go. Try to keep up.

[Clearly expecting the moogle to follow his lead, he turns and heads straight into the cave.]

[wrfiends]

[The torches provide poor light at best, only really illuminating for a couple dozen feet before it simply casts deeper shadows. In the blackness, creatures rustle -- sounding small and fleeing the light.]

[The path itself is straightforward, leading ahead, and down.]

[tiamat_shot]

[The moogle keeps himself quiet - he's learned to just keep his mouth shut when it's not needed, if Espio is around.

On the other hand, the rustling of creatures and the unfocused but poor light cast by his torch put him on edge, and that made him more than a little uptight.]

You know they do teach cadets more than just our specialization, kupo. Plus, I know full well what kind of shot to use in close quarters if I do switch to the rifle...

[It's a harsh whisper at best, though aside from the scampering of small creatures, it's far too quiet not to hear it.]

[espio]

Hey, it's your field, not mine. I've never touched any kind of gun outside the basic weapons class. All I'm thinking is that I really don't want a cave-in.

[He's a liar. He borrowed Mikuru's handguns once, hoping to take the "just shoot him" approach if Shadow ever turned up. He then promptly nearly shot himself by throwing the weapon at a monster. But nobody needs to know that.

Espio, for his part, is fine with the darkness, but even so... he beams his flashlight where he thinks he could hear the sounds and, catching a glimpse of something that may well have just been a shadow, starts off in that direction.]

[wrfiends]

[Instantly highlighted in the beam is a curious flying... metal creature? It skitters out of the light immediately, leaving a sharp scrape on a rock formation that joins several others and explains one of the sounds they've been hearing. The quick glimpse showed it to be apparently a flying ball of blades.]

[tiamat_shot]

[...Somehow, that didn't really surprise the moogle. He shakes his head, reaching up to take off his cap, giving his ears proper room to swivel and listen for noise. How many of them WERE there? Naturally, he hangs slightly behind Espio, if only because that flashlight was a little more useful for identifying obvious threats early.]

Not like it's gonna be a huge issue anyway, kupo... d'you see that thing? I get the feeling paramagic's gonna be the way to go here; not really a good idea to try to non-magically harm something made of metal.