---

---

Morning.

Her small room contained a bookshelf, her bed, a small desk, and a few stuffed animals. Sitting on the desk was her backpack and a few other objects, a stone with a whirl in it she felt certain was some sort of fossil, a chunk of some ancient metal she guessed belonged to some pre-cataclysm device, and a weathered figure that appeared to be some kind of stone owl.

None of them had been taken by the auction house, so she was permitted to keep them. They neither had any kind of mystical ability nor particular value as curios.

The young girl had been awake for a little while now. She was on duty today.

And it was going to be her first opportunity to go somewhere new. The tunnel had barely been touched yet, the Hensia League had only just cleared it for full exploration... and she was going to be one of the first Artifact Hunters in town cleared for full exploration!

Needless to say, the white-haired girl was filled with excitement, but that didn't mean she forgot about how important preparations were. Food, water, tools, a flashlight... and of course...

She placed one hand against her chest, clutching her necklace in one hand. For actually finding an artifact, it was the most important part.

Imarui adjusted her hat, and pulled her goggles down over her eyes. She pulled on her backpack, smiling to herself.

She wasn't going to be exploring old tunnels anymore today! This was all new territory!

The silvery-haired young girl opened the door to her room and made her departure.

"Good luck, Ima!" she heard one of her friends, a blue haired girl named Sana, call to her as she sprinted down the hall excitedly. Grinning, she waved towards her.

Turning the corner, Imarui made her way to the front door.

"We will be awaiting your return, Imarui."

The source of the voice was a tall woman in a black dress with her dark brown hair in a tight bun. Valery was one of her caretakers, one of the two younger ladies who helped run the orphanage.

Imarui always felt she was a little too strict, though.

Still, she gave a bright and cheery nod. She'd heard that phrase plenty.

It was customary in Hensia never to say goodbye, after all. Artifact hunting was dangerous, and many of Hensia's residents engaged in it. It was a part of their culture. So if you told someone goodbye, it implied you knew you might never see them again.

So it was simple.

You never said goodbye.

"I'll be back!" Ima declared brightly.

It was a sunny, bright day in Hensia. The orphanage was on the north side of the town, near a heavily overgrown old ruin that was impossible to see under all the plants growing over it. It was a large, rectangular building with a rounded roof, standing on stilts that angled outwards like many other buildings in Hensia. Surrounding town was the remains of ancient buildings, trees growing in and around them... to the west it was more open, but to the east the foliage and the ruins simply grew denser and denser.

The east of Hensia was more dangerous.

Imarui sprinted down the steps and into the street. The tunnel had opened up on the opposite side of town, so...

She had a little ways to go!

"Good luck, little hunter!" a familiar voice to her right called. It was the baker, a bearded older man hauling some flower home on the back of his Carrier Bird. The green and purple plumage of the large, long-necked, flightless bird was surprisingly brilliant in the morning sun.

"Thank you, you too!" she called to him, before hurrying off down the street. Around her were people busying about their business... Carrier birds, a few small floating wagons... the local inn was bustling with all the hunters who had showed up from out of town, too.

But there was no time to hang around and take it in!

---

It looked like jaws had opened up in the earth. A yawning chasm down into the darkness, rimmed with jagged fragments of stone and ancient roadways.

No matter how bright it was, there was no way you were doing to see to the bottom down there.

There used to be a building where the chasm now was, one that thankfully no-one had been inside of at the time. The tunnels beneath Hensia were well known, but this was much closer to town then any of the others... and it had been the first collapse in... Imarui didn't even know when the last collapse had been.

But it had been pretty long ago.

Around the edge of the chasm, on the side closest to town, the Hensia Artifact Hunter's League had done what it could to ensure the hunters at least made it down safely by setting up small, chain-powered elevators. Each was big enough for one or two people, depending on their size, and could hold a great deal of weight. Given the size of some artifacts, that was important.

She approached the nearest elevator.

In front of it was a middle-aged man in a tall hat and grey clothing.

"Your badge?" he asked.

Proudly, Imarui fished her badge from a pocket on her backpack and raised it in her hand. Emblazoned with the abbreviation 'HAHL', it was a sure sign of one's membership of the league. Hunters from out of town would have had to obtain a temporary license, but that was definitely not going to be an obstacle when a potential bounty like this was on the line.

"You may pass," he began, before turning to look at her as she walked by, "We'll see you again, won't we?"

"Of course!"

With that, she stopped just ahead of the elevator, looking around. While she was eager to explore, she was just as curious about the out of town hunters who were around as well. She hadn't seen this many people from outside Hensia for as long as she could remember...

... And maybe, just maybe, she was more nervous about descending into the darkness then she'd ever admit.

@Raineh Daze@Rune_Alchemist@KoL@Pyromania99@Searat@AzureKnight@ERode

---

Erika had took the early morning to gather her supplies. One could never know how long they would be stuck searching for Artifacts. Or, perhaps, if they would ever come back from searching at all. She scratched the back of her head and sighed as she stuffed a small amount of supplies into a backpack. Should be enough for the day, perhaps she could push it to tomorrow easily. Worst case, had to come back for a resupply. This would be easy enough. Well, it would be normally.

The tanned girl looked over to the other inhabitant of the room. An odd... creature? No, what she was told was... Magitech Robot? Something of the sort. Omega... Something, something. Tanja was what she was sure this girl was called. Her teacher had mentioned an agreement with Alhein. One of her disciples would watch over the catgirl, the disciple in question being Erika herself. What Fuuka got out of it? Well, that was a good question. She was rather vague about it. Though, Erika might have been distracted by other things when she was told about it. There was likely something good for her master to agree to it.

Well, either way, it was just her normal job with an extra person along. She fastened a couple of items to her belt. A light source that one could attach to their head, a small portable laser cutter and a flashbang device. Then, one of the more important items, her magitech sword. She attached the sheath to her side and pulled the blade out to check on it quickly enough. Yes, it seemed to be in fine condition. With a smile, she put it back in it's home and double checked. Yep, that was everything. After that she looked at the Artifact on her wrist, Medusa, and rubbed it with a small smile. Her partner for ten years or so now was one of the few constants in her life. She hoped it would stay that way.

Either was, now wasn't the time to think on the past. She walked over to Tanja, hoping she'd be ready to head down into their new brand of hell. "You cute little thing." Erika said, rubbing the catgirl's head a small bit. The cat had seemed friendly enough so far and that was fine with Erika. "Hope you're ready to head down. It's the start of Tanja and Erika's big Artifact hunt. Our goal is at the very least ten." The girl said with a confident smile. Of course, it was most likely an unobtainable goal of course. One was lucky if they would find even one artifact, let alone ten. "Something tells me that we're up to a very good partnership!" Her arm wrapped around Tanja's head and pulled her close. "You know how to get to the site right?"

Tanja was gaining an appreciation for what it was like to be some sort of incomprehensible work of art. First, that jerk had come and found her and made a big mess out of things... then an even bigger mess trying to work things out. Then she'd been traded off to Alhein after he gave up in exchange for something more practical. And then they had passed her off to some lady with glasses because nobody wanted to do any babysitting. That hadn't lasted any time at all before Tanja had once again been handed over to another stranger, though Erika didn't seem to be in a hurry to get rid of her.

At least all this being shuffled around had given her time to learn the local language--and get hold of some sort of pistol given how she was apparently now a tagalong explorer. Nothing too impressive or high-spec but... it was perfectly adequate for the time being. Way less interesting than the ID she'd been issued after some confused arguing, with Alhein finally being the ones responsible and some arguing about what on earth the details should be.

Nobody had been receptive toawrds giving Herr Wal one, though. So mean...

Tanja wouldn't deny being cute, though, nor reject the tanned girl's affection. Ah, that felt nice, and the taller girl was friendly... eyes closed, the robot missed most of her following statement, purring, quite loudly at that, under the attention. Though being roped into the hug brought her attention back to the conversation: "Ja! Ah... follow you!"

Maybe she should pay more attention to details like that now she wasn't in some pass-the-parcel game.

---

Waking up early did not help with the number of people who thought of the same thing lining up and waiting inside the Hensia Artifact Hunter's League's main administrative building for their temporary license to be issued. The line nearly reached all the way outside of the plant-covered building! Leo couldn't blame them though. A practically untouched and recently cleared tunnel looking for hunters to explore it? Too sweet a deal for any self-respecting hunter to pass up. Well, maybe too sweet a deal considering the number of hunters present. Looking on the bright side of the situation, at least the line was moving and there was no point in waiting while doing nothing. Leo unscrewed a respirator tube from his mask and let it fall limp on his shoulder as he prepared to light and smoke a stick while waiting. But an abrupt cough and an irritated-looking staff member pointing to a 'no smoking' sign cut him off just as he was to enjoy the wait. "Figures." He says with a disappointed tone as he put away his cigarette and reattached the respirator tube. This was going to be a long wait.

[One hour later...]

Now with his temporary license, he can finally go to the tunnel and get this party started.

The quick walk through the sun-filled streets of Hensia was quite uneventful. Other than the odd peddler trying to vie for his attention and interest in the wares they were selling or the interesting looks from the locals, Leo wouldn't mind staying a few extra days here. A soft smile graced his hidden face when he remembered the equally peaceful and tranquil streets of his hometown. His musings were cut short when a middle-aged man clad in grey and a tall hat asked him for his badge. While handing over his temporary license, he noticed a peculiar thing to the chasm that made him raise an eyebrow in confusion.

A little girl, no older than ten, stood ahead of him. Waiting for the elevator and looking around to pass the time. "Hey...uh...kid? You lost or something?" Leo asked. His voice muffled as it may be from the airtight mask, was with concern for the seemingly random chid.

"Ah?"

The voice from behind her sounded funny... sort of unclear and muffled, like they were wearing something over their mouth. And when Imarui turned to face them, she discovered that was exactly the case. It was a figure much larger then herself, completely covered in metal. For a moment she thought he must be some kind of machine, but that didn't seem very likely when she thought about it. His voice didn't sound like it was a robot's voice... not that she knew what that sounded like.

"What do you mean?" she asked, tilting her head slightly, "I'm going down to look for artifacts, just like you are!"

Realizing that just saying that might not be enough, she quickly reached into her bag and retrieved her league membership badge to show off. To be honest, she hadn't registered herself. It was an automatic process that had been done for her, just like many of the other children at the orphanage.

It was perplexing to Imarui why she'd been asked in the first place. There were artifacts hunters all over, right? So surely she wasn't the only child who did it, right?

Of course, Imarui had no idea that child artifact hunters were not only very rare outside of Hensia, but not even legal in many territories.

@Searat

@VitaVitaAR@Searat

---

"Huhm...so this is Hensia." Walking down the streets of the town, was a very clearly figure from out of town. Getting a temporary license was easy enough, with her Burial Agency credentials. Just some fact checking, verifying and otherwise just making sure everyone was doing their job. It was a quaint little place, certainly wasn't it? Definitely a far cry from the haunted forests of Fuso. She almost missed them, if she were to be honest. Which, she shouldn't. They weren't exactly places to take a leisurely stroll even if she found herself doing just that more often than not.

She bit into the apricot in her hand, the last of the fruit disappearing into her mouth before she tossed the cores to the side as she arrived at the site.

"Whew...thank goodness no one was hurt." She would idly comment, looking at the massive hole that had opened in the ground. She couldn't imagine what would have happened if someone had been in the building at the time. As she looked over the other gathered hunters, she would also notice something out of the ordinary.

What in the name of all that was holy was a child doing here?

"A...child going to hunt artifacts?" Mexiue would walk up to the pair. "My...children your age shouldn't be doing such dangerous things." She would say, though realizing she did in fact, probably do just as dangerous things when she was a kid. That did look to be an official license, though, just from a cursory glance. That did leave a bad taste in her mouth, but now wasn't the time to cause a scene about it. She doubted saying anything to that affect currently would help anyone. "Ah right...I should start with introductions. Meixue Yanqi from the Fuso Burial agency."

@Rune_Alchemist@VitaVitaAR

---

Leo thought that the little girl had just played pretend a little too seriously when she claimed that she was a hunter like himself. Just as he was about to play along and hopefully convince her to step away from the chasm, to his great surprise, the little girl pulled out a genuine hunter's badge from her backpack. "What the...". Speechless was too soft a term to describe the shock Leo felt when he saw that genuine looking badge. Was Hensia one of those territories? He didn't know what else to say. Maybe he judged the town too quickly from just its appearance.

Good thing a woman came along and broke the silence. "O-oh, right. Introductions." Leo composed himself as he took back the temporary license the man in grey. First impressions with potential co-workers were quite important in his book. "Leonard S. Fleming. Freelance hunter of five years. Pleasure to meet all of you."

_{@VitaVitaAR @Searat @Rune_Alchemist}

Turel awoke early this morning, starting his day with some light exercise to loosen and ready his muscles for the day ahead. He then followed with a bit of mediation to clear his mind and sharpen his senses for the road ahead. In this world one wrong turn could mean a swift death was in your future. One must always be ready, but more importantly, one must be able to adapt and respond to sudden situations accordingly. Finished with that, he gathered some essential items in his bag - a few repair kits, medicine, emergency provisions, the usual. He then fastened the strap along his torso, along with taking out another interestingly long case. The case held his signature magictech twinblade, a weapon of his custom design that’s seen him through countless battles - Yoake Mae. He opened the case and removed the blade, revealing the weapon as the blades glistened in the morning rays. “Mornin’ partner.” He mused to himself.

With that he headed out of his room at the inn he’d been staying at and made his way to the reception desk, where he paid his tab. He gave a friendly farewell to the receptionist and walked out the front doors. It was time for the hunt!

Procuring a temp license for the Hensia area the day prior was easy enough, thanks to the connections he had from his earlier days. He quickly made his way to the hunting site, not really that fazed by the ruins and overgrowth of plantlife. Having been to all sorts of places, it was a sight that Valsyar was all too familiar with. He greeted a few people while on the way, one of which was a blacksmith who thanked him for fixing some broken items and even giving him some more up-to-date tool sets. Eventually, he happened upon a man who appeared to be in his thirties dressed in gray with a top hat. “Greetings sir! I believe this is what you’re looking for?” He quickly flashed his badge to the guard, and after receiving passage, made his way to the ruins. While he had high hopes for this trek, rumors are more often than not just rumors. Unfortunately, in lands that are at this point mostly uncharted, many times that’s all one has to go off of.

After reaching the chasm, he took notice of the other hunters gathered there. Among them, three in particular caught his eye. A young woman looked to be from the Fuso region, possibly had connections with the Burial Agency maybe? Another was a taller person who was covered head to toe in military gear, even complete with a gas mask. The nostalgia it gave off almost made Turel smirk, reminiscing on days long past. The third, however, was quite the shock to him. A little girl in cute goggles, probably no older than ten, was among the crowd of hunters. At first, he immediately thought that she was either lost or bidding farewell to her hunter caretakers. But, after seeing her official license, it was filled with even more surprise. They’re letting children as young as her pass as artifact hunters? He thought to himself. But enough of that, the adults present had already introduced themselves and Turel was the odd man out.

“Greetings! A pleasure to meet you, Leonard and Meixue. My name is Turel Valsyar: Freelance Artifact Hunter and Magictech Repairman at your service. I bid good hunting to you all, even the little miss joining us today. And your name is?” He said, turning to the little girl with a welcoming smile.

---

The day began fine for Aerynne. It had been a while since she was able to sleep on even a mildly fluffy bed like the one from the family that took her in while she was staying in Hensia. Renting a room in a family house certainly beat a cheap inn any day of the week, especially when she could get some tasty freshly baked bread out of it.

How was it, again? Bread and Breakfast... Aerynne certainly could get used to that. Or so she thought as she made her way to HAHL's headquarters.

Thanks to having made her reservations a day before, it was no problem for Aerynne to just come and collect her temporary license. Openings of ruins like this one always attracted all kinds of crowds, from real hardcore pros to curious people just wanting to take a look. Case in point, the strange duo of a—seemingly—gritty old man dressed in what looked like surplus military gear and a small girl who looked like she could going out for a field trip.

Since she had nothing better to do, Aerynne decided to observe it from a short distance. And then, as she did so, a couple more joined the previous two.

"Party forming sure does look like a good idea. Maybe I should try doing it too?" Aerynne said to herself as she continued to observe the people around her while slowly plucking bite-sized bits of her bread and eating them.

---

@Searat@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@AzureKnight

---

Erika smirked at Tanja's purring. She found this robot somewhat adorable. Still, with her partner admitting her lack of knowledge of where they were going, "Well, it's a good thing I took a quick peak earlier." Erika mentioned with a slight giggle. She released the catgirl from her grasp and opened the door. "Come then, follow me." Erika was quick to pick up on the tradition of this town, the so called unspoken rule of never saying goodbye. As the two left, she saw the Innkeeper and gave her a quick wave to catch the woman's attention. "We'll be back today or tomorrow." With that, the woman smiled and return the phrase.

"Then I'll see you then." With that, Erika and Tanja were out the door heading to where they would be hunting relics. Luckily, it wasn't a far walk. From where they were, they walked through a makeshift market and towards the also makeshift lift down to the hunting site. A guard stood there, always was one. Making sure people were authorized in the guild. Before he had a chance to ask her, she pulled out her pass from somewhere and showed it to him. "I sure am authorized my good man." She said with a smile on her face. "And this here is my partner, authorized as well." She added, patting the cat earred girl on her head. The guard was slightly taken aback, but noted that Erika seemed pretty eager to get down to work with her smile and let her pass. With her continued smile, she grabbed Tanja by the hand and took her to the lift. "We'll be back." She mentioned before the two disappeared down into the sinkhole.

At the bottom, after departing, Erika let go of Tanja's hand and took a look around. "Tanja my girl, these are the first steps of our first, possibly last... Forey into some ruins together. We'll have to work hard together, today." She nodded before looking over and seeing a couple of hunters surrounding a lone girl. She was perhaps nine or ten. It really wasn't that different from the age when she started diving into ruins. She was nine when she went to search for her dad and Fuuka picked her up. She sighed. "Well, hope that girl gets lucky as I did." She muttered to herself and Tanja. "What do you think, Tanja? Talk to them?" She asked her cat-eared partner before patting her on the head.

“Hanh?! What’s the hold up here?” A voice sounded from behind the others, belligerent and bold.

The middle-aged badge inspector screwed his face up, still trying to make out whether the badge before him had all the necessary details and identification. It was bent out of shape, had more than a couple of dried stains on it, and the central ‘A’ looked more like an ‘B’ due to a deep slash within the surface. Undoubtedly, it was a badge of the Hensia Artifact Hunter’s League, but was it that man's badge?

One of those stains looked suspiciously like blood…

“Fuck ya looking at?” The thug leaned in closer, jutting out his lower jaw. “Hensia’s got dis-cri-mi-na-to-ry practices now or somethin’? Speak the fuck up, man!”

“You don’t live in Hensia, do you? I’m not certain where you got this badge from, but we’re issuing temporary licenses as well, so i-”

“Oh, this is RICH!” The thug snatched the badge out of the man’s hand, stuffing it into his pockets before pushing pass. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re on about, but what I do know is that my badge is 100% clean! Go piss someone else off!” Without stopping, the red-haired youth powered on through…only to stop at the small crowd that had formed for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

One…two…three…yeah, that’s more than what he’s willing to count up to. And with that tincan over there, there’s not a rat’s ass in hell that anyone could double up with him anyhow.

“Dunno what sorta clown shit y’all are up to, but those elevators aren’t gonna fit much more than tinman there. Get gone or step aside, yea?”

He spat off to the side, then strode right towards the group. Either they’d part or he’d shoulder past; Oribara didn’t give a fuck right now.

Since all the adults were introducing themselves, and she'd been asked directly, Imarui cheerfully raised her hand to the sky.

"My name's Imarui!" she introduced herself brightly. Anyone with knowledge of such things would recognize it as a Navran name, which was unexpected somewhere as distant from the icy, unforgiving north as this little girl, "But my friends call me Ima!"

She paused for a moment. She couldn't consider out of town artifact hunters her friends right away, and even her friends definitely didn't know about her necklace... but that didn't mean she couldn't consider making sure everyone here was going to be okay. Even that rude guy who just showed up and almost walked right into the big armored guy!

... Still, he was pretty rude... Imarui frowned at him for a moment. She was used to Artifact Hunters, at least Hensia's artifact hunters, being something like a community. She knew almost all of them herself.

... Ah, but that one girl... was she a beastfolk!? Imarui had never seen one before, but those were definitely cat ears! Eyes shining, Imarui almost asked...

But it was at that moment that the elevator arrived with a resounding clank. Moments later, it was followed by several others.

"Oh, they're here!"

Imarui was quick to rush onto the nearest elevator, poised above the yawning abyss.

Beyond the initial landing site where the elevators had been rigged up, there was nothing. Very little of the new tunnel had been explored...

Whatever nervousness the little girl felt was being overwhelmed by how excited she was to explore.

@Rune_Alchemist@Searat@KoL@ERode@Pyromania99@AzureKnight@Raineh Daze

---

Leo briefly looked around the small group that was forming while they waited for the elevator to take them down. As expected, the hunters that were present came from all walks of life. Nodding his head slightly, he thinks that this will be a very interesting expedition. But before he could have his fun, his moral obligation demanded him that he ensure the little one's safety in this tunnel excursion. A boorish man made himself known. The loud and proud introduction just barely getting the armored man's attention as his five years of experience taught him that those with big mouths and even bigger personalities usually quickly find their way into a closed casket during missions.

Leaning slightly to his right to avoid the thug's impatient gesture of getting to the elevator first, Leo kept the majority of his focus on the child's short but enthusiastic introduction and putting away his temporary license into somewhere safe and secure in his bag. He didn't want to do another repeat of this morning. "A pleasure to meet you all. Including you, young miss Imarui." Quite a peculiar name considering how far North they were located. But the man didn't dwell on the subject for long. The elevators were here! But, the ill-mannered redhead was probably correct. The elevators were unlikely to fit more than himself and his gear. So it was likely he'd solo an elevator himself. "If there is nothing left to discuss, I suppose I wish you all luck and hope to see you in the chasm below." Leo boarded a nearby elevator that creaked slightly from the weight. Even now, he could already feel his body slowly introducing adrenaline in his bloodstream.

Oh how he missed this high.

So many people around... including one super rude one! Hopefully she'd remember all their names later. Including that girl with the white hair; was that a normal hair colour now or was she some sort of albino? It would probably be a bad idea to ask, and she didn't look terribly sunburnt...

"Uh... I'm Tanja!" she said as everyone started to go towards the elevators, cutting down on the full introduction. It didn't seem like Erika had done the best job of remembering it all, and Rothschilde hadn't even cared and come up with his own label. Alhein hadn't printed the full thing on her ID, either, so she was getting the feeling nobody really wanted the full designation. Maybe it was only scientists who wanted that?

Taking a look at the elevators, the catgirl frowned. Rickety, not all that much space, she might need to wait for one to come back up if she couldn't squeeze onto Erika's. Blech, that was no fun, she really didn't want to wait. So, then, time to take the quick route.

Nobody else was probably expecting to see the whale-carrying girl outright leap into the chasm without a care but, much further down, there was a brief glimmer of red... and once the elevators reached their destination, Tanja was just standing, waiting, and definitely not a smear on the chasm wall.

_{@VitaVitaAR@ERode@Rune_Alchemist@Searat@KoL@Pyromania99@Raineh Daze}

"Ah. I see, well then it's nice to meet you Ima." Turel replied with a friendly tone. Hmm, with a name like that, I wonder if she's from the Navran region? He silently thought to himself, although he felt that it wasn't his place to pry. Being snapped out of his thoughts, he took notice of a few new hunters entering the scene. There was a young woman who feathery hair gave her an ethereal appearance, she seemed to want to observe from a distance, cutely stuffing bread in her face. There was also a curious pair consisting of a tanned skinned woman alongside a little girl who had...cat ears? Another kid? Turel guessed that if Imarui could be granted pass, it wouldn't be too farfetched that another one could as well. Plus, it shouldn't be too bad since the older woman seemed to be looking after her. Then, there was the fourth one...

A young man forced his way into the fray, having somewhat of a spout with the gentleman in the top hat. His language was 'colorful' to say the least. Storming his way over, he nearly bumped into Leonard while walking towards the elevator. He would've if he didn't lean out of the way in time. ""That's quite the mouth you have there, kiddo." Turel said to the young man, whether he responded or not. "You really should say excuse me when you're about to walk into someone." Still, Turel chuckled a bit, not too apprehensive at the young man's demeanor. He had old friends that acted no different, so it was something that he was used to.

At that point, the elevator had finally come back up, and Ima could barely contain her excitement as she ran towards it. Leonard decided to go on one solo due to the weight of his gear. Understandable. What he saw then, however, really caught his eye. The little cat-eared girl opted out of taking the lift down and instead jumped straight down into the chasm. He stared where she jumped off at for a moment, wondering if he wasn't seeing things. But he thought about it, and felt that the girl was probably fine. Kids nowadays sure are interesting. He laughed to himself.

He then turned to Meixue. "Say, I was thinking it might be good to keep an eye on Ima and the young man. They seem to be hunters, but they're still young. If you're interested in partying up, I was going on ahead to the elevator." With that, Turel left the scene shortly behind Imarui. She would find Turel joining her on the same elevator heading down. While the seeker came here mainly for the chance to find a new artifact, it would leave a bad taste in his mouth if something happened to the kid.

"Imarui, how long have you been artifact hunting by yourself? If you don't mind me asking?"

@VitaVitaAR@AzureKnight

---

"A pleasure to meet you all." Mexiue would reply as the energetic girl introduced herself. A Navran name? What was she doing so far here from the north? Did her family move here, after some time? Hm. Well, it wasn't her place to question such things as long as Imarui seemed happy. It was then, a rather rude kid would shove his way past them. Meixue frowned, almost desiring to drag him back by the scruff of his neck and making him apologize, but the elevators arriving cut short such plans.

"Hm, yes. Imarui's safety concerns me." She would follow Imarui and Turel onto the elevator, watching as a someone just...jumped from the top of the chasm to the pit below. Well...at least she had seen far more curious things in Fuso. They were probably alright since it looked intention. "As for that young man, well...he better hope he doesn't need an exorcist." She'd hum idly. Of course, she wouldn't let any old spook harm anyone if she could help it. She wouldn't be a good Undertaker if she did, but he seemed to be in bad need of both a lesson in manners as well as a modicum of respect for others.

"Is it normal for children to be artifact hunters here?" Mexiue would ask her own question to the energetic kid

Tinman had the decency to step aside at least, and Oribara was fine with going on his merry way when someone had to open their shithole and flap off. Kiddo? Fucking Alhein bitches; even solo they looked down on their nose at everyone else. "Yeah, how 'bout you shut the fuck up, kiddo," he snapped, "and get your giggolo ass to work." He ignored whatever the Fuso bitch mouthed behind his back. What even was an exercyst? Some gross ass wart? Marching right toward the elevator, Oribara was about to step in when a blur of movement caught his eyes.

One of the girls, the midget doll that looked like she belonged a fancy-smancy cafe rather than the dirt and grime of an artifact ruin, leapt off the edge of the chasm. Then fell. And fell. And fell.

This, of course, was an affront that Oribara could not let stand.

So, securing all his equipment more tightly to his body, the redheaded bastard leapt off the edge of the chasm as well, falling parallel to the chains of one of the elevators. The dank air of the ruins rushed up against him as he plummeted and yet, even as he narrowed his profile to reduce air resistance, there was no sign that he was catching up to that white-haired girl. Which may have made sense, if it wasn't for the fact that they were both nearing the ground and she was still not slowing herself in any way.

"Shit!"

Reaching out to his side, Oribara grabbed onto the chains of the elevator, the muscles of his arm bulging as he forcefully slowed his own descent enough so that he wouldn't risk an injury on impact. A hearty thump sounded as his steel-toed boots struck the earth, the impact braced by the tightening of his core, before he stood up straight again. His red eyes traced over the girl, noticing the nonchalant way that she carried herself and the lack of any inflammation on her knee joints, before he pulled his skateboard out of his pack and secured a headlamp to his forehead.

Turning his eyes towards the untouched tunnels ahead, Oribara said flatly, "Those are some fucked up legs ya got there. Who trained ya?"

"Uwah?!"

Imarui's eyes widened when she saw the beastfolk girl suddenly hurl herself into the darkness of the pit, quickly vanishing from sight. For a moment, her heart sunk, and she feared she had just watched someone say goodbye... but then she realized something fairly obvious: These were all foreign artifact hunters, right? They had all kinds of magic, and some of them probably had artifacts themselves! She wouldn't have done that if she didn't have a way to survive, right?

When she realized this, the young girl let out a little sigh of relief and placed one small hand to her chest. The fact that none of the adults seemed concerned, too...

It did a lot to make her relax.

"... Ah, um, how long?" Imarui cocked her head to one side, "Two years! Everyone starts when they're eight."

She smiled brightly, "All my friends do it too, they're just not on duty today. I'm really lucky, I'm the first to get to explore the new tunnel!"

Beaming with pride, the little girl placed her hands on her hips.

"It's really exciting!"

With a clank, the elevators began to descend into the darkness...

@AzureKnight@Rune_Alchemist

---

The bottom of the tunnel was dark, to say the least. Very little showed any signs of human interference, save for the immediate area around the elevators. It was clear that the tunnel continued off to the right and forwards, meaning that the cave-in had lead to an elbow-shaped area of the underground space. Additionally, it was also possible to see a pile of rubble, what remained of the building that had fallen into the new pit.

To the right, there was a faint glow, which meant there was likely some sort of lunmiscent growth there. Glowing plants were hardly unheard of, after all.

Or it could have been something more sinister...

@Raineh Daze@ERode

---

Not even in the chasm proper, it seemed like the tunnel would claim its first victims. Tunnel didn't even throw monsters or environmental hazards at them yet. He didn't know what got into the beastfolk girl when she leaped feet first into the abyss, but he was surprised to see the red haired thug actually go out of his way to try and save the seemingly suicidal cat-eared beastfolk. "Hmm. Leaping in to save another without a moment's hesitation? Noble. Very Foolish...but surprisingly selfless." He may have misjudged the boorish youth.

Just as he was to offer a prayer to the gods for the peaceful rest of the two dearly departed hunters, he noticed the chains that controlled the elevator suddenly go taut a few moments after the youth leaped to his apparent demise. "Huh...maybe not dead after all." Leo mused as he thought of the possibility that the younger man actually managed to save the girl and reached for a chain to mitigate the fall. He chuckled at the incredulousness of the possibility.

A sudden jolt of the platform. Then the rattling of chains accompanied by the mechanical noises of moving gears shook him out of his tittering. The elevator had been activated and was lowering him into the inky abyss.

---

The lower the elevator descended, more and more, the sun's rays refused to enter the chasm. Ominous. But spooky atmosphere aside, it was getting quite dark. Dark enough for the enchantments in his mask's lenses to react accordingly to the light level. Though he could see better in the dim light of the lower chasm, it limited his vision to roughly ten meters and reduced the visible spectrum to shades of grey. Not exactly a debilitating disadvantage but he did miss seeing further or color for that matter.

But looking on the bright side, he saw the base-jumping duo no worse for ware.

The sight garnered an impressed whistle from Leo. It baffled the armored hunter how they both managed to survive the lengthy drop unscathed. He expected the redhead to have a few broken bones or dislocations but there they were. Standing nonchalantly as if they didn't just cheat death. "Fuck...I owe both of you a drink if we get back alive." the man said with a hidden smile as the elevator finally reached the bottom.

@ERode@Raineh Daze

---

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@Searat@ERode

"Haaaaaaaaa....." Erika sighed aloud as her partner jumped off. She knew that Tanja wasn't normal, but she might have forgot to pound into her head that she should at least try to act it and not jump off of high places. Then that one boorish guy who was trying to act tough by shoving through everyone jumped off to try and save her. She opened her mouth to say something but he was gone before she really had a chance to mention anything. Erika just sighed and shrugged. Realistically, she could probably make her way down to Tanja if she really tried but it was a bit dangerous to do so she opted not to. "Tanjaaaaaaaa....." She groaned mostly to herself as she tried to make herself comfortable on the elevator.

They'd reach the bottom soon enough. She just started listening in on the other's conversation and it surprised her that everyone was surprised that they were child artifact hunters. When the small girl was finished speaking her piece, Erika spoke up so the rest could hear her. "What? Didn't grow up in a town like this? You don't have too many choices as an orphan in a town like this. Not if you want to go somewhere in this world." Her tone sounded friendly, if a little dismissive of the worries. "It's kind of normal in a lot of places a bit more..." Erika seemed to judge her word choices and didn't seem quite happy with her choice when she made it. "'Uncivilized.'"

She had been to the bigger cities before, of course. They were a bit more on the civilized side than where she lived, here as well. "It's not the best word for the situation, but I think it's the best way to put it." She shook her head a few times and put her smile back on. "Oh, and, no need to worry about Tanja. She's just a bit of an eccentric." Despite saying that, the tapping of her foot betrayed her worry regardless.

---

A somewhat short time later, they reached the bottom of the elevator shaft and Erika saw her partner. She jumped off the elevator a little before it reached the bottom. She landed gracefully and paced herself over to Tanja quickly before standing before her. The woman's hands reached out and gently pinched the robot girl's cheeks. "What do you think you're doing." She tried whispering to her, though, it was a bit loud. Enough so for the others to hear. "Don't try something like that again or I'm going to have to just hold your hand the entire time so you don't disappear somewhere." After she said her piece she gave a sigh and switched from pinching cheeks to patting Tanja on the head. "Just don't do things that'll make me worry, alright?"

She looked over to the red headed guy who jumped after her. She didn't really like his attitude and truthfully, she didn't want anything to do with him at the moment. She just gave him a small, noncommittal nod before looking around the area. She had gone ruin delving more than a few times and this really wasn't too different from what she explored for the first time when she was little. She didn't think too much of the luminescent growths since she had seen plenty in her time. "Looks like we're going to have a fun time exploring."