---

Aerynne finished eating her bread silently. It seemed some of the others had a wrong idea that no kids were ever involved with Artifact Hunting. There was nothing farther away from the truth, Aerynne herself used to go on trips with her parents from around the same age as this Imarui girl.

Actually, that was a very exotic name for this region, but Aerynne didn't feel like prying into other's lives if she didn't need to. That said, one of the things mentioned by Imarui caught Aerynne's attention. She might as well try to know more about it later,"

Her concentration was broken a moment later when a couple of people decided to literally plunge into the abyss below. The bird girl couldn't hold the instinct to cringe. She waited for the unavoidable sound of bodies being squashed against the ground, but since it never came, Aerynne could only hope everything went well down there.

"Y—You really got me worried there for a moment. Now I'm kinda curious what kind of eccentricity leads someone to do, well... that," Aerynne said as she followed Erika into the elevator.

"Woah, these look like some pretty nice ruins. It's been a while since I've run into any like this. Maybe it'll finally be my lucky day," Aerynne said out loud to herself as she set eyes on the ruin, momentarily forgetting about everything else.

---

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

"Legs? What have my legs got to do with this?" Tanja wondered, cocking her head and looking down at the legs. She hadn't expected anyone to follow her down, especially not in some muscle-headed manner that ought to hurt, "It was just a second or two of flight." There was a frown of concentration and the pale blue lines running along her body turned a vivid pulsing red--the same red as the glow from her jump down, and of the translucent wing-like constructs that briefly appeared behind her. Then it was back to normal. "I... think Professor Weishaupt did flight?"

That got no further explanation with the arrival of the elevators, and especially Erika's worried expression... and pinching. "I'm sorryyyy, elevators are just slow! I need my hand free in case anything attacks us! I'll be good!"

Her other arm was firmly occupied, after all, she couldn't hold Erika's hand and carry her companion and even pretend to aim. That wouldn't work.

@ERode@Pyromania99@Searat

---

"Well would you look at that...the beastfolk has some integrated magitek." Leo says as he casually strides off the elevator platform as the beastfolk's apparent partner chides her for such a display of recklessness. More and more the hunters arrived to the bottom of the chasm. Leo would have wanted to throw a polite hand wave to those who were just arriving but the soft glow further within the tunnel piqued his curiosity. It could be nothing but luminescent crystals or fungi...but he also heard of beasties that would use light to lure in unsuspecting prey straight to their hungry jaws. And being prepared never hurt anyone.

Calmly drawing his rifle from its slung position over his shoulder, he observes proper gun handling etiquette but keeps his thumb ready on the safety just in case something looking for a meal decides to give them a warm welcome.

@ERode@Raineh Daze@Pyromania99@KoL

@VitaVitaAR@AzureKnight

---

Two years? When she was eight? Mexiue frowned lightly, her cheeks puffing out a bit as she would consider the information. Well that...that was just wrong on so many levels to make a child do that. Just what were the people here thinking! Ugh, she wanted to punch someone now...she would take a moment to clear her throat and calm herself. Well, that was unladylike. She would remain quiet as the elevator descended, mentally preparing herself for the ruin ahead.

Just a short time later, the descent would end. Meixue would step off the elevator, taking a gander at the ruins. Seemed to split off into two routes. One with a suspicious glow coming from it, the other completely dark. Hm. That meant splitting into two teams would likely cover more ground so they could recover more artifacts, though either side may also have nothing while the other had everything.

A simple matter of choosing the right path, perhaps. Thankfully it seemed like the reckless fools who jumped down were safe enough. Must have some pretty impressive skills, then...but as long as they weren't hurt it didn't concern her right now.

"Ahh~" Mexiue would stretch, limbering up her muscles for what was likely going to end at least, in some minor scuffle with anything that would live in these ruins, be they specter or beast. "So Imarui...I'm gonna come with you." She'd say with a smile. "If you don't mind of course."

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

Responding with a ‘get your gigolo ass to work’, the young man stormed away not taking a look back. “Quite the brat, that one, heh.” Turel mused. It was cut short, as he then witnessed the youth jump straight down the shaft, seemingly to go after the girl from earlier. Just like from earlier, he didn’t hear a body splattering.

“Honestly, I believe those kids will be just fine. They don’t seem, ‘run-of-the-mill, if you catch my drift.” He said as he descended down the elevator with the others. He leaned his back against the railing, arms folded. He turned to Imarui as she explained that she had been artifact hunting for the past two years apparently. “Two years huh? Well, I guess it’s good that you know how to take care of yourself. Makes me wonder if you’re good in a fight. Still, two whole years huh? Wow...” He then listened to the young blonde girl talk about how it’s actually rather common in these more untouched areas. “That right?” He responded. “I heard rumors here and there, but never actually met a hunter who was still in their adolescence. Guess that might be the same for the girl you’ve got travelling with you, huh?” He didn’t want to delve too deeply into it, but there was something else about that girl that made Turel wonder.

Eventually they made their way down to the bottom. After everyone got off, Leonard had also made it down, greeting everyone. “Hey, Leonard! Normally, I’d treat you all to some drinks. But, I’m pretty sure not everyone here is of legal drinking age.” He said as he turned to the kids who jumped down to the bottom, confirming his initial presumption. He chuckled as the tan girl scolded the cat-eyed youth for being a tad bit too reckless. The girl with feathery hair stepped off and was expounding her delight at the ruins, not really paying attention to anything else. Of course, he’d been looking forward to this as well.

And then there’s Mr. Foul-mouthed. “That’s quite impressive.” Turel said as he walked over to the boy and gave him a few pats on the shoulder. “Surviving a drop down a sheer rock wall ain’t nothing to take lightly. Earlier it looked like you jumped after that kid in an attempt to save her. If that’s the case, then I’d you’re quite the man. I take back my kiddo statement from earlier.” He then extended his hand for a shake.

“Don’t think we ever were properly introduced. Name’s Turel Valsyar: I’m a freelance artifact hunter who also runs a small magitech repair business on the side. Ever need any of your gadgets fixed, I’m your man.” He turned to the others for a moment as he made his statement so that all present would be aware. “I’ve a couple of other talents as well, when the situation calls for it." He then raised the index finger in his other hand upward as he began to channel a bit of energy. He made a ball of light, about the size of an orange, appear on the tip of his finger. It gave off a vermillion hue in the vicinity, before he made it dissipate with a simple flick.

“You got a name?”

"Hanh?" Oribara turned his head, one eye locked back onto tinman. "That goes without saying."

He turned to the distant glow, rolling his shoulders backwards and feeling his muscles warm up, limber up. His headlight scythed through the darkness of their surroundings, and even from a distance, Oribara could tell that there was something up with the rightside light. Good shit. Love to see it. Like deep sea fish, like moth-searing flames. The beastgirl offered up a less than fascinating answer to how she managed her own landing though, and just like that, he lost interest. Of course it was magic. Shouldn't have expected much from a skinny kiddo like that. Her companion looked more pissed than concerned though. Oribara glared back at her when her eyes swept over to where he was, but offered no comment.

Giggolo-ass, self-proclaimed freelancer as he was, simply couldn't let a conversation die out though. The red-haired thug looked at the man's outstretched hand, then rolled his eyes and slapped the open palm. Was that supposed to be a hi-five? Or just a refusal of camaraderie? "Oribara Senjoushi, from the motherfucking Gatecrashers of Hell. Don't give a fuck if you remember it or not, cause from here on out, y'all are only gonna see my back!"

And with that, he kicked off the ground, flinging his skateboard in front of him before jumping on. With the screaming of grooved wheels tearing against stone, Oribara shot off for the rightside path, fully intent on making every one of these chummy cheesechurners eat his dust.

Unless one of them ended up with a broken leg or something. Then he'd have to double back, if only on principle.

"Eh-heheh, I avoid fighting anything, but I'm really good at hiding..." Imarui responded, scratching the back of her head with one hand. She didn't have anything good for fighting. She didn't have an Arti-

The small girl paused for a few moments.

That wasn't true... and that reminded her, as much as all these people seemed nice, when it was time to locate an artifact she was going to have to get away from them as soon as she could. After all, she didn't know how they'd respond when they learned about the true nature of her necklace. She could hide its light, certainly, but she didn't want them seeing it in the first place...

But that was okay for now.

First, they'd explore!

It was pretty dark down here, and that was the remains of the building that had fallen into the pit, all smashed up and crushed... it really was good nobody had been inside it at the time!

"Anyway, exploring together is a lot better then splitting up!" declared the little white-haired girl cheerfully, even as the boy from before rushed off down the right side path. She definitely didn't mind the older girl sticking with her, but there was no reason to dawdle around here any longer! Imarui adjusted her backpack and turned to follow the skateboarder's path...

---

The right side path was much brighter then the initial site of the descent, and it was immediately apparent why that was.

The walls, floor, and part of the cieling were encrusted with hundreds upon hundreds of glowcaps. The large mushrooms gave off a somewhat eerie blue-white glow, and while they in and of themselves were harmless, it did indicate something somewhat unsavory.

Something had likely died here at one point. Glowcaps could grow in incredibly harsh conditions, far moreso then this cavern was, but the initial catalyst for their growth was almost always the presence of a corpse.

The light of the glowing fungi did, however, illuminate the true hazard.

Hanging from the ceiling were thin, silvery, hairlike strands that would have been completely invisible in the darkness. Following them to the roof of the cave would reveal that they were attached to a slimy substance, within which was the bodies of the creatures the strands were attacked to. Wormlike creatures, the length and width of a grown man's arm.

On their own, they were harmless to anything larger then a rat or similar creature. But when something brushed against their sensory strands that was too large for them to pull up and consume...

They weren't called Screaming Slugs for no reason, and many subterranean predators had learned to respond to the screams of the creatures as a sign that food was nearby.

Beyond, the cavern seemed to widen again, and it almost appeared as if something other then the glowing fungi was attached to the walls. Perhaps there was an underground forest of some sort? They were hardly unheard of.

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

---

"Wai-!" Leo yells out to the thuggish youth too late as he blindly rushes forward and deeper to the illuminated path without a care in the world; seemingly unaware to the dangers it may bring to him or, worst case scenario, to the rest of the group. The armored man ran after the fiery red-head with surprising speed and agility enough for him to notice the true danger of the path. Screaming slugs laid in wait. Nothing more than biological trip alarms, but what made them a proper hazard was the creatures it would notify that a possible meal was nearby.

And Oribara was heading straight for a cluster of them.

Leo had to think quickly before a possible catastrophe occurred. Re-slinging his battle rifle, two of his now free hands reached into the side pockets of his bag and pulled out a two day's worth of rations and threw them at the Screaming Slugs. Who would have known that those nutrition packed but tasteless food bars would see use other than consumption? If the plan was successful, it would have a cluster of the slugs focus on the food bars and hopefully give Oribara an opportunity to pass through without causing an alarm. If the younger man was skillful enough to avoid them.

@ERode

---

Erika just sighed as she watched that hoverboard guy spew foulness from her mouth. It's not that she never said anything uncouth, but geez, he must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed. She didn't really want to go down the same way he went and, if she gauged the conversation earlier, looked to another way into this ruin. Welp, now was as good a time as any. She reached into her pocket and grabbed an elastic band and used it to tie her hair back into a pony tail.

After that, she clicked on her bracelet a few times and held that hand out. A light spread from the device and spread over her body. It fully covered her body at some point and an odd, skin-tight suit seemingly materialized into existence. It was fairly form fitting in certain areas and at least looked slightly armored in some other areas. The woman rubbed the back of her neck, though she didn't feel it much because of her outfit. She checked to make sure her other equipment was where it was suppose to be. Supplies, check. She strapped them closer to her body to make sure it didn't flop around as much. Weapon, check. "Alright, Tanja. We're going this way." She said, leading the small robotic girl by the hand to where the Hoverboard boy didn't go. She was mostly confident they could take care of themselves.

The left path shared some similarities with the right. Just as was the case on the right side, the glow proved to be the work of a multitude of glowcaps, covering nearly every surface in the tunnel. Joining them in this case were a multitude of vines hanging down from the ceiling, immediate recognition of the species rendered difficult due to the lighting and their generic appearance. Still, this implied potentially more lush growth deeper in the cavern.

This time, however, it became apparent just why the glowcaps were so numerous.

Roughly five meters on into the left path, was the relatively fresh corpse of a carrier bird. While it was still most certainly dead for more then a day or so, that was still fairly fresh given how difficult to access this part of the cavern must have been. The implication was obvious, there must have been another entrance to this cavern elsewhere... or the building that had fallen into the pit wasn't as empty as first expected.

Glowcaps had already begun to grow on the body, but it was mostly still visible. On closer inspection, another grisly discovery would be made: The carrier bird's body was savagely torn open, much of the meat and internal organs gone. The entire underside of its neck had been torn away as well, and given the particular density of glowcaps there it was likely the animal had been killed by having its throat torn open.

The presence of a saddle was also concerning, though no human body was present.

@Pyromania99@Raineh Daze

Silvery strands were invisible in darkness; Oribara had a headlamp.

As the Screaming Slugs flickered in the swath of fluorescent light from his forehead, the thug knelt down, one hand on his board and another reaching out into the ground. His fingers punched past glowcaps and dirt, snagging into the hardier rock underneath, and with a twist of his body, he wrenched a large slab of rock out of the ground, board skidding to a stop at the very edge of the first slugs. Still squatting on his board, Oribara pulled out two spray cans and shook them heartily. One was a pesticide, strong enough to dissuade any glowcaps from growing over top, while the other was a luminescent paint that would glow a striking red to contrast with the blue-white of the caps.

And what did he spray atop the rock?

Eyes up, fuckos!

A flourish of his double-shotgun, double-bicep signature later, and Oribara rammed the stone warning sign into the ground, right in the center of the entrance to the cavern. Slugs were good for drawing out other predators, but Trailblazers didn’t care for the dangers of opportunistic predators. Dens were easier (and more satisfying) to vandalize.

Then, a couple of rations flew overhead. Snagged onto the sensory threads of the slugs. And was duly consumed by them.

Oribara gazed backwards, one eyebrow cocked.

“Didn’t take you for a monster lover, tinman.”

And with that, he kicked off again, board churning up glowcaps underneath as the redhead swayed and snaked, evading the very visible freaks that clung to the ceiling. Someone with a flamethrower can handle ‘em in the future. Oribara had a whole damn forest to sketch out!

"Do you think there are underground wolves or something?" Tanja wondered aloud, crouching down to look at the grisly wound on the bird. They were pretty far down, so it wasn't like it could be normal wolves or the like making their way down. Unless wolves knew how to operate elevators? She wasn't sure that this was within their normal abilities but if they could disguise themselves as grandmothers, then... well, who knew what a particularly dedicate one might do. "Or did it come down here with its throat torn out and get killed by mushrooms?"

"I'm still not sure what behaviour is normal in this time..." the robot wondered, standing up again and looking back at Erika.

---

"Huh. Guess he didn't need help after all." Leo says with a nonchalant shrug. He didn't expect the thug to actually notice the slugs but he did apparently. 'Good for him I suppose' he thought as he watched the skateboarder weave through the remaining slug tongues. Though sad that he used up two of his ration bars, it allowed him and the others to navigate the hazard with more ease now that a cluster of the slugs were happily digesting the food he threw. But still...two days worth of food gone could be an annoyance in the future.

Just as he was deciding how to ration his remaining food bars, Imarui walked past him. Reminding the armored man that he should probably party up with the kid if he wanted to try keeping her safe during this delve. "Hey, Imarui. Overheard that you were partying up with Meixue and Turel. Mind if I tag along too?" Looking behind him to the ex-soldier and burial agent. "If they don't mind me tagging along, that is."

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@AzureKnight

---

This wasn't the first time Erika had seen a gruesome sight like this. Didn't mean she liked it any more. She winced at first seeing the sight of the mushrooms growing from the creature. She got a closer look at it. "It's missing quite a bit of, well, everything. Either something ate it or gutted it for later. There was a saddle here so... Hmmm. Maybe it did get killed by some killer mushroom monsters down here." She teased as her eyes flow over the scene a last time before standing up. "Who knows. Perhaps there are some underground wolves. Maybe a wolfman or something of the sort."

She looked at Tanja and shrugged at her last words. "If there's anything I've learned from my travels, there's not really any normal. You'll get eyes on you as long as you're not someone people know." She took her weapon out of its sheath and kept moving down the path. "Regardless, we should keep moving. Keep your eyes and ears open. If you notice anything, let me know."

---

The grimace on Aerynne's face said all that needed to be told about her interest in going down the way of the path filled with screaming slugs. In all of her years of exploration, she never got to terms with her dislike of the many creepy crawlies that filled many ruins. At most, she managed to reduce it from an instinctive phobia to a level where she could deal with them if she had to, but now wasn't the time for that.

As such, she followed the strange duo with the exhibitionist and the feline girl down the left-handed path.

Aerynne took notes of the many life forms in the ruins. Sometimes, the powers that emanated from certain relics influenced the kinds of beings that lived near them, causing them to evolve and change in the strangest of ways. Perhaps if they could cross-reference that with some other databases, there was a chance to have an idea of what might be waiting for them.

Anyway, the fresh corpse and the duo's conversation pulled her attention away from her notebook.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't not overhear your conversation from back there," Aerynne said as she approached them. "Whether or not this is the work of wolves or anything else, don't you think it's strange they came down here when there's supposed to have only one entrance?"

"By the way, I'm sorry for being rude," she said when she realized she began talking to them without so much as introducing herself. "My name's Aerynne, a scholar of ruins. I'm glad I could find someone else who went down this route."

---

_{@VitaVitaAR @Rune_Alchemist @ERode @Searat}

Opposed to a regular handshake, the roughneck youth instead slapped Turel's open palm with his own. Not sure what to make of the gesture, the boy introduced himself as Oribara Senjoushi, from the supposed group known as the Gatecrashers of Hell. Turel thought he'd heard the name somewhere before. They were apparently a band of trailblazers who went around splunking in different areas, leaving their own little monikers as they go. If he was from a band like that, he tactless nature shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. As he leave away on his board, Turel noticed along with the others the looming threat overhead - Screaming Slugs. "Shit!" He spat. He was all to familiar with these creatures, nasty little devils. The real danger was in how they had the tendency to attract other, more vicious threats to their vicinity - hence the name. He remembers some missions he went on while still in the service, he lost a comrade here and there due to those bugs. Indeed it wouldn't be the first time he'd encountered them.

He was about to warn Oribara, but the boy stopped just before the reach the first bunch of them. Using some spray cans he had tucked away, he sprayed a message for everyone else who took this path with some vivid language. "Tch, cute" Chimed Turel. Leonard, also quick to respond, threw some rations at the slugs to draw their attention away from the party. Oribara make a snide comment before proceeding back on his way down the cavern. Turel then turned to Leonard who expressed interest in trekking along with them.

"Nice one, my man! I'd probably try the same thing too. I certainly don't see an issue having a man how knows his way around danger tagging along with us."

"Ohhh... I always try and sneak through them, I never thought about that..."

Throwing the slugs something that would get their attention, huh... It made perfect sense, the sensory strands vanishing above and pulling up the pieces of rations as they did. The rude boy didn't seem too thankful, but maybe he had some other way of getting around them? Imarui wasn't sure, but she was quick to hurry ahead past the silvery tendrils.

Beyond, the tunnel widened further, a trend that seemed to continue the deeper down the tunnel one looked. It wasn't unlikely that both paths linked up at some point, in some way. The glowcaps seemed to die down, signifying their distance from site of whatever had been killed, but it was clear now that the plans were covered in smaller, less bright fungi, a stouter relative to the glowcap, as well as numerous no-light adapted flora.

Imarui wondered what kind of artifacts might be down here, given it was so completely untouched. Maybe she'd find something really big, and then everyone back at the orphanage would be really impressed! The white-haired little girl was smiling to herself at the mere thought.

But...

Something else was moving up ahead.

Another familiar sight.

The low-slung, stubby-limbed, armored body meandered placidly through the tunnel, long enough to take up nearly the entire space. It raised its wide head towards the walls, the flattened tip of its snout pressed against it to shear plants off the stone surface.

"Oh! It's a Tura!"

Excited at the sight of the placid creature, Imarui was quick to sprit ahead, crouching near the creature. She'd seen plenty of Tura in her time as an artifact hunter, but it never really got old. She always found them cute, with their stumpy legs and slow, lazy-seeming gait. They had very few predators due to their heavy armor, and their easy lifestyle meant they were pretty placid, too... there simply wasn't much that bothered them.

"Heee, hi there Mister Tura!"

The creature regarded her. In spite of the low light, it still had eyes due to the presence of light-producing plants in the caverns. It let out low, snuffling sound, but was quick to return to the business of eating.

"Hehehe~ Sounds like you're having a good day~!"

It wasn't just the fact that Imarui found turas cute, however. She knew that this was a clear indication a wider tunnel with better light and a lot more vegetation was ahead!

Anyone who had elected to move past the tura would be greeted with a light incline down a little deeper, and then the cavern opening up in full...

But there would be one more obstacle before reaching the point where the tunnel fully opened up.

A clicking, scraping sound, and a ghostly white shape moving on three pairs of slender legs, slinking ahead, a thin tail held erect... as it moved closer, the narrow shape of its head, its green eyes and four jaws, and the skeleton and internal organs within its body through the skin...

A Tunnel Phantom. The size of a large dog, the tunnel phantom was likely a scout for its pack, searching for food... Tunnel Phantoms certainly had a vicious reputation, and a well-earned one. In spite of their frail appearance, they were incredibly strong.

Killing it quickly and quietly would likely prevent it from calling its fellows, and allowing a quicker path through the tunnel and further.

---

Past the corpse of the carrier bird, the tunnel suddenly took a steep drop.

At the edge of the drop was a leather pack containing an empty canteen of water. Beyond, on closer inspection, was a lazily-flowing underground river. From what could be discerned at this point, there was no area which left it impossible to keep one's head above water, but in the poor light it was difficult to tell how deep it was or what was in the water.

Shining light downwards would fail to reveal the bottom, but would reveal silvery, darting shapes with long, trailing fins.

Shimmerfish were quick to flee at the presence of a predator and favored relatively shallow water, and their presence indicated the water was likely safe.

How far it could be safely travelled was another story.

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

---

Leo smiles underneath his mask and gives the ex-soldier an appreciative nod. "Much appreciated. I'll be sure to pull my weight...but let's follow Imarui's lead and get a move on. Those slugs will only be distracted for so long." The armored man finished with a quick glance up to see that the slugs were still occupied by the food but were already nearly done eating the bits of ration bars. Their window of ease of passage was closing soon.

Moving past the remaining tendrils was easier with the other slugs distracted, but it was a rather tight squeeze for him and his gear; at least there were no more signs of slugs further in the tunnel. But before he could double check if he didn't drop any loose hanging gear, he heard Imarui exclaim in surprise further in the tunnels. "Shit." Was the only word that escaped his lips before bolting off deeper to the tunnels to where he heard the young girl. Just as he arrived to fight off whatever fauna or flora that decided to mess with Imarui, he saw the girl in question admiring a cave cow. "Gods above, I thought you were in trouble." Leo says with a chuckle while putting away his axe. Opting to let the girl admire the armored but docile Tura, Leo scouted ahead and saw the pale visage of the first real danger of the cave.

A scouting Tunnel Phantom.

A lone Phantom was a nuisance but a deadly one at that. Hundreds of new hunters met their end by underestimating the might behind its seemingly frail body. Expecting that their thick clothing would easily stop the hungry jaws of the Phantom, only to feel four sets of razor sharp teeth rip into them. But a whole pack of them would be a completely different story; even more so if the pack had an alpha. The thought of fighting a whole pack and an alpha caused Leo to smile. Now that was something he wanted to experience again. But he snuffed the idea in his head as he had to account for the rest of his group. Taking cover behind some protruding stones, Leo would take out one of his gadgets. A cheap enchanted silencer for his battle rifle. It would sufficiently cancel the noise of the gun, but due to it's cheap nature not completely suppress the weapon. Leo really should have spent more on getting better gear...but he did not regret spending majority of his earnings helping the poor and downtrodden. Gods know that they needed the help.

If anyone had a better alternative to slaying the Phantom with minimal noise, Leo would refrain from shooting. Otherwise, he would level his rifle and try to shoot the insectoid creature dead before it can do anything in retaliation.

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@AzureKnight

"Do we have to go down here?" was the immediate complaint, Tanja poking her finger into the stream and giving it a horrified look, "It's cold, and wet." Not mentioned was anything regarding "dangerous" or "possibly deeper than I am tall", largely because the worst outcome in her mind from the latter was getting lost and swept downstream.

Of course, there didn't appear to be any way to progress without getting thoroughly soaked, so unless Erika was feeling in the mood to backtrack and chase after the other group...

@VitaVitaAR@Pyromania99

Erika looked onward and considered what might be, when she heard someone speak up behind her. She turned to see a rather slender woman with what one would definitely consider a pretty face. To be honest, Erika hadn't expected anyone to follow them this way. With that loud guy and what looked like everyone else heading the other way, she wasn't expecting someone this way. Or, perhaps, she was hoping no one else would. Not that she minded people or anything, but she was wanting to get a good feel on exploration with just her and Tanja.

Still, just because she didn't want anyone else coming this way it didn't mean she should be rude. The girl gave a cheeky smile and her hand moved up to her brow as if to give a lazy salute, but instead of anything of the sort the tip of her fingers met with her palms facing forward before moving away as if bouncing off and making a finger gun pointed toward the side. "It's 'totes nice to meet ya', Aerynne. Name's Erika Frost. If I'm being honest with 'ya I was kinda' hoping we'd be the only ones going down this way, but hey, the more the merrier!" She said before turning around and looking down at the edge. She studied the canteen and wondered if it belonged to the dead one.

"Hmm. Makes you wonder where the one who did that went with this water here. Like, something amphibious maybe?" Putting that aside for now, she looked down at the water and she could swear she made out the shape of Shimmerfish. "Oh! Shimmerfish, huh? Awesome~." She gave a smile and gave a big grin at Aerynne and Tanja. "Those little guys mean it's 'totes safe to continue." She stood up and stretched a little. "Wanna go for a dip with me? My bag is, like, waterproof if you want me to hold on to your notebook." She offered to Aerynne and then turned to Tanja. "The water's, like, 'totes harmless Tanja. Nothing to be scared about!"