War of Dragons 2: Act of Rebellion - Dark - 3

As night falls, the team has gotten ready outside of the caves of Rosenheim. A small boat has been taken to get past the mountainous region to the east and move towards its west side, in order to avoid the patrols on land.

They're joined by a small team of Undine, each wearing what looks like a conch around their necks.

When they get to a rocky outcropping in the waters, one of the Undine dives into the waters, and ties the ship to the rock itself. Making sure it doesn't float away.

The night is barely casting any light over the waters. The only source of light is the majestic blanket of stars in the sky and the dim reflection from the two moons. The team being offered entry into the waters below.

Each offers a conch from their necks to the team, to help them breathe underwater for a period of time.

A dark night lit only by stars and moons. A perfect night in general, and especially for getting into some sneaky shenanigans. They have a lead to investigate into getting an upper hand on Rosenheim.

Hopefully less explosions will be involved.

While she has options like Tidal Gallop and the Oxygen Bottle, Kauchemar accepts the conch just the same. Anything that helps her preserve mana reserves until they're needed is a benefit. "Down in the deeper, deep deep darker depths of sea" she singsongs to herself before taking the plunge in.

Goldenblade has joined the expedition against the Palace Lands to do her part. She doesn't know too many details, it's hard to pry more than one or two sentences out of gamers, she's mostly found out that this is where to be, and to follow these people, so she does. She has her own underwater breathing device, but she'll keep that as an emergency reserve and take the offered conch, using it to follow wherever we're directed to go.

What a gorgeous night for a heist, Narii thought as she peered up at the sky, only lowering her eyes once the boat had rocked to a standstill. She had never quite been to these lands before, and even on a stealth mission, all too interested in her surroundings like any tourist that was wholly unworried about what was to come. After all, it didn't do to get yourself all worked up beforehand, it was all too improper.

The Were Fang wobbled just a little as she dismounted onto solid ground once again, giving her darkened cloak a quiet brush-down. It wasn't her usual garb, but today blending in was far more important, and navy blue was just such a lovely colour when going for a swim. As she's offered the conch the bartender shakes her head, tapping the earrings mostly obscured by the hood, and offering a wide smile, and with that she dives into the bitterly cold water.

Dosbox is tired. Some might say, if they were making fun of his height, that it was past his sleepy-weepy time. DosBox would say that he has spread himself far to thin on far too many projects since the changing of which Alliance he was a member of, and the fact that you can see the dark circles under the eyes of his earthen colored skin is a testament to just how much sleep he's been missing due to it.

Still, he felt that it was necessary for him to attend at least ONE of these offensives. He accepts the conch from the Undine with a wordless headbow in thanks as he mentally prepares himself for what is coming ahead.

What Uta sees in the starry sky is anyone's guess. What is certain is that she is completely enthralled by it. Perhaps she is seeing pictures, formed by connecting the dots of light scattered all over. Or perhaps she is contemplating the concept of chaos that resolves into congruent patterns. Or, once again, pondering how, if the way Adventurers dissolve when their HP reaches zero, people might be just motes of light in this world... and like in the old one, made of stardust.

When the conch is offered, though, Uta's snapped back to the present day, present time.

"Seashells by the seashore," Uta recites in a whisper, on autopilot, as if some stray thought dropped off her brain and tumbled out of her mouth. A silent nod is offered in gratitude when she- you probably put these around your neck, right? She does so, just in case.

She is now ready, medical-grade white wetsuit as designed by Gwen, complete with underwater nurse's cap (hats are important!), and breathing conch.

    Fuka's not really anybody's idea of a good scout. She's got keen eyesight, but no one has ever considered discretion her strong suit. Still she's here, and her friends are here, so there's no way she's staying behind. Besides, Fuka at least considers herself good at thinking on her feet, flexible and steadfast. It's guaranteed the unexpected will happen, and preparing for the unexpected is one of her strong points. In her own opinion at least. Train, improvise, and never let conventional wisdom guide you; that's Fuka's ideal!

    "Well, let's see what we can see. Or is that sea what we can see?" Fuka quips to no one in particular. "I wonder if there will be explosions?" she adds with a playful, possibly slightly-deranged grin. And with that, she takes the offered conch shell and slips into the water. She might end up walking along the bottom somewhat due to her heavy armour, but at least she won't drown. Probably. And she's hopefully strong enough to navigate even if she lacks buoyancy!

As the team begins to submerge, using the conches of their Undine fellows, they first use the rock at the pillar around which to move. Drawing deeper and deeper into the waters, until the conches begin to light up, showing blue shimmers across their bodies.

There's movement all around them, amidst the dark of the waters. The dim light becoming almost oppressive. The light cast from their tools the only way they can truly see ahead of them of even see their own teammates.

There's a rush of water nearby, a sense of 'cold'. The ocean waters are bitter and unforgiving in their temperature. Luckily, they are deep in summer time, or this would be far worse.

A light suddenly begins to approach them, and the Undine are quick to motion for everyone to get behind the pillar of stone...

As what looks like an angler eel the size of a bus swims by. Its dazzling light at the tip almost hypnotic in nature. Its dead-eyed gaze unfocused as it moves by. The Undine touching hands over the conches to signal how to hide their presence.

Despite not being an aquatic creature Kauchemar is well at home in the water. Were Fangs have a certain affinity for it in general, because of their ties to fluid change and adaptation. It is also really dark down here, which is comforting. But also means things are lurking waiting for them. But she's a lurker too, so it's hard to outlurk. Or something.

The point is that with them being surrounded by the darkness of the depths it's not hard for Kauchemar to draw it to her as the group seeks cover... She also grabs the small gnome, because it's easy to hide the little guy behind one of the tallest and darkest members of the group.

There was something a bit unusual about how Narii swam, it was mostly like people were likely taught, but there was a sinuous aspect to it belying her other nature. But the ocean always felt at home to her. Kind of. If people could forgive the expression she pulled while drinking in far too much saltwater. Seriously, how did people manage down in the oceans? They tasted awful, this is why freshwater was so much better!

The urgent alerting of the undine snapped her attention back, and she shifted her trajectory, breathing out a dark mist to cloak her for the time being, at least until she got under cover. Motioning a few hand signs that were roughly enough translated as everyone regrouped, "<We got everyone?>"

If there is one thing Uta has learned in her time studying the Sirens' songs, it is that hypnotic sea things are bad news. You see one? You run. Unless you're at Melee range. In which case you whack. Or unless you're a Greek captain and hero. In which case you have the ears of your sailors sealed with wax and you have yourself tied to the mast.

Ok, technically those were bird-women, not fish-women, but- wait, could they have been seagull-people?

Uta snaps out of her train of thought just in time. She sprays a cloud of magical darkness around herself, not unlike a cuttlefish, and while her presence is masked this way, she zips towards the hiding place shown by the Undines.

Spriggan Calamari is off the menu for today.

Goldenblade swims along, following our guides, and when the urge us to cover, she wastes no time, getting to cover. She will fade into the background and sort of melt away from vision, letting the waves and currents pass around her as if she weren't there. It reminds her of a snorkeling trip she went on, in the seventies, but there were no eels the size of busses. That would certaibnly have made the trip more interesting.

    Using some degree of magic to help shade her body to stand out less in the dark waters, Fuka's easily able to keep up with the group and not draw attention from the rather terrifying fish. Were she able to talk, her statement about it would probably be obscene, so perhaps her surprised expression will have to speak for her.

    She refocuses to glare as Kauchemar saves Dosbox from a fate approximately equal to death. Pantomiming great big snapping jaws with her outstretched arms and pointed fingers, then pointing at her own eyes, Fuka makes her opinions on paying attention relatively clear. Either that or she's claiming eyes can bite. It's Fuka, who knows!?

In response to Narii... Uta goes silent for a moment. Then she takes her hand to her forehead, slanted, kind of like a salute. Yanks it away, rotating around the elbow. She then puts the palm of her hand on her chest; she joins her index and middle finger in each hand, and taps them together. After a very brief burst of hand gestures, she hesitates.

"<Hello, my name is Uta...>"

She apparently doesn't know, or remember, how to proceed.

Dosbox is not the best at swimming; as a rock gnome, he kind of just sinks to the bottom without assistance of Water Magic. Luckily, that's something he is pretty good at.

Given that Dark magic was his second best magic under earth, you'd THINK that he'd also be good at that. Unfortunately, in order to do something well, you actually have to DO it first. When Kauchemar pulls him out of harms way, he remembers, 'Oh right. I am supposed to be stealthy here.' He activates his Dark magic after that quick reminder. Tee hee. Silly Dossy.

The enormous angler-fish gets nerve-wrackingly close. They manage to INSPECT the Deadeye Angler as it swims by, lazily moving, seeking out food to devour.

But eventually, it passes, and the conches are uncovered by the Undine and they are signalled to move further.

Once they reach the depths, they begin to most westwards. It's not a short way to Rosenheim's capitol, and there's a constant creeping of darkness around them. Often, they have no idea what is ahead. The light so dim here. The waters swallowing it. Massive fish, and other creatures, looming.

They aren't even that deep to the deeper oceans. This is still land-size, but it's deep enough that they are encountering large monstrous creatures they have to avoid.

But eventually, they start seeing lights in the distance. The lights of Rosenheim...

As well as moving lights. Undine patrols. Moving far quicker than the team is able to go. The Undine with them slow, and signal that they'll need a plan. There's too large a patrol squad to enter the city itself. They motion at some craggy rocks that look like they might be caves. There's motions towards some monsters, who could serve as a distraction. But this is all testing the defenses of Rosenheim. All of this is highly dangerous.

    Fuka considers the options as pointed out by their Undine wayfinders. The idea of entering caves sounds dangerous to her, as they have no idea where the caves may lead and may end up getting trapped within. But at the same time, she isn't sure how to handle the boss-level anglerfish in a way that would be helpful to them for sneaking in. Electrocution works, sure. She could also butcher some other smallerish creature and let its blood draw the deadeye angler in for a feeding frenzy... unless of course that's only for sharks. This isn't an easy decision for her.

    Ultimately, Fuka points towards the caves and shrugs her relative preference. She knows Kauchemar and Uta could probably handle the monsters if needed, but her personal strengths - as such - are going to lie in exploration.

Their Undine escorts stop the group, and indicate the lights up ahead. Of course Rosenheim has patrols down here, they'd be dumb not to. Or would have to not know about the section below their city, and that would just be stupid. Then they point out the monsters swimming nearby. While it's a tempting thought, Kauchemar shakes her head, mane drifting about her head as she does. Points at herself and Uta. Then at the rest of the group, and shakes her head again. They're the only two that can Handle Monster present, it's not enough to cover for the rest of the group if something goes wrong.

The caves are the best bet. Maybe they can find something or someplace else useful, out of the way of the patrols.

Goldenblade follows along once the Deadeye Angler has passed. She follows to the depths outside the city and eyes the patrols, but also looking left and right for giant monster fish. And up and down, too. When we arrive and the options are pointed out, she gestures towards the caves, offering her vote, if that's what's being asked for? She will try to peer into the distance, but that's not as effective underwater.

Dosbox looks at the caves and casually wonders to himself what kind of ores might be in there, and more importantly, what kind of GEMS might be in there? The little gnome's obsession with finding Gems and cutting them is rather well-known amongst those who know him. Still, the three-cheese-tall hypervisor has to remind himself that we are not here for the treasures of the earth...

Narii laughs at Uta's response, a frothy stream of bubbles leaving their mouth before she replies in turn, "<My name is Narii>." She even offers a formal half-curtsy with her robe, as of it were their first time meeting, before pressing a hand against her own chest that registers, "<Stay Safe.>" Before moving to catch up with the group that were soon starting to move ahead as the danger passed. Terrifying danger, truly, but best not to dwell on near-terrifying experiences.

When they reach their new hiding spot the Were Fang peers between the two options, though settling on the cave she winds her way over, placing a hand on the course rock and invoking those glimpses of the past. A shade growing behind her, much larger as it grasped the caverns, her eyes flickering before she turns around motioning at the cave and quickly adding a sign or two. "<Danger. But Better.>"

The crew decides to explore the caves. Diving into them, the lights of Naval Monte soon disappear in favor of utter and pure darkness. There are no stars, no moon here to illuminate the way at all.

The caves wind and shift. At times, forcing them to get out of the water to check around themselves. Wet air, before they have to dive down into another bend. From time to time, they have to double back because they run into a dead end...

It doesn't take long for them to start feeling like they're entirely losing their way. And some of the Undine Adventurers with them are starting to motion maybe going back, because they are already getting worried the team may not be able to find their way out before the conches run out of their stored Air.

Floating in place, Uta nods her approval to Kauchemar. Her hair follows the same fluid motions as one would expect underwater, even if mostly kept in place by her cap. She gestures towards the caves, in a sort of solemn gesture, as if she had just reached a decision after long deliberation.

This happens simultaneously to Narii wandering over to the caves -- by the time when Narii begins her own investigation, Uta's already expressed her opinion. And it seems to be confirmed.

Uta raises an eyebrow, slightly perplexed and mildly concerned at Narii's assessment. How does Uta feel about Better Danger?

Seeming like it's a choice between the lesser of two evils and the other alternative, Uta dashes into the caves.

And gets, like many others, lost.

Fear begins to grip her. What if she disappears without leaving a trace? What will her friends on the outside do? The hypothetical scenario grips her mind...

* * *

Cut to Shibuya. Close-up to the back of an Adventurer, moving slighly. The sound of hammering on wood is herad in the background. Eventually, the beating noise stops, and the Adventurer turns to walk away, revealing a sign: there is a drawing of a scared, confused Uta, with "LOST ADVENTURER" at the top, and, in smaller print below: "Responds to the name Uta Furore" - "Social, but occasionally shy" - "Very Food Motivated" - "Generous reward"

Record screech

'Generous' is scratched over, replaced by 'Adequate' hand-scribbled on top. "If found, chim here:"

Tearable strips with contact details are available below.

In the caverns Narii was all too happy, sure she wasn't keen on how cramped this whole place was but there was a certain spring to her not-step. The Were Fang really did love the water, and not having to be quite as stealthy for the moment and out of way of the patrols made it show all the more clearly. Something most wouldn't see in the tavern. That optimism certainly appears to help when they find a dead end or two, she's always more than happy to twist around and set about again. Though it might help that she at least didn't have to worry about oxygen!

It's a while in the journey that the Were Fang tilts her head and lets out a trilling hum within the water, almost looking rather indecisive. It doesn't last long though and she fishes up an apple from one of the pockets in her robe, shrugs and begins to swim onwards while taking a bite. Hand motions following, "<Almost. There. Somewhere.>"

Kauchemar floats closer to a wall of the passage, pressing her hands and feet against it. Trying to get some attunement to the rock and earth surrounding them... but the water current flowing around them and lapping against the stone is interfering with any sensation she could properly garner from the effort. Now if they weren't in the water and she could summon some of her moles, it might of been a different story.

Goldenblade goes through the caves, following the group, but then it looks like the group doesn't actually know the way. This would have been good to know before they took us in here. And she's got no string to leave a trail, which might have been useful. Still, she's not completely turned aroud, and she will point in the direction she thinks is forward.

    Being somewhat out of her element - in this case that means within one of those elements she's not particularly exceptional with - Fuka's a little uncertain about the whole cave exploration thing. People die diving in caves all the time right? And that's with air tanks and scuba gear and all that. On the plus side they don't have to worry about being spotted, and they can light up the underwater caverns all they want. On the down side, their air supplies might run out at some point.

    The combination does mean Fuka's paying almost unnatural attention to her surroundings at least. She knows where she's been, though she's got no clue where she's going. She's pretty confident she can retrace their path if needed, at least, though it's beyond her skill to figure out a path forward that'd help their progress.

Dosbox is distracted by all the pretty stone formations, and subsequently forgets that he is supposed to be concentrating on magic to keep himself boyant. He starts to sink like a rock... gnome. He panics, and gets stuck in an underwater eddy, which pulls him deeper down into the cave system, far away from the party...

The caves continue to be dark and dreary. Even with Narii feeling confident about where to go, the others don't share this feeling as well. From time to time, someone loses sight of others as they go through claustrophobic ways that Narii barely even fits through. At one time or another, someone has to get pushed through a narrowing!

It's a frightening experience. And while Narii did say they were getting close...

A sudden RUSH of water grips the team and begins to drag them away. Fierce speeds sends them tumbling. Some of the team being separated from eachother, whilst others manage to beat the currents.

Fukaziroh and Dosbox end up lost, and worse of all, their conches have been dragged away by the fierce waters. Disoriented. Fukaziroh still knows the way back, but she's quickly running out of air. Dosbox is fully lost and in the worst situation!

    A surge of water sweeps into Fukaziroh, batting her around and making her lose her enchanted conch. She spins helplessly, holding her breath, trying to spot the shell and recover it. But, with that being almost certainly futile, she has little chance of saving herself that way.

    Terror blankets the out-of-element sylph. Air: her element is AIR not water! She doesn't belong here! And yet, a sudden idea gives her a moment's calm. She's an Enchanter. She's reknowned for it in fact. And she's studied air more than anything. She may not have the enchanted conch, but she knows enough about such things to jury-rig a solution.

    Pulling out a diamond-tipped tool, Fuka scratches a rune into her forearm bracer. Then a second rune, and a third. They're crude, maybe even sloppy considering she's working one-handed while underwater. They won't be *efficient*. But she has power in air to spare. The solution won't last long, but hopefully it won't need to! She floods power into the runes and they glow to life with eerie green energy, surrounding the sylph's head with a bubble of air.

    Breathing - actually BREATHING - a sigh of relief, Fuka gestures vaguely around her. "Does anyone know where my shell went? This won't last long..." she claims sheepishly. Hopefully her voice will be understandable underwater, outside the small bubble of air.

Water comes surging through the caverns like, well, a tidal wave. Kauchemar grits her teeth and draws more of the water's energies towards herself, strengthening her own ability to move through the waters against the current. Long enough to get close to cave wall again and dig the horns of her staff into the rock to brace herself. Turns her attention to the group, peering through the darkness, and noticing not everyone was so lucky. Though Fukaziroh can for the most part take care of herself. It was the state the Rock Gnome had been in before that concerns her.

The darkness around them makes even the glow of her psychedelic lavander eyes hard to see, but she's not actually looking physically anyways. Her mind rewinds the past moments, and barely manages to spot when Dosbox was swept away from the others because of his smaller size.

With a bubbly snort she puts her hooves against the rock, pulls her staff free, and pushes off to lauch herself in the Gnome's direction now that the stronger current has passed. Hopefully she can reach him before some hideous underwater monster decides he's a snack...

It was amazing how quickly things went from calm to tense, in moments the group divided by a current pulling away part of the group. While a good swimmer in her own right, that didn't much help everyone else. Panic welled up before she beat it back down the best she could. She could totally help them, right? It was all going to be totally fine, there was nothing at all to worry about. Nothing at all, this was her home, of sorts.

Eyeing Kauchemar she does her best to help, the feeling was like it always was as she shed her cloak, like your stomach falls away. Her body billows out, stretching and contorting, fine aquatic scales spreading across flesh and a jaw of terrible teeth growing abreast. The one thing she didn't count on was just how disorienting the transformation was, leaving her spiraling there for a moment, gasping as it finished and trying to recall which way was up once again.. At least as thin as she was like this, the small gaps in caves would trouble her less. Not that that helped her finding the gnome.

Goldenblade looks alarmed as we seem to have lost some of our party in that big sweeping current that came through, and she's lost her conch for a moment also. But she's got her backup air supply to use while she swims back to get the cinch, and is able to rejoin the group before getting lost or mislaid.

Noticing how Kauchemar sprints in the direction where Borywick was last seen, Uta spins in place, cups her hands together, and thrusting them open as if for casting a spell, sends a BLAST of water pointing upwards.

Which, underwater, materializes as mere currents; the reaction thrust applied to the Spriggan, though, that is impressive: without any ground to provide friction, she's sent hurtling downward; senses made keen and sharp by years of training as a Godhand (Two. Nay, two and a half years. Hey, still counts as 'years'), as soon as she notices an imperceptible flicker in the waters next to her-

SNAP!

She reaches out, snatches the conch out of thick water, and triumphant, rejoices in the success of her techniques. Truly, this is top-grade mastery of Awareness of one's Surround-

*THUD*

Uta rubs her head while managing to avoid whimpering in pain, Some bubbles do raise to the surface, but still, she didn't see that rock coming.

At lesat, the red light on the back of her head makes her position clear?

Still wincing, she begins to swim her way upwards, to float to a standstill in front of Dosbox, and place the conch around his neck.

Dosbox bounces around against the cave walls like he's a pinball against a bunch of bumpers. If the game designers were particularly sadistic, Dossy might even be making bell sounds with each collision. With each crash against the rocks, Dossy loses a LITTLE more air, and he starts to loose consciousness ... This is it, isn't it? This is how Dossy loses his first memory. Will it be the smell of Baxter's kitty litter? Will it be the softness of his fur? Will it be the boredom of a monday workday...?

Kauchemar snatches the little rock boy up and pulls him back to the party, and he's almost completely out of it by the time Uta snaps the conch back on his face. What follows is Dossy wrapping is arms around Kauchemar's waist with as much a vice grip as his noodly arms can muster.

With Dosbox saved, and Fukaziroh having temporarily gotten some relief through creating an oxygen bubble around her head, the team can progress. One of the Undine finds Fukaziroh and motions from her mouth to Fukaziroh's, then a motion of relief.

Glad she did not have to share oxygen that way?

The Undine then dives for a moment. And soon, she returns with Fukaziroh's conch, and putting it to her chest. Then motions for her to follow where the others have gathered near Dosbox.

From there, the team manages to continue their way onwards, heading further through the tunnels. After that sudden area of turbulent waters, things go a lot easier, and soon, they end up in a dark cave where they can breathe!

In the utter dark...

The chittering sounds of monsters nearby. Red glinting eyes gazing at them.

Down to her knees, panting, dripping, hair sticking to her face (possibly with seaweed?) Uta catches her breath. "Water. Why did it have to be WATER?!"

She swallows, rises to her knees and-

Red eyes.

Staring ahead, silent, she raises one hand, slowly, to signal to the rest of the team to use caution. With her other hand, she flicks her menu open, and chooses the option to inspect.

The group manages to find a cave out of the water, that's good. The cave is dark. That doesn't really bother Kauchemar much, setting Dosbox down on the solid ground.

The red eyes emerging around them, well, that's different. Hmm. "No one make any sudden moves." If they can avoid provoking any additional hostility, that's good.

Then turns her attention to try and see just what they are dealing with. If it's intelligent monsters, she may be able to communicate with them.

Dosbox takes the conch off as soon as he breaks the surface of the water. When Kauchemar (easily) removes him from her waist he does little flaily arms before accepting his fate. "T-thanks for, ah... Making me not die. I don't like doing that, truth be told."

    Fuka grins at the Undine and makes with the lip puckering to indicate her opinion on being rescued. The fact that she's so obviously amused by it says she's probably not seriously flirting or anything of the sort but, well, it IS Fuka. Still she's quite relieved when her conch is returned. Enough to blow a kiss at the very minimum! She's not even upset that the undine woman was so obviously relieved at not having to save her the fun way! Not that drowning is fun, of course, but ... well, it IS Fuka.

    Pushing through with the rest of the group, Fuka is quite relieved to find herself in an open cavern with actual air. Her improvised enchantment and conch shell notwithstanding, there's something relieving about being able to breathe and speak and stuff. It IS Fuka after all. "Well, you know, trying to sneak into a city on the coast. I suppose it could've been a sewer instead?" she offers perkily to Uta before realizing that hey, they're not alone in here. Well. With an effort of will and a few soft chanted runewords, Fuka releases a weak ball of light to float upwards and hopefully provide a little illumination. Just a little though. This isn't the sort of situation to call for something like a signal flare.

Narii had little issue leaping back up from the water now that she had regained her bearings, the extra few foot of length really didn't come easy at first. It was like her whole perspective shifted, nevermind anything else that came along with the changes. "It'ss not the water, Uta.. As our friend will attesst, it's the currentss. And the ssalt. Always the salt," only then does the Were Fang notice the beady red eyes, of course. It could never be quite that easy.

The Were Fang slowly stretched up to her full and horrifying fight, eying back to make sure their number wasn't dwindled and gave a quick vulpine grin to the gnome, before raising her hand, water spiraling into an orb atop her claws. She held back her reactionary strike, waiting for the others but ready all the same. Best to not always be hasty about these things, as much as she really, really wanted to.

Goldenblade drags her old bones out of the water finally, wheezing a bit as she draws in air. But this place is as dark as the inside of a ... well, she can't see squat and a flame or spark might alert watchers, so she will let her eyes adjust and see if anything can be seen. She can try some light then, but there's the chittering sound and red eyes looking at us. Well, she puts hand to hilt, but she doesn't draw her blades, she's as likely to strike a friend as an enemy before her eyes adjust. If they adjust. Maybe a smidgen of fire will make some light?

Uta's expression goes- neutral. Completely neutral. Poker face neutral.

And then explodes in the widest smile of joy. "Oh, nothing to worry about! The inspection reports << Bun-Bun >>!"

Turning to the team, she spreads her arms, and pointing at the red eyes with the excitement of a child, she continues, "Finally! I may have missed all those festivals, but my moment to finally experience what a -massive- amount of Bun-Buns is like has finally come!"

Yup, we are not dealing with a small amount of 'em.

Clenching her fists in excitement, she returns to look at the red eys. "It probably involves a lot of petting, and soft ears, and scritches and..."

Bun-Buns. Not what she expected to find down here... but that there is a large number of them is what could possibly be distressing.

Though at first she looks at Uta with a look of exasperation. "How can you still be so naive some times..." Then gives a shake of her head. Sighs softly. And her eyes resume their otherworldly glow as she opens them again, and uses her powers to try and reach out to the creatures. If there's a lot of bun-buns it might be a little hard to sync with whichever counts as the 'leader' but the effort is being made to communicate first. "We are not here to threaten you. We are looking for a pathway into the city above the water and caves."

Being the smallest one here, and with Fuka around, that's saying something, Dossy is in particular danger when it comes to being eaten by ANYTHING. Like any prey in the eyes of a predator, he freezes. Noooooo suuuuudden moooovements.

    Bun-Bun? Could be worse. They're small, though Fuka knows they're dangerous. In large numbers. Boy, sure sounds like they might be out there in large numbers huh?

    The bun-bun festival, after all, is about culling the population of the aggressive little monsters to prevent complete depopulation of everything else including people. Hm.

    "Uta... you're probably right about experiencing what it's like to experience a massive number of them." Fuka says, keeping her voice uncharacteristically quiet and mellow. Not wanting to provoke a stampede. "I seem to remember that being a lot of blood and screaming. I don't suppose you and Kaumare can keep them calm?" she asks, as if it's the least important thing in the world. And meanwhile she prepares to deal with hordes of small furry carnivores in another manner. With explosions. She begins a soft chant of runewords, including those of fire and carnage. So much carnage.

Fukaziroh gets a level look, followed by, "Water better than sewers. Yes."

Uta pushes her hair out of her face again, tearing a seaweed or two off them. "Too true, Narii. Too true. But I have a trick there." Serious, she continues, "Whenever I emerge from the sea and am annoyed by salt in my eyes, I think to myself, 'hey, it could be worse. It could be pepper.'"

Another serious nod. This is deep wisdom, folks.

"Threaten? Oh. Oh. Of course not. I mean." Silence. "Wouldn't want them to run away scared. Stampede their little fuzzy-wuzzy feet upon each other. They might hurt themselves. There might be blood. I didn't know they screamed, though." That's not having Handle Animal for you.

Uta flicks her menu open, and shimmers her staff into existence. She clasps her hands around it, and, eyes closed, she intones a soothing, melancholic melody. Tendrils of light and magic form and dance around the helical grooves of the item, and rise to coalesce into the anatomically-correct-heart shaped gem enclosed in a roughly round cage-like structure at the top, described by a sculpted coiling serpent.

The melody resonates, crystalline, through the caves, hopefully bringing the creatures' agitation to a standstill...

Narii can't really do much here but fight, that was what she was best at being a hunter, after all. But today it was the boring route of trying not to die by swarm of rabbits. Now that would be embarrassing. So she focused her power, slowly drawing in the ambient cold and water, ready to strike as soon as the bun-bun's leaped. Just in case the others couldn't calm the ravenous hoard with.. Well they were doing something weird. Fuka, fuka she understood. Get ready for explosions and carnage.

Sure, bunnies looked cute and all, but they did look much better on a plate. And this was a veritable feast. Some times she wished cooking was within her skillset. This, this would be a time. Ugh, she forgot how hungry this body made her. "Uta, thatss a terrible motivational speech. I'd rather no condimentss in my eyes. Even mayonaise. Now, calm these thingss before I start to think they look too tasty. Pleasse."

The Bun Buns, revealed in the dark, chitter and make sounds. The Undine Adventures with them prepare for combat immediately...

But Uta and Kauchemar decide on a different path. Uta's calming song seeming to ease the hunger of the Bun Buns as Kauchemar speaks to them.

Soon, they reply. Not singularly, but as a group. As if they were Legion.

The Bun Buns move aside and declare; ~~"These are the mountain caves. Proceed inside."~~

And indeed, some of them may recognize the walls of this place. These are the very same mountains that Camp Black hides within. They're also the same caves within which the enemy Adventurers seek them. But this is a shortcut towards the edge of Rosenheim.

Even if they did not find a way into Rosenheim yet... they have found a way to avoid surface detection.

And upon the request, they shift and move, forming what is basically an 'arrow' pointing in a direction. But their hungry eyes keep staring at them...

Eased by Uta's song for now. But that hunger...

Okay, hivemind. Or whatever you call it when it's not a group of insects. It makes the communication a little more eerie, but that's kind of how Kauchemar likes it. "Oh, they say we're back in the mountains. That's convenient. Not a way to the city, but it's a way to move around underground and less detectable. Could make future searches easier." Then the bun-buns form an arrow to show them a way. Kauchemar nods and bows briefly. "Thank you." Then stands and motions for the others to follow. "Com'n, the caves are this way. Someone grab Dossy if he's too scared to move on his own." Uta can probably only keep them at bay for so long.

"Maybe we should send some food down as a thank you. Once we have the way established."

Goldenblade watches as Kauchemar speaks to the buns, she's been here too long to see much of the joke in it, but ... it looks like we're being allowed to pass. At Kauchemar's directions, she will proceed onward. We've found a way, to be sure, but where have we found a way /to/?

    Fuka maintains her chant low and slow, building power for an upper-tier effect through repetition of key runewords. She's sure they could take the swarm of bun-buns. Probably. But the fight would be bloody, painful, and bloody painful. And besides, they're tiny little cute bunnies! She doesn't *want* to cause them to explode, but in this case practicality would win out over that tender animal-loving heart. Because she knows that, in a very real sense, this is a game... and when it comes to monsters you have to be ready to kill or die. They're not animals if they're monsters, no matter how adorable.

    She's relieved however when it turns out they don't have to fight. In part because she doesn't want a desperate and bloody battle, in part because she doesn't want to have to kill the mass of fluffy critters... and in part because she doesn't want to upset Uta. Fuka brings her chant to a halt and shrugs, moving relatively slowly and calmly, while she sighs in relief.

    "I'll help guide Boss here." she offers, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder in a firm grip. Not painful, but with the sense that she has plenty of physical power in reserve and doesn't have any intent of letting him stay behind while the rest move on. She has the iron grip of someone who swings a heavy weapon for fun and exercise, after all.

There was a sigh of mixed relief and disappointment as the little rabbits backed down from swarming the party and she flexed her claw, letting the growing mass of saltwater slip from her grasp and go splashing back into the pool below. Truly, a sad day, rabbit stew was such a nice dish. Maybe she should ask Vertina about that. Could be nice for the menu. Still, that wasn't half as odd as the bunbun's seemingly listening to Kauchemar, that she had never seen before. "They're jusst.. Going to let us past, jusst like that?" Her sibilant voice rings out, more real now in this form.

Still, that was a good thing, the group actually made it out unharmed, maybe being thankful for that was enough. The Were Fang even counting their number to make doubly sure before smiling and starting to follow them out. At the mention of offering food her grin is almost serpentine. "Ah, how rude of me, bessides, I could use a drink," pulling out a bottle of rum she crouches down, uncorks the bottle and lets a fair bit dip into a crevice of the rocks for the little monsters, before taking a good swig herself. "Might not have been our plan to be here. But successsful still. Letss go have a drink to success. Got enough if anyone wants to join," All to eager to have it gone well, if not the way that had been intended.

Dosbox has learned better than to pet anything wild that is not cat-shaped. They usually bite him. Well, the cat-shaped ones bite him too, but he hasn't learned that lesson yet. He slowly, carefully follows the rest of the group, trying his best not to look like supper.

The Bun Buns move over the rock where alcohol has been left, and try it... only to decide they really don't like the flavor and hiss at the rock!

Uta... does her best to keep the song going for as long as she can.

Once she's sure she's at a safe distance, she sighs. "Sword Maiden was right," she says, even glancing at Fuka, possibly in reference to her Chanting. "Songs keep the world turning." Looking back at the Bun-Buns, she says, to nobody in particular, "...I need to learn more about that..."

Uta turns to the party. "That was a close one. Those bun-bun looked so hungry they could have eaten a-" Glance towards Kauchemar. All color drains from her face. "Oh sorry sorry sorry sorry... was that Specieist?"

Kauchemar responds flatly "I've been to the festival in the past. They've tried."

    "I'm pretty sure they were hungry enough to eat several of us." Fuka claims, relief making her giddy. "And THEN stick around for a snack!" she adds, looking at Uta in particular, making rather suggestive eyebrow-waggling that ... well, it can only be considered suggestive if you're not quite willing to call it lewd. And if you don't think she's just got something in her eye that she's trying to squeeze out by using forehead muscles.

Narii tries to resist a growing compulsion to insult the bun-buns as the delicate monsters turn up their little noses at her alcohol. No starting an incident, not after they just managed to get out! She grumbled and took another drink of her rum, rising back to her full height and flicking her tail in disgust of the little creatures. "Dumb monsters don't know what they're missing. Well, hardly like they deserve it then," and with that she turned to leave.

Her large ear flickers at what Uta mentions, her head managing to twist a whole ninety degrees in a decidedly not healthy fashion, and lifts her bottle as she corks it once again. "Yeah, Lokk's like that. Feels like time'ss standing still there. Honestly, wasn't even sure it was part of this world. Still. I was winning until that Ssscale guy interrupted my sstaring contest," she gives her head a shake, totally disappointed. "Ssnacks? Where?"

Dosbox frowns, "On the one hand, I wish I HAD brought snacks. On the other hand, they would probably be tearing me apart to get at them, so... Silver lining?" He shrugs to Narii.

A flustered Uta waves her arms in embarrassemnt at Fukaziroh. "WORDING!"

Once they're back in the mountain caverns it shouldn't be too hard to find their way to what connects with the rebel camp. "Yeah," she comments over her shoulder, "next time people come down to explore it might not be a bad idea to have one of the people with cooking skills send down some snacks to appease the Bunny Legion. Or they might be.."

Beat pause.

"Hopping mad."

    It's not sure whether Fuka finds Uta's comment or Kauchemar's funnier, because all that's obvious is that she starts laughing. Peals of bright, cheery mirth entirely out of place with the whole underwater mountain traversal adventure so far.