Magus Depths

It isn't often, within the land of Yamato, to see the one known as Fremy Speedraw. The pale haired Sylph with a flower covering one of her eyes is hardly considered 'sociable', except to those rare few who know her a bit more closely.

Yet it is her who has now guided the Adventurers of Yamato to a rather unusual place. A long distance to the north-east of the Ninetails Dominion's capital, well into the hills, hidden amidst rock and along caves, they find a place as 'off the grid' as one probably can within this region of Yamato.

It is dark, beyond the stars in the sky and the few clouds up there. The cavern entrance has the pale Sylph waiting for them all. Rylen and Prophylaxis of all being the most familiar about what is going on here. But thanks to the occassional talks amongst the Alliances, this is a matter that has received collaboration. A request to meet the Sylph Hero here for she may have secrets leading to the matter of Adventurers' loss of Memories.

    Merek is wearing his dark attire, and a hood up on it, while his beltcape will shift along his waist. Meanwhile, he is wearing the logo of what is known as the Cult of the Lost. And as such, it is his duty to be here to listen, perhaps those answers that many wanted will be here, and he keeps his weapons sheathed. He doesn't speak for the time being.

Schneider had heard about the Sylph Hero and was told there were mysteries that may be revealed, and he was all ears. Metaphorically. The flamboyant, brash self-described Wizard is all about finding out lore and secrets, and is more than willing to take a bit of a walk to find them out. There may be things that need blowing up also, but even if there isn't, it should still be an interesting encounter for the unlikely Scale Librarian. He has a couple other questions, if this is indeed /the/ Sylph Hero, but the questions may spoil this lady's mood, so he will save them for after she's told us what she has come to tell us.

How the hell did Thalia get involved? She's been out of contact for a while, likely doing drifting sword Spriggan stuff in the wilds again.

She has her ways, and it doesn't matter.

Regardless, she's here. Sword belts slung low on her hips, hands resting atop their hilts as they walk towards the cavern entrance. As they arrive, she tilts her head slightly, never having met any of the racial heroes before. Uncharacteristically, she's quiet.

It has been a while since most have seen Rylen. Whatever has been occupying his time, it has certainly left an impact. His previous chin scruff is now a neatly trimmed set of short facial hair that gives his appearance a bit of maturity to it. His usual blue peko robe is laid over a Yamato-styled button shirt. Yes, he is not shirtless. The world has very much changed.

"Thank you, so very much for meeting with us, m'lady." Rylen speaks, his voice soft with its usual charm, although there is something behind it that suggests a little less of his previous flirty nature. His gray eyes look to the others, arms folded across his chest as he raises a brow curiously.

    Having heard of this meeting, the Lizardman of Shibuya understood exactly what it meant. That the adventurers who went to meet up with the Sylph Hero would need a chaperone. So this is why Rizadoman stands tall behind the group of adventurers. Taking a deep breath as he looks at the others before he looks at the Sylph Hero, "Thank you for having us, I hope we have no caused you an inconvience."

It wasn't that unexpected that Fukaziroh might participate. Having heard about it from people in the NWA she likes and respects, she was more than willing to help out. Of course *how* she went about offering help, that's another matter.

    "I hear she's pretty hot." Fuka had said, back when first told who was arranging this expedition. Not in front of Fremy Speeddraw, fortunately. Fuka actually has some respect and compassion for those who aren't good with others, out of shyness or other awkwardness. But that won't stop her from making things weird with those who already know her.

    Nonetheless, Fuka did promise to behave. As she always does, naturally. "Daayaaaam." is what she says upon first meeting the Sylph hero, apparently impressed. But she doesn't elaborate. Instead she grins, looking around. "Is it hot out here or is it just all of us?" she asks with a playful smirk.

Considering there is no 'grid' in the first place this was definitely very far and out of the way of where anyone would regularly travel. Why they were being pointed this way wasn't extremely clear, but that was more than enough to get Shiruba invested in making the trek to see, and the potential information to be gained.

She is a hunter and part wolf, use to prowling at night, so the darkness isn't going to bother her too much as she makes her way onto the point of meeting at the cave. A nod of respect is given towards the elusive Sylph sent to meet them. "Salutations."

Then shoots a brief glance at Fukaziroh.... admittably, for her, that -was- behaving...

This is... quite far removed from most anywhere of note. Dun Loireag's spires have all but disappeared beyond the southwestern horizon, and all is a patchwork of cavemouth and roiling hills. The perfect place to hide something important-- out in the middle of goddamn nowhere. Would anyone have thought to look for anything so world-changing all the way out here...?

Well. It may not even be here. This is, after all, just a matter of... meeting up with someone they have not seen in a very long time.

"Miss Speedraw," the good doctor inclines his head, doffing his hat in the same motion. "Thank you for meeting with us again." It concerns a matter of paramount importance, after all-- memories are the currency by which Adventurers are made. And, more significantly, it is what makes them who they are. That the Doctor of the Scale is interested in protecting them is perhaps unsurprising.

The young woman watches as the group approaches. It's perhaps a larger social gathering than Fremy is particularly comfortable with. Tension plays out on her face, followed by a steeling of herself.

She bows her head to Rylen as he speaks to her finally, the rest of the Adventurers delightfully quiet so far. She then glances to Rizadoman for a moment, considering him. Remembering that he hangs around the Goblin Slayer. An entity which is familiar to the Heroes of Yamato.

"It is cool out." Fremy answers Fukaziroh in a matter-of-factly manner, kind of giving her a look. She then lifts a hand quietly to Prophylaxis in a half-greeting.

She then motions inwards. "Do not journey in too far." Before stepping inside the cave mouth. Stepping further in, it isn't long before they find a damaged area of metal. A metalic door that has been torn off its hinges and blown open from the inside. Its Integrity barely holding still.

She leads a bit deeper, and soon after that metalic door, destroyed tile. Various areas of destruction. There are no lights here, but it doesn't look like the Sylph is having trouble seeing in the fierce darkness.

This looks like some kind of formerly guarded hallway. Various overturned tables that look like they were used as a final defense against something /leaving/ rather than entering this place. Notably, there /are/ signs of recent movement however. Dust on the ground that has been disturbed by hard-to-read footsteps.

Ahead, another metalic door that has been blown open. A glimmering coming from it, showing that its integrity is so close to its end that it's likely soon to just burst out of existence. Beyond it, a hall that splits in various directions. "This place was built as a maze." She warns.

Shiruba lets Fremy lead the way since she's more familiar with the location but Shiruba follows close to the front of the group as is her nature as a scout and explorer. But the evidence things of a violent nature having gone on here are impossible to miss. She chuffs softly at the sight of it though. "Something really wanted out..." she utters under her breath.

Then Fremy mentions the place having been built like a maze. "Good to know, thanks for the forwarning." She will focus on that, to make sure they don't get lost down here.

Or are ready to make a hasty withdrawl. You never know...

    Fuka finds Fremy's reply a true delight. "Cool, cool." she says agreeably, not pushing matters beyond offering a sunny smile to the Hero's look.

    Glancing around at the party, evaluating, Fuka decides the current group has plenty of firepower and support, but is somewhat lacking in heavy armour. Readying her mighty Arc-ane Blade, she moves ahead, either in the lead or just slightly behind, offering to take the brunt of whatever threat might manifest within but willing to let others with more specialization take the lead should they wish it.

    The blonde sylph also incants a few brief runewords, causing the pommel of her greatsword to light up with a soft, diffuse glow. Not so bright as to blind, but enough to help illuminate the shadows at the very least.

Schneider follows inside and peers around critically, lifting one hand, limned with fire, over his head like a torch. "Something didn't want to be kept here," he remarks quietly. He looks over the demolished doors and barriers with a curious eye, and will Inspect a few of them, and the rooms also, as we pass through them.

"Hrm," he declares. "Whatever got out really didn't appreciate the hospitality of the Tower of Mages," he says, amused. It's just food for thought at the moment, with no way to draw a conclusion. But maybe others will find the information helpful.

    Rizadoman gives Fukaziroh 'The Look' and thumps his tail against the ground in her direction as if to try and pass on non-verbally to behave. This parental glare continues until their hostess ushers them into the cave.

     As they pass the door Rizadoman stops and looks at it closing, running his claws over it. He is no metal worker but has a bit of armor forging experience and more importantly a discerning eye. " An explosion blew this things literally off it's hinges. Those are not the easiest thing to create in this land." There is a low growl that follows that, not liking the idea of someone having such abilities. He had spent recent years trying to make sure none of his alliance mates created such abilities so this ruffled his scales.

     As they move on and Fremy points out that this place was a maze, " So who or what was the minotaur that decided they wanted out of the labyrinth?"

The moment that their guide begins leading the way, Rylen looks to the others, inclining his head in greeting but not focusing much of his time on introductions to those he is less familiar with. Instead, his focus seems to be on the task at hand as he falls into step, taking in their surroundings. Unusually for the Beastmaster, he is quiet, only seeming to give a soft sound of interest when they pass the area where there is signs of recent travel.

Crouching and setting his fingers against the ground, he closes his eyes as if sensing their surroundings for a moment, before leaning down to get a better look at the prints. "Looks like we've got recent passage of Werefangs, or... possibly similar upright creatures. Wolf-like paws, lizard like tail-drags." Rylen explains as he looks up. "It seems they've come back and forth through here, almost as if they were patrolling."

His eyes squint from the light that Fukaziroh gives off on her sword, taking a moment for them to adjust.

This is all new to the Spriggan. Thus, she's quiet and observant. Though she does smirk at Fuka's ... Fuka-ness. She adjusts her swords, and the instant they move to go in, her body language changes. The casualness leaves it, and her footsteps become silent.

Does she even disturb the dust?

The dark doesn't seem to bug her either, but, well, Spriggan. The deeper they go, the harder the anxiety grabs. "What the hell was in this place?"

A maze in a cave? That something escaped from. Kaydon has found himself up close to the entrance, not far from Shiruba as she comments on it, "No matter how well you build a door if something wants out it'll find a way out." He muses, running a finger along the destroyed door. He can't quite make out whatever the door was made out of, but it was very clearly designed to hold something that didn't want to be held.

    Merek looks around a bit, while he takes the time to examine the place. He doesn't look like he's trying to find anything, just memorizing patterns while he nods to Fremy. "Who was it built by, do you know?" he asks, taking his time to relax and wait for the party to move to the maze directly, if that is where they are going. Meanwhile, he seems to be taking notes with a book he keeps with him.

Fremy is quiet when Shiruba and Schneider mention that something really wished to get out. Kind of angrily staring at the walls while looking at this place. Keeping her firearm in one arm - no doubt drawing some of Kaydon's attention with the rather unusual weapon.

There is a concerned look she throws in Schneider's direction though, as he mentions the Tower of Mages out of nowhere.

When Rizadoman asks her more directly on who wished to be out of this place, she turns the weapon towards his head and points it to his snout, the click-clack of the weapon rattling a bit. "Ask too many questions, lizard." She hisses at him. "Why do you ask so many questions?" Fremy wishes to know.

Again, not the most socially adept person in this room.

She then lowers the weapon, leaning it to her shoulder instead, as Rylen talks of the Werefangs. "Failures." She simply answers Rylen. Followed by the sounds of growling in the distance. Footsteps approaching. But they're still far in the distance. Not answering Merek, for someone else had already given this answer.

Fremy moves forward, into the hall, and taking a right, into an auxiliary room to the side.

The new room contains various tables, as well as clay tablets. Within the clay tablets, various diagrams, formulas, etc. On the walls, drawings of what appear to be relics that had been gathered at some time or another. This room is in a far better state.

Thalia almost immediately decides that she does not like Fremy. Especially when the 'Hero' puts a weird gun in someone's face for asking a question. She squints her violet eyes at her, but says nothing. Not yet, anyway. Though, knowing her, she won't be able to -not- say something soon.

Still, she follows the group, hands resting on the hilts of her straight blades as they move in.

"This is ... Huh. I don't understand any of it."

Schneider has struck a nerve. That information will bear further investigation, but he'll be wildly unlikely to get it out of Fremy right now. She seemed unhappy with him mentioning the Tower of And then we're in the Relic Room. Now this is interesting. Clay tablets, diagrams, formulas, and he smirks, "Uta will kick herself for missing this." But as a LOONS member as well, he takes it upon himself to study and catalog as much as he can. This will involve paper and a writing tool.

Who, indeed, was the creature contained within this place?

Well. If Prophylaxis knows, he's not telling. It's not his story to tell.

Unfortunately, the good doctor's skillset is not particularly useful for actually navigating a place like this. At least, not unless what needs to be navigated is an ancient pharmacology textbook.

"And you say what we're looking for is within?" Prophylaxis asks their guide, hanging back with her as the others perform their investigation. "Mmh. It's somewhat troubling that the entire facility seems so... abandoned. That seems distinctly out of character. It's possible that something came and holed up within after what was inside broke loose, however. Be careful, everybody."

A room, one full of-- drawings, formulae, things that the doctor might actually be able to help with. He makes a curious noise and proceeds inside. If he had a pair of glasses, they'd be sparkling with inscrutable light right about now. But he does not. Instead he simply moves to the tablets and carefully begins transcribing their contents, making detailed notes of the texts and formulae. He squints at the lines for a moment, even conjuring a small sphere of light to assist his reading. Finally, he seems to come to a conclusion: "...I can't completely understand what they were doing, but I think I have a general idea. They seemed to be trying to... establish, or perhaps just study, some sort of resonance between these Relics here. It looks like they were trying to access minds-- the Cosmosphere, I presume. 'Resonance...' Perhaps like how we 'resonate' with 'songs' while in Strange Moods...? Is establishing 'resonance' between relics a method by which their effects can be combined...?"

    Rizadoman stares down Remy as the weapon is pushed into his face, " Because whatever was in here is now quite possibly out there. Unless you killed it. I have enough things out there in the world that keep me up at the night between the Palace Land and the damn Lich with his trio lurking in the background." Still Rizadoman doesn't blink at the weapon and stands himself down when the weapon is lowered.

     At the mention of failures and the conversation of possibly werefangs though Rizadoman is riled again, "Wait a second? Is this where Jered Gan made the Werefangs? When you say failures do you literally mean failed Werefangs?! " There is a little more force in his voice but doesn't press for an answer.

     As they enter the next room he decides for now that their ally from the Magus tower is being a bit bombarded and already they seem to be having a bit of conflict so he stays quite while others explore this room for now.

Rylen raises a brow at the comment of 'failures'. If these were once humanoid creatures, then calling them such seems a bit of a cruel twist in his mind. Hoewver, he simply steps forward, listening in the distance, "It seems that these creatures may still be present here and may very well be a threat. We should be on our guard." He recommends.

Silver eyes turn to Rizadoman first, "I would take care, my friend. They may not appreciate being called as such. Then again, how much of their humanity they have left is an ununknown." Rylen, of all people, has compassion as one of his key character traits, so leave it to him to feel for monsters.

However, Prophylaxis is the one that seizes his attention, the Pooka moving over to look without any of the same understanding. He simply accepts what the good doctor says at face value. "It sounds like what we have been looking for. The ways in which the world interacts with us, and we with it. Perhaps answers to the problems we face."

Schneider looks surprised as he writes down what he sees and can translate, and wary of letting Fremy find out what he's worked out, he will speak softly to Proph, "They mention Cosmospheres, and Dive Machines and Dive Crystals using Relics." And this is a room full of drawings of Relics? That could definitely be interesting!

Once the boss knows, he will continue to observe and catalog what all is here.

Of course a firearm would get Kaydon's attention. He's been trying to figure out how to do it for years now, but a functional one? If he could get his hands on it for even just a few minutes, the things he could probably make afterwards. It's probably pretty easy to see where his attention is as he moves closer to Fremy. He doesn't get SO close as to violate her personal space though.

"Failed were fangs? Great." He mutters, as he takes his gunblade off of his back, getting the weapon ready in the event that those failures manage to make their way back towards them, "So these failures, the big thing that escaped, was it one of them? Last thing we need is some mutant running around eating people or something."

The next room is in much better shape and it's contents immeadiately draw Shiruba's curiousity it. She picks up a couple of the clay tablets, carefully, to look them over. It is.... hard to analyze even for her. The basics are there as they should be in the collection of symbols and calculations, but the process and applications just... aren't coming together. Like it was something beyond what the basic understanding of arcane formulae can comprehend fully. It's not until she holds the two tables side by side to comparison that she gets some small inkling of the much larger puzzle.

She squints one eye to look more closely. "This... looks like some manner of combination theory," she holds the tablets apart again, looking at one, then the other. "But I can't make head or tails of the more advanced records." Sometimes it was an inconvenience being a class that was versed in magic but as an accompaniment to other aspects rather than being fully arcane, which would likely know more of the intricate interactions.

But it would seem Prophylaxis is one of those that better grasp the complicated concepts. "Resonate... maybe they were attempting to do so Doctor by finding ways to get the abilities of some relics to synchronize to do so."

    Merek looks to what he can see, and begins writing and copying what he can. He doesn't try to discern too much, he can do it later. Instead, what he's looking for doesn't seem to be here. "If they were making study of anything relating to Song Magic and what it means to the Cosmosphere, they were not doing it right. I do not see any indication they were doing any experimentation with Hymmnos. This will be interesting for Uta, you are right," he nods to Schneider. "That which I need to find doesn't seem to be here though," he will admit. The man takes his time to consider his writing. "Relic. Yes, the Relics I think are tied to your Cosmosphere. That is what Bondrew did."

    Fuka loves questions, and dumb answers for that matter, so she doesn't really think Fremy's reaction is entirely justified. But she's also fairly accepting of the socially awkward so she won't hold it against the Sylph hero. If it came to blows, well... hopefully it doesn't. Fuka wouldn't be quite so casual at that point.

    "I don't know about anyone else." Fuka says to no one in particular. "But I ask questions to find out answers. Or to hear the sound of my own voice. It's a lovely voice after all. Ignorance is fine too I suppose." she offers, only mildly rebuking. Rizadoman did glare at her after all. Heh. "For one thing, I'd love to learn more about these." Fuka adds as she studies the clay tablets for some clue as to the relics depicted therein. "Alas, I don't speak tablet." she complains.

    "Still...." Fuka murmurs, studying the engravings. "These do seem like ClayPads. Input, output. Read, write. Yes, definitely ClayPads!" she blithers, sounding like she's actually saying something profound rather than foolish. She does have plenty of insight when it comes to runes and enchanting after all. It could be she's actually on to something. Or on something. One never knows!

Remy glares at Rizadoman as he talks about her maybe having killed what tried to escape here. A comparison to the Lich and the monsters of the world. She answers with a huff, but no answer.

When the talk moves to Jered Gan, her lips turn into a sneer. A trembling hand on her rifle. "You will find out if you search deeper." She simply answers Rizadoman. Instead, she turns to Prophylaxis; "They succeeded."

She pointedly avoids answering what escaped while people keep digging, letting them try and figure this out.

"We have a little longer before we must move. We do not want to be here when the Failures -- the Chimera -- approach." She remarks. Fixing her use of Failures after considering Rylen's earlier brow-raise.

    Rizadoman looks at the Hero for a long moment as he considers that action and then turns to stare deeper into the cave. As he stares he speaks to Rylan, " I would not like to be labeled as a failure either. I simply had to make sure I understood the definition of that word in this context. It... It is a bit of a recent interest of mine." The fact that this would come up after he did his own investigation and even publishing a book romanticizing that entire thing. "We all wish to meet our maker at some point."

     At the mention of the approaching chimera, Rizadoman moves closer to where the noises are coming from as he retrieves his shield from his back. As he is ready for combat he turns to look at Fremy, "Do you plan to take us deeper, or is this what we came here to see?"

Schneider continues cataloguing everything he can, we can investigate it later. There's so much here, just taking it all in is a task. So, something she won't tell us about has escaped, and something else is still here and dangerous. Maybe there -will- be a fight? He looks around warily, having copied as much as he can, and he looks over the damage, suddenly wondering if this was a recent escape? But no, and so he wonders, "What has happened recently that compels you to show this to us? The damage is old, so it's not that...."

Wolfen ears flick up at the other conversation going on and Shiruba turns her head in Remy's direction. "Chimera... you mean like the combination of multiple creatures into one?" Then she realizes what she just said and looks down at one of the tablets again. Combination... Oh... maybe THAT is what it meant....

She sets the tablets back on the table. "If there is something you want us to see farther within we should probably make haste then. Before we have unwanted company." As much as she would love to poke around in this former lab(?) she's got to curbe her curiousity until they get to the meatier information.

There are some aspects of the discoveries that Prophylaxis, Schneider, and some of the others have that go beyond Rylen's understanding. He has always been very focused on what he can see, touch, and change. Though Cosmospheres seem tied to everything surrounding the idea of memories, there are aspects of it that seem far more metaphysical, and that is something he has always struggled with.

There is a nod and a look of appreciation for the different name for the creatures lurking in this place. The group would seemingly find out how much of a threat they are, soon enough.

For the first time, there is a quirk at the corner of Rylen's mouth, but the humor doesn't linger as long as one might expect. "I'll refrain from meeting my maker any time soon. I doubt they and I would get along."

Rather than digging further or asking questions, he moves to stand near their guide, watching her with a somewhat curious expression.

"A chimera..." Prophylaxis arches a brow Shiruba-ward. "You think that they attempted a Resonance experiment and it forced multiple Werefangs to fuse into one?" It's not /un/feasible. "They could have just tried to shove multiple Monsters into a single Werefang, too. Either one could have been disastrous. But the fact that this-- /place/ even exists... I know the origins of Werefangs and the Cait Sith are extremely sensitive topics. If these experiments are at the root of it, then I'm not surprised."

They succeeded, Fremy says. "Dive Machines, Dive Crystals... Too many proper nouns, not enough definitions. Though I suppose we do know what a Dive Machine is." It is what they're after. He looks to Rylen and nods, "If these tablets are any indication, then it's likely the case that the machine is here. Though whether the machine is a means by which memories can be repaired is still an open question."

She really does not like Remy. Not one bit. She's terse and honestly kind of mean for no seemingly good reason. Are all the Heroes jerks? She hopes not.

Her attention snaps over, eyes widening a bit. Chimeras. That's not good. They're going to have to fight in here, aren't they? Steel rings as she draws her weapons, holing them loosely at the ready. Just in case.

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

    Fuka has her own feelings about what the tablets mean, but her ears metaphorically perk up when Shiruba speaks. She's astute enough to realize Shiruba's concluded something, and it may be different from what Fuka figured out. That's okay, Fuka's own understanding is highly limited and she hardly grasped the whole of it. The truth may end up being a combination of various understandings. The truth is ... out there. No really, it probably escaped with the general break-out.

    She's probably learned all she can, so Fuka steps away from the tablets and towards the entrance. "What's a Dive Machine?" Fuka wonders aloud. Clearly she for one doesn't know. "Is it when you're looking to make a big splash? Oooh that sounds fun!"

"It was requested of me." Fremy answers Schneider in short, looking to Rylen and Prophylaxis for a moment. As if she were asking the two of them to solve this constant bombardment of questions.

Then, to Rizadoman, she notes; "We have time for one more room if we hurry. Just a small ways in." Before motioning out the door at another one very close-by. "Storage room." She points out.

Luckily for Thalia, it will be good to know most of the Heroes are not jerks.

She answers something though. When Fukaziroh asks something. "A Dive Machine allows you access to a Cosmosphere." Before moving across to the next chamber.

There, a storage room. Various cabinets, boxes, and the likes. Many of them have been smashed. Massive claw marks the size far larger than your average Werefang.

Fremy is looking around, slowly stepping through, looking for something. There are racks and broken boxes in so many places, searching this whole place would take far longer than they have.

    Merek looks around a little bit, "Meet who created us? The question becomes really who we are. That... Dive Machines? Well, that is a pretty interesting note," he mentions. Then Fremy will confirm it and he nods a bit, "Then it's true, the Cosmosphere can be entered more directly. I would ask if you know of any relation between the Hymmnos and the Cosmosphere, given the notation of Song, though... I don't want to ask you too much, given you already get a lot of questions. That and I'm used to people saying to 'figure it out on your own, it's what people are good at'."

The mention of chimera gets a slight tilt of the head from Kaydon, "Like somebody trying to do hybrids like the Palace Lands folks?" He wonders, as he follows along, trying to move a bit closer to some of the destroyed storage cabinets, "These claw marks are definitely, uh..Something big."

Schneider hrms at Fremy's answer, and he looks to Prophylaxis, since Proph turns out to be the responsible party at times like these. Well, he'll find out when Proph tells us, he supposes, considering what he knows of the situation, and what may be about to transpire. "So, this place was used to make the hybrid races," he muses aloud. "I suppose it made some dangerous things in addition to the people we all know?"

The look from Fremy is met with an inclination of Rylen's head as he looks to the others. "Choose your questions wisely, my friends. We don't want to waste our guide's time in too many questions she may not have the answers to. Let's focus on the task at hand and perhaps we can gather afterwards to go over our thoughts." Diplomatic as always, he raises his brows, hoping that this will help the frustration she may be currently dealing with.

At the mention of moving on to another room, Rylen motions his hand, planning to move along with her as he looks back towards the others. To Merek, he gives his own thoughts on the matter. "I'd imagine, we'll find out the relationship once we can see and experience these machines for ourselves."

Dive Machine.

The words and the implications with it is enough to make Shiruba pause a moment. "This investigation just goes deeper and deeper..."

Fremy leads them into a storage room that has certainly seen better days. It's wrecked, ransacked... and Remy is looking for something. Something important. "Let me get closer guys." Shiruba slips farther into the room, then pulls out one of her own Relics. She takes a step back again, to be sure she can get as much of the room as possible in it's range, and holds out Golau Chwilio to activate it. A red light emits from the device-like Relic, doing a radial sweep of the room... Then narrows to a single beam that darts back and forth a few times before honing in on a tumbled stack of boxes. Maybe they fell out of one of the storage lockers. But if that is where it indicates...

Shiruba walks over, nudges a box aside to rummage a bit in what's buried under it.... and pulls out a long blue crystal out of the remains. It's nearly the length of her forearm as she holds it up for Fremy to see. "Is this what you're looking for?"

Thalia has no relic to help out here. Instead, she just plays hall guard as the others toss the room. She will be happy to find out that the other Heroes aren't jerks. Most of them, anyway.

She rolls her shoulders as she peers down the hall, sword tips bouncing as she flexes her hands. Every now and then, she peers back into the room, but most of her attention is on the hall. Waiting in paranoia for the almost inevitable fight.

"Well," Prophylaxis asides to Schneider, "Presumably, most Cait Siths and Werefangs were made by... other Cait Siths and Werefangs. Through the usual method." The birds and the bees, Prophylaxis decides, are not necessary for him to go into at this juncture.

Another room. A storage room. It's... full of detritus. So much /crap/ just-- lying around. The doctor's lips draw into a terse line. He pulls an amulet from around his neck and whispers a word of power, conjuring a small minimap of the surrounding area. It may not be /much/ but it can at least, perhaps, help them figure out an outline of what they have to search.

"Indeed. We should move as efficiently as possible," Prophylaxis agrees to Rylen. But Shiruba seems to be right on it. He cranes his head over and peers at the crystal she uncovers. "Hm. Different from the ones I'm used to. Is this... a 'Dive Crystal?'" His gaze tightens somewhat, as if he were staring at something Deeper. "...Fascinating. A 'Resonating Agent' is it..."

    Rizadoman follows behind their guide quickly as he moves straight to the direction of the chimeras. "Rylen has a point, lets do what we need to do and get out for now. " Rizadoman doesn't mention that he is totally going to come back and put this place to rest. For now though he lets those who know whey are looking for do their thing.

    "The usual method?" Fuka directs her question at Proph innocently. Way too innocently. She seems to be trying to provoke him into saying something embarrassing. That and asking Fremy would probably be rude and, more importantly, not nearly as much fun.

"I don't know." Fremy huffs at Merek. "If you want answers, ask the people who did all the research. You will have to find a way to resurrect them though." She grunts annoyedly, glad that Rylen backs her up on this.

But then, Schiruba uses her Golau Chwilio Relic, and Fremy watches as she reduces a lot of time into a quick and done result. She's appreciative of this. So when Shiruba offers the item, Fremy nods, but doesn't take it from her. In fact, backing up just a little bit from the item.

"Keep it. You will need that." She points out to Shiruba, before turning towards the door. Listening. The sound of roars and growling getting closer and closer. "We should depart now." She warns.

Luckily, they have more time than expected, thanks to Shiruba.

Thalia, watching the hall, spots them first. Red eyes, glowing, in the distance. Gleaming. Two... four... eight... sixteen. They come, faster, gathering at the end of the hall. Rushing towards them. Scratching sounds at the walls. Almost like a flood. Falling over eachother. Sounding hungry! Slobbering. Half-wolf, half snake. A spider with eight legs, mixed with a scorpion stinger. All of them reminiscent of Werefangs but... without any 'awareness' left in them.

"Shit," the Spriggan says as the sounds get closer. She steps away from the door, shouting into it. "We have company! LOTS OF COMPANY!"

Thalia twirls her blades, energy building up in them as she slings them downwards, tips skimming the floor and launching a pair of waves of Dark magic towards the incoming pack.

Yeah, it's not going to do anything, but it makes her feel better.

The interaction between Fremy and Shiruba is given a momentary look, perhaps trying to figure out why it is that she may be quite so reluctant to touch such a relic. And yet, there is little time to ponder that.

The sound of footfalls and the roars in the distance have the Beastmaster clearing his throat, "I think that is our indication to make a hasty retreat, my friends." He turns, making sure that they get the message. "I'll throw up some barriers to try to slow them down."

Touching both palms to the ground, Rylen starts to pull up chunks of earth in the hallways between them and the Chimera, giving his friends and allies more time to make their escape.

    Rizadoman hears them, and sees the eyes. For a moment he considers charging them, 'pulling a merek' as his alliance mates would call it, but at the end of the day responsibility wins out. Instead he takes a deep and breathes out fire along the hallway towards the chimeras.

     Rizadoman hesitates, wanting a good look first, before turning back to the others, "It is time to go!" With that said he begins to retreat backwards while keeping an eye out until Rylen's barrier goes into place. Then he turns and begins to make his way towards the entrance with the others.

Schneider flateyes at Proph and says, "I know -that-. I meant the first ones, of course." Fuka gets a sigh. "If you don't know, we'll explain later," he tells her. He ooohs appreciatively as Shiruba finds what we seemed to have been looking for the whole time. And more quickly than it seems like Fremy was planning on. Which turns out to be good, as eyes gleaming in the distance don't look like they're here to bring us presents.

"Zarzardo Zarzardo Bakemono! Rono sook! Burning in the depths of darkness, fires of hell! Become my sword and strike down my enemy!"

Said enemy now has a movenent debuff plaguing them as swirls of dark energy suck at the strength in their legs and cause painful cramps and, most importantly, slowed movement. "Yes," he agrees, "Let's get out of here now. That sounds like a wonderful idea."

    Fuka, in a relative lead position as a good tank (or at least a good Switch) should be, hears the monsters coming up on them and quickly considers options. She could drop back and help hold them off, but that seems like a good way to die. There's just too many of them. "Keep moving!" she cries, reaching down to her utility pouch and pulling out a small phial. With a shrug, still on the run, she throws it up and over her shoulder, hopefully clearing the group and smashing to the ground behind them all, between them and the onrushing chimeras. A billowing cloud of black smoke rushes out on impact, certainly not blocking the entire path or managing to inconvenience more than a small fraction of the horde... but that's not the point. A few seconds' hesitation, some confusion, some monsters slowing down and thus chaotically disrupting the flow of the pursuit, all of that can make a small but significant difference.

"Noted. Appricate the guidance." Ever the prepared explorer Shiruba pulls a cloth from her inventory and wraps it protectively around the Dive Crystal. "Now let's get back outsi--"

Cue Thalia's warning shout.

"Right, back outside." As the group leaves the room Shiruba pauses for a moment, tucking the wrapped crystal under one arm. She can't do much with her bow with one hand, but that's not what she's going for.

Instead she pulls out one of her monster sized beartraps, and sends that skidding down the hallway to add to the obstacles. A good chance some chimera will not see the trap and step in it while they're busy dodging the bigger and more obvious obstructions.

Then she turns and starts making for the exit. They just need to slow the creatures down, not stop and fight them.

"So it's not just the one chimera," Prophylaxis surmises with a deep frown. It's in fact multiple chimera. Chimerae? "As our host says, we should get while the getting's good. Before our new friends can catch up."

The others have 'slowing them down' pretty well covered. Prophylaxis seems to have determined that discretion is in this case the better part of valor. That is to say, he's bookin' it.

The healer can't heal if he's /dead/, right? Right.

    Merek looks to the place that the creatures are coming from when Thalia manages to point them out. "Perhaps you're right, best to not focus on questions!" Then he's weaving the spell which will boost all their speed, "I call upon you Bith, may the ones that are Lost be there as our guide!" With that, all the party will feel the speed buff while he begins to run along with them. "Anything you can tell us about these creatures that will give us an edge on escaping?" he asks Fremy.

Thalia's quick thinking actually helps the rest of the team. The dark wave sent through the thinner hallway causes the spider to tumble, not having expected the wave of magic to hit its feet. It tumbles, causing the rest to bunch up as its hind-quarters take up much of the hall for a moment!

Rylen uses that moment to put up a barrier. Stone after stone erupting near the entrance, entombing the beasts. For a moment, it seems to hold just fine. There's some thumping. Some scratching...

It goes quiet for just a moment...

Rizadoman breathes fire, enough to see a sudden 'crack' in the rocks... lighting up the area so they can see...

The rocks are smashed apart in an enormous eruption of stone! An enormous Ape with Mantis-shrimp arms comes rushing forward. Using its mantis-shrimp arms to help it move forward. Then snapping them together, causing a concave explosion that launches it forward, only to step into Shiruba's trap and getting stuck! The other creatures following, then pass it by! Slobbering at the maws. Hungry. But their furs and skins are notably very pale!

The movement debuff strikes just in time as the team makes it back to the front entrance. A swipe from a slithering snake-centipede's pincers missing nipping at Prophylaxis' legs. Fukaziroh's smoke further covering the wave of Red difficulty monsters! They're about to catch back up when Merek's spell reaches them, and they all exit the facility...

And the monsters all stop at the exit. Hissing, growling at them. One of them, a half-wolf kind sticks its arm out, only to hiss. There is no sunlight, but something seems to be preventing it from... leaving?

They continue to move and circle in the front region for a while, before they all retreat back into the facility. Watching. Red eyes staring at the party.

Notably, in the midst of all the chaos, Fremy has managed to disappear on the team, leaving them all standing outside on their own. The more perceptive ones will have noticed that Fremy ran out earlier than them, and just... left.

Anti-social hero is anti-social.

The fleeing is mandatory. Thalia's wings flutter as she runs, trying to give her a bit more speed. Then she remembers she can teleport a little.

Oops.

She flickers, blinking ahead as they all charge through the halls. She might scream at the ape with mantis shrimp arms in raw terror, but no one can prove it. Once outside, and she realizes they aren't following, she stops to catch her breath.

"We ... we need to clear that out, don't we? .... We need a bigger party."

Shiruba skids to a stop once they are outside, turning to face the cavern entrance. Out here they'd at least have a chance, get the enemy to spread out and avoid cross-attacks...

But no, the kimera do no leave farther than the entrance of the structure, pacing a bit and snarling like territorial beasts before slinking back inside.

"Well that was a zoological nightmare... and of course, she's already gone." Fremy's departure did not go unnoticed, eager to get away from the more social people once her task was complete.

Good thing she let Shiruba hold onto the Dive Crystal then.

    Rizadoman stares at the opening as he looks at what he can only consider as some form of ancestor of his. There is an annoyed look on his face as he turns and looks at Thalia, "For now we head back. I suspect there is nothing more for us to do today." Taking another over the shoulder look he sighs in disappointment before he heads off the way they came from. Another day getting more questions in exchange for his questions, another day in Yamato.

    Merek looks around to see where the people that might be able to answer questions went, "Wow. This is just like before. More questions and less answers! You know what? I am going to find someone with answers, and I'm not going to let them go until they give me answers! I don't even know what memories I am losing after all those times." Then he takes a look along to Shiruba, "Do you think the answer lay in diving into someone?" he asks.

The escape doesn't even seem to wind Rylen, who looks back for a moment with a thoughtful expression. However, Thalia seems to speak the answer for that particular problem. "I think that's exactly what we need."

Then, noticing that their guide has made herself absent, Rylen offers one answer out to some of the others. "She's the one who escaped that place." His voice is kept soft, in case she is still nearby, as he does not wish to offend her after she had helped them. "So, it's probably best not to pry too much into that. I imagine it wasn't a pleasant experience."

    "Well, we could fireball them?" Fuka offers to Rizadoman as an alternative option. "They're just standing there right? What could possibly go wrong? They might just be more afraid of the fire than whatever it is they don't like out here. Or too pissed-off to care!" she answers herself, but doesn't actually listen to herself. Or apparently not at least.

    She pauses, looking over a Rylen. "But she's not a ...." she pauses, thoughtful. "Uh..."

Tlalia stares at the Lore Drop from Rylen. "H-huh. No wonder she was ... touchy about being here." She pauses a moment.

"She still didn't need to be a heinous jerk about it. I hope the rest of the Heroes aren't like that."

"Indeed," Prophylaxis rejoins, appearing from the twilight of half-dead-player like a wraith. "I imagine she didn't particularly enjoy being compared to a monster," he says with a shrug. "The fact that she was willing to guide us here and relive whatever terrible memories she must have of this place is... Very generous. More than I would have expected from her." He casts a meaningful glance towards Rylen, "We must thank her properly, before too long."

Schneider's eyes widen as Rylen, after everyone's headlong escape run, explains a bit about their guide. "That explains so much," he observes. But opens up so many other questions. buy with Fremy having vanished, his follow-on questions will have to remain unanswered. "It would have been nice to know what else was there," he considers. To Thalia, he says, "The Heroes in this game /all/ have personal agendas. It's just a thing. They have long histories. Very long."

    "They aren't. Like, okay, the Palace Lands hero I met was a colossal dick, and not the good kind!" Fuka blathers. "The jerk tried to kill the Kirin! But another I met is quite nice. Weird though." she adds. As if she's one to talk.