Duty Session 198: Obligatory Rat Cellar

    Once again, Kazuma leads his party, minus Megumin because she already used Explosion today, out on a quest found on the board in the Guild Hall. In this case, they are inside of a merchant's shop that looks remarkably clean, despite rumors of rat problems. The shelves are lined neatly with the sort of goods that might be needed by starting Adventurers. Basic tools, food items, survival gear, and clothing can be found in different sections of the shop. An anxious looking Lander stands near an open door, revealing a stairway that descends down into a cellar below. Even from here, the sound of squeaking and the scrabbling of claws on stone can be heard.

    Kazuma mosies up to the Lander and leans one elbow on the counter as he tries to look cool and casually say in a faux-deep voice, "I hear that you have pests in need of elimination." He jerks his thumb over his shoulder at the priestess and the knight. "Good news for you: I've brought two expert pests, so they should know how to deal with vermin."

    A quest! How exciting! A quest to... Kill... Rats? Maybe they're giant rats like those toads. She can't think of any other reason why a goddess like herself would be needed. Shouldn't even Kazuma be able to handle normal rats on his own? Aqua stands behind Kazuma, arms folded, looking unimpressed at his jibes. >:I "I can leave and you can try healing yourself when the rats swarm you, you know." she says dead-pan, already preparing to turn and leave the store.

    Slaying rats is not beneath Darkness. They are carriers of plague and pestilence, and may even consume the foodstuffs that people need to survive the harsh winters of this land! It is no trivial thing to delve into dark places and faces those creatures that a normal person could not endure. That is her role as a knight. She seems to flinch or shiver a bit as Kazuma indicates she is an 'expert pest', probably not expecting either the sudden gesture or the uncharitable description.

    "I pledge that I shall devote myself to the task of clearing your establishment of threats as I would on any other quest. The well-being of the people is of utmost concern to us." she says, placing one hand to her chest as she professes very seriously to use her superhuman strength and years of training to slay some rodents.

    A hand snaps out behind Kazuma, gripping the edge of Aqua's skirt to keep her from leaving. "Hold it. If you leave, you won't get any of the reward. And you still have a very large bar tab to pay off, if I recall correctly, you lazy debt goddess." He has definitely learned how to handle Aqua, even when he, himself, deserves the treatment he gets sometimes.

    Even so, he makes a mental note that driving away the party's only healer probably isn't wise at this juncture, so drags Aqua, willing or otherwise, towards the cellar door as the Lander thanks them profusely for their help.

    As the Adventurers descend into the Cellar, the light from above fades away. There are sconces set along the walls, though the torches have not been lit in quite some time. It is hard to make out anything in the dark chamber, the outlines of crates, sacks, and boxes barely visible. The sound of footsteps seems to cause unseen things to scurry away into the darkness. Chittering echoes off of stone walls, making it seem as if they are surrounded. It is nearly impossible to see ahead without some sort of light source or preternatural ability.

    Aqua turns back, red-faced,to yell at Kazuma. "Where do you think you're grabbing, you pervert NEET!?" But when she is reminded of her outstanding debts, she settles for trying to kick Kazuma and angrily puffing out her cheeks as she follows after him, and down, down, down into the darkness. Though she can see in the dark easily, because Reasons, she nonetheless reaches into the depths of her selfless heart and says, "Well, I suppose I can't expect mere mortals like yourselves to navigate this dakrness. I'll use my divine powers to light the way!" She then begins to chant a minor cantrip of some kind, producing a glowing aura around herself that illuminates the surroundings.

    Darkness has grown accustomed to the near-constant bickering between Aqua and Kazuma, so pays it no mind as all three of them descend the steps into the Cellar. She, at least, has trouble seeing in this murk, and while Aqua making an aura of light around herself is helpful, it also probably has the side-effect of making her a gigantic flipping target for any hostiles in the area.

    And that's Darkness's job gosh darn it! So she pulls out an unlit torch from her inventory, ignites it with sparks from her sword clashing on the wall (and producing a loud, ringing sound in the process that probably alerts anything that didn't already know they were here), then holds the torch aloft.

    Not to be outdone, Kazuma also utilizes his minimal grasp of magic to produce a jet of flame. Adding further life to Darkness's torch, to get it up to full strength sooner than sparks from metal on stone would generally produce. However, he also takes note of the loud noise and glowing healer, and the spectacle that the other two party members of made of themselves.

    Kazuma remains there, looking back over his shoulder at the two of them, non-plussed. :I

    Then he says, "Hey, Darkness, why don't you lead the way? And Aqua, you can be in the middle so that you're more easily protected and can heal people front and back."

    And also so that he can hang back and keep an eye out from the shadows with his Lurk skill.

    Mysteriously, the cellar opens up into a short, stone passageway. The walls are made of crumbling, rough-hewn stone. It was clearly built here in ages past, but left forgotten. Bits of rubble lie close to each wall, likely having fallen from the arched roof. As the Adventurers come to the end of the passageway, the way forward is blocked by a strange door. Runes are marked around the edge of the doorway, giving off a mysterious light. The runes react to touch, but clearly must be selected in the proper order to open the way forward.

    Kazuma does not touch them, instead choosing to examine everything first, because he isn't some moron who immediately starts pushing buttons and setting off traps.

    "Oh-hoh~! That's a good idea! You can be a good leader sometimes after all!" Aqua responds as she maneuvers herself to be ahead of Kazuma and behind Darkness. The single-file procession doesn't proceed for very long through this ancient tunnel ahead of them before arriving at their next obstacle. A door! WHY IS IT ALWAYS DOORS!? The nemesis of any adventuring party!

    Unwilling to suffer through a bout of Door Paralysis, the fact that Aqua is impatient and also exactly the kind of idiot who rushes to push buttons as soon as she encounters them, triggering any associated traps, leads her to be the one who discovers the glowing functionality of the runes. "Hmm? What, what? Kazuma, look, they light up!" She laughs to herself as she continues prodding at the glyphs merrily, without fear of consequences. "It's like a children's game of some kind! What fool built a children's toy down here in this Cellar? I'll bet he's really regretting it now! Fufufufu~!"

    Her 'divination' is just touching the runes over and over in different ways, not even trying to find a pattern.

    An excellent point. Especially with rats on the loose, she doesn't want one of the others to suffer their potentially pestilent bites. While she may be able to carry them out of here if they become incapacitated, Aqua is their healer, so she'd rather keep the means of curing said ailemts healthy and functional instead. She goes through a mental scenario in her mind of how to handle things if the worst happens, complete with poorly-drawn chibi versions of everyone.

    She's so busy with that, she forgets to actually respond to Kazuma with her agreement until she's done. Thankfully, it seems he hasn't noticed, so blushing slightly she says, "Y-yes!" and rushes to the fore of the party as they proceed through a tunnel, and encounter... A door.

    Curses! Why is it always doors!? While Darkness calls out to Aqua, "Oi! Aqua! We should take our time to examine these markings before touching anything!" Her plea likely falls upon dumb ears though, so she sighs heavily and takes a look. She is a well-educated young woman, and thinks she recognizes the runes from somewhere... Or at least their style in accordance with some culture or magical tradition. Purely on an academic level, of course. She's no wizard.

    "I think that the appropriate pattern should be..." she begins, trying to guide Aqua so as not to lock them out or dump the ceiling on them or something.