Dragon Head: Coal Mines

Perhaps it is inevitability. Perhaps it's simply because Adventurers are not used to the trials and tribulations of this kind of work. But a loud whistle has sounded off throughout the mines after a rumbling collapse of an eastern facing vein! The Olympus Alliance has been asked to reinforce and help in the rescue of not just Adventurers, but Landers who have been working this job as part of Baroness Wake's attempts at creating socio-political ties.

Or perhaps it just has to do with the fact that Adventurers pay well to deal with these further-out and more dangerous regions.

Things have been remarkably easy at the mines so far, so the collapse has somewhat shocked people. There have been nary a monster in sight in the caves so far, aside from the occassional big rat, or some big bats that tried to choose this as their new home.

Still, with there being enough unknowns, the call reached some people in the surrounding towns, and it's not just the Olympus Alliance that ends up showing up, delving into the caves below, being led by an old Gnome Lander. "Careful now, any further from here is no longer stable." He points out as they might see some fault-lines amidst the walls, with newly placed wooden beams keeping the roof secure.

Ahead of them, a massive amount of stone that has collapsed in. "Arrrright. Ah suppose you just... start digging." He notes. "And be careful. I would remind you that we do not use torches down here in these here coal mines. Light spells only."

Cyrus, a member of the Fourland Dukedom himself, had been visiting Castle Eas when he'd heard rumor of a mine collapse to the east. It was a bit of a journey, but the cat figured that a support feline such as himself may be able to assist on taking care of the wounded.

By the time they get down there, he's holding up a little cage with a bird in it. Something that's gotten him quite some strange looks from the Gnomes, not understanding the whole cage technique thing. The thing chirps and twitters, though it seems a bit confused at this whole 'being underground thing'.

"I'm... probably not great moving earth. I will leave that to you folk. I'm here to support and take care of the wounded." He points out to the Olympians.

    Mines aren't the BEST environment, but... Mizuki has decent levels of Earth Magic and physical strength, and enhanced senses useful in darkness. When the gnome reminds them they don't use torches, she nods, "That's fine, I've got my own--" light spells only.

    Oh. Oh.

    The fire tigress will have to be careful...

    "Oh hey, someone brought a canary! Good idea!" she observes, when Cyrus brings a bird.

    Then she hmms. "Would we see a status effect on ourselves if we start breathing poison gasses...?"

Patting Cyrus on one shoulder, Nami nods, "Good of you to come." He glances over at Marty McFly, then points at the cage. "One word, bird. ONE WORD during this mission, and I will have one of those made that fits you like a Tuxedo, with a matching muzzle. This is no time for your hijinks." The parrot just trills a sad whistle, then flaps its way over to stand on Cyrus's hand and look at the bird in the cage. It offers a little wolf-whistle and a *click click* of its tongue, but doesn't say a word, thus obeying the letter, if not the spirit, of Nami's orders.

Nami meanwhile looks around the assembled, waiting for someone to take charge. He's here, but this isn't his wheelhouse, exactly, so he just waits to see how he might be of service.

Goldenblade walks around to all the non-Olympus personnel carrying a leatherbound book or log of some sort, open to a page. "Anyone not part of Olympus," she calls out loudly, "I need you to read and sign this NDA, a non-disclosure agreement." She will go around with the page, and it reads, 'I, the undersigned, agree not to copy or remove any technology or techniques found or discovered while in the mine, and may on no account converse with any denizens or native creatures. No materiels may be removed without authorization from Olympus management.' There is room at the bottom for everyone to sign.

As to the structural soundness, that's why she came in the first place. "I'm guessing we're not shoring and propping as we go?" she asks. "I'll identify the spots where we'll get things built, then, and mark down for us to come back with a construction team?"

It had been a simple matter of chance that Rylen had even been in this part of Yamato. Normally, the Beastmaster is locked down in the land of Ninetails, but with the recent development of Olympian steam ships, he'd come to check on contacts with the manufacturers and see to any help that might be needed in rebuilding after the Wave that struck not long ago.

"Moving earth, I can handle." The Pooka explains, cracking his knuckles. "But we need to have an idea of where people might be trapped so that we don't bring this plae down on top of them." Then, with a glance at the others, "And we might need to shore up areas to avoid things collapsing on our own heads."

He gives a nod to Cyrus, seeming appreciative for a healer's assistance. Looking at the Gnome, he asks, "Do we have a headcount of how many are unaccounted for?"

Shiruba was technically still on hiatus, which she had been using to travel more of Yamato. See more of the world she was fighting for. This included visiting some of the nations she did not visit as often. So she had happened to be stopping for supplies in one of the towns when word came about the mine collapse and lives at threat within, Adventure and Lander alike. That was enough for her. Recovery time for herself would have to wait for duty to be done.

It was not long before the Peko some might recognize as the winner of multiple Festival races strode up. Tradewind stopped within range, Shiruba dismounted and strode up to the gathering with solemn determination. "What's the situation?" This wasn't her Alliance, but she still carried herself with the serious attitude a Guild Leader should in such matters, ready to get down to business. She doesn't even flinch when Goldenblade offers the log book, just takes it and the quill. "That's actually good operation -and- business sense, Golden, I approve." She read the lines, signed her name, handed the book back to Golden. "Any other New World members, please comply. We're here to help with the rescue, not probe their secrets." Then gets back to business.

Which comes to a collapse. She quickly strides up, glancing at the collapse. "I know the Earth well, I can help determine where to dig through."

Of course the coal mine has to begin collapsing. Proteus can't catch a break. How's someone going to farm resources properly for a day's work? Of course, having access to an Inventory sure makes hauling coal easier compared to a Lander... But Proteus doesn't rub it in. Really, she has other things to deal with. Mostly, looking around for possible archeological signs in the mines.

Not that she was there when this happened. She does, however, arrive quickly afterwards, nodding to the Gnome Lander. "Thank you for the warning, sir." She replies politely to the man, especially as he points out the weakpoints in the walls. They're going to need to be careful.

The warning of no torches gets a nod from Proteus. "No torches... and /especially/ no fire spells." She murmurs. With a flick of her hand, she calls up some light, and then gets to work helping to clear out the shaft with what tools are available. "Anyone have any idea what might have precipitated this?" She asks. It might not be her specialty, but she'll provide what help she can, adding some Earth spells to help move things more efficiently.

Something has gone wrong at the mines so here she was people neede help to boot. So Gwen was fiarly quick to respond doubly so givne this is one of the Baroness' projects too. She's loaded up and ready go go arriving into the mines muttering. "This reminds me of an old ... Dungeon I swear to god if there are undead miners..."

    Merek of course likes mining, that said he does not know the what to think about coal mining being brought to the world. All the same of course he does like saving people, so he came to assist with the coal mines. The man wears the dark attire he often does, with the chemical belt which he wears on that waist. The man brought the explosives that are definitely useful for mining. That said, he begins assisting with a little earth magic to begin moving that rubble, "You know, coal mining never was safe, with people. That said, we don't have automation."

    Rizadomn had heard of the incident and had came to help, however when he is presented with a NDA from Goldenblade he tilts his head at it then tilts it the opposite direction as he looks at Goldenblade. With a growl he takes his claw and draws a large X over a box before he moves past the lady to begin to help. " I will help move anything that needs to be moved, be it earth or whatever. " Looking at Rylen he hears the call in need of finding people and understands. " Best to not waste effort where it is not needed." Reaching down the lizardman begins to pray and from the other rises several non venomous snakes of dirt and clay as they spread out into the cracks to help locate any one in need.

A mine collapse!? Oh no!! How terrible. How awful. Someone should call for a doctor!

...

Prophylaxis passes back his signed NDA and gestures his staff toward the collapsed mine shaft. "Come now, Proteus. I don't think we're going to see /too/ much that we haven't, have we? Though I can't exactly blame you. Let's see now..."

The Doctor of Tolbana, inexplicably here in time to assist with a bunch of buried miners, focuses his will into his work. The earth rumbles as a series of pillars surge upward out of the scattered stone to buttress the sagging ceiling. With a sound of some exertion, he fixes his staff's earth-aspected gem into the ground and glances toward the assorted mine-shaft makers. "Hurry and reinforce the structure while we hold it up. My MP bar is not infinite!"

But /why/ is he here? Is it just to administer aid...?

Or does he have... other plans......?

(You can never know with this guy.)

    Mizuki sets to work trying to 'earthbend' rocks around, but... despite the fact that she tries to do something like this basically every time she ends up adventuring in a mine, she doesn't really practice it much otherwise, aside from specific techniques like Stone Catapult, so it seems she's not the best at earthshaping.

The Gnome remarks, "Of course we're proppin' and shorin'. But you have to first dig for there to be something to prop!" He points out. He's one of the foremans at the location, because none of the Adventurers have likely ever worked a mine for a day in their lives. There's a sense of calm concern with him. A sense that this is just an accepted, if terrible part of his life.

At Rylen's questions, he notes; "We don't know exactly where they were. Somewhere beyond this cave-in. There's some larger caves beyond it that may have served as natural safe areas. But we're looking for roughly six Landers and two Adventurers." He points out, following this up by giving their names - having clearly memorized them.

Paper is expensive.

"Honestly, I think it may have been a small quake. Or some of the structural integrity of the wooden beams collapsed. It could be any number of things. We'll investigate it after we get the people out." He points out to Proteus.

Rizadoman's snakes sneak through the earth, trying to find someone behind the massive wall of earth and rock, but find it hard to proceed onwards. Their travel is slow at best, while the others are pulling away batches of earth. The Gnome himself then motions for a group of others to come in. New wooden beams start getting put into place, reinforcing the tunnel as they go along. But it's slow-going. Even with Prophylaxis helping the way he is.

Easily an hour passes, and they have only made a bit of headway.

"We're making good time." The Gnome remarks however. Which may place some further pressure on the Adventurers. This is 'good time'. This slow procession.

About half an hour later, as people start getting real sweaty and exhausted, Mizuki manages to earthbend some rocks away from a strange white marker. Pushing it away, they find... a Gravestone. A timer ticking down since a few hours ago. Unearthing more however, they find a Lander under the same earth, in a larger pocket space created by that Gravestone literally 'keeping up' the earth above it. The small rat Cait Sith is shivering, hugging in a corner, and barely responsive.

"Not sure, not taking the chance." Cyrus answers Mizuki as he runs his hand through his hair, staring at the bird. "Don't worry birdy. I'm sure it will all be okay." The man then quietly nods at Nami pats his shoulder, distracted by Goldenblade demanding a paper signed. "Suuure... seems like a rather awkward moment now doesn't it?" He's clearly giving Goldenblade a judging kind of look, but he signs.

Not moments later, the cat has... two birds in the hand. And there's certainly no bushes around. But with the foul mouth on this parrot, should he really count himself lucky here?

By the time Prophylaxis starts putting up pillars and various magics start going to work, the youth pulls out this whole bag of blue potions... and starts chucking them at people's heads. The glass shattering against them, and the Mana Regenerating potions quickly begin to charge them back.

He does support his own way. Holding until peoples mana gets extra low, so that his potions have better efficiency. There's this nice timing to it all. But it's something that stops the moment that they uncover that little 'cave' area held open by that gravestone. His ears flattening. The bird chirps still.

"Well, I guess that explains why nobody could reach him on chimlink." Nami says. "By the way, we should teach Landers morse code."

Shiruba immeadiately steps back as soon as they find something... and it turns out to be a gravestone. At least an Adventurer will respawn. "Someone get the name on that marker so we can determine which church they'll come back in.. Let the medics get the live one!" Thank the Goddesses the Lander wasn't the one that got crushed.

Gwen makes note of what the Gnome has to say and will try to keep tabs on the number of people. "So two Adventures and six landers got it." Gwen is being careful abotu going at ioit and she's got ot think for a moment it feels like it's so slow honesly. Given what she's seen 0of Mining gear on earth then again? For what they have it's nto bad ans Gwen has removeed her armored top, and just has the undersuit jerkin she wears under her armour aon there at the moment. She pauses for a moment and has to wonder. Did the Adventuer die knoing that the stone would help keep things from collapsing? She looks to the cait sith.

She will move to help with the Caitsith where it's needed.

"We're going to get you out of here..."

    Merek looks to the marker, while he begins to bring up the inspect, then he takes a look along to the party, "No name, they don't show up on the stone," he notes, while he sighs, then he takes a look from the hood to the place. He nods a bit while the doctor will deal with the cait sith, watching Proph. The man adjusts the gloves which he wears, then he checks that gauntlet bracelet upon the wrist. "Alright."

Rylen doesn't comment at all about the paperwork that Goldenblade is passing around, other than to roll his eyes as he gets to work moving rock and earth. The Beastmaster is known for being particularly good with Earth elemental magic, so this isn't exactly difficult for him, but some of his techniques do combine other elements, meaning that he has to be careful what abilities he uses.

At some points, he has to stop to rest, only to feel the impact of a potion helping to recharge his mana stores. Rubbing at the back of his head, he looks towards Cyrus, "I will never get used to that."

The sight of the gravestone is met with a somber expression from the Pooka. Any loss, even a temporary one, is a blow. The others seem to have the healing and re-assurances in check, so for now, he continues to do what he does best, clearing rock and rubble out of the way.

He starts to utilize more intense techniques to move the rock out of their way. Some are held aloft, deposited behind them, while smaller ones are chucked to the sides for others to deal with.

    Hours of this? Ugggh. If only they could go play some game as a break... Mizuki doesn't say that out loud, though. Eventually she finds... "Hey, I found something weird over here!" And then she unearths that marker, and stops for fear of making rocks fall and crush the cait sith. "A gravestone... and a lander! They're alive!" Oh right, of course they are, Landers don't leave corposes...

Shiruba nods to Merek. "That's okay. We'll figure it out who's missing when we find the others."

Stones are shifted out of the way. Earth is moved aside. Progress is... slow and steady, like the very tectonic movements of the earth itself. Prophylaxis clicks his teeth at the Gnomish Miner's comments. If this is 'good pace' then it's only a matter of time before they come across a corpse.

Or... a tombstone, at least.

"...Was this one trying to shield the Lander...?" The doctor shakes his head and hastens towards the fallen Cait Sith. He takes a knee and rests a hand across the young one's shoulder. His eyes tighten as he removes a crystal from his pack and breaks it over the fallen Lander. Then, he shakes his head and turns towards someone who might have the right tool for the job. "They're suffering from Asphyxia. Goldenblade, you carry an Oxygen Cylinder on occasion, do you happen to have it on hand?"

    Rizadoman appreciates the mana regeneration, the method of delivery not so much , he had given up on looking for people with his snakes rather quickly. Instead deciding to help with the moving of earth, if they could get deeper he would have to try again with the snakes. Though when they find the Cait Sith Rizadoman turns around and motions the medics forward. " We have someone alive over here. " Rizadoman moves towards the gravestone as he looks at it , taking note of the countdown. " No name to be seen , just the timer. " With that he turns and looks at one of the boulders blocking there path. PLacing his claw on the ground he begins to pray, " Mother of this land, I ask you to show us the way. " With that vines begin to move quickly through the boulder and break it apart.

Goldenblade blinks as Proph signs the NDA without comment and Shiruba signs and urges her alliance members to sign. She seems pleased, though, or at least is smiling very widely. She annotates Rizadoman's X with who it was that made the 'X'. For some reason, she's snickering when she should be looking over the mine for safety purposes, though, to her detriment. "Sorry, sorry, paying attention now."

She may not have worked a mine before, but she's worked construction for 50 years, so she's not quite a noob, and she will dig and move earth as best she can, though the shoring is where her skills mainly lie, and she will try to support that task to her best ability. She blinks, nods to Prophylaxis when he addresses her, pulling out the small cylinder. "I've got it, yes," she agrees, heading over to see if she can help.

Goldenblade's proffered NDA draws a mysterious smirk from the Archaeological Imp, but she does nothing to countermand Goldenblade's request. Much the opposite, really, as the Doctor of Tolbana objects. "Prophylaxis, I probably can't throw you as far as I trust you." She replies... But at least she is doing it jokingly. "That said, I'm more concerned about you possibly setting the mine on fire forever. Be cautious."

She hums to herself at Merek's mention of automation, but says nothing, her eyes glittering slightly under the shade of her hood. But the foreman points out that there's no information on what precisely caused it. "We'll figure it out and deal with it, then." She replies, getting right back to work as they push forward.

The arrival of the white marker is something of note. Proteus looks it over... And then jerks back as if stung when she sees that it's a Gravestone. "Gggh... For someone to die like this..." She looks over, then, to see that the small Cait Sith was being preserved by it, however. "... I guess there was some good to it, though." She says, reaching out to help the Lander out. "Come on. You're safe now." She says, sketching an Ability: ) N 9 C

A glowing ball of light manifests, the glittering fairy fluttering about to try to help the Lander. She might not have oxygen, but healing spells are generally useful, right?

People start wearing at the stone above the Gravestone, and it takes a bit of awkward positioning above the Immortal Object to ensure the wooden supports are properly placed. They add an extra net over it, just in case, and try to keep the dust contents low during their work, while Prophylaxis does his thing. The foreman moves up to talk to the Cait Sith for a bit, making sure she will be okay, before he continues to oversee the progress - while Proteus' healing spell starts having its effect, clearing up some of the immediate wounds of the Lander.

Things proceed with that same slowness going forward. They find a small gap a little bit later, where a pickaxe lies on the floor, along with a shirt. The remnants of one of the five remaining landers. It seems that one had not survived the collapse. It's a sorry thing to be witness to, if one has any ties to the Landers. But to some, it's just another NPC.

The foreman kneels and touches the pickaxe itself, and appraises it. "Aye... I know whose this is. It will be turned over to her son." He remarks with a tense tone, taking the axe in this careful manner.

Soon, they are dealing with larger boulders, which starts giving some of their members some significant trouble. Luckily, Rizadoman's unique technique helps them past some of them. And finally, after another exhausting hour, they break out into a proper cave region. There's this heavy heat that blows their way, like they are stepping into a jungle all of the sudden. The Foreman Gnome puts a mask up to cover his face. The warmth rises for a moment, and the Foreman points to a small 'dip' in the ground where light is streaming in from. "We need that covered up as well as you can." He tells them. "After that, we'll head to the tunnel to the right." He points.

"We're now on the clock. It looks like something ignited the foul air there." Some might recognize the scent of methane in the air. It's not pleasant. "The better you do clogging that up, the better. But who knows what coal veins lay beyond there."

Luckily, this cave being large enough, it seems to have been a safe space for two other Landers, who get up from a spot at a back wall. They look incredibly ill as well, but at least they're responsive. One of them approaches Gwen as she steps through, and asks; "I need some watuuh... tuh... wuuah.... wuuuh...WUUUUH!" And then pukes their guts out all over Gwen's clothing.

"The Adventurer is that away with one of us." The other points out, pointing to the place the Foreman wanted to go. "I..." She then looks towards the flaming pit area. "Don't think my brother made it." Right as they feel this 'rumble' in the earth below them.

    Merek walks along with the party and takes a moment to look to the fire pit, lifting his brow. The man sighs while he begins to call upon the chant, then he draws a shimmering ice upon the flame. It doesn't do a lot, it might melt upon the water, which doesn't look like it does a lot. The man begins to inspect anything that he can while he watches the place.

He might not be of much use when it comes to digging or building things, but when he sees a giant pit of fire, Nami knows how to make it rain. Walking up to the edge of the chasm he holds his hands palm out, chanting under his breath, and then releasing a torrent of water into the pit below in an effort to quench the flames.

Rylen lifts a hand to cover his nose as they break through into the cave region. The Beastmaster doesn't normally wear extra clothing that can be used to get rid of gas or smell, so he just coughs a couple of times towards his shoulder.

"I'll keep working Eastwards. Healers, see to the miners." His voice is a bit rough, carrying some hint of excess emotion with it as well. The mines were something that Olympus needed, but it doesn't sit well with him, regardless.

To himself, Rylen murmurs, "Kyo, I could use some help." He touches his hand to the ground, and just after that rumble, a small crack appears, an undead creature in samurai armor crawling out from the hole left behind. Rylen gives a nod at the armored undead, "We need to get those rocks moved, can you help?"

The undead woman lifts her head, one eye visible between long, stringy strands of hair. Her glassy, pale eye looks at him, and then she turns to do what she was commanded to do. In the depths of the mines, there is an undead samurai, hauling rocks.

    When the NDA gets around to her, Mizuki rubs the back of her head uncomfortably. "I'm fine with most of it... but if I see a technique here, how can I promise to never be even subconsciously influenced by it? And you want us to not even talk with anyone here, why?"

    As for the fire pit... "I mean, we can plug up this hole, but if there are any others, this could burn forever... hmm. How can we make sure to seal it off completely so it stops burning? Water might sink into the ground..."

    In the meantime, she helps keep the tunnel moving. Earth has been a bit problematic to aim well, so she tries physically moving rocks around. It's a good thing this body is in such better shape than her real one...

From over by Nami can be heard a loud, pronounced, "Ahhhh, that's better."

The sudden rush of heat as they break through gets a wince from Proteus. "Damn... Something lit a fire down here!?" She hisses, bringing up a mouth covering of her own to help filter the gas and smoke in the area. "This is going to complicate the problem considerably." She moves to the side of the fire pit as some provide water, others keep mining...

A decision is made once others take their turns. Her hand flashes through the air, tracing the shapes: V S M

The ground shakes and shudders as the Imp attempts to move a pillar of earth to close off the methane-soaked pit. It probably doesn't go so well.

Proteus was never all that good at mining.

    Rizadoman moves towards the direction the foreman wanted them to go and towards the direction the landers pointed to, saying the adventurer was that way. Lookng at the wall they need to get through he takes a deep breath and rips a fang from his mouth that he plants in the dirt like a seed. "Fallen nagas, come forth and aid us in our heroic effort. " From the ground rise up two skeleton lizardmen form and rush the wall to try and break their way through, however Lizardmen were never known for digging capabilities.

The Cait Sith will live. Prophylaxis exhales slowly and pushes himself upright. "You trust me that much?" The Doctor jokes right back, "Aw, I'm touched, Proteus. Come, let us defeat this dire situation with the combined power of our F R I E N D S H I P."

Prophylaxis sparkles, somehow. It's only mildly disconcerting. But he soon has other things to occupy himself with. For example, seeing to the health and well-being of these two Landers. The one who's vomiting is particularly worrying. Dehydration is a real risk this far underground, and the doctor offers a waterskin to the thirsty miner. "We need to get them out of here as soon as possible." The ground beneath their feet rumbles ominously. "...Methane. If it's burning down there, then it's only a matter of time before the flame reaches a larger pocket of the stuff and blasts us all sky-high." Unfortunately, there's not much they can really do about it, now that it's started smoldering. Flooding the lower reaches of the cavern can only help so much before the water starts displacing the methane into their section of tunnel... And there's still another Adventurer in the rubble.

At least they've accounted for all but one of the Landers.

"And here I am loaded up with a bunch of fire spells," the doctor murmurs. Still, he gestures and tries his best to help seal up the hole in the ground as best he can, but...

It's not exactly the best work. Earth magic is still a temporary thing, after all.

Goldenblade can only shrug about the NDA, and says, "You can talk about it with people here, while you're here, of course." As for being subconsciously influenced, she can only shrug. "Do your best?" But she will use Camelot's Interface, her relic, to slowly creep the stone itself over the fire, smothering it as completely as she can manage. It's better than gravel on top of the fire, it's the burning surface slowly being covered over, sealing away the air completely from the burning surface as quickly as the Interface allows.

Cyrus grins at Rylen. "Just leave the timing of the mana regeneration to me." He could easily give some of these potions to others, but his healer brain won't let him. They would use them... _inefficiently_. They'd use them at like, 90% or something! And that is verboten.

The catte steps up for a moment, looking to the doctor and his patient. But it looks like he has it all in hand. The party begins to go on, but the youth starts to get more and more uncomfortable as time passes by. His ears drooping a bit. And when they finally step out into that stinky cage, he steps back a bit and looks to the bird. It already smells bad, and the bird is chirping loudly, stressed by the bad scent.

"I'm... sorry, I am going to head back just a bit and put the bird somewhere safe. I thought I was doing something smart, but I don't have the heart to risk the death of a bird." He admits. Foolish cat. Birds are snacks, not pets.

By the time he gets back, he's prepared a potion of sorts and joins Nami and the rest over the pit. "Let me try something." He remarks, putting something together with a small alchemical set he has on himself, and then tosses the thick bottle down. With Nami's water as an activator, it suddenly goes 'POOF', and creates this pocket of foam that starts dousing the fire at the surface.

Shiruba frowns at the pickax as the Gnome Foreman confirms it was once belonging to a Lander. It's a risk of the job, but that doesn't make it any less sad... It's also a sharp reminder of why she came in the first place to help these people and their dire situation.

She turns her attention to the heat producing pit, frowning more. This is a pickle of a situation. They need to close that off... but do so in a way that doesn't cause more collapses. She holds up on arm, activating Golau Chwilio where the Relic is strapped to her forearm. At the same time her eyes light up, shifting to an alternate arcane spectrum to help her see, both in the cave's limited lighting and the scanning flickers from the magitech device.

It highlights a few spots around the fire pit, but not nearly enough of them for Shiruba to do what she was considering to close the pit with one her elemental shields and have proper anchoring.

"Dammit," she mutters under her breath. Though at least she knows the technique she learned from Setsuna works properly in the poor lightning conditions. There's just not much for her to actually work with.

    Well, if one of the Divine Dragons signed it it's probably trustworthy. Mizuki signs.

    "...Ugh, that looks awful. Sorry, I haven't practiced signing this name... should I try again? Wait, did you want it in Hiragana instead of cursive or something...?"

There's a weariness from the Lander when Rylen's undead rises. After all, undead typically are monsters, and even though it's a summon, it still reads as Monster to a Lander such as him. Still, he recognizes it as being a spell. But things are going slow. With the team split trying to deal with the Fire, there is some modicum of success. But as Prophylaxis noted, too much water and the Methane will starts rising up into their part of things. Luckily, or unluckily, the fire is washing away the water being poured into it pretty fast. Luckily, it's just this eastern wing. The moment it collapses in on itself, that should no longer be a problem. There's plenty more Coal to find in other parts of the coal mines.

The problem is just... that everyone is utterly exhausted. They are not making as much progress Eastwards as they would have liked, meaning that whatever danger the last Lander and Adventurer pair are in, it's getting extended. Luckily, with a last ditch effort from Nami and Cyrus, working together with Merek, Proteus and Prophylaxis, they manage to close up the top, washing away some of the fire and creating a foam layer that starts absorbing the methane and takes away the fire's gasseous fuel.

That rumble beneath them gets worse though. And the Foreman is getting worried. "I'm not sure we should keep pushing further. We might lose more people saving the ones left." He points out. Still, if they are willing to push it... he is.

Marty MyFly makes flirty bird whistles and songs at the canary, still... whether trying to 'make nice', comfort the canary, or distract it, it's anyone's guess.

Meantime, seeing the fire pit seemingly well in hand, Nami moves back to where folks are digging. "C'mon folks, keep at it! We can't give up now..." and then he begins clapping, tapping his foot, and singing...

o/~
Workin' in the coal mine
goin' down, down, down,
Workin' in a coal mine
Oops, about to slip down.
Workin' in a Coal mine
Goin' down down, down
Workin' in a coal mine
Oops, about to slip down!

Five o' clock in the mornin..
I'm already up and gone.
Lord, I'm so tired
How long can this go on?
o/~

After a bit even Marty McFly starts whistling along, keeping time with Nami's clapping and stomping, granting a rhythm at which the team can work. "Don't give up you guys! Think of those miners!"

"Yes, our friendship will defeat all foes." Proteus deadpans. "Come, fellow Pro, let us work together to solve this puzzle and-Gggh!" She grimaces, her teeth clenching as she sees the threat of the fire pit get momentarily stopped.

But the rest of the situation is hard, dangerous work, and every moment they spend down here things get just more dangerous, more encroaching. Another Ability is brought to the table. V X

Proteus' hands arc out, slashing rapidly in an attempt to break down the rock to make it easier for others to pull it all out of the way, Nami's song keeping her energy up... to a point. Even the exuberant shanty encouragement can only do so much when the spirit is willing, but the meters are weak. "Gggh..." Proteus grunts as she sags, trying to keep moving...

They're wearing down from all the physical effort... But Shiruba is too determined to let that get to her. Not when there's still lives on the line. "-Everyone- that can possibly get out, will," she reaffirms, as much to anyone else as to herself. No backing down. No giving up. Not as long as there is still hope. Still a chance.

The revitalizing song certainly helps shrug off some of that tiredness though and Shiruba is not complaining. Her tail even starts to sway along to the melody as she ventures farther into the mine.

She decides to stop working harder, and work smarter. She takes a more cautious approach, examining the surroundings as the group proceeds, and using her environmental awareness for surroundings to look for signs of where there's been activity and find a less winding, tiring path to their remaining rescuees.

    Merek does not make a lot of progress with assisting, though it looks like he's at least trying while he works. The man speaks then along to that gnome, "Well, if you want to, you can go back. We... Are a little bit more sturdy when it comes to things like these. I don't want anymore people to get killed doing all of this," the man admits. That rock shifts along with the magic though not a lot.

    Rizadoman llooks at the fire behind him and feels the ground quake below him before he looks at the wall. He is tired , exhausted even, it has been a while since he felt his muscles like this and he even yawns a little. Then the sound of Nami's song and he stands a little taller, his claws are suddenly a little sharper, and in his eye a twinkle that shows he isn't done yet. With a monster size roar he attacks the wall as if it was a goblin and he was the Goblin Slayer.

Goldenblade is having a rough day in the mines. She had expected that her skill at construciton would serve her well here, but it turns out that the structural integrity of the ceiling and walls and floor are all more interrelated than she had thought. So when she shifts one bit, something else comes loose, and she has to instantly stop what she'd done and try to reverse it so that at least things aren't worse.

"Don't worry, she's harmless." Rylen does his best to sound reassuring in regards to the undead samurai now helping haul rocks. "Besides, you can't kill something that's already dead." He doesn't seem exactly pleased about this, though.

It seems like this is slower going than they would have expected, but Rylen continues to try to push through, continuing to drive forward with his magic, intent on trying to make sure they rescue as many as possible. He still manages to chuck rocks behind him, even though the sweat on his brow and the heaviness of his breathing suggests that he's getting tired.

"Not giving up..." He breaths heavily, pulling at another rock.

Gwen is a big girl she's stronger than she or anyone else back on earth could be now and she's going to show it as sh put sher back into it as helps the rest o ht team as she gets to digging. She might evne start singing some old work song she hear once it's a bit off key but it helsp her focus and pace herself as she goes.

The coal-hole is sealed, barely, and the foreman raises an excellent point. They risk far more losses by staying and continuing this effort. But... It seems as though these adventurers are willing to take that risk. Prophylaxis' lips draw into a tight line, but he nods and leans forward to try and lever away some of the larger stones with judicious application of earth magic. It's... slow-going. They really might have to abandon those last two miners, as much as he is loath to admit it.

But... He can at least do /something/ to help a more immediate problem. Proteus is clearly not being buoyed by that rousing shanty as much as the rest of the team, and the reason is clearly one of physical fatigue than anything else.

But this is why they have a doctor.

Proteus would soon have a doctor shoving a potion into her hands. "Drink that," he instructs, "It should help a little. Stave off some of the fatigue. I can't guarantee you won't feel some serious post-exertion ache after bit, but this should take the edge off."

Cyrus starts getting to work when people head to dig. Nami's song making his tail bounce a bit with the rhythm, but he is starting to run out of potions. A few Thorn Bind Hostage potions get thrown out to help with lifting rocks and moving them, but it's just not as mobile and fast as the earth techniques others are coming up with.

"How is everyone on mana?" He asks, his catfluff on end whenever he hears a rumble beneath him. He really rather not die to something 'lame' as another cave-in!

    Mizuki looks briefly sad at the evidence of dead Lander. Nothing to do but move on... she's getting the hang of using earth magic for this sort of work with all these hours of practice, at least! "We're digging. We haven't run into any monsters. We're adventurers, and if something happens, only the people at the tip of the tunnel will be hurt and can be helped by the others... It'd be one thing if we were risking a party wipe, but... is it really that dangerous? There might still be a lander in there... if we turn back now they spend their last hours, days, what, waiting for help that never comes?"

Nami's song manages to raise peoples spirits just a bit, but the procession is still extremely rough. The tunnel digging is slow and arduous. Exhaustion tugs at people and they keep on pushing. But the digging is not as slow as it once was. Certainly, Rylen's undead has hewed a bit of a hole for them. Earth keeps getting pulled, and the Foreman even starts putting his back into it. The rumble beneath the earth getting worse by the moment as they keep drawing away rocks and rubble. A few Landers quick to put in new wooden posts...

Shiruba tries to find an easier path. Locating easier earth to dig through, which helps the team at large. Proteus tries her best, after that boost from Prophylaxis' medicine. The heat from behind them keeps beating against their bodies, and no doubt they are not wearing the best clothing for this kind of mining operation. Sweat trickles down their backs and down their faces, and they keep having to wipe it out of their brow before the salty sting can touch their eyes.

"If yer stayin', so am I." The Foreman remarks to Merek. "Just bloody hurry!"

Rizadoman envisions goblins, and the rest follow suit. The Foreman ends up helping Goldenblade, giving her pointers. Constructing overland is so much different from underground. Together, Rylen and Rizadoman pull another heavy rock away. Half an hour passing. With Gwen daisy-chaining with the other two. In the end, it's the last push by Mizuki that crushes the last bit of tunnel just in time.

There, they find a wounded Adventurer, and a Lander yelling at him and kicking him in the balls. "Stupid. Fucking. Adventurer!" He grunts, then stares at the ones that step in. "Oh thank the Blind One." He calls, and quickly moves up to them. "Just leave that idiot. He just kept using his pickaxe without watching for Bad Air."

The Adventurer seems to be under some kind of poison status, and there's the heavy scent of methane in the air here as well.

...

It's time to go.

"Something stinks, and it aint the Captain!" squawks Marty McFly. Nami sighs, but, frankly, is surprised that the bird has managed to behave this long, and he did help with the song, so he'll spare him the cage he threatened with earlier.

"Uh guys, the bird brain is, I think, trying to tell us to beat feet. Shall we perhaps adjourn for libations in a safer and saner location?"

Whatever the Adventurer had done to deserve his treatment, Rylen can't help but wince a bit at the punishment being delivered. He shifts his weight a little as the Lander starts to stare them down, making sure that he is well out of kicking range.

"We'll worry about that later. Right now, we need to get everyone out of here." He eyes the Lander, "Looks like you can walk, but our friend here might need some assistance." Rylen allows the medical personnel to take care of the worst of the injuries where they can, but lingers long enough to see if the man needs assistance.

Goldenblade will go to the miner who's being kicked and once the Lander is clear, and she's using her oxygen bottle to breathe with the methane as she drags him clear. Once clear, the victim gets that dose of clean air and she'll see if she can rig a litter or something. There's all sorts of ways to move bodies, she's been though annual safety training for fifty years. A couple of wooden shafts with a blanket stretched between them is one way. And a drag litter is better than nothing if there's no one to help her carry it.

    Rizadoman sees the adventurer as his face forms a look of disgust. "Methane..." With a quick shove pass the complaining Lander and grabs the Adventurer looking at the others. " I believe our time within the womb of the earth is over. I think it is time we leave." Looking at the others he gives a few moments for the doctors and others to do what they are going to do before he looks at Rylen. "If you would lead the way, and force through whatever is needed. I would like us not to get trapped down here as well." Looking at the others and waits for them to begin moving before he would fall in line.

It's hot. It's so hot. It's too hot. Prophylaxis regrets owning a wardrobe full of voluminous labcoat-like wizard robes. Does he dare doff his cloak and coat and reveal his noodley mage-physique for all to gawk and stare!?

He does indeed, because Prophylaxis...

HAS PHYSICAL - 1

So he's only 'kind of scrawny,' and not a frail, wire-limbed wizard. "Come on, a little further now," Prophylaxis encourages his makeshift patient as the last of the rubble is cleared and...

...

"Wow, that's rude," the doctor says of this poor man being kicked repeatedly in the... well. He hastens forward and shoves a syringe full of healing potion into the fallen Adventurer's arm before turning to join the others in their escape. Gotta go fast!!

"You can sort out whatever issues you two have later!" Shiruba almost literally barks as she cuts into the argument. "Let's get out of here before that stink does to us like it did to the Adventurer." Fortunately they have medics with, and someone willing to carry the less capable fellow. He's... understandably not moving much at the moment.

    "Well... I have to agree, that's methane, probably not the best thing to try to dig into," Merek notes, while he takes a fem chemical bottles, then he begins to collect the methane, in addition to a sample of coal or two, and nods a bit. "Alright, well it looks like you have the healing. It seems chemicals all act the same, I am going to look into this to see if there's a way we can deal with the methane another time. To make it all a little bit safer," then he's following the party, "We should probably be careful on the way back."

Of course Prophylaxis actually just takes Proteus' deadpan seriously and actually helps her! Curses! How is she going to continue to try to foster an unreasonable dislike of the de facto leader of Scale Emblem when he keeps being so /nice/? That might explain the mildly sulky expression on her face after he administers his booster to the Imp, whom gets back to work to help break through to the remaining pair.

Proteus just looks back and forth at the pair. "You know, they probably deserve it." She shrugs at the Adventurer getting kicked in the groin repeatedly. "Let's get out of here." The more medically inclined assistants get to work helping them out, and Proteus turns and gets moving with the others before the place explodes or collapses or whatever. The problem seemed to be caused by something rather... normal, it seems.

Well, not everything needs to have 42 layers of mystery and have an epic showdown. People need help all the same.

    ...Do cats even sweat? Mizuki may have to pant embarassingly and keep summoning water and ice to cool herself. Finally, they break through! And.. when Mizuki sees that, though she assumes it justified, she winces in sympathy and squeezes her legs together a little. Once the explanation is given she sighs... and then sniffs. "Oh, pew... grab him quick, then we better seal off this tunnel!" She starts gathering up water, and the moment the last person is out past her, she shapes it into a wall just long enough to freeze in place, ice expanding to seal off the tunnel. "There..." It'll melt eventually, but hopefully it stems the flow of methane before any more can blow up the tunnel. She turns to run after the others!

Nami' song helps just enough ti push Gwen onwars but is it enough? It's sitll slow going, even the team would get a nod from Big John Henry has be been watching. She keps going harder and harder digging and different. Gwen pauses at the sent in the air.

"Methane... shit. We need to clear out now!"

If the Adventuer needs some help getting out she'll pitch in, she'll look to the Miner.

"Way out is clear... we best get moving as yeah the air's bad..."

With the Lander gathered, and the Adventurer... 'healed' from his 'predicament', the team heads out of the tunnels. Half an hour digging translates to a lot less when they can just run down a hall, but it's still an enormous distance they're having to rush. The Foreman signals a group of his Lander team to artificially collapse the tunnel behind them in a few spots the moment they are past the methane containing tunnels, creating a barrier while the ground keeps shaking time after time again. Mizuki helping significantly in this effort by pressuring the Methane away and keeping it out of the tunnels, making the collapses that much safer...

Until finally there is this rumble strong enough that the team is thrown to the ground, just barely into the area of safety. A wash of dirt rushes along their bodies when they do. They'd cut it rather close. The Foreman is the first one up, donning his helmet again and looking back. "We'll have to seal these tunnels and collapse them further for a while, and we'll adjust our future mining directions elsewhere. This should not cause any major interruptions to out mining times. But there will be the matter of compensation to the ones who were lost." He points out to the Olympus Alliance people.

Thrown to the ground, Rylen ends up just staying there for a moment, rolling himself onto his back. Despite Cyrus' mana potions, he's physically exhausted from the digging efforts, having utilized most of his earth magic to be able to get them as far as they had gotten.

The Pooka tries to catch his breath, then eventually sits up, just in time to get dirt thrown into his face. Taking a single hand, he wipes it across his elven features, only managing to make the mess worse. "We'll... make sure there's compensation. But we should also make sure we understand how this happened in the first place, so that it doesn't happen again."

Mining will never be a totally safe profession, but there are certainly things they can do to help minimize the risks, right? Getting to his feet, he tries to dust himself off, to no avail.

The ground heaves so hard that even someone as attuned with the terrestrial as Shiruba is thrown off her feet. Though the wolven cait sith is quick to adjust, rolling as she hits the ground to keep herself moving forward with the rush of dust and dirt as the tunnel does part of the collapsing for them.

Eventually she gets up onto one knee, and lets out a growling sigh as she looks up. "Sound off people! Everyone okay, relatively speaking?" They're out and alive, at least. She stands, and actually shakes herself more like a canine would to get the mine debris off herself.

They could only save some, but that was better than none.

"Yeah, fine here. I was just hoping for a big explosion so we could do one of those slow-motion, just barely escape the inferno kind of moments." Nami sighs, "Not that anyone would have seen it."

    Rizadoman come out of the mine and places the adventurer with the other injured people as he looks at the healers, " I will let those with the healing touch take care of this one now." With that he finds a pile of rocks , or a large boulder or something that he can use as a chair for a moment. Looking over at Shiruba he raises a claw, " Present and accounted for. I will need some rest though, especially before the carnival starts up in just a couple of days. " Looking at the others he adds, " Of course I hope everyone can make it out for some fun. " WIth that said he leans back and focuses on breathing over the throbs and aches in his body.

Gwen knows ther's no more time they have to go and they will pull out. She'll make sure if it comes to it the lander are ahead of her. She can act as a living shield for htem maybe that would help if it came to it but the surivor manage to get out and when the gas goes off? She ends up going of Gwen is knocked on her ass by the explosion She looks sadly at the Forman.

"Aye...I will help see to the compeation being made. I also agree we need to find out the root of this."

Nobody expects ~NICE GUY DOCTOR~ to be their would-be archnemesis. It's almost like there are people in the world who aren't full of ulterior motives that cause no end of trouble to hard-working mad scientists in the making! Or maybe it's just that Prophylaxis is a good person at heart, under all the... everything.

The doctor is thrown to the ground just as one last explosion sends a mighty shockwave through the earth. "Ugh," Prophylaxis groans, his robes rematerializing over his body. "That was a close one. A few more seconds longer and we would have been caught up in something awful."

At least it seems the mining operations will be able to continue without too much trouble. Sure, Olympus will have to compensate some families, but that's decidedly not Prophylaxis' problem! Ha-hah!!

"Well," he huffs, dusting his robes off, "That was a productive excursion, if I do say so myself." The doctor fishes around in his pockets and produces a handful of helpful potions to take the edge off an exhausting day. "...I'm glad we were able to save as many as we did. All that methane, though. Might be a problem going forward, unless you start like, extracting it or something, use it as fuel maybe?"

Prophy shrugs!!

    Merek nods a bit, "Alright, well that's all that we can do, we will need to look into it, well... Olympus will."