savetheearth | 14th Howl: Cave Shenanigans [Action]

Lyall was less than pleased about the group decision to head out to this mine and explore, but as there was no way to forbid them all from doing it, the only option was to make sure it happened as safely as possible, and under supervision. So here he was, showing up at the site, making sure everyone had a flashlight with spare batteries, a bottle of water, some sturdy climbing rope, and a walkie talkie in case they got separated, plus a first aid kit or two. And making sure nobody went too far from the group, with any luck.

"All right, we don't know how safe it is in there, so everyone stick together and don't go exploring off on your own, all right?" he said, standing just on the outside side of the rusty, broken fence so ineffectively blocking the mine entrance off. He'd already passed out all the supplies he had, and looked a bit dorkier than usual in jeans, jacket, a Firefly t-shirt instead of his usual teacher-like clothes. "If you see something that interests you, let us all know, and we'll all look. If you do get separated, don't keep moving. Call on the radio, and someone will come find you."

He eyed the mine entrance with mild misgivings, then sighed and gave in to the inevitable. "Everyone ready? Come on, then."

((note: this is not for finding the Sage, this is just for the High School Numbers Club to bumble around together :) see comment threads below for different scenarios!))

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The only equipment Kenji had brought was a flashlight and a couple of spare batteries. Although he'd never really been much for spelunking, he was probably among the more outdoorsy of the group and was bothered by neither the dampness nor the closed in spaces.

As he trailed along behind the others, he couldn't help but laugh at Bakura's comment. "Traps and secret panels, dude? Sounds like something out of an old 50s B movie."

Despite his utter lack of belief that they would find anything like that, he couldn't help but grin at Kurt's surreptitious glance up at the ceiling. Nor could he resist sidling up to the younger boy and adding, "It ain't the ones on the ceiling that are the problem--they're just the decoys. The ones you really gotta watch out for are the ones that circle around behind you."

Anthony too had taken a glance at the ceiling - and on that, he felt a chill on his back and pivoted around, sharply looking back and squeezing the hilt of the sword.

In an attempt to recover, he turned his head back, muttering "I can stay at the back -- because I have this."

He gestured lightly with the seax.

"As if anything that's been going on wouldn't fit right in in one of those," Bakura returned with a grin.

"And put the sword away, Freshmeat, it was just a joke," he assured, patting the younger teen on the shoulder. "The only monsters we're likely to spot are ROUSes."

"And I don't know that we'll even find any of those," Lyall mused, voice calm and steady. Dark, enclosed spaces didn't actually bother him at all, he was finding. It was the places where you were sure someone or something could see you from every angle that made him uncomfortable. He played his own flashlight over the group briefly, counting heads again, though he was also finding he could tell be scent who was there and who might be lagging. "There's nothing down here for a rat. Everyone just stick together, all right? And please stop trying to scare each other. The last thing we need is someone panicking. Now, the tunnel branches here: left, or right?"

On the other hand, there is a kid in the back of the group who has a general idea of roughing it is a Motel 6, and it kind of showed in the way he gripped the flashlight, knuckles white.

"Uh, so if we've got a maze in here." Tadashi was kind of proud of how steady his voice was. "Should we be leaving flares or really visible markers for the way out. In case, you know... we do get split up and lost."

"Cave fauna are totally harmless anyway, unless there are bats here, and even then we're more dangerous to them than they are to us," Kurt said quietly, sounding a little strained, as though he just couldn't help being pedantic, even knowing no one cared. "We could get rabies and have some painful shots and they could get white-nose syndrome and be wiped out..." Out loud, he added, "Right hand rule? We can always retrace our steps!"

"...Maybe we can leave markers behind us -- just to tell us where to turn to find our way back." Anthony was, again, looking back - anxiously, but not so tensely. "We could gather rocks and stack them together - perhaps."

"Rock marks are pretty easy to knock over," Bakura pointed out, thumb moving over the screen of his phone. "I'm mapping everything anyway, so yeah, make a pattern, right right left or something so we don't go in circles and I'll mark it down here too."

"Yeah, and if we get lost anyway...well, we'll just have to eat each other."

That was said mostly for Tadashi's benefit--because if you can't terrorize your best friend while wandering around in a dark cave, then who can you terrorize?

As for which direction to go, he didn't really care--one was as good as another as far as he was concerned. But...he didn't trust some the others to just pick one and go with it instead of talking it to death, so when Bakura made his suggestion, he nodded his agreement. Yeah, right right left sounds good to me. Let's go."

"Kenji, don't be ridiculous, no one is eating anyone." Lyall cast his least serious student a pointed look, but then turned back to the tunnels and started down the tunnel to the right. "Right it is, then, come along everyone. And don't worry too much about getting lost-- if we stay together and no one gets separated, I'll be able to backtrack which way we came out." And he'd be able to track anyone who got separated, too; that was a big part of why he insisted he be here for this venture, anyhow. Between sniffing out potential threats and being able to find anyone who got lost, it was the only way he could think of this as even remotely safe for them.

"Though in the interests of personal safety, I bet I taste terrible." Kurt let himself fall behind for a few seconds to scrape a bit of fungus into a tube, mostly because he was making a point at this juncture. He couldn't imagine a bit of slime mold could really have any possible impact on any of this.

There's a fwump and a scuffle in the back as Tadashi delivered a sound punch to Kenji's shoulder. "Like hell!" he hissed. Still, he double timed his steps into the rightmost tunnel even as Kurt fell behind.

"So traps, cannibals, rabies... why do monsters sound like the safest option?" He kept his own light trained at their feet, picking his own steps carefully.

14th Howl: Cave Shenanigans [Action]

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Can I retcon in that Bakura has a flashlight too? Because.. well.. yeah :D

Lyall brought flashlights for everybody... XD and water, rope, and extra batteries

Re: Lyall brought flashlights for everybody... XD and water, rope, and extra batteries

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