(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)

[DracoOmega]

>Nowhere to be seen? She was heading towards the tunnel, hadn't even landed yet. She can't have gotten out of view that quickly.
>Listen for her.

>Given her distance to the tunnel, it's quite conceivable she simply finished her swing into it while you were rolling away.
>In fact, judging by the sounds you can hear from that direction, that seems to likely be the case.

[Oldmansour]

>Well, suppose that's still better than he being up among the rafters hurling things at us.
>Can we tell what she's doing in there?

[DracoOmega]

>Well, suppose that's still better than he being up among the rafters hurling things at us.
>Can we tell what she's doing in there?

>Quite possibly...
>Not specifically. She seems to be moving around a little, but not growing obviously further away.

[Oldmansour]

>Any repreive.
>Approach the tunnel, but not quickly. Cautiously. And just far enough to be able to see in, see her, see what she's up to.
>Try not to sound as weary as we probably are and call, "Can we stop now?"

[DracoOmega]

>Any repreive.
>Approach the tunnel, but not quickly. Cautiously. And just far enough to be able to see in, see her, see what she's up to.
>Try not to sound as weary as we probably are and call, "Can we stop now?"

>You're certainly not about to say no to one.
>You move cautiously towards the tunnel, just far enough to see in. Looking down the length of it, you still don't see the youkai; you're quite certain she couldn't have traveled that far in this short a length of time. ...wait, is that a tripwire, strung across the ground just past the entrance? You think it is; the cord is slender enough to be easily missed, and you probably would have done so if you weren't just standing here sizing the place up.
>You appeal for a cease-fire, but get no answer save silence. In fact, you don't hear any sound from the tunnel at all anymore. Odd...

[Oldmansour]

>Seems highly unlikely that she'd just give up now. But if she's setting up a parlor in there, we'll not be fool enough to step into it.
>Start moving towards the first tunnel, the one that seemed more narrow. But not too quickly, let's see if she reacts to us moving away, as opposed to chasing her.

[DracoOmega]

>Seems highly unlikely that she'd just give up now. But if she's setting up a parlor in there, we'll not be fool enough to step into it.
>Start moving towards the first tunnel, the one that seemed more narrow. But not too quickly, let's see if she reacts to us moving away, as opposed to chasing her.

>You aren't eager to run into any more traps of hers, given how unpleasant your brush with her last one was.
>Instead, you turn around and move slowly towards the other tunnel, keeping an ear out for any potential reaction to your retreat. A few feet... nothing. A few more... still nothing. After you get around 15 feet away, you finally think you hear a sound from the direction of the tunnel behind you.

[Oldmansour]

>A sound like a youkai, or something else? If something else, identify.

[DracoOmega]

>A sound like a youkai, or something else? If something else, identify.

>Possibly movement. It is quiet and slight.

[Oldmansour]

>Take up position against the wall of the cave, a couple feet away from the entrance to that tunnel.

[DracoOmega]

>Take up position against the wall of the cave, a couple feet away from the entrance to that tunnel.

>You move up against the wall, a couple feet away from the entrance of the smaller tunnel, and wait. And then wait some more. If the youkai is out here, she seems content to wait as well; you neither hear nor see any sign of her.

[Oldmansour]

>"You're not gonna be able to take my head in there, you know. You're going to have the guts to come out here, and we can finish this."
>"Or, on the other hand, you can talk to me, and we can find another way to end this. You say you're defending your home. Well so am I. Easthaven was where I began my life, where I became who I am. I came back when I learned there was trouble here. To help the people I kne.... The people I cared about."

[DracoOmega]

>"You're not gonna be able to take my head in there, you know. You're going to have the guts to come out here, and we can finish this."
>"Or, on the other hand, you can talk to me, and we can find another way to end this. You say you're defending your home. Well so am I. Easthaven was where I began my life, where I became who I am. I came back when I learned there was trouble here. To help the people I kne.... The people I cared about."

>You repeat your appeal for an alternate resolution. You don't know for certain whether the youkai is listening or not, but you get no reply. The chamber is still silent, save for the passage of the river.

[Oldmansour]

>"Fine, then."
>Start moving towards the other tunnel again.
>Keep an ear open behind us, if she gets up to any shenanigans. But if she won't come out, then let her stay there.

[DracoOmega]

>"Fine, then."
>Start moving towards the other tunnel again.
>Keep an ear open behind us, if she gets up to any shenanigans. But if she won't come out, then let her stay there.

>You give a verbal shrug and then head into the tunnel next to you. It is a comfortable enough space, unlike some of the tunnels you walked through earlier on this expedition, though it does leave little room for evasion. The tunnel has a pronounced downward slope and the entrance falls out of view a very short distance into it. Otherwise it is relatively straight and obstacle-free, with a slight eastward curve. You continue along it for a little while without any obvious sound of pursuit, going steadily deeper. Just how deep do these caves go, anyway? By this point, you really have no clue how far beneath the surface you are, or even how far you've traveled from the point of entry.
>Up ahead you can see a small chamber, probably little more than 20 feet in diameter, with stalagmites scattered across the floor. Its east side is oddly rubble-strewn, with jagged slabs of rock and piles of large stones reaching all the way to the ceiling. You can see several more tunnels branching off from it, roughly similar in size to this one. There is one in the northwest corner with a pronounced downward slope and another along the north wall, appearing to keep roughly level. To the southeast is another tunnel, but it appears to have suffered some sort of collapse in the past. One side of the tunnel is sheered off from the other by several feet and the remaining space is strew with debris; you think it would be a tight squeeze. Your own tunnel adjoins the room from the southwest.

[Oldmansour]

>Take a moment to assess the sights, sounds and scents of the area, both in front of and behind us.
>If there's no obvious signs of hostile activity around that we can detect, pick out a decent sized rock and sit down for a few minutes.

[DracoOmega]

>Take a moment to assess the sights, sounds and scents of the area, both in front of and behind us.
>If there's no obvious signs of hostile activity around that we can detect, pick out a decent sized rock and sit down for a few minutes.

>No new sounds or scents jump out at you in this area. The scent of spider is so faint as to be nearly absent and you can hear the river only distantly now. Each of the tunnels seems quiet save for the soft reverberation of rushing water
>Given the apparent lack of any hostile activity, or indeed any activity at all, you go find a rock to rest on for a bit. None of them are particularly comfortable looking, being rough and angular, but you pick out what seems to be the best of a bad lot and plunk yourself down upon it. It isn't long before a bump in the rock's surface starts to dig uncomfortably into your rump, but it's still nice to be off your feat and not running for your life from one threat or another.
>After a little while you start to smell something... unpleasant in the air. It is still indistinct and you cannot identify it, but there is definitely an aura of something unwholesome to it.

[Oldmansour]

>"Here we go again..."
>Where's it coming from, and what can we see from that direction?

[DracoOmega]

>"Here we go again..."
>Where's it coming from, and what can we see from that direction?

>You sniff around the chamber for a moment, frowning. It's definitely coming from the tunnel you arrived through. Looking back up it, you don't see anything new, but the slope of the tunnel prevents you from seeing further than 15 feet or so. The tunnel itself was considerably longer than that.

[Oldmansour]

>Puzzlement. From behind us? Did she get reinforcements, or something?
>Bah, we'll see in due course. Do the rocks around the tunnel aperture allow us to string a tripwire of our own?

[DracoOmega]

>Puzzlement. From behind us? Did she get reinforcements, or something?
>Bah, we'll see in due course. Do the rocks around the tunnel aperture allow us to string a tripwire of our own?

>That's a good question... Though this doesn't smell quite of spider to you.
>While they are not ideally positioned for this, the stalagmites that dot the floor of the chamber could be used to string tripwires. One is quite near the left of the tunnel exit, but the nearest on the right is a small distance forward of the tunnel and quite a bit further to the side. Still, even if it would require an extra long line and not provide a perfectly aligned wire, you do think it could be usable.

[Oldmansour]

>Do it, then.
>Well, unless we can see her/them/it coming before we're done. In which case, drop the line and prepare to meet the enemy.

[DracoOmega]

>Do it, then.
>Well, unless we can see her/them/it coming before we're done. In which case, drop the line and prepare to meet the enemy.

>You take out the spool of twine and set to trying a tripwire across the tunnel exit. After securely knotting one end to the first stalagmite, you unspool enough to reach the second, draw it as taut as you can, then secure that end as well. You give the tripwire a couple experimental tugs. Feels pretty good.
>While you can still neither hear nor see anything coming, the foul scent has grown steadily stronger while you worked. It now hangs heavily in the air all around you, and it's all you can do not to wear a perpetual grimace in its presence.

[Oldmansour]

>Have we ever smelled anything quite that funky before? Or at least, within the context of this job?
>Do we detect any incoming from any other direction?
>Edge a couple feet towards the northern tunnels, but keeps our eyes on the tunnel we came from.

[DracoOmega]

>Have we ever smelled anything quite that funky before? Or at least, within the context of this job?
>Do we detect any incoming from any other direction?
>Edge a couple feet towards the northern tunnels, but keeps our eyes on the tunnel we came from.

>Nothing you have encountered thus far on this expedition has smelled quite like this. Its aroma is not that of spiders or their acid, it foulness is not that of rotten meat or vegetation, though there are shades of this among it. There is something thick about it; you feel almost as though you can taste it on your tongue.
>You do not.
>You edge a couple feet towards the two tunnels to the north. Neither your eyes, fixed on the tunnel you came from, nor your ears detect any signs of approaching creatures. ...wait, is that... smoke? No, definitely not. Its consistency is more like fog, but darker - insubstantial wisps of black hanging in the air like a heavy haze. Whatever it is, it's drifting forth from the southwest tunnel.

[Oldmansour]

>So now it's black clouds of foul-smelling ominousness. Lovely. What else can happen down here.
>Hm. Does our treasure sense tell us anything about that thing?
>Take another few steps backwards.

[DracoOmega]

>So now it's black clouds of foul-smelling ominousness. Lovely. What else can happen down here.
>Hm. Does our treasure sense tell us anything about that thing?
>Take another few steps backwards.

>You're of the firm opinion that you've already had quite enough unpleasant surprises down here today. They can't possibly be paying you well enough for all this.
>You cannot sense anything of note in that direction.
>You take another few steps backwards. The haze continues to thicken in the air around you. While it is densest and most obviously visible towards the tunnel mouth, you can see hints of it hanging heavily all around you.

[Oldmansour]

>Definately not getting paid enough for this.
>Turn and run. Into what ever tunnel that can accomodate us at a run that's closest.

[DracoOmega]

>Definately not getting paid enough for this.
>Turn and run. Into what ever tunnel that can accomodate us at a run that's closest.

>The northwest and northern tunnels are approximately equidistant and of similar size. The former appears to descend sharply while the latter remains roughly on the current level, as least as far down it as you can see. Which will you run towards?

[Oldmansour]

>Not anxious to go down again. North tunnel.