Player Plot: Sewer Quest Part II

[forcegalactic]

Who: Barkeep and anyone else who signs up on the OOC post.
What: Exploring the Aqures Ixen Sewers in search of a hidden room
Where: Aqures Ixen Sewers
When: May 12th-15th
Warnings: n/a

[It’s that time again. The morning of the 12th, the Barkeep collects the Heroes that volunteered to explore the sewers of Aqures Ixen one last time and reviews their supplies at the entrance. Last time was a blind scouting mission, but this time, they’ll surely find something. He can feel it in his bones.
Candles, potions, ethers, whistles, dry food – these things the Barkeep has brought. He has a bag of his own things and leaves some of those supplies for the others to take.
The sun is shines bright as the group prepares to enter the filthy streams that run underground.]

Comments

[thegreatninja]

Heya!

[Yuffie joins in with the casting, her water splashing with the others. She wonders if the force will be to much but they'll only know when their finished.]

[red_planet_blues]

Here goes nothin'.

[Sparks lets the armor-piercing arrow go. He's fairly confident it hit the target, but not so sure about it being effective or not.]

[damn_juicebox]

[Rukia backs up a little, urging her dinosaur to do the same. Chappopo is the one who can cast Watera, but she feels a little bad summoning a Moogle, with fur, into the sewer. She'll just use her Ninjutsu again. She puts an arm around the velociraptor's neck for support and extends her hand toward the door. Water Ninjutsu is go!]

[forcegalactic]

[If the last water attack was a wave, this is a dam breaking loose. Sparks' lone arrow is nothing compared to the massive waterfall that appears right in front of the door. The force of all the attacks rattles the locks for a few seconds before ripping one of the doors off its hinges and washing it down the tall, dark hallway that leads upwards behind it. The other door swings open, but remains connected, though it bangs against the metal wall loud enough that everyone has to cover their ears.

Not that they could, because all that water has to go somewhere, and whatever didn't flow up the new hallway washed back to knock them all to the ground.

The poor Barkeeps' clothes are soaked wet. He's sick, cold, his head hurts, and he thought he would drown for a second. He sits up in knee-deep water and coughs the water out of his nose.]

Now that was a bad idea if I ever heard one.

[thegreatninja]

[Yuffie stands, trying her best not to touch the walls while regaining her footing.]

That's disgusting!

[She regrets encouraging the idea.]

[red_planet_blues]

Gross.

[Sparks is glad he wore those waders, but it doesn't really do much for the top half of his body.]

Well, I mean, it worked.

[zodiac_brave]

[Hey, the way before them is now open, so Ramza sees nothing wrong with how their plan worked. It is not like like they could expect to come out of the sewers smelling of roses, after all. He wipes some droplets of water from his eyes with the back of his hand.]

Well done, everyone. Shall we proceed?

[shinra_dog]

[Reno coughed and groaned. He tried to stand, slipped, tried again... Third time was the charm.]

Never. Again.

[He hated being this wet. And it smelled like shit.]

There better be somethin' really damn good behind these doors.

[damn_juicebox]

[At least the majority of the magic water is clean. Or at least, it was, before it washed up whatever filth was clinging to the walls and floor of this particular sewer tunnel.]

[With the voluminous ninja robes now clinging damply to Rukia's small frame, she resembles a malnourished drown rat. She squeezes her sleeves to wring out some of the water, then tosses her head to throw back her soaked raven tresses. She hopes the water assault hasn't damaged whatever's in the room, but she doesn't voice these thoughts for Barkeep's sake. Instead she nods at Ramza.]

Agreed.

[She takes out her lantern, but it's soaked. It's not about to be lit again any time soon. With a sigh, Rukia holds out her palm and uses her Flame Ninjutsu, just a little, to summon a globe of heat and light just above her fingertips. The spell won't last long, but hopefully they won't need it once they reach the end of this hallway. She moves forward, and the velociraptor trots along just beside her, long tail lashing with irritation. Kashikoiko apparently didn't enjoy the impromptu bath either.]

[forcegalactic]

It worked, alright. [He plans a foot on the slipper floor and pushes himself standing, then grips a corner of his sleeve and twists out some of the cold, hopefully not infested water. If anything, it gave him the sniffles.] Looks like we did the owner a favor and cleaned up their place.

[One soaked, squishy step forward, then another. He was smart enough to wear rubber boots for the journey, but that didn't stop a river from seeping in and soaking his feet anyway.]

Keep movin'. We don't all wanna catch cold. [He eyes Ramza and waits for him to catch up before moving forward.

The pathway is inclined, leading the party somewhere above the sewer level, but the dark hallway eventually gives way to light.]

[thegreatninja]

[Being drenched in water isn't good for Yuffie's health but she swallows her complaint and steps forward. Her boots go up to her knee and she has them tied tightly enough that very little water managed to drizzle through. That doesn't change the uncomfortable feeling as her clothes begin to stick to her skin.

This really sucks and she knows that her change of clothes, which are in her pack, are probably also soaked through.]

Thank Leviathan, light.

[She breathes a sigh of relief, hoping that light means some measure of warmth. She's starting to shiver.]

[red_planet_blues]

[Seeing as he thinks he's the only one in the party not coming down with that annoying flu going around, Sparks decides to be the one to take point and lead this crew down the hall.]

Huh. Don't tell me someone's actually been livin' down here.

[damn_juicebox]

[Rukia shares Yuffie's sentiments. As soon as there's light, she lets the Flame Ninjutsu go, and quickly presses her singed fingertips against her wet sleeve to soothe the mild burn.]

It seems that way. Or perhaps it's merely a secret entrance that leads to another place in the city, such as an emergency evacuation route.

[Rukia hesitates. ...Please don't let this tunnel lead to Cid's luxurious bathing chambers, there's just no way they'd be able to explain themselves.]

[shinra_dog]

[Reno was chilled, wet, and grumpy. So when Sparks took the lead, he couldn't help but mutter,]

Where's your lantern, Sparks?

[He totally knew they were going to be lost, or broken, or something by the end of this. Ugh.]

[In any case, he was really hoping this was some big secret passageway, and not an evacuation route. Because if it had been, and there had been a real emergency, everyone would have been totally screwed with the door shut so tightly. It had obviously been closed for a long time, and it seemed like it had been locked deliberately.]

[forcegalactic]

[The barkeep lets Sparks take the lead. If something jumps out at them, he'll be the first to face it.]

A lantern's not gonna warm up all up, Reno.

[Besides, there's light at the end of the hallway and he needs something else to complain about. From the look of it, it would be well-lit and not as filthy as the sewers.]

Least we're headin' closer to the surface. Wonder how far it is back to the city?

[It won't be far, as Sparks will immediately reach a vast room filled with papers, desks, and pieces of machinery.]

[thegreatninja]

Well this is weird.

[Yuffie steps into the room after Sparks, her eyes flicking over the things there. Who would have this stuff in a sewer? At least no one would come looking for it, except a bunch of heroes who clearly have no better use for their time.]

[damn_juicebox]

Yes, it is.

[Rukia picks up one of the papers, rubbing her thumb over it to test how brittle it is to estimate the paper's age. She also checks for dust and how thick it is, before moving around the perimeter of the room to search for an exit. Surely the sewer door isn't the only way to reach this place.]

It appears to be someone's place of research and study. But whose?

[zodiac_brave]

[Ramza has never been one for sneaking or stealth, so when they reach the study, he calls out...]

Hello? Is anyone there?

[forcegalactic]

[There's no answer.

Which is lucky for Ramza, because the papers don't feel that brittle. While there is a layer of dust covering the room, it looks like it had only been abandoned recently.]

Let's find a way outta here, then we can figure that out. We'd need more than a day to get through everythin'.

[He steps over a stack of books and joins Rukia in searching the perimeter.]

[red_planet_blues]

There's gotta be, like, a secret passage 'r something, right? No one who comes down here often is gonna do it the hard way.

[If there's no other obvious exit, then Sparks will do things like tap on the wall for hollow spots, or fiddle with wall fixtures. That's how this sort of thing works, right?]

[forcegalactic]

[The group checking the walls don't find a secret passageway, just lots of shelves, but behind a stack of books that had fallen over is a rectangular piece of wood with an indention on one end. It looks like the types of door that slides open.]

Right here. [Finally. The Barkeep pushes the books aside with his staff - gotta be sure not to soak too much of the writings - and grabs the handle to pull it open.

What lies beyond looks like a large, stone basement.]

[thegreatninja]

What do you think all this stuff is for?

[Yuffie picks up a few things before letting them drop down to their original places.]

[zodiac_brave]

I do not know. Shall we try searching down there? If someone went through the trouble of hiding the entrance, there might be something of importance down there.

[Still unfazed by the cold, wet, and stench of the sewer and impossibly resistant to the sickness spreading in their ranks, Ramza is completely ready to descent into the dark basement level.]

[forcegalactic]

Lead the way.

[The Barkeep takes the first step into the dry air of the basement and waits for Ramza to catch up before walking besides him. If there are any more monsters guarding this place, he has to stand beside him.

Turning, around, the door they exited from blends into the design of the basement wall, keeping it hidden from this side as well. The basement hallway turns, and anyone who had worked in the Laboratory for a while would recognize this area.]

[damn_juicebox]

[Rukia might not have worked in the laboratory, but she was there for two weeks to help the workers adjust her custom job. Once she starts to recognize their surroundings, her eyes widen, and she looks back at the hidden area.]

That didn't belong to Palitutu, did it...?

[She can't think of anyone else who would have need of a secret area. Rukia frowns, then hobbles back down the passageway, coughing against her fist.]

I'm going to take another look at those papers.