Kerolyne Defile
Elevator Shaft
Aradia's rummaging through the various lockers found a few items between them. One locker contained what could be best described as a bundle of mushy bricks, wrapped somewhat tightly in metal foil packages. Faded black letters were etched onto the foil, in a block lettering system not unlike the one found on the sign earlier. What exactly the stale yellow mush that oozed from the foil
was could be anyones guess, but if it was edible at one point, it likely isn't now.
Another locker raid yielded a small bot noteworthy device, hexagonal in shape. The device's exterior was a durable black plastic, with a beveled control panel taking up the front with a radial layout of rubber buttons surrounding a dusty glass lens which split the device in the center. Pressing the buttons gave nothing from the device but a blinking red rectangle, dead empty and hard to see even among the murky lighting of the establishment. Underneath the device in the locker was a folded bit of waxy photo paper. The continued existence of the paper was a testament to preservation, though the potential centuries of age had certainly taken a toll on the details.
Photographed roughly were two vaguely bird-like creatures, their colors long distorted to nothing more than a murky grey-green. They somewhat resembled the specimen presented within the codex- Arcadian Avecris. The details were blurry, but one of the two creatures appeared to be in uniform, an assortment of pins and bands adorning the shoulders and breast of the sharp vest. The reverse side of the image held a faded script written rather elegantly in black ink. It took a while, but the translation feed from OSC-01 appeared superimposed in Aradia's peripherals, most likely the work of the headbands they had given out. Eventually, the text itself had been replaced with the translated version in an augmented reality, albeit one with some allignment issues.
"Amiss Farfell Thazeus, to another five. Yours, Dermoit."
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Dahlia walked around the elevator shaft with a single exhale, looking about carefully as her nose upturned. The captain stopped to peer into the transport cart that laid precariously over the edge of the doorway into one of the branching corridors. A quick beam of the flashlight down the hall revealed the tunnel to be collapsed a few meters in, a large pile of blasted rubble and debris preventing further investigation.
The captain attempted to gently shove the cart back into a stable position, finding it quite heavy.
"You know, I was expecting something a little more..." Dahlia trailed off, bending over to look at the bottom half of the cart.
"Elegant, to be found in a place like this. It's a bit rough, even without the waterlogging."
The Overseer tread down the metal stairs of the shaft silently, eyeing the details of the room. Though she lacked any known sense of smell, OSC-01 still glanced up at the grotesque vent from time to time.
"The Arcadians reserved their class for things only in the public eye. Given the state, I don't believe this was anything meant for the civilians."
The Overseer took a moment before stepping onto the lightly water-logged floor, carefully treading across the base level to avoid splashing any water. Perhaps they should have brought the metal footplates.
Marie's investigation into the flickering emergency light brought upon her a wealthy of shoddy electronics. The board and container controlling the light itself was nothing revolutionary, though the two lights themselves beckoned, The lights were not unlike LED lights, set in an arranged tube that cut deep into the crystalline bulbs. The bulbs had some heft, and could probably be reused for some of Marie's personal projects. Or as a brick, who is left to judge. Fortunately for the Captain, the hard-wired components of the light was long dead, with the power instead coming from a small circular batter set into the control board of the light.
Marie felt a firm metal hand land on her shoulder, that of the Overseer. As the pilot called out in warning, the Overseer guided marie about a foot closer to the wall. A moment later, the smoking metal grate crashed to the shaft floor, spewing bolts and droplets of still water all about the room. Not a drop landed on either.
A few seconds after the explosive force dislodged the vent, a creature emerged with blistering speed. It was a six-legged amphibian of sorts, a little smaller than a man. Its steel blue skin was accented by dark black scales which ran down the length of its back. Two twitchy yellow eyes darted around the group as the creature chuffed in a mix of fear and agitation. As it did, the pale green faulds of skin puffed out like a bellow, before subsiding once more. The creature leapt from the ceiling, landing on the wall before dashing away into the tunnel from whence the group came, nearly knocking over the pilot on their dash out. It carried a waft of the scent away with them.
Airlock
After a bit of experimentation with the package, the Medic finally found its use. With a flick, the bar extended out into a full length baton, with a small button laid into the strangely grooved grip causing... some sort of reaction at the end. A small spark of blue and purple, though it generated little heat. It did give off a little sickening sensation, however.
Joined by the Artificer of the group and headed out back to the main cavern, the two were alerted to a fast approaching set of light footsteps. As the two swung around to investigate, they found themselves facing the confused creature that had just departed from the elevator shaft. It looked between the two, slightly shivering, though its twitchiness was far from comforting. It gave the two a deep guff, going low as it eyed them. The creatures skin was rather glossy, as if it were recently wet.
Lower Path
Keith's investigation further down the subterranean river brought him closer to the busted mining equipment that had been passively polluting the water for who knows how long. It was a rather large blue tractor, what was left of the original paint job eaten away by rust and decay. The machine laid on a pair of large metal and rubber tracks, one of which laid completely disconnected and strewn downriver. Attached to the front of the machine was an angled boring tool, a nasty set of metal teeth laid in position to gnash against rock and each other. The mudflaps and front end of the machine was adorned with a pattern of neon orange daimonds, set in with sun-faded reflective paint. On close inspection of the drills, four mounted devices could be found near the corners-
lasers. The diodes sat in rotating shells, but it looked like they could be pried free. Whether or not they could still be used was up for debate.
Farther down the river towards the second shack, Reman spotted a broken catwalk rising from the riverbed like a twisted root of a tree. At the end of the catwalk was a metal cage, hiding a bundle of chains and motors within its framework. The chute rose from the ground to another passing bridge above, a few solid metal platforms build into the wall along its path: an elevator. this low into the cavern, the giant arched bridges span above them like a web, going every which angle down the cavern.
Shack A
Deimos landed squarely on the roof of the first shack in a graceful manner, standing to get a view of his surroundings. The view was a short one, however, as the force of the landing took a toll on the aged sheet metal. A few rusted screws snapped and suddenly the man was
inside the shack- a loud crash echoing down the empty cavern. It wasn't more than a moment later that the now loosened metal door squealed open, revealing Rhea at the entrance.
Beyond the foxman laid out atop a sheet of aged metal, the interior of the shack was rather dusty. A plethora of lockers and electrical boxes lined the interior walls, away from the river. On the riverside, a set of glass windows looked out into the expanse beyond. A control panel lined the bottom of the window, various switches and screens and keypads arranged in unusual form factors. A ratcheting of a particularly large lever yielded no results, as the power to the console was entirely absent. Underneath the control panel were a variety of drawers, some of which were missing.
The row of electrical boxes on the other side were rigged with similar levers, albeit some appeared to be attached to liquid-grade conduits. What one could only assume to be the remnants of a piece of paper was stuck to one of the boxes, though what remained of it was but a single corner with a few alien letters left. The lockers lining the back wall were locked, but given stealth was out the window there should be no issues in brute force. Underneath the metal plate itself laid the desecrated corpse of an office chair, now flattened and snapped in multiple places and left of the industrial laminate flooring.