[OPEN] Mission 155

[soul_mods]

Characters: Open to those who signed up here.
Location: An unmarked cavern system outside Death City.
Rating: Various.
Time: March 18th, sunrise.
Description: Shibusen agents brave underwater caverns to take out the first of three Madness emitters.

Missiongoers pile out of the mirrors early in the morning, just as the first hints of sun start to color the walls of the sandstone canyon red and purple; it'll be the last bits of real light they'll see for at least a few hours. The atmosphere is electric -- there're quite a few new (and old) arrivals who're eager to see some action, but just as many people who're feeling rather more apprehensive… And for good reason.

The only way to their destination is blocked by a few hundred yards of sunken tunnels. Luckily they've been provided with mouthpieces, breathing apparatuses with enough oxygen to last about ten minutes: more than enough time, provided that the guests don't lose their way in the dimly-lit, twisted caverns. It's as easy as following the person in front of them, right?

Upon emerging safely from the pool onto mostly-dry land, they'll find themselves in an immense cavern, illuminated by countless, blue fungi clinging to the walls and ceiling, looking like stars dotting a night sky. Already the first signs of the way Madness has been corrupting the wildlife are evident: the mushrooms exude strange spores that make some people's head pound the same way the increasingly noticeable Madness wavelength does.

As they travel further into the watery caves and explore its many branches, they'll begin to encounter creatures twisted by Madness: moles, snakes, beetles, centipedes, all grown to monstrous proportions, some with a venomous bite that quickly turns their victim feverish and delirious. The more daring fighters can easily dispatch those and delve even deeper, and it's near the source of the Madness, in the chamber housing the emitter itself, that they'll encounter the kishin eggs.

There're dozens of them-- eyeless, white, vaguely human-shaped things, but despite their blindness they have no problem finding their quarry, fighting with claws and exuding their own Madness wavelength. If the missiongoers can stand strong against the kishin eggs and the ever-present wavelength given off by the Madness emitter, Shibusen's specialists will have enough time to shut the machine down for good.


OOC NOTES.
- The event summary post containing all relevant links is located here.
- Make your own threads, but please indicate in your subject line [CHARACTER(S) | LOCATION | OPEN/CLOSED] and, if applicable, if you need a kishin egg NPC!
- The locations are the sunken tunnels, the medics area, the cave system, and the emitter chamber, but only the medics will have their designated sub-thread.
- If you have any further questions, the mod thread on the coordination post is here!

Comments

[Hatake Kakashi & Maito Gai | Cave System --> Emitter Chamber | CLOSED]

[grab_my_bells]

They emerge from the water having made it without incident, and Kakashi puts his mouthpiece away into his pack. The cave system looks to be expansive, the darkness of the caves adding to the effect. The starry-sky of mushrooms overhead get a moment's glance, partly in awe, partly to see if he can detect anything beyond the faint glow they cast across the cieling of the caves. He can't see much of anything.

Kakashi steps back from the wall as a mushroom, disturbed by the movement of air from their passing by, releases a small cloud of equally glowing spores. He sneezes and is grateful for the mask when his head only throbs gently before subsiding behind a dull ache and slight irritability.

"Stay away from the walls and touch nothing." Except each other. Kakashi takes Gai's hand and feels the madness get pushed farther from his mind.

[spandexisyouth]

Gai raises his free hand to cover his mouth, giving him a little protection from the spores but not much. "He says after he bumps into something," he replies. It's a gentle comment, not quite teasing, but not angry. Right now it's hard to tease. There's madness in the area, and even though they've trained against it neither of them is immune.

He squeezes Kakashi's hand once as they move on, leaving a trail of water behind them, and then Gai stops. "Do we have anything to mark the path with? These are large." He's already mentally going through his pockets. There's rope, of course, but that would run out and it's too easy for it to be cut. There also aren't a whole lot of rocks on the ground. "We may have to memorize things that stand out."

Up ahead there's one rather large stalagmite that stands out simply because it looks like it's leaning over, reaching for the slow drips of water from the ceiling. The water must have shifted over time, but it makes it unique. "There." Gai points. "The stretching one. We use that for now. Unless you brought chalk?" He should have thought of it before, but he didn't.

[grab_my_bells]

"Whatever." Kakashi feels an irritability try to creep into his emotions and tries to keep the conversation light, gently playful.

In an effort to not let madness seep into their conversation, he bites back a teasing comment about how Gai's lucky Kakashi's here, how memorizing things wasn't exactly Gai's strong suit. Gai would have better luck remembering his own steps. He always was more physical than visual.

"With how wet these caves are, I'm not sure chalk would even stay. We'll have to go for remembering." Plus chalk-marking would put them entirely too close to the spores in some cases, so he commits that one to memory.

Something scurries around in the caves to their right and Kakashi watches the darkness for a moment before the sound fades to the farther end of that tunnel. He hated not having his jutsu to help sometimes. A Hyuuga would be so useful right now too. "Next time we take a mission, we pick one with a nice city with dogs again."

[spandexisyouth]

He knows he's not really one for faces or landmarks and that's an added bonus to having Kakashi there. His Rival will help him get home. Gai nods, starting to move forward again but stopping mid-step at the sound. They'd known they wouldn't be alone. He just wished he knew what all was down here.

"But then we will wind up with fifteen more dogs," Gai replies. That might not be the best topic, not with the one dog suddenly 'showing up' on the porch recently, but he can try to keep it light and joking. He gives Kakashi's hand another squeeze as he starts walking again, ready to transform at a moment's notice but wanting to be himself for a bit longer.

There's a branching and Gai looks at the various paths. "Whatever that was went right. There is a bad scent coming from the left, and several of the mushrooms are disturbed in the center route." He gestures. "That means that something big went that way." Kakashi would already know that, but they needed to be on the same page for certain. "The witches would not want something to smell that off, and they likely had to move equipment. Shall we take the center path?"

[grab_my_bells]

"And you'll love them all," Kakashi says. He returns the squeeze and continues walking. Sometime, when they're not on a mission, and not trying to hold Madness at bay, he'll try to make sure Gai knows he won't neglect him for dogs, even if he does always want more of them.

Kakashi nods in agreement with the assessment of their surroundings. He is not exactly eager to enter into unnecessary battles, and the center route did sound the most promising. Hand in hand with Gai, he walks down the tunnel.

As they approach the end of the pathway, the sounds of a battle become apparent. The emitter chamber, filled with kishin eggs. Some of their fellow weapons and meisters have already arrived and engaged the kishin in battle. These Kishin are disturbingly ghoul-like, and Kakashi can feel a heavy buzz of Madness in the room. He tightens his hold on Gai's hand and prepares for a fight.

[spandexisyouth]

"From a distance." Sometimes he wonders if the reason why Kakashi keeps taking on more dogs is because Gai isn't doing enough for him, affection-wise, or attention-wise, or... somehow. It's not a topic for here. Not when he knows how easy it would be to let jealousy rise and turn against them both. Maybe someday he'll bring it up, but Gai knows that's not all that likely. It's a stupid enough thing to think, forget voice, when one is jealous of dogs.

Seeing the movement and realizing what it is, Gai doesn't hesitate to change. In an instant he's in Weapon form, ready, already honing in on the bond they share to work their resonance. "Shall we?"

The scene is chaos, of course, as all fights are, but there are two beetles attempting to flank another Weapon and Meister pair. "There, to the right, near the wall. The ones nearly pinned down." They had an objective, but they were going to need to deal with the creatures to achieve it. Backing up allies was entirely within the mission specs.