JELLY SHROOM CAVE BASE EXPLORATION | ACTION

[imsorey]

[In the early morning, just after breakfast is cleaned up, Sorey sends a telepathic broadcast to whoever is still currently hanging around the base:

Hey everyone! We found a strange cave way down deep in the tunnels a couple of weeks ago, and the fish down there told us there were humans living down there somehow! We’re going to check it out today. You’re welcome to come with, but bring some kind of shielding, all right? There’s a whole bunch of Tiger Plants on the route, and those spikes they shoot are no joke!

Mikleo chimes in: If you have swimming troubles, I should be able to take you around, though a couple of you might want to bring Seaglides as well. We mapped out a partial safe route, but keep in mind there’s some very large predators, and the water pressure’s going to be pretty intense if you move too far from us down there. Come prepared for that.

Should you as an intrepid explorer decide to venture down into the tunnels with them, there’s plenty to see. Glowing Jelly Shrooms are scattered across the caves, the only bit of light offered so far down in the dark. Sorey and Mikleo will lead the group in a careful circuit through them, not going too close. It’s easy to see why when a couple of Crabsnakes poke their heads out curiously.

The abandoned base the group will come across is small but has some useful items if you care to take a look. There’s also a dully glowing three-person Seamoth to be discovered not too far away, out of power, if any technologically-inclined people want to figure out how to get that back to base for use.

((OOC: Open mission post for Jelly Shroom Base Exploration! Sorey and Mikleo will tag whoever tags in, but feel free to jump other people as well and branch your explorations out separately if you’d like. There’s a lot to find!))

Comments

A

[oneandmikleonly]

[he's got an unseen (though perfectly audible) audience raising invisible eyebrows. they hadn't met the Boxing Snails the last time they were in here. fascinating creatures -- and as unafraid as the Crabsnakes, apparently.]

If you do, you might have to either take it back or make some kind of setup that approximates this cave for it fast. It may not do very well outside these conditions.

[potentite]

[Jake looks up the address whoever him except he's not there? He looks behind him, then up, then at Ripley for a confused moment as if maybe the angry snail started to talk to him.]

Uh, yeah, well, I wouldn't want the little gal to be scuffed up. She looks like she's got enough troubles on her shell.

[oneandmikleonly]

Most of which are us, by the looks of things. Sorry for the ruckus, Ripley.

...I'm to your left, actually.

[potentite]

[Whoops left then. He still doesn't see anything. Jake takes his glasses off and frowns at them. Not that water is great for trying to see through them anyway. He'll have to work on that.]

Ripley doesn't mind! She's raring to get into some scrums. Uh... [Okay putting his glasses back on didn't help.] Cheese and christ flipping crackers, you'll have to forgive my language but I still can't see you, good sir. It's probably my glasses.

[oneandmikleonly]

It's not you, it's me. Some people can't see me, that's all. It's a seraph -- spirit -- thing.

[he sounds perfectly calm about it; it's not like it's unusual, after all. Ripley snaps in his direction when he drifts a little closer, though, and he pauses.]

...whatever she is, she doesn't have that problem, though. Looks a lot like a crab, doesn't she?

[potentite]

As long as you're not in my head, Mr. Seraph. [Because it's already crowded in there.]

Oh, huh, she can see you...? I saw a movie where animals could see ghosts. That's so cool. [Movies continue to be right about everything. Except when they aren't.] But yeah, she's like one of those whatchacallits... Hermit Crab? I think she's cute.

[He says it while she's trying so hard to figure out how to reach Mikleo to snap at him.]

[oneandmikleonly]

No more in your head than any other telepathy user around here. --and it's Mikleo. Mister sounds...old.

[he shakes his head at Ripley and extends his staff towards her, giving her something to actually close her claws on. which might be a mistake, if she's as tenacious as some shellfish can be about not letting go, but . . . it stops her going for skin, for now.]

Animals can see me fine. How is a hermit crab different from a crab, though? Does it live in a very isolated territory?

[potentite]

[At least Ripley seems content for now. Jake watches it curiously. That sure is a weird thing, to know Ripley is playing with someone he can't see.]

My apologies, Mikleo. And golly, that must be strange for you. Let's see... a hermit crab, if I remember correctly, is a variety of crab that lives in a found shell or other object. They engage in rigourous fisticuffs over shells as well.

[oneandmikleonly]

They fight for territory? How strange...the only crabs I ever saw had shells on already. Do they go through another stage where they outgrow the shell, or is this something different that starts entirely without one?

[CRABS ARE MORE FASCINATING THAN EXPECTED]

[potentite]

[It's okay Jake loves animals. He loves talking about animals??]

They outgrow them! It's like living in a tiny house. They can only get so o so much without a bigger home. I don't rightly know how they start off, just that they find their shells after that.

[oneandmikleonly]

...so not actually too different from the eels that live in those mushrooms, just different materials. Do they use any kind of shell?

[potentite]

As long as they can fit inside, those critters will use anything! People built homes for them sometimes.

[oneandmikleonly]

That's a wonderful evolutionary adaptation. Unfortunate if they get caught in between shells, but otherwise they don't need to expend the energy to grow a new one every time, especially if food is thin on the ground. Though, they don't get this large...do they?

[lifts the Boxing Snail up a little for emphasis -- Jake can't see the staff it's hanging onto with its claws, so it looks like it just started to hover -- and then sets it down again, mildly perplexed]

Strong grip.

[potentite]

[Jake tilts his head, practically falling to the side as he watches Ripley raise into the air. Well, into the water. She didn't do it herself is the point here and he's pretty amazed.]

Whoa. You must be able to do smashing party tricks.

[He got a bit distracted. Being invisible seems awesome.]

[oneandmikleonly]

[shakes Ripley back and forth a little -- c'mon, crab thing, he needs that to fight with]

Maybe at home. In this crowd? Half of you can see me and half of you can't, so it's rather mixed results.

[potentite]

[She's very determined to stay on but eventually lets go, floating the short distance back to the ground and scuttling around, either proud of her fight or irritated that she lost. It's hard to say. Jake can't help laughing a little watching her.]

It'll work on me until I figure out a way to see through this facade! You can only pull the wool over my eyes for... well, an appropriately long while actually but I figure it out eventually.

[oneandmikleonly]

[he sighs in relief, and puts the staff well out of reach before she decides to go for round two.]

There's not really that much to figure out about it. I'm not doing it on purpose to hide from you or anything.

[potentite]

Why does it work that way? Seems awfully inconvenient if you can't control it.

[oneandmikleonly]

Honestly? Weird spiritual rules. It's not up to me, it's up to how sensitive a human is to the presence of spirits and the seraphim. For whatever reason the ability's very rare in our world, but maybe half the people in the base seem to have it. Life's full of surprises.