Skyscrapers & ... Groundscrapers? (RP)

The goblins stare at Arthur, unamused by his joke if they understand it at all. They don't do anything to stop you from exploring further into the caves under —or beside?— the building. One of them was seen patting the freaked-out woman's hand, but the fact that she has gone quite may be the result of her passing out. They seem curious and expectant, as though waiting for something to happen.

As you head deeper into the cave you see no sign of the footprints you followed earlier or goblin tread, the goblins have not been this way, and there are no signs that anyone came out to get them. Why they walked into these caves and then turned into goblins is a mystery for now.

The wildlife here does not much like your lights, maybe this is the first time they have seen lights? Or maybe not, since they all ... mostly? ... seem to have eyeballs, which might be a strange evolutionary choice in a land without any light. The little frogs you spotted before blink at you and try to move out of the light, and you are sure you heard bigger things moving out there, things that do not show up on your scanner, but that is not exactly designed to show 'signs of life'.

The background energy readings are weird, though. How?

• What does the scanner hint at ahead? What do you do to prepare for it?

It would take a long time for your eyes to adjust to the faint light source, but with your own lights on you don't see the faintly-glowing, hair-thin tendrils lining the walls till you arrive at the main source.

It is beautiful, shimmering all the colors of the rainbow —and, Fiona's scanner suggests colors outside the visible spectrum, too. The central column of this great hall is ringed with light. Looking right at it, you have to squint to see what it is. It is more of those mushrooms, these ones pulsing brightly enough for you to see, even with your flashlights.

On the brightest part of the light emitting mushroom stack sits a frog, larger than the others... no wait, this one it not a frog (anymore?), you would say more likely a salamander. As you start to draw near you also realise that the cave is large, and it is further away (always hard to judge distance when looking directly into a light source) ... and therefore much larger... like crocodile-sized, in fact.

It turns its head towards you and ... licks its eyeball.

What do you do?

- Fiona -

There are no signs of discarded clothing here, and, unless you also think the tiny, fingernail-sized frogs were also 'people', this looks more like a long-term resident.

What do you do?

"I got your cover," Arthur answers. He keeps his .30 pointed at the wet eyeball of the salamander crocodile thing.

A salamander-sized crocodile would be cute, though it could still have your finger off. A crocodile-sized salamander is more scary, and the distinction may be moot.

The beast turns as you approach, its hindquarters wagging to find better purchase on the glowing fungus, possibly readying itself to pounce?

You have a moment to act before it does... well, whatever it is it about to do.

What do you do?

Arthur exhales slowly and squints against the fungal glow. He's pretty sure that he can nail the thing in its eye if it pounces. "Let's be friends, big fella," he says calmly to the lizard.

- Arthur -

The lizard-shaped amphibian snaps it head to you as you try talking to it. Uncomprehendingly it tenses, about to jump, but your aim is true and your bullet pierces its eye, passing through into its brain, and it topples, still and lifeless, from the fungal-perch to the loamy ground at base of the pillar.

What do you do?

- Fiona -

Through the smashed eye socket —and wherever you break the skin of the salamander taking your samples— you see what looks like smoldering coals inside. There is no heat, in fact the opposite, the beast is cold to the touch.

By the time you get back round to the head, having collected shallow samples from everywhere —and may be preparing for more invasive and destructive sampling— you find that the eyeball has ... congealed? Filmed-over? Healed?!

The, previously very dead, but apparently regenerating, salamander turns its head sluggishly and tries to bite you. It sure has big teeth this close up.

What do you do?

Arthur has been standing by, watching around about for any other dangers that might creep in. Hearing Fiona yelp/gasp he glances back toward her work on the … moving?! … dead lizard.

"You should get away from that," he suggests. "Do you think I should shoot it again? Undead lizards are not something I want to deal with."

Arthur feels a twinge of dismay at the idea of repeatedly shooting the lizard, which is not presenting an immediate threat now. But he's not in charge of this expedition. "Sure thing, boss," and he squeezes the trigger …

Arthur keeps wary while Fiona does science.

- Fiona -

There is definitely energy in the fungal growth, more than is needed for the light they are emitting, like maybe the light is just a waste-product. The tiny fibre-like threads seem at least as efficient as any fibre-optic cable at transmitting energy from end to end, but they are not strong enough to handle, they squish when you take samples and form a blob, it may still have interesting properties, though.

The shelves of fungus are woody and hard, but they emit light when you break or cut into them. The samples you took near the beginning of your experiments are still glowing as bright by the end, if you ran out of batteries for your flashlights —you shouldn't, efficient LEDs have largely rendered such concerns a thing of the past— these could prove a useful alternative.

• What else interesting did you discover about the mushroom/fungus?

As you and Arthur return to the salamander it is just standing up and shaking itself, as though trying to rid itself of an uncomfortable but lingering sensation. It has not turned to face you, so you can't see the wounds to its head and face, but the skull-structure seems to have, mostly, reformed from where it was deformed by the bullets.

What do you do?