Gwyn followed @The Admiral at an easy pace, still surefooted despite her exhaustion after the fight, and sought not to let the cluttered rubble cause too much of a issue for her. She couldn't imagine having to step gingerly around or power through everything underfoot like her current companion. Heavy armor didn't seem the least bit worth it to her. Gwyn didn't mind getting up close and personal in a fight, but she would still rather have mobility to her name over the heavy shift of metal resisting her. Perhaps the plating wasn't as stiff as it seemed at a glance. The human was more than content to leave that particular curiosity alone. Her leathers and hides were more than serviceable enough. She did slightly envy some of the light armor wearers though. The crotch room must have been nice. There was a reason men's pajama pants back home were so much more comfortable. With worn hands, Gwyn reached out in passing to trade her bottle of alcohol for two waterskins and a torch. No one seemed to be keeping too close an eye on items and with the current state of the castle of the political landscape? It would be a while until anyone got too nitpicky about such things. The Admiral did the work of tying the knot and beginning the descent. Her attention did sharpen on that particular task and Gwyn snorted at the wink she was given. "You should secure your line with a figure eight follow through, not a bowline. Bowlines can slip, any half-assed follow through won't." The huntress let The Admiral work her way down, listening to her speak up with an echo, and restrained herself. "I don't really envy her to be honest. She seems fine, but it can't be good for your mental state to know you and the world you live in are objectively fake to the gaggle of over-powered strangers suddenly popping up in it like daisies. As for a torch? Got one." She was getting antsy for her turn, but it would probably be impolite and little dangerous to go swinging down after her considering how slow the melee fighter was at this. Finally, she swung herself over the lip and used a shorter line she tossed around her waist to secure herself. As soon as she heard the loud clatter of the armored boots at the bottom, she threw herself back with a strong kick. Rappelling down the entrance wasn't the most exciting thing she'd ever done, but for a moment she could pretend she was flying down the sides of a cliff in the Rockies or, with her heels dug into the grooves, clinging to the side of Devil's Tower. The feeling of half-weightlessness was always the feeling of coming home, the dizzy spin of low oxygen or a mind addled with adrenaline, the spike of fear when rock came loose and the pounding heartbeat that told you you'd survived it yet again when you didn't go tumbling down with it. She lived for it, even such a small glimpse at the life she'd had to temporarily abandon. Gwyn hungered for it and the short trip to the bottom, for her at least, was only enough to make her crave more. She huffed when her boots met the sweeping floor of the wurm's caverns and peered up with want in her eyes. The woman clucked her tongue in admonishment, either to herself or the descent was a mystery, and untied her line to follow the other. The warping of the cave's walls was an amazing sight and between their two lit torches and a bit of distance between them they managed to light up a fair bit of it. She reached out to mirror The Admiral, though there was no gauntlet separating skin from stone as she dragged her fingertips over the dimpled rock. "It's amazing. It was amazing. I'd want to fight it again, but I don't think the rest of the castle would agree." Gwyn smiled to herself before the path diverging grounded her, forcing her thoughts from imagined glory won time and time again. Gwyn walked closer to her and her eyes lit up the unsettling white of Investigation Mode, backed by what little skill she'd put into her Hunting. It was enough for her to pick up on the obvious tracks of the burrowing creatures, but her real target was the most recent direction their fallen foe had come from. "I want to check out where its brood was. Wonder if there are any viable eggs left?" The answer to that was 'definitely probably not,' but it would be a damn shame not to look. Plus, she was curious to find out more about the makeup of their anatomy, what manner of material their armor and eggs were made of that would withstand tunneling through such massive amounts of rock with such ease. She gestured toward the most luring tunnel and blinked as if the vanished UI of the search mode had left spots like staring at the sun or a tv for too long. When she spoke again, it was only a little playfully mocking. "Lead the way, mon capitaine."
A frown remained plastered upon Jack’s face as he’d continue to nod while silently listening. The woman’s concerns were fairly valid. Though not entirely sure on whether the effects would carry over from the game to reality due to lack of proper testing, the man couldn’t help but feel a bit of unease. If only there was an easy way to quickly validate for the sake of knowing… It was then that an idea had struck the man. “Have you tried looking at them in general? Maybe a picture on the internet or something?” He’d nod once after proposing his head. More likely than not, it would get the job done. Should the fear actually translate over, visual stimulation would help differentiate which senses it was triggered by. Whether or not she’d be entirely willing to agree however would be a different matter. Though she hadn’t encountered a spider in reality, intentionally trying to trigger such detrimental emotions probably wouldn’t rank highly on anyone’s list. “To be honest, maybe that isn’t a good idea either. Who knows?” Letting out a lazy yawn, Jack would groggily flip through his game’s interface in order to discern the time. Shaking his head reluctantly, he’d pout a bit before finally standing up to stretch. “Well, it’s about that time. I’m gonna log out for a bit to take a nap before work. I'll catch ya later, kitten.” Despite the late hours, the man was declaring real life obligations? Perhaps he worked graveyard or something of the sorts. @Nalani Rosa /exit
Nalani frowned a little at the idea that Jack proposed. Knowingly put herself into a situation where it would send her into a giant panic attack?... Wasn't really the smartest idea, nor was it an idea that she really wanted to take a part of, but if she volunteered to do so, they could possibly find out how bad these fears actually were, and if Terrasphere was detrimental to others health- Well, other than playing too long. She paused for a moment and then nodded, "Honestly, we'll never know until we try. I can... Look something up when I get home, and then message you with my findings. Okay?" She said with a small smile as Asti came trotting back over, having found nothing in her small adventure. She could also tell her owner was slightly uncomfortable with whatever conversation they were having, and she looked at the two worriedly until Nalani gave her a small pet, reassuring everything was okay. However, before she could say anything more, Jack announced he had to go. Something about work, but wasn't it night time?... Curiousness danced through her eyes, but she just smiled at him without any questions, nodding, "Bye, Jack... It was nice seeing you again." She said, before heading off herself. Asti and her wanted to do some exploring around the castle before logging off, so with after looking around, she found a way to head upstairs. @Jack Anders /exit
Examining the twisted earth that was the lair of the boss, the Admiral waited for Gwyn to join her. When she had, it seemed that the huntress felt the same sort of awe and admiration for the powerful monsters. She wrinkled her nose at the musky, earthy odor of the place and how choking rank it... felt, even. Like a subtle miasma through which they walked, washed in the rich notes of the deep earth but tinged with death and detritus. Worms were notorious detrivores after all, so their main nourishment would be... anything that could decompose. Bearing that in mind, she held the torch slightly lower to the ground so that she could make sure she wasn't about to walk into a large compost heap. "I hope there aren't any eggs, to be honest. I have to think in terms of security in this place, though... not about what would be fun and interesting. Safety and the like." She turned and grinned at Gwyn in the torch light. "Speaking of, don't tell me what knots to use. Whose to say I didn't pick the right one for slipping and falling into your arms? Besides," she turned her back to Gwyn and began to move down one of the many unnatural tunnels carved by the beast. "I know more about knots and ropes than most climbers and sailors. Though I tend to prefer chains to be honest. They chafe less." @Gwyn ap Herne
The smell of compost didn't bother her overmuch. It was a bit stronger and more putrid than she was used to, but you acclimated to a lot of things living outdoors for long stretches of time. Without showers. Surrounded by wild animals who all used the woods as a toilet. Things happened, some of them funny, some of them unfortunate. Like the bear shit stain on Sabine's favorite backpacking equipment. Washing it out in a creek had done nothing for the stench on a three day hike in the middle of summer. Gwyn inherited the rather casual response toward less than exciting sides of nature. Though, even she found herself having to clear her throat once they got a little deeper into the cave. She could admit it. It was fairly awful. "Sounds like a YULAN problem to me." She stuck her tongue out at the other woman with a smirk. "But uhh, yeah for the sake of your foundation it's probably better that there aren't any more. I wonder if you could tame and train them though? They'd make interesting allies to fight beside if it wasn't your blood they were sucking." The ranger bounced a little as she walked from the excitement of the imagined fight. Firing down on her enemies and just as they neared melee range of her, closing in quick? Up from below! The stone-plated maws of Vampire Wurms catching onto metal armor or digging into skin. Powerful jaws made for burrowing through solid stone would make quick work of any man's shins. Then they'd be crippled, a helpless pincushion to be dispatched like a lame horse. Meanwhile the Wurms themselves wouldn't be in the least bit of danger. A quick turn around and they could vanish beneath the floor, safely burrowing back to the earth beneath her own steady feet... or seeking out the next of her prey to make lame. "You can't fall into my arms if I'm above you and your armor is fucking heavy." She laughed as she shook herself back to the present, the faint thrill of the imagined battle lingering in her tone as she spoke. "Chains? Why would you use chains in either of those? You'd just end up hurt and they're awful unwieldy. There's no way they wouldn't catch or be too heavy for climbing at least. One lets loose and goes swinging? Bam. I've been hit by anchors before and those hurt enough on their own. Uhhh, climbing anchors, not boat anchors. Wouldn't be alive to boast that one." She waved her hand dismissively at that idea. Also. Did she just say she knew more about knots and ropes than climbers? Climbers! And both at that! Surely she was just egging her on, but really. @The Admiral was smart enough to come up with a better quip than that. It just seemed a bit off her usual game. Still, she felt a challenge in the face of such a claim and began counting on her fingers not occupied with the torch as they walked deeper. "I've already mentioned the bowline and the figure eight follow through, but no climber doesn't know the majority of them. You'd get yourself killed not knowing what equipment and kit to use, really. We're talking figure eight bends, sometimes called a flemish bend, and there's the figure eight on a bight which is different. Figure eight knot, too. You have bowlines, double bowlines, then you get into overhands. The overhand, overhand bend, double overhand, triple overhand. There are things like butterfly and the double fisherman, though I've always gone with Grapevine because of the woman who taught it to do it right. Hell, you could even get into the hitches if you wanted. Sailors use a fair bit too, but especially nowadays you don't really need to reply on the same amount of crazy options you have to consider depending on what you're scaling or what holds you're planning for. You go in at the wrong angle with the wrong set up and you're going to get stuck until you fix it or head back down to-" Gwyn stopped with a blink and turned to The Admiral, lifting a hand to nervous scratch at the back of her head. "Ummm, yeah. Sorry. Infodump."
