[GrayGriffin]

Sherlock frowned even deeper now. It seemed this whole thing had much more than he had initially thought behind it. Flicking the communicator to turn down its volume, he started forwards, so that he was walking closer to the Mekkayena.

"You know that name?" he asked, having noticed the Mekkayena's reaction to it. This could be important...

--------------------------------------

"Ooh..." whispered Nutina, wringing her hands. "This doesn't seem good. This doesn't seem good at all..."

"It will be okay," replied Akegane. "Sherlock will figure it out."

--------------------------------------

"I really think we should go," whispered Arion to Lorisa. "This seems much too dangerous for us."

"How can you say that? Are you suggesting we abandon our employer?"

"Wh-wh-what? No! We get him to come with us!"

The Corbine paused for a long time before replying. "No. We're going to see this through to the end. Things are heating up, but we can't just leave everyone behind in this mess."

[45, 45, 18, 8, 8, 8]

[Feint]

8 (sorry. once school is out for me this won't happen anymore.)

The mekka flinched back in response, eyes to the side and ground, ears flat. His expression was clearly upset, not that his body language didn't already convey that.

"N-no," he said weakly, voice nearly at a whisper. "He--it sounds familiar, but--he's gone." The way he said "gone" sounded doubtful, and he didn't dare continue on after that, as though expecting to be punished for an incorrect assumption, should he dare make his statement less vague. He did not raise his eyes to meet Sherlock's.

[GrayGriffin]

"Either he's not as gone as previously thought...or someone's using his name."

"Yes! Yes! Using a scary name is what people would do! Right right?" squeaked Watson, curling tighter around Sherlock's neck.

"But faking a death is also something that could be done..." continued Sherlock.

"We should leave," Arion spoke up. "All of us," he added, looking towards the Mekkayena as well. "If this Balikrag fellow is involved, or someone who dares to use his name, there's no way we should get involved in this."

"Don't be ridiculous," replied Lorisa. "We're already caught up in this. What else can we do?"

--------------------------------------

"Don't fight...please..." whispered Nutina. "I thought they loved each other!" she side-whispered to Akegane. "Why are they acting like this, Akegane-sama?"

"In time, you will understand," the Werebetta replied with a grin. "In time...still, this is a delicate situation. And both Arion and Lorisa have a point."

[46, 46, 19, 9, 9, 9]

[Feint]

9

"NO!" the mekkayena cried. "If it really is him--I don't know how, but we can't press our luck--we need to do what he wants. He'll know. He'll send for us. We... we need those runes," he added, sighing in disappointment. He'd made such a long trip... "If he asked for them, he'll expect to have them. We can't go back to him with nothing." With a subtle deepening of his frown, he laid to rest his prior visions of himself conjuring keystones at will, as well as many other nefarious, greedy wishes he'd intended to lay upon the runes. Although they were frivolous dreams, the mekkayena felt like he was going bed to bed in a nursery and suffocating the children.

But the fear.

He shivered.

[GrayGriffin]

Sherlock noted the Mekkayena's reaction in his mind. He didn't know much about this Balikrag character, but he seemed to be quite influential.

"If you want, Lorisa, Arion, you can go home," he said. "He only asked for me specifically."

"Leave you behind? No! We're going together," snapped Lorisa. Arion nodded as well.

"Either we all leave together, or we all go on together."

"Nutina, keep a line open. We may need you to keep in contact constantly from now on."

--------------------------------------

"Yeah, I've got no problem with that!" chirped the Merham. "Akegane-sama, you can swim to get help, can't you?"

"Indeed. You have no need to worry, Miss Nutina."

[47, 47, 20, 10, 10, 10]

[Feint]

10 (I tell you I won't be late again and then my internet dies. :l)

The mekkayena was visibly irritated. The loving, heart-warming aura radiating from the good friends going forth together against an unknown, powerful evil was far too squishy for his mangy heart-spark. After an awkward moment of scratching at fleas, he scrunched up his nose and decided the positive energy was too much for him to handle.

"Can we get on with this?" he blurted, grimacing. "I don't want to sit and listen to this pointless, muckish conversation you lot are having, but I can't find these runes without you. They didn't last untouched for millenia by being in any obvious or well-known locations."

[GrayGriffin]

"Yeah, no problem," said Arion, sounding embarrassed. Lorisa chuckled and brushed his head with her wing, which only made him fidget more.

"What kind of place would these runes be found?" asked Sherlock, moving forwards, Watson moving to the top of his head and scanning the ceiling.

--------------------------------------

"Muckish?" hissed Nutina, covering her microphone once more. Akegane just laughed.

"Calm down, Nutina. Some creatures just aren't as into the sweet stuff as you are. Now put that back. We have to stay in touch as much as we can."

[48, 48, 21, 11, 11, 11]

[Feint]

11

"Not on the ceiling, I'll tell you that," the mekka crabbed, grimacing at Watson and snorting. "The only surviving runes are deep and out-of-the-way, it will be a long walk. A very long walk. Dark and cold, too. Probably wet." He emphasized the word 'wet' with a flinch. He did not like water, not one bit--he loved it like a flesh-being loved poison. "They're left in the only few places no one else managed to look, you see, so think of it like... a, uh... hunt," he said, failing to remember the name of the egg game his human family liked to play around April-time. He kept thinking of dead hunt, or flesh hunt, but that was very much not the word he was searching for...

"Anyway, if we're going to get going, we need to go now. The ad for this was in the paper, so we're not the only ones out here--it was probably why Balikrag hired you in the first place. He wanted a professional, so they would be fast and more efficient. They'd beat the rush. ...Except they didn't, but that's okay, we're going now. This path here," he said, nodding at the particularly steep tunnel behind him, "looks like it goes straight down. I'd bet my money on that one."

(repost)

[GrayGriffin]

[Sorry for late reply.]

Sherlock frowned as he looked down the tunnel. "I hope you don't mind if I change form for this," he said, his voice already changing into a growl as he reverted to his Baskerville form. This Mekkayena seemed unlikely to tell on them, and he was comfortable enough with the others to take this shape. Watson gave a squeak of surprise, but clung tight to his shoulders anyways.

Admittedly, his magical sensitivity was a bit better in this form, which made it much more ideal for handling this situation.

"We should probably get going," muttered Arion. "The faster we get this done, the faster we get out of here."

"As long as you keep me close, I'll be fine with that," agreed Lorisa.

--------------------------------------

"Don't worry, Sherlock! The wireless is good enough to keep track of you even down there!" added Nutina. "And Akegane-sama is ready to set out if you need her as well!"

[49, 49, 22, 12, 12, 12]

[Feint]

(s'ok, it was my birthday recently! I had a lot of awesome presents, and then I found out I'm not passing my online class... we're only at week 5 of 15, so I can fix it, but it's so stressful! :c)

The mekkayena shook his head. Fine by him if he took whatever shape he wanted; quads ran faster anyway.

"I have a tracking system, and I'm guessing you switched so you could use yours? Whatever the organic version of that is... If we get to a fork, we might want to split into two groups. Two systems in one area is redundant. We might not, though, in which case we can carry on as we are. Starting," he said, sounding nervous as ever, and trotted off into the darkness.

It took a decent portion of tunnel before one's eyes adjusted, but once they did, the darkness was not as dark as the dark made it appear; glow-worms and the like were lighting up small portions of the ceiling (and, slightly more ominously, parts of the water on the floor--those tended to move). The mekkayena cackled unhappily about the wet, but moved forward at the same speed nonetheless.

The areas at ground level were devoid of magical signature, but soft whispers could be heard if one strained to hear--perhaps from the residents.

[GrayGriffin]

[Oh man, I hope your education goes well. Also, sorry for this very late post. I've been doing a lot of volunteer work recently.]

"I have a natural sense for magic, but changing forms tends to dull it. This form is also more convenient for this kind of travel." Sherlock's explanation was brief, as he slipped after the Mekkayena. Watson clung to his back and squeaked softly, apparently just as unhappy about the wet as the Mekkayena was. Lorisa followed after, while Arion took up the back. He was the only one who seemed fully comfortable with the environment-he was, after all, a water spirit first and foremost.

"Do you hear those whispers?" asked Lorisa finally.

"Are you sure they aren't just echoes?" replied Arion.

--------------------------------------

"They can't be echoes. They'd be way louder if they were! The structure of the cave would assure that." Nutina chimed in with her own opinion. "I can't hear anything from here, though."

"I doubt your technology could pick it up in the first place," muttered Akegane, somewhat cryptically.

[50, 50, 23, 13, 13, 13]