14610/Sticks and Stones II

Sticks and Stones II
Date of Scene:	14 April 2023
Location:	Danesville Historical District (And Below) - Conn
Synopsis:	When a museum of birch bark basket making disappears down a sinkhole that weirdly shifts to the north, the Outsiders gather to try and find the cause, and rescue Nick Nottles and other Metropolis University history students. They stumble across friends of Tim's, the mole-people Oppo, Norjak and Clem and their Subterrain THE UNDEFEATED, and hitch a ride. Next they fight the LOTH IMPERIAL, who seem to have taken the whole of the (small) mill museum -- but for what dastardly purpose? Find out next time in -- STICKS AND STONES II PT II!
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Laura Kinney, Emiko Queen, Austin Reese, Conner Kent, Tim Drake

---

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    It was a normal 'field trip' for college students who were studying history, and Nicholas Nottles, Gotham native, once kidnapped by a demon and held blindly at ransom for his friend's blood, technical owner of The Wizard Van, had been wearing his Metropolis U college shirt and jeans, and trying his best to hit up an upperclassman in the same class to get her to come see the wizard van. And definitely not try and engage her in their LARP group which, incidentally, may or may not include one Tim Drake.

    He didn't actually mention Tim Drake by name, but apparently 'Gotham Royalty' outside of Gotham is generally taken to mean 'probably some god awful bad guy with a quirk and a running gag'.

    So he struck out.

    The place they were touring was a little museum, out in a field, about the historical significance of the production of a particular type of bark-centric basket, the ruins of the mill that made the basket far to the back near a stream.

    It was entirely a normal day for the college students, until suddenly there was a rumbling, and the world seemed to shift up and down at the same time, to the sounds of earth echoing and screams.

    **SEVERAL HOURS LATER**

    The call had gone out to the Outsiders, asking for immediate search and rescue help, a job too big for locals out in a flyover part of Connecticut near the New York/Massachusettes boarder.

    There is a field, and the now absolute wreck of the ruins of what might have been a building by a stream -- and a very large hole in the ground that takes a sharp turn to the north. Seismic readings in the area had indicated a large, abnormal event without lead up or much of an aftershock. There is the smell of earth and acrid smoke in the air. Electricity had been cut off, and the town water, though the stream was meandering down the hole that seems far too smoothly bored to have been natural... minus the sudden turn to the north anyway.

    Balm was wearing new armor, a slightly steampunk look with even a cape (nice job Tim on convincing her to wear one), her hood down and showing a recently shorn-short haircut, kinks and curls going every which way as she skids to the side of the wreckage.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Search and Rescue help is something X-23 excels at. Her training is not strictly based around finding people, but her nose and survival training make her excellent at tracking. Not to mention her healing factor and other enhanced senses mean she can prowl just about any terrain type long beyond the limits of most Human search teams.

And when her team-mates on the Outsiders put out a call she's there.

She's packed light. Sleek tactical clothing, cameo for the local environment, with a slim backpack filled with medical supplies along with water & energy bars. No weapons. Civilians could be present and it's best not to alarm anyone.

X-23 inhales deeply, letting the infamous nose pick up information from the breeze, and surveys the local area.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Red Arrow hasn't been seen a lot as of late, so it might surprise a few people to see the crimson clad half-sibling of the more famous emerald archer arrive on the scene. She doesn't have a cape, mostly because there's too many things to potentially get it caught in. So not really her style. The red hood that's pulled over her head is affixed to the bodysuit that makes up the majority of her vigilante costume.

There is a light crunch on the ground from her footsteps as she walks to the edge of the crater, a sound allowed to occur mostly because she doesn't want to startle any of her teammates. "I know I was expecting a large hole, but this is something else." She gives a brief nod to the other Outsiders, but it's right to business as she crouches down at the crater and runs her fingers along the edge. "... This is too regular to be a natural cave-in or anything." She leans over a little to look farther into the gaping earth. "I'd shoot a camera arrow down there, but I don't think there's enough light for it to pick up anything. A flare might give away that someone is investigating."

Pause. "I'll save those for blinding any underground monsters."

Austin Reese has posed:
There's a lot to unpack here, Osprey thinks to himself, as he finds himself standing at the edge of a very, very large hole, "Huh." He looks back from the edge of the hole towards Balm. She went with the cape after all. He turns around and walks back towards her, tapping on the touch screen on his left wrist.

He glances to Red Arrow as he passes her, when she mentions there not being enough light, "We should be able to get a drone with thermals down there, but I don't know if the sand worm tunnel will interfere with the signal or not."

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner flies from New York when he gets the call from the Outsides, arriving about a minute after the others get there. "Hey guys... Emi, it has been a while," he waves to the red-clad archer and then does a double take. "You," she points at Balm, "you have a cape!" There is a mock-horror tone there.

Capes are clearly inferior to leather jackets, you see.

"Anyway..." he peers into the hole. "It is too deep for a cave-in too. Do you hear anything, X?"

Tim Drake has posed:
    The other red-themed hero is taking up the rear of the group, his eyes on the holographic projection floating a few inches above his left gauntlet. It's the camera feed from the Outsiders jet, which is on standby up above, giving him a clear look down into the gaping hole in the ground.

    "Capes are cool," Tim says, almost on automatic, before he looks up to flash a distracted half-smile at Conner before he focuses back on the readouts. "They're a classic."

    Something beeps, and Red Robin taps at the inset touchpad on his gauntlet before he frowns. "We should still be seeing aftershocks if this was a normal seismic event." The implication is, of course, that this is not a normal seismic event. "Keep your guard up. Could be anything." He looks up from the projection to frown out across the group, brow furrowed in thought.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The smells of the area: Earth, wind, fire... more dirt. Axe body spray. Eau de Awesome. The sounds around them are the buzzing of electrical wires from the high-voltage overhead, disturbed birds and the buzzing of insects.

    The crater yawns open before the Outsiders, and Balm pauses, and she looks to Conner, then to Red Robin, and then she breathes out and tilts her head back.

    "I promised I'd give it a try to work on some balance issues." she replies, "and they're classic looking." she replies, and she looks to the assembled group.

    "There are eight people who are missing... including someone who knows me and Red. Nick Nottles. He's down there. I *know* it." she states, and she then just takes a little hop off the edge.

    <It's not normal, but it's not magical. I can't sense anything on my end of the spectrum.> her voice comes over the comm as she hits the side of the hole, and skids down, shrinking before she goes, cape flapping dramatically behind her.

    <The local guys said that it just up and disappeared. Something triggered the silent alarm. Apparently it was the whole 'your museum has been disconnected from the network'> she explains.

    <... hole goes waaaay to the north. I can't see any turns.>

Emiko Queen has posed:
"I know," Emiko replies to Conner as she stands back up. "I had to keep out of contact while dealing with some... family issues on Mother's side." She leaves it summed up at that, as it's not relevant to the matter here and now. "Needless to say it feels good to be back on the field with the rest of you."

A nod towards the not Tim bird themed arrival. "A drone would work. Better suited to carry the additional electronics." Or just scan from the jet overhead like the actual Robin is doing. "Not to mention we'd see debris from damage to the building if it had been seismic. This is too clean. Too precise. Like... someone stole the entire building underground. But -why-.. Only way to find out is to investigate.

Red Arrow pulls a grapple arrow from her quiver, connects it to the arrowline device built into the quiver, and takes a quick shot to fire it the side of the hole. From there she hops over the edge, making a light swing over to the earthen wall, and starting to let line out in controlled incriments to rappel her way down. <Not natural. Not magical. That leaves mechanical, mad science, or some other method entirely unknown to humanity.> She pauses thoughtfully as she works her way down, then asks <I know it was a museum, but was there anything particularly noteworthy in it that someone or something would, I don't know, want to steal an entire building to get?>

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Could be some kind of tunnelling machine or a sinkhole?" Laura wonders, a slight shrug, geology isn't really an area of interest or something she's studied. Beyond the best types of explosive to use on various types of stone. "I should have brought a combat shovel." Not that a shovel will do any good if a tunnel like that caves in further...

"Only way to see where it goes is to follow it. No point following above ground. We'd probably just need to make our own entrance that way. Which could take ages."

She doesn't bother with any kind of safety measures. She simply steps off the edge, popping her claws with a SNIKT, and digging them into the wall. Using them to keep her speed just on the side of not breaking anything. And letting gravity take care of the rest.

Austin Reese has posed:
"You know I saw a show where somebody used a portal gun to steal a building once." Osprey says aloud, thinking about one possibility, "Didn't leave a hole like this though." A brief pause, "Also they dropped it on top of city to cause a bunch of damage. Probably not what's happening with this one."

Seems like the plan is to just go down the hole and see what happens. Osprey can get behind that plan. He takes a running leap into the hole, pulling out his grapple gun and shooting a line into the wall after a few seconds.

Hey freefall is fun when you know there's something to keep you from the sudden stop at the end.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Some mad scientists stole the building?" Conner floats down the sinkhole, taking the point and trying to listen to anything. It has been only a few hours, so survivors should be crying for help, right?

"Classic is not what I would call capes," he adds as a sidenote. "Only guy I know that makes them almost work is Magneto. And he is crazy. And wears a bucket on his head."

Tim Drake has posed:
    As Balm speaks, Red Robin's display flashes up images of the missing eight, mostly pulled from social media or government databases (lots of unfortunate looking driver's license pics in there). The projection fades a moment later, and then Tim fires an anchor point into the ground not far from the edge of the hole.

    He's the last one down, landing with barely a sound as the grapple line eases his momentum. "<<There have to be easier ways of stealing something,>>" he says in response to Emiko. But then he sighs. "<<Not that I wouldn't put it past any number of villains we've encountered in the past. I can name at least a half-dozen right now that would be all over a plan like 'steal an entire museum'.>>"

    He squints out into the darkness, but even the nightvision in his domino mask kicking in only serves to show that Phoebe was right. All Tim can see is a tunnel heading off north.

    "I'm going to tell Batman that you don't like his cape."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Magneto can make anything he wants work, who's going to tell him 'no'?" Phoebe comments, her voice echoing in the simply massive tunnel made below.

    And like Tim, she can think of more than a few people who would have a laugh at 'stealing a whole museum'.

    "This particular museum? It's not like it's got priceless art. Or magic items hiding in plain sight -- it's literally got a display of a basket mill and a couple students from Metropolis University in it." Balm replies, and she looks back to Red Robin.

    "This also isn't /her/ style. I'd be able to pick her out if she was using Nick again." she eliminates a demon, not wanting to use her name.

    There is a whirring, a soft burring, the murring of mechanical equipment, the regular thudding and vibrations coming from below the group as they come to the turn in the chasm heading North.

    Seismic activity would show it is rather... regular.

    ... small...

    ... below them and rising!

Emiko Queen has posed:
Once she's got her feet on the floor of the tunnel Emiko gives a tug on the line in a very specific manner to dislodge the grapple arrow and let the line retract itself back into the device, while the arrow itself is caught in her hand to be detatched, collapsed, and returned to it's slot within the quiver.

Then she unslings her bow from where it was strapped down during the descent, to have it at the ready. She can think of too many possible 'just in case' scenerios to not have it ready. "I think we can all think of at least a dozen within our own respective rogue's galleries," she adds as they start down the tunnel and the mechanical sounds deep within. "That's not even getting into across the world as a whole. Or within, as this case may be."

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura can't pick up seismic activity in the traditional sense. But her hearing is far better than most. She's been listening for the sound of drills and mechanical equipment since they first saw the hole. Sniffing for the smell of gasoline and diesel. Fuel smells that would suggest some sort of large scale mining operation. She doesn't seem inclined to slow her descent even if the activity is closing in on them.

The faster she falls the less likely anyone below her will be able to react to her arrival. "I really should bring more weapons on these excursions. Every time we go for a simple outing. It gets..... Complicated." She raises an eyebrow. "I don't have a rogues gallery." It's best not to think of what happened to her enemies. It's probably something which will make Tim need antacids and migraine medication....

Conner Kent has posed:
"That is fine, I am pretty sure Bats knows I don't like his cape, or his face," replies Conner. "But don't tell Supes about capes, I don't want to hurt his feelings." He peers ahead, about so say something else, but then frowns. "Hmm, you know? I remember reading something about missing buildings in New York years ago. But I can't remember the details. Was one of the Four Fs first front page news?"

Conner has a rogue's gallery. Not a big one, and it doesn't include building thieves. There is a Shark-person, an idiot with mechanical arms, and... a paler clone, who probably doesn't steal buildings. "Might be a good moment for a flare arrow," he offers.

Austin Reese has posed:
There's a pause before he hits the ground as the line pulls tight, and then Osprey touches down, and retracts the line. He stops once he's there and frowns a little bit, as he takes a look around the hole, until everyone is settled and they start to move.

He takes a look at the panel on his wrist as it starts to beep rapidly. He tilts his head a bit, "Did we rule out mole people? We better move, something's coming up towards us right now."

Speaking of which, he moves to back away from the rapidly rising seismic effect. No idea what it is, but he doesn't want to be standing over it when it comes out of the ground.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Look, Tim is already taking a bevy of antacids, but that's more to do with his frankly staggering intake of coffee than anything involving the team. Thankfully, that's what a little old thing called plausible deniability is for. He still makes a face at Laura's back, tough, because he definitely gets the implication.

    "I wouldn't do that to Superman. I mean, who could be mean to him?" Rogues Gallery notwithstanding, of course. He leaves his line attached and hanging down the side of the hole, and then he clucks his tongue. "Mole people," he repeats, after Osprey says it.

    Then he shares a significant Look with Balm, before picking up the pace as they approach the turn and the steadily growing seismic activity.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I didn't tell him." Balm replies to Red Robin, and she grips her gloves a little tighter as she picks up the pace as well.

    And that's when the ground breaks in front of the outsiders, cracking open slowly, the soft earth parting for rust and steel, with honey-yellow lights as what could only be described as a 1940's submarine, retrofitted to dig through the Earth -- a SUBTERRAN.

    The motors roared and grumbled for a moment, the fumes making the tunnel reek of old motor oil.

    The machine whrrrrs for a moment, and then the tinny sound of a radio crackling comes on.

    "Kurrrrrrrrooosh... patarn keleeki -- TEEEM?"

    And then the hatch on the top pops up, and what appears to be a cross between a mole and a particuarly wiry scrub brush of a guninea pig pops out. It pushes its goggles up with a spanner, rattling its head about a moment before it gives a sniff of the air.

    "TEEEM!" it exclaims, and wearing a hard hat with some scratch-looking lettering on it and gloves over its clawed hands, the creature hefts itself off the top, rolling down a thin one-thread ladder with hand-and-foot-holds on the side.

    And then he whacks what looks like some sort of decoder on his arm.

    <WELL Aren't you a smell for sore noses!> the mechanic states, the sound coming particularly tinny from the translator.

Emiko Queen has posed:
"To be fair, neither to I, just inhereted from my brother." And sometimes Green Arrow and Flash share. Then she has to poke Bart for advice. "... Well, I suppose you could count the Ninth Circle but that's not an individual, it's a grou--"

She's cut off at the mention of approaching activity, and skids to a stop. Then quickly backpedals away as the ground opens up, being spared from falling in by her own assassin honed reflexes.

A machine comes up, like a dirt based submarine surfacing, and a mole-ish person rattles his way out of it.

"You were saying?" she side-snarks towards Osprey.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura doesn't immediately attack, even if she is trying to cover the open ground between her and the machine as quickly as possible, she seems to glance back at Tim. Seeing what the groups fearless leader will propose. If it's sudden and relentless violence. Well she'll get to it...

Even once they reach flat ground her claws remain out. Threat mode is clearly active. Eyes darting up and around. Tracking motions. Looking for threats and allies. Keeping a map of where everything is and where she's best positioned.

And if her landing is a little abrupt? Well she'll be healed in moments. A broken ankle or two is nothing she can't repair.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Yeah, Mole Men," comments Conner just as the sub-terranean vehicle shows up. "Although I thought they were more yellow-ish." He glances back at Tim and Phoebe. "Friend of yours?"

They are the ones that knew the people in the missing museum, after all. Which reminds him he should keep looking for the building. Perhaps a little ahead in the hole? He goes to check.

Austin Reese has posed:
"Wow. It is Mole Men." Osprey says, his stance shifting a little bit after the translator kicks in and starts translating correctly, "Oh. Well, how can we be of help?" He asks, as he steps towards the strange sub-like device, "That doesn't look big enough to make this hole." He motions around, though he glances over to Red Arrow, "Live in Gotham long enough.." He muses, "Oriole, do you know this one?" He seems familiar enough with SOMEONE at least.

Tim Drake has posed:
    The group's fearless leader looks, well, it's a mix of relief and exasperation on his face, which is probably a sign that they aren't under immediate threat. He puts his hands on his hips and lets out a slow exhale. "Oppo," he says, which is... a word.

    Actually, it's a name. Of this particular moleperson, as context clues might elucidate.

    He steps forward, giving Laura a quick glance to make sure she's okay because he can't help it (even knowing the extent of her healing factor) and then crouches down near the mole-creature. Conner's question only gets a shrug of one shoulder and an amused smile.

    "You wouldn't happen to know anything about a building that's suddenly vanished from topside and some humans gone missing along with it, would you?" Red Robin asks.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    <Oriole?" Oppo leans forward, and sniffs Tim. <... you don't SMELL like a bird.> the mole states, and then crosses his arms, and then looks to Phoebe.

    <Ah, Ffweebee! You've changed your scent a bit! Ha! Would know you two were traveling together. New bunch of friends I smell, I wager. Not JayJay or Nick or Nacho hanging about nor... ah... Sir Yappington.> he pauses a moment, and looks about, and then is distracted a moment.

    <Missing a building? I wager it's part of this hole network. Had a bit of a tiff with some of the home boys -- you know how it is. Topsiders spell Doom this, light-seekers cause the end that,> he waves one hand... claw... paw around a moment.

    <IS THAT TEEM AND FEEBEE?> comes a shrill voice, and two more mole people, one dark red of rust and the other a happy yellowish-brown color poke their heads out, sniffing the air.

    <And others! Top siders! Lots of top siders! ... one smells dangerous.>

    <PRetty sure Teem and Feebee smell dangerous.>

    And Oriole/Balm/Phoeeb takes a deep breath, and then draws down to speak with Oppo as well.

    "Nick's missing, we know he was in the building that was taken."

    <EH?> Oppo blinks. He looks to Tim. He looks to the two other Moles sticking out of the hatch, and then he scratches at his head.

    <Then there's no time to waste. This tunnel loops back. It'll take you hours. C'mon! Into the /Undefeated/! Be a tight squeeze, but pretty sure you remember how to handle the Topographal Alternating Fluid Vibration Controls, eh Teem? I mean you fixed them for us! Come, come, we'll get going immediately!>

    <HI TEEM> the other duo call out, and then drop down, chattering.

Emiko Queen has posed:
It's a good thing there's a translation device of some manner present, because otherwise Emiko would not of understood a single bit of all that. But these mole people apparently know Phoebe and Tim and that's enough for her. Though even with that it's a bit hard to keep up with the back and forth and back again and ...

"Am I correct that they just offered us a ride in their burrowing machine?" she asks for confirmation before approaching the craft to get inside if correct. It shouldn't be -too- crowded, she's a small person after all.

Laura Kinney has posed:
The mole people aren't the only ones trying to gauge how dangerous things are by smell. Laura sniffs the air just as much. And just as intensely.

She's probably the dangerous one they smell too. Expression a blank mask. No hint of discomfort showing from the rough landing. And she's start and end a fight on the slightest of provocations.

Does she have mole repelling hot sauce with her too? Quite possibly. Those MRE rations are bland..

"Friends of yours?" she wonders. Her claws are still out for now. Even considering they're supposedly with allies. If you need to call your vehicle the Undefeated it's probably a sign you get into plenty of trouble...

Austin Reese has posed:
Osprey is more than willing to go along with this. Oriole and Red Robin know these two from the looks of it, and if they can guide them to the missing building, he can get himself inside of there, "A tight fit is fine, better than walking for miles!" He quickly moves up and heads towards the vehicle, clambering inside and trying to squeeze himself into a good position out of the way.

Tim Drake has posed:
    "Oriole," Tim repeats, this time pointing at Phoebe. Then, at himself, "Red Robin." He goes through the whole team like this, "Osprey," "Red Arrow," and then the dangerous one is "X-23."

    Because it's important they maintain their secret identities, especially if they're liable to encounter someone they know in their civilian life.

    His face rearranges into something blank as he tries to recall the particulars of moleperson society, but then he's waving the rest of the Outsiders into the subterran vehicle, the Undefeated. "They sure did," he says to Emiko, and he can't help it, he's a little excited. This is shaping up to be an Adventure. He'll be the last to squeeze in, probably uncomfortably, but these are the sacrifices one makes as the team leader.

    But he installs himself at the Topographal Alternating Fluid Vibration Controls panel, only wincing slightly as someone's elbow digs into his side. Or maybe that was just the arm of the too-small chair he's perching himself in, now.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    It's a tight squeeze, but everyone can fit in easily enough. The Undefeated was meant to be manned by more than a trio, after all.

    <Ah, we're using our MADE-UP names this time? Fine, fine, but as long as Sir Yappington is at home and not eating our rations we should all be agreeable!> Oppo states. <Oppo, that's me, I'm the captain. Norjak is our navigator.>

    <Hi there!> the yellowish mole states, lifting a hat.

    <And the red one's Clem, she's operations> OPpo states as Clem wriggles into place beneath one of the main consoles.

    "Red Robin, some friends, and I helped get their craft back to operational. Kind of refreshing to not play translator this time though." Oriole explains, and she leans back into one of the crevases inside the mechanical monstrosity that was the Undefeated.

    And with a roar, they're underway!

    There's a rumbling, a tumbling, a tunneling as they descend into the ground, leaving a tunnel of looser dirt behind them.

    <We're on a trip, in our favorite ship, the Undefeated be her name! We're digging down past Mantle Town and into inner spaaaaace> Norjak can be heard singing, translated between their squeaky language and voices and through the translators hooked onto their own arms.

    <Red Arrow -- isn't that an odd name for a topsider? Do you use arrows? Are you a directional engineer or mapmaker?> Clem asks of Emiko.

    Oppo wriggles past everyone, checking on guages and filters. After all, everything in the Undefeated was meant for someone who was half the size of most people; the moles are short.

    <You smell dangerous. Are you dangerous? You're probably dangerous. Are you single?> Norjak questions X-23 between songs.

    *SniffSniff* <You smell like you definitely fight a lot. Are you fighting the Orcs as well? Or are you not one of Sir Yappington's armies?> Oppo questions Austin as he passes him.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Having to sing to pass the time in the backseat of a long roadtrip is not a childhood experience Emiko has had to deal with, so that's... different. At least the translator doesn't make them sound like that obnoxious sub shop commerical.

At Clem's query she smirks a bit, leaning to the side slightly so he can see the quiver as she grabs the fletched end of an arrow between her fingers and pull it up a bit. "Exactly. Normal arrows, and special ones for dealing with more difficult targets." Then she leans the other way to give Oppo space to past. Right now it is very good to be barely over that five foot height, though even she has to scrunch and scootch a little as the moles move around the compartment to operate their machine.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura is, as she usually is on operations, silent except when she has something to say.

And that something is.. "I'm not available. But yes I am very dangerous." It's probably more polite than her rejections of people who hit on her topside to be honest. And no-one died or had to wake up in a hospital with missing fingers.

"Perhaps you should spend less time sniffing us and more time getting us to our destination?" Ahh Laura. Such a hypocrite. She spends almost every moment of every day sniffing for dangerous things....

Austin Reese has posed:
The question from Oppo after he sniffs Osprey gets a little bit of a grin out of him, "I do fight a lot, yeah. I'm a bit more of a freelancer than an army type." He responds, "I'll definitely fight some orcs though, sounds like fun."

He's definitely fought a lot of orcs in games over the years, and now that he thinks about it he's surprised he hasn't fought any when he gets wrapped up in Oriole's magical shenanigans.

Tim Drake has posed:
    "Made-up names," Red Robin does indeed confirm, and then he's quite busy flipping switches, adjusting knobs, and turning dials. More than once he has to scrunch down to peer at a read-out or two, but apparently Tim knows what he's doing enough to report that "Readings are clear" or "Mineral deposit up ahead, veer left" and things of that nature.

    Who knows what any of that's about, though!

    He does lean forward at one point to tell Austin that "If you ever want to join Sir Yappington's armies, he's always recruiting."

    Sir Yappington is, of course, Tim (well, Lonnie's) dog Yap.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    That's because the only Orcs Oriole fights have Challenge Ratings.

    "We have a great insurance plan." she does call out from across the craft. "And you get to show up in the Holiday Comics."

    <WE'RE IN TOPSIDER COMICS?!> Norjak squeaks audiably. There is then rapidfire moletalk about showing up as heroes in Topsider comics between Clem and Norjak, who was not put down at all by X-23's let-down, about whether or not one of them will wear a cape or join a justice defender friends club.

    There seems to be the impression that Norjak adn Clem are relatively young, and Oppo is the old guardian of the duo.

    It takes a short bit, maybe an hour or so, but soon there is a rumbling, and then a moment of free-fall.

    Clem pulls a trigger, and through the cabin the honey yellow lights turn Electric Blue as a shield activates to buffer their fall after a moment of weightlessness, and then a bounce!

    A whrrrrr

    And the engine going to idle.

    The older Mole brings his goggles up and peers into a glass orb on a tube.

    <We're here. I can see the building that was stolen ahead. Looks like there's some Loth Imperial Craft tracks about the outside. Might be a trap.>

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko Queen instinctively braces herself as they hit freefall. Which isn't too hard in the confined space. The landing isn't too bad though. These Moles know their stuff when it comes to tunneling machines.

"That was much more efficient than searching on foot ourselves. Thank you."

Then she leans towards Phoebe, as she and Tim are the two in the know and Tim has been busy with the controls. "What's a Loth?"