You try to peer through the blackness into the caves, but the lamps in the entrance area don't reach that far. You go back to the tables and take one of the portable lamps they have laying on the table. You return to the cavern proper and sit down. You relax yourself and focus on finding any auras in your area.
Lizards, bugs, and a few bats are immediately within your range, but no humans or other animals are nearby. You focus on what is ahead of you, going mentally deeper into the caverns. You get close enough to a massive disturbance to detect it, but something halts you completely. You are simply unable to continue. You pull back and reenter your body.
While you were gone, a green lizard with a red stripe along its back had taken up residence in your lap. You evict it, grab your lamp, and walk along the route marked "extended" for about twenty minutes, stopping to mentally scan the area every five. At the twenty minute mark, you find an area that is cordoned off by caution tape.
You ignore the warnings and look for the entrance to the larger cavern system.
You find it, or rather, it finds you as you slip and fall down an unmarked shaft into the new caverns. You hit your head on a rock and fall unconscious early in the fall.
You slowly drift back into awareness, but there is little difference between having your eyes open and having them shut. There is no light down here, only darkness and a strange, moist chill. You wonder if your frequent trips to knocked-over-the-head land will give you a concussion. Only time will tell, you guess. You ignore the throbbing ache in your head and try to meditate. It's hard, but you feel the plethora of life around you nonetheless. Giant fungi as tall as trees, plants growing all around you, and small critters flitting across the ground. You can't see anything, though, so you wouldn't know if there is a gaping chasm in front of you or a sheer wall.
You feel around for your lamp, and find its remains a few feet to your right. The glass of the cover is broken, but it feels like the bulb is still intact. You try to navigate your hands around the base to find the switch, and click it on. You are blinded for a moment, and suddenly the ache in your head is much, much worse than it was before. You lie there miserably for a moment, then get over it and look around.
Immense mushrooms taller than many trees surround you, shining a sickly white color in the lamplight. Near them are smaller, purple mushrooms that grow close together on the ground, as well as many other strange plants. The sheer amount of life here is astonishing. Why wasn't this reported when the caverns were discovered?
You reattach the handle to the lamp and walk toward one of the towering mushrooms. Feeling its surface, you notice that it has a stiff exterior. Even with your limited knowledge of plants and fungi, you're pretty sure that mushrooms don't have wood-like stalks. If you had some sort of axe or knife, you're sure you could cut it open and see if it's just the outer layer of it that is stiff and wood-like.
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Topic: Fugue: Once more. (Read 32363 times)