Dug Too Deep

"Dug Too Deep" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
Lila looked out over the groups of rebels who had volunteered for this exploration mission. The numbers in each group varied but there was at least 5 in each group and each group had at least one engineer, a medic and a soldier each. The Half-Breed cleared her throat before she spoke loud enough to be heard by all. "Thank you all for coming today. One of our allies recently informed us there is something under the jaw but was unable to supply it's nature or location. So today we will be venturing deep under the Jaw to find what it is, reclaim it, or neutralize it if necessary. Above all be careful. We do not know what traps may be employed if any, so take it slow, and if you see something suspicious have an engineer investigate it before touching anything or moving on. Don't be afraid to turn back if things get too dicey. Lastly, if you find anything you have permission to investigate just be smart about it. Your lives are more important than whatever we find down there. You all have your assignments, dismissed."
The group's began to disperse as they went to fulfill their assignments. Lila came down from the stairs she was speaking from and found her group. "Are we ready to go?"
akkeyagentofhelheim
Juro tilted his chin up, already writing the moment he arrived at the Jaw with Vox, and the Chief and her dragon. There was a very slight, unnoticeable shadow under his eyes from the previous night's events, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from doing his job. After all, that was what he told Yun when they left.
"I'm fine, I promise. I'm still here, aren't I? I'm just bringing them back to the Jaw. You stay with Milae and Dario, then I'll return as quick as I can."
Perhaps that last bit was untrue, but the notion of an exploration and discovery was too exciting of a bait to pass up. And it was a distraction--a welcome one at that.
He snapped the notebook shut and twisted his face back to its usual position, grinning silently at the Commander in confirmation.
voxarnason
The scout had spent much of the night before being filled in on the events regarding Dario, and only left the healer after he was assured that they would be fine for the time being. His return to the Jaw with Juro was essentially silent -- he did not want to pry about what the man saw, and if he was being honest, he didn’t want to hear the specifics. The idea that he wasn’t there already hurt as it currently stood.
He noted Liam and Kendra’s presence, hoping for just a few more moments to collect himself before putting on a brave face for the two. He couldn’t help but wonder how the stag and goat were faring back on Haligan.
lbigreyhound13
The Chief had arrived to the Jaw with Shadow via portal earlier that morning. This was one of the first of her agreed check-ins that she promised to do with Lila, and it seemed that she and Shadow came at the right time. She wasn’t going to be at the Jaw full-time, but it would be nice to scout out the area with her comrades and her niece to get to know the Jaw...the new living quarters of the Rebellion...to see if there was anything they could find and maybe even use. 
tree-the-cat
Liam gruffly pulled his newly-made shawl straight across his shoulders and Kendra bumped his arm, signing for him to stop worrying, to which he vehemently disagreed that he was doing so in the first place. 
Everyone mentally checked in with Nala, who would be facilitating major communications with the surface, since many key Rebels were going to be underground for a time. I will not be afraid to come down there and search for you myself if one of you goes dark, she warned with dark amusement. Try not to get lost. 
“Where are we starting, Cap?” Liam spoke up to Lila, folding his arms. He felt like this could very much be a waste of time--every Conclave member they had either asked or interrogated had no clue what Yun had been talking about--but it was work to do while they prepared for their next steps in their takedown of the other factions. 
hubwalker1
"It's Commander, or Lila." She corrected. "And we're heading to to the underground bunkers. From what I've heard it's where they kept their most important goods and people. It might lead down somewhere deeper." She began walking, taking the lead amongst the group and heading west towards the bunker..
Jari was humming, "On the Road Again," audibly, while her twin rolled his eyes and chuckled following behind the eldest.
tree-the-cat
Everything was still quite soggy and muddy from the recent floodings, with a few inches of groundwater in several of the deeper areas, so with a bit of splitting up, Lila’s team entered the Jaw and followed the main corridors to the western end of the bunkers. As they grew closer, the hallways grew a little more manicured, sandstone cut simply but accurately to keep dirt, water, and underground vermin out of the higher officials’ commonways. They passed several Rebellion members doing the last cleanups of one of the supply rounds, in order to get out of the way for the exploratory teams. 
The oldest scout of the group pushed open one of the previously-well-sealed doors at the end of a secluded hallway with his good hand, and found an extremely comfortable but also very badly treated and also flooded living quarters. There was a harsh map of southern Aidorin with several enraged daggers sticking out of many locations, one of which he recognized as White Hallows. Under his feet was a thick dragonhide rug, but there was a strange sort of ridge that he could feel under his feet, and when the rug was moved aside, there was a circular seam carved into the stone with an indentation to allow it to be pulled up. 
voxarnason
He ran his fingers over the stone, stopping to take in what was obviously a dwelling prior to the flooding. He had seen a location specifically pointed out on the map, but chose to ignore it for his own sanity. With a swift motion, he strained to pull at the stone, revealing a hole with no signs of light coming from it. He remained crouched as he stared down into it, unsure of whether this was a blessing or a curse.
“Uh, does anyone feel like exploring?” He peered into it once more before looking to the group behind him. “I’ll go if someone wants to lower me in.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
Juro was taking in the sights like a child in a sweets shop, his amber eyes regaining some familiar light in them once more. His pen flew wildly in his book, taking notes on anything and everything he could see, maps and diagrams included.
"Me!" he piped up at the scout's request, the smile on his face difficult to hide. He approached the opening, getting on his knees as Vox lowered himself in.
"Virion," he said, and the golem sprouted wings out of its empty space, small enough to fit in the hole, but strong enough to support the scout as he scrambled downwards into the darkness. Juro followed suit, flipping over with lean arms and catching himself with one hand on Virion as they went down to see what awaited them, before he would open a portal for easier travel for those left above later in case of any impending danger.
tree-the-cat
The rebels trailed behind and peered inside while the two men made their controlled fall down the hole. It quickly became dark incredibly quickly, as well as musty and earthy, clogging each breath with the smell of wet stone and rot. 
Rope? Liam asked Kendra after close to a minute, and she wrinkled her nose and shook her head.
We don’t know how deep it is.
True. Okay, fine. He drummed his claws on his arm briefly in annoyance, and then shrugged and jumped. She gasped and reached for him, but he’d dissolved into a dark cloud to slide down the side of the columnal hole, occasionally re-forming to slide along the wall with his claws, kick off and start over again. Kendra slapped the side of the hole in frustration. What an idiot. She illuminated a hand and focused, spreading her fingers and pointing down into the hole to try and give her family and Juro some sight.
It didn’t do much, but it just barely lit the mouth of the end of the chute, and then it opened up into massive, echoing pitch blackness. The sound of streaming, gushing water, colliding rocks and sloshing filled the darkness, along with a few extremely distant growls that trained ears could identify as a Whispering Death.
Virion managed to keep its riders airborne, but Liam was not so lucky. He whistled past them with a yelp, and then mud splashed and rocks slid as he hit a slope and rolled down to the ground, completely soaked in earthy sludge. At the huge sound, the dragon noises down to their far left sharpened and quieted, alert. The half-breed lay in place for a minute, groaning. Kendra strained to hear or see anything below, even with her light, which managed to filter down three-fourths of the way.
akkeyagentofhelheim
Juro wrinkled his nose at the smell, ears catching sound as father and son figured themselves out, “Stay alert.” He said in a low voice, before willing Virion into an opening beside them big enough for human and dragon to pass through.
The other end of the portal hummed to life right beside Kendra, and ink stained hands and a lopsided grin poked through. His hands came up, Sorry. Need a light, so you first. He gently took her hand nearest to him and pulled her towards the darkness.
She shook her head with a grin and saluted the others with her free, glowing hand before stepping through, right in front of a mud-splattered Liam sitting up with Vox’s help. He squinted and threw up a paw at the sudden light, and she lessened it, making it more diffused and ambient versus a beam. You look great, she teased. Need that rope, still?
Piss off. Liam stumbled to his feet, sloughing mud off his arms, and his ears flicked as he attuned to the darkness, feeling his senses spread through the immediate area. Between that and Kendra’s light, it revealed that they were standing next to a huge, curved wall, and it sloped right up over their heads until it was interrupted by the opening they had fallen out of. They couldn’t see the other side, but from the shape of things, they could surmise that they were standing in a massive, dripping wet tunnel carved of simple earth and embedded with boulders and straggly roots, larger than anything they could have expected. The dragon’s growls came again, a bit closer this time, and the Arnasons whirled around, searching for the source but seeing nothing yet. 
Jan 23, 2021
Jari was the next through the portal. She got a running start before diving head first through the portal. She does a flip as she exits and sticks the landing. An invisible panel of judges from across the world each gave her a 10, except for the German judge who gave her a 9.
Kettil grins and shakes his head at his twin. He took a running jump through the portal as well, stumbling as he exits.
Lila just walks through like a regular mortal because she is the most normal one here apparently.
Jari hears the sound of whispering deaths and reaches into one of her pockets as she steps forward in front of the group, standing between them and where the sound came from.
Jan 23, 2021
As soon as Lila, Kettil, and Jari walked through the portal, Grey and Shadow looked at each other and nodded. The Chief followed her nieces and nephew’s lead and walked through the portal with Shadow in tow, and within seconds, Grey and Shadow could see that they were in a dark hole. There was no source of light other than the one from Kendra’s hand. 
She moved forward a step when Shadow bumped into her with her snout. “This just got a whole lot interesting,” Grey said to her Night Fury. 
Jan 23, 2021
With everyone’s words and movements echoing down the tunnel, it didn’t take long for them to hear a vicious hiss, along with scales sliding through the mud. There were also several additional high-pitched squeals, which sounded almost entirely unfamiliar.
The Arnason siblings backed away, but Kendra increased the light to let everyone see the glimmer of a huge, spiked body, lashing and spiraling as it moved towards them. The biggest Whispering Death any of them had ever seen raised its Gronckle-sized head above its own ebony black coils, pale eyes shifting back and forth as teeth rotated in its throat in warning. Its wings, though absurdly small for its huge body, spread out wide above the group.
Then, below the shuddering flaps of skin, five smaller heads popped up, mouths just as wide and gaping, but far less threatening, as each of them only held one huge fang right in the center of their pink gums. Their hides ranged from black like the adult to bright scarlet. They all screamed in an imitation of what must have been their mother, who was still hovering in a threat display.
Jan 23, 2021
Jari had the most experience with Whispering Deaths out of all of them but she’d never seen anything like this. If she had to guess she would say that it was a brood mother of some kind. She knew how protective the mothers were of their young, it had cost the Pookans dearly when they accidentally dug into their nesting grounds, this one would be doubly so. She slowly lowered her hand to the ground and dropped a handful of her Whispering Death’s favorite treat. The Half-Breed begins to hiss at various pitches and lengths as she backed up. “Juro keep the portal up just in case huh?” Jari murmured.
“What was all that hissing?” Lila asked.
“I told them we came in peace and left an offering for them.”
The Commander blinked at that. Of course she could speak to Whispering Deaths, why not.
Jan 23, 2021
Juro nodded in response to Jari’s warning. The mother flexed her spikes when Jari approached, causing all of them to stand on end and making her appear far larger, but as the half-breed backed away, she narrowed her eyes and her nostrils flared, searching for the food on the ground by lowering her head. Her body tightened around the babies, which all screeched and yapped at varying pitches and intervals. Then the dragon’s head swung over to Jari, her teeth spinning very slowly in concentric rings as she bumped her nose spike by both of Jari’s legs. Her breath snuffled in and out loudly as her thorny coils relaxed, and the babies all swarmed out in a shower of wings and thin spines and splashing water and mud as they fought over the treats, devouring them in seconds. 
Kendra had a hand over her heart, and if she could smile any bigger, she might have exploded on the spot. Liam held her elbow. Don’t you get any ideas. They’re covered in teeth and spikes.
They’re babies…!!
Jan 23, 2021
He kept the portal wide open as requested, but curiosity killed the bookkeeper. After scribbling on paper, Juro slowly, carefully, shuffled his way to the left, trying to conceal himself as much as he could while both dragon and human groups were distracted by each other without telling anyone. The scarf secured over his chin, he took quiet steps away along the wall, in hopes to find anything else beyond the wild dragons, what was hidden so secretly in such a large tunnel and guarded by dangerous beasts.
Jan 23, 2021
He was helped by Kendra feeling safe enough to shine a beam of light down the tunnel in both directions, and the more details the group uncovered, the stronger their sense of unease grew. In their immediate area, it was clear that this tunnel was not carved out by normal means. Despite its size, which was taller than the Construct on the surface, the walls had organic ripples and scrapes in them, something akin to the creation of an underground beast like the Whispering Death they had encountered. But the dragon was far too small to have made anything close to this size, and would look different if it had. From the direction Juro began sliding towards, there was a faint breeze. But the scout of the group once more managed to pick out a groove in the ground, and though it was washed of anything truly discernible, it told of something very heavy being consistently dragged to and from their current location, almost like a supply train, leading towards the right side of the tunnel. 
As Liam started to follow curiously behind Vox, the mother dragon took notice, and stopped inspecting her visitors to sharply train her pale eyes on them. Her spikes trembled briefly, but not aggressively. She made a low noise in her narrow belly.
Jan 23, 2021
Vox knew next to nothing about dragons - partially due to a lack of interest growing up, but soon would evolve into a genuine discomfort around them. He could never verbalize what about them caused this, but the feelings remained as he watched Juro venture dangerously close on the left side of the tunnel. His skin crawled at the sight, and he almost felt a twinge of jealousy at the man’s ability to take action.
The scout chose to take the route that would place him farther away from the dragons, despite the difference being nearly imperceptible to the human eye. He stepped lightly to follow the path of the groove, veering to the opposite side of Juro and beckoning for Kendra to continue shining her light. He placed his hand on Liam’s shoulder, giving him a distressed look.
“If the dragons come for us…” he whispered, “…throw me to them. Save yourselves.”
Jan 23, 2021
Liam rolled his eyes and put a paw on Vox’s shoulder, pushing him forward to indicate he would be doing no such thing. “Quit it, Dad. We’ll be fine.”
Kendra lit their path, and made to follow, but then she paused and turned back, realizing she couldn’t go in two directions at once. Will you have light down that end? she asked the others.
Jan 23, 2021
Grey nodded and simply opened her hand emanating a small purple flame from her hand. 
“I don’t know if this is enough…but should work,” Grey signed to Kendra. “Plus, Shadow can help.” 
Jan 23, 2021
Jari begins to hiss at the dragon again. She asks for permission to explore her tunnels and if she knew what had made this chamber here as well as it’s location
Jan 23, 2021
The Whispering Death’s language was guttural, and difficult to understand, even for Jari. It was clearly used to being very, very solitary. 
“Pathways…old. Stolen…territory…for family. Many loud humans…pass through. But…too quiet…past moons.” It fixed its white gaze back down the tunnel towards the Arnasons’ destination. “Earth…move…that way. I…left pathway…alone now.”
Jan 23, 2021
Jari nods and thanks her. "I think we should go that way." Jari says pointing towards the path the dragon had indicated. "The mother said that these paths already existed when she claimed them. Said the earth moved that way."
"Well whatever we do we should stick together." Lila said as she steps forward. "I don't like the idea of splitting up the group when we have no idea where these tunnels lead or for how long."
“It’s fine, Commander,” Juro’s voice piped out from somewhere unseen. He had moved ahead once more without waiting.
The portal flickered and folded into a smaller, rounder version of the bird they knew from the battle before. Virion flapped its tiny wings, landing delicately on Kendra’s shoulder, then opened its mouth as a soft hum appeared from both its throat and Juro’s side. His voice sounded out again, this time through the golem, “Vir can sustain this communication line for a half hour or so.”
Jan 23, 2021
“So we go as far as we can for 15 minutes and double back. Does that work for everyone?” Lila asks.
Jan 23, 2021
“We don’t necessarily have to!” Juro’s voice slowly grew more distant, “Go as far as Virion can keep the line up, and when time’s almost up, one group can hop through a portal and join the other and we’ll be together again.”
The golem waved a wing, as if reflecting the Bookkeeper’s unseen actions, “All good, all fine!”
Jan 23, 2021
Lila fumed as the book keeper walked off. “I swear to God, I’m going to take his stupid fucking owl and shove it up his fucking ass.” She grumbles as she and the rest head down the right tunnel, sending Kettil with her mortal enemy and their aunt down the left.
Jan 23, 2021
Grey chuckled and shook her head as she watched Lila walked down the right tunnel with the Arnasons and her little sister before turning back to her nephew and Night Fury. “Come on, Kettil, Shadow,” she said wrapping an arm around Kettil while keeping the flame on her other hand. “We better make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.”