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Who: These guys.
What: A visit to Caliban to see if there's anything out of the ordinary. You know, for a monster filled dungeon that only exists during an hour that doesn't exist.
When: Dark Hour of the 24th.
Where: Elysium and then Caliban.
Rating: PG-13 for Shadow smashing.

The night of the 24th. Margulis had sent out messages several days prior to everyone who had volunteered to come telling them when and where to meet, although it probably wouldn't be too difficult for other people to figure it out if they saw a bunch of people showing up at the tea house just before Dark Hour. To Saori and Gaignun he had sent additional messages informing them that they would each be in charge of a group of four other people, markedly more polite to the former than the latter.

(~~Don't post right away, guys. I'll be setting up separate threads for different scenes.~~ Have at, guys. And remember to tag yourselves in, please.)

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Margulis was already waiting in the back room of Saori's tea house when the time he'd specified arrived, standing off toward the side of the room with his eyes on the entrance. He'd been looking forward to the possibility of actually getting something done, although leaving Gaignun in charge of one of the teams still left a bad taste in his mouth. There wasn't much he could do about that without putting the trip at more risk than he was willing to accept, though, so here he stood, waiting for the rest of the group to arrive.

Inside Caliban, the group had split into three, each following a different leader. Margulis had set a decent pace, though he didn't seem to have forgotten that not everyone with him was used to this sort of thing.

As the Archive had promised to stay near the entrance to Caliban, she hadn't been assigned a proper group. Margulis had, however, given her a small dagger and told her to call all three teams if a Shadow happened to wander into the area, not quite willing to leave an unarmed child completely alone in here even if she did seem more on top of things than her age would suggest. People in the other groups had also been encouraged to send a message to her if they found anything interesting, just in case something happened.

While there hadn't been anything particularly unusual in the five floors the groups had been able to cover, there were some items that hadn't been there before. All of them were of either a mundane or practical nature, but they still needed to be distributed.

Each group had found five items, one on each floor. Margulis' group had come back with a medicine, a soul drop, two dis-poisons and a practice bow with arrows. Saori's had found three soul drops and two medicines. And Gaignun's had come across a medicine, a soul drop, another practice bow and two shortswords.

[April manages to keep up with the pace, and suppresses her urge to charge on ahead as she looks around, her rifle slung over her shoulder. She seems almost casual about this, but she can feel Nut at the back of her head, ready to summon the moment a Shadow appears.]

The Archive waited at the entrance with her phone and dagger, trying to remain calm as the groups delved deeper in. There was at least one she was friendly with in the depths of Caliban, and she wanted them to be well.

Gaignun had been a little surprised that Margulis was still willing to let him lead one of the groups, but he wasn't going to argue. As such, he lead his team carefully into Caliban, warily looking out for shadows but setting a decent pace. This was for exploration, not leveling after all.

Well, even though he was hesitant to approach Margulis, it wasn't as bad as it used to be, and at least this time there was an actual reason. Pre-mission discussions were usually pretty important.

"I'm not surprised that you're the first one here. Anything we need to go over for the last minute?"

Lucia had spent the entire dungeon trip grumbling and glaring at a certain stupid idiot degenerate pervert. "Why..."

"So..." Mila laboriously forced her chair forward through the dungeon. "Has anyone checked out whether we have an elevator in the new-and-improved Caliban yet, or what's going on there?"

Margulis wasn't exactly thrilled about talking to Gaignun himself, but he bit back his distaste and nodded in response to Gaignun's question.

"We have one volunteer who might be problematic. He claims to be good at killing Shadows, but I'm sure you've seen him on the network. I'm leaving you to make sure Ryuunosuke doesn't cause trouble and to deal with him if he does."

Margulis. He KNOWS that name. And he thinks he knows exactly why he got stuck with Ryuunosuke.

"Well, at least I get some advanced warning." He is going to get you for this. Somehow. Someway.

Edited 2012-08-25 01:22 (UTC)

Hippocrates, after properly introducing himself to most of his tripmates - only knowing Ryuunosuke from his entry to Prospero - had spent his time with his crossbow at the ready. He personally hadn't understood why some didn't like Ryuunosuke, at first - although, by now, he probably got the gist of what was unsavory about Ryuu's personality. ~~Given, he knew absolutely nothing about the mass murderer shtick...~~

Edited 2012-08-25 01:36 (UTC)

He barely managed to contain a smirk at Gaignun's reaction, knowing full well what it was over. But as satisfying as it was to get revenge on him for all the times the Kukai Foundation had been a gigantic thorn in his side, there was one bone he had to throw him.

"If necessary, I won't complain about the use of force to handle him. I'd rather any situation he causes to end with him dead than with the entire team killed."

"Hopefully it won't come to that, it's quite possible that the shadows will keep him entertained. However, I will keep an eye on him." Gaignun figured that as long as Ryuunosuke was kept distracted, tonight could possibly go well. Thankfully he didn't seem as bound and determined to freak people out as Albedo had been.

"Still, he may not be the worst of our problems, especially if the shadows in Caliban have increased in strength."

"If that happens, it's up to the individual team leaders to decide when to retreat. Or are you trying to say you're worried you won't be up to the task?"

It was a completely unnecessary jab and he knew it, but old habits died hard and, while he'd lost a lot of malice toward the youngest URTV, he still wasn't inclined to be particularly nice to him.

Gaignun decided to stick to the highroad during this conversation, no matter how hard Margulis made it.

"I'll be fine. I just don't want either of us to get over confident."

"Contrary to what you might believe, I'm well aware that the best course of action is sometimes to fall back and try again with better resources. But considering the fact that we're exploring the earliest floors and the pattern before was of Shadows getting more powerful as one progressed into the dungeon, we'll have more problems to worry about than an aborted exploration mission if they're too much for us at this stage."

"How is this 'contrary to what I might believe'. I know you know when to retreat." Gaignun said, crossing his arms. Marguils was really starting to get to him. Again.

"While it is true that in the past Caliban has followed that pattern, it may not stay that way, even after a few floors. That's like expecting the sun to rise tomorrow because it rose today and yesterday.

Do you have anything else constructive to say or no."

[Hiyono is following along, although she's definitely hanging back a little. She's armed with a simple handgun, and seems to have brought a bag with... presumably supplies? Along for the trip as well. Part of her almost wants to start up some chatter, but in this situation, it would make sense for a high school girl like her to be a little intimidated by such a serious and not super familiar leader, right?

Either way, that'll be her excuse for her silence as she gazes about, giving off the air of someone trying to be professional but only proving themselves an amateur at best. In reality, she's listening hard for any strange noises.]

"And as I said, if that pattern has changed, we likely have more to worry about than this one visit getting cut short. It would make any potential future visits much less feasible even if it was simply an even power increase. A change from the pattern would make it even more difficult and significantly delay exploration."

"Well, we won't know until we go in." Of course, a small part of Gaignun is hoping that Margulis runs into a nasty monster and gets bitten...but he won't voice that.

"I would make a remark about preparing for the worst and hoping for the best, but it would be naive to hold out hope for this to go perfectly."

He crossed his arms and scowled at Gaignun, already hoping that the obnoxious psychopath he'd stuck with the other leader would be a nuisance just short of actually endangering the mission.

"Just try not to die with valuable information if the enemies do turn out to be overwhelming."

"As long as it doesn't go completely to hell, I'll be happy." He replied with a small sigh.

"And I wish you the same."

"I'm setting my own aspirations slightly higher than that, but feel free to hope for whatever you think is appropriate."

"Margulis..." No. Just let it end there. "Just try not to traumatize your teammates too much, alright?"

"I don't think anyone's really checked in here until now," Saori tapped her chin in thought. "I guess there's an unspoken agreement that we should never enter Caliban alone."

And then it only occured to her she didn't ask Mila if she needed help. "Ah, I guess if anything I can try to carry it?"

Well at least we made some progress and not empty-handed either. If any of you are too tired to make it back to your place, you can here.

Anybody want a something to eat or drink before heading back?

[Ledah has Lorelei with him, of course, and is more than capable of keeping the pace. He has his eyes locked ahead of him unless anything else catches his attention, such as Shadows.]

"Come on, I have to go with somebody." Ryuunosuke sighed dramatically, twirling his knife. "It's not like most people like me, so you just got unlucky."

Issei nodded. "Places like this are dangerous - we know that well enough from previous expeditions - and we don't know if this has gotten any worse."

"Well, that's the whole purpose of this, isn't it? See how much has changed, look for clues about this whole stupid mess, yadda yadda."

Devola tapped a pen against a small notebook as she spoke; rather than having a weapon out and at the ready, she seemed more interested in taking notes during the excursion.

An impish grin slowly crossed her features as she added on to her statement. "Thaaaaat said, let's try not to jinx this, hmm?"

Privately, Gaignun wondered if all people who liked murdering people were theatrical hams. He decided to shift the topic.

"It really doesn't seem as if much has changed. Not even the shadows really."

Lucia made a face and looked away from Ryuunosuke.

"Yeah, except that it's in a different place... why do you think that is?"

"Sure, sure." Mila rolled forward. "Hey, Library Girl 1. I know I have an excuse not to be packing heat, but how come you don't have any weapons?"

Devola shifted, reaching behind her back and pulling a short staff from it's holder. "I've got my bonk-stick. And a knack for making my Persona do all the work."

Honest truth, that.

On the far side from the group, of course that was Kirito's favorite spot. Being a solo-player, while have its advantage, have more disadvantage than being in group. Especially when he barely had any experiences from witnessing the place by himself. He didn't really enjoy playing the interrupting role, but he did here for once.

"Sorry for interrupting the discussion." Kirito put an arm on his hip, his black-themed sword visibly hanging on its scabbard on his back. "But which one of us possess a healing ability?"

This was definitely one of the positive side of this 'life', healing abilities. And Persona.

Of course, any talk about food will ping Kirito's attention. He shifts a bit when he heard the offers.

"If I can, I personally would love to have at least one bite of a decent meal."

"The meaning might be that they decided it looked more imposing here." The words slip forth without him really thinking about it - hope none of you mind. They thankfully sound jokingly sarcastic, more then anything. "It'd be best if we could figure out the very exact changes, but with this mazelike layout, I doubt we'll be getting anywhere on that front."

[She smiles at Kirito.]

Sure thing. Is there anything you'd like in particular?

Saori turns when someone asked who was in charge of the healing. She didn't recognize the face. She smiles.

"That would be me. You're one of the new people, right?" Saori comes over to Kirito. "I'm Saori."

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Elysium-before Caliban

Margulis' group

Saori's group

Gaignun's group

Talking to Ivy

Elysium-post Caliban

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Gaignun's group

Elysium-before Caliban

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Children....

...Did they seriously just wish each other luck in only dying if they don't find anything valuable?

I think so.

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Elysium-post Caliban

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welp so late. so sorry gaiz.

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fdsfa wow late i'm sorry guys ;;

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