Careless Traveller: Subterranean Soujorn

[OldManRupee]

"Who do you think you are, running round leaving scars..."

You love this song, it's such a great song. Thanks shuffle, today you are awesome.

Wait, did you just drift off listening to your music? My word, you must have been quite tired! But then you open your eyes, and the sight that assaults your senses is both unfamiliar and unwelcome. You sit bolt upright on the cold hard floor that was until recently your comfortable bed in your cramped but safe bedroom. A shiver of white-cold fear travels through your body.

"Where am I?"

It appears you are in a cave.

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total absolute spontaneity, absolutely no plan, possibly updating once a day.

[CatcheJagger]

>Realize that you have magic powers

[MathGirl277]

> Look around for clues as to what bought you here in the first place.

[zachary123212]

Avoid Gru

[Kíeros]

> Look around the cave.

[OldManRupee]

> Look around for clues as to what bought you here in the first place.

You inspect your new surroundings cautiously, but it seems that you're the only living soul around. Maybe someone dragged you here while you slept? Evidence for this theory is inconclusive though, the floor is solid bumpy rock and drag marks or handy footprints are nonexistent.

You briefly wonder how you can see anything in the gloom, but you quickly notice luminescent fungus is growing in the damper corners of the cave.

No objects apart from a few small rocks and whatever you have in your pockets. Obvious exits are forward or backward. It's not so much a cave as a long tunnel.

[CatcheJagger]

Discover that this is a dragon's lair

[OrangeAipom]

> Moonwalk

[MathGirl277]

Well, what's in your pockets then? Let's see that inventory.

[Kíeros]

> Well, just go forwards until you run into something interesting.

[xeroticDeceiver]

> Taste the fungus.

[MathGirl277]

Maybe we should just live and let live, you know, so that we can have light from the fungal growths? And also hallucinogens are likely in those shrooms. How else could we have gotten here?

[xeroticDeceiver]

You're not making that suggestion seem like a bad idea to me.

Smoke the fungus. Visit Barbelith.

[OldManRupee]

> Well, just go forwards until you run into something interesting.

You are still really scared, but you decide that you really must move onwards if you ever want to escape this curious cavern, so with a heavy heart and a mind full of questions, you begin to walk forward.

Thankfully your iPod is still in your pocket (along with you phone - no signal- and a candy bar that you'll save for later), maybe you should listen to some music to set the mood as you wander onwards?

[Hob]

[S] Discord.

[CatcheJagger]

>Preliator by Globus

[xeroticDeceiver]

>Treat The Oscillators by DJ Nate

[Kíeros]

> Just set it on shuffle and wait. The song titles will be ominously forecasting that way.

[OldManRupee]

> Just set it on shuffle and wait. The song titles will be ominously forecasting that way.

You decide to let fate decide what you'll listen to next, and fate has the good taste to provide you with Make You Feel My Love by Adele. As the melody plays, your mind fills with melancholy and memories of lost loves. A strange set of thoughts for such a bleak setting, but you decide to roll with it.

As you progress further you get the sense that the tunnel may be sloping downwards, but the gradient is so slight that you can't tell for sure. It may just be the pessimistic aspect of your imagination, but you swear you feel deeper. Rock slabs underfoot eventually give way to loose scree and gravel (you take more care not to lose your footing here), the luminous fungus getting larger and more plentiful due to the slight change of surroundings. A strong smell of dirt is in the air.

You have so far hesitated to touch the fungus, but here it is sometimes necessary to squeeze between two large plants. They feel warm and rubbery to the touch. The song ends, and as you get to a curve in the tunnel you hear something in the pause between the two songs. You hastily press pause and take out your earphones to listen intently;

There is a scritchy, skittery sound coming from around the next bend.

[Kíeros]

> Inspect said sound.

[CatcheJagger]

The sound is probably something dangerous, avoid it.

[xeroticDeceiver]

> Try to determine, by listening very closely, whether it's coming towards you or not.

[OldManRupee]

The sound is probably something dangerous, avoid it.

Your first instinct is that the strange sound might signify danger. It might even be made by whatever transported you here! It may be the cowards option, but you decide to turn back and try the other direction. You rationalize to yourself that you're in a strange place and caution should be your watchword if you ever hope to get out of here. But just as you turn to go...

You hear something else, something that bypasses your rationality and hits you straight in the heart: a plaintive squeaky squeal in amongst the skittering, something appears to be in pain! The sound sends you back through your early memories and to visions of a dearly beloved pet rat, who unfortunately also wailed in pain just like this just before the events leading to his sad passing. But you can't dwell on that now, as you find yourself hesitantly creeping towards the sound. Maybe you can prevent history from repeating itself?

Around the tunnel bend, you glimpse two incredibly large ants (about the size of labradors) terrorizing a clearly panicked mole trying and failing to dig through the area of solid bedrock that it's been trapped into. What should you do?

[CatcheJagger]

>He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.

[Hob]

Save the mole!