Log:Explorer's Guild: Dig Yag'Dhug

Explorer's Guild: Dig Yag'Dhug

OOC Date: July 13, 2021
Location: Yag'Dhul
Participants: Explorer's Guild: Nerys Greystorm, Aryn Cortess, Maireni, Netep Muri, and Corr Waldin; with Special Guest Stars Eriu Jynx, Zyrette, and B'haav Adasta

YAG'DHUL

The Givin homeworld is a strange, mysterious place, as the Explorers and hangers-on learn upon their arrival. The only starport is nearly empty, populated by a skeleton crew of workers, including some of the Givin with their leathery, Halloween-mask-like heads. Corr ignores this with complete bliss as he unloads his gear from the Racnoss, the junky little Sheathipede he obtained as a tax write-off donation from a wealthy patron.

The merry band proceed further into the station, with Corr handing out cheap masks, the kind that cover your mouth and nose and let you breathe in low atmo, from a bundle of them like sparklers at a party as they descend in the janky elevator with half the lights knocked out. "Now I know it feels like no one should even be here," he's saying, pulling the chunky strap of his own back and pulling it over his head so the elephantine hose hangs down in the front, "and honestly, I heard some weird stuff when I was trying to find out more about this place when I was doing background research on the job, somethin' about a short guy in a jacket and weird rules for the locals, but uh. Don't sweat it, alright? M'sure everything's gonna work out just fine, should be an easy job. We go in, sift through this dirt for goodies, and get out. No fuss, no muss, and no rough stuff."

The lift lets out a grinding chirp of static rather than a ding as they finally arrive on the appropriate level, and the doors open up to reveal... dirt. So much dirt. An empire of it, and you can have it all.... The roof of the chamber is a consistent height but the dirt level varies widely so in some places the ceiling can be touched with a hand, and in others one could stand on someone's shoulders and not reach it. "This is the place, alright," Corr announces with a satisfied grin under his translucent facemask.

No need for a rebreather or mask, the void helmet is fitted snuggly in place leaving the atmo not even a second thought for Eriu as she descends the ramp and checks the sword hitched to her side, knives across her front and perhaps a few other sharp pointy things meant to do some damage. The voice that filters out of her helmet is accented but given its own nice little autotune. <"I feel like you have just cursed us with everything being 'fine'.">

Loading into the lift with the rest of the group, counting more than a few faces she recognizes, Corr is a relative unknown as are some of the others and these she watches from behind her visor. DING.

She steps out and her boots sound upon the dirt packed floor. <"Cornered the market, haven't they.">

Nerys, who had arrived early, had puttered around the Tai, packing her backpack with everything she thought she might need, all of her tools of the trade, and as many extras as she thought she could comfortably fit. Weapons as well, though those were mostly strapped to and inside their special compartments. If it hadn't actually //been// a backpack, she would have looked like that junk lady from the fantasy movie in a galaxy far, far away.

But never mind that. Her bag was packed, her droid had maglocked herself to the pack, and they departed the Tai, sealing it up and venting the space to clear out the noxious atmosphere that was sure to leave some sort of caustic residue behind. Once she tagged in with the group, Nerys accepted the mask, but, as her suit was sealed, she tucked the mask away to hand out for later, if one were damaged, or if they were here long enough that she had to switch out. Always prepared. It was the explorer motto. "Isn't that our normal mode of operation, though?"

Aryn politely waved off the mask, making use of her own from the vessel she had just disembarked. It functioned just the same, and she pulled the straps over her blonde hair and formed a seal, initiating the breathing cycle just after that. She was thankful for chapstick though, using these things had a bad habit of chapping lips, and no one liked chapped lips, right?

Aryn fell in behind Corr Waldin, quietly looking around as they walked to the lift. His explanation was always threaded with stories about local myths, or weird rules, or superstition. This seemed pretty on point for the Guild, truth be told. Before stepping off the lift, Aryn verified her medical supplies were in pressurized containers, for the things that needed containment that is, and felt relieved to find that the kit was, hopefully, enough to get them through this adventure; maybe. Mostly. We'd find out.

Aryn quietly steps out after the group and kicks a clod of dirt, grinning.

Maireni definitely needs one of the rebreather masks, which she puts on as best over her weird beaky Ryn nose as best she can, and then gives a slightly off chirpy sound through said weird nose. "Ayyya, I don't feel like we shouldn't be here. Why would anyone not want *US* somewhere? Look at us!" There is a good chance Maireni has never felt unwelcome anywhere, possibly because she's just missing the part of her brain that would signal she isn't welcome, and so she moves ahead with the confidence that she shouldn't posses but somehow does. "It's cuz of my special medallion, see, wards off those bad things." It's not. "So what, we're just diggin' in dirt till we find treasure? Easy job. You want luck to find things I got more medallions for sale. Guaranteed to work!"

Short guy in a jacket....

Muri lifts her green-flecked, yellow eyes toward the lift's decrepit overhead, sigh both masked AND made all the more dramatic by the stupid O2-assist she'd strapped on for old time's sake. The helmet to her scout armor remains clipped to hip. For now. That upward eyeroll tips aside toward EJ.

"We don't talk 'bout curses in this group." Unless you wanna pay off a Lash, that is. "But you done it, so....best buy a medallion." A thumb gestures toward Maireni, then Nerys while the other hand rehefts the pack strap o'er shoulder. "S'true, though." And when that lift opens up to reveal the reason for their assembly?

"Waldin..." Muri files complacently out with the rest. "You've really outdone yourself, this time."

<"I'm really not certain I would categorize this as a 'legitimate archaeological dig, Captain Muri.."> The Falleen woman intoned dryly as she followed the others out of the lift. She wore a sealed suit as well, forgoing the need for the additional mask. Amber eyes shifted behind the blast screen of her helmet as she surveyed the ... well, the so much dirt. She also came prepared with backpack and gear she suspected she might need for this particular 'expedition.' She settled somewhere between Muri and Ej, finally having a chance to see who else had elected for this, trip.

B'haav Adasta could not be any less dressed for this. He wears a Hapan silk suit, double-breasted with silver buttons, of a black so deep that it attempts to warp the light around it. That is, to say... It's going to show off all of this dirt. Add in a dandy silver cane, a pair of Tetan goggles, and a black bowler hat with a silver band, and you have the definition of someone who is out of place. The only thing that does fit in is the vibrodagger at his belt, and that's because it looks like it could actually do something to dirt. Have we mentioned the dirt?

"Netep Muri, you said something about expanding my horizons. The horizon... Is just dirt." The gravel-voiced Balosar-in-disguise (hat covers palps, don't we all know) looks about. "As usual, I'm really not certain what use I'm going to be here, unless anyone wants to talk about their feelings." He holds the cane a little more tightly, though he doesn't much use it as he steps foot onto the dirt. "Why is the dirt just sitting *here*..." He raises a rebreather to his mouth and pops it in - luckily, it's hard to talk around those. He follows the shadowy trio of Muri, Jynx, and Zyrette, steel-grey eyes casting about at all of this dirt.

"There's no such thing as curses," Corr insists obstinately, himself cursed by an infestation of Ryn that no amount of bathwater had been able to cure. "And no, it is not our normal mode of operation. I mean, it is, there's just a bit of bad luck involved, that's all." He sniffs. "Nobody's died yet." Therefore, no curse.

Tromping forward out into the dirt, the leader of the Explorer's Guild surveys the area with the expert eye of someone who has spent a lot of their life standing on and looking at dirt. "Now according to our source, this here dirt, it's all sourced from the local environment, pushed around by the tidal forces and whatnot what with the three moons they got here. So to keep it from just goin' everywhere, they put it here. Or at least, that's what they want you to think."

Pulling a folding shovel from his pack, Corr twists and twists and twists and twists until the blade finally swivels out into a ready position, and then twists somehow even longer to lock it into place. "Now, I don't know much about Givin culture, and neither does anybody else, but I'm willing to bet they've lost a few things down here in all this dirt. I guess if you don't much care about the cultural significance of lost relics, or some good old-fashioned lightly-used salvage, then maybe you don't see the point." His folding shovel bites into the dirt. "But there's something cathartic about diggin' holes. Spread out, now, no good clumping up in one spot."

The helmeted head of Eriu turns from Muri to the aforementioned Ryn. <"I will pass but keep it in mind should there become a need. I am sure they are one of a kind."> Said with all smiles as the Hapan begins to follow after their intrepid leader - as much as he can be. She kicks about at the dirt here and there, hoping that something might show up.

Then there is some magic. A folding shovel. <"What everyone needs. As for horizons...maybe you can dig your own. Provided you have the equipment. I believe I was not given enough information to adequately prepare." Her boots are thus her best source and she begins to scuff about for anything at the surface. She leans down as the toe of her boot snags on something.

Dragging up a camouflaged something or others. <"I think someone left this behind and for good reason."> The poncho is given a dust off with her other hand before its set aside.

Nerys, who was, quite literally, in her element, selected a spot for herself near the eastern wall of the chamber, Bitty unlocking herself, so that she could hand Nerys tools from her pack as needed. Now, though, Nerys was happy with a shovel as she got to the work of making dirt happen. Lots of dirt, in lots of little carefully organized piles. More work now, less work later. Bitty, as //she// waited, got out a collection bag...more a collection tarp, into which she took and placed anything that Nerys might find.

Haha! Success! A skull. A Givin skull, beautifully cleaned of flesh and gristle (except for the dirt) with jewels placed into its eye sockets. That went into the collection tarp. "Finders keepers, right? We don't have a client waiting in the wings to collect everything we worked for?"

Bad luck, he says! The first thing Aryn digs up turns out to be a swarm of pissed of Wingstingers! <"ACK!"> Dropping her shovel, Aryn runs from the small swarm, protecting her face but being stung for the effort still. <"Look out, Wingstingers--OW!"> She swings her satchel at them and falls over into the dirt, whipping her cape around to hide for the moment. A muffled voice followed after a few moments. <"...are they gone yet?">

"Ay, saying that is gonna get you cursed!" Maireni protests as Corr tries to undermine her curse scam work. "And don't you go tryin' to say that the Lash family didn't warn you! No, when your mustache falls off and you're left with a naked upper lip don't you cry that ain't no one warned you!" Don't let down your guard, Corr, someone might nair your upper lip while you're not looking. She pulls out a few stones with holes drilled on them, hung on twine and dangled for others to see. "Anyone who wants to come out of this uncursed, you just let me know!" She gives them a rattle, then shoves it back into the backpack that she carries, which is otherwise filled with candy, and probably drugs. The things you need for survival. She pulls out a small trowel type tool from the same bag, shakes off a taffy like candy that's stuck to it, and sets to work trying to find treasure. "We're gonna get rich, I can feel it!"

"Look beyond the dirt, B'haav," Muri claps a gloved hand over the Balosar's silken shoulder and spreads her fingers waaaaaaaaaaay far apart at arm's distance to frame a section OF that dirt. "There's potential. It exists, though we know not where. So, Zee, see? We dig." The Falleen woman is flashed a hidden smile behind that rebreather, but her eyes twinkle in the most impish of fashions.

Might be that Muri, like Waldin, believes the positivity that comes out of her mouth. Or. Might be, she just wanted some companions along for the ride. Either way, the fellow Shadowportians have been suckered in this far and so why not partake in the spoils!?!?

"It'll come out in the wash." Another pat for B'haav, then she's off to stake out her own segment of tidal deposits. The backpack gets dumped unceremoniously off shoulder and she pulls out a small, collapsible spade/pick. And some brushes. And some vials. Before Muri's offloaded the contents of her bag fully, there's already a small archaeological kit laid out around her feet. Then and only then does she get to work. With a poke. A scrape. A slightly more confident poke. Muri eyes the earthen ceiling, touches the 'wall' she's decided to hack into, then starts her excavations a bit more timidly but no less effectively. By 'hack' number eight and 'downward scrape' number three, she's struck something solid. A long glance down the chamber to Nerys draws an envious whine that acknowledges "...yeah. Nice one," even as she's pulling free her own set of bones. "Aw gro--oh!" There's some cyber bits attached to this femur. An articulating knee, ankle, foot... it just keeps coming. So engrossed is Muri in the unearthing of this cybernetic payday that she misses seeing Aryn get toppled by wingstingers. The shout, though, that carries. "Eh, frink," and she hunkers low, pausing in her movements to let the swarm buzz angrily along for a beat or three, lest she draw their ire. They're no sandwasps, but she'd rather not tempt fate. "Hey Mai..." called out as she tugs the rest of the cyberlimb from its tomb. It's a bit awkward, trying to stuff it into her sack. "I'll trade ya a sip fer one o'them medallions." The muffled 'clunk' of gloved, ringed fingers pats against the flask on her hip. "Two, if you give it a wee blessin, first." Because why not? Her hidden snickering puts creases under her eyes.

Zee pulls off the folded travel shovel from her pack and begins to assemble it. She casts her gaze about before shuffling off in her own direction, a short distance from the others. She remains within sight and shout range though, of course. While this was exactly the sort of thing she liked to do in her off time, it still felt a bit strange. She absently scooted a bit of dirt around with the blade tip of her shovel, much like a child chasing undesired green bits across her plate.

As the warning call from Aryn went up, Zyrette did glance back sharply. She seemed a safe enough distance away. Before returning to her own dirt pile though, amber gaze lingered on the Ryn woman. Something about that fluting voice reminded Zee of her early days on Nar Shaddaa...Oh well, back to work.

B'haav wishes he'd known about folding shovels. At some point, he would have to start putting more into his bag of goods than things to hand to people who shoot things. There isn't anything for it. "Neither was I, Eriu Jynx," comes the muffled response from inside the filtering and air-saving mask. "Digging for a horizon is the sort of thing that may make me think I'm back on Balosar, taking deep breaths of that chemical air... Potential in the dirt sounds an awful lot like something I'd say to get someone else to dig for me. But still... I dig too." Without any ceremony, B'haav lowers to a knee - and guarantees a trip to the dry cleaners.

Setting the cane gently down to the side, he digs with his hands, sifting through the dirt and finding... Nothing. A clod that vageuly looks like the hermi. Or a nerf. Could be a fish. Nope, just dirt. "I really don't think there's anything here." Besides what others are finding, of course. Slowly, the black suit is turning brown. He looks up to the stinging insects but... What can he do? Chastise them? No... B'haav digs.

"You all good, Aryn?" Corr calls over as the Alderaanian woman seems to be having some sort of encounter with what can't be a curse and is probably just some bad luck. He doesn't actually move to help her, though, just yells over.

Everyone seems to be thrilled to be digging, or at least that's how it seems through Corr-tinted lenses, and he loses himself momentarily in the pure, simple pleasure of sifting through dirt. Nothing clinks under his shovel, no lost treasures unearthed, but still, look at this satisfying HOLE he's created!

A faint rumble shudders through the earth, sending tiny waves of silt filtering back down into the holes everyone has been digging. "Anyone else feel that?" Corr asks, straightening up and looking around. Another, deeper rumble shakes the ground, and the harsh lighting overhead flickers and winks out, leaving the group in darkness.

Cursing sounds from Corr's direction, then a faint halo of light, a tiny beam that really only marks him out in the chamber rather than illuminating anything useful he might be able to see, clicks on at his shoulder. "What was that? Get to the walls, see if you can find a control panel or something. Or uh, I guess you can keep digging if you want to. Light would be good, though."

Just another one of those moments that makes Eriu wonder WHY she decided to come along - especially with the sight of stinging insects as a possible foe. When Aryn comes up all right from what she can tell, she is about to start kicking at the dirt again. <"Muri, should probably offer that to Yan. Could convince him it was some rival pirates you purged down here and he can pay you handsomely for it."> Helping hoodwink her significant other is all in a days work.

<"B'haav, thats never going to come out."> Rest in peace Hapan silk. She glances up and around, seeing if anyone else comes up with anything decent but alas, what they get for their troubles is a possible cave in? Walls. Right. Good idea.

Eriu is turning quickly and heading for the nearest side she can reach, bounding towards it without missing a step to brush her shoulder against it. Gloved hands begin to smooth across the surface trying to find anything out of the ordinary when she happens upon...oh a hole!. In goes her hand, feelign around for a lever or something when she suddenly jolts and curses in a string of Hapanese. <"OW!"> Is the final exclamation as she withdraws her hand, giving it a shake. <"Got any of those talismans left?"> This to Maireni.

Nerys, as soon as the rumbling began, stopped. She did not drop her shovel though, she simply clipped it to her armor, before she got to her feet, activating the light on her helmet, as she began to make her way towards the wall, each step taken with care, as she got there. She moves along the wall, hands searching for anything that felt like a panel or a recess that might be useful. It took her the space of a few yards, before she stopped, feeling a latch on the wall. "I ahve something here." She popped the panel, "Looks like we have some switches here. Going to see if I can figure out what's what."

Aryn manages a muffled, <"Yeah, I think so..."> Though the narrator might clarify that: She was not fine. Regardless, the hateful stinging assault had concluded and the Wingstingers moved on, delving back into the dirt to protect their other hidden shiny goods. Aryn rises back up, thankful her face was not stung, but she felt irritation along her arms, her hands shaking from the pulsating pain and venom.

She didn't have time to treat herself, like she normally would, because the call to move to the walls came, and Aryn managed to make it through the dark. She felt along the wall for a console and found something.. opened it, and felt buttons. She reached down to unclip her flashlight and clicked it on to see what the labels on the buttons might say. She didn't want to be the one who initiated some sort of dirt self destruct sequence, or bring about a vacuum, or some other asinine thing.

Maireni is digging, having a grand old time flinging dirt over her shoulder without concern of who or what might be behind her, only stopping when there's a rumble. Even then, she only stops because some of the dirt comes back into the nice little hole she's digging and that's upsetting. "AY, keep it down, I'm tryin' to keep the dirt out of the hole!" Fling. She hasn't found anything, but she's determined to. Not so determined that she doesn't look over at EJ after her question. "YAH! I gottem. I got lots. Only te-- only a hundred credits for protection!" Dirt is briefly forgotten as she digs out one of the holy rocks and dangles it temptingly at Eriu.

"He does need a cache of spares, doesn't he!?" Muri grins back at Eriu's suggestion before moving on to---

Do nothing. It is suddenly dark.

"Ah, droyk. Waldin?" Muri's voice is suddenly quite small in the seemingly infinite chamber of darkness. "Does this....I'm having flashback feels of the Empress Teta Library." The first locale, at which Muri, runner of mouths, was shot. For the first time. Ever. So nevermind the endless rows of ancient tomes and manuscripts - some of which were liberated via her satchel. There's a sinking, spine-tingling feeling creeping up the back of her neck and she doesn't like it.

The clickity-clack of a pistol being freed from its holster says as much. Fortunately, it's a steady beam of light that ignites, not errant plasma bursts. The taclight is aimed with surgical precision at the wall and hey, it's her hole, still there. She performs a 180 degree sweep, shedding some light over the opposing wall and makes her approach thusly.

"I've also got a control panel! Fuses galore. Ehm...Lessseee....." Hemming and hawing, Netep hesitates to flip and/or pull anything outright. Much squinting and tracing with gloved finger is performed before daring to make a selection. "Yours have any legible labeling?"

Zee managed to get to the wall. She did not fumble around with what she found there. Instead, she turned the lamp on of her void suit. There was at least one small point in the column of 'pros' to wearing this particular set. What else she did do though, was begin to root through her back pack. <"I think I have a soothing ointment for insect stings.."> She called in Aryn's general direction. Who cares that it was formulated for scales, and not skin...close enough, right?

As Muri's call went out, Zee threw her hat in, "I have wiring, here, in a control panel."

B'haav looks over to Eriu Jynx. Or roughly where she had been when the lights went out. "You don't think? I... I may need to get some non-suits." With a sad face - thankfully hidden in the dark - the Balosar makes a mental note to order yet another suit from Hapes, and dreads the thought of calling the Matron again. He squints grey eyes as he feels about for his cane, rising to his feet as he makes his way in the general direction of the wall. Sure. Just... Feel around. "I really need to pay more attention. Situational awareness is going to do me in," the Balosar contuines to no one in particular, muffled by the filters and cyclers of his mask.

Thanks to a gun-mounted flashlight by one Netep Muri, he doesn't have too much trouble making his way to the wall, sweeping with his cane for any irregularities and unexpected holes. Once there, though... Well, it's a fine wall. They seem to have found wires and panels where they were, but here? "I think there's a seam- No... No, that's just some crusted dirt. Nothing here but wall... And dirt."

"Why, what happened at the Empress Teta Library?" Corr questions, his presence merely a dim spot of light in the middle of the darkness and dirt. The others have made themselves useful, and he offers sage advice. "What're you waiting for, then? Get the lights on."

There are four panels. One contains switches, one contains buttons, one contains fuses, and one contains wires, as the group had advised. Blue, red, green, yellow, in all four. Surely it can't be that simple!

"Maireni, what kinda charms do you got anyway? And don't just say 'all the best kinds', that's not a real answer," Corr asks, looking for something helpful to do in order to contribute.

While the panelists are deliberating, there is a shuffling in the dirt, a creepy-crawling, if you will. A skitter, a scatter, a distinct POP of a chitinous carapace cresting through the dirt, and then several others. They manuever over the silt in the shadows, heading towards the folks trying to solve the problem, small creatures with many legs and two large, menacing appendages each lifted aloft above their flattened bodies.

Distractions all around. The calls of others finding panels and then Maireni flashing her wares across the distance, Eriu starts to cross towards her as they swing about in indistinct outlines. Corr's observation gets a chuckle, <"Do you think it matters?">

She is about to say more when she nearly steps atop one of the crabs popping out of the ground, back stepping once and reaching for the sword as it gives an audible shiiiiiink as it comes free of its sheathe. <"We have company...and I do not think they are going to be friendly.">

Whether the shaking is them or not it remains to be seen but instead of waiting to see what the creature will do the first strike glances off the hard shell. <"I see.">

She turns the blade edge down and slams it into the hardened shell, breaking past its formidable covering to the meat beneath and ending its existence. When she lifts her sword, up comes the crab and in the act of shaking it free she merely glances off the next closets one's shell as the other lifeless one goes flying..over heads, over holes, and towards a wall.

Aryn clicks on her flashlight and shines it at the panel, her eyes narrowing a bit. <"Hmmmm."> Tapping her chin, Aryn punches a sequence into the buttons and by some stroke of luck, manages to trigger a green response from her console. <<"I did the top button, bottom, top, top, bottom, top, bottom, top.. and that worked.. this console is now functional.. or performing its function, rather. What is that awful scratching noise?">>

Aryn turns from her console to look at the incoming crab things and her eyes go wide.

<<"Would you have a salve for being pinched by those pinchers?">> She asks of Zyrette, being funny but squaring up for an encounter with one of these crabs. She raises her hand, as if she intends to ward it off with obscene gestures, but there could be something else at work too.

"Ay, they /are/ the best ones!" Maireni protests at Corr's terrible accusation of her being unhelpful. It's completely justified, but that doesn't stop her from being offended. "I got ones to bring you good fortune, and ones to ward off the real bad curses. You know, the sort that'll follow your family for generations. Those are the real bad ones. Ones that'll, uh, send all your bad luck to an enemy. That's one is real popular!" There are crab people, but they're not coming at her so she resumes digging. "Ay, see, the treasure charm is workin! I found some... some..." She tugs and shakes something off, having to examine it closely. "Rope!"

"hey, dirt's a start---What happened!?!" Muri yells, like Corr ought to remember. "Wh..." a huff rapidly goes in reverse with a gasp, a hiss through teeth upon hearing some scuttle-scurrying in the darkness beyond their few lights.

Frinkfrinkfrinkfrink..

"Nevermind what happened, I rather it not happen AGAIN." The crabs though, those are new. She catches sight of half of one after making the mistake of aiming her light that'a'way. It's fine. It'll be fine. Her suit's decent...right?

"Kark," Muri grunts and just starts plugging away at her little fuse box, flipping this, twisting together that....Green. Yellow. Red-ZAP-Blue. "Okay!" Muri announces, aiming the taclight at the panel like she means business. "I-I did green, yellow, red, blue...that's all the wires. S'given me a red light." RED light. Hahah. Wait, red's bad, yeah? Is it? In Muri world, green is ALWAYS best, so...red might be bad, but maybe it's meant to be the warm, alluring sort of red, not the 'you done mucked it up' kind.

Maybe?

"It's red. What's red mean?" Just a sliiiight elevation of pitch there as Muri doubts her own competence in this electrical endeavor.

Right. Crabs. Business first. She dropped the tube of ointment back into her pack, and turned to the panel. The best thing she could do to help the group was try and, figure this out. She suspected that, the sequences needed to be in the same order. However, there wasn't time for that. What there was time for was the splicing of eroded wiring. That seemed the safe option. Wait, what? She got out her tools and set to it. <"Mine is red, as well. Did that do it?"> She asked, looking up from her task.

She then added over her shoulder to Aryn, <"I might."> With that ultra dry tone of hers it just wasn't clear how serious she was being.

"Eriu Jynx," comes the muffled cry of her advisor, at the wall not too far away, but not close enough to directly interfere with the creature attacking her. As she pulls her sword, he pauses to watch the action, the panel, and those working it, forgotten as life-and death comes into play. He's debating what to do when he remembers the cane in his hand. Just in time, he clicks the catch and releases the vibroblade from its sheath, already humming in the dimness. It's this motion that leads to him to the moment in which he drops down, ducking under a flying crab-type thing and looking indignantly back to his boss.

"I wasn't ordering carry-out!" Still, the near-collision with the skittering menace had thrown the Balosar off-balance and as he stepped forward to take a place near her and hopefully keep the attacking things from those working at the pane- Is someone digging?!? "What in the- Is this what digs are always like?" That question, muffled under the mask, could be for anyone.

"Honestly? Yes," Corr answers B'haav, hands on his hips as he peers into the darkness. It's far too dark in here for him to start shooting wildly, he might hit somebody and this is the wrong alt for that sort of behavior. But whatever the ladies have done with their respective panel, it works, sort of, as the lights flicker and start back on, a full half of the original set buzzing back to life. "Great job, everyone."

He's reaching for his pistol to start popping off shots at the crabs when the reappearance of the light has them all scuttling back under the dirt, their stalklike eyes swiveling manically as their meaty claws shovel soil atop their shells. "Guess that sorts that out," he grumbles, reaching for his shovel instead and straightening up. "Take one last look around, see what you can find. Be careful you don't unearth any more of those, though. Unless you want to see what they taste like, or somethin'."

Eriu misses the fact that B'haav was very nearly clawed by an unmoving crab sent through the air off her sword. <"I am sorry what? Take out? I do not want to take out anything from here."> She calls back as her voice modulates the crabs decide to take their shells and run back to where they came from which means directly underfoot and where they can not be seen. <"By the moon there is probably more than that buried throughout this cavern.">

She lifts her foot and then the other, hot stepping it before kicking at the location one went under. Down comes the sword but it skitters away out of reach and right at her ankles. <"NOPE NOPE NOPE!"> Comes the chirps from the woman as she dances about and twists to keep her ankles from getting wrecked. <"Time to go, please. Find your dirt treasures and lets go!" She is even starting for the lift.

Oh, how nice. Mischief managed. Nerys nodded, giving the crab-things a once over, so that she could review later, and went back to the dirt. The shovel was retrieved and she was back at it, digging with one hand as she pulled a baton from its holster on her opposite thigh, keeping the weapon in hand. "It's the fun side of being in the guild." Better late than never, Nerys was answering the question B'haav had asked about the usual sort of explorer expedition. "It always works out in the end." It didn't. But they were all stil alive. Total win. So was the cabling she retrieved, "Old tech, but some nerd will want it."

Zyrette's answer surprises a laugh from Aryn. Dry humor, or dry tones, seemed to make the Doctor laugh the most. Alas, their situation with the lights was taken care of and the crabs did not like that! Aryn takes a moment to kick another clod of dirt only to find something just beneath the surface. After kneeling down to exhume it a bit, she pulls out a water purifier. This would be very helpful on this world, so she thinks she'll sell it to one of the vendors on the way out and hope someone can find some use from it.

Crabs? What crabs! Maireni is on a hot streak now, first she found a rope, and that has to mean something, right? She's on to something, she's on the path of something. She'll find a way to make up some deeper meaning about it later and use it to torment her brother, but for now she digs like her life depends on it. It doesn't, it might depend on her /not/ digging, honestly, but with a clink she stops. "Got somethin else!" she crows, pulling something caked ith dirt out of the ground. With a bit of work she manages to clean it up enough to see what it is. "Ay, it's jewelry! Yoyo is gonna be so mad he didn't come!" She seems pleased with her one last shot, and complete lack of helping her teamates.

"What? Why?" Muri's muffled protest protests the Hapan's protest. "The lights came back on, look! They're...." going away. Like Eriu Jynx. D'aww.

Undeterred, Muri goes back to her original task for one more stabbity at the generous sediment and as luck would have it, pings her shovel with wrist-jarring force into some metallic surface. It's to her knees that she goes, using fingers as much as some smaller, shallow tools to scrape away and expose the hidden treasure.

It's her favorite...

"Probe droid." Muri sounds like a kid with deflated birthday expectations. "Imperial? Probably." More digging. "Yup." Unlike the last one she personally encountered, this one hadn't self destructed. There is, however, significant damage to its carapace which leaves critical circuitry exposed. "Somebody blew its brain out." She pokes a few fingers around the hole, tugging at this and that to see what might be salvageable. Don't look, Bitty!

Muri passes a glance over to Maireni's crowing and she manages a small, genuinely pleased smile. "S'fitting you're the one t'find that, hey? Be sure to tell Yoska of all the witnesses who're present to see you stake your claim." Just to rub it into the Lash bro's face. Because that's what siblings are for. "Heya, pupil o'mine..." Has someone trusted Muri with their education? "Gimme a hand, would ya?" She's not going to drag this droid out of the dirt all by her lonesome. Even if there's just about half of the chassis left, minus an arm. "Tween this an' the cybertech, think I'll fetch a decent sum. Enough t'go a night on the town, leastways. Or pay rent. Y'know, either-or."

AS the lights flickered back on, Zee flipped around, drawing her pistol as she did so, hearing Ej nope out. She took careful aim at the boss lady's feet. Just to be on the safe side, she left the DL-18 on the stun setting. Stunning the redhead could be explained away. Truly injuring her would be a little more difficult. Fortunately, her aim proved true, and the crab took out. Something was left in its wake though. Stooping, she stood up holding a carbine. Well, it wasn't a jewel encrusted skeleton, but hey!

<"I think we have about had our fill of fun."> She agrees with Ej. She holsters the pistol once more, compacts her shovel, and gets it, and the carbine hooked on to her backpack. She's ready to pile back into the lift with the others. <"Looks like you didn't need pincer ointment after all."> Dryly to Aryn once again. If you are sensing a theme here, you aren't wrong.

B'haav sheathes the sword back into his cane as the enemies flee with the return of the lights. He looks around, considering Corr Waldin's words before looking to the body of the crab by the wall, where it had impacted. "Eriu Jynx, do you want to see what these things are like in soup? Your kill, so... How it's prepared is entirely up to you." He offers this to the retreating Duchess, but he does take one more crack at the ground.

One spot being as good as any, B'haav lowers again to dig, though now he keeps the cane firmly in his hand and uses the tip to dig, lest another crab thing pop up with his hand in line for lunch. There's a clunk, and then a tink as B'haav goes from thinking he found a rock to thinking he found something else. The crabs are forgotten as curious hands begin to clear and sweep dirt away, revealing a white mask... Well, a white facemask. Further digging... It's attached to a suit. A plastoid armor suit. "I think I found something here..." While B'haav doesn't know it, he's slowly unearthing a set of Katarn-class Commando Armor. With just enough uncovered, he looks around, then starts to lift, slowly pulling the Clone Wars relic out in one piece. A few places are singed a little - this hadn't been pristine when it went to ground. Luckily, as B'haav finds by the ease with which it moves...

"Thank the Galaxy, there isn't a body in it..." Maybe he can use it to cart the crab thing up to the ship. It seems sturdy enough.

"Part of me was kind of hoping this place really /was/ nothing but dirt," Corr remarks, beginning the laborious process of collapsing his folding shovel as he meanders towards the lift to follow Eriu's lead. "I guess that was always gonna be too good to be true." When everyone is back inside the lift, he hits the button and it lurches into life, heading back down for the starport.

"You know, they say the guy that set this place up is a big bacta seller or something," he comments off the cuff. "I don't put much stock in it, though. You saw the state of this place. Anyone with money'd fix it up a little."

He rides in silence for a moment. "...did anyone grab a piece of that crab?"