Log:The Mushrooms Don't Make You Grow

A science expedition to Felucia!

OOC Date: January 5 2020
Location: Felucia
Participants: Jacali, Vandred, Sumi Kora, Netep Muri and Ki'izit

Not every gig taken is for combat, rapid deployment, or even cargo transport. But a craft like a Clearwater transport allows for amenities that Wild-Galaxies Science and Biological Society would want to haul people and hopeful gain more permanent attention from them.

The field guide, a bright red skinned near-human with day-glo orange hair and stark white clothes stands, hands folded at her waist.

"We're landing on the planet Felucia! Respirators will be provided if requested due to the atmospherics of the planet. As mentioned in our advertisement several of the subterranean caves have been made accessible following the Spore Season, including some of those near the Ancient Abyss!"

"Don't forget to grab your tracker beacons, they're there for emergencies, and please remember to provide a sample of anything you take for your own as payment for the services provided by the WGSBS!"

The ship lands and the Laar'Kote's ramp drops following a brief alert of such about to happen, showing the multihued wonder of Felucia outside.

Vandred rocks during the movement of the transport, his helmet bumping off the clamp that helps hold him in place. There's an idle grunt or two that escapes during a little bit of turbulence, before he tries to straighten up.. Nope. Bonk again. There's a clipped sigh from his helmet.

When they're offered, he reaches out and takes his tracker beacon, slapping it on to his torso so that he can panic activate it without fumbling through his belt.

His head turns towards Jacali, and he offers her not one.. But /two/ thumbs up. "This should be fun!" He chirps through his comlink, and as they land he disengates and rises to his feet, patting himself down for a moment. "I'll carry your gear if you need it, Jac."

Jacali has been silent this entire time, her helmetted head directed down toward the datapad she's been tapping away on, ignoring the majority of all that's going on. Her head lifts when the woman begins to speak, attentions turned that way long enough to listen to what important information is offered up to this intrepid crew. A shallow nod is given as she moves to claim a beacon of her own, in case she gets seperated, or falls into some deep dark hole somewhere.It could happen.She settles back again, ready to return to whatever it is that's so damned important on that datapad, only to be interrupted by Vandred's talking, and his dopey thumbs up gestures. She says nothing, but a slow breath is taken in, an audible sigh heaved and heard even through the helmet.Fun is clearly not the descriptor she's expecting to append to the reports of this excursion.

Bring back some samples, he said. Just a little bit'll do, he said. She'll be compensated handsomely, he'd said... So Netep's here. It's been over a year since she hiked through the fungi forests, but the rancorous squawks of Gibbet birds and rageful roars of the Rancor are /fresh/ in her memory. She's dressed accordingly, even if the helmet is presently clipped to belt instead of sealed around her skull. Felucia is not among her top ten favorite planets to visit, nor does it find place among the top fifteen. It /might/ rank within top twenty on account of the plethora of hallucinogenic properties growing all around, but even that's pushing the envelope. But beggars can't be choosers and the trade masters presiding over the auction house have still got her on the black list, so...credits are less easily acquired, these days.

At least without tapping into the Union funds.

"You bet," Netep forces a smile to their colorful guide and looks to the tracker beacon already sitting in lap. Once the transport settles down, she unclips from her seat and fastens the beacon to one of the many loops and straps on belt. "Citizen science, yeah?" A little wink to miss Dayglo as she passes by and shuffles on along with the rest into that humid, humid air. Ugh. Ki'izit looks up from his datapad as the transport lands and the guide begins to speak. He tucks the device behind his belt and hops off of his seat, moving in among all of the giant armored beings that join him in grabbing a beacon. His ears twitch nervously as he clips it to his belt next to the datapad and he offers each of the others a reassuring grin should any of them happen to look down.

Clearwater class transports were among the galaxy's most luxurious vessels. Wide space and tall ceilings were staples for the Mon Calamari. All the bright white, and shining floors made it necessary for Sumi to wear her helmet to safeguard against the overwhelmingly positive glare that a new ship often conveyed. She spent the ride seated in a comfortable chair staring at a bulkhead without making a sound; or so it seemed. In reality, the ancient warrior was asleep and woke only to the slight shake of their landing.

A muted yawn followed and she rose, stretched, and brushed her cape over the small armory of weapons and slings. She reset her HUD, tinting the view, and fell in behind the others just as the ramp dropped for them to disembark.

Sumi is notoriously silent for this process, and remains that way as she follows along from the rear. When she makes it outside, her helmet engages its internal respirator. The last thing she grabbed was the tracking beacon. She did not activate it, but she did place it on her belt for when it was going to be needed.

As the intrepid scientists make their way - it's easy to see where the general fungal forests... and the way to the Ancient Abyss is obvious. One can see the tentacles from the landing pads and when the group heads their way many of the more 'tribal' of Felucia's denizens disappear from general view. The air is closer, quiet, and whispers in a hissing language come and go like muffled chants.

There are holes cut into the soil of the land, between the trunk like stocks and slime coated fungal vines with their bioluminescent bulbs and the 'blossoms' that turn towards movement, like sentient creatures.

One cavern seems to breath, hot wind rushing in and out. Others see like damp, open, maws descending into the deeper darkness, and the great grasping tendrils of the sarlaac wave and writhe in the air.

Vandred's boots squelch as he walks, the occasional slurp as his foot slides into something that's a bit too gross for him to properly describe. All in all, it's pretty awful. No. It's a great time. We're having a great time. We're good.

Squelch.

His head skims as his in-built binocular's zoom in towards one of the blossoms, and he pauses before continuing on, watching it as it tracks him, and he shifts his weight to make it easier to walk. "It's pretty, in it's own way." He states as he marches towards the Sarlacc, making sure not to get too near any of the tendrils. ".. I don't know if I'm gonna take a sample of one of those.." For her part, the combat medic that's usually identified by her likewise dayglo orange hair is busy collecting samples of things that might seem rather mundane at first glance -- namely, the gross stuff that Vandred is stepping in, occasionally barking some abuse in his direction as he fails to administer appropriate care in regards to where he's putting his 'clumsy feet'. Jacali is otherwise fairly withdrawn from the others, on a mission... for SCIENCE.Plantlife is collected for her own benefit, freshly bloomed flowers with soil samples locked away in appropriate containers and either handed to or affixed to Vandred in passing, not even a word of thanks muttered his way. Goodness. "The biological wealth of this locale is a breathtaking thing, yes. I have been here many times," Her voice finally comes as Vandred mentions how pretty it is. "A genesis cradle, brimming with life, ever expanding in networks we can't even begin to fathom below our feet. There is evidence to support a theory of ..." Her head slowly turns toward the much larger man, and behind the mask of her helmet, she narrows her eyes in his direction."... Nevermind."

"Should've requested he define 'handsomely'," Netep mutters to self while looking ahead to the friendly wave of an assuredly slow, excrutiating death. Only tourists are dumb enough to traverse this near, or so says the thinning presence of jungle locals. She slaps a low-hanging ball of slime mold out of her way. It lands upon the ground with a muted 'splut'. Two and a half steps later, Muri's changed her mind and doubles back to bend awkwardly over the now detritus-covered mass. Enough fumbling around in her pack manages to shake out a couple vials so she uncaps one and up-ends it into the gelatinous plop. A little twist, pull, and this star-drifting scholar has secured herself a core sample. The other vial is reclaimed, blown 'clean', and slipped back into its pouch.

That little Chadra-Fan moving among their herd catches her eye from this altered vantage point. Of note: his attire. "First time?" Muri queries while assigning the mold sample a bold number ONE and scribbling the current coordinates onto the vial. Once that's done, she slips it into a large, metallic cylinder procured from a separate pack pocket. Is that a thermos? Scuffed label says it was from Dex's Diner. Least she cleaned all the caf residue out, last night! "Science, or sight-seeing?" A grunt sees her rising under the weight of the reshouldered pack. Athleticism is not her strongsuit, but curiosity most certainly is. For better or worse. Before catching up, she makes an abrupt halt beside a vine, fishes out another vial and pulls a slender metal, duckbilled tool from a pocket on her belt. *Scrape*Scraaaaape*Scrape* slimy vine integument goes in.

Ki'izit gazes around uneasily as he moves along with the group; doing his best to keep as close to the middle as he can. With a shudder, he nervously watches a large flower as it watches him pick his way along. "Oh yeah great idea, Ki'izit." he chitters. "Nature hike sound fun. Nobody say nature watching me, too." He glances over his shoulder, back to the safety of the spaceport and sighs before continuing along gingerly and definitely not taking any samples. The little Chadra-Fan looks over to Netep as she speaks to him. He chitters softly at her question. "First time, yep." he says, nodding quickly. "Ki'izit heard about job on Felucia. Ki'izit, that me, need work. So go to buy ticket. See sign about nature trip. Cheaper than ticket!" he exclaims. Clearly he was excited about that part. "So Ki'izit say, hey good deal. Now Ki'izit think...maybe not so much."

A slow, thoughtful step concludes when Sumi steps in something that makes a noise. Her helmeted gaze angles down as she retracts her leg, lifting it slightly as if to survey just /what/ she stepped in. No, this was not a sample she was interested in taking with her. Her sigh is conveyed over her helm's emitter and she walks over to a stone and begins to scrape the gunk off the sole of her boot. There's a barely audible mumble grumble from the blue colored Mandalorian.

Vandred pauses as Jacali attaches something to his armour, and he looks down to something trying to absorb his boot. He frowns down at it before he yanks his boot up, flicking his boot a few times before some small toad-like creature releases the front of his boot and bounces off a nearby vine, grabbing it before releasing an incredibly angry squeaking noise.

It turns and leaps off.

Vandred looks back towards the group, offering a thumbs up to them. "Look! We're finding new and interesting things, and I'm making friends with whole new species! What a great day!"

... Oh, how she hates him.She is entirely too sober for this excursion.Jacali halts in her step as Vandred talks, her head turning so that she can observe him from over her shoulder, utterly silent in her contempt. "You should quiet yourself." She warns, "Loud noises can attract the attention of powerful predators in the deep places, and I would -hate- it," She lies. Badly. "Hate... it... were you to be eaten due to an incurable case of vapid shavitosis."Real thing. Look it up.She then turns to continue on her way, until she notices something -- or, rather, notices a lack of something. <<"... Something's wrong.">> It comes over the comms instead of just being muffled through her helmet. <<"It's too quiet.">>

Netep grins, listening to the pitchy little traveler jabber away. Her fingers cap the newest sample and secure it before looking down at the furry fella. Or gal. She can't tell. "Well, there's more safety in numbers here than if ya wander off on your own, tracking beacon or not, so...stick close to someone bigger than yourself. S'what I usually do." She winks, towering over the shorter alien at a meager 5'4", but far from a giant, herself. "Name's Muri," she introduces and resumes steps forward. "If ya like travel - PAID travel - an' the terrors of Felucia don't scar or scare you for life, then let's talk after. There's an Explorer's Guild based off the Smuggler's Moon...interesting gigs, through them." Tra-la-la...

The suspicious medic isn't wrong. They /should/ be quiet. Nature's being quiet, which Muri herself can hear once she shuts up. Sampling gooey things is put on the back burner for now, her attention turned solely to /listening/. Atrosciously blue curls bob this way and that as she turns her head, scanning their immediate surroundings without results. But the breeze...yellow eyes flit southeasternly to follow the invisible force fluttering 'gainst her cheek. "Felucia's taking one deeeep breath," she murmurs and starts to trod hesitantly toward that cavern over 'there'.

Ki'izit nods along as Muri speak and seems to grow excited when she mentions paid travel. His ears perk up and he shifts from foot to foot. "Oh hey, that sound good to Ki'izit." he says. He begins to offer his hand in greeting, then remembers that Muri has been touching slimy gross things. Instead he offers a buck-toothed grin. "Ki'izit definitely interested." he looks as though he wants to say more, then notices that the others are quieting down. He turns to Jacali as she speaks. "Too quiet? Huh? What you mean?"

Sumi detects a difference in the shifting of the air. She can hear it through the enhanced sensors of her helmet. A curious tilt of her head indicates that she has picked up on something and her observation changes from looking over the sole of her boot to looking around. A change in optics identifies spores as they shift to follow this 'breath' as Netep had so elequently put it. A brush of her cape, and Sumi sets her hand upon the grip of her 38CT flamer rifle, easing it to sit across her torso, but it's kept at a passive, non-alert angle. The Mandalorian walks by the group, even passing Muri who was walking 'there' to follow the spores and their chosen path down one cavern. Her cape shifts, following the air flow.

There is a sudden sound of air displacing, a huffing sound, and then a clapping sound like a fist slammed against a paper bag, albeit on a scale grand and almost beyond the point of imagining.

Fungal trunks and vines lean towards it and the explorers are suddenly lifted from their feet and hurled towards one of the larger caverns as if lifted and cast aside by a child... drawing them towards the open maw.

Vandred is listening to conversations, to discussions, to anything but the sudden eruption of whipping vines, the puffing of spores and tendrils being flapped around everywhere.

This is not going according to plan. Or, well, if Vandred did HAVE a plan, this would probably not be part of it. Shoving his arm into a mass of vines to keep himself firmly in place, his other hand moves down to his belt - where he begins spooling a length of cable - and promptly chucks it further towards the grasping maw, giving an opportunity. Those that can, do indeed grab, and Vandred's right arm begins slowly getting stretched as the additional weight gets put on it - there's a few clicking noises before the already loose tendons in the man's body begin to stretch out, and his arm seems to.. Grow a few additional inches. Things are stretched thin.

They begin a slow slide down, the weight a bit too much for Vandred to keep up, but at least anyone who grabbed on to the cable is not just flying straight into a hungry hungry maw. "Hello friends!" His voice is strained through the comlink, "If you could please get yourselves out of trouble, I'm afraid I can't lift you. I'd like to avoid being eaten!"

A pause. "Oh, and thanks! Sorry!"

... sigh...She knew it.She knew it was too quiet.She knew Netep was right about that deep breath.She knew that somehow, SOMEHOW, Vandred would be the one to make it.As she's suddenly lifted, there's a sort of calm about Jacali. She doesn't flail. Hell, she doesn't even really fight. She's lifted, and she stares toward the ground that once seemed so secure, and she lets out another long sigh. <<"Well, this is happening...">> She considers the predicament they find themselves in now, and every possibility that could hope to follow. <<"Now begins either constriction, ejection, or consumption, based upon the knowledge of this place and its rather unique fauna,">> She considers this for a moment, even as she's preparing for the inevitable event yet to come, <<"Flora? Hm. Clarification is necess--HO!">> It's so rare that her composure breaks. Then again, it's also pretty rare that she's being lifted and thrown by vines and drunks in the middle of some fungal hellscape, as well. Apparently today is a day for planets to align.... or... plants to align. Whichever.She's light on her feet, but it isn't her reflexes that save her. Rather, it's the line that's provided by Vandred in his quick thinking. For once, he has not failed her. But she will never allow him to know that. She grips onto the line without needing to be told twice, before she begins her quick climb toward safety.<<"We will talk about how sorry you should be another time!">> I mean, seriously. He didn't even warn her. He didn't stop this from happening. He couldn't even pull her up?! Worthless.

• POP* goes their airspace, sucked into a vacuum of mystery and WHEEEEE goes a Muri! Not exactly.

"YAAAuGAuughhhAAAH!" Netep does NOT go quietly into that dreadful maw of darkness. She flaps limbs, succeeding in twisting her ass-over-kettle orientation by enough to accidentally get snagged up on that syntherope. It's an armpit that hits first and the rest just sorta clamps down into a terrified ball by instinct.

"HOW." Muri shouts against the wind attempting to swallow them whole. She lets go of the line, she revisits that flight - that's how she sees it! But...One hand sloooowly goes over another and she creeps along the line, toward its living anchor.

Perhaps it was his nerves; the sound of his own heartbeats pounding in his ears, that caused him to miss what the others seemed to have noticed. Ki'izit had been accused once or twice or not always paying attention when he should be. But he certainly doesn't miss the terrible sound that precedes the ground heaving up beneath them. "Whoa-ohno!!!" the Chadra-Fan wails as he uses his long fingers to desperately cling to something that will keep him from tumbling down into that dark opening. Scrambling, he manages to grab the cable lowered by Vandred just as everything goes sideways and grips it for all he's worth."Ki'izit taking shuttle from now on!" he bemoans as he begins working his way up with the others.

Sumi is among the first to get pulled right up off her feet. Without the height though, she struck back first against the ground and was drug until more momentum began to carry her further in. <"You gotta be rekkin..">--

Clunk! BANG! BOOM! SCRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE! BANG! CLUNK! SPAAAT!

Sumi cannot be seen, but a loud whistling noise springs up and sails through the center of the cavern. A spark at the safe end marks the connection of a grappling hook, and the Mandalorian is kept in place with a yank that encourages a grunt from her. One arm stretched up and over her head, her other is wide still holding the flame rifle but not in a manner that would benefit anyone.

Straining to reach up, the Mandalorian used her other hand, after releasing her rifle to hang by its sling, to touch the 'up' key on her gauntlet, and thus began her climb up. She pushed out the control stick for her jetpack, hoping the sparking hunk might actually function this time, unlike the first attempt that was thwarted when she struck every wall on the way toward a possibly painful death.

The pull stops as suddenly as it began and with it rushes a roaring silence that soon fills with the twiddering of bugs, and avians, the chanting of the felucians. The cavern that had threatened to swallow them - it lacks the dampness of a sarlaac's mouth, the grasping tendrils - but there is a rumble deep below... and in the wake of such movement of the air there is phosphorescent fungus and lichen glowing like a dull star.

There are other paths as well, other caverns. Other scientific riches - but where will the explorers go.

You've seen the movie 'Go Limp', but have you heard of the sequel? 'Go Limp 2: Limp Harder'.

Vandred seems to deflate as soon as the pulling stops, his body slumping for a moment as his left arm appears to have grown more than a few inches - his fingers are pretty much grazing over his kneecap and shin. Unwinding his arm from the cable and then the vines for his left arm, he settles himself down for a moment, examining the overextended limb for a few seconds.

He flexes his fingers in it, looking at the flexible bodysuit beneath that kept the armoured plates in place - although it admittedly looks a little silly to have one long arm and one normal arm. Slowly, tenderly, his arm starts to slither back into shape, elongated fingers visibly starting to shorten as he flexes the digits repeatedly, ensuring there's no nerve damage.

"Well!" He chirps over the comms, as if they'd just had a short bout of rain rather than GIANT TENDRILS ATTEMPTING TO DEVOUR THEM. "That was an event!" A beat, "Oohh. Hey. Jac! There's something glowing down there!"

Ah. Innocence. Then, his elbow pops as his arm snaps back into a more conventional shape. "Ouh. That's going to bruise." Comes the off-handed muttering through the comms.

"Your people truly are a repulsive breed." Jacali retorts.But then he's talking about something glowing.... Glowing?This she has to see. And so, Jac begins on a new adventure, scuttling her way toward the offending prize. "Watch my back," She pretty well demands of him, her focus well and truly away from the others that she's come here with. She doesn't have anything against them, no. She's not -meaning- to ignore them. It's simply that there is science here, biological samples, rare and interesting things she must study, and so her attention is there. She has just been shown that the dangers here are real, but she can't help herself. Shaken, though perhaps not visibly so, Jacali makes her way toward scary-tunnel, stopping to collect some curious samples along her way. She can be heard muttering to herself, but none of it really makes all that much sense -- something about networks again, something about a ... delivery system? It's really hard to make out meaning in most of what she does or says at the best of times, let alone directly after almost being eaten by something she doesn't even want to consider. Vials are filled, strange containers now housing living examples of what she's found, all meticulously labled before she moves on.

Muri drops unceremoniously with a plop and clatter of gear. Her knuckles are white under the cover of gloves, clenched fists blanched and seemingly bloodless with the desperation of her grip on that line. While their savior is trying to reconstitute a more proportional frame, she is trying to forcibly flex some feeling back into her own fingers. "Thanks," She finally offers Vandred's way and massages her way to her knees...feet. "You okay, short stuff?" The latter remark aimed at the Chadra-Fan, of course.

Muri's turning about grants her a stunning visual of the bioluminescence and she almost...almost smiles. "Look," she points at a flitting blip of light adrift among the glowing colors. "Firefly. Felucian variety. Obviously." It's too fast to encourage her chase, though, so she edges nearer to the cavern's edge and satisfies her sampling lust with peeling some phosphorescent lichen from the wall, instead. Lots of it. "Haven't seen /this/ before..." she muses, keeping an eye on the shifty darkness, not trusting that rumbling which precluded the return of fauna's twitters and croaks. A glance to her chronometer keeps an eye on the time, as well. Counting.

Ki'izit relaxes a bit once he's back on ground that isn't moving, but by the way he remains crouched and ready to grab on to something at a moment's notice, he clearly doesn't trust it to stay that way. At this particular moment, the thing he seems ready to grab on to is whoever happens to be closest to him. Breathing hard, he looks around hoping to see the others making ready to head back to the safety of the spaceport. Unfortunately, everyone else is apparently not as sane as the Chadra-Fan. He gives Vandred's arm a curious look followed by a nod. "Thanks for the rope, big guy!" he says before turning to Muri. "Ki'izit still alive. For now." he says softly as he looks around.

To aid in her recovery, the Mandalorian activates her jetpack finally, and blue flames erupt from the vents taking her up. Her grappling hook retracts to her gauntlet and she lands in short order with a decisive thump. Subsequently, she takes two steps forward and brings her weapon to bear, this time its pilot flame clicking to life with a threatening green plasma flame. <"Rekk nature, and rekk this place. The next thing that grabs me, I'm melting."> She says aloud, turning in place before her shoulder lamp came to life to give her some ambient light for her optics. A slow pivot and Sumi determines she's in the gills chamber. Which way is back? Sumi's offhand drops to touch the tracker on her belt /just/ to make sure it's there. It is. Sumi steps forward, distinct boot thunks while she goes on a search for the party she came with.

Sumi within and the party at the mouth of the cavern, sound stretches out but somehow doesn't echo. It falls and would hit with a sick thud if it could. The tunnel that breathed is alive with glowing fungus, moss, and lichen - Netep's identifying 'Felucian Fireflys' most apt as the little ball of self propellant fungal creature flitters into a swarm of the little puffs that sweep and whirl through the air, the mixes of reds and blues mixing with bright greens and soft yellows.

To the Mandalorian's eye, through her visor, there is a brighter glow, deeper in, where the tunnels become closer.

To the others the flare of her jetpack and the pilot of her plasma flamer cuts through the natural glows, sky lining her for the others to see some dozen or so meters further ahead of them.

They can see her cape as well, fluttering between her legs further into the caverns again.

Vandred finally hauls himself up and on to his feet, his arm now looking 'somewhat' normal to the eye. His fingers flex a few times, before he seems somewhat satisfied at the range of movement he now has. With an idle grunt, he raises the arm up and rests it across his torso as he permits the limb to slowly slide back to normality, trekking behind Jacali and the crew now - probably just so that if there's another giant cavern that opens up, he's probably in the best spot to hopefully save someone from a terrible fate.

"You're more than welcome!" He chirps back to Ki'izit, raising his free hand. The same hand is waved towards Muri, enthusiastically. Waves for everyone! Even Jacali! The comment about his species being repulsive is apparently just totally ignored, and his hand moves to rest on his belt as he paces behind them. "Back watched!" A steady stream of informations is given by Jacali as she wanders onward, as ever speaking more like she's talking to a recording device than she is found to be talking to anyone else in her vicinity. After all, she's rather accustomed to being terribly alone with her experime--er, with her thoughts. Just her thoughts.<<"... seems particularly enriched, lines in the moss -- lichen -- showing signs of ...">> A lot of it gets drowned out after she's been talking for a while, blissfully fading into the background in her perpetual drone. <<"Down the leftmost of three smaller tunnels, as we see here, suggesting ...">> Yep. It just keeps going. She stops to collect more samples, her head tilting, the light of bioluminescent 'crystals' reflecting in the visor of her helmet as they catch her attention and keep it. In fact, it's so interesting to her that she actually grows completely silent as she begins her collection. She takes more of this than she has taken of anything else along the way, examining each vial filled with a primal sort of wanting that should really be reserved for other more carnal things.To each their own, right?

"Ah..." Netep sighs to see the flare of light from within Felucia's wretched, breathing womb. "So that's where our stoic friend went." She hadn't been paying attention, on account of clinging to Vandred's lifeline. "Much appreciated," a dip of her chin toward Mr chipper-do-good. She's still counting, anticipating another inhale at some point and intending to mark the respiration rate...for science. Or future reference, at least. She crouches down, dropping her pack but looping a foot through it, just in case while she creeps gloved fingers through some leafy undergrowth near the cavern's lip. Hunting, overturning each bit of flora with gentle purpose to see what's hiding underneath. If anything. But also to count the sporangia on the fronds which vaguely match the description Dr Vepo gave in his transmission. Fifteen. Isn't there supposed to be sixteen? Mm. Close enough. *Snip*

After rolling the leaf up and stuffing the vegetative scroll into a vile, Muri hefts up her pack and braves a small step inside the maw. Fingers and eyes continue to touch everything in reach, stroking vibrant life into the patches of 'Felucian Quartz' (moss) and grinning like a fool as weird nature reacts. Wandering eyes are awarded when she spies a giant, fungal puffball on the cavern ceiling. It, too, is breathing, though not with so dastardly an effect as whatever giant creature moved in the depths. Fireflies are exhaled from the puffballs many pores. Netep follows them with her gaze, Sumi-ward, as it were. And then beyond. "Hey, look there!" she points, voice largely lost to the jungle din. One hand touches her comm. <<Look there! 'Bout one...three...two (it's hard to count in the dark, okay?) holes past our...well, where she's going.>> 'She' being the wandering Jacali, three tunnels past Sumi. Netep snatches a taclight off her belt and flashes it once to confirm. <<Yeah. Either I'm higher'n a manta, or there's a sizeable uh...glow.>> Nevermind there are a LOT of glowing things there, but /that/ is a special glow! She's sure of it. Muri toggles the taclight again and aims it at the floor, inching, shuffling down that way to join Jac and snag some samples for herself! Er. For the prof. And DayGlo tour lady.

Not wanting to be left on his own, Ki'izit keeps up with the group, though he would very much like to turn back. But it doesn't take long for something to catch his attention. "Oh hey look at that!" he squeaks as he notices shiney patches of glowing crystalized sap growing nearby and scurries over for a closer look. A moment later, he stiffens suddenly. His ears begin to twitch wildly and he sniffs the air with his large, flat nose. "Uhh guys..." he says, his big black eyes growing a bit larger as he notices patches of moss starting to move as if caught in a breeze. Just like before. "Hey guyss!! Cave is breathing again! Ki'izit has very bad feeling about this!"

Sumi hears the transmission and pivots, catching some notion that they are near her. She shoulders her weapon and turns about, looking where she can to catch sight. A moment of thought has her switching from standard NVG to thermals, and she pauses a moment to scan through the gaps to see if she can catch sight of her companions. Her weapon is lowered to a passive-ready and kept from her field of view so she does not SLAUGHTER her eyesight from the flame burning hot af at the end of her weapon.

Too much 'stuff' in the air for Sumi - some of the floating spores are actually touched off by her pilot light and a riot of color blazes through the air of the cavern. It kills Sumi's night sight, but to the others like Kizit and Jacali her place there is confirmed. A glittering beacon of blue armor...

And then the cinders start pulling past her and away into one of the tunnels, quickly.

Vandred listens to the transmissions from his colleagues, and comes to a stop. He shifts his shoulder a bit, a soft hiss of pain as his bones and muslces shift around a little bit, and he grunts as he comes to look around himself for a moment. There's a click as his comms switch on. "I recommend we listen to our colleague here - if things are moving around again, I'd like to make cut and run for now. I'm going to have to go float in a Bacta Tank for a while right now, I don't want to be stuck in one for a month."

He shifts a bit, looking back ship-wards and then back towards Jac and company. "I'll buy you some Mufkins!" Comes over the comms. Not a name, but an offer.

He had her at mufkins. Jacali has gathered enough, it appears, and sees the wisdom in the words and suggestions of her associates. <<"Returning.">> She provides her single word warning before she's heeding the warnings that both other people and her own eyes are offering her.

"Hey, leave some for--" Netep's protest of Jacali's heavy sampling are silenced by the sudden void of sound causing her own heartbeat to become audible between her ears. That and the comm calls, of course. She marks the time, then exhales a sigh of resignation into her own link. <<Yeah. I uh...I'm keen to agree.>> Still. Her left hand swipes at the cavern wall, raking what it can of the crystaline moss into fist and hastily stuffs it into a pack pocket. No time for jars and labels!

The taclight's held in fist, pack slung over shoulder, and awaaaaaaaay she goes! Or rather, heeeeeeeeeere she comes! For the couple bodies who aren't quite down in the depths with Sumi, Jac, and self. It's not the sort of retreat that'd do an action holo star proud. Not one that slow motion might enhance for cinematic effect. If anything, it'd just amplify the awkward gait, the lopsided pumping of arms and open-mouthed breathing gasping of one who's not accustomed to running in heavy suits(heavy for HER), much less with cumbersome gear on her back. So. It's not a pretty run, this, but damn is it in earnest!

"C'mon, Kih--Kh--Kizzit!" Out of breath already, Muri scampers clumsily out of the cave and beats feet back onto trail.

Ki'izit waves at the figure of the Mandalorian up ahead. When he feels the air flow begin to pick up, Ki'izit forgets all about the armored figure and scurries as far away from the right hand tunnel as he can get and still remain close to the others. "Caves definitely breathing again. Definitely time to go." he says, shifting from foot to foot before scurrying over to Muri once she comes running out of the cave.

Once the others start to voice their agreement that it's time to go, the Chadra-Fan breathes a big sigh of relief. "Oh-ho boy, Ki'izit glad to hear that. You guys ok, but next time, Ki'izit stay with ship. Skip nature walk." he says, doing his best to avoid stepping in the squishiest bits on the ground and trying not to look at the creepy watching flowers. After a moment, he perks and looks to Vandred. "Mufkins?"

At the sound for retreat, Sumi turns slightly triggering her flight HUD, and switching off her thermal. It takes a moment for her eyes to adjust, but once they have, given her own personal enhancements, the jetpack on her back reignites. Sumi takes three steps before pushing off the ground and taking total flight, sailing through caverns toward the exit. She emerges and sails high up, well above the ship only to lower down once she's observed it's safe, and even then? She comes in from the top airlock.

Just out of range of the Breath of the Abyss the explorers hear the roar of the wind and see the 'trees' bend towards them. It is like a thunderclap when not in the middle of it.

But the moss, lichen, and fungus gathered continues to glow, it even seems to begin attaching itself within the vials and jars that it has been gathered into. The expedition rep, upon their arrival is overjoyed and even excited when she sees that some of the fungal fireflies have even attached themselves to the hair or fur of the others... Like little adorable little reminders of potential horrific air-pressure-ey doom presented today...