The Search Begins (Event Sign up Only)

The sounds from Salus' voice had faded. His location was unknown.

(ooc Ok guys here starts step two find, your friend, if you can.)

The stairs lead deep into the large hole, in which Salus had fallen into. It descended into the darkness, the sounds of water dripping was the only sound that could be heard. The yelling that was once heard had vanished. As they approached the bottom of the staircase, a white scarf laid on the ground with bloodstains on it. This scarf should be familiar to you both.

Xan descended the icy steps, careful not to bump into Kiri, or else both of them would fall into the water. As they descended, they noticed that it got noticeably warmer, perhaps because all of the chilling wind was above the ice-ground.

When Xan and Kiri finally stepped onto solid earth, Xan started to look around. He noticed that the underground lake was massive, big enough for an abundance of marine life, if life was sustainable down here. The second thing that he noticed was a white, bloodstained scarf, just lying there on the shore.

Xan reached two conclusions: Salus had obviously swam to this land, probably not in the greatest condition of his life, and had been ambushed either en route to the shore, or once he had made it here. But, why had no gunshots been heard?

Xan handed the scarf to Kiri.

Kiri took the scarf and stared, shuttering slightly, "D-Do you think he was a-attacked?" She stammered, then placed the scarf in her bag. It was unnerving. What kind of things lived down here? There weren't cute little doggies down here. Possibly more of the monsterous bear-zombie. Could it have been bred.. or maybe a lair ly down there.

Pursing her lips and smiled nervously, "I-Isn't it propper manners to go before a girl in times of discomfort?" She obiously wasn't the most fearless of soldiers and let out a shout as a salamander crawled across her foot. Leaky caves were out of her jurisdiction.

Xan weakly smiled. Losing one of his best marksmen, and one of his only actual friends did not please, nor amuse him. Xan tried to decide which way to go, but he would need to know where Salus' body was taken first. It wasn't thrown into the lake, or else a plop would have been heard. Maybe he was dragged somewhere into the darkness?

Xan wondered if he could get a response from Salus via the Illuminati Necklace. Putting his necklace close to his mouth, he activated the communications system.

Salus? Can you hear me? If so, answer at once.

A voice echoed down the tunnel that lead from the hole. It was a underground maze of tunnels beneath the surface.

"Salus, heh heh, isn't available right now but perhaps you can join him very soon. Ha Ha"

An effeminate voice echoed from the tunnel. The high pitched laughted richoted through the damp, dark tunnel.

"Come and find me if you ever want to see him alive."

Kiri narrowed her eyes. So he was alive. That was good to say the least, but how long would he stay that way? Getting over her personal fear of caves, she decided that Salus was her priority. Flipping out black cat, she began walking ahead of Xan. It was obvious he didn't care much for her anyways and while he spoke to his jacket she could possibly find Salus.

Her steps were surprisingly quiet and her usual hyper and smiling face was faded and replaced with a more serious and dark one. Whoever was down here was bound to have the advantage.

Xan saw Kiri begin to move and decided to stop trying to reach Salus via communicator, as it didn't seem to be working. Obviously, someone had either taken it, or Salus was in no position to respond. Either way, Xan would need to go in and find the man himself. Passing Kiri, Xan transmuted his arm into a blade, just in case of an ambush, which was highly likely in these tunnels.

The Illuminati Leader did not know what had taken Salus, or if he was even still alive. But if he was alive, Xan intended to rescue him so that all three of them could find that book. And if he was not alive when Xan found him, then someone would have hell to pay...

Kiri glared, annoyed at Xan. Did he think she couldn't protect herself? Was that why he took the lead? Well she decided to shove it to the back of her mind. It would be easier with him in the lead. After all he probably knew more about caverns than she. Still, she kept a hand on Black Cat just in case.

While Xan was walking, he noticed that Kiri was glaring at him. He ignored her, as her annoyance with him meant absolutely nothing down here in these caverns. Xan didn't know what to expect from these caverns, so he kept his guard up, and stayed on high alert, just in case of an ambush.

Kiri sighed and calmed down. Freaking out probably wouldn't do anything.. just make things more complicated. Upon fathering her breath, she rested her nerves and stopped walking. Looking around she wondered which way to go. It was possible and probable that they were completely lost. Narrowing her eyes to help her vision she looked for any hints, squating on the ground and looking for some sort of drag marks or footprints.

OOC: Salus, can you please move this story along?