Byron Hatter, Thorn Stradaise

Byron yawns and stretches as if waking from a pleasant nap. He cracks his neck a few times then looks around at his current surroundings. Hearing the persistent ringing of the scroll, Byron picks it up and reads the message. He looked around and eventually he found his equipment lying a few meters away. His partner still asleep for the moment, he slips off his sweat suit and puts on his usual attire, placing his favorite hat on head firmly. Lifting up Thanatos, he attaches the clock ticking coffin on his back like a school back pack then firmly ties the remaining sack to his belt. It hanged from his side awkwardly, but it was the best he could deal He tested the transformation to weapon form and back to confirm Thanatos was working in peak condition and checked to see it was fully loaded. Checking his bag of extra ammunition, he sees they even went and stocked an extra fire dust filled rpg shell for him, though considering their location, it doesn't take a sane man to know that launching a rpg would be plain stupid.

Thanatos back in coffin form, he kneels down next to his partner and lightly taps her cheek to get her to wake up. He took the liberty to locate her bag and set it next to her as he waited for her to regain consciousness. When she eventually awakens, Byron would hand her the device and explain the situation.

"Let's see," he would say. "That lantern is a definite must to get at this moment. Considering our height though, even if you were to stand on my hands, we'd be just below the height needed to reach it. Also, there is the matter of those enemies. They all seem to have some sort of territory advantage. Also, there's a good chance their's a grimm waiting right inside the cavern there."

Byron gestures at the entrance into the cave where he had vaguely spot a pair of eyes from the ceiling.

"Considering the descriptions we were given, it's more then likely that it is what they call an echolacer. Small but annoying. If they swarm in large numbers, then that would make things difficult. Things may become even more annoying depending on WHEN they show up. If they decide to drop by while we're preoccupied with trying to get that lantern, we'll be caught in a bad moment depending on our approach. Though if they come BEFORE we retrieve the lantern, our one and only source of light may be compromised during the crossfire. Everything considered, the best thing to do right now is retrieve the lantern immediately in the best and safest way we can consider. Protecting it is our primary concern. Sorry to mention, but I need both of my hands to use my weapon, so if possible you're going to have to be the one to carrying the lamp.

"Now we have several options as to how to approach this. If you can, you can scale to walls and climb in order to reach the lamp while I remain on standby to deal with any grimm that come along. I'm more accustomed to fighting bigger targets though. I can try shooting the string the lantern is attached to and have you catch it, but if are unsuccessful, well the lantern will break and become useless. If I deploy my weapon, you can stand on Thanatos and reach the lantern with your weapon, but if a grimm attacks right then and there, we'd both be at a bad situation to react."

Byron will then give room for the other person to voice her thoughts.

Thorn wakes up and rubs her eyes. She says" Ughhh...what's going on?" She stands up and looks at her surroundings taking in everything for future referance. She listens to what Byron has to say and then looks down the tunnel she notices the lamp he mentioned and says "We're definitely going to need that to see..." She notices a pair of eyes and winces "don't want to mess with that thing...looks like we're going to need to use some sort of teamwork to get that lantern..." Thorn starts to think up a plan but comes up empty" I got nothing..." She takes out Ambrosia Spike and looks at it making sure it's in perfect condition for the trials ahead.

"Hm~" Byron hums as his usual habit when thinking. "I suppose the safest option is our most decisive." Byron points a finger at the point where the rope tied to the lamp is connected to the ceiling. "I'll fire a shot there to make the lamp fall. You need to be ready to catch it. This kind of rock formation is sturdy enough that one bullet won't make it crumble, though a few rocks will probably fall. You will need to catch the lamp and bolt away before any rocks hit you, understand? The risk in this though is that if you don't catch the lantern it will break and we lose our lifeline. Also, the gun shot may attract whatever is lurking nearby. I'll be sure to snipe anything that may appear but it's still a gamble. Is this plan acceptable for now?"

Thorn walks over to the spot directly under the lantern she looks over at the pair of eyes and looks back up ready for the lamp to fall. She thinks to herself We really need a better plan.. a simple catch and dash probably won't work but it's worth a shot!. She looks at Byron and says" Ready!"

Once he had Thorn's consent, Byron activated Thanatos's weapon mode, the mantle of swords unfolding around him, each of his hands grasping the handles of his long range high precision rifles. Raising up the right gun, he aimed carefully with his good eye, his training to make up for his blind eye giving him the ability to easily shoot a still target like this. Pulling the trigger, the 9mm steel core bullet shot out of the barrel, aimed at the point where the chain that holds the lantern connects to the wall. Hitting the spot, the chain broke and the lantern fell, waiting to be caught by Thorn.

Thorn reacted quickly and grabbed the lantern. She rolled and ran as fast as she could over to Byron so she would not get hit by rubble. "Well... that was easier than I thought it would be. Now... let's shine this down the passage to see what we have to face." Thorn hands the lantern to Byron.

Byron raises both of his guns. "I need both of my hands for my weapon. I won't be able to hold the lantern. You seem faster and better with evasion then me anyway. I'm going to have to depend on you to hold on to our lifeline," Byron explains apologetically. "I'll be your vanguard. You stay safe and protect that lantern. Even if it breaks, we can use the oil, remember that. Don't worry, I don't mind pain. Can't feel it anyway," Byron says this with a smile.

"When I looked into the cavern, I saw two different routes we can take. We've got one going forward and another going to the right," Byron states. "The frontal path may seem tempting, but chances are a straight run through wouldn't be the right route everything considered. Then again, it's still 50/50. What do you think?"

Thorn took held the lantern in her right hand and Ambrosia in the left. "Alright. I suppose we should shine it first." She shines the lantern in the tunnel and starts to walk toward it.

Byron followed Thorn but kept his pace two steps in front of her to her right. If an enemy does appear, Byron made sure he is in a position to defend Thorn before any hostile would have the chance to strike at her. As they approached the cavern, it was just Byron said and their was a tunnel continuing forward and to the right.

"Which one do you think we should take?" he asks his partner.

"I'm thinking the path in front of us... It looks pretty safe..." Thorn shines the lantern in the direction of the forward tunnel and then the right just to be safe." I still can't see anything down these corridors" Thorn sighs and says "Forward it is!"

"As you wish," Byron responds with a smile and a nod. Taking a slight lead three steps in front, Byron goes into the front tunnel with Thorn following behind with the light. His guns are already up to fire at whatever may drop by.

The tunnel seemed long and endless I should try t initiate some conversation... He is my partner after all. All Thorn can manage to blurt out is "Had an good tea lately?" Hod! Your an idiot.. Had any good tea lately! That's the best.you can do...

"Of course I have!" Byron chuckled. "Let's see I had some calming green, some strong black, a blissful herbal blend, some nice early grey, just yesterday I had this wondrous jasmine and some tea with lemon, and of course there was my before bedtime tea with lemon--" Byron chuckles. "Tea time is a wonderful time, is it not? Why, every time is a good time for tea time! Don't you think?"

"I agree, tea is the best drink..." She thinks to herself wow.. I really couldn't think of anything better to talk about... She sighs and continues walking down the seemingly endless tunnel.

Thorn feels something sizeable in the water brush up against her leg. She gives out a slight yell and shines the lantern down at the water looking to see if anything is there. She takes out Ambrosia Spike with one hand and holds it in trident form ready for anything to attack so she can stab it. "Did you feel something brush up against your leg?" She says to Byron with a curious look on her face.

Byron pushes Thorn back, going backwards a few steps to try to put distance between them and whatever was slithering around. Byron uses one of his guns to continually shoot at the water in front of him as they traced backwards about three meters. If it didn't kill it, the least this could do is fish it out.

Thorn stabs the water in multiple spots with Ambrosia Spike and says" I think we should figure something out here.. I particularly don't like things brushing up against my legs in a dark wet tunnel." >.>

Byron keeps his eye on area where blood was present. Since the blood trail kept on moving he could tell he only managed to wound the enemy. Keeping his eye honed on the trail of blood, Byron shoots around it aiming not to shoot too close to the source of the blood. Enemies like this tend to keep near its allies. He aims to hit an allies whatever he shot gets nearby. The moment he see blood spilling from a shot besides from the first he had wounded he would shoot repeatedly at the new source about ten times right at where the blood is pouring from then would continue following the first blood trail, shooting around but not at it. He just hopes Thorn is able to deal with the ones closer to them.

Byron stops his shooting for a moment when he sees Thorn weakening. He disengages his weapon, turning Thanatos back to its standby form and grabbed Thorn, lifting her up in a princess carry. He carries her off, backtracking the way they came and did not stop until they were back at the original cavern.

"Ugh..what-what's happening." Thorn looks over at her leg and notices a small amount of blood trickling out. She thinks to herself. "Right..I've had experiences with things like these. It's probably a venom of some sort... gotta get some herbs, plants or medicine..."