The Team Is Together Again

[kabukiman]

-She is still the Queen? She will have a long reign indeed then!

[Mr. Handy]

"She certainly does," says Lionel with a grin. "She's likely to give Queen Victoria a run for her money once we set things to rights."

[Laraqua]

"So shall we go?" asked Ronald, gesturing into darkness.

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah nods and gulps. "Let's get on with it, then," she says.

Lionel puts the coin back in his pocket, takes his daughter's hand and heads with her to the left.

[kabukiman]

Agnes follows, still not very convinced.

[Laraqua]

The world seems so silent as they shuffle forward into the darkness, the flashlight barely probing the shadows of this mammoth cave. It hardly seems possible that such a thing could exist below London. At the very least it should be structurally unsound. There are no pillars. No scaffolding. Nothing to keep that massive weight up over their heads. As they continue on the edge of their light catches the stone edge of a wide and yawning hole whose edges they cannot find with their flashlight and whose bottom is far too far below. It appears that a series of steps descend. Each step so deep and broad that it reminds those viewing it of a seat in an amphitheater.

[Mr. Handy]

"It's a long way down," says Sarah. "It'll be even harder climbing back up. Is it worth going down there?"

[kabukiman]

-Maybe I should go for a while, since I'm younger; it could be very dificult to Mr Lionel to return- Agnes volunters herself.

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you, Miss Agnes," says Lionel, "but I don't think it's wise to split up. Perhaps we should go back and check in the opposite direction first. It could require less of an effort, and we may want to explore up here before venturing down there."

"Yes, that does make sense," says Sarah. "We don't have to listen to the coin if we don't want to."

[kabukiman]

-Very well- says Agnes happy for not having to go alone in a dark place- let's try the other one.

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah and Lionel lead the way back to the intersection and across it, continuing straight ahead down what had originally been the right branch.

[Laraqua]

Show,Listen checks everybody.

As the group follow their footprints in the sand back across the wooden boards they can see a multitude of older prints heading off in that direction that haven't been raked over as the soil on the other side had been. Among the prints are what appear to be twin lines in the sand that are reminiscent of a wheelchair's wheels.

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah pauses as she hears something, but Lionel misses the sound.

[kabukiman]

Agnes seems to hear something...
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4235021/

[Laraqua]

There seems to be something scuffling in the sandy soil to their far left. Something beyond the beams of their torchlight.

[Mr. Handy]

"I hear something moving around in the distance in that direction," Sarah whispers, pointing off to the left, in the direction they had been heading when they had originally reached the intersection. "It's a good thing we decided to explore to the sides first. Let's keep going straight ahead."

"Yes, I agree," whispers Lionel. "It looks like people have been this way before, but we'll have to be careful. We don't know if they're still there or if they're friendly."

[Laraqua]

It does seem to be forward and left quite considerably, as though at a diagonal from their current position. It should be safe to follow the tracks in that direction later on, presuming the wooden tracks don't veer towards it - which it may.

[kabukiman]

Agnes is getting nervous.
-It's better we be more careful, we don't know who is there.

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah nods as she and her father cautiously lead the way forward, following the tracks.

[Laraqua]

As they approach through the darkness they pass a set of carved stone benches that sit in a circle around a brazier and beyond that they find a wall with little bedrooms carved into the walls, containing modern beds and other furniture, visible through the gaps in the curtained windows. Somewhere, further on, in the direction of the wheelchair tracks comes the disturbing sound of rusty wheels spinning.