Chapter 252 - Cavern Delve

Afton sent a knowing look at Anja who nods and raises the Laser Rifle at one of the roots.

*PEW!*​​

The green beam strikes the root and causes it to recoil like an arm too close to fire, a long low rumble echoes from the cave system behind the broken wall as the roots retract back from where they had come from.

Afton feels goosebumps go up his arms as the sound echoes through him... That didn't sound good... Behind the broken wall was likely the cavern that the plants had infested, that was likely the source to the initial infestation, so, given enough time... How powerful could the organisms grow? Judging by that sound just now, he was slightly unwilling to make a guess and have the universe kick his ass in return.

The 'good' thing about this whole situation was the fact the cavern didn't seem entirely filled with spores... He could still see inside it, meaning that the spores were all likely sucked through the ventilation system.

He sighs and readies his weaponry, "We better go then..." he mutters and steps into the cave system with Anja slowly following.

Afton's forced to use his Pipboy light as the cave system was almost completely empty of light. The only other thing provided any degree of light being the bio-luminescent mushrooms that seemed to be sprouting from the floor, walls, and ceiling.

They continue walking and are forced to occasionally step over the roots lining the floor. They could try to cut or kill every root they see, but it would likely do nothing but anger whatever creature resides in this place.

Eventually, they reach an opening and are greeted by a vast cavern, a wide underground place with pillars of stone and stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Though, that isn't the most eye-catching thing contained in this place. No, that would be the hundreds of Spore Plants, and the enormous luminescent tree sitting in the middle of the cavern...

The base of the tree was huge with roots spreading across all parts of the cavern, a good portion of thing digging into the stone and likely expanding as more time passes. Afton wasn't even able to see the top of the tree as it went through the stone ceiling of the cavern... This was incredibly dangerous as if it was left to its own devices that it'd likely breach the surface and begin spreading spores around the wasteland.

Afton sighs and chews on the inside of his cheek, "I don't think we can kill that thing..." he mutters. He didn't think they had enough firepower to outright kill it, and he doubted setting it on fire would do anything but anger it.

Not only that, but he wasn't sure how it would react to being attacked... From what he could see, it was probably perfectly capable of collapsing the entire cavern itself. He looks to Anja who was warily pointing the Laser rifle at the tree, "Don't shoot the tree... We'll probably need to kill the Spore Plants to look around the place, but I have no interest in seeing what kind of damage that thing can do."

Anja quickly nods, agreeing with him on that point. "Yes sir."

He bites back a retort at her commonly used phrase and looks around the cavern... It was fortunate the tree was luminescent otherwise they'd have a lot of trouble searching for Keely in here... If she's still alive of course.

After looking for a couple minutes he finally spots a cave-like entrance on the other side of the cavern. There wasn't any other exit here so if Keely was alive, that's where she'd be. He points it out to Anja and starts shimming around the room to try and avoid gathering the Spore Plants notice.

Halfway through Anja stumbled on something and accidentally kicks some pebbles down a rocky incline, the sound of them skittering down it echoing through the room...

Every single Spore Plant in the Cavern slowly turned towards their direction...

...

The duo stays as quiet as possible, from what they'd observed in previous encounters, the plants reacted to sound... Afton could hear Anja's erratic breathing, she was terrified and was ready to run at a moments notice. Quickly, he cups his single hand around her mouth, suppressing the sound enough to allow some reprieve.

After a couple minutes the Spore Plants lose interest and turn away. Afton breathes a quiet sigh of relief and sends a stern glare at Anja. She needed to control herself before she got them both killed.

Soon enough, after a couple more close calls they reach the cave and enter inside. Both relaxing slightly as they were now out of the line of fire of the Spore Plants. Afton glances around the small cave for a moment before spotting a humanoid figure. It was a ghoul with patchy, ragged-looking grey hair. That wasn't something weird though, no, the weird thing would be the green veins covering her entire form... If Afton didn't know any better, he'd say that she was infected.

"Hello?" he tentatively asks.

The person restrained to the wall by roots opens her eyes and lifts her head in his direction, "W-what? W-wait, are you real?"

...

"Er, I think so?" Afton mutters, patting himself over to get the point across.

"You shouldn't be down here, but..." she examines him, "I can see its already too late to warn you."

Afton shrugs, stifling the scowl that wants to make itself known, "You're Keely right? I was sent to rescue you by Doctor Hildern's assistant."

"Ah, that must be Angela then... Such a dear. I feel the need to apologise to you, my incompetence has damned you... I should let my curiosity die and warn the NCR about this place."

"What do you mean... And why did you come down here anyway, I can't imagine anything useful being here." he asks, wanting to know why she was in this cave in the first place.