Shelter was many things, cautious, kind, gentle hearted and just a tiny bit curious. So, suddenly finding himself underground with a group of kin both known and unknown wasn't throwing him tooo badly. He was a bit anxious, but also sort of curious about how and what they were there for. It felt sort of dream like and he was just going to let that be the case until something proved differently. So he stood a bit shaky, a bit wobbly and started to seek out someone else to explore the cave with.

Who knew what they could find here.

The tunnels felt unnervingly constricting, and Thunder found herself wondering how in the world zikwa could stand to spend so much time underground. Then again, most Zikwa were about half the size of the muscular kiokote, whose ears just about brushed some of the lower parts of the ceiling. She couldn't entirely recall making the decision to come down here, and the usually placid doe was a little unsettled with the thought of becoming stuck. But, she reasoned, heavy lifters would likely be key in safely exploring the tunnels. Glancing around, she shot a nervous smile at an anxious-seeming Acha nearby.

"It's a little scary down here, huh," she offered, shuffling her hooves.

"A little unnerving, I can't remember how I came down here," he admitted. No, never mind that right now, they had a quest it seemed and when it was finished they should wake up where they were..."or when I feel asleep."

"Shall we go and start to explore like our host has asked, perhaps we will wake up soon if we do as requested." He shifted, giving the kio a gentle nudge. "It helps we aren't alone... ooh I'm Shelter."

"Asleep?" Thunder tilted her head curiously. The fuzzy edges of her memory were indeed clouded and the whole area certainly felt a little bit dreamlike. "Interesting..." she mused, glancing around the area and nodding thoughtfully, before glancing down at the acha. "Thunder, nice to meet you, Shelter," she smiled, "let's go then. Best to be safe just in case we aren't dreaming. I'll certainly feel better if there's someone to help me out if I get stuck!" She looked around once again and nodded to one of the wider tunnels, "Let's try there?"

"It seems as good as any to start," he replied, giving a nod to the tunnel and started to walk. Who knew what they would discovered in the cave.

"What do you think we will find? Do you think there will be mushrooms? Could you eat the mushrooms? Should you eat the mushrooms." He muttered to himself, considering things. He guess eating the mushrooms would depend on what sort of mushrooms he would find. Could you eat in a dream. He guess he would find out then.

Thunder smiled and dipped her head to fit under a low point at the ceiling. Shelter's chatter was comforting in the cramped space of the tunnel, and she was glad that she had company in the strange caverns as they descended. She shivered slightly as the air steadily cooled, and shook her fur out pensively. "It certainly is the right environment for a mushroom," she supposed, "Dark, and cold and damp. I... wont partake if we find any, though. Sounds like a good way to get sick, eating random mushrooms in strange caves."

"True, but they might be familiar as well." Shelter muttered, turning back to make sure she was following and paused, looking forward and lifting his head up. "Ooh, do you smell that?" Something smelled like water. He twitched his tail, heading towards the smell. "Would you drink? I think there some sort of water up ahead, and I'm curious about what it is." He couldn't make out the sound. So he wasn't sure if it was moving... but it was close by. He was sure.

The damp air did indeed smell a little damper in the direction Shelter was facing, a tang of sunless stone flavouring the scent of water. Thunder hummed in agreement, following the acha more by sound than by sight, which was almost useless in the pitch blackness. As they walked, something began to resolve itself- the tiniest of trickling, dripping noises, echoing strangely from the gloom ahead. Thunder paused, ears swivelling to try and pinpoint the origin of the sound. A rugged face of rocks lay before them, boulders scattered from a long ago tumble. The noises of water were coming from behind it. “What dyou think?” she asked Shelter, placing one hoof experimentally on a stone near the floor with a quiet tap.

"Seems to be the right space," Shelter replied, inhaling deep and picking up more of a taste of the water and stone and some of the sound now. He carefully tapped his hooves around the stone wall, feeling. Hmm. He twitched his ears, sniffing a bit , narrowing down. "Maybe here?" He questioned, considering, the smell seemed stronger here. "But... I think we might need to move a boulder.. or two."

“Stand back,” Thunder advised, rolling her shoulders and eyeing up the wall. She braced her side against a large stone, heaving with all her might, muscles straining as she shoved. The boulder felt for a moment like it wouldn’t budge, but with a scraping noise it suddenly shifted and she skipped backwards quickly out of the way as it rolled aside with a rumbling crash that reverberated heavily in the air and faded to nothing.

"Ooh!" Shelter said, stepping back and let Thunder take a chance at it. "Are you sure you don't need .. ooh my." He trailed off as the boulder clearly moved away and he could feel it all the way up his bones as it crashed and fell away. "You.. are very, very strong!" He has not been expecting her to be that strong but ooh my.

Motherfather... that was a bit attractive and it was not the time! Nope.

"Would you like to go first, since you opened the cavern?" He questioned.