The (now) five sent to found the clave were gathered in the morning light in the central courtyard of the clave.  The open gates allowed the dissipating mists to be pulled away by a gentle breeze.  The aromas of the morning's meal still wafted from the open pavilion where much of the cooking was done.

The trio of carpenters had assembled to bid their farewells, at least for the moment.  One of the carts and associated automaton mules would be left to help with the hauling of supplies at the clave.  At least one of the laborers was still considering a permanent job here, especially after the livestock herds were expected in another two weeks.  There were still conversations to have, plans to make, pay to discuss.  Perhaps it would even depend on who the animal handlers were.  At least some nascent area for grazing had been cleared to the west of the clave, the lumber used for the structures that continued to rise in wilds north of Yenth.

The carpenters themselves were glad to be returning to their homes, but friendly here and glad of the time they'd spent.  There was much good-natured trading of stories as the small group exchanged their goodbyes.  Some of Lyel's songs and tales were rehashed.  Admiration was again heaped upon the utility of Nalla's lumberbot, slow though it might be.  Pride in what they had accomplished was burnished.

And all the while, the gorge remained silent and empty, just as it had since they first arrived ...

Zalbane had been very pleased to find the fragrant wood for preserving the fruits they were gathering - it made saving the bounty much easier, and had given Lyel something to hone in on once they'd made their way to the clave.

But beyond that culinary experiment, Zalbane had been working with her favorite of all things, light.  The workshops, dining hall, and some of the streets had needed the illumination she'd managed to cobble together, and the spindly watchtower (which looked too fragile to support itself, but like Zalbane herself was far more sturdy than it looked) was topped by a gleaming beacon she had imbued with her own light, so that the night would hold fewer terrors for them all.

The gorge still beckoned, and no one had emerged yet, but that did not mean it was done giving up its secrets.  Once the walls were up and a few more facilities prepared, Zalbane was more than willing to illuminate the dark recesses of that mysterious place...

Building, planning and designing, Alberic is in his element and clearly relishes all opportunities to make things. He is remarkably agile and quick-moving for someone who moves in such a painful fashion, and he is soon whizzing around the site, leaving plumes of coloured smoke streaming from his pipe.

As he gets more accustomed to company, he manages to reign in his lengthy rambles, though this does give way to tuneless whistling and humming as he works. He does his best to engage Zalbane in conversation about the Iron Wind, trying to eke out every last detail he can, scribbling notes thoughtfully, and contrasting with his own experiences. Following Lyel's arrival, however, Alberic becomes a little distracted sometimes, stopping abruptly mid-task, if distracted by something - but it always seems to pass and he resumes his work.

As the carpenters prepare to leave, Alberic claps Mustane on the shoulder... with his good hand. "Thank you again, Mr Mustane. I was in a tight spot over in that pocket dimension, but you really sorted things out. Still, something to tell the grandchildren, eh?"

He pauses a moment, as if trying to locate an internal sensation. "Is it just me, or is there a bit if a buzz in the air at the moment? A sort of electronic feel?"

Mustane nods and laughs.  "Aye, that it'll be.  Got to have 'em first though, so I'm glad to be returning to Yenth so I can raise the kids I've got."  Mustane blinks at Alberic's second question.  "Buzzing?  I feel nothing.  Just the breeze."

Artane addresses those remaining collectively.  "We'll deliver these reports to the Prelate.  And the supply requests.  I don't know if her plans have changed since we left.  We'll see.  Any other requests that the Order can provide, things that we humble carpenters cannot?"

Lyel kept himself busy about the small community by keeping things light hearted, though naturally he didn't shun the work assigned to him. His initial introduction to the budding clave was embarrassing enough, having only just managed to land the travel bubble close enough to a stream to sort out the inconveniences of the travel, leaving him soaked, mutated, and in foul disposition regarding the man who had sent him.

'The wind cursed thrice suffers no fault for the heart being cold as ice,' was his mantra as he made his way to the settlement, and despite his irritation, he tried to brush it off with graciousness, and luckily these members were not so crass as to make a large deal over his somewhat inconvenient alteration. At the very least he needed to alter his trousers to accommodate the tail.

Naturally the opportunity to peruse thoughts was too great to pass up, and it did make it easier to crack a joke at the right time, or spin a tale that wasn't boring. He also had opportunity to practice some of his ability to sometimes amusing but harmless effect, having some of the workers set down a tool they had just picked up, and wonder why they suddenly did not have the tool in hand, to the puzzlement and amusement of others as well.

Lyel was able to learn a lot about the community sereptitiously as well. He was only stymied by his attempts to open the mind of Alberic, which puzzled him intensely, and also gave him a sharp headache whenever he tried.

When Artane gathered the group, Lyel frowned somewhat. Being reminded of whom this mission was being conducted for did not please him, and reminded him of his most recent encounter with the Order. He kept his silence to let the others more vested in the matter choose, and he certainly had no interest in promoting Norbint's interests here, given the woe caused by him.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:06, Fri 13 Mar 2020.

Being no further information or requests to carry to Yenth, the carpenters bid their last farewells and headed southward.  They guessed that the next visit to provision the clave with stores and staff would be a week away.  More, if the weather turned foul.

And so the quintet was left alone in the forest on a sunny spring day.  There was certainly more work to be done, as always, but no immediate needs were left unfulfilled.

OOC: I'm ok fast forwarding through the day, although you can feel free to do things in the meantime.

With the carpenters gone, and new people with the tiny clave, Zalbane had a bit of an idea.  "Lyel, Alberic, Tacita, and Nalla, do you think we have the time to make a better evaluation of the Gorge while we're waiting for more supplies?  Once the carpenters get back, we'll have to continue to expand and strengthen the Clave, but I would like to get a better handle on what's down there.  Even a simple mapping would be well enough, and if we can find a better way into that shielded room, that would be even better.  Something is likely to happen at some point, and I would like to know more about what we can expect," she says to the others, spreading her hands wide to invite discussion.

Lyel had begun to take out his spectacles, which often preceded him stealing away to a nook to pore over a completely empty book, but at Zalbane's suggestion he put them back away and smiled. "I have yet to see the gorge. Moreso, I suspect that the reason for me being sent here has to do with what lays down there rather than what occurs up here. I am also inclined to want to see what the fuss is about that I have suffered to come here for!" Lyel frowned and rubbed the small of his back right where the stump of a tail had grown. he still needed to get used to it's presence, and found himself in an awkward state too often trying to sit. "Count me in. Hopefully I'll get to see some of the things everyone has been talking about first hand."

Alberic puffs thoughtfully on his pipe, releasing a cloud of aquamarine smoke that smells of the seaside. He grimaces, and takes the pipe from his mouth. "I'm all up for a look around down there. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say...

The path between the boulders leading into the gorge and along the northern wall is much as it was.  The walk is wide enough to get by safely, but just barely.  The gorge itself quickly yawns open and deeply.  The shadowed recesses at the bottom are revealed only to the keenest of eyes.

Zalbane holds her crystal high, imbuing it with her light to throw back the darkness at the bottom of the gorge.  Surely there was something down here that might explain the forcefield room, or any of the odd occurrences that had drawn them here, or at least be of use in establishing the clave!

Although it is, at times, awkward to look so far down while hanging on at the ledge, Zalbane's light does provide some decent illumination below.  At this height, the floor of the crevasse seems to be littered with irregular piles of leaves and sticks, with occasional bits of bone peeking through.

The rock of the gorge has enough cracks and fissures in it to hold climbing spikes, if you were inclined to make your way down.

Alberic peers down into the crevasse. He shrugs. "Well, I'm game. I've 3 spikes in my pack..."

Zalbane will offer to loop and tie rope as Alberic puts in spikes.  "The safer we can make this, the better. The bones I see below make give us clues as to the nature of what this place was, or perhaps more things lie below the drit.?"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 01:44, Thu 16 Apr 2020.

Quite distracted by both setting up the lumber mill to continue its rudimentary tasks in their absence and planning out the next few stages of construction as they travel Nalla almost doesn't notice when the others quite literally run out of rope.  The problem is easily solved as she hands them spare coil she keeps in her pack at all times.

"Thank you." Alberic has soon stashed his pipe, and carefully begins to hammer in the first spikes while Zalbane fastens the ropes together. This done, he begins to clamber down into the Gorge, lowering himself down to hammer in the next spike. He is ungainly at the best of times, but it is pretty clear that he is not an experienced climber...

Alberic is able to manage the descent without falling, but ungainly is a kind description of his efforts.  At least the spikes seem reasonably secure and there is sufficient rope to reach the uneven bottom.

Alberic completes the climb, and breathes a sigh of relief to find himself safely on the ground. He clamps his pipe back into his mouth, and takes a few long puffs. A drift of acrid lemon yellow smoke comes out, and he grimaces slightly. He calls back up: "Well, I'm down!". He unslings his clock hand from his back, removes the mitt from his mechanical left hand, which immediate begins to glow, illuminating the area, and begins to look around.

Lyel watches with some trepidation as the mechanical man makes his way down. On several occasions he holds his breath as the ungainly and cumbersome process on several occasions makes it seem that the strange companion would plummet to his own demise, creating new bone litter for birds and scavengers to pick from. Once the call of Alberic makes it's way back up, Lyel calls back: "Bit of a harrowing climb it seems! We should definitely invest into finding a safer route!" He then smiles half heartedly to the other two. Despite the obvious misgivings about making the climb, he was excited to get to the bottom and finally see what this hullabaloo was about. "I guess I am next. No time like the present, huh?"

Following the same process as Alberic, Lyel slowly begins his descent, holding his breath as he moves down in spurts. At least he had use of both his arms in case he were to plummet...

The men begin moving about awkwardly in the narrow confines of the gorge bottom.  They can move single file with (relative) ease, but moving past each other will be difficult.  As the leaf litter and sticks are disturbed, worms, insects, and other decomposers scurry and squirm for better cover.

Having made his way down much more gracefully than he had intended or assumed he would, Lyel lighted his foot upon the uneven ground and heaps of detritus at the bottom, feeling the confine of space that he had not judged fairly from above. "More Narrow down here than it seemed." Lyel cast a glance in either direction, not sure which way they should travel, and considering whether he should bother drawing on an esotery to investigate ahead. Turning to Alberic he asked: "Should we be concerned with any unknown crevasses or such here, and which way are we going to be traversing?"

After taking the time to wrap a thin cable around herself, and the rope several times Nalla effectively falls into the gorge at an unusually slow rate, letting the friction do most of the work for her, even bumping into the walls a bit doesn't seem to bother her as the tiny amount of kinetic energy is just absorbed, not even causing her to rebound off the surface.

Once she reaches the bottom she detaches the cable with the same amount of care, and only then heads off in the direction the others went to catch up with their slower progress through the compressing terrain.

Alberic nods to Lyel. "Wary of hidden crevasses, definitely. There's enough debris here to conceal a pit. As to which drection?" He hesitates and then gives a frown, as if concentrating. Then he points East, further into the unknown, and suggests: "This way?"

He then heads off, tapping the ground in front of him with the clock hand, to test the floor before he steps on it...
This message was last edited by the player at 21:38, Thu 09 Apr 2020.

Lyel pauses a moment, waiting for direction from Alberic. His ungainly clockwork mechanisms seemed to not be as much a bother to him and could in fact be a useful asset, though Lyel had other reasons to have concern about the man. For the moment, however, Lyel put those concerns to rest. "Allow me, I should be able to do this a bit safer than merely testing the ground ahead by foot..." With that, Lyel made a gesture in the air, tapping into the ever present nanite structure that powered some of his esoteries.

As far as Lyel can tell, at this point, the path path ahead is merely walls of stone and a "floor" of dirt, decaying leaves, tiny critters, and bones.  There is a bit of metal here or synth there, but he'd need to go digging to get a better sense of what these mean.

"Well, something's certainly making my gears chatter." Alberic muses as he watches Lyel performing his esotery. "I'm not detecting any active Numenera though. I wonder what it can be?"

Zalbane sees that the other two have made it down safely, and climbs down herself with ease.  However odd her body looks, it's clear Zalbane's wanderings have made her strong.  Looking about at the synth and bits of metal, Zalbane goes to find a likely bone to use as a shovel and begins to excavate the nearest few pieces.

"Perhaps there will some piece that matches the force field room where we were the other week down here!" she says cheerfully.

OOC: 19:37, Today: Zalbane rolled 14 using 1d20.  Climb (1E).

Zalbane's excavations here reveal primarily animal bones and bits of torn synth cloth at her first "dig site".  Nothing that resembles a humanoid (unless those bits with the tooth marks are?) and no crystals or similar items. Perhaps closer to the mouth of the cave would be "luckier".

The idea is as good as a deed, and Zalbane will move as close to the cave mouth as she can before doing another excavation, eyes peeled for anything interesting.

Alberic studies the bones and cloth with clear interest - but clearly little idea about biology or zoology. Once Zalbane has completed her excavation, he moves on behind Lyel, alert for danger, or opportunity.

Keeping up with the line, but not trying to rush it Nalla watches the terrain move by only casually, her primary focus as always on the information she is manipulating on the translucent screen before her eye.

Lyel notes with some slight irritation the warped woman working on excavations into the detritus of the chasm floor as he continues his scans, trying to predict where she is going to excavate next to scan for dangers beneath her feet while also looking ahead.

Lyel's careful advance finds no traps, and Alberic finds no odd effects in operation.  Occasionally a small mammal will dart, squealing, from the party, startling most.  At one point, a collection of flying lizards, perhaps scavengers, takes flight from the rock face above and chitters off into the woods obscuring the sky overhead.  Eventually, perhaps a hundred feet from where you think the cave is, Lyel stops.  Below him is a much denser collection of bone, as well as some other materials, including at least one crystal and some odd bits he's not entirely sure of, but seem to be some type of synth.

Stopping to contemplate the information being fed to him through his Esotery, Lyel's eyes flash a bit. Confident that there would be no danger, Lyel calls to Zalbane.

"Hey, I have something here that may be what you are looking for. Some numenera buried beneath this bone. Probably swallowed by a creature before it died...seems to be encased in bone more than just what is scattered about here. Did you say you think there might be something having to do with a force field? If so, this could be it. Crystal and some other scrap. The crystal might be relevant even if it isn't to do with the force field anyway, and if needed I could take a look at it and try to find out..." He taps the crystal matrix that is embedded over his eye as if to emphasize.

"Well then, let's take a good look!" Zalbane says, shining her light over the area and rifling through it carefully.

OOC: 01:02, Today: Zalbane rolled 7 using 1d20.  Perception, S, 1E.

Alberic stands back, and watches with interest as Zalbane begins to search the area.

OOC: If Alberic can assist without getting in the way, he will do so - if the space is too constrained, then he'll stay out of the way.

Nalla looks up from her screen when the possibility of new numenera is mentioned and goes about the process of finding or making a flat and relatively clean workspace from rocks and the canyon walls.
”Let me know when you get most of it free, I will see if it can be quickly repaired or safely powered up.”

Zalbane's excavation quickly slows in pace, as a human(oid?) skeleton is revealed.  While there is little flesh left, the bones seem to be in relatively good condition (not gnawed or dragged away) and there is some connective tissue remaining.  The skeleton is wearing clothing of a style unfamiliar to anyone present, although it's difficult to get a clear view in the dim light, through the dirt crusting it.  Zalbane works to carefully extricate the remains as intact as possible, and more than half of the body remains yet buried.

Alberic leans forward to get a better look at the skeletons. "Hmm... I wonder who this unfortunate was? No signs of animals interfering... were they buried? And if so, was it by chance or design?"

Alberic looks at the ground and body to see if he can spot any signs of violence, or indications that the body was buried here by an avalance or rockfall rather than deliberately.

While there are some signs of small animal gnawing, no large creature seems to have disturbed the body.  Alberic's assessment of the corpse and its surrounding seems to suggest that the body was not buried here deliberately, but rather by time, the weathering of the rocks above, and the sticks and branches that blow into the crevasse.  To determine a possible cause of death, it would likely take a full excavation and assessment of the remains.

"We should certainly dig it out." Alberic muses, as he studies the ground. "It wasn't buried deliberately, so knowing more about how it died might tell us something about the dangers hereabouts. Or at least we might glean something from its uniform..." His use of the term "it" shows a distinct lack of regard for the fact that these bones were once a living person.

Clearly a bit surprised and quite disappointed to discover that the thing they stopped to dig in the dirt for was nothing more than an old body Nalla tries to remind them of the purpose of their outing.

”It has been safe here for a long time, and we aren't going to carry it with us while we continue our exploration, just mark where it is for retrieval later we don't want to be standing around out here for very long before we have secured the area, unless you want to join it in the ground.”

Zalbane nods and marks it with a stray bone and bit of synth to make a flag, and continues to carry on towards the cliff, searching for anything else interesting...

As Lyel leads through the crevasse, the pace continues to be slow, but the search is fruitful.  After another 75 feet or so, he senses a "deposit" of composition similar to the body Zalbane began excavating.  This one seems a bit deeper  and ... less massive, perhaps?

Alberic raises an eyebrow. Well, the only eyebrow he has left. "Interesting - and I'm certainly tempted to dig, but being mindful of the need to secure the area, as you rightly pointed out, Nalla, perhaps we should just stick a marker in the ground and come back once we're sure the area is safe?"

Keeping his concentration on his task, Lyell merely nods in agreement with Alberic's suggestion. Sparing a moment between scans, he shares his thoughts with the group over the matter, his common lighthearted nonchalance uncharacteristically missing as he speaks. "Unless these pockets of slight Numenera and corpse husks pertain to the task we are here to complete, I think marking them is enough. I can continue this task of scanning, but it seems that the most dangerous thing we have to worry about is a twisted ankle over misplaced footing. Most of my scans seem to just reveal bone, rock, more bone, more rock, and the occasional novelty trinket that we may want to investigate at some point, but the urgency...is up for debate."

Alberic nods, and uses his clock hand to crudely scoop the earth and debris into a recognisable pile, into which "Very well - let us move on."he sticks a branch to mark the spot.

Lyel's scans continue, and the gorge gets narrower, at least at this depth.  Not much farther ahead, Lyel discovers what might be the remains of up to three additional creatures/persons.  Three crystals seem to correspond with the masses of bone, as well.  Part of a skull protrudes from the detritis of the gorge bottom, the bone viciously cracked.  Not much farther on, the gorge becomes so narrow at this depth, it would be nearly impossible to continue forward.

A look of consternation crosses Lyel's features as he takes another moment to pause his scans. As the rest of the party considers the layout of the gorge itself, he calls Alberic over.

"My friend, did you find the Numenera object I had scanned for earlier? There are three more sets of what I assume would be humanoid remains here, and one previously at your marker location, each with some sort of crystal buried with them. I would like a closer look at these crystals. Could you dig up one more of these bodies and retrieve the crystal? I suspect there is more significance due to the frequency."

As Lyel waits he adjusts his stance, his tail lazily swaying along with his movements. The new appendage was something he was still getting used to, though his physical being was not the most pressing concern of his. "All mountains crumble, all kindgoms fall. Only the wind and water remains to remember them," he reminded himself.

"Yeah. Something in these parts is making my cogs rattle." He taps the left hand against his left thigh, giving a dull metallic thunk. "But that's been going on for a few weeks. Probably about the time you arrived, now I think of it. I wonder if it's tied in with these crystals? Still - I doubt we can get much further. I guess we set a watch, and get to digging."

And so saying, Alberic begins to dig up the cracked skull, with the aim of excavating the area beneath it.

Zalbane helps with the digging, delicately moving away the debris and drit. "It may also be that those crystals could be useful in the room with the strange force wall that we found earlier.  One of them may be a key of sorts."

The remains are unearthed with relative ease.  The "floor" of the gorge is primarily decaying plant matter.

The most obvious skeleton, the one protruding from the debris, is in a condition similar to the other.  Most of the soft tissue is gone, and a few marks of animal gnawing are present.  There are more obvious broken bones here, and no signs of healing.  The right arm is close to the surface and on the back of the hand, attached in an unclear way, is a strange crystalline form, thin but solid.  It is a deep blue, and seems slightly ... flexible?

Zalbane and Nalla will both recognize the shape.  It is identical to the form Tacita created to unlock her way out of the chamber above.

While no use in the digging, even through loose plant matter, Nalla keeps an eye out for assaults from the surrounding area while the others unearth the arm.  When they have it clear she comes over to inspect it.

”That looks like the device used to open the shield from the inside, but we don't know if there is a way to make it work from the outside, or if it requires some sort of identity to go with it.  Probably best to take the whole hand just to be sure.”

The hand is still held together with enough tendons and ligaments that it doesn't just break off, but they would be easy enough to cut through if the rest of the remains are intended to remain here.

"Fair enough." Alberic grunts, and pulls the mitt from his left hand to reveal the mass of mechanisms beneath. The linkages shift and squirm unpleasantly until finally a narrow, razor sharp blade emerges. Using this, Alberic begins to crudely hack through the tendons attaching the hand. It is sharp enough, but short, and Alberic has to twist the hand around to try and cut at the various bits of tissue that remain.

This is roughly the equivalent of trying to hack the hand off with a sharp pen knife - not a very dignified or efficient approach, but Alberic's enthusiasm runs ahead of his common sense. If anyone else wants to step in with a decent blade, then feel free!

Alberic's "extraction" is crude, but effective and doesn't take particularly long, either.

"There we go!" Alberic grins, and cheerfully waves the hand and crystal in the air, rather morbidly. "Shall we head back to that machine of yours and see if it does something? I'm not sure we can get much further here, and until we know more about it what it does, I don't know that we want spend time digging up more of the crystals?"

He tucks the hand into his pocket, and carefully replaces his left mitten, then sticks his pipe between his teeth, and takes a long draw, before exhaling a cloud of yellow, honey-scented smoke.

Zalbane nods as Alberic handles their find.  "Certainly! It's the clearest and most active bit of numenera we've come across down here, so I am eager to see it now that we have some kind of key!"

Despite being mostly lost in her plans and lists for the building prijects Nalla manages to pull her attention away long enough to answer,

”Just don't go jumping in before we confirm it works multiple times without complaint.”

The party makes the journey back up to the ledge.  The climb up takes longer than the descent, but it's manageable.  The path along the ledge is perhaps slightly more harrowing, knowing full well the cost of a mistake.  Still, the quartet arrives safely at the cave.  It seems unchanged from the initial explorations of Nalla, Zalbane, and Tacita.

Having reached the cave, Alberic unhooks his clock hand from its makeshift harness, and places his pipe back in his mouth, looking around with interest. "Well, we're here. I didn't get a chance to look at this contraption: I look forward to seeing it in action." He gives an embarrased cough, exhaling a plume of plum-scented purple smoke. "Erm, remind me what it did again?"

"Kept up an invisible wall that was tougher than anything I've seen in a while.  The crystal let us get past, though it was just once.  This one might let us get through not just it but the door on the other side too.  It's worth a shot, at least.  If that doesn't work, then we can just put this on hold for now and concentrate more on getting the lay of the surrounding land.  The gorge will spit out something at us eventually, so we can be ready when it does, if this doesn't yield anything," Zalbane says cheerfully.

"Just once?" Alberic raises his only eyebrow. "Did it use up the crystal? Do we need to pick up some more? I don't want to get locked on the other side of the toughest wall ever! Though I guess as long as we don't all cross the threshold, those outside can always go and dig up more of those crystals... assuming that's what Lyel detected in every case."

"One of the others we had with us at the time, Tacita, she could make things out of light, and made the right shape to make it work.  But we didn't have a lot of time to experiment, as we had been looking for Mustane and all.  And found you!" Zalbane explains.

"Ah, I guess I missed all the fun!" Alberic laments. "Do we still have the other crystal? Perhaps we should go and give it a try?""

It is clear that he is itching to try out a new numenera...

The force field barring the doorway into the strange room issues a barely audible hum.  The cave itself is dry and unchanged since the last visit of the clave founders.

"Ah, Tacita made it with abilities she has, and it only last mere moments, so all we have is the crystal we just found.  But let's see if anything happens!" Zalbane says.  "Go ahead Alberic, Nalla, I think you both have a bit more experience than I."

Alberic does not need inviting twice. He immediately begins to study the force field, and examine the crystal - still morbidly attached to the hand - and its reactions. He gazes longingly at the control panel on the far side of the barrier. And puffs out a thoughtful cloud of peach-coloured smoke, thinking intensely.

The control panel in question can't be seen, as it's inside the far room beside the "doorway" in question.  (Tacita had used a cypher to teleport inside).  But the crystal is likely an unlocking mechanism of some sort, although Alberic can't decide if it would work more than once.

Alberic rather disconsolately studies the wall around the force field. "No signs of what's making it. If I could get access to the machinery, I could probably turn it off - at least temporarily. But as it stands?" He raps his mitted hand against the wall."No chance."

He looks across at where Nalla had begun boring through the wall. "Hello. Looks like someone's had a go at this wall. Was this your handiwork? Maybe we could finish it off..."

"She did very well. I could try to make a drill or something from light, but I'm not certain how effective that would be.  We could try it, though!" Zalbane offers.

Alberic nods, thoughtfully. Peering at the hole. "Worth a go. I can do a bit of of laser blasting, but I'm not sure how effective it'll be on this. Perhaps between us, we can get into it? Otherwise, I could try to jury rig something... but I couldn't guarantee it would be useful..."