The trip down to Stylianos Crypt was by chance the first time Tenshi ever felt any sort of ill-will toward Vidarr. Up until this point, he had been a reasonable man. Albeit slightly reckless and morally grey in his judgment, he hadn't done anything to terribly piss her off. Until now. His suggestion to go to the crypt with a couple of the others to gather some herbs for their stores was absolutely daft. He did know that this was a crypt, RIGHT? Meaning dark, damp, and probably devoid of all life. Remember, it's a crypt. Meaning dead things lived here. DEAD things. Not plants!

But she loved the man and though she questioned how much she loved him, she went anyway. Taking whoever wanted to help her gather these potentially imaginary herbs, she led them deeper into the crypt. Her expression is pinched and her lips tremble with a snarl as she shoves her large frame through cobwebs and fallen doors. Silence stretches between her and the rest, all but the sound of their paws and their breathing to make it not so awkward. It isn't until they reach a very deep part where a surprisingly chilling breeze rushes through an open area with many paths leading in different directions does she stop and look around.

"We look for herbs. Crazy, stupid, I know, but I digress. We stay together or split up to look?" Tenshi looks over her shoulder at the others as she waits for their response. Maybe they'd have somewhat of a good idea of where in this dim place to find something.

"Speech"

If Tenshi, the name of whom Tomie did not know, thought poorly of Víðarr then Tomie's own thoughts on the man were downright toxic. She still carried a grudge against the man for his treatment of her mother and she if their task was anything to go off of she also wasn't sure he was all too bright. Really not doing much to endear himself to his young "thrall." Tomie plodded after the group, having not really volunteered herself for the job but sort of just tagging along since she was looking to at least be a little more prepared the next time someone was hurt and she was the only older wolf around to help apparently. That early morning with the tiny child still fresh in her mind. It seemed she'd been counted as volunteering though, no big deal in her mind either way. If her help meant it helped her mother that was all she cared about.

The antlered woman had turned to the group and told them their job. Tomie rolled her eyes, yeah the black man must be an idiot. She snorted and shrugged, breaking off from the group a bit to poke around at the nearest wall, if they found anything it'd be in the areas where moisture was most likely to gather, at least by her estimation. Probably fungus mostly, they didn't much light right? She honestly didn't know. "Might as well split up, big space." She finally responded, low voice somehow echoing more than she'd meant in the deathly quiet, even though she hadn't been particularly loud.

"Tomie"

Image by xALTUMSILENTIUMx

Damn, was the bulky lesbian the only one who felt favorably about Boss-Man at the moment?

Not that she knew, of course. Bylgja wanted to recoil on some level as she approached the crypt with her company. She hoped they wouldn't find the course of the mercy-killed wolf; it hadn't been long enough for her smell to have left entirely, and that may make things... complicated. But they were meant to search for herbs, so Bylgja simply shrugged her shoulders and strode past Tenshi and Tomie.

She cast a look about. "Careful splitting up. This is big place." She peered at Tomie, ears twitching. Bylgja did remember the way the younger woman had looked at her, that panicked, flustered expression.

The bulky healer adjusted her axe and glanced about, circling a column and examining it before scraping some moss off the column. Moss, at least, was always useful. "Maybe scraps of something for bandages down here?" She was at least trying to be hopeful.

Delphi practically skipped along after the trio of older women. While two of them looked particularly grumpy, she noticed that Bylgja wasn't too cranky. Was it their time of the season or something? Eh, their problem, not hers! Happy to be a part of something that would help the pack, the small gremlin girl followed the trio deeper into the crypt. Though she questioned Vidarr's choice to take over the dim and decrepit place, she wouldn't voice her thoughts aloud. She was merely a Kind still so her opinion mattered little compared to Tenshi or the others.

When Tenshi stops to question where they want to look, Delphi perks up. If they split up, she could possibly get into trouble she didn't want. After the attack by that stranger, she wasn't so sure she wanted to be alone. Taking a few more steps into the larger room, she peers into the shadows. Tilting her nose up, she sniffs the damp and musty air to try and get a hint of where to look. After a moment or so, she thinks she detects something. "I'll check this hallway," Delphi says quietly as she turns to go down a slim hallway right off the main corridor. There she can see a large leafy plant that resembles ferns growing in the far corner. Ah, there was hope after all in this dingy place!

Tomie is the first to speak up and agree that splitting up would be beneficial. Tenshi nods before Bylgja warns that the place is massive and could be dangerous. A thoughtful hum resonates in her throat as she considers Bylgja's suggestion. Bandages, yes, but they needed to know if anything could be grown down here. Taking a few steps toward the left, she nearly whips around when Delphi mentions that she'll check a separate hallway. As much as she wants to tell the pup to follow her, she is not her mother and the pup should ultimately know to be careful... By now.

"We must find plants that grow here," Tenshi starts as she turns to the group. "Look for plants such as Salvia, Black snakeroot, Turtlehead, Jelly Ear Mushrooms, or anything else you can find," she listed off some of the plants she knew that enjoyed full shade and damp soil. Since the crypt was built into the depths of the mountains, Tenshi could only assume there had to be soil beneath the stone they walked on. "Return here when you have found something." At that, Tenshi turns to wander a bit farther into the room and down a short hallway that opens up into a separate room.

The room is small, musty, and full of cobwebs. What she also notices is the split in the rock at the back of the room with a trickle of water pushing out of it. Interested, the woman approaches and sees a small plant growing between the stones. Leaning down to take a sniff of it, she gives it a gentle touch to ensure it won't hurt her before grabbing some of it to inspect it further.

"Speech"

Herbs to collect: Salvia, Black snakeroot, Turtlehead, Jelly Ear Mushroom or something else if you'd like! Figured I'd do some research for us. C:

Tomie was pretty damn aware of the older woman, even though she was doing her best to act like she wasn't, like aware of her at all. It was about the only thing that stopped her heart from pounding against her rib cage so hard that she could feel it. Tomie hadn't experienced attraction before that moment on the steppe and she really didn't know how to handle it. Luckily there was a task to do so she could focus on that instead of anything else at all. Or well she could have if the scarred woman hadn't spoken up and Tomie went a bit rigid. It was sensible of course, the place did seem massive and like it'd be too easy to get turned around and never find your way out. Tomie swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and nodded stiffly. Then she marched her gay ass down one of the other hallways the pup hadn't gone down, she didn't plan to go too far in but definitely needed to get herself out of the eye line of the others. Luckily it seemed she'd picked a room rather than a hallway, she could see the back wall from the entry way. A dark mass up against it. Carefully Tomie approached the shape. A fine dusting of rocks and soil coated the floor, if anything had moved in this room it had been some time. No doubt the dirt had shaken loose from the roof at some point... That didn't make her feel any safer.

The shape was a half decomposed ungulate, no antlers in sight to tell her more than it was some kind of deer or something deer adjacent. And the soil that had piled around it was practically bursting with a plant Tomie had never seen. It was clustered and had long broad leaves with grey-white spots... They didn't look like they were particularly well grown, the lack of regular light probably not helping matters but the corpse seemed to have aided in their growth... Maybe that could help, she figured if this space was going to be useful to them as anything but a shelter they'd probably need to create and tend a garden all their own, and if animals were constantly getting lost in here then maybe that could be to their benefit. She sniffed carefully at one of the grouped stalks... All she could really smell was the sickly sweet scent of the corpse. Grimacing she gently clipped a cluster away from the rest, no idea if this would be helpful at all, or if she was about to drop dead from poison.

-Tomie has found and gathered some Aspidistra elatior or Cast Iron Plant-

"Tomie"

Image by xALTUMSILENTIUMx

(( Also did some research ;) ))

Delphi wanders down the hallway as Tenshi speaks. Committing the different plants to memory, she continues on her mission to find plants. Still rather confused as to why they believed there would be any down here, she keeps her comments to herself. Tilting her nose to the ceiling, she tries to sniff out anything that might smell of plant matter. Unfortunately, the stench of must and decay is overpowering, nearly impossible to scent anything else. Moving farther away from the group, she comes across a small room off of the hallway she's in.

Peeking her head in, she can hear the faint trickle of water. Her brow scrunched as she took a few steps inward. With hardly any light, it was difficult to see, but it at least smelled different here. There was a metallic tinge to the air with a hint of freshness. As if something was helping to cleanse the air. Moving farther in, Delphi can finally spot a cluster of mushrooms along the back wall. Poking out through the cracks in the stone and moistened by the underground spring water, they appeared healthy and lively. "Ah, I think these are it," Delphi whispers to herself as she picks one off of the wall so she can inspect it better.

Delphi has found Jelly Ear Mushroom

Tenshi spoke up, and Bylgja flicked her ears, nodding quietly to herself. The bulky wolf took a mental note before continuing to poke about-- she knew what she was looking for.

Salvia was a plant that she'd had luck finding in similar places before: the purple-bunched flowers, the budding leaves? Bylgja supposed it would be easy enough to find all of this while she snuffled about here and there in the darkness. Careful not to lose hearing range of her companions, Bylgja felt about the crypt, nosing through a pile of dust and bits and pieces before raising her head and calling back over her shoulder--
"Found some Salvia over here!"

She acts carefully, picking the plants with a delicate touch that probably is unexpected from someone like her, but still, she doesn't want to crunch the plants up as she puts them away in a satchel. There we go, perfection. Her tail wagged a little, and Bylgja continued to look after a moment, confident the others could find the location-- but she didn't want to leave her little room just in case.

"Bylgja"

Tenshi carefully grasps the black snakeroot between her teeth and plucks it from the stone. Depositing it into her bag, she turns to notice a leafy fern growing in the room across the hall. Her brow furrows. Why were plants growing down here? In this musty, damp, and dark caverns of death and stone. Tenshi was not one to question the gods and instead thanked them as she moved from one room to the next. Pulling a shuriken from the sleeve on her shoulder, she slices some of the fern fronds and straps them to the leather that is wrapped around her shoulders.

It is then that she starts to hear the words from the others. Walking back into the hallway, she looks both ways before heading toward the main room. There she scents that the other three had gone down different paths. Which one to wander to first? The pup? The other older pup? Or Bylgja? Hm, Bylgja's voice calls out first. Ah, perfect. Heading down to where Bylgja is, Tenshi peeks her head in. "Salvia? We could have fun with that," Tenshi says with a playful smirk.

"Speech"

Plucking the bunch of mushrooms from the crack in the wall had taken some work. From previous mushroom scavenging, Delphi knew how delicate fungi could be. Using her paws to gently pry the stalks from the crack, she places them safely within the worn satchel she has brought with her. Pleased with her find, Delphi turns from the room and heads back out to the hallway. There she followed the scent first of Tomie to see what the other girl had found. Peering into the room where Tomie is, Delphi's tail gives a little wiggle. "You found something?" Delphi asks as she tries to look through the dim light of the room. "We should go to the others," she says before turning to head back to the main room where the hallways split off from.

Once there, she can hear the voices of Bylgja and Tenshi. She listens to the way her paws tap against the stone as she makes her way to the two older women. Slipping inside the room, she goes to stand between Bylgja and Tenshi. Grabbing the satchel, she opens it to show them her find. "Look, mushrooms!" She says eagerly as her tail whips back and forth behind her.

So far so good, she hadn't dropped dead at least. Though she did jump when the pup spoke, having missed her approach. Tomie nodded and reminded herself to avoid swallowing anything until she got back. Maybe if her life had been less hectic she could have been more prepared, had the tools needed to handle herbs she was unfamiliar with safely but well, it hadn't been. This was the longest she and her family had ever stayed in one place and they were prisoners, well... Theoretically speaking. Regardless it left Tomie with little enough resources to mean she was the least prepared of the group. By her estimation this could have all just been a ploy for her to eat something poisonous and drop dead, one less problem to deal with. She didn't think it was but she couldn't claim it wasn't a possibility, no matter how slim. Getting her breath under control Tomie nodded to the girl and turned to return to the group. All things considered it seemed they'd all managed to find something despite how unlikely it had seemed.

Tomie was quick to drop her own cutting, spitting over her shoulder just in case. "No idea what it is, but I found quite a bit growing near one of the fresher carcasses. Looked like it was probably still missing the sunlight but something about the corpse was keeping it alive?" She really frankly didn't know. She knew sometimes death lead to better, stronger growth but she hadn't been aware it could sustain life when other nutrients were missing...

"Tomie"

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They had been trailing significantly behind the others. Having been part of the advanced scouting party, Steig had dragged his aunt along when his mother had called a group to go looking for plants. What did Róta know about plants? Nothing, that was what, but when the boy badgered and bit her heels and wailed in her face she finally ceded and got up grumbling, if only to make him shut up. It wouldn't kill her to go poke around the crypt again, maybe they would find something useful for Tenshi, and maybe not. While it wasn't her job to keep her brother's wife happy, she wouldn't live with herself if the growing boy went and go himself into trouble in the underground.

"speech"

Steig charged into the crypt, his mother's words echoing down the walkways as he looked back with wide eyes and a waving tail to make sure his aunt was still following along behind him. Sure, he didn't know anything about plants, but if it was going to help the pack then he sure was gonna do his best to find something super useful for his mumma! He used his nose to figure out which way the others in the party had gone and zoomed off down a dark pathway that they had followed when they were exploring this place for the first time. Plants, there was a plant! It had purple flowers, his waving tail was the first sign he was going to lunge at it, teeth open to snap and collect.

“Speech”

Róta trailed after the boy, half bored expression on her face until his tail began to wave frantically and his muscles tensed to lunge. The older wolf moved faster, teeth clamping tightly around his tail and pulling him back so teeth clicked closed on air. She didn't know many plants, but she did know this one. On closer look, it even seemed to be growing out of a distinctly canine looking eye socket. "Fool child. That's wolfsbane. It's a poison. Don't get it in your mouth." Róta reached down to loosen the skull from the debris that surrounded it, small scraps of fur and long since dried sinew clinging to her makeshift plant pot. She tipped her head to the small child, gesturing that they should try and find his mother. She might be interested in this.

Bringing her brother's wife flowers, this was new.

-Ro has collected wolfsbane-

"speech"

The yank on his tail caused the boy to yelp and his rump hit the ground unexpectedly. He opened his mouth to tell his aunt off but she beat him to it, and his ears folded back against his skull in worry. Plants could hurt him? Well, that was certainly unexpected. He watched with rapt interest as his aunt expertly separated the skull the flowers had been growing out of and used the bone to carry them. He began to use his nose and ears to help lead them back to where the voices of the others were coming from, but he felt awfully silly going back empty handed. He gestured towards some old man's beard, that had probably been dragged underground to make up part of some small animals nesting material. When his aunt nodded that it was safe, he scooped it up, carrying it along, head held high as they went to seek out his mother.

-Steig has collected old man's beard-

“Speech”

Stopping only so that Steig could feel useful in collecting some discarded nesting material, at least it didn't jump out at her as something dangerous, they made their way to where the rest of the wolves were gathering, where Bylgja had found some Salvia. They joined the group just in time to hear Tenshi voice her approval, allowing her own approving chuckle loose around the bone in her mouth. She placed her own offering down to allow her room to speak. "We'll have to look carefully before giving the children too much freedom down here, though." The fact it was growing out of a canine skull wasn't lost on her either. Was this some sort of warning from the gods? Surely if it was, they would have given it to someone who still believed in them though.

It was a problem for someone else to worry about.

"speech"

His ginger head canted as the older women seemed to share some sort of joke, the old man's beard, in fact, making the young boy appear bearded. His aunt might have placed her offering down but he held his tightly clutched between his teeth. He had found it, it was his and he wasn't giving it up for any reason... except, well that was the whole reason they'd come down here right?

No, no! They'd come down here to see what plants grew, nobody said anything to him about having to hand them over so he would hold it, and they could look with their eyes and keep their paws to themselves. It was here, he had proof, but he didn't have to hand it over!

“Speech”