Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn worked her way down the mountain, eyes squinting against the snow. The storm was finally starting to dissipate but the wind only seemed to pick up in strength. It bit at her flesh and she could feel her paws starting to go numb. They needed shelter, the sun was setting now and the temperature dropping rapidly.

As soon as she spied a cave entrance Jynn quickly ducked inside. What met her eyes was a deep, dark cavern of strange design. It was pitch black except for a space off to the right where the setting sun was streaming in and illuminating stone arches and stone columns. Off to her left she could dimly see the columns and arches forming rows of spaces, some of which held skeletons. There was another skeleton on the floor but she wasn't for sure what creatures the corpses belonged to. "What the heck is this…" She glanced back at Kai.

Seeking shelter from the storm, or what was left of it, sounded like quite the plan to Kai. Though the snow no longer fell as heavily it was only growing windier and colder, which would no doubt spell a dangerous night on the mountaintop. Apparently they'd found shelter at the right moment. He slipped inside after Jynn, allowing himself a good shiver as his body made an attempt to warm itself up as they moved deeper inside the cave. It took a long moment for him to adjust to his surroundings, which weren't quite what he'd expected. It was not all just dirt and stone and ice, but instead something that had clearly been sculpted by someone - or something. There were tall pillars of stone, obviously etched deliberately once upon a time. Though they were now worn from the passage of time they were still quite interesting and he was momentarily stunned by the view, lifting his head and casting his attention in a wide circle around him as he adjusted to the dim light. "I don't have the faintest clue," he admitted with a delighted chuckle. He caught sight of the skeleton and made to move forward, prodding at it gently with a forepaw. "But I do know this is one of the stranger things I've ever seen." His family would very likely consider this a sacred place, but he was far less spiritual than his father had been; he was inclined to think it might be though he wasn't totally certain either.

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn reached out and poked at the skeleton, following Kai's lead as he explained that he didn't know what it was either. "Kind of looks like a giant monkey except it doesn't have a tail." She shuddered, deciding she didn't like the look of it, whatever it was and she trotted down the widest path. Her claws clicked on the stone as she walked, stopping here and there as she poked her head into various stone rooms.

"Bleck, this place is weird. Definitely not a natural cave. I'm starting to wonder if it even goes through or if we should just turn back? I mean I guess we could wait down here a bit."

Sacred or not, this place was definitely interesting. And apparently he didn't think it was that sacred, given how he started poking and prodding at a skeleton. Jynn joined him and he felt a shiver sneak up his spine as a section of the skeleton seemed to crumble beneath his light touch. Whoops. He grimaced a bit and backed away from the skeleton and twisted around to eye Jynn. "Looks a bit gross, if you ask me. Not sure I'd want to meet one of those creatures." Hey, maybe they were dead for a reason. Didn't matter much to him either way, since he was sure he wouldn't run into one of these weird monkey looking things... or would he?

He wasn't really the type to get spooked by much of anything but he had to admit this place made him feel a bit unsettled. Not enough to leave, at least not yet, though. Absently Kai trailed after Jynn, poking his head into one dark room after another. Some seemed to stretch on much farther than he could see; others were littered with bones of strange creatures he couldn't quite place. "I don't know about you but I'm not the type to sit around and wait things out. Might as well see how far back this place goes," Kai suggested as he headed further into the darkness, carefully veering around another cluster of skeletons at his paws.

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn nodded. "Agreed, could you imagine meeting a wolf-sized monkey?" She shuddered. Not that she had anything against monkeys per se, but the ones she'd met tended to be annoying and loud and she didn't like the idea of meeting one close to her own size.

She followed after Kai as he wandered farther into the crypt. As they walked it got darker and colder. She kept wondering if it would go all the way through but then she spied an opening leading out to the south. "Whew! It leads out, thank goodness." Jynn loped toward the entrance and peeked out to see it looked out over some knolls in a general southward direction. This gap was more structured and she wondered if this was meant to be the entrance but some part that went back into the mountain had caved in at some point revealing the smaller entrance they'd take. "Well, it was good to meet you. I think I've had enough exploring for one day."

A wolf-sized monkey? Nah, Kai was okay with never encountering something like that, as adventurous as he might be. That didn't sound the least bit fun. He grimaced quietly as he imagined it, shaking his head in disapproval. "I'm good with that," he shook off the idea with a quick shake of his head. Instead of those thoughts he focused on the journey he was embarking upon. The crypt was dark and seemed to get more ominous as they went on - the silence that settled between them was comforting though rather than eerie. But before long a glimmer of light could be seen up ahead, and the suddenly there was another cave entrance peeking out over vast hills. "I don't blame you. Been a pleasure, Jynn," he offered his lanky companion a grin as she departed, Kai himself deciding to explore the crypts a bit more to see if there were any other hidden chambers he could explore on his own.

-exit Kai-