All things considered, the expidition had been going rather well. The plants in the strange place were quick to grab Woodland's attention, and she was more than happy to investigate them while Wyrd worked on mapping the entrance of the Emerald Encalve. Woodland tensed up as she heard something- big approach. She hated it the moment she heard it, one heave foot dropping after another and another, and another. She thought, deeply about what this could be based on the sound it was making, but came up with nothing. "Uhm- Wyrd- are you hearing that?" Wyrd looked up from the paper she had been drawing on. "Hmmm? Hearing what?" Woodland quieted, giving Wyrd the chance to hear the footsteps. "That's- odd? It sounds like footsteps but-" Wyrd chuckled, a tad nervous, "That must be a lot of feet, doesn't it?" Woodland nodded "At least it's not close, right? We'll be fine for another while." Woodland wasn't so sure about that- if they were hearing the critter now, it would pop up eventually as they explored. She didn't say anything, hoping sincerely that Wyrd was right about this and not wanting to jynx it. "We almost have the entrance area mapped

out. After that, we should choose a direction and see how far we can get. Since that noise is coming from the north, we should go either east or west- with the entrance being south of us. Do you have any preference?" Woodland looked around- The east had looked like it was filled with more plants than the west, and she did like plants. But also plants likely meant fertile soil, which often meant critters of various kinds. The West on the other hand had seemed slightly less lush- but was that because there were less critters there, or because the critters were eating the plants faster then they could grow? She frowned, not entirely sure which route would be safest. "It's hard to gauge which one will be better." she muttered. "Let's do west first- hopefully it will be easier to traverse." Wyrd nodded "Good choice! Let's go!" And dashed off, eyes still glued to her notebook. "Let's see, easiest route should be trough here- and then a right here- and a left- There we are!" Woodland had dashed after her, not wanting to be left behind. "I assume that some of these paths loop around, so we should

verify those first, I'd say. Then save the longer paths for longer expeditions." Woodland nodded- it all made sense to her. Map out the entrance to the bunker first, and then go in deeper later. They weren't quite sure how deep this thing ran, so nobody knew how big of a trip it would be to one "end". "The uh- plants seem less dense here. Either there isn't as many animals around, or the animals- y'know, ate them all. I'm hoping for the former, though." she said, holding the leaf of some kind of fern. Wyrd shrugged. "I suppose we will have to find out." Woodland shrugged, dropping the leaf again. "Hmmm. This way first, then?"