[Crossbow]

As Digger rises into the air there is a moment of panic as he kinda swims and gets his balance on...well, nothing.

He keeps his arms straight, for no real reason, and raises his chin as he moves out into the shaft, picking a good spot to set the hook.

"Okay, Devoted or Tyr or whoever, that's good,...stop."

Then he slowly raises his arm, sights and fires the cybernetic grapple gun.

[Kontact]

The line travels up the shaft at an angle and wedges solidly on the corner of one of the open elevator doors.  The winch itself is not quite strong enough to pull the dense-bodied Digger up the shaft, but, with a little help from his climbing claws on the hive wall, he makes good time.  At each level, true to his curious nature, he peaked out, but saw little difference.  Every section was the same T-junction with a curving hallway running around the building and a central hallway leading down to a large set of doors.  On the second to highest level available, he saw those doors open and some light in what looked to be a large and hollow central room.  Expediency trumping curiosity, he continued to the next level, and pulled himself bodily to the 87th floor.  Stark as all the others, but this one too had open doors down the hallway to the center.  Looking at it now in earnest, it seemed like these doors were closer than the ones back on the 82nd.  The low light had hid that fact on the levels he passed, but thinking now, this fit a trend.

Uncomfortable leaving his back to the open doors, he was less comfortable being alone in this alien and hostile place.  A quick loop of rope provided access to the others.

[joe15552]

As the hollow central room becomes visible to him, Devoted switches to astral perception to take a quick look into the area from the elevator shaft to see if he spots any anomalies.

[Kontact]

Even in this place, devoid of living things, the astral pulses and breathes with life.  Its currents whirl and pulse with energy.  In the center of this, the room ahead.  In it, the energy swirled and flowed as if from a living heart.  Its center, yet, showed clarity, even as its overwhelming color obscured everything inside.

[joe15552]

As Devoted arrives at the top of the shaft with Digger, he shifts his perception back to the physical realm. He thinks about the the astral space in this area and wonders about the cause of the anomalies he has seen so far. While his knowledge of the astral realm is not very extensive, he gets the feeling that whatever is the cause of the increased strain on his magical abilities is close by.

[AJBuwalda]

"Were all the way up and no more critters; that's kind of an anti-climax." Ruckus grunts, keeping his weapon at the ready. "With all that wasp goo all over the place one would think that there would be somethng to fight along the way."

[joe15552]

Devoted nods at Ruckus with a smile, while trying to keep an eye on everyone, making sure everyone makes the climb.

[inca1980]

Machete directs himself to Devoted over the comm "Hey ese, just tie us off to something and then raise that thing"

[joe15552]

Devoted nods towards Machete down below with sincere attentiveness and looks around the 87th floor for a structurally sound object.

[joe15552]

After looking about for a second, Devoted notices the rope Digger left for the rest of the team below, and chimes in on coms, "I can levitate the climbing rope with you connected to it, if you wish."

[AJBuwalda]

"Just get them up here or we'll be waiting all day" Ruckus says.

[joe15552]

Dovoted's feet touch down in the open elevator doorway of the 87th floor, and he focuses his attention on the rope, clenching is left fist. He waits for the team members below to attach to the rope before lifting it up to the 87th floor.

[Kontact]

Those now gathered on the 87th see a faint orange light coming from the central room - The warm glow of an old lamp or other off in the greater darkness of the room... somewhere below the level of the door.  The light does very little to show the depth of the room, and your low-light torches aren't proving to be particularly more effective.

As Machete passes by the 86th floor, and up to the 87th he hears a faint raspy breath, sort of humming, like groaning out a song.  A small but sharp cough interrupted the sound, only to have it, quietly and distantly, break out into broken verse.
"Oh, they made us runways... for future fashion experiments.... to escape reality by overdose... 
If you can't smell it on your last breath... you took it still - all gone... no matter who you cut it out or not for lately..
Keeps my whole body forever sore... the truth hurts and the heart is hard to burn... 
Even in trying times we die trying to live forever... to pretend to give my life while I get carried away..
by the wind of an Earth composed of corpses...  we all dance on our own graves for a living..
since counting down has been my trust fund...  numb is my religion and it never killed anyone."

[AJBuwalda]

"There is some of that wasp goo over here too, maybe I finally get some extra action in. This climbing around isn't exactly exciting, ya'know." Ruckus grins.

[joe15552]

Devoted gives Ruckus a look of fright and awe. Perhaps Ruckus is a very good shot and confident of his abilities. He hopes so... Devoted has not encountered any bug spirits before, but if there are bug spirits that made a home in this place where mana is chaotic and hard to control, then Ruckus will need to be a very good shot... Perhaps he should mimic the bravery of his group and focus on detecting disturbances in the area... There may not be voids here after all, but something else...

After making sure the entire group is safely on the 87th floor, Devoted stops sustaining the levitate spell on the rope, reaches down to collect it, and hands it to Digger. He switches his perception to astral, and keeps it there, but he keeps a close watch on his glomoss in case BC count increases sharply.