The gigantic hole breathed a sense of anticipation. Even from outside, the cave's sharp teeth could be seen hanging boldly from its roof as openly as two steps in. It was picture perfect for the group's first job.

At least, that's how Mel felt. It was just a simple collecting materials job, not even needing to fight any monsters, but it was fine to have something so easy as their first. It's not like she'd hoped for something thrilling and action packed or anything…

She looked back at where Arriv and Mishal were trailing behind her. Her brother had insisted on bringing a basket of sandwiches and other food, in case finding enough of the required items took long.

At least Mel had Aillun too, if things did come to taking a break for lunch. They seemed like they'd be interesting for conversation.

“So, are we going to go in or not? The moss won't collect itself… At least, I don't think it will. I wouldn't want to assume anything about the flora here, but I doubt the craftsmen would request I get some for him if it was self collecting.”

Mel tried to keep a serious expression as she replied. “I'm as ready as I'll ever be…” She took a step forward and felt the ground give slightly more than she expected, though she was able to recover before anyone noticed from what she could tell. A face plant before they even got in would not be dignified.

Perhaps it was a visual trick, due to the angle they had approached the cave entrance, but as they entered, the stalactites were in different places than Mel had expected. The difference was so miniscule that she could have easily just imagined it, but the disconnect between expectations and reality was bugging her.

Still, they continued further in. It really was a regular, boring cave. The mediocrity was almost a letdown. Aillun soon lit a lantern before they got too deep and the natural light was no longer available.

Guided by that single light, they headed deeper and deeper until Melantha had a thought.

“...You know what the plant looks like, right?” She only asked in passing but it stopped everyone else in their tracks. “Wait, really? Then how are we supposed to know what we need to collect?”

Even the cave fell still, as if not wanting to be called upon to answer the question either. That is until a small sound drew the group's attention to Aariv.

“Um… I'm not sure if it being a different world might interfere, but I could communicate with plants in my own world. Assuming there isn't some weird inter-dimensional language barrier, I can ask any plants we come across if they have the qualities we know the moss we're looking for has.”

“And you're only now letting us know?” She instantly regretted the too sharp for the situation tone when the cave echoed her words back at her.

“I… I haven't tried to see if I still can. It's second nature for plants to speak with others, even whole forests away, but there's no guarantee that whatever magic allows summoned to already understand spoken and written words would include how we communicate amongst ourselves.”

“I am sorry, Brother-in-law. I have no excuse for speaking so rudely… Even without such a skill, you might still be able to figure out what we're looking for, since you're more attuned to plants than us.” Mel placed a hand on Riv's shoulder. “These might not be the flora of your world, but they're still plants. What plant would reject a dryad wanting to communicate with them?”

With that, Mel turned and continued on, hoping the others would follow before she moved past the reach of the lantern. Thankfully, they did.

There was a cool, yet moist, atmosphere that increased as they went on—which was understandable for a cave. What was more of a surprise was the lack of a damp scent to accompany it. Instead, there was something not quite floral in the air, like a spiced wine that one is stumped on what the ingredients that were included were. A normal person could tell the scent was unique, but not identify the source—or even what it reminded them of.

If Mel was a more paranoid person, she may have become unnerved at every ping of water dripping from the earth above, or the scurrying of small creatures out of sight. Or, perhaps, she would have been more bothered by the lack of any additional sounds. Instead, she marveled at a patch of bioluminescent mushrooms growing at the fork in the cavern path.

That is until Riv broke the lull. “Hungry? The plants ahead seem hungry for some reason… If they grow this deep underground, though, they should be a species that's adapted to not need sunlight or else they would have died out long ago.” He seemed more curious than worried so it probably wasn't that big a deal. Maybe just a decrease in soil quality or losing a patch of sunlight from a hole that no longer existed. Aariv led the way as they continued inward and the spiced scent grew thicker.

“What's that?” Mishal's voice drew everyone's attention to a patch of moss on the cavern wall. He reached out a hand towards it.

“Stop!” Riv's panicked tone stalled the man's hand. “That… that moss is carnivorous? I don't know how I know that… but as soon as you pointed it out, I wondered about it, and suddenly I knew information about it. They mostly only eat small creatures that wander too close in caves, but we should be careful so as to avoid being mistaken as prey. It's capable of consuming larger animals, though usually only the sick or already dead ones, since the moss thankfully doesn't have much strength to restrain large prey.” The dryad tilted his head. “Oh, but in better news, it seems this is the color changing moss we're looking for. We just need to separate the main body from the roots to harvest it.”

Mel handed over one of the daggers she'd thought to bring. “Show us how, oh knowledgeable one. This patch probably won't be enough but now we know what to look for.”

As Riv carefully cut the moss away from the stone, he had to defend against thin—almost tentacle-like—vines that were clearly trying to defend itself. Other than the damage from fending off said vines, he left the tendrils untouch—along with a section of the actual moss that was the size of a thumb. He said it was so that the plant could grow back over time.

It didn't take long for the other three to find more patches of the moss and do the same. Jumping from moss colony to moss colony, as if following breadcrumbs further in. There was a slow increase of vibration in the air as they wandered deeper. Not that any of them noticed, their attention so focused on their task at hand. 

The moss patches seemed to put up different levels of a fight at random. Some made the task so difficult that it would take two people to subdue it, while others barely defended itself. Mel noticed the body of a rat wrapped in the vines of one she was about to harvest and decided to just skip that one entirely this trip. It was rude to interrupt someone's meal, after all. Eventually, they had filled the bag they had brought with the dead moss and decided to start heading back.

“It's too bad that we're already done. I was told one of the other ingredients I need can be found in this cave, but I've found no hint of it this whole time… I was hoping to at least have a good idea where to look in here for the next time we come.” Aillun mused.

“Oh, what was it?” Mel was curious and maybe more set of eyes as they walked out would help.

“A type of unique metal. But the weird thing was, when I asked which part of the cave I should look for it, the only information I could get was that it was ‘available all over the cave and to not expect to find it in the same place I knew it to be before’. I haven't seen anything metallic this whole time… So maybe the cave has already been stripped of it this early inside?”

“That might explain why it's considered harder to get, and you were told to not expect it in the same places… They were probably trying to warn you to grab some when you saw it, so that someone else doesn't collect it before you.”

“Maybe…” 

The group were retracing their steps carefully, feeling like the cave was just waiting for one of them to make a misstep. It practically creaked with anticipation. Out of the light's range, a loose stone tumbled to the ground. The group became more aware of the skittering that somehow hadn't increased in volume or frequency.

Suddenly, something fell right in front of the group and one was able to witness, in that moment, the range each in the party was capable of jumping in surprise. It was no shock that Aillun had the highest leap—considering their species—though they also were able to exert the most control of their reaction and recovered fastest.

Then more stalactites started raining around them.