Seek out the lab.

As the last one who jumped, you find yourself landing gently behind the three others already overseeing a giant pile of rubble and debris. You're up in the hills, partway into the Western Pecho Peaks, but you aren't certain what everyone is inspecting. It looks like a building crushed by a rockslide, though it also appears quite old. You peer off the ledge behind you to see cities in the distance. Those must be the independent states.

"This here," William begins. He kicks an old, rotting board of wood. "It was once a grand chapel, a long time ago. Somewhere beneath everything here is the entrance to a whole underground system of tunnels and rooms, which we were able to uncover. There may be another way he used to come and go, but that we don't know. I was waiting for the right time to investigate fully but safely. Now is that time, with you here, Kyle." He offers out a hand for you to follow.

Trin's cheeks turn pink as her eyes dart between the two of you. "Boy love," she whispers under her breath. "I should write a romantic novel about this."

"I need you to give me a hand lifting some debris," he explains. "It'll be a tight squeeze, but we'll get inside. Trin, can you give us some light?"

"You've got it!" She withdraws her flute and places her lips against it. After playing a short, jaunty tune, she whips her wrist up into the air and says, "Conjure Beast: Lightbug!" Suddenly, mana whirls into a swirling vortex before her. Emerging from seemingly nowhere is a tiny creature, about the size of a baseball, that appears similar to a bumble bee. Instead of having a stinger on the butt, it instead has a big glowing ball of light. It flutters around like a butterfly, doing laps around its creator.

With the combined strength of you and William, the rubble is easily moved. When the hole opens up, Trin's lightbug illuminates the path.

"Follow me," he says as he withdraws the weapon from his scabbard. It's a sword you haven't seen before. The weapon is gorgeous--a slight curve to the silver blade, and a large blue gem encrusted into the hilt. The insect's light causes the polished edge to shimmer. As he descends, his white coat wafts upwards like the cloak of a knight, and he makes his way deftly through the tunnel leading straight though into the upper wall of a room.

You're next. Garbed in the scales of an extraplanar beast, woven with ancient wood, you slip through the crack with Awakened Lauo wielded tight in your grasp. As you go, you turn to offer a hand to Jelly who takes it happily. Though for her, this is a far easier passage.

Behind the rest is Trin who makes her way through carefully, though she's not quite as good on her feet. As she goes, she causes a few tiny stones to tumble down and over your shoulder. You hear a, "S-Sorry," behind you.

"It's all good," you call back. "Just be careful. You don't want to twist your ankle."

"Thank you," she says with a smile. "Spelunking isn't my usual area of expertise.

"Dragons do better in the sky than underground, yeah?"

"That's right! You get it."

At last, you land in the room, dimly light by a buzzing bug circling the area. The purpose of this room is long gone, though you can make out broken fragments of benches and tables. There's only one door ahead, and William is already on his way towards it. He nudges it open, and beckons the group to follow. The first to go is the lightbug, casting its glow down a hallway to yet another door.

"I know little of what lies beneath," William admits. "We've only seen remnants of his work in the general area. Constructs and such. And by our intelligence, things line up. Like I said, this could be nothing, so don't get your hopes up, but we can't afford to act without caution."

Trin hurries up to him. "You better be careful too then."

"Of course." He nods and pushes the next door open with his dragon beside him. The two enter, and then you and Jelly follow next.

It seems to open into a march larger room, though half of it has been consumed by the mountain. By the layout and the rotting wood of pews, this was likely the main room of the chapel. As you take it all in, your Kitty Sense suddenly triggers. Half a second later, the ground beneath your feet seems to completely vanish. You react quickly enough to click your boots together, but the descend isn't the problem. Not only are you falling, but you're being pulled, as are the other three with you. Everything goes dark before you can react further. The sound of Jelly, Trin, and even William calling out fades into the distance.