Gainful Employment starts with YOU.

[Carthrat]

And so it was that Cadfael, after a solid nights rest, was awoken by a rapid knocking on his door.

"Cadfael, get up! We're leaving!" shouts Barry, who has, of course, no idea if Cadfael is up or not. "You've got twenty minutse to get ready."

[Bjorn]

Since Cadfael, by habit, sleeps in his clothes, "getting ready" involves no more than putting on his coat, tucking the pen and paper he set beside the bed back into his pocket, and brushing his teeth.

Which he does.

Following this, he opens the door.  If Barry, for some reason, felt the urge to stand around for about five minutes of listening to silence, Cadfael stares at him blankly.  Failing that, he heads down to the lobby.

[Carthrat]

Barry isn't there, but when Cadfael is in the lobby, he finds the two guys from the car lounging about. They spring up when he enters the room, however.

"Hey there, buddy. The car is out the back. Quickest way to get from A to B, hands down. We didn't introduce ourselves earlier, huh? I'm Cale, and this is Kale."

The two men abruptly bow, then straighten. "If you'd just come this way," they continue, without preamble, and then they turn and head outside to the car.

[Bjorn]

Magical transport for a mission like this suggests one of two things to Cadfael: either his presence at this mission is very important indeed, or these people have an incredible amount of confidence in regards to the Cabal.

Or both.

With little other option at the moment, however, Cadfael follows the two.

[Carthrat]

The car is looking better than when Cadfael last saw it. It's shinier, or something. Barry isn't around, but the two guys are hopping in the car. "Get in," they say, gesturing to the door. "We'll be dropping you off and coming back. You'll be meeting the dig coordinator on landing, so you'll be in good hands."

[Bjorn]

As he gets into the car, Cadfael casually pulls out a notebook, and starts to doodle as he settles into the seat.  An informed observer might realize that the doodles are, in fact, any number of almost-completed defensive runes, each needing only a stroke or two to finish off.

Of course, there's only one living informed observer in this respect, and he's doing the doodling.

And also, clinically, trying to determine if this car is going to blow up, and how much warning he'd have if said explosion were to occur.

[Carthrat]

If the car was going to blow up, Cadfael determines, it would require some outside force working against it.. he thinks. Truth is, it's hard to tell. There's a meshing of technological and magical theorems working, here. It looks relatively stable, but Cadfael isn't used to seeing the two work together.

However, it doesn't look like it's going to blow up, at least not with some outside force working on it. Cadfael can't be 100% certain, but he's pretty sure.

[Bjorn]

That would be more reassuring if Cadfael's experience didn't suggest that using magic tends to provide a lot of inimical outside force, sooner or later.

Nothing to do for it, however, and so he stares at Cale and Kale.

[Carthrat]

With a crackle, the engine revs up, and the car shoots away, doing it's trademark lightning-thing.

A burst over energy and the sound of a thunderbolt later, Cadfael feels like his stomach has almost leaped straight clear of his body. A moment later, the feeling stops, and the car slows down.

"We're he-re," chant Cale and Kale together. And indeed, you have moved from the inner-city-streets of Tokyo (which were miraculously undamaged by Cale's reckless driving) to outside a dusty-looking tarpaulin that stands a short distance away from what appears to be a cliff edge.

Inside the tarpaulin, it looks like someone has set up a makeshift office. There's a desk set up with a laptop on it, a couple of drawers and a filing cabinet, as well as a motorbike and a fridge. There's also a few people hanging about there, including a face you vaugely recognize, one Donald Melba, a mage of sorts. He looks up at the car, looking somewhat surprised.

[Bjorn]

With a final pen-stroke, Cadfael finishes one of the runes on the page -- a simple one to detect lies.  After activating it, he opens the car door, and gets out.

Melba's eyes are met as Cadfael nods, every so briefly.  "Melba," he says.  "Left Cabal?"

[Carthrat]

"My desire to leave co-incided with their desire to throw me out," replies Melba, dryly. He's telling the truth.

"It's a long story."

[Bjorn]

Tucking the notepad back into his pocket, Cadfael looks around with Mystic Sight, taking stock of the area.  "Runes?"

[Carthrat]

"Straight to business, eh?" asks Melba, smiling a little. Only a little, though. He's a dusky man who you know has seen more than a few things that would cause others to go mad.

"They're in the main dig tunnel. It's been sealed off, so nobody can go near it. I'll take you there myself."

With that, Melba gets up, and gestures for you to follow him down a ramp into the main dig area.

[Bjorn]

Cadfael follows wordlessly.

[Carthrat]

Melba heads down a ramshackle wooden ramp that creaks as your feet impact upon it. When you step on it, you can also see the digsite in its entirety.

It's really quite large and impressive. Set throughout a canyon, the site is filled with tents, holes, and small-scale machinery. Cranes and trucks and the like are moving everywhere, and tents and tarpaulins are strewn throughout the area. Portable buildings have also been brought in, along with caravans, making the whole place look like some kind of campsite- if it wasn't for the large holes filled with people digging strewn about here and there.

Opposite you, on the other side of the canyon is a large, gaping maw into blackness- a giant cave that has been cordoned off by a chain-link fence.

"That's where we'll be going," comments Melba. "Since most people who have ventured in there have died, I suggest you activate whatever protections you have avaliable for yourself. We're still not entirely sure of what the.. er, runes actually do. Which is why you're here, of course. But you knew that. Heh."