User:Dragonzzilla/Sandbox 2

"You received my message. Good." The Third Fleet Master, inscrutable as always, blows out a ring of smoke. "There is a matter I'd like to bring to your attention, one that is... sensitive to us in the Third Fleet. You have advanced the cause of the Research Commission years and decades, and time and again you have proven a friend of the Third Fleet. Therefore, I cannot think of anyone more qualified for this task.

"During our time stranded in the Highlands, The Tracker discovered something most unusual in a remote corner of the Great Ravine: a manmade structure, clearly not one of ours. We believe it is the entrance to some mine. Naturally, you can imagine the excitement of our anthropologists when she returned with the news—evidence of another civilization, here in the New World. How could we turn down such an opportunity? So I assembled a small team to investigate it. But a monster attacked them once inside, and in the chaos that followed, the support beams failed. We... lost two in the collapse. We haven't returned since." Her lips make a thin line as she continues to chew on her pipe.

"We wanted to recover the bodies, but we simply hadn't the manpower to launch such an operation. Understand, the Third Fleet was formed to meet the demand for more researchers; only a tenth of us were hunters, and we relied on them to protect the base safe. I couldn't risk any more people to that thing, not without understanding what it was."

For the first time you can remember, her unflappable demeanor falters just a little as a sober humility enters her voice. "I am aware of my reputation for... stoicism, Hunter, but make no mistake: their deaths weigh on me. I knew them personally. They were bright, resourceful. The whole Research Commission, least of all the Third Fleet, is lesser with their absence." Her eyes are distant for a moment, then they focus back on you.

"Which is why you are here. I recently sent a scout to check on the mine in light of Zorah Magdaros's passage through the Ravine. Fortunately, it was spared of any tectonic activity. It is still there, waiting. And I suspect the same monster is as well. We know next to nothing about this monster, but I have faith in your abilities. Secure the mine, and you'd be doing the Third Fleet a great service."