Swamped

"Rudolph," you say. "How good are you at tying knots?"

"Very good, ma'am," Rudolph says. "I was taught by the best."

"Now hang on a minute..." Stefan stammers.

"So you could tie the rope around his waist tight enough that he wouldn't be able to undo it easily, lower him down, and make sure he doesn't wander too far unless he breaks the rope. At which point, naturally, we'd have no way to help him get out again."

"I think I could do that, yes," Rudolph agrees. "What do you think about that, Stefan?"

"I think that sounds, er, very reasonable," he says nervously. "Thank you, Director."

"You'd better hope you get some good readings out of this."

"Yes, yes, I'll report back once I've got enough data, no worries, I won't be dawdling down there."

Rudolph ties the rope around his waist and lowers him, leaving you to get back to your own analysis.

You're still not sure what that odd reading is. On closer examination, it doesn't look like water at all. The overall shape of the measurements is similar, so it's probably some kind of liquid, but not one you recognize the data on. Maybe Simone will be able to tell you once you get back.

As you glance over it, you hear the distinctive sounds of a desert-horse approaching. You turn around and see Corvus arrive.

"You didn't say anything about a big hole," he says, dismounting.

"It wasn't here before."

"You think it's the gateway? Pulled out a bunch of stuff underground and triggered a collapse?"

You shrug.

"Could be anything right now. Dominique detected someone casting down there, so we're taking readings from the surface for now."

"Someone's casting? As in, there's a wizard?"

"Probably. We can't tell what they're doing."

"Whatever it is, I don't think we want to be around for it," Corvus says. "The last wizard we ran into made a big sandstorm. And for all we know, this might be the same one."

"A single wizard making a sandstorm?" Dominique suddenly interjects. "That's impossible. Weather control is extremely difficult. A single person couldn't do it all on their own."

"That's what Long said. But it's what happened."

"Well, regardless, the spell I'm seeing is nowhere near that powerful. It's not even approaching the most powerful spell I've seen personally. Can't say what it does from here, and it probably is a bad idea to get the caster's attention, but it's not likely to endanger us if we let it finish. So we can take our remote readings, at least."

"I still don't like it," Corvus says. "If the wizard decides to pop up to the surface, and it's the same one who called the sandstorm, what exactly are we supposed to do?"

Well. You're in charge, so it's pretty much up to you to settle this argument.