[insert witty title here]

YEAR: 1920
AREA: New Caerleon, Ohio

A torch’s light could only wipe away the slightest cover of darkness with its flame, barely anything compared to its more modern cousins. It was outdated, but it sufficed. Especially in large quantities.
A black-gloved man hoisted another blazing torch into the hold high on the cave wall. Every several feet, one was placed at a chest-high height, and every single torch spread its brothers’ illumination further down the paths of the cave. The air was musty and dusty, the floor smooth but covered entirely in sand, and the walls various types of rocks jammed and welded together over time. The deep pits of the caverns twisted left and right, spanning numerous floors across different heights. Who could tell just what went where? Who could even fathom the depths of this construction of nature?
Four could, and this man was one of them. If he could even be called a man. He pulled his hand away from the torch, after a while of setting it perfectly straight, and clapped his gloved hands together to send off the dust. These gloves were adorned at the end of crisp, pressed sleeves, flowing back to reveal itself attached to a tan-green British military suit appropriate of the period. No skin was shown at all across his body…even a gas mark adorned his face, with the goggles either too thick to see through…or with nothing inside. Metallic clanks echoed down from one of the paths, and the military-adorned being turned around to stare at the lit path from which the sounds came. Three other beings were making their way over to the first, each clad in different attire as according to different periods.
“’Ey up!” Called out the first man, sliding both gloved hands into his pockets and swaggering his way across to meet the path of the three. Every step was with an extra bounce to it as if he was dancing to his own personal tune that only he could hear, though it did rattle the rifle slung across his back. “Frightfully mazey, this place. Seems to be mostly empty, though we ain’t too far deep. We’ll prolly need a map charted out sometime, but I’d not suggest goin’ further without any sort of compass or string or anything.”
One of the others was a knight dressed in entirely medieval trappings, clad from head to toe in bulky silver and white armor. He spoke in a weary drawl, though his speech still retained formalities. “A maze or a labyrinth or a simple straight line of cavern, it matters little. If this is the underground land we are banished to, then we learn everything about it that we can.”
The military man shrugged. “I was just sayin’…”
Feudal samurai armor shielded the third person, whose finger jutted accusingly at the military man. “SAY nothing, dog! You’re here to scout, not give your thoughts! We can get along perfectly well without you stuffing our ears with what ‘you think’.” He was about to continue until the forth, clad in a simple white fencer attire, held a black-gloved hand in front of the samurai’s face—the intent of the statement’s continuation was then wisely shifted. “…sorry. That was uncalled for.”
The knight shrugged, as did the military man. The former spoke, “Worry not, honorable sir. These times have been trying for all of us, much less a single person, and thus frustration is not only to be expected but rather accepted.”
Gauntlet crashed into palm as the samurai emphasized his speech with steady punches. “It just pisses me off, you know? The thought of all the others still trapped in there, helpless and losing their mind bit by bit every day…”
The military man chuckled and reached over to pat the samurai’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, chum, we’ll see what we can do for them. But first, we need to try and get our bearings and get off the ground, so don’t bugger out.”
A grunt was the only reply from the samurai. The fencer, however, had passed the other three. He made his way further down the cavern, beckoning for the three with a hand. “Enough talk. Let’s move.”
The three shrugged and moved on.