Coral Maiden, Coffin Mine [Ponytail, Talea, Charis, Missy]

[EtherealNoire]

The Light Worshiper's queries drew Talea once more to the ocean realm, winged away from fractured specters into a darkness steeped in brine. With it, water babbled against the shore, licking at exposed flesh with tongues forged from ice. Amidst its mirth and labored saline breath, time waned evanescent.

"Twain passages linger beyond thy sight," Talea answered, her voice wavering across rock and pelagic essence. It seemed to come from  nothing and everything all at once, as much a part of nature as her crystal steps now frosted into stone.

"Hence I shall explore their wares for what is sought. May the key await us there or thee shall gain entrance to yonder hollow."

To Charis, she granted a shallow agreeance that the woman pry open the lock, but her own tread was fixed towards the other chambers. Urged by time's passing, she swept forth into the tunnel, agile and deft in the waking darkness.

[twostepsback]

Charis switches out the dying torch for a fresh one as she moves to follow Talea into the passage. "Right then, lead the way."

[rosallora]

The passage echoes with the sound of their footsteps. No matter how quiet they try to be, it's inevitable.

The passage they encounter first is just after the lock encrusted into the wall. The contents therein are grisly, and unpleasant. A smattering of stalactites and stalagmites surround the rotten corpse of a giant fish. Some of it has certainly been harvested from, perhaps eaten - by the guards perhaps, or the Siren herself. The aroma it gives off is unpleasant, the spining rocks jutting into it from both sides giving it the appearance of being devoured. The cavern is empty otherwise, and small. Perhaps this was its purpose.

[twostepsback]

Charis makes an expression of disgust as she pinches her nose. "Ugh... It looks like we've found the Siren's larder..." She says nasally, "I don't think there's going to be anything useful in here."

[EtherealNoire]

Even Talea, born from death and thrall to the numen of the deceased, recoiled at the miasma, pale skin near cadaverous as the corpse when she tread hasty steps to the exit. Fairer fortune bespoke their name.
For against the wall, stark in mortal memory, nestled the lock, and Talea lingered before its presence. Curiosity guided her fingers along the seam, where ocean creatures yearned to sleep, and spun ideas from her desires. Shrouded eyes lifted to the Worshipper of Light.

"Unified, we are stronger than alone, yea though the path denies us. As the apex of twilight meets between light and shadows, so shall our powers mix to transcend the strength of time."

She rises, graceful, one hand motioning to the shovel, though her form still shimmered beneath ornaments of salt.

[Vanitypirate]

Ponytail gratefully released the small girl into Velius's arms,

"Please-- bring her to the town. Find the...--- the..." He searched for the particular word and in his haste, did not find it, "...the big 'ospital. In the 'amlet, do you know it?"
He stepped back, assuming that Velius took hold of Missy,

"Be quick, please; I do not know how long the girl will last. I must go, quickly. My companions are alone in the cave." He sighed and glanced to the path that lead back down to the shore,

"Farewell, let the wind be on your back." After his brief goodbye he made to hurry back to the path, running as hard as he could (of course, until he came to the edge of the cliff where the path trailed downward. Even he had enough sense not to sprint himself off the edge).

[twostepsback]

Charis pauses, before shaking her head. "There is still one more path we haven't checked. I say we go back to the entrance, and take the left path this time. If we still can't find the key, then we try forcing the lock." She reasons, before shrugging her shoulders. "And who knows, maybe Ponytail will have rejoined us by then. Then we'll have the strength of three people working against that lock." Charis remarks as she moves towards the entrance of the sea cave.

[rosallora]

The two women step away from the vile creature pinioned in the spikes, and move on.

The water rises steadily, and by its nature, when they get back to the room with the glowing pool, it's expanded to cover more than half of the room itself. The shelves to the side, the safety of cool rock, is becoming slimmer and slimmer. The water is foaming a bit at the edges, showing a turbulence that it didn't before, its little lapping waves indicating that the tide is coming, and quicker than it was before. With every step they take, the cold black water takes another inch, and it doesn't seem content to give it back anytime soon.

They make their way to the other entrance, and follow the winding passage inside. But soon their torchlight empties into another open cavern. A pool of water is before them, at its bottom an array of countless jewels, sparkling, ascendant in their beauty. Across from it, hung by the wall on a simple string, is a single key, which Charis's eyes find immediately. A thin shelf of rock lines the pool, making it possible to make your way all the way around it, but balance will be needed, and focus non negotiable.

-

Ponytail finds himself buffeted by the winds, the salt of the sea stinging his eyes and braiding into his hair. But the young man, still reeking of brine and sweat, finds his way down. He sees at sea shapes of movement, a solid kind of mass that just barely doesn't breach the surface. He can see where the sea gets glassy and thin under whatever body it may have.

Then he sees a shimmering, gossamer-looking spine break through the water, casting off the same silver glow of the moon, the spike itself looking bony and solid. It sinks quickly back into the water, and is gone, though Ponytail can still see its shadow in the water, weaving in and out of the current.

[EtherealNoire]

The water raged at their intrusion within its gelid lair, froth gathered at its maw, dripping and snarling like a dog driven mad. Futile warnings lost in the clamour for knowledge.
It enthralled the Light Worshipper first, her sight coaxing Talea's to the far stone where mysteries hung. Alluring, it beckoned them closer, towards the knife blade between the cavern's flank and its wrath.
Drawing rope from the pack she bore, Talea wound the cord between herself and the woman from light. In her hands, she spun it like she was weaving life lines from thorns, careful yet impossibly complex.

"I shall not let thee perish." She whispered and her voice resonated sangfroid. A single note of solace over the water's roar. 

[Vanitypirate]

The great beast that carved the sea captivated Ponytail, who stopped in his tracks on the steadily-vanishing shore. It was as though a great creature of ivory lurked in those waves, and it took Ponytail all of his willpower not to give chase into the waves. There was a great effort made not to envision the glory of such an encounter: to meet such a monstrous animal in his own home, so alien to those that dwelled on dry land.

But there were still two women left alone in that dark cave with those lesser monsters, and the tide still threatened to swallow them up.

So he took a breath of that salty air and reloaded his rifle: gunpowder, bullet, then ramrod. He steeled himself to face not the moonlit seabeast, but whatever evil lurked in the dark of that cave.
With renewed bravery he made haste into the cave, just under a jog so as to not fall prey to the water again; his last encounter was still fresh in his mind...

[MidnightRunner]

Rellen’s arms slid beside Ponytail’s as they transferred the injured woman into his arms. “I will, friend.” He hefted Missy gently closer to his chest to lessen the burden, turning his flank to the sea as he listened to the man.

“And let the Ancestors guide you, good luck!” He then turned to the Hamlet, striding as best he could to keep his pace comfortable enough for the wound to stay itself. Rellen glanced to the young woman in his arms as he went, murmuring a prayer to the Moon, before focusing his eyes to finding the medical facility Ponytail had referenced within the Hamlet.

[twostepsback]

Charis gives Talea a thumbs up before moving to cross the cavern's rim. The first part of the trip is not the steadiest of starts, as Charis ends up stumbling a few times on the slick stones, but Charis does eventually find her footing and makes it to the key.

[rosallora]

The key is so simple that it's almost mocking her. It's four inches long and solid in the woman's hand, the weight substantial. It feels like it is insisting upon its existence, cold and filling her nose with the smell of iron. When she takes it, she obtains the key and the thread that's been looped onto its handle as well, a simple cord that makes the key wearable. The way to the key may have been slick, but the key itself was not.

Ponytail rushes back into the cavern, his feet kicking up saltwater as he makes his way inside. Nearly the whole shelf of stone has been eaten up by the water, and when he finds himself within the cavern with the pool, it's hard to distinguish what exactly had not been flooded before. Every step reminds him that time is running out.  He hears the dull thud down the left passage of Charis temporarily losing her footing, but other than that, it is silent save for the impending roar of the ocean that was soon to reclaim this passage.

[twostepsback]

Charis loops the key around her neck and turns around for the return trip, which goes much smoother than the trip out. "Time and tide wait for no one, so let's get moving." Charis remarks as she tries to undo Talea's knotwork.

[Vanitypirate]

Ponytail let a hand trail along the side wall as he made his way down the tunnel, marching with purpose through the rising water. Rifle in hand, he made his way down where he'd heard the thud.
It was either another fishbeast or his lost compatriots, and he was eager to meet either.