Plotlogs
Song Of The Sea Sr Lilah 250420
In the crystalline waters off a tiny Grecian island, a diverse group of individuals—Antoinette, Victoria, Seamus, Lanaeis, and Novel—were drawn together by a task entrusted to them by the enigmatic Lilah. Their mission: to plunge into the depths of the sea in search of the heartshell of an ancient and long-deceased siren queen. The adventure began with the group boarding a flamboyant speedboat captained by the equally vibrant Noa, who ensured they had all the necessary gear for their underwater expedition.
Descending beneath the waves, the team navigated through breathtaking underwater scenery, eventually discovering the entrance to the siren's tomb marked by mysterious and magical symbols. Despite the sense of foreboding that permeated the tomb, the group pressed on, guided by an irresistible pull towards their goal. Their path led them to a large cavern, at the center of which lay the skeletal remains of the siren queen herself, clutching the coveted heartshell.
As Novel took the heartshell, the serene underwater mausoleum began to crumble around them. In a race against time and the collapsing structure, the team had to make a hasty retreat. Utilizing their unique skills, they navigated through the tumbling debris and found their way back to the surface, where Noa awaited them, blissfully unaware of the chaos below.
Back aboard the boat, it was revealed that their interference in the tomb had unintended consequences. Noa quickly sprang into action, urging the group to leave as they prepared to address the potential aftermath of their adventure. The team, bound by their shared experience, parted ways through their own means—shadow-walking and pathing back to safety, leaving the specter of their adventure behind them in the depths.
The mission, fraught with unexpected challenges and bonded by camaraderie, was a testament to the unforeseen adventures that await those who dare to delve into the unknown. As the group scattered to their respective paths, they were left with the satisfaction of their accomplishment and the undeniable allure of future mysteries lying in wait beneath the waves.
(Song of the Sea(SRLilah):SRLilah)
[Sat Apr 19 2025]
At the beach off a tiny Grecian island
Nearly white sand graces crystal clear waters that look as if no human has ever set foot near them, let alone in them. There's such a lack of pollution here, despite the town that's not all that far away. There's no sign of litter, or haze in the air, or even footprints in the sand, save for those caused by the group that stands here now.
Water laps gently against the shoreline as the sun begins to set. The beautiful Mediterranean climate and balmy weather offer the sweetest of invitations, to dip ones toes, or even one's whole body beneath the waves. These places draw tourists every summer for good reason, after all.
But few know what truly lurks beneath these waves.
It is dusk, about 75F(23C) degrees,
Antoinette owes someone somewhere a favor for pathing her into the meeting point, or as close to it as she could get. Wishful thinking comes in the form of one day being able to do it herself and knowing the chances of that happening are justtt about zero. She draws in a breath of the ocean air, admiring the pristine view for a moment and snapping a picture to text to Malcolm before tucking her phone away and just taking a few moments to enjoy the peace before whatever is about to ensue. She's got a first aid kit and her handy-dandy purse of miscellaneous things that cuold come in handy. Ready as she'll ever be.
Stepping out of what seems to be a swirl of air that causes a light breeze, Victoria gives a wave to everyone, adjusting the daggers in her sheath. She takes a few moments to look around, grinning at Antoinette when she gets a photo.
Seamus gets here via the usual means. Probably traveled with Antoinette because let's be honest, makes the most sense. Stepping out of whatever path brought him here he revisits his lunch then wedges a cigarette into his mouth. "Fucking fuck," he mutters as he lights up, "Hey Vic. Lovely, blah blah."
"You'll get used to it one day, Seamus." Antoinette assures the detective with an amused look and gives Victoria a grin. "Good to see you, Vic. Interested to see what we're going to get into."
Antoinette shakes her head, "I don't think so. He'd wanted to but he's still recovering a bit from the whole hurricane rescue thing." She explains to Victoria. "So he was getting some sleep when I left. And yeah, I'm always wrapped up in something." She laughs. "One of these days I'm going to get back to the Alley for a proper drink, or The Trove. Or just out in general."
"I feel that," Seamus says putting his hands on his hips and stares at the sky, "35 fucking years traveled by car and here we are." He shakes his head and then blinks, "Ah he and Siofra said they might come then Hand Business came up and.... I guess I get to be the token Skein or some shit."
The sun isn't quite setting off this idyllic coastline when the last of the Fantastic Five has arrived. (We might have to handwave Novel in when he gets here, instead of waiting until the player is ready). The waves kiss the sand, growing slowly larger and stretching further as the tide rolls in; it's exactly the time of evening they were told to arrive, to meet an individual named Noa for further information. The only thing that they really know at this stage is that they need to be able to use underwater breathing aparatuses.
Off shore, a fairly large speedboat pulls up, within wading distance from where they all have gathered, and from within a rather flambouyant figure offers a wave. "Come on aboard!" they yell to the group, their hair a tangle of rainbow colored dreds and their clothing equally chaotic and lovely. "We've got so much to get organized, and we need to be underwater before sunset!"
Assuming everyone can swim, reaching the boat should be an easy enough matter, and most can probably just wave. The shortest of the group might risk a wave in the face but other than that, it's a simple and unimpeded process.
Once on the boat, that colorful character at the wheel greets, "I'm Noa. Good to have you all aboard. Lilah said you all would have this under control so, unless there's any questions, we'll head out to the dive site." They gesture behind them, to where a pile of diving suits, helmets, flippers, and other incidentals such as dry bags lay in piles on the seats. "Get yourselves fitted. Should be plenty in the right sizes."
Obviously the SR meant that most can probably just walk through the waves...
Antoinette waves to Lanaeis when he shows up and takes off her shoes and socks...and hoodie before making the trek across the water, arms lifted above her head just in case to try and avoid certain things getting too wet. "Lovely to meet you Noa." Toni says once she's on the boat, stashing her things and starting to rummage through the diving gear.
Seamus looks at Lanaeis when he arrives and squints worrying the cigarette. "Lanaeis. I haven't seen you since.... We ain't talking about that night." It's not so much a polite request to Lanaeis. He makes his way onto the boat easily enough, wading through the waters and getting onto the boat. "Yeah we got it," he frowns at the boat worker and then looks back to Antoinette and Victoria with a shrug and finds a diving kit that fits him.
Returning Antoinette's wave, Lanaeis just strolls into the water, clothing and all. Giving Seamus a brief nod, Lanaeis doesn't seem to remember 'that night' in particular. Giving a nod and a smile to each, someone and Victoria, he pulls himself aboard, offering a "Pleasure to meet you." to the boat driver before he begins searching for a suit that will fit him.
"It's nice to meet you," Victoria says, brushing the water off her face because...height issues and waves. She takes a kit and glances particularly at the flippers before frowning to her feet. "This will be different. Hi, Lanaeis."
Returning Antoinette's wave, Lanaeis just strolls into the water, clothing and all. Giving Seamus a brief nod, Lanaeis doesn't seem to remember 'that night' in particular. Giving a nod and smile to Victoria, he pulls himself aboard, offering a "Pleasure to meet you." to the boat driver before he begins searching for a suit that will fit him.
"If you're really anxious about it, I've got a different offer for one of you," offers Noa with a sassy grin that looks an awful lot like the sort that a particular redhead they all know likes to give. It usually means trouble. But the gorgeous androgyne just bats lashes far too full to be fully real, and tucks their hands beneath their chin in a playful face-framing gesture. "I can let one of you breathe without worry," they coo. "For the price of an itty, bitty little kiss. But only one. I'd recommend it anyway. Dealing with Siren magic, you never do know when you're going to need to use your voice, or not have a blocky helmet in the way."
Speaking of, these helmets are standard issue dive-crew wear, Kirby Morgan 27 SuperLites. Not only do they include all of the necessities as well as a brilliant audio communication system, but they come in as many colors as Noa themselves. Red. Purple. Blue. Green. Yellow. Take your pick.
As their guide is about to speak again, Seamus gets there first, and is met with a laugh and a snap snap of fingers. "He's got the right of it, lady! It's really not that bad. Not like trying to use a snorkel system, that's for sure. But you'll have a few minutes in the water to get the hang of it, either way, before you have to dive." So no. No they're not going to do a whole lot to coach anyone through this.
"Of course that's the price. Seamus, you should do it." Victoria's head nods, as she's fussing with equipment.
Finally pulling out a fit, Lanaeis asks Seamus offhandedly "Do you make a habit of pissing off gods?" Lanaeis begins to change into the swimwear and diving gear, inspecting the helmet with an impressed whistle before putting it on. "I also support Seamus receiving the kiss blessing." Lanaeis says, shifting the helmet into place atop his head.
"It'll be fine, I'm sure." Antoinette agrees easily enough as she secures a blue helmet for herself and getting changed into the diving gear properly. "Thirded. You've been nominated, Seamus." She flashes a grin to Seamus before going back to fiddling.
"That's total majority. You're it," Victoria tells the lucky man, frowning as she selects a helmet and finally tugs on her gear.
Seamus looks over the assembled group, "So.... we didn't think to bring one fucking mermaid did we?" He asks as if supernaturals are cards that can be shuffled into a Pokemon deck. He looks at Antoinette for a moment to gauge her reaction and when she too betrays him he mutters something then turns around and faces the creature. "I am only do this so that we are prepared and I am being helped by Brutus, Cain, and Judas back there."
"I'm some fucked up mash up of an angel and a demon my friend. No way in hell am I adding mermaid to the mix." Lanaeis says, smirking. At the introduction of Brutus, Caine and Judas, he tilts his head. "Which is which, exactly?"
Antoinette nods with Lanaeis's question, "I'd like to know this too."
"Yeah, I'm a mix here myself," Victoria nods her head. "Mermaid's not one of my strong suits. Hey, can we just turn him into one?"
"Fight amount yourselves," Seamus grouses with a smirk to Antoinette and Lanaeis. "I am the Fair Julius Caesar in this analogy and have already been slain."
"That would be interesting. Anyone know magic to do that?" Lanaeis's eyes move from Antoinette to Victoria. "I'm no arcanist."
The being known as Noa just laughs with delight as the group all pinpoint Seamus as the target of this blessing. "I do believe the whole point of tonight's expedition -is- to add a... well. Not a mermaid. I'm fairly sure her mother would bite your balls off if you called her that. But one such being to your group, is it not?"
"You lucky, lucky man. What a way to go," they then coo in wicked delight, and rising to their full height of a good few inches over six feet - a fact well disguised by their (when compared to their height) unnaturally slender form and seated position, they step toward Seamus. Leaning in, a wink from those exaggerated lashes is followed by, "The magic needs to hit your lungs, handsome. Pucker up."
At least Seamus is given a moment to steady himself before being caught in a liplock with this particular being. It lingers too, quite long enough, before Noa steps back. "Right. Well now, you handsome devil you, you'll be able to breathe, talk, and regulate temperature just fine beneath the waves. Grab yourself a dry bag and fins. That's all you'll need. Oh, and here." They offer out a small device, clearly meant to be inserted in the ear. "So you can communicate with the others."
"I know a ritual to give someone the ability to pick up on suffering but nothing off the top of my head about any of the others." Antoinette figures to Lanaeis. "I call dibs on Judas."
"Dibs on Caine." Lanaeis says immediately after the bidding begins. "Sorry Brutus." Turning back to the water, Lanaeis glances down into it, walking to the railing. "Looks good for a swim. Excellent."
Seamus takes a small puff off of his cigarette and blows the smoke out the corner of his mouth before squaring up to Noa, he closes his eyes and puckers up. When the kiss breaks in goes the cigarette again as a big drag is taken, and held. Nicotine purging his mouth and sinuses at least.
Seamus after a moment he lets out the white plum, "Aight. Dry bag. Let's go."
"Wait, does this mean I'm....Brutus?" Victoria sighs out, making a less than graceful attempt to follow the others, hindered by the suit.
Novel peels off the outer layer of his clothes - boots, jacket, an abundance of pills and other things that will dissolve in the water and dumping it into a bag. What comes out is his own preparation - it's not a weapon. Instead it's a prybar, a fancy light-up watch for staying oriented, and a diving knife. "I'd take Jesus but I don't have the beard for it," He jokes.
"Afraid so." Lanaeis says solemnly, apparently content with his position at the rail until they arrive. "I'm not exactly sure what we're expecting down there. Anyone know?" Lanaeis leans against the spot of railing that he's apparently claimed for his own now.
"Ah you'd think kissing me was a chore instead of a blessing!" Noa scolds as they watch Seamus fill his lungs with smoke yet again. "That's going to irritate your eusctachian tubes and make it harder to equalize pressure in - oh never mind. You're fine. The rest of you? Don't smoke."
"You can be Benedict Arnold, handsome," Noa offers to Novel after this, with Victoria's realization of the role she's been handed in the treacherous trio, as the group begins to get ready. The lanky creature heads back to their seat, and revs the engine, dragging the five out to sea. Over the sound of the engine, is called back, "Or Cassius!"
The boat races over the waves, in a straight line toward the setting sun, until the island behind them is a mere speck on the horizon, and the sun's rays gleam red rather than golden. The boat suddenly stops, and once more the driver spins round to them. "Okay! Lesson time. Listen up!" Are they listening? Noa doesn't stop to find out. "You want to drop down slowly," they rattle off. "Regularly stop your drift and swallow hard to equalize pressure in your ears, otherwise they're going to hurt like all hell, and you might rupture an eardrum. For the same reason, don't path out from underwater, don't shadow walk from down there, and surface slowly and carefully. The bends is a bitch." He pauses, then adds, "Keep track of your oxygen valves. You've got enough for a couple of hours, max. Less if you're exerting yourself. Got it? Good." And they kick back, a pair of combat-booted feet propped up on the bow, and hands tucked behind their head.
"I, uh," Seamus watches the man fall backward then looks to those he is with, "So we just jump in don't sink and we got this?" He looks at Victoria and Novel repeating more confidently, "We got this. Totally. Bad ass she wolf and demon. We got this." And with one last silent prayer.... jumps in.
"Who the hell is that? Is that the real name of Arnold Schwarzenegger?" Novel retorts to Noa. Apparently someone didn't go to history class. As he sprawls out in his seat. "And Cassius sounds like a huge nerd." Or read ancient history, for that matter, with the way he lounges, but he shuts up and listens to the woman's advice. Then he provides his own:
"Fighting underwater really sucks. Use a spear gun, magic, or a spear or a knife. You can't get enough of a wind up to swing at anything and it's really crap in there. Plus if you find someone who can ACTUALLY move in the water you're probably fucked, your best route is to do the opposite of what she says and shadow-walk out or find a hole to hide in and path out."
Novel wrinkles his nose up at Seamus, "The last time I fought anything in the water I ended up in the hospital. Just try not to get stuck in - wherever the fuck we're going."
"Hurtful." Lanaeis comments, before vaulting the railing and plunging in himself, though right before the surface he yells back to Novel "Does punching the thing wo---" and he's under, voice switching to the communications "Rk? I didn't bring a spear, spear gun, knife, or magic."
Antoinette listens to the instruction from all sides, "Yeah this all makes sense." She figures, fitting the helmet on last and following suit, falling back into the water. "There's a knife in my bag. But my magic isn't really offensive so I'll probably need it." She supposes. "Or we get very lucky and don't have to fight anything."
"Seven. I have seven knives, I'm good." Victoria squints down briefly, then exhales. "Fuck it," she decides, falling as gracefully as possible into the water below.
A stream of bubbles escapes Seamus's mouth as he tries to talk before he remembers the throat mic and he turns it on, pressing the button on his neck. "I have a spare knife too. I will now proceed to keep my Ahab jokes to a minimum."
Novel sets himself up, looks over the water suspiciously like it genuinely means to harm him - it's the ocean and people gain power by hurting each other so it probably does - then then shoves himself off and in, plunging down into the waves with brusqueness. There's a familiarity there, with the way his legs kick and he does his best to get oriented.
"Ahab?" Lanaeis asks, confused as he swims downwards with the group, following instructions and giving a hard swallow every now and then to get used to the pressure. "What the hell is Ahab?" He seems very familiar with swimming, fortunately, pulling himself through the water easily.
As Seamus jumps, Noa offers casually: "Fire's probably not very effective. But it might be?" Helpful. They already seem to be overly content, ready for an evening of balmy basking, while they wait for the group that's heading under. Novel's combat advice is met with a soft hum, though when he goes contrary on how to get out, they offer, "If you do decide to do something the opposite of what I say, do make sure you've got pure oxygen for your lungs afterwards. The bends really is a bitch." The pronouns used may or may not be appropriate. In truth after having seen Noa standing, it might be hard to label them as anything other than probably fleshformed. Gender? Species? Ehh...
"Good luck down there!"
The water is fairly warm, and in the suits provided, with masks in place, only hands are bare to feel any chill that may linger. But as the group begins to descend, it quickly starts to grow darker. There's lights on their helmets, for those that need them, and the radios for communication between them all seem to work just fine, along with Seamus's transponder.
It's a strangely beautiful world down here, so quiet and so calm, with fish slowly meandering by, and the occasional sighting of a turtle, squid, or other unusual Mediterranean creature. Time seems to pass differently, as they slowly sink down to the sea shelf they'd been aiming for.
Casting a glance over one shoulder, Lanaeis searches the water, lifting a hand out in front of him and clenching his fist before it is suddenly wreathed in golden-black fire, which, notably, neither seems effected by the water nor gives off any heat. Lifting the torch-hand out, he surveys the water around him, especially behind him, looking for something before finding the shelf with his feet and standing, or, as much as he can stand underwater.
"From hell's heart I stab at thee?" Seamus asks Lanaeis before swimming further down and radioing back to Antoinette, "And if feels like breathing salty jelly but it also feels kinda nice."
"Salty jelly," Victoria snorts a bit as she sinks in the water, only seeming to have an issue with the flippers on her feet. It's fixed quickly enough, and she's soon swimming along as normal. "It's not bad down here," she finally decides.
"No idea." Lanaeis says absently, still looking out into the dark water. "Anyone else feel like we're being watched?" A foolish question, really, of course 'something' is watching them... but just what is his concern.
"Yes. All the time," Novel absent-mindedly answers Lanaeis as he works with his equipment a few times, pausing a moment at level to readjust and tighten some things on his gangly form before going back to swimming with the rest.
Antoinette takes her time getting oriented and familiar with the sensation of being underwater, in a dive suit. She tries to follow Noa's advice about descending, looking around slowly. She snickers at Seamus's description herself. "There's probably a thousand things watching us." She tells Lanaeis.
"I said what I said," Seamus says treading water with the group
Noa is no more help now; even the little bits they offered before have dried up as the five left the boat. For awhile, they could see the shadow overhead, but now they're too deep to even see it. There's no more sunlight on the water. The strange glow of Lanaeis's light casts strange, sickly sorts of shadows below them, but enough to light up that ledge they'd been told to look for. Once they're on it, far beneath the ocean's surface, they have a moment to regroup.
Somewhere on this ledge, according to information Lilah texted out before the group headed off on their paths to that quaint little Grecian island, is a door into the tomb. That's their first job. To find it, then figure out how to get inside. Once inside? Grab the heartshell. She really didn't have much more information than that.
What else is known? Obviously, this is the burial place of an ancient Siren, so people should probably be wary of Fae-escapades.
Then, casually swimming around a broken piece of undersea rock, the five can see the pointed snout of a shark. A -big- shark. (Does anyone want to claim any particular knowledge of sea life or animals in general?)
"I heard if you rub a shark on the snoot they start purring," Novel unhelpfully provides to the group.
"That's a big fish." Lanaeis studies said big fish. "Shark." He amends. "Think its the siren's pet?"
"Please no one try to pet the shark." Antoinette peers in the distance at it. "...But like. Hearing a shark purr would be kind of cool." She does concede to Novel's comment, whether it's true or not.
"You go pet it, Seamus. You got the kiss and all," Victoria shakes her head inside the helmet.
"I draw the line at things that bite back," Seamus says and starts to swim away from the shark in an attempt to look around or swim around it. Some snoots should not be booped.
"I'll pay you twenty bucks to pet the shark, Seamus." Novel offers.
"Make that a hundred." Lanaeis chimes in.
Novel says "I'm not paying a hundred bucks for that! I gotta make rent!"
Lanaeis says "I'm paying it."
The internet is full of rumors about sharks. Aren't they just the puppies of the sea? Petting one might be fun, or painful, given that to get near enough to a shark's snoot to either punch it or pet it might involve getting very close to teeth. This particular beauty is massive, easily over twenty feet in length and, as it circles around, it becomes apparent that its swimming with its mouth open. It definitely seems aware of the gathered group, swimming well past them, before turning around and swimming back. Each pass gets a little closer, but there doesn't seem to be any inherent threat to the beast; it's just watching them. Maybe it is also trying to decide if it's worth booping one of them on the snoot.
There's a job to be done, however, and a limited amount of oxygen in the tanks. Is there time for petting sharks?
Seamus looks back to Novel and Lanaeis "200 and you have my attention."
"I'll toss in an extra hundred," Victoria decides. "Get it away from us, at least."
"Two hundred and twenty it is." Lanaeis says with a nod.
Seamus looks at Antoinette to see what she is willing to pay.
Antoinette stares at Seamus, "...I throw in five dollars but if you get your arm bitten off I'm not triaging you in the water." She decides, starting to look around for possible spots where this door they have to find could be.
"All of you, monstrous," Seamus says reaching around to his back and finding an arrow from his bow and holding it in his hand point out like a short spear. "How'd the thing with Lilah go honey? Good news I am richer, bad news I can only hug you with one arm." And with that he swims close and probes the tip of the shark with his arrow
"Well yes, I know at least myself, Victoria and Novel are monsters. Not sure about Toni." Lanaeis comments. "Pet not poke it with an... arrow..." He just kinda sighs at that.
"No no. For that money, with your hand!" Victoria promptly calls out.
"Oh, well, cool, if other people are paying the money have at it." Novel waves this off then, leaning back to watch with a smile.
Upon further review, Seamus is going to look at things before poking them with sticks.
"Don't poke it with an arrow. That's gonna make it mad." Antoinette insists, apparently in favor of hand territory. She asides to Lanaeis to confirm, "I'm human."
I mean, nobody wants to die of old age, amirite? Huh? But as the strange shark slowly circles nearer to the daredevils and lunatics in diving gear, without ever shutting its mouth, it becomes clear that this isn't a great white, or anything of the sort. This creature has the body shape of a shark, but - they can't even see any teeth. Of course, they're not that close to its mouth. Maybe it has teeth too. Maybe it'll take a chomp - hell, Seamus could probably be swallowed whole, if it chose to give in to the same sort of strange, chaotic, FAFO energy surrounding the group.
The shark clearly becomes aware of Seamus's approach. It's body twists, and it turns side-on to the human, betraying just how large it is compared to him. And yet it seems docile, placid even. A tiny eye gazes, unblinkingly, behind that cavernous open maw.
Novel calls out again, "PET IT," Almost demandingly.
"I second that," Victoria notes, glancing to see if Antoinette had luck finding a way inside.
Antoinette attempts to kneel down a bit as she clears some of the surface beneath them. "I think we're standing on the door." She says, moving her foot around a bit more - using her fin as a hand in this instance. "There's a pattern here. Definitely not natural."
"Two hundred twenty five dollars, Seamus." Lanaeis calls, eyes flicking over to Antoinette to check along with Victoria.
Seamus does not seem to want to play FAFO but he does attempt to swim to the massive shark to pet its side, in a soft gentle way. Might as well get paid if not swallowed.
Seamus says "It feels like it is covered in sand paper! "
"Standing on it?" Lanaeis kneels down, beginning to help clear the ledge, trying to spot what Antoinette already has.
The poor, placid creature (a basking shark for those who want to look at the strangeness more closely) clearly does not enjoy being pet! Maybe some purr, but if it could be heard, this fellow would be more likely to growl a warning, like a feral tomcat hiding under someone's front porch, than purr like a pampered pet. It's massive tail pushes it forward, the surge of water enough to tumble poor Seamus, as the shark turns around and swims away.
As Lanaeis and Antoinette begin to clear the space, they'll feel the contrasting textures of stone and coral, both worn smooth over time by the passing of sand and water. The color has bleached from both, leaving it hard to differentiate until Lanaeis's light catches on it, creating the contrast needed to let it be clearly seen. It looks like symbols of some sort, some type of tribal markings. This is clearly not an accidental occurance. However, there doesn't seem to be anything directly under them, no sign of a trap door or the likes, here.
Keeping an eye on Seamus as he gets rejected by the shark, poor guy, Lanaeis extends his hand to light up the symbols a little bit more. "Does anyone recognize these by chance?" Lanaeis asks, looking around at the others.
Seamus tumbles away from the shark spinning in the water and getting seasick before stopping and righting himself.
"No," Victoria shakes her head the best she can, a smirk barely visible as Seamus spins. "I'm not great with symbols," she confesses.
Antoinette takes a moment to study the symbols further as they're revealed to see if she recognizes them at all from all her studies. "Seamus didn't magically learn to read ancient mermaid did he?" She asks as if Seamus is not right there.
"He she stuck their tongue down my throat, not words in my mind," Seamus says swimming back to the group. "I dunno. Have you checked to see if it is unlocked?"
"It doesn't look like a trapdoor. But maybe these symbols will lead us to the door." Lanaeis says uncertainly.
A bit more exploration will show that those symbols seem to decorate a pathway along the whole top of this stone ledge, across part of the underwater mountain that supports them, right now. The ledge itself is narrow enough, maybe a foot in depth; there's definitely not a doorway in it. The mountain side they stand near is jagged and rough, there's nothing smooth about it to suggest an entry point here, either. But there's a whole lot of mountain beneath their feet... if anyone's brave enough to risk the drop into those shadows.
"I'm going to take a look below." Lanaeis says. And, without waiting, he slips over the edge, dropping down to investigate the side below them with his light.
"Yeah. Maybe more path than door." Antoinette agrees with Lanaeis after a beat. "Are you alright, Seamus?" She asks Seamus belatedly about his tumble. "Maybe the doorway is in the mountain side...or bottom." She trails off as Lanaeis heads down below. Antoinette will start taking a few steps along the path of the ledge as she studies the top-side of the mountain.
"Shit, can't leave him down there by himself," Victoria sighs out, dropping over the edge behind Lanaeis.
"Thank God," Seamus murmurs watching Lanaeis descend from above. "I thought I was going to have to go first again." He smirks then and says to Antoinette, "I'll be fine. Beth doesn't need to know." And with that he swims closer to the ledge.
Novel hops right down with Lanaeis, "Wait up you fucker!" As he slides on in, grumbling as he disappears on after that angler light of a man.
"Someone shove Seamus in, yeah?" Victoria calls upward.
Seamus attempts to grab Antoinette and on the arm and starts to pull her with him towards the rear of the group. "We shouldn't split the party."
Antoinette frowns as Seamus grabs her arm, "But what if that part of the party is destined for dying? We all die together?" A heatless complaint as she lets him drag her along, keeping her eyes on the top side of the mountain just in case until they're down and out of view of it.
As the group heads deeper into the sea, behind Lanaeis's lead, though some do seem more capable of caution than others, it begins to get a lot colder. The difference in temperature from above the shelf to below it is noticeable, though likely felt most clearly by Seamus. Down here, glimmering reflectively in the light are more of the same symbols, definitely strange but as someone would recognize, definitely magical in nature. This time, rather than denoting a path, they seem to outline the shape of an arched doorway. The only problem is, there's no door, and no opening. There's a slab of solid rock where one or the other should have been.
As the group heads deeper into the sea, behind Lanaeis's lead, though some do seem more capable of caution than others, it begins to get a lot colder. The difference in temperature from above the shelf to below it is noticeable, though likely felt most clearly by Seamus. Down here, glimmering reflectively in the light are more of the same symbols, definitely strange but as Antoinette would recognize, definitely magical in nature. This time, rather than denoting a path, they seem to outline the shape of an arched doorway. The only problem is, there's no door, and no opening. There's a slab of solid rock where one or the other should have been.
"Well better together than alone I think," Seamus mutters as they catch up, politely removing his hand, but also using it to help propel himself through the water.
Leaning forward, Lanaeis inspects the arched doorway. "No way of opening it on the surface, but this is the Fae, so that means nothing." Reaching out, Lanaeis traces one of the many symbols.
"Maybe we should just break through it," Victoria muses. "Oh wait, look..." Her hand extends, gesturing toward the sliver jutting out awkwardly.
Antoinette moves closer to the doorway. "Blood offering maybe?" She speculates as she spies the sliver. "Though it probably wouldn't want any of our bloods...unless Seamus' might work because of the...blessing thing?" She wonders.
Antoinette tilts her head ever so slightly, gaze lifting toward the top of the would-be door and then back down to the sliver. "...Blood and truth." She seems to correct herself. "Offering up a deeper truth about yourself to open it. Tracks with Fae-related stuff, right?"
"Whatever, I'll give up some blood. It's not the first time," Novel answers casually with a shrug. "And we've got limited air so let's go." And then he just waltzes up to it - pausing to take a closer look. Assuming it isn't quartz, he's happy to slap his hand against that needle pointed out to him.
Given the woman rumored to be buried in this tomb, and the way that she portrayed herself compared to what she truly was, perhaps such a strange magical requirement isn't so unexpected. But nothing seems to happen at first, when Novel slaps down his hand. Blood spreads across the stone without dissolving into the water. The man is held still for a moment, and then there's a shimmering of light, and the blood is gone.
"So. Maybe it does require Fae blood." Lanaeis observes. "I guess we could all give some blood and see if it works, but... like Novel said. We're not on an unlimited supply here."
Seamus floats along with Antoinette and the rest of the crew but doesn't say much, out of his league now. (OOC: dinner time! Lilah and Toni can puppet me arounds. Volunteer him for stupid things.)
Victoria says "All of us and nobody has even a drop of Fae blood? "
Novel draws his hand off the needle, his hand sealing up quickly unless there's some magic at work to cause otherwise and then he looks around at the glowing light, his mouth curled into a frown as he shakes out his hand. "OK, well, if it doesn't open we should just try to kick smash it open. If there's a crack somewhere I got this prybar." He suggests. "Or we can all strike it at once."
The door doesn't look to be much altered from what it was before Novel touched that spine. Perhaps the others also need to do the same? Or, well. Perhaps they can kick it in. That might depend on just how thick the rock surface is, but... they're not wrong about the limited amount of time they have left.
Antoinette shakes her head a little, "My necklace is imbused with some of Malcolm's blood and he's got a bit of Fae in him but otherwise." She thinks a moment. "Maybe when giving the blood, you think about a deeper truth too? But I do think all of us trying makes sense before we try to smash it in."
Antoinette says "we can be quick with pricking our fingers. "
Swimming forward, Lanaeis extends a hand to prick his own hand on the needle (which he didn't see but probably noticed after Novel stabbed himself on it). "No Fae, but lets see if this works."
Nothing seems to happen at first, when Lanaeis extends his hand. Just as before, blood spreads across the stone without dissolving into the water. It pours out faster, perhaps, than a light prick might be due, but only about as much as when Novel had done the same. As before, the man is held still for a moment, and then there's a shimmering of light, and the blood is gone.
We will assume that Seamus also offers himself as a sacrifice to this door. Which leaves someone - or her necklace if she wants to try and cheat the system, and Victoria. Will both follow the three men?
Lanaeis jerks his hand back immediately after. "That... that felt fucking weird." He mutters, staring down at his healing hand, not as fast as Novel's, but still relatively quickly.
We will assume that Seamus also offers himself as a sacrifice to this door. Which leaves Antoinette - or her necklace if she wants to try and cheat the system, and Victoria. Will both follow the three men?
"If this doesn't work, I'm kicking it in," Victoria decides, holding out a finger with the wrinkle of her nose to offer a bit of blood.
Antoinette will follow suit after Victoria, letting her finger get pricked - no trying to cheat the system today.
And though nothing happened but blood disappearing when Victoria pressed her finger to the door, after Antoinette rounds out the whole group, there's a grumble, a strange grinding noise that is felt throughout the water the five swim in, more than heard by anyone except Seamus. The stone slides down, deeper into the mountain, exposing a narrow passageway within.
The path slopes downward, though there's that same grinding vibration again once all five have stepped through the doorway, and the exit seals off once more. The only lights that exist in this strange, enclosed space, are those of their helmets and Lanaeis's angelic one.
"Well. That wasn't so bad. Though... hopefully its the same to get out." Lanaeis extends his hand forward, letting it shine further into the darkness of the tomb. "Shall we then?"
Already headed inside, Victoria nods. "We shall."
Antoinette follows in along with the rest of the group, looking about curiously and cautiously.
Novel readies his diving knife in a reverse grip, leaving the prybar at his side - and then takes point this time, figuring that he has the best chance of surviving if something absolutely horrible happens.
On they go, with Novel taking the lead. It's easy to sink down into the depths of this cavern, with the water and gravity helping them along. Getting out might be another story, as the slope they'd need to climb up is fairly steep. Perhaps there's another way. Or something.
Though the walls on either side seem to press in, keeping them walk-float-swimming in single file, the water grows warmer and more stagnant, like it's sat in here for a very long time. And then they're at the bottom, with the walls opening out to display a large, cavernous room, with the almost-cliched stone table in the center. Piled around it are decaying wooden chests that spill out tarnished coins and lumps of twisted items that were probably once jewelry, long since devastated by the salt brine.
Amber eyes sweep around the room as Lanaeis studies the room, as if expecting a threat to appear at any moment. "This is the place then?"
Seamus looks back and looks around the room too, paying attention again.
"Looks like it's right there," Victoria's eyes get wide as she glances. "And probably just in time, too. Can it really be that easy to take it?" She appears as though she might, deferring at the last moment to the consensus of the rest of the group.
Antoinette drifts into the room. "It must be." She agrees and does briefly peek for any additional exits or anything in the decaying wooden chests that might be of personal interest before looking toward the center table and thereabouts for the Heart.
"Doubtful, but maybe." Lanaeis says, shrugging a shoulder. "I volunteer Seamus to try first. If he ends up dead, we know its trapped. If not, he's a hero. Simple, no?"
"Okay, cool. Dibs." Novel immediately says, kicking his flippers to go and snag it. "And nah Lily will bitch me out if Seamus actually dies." Maybe he knew something about the shark others didn't, as he goes over to the table to examine it more carefully.
There may be things of personal interest to the gathered group (assuming that plot experience allows me to give them to you!) here amongst the treasures, but the thing that they've come for probably should take precidence. Maybe. With this chaos crew, who knows?
As they approach that stone platform, it won't take long before they see the sight of a long-decayed body, nothing now but bones and jewelry, laid out as if in state. If she'd been wearing clothing, she's not now; but these are people of the sea, not the land. A grinning skull, still wearing a circlet of blackened, terribly tarnished silver, heads a skeleton that clearly becomes more and more fish-like the further down one goes, finishing in the clear outline of tail bones. Fingers, on hands, long ago separated when cartilage and tendons decayed, curl over her sternum, wrapped around something small.
"Lily?" Seamus says as he swims along with the others to check out the table looking for the Heart. "I mean she might but she might not. If I actually died there there would be a line of people. But I'll go if no one else will."
Novel totally said Lilah because his player mixes things up, sorry about that.
Seamus totally saw Lilah yep.
Ignoring the other treasure, Lanaeis looks down at the siren's skeleton, lips pursing as he inspects the circlet, then the item in its hands. "I'd guess that that..." pointing to the item in the siren's hands "Would be what Lilah wants. Couldn't hurt to grab her the circlet I suppose." Shrugging again, Lanaeis steps forward. "Novel? You got it, or shall I?"
Antoinette looks over the skeleton with interest as she moves closer to it with the others who might go that way. "This is fasinating..." She murmured. "Yeah, might as well take it all." She agreed.
"Yeah, I got it." Novel is perfectly willing to pry open a dead corpse's hands for a treasure. He's done it before!
In that case, Lanaeis plucks up the circlet with a shrug, turning it in his hands for a moment before tucking it away to deliver later.
Victoria watches Novel with interest, shaking her head. "That's definitely more for the two of you," she grins.
The water is still - or it was until the five decided to swim towards the table. Now, the stirring water dislodges small things here and there, but notably, nothing about the skeleton moves from this alone. Perhaps there's something magical about it, after all. When Novel reaches for the bones though, they shift in his hands, tiny little fragments of phalanges falling away. Carpals and metacarpals all but dissolving under just that simple of a touch. Yet the item from within, a simple shell-like object, doesn't seem nearly as easy to lift. It takes strength, even from someone like Novel who has plenty of it. When he finally manages to wrench it from that mystical grasp, there's a weird sort of rustling in the water. The bones start to shift.
Antoinette shamelessly starts to back away as the bones start shifting.
Seamus readies a knife. Why, we can't be sure, but it seems like a good idea at the time, and like most food stories that is the only excuse needed.
"That... might just be the water, right?" Lanaeis clearly doesn't believe what he's saying, even as he says it. "Or not. I think we pissed off a dead siren. That's a new one." Lanaeis retreats from where he'd grabbed the circlet as well, moving back towards where the door is, or was.
"Nope," Victoria draws a dagger into each palm. "It's never that easy." Like Seamus, it seems to be a good idea to have something in the way of a weapon. Her head shakes at Lanaeis. "I doubt it."
Lanaeis says "Anyone got a spare knife?"
"Fuck she's really got a death grip on this thing." Novel grumbles out initially as he wrenches apart the skeleton, muscles bunching up unnaturally underneath the sleek skin of his diving suit around the back, shoulders, and arm before he yanks it up. Once it's apparently lighter, into the pouch it goes, tucked away. It takes someone else pointing it out to notice the bones, having assumed it was just because he was a brute shoving it around. "Seriously?" He sounds more aggravated than anything else.
Antoinette passes her own diving knife to Lanaeis, keeping an eye on the skeleton and Novel.
Novel socks the skeleton in the jaw as hard as he can.
Novel is underwater. This is not as hard as he normally can, and it requires gripping the edge of the stone table for leverage.
Nodding in thanks to Antoinette, Lanaeis steps forward by Novel now that he has a knife.
What happens next can only be described as magic, or a group hallucination. Even as they prepare for something far different, the long-dead creature's bones shift and rotate. What were definitely the sort of bones one would expect to find in a fish's tail, suddenly become femurs, tibias, and of course, the ever-needed fibulas. The number of bones, as well as the size and shape of them, dramatically change, though there doesn't seem to have been enough left to reshape human feet.
When Novel's fist collides with the siren queen's skull, it shatters. The whole skeleton is so very old that there's just no strength left in those bones. But as it does, a small stone tablet tumbles onto the table top amidst the bone dust.
"Well that was easy." Lanaeis comments, handing the knife back to Antoinette.
Seamus takes a hesitant step forward and mutters to Novel, "Have you considered tell it you are here about it's extended car warranty?" He looks at the table and points out the tablet, "Grab it and let's get out."
Oh, no. No, unfortunately it won't be that easy. Novel has the heartshell shoved in his bag, and the tablet's been collected for whatever it's needed for. But as what's left of the queen dissipates into dust without her skull to hold the body together, the rest of the cavern begins to crumble as well. First, there's a crack, as the table collapses down the middle, and that bone dust swirls away into the water. Then there's further cracking, as stones begin to fall from the ceiling overhead. It's a large cavern. There's tunnels leading in all sorts of directions. The one they came in from was incredibly steep and required single file movement - maybe there's a better choice?
The SR is so sorry, and will be as fast as possible!
Antoinette takes the knife back from Lanaeis with some amusement touching her features. "Yeah, before we-" Her words are cut off by the rumbling and shaking. "Oh fuck." Amusement gone.
"I think this is the part where someone yells shit and we all run. So. Let me take care of that. Shit!" Lanaeis then, following the time honored code, runs (or rather swims) like hell for the ceiling as it cracks. Which way is best? Well the ceiling is cracking, so maybe up.
"Novel are you sure about pathing underwater because vomit comet is preferable to pancaking," Seamus says starting ti swim in a circle looking for exits.
Novel yoinks the tablet, already halfway through doing it. "Okay, coo-" And then the cavern starts to crack and fall around them, and he notes, "Awh, c'mon." He complaints. "People need to stop using magic in construction. It's so bullshit. Anyway... actually, we could just nightmare out," He admits. "And just swim through solid rock. Though it's gonna be really weird."
Smacking rubble aside, Victoria frowns. "Whatever it is, we need to find it." She decides to swim upward as well, searching along the way.
Novel then does exactly what he said he was going to do - touching his charm and attempting to translate from the realm of physical world, to the realm of dreams and walls you can walk through.
The sky is definitely falling, or at least the ceiling is. Novel has a theory, though the downside is how they'll communicate with their ally in the boat overhead, if they can't exit the nightmare. Lanaeis has another one. As others start to swim upward, they at least have the benefit of seeing where things are starting to fall, to avoid them.
Antoinette starts swimming upward after Lanaeis, trying to dodge out of some of the falling rocks, though she can feel her suit get snagged on one or two here and there as she's not quite fast enough to get out of the way entirely of a few.
As Lanaeis swims upward, he is willing to get whacked a few times if necessary, but fortunately, none of the rocks decide to try and take him out as he makes to not reach the ceiling, but to go straight through it.
Seamus follows Antoinette and Lanaeis as they swim up swimming as fast as his blessed legs can take him.
The ceiling is falling anyway. Lanaeis just makes it fall faster, when he Supermans a fist right through it! Luckily for him, that makes the rocks fall to the sides at an angle, which others swimming up after him can likely manage to avoid for the most part as well. For Novel, the job is a lot easier, though swimming through rocks is definitely an unusual experience. Eventually, all of them make it to a secondary chamber, this one looking far more natural than the others - hollowed out over the years by animals, most likely. It'll be easy enough to get out from there, following the path of whatever strange creatures had inhabited this den.
At the surface, Noa is sound asleep in the boat, just bobbing on the water without a care in the world, when they break the water.
Lanaeis attempts to throw a handful of water at the boat driver as he surfaces. Hit or miss, he then attempts to climb back aboard the boat with a sigh, pulling off his helmet once he's up.
Novel just goes through solid rock, though it takes - a bit of time. The fins actually help with this sort of 'swimming' where the concentrated will of the stone sloughing around him and the effort it takes likely causing him to fall back down since he can't fly. Being underwater probably helps, but he doesn't think about this. He trails after the others, and, hefts his non-visible self up out of the water. He takes off the helmet, taking in a breath of fresh air, shaking himself off - then meanders around the boat, looking for a mirror or a substantially large enough reflective surface to climb out of.
Antoinette climbs back into the boat, flopping down and working to get her helmet off to breathe some real air!
"Hey!" Noa sputters as they're rudely awakened by a splash of sea water. They scramble upright, turning to look over at the others. "Oh. You made it back up. I was starting to worry about the amount of air left in your tanks." Lies. All lies. The creature was definitely sound asleep. "Alright, here. Let's get you all back on board. Had any luck down there?" Then, they take another look, and a bit of concern crosses their strange face. "Wait. Well, shit. Someone didn't make it back? What happened?"
While Noa is helping the others, Novel will end up with some luck of his own. There's tons of reflective surfaces on the boat, including the unused air tanks that still sit tucked away in the stern.
Seamus pushes the water up and away from himself as he breeches the surface and scrambles up the sides of the boat and into the belly of the vessel. "She owes us," he grumbles, "I don't know what but at least 225 dollars and a kiss."
"You want another kiss, sugar-lips?" Noa asks of Seamus, batting those extended lashes at him yet again.
Victoria peels the mask from her face, casting it aside. "Ergh," she sputters. "Fun swim, but..." She's kicking off flippers, and sighing to Seamus. "I'll transfer it."
Chuckling to himself as he sets his helmet aside, Lanaeis waves a hand. "He's... somewhere." Hearing Novel's movements once he's out of the nightmare, Lanaeis points with a nod. "Speak of the devil. err... demon." Leaning back against the railing, he tells Seamus "I'll send you my one hundred dollars."
Seamus reaches into his dry bag and gets another cigarette, and his mermaid etched lighter, flicking the brass contraption while staring at Noa, lighting up another smoke. "I'm good. Thabks."
Antoinette draws in a breath, setting her helmet beside herself and relaxing back against the wall of the boat. She exhales a laugh, offering Seamus, "I'll shadowwalk you back to my place if you want and give you the five bucks."
Antoinette tells Noa, "We disturbed a skeleton, she didn't like it, and the place started to cave in."
"Rude, honeys, rude," complains Noa, though they hardly have the right to complain about such things. Still, there's a moment where, after Antoinette explains what's happened, that the beings eyes go wide. "Well shit. Buckle in, or jet yourselves out!" they call. Twisting to their seat, they start up the engine without any more playful banter, and tear off across the water. They're not heading for that small island, this time, but somewhere even further along the Greecian coastline. "You all know what underwater landslides cause, don't you?"
"I'm guessing something really bad by the way your hauling ass." Lanaeis says casually, grip tightening on the rail as to not fall over, or overboard.
"I said it politely," Seamus protests to Noa but then says to Antoinette, "Shadow walk us home and you can keep your money."
"I mean it's been like, five or six years since one hit Greece, but I'm not taking any chances!" Noa calls back to the others. Then, they're on their own radio, sending out calls for weather mancers to gather on the coastline of that island they just left. Maybe there's hope, despite the chaos! But then Noa's shooing at the others, calling, "Go. Go. Some of you path the others out. I'm going to have to pick people up and get them in place. We have some time at least but not that much!"
Novel is handling some last-minute IRL issues.
"I'm guessing Toni you have Seamus, Victoria and Novel, can you both path? I can take anyone who needs it." Lanaeis says, already starting his own path as he steps away from the rail, astonishingly keeping his balance on the deck as he does.
"Alright, we're out then. If Anyone else wants to hitch a ride back with me, grab on." Antoinette says, taking a hold of Seamus. "Good luck, Noa. See you all on the other side." And she will wait a reasonable minute or two for people to decide if they want a shadow-ride back before she'll follow through with it!
"Of course," Victoria gives a wave before working up her own way home, turning to step through a light swirl of air.
There's a clatter and clanking at the stern. A curse word as a man shows up, sprawled out amongst the metal and canisters as he returns to the world of the waking. Novel calls out, "The fuck do you mean I didn't make it? I was fine!"
Seamus clambers himself up to the side of the boat and holds on to Antoinette adding "At least I didn't scream in your face this time." before they blip out
Nodding, Lanaeis steps through his own distortion in the air, vanishing from view.
That startles Noa all over again. "Well fuck!" they call, shock blending into amusement as the Nightmare spits Novel out, but then with a smirk they add, "Good to have you with us again! Now get off my boat, so I can go get help." The others are pathing out, and Novel can likely go with them, or make his own way.
// Thanks for coming on the plot. Give me a few moments to wrap things up codewise and I'll take y'all back to town.
Novel goes with the rest. He's feeling lazy.
Descending beneath the waves, the team navigated through breathtaking underwater scenery, eventually discovering the entrance to the siren's tomb marked by mysterious and magical symbols. Despite the sense of foreboding that permeated the tomb, the group pressed on, guided by an irresistible pull towards their goal. Their path led them to a large cavern, at the center of which lay the skeletal remains of the siren queen herself, clutching the coveted heartshell.
As Novel took the heartshell, the serene underwater mausoleum began to crumble around them. In a race against time and the collapsing structure, the team had to make a hasty retreat. Utilizing their unique skills, they navigated through the tumbling debris and found their way back to the surface, where Noa awaited them, blissfully unaware of the chaos below.
Back aboard the boat, it was revealed that their interference in the tomb had unintended consequences. Noa quickly sprang into action, urging the group to leave as they prepared to address the potential aftermath of their adventure. The team, bound by their shared experience, parted ways through their own means—shadow-walking and pathing back to safety, leaving the specter of their adventure behind them in the depths.
The mission, fraught with unexpected challenges and bonded by camaraderie, was a testament to the unforeseen adventures that await those who dare to delve into the unknown. As the group scattered to their respective paths, they were left with the satisfaction of their accomplishment and the undeniable allure of future mysteries lying in wait beneath the waves.
(Song of the Sea(SRLilah):SRLilah)
[Sat Apr 19 2025]
At the beach off a tiny Grecian island
Nearly white sand graces crystal clear waters that look as if no human has ever set foot near them, let alone in them. There's such a lack of pollution here, despite the town that's not all that far away. There's no sign of litter, or haze in the air, or even footprints in the sand, save for those caused by the group that stands here now.
Water laps gently against the shoreline as the sun begins to set. The beautiful Mediterranean climate and balmy weather offer the sweetest of invitations, to dip ones toes, or even one's whole body beneath the waves. These places draw tourists every summer for good reason, after all.
But few know what truly lurks beneath these waves.
It is dusk, about 75F(23C) degrees,
Antoinette owes someone somewhere a favor for pathing her into the meeting point, or as close to it as she could get. Wishful thinking comes in the form of one day being able to do it herself and knowing the chances of that happening are justtt about zero. She draws in a breath of the ocean air, admiring the pristine view for a moment and snapping a picture to text to Malcolm before tucking her phone away and just taking a few moments to enjoy the peace before whatever is about to ensue. She's got a first aid kit and her handy-dandy purse of miscellaneous things that cuold come in handy. Ready as she'll ever be.
Stepping out of what seems to be a swirl of air that causes a light breeze, Victoria gives a wave to everyone, adjusting the daggers in her sheath. She takes a few moments to look around, grinning at Antoinette when she gets a photo.
Seamus gets here via the usual means. Probably traveled with Antoinette because let's be honest, makes the most sense. Stepping out of whatever path brought him here he revisits his lunch then wedges a cigarette into his mouth. "Fucking fuck," he mutters as he lights up, "Hey Vic. Lovely, blah blah."
"You'll get used to it one day, Seamus." Antoinette assures the detective with an amused look and gives Victoria a grin. "Good to see you, Vic. Interested to see what we're going to get into."
Antoinette shakes her head, "I don't think so. He'd wanted to but he's still recovering a bit from the whole hurricane rescue thing." She explains to Victoria. "So he was getting some sleep when I left. And yeah, I'm always wrapped up in something." She laughs. "One of these days I'm going to get back to the Alley for a proper drink, or The Trove. Or just out in general."
"I feel that," Seamus says putting his hands on his hips and stares at the sky, "35 fucking years traveled by car and here we are." He shakes his head and then blinks, "Ah he and Siofra said they might come then Hand Business came up and.... I guess I get to be the token Skein or some shit."
The sun isn't quite setting off this idyllic coastline when the last of the Fantastic Five has arrived. (We might have to handwave Novel in when he gets here, instead of waiting until the player is ready). The waves kiss the sand, growing slowly larger and stretching further as the tide rolls in; it's exactly the time of evening they were told to arrive, to meet an individual named Noa for further information. The only thing that they really know at this stage is that they need to be able to use underwater breathing aparatuses.
Off shore, a fairly large speedboat pulls up, within wading distance from where they all have gathered, and from within a rather flambouyant figure offers a wave. "Come on aboard!" they yell to the group, their hair a tangle of rainbow colored dreds and their clothing equally chaotic and lovely. "We've got so much to get organized, and we need to be underwater before sunset!"
Assuming everyone can swim, reaching the boat should be an easy enough matter, and most can probably just wave. The shortest of the group might risk a wave in the face but other than that, it's a simple and unimpeded process.
Once on the boat, that colorful character at the wheel greets, "I'm Noa. Good to have you all aboard. Lilah said you all would have this under control so, unless there's any questions, we'll head out to the dive site." They gesture behind them, to where a pile of diving suits, helmets, flippers, and other incidentals such as dry bags lay in piles on the seats. "Get yourselves fitted. Should be plenty in the right sizes."
Obviously the SR meant that most can probably just walk through the waves...
Antoinette waves to Lanaeis when he shows up and takes off her shoes and socks...and hoodie before making the trek across the water, arms lifted above her head just in case to try and avoid certain things getting too wet. "Lovely to meet you Noa." Toni says once she's on the boat, stashing her things and starting to rummage through the diving gear.
Seamus looks at Lanaeis when he arrives and squints worrying the cigarette. "Lanaeis. I haven't seen you since.... We ain't talking about that night." It's not so much a polite request to Lanaeis. He makes his way onto the boat easily enough, wading through the waters and getting onto the boat. "Yeah we got it," he frowns at the boat worker and then looks back to Antoinette and Victoria with a shrug and finds a diving kit that fits him.
Returning Antoinette's wave, Lanaeis just strolls into the water, clothing and all. Giving Seamus a brief nod, Lanaeis doesn't seem to remember 'that night' in particular. Giving a nod and a smile to each, someone and Victoria, he pulls himself aboard, offering a "Pleasure to meet you." to the boat driver before he begins searching for a suit that will fit him.
"It's nice to meet you," Victoria says, brushing the water off her face because...height issues and waves. She takes a kit and glances particularly at the flippers before frowning to her feet. "This will be different. Hi, Lanaeis."
Returning Antoinette's wave, Lanaeis just strolls into the water, clothing and all. Giving Seamus a brief nod, Lanaeis doesn't seem to remember 'that night' in particular. Giving a nod and smile to Victoria, he pulls himself aboard, offering a "Pleasure to meet you." to the boat driver before he begins searching for a suit that will fit him.
"If you're really anxious about it, I've got a different offer for one of you," offers Noa with a sassy grin that looks an awful lot like the sort that a particular redhead they all know likes to give. It usually means trouble. But the gorgeous androgyne just bats lashes far too full to be fully real, and tucks their hands beneath their chin in a playful face-framing gesture. "I can let one of you breathe without worry," they coo. "For the price of an itty, bitty little kiss. But only one. I'd recommend it anyway. Dealing with Siren magic, you never do know when you're going to need to use your voice, or not have a blocky helmet in the way."
Speaking of, these helmets are standard issue dive-crew wear, Kirby Morgan 27 SuperLites. Not only do they include all of the necessities as well as a brilliant audio communication system, but they come in as many colors as Noa themselves. Red. Purple. Blue. Green. Yellow. Take your pick.
As their guide is about to speak again, Seamus gets there first, and is met with a laugh and a snap snap of fingers. "He's got the right of it, lady! It's really not that bad. Not like trying to use a snorkel system, that's for sure. But you'll have a few minutes in the water to get the hang of it, either way, before you have to dive." So no. No they're not going to do a whole lot to coach anyone through this.
"Of course that's the price. Seamus, you should do it." Victoria's head nods, as she's fussing with equipment.
Finally pulling out a fit, Lanaeis asks Seamus offhandedly "Do you make a habit of pissing off gods?" Lanaeis begins to change into the swimwear and diving gear, inspecting the helmet with an impressed whistle before putting it on. "I also support Seamus receiving the kiss blessing." Lanaeis says, shifting the helmet into place atop his head.
"It'll be fine, I'm sure." Antoinette agrees easily enough as she secures a blue helmet for herself and getting changed into the diving gear properly. "Thirded. You've been nominated, Seamus." She flashes a grin to Seamus before going back to fiddling.
"That's total majority. You're it," Victoria tells the lucky man, frowning as she selects a helmet and finally tugs on her gear.
Seamus looks over the assembled group, "So.... we didn't think to bring one fucking mermaid did we?" He asks as if supernaturals are cards that can be shuffled into a Pokemon deck. He looks at Antoinette for a moment to gauge her reaction and when she too betrays him he mutters something then turns around and faces the creature. "I am only do this so that we are prepared and I am being helped by Brutus, Cain, and Judas back there."
"I'm some fucked up mash up of an angel and a demon my friend. No way in hell am I adding mermaid to the mix." Lanaeis says, smirking. At the introduction of Brutus, Caine and Judas, he tilts his head. "Which is which, exactly?"
Antoinette nods with Lanaeis's question, "I'd like to know this too."
"Yeah, I'm a mix here myself," Victoria nods her head. "Mermaid's not one of my strong suits. Hey, can we just turn him into one?"
"Fight amount yourselves," Seamus grouses with a smirk to Antoinette and Lanaeis. "I am the Fair Julius Caesar in this analogy and have already been slain."
"That would be interesting. Anyone know magic to do that?" Lanaeis's eyes move from Antoinette to Victoria. "I'm no arcanist."
The being known as Noa just laughs with delight as the group all pinpoint Seamus as the target of this blessing. "I do believe the whole point of tonight's expedition -is- to add a... well. Not a mermaid. I'm fairly sure her mother would bite your balls off if you called her that. But one such being to your group, is it not?"
"You lucky, lucky man. What a way to go," they then coo in wicked delight, and rising to their full height of a good few inches over six feet - a fact well disguised by their (when compared to their height) unnaturally slender form and seated position, they step toward Seamus. Leaning in, a wink from those exaggerated lashes is followed by, "The magic needs to hit your lungs, handsome. Pucker up."
At least Seamus is given a moment to steady himself before being caught in a liplock with this particular being. It lingers too, quite long enough, before Noa steps back. "Right. Well now, you handsome devil you, you'll be able to breathe, talk, and regulate temperature just fine beneath the waves. Grab yourself a dry bag and fins. That's all you'll need. Oh, and here." They offer out a small device, clearly meant to be inserted in the ear. "So you can communicate with the others."
"I know a ritual to give someone the ability to pick up on suffering but nothing off the top of my head about any of the others." Antoinette figures to Lanaeis. "I call dibs on Judas."
"Dibs on Caine." Lanaeis says immediately after the bidding begins. "Sorry Brutus." Turning back to the water, Lanaeis glances down into it, walking to the railing. "Looks good for a swim. Excellent."
Seamus takes a small puff off of his cigarette and blows the smoke out the corner of his mouth before squaring up to Noa, he closes his eyes and puckers up. When the kiss breaks in goes the cigarette again as a big drag is taken, and held. Nicotine purging his mouth and sinuses at least.
Seamus after a moment he lets out the white plum, "Aight. Dry bag. Let's go."
"Wait, does this mean I'm....Brutus?" Victoria sighs out, making a less than graceful attempt to follow the others, hindered by the suit.
Novel peels off the outer layer of his clothes - boots, jacket, an abundance of pills and other things that will dissolve in the water and dumping it into a bag. What comes out is his own preparation - it's not a weapon. Instead it's a prybar, a fancy light-up watch for staying oriented, and a diving knife. "I'd take Jesus but I don't have the beard for it," He jokes.
"Afraid so." Lanaeis says solemnly, apparently content with his position at the rail until they arrive. "I'm not exactly sure what we're expecting down there. Anyone know?" Lanaeis leans against the spot of railing that he's apparently claimed for his own now.
"Ah you'd think kissing me was a chore instead of a blessing!" Noa scolds as they watch Seamus fill his lungs with smoke yet again. "That's going to irritate your eusctachian tubes and make it harder to equalize pressure in - oh never mind. You're fine. The rest of you? Don't smoke."
"You can be Benedict Arnold, handsome," Noa offers to Novel after this, with Victoria's realization of the role she's been handed in the treacherous trio, as the group begins to get ready. The lanky creature heads back to their seat, and revs the engine, dragging the five out to sea. Over the sound of the engine, is called back, "Or Cassius!"
The boat races over the waves, in a straight line toward the setting sun, until the island behind them is a mere speck on the horizon, and the sun's rays gleam red rather than golden. The boat suddenly stops, and once more the driver spins round to them. "Okay! Lesson time. Listen up!" Are they listening? Noa doesn't stop to find out. "You want to drop down slowly," they rattle off. "Regularly stop your drift and swallow hard to equalize pressure in your ears, otherwise they're going to hurt like all hell, and you might rupture an eardrum. For the same reason, don't path out from underwater, don't shadow walk from down there, and surface slowly and carefully. The bends is a bitch." He pauses, then adds, "Keep track of your oxygen valves. You've got enough for a couple of hours, max. Less if you're exerting yourself. Got it? Good." And they kick back, a pair of combat-booted feet propped up on the bow, and hands tucked behind their head.
"I, uh," Seamus watches the man fall backward then looks to those he is with, "So we just jump in don't sink and we got this?" He looks at Victoria and Novel repeating more confidently, "We got this. Totally. Bad ass she wolf and demon. We got this." And with one last silent prayer.... jumps in.
"Who the hell is that? Is that the real name of Arnold Schwarzenegger?" Novel retorts to Noa. Apparently someone didn't go to history class. As he sprawls out in his seat. "And Cassius sounds like a huge nerd." Or read ancient history, for that matter, with the way he lounges, but he shuts up and listens to the woman's advice. Then he provides his own:
"Fighting underwater really sucks. Use a spear gun, magic, or a spear or a knife. You can't get enough of a wind up to swing at anything and it's really crap in there. Plus if you find someone who can ACTUALLY move in the water you're probably fucked, your best route is to do the opposite of what she says and shadow-walk out or find a hole to hide in and path out."
Novel wrinkles his nose up at Seamus, "The last time I fought anything in the water I ended up in the hospital. Just try not to get stuck in - wherever the fuck we're going."
"Hurtful." Lanaeis comments, before vaulting the railing and plunging in himself, though right before the surface he yells back to Novel "Does punching the thing wo---" and he's under, voice switching to the communications "Rk? I didn't bring a spear, spear gun, knife, or magic."
Antoinette listens to the instruction from all sides, "Yeah this all makes sense." She figures, fitting the helmet on last and following suit, falling back into the water. "There's a knife in my bag. But my magic isn't really offensive so I'll probably need it." She supposes. "Or we get very lucky and don't have to fight anything."
"Seven. I have seven knives, I'm good." Victoria squints down briefly, then exhales. "Fuck it," she decides, falling as gracefully as possible into the water below.
A stream of bubbles escapes Seamus's mouth as he tries to talk before he remembers the throat mic and he turns it on, pressing the button on his neck. "I have a spare knife too. I will now proceed to keep my Ahab jokes to a minimum."
Novel sets himself up, looks over the water suspiciously like it genuinely means to harm him - it's the ocean and people gain power by hurting each other so it probably does - then then shoves himself off and in, plunging down into the waves with brusqueness. There's a familiarity there, with the way his legs kick and he does his best to get oriented.
"Ahab?" Lanaeis asks, confused as he swims downwards with the group, following instructions and giving a hard swallow every now and then to get used to the pressure. "What the hell is Ahab?" He seems very familiar with swimming, fortunately, pulling himself through the water easily.
As Seamus jumps, Noa offers casually: "Fire's probably not very effective. But it might be?" Helpful. They already seem to be overly content, ready for an evening of balmy basking, while they wait for the group that's heading under. Novel's combat advice is met with a soft hum, though when he goes contrary on how to get out, they offer, "If you do decide to do something the opposite of what I say, do make sure you've got pure oxygen for your lungs afterwards. The bends really is a bitch." The pronouns used may or may not be appropriate. In truth after having seen Noa standing, it might be hard to label them as anything other than probably fleshformed. Gender? Species? Ehh...
"Good luck down there!"
The water is fairly warm, and in the suits provided, with masks in place, only hands are bare to feel any chill that may linger. But as the group begins to descend, it quickly starts to grow darker. There's lights on their helmets, for those that need them, and the radios for communication between them all seem to work just fine, along with Seamus's transponder.
It's a strangely beautiful world down here, so quiet and so calm, with fish slowly meandering by, and the occasional sighting of a turtle, squid, or other unusual Mediterranean creature. Time seems to pass differently, as they slowly sink down to the sea shelf they'd been aiming for.
Casting a glance over one shoulder, Lanaeis searches the water, lifting a hand out in front of him and clenching his fist before it is suddenly wreathed in golden-black fire, which, notably, neither seems effected by the water nor gives off any heat. Lifting the torch-hand out, he surveys the water around him, especially behind him, looking for something before finding the shelf with his feet and standing, or, as much as he can stand underwater.
"From hell's heart I stab at thee?" Seamus asks Lanaeis before swimming further down and radioing back to Antoinette, "And if feels like breathing salty jelly but it also feels kinda nice."
"Salty jelly," Victoria snorts a bit as she sinks in the water, only seeming to have an issue with the flippers on her feet. It's fixed quickly enough, and she's soon swimming along as normal. "It's not bad down here," she finally decides.
"No idea." Lanaeis says absently, still looking out into the dark water. "Anyone else feel like we're being watched?" A foolish question, really, of course 'something' is watching them... but just what is his concern.
"Yes. All the time," Novel absent-mindedly answers Lanaeis as he works with his equipment a few times, pausing a moment at level to readjust and tighten some things on his gangly form before going back to swimming with the rest.
Antoinette takes her time getting oriented and familiar with the sensation of being underwater, in a dive suit. She tries to follow Noa's advice about descending, looking around slowly. She snickers at Seamus's description herself. "There's probably a thousand things watching us." She tells Lanaeis.
"I said what I said," Seamus says treading water with the group
Noa is no more help now; even the little bits they offered before have dried up as the five left the boat. For awhile, they could see the shadow overhead, but now they're too deep to even see it. There's no more sunlight on the water. The strange glow of Lanaeis's light casts strange, sickly sorts of shadows below them, but enough to light up that ledge they'd been told to look for. Once they're on it, far beneath the ocean's surface, they have a moment to regroup.
Somewhere on this ledge, according to information Lilah texted out before the group headed off on their paths to that quaint little Grecian island, is a door into the tomb. That's their first job. To find it, then figure out how to get inside. Once inside? Grab the heartshell. She really didn't have much more information than that.
What else is known? Obviously, this is the burial place of an ancient Siren, so people should probably be wary of Fae-escapades.
Then, casually swimming around a broken piece of undersea rock, the five can see the pointed snout of a shark. A -big- shark. (Does anyone want to claim any particular knowledge of sea life or animals in general?)
"I heard if you rub a shark on the snoot they start purring," Novel unhelpfully provides to the group.
"That's a big fish." Lanaeis studies said big fish. "Shark." He amends. "Think its the siren's pet?"
"Please no one try to pet the shark." Antoinette peers in the distance at it. "...But like. Hearing a shark purr would be kind of cool." She does concede to Novel's comment, whether it's true or not.
"You go pet it, Seamus. You got the kiss and all," Victoria shakes her head inside the helmet.
"I draw the line at things that bite back," Seamus says and starts to swim away from the shark in an attempt to look around or swim around it. Some snoots should not be booped.
"I'll pay you twenty bucks to pet the shark, Seamus." Novel offers.
"Make that a hundred." Lanaeis chimes in.
Novel says "I'm not paying a hundred bucks for that! I gotta make rent!"
Lanaeis says "I'm paying it."
The internet is full of rumors about sharks. Aren't they just the puppies of the sea? Petting one might be fun, or painful, given that to get near enough to a shark's snoot to either punch it or pet it might involve getting very close to teeth. This particular beauty is massive, easily over twenty feet in length and, as it circles around, it becomes apparent that its swimming with its mouth open. It definitely seems aware of the gathered group, swimming well past them, before turning around and swimming back. Each pass gets a little closer, but there doesn't seem to be any inherent threat to the beast; it's just watching them. Maybe it is also trying to decide if it's worth booping one of them on the snoot.
There's a job to be done, however, and a limited amount of oxygen in the tanks. Is there time for petting sharks?
Seamus looks back to Novel and Lanaeis "200 and you have my attention."
"I'll toss in an extra hundred," Victoria decides. "Get it away from us, at least."
"Two hundred and twenty it is." Lanaeis says with a nod.
Seamus looks at Antoinette to see what she is willing to pay.
Antoinette stares at Seamus, "...I throw in five dollars but if you get your arm bitten off I'm not triaging you in the water." She decides, starting to look around for possible spots where this door they have to find could be.
"All of you, monstrous," Seamus says reaching around to his back and finding an arrow from his bow and holding it in his hand point out like a short spear. "How'd the thing with Lilah go honey? Good news I am richer, bad news I can only hug you with one arm." And with that he swims close and probes the tip of the shark with his arrow
"Well yes, I know at least myself, Victoria and Novel are monsters. Not sure about Toni." Lanaeis comments. "Pet not poke it with an... arrow..." He just kinda sighs at that.
"No no. For that money, with your hand!" Victoria promptly calls out.
"Oh, well, cool, if other people are paying the money have at it." Novel waves this off then, leaning back to watch with a smile.
Upon further review, Seamus is going to look at things before poking them with sticks.
"Don't poke it with an arrow. That's gonna make it mad." Antoinette insists, apparently in favor of hand territory. She asides to Lanaeis to confirm, "I'm human."
I mean, nobody wants to die of old age, amirite? Huh? But as the strange shark slowly circles nearer to the daredevils and lunatics in diving gear, without ever shutting its mouth, it becomes clear that this isn't a great white, or anything of the sort. This creature has the body shape of a shark, but - they can't even see any teeth. Of course, they're not that close to its mouth. Maybe it has teeth too. Maybe it'll take a chomp - hell, Seamus could probably be swallowed whole, if it chose to give in to the same sort of strange, chaotic, FAFO energy surrounding the group.
The shark clearly becomes aware of Seamus's approach. It's body twists, and it turns side-on to the human, betraying just how large it is compared to him. And yet it seems docile, placid even. A tiny eye gazes, unblinkingly, behind that cavernous open maw.
Novel calls out again, "PET IT," Almost demandingly.
"I second that," Victoria notes, glancing to see if Antoinette had luck finding a way inside.
Antoinette attempts to kneel down a bit as she clears some of the surface beneath them. "I think we're standing on the door." She says, moving her foot around a bit more - using her fin as a hand in this instance. "There's a pattern here. Definitely not natural."
"Two hundred twenty five dollars, Seamus." Lanaeis calls, eyes flicking over to Antoinette to check along with Victoria.
Seamus does not seem to want to play FAFO but he does attempt to swim to the massive shark to pet its side, in a soft gentle way. Might as well get paid if not swallowed.
Seamus says "It feels like it is covered in sand paper! "
"Standing on it?" Lanaeis kneels down, beginning to help clear the ledge, trying to spot what Antoinette already has.
The poor, placid creature (a basking shark for those who want to look at the strangeness more closely) clearly does not enjoy being pet! Maybe some purr, but if it could be heard, this fellow would be more likely to growl a warning, like a feral tomcat hiding under someone's front porch, than purr like a pampered pet. It's massive tail pushes it forward, the surge of water enough to tumble poor Seamus, as the shark turns around and swims away.
As Lanaeis and Antoinette begin to clear the space, they'll feel the contrasting textures of stone and coral, both worn smooth over time by the passing of sand and water. The color has bleached from both, leaving it hard to differentiate until Lanaeis's light catches on it, creating the contrast needed to let it be clearly seen. It looks like symbols of some sort, some type of tribal markings. This is clearly not an accidental occurance. However, there doesn't seem to be anything directly under them, no sign of a trap door or the likes, here.
Keeping an eye on Seamus as he gets rejected by the shark, poor guy, Lanaeis extends his hand to light up the symbols a little bit more. "Does anyone recognize these by chance?" Lanaeis asks, looking around at the others.
Seamus tumbles away from the shark spinning in the water and getting seasick before stopping and righting himself.
"No," Victoria shakes her head the best she can, a smirk barely visible as Seamus spins. "I'm not great with symbols," she confesses.
Antoinette takes a moment to study the symbols further as they're revealed to see if she recognizes them at all from all her studies. "Seamus didn't magically learn to read ancient mermaid did he?" She asks as if Seamus is not right there.
"He she stuck their tongue down my throat, not words in my mind," Seamus says swimming back to the group. "I dunno. Have you checked to see if it is unlocked?"
"It doesn't look like a trapdoor. But maybe these symbols will lead us to the door." Lanaeis says uncertainly.
A bit more exploration will show that those symbols seem to decorate a pathway along the whole top of this stone ledge, across part of the underwater mountain that supports them, right now. The ledge itself is narrow enough, maybe a foot in depth; there's definitely not a doorway in it. The mountain side they stand near is jagged and rough, there's nothing smooth about it to suggest an entry point here, either. But there's a whole lot of mountain beneath their feet... if anyone's brave enough to risk the drop into those shadows.
"I'm going to take a look below." Lanaeis says. And, without waiting, he slips over the edge, dropping down to investigate the side below them with his light.
"Yeah. Maybe more path than door." Antoinette agrees with Lanaeis after a beat. "Are you alright, Seamus?" She asks Seamus belatedly about his tumble. "Maybe the doorway is in the mountain side...or bottom." She trails off as Lanaeis heads down below. Antoinette will start taking a few steps along the path of the ledge as she studies the top-side of the mountain.
"Shit, can't leave him down there by himself," Victoria sighs out, dropping over the edge behind Lanaeis.
"Thank God," Seamus murmurs watching Lanaeis descend from above. "I thought I was going to have to go first again." He smirks then and says to Antoinette, "I'll be fine. Beth doesn't need to know." And with that he swims closer to the ledge.
Novel hops right down with Lanaeis, "Wait up you fucker!" As he slides on in, grumbling as he disappears on after that angler light of a man.
"Someone shove Seamus in, yeah?" Victoria calls upward.
Seamus attempts to grab Antoinette and on the arm and starts to pull her with him towards the rear of the group. "We shouldn't split the party."
Antoinette frowns as Seamus grabs her arm, "But what if that part of the party is destined for dying? We all die together?" A heatless complaint as she lets him drag her along, keeping her eyes on the top side of the mountain just in case until they're down and out of view of it.
As the group heads deeper into the sea, behind Lanaeis's lead, though some do seem more capable of caution than others, it begins to get a lot colder. The difference in temperature from above the shelf to below it is noticeable, though likely felt most clearly by Seamus. Down here, glimmering reflectively in the light are more of the same symbols, definitely strange but as someone would recognize, definitely magical in nature. This time, rather than denoting a path, they seem to outline the shape of an arched doorway. The only problem is, there's no door, and no opening. There's a slab of solid rock where one or the other should have been.
As the group heads deeper into the sea, behind Lanaeis's lead, though some do seem more capable of caution than others, it begins to get a lot colder. The difference in temperature from above the shelf to below it is noticeable, though likely felt most clearly by Seamus. Down here, glimmering reflectively in the light are more of the same symbols, definitely strange but as Antoinette would recognize, definitely magical in nature. This time, rather than denoting a path, they seem to outline the shape of an arched doorway. The only problem is, there's no door, and no opening. There's a slab of solid rock where one or the other should have been.
"Well better together than alone I think," Seamus mutters as they catch up, politely removing his hand, but also using it to help propel himself through the water.
Leaning forward, Lanaeis inspects the arched doorway. "No way of opening it on the surface, but this is the Fae, so that means nothing." Reaching out, Lanaeis traces one of the many symbols.
"Maybe we should just break through it," Victoria muses. "Oh wait, look..." Her hand extends, gesturing toward the sliver jutting out awkwardly.
Antoinette moves closer to the doorway. "Blood offering maybe?" She speculates as she spies the sliver. "Though it probably wouldn't want any of our bloods...unless Seamus' might work because of the...blessing thing?" She wonders.
Antoinette tilts her head ever so slightly, gaze lifting toward the top of the would-be door and then back down to the sliver. "...Blood and truth." She seems to correct herself. "Offering up a deeper truth about yourself to open it. Tracks with Fae-related stuff, right?"
"Whatever, I'll give up some blood. It's not the first time," Novel answers casually with a shrug. "And we've got limited air so let's go." And then he just waltzes up to it - pausing to take a closer look. Assuming it isn't quartz, he's happy to slap his hand against that needle pointed out to him.
Given the woman rumored to be buried in this tomb, and the way that she portrayed herself compared to what she truly was, perhaps such a strange magical requirement isn't so unexpected. But nothing seems to happen at first, when Novel slaps down his hand. Blood spreads across the stone without dissolving into the water. The man is held still for a moment, and then there's a shimmering of light, and the blood is gone.
"So. Maybe it does require Fae blood." Lanaeis observes. "I guess we could all give some blood and see if it works, but... like Novel said. We're not on an unlimited supply here."
Seamus floats along with Antoinette and the rest of the crew but doesn't say much, out of his league now. (OOC: dinner time! Lilah and Toni can puppet me arounds. Volunteer him for stupid things.)
Victoria says "All of us and nobody has even a drop of Fae blood? "
Novel draws his hand off the needle, his hand sealing up quickly unless there's some magic at work to cause otherwise and then he looks around at the glowing light, his mouth curled into a frown as he shakes out his hand. "OK, well, if it doesn't open we should just try to kick smash it open. If there's a crack somewhere I got this prybar." He suggests. "Or we can all strike it at once."
The door doesn't look to be much altered from what it was before Novel touched that spine. Perhaps the others also need to do the same? Or, well. Perhaps they can kick it in. That might depend on just how thick the rock surface is, but... they're not wrong about the limited amount of time they have left.
Antoinette shakes her head a little, "My necklace is imbused with some of Malcolm's blood and he's got a bit of Fae in him but otherwise." She thinks a moment. "Maybe when giving the blood, you think about a deeper truth too? But I do think all of us trying makes sense before we try to smash it in."
Antoinette says "we can be quick with pricking our fingers. "
Swimming forward, Lanaeis extends a hand to prick his own hand on the needle (which he didn't see but probably noticed after Novel stabbed himself on it). "No Fae, but lets see if this works."
Nothing seems to happen at first, when Lanaeis extends his hand. Just as before, blood spreads across the stone without dissolving into the water. It pours out faster, perhaps, than a light prick might be due, but only about as much as when Novel had done the same. As before, the man is held still for a moment, and then there's a shimmering of light, and the blood is gone.
We will assume that Seamus also offers himself as a sacrifice to this door. Which leaves someone - or her necklace if she wants to try and cheat the system, and Victoria. Will both follow the three men?
Lanaeis jerks his hand back immediately after. "That... that felt fucking weird." He mutters, staring down at his healing hand, not as fast as Novel's, but still relatively quickly.
We will assume that Seamus also offers himself as a sacrifice to this door. Which leaves Antoinette - or her necklace if she wants to try and cheat the system, and Victoria. Will both follow the three men?
"If this doesn't work, I'm kicking it in," Victoria decides, holding out a finger with the wrinkle of her nose to offer a bit of blood.
Antoinette will follow suit after Victoria, letting her finger get pricked - no trying to cheat the system today.
And though nothing happened but blood disappearing when Victoria pressed her finger to the door, after Antoinette rounds out the whole group, there's a grumble, a strange grinding noise that is felt throughout the water the five swim in, more than heard by anyone except Seamus. The stone slides down, deeper into the mountain, exposing a narrow passageway within.
The path slopes downward, though there's that same grinding vibration again once all five have stepped through the doorway, and the exit seals off once more. The only lights that exist in this strange, enclosed space, are those of their helmets and Lanaeis's angelic one.
"Well. That wasn't so bad. Though... hopefully its the same to get out." Lanaeis extends his hand forward, letting it shine further into the darkness of the tomb. "Shall we then?"
Already headed inside, Victoria nods. "We shall."
Antoinette follows in along with the rest of the group, looking about curiously and cautiously.
Novel readies his diving knife in a reverse grip, leaving the prybar at his side - and then takes point this time, figuring that he has the best chance of surviving if something absolutely horrible happens.
On they go, with Novel taking the lead. It's easy to sink down into the depths of this cavern, with the water and gravity helping them along. Getting out might be another story, as the slope they'd need to climb up is fairly steep. Perhaps there's another way. Or something.
Though the walls on either side seem to press in, keeping them walk-float-swimming in single file, the water grows warmer and more stagnant, like it's sat in here for a very long time. And then they're at the bottom, with the walls opening out to display a large, cavernous room, with the almost-cliched stone table in the center. Piled around it are decaying wooden chests that spill out tarnished coins and lumps of twisted items that were probably once jewelry, long since devastated by the salt brine.
Amber eyes sweep around the room as Lanaeis studies the room, as if expecting a threat to appear at any moment. "This is the place then?"
Seamus looks back and looks around the room too, paying attention again.
"Looks like it's right there," Victoria's eyes get wide as she glances. "And probably just in time, too. Can it really be that easy to take it?" She appears as though she might, deferring at the last moment to the consensus of the rest of the group.
Antoinette drifts into the room. "It must be." She agrees and does briefly peek for any additional exits or anything in the decaying wooden chests that might be of personal interest before looking toward the center table and thereabouts for the Heart.
"Doubtful, but maybe." Lanaeis says, shrugging a shoulder. "I volunteer Seamus to try first. If he ends up dead, we know its trapped. If not, he's a hero. Simple, no?"
"Okay, cool. Dibs." Novel immediately says, kicking his flippers to go and snag it. "And nah Lily will bitch me out if Seamus actually dies." Maybe he knew something about the shark others didn't, as he goes over to the table to examine it more carefully.
There may be things of personal interest to the gathered group (assuming that plot experience allows me to give them to you!) here amongst the treasures, but the thing that they've come for probably should take precidence. Maybe. With this chaos crew, who knows?
As they approach that stone platform, it won't take long before they see the sight of a long-decayed body, nothing now but bones and jewelry, laid out as if in state. If she'd been wearing clothing, she's not now; but these are people of the sea, not the land. A grinning skull, still wearing a circlet of blackened, terribly tarnished silver, heads a skeleton that clearly becomes more and more fish-like the further down one goes, finishing in the clear outline of tail bones. Fingers, on hands, long ago separated when cartilage and tendons decayed, curl over her sternum, wrapped around something small.
"Lily?" Seamus says as he swims along with the others to check out the table looking for the Heart. "I mean she might but she might not. If I actually died there there would be a line of people. But I'll go if no one else will."
Novel totally said Lilah because his player mixes things up, sorry about that.
Seamus totally saw Lilah yep.
Ignoring the other treasure, Lanaeis looks down at the siren's skeleton, lips pursing as he inspects the circlet, then the item in its hands. "I'd guess that that..." pointing to the item in the siren's hands "Would be what Lilah wants. Couldn't hurt to grab her the circlet I suppose." Shrugging again, Lanaeis steps forward. "Novel? You got it, or shall I?"
Antoinette looks over the skeleton with interest as she moves closer to it with the others who might go that way. "This is fasinating..." She murmured. "Yeah, might as well take it all." She agreed.
"Yeah, I got it." Novel is perfectly willing to pry open a dead corpse's hands for a treasure. He's done it before!
In that case, Lanaeis plucks up the circlet with a shrug, turning it in his hands for a moment before tucking it away to deliver later.
Victoria watches Novel with interest, shaking her head. "That's definitely more for the two of you," she grins.
The water is still - or it was until the five decided to swim towards the table. Now, the stirring water dislodges small things here and there, but notably, nothing about the skeleton moves from this alone. Perhaps there's something magical about it, after all. When Novel reaches for the bones though, they shift in his hands, tiny little fragments of phalanges falling away. Carpals and metacarpals all but dissolving under just that simple of a touch. Yet the item from within, a simple shell-like object, doesn't seem nearly as easy to lift. It takes strength, even from someone like Novel who has plenty of it. When he finally manages to wrench it from that mystical grasp, there's a weird sort of rustling in the water. The bones start to shift.
Antoinette shamelessly starts to back away as the bones start shifting.
Seamus readies a knife. Why, we can't be sure, but it seems like a good idea at the time, and like most food stories that is the only excuse needed.
"That... might just be the water, right?" Lanaeis clearly doesn't believe what he's saying, even as he says it. "Or not. I think we pissed off a dead siren. That's a new one." Lanaeis retreats from where he'd grabbed the circlet as well, moving back towards where the door is, or was.
"Nope," Victoria draws a dagger into each palm. "It's never that easy." Like Seamus, it seems to be a good idea to have something in the way of a weapon. Her head shakes at Lanaeis. "I doubt it."
Lanaeis says "Anyone got a spare knife?"
"Fuck she's really got a death grip on this thing." Novel grumbles out initially as he wrenches apart the skeleton, muscles bunching up unnaturally underneath the sleek skin of his diving suit around the back, shoulders, and arm before he yanks it up. Once it's apparently lighter, into the pouch it goes, tucked away. It takes someone else pointing it out to notice the bones, having assumed it was just because he was a brute shoving it around. "Seriously?" He sounds more aggravated than anything else.
Antoinette passes her own diving knife to Lanaeis, keeping an eye on the skeleton and Novel.
Novel socks the skeleton in the jaw as hard as he can.
Novel is underwater. This is not as hard as he normally can, and it requires gripping the edge of the stone table for leverage.
Nodding in thanks to Antoinette, Lanaeis steps forward by Novel now that he has a knife.
What happens next can only be described as magic, or a group hallucination. Even as they prepare for something far different, the long-dead creature's bones shift and rotate. What were definitely the sort of bones one would expect to find in a fish's tail, suddenly become femurs, tibias, and of course, the ever-needed fibulas. The number of bones, as well as the size and shape of them, dramatically change, though there doesn't seem to have been enough left to reshape human feet.
When Novel's fist collides with the siren queen's skull, it shatters. The whole skeleton is so very old that there's just no strength left in those bones. But as it does, a small stone tablet tumbles onto the table top amidst the bone dust.
"Well that was easy." Lanaeis comments, handing the knife back to Antoinette.
Seamus takes a hesitant step forward and mutters to Novel, "Have you considered tell it you are here about it's extended car warranty?" He looks at the table and points out the tablet, "Grab it and let's get out."
Oh, no. No, unfortunately it won't be that easy. Novel has the heartshell shoved in his bag, and the tablet's been collected for whatever it's needed for. But as what's left of the queen dissipates into dust without her skull to hold the body together, the rest of the cavern begins to crumble as well. First, there's a crack, as the table collapses down the middle, and that bone dust swirls away into the water. Then there's further cracking, as stones begin to fall from the ceiling overhead. It's a large cavern. There's tunnels leading in all sorts of directions. The one they came in from was incredibly steep and required single file movement - maybe there's a better choice?
The SR is so sorry, and will be as fast as possible!
Antoinette takes the knife back from Lanaeis with some amusement touching her features. "Yeah, before we-" Her words are cut off by the rumbling and shaking. "Oh fuck." Amusement gone.
"I think this is the part where someone yells shit and we all run. So. Let me take care of that. Shit!" Lanaeis then, following the time honored code, runs (or rather swims) like hell for the ceiling as it cracks. Which way is best? Well the ceiling is cracking, so maybe up.
"Novel are you sure about pathing underwater because vomit comet is preferable to pancaking," Seamus says starting ti swim in a circle looking for exits.
Novel yoinks the tablet, already halfway through doing it. "Okay, coo-" And then the cavern starts to crack and fall around them, and he notes, "Awh, c'mon." He complaints. "People need to stop using magic in construction. It's so bullshit. Anyway... actually, we could just nightmare out," He admits. "And just swim through solid rock. Though it's gonna be really weird."
Smacking rubble aside, Victoria frowns. "Whatever it is, we need to find it." She decides to swim upward as well, searching along the way.
Novel then does exactly what he said he was going to do - touching his charm and attempting to translate from the realm of physical world, to the realm of dreams and walls you can walk through.
The sky is definitely falling, or at least the ceiling is. Novel has a theory, though the downside is how they'll communicate with their ally in the boat overhead, if they can't exit the nightmare. Lanaeis has another one. As others start to swim upward, they at least have the benefit of seeing where things are starting to fall, to avoid them.
Antoinette starts swimming upward after Lanaeis, trying to dodge out of some of the falling rocks, though she can feel her suit get snagged on one or two here and there as she's not quite fast enough to get out of the way entirely of a few.
As Lanaeis swims upward, he is willing to get whacked a few times if necessary, but fortunately, none of the rocks decide to try and take him out as he makes to not reach the ceiling, but to go straight through it.
Seamus follows Antoinette and Lanaeis as they swim up swimming as fast as his blessed legs can take him.
The ceiling is falling anyway. Lanaeis just makes it fall faster, when he Supermans a fist right through it! Luckily for him, that makes the rocks fall to the sides at an angle, which others swimming up after him can likely manage to avoid for the most part as well. For Novel, the job is a lot easier, though swimming through rocks is definitely an unusual experience. Eventually, all of them make it to a secondary chamber, this one looking far more natural than the others - hollowed out over the years by animals, most likely. It'll be easy enough to get out from there, following the path of whatever strange creatures had inhabited this den.
At the surface, Noa is sound asleep in the boat, just bobbing on the water without a care in the world, when they break the water.
Lanaeis attempts to throw a handful of water at the boat driver as he surfaces. Hit or miss, he then attempts to climb back aboard the boat with a sigh, pulling off his helmet once he's up.
Novel just goes through solid rock, though it takes - a bit of time. The fins actually help with this sort of 'swimming' where the concentrated will of the stone sloughing around him and the effort it takes likely causing him to fall back down since he can't fly. Being underwater probably helps, but he doesn't think about this. He trails after the others, and, hefts his non-visible self up out of the water. He takes off the helmet, taking in a breath of fresh air, shaking himself off - then meanders around the boat, looking for a mirror or a substantially large enough reflective surface to climb out of.
Antoinette climbs back into the boat, flopping down and working to get her helmet off to breathe some real air!
"Hey!" Noa sputters as they're rudely awakened by a splash of sea water. They scramble upright, turning to look over at the others. "Oh. You made it back up. I was starting to worry about the amount of air left in your tanks." Lies. All lies. The creature was definitely sound asleep. "Alright, here. Let's get you all back on board. Had any luck down there?" Then, they take another look, and a bit of concern crosses their strange face. "Wait. Well, shit. Someone didn't make it back? What happened?"
While Noa is helping the others, Novel will end up with some luck of his own. There's tons of reflective surfaces on the boat, including the unused air tanks that still sit tucked away in the stern.
Seamus pushes the water up and away from himself as he breeches the surface and scrambles up the sides of the boat and into the belly of the vessel. "She owes us," he grumbles, "I don't know what but at least 225 dollars and a kiss."
"You want another kiss, sugar-lips?" Noa asks of Seamus, batting those extended lashes at him yet again.
Victoria peels the mask from her face, casting it aside. "Ergh," she sputters. "Fun swim, but..." She's kicking off flippers, and sighing to Seamus. "I'll transfer it."
Chuckling to himself as he sets his helmet aside, Lanaeis waves a hand. "He's... somewhere." Hearing Novel's movements once he's out of the nightmare, Lanaeis points with a nod. "Speak of the devil. err... demon." Leaning back against the railing, he tells Seamus "I'll send you my one hundred dollars."
Seamus reaches into his dry bag and gets another cigarette, and his mermaid etched lighter, flicking the brass contraption while staring at Noa, lighting up another smoke. "I'm good. Thabks."
Antoinette draws in a breath, setting her helmet beside herself and relaxing back against the wall of the boat. She exhales a laugh, offering Seamus, "I'll shadowwalk you back to my place if you want and give you the five bucks."
Antoinette tells Noa, "We disturbed a skeleton, she didn't like it, and the place started to cave in."
"Rude, honeys, rude," complains Noa, though they hardly have the right to complain about such things. Still, there's a moment where, after Antoinette explains what's happened, that the beings eyes go wide. "Well shit. Buckle in, or jet yourselves out!" they call. Twisting to their seat, they start up the engine without any more playful banter, and tear off across the water. They're not heading for that small island, this time, but somewhere even further along the Greecian coastline. "You all know what underwater landslides cause, don't you?"
"I'm guessing something really bad by the way your hauling ass." Lanaeis says casually, grip tightening on the rail as to not fall over, or overboard.
"I said it politely," Seamus protests to Noa but then says to Antoinette, "Shadow walk us home and you can keep your money."
"I mean it's been like, five or six years since one hit Greece, but I'm not taking any chances!" Noa calls back to the others. Then, they're on their own radio, sending out calls for weather mancers to gather on the coastline of that island they just left. Maybe there's hope, despite the chaos! But then Noa's shooing at the others, calling, "Go. Go. Some of you path the others out. I'm going to have to pick people up and get them in place. We have some time at least but not that much!"
Novel is handling some last-minute IRL issues.
"I'm guessing Toni you have Seamus, Victoria and Novel, can you both path? I can take anyone who needs it." Lanaeis says, already starting his own path as he steps away from the rail, astonishingly keeping his balance on the deck as he does.
"Alright, we're out then. If Anyone else wants to hitch a ride back with me, grab on." Antoinette says, taking a hold of Seamus. "Good luck, Noa. See you all on the other side." And she will wait a reasonable minute or two for people to decide if they want a shadow-ride back before she'll follow through with it!
"Of course," Victoria gives a wave before working up her own way home, turning to step through a light swirl of air.
There's a clatter and clanking at the stern. A curse word as a man shows up, sprawled out amongst the metal and canisters as he returns to the world of the waking. Novel calls out, "The fuck do you mean I didn't make it? I was fine!"
Seamus clambers himself up to the side of the boat and holds on to Antoinette adding "At least I didn't scream in your face this time." before they blip out
Nodding, Lanaeis steps through his own distortion in the air, vanishing from view.
That startles Noa all over again. "Well fuck!" they call, shock blending into amusement as the Nightmare spits Novel out, but then with a smirk they add, "Good to have you with us again! Now get off my boat, so I can go get help." The others are pathing out, and Novel can likely go with them, or make his own way.
// Thanks for coming on the plot. Give me a few moments to wrap things up codewise and I'll take y'all back to town.
Novel goes with the rest. He's feeling lazy.