A rather unstable spiral stone stair circles upward along the inside of the ancient buried tower or chimney. Below is a deeper darkness, which is also in the wrong direction anyway. A few stories up from the entry to the tombs, part of the stone wall has collapsed inward, taking out the stairs immediately below it. It opens into a natural stone cavern, roughly heading south-east. The ceiling is low and water and minerals have begun growing stalactites and stalagmites, but they are still little more than mounds and nubs at this point. There's a distinct smell of decay, which could mean it opens into the swamp, but no breeze carrying fresh air.
So far, the last few stairs haven't given out under the weight of two young otters and a Lapi. Their small lantern doesn't pierce very deeply into the maw of the cavern either - maybe twenty feet or so.
Aviri, steadying himself on the wall of the cavern, looks back down into the tower. "Everyone okay?"
Linyala does a quick inventory. "M'all here." She chirps.
"Yeah, but try not to yell," Trilup reports, as she hugs the wall.
Aviri moves into the tunnel. "Good. Ready to go on?"
The floor is slick, so footing needs to be watched. Trilup is only too happy to hop into the cavern. "Clammy!" she notes.
Lin peers into the gloom at the edges of the lantern light. "Think we should turn out the lights?" She asks Aviri, "A way out would could be brighter right?"
"The way out will also be higher than us," Aviri notes, walking farther into the cavern.
The floor is uneven, and there are few points where the Lapi nearly slips. The otters have an easier time, since they can go on all fours as needed, and Trilup just has the rope coiled around her waist to slow her down. The cavern turns a bit more to the south, and the ceiling begins to dip. It's still over the trio's heads though, but sometimes ducking is required.
Aviri catches himself after sliping another time, the lamp flailing a bit. "Careful," he says, though as he's the one having the most trouble it's probably he's talking to himself.
Lin runs and, dropping to all fours, slides to the end of the lantern beam with a quiet "Wheeee!".
"Hey," Trilup complains, and tries to slide too.. but the rope acts as a brake.
"Want me to take the rope?" Aviri asks.
"Then you'd have the lantern and the rope," Trilup notes. "I think I'll be needing it anyway, if you can hear what I smell.." Sure enough, amid the various echoes is the sound of water dripping into.. deeper water.
Aviri slows and listens. "Might want to ..." he looks at the two and stops talking. Holding the lantern slightly farther ahead he continues onward.
The puddles on the floor are starting to merge together into larger ones, and soon enough the water is knee-height on the Lapi, while the roof continues to drop along the same slope.
Lin pokes around the edges of the lantern-light. "I think we're goin' down again. This should be lower than where we were or the water'd be there too."
"I bet it's a wiggle-woggle cave," Trilup suggests, moving her hands in an up-and-down serpentine wiggle.
"So long as we can breath," Aviri says, leaving his sentence unfinished, wading deeper into the water.
Pretty soon the Lapi is having to hold the lantern up higher, and once the water reaches chest level it's clear that there's going to some swimming involved.. and probably breath-holding too. Trilup swims up to Aviri and ties one end of the rope around his waist. "How long can you hold your breath for?" she asks.
"Haven't had to find out," says Aviri. "Linyala, you swim well, right? Er, better than usual?"
"Better than you, I havn't raced Trilup." Lin chirps and glides slowly around the other two.
"Hold your breath now, Aviri, so we can see how long we have," Trilup requests.
"Do it under water so you can't breath without coming back up." Lin adds.
Aviri stops walking when he's on the verge of swimming. "Linyala, can you scout ahead? See how far we have? And don't take too long, yeah?"
Linyala nods her head and vanishes with a bloop.
Aviri obediently holds his breath, keeping his head out of the water but making a big show of holding his nose closed.
Trilup counts to 34 before the Lapi starts feeling dizzy and has to take a breath.
Aviri gasps and catches his breath. He glances at Trilup and says, "I live in a cave, not a river."
"Don't worry, there's bound to be air pockets," Trilup says with a smile. "This all probably filled up from drips and stuff. I'll find those, and Lin can find the far end."
With both otters searching, Aviri is left alone with the lamp, and the occasional tug while Trilup plays out the rope as she goes. Lin soon finds herself in complete darkness, as the tunnel angles down, but as long as she keeps to the ceiling she can refresh her breath in the air gaps. It's nearly two minutes before she feels things angling back up, and another four before she comes out in a dry space. She can't see anything, though, but feels the ground continues to slope upward at least.
Having found the other side, Lin heads back, straining her eyes for the faint glow of the lantern.
After standing in cold water for ten minutes, Aviri spots the otters returning. "I found lots of air," Trilup reports. "Kinda stale but okay."
Aviri stops his wait-humming as the otter surfaces and nods to her. "Any sign of Linyala?"
"She should show up soon," Trilup notes. "I didn't go farther than the rope lead, just in case."
The otter in question pops up a few seconds later. "I found the other side. We'll prolly have to tow you though. Didja bring anything to keep the lantern dry?"
"Well, it's waterproof when it's closed," Trilup notes of the lamp. "Won't burn underwater, of course.. once you close it the flame will go out."
Jasper says, "Yep. I don't know if the line got swapped out thuogh."
"Needs air," Aviri says. "Well, ready to go? You guys head on; I'll follow." He grabs the wet rope in one hand.
"I'll lead you to the air," Trilup says, waiting for the lamp to be put out.
Aviri looks ahead. "Can you point the direction?"
"I'll take th'end of the rope through to the other side so you kin follow it through." Lin chirps and holds out a hand for the rope.
Trilup hands over her end of the rope. "I'll stick close to Aviri, try to keep the rope slack since we'll be stopping for air more often."
"That way," Trilup helpfully points.. down into the water, but still 'forward' along they way they were going. "Want me to take the lamp so you've got your hands free?"
"Linyala can take the lamp," Aviri says. "Have it ready on the other side, yeah?"
"Gotchya." Lin grabs it and swims ahead, giving the rope a quick tug before letting it slacken.
In the darkness, Trilup grabs onto one of Aviri's hands to lead him into the water. "There are a lot of spots where you can bang your head, so try not to swim up until I guide you, okay?"
Aviri looks at Trilup. "I can swim," he says. "Just guide the slack to the air, and I'll follow."
"Alrighty!" the otter says and dives under the water.
Aviri takes a deep breath and slips under, gently following the rope and heading in the indicated direction, keeping a hand a bit in front of his hand to ensure he doesn't get hurt.
The first breathing stop is only halfway through the Lapi's maximum holding-his-breath time - which is probably shortened by the activity of swimming anyway. The gap isn't much, just enough for his nose and lips to clear the water really. But it's enough. He and Trilup leap-frog-from oasis to oasis, following the rope that Lin trails. Eventually they're all on the far 'shore' while Lin gets the flint and tinder from the waterproof compartment of the lamp.
The lamp sputters to life and Lin squints against the sudden glare. "Y'all made it alright?" She swims up to Aviri to pass off the lamp.
Aviri accepts it, shaking his head to make his ears flap about, clearing themselves of water. "Thanks, Linyala," he says. "Trilup. Ready?"
"Yeah," the other otter notes. The ground is sloping upwards now, sometimes steeply so.. but still upwards at least.
Aviri looks at Linyala. "Want to lead?"
Lin nods and swims agead, taking her now usual place at the edge of the light.
It takes a bit of time, and several more rises and dips of the tunnel, a few of which require more underwater swimming, but eventually the reach an area where the air smells fresher and swampier. "We must be close to the surface now," Trilup says, shaking her fur out.
Aviri nods but says nothing. He seems weary, but keeps up and even doesn't stumble around as much anymore.
The slope here is as steep one, and there are things other than just puddles now: piles of.. garbage. Fish bones, rotting bits of cloth and broken pots and similar things.
Aviri examines the piles. "Swampy," he says. "I should probably lead."
"Would swampy leave bones?" Trilup wonders, and follows along.
Linyala drops back to walk with Aviri but still watches for any glimmers of light ahead. "You think this is Swampy's lair? Smells like it could be." She wrinkles her nose.
"Would anything else that also happens to live in a giant hole in the swamp?" Aviri poses.
"It's the swamp, so who knows?" Trilup claims.
"I think froghemoths could live in the caves sometimes." Linyala guesses.
"Still," Aviri says, and leaves it at that as he takes the lead.
It's a bit of a climb, but there are sounds now: insects and other living things, typical swamp sounds. And some dim light, enough to see the top of the cave approaching.
Lin guages the path and runs ahead, checking out the last part of the cave. "Come on!" She calls back.
Aviri climbs after. "Linyala, I'd rather you didn't run ahead. Don't know what's up there."
The swamp smells gets stronger as the get to the top of the slope. There's a hump, then the floor goes down and gets shallower as it becomes a half-flooded cave again, where the swamp comes in through a vegetation-draped cave mouth. There's more junk up here, slightly better than the stuff thrown down the back of the cave. A mound of mostly intact (but still clearly discarded) cloth, an old wooden table and chair that have deep cracks running through them, and a few clay bowls. There's a chitin-bladed knife stuck in the table top also. This close, there's a much more 'amphibious' smell to the place as well.
Aviri says, "Let's not loot yet. Rather see what's outside. Post a guard, or something."
Lin does slow down to let the others catch up then approaches the knife. "Froghemoths were following me while I was following you before. They could still be around." She trails off and looks at the knife.
Aviri drags Lin away from the table. "We have a boat. No looting until guard."
Lin growls and bites Aviri's arm, not very hard but enough to warn him.
"I'm not having one of you get eaten on my watch," Aviri says. "Linyala, you obviously want to loot, so I guess I'll stand guard outside. Keep an ear out for something coming up the way we came."
"A table and chair.. cloth.." Trilup mutters. "Froghemoths maybe, but the Frog Prince more likely."
Aviri leaves them to the searching and heads to the mouth of the cave, looking around, trying to get his bearings.
"T'ankew!" Lin chirps and eyes the pile of cloths. She tosses a small rock at it.
The pile doesn't move.. but a few bugs scuttle out from it. The mouth looks like it'd be hard to spot from the swamp, but nothing immediately outside looks familiar. It's hard to tell just how far they followed that cave to get here.
Satisfied that nothing is hiding in the mound of cloth, lin approaches the table again to get a better look at the knife.
Aviri steps farther out of the cave, looking for any familiar landmark, or anything that resembles what he saw on the map.
Outside are.. well, trees. There aren't any other islands nearby facing the cave. The knife on the table is old and chipped, and has been sharpened so much that it's gotten dangerously thin. The handle is also homemade; a piece of long wood to make it easier to use for someone with a larger, looser grip.
"So, do we go out and climb a tree, or check out the island or something?" Trilup asks, not very interested in looking through junk.
"You can climb a tree. Thanks, Trilup," Aviri says. "I'll ... uh ..." He looks back into the cave, at Linyala. "I'll make sure nothing sneaks up on looty here."
"I'll do my best," Trilup promises and swims out into the swamp, towards the nearest mangrove tree.
Lin loses interest in the knife after determining its inferiority to her own. It would be more like a terribly balanced saber to her. Ignoring the bowls, she kicks at the pile of fabrics, not expecting to find much.
Aviri starts humming a quiet tune. Anyone listening carefully might discern something about pine and fir trees.
The rags are .. rags. Some of them were clearly thrown out by Akwavi also, since the weave is familiar to Lin. The Frog Prince really needs to work on making his home more attractive if he hopes to attract a Princess.
Outside, the light is dimming. It looked bright after the darkness of the cave, but it's likely that evening is starting. There's a yelp followed by a large splash, followed by Trilup calling, "I'm alright!" after falling out of the tree she was trying to climb.
Aviri stops his humming and listens carefully for a while.
Linyala gives up her search and follows the others outside. "Want me to climb that?" She asks.
"Shh," Aviri says, still listening to the swamp.
There's some croaking in the distance. Whether this is a reaction to the splash or just because of the time of day is uncertain. Trilup rejoins the others, saying, "Someone who climbs better would be best, yeah," to Lin. "I can try the island, it's not very.. what?" she asks the shushing Lapi.
Aviri shakes his head. "Nothing. We should find the boat. Done looting?"
"Nothing to loot, unless you want a really old knife." Lin sizes up the mangrove and starts climbing.
Aviri nods and starts walking around the cave-mouth toward the center of the island. "I'll be over here," he says. "Wanna come, Trilup?" He continues his search for landmarks.
With Lin climbing the tree, and Aviri and Trilup climbing the rocky island.. they all determine that they are lost. There might be an island or sandbar to the north, which is generally the direction they want to go anyway. "How far do you think we walked from where we started?" Trilup asks.
"Linyala?" Aviri calls, looking off to the north.
Lin climbs back down. "I've got nothin'. North is thataway!" She points dramaticly.
"And the boat is that way," Aviri says, pointing a bit to the left of north. "Still good to swim, everyone?" He blows out the lantern and closes it up.
The journey back isn't exactly a straight line, as they island hop (and occasionally tree-root-hop when there's an ominous splash or noise). The erratic course at least lets them avoid any froglike monsters or awkward marriage proposals. And once, Aviri was sure he heard Old Swampy out there moaning. Eventually, just before it became too dark to make things out in the distance, they made to an island that was actually on the map, and from there could get back to the boat by nightfall, thus avoiding having to camp out in the swamp.
Aviri relights the lantern and sets it in the bow of the boat. "I'm thinking head back to land," he says, keeping an eye on Linyala.
Trilup chirps, "Not a problem! Help me push the skiff into the water."
Lin, keeping both eyes on Aviri, helps cast off and hops into the boat as well.
Aviri jumps into the boat and is only for a moment in danger of capsizing the whole thing as he settles in. "Think I've had enough of this area," he says.