Burials (final)

Max felt panic creeping into his throat. All he could see was water, and his chest was beginning to ache. He picked the direction that seemed to be "up", and swam with all his strength, mentally going over the mantra "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

Just as the red at the edges of his vision began to cloud his eyes, he saw light, and then he was out, gasping for everything he was worth, filling his lungs with sweet air. He paddled towards the edge of the lake, despair filling him as he realized this was not the way he'd come in -- there was no sign of the rest of his party. Max was alone. Squaring his shoulders, Max began to head deeper into the cave, confident that Kitya would find him. She'd always found him before, no reason to think this time would be any different.

---

An unearthly scream echoed through the cave as the water elemental's bond faded from the world.

Urfengar quickly glanced over each of his companions, assessing their health. No one looked to be on the verge of death, so he took a long pull on his hip flask and sat on his haunches, looking around the room.


"What's our next move?" the half-elven wizardess Azreal asked him quietly.

"I dinnae ken. We cannae stay here, but it's obvious we're not wanted down below."

Nalathisor stepped from the shadows, murmuring "And since when has that stopped us?" He glanced respectfully at Azreal. "How are you doing on spells?"

"I've more than enough destruction left in me to bring this cave down around our ears." she grinned wickedly.

"I'd really appreciate it if you'd hold off on that until we're done with the task we've come to perform." called Kitya as she climbed out of the underwater lake.

Azreal looked at Urfengar and rolled her eyes, mouthing "Druids." Urfengar grinned and took another swig of ale. Suddenly, he glanced around. Something was missing...suddenly, it struck him.

"Anyone seen the halfling?"

Kitya looked stricken as she realized: Max was gone. She scrambled back into the water, searching frantically for any sign of Max. Urfengar joined her while Nalathisor and Azreal focused their search deeper into the cavern, listening and watching for any signs of life.

"He was just here, Urf. Where could he have gone?"

"It'll be all right, lass. We'll find him. We'll nae stop looking into we do." Urfengar made his way along the cave wall that edged the lake. Suddenly, he stopped. "Elf! C'mere!" he called out, beckoning.

Nalathisor waded out into the lake until he stood beside Urfengar, stopping in the same spot with a strange look on his face.

"What is it?" Kitya called out.

Urfengar shook his head and held up his hand, signaling for quiet. "Do ye feel that?" he asked Nalathisor quietly.

Nalathisor closed his eyes, training his senses on the world around him. "A shift...a change. Something here is not quite what it seems."

"Aye. The stone be not whole here."

Nalathisor opened his eyes and looked at Urfengar. "An underwater passage? There!" he cried, pointing where a cloud of silt was billowing up from underneath the water. "And by the look of that mess, something just passed through it."

Urfengar began to chuckle and looked over at Kitya. "Ye' re brother, he's one blessed halfling. He's genna be fine. Seems he went and found hisself another way in." As Urfengar explained what they had found, Kitya visibly relaxed.

"Well, we have to go after him."

"Nae, lass. Me bones can feel the earth here, and theren't any a us can fit down that hole. We'll go around this way a bit an' see if we cannae find him."

Kitya looked displeased, but motioned the dwarf forward. They wearily began to travel deeper into the cave complex. Azreal hung back with Nalathisor. "Strange...I seem to recall enjoying the quiet before I knew Maxwell, but now it just seems..." She looked at Nalathisor and shrugged helplessly.

Nalathisor opened his mouth to reply, but his face froze in mid-sentence, filling with horror. He spun and flung his hand out, crying "Urf-!"

But it was too late. With a loud 'snap', a piece of the ceiling collapsed between the two pair of adventurers: Kitya and Urfengar on one side, Nalathisor and Azreal on the other. "Dark Lady take me, I should have been checking for TRAPS!"

---

Kitya dove clear of the falling debris, slamming into Urfengar and knocking the wind out of herself. As the ceiling continued to collapse upon them, Urfengar scrambled to get out of the way, while Kitya shifted her form into that of a small cave lizard, dodging swiftly from spot to spot. Clear of the worst of the falling stone, Urfengar began to mumble something about "weight tolerances" and "b'zugda hiara rogues" and "fulcrum". "Move yerself back, lass. If there's somethin' I know well, it be digging. Bracing himself, he began to shift one of the large boulders, then stopped, looking at lizard-Kitya with a far-away, confused expression. "Do ye hear that?" And she did. Shifting back into human form, she nodded. "Chanting. But I can't seem to make out the spell...something about dirt...mud? Something about mud."

As she finished speaking, the stones that had just collapsed behind them began to shift, and then to melt inwards, turning to thick, soft mud. As the cave-in slowly began to dissipate, it revealed a sheepish looking Nalathisor standing next to Azreal, whose eyes were closed in meditation. Kitya looked at Urfengar and grinned. "'Stone to mud'," she translated.

As the two groups looked each other over, Nalathisor moved to the front of the group. "Perhaps I should...err...watch for traps?" Urfengar simply arched on eyebrow at him, then scooped the clinging mud from his hair and beard. "Aye, lad." he added sardonically, taking another pull on his ale flask. "Aye."

As the moved deeper into the cave, Nalathisor showed them where it was safe to step, describing the traps as he found them. "It looks as though this chamber was supposed to collapse on both sides, and then begin to fill with water, presumably drowning anyone stuck between the two cave-ins."

Several more hours passed with the group moving cautiously deeper into the cave. "It be gettin' dark above ground." the dwarf mentioned, after some time. "Perhaps we'd best be resting for the night. Dunnae worry, lass. Aren't a one-a us has forgotten the wee one." Kitya tried to smile at him as she laid out her bed roll and began almost immediately to pretend as if she were asleep. Urfengar looked at Nalathisor and, almost in unison, they shrugged.

"Go ahead, friend." said Azreal to Urfengar. "I will lie awake for this portion of the watch, and wake the elf when the hours have grown full. I need to think."

Urfengar nodded his understanding, then laid down, thinking about what spells he could ask his god to grant him come morning to help them find their lost friend.