It is Spring, but it is still decidedly cold this close to the Everwinter. People aren't confused how that place got its name! Clearlake Hold is an ancient fortress carved into the granite mountain that is next to a lake that never freezes over due to the hotsprings that flow beneath it. News had travelled down from the Hold that during some routine maintenance in one of the granite walls that a small cave in had occured.

One that revealed an old tunnel that had been bored into the side of the mountain. Which...honestly given the unknown House that resided there previous to House Clearlake it is anyones guess what might be lurking in there. Word had been sent to the Countess and others and the arrival to see what was going on had been pretty swift given there were a few injuries in the cave in, one of them being the Count-Consort.

The initial panic is over, but there is the big mystery that is still needing to be explored!

Benny is sitting in front of the hole with a log of wood chewing on it as he peers into the darkness. The beaver looks as if he's pondering how to approach.

"Are you taking that to fight off anything we find in there?" Acantha asks the beaver as she to looks into the tunnel, "I'm guessing there aren't any humans alive...that would be too long without light and food...water." she frowns to that.


Kritr always wanted an excuse to plumb the depths of the Hold. To that end he's collected rope, candles, and other supplies for just such an opportunity. "Benny." He grunts, dropping a heavy pack at the entrance. He stoops to examine the rubble of the cave in, looking for any sign of craftsmanship instead of natural orgiin.

It doesn't take a whole lot to get Ian out of Arx, even when getting out of Arx means coming to a place as cold as the edge of Everwinter in spring and trudging through an unexplored cave to encounter the gods only know what. Just the fact that 'out of Arx' is a part of the aforementioned (and described) situation is plenty. So when he had the chance to tag along with Kritr, he took it, or possibly even went as far as to make the opportunity, himself. "Might be water down there," he comments. "Might be a lot of things. Demons." Rule #1 in the Book of Ian is 'it's probably demons'. Rule #2 is 'when it might not be demons, see rule #1'.

Mirk accompanies the team, showing his support as a part of Clearlake's liege House. He's dressed in steelsilk and fireweave, both warm and protected, though there's a bow slung over his shoulder in case of trouble. "You never know what you might find. There might be people alive down there. Sometimes they're resourceful," he suggests with a shrug of a shoulder. "Or lucky. Or both, at this point."

Yvette stands to one side of the hole, peering off into the dimness within. She's bouncing a little on her toes as she does so, although this probably doesn't give her any better of a view -- she mostly just seems to be excited to be back here in the Northlands, with the possibility of exploring something more interesting than the eternal Arxian mysteries of noble fashion and etiquette. Glancing over to Benny, she observes, "Or maybe he's just bringing trail rations. Sensible creature. Who knows how far this tunnel might go!"

Ian gets ugly, singed, stained, multicolor scarf from Oiled leather bag.

Ian drops ugly, singed, stained, multicolor scarf.

Ian gets ugly, singed, stained, multicolor scarf.

Much like Ian, the Blackwood Lord has needed out of the city for a while and when word got to him that Clarelake may need some help so he took it and got out. He is dressed in a mix of warm clots and leathers, he seems to be some what at home here. Bow slung over his back, his hazel eyes look around spotting those he knows and does not know. Looking to Ian he nods his head to the Kennex Lord a bit of a smirk coming to his features.

Maybe Ian wasn't serious about the demon thing? He never really sounds like he's joking, even when he is, and surely nobody who ACTUALLY expects to encounter the abyss would give Mirk the kind of quick grin and slight shrug that he does now, in response to the Spiritwalker's smirk.


Acantha gives a look up when Kritr arrives and there is a nod of greeting to the man, "Kritr." she states. Benny gives the man a wave of the stick and starts to trundle off down the tunnel. Acantha's torch is lit after that and she heads after the beaver, "He might be bringing trail snacks." she chuckles to what Yvette said with a nod. "It could be a demon." she nods to Ian. She knew Evander when she was a child, but Ian and some of the other Kennex family were a mystery to her. She gives a look to Mirk, "Or they could be cannibals or something." she whispers to her Patron.

Kritr would be able to tell that this was an amalgamation of hand tooled and natural tunnel. The ceiling height had been made taller and the sides wider.

In the light there is dust from the cave in still trying to settle and being kicked up as the others make their way into the tunnel.


Kritr lights a candle, and gestures for Benny to take the lead. "Don't go too deep too fast, and if it gets hard to breathe, come back out." He just assumes Benny can understand him.

Yvette leaves off squinting into the hole to look askance at Ian when he mentions demons. Or maybe it's the screaming colors of THAT HIDEOUS SCARF she's side-eyeing. Whatever it is, she gives a small nod to the stranger -- they're all strangers here, really, outside her House -- which could be either greeting or some acknowledgment about demons. Or maybe she just doesn't want to offend someone who's wearing what he's wearing. Giving an equally respectful -- or cautious -- nod to the others, she moves to pad softly down the tunnel after Benny and Acantha.

Cillian nods his head to Mirk and the others as he looks around, "Perhaps before we get to deep in, we should do some form of safety line?" he looks as they start to move into the cave, his eyes look to Mirk then to Ian and back.

Ian is very possibly the absolute polar opposite of Evander. He's on the short side, where his cousin is tall. Dark haired, instead of blonde. Solidly built, rather than thin. Practically indestructible, and probably literate against his will. He's also pretty blase about wandering into the tunnel along with everyone else. Yvette will certainly be happy to be sharing a close, damp space with the smell that's coming off the scarf that he's wearing coiled at his hip, like the world's most messed up, gaudy whip. "Might be a good idea to mark the path, if it's going to start branching. It's easy to get lost in caves like this."

"It's one way someone would survive for so long," Mirk agrees with a grimace at Acantha's suggestion. "A line is not a good idea if things...deteriorate," he suggests to Cilian. "But we can easily mark our way. Chalk, soot from a torch, those things would be easiest. I think I have something..." He uses a bit of chalk fished from a belt pouch to draw a marking on the wall nearby. Among the other various odds and ends he carries, it's not surprising this would be among them. The mark itself is just an arrow pointed back the way they came.

Lucita is a member of the Society of Explorers. Exploring is what they do. Even if it is ever so cold and a tunnel facing them with who-knows-what inside, hopefully nothing too dangerous. She glances around to each of the others and first adjusts her armor so it is comfortable and secure. Next she opens up her explorer pack and pulls out some rope and coils it so it rests easily on one shoulder, ready if needed. "I've chalk and string, too if you should need any... and a lantern."

Cillian nods his head to Mirk, this being his first cave dive his hazel eyes look around. He looks over to Lucita a smile coming to his lips nodding his head, "Baroness." he takes a dep breath and looks to Ian again, "Are you really going too.." he does not finish his quation he should know better already, he shakes his head as he look at the "SCARF" he looks back to follow Mirk.

"Baroness." There's a hint towards a softening of Ian's usually hard demeanor when he greets Lucita, if only for a moment. "Going to what?" He asks Cillian.


203Benny has no problem with going first. The overly large beaver heads off in front of Acantha as he usually does. Because he's a good beaver! He pats the stick against his paw as he waddles down the tunnel. Acantha stays pretty quiet and keeps the torch up so that people can have light along with those that are behind. She doesn't seem to be worried about going after Benny. Because she knows that anything that gets past Benny should make them all run.

Benny bonks the stick against the wall and then gives a little listen and then chatters and waves the stick to continue forward. Then he continues on down the tunnel himself. The floor starts to get a little slanted, letting them know that they are heading down.



Benny has no problem with going first. The overly large beaver heads off in front of Acantha as he usually does. Because he's a good beaver! He pats the stick against his paw as he waddles down the tunnel. Acantha stays pretty quiet and keeps the torch up so that people can have light along with those that are behind. She doesn't seem to be worried about going after Benny. Because she knows that anything that gets past Benny should make them all run.

Benny bonks the stick against the wall and then gives a little listen and then chatters and waves the stick to continue forward. Then he continues on down the tunnel himself. The floor starts to get a little slanted, letting them know that they are heading down.


Kritr follows after Benny, eyeing the walls for signs of habitation. The walls of the Hold are rife with carvings, part of the native language of the Everwinter, but over time their use and content may have changed, this part of the Hold could be millennia old.

Yvette pats herself down briefly and then fishes around in her rucksack as if having been shamed by everyone else into conducting a personal inventory of the useful items which she herself has resourcefully brought along for the expedition. But all she manages to come up with is a gob of tangled string and a single button. With a sigh and a rueful headshake, she tucks these deplorably domestic items back in her sack and continues on down the tunnel, every now and then giving a small experimental sniff to the air.

"Doesn't it smell a little odd down here?" she asks warily. She apparently has not divined the source of the weird smell, emanating from somewhere in the vicinity of Ian. "Did anybody else come down here at all, before? Or are we the very first?"

Lucita moves along the group, a gentle, subtle touch toward Cillian, Ian and Mirk is given, acknowledging each as she passes them and returns smiles to all the others. A wink is given the beaver as he works his way into the tunnel. "Been a long time since seeing Benny". She grins and says cryptically. "The smell, oh, that is the odor of survival is all."

From time to time as they walk, Ian looks down at the compass that's set into the head of his cane, probably in an effort to keep a mental map of their passage through space. Once or twice, he taps the end of the cane against the ground as he looks. "I don't smell anything," he says after an experimental sniff. "Maybe some mold."

Cillian chuckles at Ian, "The scarf my friend." he says in his thick Northern accent, but then he is looking in front of him following along taking note of the feel of the ground starting to move them more underground. His hazel eyes look about as they move, listening and paying attention.

"I don't know of any that came before," Mirk says to Yvette. It doesn't seem to bother him. He touches the wall briefly, looking around him, but doesn't say anything about what he smells, or doesn't smell. "Deeper, hm? How deep are we going, do we know?"

"Until the walls sweat." Kritr rumbles. "Sweating walls mean we are close to water. Water down here is... very hot."

"It smells more like death," Yvette mumbles in response to Lucita, her nose wrinkling along with her brow. "It does smell musty too," she allows. "But that's just normal cave-smell. It-- wait, what?" She breaks off, hazel eyes flickering between Cillian and the scarf. She stares at the latter for a long moment, then comments conversationally, "Uurggh," and steps a tad further away. Studiously ignoring the phenomenon that is the scarf, she transfers her attention to Mirk, watching him as he studies their surroundings.


The walls of the tunnel are blank canvas' for the most part aside from where tools have been used to dig out things. Maybe it was going to be another part of the original Hold? Or some addition that was planned, but never finished. "We've never been down this way." Acantha tells Yvette. "When the cave in happened they sent messengers. It makes me wonder if there are other tunnels hiding somewhere behind stone." she states to that.

The smell that definitely sticks out as they head down the tunnel is...water? Not old stagnate water, but fresh. Which is odd.

The tunnel curves along and soon there is the sound of dripping water that greets them. Benny and Acantha up at the front are the closest to discover that there is definitely something else there, "There is a cav...." Acantha starts to say before the ground below her and Benny gives out and the two of them plummet into whatever they have found. Thankfully the rest of them know that there is a hole there. The disappearance is followed by a large splash of two forms.

The hole is is easily avoided if you know where it is and looks like an old wood plank that rotted away. Beyond the hole the group can see a cavern that is up ahead with rocks that reflect the light being carried by the group. It's really pretty though!


Ian looks down at the scarf at his hip, and there's a pause, and then a moment of realization accompanied by a slight wrinkling of his nose. Oh! THAT smell! He looks up at Cillian, and shrugs. "Might come a time when you're glad to have it along. It's come in handy in the past." In fact, when Acantha starts to fall, breaking the Scarf free is part of the desperate (but ultimately futile) grab that Ian makes for her, accompanied by a startled curse. "Shit. How deep does that hole go?"

Mirk starts when the cave in happens, though he does little except come to the edge of the hole. He looks at Ian, raises an eyebrow, and rummages around in a pouch again. He pulls out...a pebble? A glance at the herbs makes it clear there's soil, herbs, and other odds and ends in that particular pouch. With a casual gesture, he tosses it into the hole. Waiting for the splash, the thunk, or whatever else signals the bottom. "Hopefully they're okay. She has Benny with her, so they should be fine..."

Mirk checks perception and survival at normal. Mirk is successful.

Yvette checks perception and survival at normal. Yvette is successful.

Kritr checks perception and survival at normal. Botch! Kritr fails badly.

Lucita checks perception and survival at normal. Lucita is successful.

Ian checks perception and survival at normal. Ian is successful.

Cillian checks perception and survival at normal. Cillian is successful.

Lucita quietly slides the coiled rope off her shoulders and extends it in her hand. "This might help in reaching down there, maybe." As she turns, the lantern light shows the concern that is so obvious in her expression.

"Countess?" Ian's immediate concern is still with Acantha, and he falls silent to note the time between Mirk letting the pebble go and the splash (and also to listen for any sign of Acantha moving below), while tugging off one of his gloves. He holds a hand over the hole, feeling for signs of heat that might be coming off of dangerously hot water below.

Yvette lets out a startled yelp as Acantha and Benny suddenly plunge through the floor and out of sight! "Ack! Countess!" She drops to her knees beside the hole in the floor and stares down through it in dismay. Grimacing faintly, she says, "Even if it's not that far down, hopefully the water isn't too deep down there either..."

Kritr doesn't swim well. Or at all sometimes. But he acts impulsively to follow Acantha into the hole. He ties his rope to an outcropping and starts to rappel down, vastly overestimating the outcropping's strength. It breaks and he follows his Countess and Benny with a third splash.

Cillian eyes widen as he watches Benny and Acantha drop as the floor gives out, "Shit." his eyes look around, as Lucita moves the lantern about, "Lord Mirk, Lord Ian." he points out what he caught sight of, he moves over to where the stairs are, "There seems to be a way down."


There was a splash and then the sound of slapping on the water, "We're fine!" Acantha calls up. "I think we hit something in the water though...and it moved..." she adds to that. Benny gives a warning sound and then ushers Acantha towards the nearest ledge up. Which is great...if one can grip things. She pulls herself out of the water, thankful that she wore her armor today. "I'd say jump down, but this water is a smidge chilly." she complains with a laugh.

Then Kritr is in the water and there is a teeny tiny fin that pops up not far from him in the water...


Ian bites off a second curse when Kritr also falls. He looks up at the others, his gaze fixing on Cillian. "You think you can find a way back up from there? If there's something down there with them, that's where my place is. I'd rather not be stuck in a cave for the rest of my life, if at all possible."

"Gaahhh!" is Yvette's next noise, as Kritr manages with great skill and deftness to also cast himself hopelessly into the abyss. "Brother!" she exclaims, sounding aggravated as much as alarmed. "Your skull is as dense as a sack full of rocks, but don't drown down there, dammit!"

Lucita spots the stairs and then says. "I think, if we are careful, we can climb down, not risk injury in jumping." And with that she starts to descend the steps, the lantern light showing the path. She glances toward Yvette and speaks aside to her. "Stay where the lantern shows the steps and we won't have to feel our way."

Ian is, as it turns out, a very special breed of reckless. Not the 'attempting to do something sensible and misjudging things in his haste and accidentally falling' kind of reckless. The other kind. The kind where he takes off his coat and tosses it to Cillian, tucks his cane into a loop on his belt that seems designed for that purpose, and just... drops. Into the darkness below. Without a torch, which he probably should have thought of, but live and learn. Hopefully.

Yvette simply gapes at Ian for a moment as he becomes the next to drop out of sight. She then exhales a sharp sigh and jumps to her feet, first peering around for the stairs Cillian's talking about and then following Lucita as she actually lights the way there. Nodding to the other woman in gratitude, she follows down the steps, one hand trailing along the face of the cave wall and the other fidgeting in suppressed worry. "It looked like there was something rippling around down there besides the current," she mutters. "What could they have hit against?"

Kritr's candle has been extinguished. But not his life! He thrashes surfaceward briefly before going under again. The dim light is enough to orient him. Then he walks out to the edge, holding his breath and climbing rather than trying to swim. He doesn't have time to look for sharks. Sharks?

Cillian nods his head taking the coat, "Spirits, Ian careful I don't need Lady Jan trying to knock me out again." putting the coat over his should as he starts to move down the stairs with Yvette and Lucita, "What your steps, slow and steady." the scout moves carefully placing his feet where he thinks they need to be.


Benny is still in the water and is UPSET. How dare sharks be in /his/ vacinity. Acantha heads over to where Kritr is coming out and grabs onto the back of his shirt to help pull him up. "The water is cold here. Not like the hotsprings. I wonder if this is cut off from the water veins that run deeper." she comments to him. "Wait...is that a shark fin?" she asks Benny.

There is one tail slap in the affirmative and she looks...bewildered. "Get out of the water before it tries to eat you." she calls over to the beaver. The shark doesn't seem to want to take a bite out of anyone, but Benny bonks him with his tail when it tries to swim closer to the shallows.

Bonk the shark might be a new game for the beaver. He then heads for dry land at speed!

Which leaves Ian in the water, but the shark doesn't try to rush him and bite him. It's just curious of the new visitors that so rudely crashed into its home.


Ian's controlled fall leads him to hitting the water with barely a splash and coming up easily afterward. "Shit, this IS cold." He swims towards the sound of Acantha's voice and Kritr's splashing, not intent on picking a fight with a shark that doesn't want to pick a fight with him. Especially not in the dark. Even though his player wants that sandwich.

"We must be under the permafrost." Kritr says, stumbling onto dry land with Acantha's help. He removes his cloak clasp and shakes it so the fur won't become sodden.

Lucita says, "Are the hot springs running off and cooling themselves before getting here?"

"A shark?" As she hears Acantha's voice float up from the watery darkness, Yvette sounds more baffled than anything, possibly because the Countess notes the existence of this shark without so much as a hint of thrashing and screaming and catastrophic horror. "What's a shark doing underground? I'm not sure if I've ever even seen a shark before..." She cranes her neck to peer around Lucita and Cillian as they make their way down to the lower level.

Cillian follows along his bow is pulled just incase he needs to play target practice with the shark.."Why is that down here?" he comments about the shark as he continues to move down till they are with the others. "Is everyone ok?" asks the Blackwood Lord.

Ian pulls himself out of the water and shakes water out of his hair like a dog. "I've run into sharks in sea caves, but we're pretty far from the ocean. I didn't know they could live in fresh water."

Kritr ponders the existence of sharks under the Clearlake Hold and sucks the water on his cloak. "Is there an ocean under the Hold?" He's nebulous on the concepts of oceans, except that they are saltwater instead of fresh.

Lucita says, "I don't know enough about sharks to venture an opinion. We had little glowing fish in the Saikland Caves but nothing like a shark. Is the water.. fresh, salty or.. have some kind of mineral taste to it?""

Cillian nods his head, "We are not close to the sea." his eyes look around seeming confused at what a shark this close to the Everfrost and in a cave is doing here. "Also aren't they normally aggressive"


Everyone's out of the water. Yay! Benny crawls up where Acantha and Kritr are and he pats the big Clearlake Lord on the leg. He was alright. So that was good. "We might have to replace it, hopefully not though." Acantha comments. "And yes, Sharks are...interesting. We dealt with them at the battle of Pieros years ago." she tells Yvette. "Or well, Benny dealt with the sharks and things. I was on the boat fighting." she chuckles.

"I think here is a good time to maybe sit and rest, maybe build a fire to dry out a little." she offers to the group. "The water doesn't taste like salt, so it might be something that dwells in fresh water?" she ponders that. "A glowing fish. I think that would be a treat to see." she smiles to that.

Meanwhile, Benny goes to find dry wood to snack on and to help with a fire.


Yvette trots over to Kritr, observing the water with cautious fascination as she goes, and then fixing a frown on her brother. "You're supposed to be the one looking after me," she scolds him, "not the other way around!" Giving a sharp toss of her tangled curls, she peers among the others. "I don't know the first thing about sharks," she says, "and I've never heard of anything like this beneath the Hold before. But," she concludes with some relish, "that means we've got an interesting mystery on our hands!"

Kritr says, "It also means fish. I like fish. Because they are tasty. Yes. Tastier than bark."

"They're not all aggressive," Ian comments. "Not to people, anyway." The left sleeve of his shirt is sticking to his arm oddly, in a way that at first might look like the fabric is wrinkled, before it becomes clear that there's a lot of very serious scarring covering that arm. "Makos are toothy little assholes, but most of them won't go after anything too big to be food."