Hinka swims on and the others follow. At the end of the hall is another narrow stairway. It ends up being a switch-back sort that rises for a length, turns back in the opposite direction, and rises again. After three of such turns, on the last everyone sees, to great surprise and relief, a break in the surface of the water!
Hinka moves out first and the others follow, stepping up the stairs as everyone converts from swimming to walking along the slick rock stairs and eventually a floor. The group finds itself in a rectangular stone walled room, approximately 20' by 25', ceilings 11'. The stairwell from which they rise comes from one of the corners of the room. From the look of the cuts in the ceiling, each corner has a similar switch back stairwell descending from it. There are no other hallways nor any stairwells heading up. It is soon clear that some sort of descent back into the water is likely in order to move out from this room.
The floor of the room is still submerged wall to wall. The water stands at about a foot and a half of depth. Everyone's light bulb casts full vision throughout the room. Along the wall are various blocks and heavy stone tables and benches. On the ground, some beneath the water and some breaching the surface, is various rubble and what seems to be cracked shards of algae covered pottery. A few rusted poles of brass can be found, covered in muck. Remnants of a few broken bronze torch sconces are embedded high in the walls. The walls themselves are covered in a brown/green scum. Traces of paint chips still cling to some of the crags of a smoothed wall, but no images can be seen if it was once a mural of some sort.
On one centralized high table sits another large stone carved into a hexagonal shape. Likely a dais for some icon or totem in the past, nothing sits upon it now. Near the back of the room, a large stone totem lies on its side, overturned and cracked into two pieces, both now muck-covered and worn. It seems to have been a carving of an elongated coarse-featured face and head that wore some teardrop-shaped hat or crown. Now it is only a ruined stone lying broken in the murk.
After checking the place through briefly, Hinka takes off his krekutil mask and coughs out the breathing fluid. As he does, Rutcranna approaches and grabs his arm, giving him a questioning look. She speaks, but it is impossible to hear her. She motions her hands at the Tochoan though, asking "Where?" or "Which way?".
Hinka looks up at her with a plain look and crumbled brow. He points to the corner stairwell descending, the one diagonally across the room from the stairwell through which the group entered.
Rutcranna gives a signal trying to stop everyone else from taking off masks. With facial expressions and hand motions, she gets the point across that the group should hurry and move on, continuing to descend again back into the water to reach the final destination.
This is no end of the road it seems, only a way point. The group must go back into the water to reach another chamber further on still.
Hinka says a few short sentences to Rutcranna, unintelligible even to Kray through the muffled sound and the difficulty of seeing finer detail in the mask. Hinka motions and looks to the crowd, pointing especially at Thorn who is still a bit wobbly. Rutcranna shakes her head at Hinka then at the crowd. She takes Hinka's arm that is holding the krekutil and raises it, rather roughly, back to his face, pointing at him to put it back on.
Rutcranna looks at everyone. There is some frustration in her eyes. She shakes her head. As loud as she can, enunciating every word clearly, she says through the mask.
"Every minute we wait, one more minute for our enemy to respond. They know we are here now. Let us go, and press on."
Hinka, holding his krekutil in both hands, is still and stares from Rutcranna then to the others then back. His eyes dart over to Thorn again, and to the others who are winded from battle. He gives no emotion, only a steady crumpled brow and head slightly tilted to the side as if considering what will happen in the exchange.
Rutcranna obviously wants to press on, but it is clear that Hinka sees some value in a short break.
Group response or decision?
