Episode 1

Maeriks recognizes the two Dannein girls.

The older one (around 20) is Muirne, formerly the wife of Canus, a hunter and warrior who was killed at the raid on Driftwood last fall.

The younger one (around 15) is Naohm. She is the daughter of Duane Mac Ultan, who was a fisherman and otter-trapper. A pretty mean guy in the past. Dead now of course.

Muirne has the physical signs of early pregnancy.

Kray gets across. Then Ivor starts pulling his way towards the group on the rope.

As Ivor is closing in on the balcony, onlookers see as bulge and ripple in the water, off in the distance at the far corner. Waves start in the pool, but nothing else is seen.

A few of the party members are there close to the balcony as Ivor makes the final stretch. They help Ivor over the railing.

Everyone moves away from the balcony and regroups in the hallway.

The hallway to the left leads a ways forward and then starts stairs downward into dark murky waters that disappear into another submerged hall tunnel.

The hallway right goes back a ways, makes a right turn into darkness, and then has light coming from around a bend to the left.

There are a couple of torches burning in sconces on the hallway wall.

Rutcranna really starts dressing these girls down in a barrage of commands and questions. She is intimidating them and playing them like a fiddle to get fast and accurate info. So when Thorn and Kray come up, many of those sorts of questions are well underway. Naohm and Muirne are spilling their guts and being directed on the very fastest down load. Highlights below:

Rhone is alive and well. She is in the great hall with all of the other girls. Right now, there are a total of 15 women/girls who live in the ziggurat.

Gorolach, whom they call "The Norach" or "Norach Gorolach", is seen as the tribe leader. All of the women serve him.

The girls call the Deep Ones the "ulathi". They follow the commands of Gorolach mostly, up until recently. Last night, most of them left. There were only a dozen or so, but then they too seemed to leave abruptly within the last hour or so. Now they have only seen their 2 guards (now dead), plus the "hybrids" still guard Gorolach.

The hybrids are a special kind of guard among the ulathi. Very big and extremely strong. They are more like true fish men. They have faces like fish, with sharp teeth, long claws. They have never heard the hybrids speak, though they understand all speech. There are probably 8 or 10 of them overall in the past. Many left with the others last night. Now only 2 have been seen, both guarding Gorolach.

The hallway to the left (or straight ahead now) that leads into the water is apparently one of the main exits that the Deep Ones know how to use. Of course the girls have never been down there. There is another hallway around the corner that also leads to another underwater passage. They know little about that either.

Around the other direction (right from balcony, then left around a corner into another torchlit area) leads up stairs to a kitchen area, then a dining area, then stairs up and them back down to the great living hall. Of in some side halls are the sleeping quarters and latrines. That is pretty much the area that the girls know in the ziggurat. There are some other chambers apparently higher up other stairways, but they are not allowed to go.

Gorolach and the hybrids and all of the other women and girls are all in the great living hall.

Something seems to be wrong. Gorolach was talking with the other ulathi and there seemed to be stress, some shouting and anger from Gorolach. He sent them to get water and was in a great rage. The hybrids seem to be on high alert, like they are watching for something.

Muirne says she is pregnant with Gorolach's child. She is hesitant to help, but is obviously terrified. Rutcranna lays into her and Naohm both, saying that they are going to cooperate and do what she tells them, and they will lead the way back through the upcoming route through the tunnels and rooms. They better not try anything, or run away, or yell out for help. If they do then they will be severely punished. These girls are terrified of Rutcranna it seems, and they say they will comply.

Naohm finally at the end, asks if they can be rescued, if Rutcranna and the men could get them out and escape. Rutcranna says that perhaps, but Naohm just needs to just focus on doing what she is told or she won't get a chance to get free now or ever.

Muirne is just shaking her head and crying during this time. "They will find us," she whimpers, "We cannot escape. They won't let us, we can never get away." Rutcranna smacks her and tells her to cease making this noise and talk, not to speak unless she is told to.

With more time to look around at the surroundings, Thorn notices first and then shows the others.

Seen high on the corner of the wall and ceiling: a large growth of charred grey/black flesh. Smaller than the specimen on the great tree at Old Island, but certainly a mass of the same or similar sort.

Soon after inspection, it is realized that these smaller growths are peppered throughout the chambers. Some are seen underwater in the tunnel that leads to the flooded hall. Another is seen along the wall near the far corner in the other direction.

Also, another highlight:

The Glaakieou? Rutcranna explains what she means, using some of the names of the Hive. Yes. The girls did see them in the past, when they first got here. A couple of the quiet masked men stayed for a while, but most left. Eventually even those left.

During that time, the masked men had some creature with them, a small creature overall, but like a giant larvae (describe it as being roughly the size of a large cat or smaller dog) one that crawled on walls and left the growths. They think that is what happened anyway.

The growths are on the ceilings and walls throughout most or all of the chambers. They started out very small, but they have gradually grown to their current size. The girls are instructed not to touch them. They believe them to be poisonous.

Most of the girls came with the original group that was put here with Gorolach about 4.5 months ago. (Driftwood defeat was just before that, around that time in the middle of the fall).
Some girls have been brought in since then. Including Rhone, who came in about 3 months ago (same as Rutcranna told Kray in earlier convo).

Many of the girls are pregnant now. Documa is the furthest along in pregnancy. Her child they say may be the firstborn of the Norach, so she is treated very well. All are Gorolach's kids (says Muirne).

To be clear, the girls are having great difficulty tracking time, with no view of sun or moon or seasons to reference. Rutcranna tells them the season and moon cycle to get them current. They seem surprised about this. They thought they had been here even longer. Their main tracking in fact has been the pregnancies of the women, though no one has had a birth yet to mark a known time of a full term pregnancy.

One girl, Holli, was killed. Beat to death by Gorolach.
Two other girls, Koya and Berra, died of excessive bleeding.
Another girl, Edais, disappeared. They think she was killed and eaten by the hybrids.

Rutcranna makes no argument to the girl on this. If Kray mentions that there is another theory, of non-human impregnation, Rutcranna cuts eyes to him and nods off talking about that, in a subtle head turn that he can see but the girls cannot.

Hinka does not know anything further about the place. The furthest he got last time was to the balcony on the other side of the pool chamber. He had to turn back because he was soon to be discovered by Deep Ones, far more plentiful here in past visits.

Had to dig for the original description of the original Blob, because I didn't remember it being charred looking. Are the Blobs here different in that respect or does charred = crusty?