Marzipan had been one of the first people on the ferry that morning, and now one of the last off- busy helping coordinate the mob into some semblance of order and making sure that no-one was overly burdened or not carrying their share. Once such being the young Boyo, who had spent the night at the tavern (like so many of the others had) to avoid being caught by his old man and forced back on the farm. Marzipan had laden Fren with a backpack full of foodstuffs, water and wineskins full of ale for celebration. Who knows how long they'll be down in this cave treasure hunting- she made sure she had enough for a light lunch and supper that would be easily carried by one person. Not that that stopped the brat from whining about his load- he wanted to hunt for gold not be a pack mule.

She ignored his whining easily however, turning her attention to the rest of the group who were now disembarking on the bank. Making sure her thick work-skirts were well secured and tucked up away from the mud, Marzipan hopped down as well- testing her way with the tall and sturdy simply carved walking stick she'd found for herself. It was about the height of herself and thicker than a broomhandle around- perfect for testing the cave walls, floors and ceilings for weakness, leveraging rocks away, or bashing in heads... if the rumors about what dwelled in caves was true she wouldn't be without a weapon even if it was of the simplest sort.

Marzipan was roused from her examination of the cave's entrance by the Thomas lad, his sheepish expression as plain as the fact that he'd been cajoled into his apology by Jasmine. How the girl didn't realize her hold on him was beyond her, the young man was quite clearly infatuated with her.

"S'no matter laddie." She said, willing to let the incident slide as just another bar brawl, "Just see to it that it dont happen again. That Bard may be asking for a wallop e'ery time he opens his mouth but it's a bad habit to get into."

"Speakin of..." She said to herself as the young men moved on into the cave. Stepping nimbly through the mud she made her way to the Bard's side. He'd caused a ruckus with his ruddy snoring all night on the floor of the tavern- the drunken lout had been impossible to move or rouse until the dawn had just begun to break- and she was aiming for some swift retribution for the inconvenience.

"Good Morn Bard, " She said with a purposefully loud voice- not quite shouting but raised quite a bit, and as they were near the mouth of the cave now, a very clear echo of her strident tone was ringing back at them, "A Fine Day For Another One O'Your Adventures Now, Aye? How's The Head?"

"Ugh," Grunted Hogarth as he came up behind them and caught some of the resounding sound to his ears. He slogged through the mud with a familiar trudge and a rather sour expression on his face, his pitchfork dragging in the muck behind him. The man had been in a particularly grouse mood this morning- more than what the tavern regulars would have come to expect from the hung over hog farmer.

Beevil stepped out of the boat offering a hand to his over-packed younger brother and his sister. "Sure you packed enough Will? You want to bring your smithy to?" he asked resisting the urge to laugh at the size of Will's pack. Will harrumphed disdainfully, as he stepped down into the cave "Its called being prepared, better want not than have not." Beevil rolled his eyes as he helped his sister out of the boat and grabbed a lantern off Will's pack and lit it using his flint and steel. Unlike Will Beevil was using the bare essentials. He had his militia outfit, complete with short-sword and buckler, as well as a small military style pack with him. It contained iron rations, his flint, a torch, and a whetting stone. As well as of course a canteen of water. Beevil stepped forward leading the way with the lantern, eager to see just what lay inside this cave.

Jane stepped in right behind her brother. She stuck close, not out of any kind of fear, but simply because he was holding the lantern and she wanted to see. "Think we should go this way, Beevil?" she asked, pointing to the left where the path was just slightly wet. "I'd rather keep my boots dry for at least a little while."

Wystan, who had ensured the boat was well secured, came up behind the siblings with a lantern of his own. "I'm thinkin' of headin' that way instead," he said, gesturing to the wetter tunnel. "Figurin' that the water mighta washed any more of them coins down that way. 'Less ya'll want to split into 2 groups to search both directions? Either way, I'm headin' this way..."

And without further ado, he started down the wetter tunnel to the right, uncaring that his boots were already getting damp.

Beevil shurgged, "Wystan had a point, if there is anything in this cave odds are it was swept down with the water, I'm going that way, besides no doubt the entire cave will have a wet floor sooner or later." Will said nothing simply following his brother, his boots were heavy-duty and certainly wouldn't mind a little water.

For anyone following Wystan down the tunnel to the left:

Though the walls are uneven, it remains easily passable and the tunnel's height remains a fairly consistent 6 feet, give or take a few inches here or there. The walls show evidence of being struck and chiseled with tools at some point. The water on the floor is getting slowly, but steadily deeper, so that by the time they've gone about 60 feet, it is almost a foot deep.

The tunnel opens up suddenly into a small chamber, roughly circular and about 25 ft in diameter. On the opposite side of the chamber the wet tunnel continues on, off into the dark. The chamber itself shows heavy evidence of being worked once upon a time. To the right, a seam of coal runs the whole length of the wall and the remnants of a wooden cart are smashed into the corner, perhaps pushed there by the recent flood waters. Near it is a small glint of a silver coin, poking half-way up out of the muddy floor.

And on the ceiling, for anyone that happens to glance up, are a half dozen very large centipedes, one of which lets go to drop down onto the spelunkers below.



(Next poster may decide who the creepy crawly lands on. ;) )

The old man with the lantern went left into the slippery down slope, so Gerard, the unofficial leader of his trio, just shrugged and followed after him. He knew all of their boots would resist the water, muddy, wet fields was a specialty of their farms. He found himself studying the walls, "I think other people have been here before, should be a good sign."

With Gerard out front, Thomas found himself a bit alone with Jasmine. They slogged through the water, and with a small eep, she cried out, losing her balance for just a second. He caught her hand and held onto it, helping to pull her along. And much to his enjoyment, she never pulled her hand back. "Wait, just a second." Looking back over her shoulder, a shout left her lungs, "You guys comin' with us or goin' the other way?"

The trio continued onward, until they slogged into the open chamber. Gerard caught the silver glint and moved toward it, rushing a bit to be the first to acquire it. Jasmine moved toward the dilapidated cart, more curious about it than thinking it was filled with treasure, pulling Thomas along. Dropping his hand, Jasmine peered over the remains, hoping to find anything of interesting, when a piercing, girlish scream echoed throughout the chamber, nearly making her jump out of her skin. Turning back toward the source, she saw Thomas flailing his arm, some sort of giant bug on it, the scream emanating from him. "Gerrof, gerrof gerrof gerrof!"

Eventually he was able to fling the bug away from him, now blushing profusely at his exceptionally manly reaction. He trudged toward Jasmine and the cart, "Find anyfing interestin' here?" pretending as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Jasmine was smiling, while Gerard was cackling his head off, now reaching down for the silver glint. "Not yet hun, but you can help me look."

Beevil snorted, "Some adventure this is turning out to be. Come on lets get moving, if we have to camp here I wanna be somewhere dry. Or at least find something more interesting then a couple of rusted coins." and with that he kept moving on. Will picked up one of the coins and examined it. Clearly the silver coins were very old, worth more then today. Probably very valuable if sold to a collector. Sighing at his brother's ignorance he grabbed some of the rusted metal and put it in his pocket following after Beevil.

"Be a good place to dig, ya think?" Wystan asked Gerard, ignoring Beevil's remarks. "Though, not yet, I don't think. Gotta explore the rest of this place first. Let's not let 'em find all the good stuff first, eh?" And with that, he started after the Smith siblings.

As Beevil continued on into the far tunnel, one of the large centipedes seemed to follow along, crawling on the ceiling. The tunnel curved slightly to the right, so that the chamber behind disappeared quickly from view. The water gets deeper again, so that it comes almost to ones knees. If Beevil continues on about 50 ft, he will come to a place where the tunnel splits. To the left, he can barely make out what appears to be an open area beyond a short tunnel. While straight ahead, the tunnel appears to narrow just slightly, but continue on beyond the light of the lantern.

Making their way through the group, Hogarth trudged his way through the slowly deepening water towards where Beevil and the Ferryman were leading the way. The sounds of the parties voices and sloshing footsteps bouncing off of the waters surface and the slick stone cave walls resulting in eerie warbling echoes that had painted a permanent grimace on the pig farmers face. Which turned into a cross, glowering glare when Thomas began shrilling like a ninny over a admittedly overly large bug... while the words are unintelligible, one can now hear the pig farmer making a low muttering grumbling sound- no doubt cursing out anything and everything in his pain.

At the sound of shrieking, Marzipan hurried the rest of the stragglers on to meet the group with young Fren Boyo leading the charge, brandishing his long handled frying pan and swinging it about willy nilly in a manner that would more likely harm friend than imaginary foe.

"Lemme At Em!" The boy hollered as he reached them, soaked from the waist down from his splashing sprint. Thomas managed to fling the creepy crawly away, and Fren dashed after it. Bellowing what could only be what the boy thought of as a terrifying battle cry he smashed at the centipede with his weapon pan. Great ringing bangs redoubling in the cavernous tunnel, until the insect resembled so much soggy jelly.

With one final, solid whack Fren stood up and hollered back at the group with great pride, "I Got It!"

Marzipan, having made her way quickly to the others and made sure of their wellbeing- the alarm being a fright but not a real danger, was not amused and swiftly seized the boy by the ear, "That's enough wruckus out of you Boyo! This is no time for your hooligan shenanigans, an' I'll have no more o'it out of you. Understand."

"Oww." Fren grumbled as he rubbed his ear after she released it, "You're no fun marzy."

Fren moved away from Marzipan as soon as she took her eyes off him, moving to go stand with the older boys, and Marzipan moved to follow the men deeper into the water. Guiding her way with her walking stick to make sure she had firm footing and would not trip into any sudden dips, she used her other hand to hold up her skirts as far out of the water as possible...the edges would soon become damp if it got much deeper than this, and she would have to give it up as a lost cause, but until then she would try to keep them dry as best she could.

Gerard examined the coin for a bit, cleaning it off with his shirt. Sloshing over to Jasmine and Thomas, "Y'all ever seen a coin like this before?" Both shook their heads, and he beamed, pocketing his find, "Hopefully it's worth something good."

Jasmine stared down at the ruins of the cart a bit disappointed. Soggy, rotten wood and rusted metal bits, not only worthless, but not even interesting. Jasmine watched as the two brothers, at least she assumed they were brothers, lead onward, further into the depths of the cave with the ferry man, and more importantly, the lantern following. She elbowed the two guys, and they stuck close to Wystan, paying no mind to the ceiling above or the route ahead. Thomas gave Gerard a look, one that both knew, over the top of Jasmine's head. Gerard rolled his eyes, falling back to let Thomas have some time just with Jasmine, "I'm going to make sure everyone else is getting along okay, don't go too far without me."

Jasmine turned and watched her brother head back, nodding and smiling at him. Looking Once again, the redhead tripped, reaching out and steadying herself against Thomas' bulky frame. She huffed, and gripped his hand, knowing that slipping and tripping would be par for the course, mildly wishing they'd taken the drier path. Keeping close to the light source, she turned to look at Thomas as he spoke, "So, Jas, if we get rich, what are you gonna do with your money?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, buy ma and pa a bigger house and barn. Maybe buy some land of my own and put a house on it."

"Sounds lonely, you in a big house, all alone."

She giggled a bit, bumping him with her shoulder, "It's not like I'd be moving to the moon or nothin. I'd still be near you, Gerard, ma, pa, all my family. What would you do?"

He had gripped her hand just a bit tighter, not uncomfortably though, "A land and a house sounds nice. And," here he blushed deeply, though it went unnoticed in the dim light, "Buy a ring, to make a really amazing girl my wife."

"Aww, that sounds lovely. I'm sure you'll find her, with or without treasure."

And with that, Thomas' hand loosened lightly, defeated once again. Would she always see him as a brother, and not as a proper man? Gerard could see the slump in his best friend's shoulders, as he made his way over to Marzipan. "You look like you could use some company," beaming at the buxom barmaid.

Beevil grinned not noticing the centipede following along the ceiling, "Looks like we might be able to make a base camp up ahead. Come on guys!" He said eagerly forging ahead at a slightly faster pace, perhaps if they were lucky the area ahead might even be dry.

Marzipan looked up at the young man as he spoke, returning the smile before returning her eyes to where she was carefully placing her feet.

"Aye? Well company is always welcome. Although," She said, her eyes darting over to the young boy sulking behind the not-yet-a-couple couple, and then over to the silent hulking figure of the pig farmer, "I may not be the one most in need of it at the moment..."

"Hoggy ain't said two words since," She paused, giving her walking stick a solid swishing tap to the ground before continuing on, "Well, since this morn. I dont know if ya know him well or no, but this kinda silence from him ain't the norm an' don't ever mean good...

"An' then there's the Boyo," Marzipan's voice going flat with annoyance, "He really shouldna' be here at all. But he ain't got nobody to keep him where he ought to be, an' knowin' him he'd prolly tag along invited or no. Better to keep him where we can keep an eye on him.

"He really looks up to ya lads," Marzy continued, giving the boy a fond look that belied her earlier irritation, "I would really appreciate it if you three would mind him a bit. If'n yer friend can spare a glance from his sweetheart to mind anything at all."

Fren was indeed tagging along behind Thomas and Jasmine. He gave the remnants of the cart a sulky kick, before catching up with the group. Eavesdropping in on their conversation, Fren wrinkled his nose at the older teen's plans for future wealth.

"Why would you want stupid things like that?" Fren piped up, barging into the discussion as he inserted his body in the space between them, "They already gots farms don't they? And why buy a ring when you could just- just give 'er one from the loot. Sure there's gotta be lots of fancy rings and stuff down here. Me, I want a crown."

The thought sparked a grin of delight on his face and he tugged at Jasmin's sleeve, "Hey, you think there'd be crowns down here? There's gotta be lots of crowns, yeah! I want a crown an' I would wear it every day. Make people call me King Fren and bow and stuff. No, i want seven crowns- an' wear a different one every day. You want a crown right Jasmine, they're way better than rings. I betcha they even got those lil fancy lady crowns too."

Unfortunately for Beevil, the path ahead did not get any dryer, instead continuing to grow deeper. But he need only walk about 10 feet for the light of his lantern to reveal a heavy wooden door built into the right side of the tunnel. It's locked, but the bottom half the door is very rotted from constantly being wet.

"I'm just gonna peek over here..." Wystan called out, not following the siblings, but instead investigating the tunnel that shot off to the left. "Hey, it's dryer this way!" he called back over his shoulder.

For those that follow Wystan:

A few natural steps bring one back onto relatively dry ground and into a large cavern. There appear to be 4 tunnels leaving from the room: 1 to the east (where the adventurers emerge), 1 to the south, and 1 almost straight north, and 1 roughly northwest. Along the west wall of the cavern are two human skeletons. Their clothes are mostly decayed and their leather pouches appear dry rotted. One is wearing a helm that has a large dent in the side. The second has a broken sword and a broken leg bone to match.

"Holy..." the ferryman whispered as he spotted the skeletons. But barely would the group have time to investigate before the rumble of a cave-in came from somewhere behind them...

"What was that?!" Jane, who was with Beevil at the rotted door, asked, startled by the noise.

(The cave-in is in the tunnel where they entered, completely blocking that exit from the cave.)

Thomas shot the boy a glare, considering thwapping the lad on the back of the head. He went to speak, but Jasmine cut him off, knowing his temper was close at hand again. "Proper hard working folk like our families don't need, or want, more than we already have. You could learn from Thomas here. Besides, old, fancy rings are nice and all, but those were probably already given to someone way back when. I'd rather a ring that was given to me and only me. It's much more romantic." She smiled at Thomas, having felt she defended him well enough, then continued, "And I don't really want a crown, though maybe a fancy hairpin would be nice."

Jasmine could see that Thomas had relaxed a bit, but wasn't quite back down to earth as she'd hoped. She stopped a sec, letting the young boyo pass, and elbowed her way back next to Thomas, noting the change in his demeanor immediately. Whispering to him, "This is fun, I'm glad you brought me." Continuing to follow the lantern, it looked as if another large room as ahead. She kicked a small pebble into the wall, noting the floor was much drier now. As soon as the trio were in, there was a loud rumbling and shaking. Jasmine clutched at Thomas' arm, waiting for it to end, the noise growing louder from behind them.

Gerard had been listening to Marzy, mostly enjoying the sound of her voice and the occasional bounce of her feminine figure. They could probably be a bit nicer and inclusive toward Fren, though Thomas seemed to be getting a lot more territorial when it came to other men coming near Jasmine. Surely he'd either get bold enough or she'd finally see his intentions soon. He was watching the three of them when he felt the ground begin to shake, and he saw a few motes of dust dropping from the ceiling, spiraling down right in front of his face.

Instinct kicked in, realizing what was about to happen. He turned, yelling "RUN!" He pressed his hands to Marzy's chest and pushed her backwards as large chunks of stone began to fall around him. One hit him in the back, knocking him to all fours, while he managed to get out "GO!"

A huge dust cloud filled the large chamber, as well as the tunnel on the other end of the cave-in. As it began to clear, a sputtered coughing, weak and faint, could be heard. Gerard's head and shoulders could be seen, but the rest of him was covered in heavy rubble. His breath was coming fast, as he looked toward Marzy, tears in his eyes. Voices from the other side of the rubble could be heard, but only faintly.

Full panic had set in on Jasmine, screaming loudly down the tunnel. She had no idea if Gerard and the others had been caught in the cave in, "GERARD! GERARD! Can you hear me?" Tears were already flowing down her face, as she watched Thomas immediately set to work with the pick and shovel he'd brought. But every swing brought a bit more rubble down, and weakened the ceiling more, and he knew it. Finally he stopped, causing Jasmine to yell once more, "Why'd you stop? They need our help!"

He turned, looking toward her, "Jas, if I dig anymore, I'll bury us all."

She tried to take the pick from his hands, but he held firm, and she looked at him angrily, slapping him hard across the face. "He's our brother!" She stomped away from him, heading toward the southern tunnel.

"Jas, where are you going?"

Turning and glaring at him, "To find a way back, to find Gerard. Are you going to help me or waste my time?" Thomas sighed, looking at the rubble, the rest of the group, then quickly hitched his gear again, and pulled out a torch, lighting and chasing after the redhead.

A sputtering of blood coughed its way from Gerard's lips, "Mar.. Marzy. Pro.. protect Jasm..." before falling into another fit of coughing. Then it sounded like he was laughing, but with the damage done, it sounded a lot more ominous than jovial. "Nev.. ven.. kis... a pret... gir..." You didn't have to be a doctor to realize he only had a few moments left before his spirit left his failing body.

The floor shook beneath her and eyes widening in alarm she fell as Gerard shoved her out of the way. Too surprised to even shout, instinctively ducking and rolling to protect herself from the hail of rubble falling all around them. The cave in ended as suddenly as it started, the rain of rock dust slow to settle making them cough and hack as they breathed in the air choked with dust.

"Ger-cough! Gerar-cough! Are you alrigh-" Her eyes cleared only to fill again with tears as she caught sight of the young lad buried in the rubble, "Oh no. Oh laddie no."

Quick as she could she scrambled to him on her knees, no longer caring for the state of her skirts- now soggy and covered in dust. Her hands fluttered about him for a moment, she was no doctor but she knew he was in a bad state- his breath wheezing and damp sounding, his eyes dazed and glassy.

"Shush don't speak," She said her hands brushing the dust from his face and the hair from his eyes, her tears welling over- only to laugh miserably herself her lips trembling in a poor excuse of a smile "You daft lad, you only needed ask."

Knowing he did not have long even as she spoke, she leaned down and chastely pressed her lips to his. She was a tavern wench and no stranger to peddling kisses- this one was nothing like those. When she opened her eyes next, he was gone... and pressing her hand to her mouth she choked back a sob.

He had been just a young man, she'd barely known him as well as she should. And now she never would and she could not help but be overwhelmed. Cradling Gerard's head in her lap she wept, dropping her head as she wept and vowed silently to herself that she would keep his last wish... and take care of his sister as best she could.

-

Fren had been skipping ahead of the pair, still babbling away- although less to be heard and more just playing with the echos his voice made off the tunnel walls. He had just spun around to look back at the two older teens when the floor rumbled under his feet and the ceiling gave way.

Fren shrieked shrilly and tripped, arms flying up to protect his head he fell flat on his back- knocking the wind out of himself. Gasping for air, Fren could only watch as the rocks fell all around them, and as Jasmine and Thomas tried to unearth her brother, tears falling from his eyes as he watched with incomprehension.

-

Standing deep in water side by side with Beevil and Jane at the soggy rotted door, Hogarth jerked his head back the way they came as they heard and felt the cave in.

"Nothing good," He grunted at Jane and looked around, "Where are the others?"

"Hey, don't leave me here," Wystan was staring at the skeletons, not feeling the warm and fuzzies over the apparent injuries. Whatever had killed them should be long dead and gone by now, right? He hurried after Jasmine, Thomas, and Fren. "You sure he's trapped under there?" he asked Thomas, "Maybe he made it out the other side."

As the cut off adventurers took the southern passage, the sound of running water met their ears before their lanterns illuminated a statue, head bowed and hands folded in prayer. At it's base was a wide, shallow pool. Various coins of silver and gold could be seen at the bottom of the pool.



--

The dust from the cave-in made it's way down the wet passageway toward Hogarth and the Smith siblings. "Back there!" Jane exclaimed, pointing back the way they came. Quickly, she hurried to where Marzipan was cradling Gerard's head in her lap. The pair were barely visible in the dim lantern light as Jack and Roman approached from the other direction.

"Oh no!" she stopped in her tracks, only able to stare helplessly.

Jack approached quickly, examining the cave-in as the dust cleared, "Did you see the others? Were they caught in the collapse? Or just trapped on the other side?"

However, his question was answered only a moment later when he heard Thomas's pick striking from the other side. "I'LL GO GET HELP!" He shouted as loudly as he could, unsure if those on the other side could hear him. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Roman, com'on."

The smith twins turned at the loud sound of clattering rocks in surprise. Bevil shrugged, "Was probably just a cave in somewhere, sounded close though. Come on, lets see whats through this door, might be some treasure" Beevil said and began kicking at the bottom of the door at the rotted wood. After he had destroyed most of it he would take a peek through the bottom of the door to find out if he could see anything through it. Will looked behind him nervously, "I don't know it sounded too close, I think we should check it out." Bevil as usual ignored the advice, "Come on will, if you don't stay I won't be able to see anything so just be a pal and hold this lantern for me so I can get this door open." Will reluctantly obliged.

The smith twins turned at the loud sound of clattering rocks in surprise. Bevil shrugged, "Was probably just a cave in somewhere, sounded close though. Come on, lets see whats through this door, might be some treasure" Beevil said and began kicking at the bottom of the door at the rotted wood. After he had destroyed most of it he would take a peek through the bottom of the door to find out if he could see anything through it. Will looked behind him nervously, "I don't know it sounded too close, I think we should check it out." Bevil as usual ignored the advice, "Come on will, if you don't stay I won't be able to see anything so just be a pal and hold this lantern for me so I can get this door open." Will reluctantly obliged.

"No, no, no..." the whispered cry met Will's ear, so quiet that he might be uncertain if it was his imagination as neither Hogarth or Beevil seem to hear it. "Help"

For as rotted as the door was, it was surprisingly difficult break it apart, but with enough effort, Beevil was able to force it open. Beyond, the floor rose so that it came out of the water and Will's lantern could just reveal a skeletal figure curled in a fetal position against the back wall. The skeleton was that of someone short, probably no more than 3' tall if it had been standing upright and still clutched a pickaxe in it's grasp.

The light also revealed a thin line of a green sparkling stone along the wall, possibly some kind of gemstone embedded in the rock.

Will turned back uncertainly, he could've sworn he had just heard a whisper, but Beevil kept working on getting the door open. He grabbed a torch out of his bag and light it, then handed it to Beevil, "Here go look in there, I need to check on something." Will said as he started searching back for the voice. "Suit yourself." Beevil said and grabbed the torching making it was inside. "Hey looks like jackpot!" Beevil said excitedly as he stepped in, ignoring the skeleton for now and looking at the shining green stone in the wall.