Night 70: Underground Lake

[nobleman]

[From here.]

They appeared in the same area as they always did when they transported, but a different part of it. As Guy found his feet unsteadily settle on the other bank of the shore, where the ferryman had taken them the night before, he almost stumbled right into the lapping water of the lake. He stopped himself up, sucking in a breath as he came face-to-face with one of those drowned ghouls.

Guy regained his balance, backed away, and then glanced at the torches that only sort of lit the way into the tunnel where they would be heading next. It was just as dark and mysterious as it had been last night, but they couldn't let some apprehension stop them now.

"Well, at least that ferryman kept his word," Guy said. "No toll, no crossing the river, we're just... here." Which meant that they probably shouldn't waste any time seeing where the tunnel led.

Comments

[lighthearted]

When Locke threw the rock, Sora moved just a little closer to the edge of the water, going up on his tiptoes to see if he could get an idea of what the stone did when it hit the water. But it just dropped straight down and didn't do much to disperse the ghastly images under the surface. Yeah, there was no way it was going to be that easy, was it? They were basically stranded, and Sora let out a small groan of frustration. If only he could glide, he could make it to one of those shores with no problem.

The sound of Locke scribbling drew Sora out of his thoughts, and he wandered over to look at what he'd written. It was kind of hard to see, but after some squinting he made the words out.

"What?" Sora gasped. "No, Locke, you can't do that. They'll drag you down under the water, you'll drown!" There was no way that trying to swim through a lake like this could end well. Without thinking, Sora grabbed for Locke's arm, intending to hold him back by force if he needed to, but right as his fingers brushed against Locke, there came another electric shock which sent Sora stumbling back against the cave wall.

"There has to be another way," Sora said as he fought to catch his breath, the vibrations from that shock making him slightly dizzy.

[trolltaker]

As if on cue, a strange gravelly sound echoed across the lake. To most people it likely sounded like rocks dropping down the side of a mountain. But if someone listed carefully enough, they would realize that the noise was supposed to be a hum -- of some kind of tune, even.

The source soon became apparent as a boat glided across the water, sending smooth ripples across the horrifying surface. Gripping onto the paddle was a skeleton, its hollow eyes locking on his two new guests.

"You could let him try!" the ferryman called, mercifully breaking away from his song. "'Course, I don't recommend it if you wanna make it out of here in one piece, heheh." With that ominous chuckle, the edge of the boat bumped against the docking area.

[Jansen.]

[kings_thief]

When he first heard the sound, Locke did think of rocks and he looked around as if expecting the cave they'd just come from to show signs of collapsing. There didn't seem to be anything like that and his attention was yanked away by the arrival of a skeleton on a boat coming up to them.

Locke took a step back from the shore again, distrust clear on his face. Where he came from, the only skeleton things were monsters and he had no reason to think this thing was any different; Well, except for the fact that it was talking.

None of the monsters had ever talked except Atma Weapon. More than anything Locke wanted to go for his daggers, but they didn't have any weapons between them and he was left with just his feeling of caution and distrust. After all, if it was part of the institute, there was no good to be had from it.

[lighthearted]

The sound also worried Sora and he gave a few sharp glances around the area before he noticed something cutting through the water. He saw the boat first, but the person ferrying it -- or rather, the skeleton ferrying it -- came into view soon enough. Unsurprisingly, the first thing that Sora thought of was his friend, Jack Skellington, but the moment that the strange figure spoke up, it was clear that he wasn't the same person.

Or skeleton. Whatever.

Locke couldn't say anything, obviously, but it was clear that he was already on edge. Sora didn't blame him, since a set of bones showing up to find them out of nowhere seemed pretty coincidental. On the other hand, that boat was big enough to hold all of them so it might be their only chance to get across the lake.

Besides, his fondness for Jack made Sora a bit quicker to trust the stranger than he might have been otherwise. He stepped forward and looked the ferryman over before speaking up. "Hello there, Mister. I'm Sora and this is Locke. He can speak right now, it's a long story, but... will you be able to take us across? Otherwise we're kind of stuck here."

[trolltaker]

"Ohhhh, cat got his tongue, eh?" The ferryman stared at the man with hollow eyes. "That's too bad. Stuff like that can be useful out here."

The kid's question wasn't so unreasonable, and he got bonus point for actually asking instead of regarding him with outright hostility. Sheesh, some people didn't have any manners.

"I guess I could," he answered with a low chuckle, "since I have a boat and everything. Not much else for me to do down here, you know. The spiders are poor sports, so they're awful at charades."

Looking at the boy with an eternal grin, he continued. "This ain't a charity, though, so I'm gonna want something in return. Nothing too steep. Gold or money doesn't mean much to a dead guy like me. More than anything, I want to experience what it's like to live again. So I'll accept someone's sense of hearing, sense of sight, sense of smell, sense of touch, or maybe even their voice."

Leaning against his paddle, the ferryman gave a brief shrug. "Since I'm such a nice guy, let me tell you something -- your sense of smell is practically a freebie. But you can only use that once, got it?"

[kings_thief]

Oh yes, such a nice guy, like that was convincing. Still, Sora didn't seem as bothered by him...it as Locke was, so there was that. Besides, the skeleton did have a point, he was the only one with a boat.

Really, what was there to lose by giving this a shot? Either they swam across and potentially died thanks to the dead things in the water or the the temperature, or they trusted this guy and risked him turning on them. The latter was the lesser of two evils.

Locke dropped his caution a little bit and moved to stand by Sora, offering another hastily written note of 'I'll do it if you're not comfortable with it, who knows, not being able to smell things might be better in a place like this.' Of course, they didn't know how long that price would be in effect or if it was even a permanent thing.

But, then again, did it really matter if it got them to where they were going in the end?

[lighthearted]

This skeleton was quite the character. Did he really mean that about the spiders, or was this all just one big joke to him? Sora tilted his head to the side in confusion, but it wasn't long before he got a more direct explanation.

So they were going to have to give up one of their senses to get across. That actually seemed like a pretty high price, especially since the ferryman was making it sound like they would need to do that each time they wanted to cross. Seeing how they were eventually going to want to get back to Farwell, Sora had to keep that in mind.

It was true that giving up your sense of smell wasn't such a big deal, though. Sora was thinking it over when Locke came over and showed him a note. Seeing that offer, Sora was quick to shake his head. "No! You already don't have your voice, so it wouldn't be fair."

Besides, there was something Sora wanted to ask first. He turned his attention back to the skeleton and crossed his arms over his chest. "So... if we give up a sense, does that mean it's gone forever?" he asked. "Or will it be back by morning, like with most of the stuff here?" He wanted to be clear on that before he agreed to anything.

[trolltaker]

There was always someone who wanted to take the bullet first. Not that it particularly mattered to Charon. As someone who was already dead, he didn't find the toll to be all that unreasonable. If they wanted to squabble over who got to first, so be it.

Scratching his chin out of habit, Charon considered the boy's question. "Depends on if the guy in charge feels like giving it back," he answered after a moment. "Heheh, not that I'd mind keeping it safe for you."