>>6156558Sneaking down below is a trivial task… Well, it is after you figure out exactly which rocky outcrop is loose and will lead you to falling and impaling yourself on some sharp rocks below, which is, in all honesty, probably better than what could have happened if you fell in the water instead. You’re pretty sure you actually see a rather large dark shape in there as you walk into the decently spacious cavern of the cove. The cave itself opens up under the hill, though it’s divided by a river-like outcropping of the lake that seems to flow into many different cavernous offshoots, the largest of which the shadow moves towards.
The cove itself appears to be pretty developed, with wooden pathways put over the stone ground, and even a few bridges go across the water. Nets full of fish and shelves drape themselves over the ceiling and walls while other equally pirate decorations can be found strewn around like the wreckage of small wooden boats scattered all around the area. Robed cultists with familiar masks tend to these decorations and a few well-placed torches as others work on the wooden structures and supports. You even see one hanging many items you remember in your time in the twenty-first century, such as the black glass of phones, T-shirts with a variety of anime characters, anime figurines, and holy shit, is that a body pillow? It takes a lot not to laugh at a cultist hanging up a pillow covered with a nearly naked cartoon with a sort of reverence you’ve only seen in priestesses’ and the most zealous of Inquisitors.
The whole display is almost enough to make you miss the ancient-looking carved pillars that rise from the depths of the lake to the top of the cavern. Many seem to have decayed and eroded with time, one even acting as a decent bridge across a stream further. Like the kinda design you’d see in a Skyrim dungeon. Honestly, the way the cultists are moving and how there always seems to be a way past the torchlight with a bit of applied athletics makes this whole area seem like some big video game level. You aren’t happy that the fact this gives you a sense of deja vu, especially when-
“Hey! Is someone over there?” A robed man calls out as you hide behind a time-worn pillar. You have your shortsword out, just in case, as you hear footsteps approach, though you really wish you had a box or something to hide in.
Just as the man gets close enough to the pillar, you throw a stone into the water behind him. His mask obscures his vision enough he can’t see it but can hear the rather loud plop as it splashes, along with the other cultists in the large main room of the cove.
“...Who's over there!”
“...Shit, did I drop something?”
“...Must’ve been the wind.”
