Finilia swore a bit when the water in the pump house stopped for over a minute lately, and then took the terrifying - for her - step of looking to see what might be stopping the piston, despite the fact it could kill her by moving. And then she reported, "It was sparkly blue, then it went to being water again. Muddy for a bit." She does not know more. Meanwhile, up on the mountainside, there is a discovery - a new sinkhole fell into the rock, and within is a pool and all sorts of passageways. Colonel Tanya has already complained about going exploring in caves, and yet there she is, staff in hand, ready to explore.

The sky above is clear, or would be, but for the mist - the shadows and light play as if the sun is out and strong.

Amy is in human form, probably to the relief of all. She looks a little askance at the sinkhole that just appeared out of nowhere. "I can't decide whether this accomodating nature is a good thing or frightening," is her comment. She has her backpack with her, so there are some supplies, and the petite doctor looks curious enough, also here and ready to explore.

Danielle hms "I am not a plumber but it might be the sinkhole has something to do with it, having altered the waters's path or something" Truth be told she's more concerned about flows of magic than water provided their immediate safety is not in question

Tanya mostly just looks resigned.

The way down is in itself not easy - a rope ladder is on the edge. Tanya readies her staff and offers, "I'll go first or keep watch as you like," as if she positively expects there will be trouble.

Amy eyes the rope ladder, and then flashes a grin. "I'll go first if you like. You can keep watch." That said, she moves to the ladder, checks that it's appropriately fastened and heads down.

There is a small mark on the top of the ladder with a weight grading in Filinia's handwriting. DO NOT EXCEED 33 STANDARD. Which is helpful, if one knows what a STANDARD is. But still, it is solid, well made, with braced cross-pieces in wood with metal facings, and weights on the bottom to keep it from jerking around too much. Over-engineered, probably.

Danielle follows just behind amy carefully inching down the rope

Amy is athletic enough that the rope ladder presents no issue. Once down at the bottom, she calls up, "I bet we'll need lights."

The way down is uneventful. Even Tanya, staff on her back, hugging the ladder with her arms so that her crippled left hand does not bear weight, gets down easily. And then they are in a cave that stretches up into the mountain a short distance, and then closes off. However, they are by the edge of a pool, where the sinkhole opened and deposited a lot of the surface. Downhill from there, a scramble away, is a dark path. A cave. A slim one.

Dirk climbs down and says "Amy look?"

Filinia either sourced or converted some oil lanterns, so there will be no problems with candles burning down, and there are enough for everyone. She even made a grapplling hook. She just refused to come anywhere close to the danger.

Danielle doesn't do much moving other than to secure her foot footing before reaching our to sense the presence or possiply lack thereof of the patternesque power at play

pinion flips a coin. The result is: Tails

Amy checks out the Dirk and chuckles. "Is that really you, Dirk? You're a cat!" She looks around to see what ist here to see, and frowns a bit. "I swear, this is the most confusing city," she murmurs as she turns her pattern senses on things.

Amethyst rolls with advantage 1 at difficulty 15, using occult, pattern meditation.
The result is a success.

Meanwhile Tanya looks around, flips her staff in her right hand, and holds a lantern in her left. She looks for someone who wants to light it for her.

Danielle rolls with advantage 1 at difficulty 15, using occult, pattern meditation.
The result is a success.

To Amethyst's senses, and to Danielle's there is little here that is new or strange, little that is not around in Amber itself. However, to both of them, there is a sense that a great power that they already know is downstream. That would be in the city itself, somewhere.

Dirk rolls with advantage 1 at difficulty 10, using animal ken, catform and spending will.
The result is a success.

The grouchy magician in black glances at the women, and at Dirk, and pulls out an ember pot to light her lantern, and other people's. That, at least, does not make her complain - it seems to be just a thing that needs to be done. "Dirk, come herd these people who are looking at strange things and get them to move into the terrifying enclosed space?" she suggests.

Danielle peers "Gee, everyone is changing shape "Is it odd of me to hope I don't randomly shift into something." She nods "Sometimes sensing the familiar is not a bad thing

Tanya replies, "I'm just going to try to keep you all alive and not die myself." Grump Central.

Dirk uses his nose and growls to nudge people where they need to be. "We'd like you to move it, move it." He seems to be singing an old shadow song?

Amy arches a brow, as she looks over at Dirk and then Tanya. "We're getting there," she says softly. "I do believe that the Pattern is stronger downstream, or at least that's what it feels like." She looks thoughtful, and then reaches out to scritch Dirk's ears before she takes a lantern and heads for the cave they've found. "Alright, alright, but there's not enough room down here to dance, you know."

The sound of Tanya rolling her eyes very nearly travels.

Danielle hms "Slowly and carefully is best when exploring the unknown" she notes as she readies her own lantern and continues on

Dirk rumble purrs at the ear scratches. "I miss that. I used to spend so much of my time as a cat I decided I was a cat who turned into a man. Let me go first so I can make a spectacle out of myself?"

Tanya does not disagree.

It takes about half an hour of scrambling until they reach the next big cave, a water-filled area with little to indicate where it is safe to tread. To the left, there is a big shelf that could probably be a path if it were not twenty feet over water. To the right, the wall has squiggles of moss on it that look almost but not quite like writing, if the writer was a madman. Ahead, filling the whole floor area, dark water.

Scramble scramble, and watch your head. Amy is glad she's short, as her head is mostly not in danger. Mostly. As they make it to the next cave, she looks around, frowning a bit. "Do you think this cave is usually full of water?" she asks, curiously.

pinion flips a coin. The result is: Tails

Amethyst rolls with advantage -1 at difficulty 15, using no talents or gifts.
The result is a success.

Dirk starts to run right for that deep water. He is moving on cat feet so you might not realize til it's a bit late. Does wet cat smell like wet dog? Inquiring noses probably don't want to smell but stuff happens.

Danielle blinks having one of those moments where she is trying to decide if sanity is failing as she tries to decipher moss scratch

Amethyst can see, just before Dirk hits the water, as he is in midair, that the entire surface of the pool shivers slightly, as massive eddies move within it. Then there is a *SPLASH* and then the giant fish in the water attack Dirk, which is not how a cat-fish interaction usually goes, but them's the shakes.

Danielle rolls with advantage -1 at difficulty 15, using no talents or gifts.
The result is a success.

"Dirk, Look out!" Amy calls out - but she's alas too late.

Three huge shapes home in on him, all huge catfish mouth and huge catfish body. Just as Danielle had noticed that the moss was thicker and greener in places, like it grows along natural channels.

Danielle turns from ecamining moss patterns at amy's shout "OH dear" she noteswaiting to see how she can assist catman

Dirk unleashes teeth and claws on the fish. He bites and attacks gills. He barrel rolls like a gator and doesn't stop moving.

Tanya unslings her staff, takes aim, and holds fire. The lantern is in her right hand, the staff in her left, braced against her forearm with her claw-ruined hand atop it.

Dirk rolls with advantage 1 at difficulty 15, using combat, combat trained.
The result is a success.

Giant fish are not used to giant cats fighting back, although Dirk is bitten on the shoulder when he attempts a barrel roll - he is not, after all, a crocodile. But they cannot pin him in place and he is smooth, if not as fast as them, and he is far more manouverable. With two badly clawed, the third takes a thoughtful bite out of an ally, and swimgs away, leaving one fish that is damaged and one that is crippled; the damaged one flees and the other tries to get away.

Dirk lets them go.

The thrashing in the water subsides. Other than the cat paddling there, all is calm.

Danielle notes now that danger has passed "The moss seems to grow naturally along channels"and continues examining the area

Dirk says "I got bit." He plays in the water like a happy cat.

"I don't think those three fish were all that was in there - I saw a shiver on the water that was bigger," Amy says. She's staying back from the water, trying to keep an eye out. "Dirk, do be careful - you're probably bleeding all over that water."

"Nature is bad," Tanya opines. "And you should get out of it, Dirk."

Dirk gets out of the water. "Amy needs to go all dragon in the water."

"Nope, not doing that again," is Amy's response to that suggestion.

Tanya does not yet pay attention to the cat - she is still watching the water, and her eyes are alightly unfocussed. "This is a magically interesting place," she says distantly. "As in, I have no damned clue what the magic is doing."

Dirk walks over and shakes.

Danielle searches for a path around the edges of the water

"Bad dog," Tanya mutters.

Dirk purrs really loud to make the point he isn't a dog.

There is no path, although the water is shallower on the way to the shelf on the left, and then, suddenly, there is movement in the water. It drops an inch, and another, and then it is roaring down a tunnel at the far end of the pool, taking with it just about everything on the surface - Dirk would have gone with it if he had not come ashore.

Danielle blinks "Where is it being drawn to? Can we follow the courese without getting sucked to bits" she walks slowly walkinh the swifty emptying pool

The path is clear, now. The water sank two feet in a minute or so, and then it stops sinking and is just still. The outlet's roof is visible, although the floor of it is not. There is a round pipe, two meters in diameter, leading out. The top part of it is exposed now.

Dirk sticks close to Tanya.

Tanya's response to this is just a sigh. Things got dangerous? Eye-roll got used up earlier? SIiiiiIIIiiiIIIiiiigh.

Danielle rolls with advantage 1 at difficulty 15, using occult, magic sense.
The result is a success.

To those who are currently able to see into the magical world - possibly inclusing a dazed, confused and despondent Tanya - there are all sorts of magical tides in this room, and then everything gets pulled streight as if the water yanks all the forces down where it is going. That's impossible - water should not be able to do that, and yet it is. Magical sight in this room is hard, but it clearly shows that the water grabs what it can, and yanks, as it goes through the tunnel.

Dirk starts to lick himself dry.

Danielle squints for a moment and then her eyes go wide. As magic seems to be disappearing rapidy, she endeavors to sense pattern power this time

There is certainly a path onward, at least, around to the tunnel, but after that, it would be a wet walk, or a swim, at best.

Amethyst rolls with advantage 1 at difficulty 15, using occult, pattern meditation.
The result is a success.

For someone watching the greater powers within this place, there is little change, unless, just maybe, the moss pulsed slightly... In those channels. Almost a pattern. And it might not be the moss. It might be that the rock behind it, or that nothing at all, is what is carrying that great power. But on or beyond the right wall, there is something in a familiar shape, distorted by stances, but still affecting the place.

*by distance

Amy just stares, thoughtfully. She steps back though with a "whoa," as things seem to be going rapdily downhill.