Round 105

The water found her first. Merrin stood ankle-deep in the dark pool at the bottom of the secret passage, her wiry frame tense as she scanned the depths for movement. The liquid lapped higher now, cold and unsettlingly alive with unseen currents. Every shadow seemed to conceal a waiting maw, every ripple a hint of something vast moving beneath the surface.

"Fuck," she hissed under her breath, more prayer than curse. Her injured arm throbbed in time with her pulse, but the pain was distant compared to the terror clawing at her gut.

She could hear Varikka's muffled screams from deeper in the chamber, the sound of someone fighting for their life against impossible odds. Varikka. The thought of her friend drowning, pulled into those depths by some monstrous thing, was unbearable. But rushing in blindly would only get herself killed too - and then no one could help. She needed a plan. Needed to think like the thief she was.

The water rose another inch, sloshing against the walls of the passage. Merrin's eyes darted around, searching for any advantage. The ceiling here was lower than in the main chamber, forcing her to crouch slightly as she moved forward. Her heavy mace felt like a dead weight in her hands, useless against whatever lurked below the surface.

Her gaze fell on a rusty iron bar protruding from the wall at shoulder height. It looked like it might once have held some kind of mechanism, but now it was just... there. A pointless remnant of whatever this place had been built for. But maybe...? With her good hand, Merrin grabbed the bar and pulled. It moved slightly, creaking with the effort.

She pulled harder, putting her entire body into it. The bar shifted more noticeably, and suddenly a section of the wall beside it swung inward with a groan. A hidden compartment! Merrin nearly stumbled backward in surprise, water splashing around her ankles. Inside was a small space, barely large enough for her to fit, containing a pile of what looked like... bones? And something else, glinting metallically in the dim light.

Heart pounding, Merrin reached inside and pulled out the metallic object. It was a dagger, its blade etched with strange symbols that seemed to glow faintly in the darkness. She didn't have time to examine it closely now - the water was still rising, and Varikka's screams were growing more desperate. But this... this might be useful.

She tucked the dagger into her belt and turned back to the passage ahead. The water was up to her knees now, moving faster as it poured in from somewhere unseen. She needed to move quickly, to find a way through or around this new obstacle before it was too late. Before she joined Varikka at the bottom of that lake.

Merrin took a deep breath and pushed forward into the rising water, mace held ready, every sense on high alert for any sign of movement below the surface.