Round 503

The stone groaned like a living thing in its death throes, water rushing past their ankles as Merrin clung to Varrika. The dwarf woman grit her teeth against the pain in her ankle, using her crowbar like a walking stick for support. "Move!" she snarled, half-shoving Merrin toward the narrow gap in the wall. Water sprays from cracks in the ceiling, each impact sending fresh agony through Varrika's throbbing joint. The opening is barely wide enough for a human child, let alone two fully-grown women.

Merrin presses her face against the stone, peering through. "It goes somewhere!" she calls back, voice tight with fear and exertion. "But it's fucking tight." She starts to squeeze through, her wiry frame scraping against rock as water continues to rise around them. Varrika follows, her broader shoulders and injured ankle making the passage even more precarious. She hisses in pain as stone scrapes against her wounded wrist, but pushes on with desperate determination.

The gap narrows further, forcing her to twist sideways and contort her body unnatural...ly. Just as she thinks she might be stuck, the pressure of the rising water behind them becomes too much. With a final heave, they both tumble through into darkness beyond. The sound of rushing water is immediate and overwhelming - they've emerged into some kind of subterranean channel, and the water level is already waist-deep and rising fast.

Merrin gasps as she surfaces, sputtering water from her mouth. "What in all the hells was that?" she chokes out, looking around wildly. The space is gloomy, lit only by flickering torchlight far ahead. Shadows writhe across the walls, suggesting movement in the depths below them.

Varrika hauls herself upright, grimacing as water sloshes over her injured ankle. "I think we just found the drainage system," she growls, scanning their surroundings with narrowed eyes. "And it's not empty." Something large moves beneath the surface, disturbing the already turbulent waters. "We need to keep moving if we want to stay alive."