Taking a deep breath, Yelen begins to climb the ladder, carefully testing each rung before putting her weight on it, yes still managing to misjudge her grip on the structure covered in rust and dried salt.
Gripping ahold of the bars despite the buildup of rust and salt they seem to be steadfast and unmoving, though being soaked has made them quite slippery, causing the Magi's hand to slip free occasionally as she reached for the next rung.
Taking a deep breath, she tries again, focusing on her body's actions to take her towards the top.
Calming and focusing herself Yelenn manages to successfully climb her way up onto the isle, her boots sending out a rhythmic clung at each new rung they met.
Once back on solid ground the student is met with the lighthouse and its door staring at her from the other side of the small island. Decrepit could be one word for the structure, as it looks less like some noble guiding tower and more like a smaller building that collapsed or melted and had another structure built on top of that and repeated a third time, giving the lighthouse a rather spiraling appearance.
The smaller and lower isle off to the side, which isn't connected to this isle, seems to have an assortment of wood and metal fixtures arrayed along one side. A dock at one time, perhaps?
Mylyna was rather amused as the others climbed the rickety looking ladder. She simply didn't understand why they didn't just climb right up the side like she did. Easily keeping pace with Yelen as she went up Mylyna seemed to be watching in amusement but trying not to distract the magi as she climbed.
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As Mylyna effortlessly scales the side, Yelenn grins, turning to look down at Tonya. "It's pretty stable, it'll support you!"
Gulping, Tonya begins climbing up after Yelenn.
Aside from a much louder clung ringing out due to the warrior's weight and armor the metal ladder holds her just fine, the untold years of salt, water, and air not seeming to have any effect on the structural integrity of the ladder.
And with that all three women find themselves upon the taller of the two rocky isles, more importantly, the one with the lighthouse.
"Well this is interesting. A bit creepy, but definitely interesting. At the very least I doubt those undead things can climb up here if we need to run." Yelenn says as after helping Tonya over the edge.
Tonya nods at Yelenn in thanks. "Yeah. Unless there's a somewhat deadlier breed, but let's not worry about that for now." She begins lumbering towards the lighthouse.
"Alright, let's see what there is to discover." Yelenn replies giving both women a smile as she begins to move toward the lighthouse as well, one hand idly resting on the hilt of her sword.
The woman are accosted only by the salty wind as they approach the lighthouse door. If inspected the heavy door is unlocked.
If opened, it does so willingly but with a groan. Inside you are greeted by tables and cabinets along the walls alongside various charts, methodically positioned by the whim of a spiraling staircase going up to the next floor and down to a basement level.
As she pushes open the door she pauses, holding up a hand. "Shhh...I hear something.....sounds lie muttering."
Yelenn's ears are not playing tricks on her, there is words, but in the incoherence she's only able to make out "... not... the... same...".
The sound does not seem to originate from any one discernible location, though that may be due to the nature of the structure they are in, carrying sounds throughout just like the stairs going up and down.
Tonya unsheathes her blade. "You think it's something spooky or an actual person? Or as far as personhood extends here."
"I think it could be a person and still be spooky." Yelenn says drawing her own sword. "Who knows how long they've been here. Mylyna, stay behind us okay?" she says as they move to go further in.
Moving into the lighthouse they are able to easier make out what covers the tables and fillls the cabinets, even as the sounds seemingly abate. On the tables and the walls are what appear to be nautical charts and sketches of maps of the surrounding area, some of which are pinned to the wall under the same charts and sketches, with various scribblings and random notes about the currents. A few bigger maps seem to try to guess at Bastarache's full size in relevance to Hadal, but there is too many changes and liberties between each one to accurate guess which one might have been more accurate.
This extends to the charts as well, as those who are nautically inclined will notice that the currents don't seem to match up from chart to chart.
The cabinet appears to be stuffed full of jars filled with clear liquids, one of the smaller jars off to the side appears to be slightly discolored compared to the other liquids.
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As they made the way towards the lighthouse following the undead Mylyna found herself getting nervous. Despite being what she was, a large snake woman capable of crushing humans in her coils if she chose, the Lamae woman was still bred to be a play thing for the rich and powerful and her skills lent themselves more towards such endeavors than these. She nodded at the instruction and slithered around to end up behind the two women she had joined up with.
Her nerves were getting stretched too thin when they mentioned the voice they thought they heard and Mylyna said, "I don't hear it." She looked around nervously, "Are you sure?"
Entering the lighthouse they began to look through what they found and Mylyna was curious about the maps and charts. She didn't understand them but she looked at them anyway.
As she rifled through them she stumbled on a piece of paper with a heavy door drawn on it and a strange symbol beneath it. "Hey, look at this!" Her face was puzzled as she tried to understand the marks but it was a total loss for her as she didn't know how to read. Once she handed the page off to them Mylyna went and began to rifle through the cabinets. She hoped there would be something to eat other than melons. She looked at the jar that had a different color than the others and took it out to look at it. Not being one to waste any time with such things she got just a little drop on her finger and tasted it.
She felt a funny sensation and then crowed, "Oh my GOD! This is great! It will let you breathe water for a while." How she comprehended that she didn't know, but she did.
Scanning through the geographical charts, Yelenn finds a piece of paper with a crossed out door. Turning as Mylyna exclaimed, she tilts her head to the side, studying the lamae and the vial she held.
"Hunh.....sounds like a water breathing potion......looks about the right color for it. If that's the case that could be very useful at some point, Good find!" she says with a smile
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Mylyna seemed to nearly preen with the praise she got from Yelen and said, "Yes, that does sound useful." She slithered around Yelen, encircling her a moment and leaned her torso in so she was eye to eye with the woman, "If you're really nice to me I'll even let you use it sometime." While she looked like she might lean in and steal a kiss Mylyna suddenly slithered around and reared up on her coils as she looked around and asked, "Where's Tanya?"
Looking around reveals no trace of the large armored woman.
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Suddenly acutely aware of Mylyna's almost overwhelming sensuality, Yelenn breathes in deeply, her cheeks a bit flushed as her voice drops an octave into a throaty rasp.
"I have no intention of being anything but nice to you." she says, unconsciously tracing her fingertips along the beautiful smooth scales of her coils.
Still a little disoriented as Mylyna breaks the moment, she looks around for Tonya, muttering a curse at the island, she trails off at an all too familiar sight. "I don't know but....we should go that way." she says looking down the stairs.
Mylyna looked towards the stairs Yelen pointed towards and nodded as she said, "Alright, let's go." She waited for the human to go ahead of her and then followed Yelen wherever she lead for now.
Taking the steps down the stairs spiral into the darkened lower level, although the light coming from the entrance above illuminates some of the room for Yelenn and Mylyna's enhanced vision allows her to see through the darkness that is soon switched as a crackling is heard above before the lower area is filled with light.
Looking up the cold stone room has been lit by a globe attached to the ceiling, apparently reacting to the two woman's presence. The room itself is completely devoid of any furniture or fixtures save for one.
Directly across from them in the damp basement of the lighthouse is a large and heavy door, one that matches the sketch they found above.
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Yelenn halts, looking at the door apprehensively. "In the interest of full disclosure, I've been......haunted maybe....pretty much all of my life. I'm not sure if she's a spirit or fey, or guardian angel or something else, but when I was little she was my playmate. Except apparently no one else could see her so I learned to stop talking about her to most people, but even as I grew older and paid less attention to her, she never left....never grew any older either. Anyway sometimes she...nudges me...leads me to places I need to be. The last time she led me to a hidden door, I found this." she says resting her hand on the hilt of her sword. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about this door ad what lies beyond it."
No sooner had Yelen finished telling her about her haunting than Mylyna had forgotten all of the details. She looked at the woman as she said she wanted to open the door and see what was behind it and said, "go ahead then, I won't stop you."
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Yelenn studies Mylyna's face for a moment, seeing the surprise and intrigue fade into the failiar blank look she'd seen in the eyes of the few people she'd told about her 'companion'. With a soft sigh she nods, approaching the door and looking for any means of opening it.
The door, appearing heavy and without much ornamentation, has a doorknob with no lock.
"Be ready for...something" she says, resting her hand on the doorknob and turning it, before opening the heavy door.
The doorknob, cold, turns easily while the whispered mumbling builds for a brief second, but the door opens with a crisp clack silencing everything, revealing a darkened tunnel of smooth stone that goes onward into pitch blackness, extending even past Mylyna’s nocturnal sight.
Staring into the darkness, Yelenn speaks an arcane word, four glowing spheres of iridescent light manifesting before her outstretched hand to slowly bob in the air ahead of them.
Yelenn's magic illuminates the darkness before them, silhouetting the corners of the passage ahead it appears to be a hallway carved out of rock than a natural cave, which seems to continue on a good deal.
Yelenn's eyes narrow in confusion. "That shouldn't be possible. Going trough this door should be stepping out over the ocean, but this tunnel is in the place of thin air. Definitely strong magic going on here. Ready to see where this all goes?" she asks Mylyna.
Mylyna didn't think anything of the fact the door opened into a hallway, doors just did that some times. She didn't understand why the woman was so nervous until she explained why and the serpentine beauty shrugged her shoulders and said nervously, "I guess so?"
If the two ladies decide to head down the path it continues on for a good hundred feet before opening up into... nothing. The path they are walking on continues while staring to slope downwards while the roof and walls give away to a cavernous abyss.
If either of them are possessed of a brave or morbid whimsy and look over the side of the path the darkness extends far below as well.
"Uhm...this is insane!" Yelenn mutters after looking over the side. "It's like this is infinitely deep and vast yet contained inside a lighthouse way smaller than the space we;ve already covered. Do you want to keep going for a bit and see if anything changes?"
Mylyna's pretty brow wrinkled in confusion as she worked through what Yelen was saying. The lamae beauty wasn't a thinker and what was being said really just didn't make much sense at all. Still, it seemed this was the way to go so she said, "I guess so?" She shrugged her shoulders in ambivalence and leaned in to speak close to Yelen's ear, "You're in charge, you're leading the way, tell me what to do and I'll do it." While her meaning was simple there was a hint of suggestion in her tone, something that always seemed to be there whenever the serpentine harlot's words could be taken as innuendo.
Yelenn couldn't help the momentary smile. "I'll keep that in mind,"
Moving forward, she led the way further down the dark path.
Down the two women decided to go into the darkness, thankfully the path didn’t get any steeper, and eventually evened back out. Ahead, dangling close but just far enough to make one think twice before stepping to it was structures solemnly hanging over the abyss with chains running up and down beside them presumably to the bottom and roof of this place, if it even had those concepts.
The bottom and tops of the structures were solid and circular and instead of walls had rows of bars going down its length, and in fact, you would be forgiven for thinking the contraptions were cages, because they were. Butwhile they were caged, the door part of which was open did not seem to have any lock currently on it. The bottom part also seemed to have a raised surface.
While Yelenn could fit inside one comfortably and maintain full movements of her arms Mylyna would have to squeeze to fit into one. There was four such contraptions. Meanwhile the path they were on continued onward.
"I have no interest in climbing into one of those cages at all, it's not like the island isn't already a prison. Maybe if we don't come across anything else of note after going a little bit further we'll head back." Yelenn says to Mylyna as they continue their progress through the morbid landscape.
Going past the cages the two ladies find that the abyss here is not infinite, at least across, as a wall is soon illuminated and the path they are on meets an opening and turns into another cavernous hallway. This hallway ends in another door.
Mylyna looked at the cages in trepidation and knew that she wasn't climbing into one of those things. If it came down to it she'd wrap herself around the outside and ride up that way or better still just go up the interior walls directly. She nodded in agreement with Yelen and stayed close behind the woman as they proceeded across the gap. When they found the next tunnel she gave the human woman a questioning look and asked, "What do we do now?"
"Might as well see what's on the other side." Yelenn says apprehensively, before opening the door.