"It was not what I expected." Hamin agrees as he recovers his composure.  With the earth mother freed, his thoughts turn to one of her daughters.  "It is a shame that Saffaris was not here to see that …  But perhaps she will rest more peacefully now."

Once the initial surprise has passed, his thoughts return to the present.  "You are right, of course.  I don't really fancy a return journey back through that city of Orcs and Drow, although I think we should probably keep a good watch on our back route, while we wait for it to cool."

Then he turns to his daughter, his brow furrowed "I wonder if Kalibar has been returned to this world?  In some ways I hope so, it would be good to return 'home', even if only for a short while -  and we don't yet know what sort of world they would find.  In some ways, the greyness might be preferable to the wars that The Morigan foresees.  BUT, as Alsha'an points out, we need to get out of here in one piece first ..."

Brugar looks up the shaft too and looks thoughtful.

"Aye, Ah'd rather not 'ave to fight me way back out through all them orcs an' orogs an' their mates. Too damned slow that way. We might be able to climb out, if luck be with us. Ah've got some rope, grapplin' 'ook an' 'alf a dozen pitons as well as me magic rope of climbin' an' our bag of 'oldin'. Lass, ye still got them boots of levity what lets ye fly up a wall without so much as touchin' it?" he asks Alasha'an.

Even as Hamin ponders past and future and you all seek swift release from this deep tomb, the light at the top of the shaft swiftly fades.  In light of the Morrigan's last words to you, perhaps it is an omen.

For a moment you fear that something is amiss, that despite the Warrior-Maiden's words the fulfillment of the Prophecy is yet to be realised ... but then a loud rumbling reaches your ears and water begins to pour down the shaft, dragging loose earth and stone with it as it swiftly becomes a torrent.  The smell of brine reaches you, stronger even than the decay of this dank chamber ... and you realise that the shaft has opened out on the sea above !

When he realises what is coming, Brugar curses mildly.

”Bugger. Ah ‘aven’t ‘ad no bath since the Third Age. This’ll mess that up completely!”

However, he quickly gets serious.

”Better get movin’, folks. Maybe we can seal the portal behind us if we can get there afore it’s flooded.”

"Run ...."  Hamin shouts as he starts moving back the way they came, as quickly as he can.

This new threat may perhaps be considered mundane, yet it is belike the one challenge against which sharp blades, skill and courage can not prevail.  And so, with the waters rapidly rising, you quickly decide that your only chance is retreat.

The roiling mass is gone from the stairs, banished by Morrigan, yet the waters that follow in your wake as you start up them, fast as you can, are more implacable than the churning corruption, ever at your heels as you climb.

A burst of effort ... and Brugar wields his axe, reversed in his grip, to bat away the spikes he'd set, as Hamin hauls one of the freed doors open for Yetta and Alasha'an to move past him, following after the pair as the Dwarf delays just long enough to pull it closed behind him, hoping to slow the waters' advance.

At last you gain the temple proper, the black marble slick beneath your sodden boots, but with a short respite as the waters gather below you.  Opposite the stairs is one of the temple entrances, the other in the larger chamber to the west where lie the bodies of the fallen before the black well, and that of Ayas by the secret way that leads to the roof of the building.

OOC: Map of the proceedings updated ...

As he runs and climbs, Hamin hangs Calanor's sword on his back, and spends a moment to grab his polearm.

Back in the temple, he pauses, somewhat out of breath from the long climb.  "Back the way we came, or shall we try the main doors?" cocking his head he listens briefly for the sound of fighting outside.  "What ever we do, we should sling one of those sets of doors open, so that threses levels soak up some of the water."  Then trying to catch his breath, he adds, "perhaps we should open the doors anyway?   And hope the drow city takes the brunt of the flood?  Getting rid of those bastards would be a bonus ..."

"Main door and hope we can get through the gate," Yetta suggests, taking the opportunity to use her healing wand upon Brugar for good measure.

"It's a long way round down those tunnels and back through that dark cavern full of ghouls.. and for all that effort, it'll only lead us back to the city on the other side of the gate anyway."

"Maybe we can convince the guards that it's a good time to seek higher ground! Though, if not then we've another fight on our hands."

Shrugging, she closes her eyes to concentrate, and assumes the form of one of the dead Drow priestesses. "This might help."

"Or get you killed by orcs ..." Hamin responds dryly.

Brugar unceremoniously stuffs Ayas's body into his bag of holding while the others make their own preparations.

"The guards on this side o' the gates'll be seein' that massive waterfall plungin' straight down outa the cavern roof into the temple already. Won't take much for Yetta to persuade 'em to open the gates an' clear a path for them as don't wanna drown," he suggests.

"It's behind us," Alasha'an tells Brugar, pointing down the stairs to the rising waters. "Unless they're particularly well sealed and very strong, your waterfall is going out the front doors.. and so should we."

"Though I'll grant it'll add a little something to Yetta's argument," the elf grins, striding doorwards. "Shall we?"

Hamin shrugs his assent, opens the doors and steps through.  Looking about for signs of life, he will shout  "RUN!  The wrath of the gods is upon us."

Brugar grins back at Alasha'an and follows close on Hamn's heels as he exits the temple. He glances back over his shoulder at the torrent of water streaming down through the hole in the cavern roof, curses loudly, and quickens his step.

You remove the bar across the temple doors, though not without some difficulty, for it seems they have not been opened for centuries, and by the time you are done the water is lapping at your ankles, making the task of hauling the heavy stone portals back against the rising tide that much harder ...

... but manage it you do, an as you spill out of the temple the eyes of the two dozen or so of the Orogs and Orcs on this side of the black gates turn towards you, as do the nearer of those orcs on the other side.  Hamin's warning is greeted with the readying of weapons as the guards begin to advance towards you.

Then those eyes widen in fear as there is a loud cracking from somewhere behind and above you as the torrent of water breaks through the stone, becoming the waterfall that Brugar predicted.

You are forgotten as the black gates are swiftly flung upon and the guards begin to spill into the city to shouts and cries of complaint not yet turned to panic.

"Looks like they're more used to being shouted at than people asking nicely," the Elf notes wryly as Hamin's command, backed by the torrent of water from above, spurs the gate's guards into action.

"I doubt they'll be seeking the surface, but it's going to be hard going to force our way through a city full of creatures consumed by panic," she suggests. "You want to go first," Alasha'an asks Brugar, "Hamin next to scare them off, and Yetta and I will guard our rears."

"Drow Priestess, name unpronounceable, should help us get through," Yetta notes wryly. "And with luck we'll be on our way before the majority realise there's anything to panic about."

"Aye, let's go!" Brugar wholeheartedly agrees with Alasha'an's suggestion.

He quickly takes the lead, axe and shield ready to clear the way if needed, and setting as fast a pace as he thinks they will all be able to sustain.

With a nod, Hamin takes his place behind Brugar and follows along, scowling at anyone who should dare look at them.

The congestion around the gate swiftly clears as the guards move out into the clearing in front of the Black Gates, then down the main path through the city as they try to get away, though the route is full of Orcs and other creatures of the Underdark and their progress is slowed then stopped as most of those they encounter seem more minded to pick a fight than to heed the guard's warnings.

At the fore, Brugar elects to follow Malgrom's example and turns away from the main path, instead following the wall of the immense cavern, keeping it on his left as he hurries along.  The Dwarf still has to push, but with his axe held firmly in hand, and backed up both by Hamin's grim countenance and Yetta's borrowed appearance, you manage a good pace, with no more than half-voiced and swiftly dropped objections to your passage.

Perhaps three hundred paces curving East to South and you pass a dark opening with stairs winding yet deeper, down which filthy Orcs toil hauling buckets of ore, the same distance again and a bit more brings you to an encampment of soldiers, sited before another narrow tunnel that leads a short distance to an underground waterway.  These Orcs and Orogs do not challenge you, either because of the 'Drow Priestess' in your company or else because they are preoccupied at the sudden, if slow rising of the waters as it creeps back up the tunnel.

Five hundred paces more and you pass by another tunnel, the stench of fish guts unavoidable, though those Orcs nearby do not seem to notice it.  Your path turns again, now angling back towards the West and six hundred paces further on you meet the tunnel whereby you first entered this immense cavern, your approach very much slowed by the tide of creatures spilling out of it, though Brugar manages to force an opening, though you are all, save for Yetta, bumped and jostled as you progress, though not questioned at either the outer or inner gates as you laboriously pass through the two smaller caverns, a hundred paces bringing you through the first, and half that again at the second, though here the light ranges from poor to none and the Dwarf and the one-eyed warrior are forced to guide Yetta and Alasha'an.

Hard as it was to travel down these tunnels, the journey back up them is harder yet, between the curses and buffeting for the maimed and defeated, a tide of creatures that seems to have grown if anything, and the many, many rough and crumbling steps you must climb, and even the Dwarf is winded by the time you gain the final cavern.  Another hundred and fifty paces, though truth be told you've long stopped counting and after a fraught but thankfully short trek up the narrow ledge, head back into the darkened tunnels, this last twisting and turning as you find yourself scraped raw where flesh meets the rough stone walls as you push against the oncoming mass of those returning to the lands below.

Finally the light improves and shortly thereafter you cross once more over the stone bridge that spans a wide chasm, leaving the rough tone behind you as you tread now on stone flags, the walls fashioned from dressed blocks, and up carved stone steps, though none of it seems familiar, for you did not linger long when you passed through on your way down into Garek Enkdal.  Though the way is yet obvious, marked still by the flow of creatures heading the other way.

You are heading South now, down a long corridor, dimly but sufficiently lit.  The hurt and maimed come towards you as you battle against the flow, then reach a side passage to the East, the first of three such that Hamin can see, all adding to the tide of misery.

Do you prefer to continue on, or take any of the three side passages (the nearest of those has the fewest travellers) ?

 Hamin scowls at everyone and everything he passes, except for the sight of the slowly rising water levels in the mine.  There is half a frown as he considers the slow and creeping vengeance of The Mother on those who held her captive, and that makes him think of her long-lost daughter buried under the ice in the far north.  But those memories will always be there.  No time for reminiscence now, getting his daughter, and his friends, out of here is the thing.  He continues on, tired and breathing hard, still scowling at anyone who might think about getting in their way, and taking his share of the knocks if any of them do so.

He is tempted by the first, and least travelled, side tunnel.  "Shall we ask where it leads?" he asks the others.

Brugar thinks for a moment then shrugs.

"Aye, if'n one of ye can speak their language. Ah never learnt 'ow," he replies more quietly than usual.

Hamin gives it a go, picking someone who looks not too threatening but relatively bright, he moves to block their path and asks  "Where does this tunnel, come out?"  Then assuming that he is understood, that they answer and don't just barge past him, he adds quietly  "The Wrath of The Mother is about to strike this city.  Already the waters are rising from below.  Show us the way back up, and we will make sure you get out safely."

The blanket-shrouded Drow male that Hamin accosts at first seems minded to push his way past, but finding his way blocked raises his bowed head to look up, a flicker of anger kindled briefly in his eyes that dies swiftly as he sees the man and Dwarf before him, thinking better of it, though despair is soon writ large upon his blistered and bloodied face as he heeds the words of the one-eyed warrior, his understanding of the Common tongue sufficing, despite Brugar's misgivings.

"Death below and death above.  It seems it matters little which path you chose, for they all lead to doom," he replies bitterly.

"Though if you'd rather burn than drown ..." he looks first behind him and then to his left past the approaching line of the defeated.

"Any of these passages will grant you the death you will find above.  They all lead to the same ending."

He considers a moment before shrugging, painfully.  "The last of these three passages on the left is the most direct route."

The Drow shakes his head at your offer.  "If the Widow-Maker requires my life, then it is hers to take.  I shall not flinch at the last."

Hamin moves aside to let the Drow past and, with a nod of thanks, wishes him well in the best way he is ableShold the end come for you, may it be as easy on you as possible. When the Drow has gone he turns to his companions.  "Third passage it is, then," and with that he starts forward, following the same methods as before, toward the nominated exit.

Brugar follows Hamin's lead as the party resumes the outward journey once more.