Seaside 4: Where Every Week Is Shark Week

[Earl of Purple]

Tower Island

The first floor of the tower is like the ground floor, with stairs leading up and stairs leading down, which the pirates have just used. There's no corpses in here- most of the Vikings and sailors died in the basement, the survivors fleeing on seperate boats to the ones left behind.

There is a chest, however, an ornate piece of furniture which stands out a lot from the surrounding stonework, as it is made of white marble. It's decorated with fine carvings depicting a grand lord or king sat on a massive throne as other, smaller figures leave him lavish gifts. Statues, ornate furniture, and pots are visible amongst the decorations. Opening the chest triggers a trap, collapsible spikes shooting out in three directions- in front of the chest, and to each side, where a sneaky person might stand to avoid a suspected trap.

[bc56]

Tower Island

The sailors go to take the chest, but the captain stops them. "We'll get it on the way down. That way we don't have to carry it up the stairs." They then head up to the next floor.

[Earl of Purple]

Tower Island

The next floor doesn't have a chest. It has a corpse; another Inuit, lying dead near the stairs up to the next floor, as though they fell of the stairs- probably about the fifth. They're slightly mummified like the last, clad in furs and sealskin, and there's a bone-tipped spear nearby. This Inuit doesn't have a bow, however.

There's another faint marking on the floor, near the bottom of the stairs up, but it's not a pressure plate. It's a trapdoor, that will drop somebody nine feet to the floor beneath. It's not a great distance to fall, and there's nothing underneath that's dangerous. It might hurt an ankle or leg, or wind somebody, and after they have fallen the trapdoor itself closes, and then disconnects. Unless they move quite quickly it'll fall on top of them. It's a very heavy slab of basalt, but unlike the other traps this one doesn't automatically reset.

The entire fifth stair to the third floor is a pressure plate; stepping on it causes several very sharp spikes to erupt from the wall- one level with the groin, stomach and neck of whomever triggered the trap, assuming an average height; exceptionally short or tall people may get stabbed in different places.

[bc56]

Tower Island

By sheer luck, the sailors manage to dodge the trapdoor, and rather than stopping to investigate the room, continue up the stairs. Excitedly, the captain takes the steps two at a time, missing the deadly fifth step, but the crewman behind him is not so lucky, and is speared by the trap. The captain and helmsman, the surviving two crewmen, continue carefully up the stairs.

[Earl of Purple]

Tower Island

The third floor is much like the prior two floors in that it's bare basalt, polished smooth. There's a lone corpse here, a mummified man wearing a chainmail hauberk and formerly carrying a long-hafted axe. The corpse's head is detached and lying near the top of the stairs, whilst the body lies against a wall further away.

In the centre of the room is a pedestal covered in small statues and idols. They're all the same size, but different shapes and materials. There's a jade statue of a cross-legged fat man with the head of a frog. A copper statue of a nude human, the left half smooth-skinned female and the right hairy male, holding a sword on the left and a chalice on the right. A polished haematite statue of a child in a simple tunic with an upside-down face. A mahogany statue of an elephant whose flanks are marked with strange letters. A bone statue of a gaunt humanoid figure with no head and a face carved into their chest. A white marble statue of a man wearing a loincloth with the head of a screaming infant.

There's traps; near the feet of the corpse, a pressure-plate will activate a pair of razor-sharp shears hidden in the wall, which will close at neck-height on whomever activates it. There's actually three sets of shears, each one activated by a different amount of weight; one calibrated for a gnome or goblin, something small, one calibrated for a short person, and one calibrated for a tall person. The copper statue is electrified, with a lethal volt of electricity lurking within. The marble statue rests on a pressure-plate, and disturbing it will propel a blade from the pedestal, in the same direction as the marble statue looks in. The jade statue is cursed, whomever touches it will age five years for each second of contact. The elephant's runes, if somebody reads them or tries to read them from right to left may find their eyeballs exploding. The bone and haematite statues are not trapped, nor cursed; touching or taking them have no consequences.

[Shadowcaller]

[Tropical Island]

"Likewise," Ilpholin murrs, skin tingling gently under Anika's ministrations. "I think you'd be surprised at how many people seem immune to my charms. But you're also not wrong. It's been very hectic since I got back. I had to move in, draw up a target list, make contacts, etc. etc. I'm admittedly disappointed in the number of slain demons, but I did help deal with a major demonic artifact thingie, so it's not like there hasn't been any progress. The job just eats up so much personal time." Since she thinks about it constantly it seems.

[Tropical Island]

"That sucks." Anika replies with a shudder. "Anything I can do to help out? You need to be able to relax more or you're gonna make mistakes, especially if you're killing demons. Blasted things are extremely deadly."

[Reinholdt]

[Tropical Island]

"I don't make mistakes." Ilpholin says uncertainly. She can already immediately recall at least three recently. "Any demons you can kill would help. Or at least tell me about if you don't want to take the risk. I mean, other than that, I'd be happy to meet the people you mentioned. I just can't get too distracted. There's still a lot more to do." There's at least nine hells that they know about and just one Ilpholin. It's an exhaustive and lengthy task.

[bc56]

Tower Island

"Wait," says the captain. "Get a spear from the corpse downstairs. I don't trust this place." The helmsman rushes off to get the requested item. The captain takes the spear and as he walks over toward the treasures, prods the floor in front of him with it. Once he reaches the idols, he sweeps the spear across the table, hopefully knocking all of them down.

[Shadowcaller]

[Operation Sea Slug]

Will and TTN have found themselves on a large speedboat heading right towards what is supposedly their first adventure. From what little they have been told by Sargera, its located on a island which is somehow connected to the ancient gnoll empire and thus also to demons.

With them on the boat is of course Sargera herself. The huge, scary-looking, gnoll who is also the leader of the reclamation league, a group devoted to reclaiming, containing and using artifacts of the gnoll empire. She is currently looming over a map of this section of seaside while continuously looking back on her smartphone, seemingly making some kind of calculations and reporting them back to their captain who makes slight changes to their course based on them.

The captain, 'Chipped-tooth' or "Chip" for short, would probably have been called large for a gnoll with his human-like stature if he hadn't been standing next to Sargera who dwarfs even him by standing nearly a head taller. He seems to be trying to make up for this by having a thick wool-coat underneath his white captains outfit even if the weather really isn't calling for it. Whatever orders Sargera doesn't make, Chip does. Trying to muster any authority he can by the looks of it.

Standing right behind Sargera in a ever alert pose is probably the closest thing to TTN they have on the boat, a hyena-headed golem they call "Zoth" who seldom say more than one word at the time. Apparently, he once guarded the ruins of another island and was taken capture by some goblin "archaeologists" from the "Embarkation Association" and later was freed by the reclamation league and have served them zealously since.
Ever since Sargera and a lot of the league nearly died in a demonic ambush he have insisted on being on her side at all times, protecting her with his life.

Tammy, warlock and wife of Bill the inn-owner, is there of course as the expeditions only goblin member. She is currently in the corner of the room teasing a imp with a chicken-leg which she keeps putting just in reach of the demon, only to pull it away once it attempts to grab at it.

Finally, there are a pair of small gnolls, the twins Hind-gnaw (Or Hindra) and Loose-bite (or Loshe) who are somewhere below deck playing some kind of chess-like game. The two are apparently the groups most seasoned soldiers yet had their own bundle of issues. Hindra displaying barely contained bloodlust whenever demons got involved and Loshe seemingly lending her voice to most inanimate objects she interacted with, almost like a child would.

The island, their objective, is now visible at the horizon. Supposedly, its a thorn-infested place that no sane person would want to step ashore at. No sign of life or civilization for miles around, supposedly not even the mighty leviathans, great sea-monsters that jealously guarded gigantic territories of only water, had laid claim to this place. It was just located away from anything even remotely important and wasn't even visible on any maps.

This supposedly also made it the perfect place to hide something at as they had passed a dozen islands that looked just like it. No trees or greenery, only the black thorns of the infamous "fanged dodder", and jagged cliffs. There wasn't even a good place to land, neither by boat or helicopter.

Indeed, the cliffs surrounding the island also acted as a rock barrier making sure that a boat that even got close would tear itself up on the cliffs. Not that anyone would have wanted to get that close to such an ugly island in the first place, except for them of course.

Sargera looks up from her map and walks out on deck, staring solemnly at the island in the distance. "We will need to swim ashore." She declares. "There shouldn't be any sea-monsters in these waters so I suggest you worry more about the jagged cliffs than what might be swimming underneath."
Then she turns to Will and hands him a pair of binoculars. "See if you can spot a good landing spot." Then her gaze sets on the bolo. "How will you get ashore? The water is too deep for you to walk here."

[Tropical Island]

"Killed plenty of demons already." Anika claims pridefully. "And I'll kill even more for you." The druids grins widens as she softly caresses Ilpholin's cheek. "But if its names you want, I gave give you one, Tina, or Fettina which is her full name. She's a rich gal that lives in Inside. Got a lot of fancy toys n' stuff. Not to mention knowing a lot of other people you might enjoy the company of." Her hand moves further down, thoughtfully brushing her fingers against Ilpholins soft curves. Her gaze seemingly slipping downwards as well. "But really, if you need my help with anything... just tell me."

[Earl of Purple]

Tower Island

The spear works, and it looks like the helmsman's lucky not to hit any traps he missed the first time around- that trap door, for example. Still, he's got a spear, though the dead viking on this floor has an axe with a long haft that could have worked just as well, and now all the idols are on the floor!

A sword-blade springs from the pedestal as the marble statue moves off its pressure pad, before retracting again. It's not long enough to reach the helmsman unless he's really unlucky. The copper statue is moved off the copper plate electrifying it from beneath, so it's now harmless. And I'd guess that both the pirates are likely illiterate, and if they are literate, they aren't familiar enough with Japan to try reading the elephant's symbols and make their eyes pop. The frog-headed jade statue is still cursed, however.

[Deathkeeper]

[Operation Sea Slug]

Will takes the binoculars and begins looking around. He hasn't had the most pleasant time with the unhinged gnolls. People don't generally take him seriously. They didn't when he was a street rat, and they especially don't now that he looks like a lost, chubby tourist.
"Yeah, do you have a plan for that, Titania? Because I'm from Skyside, I've never swam in my life." It's possible that the Spire had a pool, but he never found one.

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Rock]

Oh.

Oh wow, this is quiet a view, isn't it?

Approaching from the air, as Jack is, happens to be quite spectacular.

This stretch of the coast features towering cliffs of stone capped by tightly packed bluffs of sand studded with pebbles. The rock has proven to have quite a bit of staying power, judging by the numerous sea stacks of various sizes that dot the coastline. The larger examples, many covered in a thin layer of tenacious grass, are popular brooding sites for gulls, murrs, and the occasional gillimont. There's probably even a puffin or two in there. So, suffice to say, Jack will be met with innumerable sea birds on her way in, even if the brooding season is at its end. At the base of the cliffs winds a wide, gray sandy beach decorated with colorful pebbles and bits of driftwood ranging from kindling to the sun and salt bleached husks of massive conifers.

What catches the eye, though, are the two largest sea stacks. They rise like small islands above the sea, still bearing the yellowish bluff sands at their crowns and sporting dense foliage of shrubs, grasses, and the occasional dramatic looking tree clinging to a stony cliff-face. The ruined remains of a sea arch lay battered and broken between the small islands, the waves crashing against the bits of stone that remain and are now thoroughly caked in muscles and barnacles. It looks like someone built a small monument of some kind atop the southern island, though according to the map the treasure should be found on the northern one. Should Jack look back toward the coastline, she'll have a wonderful view of a waterfall dramatically cascading over the bluffs and into a bedrock pool that meanders down to the sea.

Should Jack look up she'll also have a pretty good view of a hungry falcon dive-bombing toward her, apparently tired of shorebirds and looking to add jackdaw to the menu.

[Earl of Purple]

Spectacle Rock

The view is absolutely lovely, and she's really enjoying the sights. She's already being cautious around the seabirds- even if there's no chicks, seabirds have to compete with seagulls and are therefore pretty territorial and aggressive in defence of their families. And jackdaws are members of the crow family, and have a bad reputation amongst birds as a result, so she's being careful and keeping an eye out. When she sees the hawk descending she barrel rolls to the side and quickly dives herself, trying to reach a short distance above the ground so she could change into something too big to be carried off.

This is why she doesn't like the countryside! The hawks and falcons of Inside are fed on plump pigeons and don't bother chasing anything else.

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Rock]

Having dodged the initial dive, the falcon simply goes swooping past before turning upwards again. He gains altitude quickly, though it doesn't look like he's interested in Jack any longer. It has already become obvious that she's too aware of her surroundings to get blasted out of the sky. He'll simply look for a bird that's a bit more unawares.

The ground in this case would consist of the southern island where the little shrine is located. The brush is fairly thick and the trees overgrown, though Jack should be able to make out a few paths tramped down to the stone, likely made by people that visit here. Sure enough, she should be able to make out a set of stone stares ascending from the base of the island up its flanks. Maybe people visiting the shrine? There's an aluminum cleat driven into the bedrock to hitch a boat on, thankfully on the landward side of the island to protect it from violent waves. Nothing similar on the north island, however. Maybe people used to use the sea arch to reach it? Must have been before the arch collapsed.

Though, if nothing else, that means the treasure is a bit less likely to have been pillaged in the mean time.

Unless other people who can fly visit here.

Or teleport.

Or have a flying vehicle of some kind.

None of those things would be terribly surprising. But why not check it out anyway? The location is pretty enough.

[Earl of Purple]

Spectacle Rock

Jack makes a note to visit the shrine after, but flies over to the other sea-stack to try and find the treasure, shifting into her human form, growing larger as her wings change back into arms, her feathers disappearing into a red-and-black chequered shirt and jeans. Her beak retracts into a face that's rapidly shifting to become more humanoid, and after a few seconds she stands in her human form. She's wearing her jeans, steel-toed boots and chequered shirt, and slung over her shoulder is her leather satchel with the stylised crow design branded into its surface. She reaches in and pulls out the lemonade she ordered from Trog's and has a swig; she'll take her rubbish with her. She's the first person to have stood on this piece of ground in what is probably a long time; she'd feel guilty leaving behind anything she brought with her.

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Rock]

The northern side of the island is absolutely choked with little more than a singular, massive hedge shot through with little game trails weaving between the branches. There's room to set down, certainly, but not a great deal of room to maneuver. The hedge is easily twelve feet tall, arched tunnels running through it where animals constantly travel and nibble at new growth. Rabbits, probably. No doubt stranded here when the island was still connected to the mainland. The hedge itself appears to be some kind of tiny blue berry. Popular among birds, raccoons, and any humans willing to brave the surf to reach the island. It's a bit late in the season, but a few berries still remain. Little wrens scold Jack when she draws close, unhappy about the intrusion on their territory.

Should she move toward the location marked on the map, she'll soon find herself at a little grotto hidden behind the sprawling roots of a stunted tree. Boulder on one side, tree on the other, a perfectly framed opening easy to miss by anyone who isn't looking for it.

The interior is dark, save for a shaft of sunlight filtering down through a hole in the ceiling-

-and illuminating a large oak chest bound in iron.

There's a latch on it, but no lock.

And it's in surprisingly good condition, too.

[bc56]

Tower Island

"They should be safe now. Each of the sailors take half the statues, with the cursed jade one falling to the helmsman. He picks it up, and the sudden shock of aging 10 years causes him to quickly drop it. This throws the two pirates into a superstitious panic, of course, crossing themselves and swearing oaths immediately. "Let's move on. Quickly!" They rush up the stairs to the next room.

[Reinholdt]

[Tropical Island]

The nymph grins wildly. "That's what I like to hear. Mmm. I might need to set up a reward program for every demon you kill..." Ilpholin leans in to give Anika a taste of this program with a sensual kiss. It lasts several moments longer than Ilpholin initially intended, but eventually ends. "I'll be sure to check this Tina out when I get a moment. But I gotta find Nadas, stop the ancient demon god staff, and hunt down Sargera and her tribe of demon worshipping gnolls." Ilpholin sighs, and runs her hand along Anika's side one last time before regretfully moving to stand up, stretching and turning purposefully to give Anika the full view before collecting her clothes.

"I'm sure you would be a big help with any of those, but maybe we should check out those dots on the map we found? There could be something useful abandoned there. Just that wrecked ship alone had a strong wand that'll come in handy."

[UncleWolf]

Operation Sea Slug

Titania spends as much time out of peoples' way as possible while on board. She sticks to the cargo holds or deck when possible, and she's quite unless spoken to such as now. She takes a few minutes to stare at the cliff face with her eyes whirring as they focus here and there. "...get as close as we can and I will try to climb before sending a grappling hook back to attach a line. If we can do that, then you'll have much less effort ahead of you to climb up." She explains.

[Earl of Purple]

Spectacle Rock

Jack doesn't speak wren, so ignores the little birds. She'll pick one of the little berries and pops it into her mouth as she moves on, to see what they're like.

She sees the chest and her eyes widen, creeping inside and keeping an eye on her surroundings to make sure it's not likely to contain a trap as she approaches and tries to open said chest, to see whatever is inside.

Tower Island

Upstairs, the top floor of the tower before the roof. There's stairs up to that, too, but they aren't what's important in this chamber.

What is important is what's lying in the centre of the room, a solid basalt altar; the long sides are covered in images of people, many with various animal heads, kneeling towards a figure seated in a massive throne. The short sides depict either a front view of the seated figure, or a massive pile of skulls. The sides are painted, making the sides stand out. Lying on the altar is a skeleton in dark purple robes with a gold crown resting upon their chest. Solid steel chains affix the skeleton's limbs to the altar. A massive two-handed hammer lies on the floor next to the altar, along with a round steel shield embossed with a grinning demon's head and a sheathed sword in a jewelled hilt.

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Rock]

Ignoring the wrens only seems to make them more irate. Hey! Hey other bird! Yeah you! Stop being here! is probably what they're saying, more or less. No one really likes corvids hanging around their nesting sites. Buncha dirty egg thieves.

As for the berry, is has a somewhat leathery outer skin. Much thicker than a blueberry. The taste is similar, though a bit less tart and more mild. Little bit sweeter. And after chewing on the skin for a bit, Jack will find that it actually has a really nice after-taste not terribly different from molasses. They would probably make fantastic jam if Jack had a basket to gather oodles of them. There appear to be two different types of blueberries here, one type of hedge giving away to another. The first being the leathery one with the broad leaves. The second being a crisp, tart berry with smaller leaves. Both are pretty tasty. No wonder this island is popular with the birds. The berry bushes absolutely cover the whole island. Thankfully these ones don't have any thorns on them.

But!

That's a subject to look further into later.

Now?

Now it's time to open the chest!

The lid sticks a bit due to corrosion on the hinges, but nothing a little elbow grease doesn't fix in a hurry. Jack throws back the lid and discovers-!

A few copper coins and a parchment note sitting in the bottom which reads:

The real treasure was the beautiful view.
<3 Fortuna

Is that it?

A joke? Maybe there's something more to this...

[Earl of Purple]

Spectacle Rock

Jack would reply that jackdaws are certainly big enough and clever enough to take wrens, if they desired, and that they don't have eggs to take, do they? But Jack doesn't speak wren, so doesn't. Also, Jack doesn't particularly like eating eggs.

Jack grabs the copper coins, and the note, before knocking on the bottom of the chest to see if it's a false bottom. Beautiful views are pretty common, though this one is quite special. She'll also poke around the little grotto, see if she can find any hidden doors or compartments. Or literal buried treasure.

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Rock]

Jack acquires a few decent sized copper coins! They probably aren't worth much, but every little bit helps.

And then she begins poking around at the bottom of the chest.

It doesn't make the heavy thunk thunk! that knocking on thick wood sitting atop stone should.

No, it makes a very hollow sounding knock knock! sound. Should she look a little closer, she'll soon find a pair of slots at the edge of the chest where one can stick their fingers to get a good grip on the false bottom. Should she pick it up, she'll find an ornate silver key and a map nearly identical to the one she assembled. It has the two towering islands framing the cliffs and waterfall at the shore, but this time around there aren't any big obvious Xs.

Instead?

There's another note.

j/k

The key goes to a door hidden in the spot where cool hidden stuff is ALWAYS hidden. The treasure is in there.

But be careful!

It may or may not be full of fish men.

<3 Fortuna

[Earl of Purple]

Spectacle Rock

Where cool stuff is always hidden? Well, Jack's not done this before, so she doesn't really know. Wait, wasn't there a cave behind that waterfall in the books she found in that attic a month or so ago? Or could it be under the shrine? Shrines are religious, and so are cults, and cults always have creepy dungeon lairs, don't they? And fish men? They need water, right? That doesn't help much, since she's on a sea stack literally surrounded by water, but the waterfall's gotta be wetter than the shrine.

Jack puts the key into her satchel and shifts back into a bird- the satchel's enchanted so it shifts with her, but otherwise she'd have to carry the key and potentially drop it in the sea. She'll fly first to the shrine, trying to poke around the stones to see if there's anything hidden underneath it.

[bc56]

Tower Island

The captain cautiously moves forward, poking the ground with the spear, hoping to grab that sword, shield, and hammer. The chained up skeleton looks a bit too likely to come to life, especially with their experiences with the cursed jade statuette in the previous room.

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Rock]

The shrine is little more than a large pile of stones with several thin pieces of fabric whipping in the wind. Considering how tattered they are, they probably get replaced on a regular basis. Jack could certainly move the stones, but many of them are quite hefty and, well, she would be taking apart a shrine. It isn't clear who the shrine is supposed to be for, but they might be upset if she desecrates it looking for treasure.

Of course...

All the cool archeologist characters in fiction desecrate tombs all the time!

And look amazing while doing it!

Quick look around, though?

There doesn't appear to be anywhere that one would use a key here.

But maybe under the stones? Like some kind of trap door?

[Shadowcaller]

Operation Sea Slug

As Will watches the island through the binoculars he will see that there are two visible possible routes onto the island. The closest one, upon the stony shore right ahead of them, is a small bit of flat ground nestled in-between two cliffs. It looks like one might be able to get ashore there easier and then climb up the cliff or alternatively be pushed up by someone else as the cliffs are terribly tall.
The other place is a small spot where a tall but twisted grey tree has managed to survive. Its covered in the black thorns of the dodder but it still looks strong enough to climb and would likely be easier to do so than the black cliffs surrounding it.

They could circle the island to find an even better spot however.

Yet, Will might also notice something strange through the binoculars, namely a swarm of small blue motes of light near the island. They're almost impossible to spot in the daylight but there are quite a few of them, staying completely still in the air. If he follows them with his gaze, he can see that they seem to be leading away from the island, or perhaps to it, in a perfectly straight line.

"Right, then could you take Will with you as well? Since he can't swim." Sargera remarks with a gesture at the boy.

Suddenly, Tammy's attention is drawn to them and thus the imp finally gets its meat. "kthxlol!" It giggles.

Tammy pays it no heed however. "Hey! Will! I forgot to mention, but I got a few ideas how to replace that stupid metal arm of yours!" The goblin claims with a confident grin.
Sargera waves her away however. "Not now, focus on the task and help prepare for landing. We don't know what we will find on this island."

[Tropical Island]

Anika gracefully accepts the kiss, caressing Ilpholin's neck as they go about it. She blinks when it eventually ends however as Ilpholin comes with some rather important-sounding statements. "Uh, sure... but did you mention a staff? Wenomir told me about that, something about demons trying to gather the pieces of one?"

[Earl of Purple]

Tower Island

As they approach, the skeleton moves. Its head turns to look at the pirates and it begins to speak, with a soft, dry voice, heavy with the weight of centuries. "Unchain me, mortals! Free me, and I shall reward you! Assist me, help me reclaim my empire and you shall be kings!" They can, of course, ignore the undead king and keep on track for the dead royal's weaponry and shield, but that requires going awfully close to the talking corpse.

Spectacle Island

The fact that the wisps of fabric are here is enough to tell Jack this shrine is still visited, and if it's still visited there's still a deity that cares about it. And the fact none of the stones are bloody and there's no bones, means Jack would be a little uncomfortable demolishing it just to see if there's anything underneath. She might yet do so, but she wanted to confirm there wasn't anything immediately obvious here before she got wet examining the waterfall.

So Jack turns back into a bird and flies to the foot of the waterfall, lands on the rocks at the base of the cliff, turns back into a human, and pokes and prods the cliff-face behind the waterfall to see if she cn find anything. Her eyesight's slightly better than a human's, but no more effective at seeing through swift-flowing water than a human's.

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Rock]

Probably wise.

Wouldn't want to upset someone right before going on a potentially dangerous adventure.

That's a good way to get smote with bad luck. And the last thing someone like Jack needs is a streak of bad luck.

So, to the waterfall! Turns out there aren't many rocks, so to speak. More like rock The waterfall has carved into the bedrock, odd loose stones rolling about for centuries, wearing pot-holes into the riverbed. It makes for an impressive sight, looking at it up close. Very picturesque. It might have been a joke, but the scenery here IS quite the treasure.

As Jack prods about behind the sheet of water cascading around her, she'll find a cleft in the stone scarcely wide enough for a human to squeeze through, more water running out of it. The stone itself transitions here from a sandy grey full of splashes of mudstone to the lighter hues of limestone.

Oh ho!

An underground stream flowing out of a cave!

Exactly what Jack was looking for.

[Earl of Purple]

Spectacle Island

Jack feels much happier she didn't desecrate that shrine now she's found the true secret, and reaches into her satchel and pulls out her knuckleduster, slipping the hefty brass over her fingers, and then pulling out a large electric torch, which she switches on as she squeezes into the cave and tries to avoid splashing too much as she advances up the hidden cleft behind the waterfall.

Jack doesn't know her stones, so doesn't know the exact types of stones around her, but does admire the colouration of the rocks around her. She's looking quite intently for a keyhole, in walls, floor or ceiling.