[h3][center]The First Descent[/center][/h3]

Kai, itching now to get moving, resented Malte's question ever so slightly but resolved it into a silent [i]thank you[/i] as the young man decided for himself.  In truth, Kai knew not the answer to his question.  The malodorous murk of the sewers promised to teem with threats, but Ebb itself hosted an entourage of hidden enemies, the barnacles clinging to its seldom-seen bottom, living and working just out of view.  As for treasure, the ninja expected none.  A new worry struck him as he awakened to the fact that numerous members of this group could very well be expecting a good, old-fashioned dungeon raid.  [i]They had better be prepared,[/i] Kai fretted.  [i]This job is shaping up to be anything but conventional.[/i]  [color=C9A0DC]“Ebb side for Malte,” he echoed, making a mental list.  “Subterranean for...Edwin, is that right?  We'll find peril and perhaps fascination down there for sure, if that is what you mean by adventure.  Mr. Ghurst, your continued advisory will be valuable.”[/color]

The next few minutes saw the addition of the Delacroixes, Riad, Ash, and Aron to the underground team, while Kadoodle, Helvetica, and Eresa volunteered to remain above.  Udo Koro Kai harbored his doubts still about nearly half of the assembled people, be their flaws a visage that hinted at insanity, distrust-breeding demeanor, an overeager protectiveness, hygiene, or a corpselike countenance that could very well have belonged to an undead.  It was rogues like this, he hoped, that would prevail where the previous 'squad of heroes', as he'd nicknamed them, failed.  As he and lady Exeter were doling out rebreather and communication conduits, a couple of late arrivals appeared.  One, a proud warrior calling himself Dane Joshin, whose every aspect portrayed him as a rugged hero, happily assuaged his misgivings about the Ebb underground by signing on to the above team.  The other, a lively young lady clad in formerly pristine, now red-spattered desert-style clothes of cream color, was assigned to the sewer team.  Finally, Levi, plagued by indecision, consigned herself to the above-ground team as well.  With everything decided, all provided gear distributed, and not a moment to waste, the entire crew of sixteen left the Exeter house at a brisk pace.

Heading away from the waterfront and towering, monolithic seawall, the street dipped downward, leading gradually away from the stately hotels of the upper class.  Before long, the road gave way to a walkway that overlooked one of Ebb's grand 'chasms'.  What might have at first appeared to be an ordinary city peeled apart like an enormous apple, revealing a labyrinthine assortment of streets, bridges, canals, waterfalls, and towers that extended hundreds of feet down.  While for now Ebb's true tide had almost receded fully, water gathered in places throughout the city, be they basins, rivers, aqueducts, or miniature lakes.  A boat coming in from the port that the wealthy district bordered could travel a few hundred feet down a canal, enter an enormous basket of water, and descend a hundred feet by winch to a wharf nestled inside the city's mid-level.  In fact, at about the mid-level there lay a huge basin called the City Lake, on which ships steamed and houses floated all day long regardless of the tide pouring in via huge pipes.  Scattered throughout the City Lake were enormous pillars upon which rested a substantial amount of city directly overhead; seldom did the sunlight reach some parts of this ponderous pool.  Ebb was very much in motion, alive despite the looming threat and dreadful red rain, and with a mission in mind the second investigation team was in motion too.  Entering a dry lift all at once, the team was lowered past crammed apartments, the City Lake, and what appeared to be a sports stadium to the mid-low level of Ebb.  From there, Kai led the way down flights of stairs, through steep streets, and onto a riverboat ride that brought the team close to the city's bottom.  

Finally, just as the tide fully receded, the sixteen -with or without a stealthy but interested pursuer in the form of Haydrex- reached the bottom, a circular area of damp brown  concrete eighty meters in diameter, cut in half by a sluggish, murky, cab-sized canal.  On the opposite side of the yard from where they entered, a pair of rusty metal ladders led up to a slummy avenue on which Kai said the Depth Plumbers' headquarters resided.  The water in the canal, only a few inches deep now, flowed into a yawning dark aperture into which the sewer team would be following it.  [color=C9A0DC]“Here we part ways,”[/color] Kai said, stepping into the canal.  His manner was grim, obvious even with his mask, for at this very place he had almost been drowned not so long ago.  [color=C9A0DC]“Both teams have two communication conduits for redundancy, should one be lost.  Report in at intervals.  Team Ebb, after checking on the Depth Plumbers, call the mayor for future instruction.”[/color]

Mancer, silent so far but not recalcitrant when it came to looking at the intriguing oddities of the watery city during the trip, nodded.  He took a few steps and leaped, white cloak flapping, over the canal to the other side, bound for the ladders.  It took him a moment before he froze, realizing he was perhaps being preemptive.  Looking back, he zeroed in on Eresa.  She had every quality of a leader, from dress to bearing to a fancy name, so it seemed natural that she, though not officially appointed by Kai, would lead Team Ebb.  [color=BFC1C2]“Um.  We okay to go?”[/color]

[center]-=-=-[/center]

For a indeterminate length of time after the second group left her parlour, Margaret Exeter sat very still, clinging the arms of her chair.  While outwardly anxious, her breathing came easily and calmly, and for the first time in a few days a tentative ray of hope was peeking through the cloud cover.  Sure, it was a team of misfits, with largely unknown backgrounds and skills, but she felt that if anyone they could get the job done.  Even split in half, there would be more per team than the initial expedition could boast, and with a pair of communicators each there could be no mishap leading to a blackout.

Margeret reached for her cup of wine, grasped the glass, and paused.  [b]“No,”[/b] she decided, standing up and leaving the liquor behind.  [b]“This is the start of something good.  If I can't face it sober, what good am I?”[/b]

As it happened, next on her list of mayoral duties was dishes.  No significant administrative duty, to be sure, but a politician wishing to preserve some semblance of self-providence (and therefore an appeal to the self-providing lower class) such as she could not forsake it.  While the rain picked up, another hand poked out her window revealed it to be mercifully clear once more, and while this assisted to invigorate her spirit it did not shake her earlier premonition of dread.  Lost in though, she allowed herself to split into autopilot, only interrupting the routine of soap, scrub, rinse, when a piece of china proved too dirty to be cleansed on the first wash.  Gradually, however, Margaret discovered with annoyance that she had washed the same dish six times in a row, and still it came up streaked with grime.  She looked at the water and jumped, finding it almost overflowing and unmanageably murky.  Disgusted, she reached into the water and sought the plug, so as to allow the water to drain.

It took a few seconds for her to locate the drainpipe.  When her fingers at last alighted on its surface, confusion spread across her features, for she could feel no drain stopping up the sink.  Puzzled, she continued to grope around in the inky water, reaching down the pipe, until she stumbled upon something warm and fleshy.  Before she could yank it out, the thing closed its fingers about her own hand and pulled.  Margaret's scream was cut short by her impact with the murky water, and while she continued to struggle, no sound rang out but the persistent beat of rain and her panicked scuffling with her free had and legs, desperately trying to get free.

And then there was only the rain.