Moving slowly and carefully behind the sheet of water pouring down in the cascading falls, Marinar extended his hand out to run his fingers under the fast moving water, the overwhelming roar of the falls drowning out the sound of anything else, be it his boots on the damp rocks or the sounds of the birds flying through the air around the falls.

The towering man made his way back out from behind the falls, hopping down from damp stone to damp stone, finding his way down to the cool crystal clear waters where the falls gathered together. He set his sword and sheath down on the few dry rocks he could find and let his backpack rest next to it. Finding a seat on the water smoothed stones he eased off his boots and shirt, long jagged scrapes and cuts ran down Marinar's back, speaking of a recent bloody encounter.

Aside from the dark red and black scabs that ran down Marinar's back were dozens of smaller, faded scars, some on his arms and forearms, as well as his chest and abdomen; marring his predominate muscular features. He slipped down into the crstal waters, staying close to the waterfall nearest to him for a moment before he moved under the fast flowing water, soaking him in the cool refreshing water and washing away the dirt and grime of his many days and nights of moving through and sleeping in dirt and mud.

Lilyana stalked through the forest, brushing aside leaves and mosquitos alike. She held her bow in one hand as she came nearer to the falls. The forest seemed quiet and peaceful, yet she was uneasy- afraid. Perhaps it was just because she was unfamiliar with these parts.

She came into the clearing and noticed a man realxing in the pool of water. He did not concern her. She closed her eyes and inhaled the fresh scent of the falls...

A sudden SNAP from somewhere behind her caused her to notch her arrow ro her bow. A second SNAP behind her confused her- she turned and let the arrow loose somewhere between the two sounds.

To her shocked horror, the arrow shot straight towards to the unfortunate man.

The man's vibrant dark green eyes had found the woman a few moments before she notched her arrow in her bowstring, that instantly set Marinar's internal alarms off, by the time the arrow was on it's way towards him, he had retrieved his boots and pulled them on. He dove into the water when the arrow sang through the air towards him, getting out of it's way and shattering on the stone by his things.

Resurfacing, Marinar grabbed his sword, the steel scraping against the sheath as he drew it and glared in the woman's direction; she'd had just nearly killed him, as far as he was concerned, it was up to him to return the favor lest she explained herself better.

It didn't take long for Marinar to work his way across the way, moving behind the veil of rushing water and pulling his shirt back on while protected by the fluid. After getting out closer to where the arrow originated and where the woman was he called out.

"I sincerely hope you have a good reason for shooting at me."

Lilyana sighed with relief as the man evaded the arrow. She didn't mind shooting someone- if she meant to shoot them. Accidentally injuring someone she had no quarrel with was...embarrassing.

"I'm so sorry," she told him."I thought I heard something. I shot at it- them. I missed. I must be frightfully paranoid, you know. I don't usually hear things. Or shoot random people. At people rather, you ducked. I'm frightfully glad, you know. You look interesting."

She paused, took a breath, and regarded the serene beauty of the falls. "Lovely place, this," she added."What brings you here? You look awfully bloodstained. Like you've been eaten. Except then you'd be digested. I nearly got eaten once. Do you like being eaten? Except you haven't been of course. I'm Lilyana, by the way." She smiled, regarding the man in front of her, and listened to the sounds of the forest. Despite her rambling comments on being paranoid, she was sure she'd heard something, and listened intently for it. She did not want to be shot at the way she'd almost shot the unfortunate man in front of her.

Arelia cursed herself for being so noisy. She had stepped on two twigs already and was about to step on a third. Wearing her samurai outfit she was a sight to behold, her hair in a braid and her straight face made her seem like she was a killing machine; while in reality she was just a simple samurai girl who was hoping to enjoy a day at the falls.

Suddenly the thwap of a bow string made her alert. She placed her hand on the samurai sword by her side but no arrow appeared. Quietly she stalked the area where the sound came from. She saw a female, elf she guessed. And a man with his blade facing her. She slowly drew her blade just incase he was about to attack her. "I hope you intend on cutting fish with that or I might end up cutting you." she warned him comming out of the trees. She narrowed her eyes ready for a fight. If I can keep him occupied then she can escape. she thought. She knew that ninja and Samurai were notorious for moving quickly so he may be that way as well.

Ploay was calming sitting on the edge of a waterfall, the loud cashes of water rang in her ears, as the spray of water flew up into her face. She didn’t mind it at all, and found the spray to be enjoyable, but it was a bit too loud for her. None the least, this was one of her favoed places to go. Nothing could change that.

But something out of the corner of her eye struck her, there were three people, and none of them looked happy to be there. There was a half elf who seemed she had a bow and arrow, another girl who stepped out, and there was a mysterious man. The man was the one who peak her interest, something was different about him, maybe something good, maybe something bad, who was to tell?

But how they all looked tense, she felt she should check it out, maybe there is a misunderstanding. Ploay thought to herself as she outstretched her black wings, taking off of the ledge in a thunderous flap. But since they were in the waterfall, all she needed to use her wings were to glide downwards. As soon as her feet touched the damp rocks, she folded her ashen wings, appearing to the tense mortals. “So...I’m guessing everyone enjoys the waterfalls too?” Ploay give a teasing smirk, wondering how long it would take them to figure out she was somewhat mocking them by not saying anything about the tension. But if they didn’t that was always fine too, she just didn’t what too much blood shed near one of her friends element, the water guardian.

"It's... alright... just be careful." Marinar replied to Lilyana at first, becoming rather silent and slowly taking in the sights and sounds around them both, wary of everything going on around them, half tuning the Elven woman out whilst she spoke about digestion and being eaten in some fashion. By the time the sound of another sword being drawn reached him, another woman; she appeared rather strange looking to him, then again even her blade looked odd from what he was used to seeing.

"I'd suggest you put that down before you hurt yourself." The man replied to her in a low, harsh tone. The tip of his blade was lowered but still his grip was firm on his weapon, there was no way that he was lowering his guard, not now, not ever.

"Too bad you didn't spy a bit longer rather than rushing in like a fool, you'd have noticed there was no reason for you to stick your nose in."

Out of the corner of his eye a slight blur of black wings caught his notice, his attention remained on the human woman, however; or more specifically, her weapon. Any movement she made to attack him he planned on seeing and countering, if worst came to worst he would hope he could simply remove her head from her shoulders in a single motion but for now he remained virtually motionless.

Marinar's eyebrows raised slightly as he glanced at the winged woman out of the corner of his eye upon her voice reaching his ears. Odd time to choose humour, to him anyway, though, Marinar's sense of humour had always been rather lacking. "You could say that." He replied to her, choosing where he stood carefully and backing up a step, enabling him to see all three of the women around him.

Arelia heard a ruffle of wings and allowed her gaze to shift to an angelic being. No one who was raised in the valley of the mountians of Ered Anon did not know that face, Lady Ploay guardian of the Wind. “So...I’m guessing everyone enjoys the waterfalls too?” she had said with a slightly teasing smirk. She turned from the Guardian to the others her eyes watching them. "I'd suggest you put that down before you hurt yourself." the man said in a harsh tone. Arelia just kept her straight face and let the comment pass by her, "Too bad you didn't spy a bit longer rather than rushing in like a fool, you'd have noticed there was no reason for you to stick your nose in." he said to her.

Arelia simply gave a smile and sheithed her samurai sword after analyzing what she was getting from him. He was no threat to her nor anyone here at the moment. She gave a slight smile thinking about her words. "I asure you sir, there is no possible way that I could hurt myself with a sword. I have used them way too much to become clumsy. And as for you calling me a spy, I am not. I am merely a travling samurai who saw someone at a sword point. Its my sworn duity to protect others, so I came to help her not knowing what truely happened." she said.

She watched the man move so he could keep the three of them in profile, a smart move, one used by samurai often but unlike this situation one would run shortly afterwards. She watched him keep the three of them in profile, but she was not worried, she had the skill of a samurai and knew exactly what she was to do if things turned towards the worst of things. She felt awkward at the tension so she decided to loosen things up. She placed her hands together and gave a bow,"Please forgive my intrusions, I am Arelia." she said with a smile.

Lilyana took in the arrival of the samurai and the winged being with some amusement. She'd been enjoying the solitude of the forest- yet it seemed as though the forest was far less empty then she'd thought.

She replied to each person in turn in her usual cheerfully rambling way. "Oh, yes, I'll be careful. Though it might have been better if you were a rabbit. They taste so excellent. Except I'm not a cannibal. Or a rabbit. Am I confusing you? Never mind. Lovely to meet you. Arelia, I mean. A samurai, I presume? Excellent! You don't look in the least like a rabbit! And I am enjoying the falls, they're simply beautiful! So serene and white- like a rabbit. Do any of you like rabbits? I seem to be rather fixated on them at the moment."

She paused, took a breath, and observed with some amusement the other's reactions.

Ploay couldn’t help but lightly chuckle at the girl for her constant talk about rabbits, she seemed to be very interested, or maybe a bit obsessed. The guardian on the other hand didn’t care for them, as an animal sure they were okey, but as for food no, becuase she much rather have veggie type meals. Her raving food would be sweet cakes, or carrots. Hm, don’t rabbits like carrots? Ploay thought to herself. Great now the girl has me thinking about them, Ploay lightly shook her head with a smile.

The girls odd behavior may lighten up the mood, or so Ploay would hope it would. But then something stuck her, the girl looked like she had elf blood in her, so why was she thinking about eating rabbits? Ploay was a bit concerned, but she didn’t let this give out, she felt there were many odd things about this group which stood before her. Being halfway polite, Ploay took a small bow, “My name is Ploay,” She spoke calmly, but she left out her guardian title, it wasn’t her fualt that no one knew her name. So she wasn’t going to waste her breath, although it didn’t matter to her one way or another.

The wind softly blew around her in an eerie silence, “So who is everyone else? But if you don’t want to say, that is alright too. None of my business right?” Ploay smiled a bit then looked outside, there were a few clouds coming in. It looked like there would be some sort of storm.

((I have an idea, how about there is an earthquake, and we all get trapped inside and we have to find a way out?))

The sun glinted lightly off the tip of Marinar's blade as it lowered a bit more, finally choosing to sheath it a few moments later, deciding that he had figured out the lay of the land enough to be able to find cover and ready his weapon once more. The odd sort of rambling about rabbits from Lilyana caused him to look at her slightly perplexed, trying to discern if she was just nervous or if she was like this all the time. The subject of eating rabbits was an odd one to choose. A rabbit could never provide a man of his stature and activity with enough sustainance... and he truly hated killing animals himself; aside from the fact that he was a terrible even basic cook.

The man realized that he now knew the names... or aliases, if they had not given their actual names, he figured that he might as well return the courtesy. He was an unknown, and a wanderer, anyone planning to follow him would have a near impossible task set out for themselves.

"Marinar." It was a rather plain introduction, yes, but at that moment it was all he was comfortable with divulging. He glanced upward, the sudden change in the air catching his notice. Something was amiss.

((Sounds like a good idea to me!))

(((OOC: I am fine with that if the others are)))

Arelia gave a smile at the girls words. "I don't care much for rabbit meat. I prefer rice, rolls and some steamed broccoli with beef. But that is my opinion of tastes. Yours would be quite different from mine of course. However I do love watching them, as a child I never saw very many. And yes, I am a Samurai." she said to the girl. She turned to Ploay who just introduced herself, Strange how she does not give her title, does she not want us to call her guardian? she wondered

She smiled, "The samurai of Ered Anon speak of an angel who calls herself Ploay, she needs no introduction to those who know of her." she said with a returning bow and then acknowledged Marinar. "It is an honor to meet you Marinar as to you all." she smiled. Suddenly she turned, something was amiss, her face held the same confusion Marinar had, the woods became far too still. What is the matter? she thought as she saw flocks of birds fly from the forest away from the falls.

Lilyana suddenly lost interest in the conversation. Something was wrong. There was a strange noise coming from somewhere, and a flock of birds clouded the air. She tightened her grip on her bow, and looked around, trying to decipher what was wrong.

The noise grew louder, a fearsome rumbling sound. It sounded as if it was coming from underground.

"Do you hear that?" she asked the others urgently. She felt strangely uneasy, as if there was something important going on. She lost her usual vague manner and scanned the place, alert for whatever-it-was that was wrong.

((I'm fine with it!))

Something odd was happening, the faces on the elf was shocking and the man didn’t seem too calm either. Finally, Ploay began to feel the violent shaking under her feet, and a worried face came about. Cries of bird filled her hears as another, terrifying sound began to haunt her. Ploay knew this sound well from being around the guardian of earth, so she knew they needed to get out as soon as possible. But there was a problem, as the rumbling became louder, rocks from the entrance began to cave in. Ploay suddenly whirled her hands around into a wrap, then untired her hands to cast propel on the rocks. A few moved outside, but more rocks were coming, faster then she was pushing them away, so this would prove useless.

Her eyes widen as she was the closest to the exit, and she took a step back and looked at the three people from behind. “Go!” She shouted as she sent a large gust of wind towards them, trying to push them further in the cave. Rocks started to fall down upon her, so she began to run deeper in the cave. The earth shook violently, and darkness grew, and eyesight was lost. Ploay felt something, unaware of what, but clung onto it to support herself.

After what seemed to be hours, ten minutes passed, and the shaking stopped. “Is everyone okey?” Ploay called out in the darkness, letting go of whatever she was holding.

The silence was rather eerie, all the birds had flown away and the only thing that could be heard was the rushing of the falls before the ground rumbled. Marinar found himself trying to keep his feet steady as the lights faded and the rocks came crashing down at the entrance of the cave they had all found themselves in.

Having grown up in the far north and spent enough time being around mountains, Marinar had learned to keep his mouth shut after an avalanche. He felt something clinging to his arm, but rather than try to figure out what it was, he stood as still as he could, his back against a thick, damp stalagtite.

By the time whatever had a hold on his arm let go, his Infravision began to work, giving him the ability to see a few feet in front of him, when Ploay's voice found him.

"I'm alright... I think. Marinar replied as quietly as he could make his voice be without being unintelligible. His fingertips trailed along the cool surface of the stone wall as he walked along, trying to see if he could find anyone else in case they needed help. Then he discovered something he hadn't expected: running water. There was no wear on the stone, so this running water was new the man concluded.

Pressing his ear to the rock he could hear the water running behind it. Bad news.

"We need to get out of here... quickly... an aftershock may flood this entire cave..."

A rumbling made Arelia's eyes grow wide. She knew from the mountians that this was an earthquake. She saw Ploay try to stop rocks from tumbling in the entrance but to no avial. “Go!” she shouted a large gust of wind helped Arelia gain a head start. She was glad that her training as a samurai made her run often, she was not as quick as she was when she was small but never the less she was still fast. She ran deeper into the cave as rocks came crashing down. Tripping she flung her hands over her head and waited.

After a long period of time the earthquake stopped. Adrinaline pumped through her preventing her from really feeling anything but hyped up as she opened her eyes and uncovered her head. A few pebbles rolled off of her. She tried to get up but saw that a pile of rocks had fallen on her leg. Now that the adrinaline was lowering she could feel the sharp pain from the rocks. Not sure how the injury was she waited. There was a small crack of light but it even so she still could not see well. She saw the outline of wings and knew it was Ploay. “Is everyone okey?” she called.

She tried to pull her leg out but it would not budge,"I'm alright... I think. said the familiar voice of Marinar. She tried again and grunted. "Ungh....I am alright as well but my leg is stuck under a pile of rocks....I can't get free." she said in a tone similar to the one Marinar had used. "We need to get out of here... quickly... an aftershock may flood this entire cave..." he said. Arelia tried to push some rocks off but was not able to because of her position.

Lilyana was shoved backwards by a gust of wind. She tripped over a slimy something and hit her head on a jutting of rock. She blinked, trying to clear her head.

Eventually the rockfall stopped, and her head stopped spinning. She sat up,

"Is everyone okay?" asked the voice of Ploay.

"I'm alright... I think." answered Marinar. He paused, then added "We need to get out of here... quickly... an aftershock may flood this entire cave..."

"Ungh....I am alright as well but my leg is stuck under a pile of rocks....I can't get free." said Arelia suddenly.

Lilyana very much wished she could see in this darkness. Her head hurt abominably and she, too, could dimly hear the rush of running water.

"I hit my head...I think I'm concussed. Where is everyone?" she asked, in answer to Ploay's question.

She staggered forward a few feet, then promptly tripped over someone, hitting her head once again on the rock, and sending a trickle of blood down her face.

Clumsy! she cursed herself, then asked whoever it was that she'd tripped over:

"Sorry. Are you alright?"

Ploay heard a voice near her, and was glad to hear that one of them was alright, the man. And she patiently waited to hear the others, and the two girls didn’t seem like they were in any good shape. Plus, on the bad side, Maninar heard water, and gave her slight bad news that could really prove to be harmful. Maninar started to walk, and as she did, Ploay called out to him, “It is dark, we should stick together.”She wondered as she stood still, trying to find where the two girls were.

She heard a small noise of someone falling, or being hit, then the girl, sounded like the rabbit lover, said she was sorry. Ploay pulled out her lantern from her backpack, and lit it. The small light sprayed against the cave walls, and Ploay saw Maninar near her, but the lantern was too fait for her too see much else. “Please count to 10 or something, just keep talking and I’ll follow your voice,” Ploay stopped as she heard a repeat of herself. An echo Ploay thought, this is going to be some day.

Marinar winced to himself when he heard the sound of someone hitting part of themselves on the rock, bearing that familiar 'clunk' noise that happened when one banged their head on something. It vaguely reminded him of the sound that coconuts made when you bashed them against rocks.


The little bit of light managed to extend Marinar's supernatural line of sight, but not by much. He moved through the darkness slowly, before finding the trapped samurai. Carefully, Marinar strained and lifted one of the larger rocks off Arelia, tossing it over to the side whilst making a futile attempt to make as little of a disturbance in the cavern as possible.

"Ploay... I could use an extra hand over here." He said into the darkness, grasping another stone or two and moving them away from the young woman's leg. IT was odd to Marinar that not all that long before he had been about ready to run Arelia through if she so much as looked at him wrong and here he was, trying to help her. He shook the thoughts away for the moment and returned to the task at hand.

At that moment a low rumble shook the cavern once again, dust and rocks crumbling down from above before the shaking stopped and an unnerving, deafening 'crack' noise filled the cave, a spurt of water blowing out from the wall Marinar had heard the water behind just minutes prior. The water flow was little more than a heavy mist, but there was no doubt that given time, that crack was going to grow and much more water was going to come flowing through.

Hearing no reply to her query, Lilyana decided she'd tripped over a rock. She climbed to her feet, and then spotted a light somewhat near. The light seemed to be swaying faintly, and Lilyana found herself swaying in tune to it.

There was a rumbling noise, and a loud crack. Lilyana heard water beginning to stream into the cave. She stumbled away from the light, and promptly crashed into a sheet of rock. While she was excellently agile in daylight, it was hard to be graceful when she couldn't see her hand in front of her face.

She realized suddenly that her nose was adding to the bloodflow down her face. Irritated, she cast Minor Heal on herself. Her nosebleed dried up, but her splitting headache did not.

She ran a hand across the wall, trying to find an opening. Eventually she found a crack in the seemingly smooth wall.

"Hey!" she called out. "This wall's cracked. We might be able to get out of this dreadfully dismal rabbit hole."

She dug the tips of her fingers into the crack and tugged. Surprisingly, the rock gave way. She peered into the darkness of the tunnel beyond, when some rock fragments above her crumbled and crashed onto her.

This is just excellent, she thought disgustedly, clearing rock off of her. As she did so, she caught sight of light shining through the ceiling. Blinking and squinting, she suddenly realized that what she was seeing was sunlight...though surely they had not fallen that far underground.

Arelia grunted as Marinar helped her get the rocks off of her. She put her hands behind her and pulled herself back while he was getting the rocks off. She want able to get it only a centimeter. "Okay, on three," she told herself, "one, two THREE" she said pulling as much as she could, suddenly her leg came free as Marinar pulled one of the heavy rocks off of her. "Woah." she said as she fell back. At the same time she heard a pop, after hearing Marinar talking about water she did not have to ask. There was a crack in the rocks, and time was not on their side. She quickly got up and looked around with the help of Ploay's lantern.

"Thank you. Now I say we get out of here, common sense says that those rocks wont hold much longer. Time is not on our side at the moment." she said then heard the girl, "This wall's cracked. We might be able to get out of this dreadfully dismal rabbit hole."
she turned towards where the voice came from and headded that direction.

Before Ploay to rush to help Marinar free the young woman, she heard that the woman became free. Or some sort of sound that meant success. The wind guardian heard another sound, a small voice, and slowly Ploay walked over, lighting scanning the darkness with her lantern. The light sparkled against the dark walls, glittering them with yellowish light.

“Well we better get out of here then,” Ploay said as she responded to the small voice, finding the owner of the voice. “Are you alright?” She asked quietly.

Lilyana heard Ploay ask if someone was allright. She wasn't sure who- she could not see.

"I'm fine," she called out cheerfully, in case they were talking to her. "Come this way, there's a way out of here! Follow the sunbeam"

She stepped out of the sunbeam and blinked as her eyes adjusted to total darkness. She wheeled around, and where the shaft of sunlight should be there was only darkness.

Curious, she stepped backwards- and found herself once more in sunlight. Strange, she mused. Magical, it certainly was, which might account for it being there.

She shivered suddenly- her feet were wet. She bent down and examined them- they were soaked through with water up to her ankles. But there was no water on the ground.

Inspired, she touched the ground outside of the sunbeam. Her fingers came up wet.

"So, little sunbeam..." she said thoughtfully. "You're a strange one, all right."

She wondered if all of them would fit in the sunbeam once the water flooded. It was obvious they'd be safe in it- if they'd fit. She supposed someone could climb the wall. She herself was only a moderately good climber- and the rock was sheer and slippery. If she could only fly...

She sighed, and called out again. The thought of leaving her newfound companions behind occured to her- as did the fact that they might have skills she needed.

"Hurry!" she cried again. "And on second thought- don't look for the sunbeam! Just follow my lovely lovely voice."