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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 5134656" data-attributes="member: 3285">Grace Under Pressure: Part 1 – Welcome to R'lyehThe exterior lights of the Wallaby only extended about twenty yards; beyond that there was nothing but the Iightless deeps of the ocean and the silence. "Uh, guys?" said Archive.  "Did you notice what's moving in our wake?"Caprice blinked at the monitors.  They'd been descending for fifteen minutes without incident.  "That's weird."Guppy checked too.  "Phosphorescent plankton isn't that unusual on the surface, but it's definitely strange down here." Another few minutes passed without occurrence. Then, the Wallaby's lights revealed strange forms; the Wallaby had reached the strange black coral that fouled up their motors. At first the coral was just singular knobby fingers clawing up from the ground. Gradually the coral became more frequent, and the specimens got longer, thicker, and more gnarled. Before long, a forest of black stalks stretched out before them. While the earliest specimens were only a few inches or so long, the coral in the forest reached twenty to thirty feet in length. The mass extended to the sides for as far as the lights could reach. "What is coral doing down here at this depth?" asked Caprice.A little more time passed. The Wallaby was traveling a few yards above the top of the coral spines, while the agents looked out the windows at the strange landscape surrounding them.Gradually, patches of phosphorescence were visible, pooled on the sea floor within the coral, similar to the glow trailing in their wake. Then, just ahead, something entered the area shown by Wallaby's forward spotlights.Within a few moments the coral forest was broken up by chunks of stone, curiously regular. While they appeared to be fragmented and split, they did suggest being a part of something else."Is that fallen masonry?" asked Hammer.The chunks passing beneath the Wallaby were larger and larger, and had different shapes. Cubes, rectangles, then columns, octagons...it was clear that they were not natural."No," said Archive gravely.  "R'lyeh."At first irregular and far between, the glowing patches increased in number and size, eventually flowing together into a soft latticework across the sea floor. While nowhere near as bright as the Wallaby's spotlights, the glow did serve to illuminate contours and shapes in the dim water beyond the light.The coral grew thin, with only a few stalks clumped here and there. In its place lay the rudiments of buildings. It became clear that they were are at the beginning of a broad canyon-like avenue, lined with squat structures revealed by the spotlights and the sickly glow that was increasingly widespread. The buildings became more elaborate the further that the Wallaby went. Very quickly, the tops of the structures were beyond the range of the spotlights, and their height could only be guessed at by the faint phosphorescence that coated them. They were enclosed by mammoth towers, stolid halls, all cracked and dim, showing the wear of centuries, perhaps millennia. The architecture was of ancient origin, but showed traits found in nearly every style ever produced by man. "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn," whispered Archive."What?" asked Hammer, irritated by Archive's odd behavior."In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming," whispered Archive, hugging himself.  "We are in a very bad place."The construction of the buildings wasn't right. Angles were swallowed up by masonry. As the eyes attempt to follow them, the mind reeled when they didn't lead where they should. The avenue came to an end at a slope of rubble and ooze, rising up to the face of a vast wall of closely-set structures well over seventy yards high. The span of buildings reached far beyond the range of the Wallaby's spots, but they could be made out in the strange glow of the place. A stronger glow emanated from over the top. The net effect was imposing and ominous.Guppy nudged the controls, starting the Wallaby's climb to the top. And then they saw it.  The wall was actually the exterior of a mammoth depression mat extending below the level of the terrain outside. This enormous arena was hundreds of yards across. It would quickly stretch beyond their field of vision if not for one thing: it glowed. The strange phosphorescence noticeable in the Wallaby's wake was present, and it covered everything inside the bowl. The walls of the place descended and tumbled inwards, coming together somewhere below a vast pool of muck. The muck glowed only faintly, compared to the walls surrounding it.A huge black mountain towered up above the rest of the sunken city.  The beeping signal suddenly cut out."We lost her," sighed Guppy.  He slowed the Wallaby to a hover. "The signal cut out.""Where?" demanded Hammer."Into the mountain.  She must have crashed—" started Guppy."No," said Archive.  "She didn't crash.  They're inside the mountain.""Follow her," said Hammer. "But the instruments say…""I don't care what the instruments say!" snarled Hammer.  "We've come too far to give up now.  Follow her!"Guppy swallowed and accelerated the Wallaby straight into the mountain.</blockquote>

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