The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

No... you're way too tired... We still have jars and stuff to catch the souls in, and we still have food to last us for another week, at most...
"Yeah... Arright then. Let's just get some sleep."





demon


our sister


come back to us


mother misses you very much






Well, there's really not much of a reason to stick around here. You begin your trek to Nori Island.



So, Mermaid. We still don't have a map.
"Nope. Don't worry, there's a way to find this place. Hold tight for a moment."



Mermaid makes her way to a patch of seaweed, reaches down and plucks a piece from the gritty seabed. She holds it up, and lets go. A moment passes, as she watches the seaweed float away from her, before clearing her throat.
"There. That's the direction we're going. Just take that piece of seaweed with you, and if you feel unsure about our direction, let the seaweed show you the way."
You take the seaweed, and stash it under your fin. It's strange... it seems the seaweed doesn't float along the same path as the tides...



Thus the two of you set off for Nori Island, staying close to the surface, but never above it. The sea remains desolate, though flecked with aquatic plant life...

There's no one else out here?
No homes in this uncharted territory?
Is it simply the fact that no one dares to live a life so detached that one would only ever meet wayward travelers, or is there something more? Surely making a map of even the route from the sea to Urchins Dock, and from there to Nori Island and back would not be an impossible task...

On second thought, it may just be the fact that there are not even any fish to be found in these seas. One would have to subsist entirely on kelp if one were to inhabit this endless, churning ocean.



It takes a long while, and your muscles ache from how long you've had to swim, but...
"Ah... 'ey, Alex, you see that? We're almost there."
Mermaid chuckles, her voice tinged with a dulled excitement.
"C'mon, let's go up to the surface and get a good look at the place."



Sure enough, you've made it to the island-
but you can't tell if you're impressed or not.

It seems a tree once had ambitions of sailing,
So it took to the sea with a boat of hollowed coral.

Along the way, it grew, and as it did, so did its boat.
Birds of all kinds saw to live with the tree on its boat,
adding to the base with twigs and mud originally meant for nests.

Eventually, as the island made its way across the sea,
it ran afoul of a forest of seaweed.
The boat was covered in layer upon layer of slithery plant life,
anchored firmly to the seafloor that lay below,
and the tree withered away, trapped on the grave it had sailed on.

Everything here is just various shades of grey, including the sky and sea.
The smell of salt and rotting plant matter permeates the area.
Despite that, it's strangely comforting to be here.

You made it to Nori Island.
Now, what's the plan?