The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

UNDER THE SEEEEA

BELOW THE SEAA

Purgatory

Limbo.

Again!

Gonna go visit leviathan!

"Um, well, we're going to the nearest sea city... it's a place called Urchin's Dock.
Now, navigating the sea is a bit more difficult than navigating on land...
There's less landmarks, and everything looks the same.
So just bear with me, because my directions to get to Urchin's Dock are 'go straight from the mountain pass, stay close to the seafloor, and dive further when a wide trench is visible.'"

Fair enough.



"So yeah... we're heading to another city in the hopes of finding some clues about where to find the little spirits. I'm certain other people have been seeing them too. Maybe someone else has caught some already, it'd make our job easier."

The ocean pulls and tugs at the sand beneath you.
A sudden, slight bit of fear sparks inside...
But why?



The sea extends far beyond your sight's reach, and there's nothing in the distance.
A couple of coral reefs are all that mark the way, and you'll pass them soon.

Maybe it's a fear of being lost?



You come to a point where the sand beneath you gives way to rock,
and the rock almost immediately gives way to a deep, black void.

Mermaid smiles and dives straight down.



... You can't even see her anymore. It might be too late to follow.
What are you gonna do?

Heaven entrusted you with this job; there's no point having reservations. Not to mention Mermaid knows what she's doing. Follow her.

Call out, see if she answers. Maybe you can ask her to move more slowly, or hold onto your hand so you can stick close even if you can't see her?

yeah shout out for her to slow down

should've gotten night vision

Scream through the darkness until some clarity emerges! Like echolocation!

Man F that, just go home.

Alternatively: Dive as fast as you can, maybe you can catch up with her?

If you follow her you MIGHT get lost...if you don't follow her you WILL get lost
Gotta dive

Dive. Though it might not be Mermaid you reach.

Mermaid



Mermaid, slow down, please



What, are you afraid of the dark?



No, not really



Don't worry so much
even if you did lose sight of me
I doubt you'd lose sight of the city



Look at how bright the pearls shine
pastel rainbows splayed out over silver shells
this is a city of glimmery things,
sunken to depths decreed irretrievable

It is said everything lost to the sea ends up here,
inanimate or not,
as the light attracts what the tide doesn't.

Welcome to Urchin's Dock.
What shall we do today?

Ask around for sightings of stray souls, for starters. If anybody's caught one, they'll know where they found it and give you a place to start.

STARE AT SHINY

Go poking around inside that sunken ship.

visit mermaid's relatives

Looks kinda small if you ask me.

Go sightseeing

SpoilerShow

I'm loving the half-tone shading

Ponder existence of dock.

So Mermaid, who in this town would know anything about the souls?
"Well the people around here don't explore much, I think only the shopkeeps around here ever leave because they like hunting for washed up goods and selling them."
So, we should go talk to a shopkeeper then.

"Sure. There's a couple shops around here... I guess we'll go to one of my favorites first."


You enter the Crow's Nest. This sunken ship had been repurposed into a small shop, as well as a small inn. It seems most people who would stay here end up just moving into the town later, so they don't get a lot of reoccurring customers in that department. With that in mind, the two sisters running the place are very excited to see a new face.

"Yo, Mermaid, what's up? Who's the chick you got with ya?"


"Hey, Charybdis. This is my friend, Alex. We're here on a mission of sorts."
"Eheheh. Mission to buy somethin' you mean?"
"No, not necessarily. Where's Scylla?"
"Someone calling me?"


"Ohh, it's Mermaid! So nice to see you again, dear, and who's your friend?"
"Her name is Alex. Alex, this would be Scylla, the market hunter in this establishment."
"That's right, ma'am! What can I do for you?"


"We're here on a mission from Heaven. We've been sent to retrieve some little lost souls that may have fallen into the ocean."
Mermaid pulls out the little bottle and shows it to the two sisters.
"Have either of you seen any of these? Little bits of belief that swim around with a mind of their own?"


"Eh, no I haven't. I don't get outside much. You, sis?"
"Actually I think I have."
What, really? Where did you see them?
"Ohhhh, I saw a few swimmin' round in Dragon's turf..."
"How far in Dragon's turf, Scylla?"
"Like near the entrance to his cave."


"Oh."
"Yeah, I suppose he's been hoarding them."
"Oh."
"Yeah."


So... are we gonna go calmly talk to this Dragon guy or...

We could bring...a bribe?

Of course! Dragon is only his last name, he's actually just a regular fish.

DRAGON :D

/me curls up comfortably in my nest
buy stuff from these ladies

Hey okay um, it took me a few tries to design Scylla and Charybdis so here, have some concept art referency stuff I drew.

SpoilerShow

Sorry I update so infrequently, I really don't have a good reason for it.
I'm trying to make a schedule for myself but sometimes I get hung up on things.