No they do not

Joined by the rest of the party as well as the Ardent Berserkers, they are now confronted by Zarul and his brethren.

Lathander is stunned by Su-shee's height a d looks absolutely mortified seeing Cerrie so close.

"Aye..." Cerfepto acknowledges the group as she starts to pant lightly herself. "Fuck, that t'ing's taller 'an me..."

Quick-thinking, Cerfepto attempts to placate the behemoth. "Zarul, may we please at least inquire as to the nature of this place and the relic therein? Those who have aggressed upon us up to this point have been quite reticent despite their fervor." While waiting for his response Cerrie note a sickness in her stomach something she must of caught from these creatures.

"This is the Cavern of Splendor, one of our most sacred of sites. This is where, legend tells, we merfolk first made land fall when the gods decided to create yet another failed world. But we care not for the gods, need them not. We were not born of them and we live on inspite of them." Zarul breathes"And this..." he gestures to the chest, "this treasure from a previous age affords its owner powers over the sea themselves. It is too great a threat to allow it to fall into your hands or anyone elses. You much depart now and leave this cavern and the sea itself to the merfolk."

"... Is it perhaps possible to prove ourselves worthy of it?"Cerrie questions.

"None of you is worthy of it. No one in Mundain is."Zarul's voice booms.

"Even yourself and the merfolk?"Cerrie refutes.

"We are not of Mundain"Zarul states.

"So why is it in Mundain?"Cerrie continues.

"Because of the arrogance of those born of the gods" pointing to all of you, "and such arrogance can only be met with ****."Zarul readies his weapon.

"We wouldn't be here if the orb wasn't." Cerfepto flatly offers.

"And it will still be here when you leave"Zarul says with his anger becoming more apparent

"we should just stop" Itsa says as she runs into room between party and Zarul with hands thrown out.

"I agree with Itsa..theres a reason why this guy has it and is protecting it..best not to fuck with the balance of things."Lathander relents as his brotherly instincts kick in for Itsa.

Cerfepto bristles with a huff and a cross of her arms, but doesn't openly object. "... I suppose the four of us'll leave, then."

"But Zar Rul I cant let you kill the beserkers either even if they deserve it maybe we can work som ting out" Itsa says.

Wordlessly, Cerfepto brings her palm to her face, before giving a look to Lathander. Not believing what she is hearing.

Vachel, who has been watching on, turns to Itsa and winks. "Don't worry about us, you go, we have a job to do." And with that The Ardent Berserkers launch themselves forward to attack. As they rush the platform, the waters around the island churn and sudden countless merfolk begin to appear around you and the path to the island. Leaving the party be for the moment, they rush at te Ardent Berserkers who are rapidly closing in on Zarul.

Seeing the hordes pop out of the water, Cerfepto grabs Lath's wrist with wide eyes and runs for it. "Awright, we're goin' already!"

Lathander would think and seeing the Ardent Berserkers go for the gold something burned inside Lathander. "Its best to live another day lets get the fuck outta here."

The party goes to turn, just as the merfolk appear to swarm over the Ardent Berskers. They see Vachel and Kolgar carving and battering the smaller merfolk, while the centaur Fodhath lets loose a stream of arrows striking mersquishes and merturtles alike. Through the melee however, Itsa notices the small saytr of Spefias proceeding forward with great pace without much notice being given to his small stature. Itsa watches the creature get behind that of the melee to the center of the island and reaches the platform.

While party leaves Itsa runs back into room and yells to Zarul "I am here to help' as she rushes to stop the slaughtering of the merfolk.

"ITSA WHAT THE FUCK?" Lathander screams dumfounded this is happening again.

"She wants to die, that's her call!" Cerfepto hurries down the cave that the Berserker's entered the cavern from.

Lathander stands and looks to Cerrie. "Were a group...we can't just leave her to die..Im going to go grab her" Lathander rushes back inside to wrangle the wild goblin back his bow now drawn.

"Aw, for fuck's..." Cerfepto lightly thuds her head against the stone wall.

As Lathander turns to make chase for Itsa, the gobbo joins the melee. She starts making her way through the group as the saytr reaches down and grabs hold of the gen encrusted chest atop the platform. Smiling eagerly, Spefias takes a moment to open the chest. His smiling face however, suddenly darkens with confused expression. He looks up for a moment and catches Itsa's face in the melee, seemingly perplexed.

Itsa will take her axe by the chain and sling it towards Spefias before issuing him a threat "If You dont want to see Ninki soon I sug gest yu leave NOW"

Spefias looks down at Itsa through the melee, their face not angered or threatened by Itsa. Instead they are overwhelmed by a sudden fear.

"ITSA!" Cerfepto bellows from the entrace. "GET BACK HERE!!! THE MERFOLK HAVE IT HANDLED, I THINK!"

"Oh no," Itsa sees Spefias mouth.

"ITSA!! FOR FUCK'S SAKE, GET BACK BEFORE LATH DIES FOR YA!!"Cerrie demands.

Itsa stays but yells to team mates "Go get out here go find happinies lathie and cerrie and perla take care of them"

The rest of the party watches as a sudden mist appears across the waters of the cavern and begins to flow quickly towards the chest opened by the saytre, a light building from inside the chest itself, the glow getting brighter and brighter. Itsa, still among the melee, yells out to the party to go. As she does, the light sudden spikes in glare and the party at the back of the cave shields their eyes. A crack of thunder sounds and within moments the light disappears. The cave, previous filled with the cacophonous sounds and combat. is suddenly silent. The melee before the party is gone, all the merfolk, the Ardent Berserkers have disappeared.

Itsa is no where to be seen as well.

After the surprise fades. Cerfepto bangs her head against the wall some more, muttering quietly. "God. Damn. Stupid. Gob. Bitch..."

Pearla was blinded by the light temporarily.

"Fuck fuck no no no no " He would yell out he would be on his knees "Fuck..oh gods Itsa.."

"Oi, Lath!" She runs up to him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "You alright? Do you know what that was?"

Lathander would actively flinch as he felt her hand be awakening by shell shock and now disappear."They are all gone..Itsa, the Berserkers..the merfolk..all gone.I..fuck."All he was left with was despair. The brown elf flinches as he sees a person. He draws his bow pointing it at the figure. "Where is Itsa..where is my friend..bring her back you bastard!"

The figure is cloaked in black, with a dark hood over its head. Lathander cant make out its figure or face, but he can see its eyes. He has seen them before, glowing yellow. That night, in the desert when they were attacked by the zombie warriors. it was out in the darkness and then disappeared with a crack of thunder, just like what you just heard.

"... wait, we do..." Cerfepto's eyes narrow in recognition. "It's the git who was there with those zombies!"

The figure pulls back its hood and reveals a skull, runes carved into the white/grey bone, eyes of magic, burning with an endless fury contained only within a demeanour of smug superiority.

"I will make you into a damn pin cushion you piece of shit!"Lathander hisses and loads an arrow into his string and aims it right at the creature. "I'll kill you right here...you bastard..I will turn you into dust."

"Your lives are forefeit....you will die and in your **** you will serve me."the skeletal figure says with ruthless determination.

"... Can we ask why?" Cerrie retorts bluntly, eyes lidded with disdain.

Suddenly more cracks of thunder appear and you find yourself before more zombies, both feral and warriors, who immediately begin to charge at the three reamining party members (Perla is there too).

"Remember to bring me the compass undamaged from their bodies," the Lich commands to the rapidly closing on the party.

"WE need to go Cerrie..now." Lathander grabs Cerrie's hand and pulls her along immediately running. Pearla follows quickly behind.

"He isnt here to talk..trust me..those who dabble in dark magic don't know honor."Lathander says as he runs.

"Oh, now you're ready to leave." Cerrie runs next to him.

"Shut the fuck up and just run..lease..I can't lose anymore friends today." Lathander says fighting back the tears.

As they run a blade scrapes Cerries cheek as they go through the caves as quickly as possible.

"Move your arse ye dumb elves" Pearla says as she keeps running.

Lathander silently runs focusing on survival at this point but as they run though the caves trying to dodge a weave though the zombie hordes something in his mind snaps. As he starts to laugh like a crazed lunatic.

"hahahah...hahaha..hahaah" Lathander begins to suddenly laugh erratically uncontrolled as he is running for his life..something has seemed to snap within the shorter elf.

Once they get outside they grab the beserkers slugraptors and try to run away as fast as possible.

Itsa

The suddenness of the blinding light and the teleportation catch her by surprise.She finds herself on a stone floor, dark and black but smooth as if tiles.

"Wat happen" Itsa rubs her head while looking around.

She slowly gets to her feet and look around and finds herself in a cell, with three of the walls made of similar stone, albeit large brick and an open front wall with only bars from ceiling to floor

Her words whispered, bounce and echo off the walls and reverberate.

She then realizes that you are not alone.

"What the fuck was that," a human voice declared frustrated, "What did you do Spefi?"

Itsa goes to reach for her axe only to realize it is not there.

"Not spefi me Itsa wut happen" she says with a snarl her eyes going slightly red with primal anger

"You are here too?" Vachel seemed surprised. "I thought you all ran. Probably the smart thing in retrospect."

"Well smart is not always best but here am"Itsa replies looking around.

The rest of the Ardent Berserkers stand and pat themselves off. Some injuries are evident and Spefi's attempts to cast heal appear to be blocked.

"Your magics wont work here" a voice declared. its a refined voice, one filled with great authority and stature. "I caught your pattern in the ether and transferred you here instead."

"Fear not, your **** is not imminent unless you chose it so." the figure is a black clad elf, white/pale skin with faint/dark filligree runes across their skin like subtle tattoos.

"I have some quesitons but of course, pleasentries must come first." Itsa then notifces the figure is a woman.

The female elf was striking, stunning, statuesque woman whose perfectly symmetrical face and toned body gave no impression as to her age

"Where are are fish people did you hurt them" Itsa hid her infatuation behind duty.

"Your combatants were deposited back to their watery realm with no harm. I am not interested in those creatures. at least not at the the moment." "I am Nafina, welcome to Shuvitinabuti. I have some questions."