Explain yourself.

"The other side is just a forest by an elven settlement," you explain. "We don't know where the portal came from either. That's why we're here, to figure out--"

"Silence," the mermaid snaps. "Two of them are elves. They must have come from the same place as her."

The rest of the mermaids begin to swim away, and they regroup behind the one that's armed.

"You are mistaken," Yaera says. "We have come to help. They told us of a witch. Is she the source of this portal then? If she is here doing evil, then please let us know, and we will put an end to it."

"And how do I know you're not working with her?" she asks. "You don't look so different. I've barely seen elves around here, and when I do, she's one that plagues our land with corruption and ****. We don't want more of your kind here. Travel back through the vortex above and leave us. We'll deal with our problems alone!" There's a ferocity in her eyes.

Mermaids live here... I wonder where here even is. We could be on the other side of the world for all I know.

"But we haven't been able to do that so far," one of the mermaids speaks up. She takes a gentle hold of the other's trident.

"The corruption spreads farther every day," says another.

"This is silly," you say. "If we were working with this witch, why would we have come flying out of the vortex where we would have suffocated if not for these mermaids? Amara here is a cleric, and this is her mother Yaera, an archpriest of who-knows-what-level. My name's Kyle, this is Lynx, and just tell us where the witch is already so we can slay her or whatever. It sounds like you don't have things handled at all, so just accept our help already."

The mermaid purses her lips. Slowly, she lowers her weapon. "I suppose we should."

"Please," Amara says. "Where is the Witch of Decay, and what has she done?"

Another mermaid swims around your group in circles. "The Witch came not long ago. She's an elf, just like you two, but her hair is pitch black. She uses the power of necromancy to raise the dead, and has since gathered a small army around what we now call the Twilight Grove."

"An army?" You clench your teeth. "When you say that, are we talking thousands or..."

"Not quite that many, but they're difficult to slay," the armed woman explains. "And her power has slowly killed life all around the undersea mountain where she resides. It isn't far from here. The Twilight Grove is underground, but if you really are clerics..."

"Oh that's right. You destroy undead, don't you, Amara?" you ask.

She smiles bashfully. "I suppose I do, yes. But my mother is much more powerful than I."

"Then we're about to burn a witch."

Lynx raises her hand. "Uhm. I'm here too. Though I don't have holy magic, I've fought undead before."

"You're tough," you respond. "I know what you're capable of. I'm not worried."

"Well, if you compliment me like that..."

The mermaid swings her trident to the side. "I'll personally escort you to the corrupted area, but I won't go any farther than that. Follow me. We don't know the purpose of the magic that brought you here, so we better act quickly before we find out the hard way."

This isn't what I was hoping for from a trip to the hot spring.