[Plot] Dark Water - The Dry Rock

[swaswj]

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Dark Water - The Dry Rock​

Anguis Trigon, Phase Four​

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An age ago, there was a sprawling kingdom beneath the waves in the northern waters: Thalass, Throne of Rime. Its people were rich in rare metals, alabaster, ivory, and especially levis oil. Thalass formed a cornerstone to the economies of the northern countries and even held trade ties far to their west, near to Boreas. The capital was said to be pure white, from the three-sided spire holding the throne all the way down to the domed homes of the miners, laborers, and whalers.

Now, much of the white stonework had been worn away to reveal darker stone underneath, or else had been covered by barnacles and coral, ravages of time evident on the once-great kingdom. Now going by the name of Talloss, the ophidian city was one of darkness broken up by colored lights. Garus and Diamantus were led through the streets, yet again taking in the signs of society and culture. Talloss had been formed out of the ruins of a much older kingdom, true, but it was still an impressive city in its own right. For its size, though, it was sparsely populated, and the words of the shaman Etiirshaii echoed in the mind of both prisoners.

No words were shared on the trek through the city; their guards had nothing but growls and hisses to offer, and Garus was pointedly refusing to look at Diamantus.

Near to the outskirts of the city, the shape of a large boulder gradually took form in the darkness. The ophidians led them down toward an oblong crack leading inside, lined in purple and red lights. The tunnel into the stone was tight enough that they had to travel single file, with each of the velen in between two ophidians. The inside of the stone had multiple sharp, flat sides; they looked man-made but in a pattern that seemed too random to be intentional.

There was a change in pressure, a loosening in the chest, and then the naga leading the way burst through into open air, a bubble within the boulder. A magical white light gave the small chamber a soft glow. Once the two prisoners and their guards had entered the chamber, barely large enough to hold them all, the naga pointed with its spear at the opposite side. There was a tight corridor through the stone ahead. Garus took the lead, heading through the tight confines. Underneath, the stone had formed into tight, hexagonal patterns, possibly basalt.

At the other end of the tunnel, two ophidians were there to greet them. The guards hissed and brandished tridents before a call from their escorts calmed them. Just past these two guards there was a bubble, leading into another tight tunnel, this one filled with water and heading upward.

"In there," one ophidian said, pointing the way. "This is the Dry Rock. You will have air to breathe, but if you try to swim free, an alarm will trigger red lights. There is only one way out." Garus didn't need further explanation: the one path in and out of their apparent cell was too tight to defend themselves against guards armed with tridents, without even the element of surprise. "May the air dry your skin and crack your scales," the naga added, flashing its eel-like teeth.

Garus brushed off the words and strode ahead. He hesitated briefly, considering a last-ditch effort to escape. With six armed ophidians in the room, it would be suicidal, at best. He grumbled and moved forward, telling himself to trust in whatever madness Diamantus had set into motion. In the water once more, the tunnel was even tighter than he expected; the burly velen had to climb his way upward, claws gripping at the cracks in the basalt pillars pressing in around him. Swimming wasn't an option.

The captain burst through into the next air pocket, hauling himself up and into the Dry Rock. It was larger than expected, twice the size of either of the two other pocket chambers within the boulder. It was filled with yellow light, unnatural but reminiscent of candle light. The floor, like before, was made up of hexagonal basalt pillars, some slightly higher or lower than others. The walls and arched ceiling, though, looked to be made of cinder or scoria, porous and vesicular stone through which the ophidians must have been pumping oxygen somehow. While Diamantus made her way into their new cell, Garus looked over and was surprised to see there was someone already in there with them.

[750/750]

Notes

This thread will have a Success Check. Details will be available once the situation evolves.

The Dry Rock is like a much bigger version of this, with hollow areas inside:

 

[Inks]

The man, who had the wide-eyed, owlish look of someone who had just forced themselves awake, stared at the new prisoners with blank apprehension writ across his face. He sat tucked up in one corner of the cell, the remains of a bedraggled brown cloak around his bare shoulders and a pair of pants torn and shredded at his shins. He had impossibly-long white hair, woven into a tangled, messy braid that trailed over one shoulder and fell to his waist.

His face was boyishly handsome aside from a ragged scar that cut across the bridge of his nose, and his left eye was a soft, robin’s egg blue. The right might have been the same color, once upon a time, but was now pale, nearly-white, its pupil opaque and milky.

He seemed, by all accounts, to be a normal young laicar man. It begged the question: why was he currently leagues under the sea, deep in territory long since claimed by the ophidians?

The laicar’s gaze darted, bird-like, back and forth from Diamantus to Garus, Garus to Diamantus. After a moment he offered them a disarming, if strained, smile, and raised his hands in passive surrender.


[197/197]

 

[MoonlitRain014]

As cells went, Diamantus had been in worse. At least it was relatively clean and dry, the space full of enough air to make life comfortable. Under the circumstances, being trapped in a cell was preferable to having a shaman devise some horrifying torture for her and her companion. It took the blue-scaled, heavily muscled woman a moment to glance around and find her gaze resting on the young laicar with his strange white hair and blinded right eye. His features made him look young, but something about him exuded weariness.

Adopting a non-threatening posture, Diamantus addressed herself to the man, her face relaxing from the harder lines into which it had been set for the last several hours. “I didn’t realize that we’d have a companion in our cell. I can’t say we’re meeting under great circumstances, but if we’re thrown together we ought to make the best of it.”

Extending one of her powerful hands toward him, she introduced herself. “Name’s Diamantus. The gruff, grizzled one there is Captain Garus. What’s your handle?”

Her sharp, quickly assessing gaze ran over this young man again. He appeared relatively unharmed and not badly mistreated despite his shredded pants and bedraggled cloak. It was incongruous to find a human down this far. Without the means to breathe water, getting stranded in this place must’ve taken some doing. Nonetheless he was there, staring at the pair of velen with a somewhat unreadable expression on his face. Diamantus maintained her easy posture, letting any tension that was in her flow away into the floor, rather than making their cellmate uneasy.

[267]

 

[Inks]

"...Com...panion…?" the man echoed, his voice soft and wondering. He continued to stare at the duo, drinking in their appearances, for a long moment. "So you're...." he said carefully, "...you're not...?"

Then a broad grin split his face, and he scrambled to his feet. "A-and you speak! I mean, you speak whatever I speak! I can understand you!" There was a manic sort of relief on the man's handsome features now, something that implied that whatever the reason was for his being here, his stay so far hadn't been...pleasant. "I--" the man broke off, laughing, sweeping one shaking hand through his bangs. "I can barely believe - I'd started to think I was the only..."

Again the laicar trailed off, this time with a distant look in his eyes. He cleared his throat, shook his head, and stepped forward, taking Diamantus's webbed hand in both of his. "Sorry! Where are my, uhm, my manners! I can't tell you how happy I am to meet you, Diamantus - and Captain Garus! Welcome to my weird underwater cave cell. I, I ,uh, don't exactly know my own name, unfortunately." He tilted his head, thoughtful. "The sea-snakes have a word for me, though it's probably not friendly? They've been calling me 'Liaelty'. You can use that, if you want. Or call me whatever you like - I won't mind."

While the laicar's pronunciation was off - butchered by a mouth not designed for Himai words - it was still understandable. The naga had apparently been calling him 'One who Drowns'.


[257 / 454]

 

[swaswj]

"Lea, then," Garus suggested as he slumped back against one wall. His mind was whirling with what they had just learned, trying to puzzle out truth from falsehood. The last thing he wanted to focus on was the mystery of a man who had no business being in a place it was impossible for him to reach. "A name with no meaning, kind or otherwise."

To Diamantus, he pointed out, "Sixteen years ago. Thadal had barely even assumed the throne. The first prince and princess had been born, Venus would have been on the way or recently born. I joined the military when his father was still in power, and I spent those first several years after Thadal took over thinking how foolish it was for a stupid kid to be given that much power, with no idea how to use it. We did… nothing, for years.

"I remember talks about those statues. All of us were… furious at the notion. We were trained to defend the empire, protect the Copiae, and this kid wanted us to risk our lives to dig through old ruins? I wasn't one of the ones chosen, never even met the ones who returned, but it was never seen as a military excursion, no one ever talked about stealing from the serpent bastards. It was just a dumb vanity project, reclaiming these relics of velen history. Even after they were returned, no one described it as a bloody conquest." He growled and clenched a fist. "The time almost fits but the witch's story doesn't add up!"

There was too much that didn't make sense. Frustrated, Garus closed his eyes, thinking. To forestall any questioning, he threw a question at Lea instead. "What's your story? How long have you been here?"

[295/1045]

 

[MoonlitRain014]

Diamantus let Garus speak, not bothering to challenge him. He unfolded a history that had the ring of the truthful about it. The heavy set woman’s gaze moved over his face, seeming to look into it and seek answers not delivered by his speech. Those dark eyes of hers flicked over to watch Lea. Initially he just seemed to be glad to see them, but there was something tense and manic in the way he stood, in the set of his shoulders and the expression on his face. There was a light in his eyes that was far more than just the joy of finally having company again. Diamantus kept her attention on him as Garus questioned him. Her long experience as a judge of people seemed deeply focused on Lea as she watched without looking like she was watching.

Trapped in this cell, the trio were in close proximity. There was no telling what the unknown quantity of their cellmate would add to the mix. Garus, at least, was a man who seemed to have integrity for all of his gruffness. Whatever he was, he could be trusted. Lea, on the surface, didn’t appear to be a threat but as someone about whom nothing was known, he was the target of the long-time rebel leader’s attention. One didn’t survive as the head of an underground organization without a sense of other people and their characters. For now, Diamantus appeared to reserve judgement with her muscled arms folded across her broad chest.

[519]

 

[Inks]

Liaelty - Lea, it would seem, to these people - stared blankly at first. His head was spinning. Princes and princesses, empires and statues, ruins and relics: who were these two, and what were they talking about? It was a bit of a sensory overload for him. He'd gone so long without hearing any comprehensible words other than his own that he was having a bit of trouble believing it was even real.

"My story? Yours sounds much more interesting," Lea said, shifting his weight from foot to foot, hands wringing themselves. "But okay! Sure! Uh, I didn't think to start counting for a while, but our mutual friends bring in food once a day. Great guys, but they don't seem to get jokes. ...Or begging. Anyway! My count is up to, um, one thousand and forty-four. Counting today. So, a few...years...? Probably?" Something pained colored the man's nervous grin.

[148 / 602]

 

[MoonlitRain014]

Diamantus stepped in before Garus could continue, fixing this stuttering mess of a man with a gaze that was as neutral as possible. Her stance wasn't confrontational, nor was it welcoming. It seemed as if she mostly radiated a desire to investigate, rather than to challenge. "Do you remember anything about how you got here or where you came here from? It ain't exactly a place you just stumble into."

Settling back against the wall again, her dark gaze on Lea, she awaited his response. Being so far underwater, whatever reply he gave would be fascinating. Her eyes flicked to Garus, seeming to examine him and read his expression to garner information from it.

[633]

 

[Inks]

Lea’s smile wavered. “Ah,” he said. “No. I guess it isn’t. ...Is it? I don’t know, how common are underwater cities and prisons? I don’t...” he hesitated, plucking at the unraveling threads at the hem of his cloak. “I don’t really remember much, actually. I remember being in the water, alone. For how long, I don’t know. It felt like...” The man flashed Garus and Diamantus a soft, somewhat vacant smile. “...It felt like a long time. Then the sea-snakes came, and took me, uh...”

It had been a long time since he’d really bothered to think about it. Liaelty hunted around for the memories. “Let’s see. There was a - a thing - a doorway or gateway, I guess. They took me through it, and we came out here.” He paused. “I get the impression it was magic. Magic is a thing, right?”

Abruptly, he pressed a hand to his temple, frustration flickering across his expression. “Yeah, magic is a thing. Sorry,” he grinned, “I’m...anyway. Went through some sorta portal, popped out here! Well, almost here. In some sort of big building...a castle, I think? I wasn’t paying very close attention, I’ll admit. I can’t breathe underwater, so I was kinda...” he made a brief suffocating gesture, “while they were dragging me here.”

Lea looked back and forth between the two again. “Er, you might not want to hear this, new best friends, but aside from me, prisoners in here don’t usually...” He scratched at his chin. “That is, they’ve brought in some of their own snake-types a handful of times, but they only hung around a week or so at most. Before...ya know...the executions. The only reason I’m not dead is...ah...mm.”

The white-haired man looked away again, gaze growing distant.

[295 / 897]

 

[swaswj]

"Why do they keep you around?" Garus asked. "Surely if they thought you could give them some leverage, they would have used you or done away with you by now. Patience isn't their strong suit."

The captain continued peering at Lea, searching for signs of gills or webbing or scales, any indication that the man might be part velen, but… "How'd you even survive long enough to be captured? You don't look like you're able to breathe underwater."

Ideas were brewing, teasingly just out of reach. He just needed to know more, to have more of the pieces on the board.

[100/1145]

 

[Inks]

"Hm?" Lea tilted his head. He supposed the man called 'Captain Garus' had been deeper in thought than he'd previously assumed. "No. I...can not...breathe underwater. The, uh, the reason they haven't 'done away with me' is sorta the same reason I survived capture, too. I think. That is..." Lea smiled weakly at the duo, and in the tone of someone who doesn't expect to be believed, said, "I don't think I can, uh, die.

"Or, I do die, I think. It...It feels like I'm dying. But then..." The man gestured to himself, "I don't stay that way. I...recover? Get better? I'm not sure, I'm usually a little out of it during the whole reviving bit."

Abruptly, Lea added, "It isn't just dying, either. Small things, injuries, too. They sorta...fix themselves. Right away, even. If I get a cut or something, it just...heals. Is that a normal thing?" The man glanced from Garus to Diamantus, as though they were the ones with all the answers. "I um...I got the sense that it wasn't."

[177 / 1074]

 

[MoonlitRain014]

Diamantus' face almost broke its neutral expression. Her eyebrow area fought not to rise, listening to what Lea was saying. There seemed to be a totally earnest expression on his face, a clear look that said he was honest about his words. He was convinced of the reality that he would die and be reborn over and over. It took the muscled velen woman a while to formulate a response. "It sure as Vis-damned hell ain't normal to us! If me or the Captain die, we're dead. So you are saying that no matter what happens, you don't die? You don't even get injured? That is crazy talk!"

She shrugged. "Ya seem to be telling the truth though. I have met a lot of liars and you don't seem like one."

The blue-scaled warrior turned her angular features to Garus. "What do you think, Cap? Think Lea's feedin' us a line of bullshit or is he telling the truth?"

After trying to ascertain Garus' views, the broad-shouldered woman settled her gaze on Lea again, watching him coolly now that the initial surprise had worn off.

[818]

 

[swaswj]

"Don't see as it matters," Garus said, although his brow had raised. He frowned thoughtfully. "Unless…" He trailed off, mind whirling. "Would it even be right for us to flee, if there was a way?" The captain leaned back and thumped his head against the cell wall.

"If we leave, perhaps we can get word to the empire, let them know about this mess with the statues, with the… children. But we lose any headway we've made here. If we've really made any. Lady Etiirshaii doesn't seem convinced, and a high-ranking shaman holds much more sway than a huntsman, no matter his rank."

Garus looked over at Diamantus, a dead serious look in his eyes. "I don't believe for a moment that Emperor Thadal did such a thing while knowing what the consequences would be. I'm not even sure I'm convinced that what they say is the truth of the matter." Turning to Lea, his gaze narrowed. "You… if your recollections are accurate, then you've been here almost as long as the young ones have been frenzied.

"I'm not accusing you. However, the timing… is difficult to ignore."

Water dripped from the roof of their underwater cage. Garus reached for his belt, drawing a thin knife from the buckle. It was too small and thin to consider using in combat, but it had served well on several occasions for cutting rope or cloth. He tossed the blade underhand toward Lea, the weapon flashing faintly in the magical light that surrounded them. "You want out of this hole, man? Want to see dry land and breathe free air? First let's see if your words are true. After that… we think of a plan. Think of what to do, what's the right thing to do. If you help us, I'll guarantee your safety and freedom." The captain laughed wryly. He was promising something that Lea already had together with something Garus did not have. What foolishness.

[325/1470]

 

[Inks]

Lea caught the tiny blade with both hands. He watched Garus for a moment longer, wide-eyed, wanting what the captain was promising - wanting to trust him, to believe him - more than anything else. Then Lea’s gaze cut down to the knife. His eyes glazed over and he knew, abruptly, all at once: he’d done this before.

He stared at the knife’s blade, scrabbling at the edges of a lost memory.

What? he silently begged. What have I done before? Cut myself? Had to prove myself? Held a knife? Caught a knife? Been promised my freedom? What?!

But as quickly as the feeling had surfaced, it was gone again. The knife was in his hands, innocently sharp against his fingers. He sucked in a deep breath - it was damp and cold, like everything down here.

“Okay,” he said. He looked up at Garus. He quirked a thin smile at the man. “I don’t mind if you’re accusing me, as long as you know I have no idea what you’re accusing me of. Or if I’m guilty. And so long as you promise me, if you do come up with a plan...if you, uh, if you do find a way out...” Something in Lea’s expression wavered, crumpled. “Don’t...don’t leave me here.” His hands shook as he took the thin blade in one hand and drew it across his other palm in a single, sharp movement.

Obligingly, Lea held out his palm so the two velen could see it properly. He’d cut deep, and blood immediately flowed from the wound - wet and startlingly-red, dripping off his hand onto the rock below. For a beat or two, there was nothing. Then, instead of blood, something black as pitch poured from the cut. It coalesced over the length of the wound and coated it - almost a dark parody of the healing light of a Castus spell. When the shadowy energy faded, vanishing into wisps of smoke like a winter’s day breath, the cut was gone. Aside from the handful of blood, it would’ve been impossible to tell he’d been injured at all.

Liaelty gave the duo a disarming grin. “...Ta-da?” he tried. He felt agitated, anxious. The thin blade felt like a threat in his hands, so he hurriedly offered it back to Garus. “Please,” he said. “Don’t leave me here.”



[388 / 1462]

 

[MoonlitRain014]

Diamantus raised her scaly brows as Garus held the knife out to Lea, but remained silent as the whole scene unfolded in front of her. There was something vulnerable but accepting in the posture that Lea had adopted while he held the knife. It was all Diamantus could do not to suck in a breath as the blade was drawn across his palm, the blood welling up and spattering on the rock underneath him.

Her eyes, that had seen so many things, grew wide as the blackness welled up and began to knit the the wound together, quickly making that fine red line vanish back into natural flesh. She whistled low and turned back to look at Garus. "Well, well seems like that part wasn't a lie. So ya think we should take him with us if we get outta here?"

There was a moment of softness in Diamantus' eyes as she watched the man. He had a broken quality to him. The softness, however, was hidden again just as rapidly and the same hard set crossed her strong features once again.

[1000]

 

[swaswj]

The desperation in Lea's eye wasn't lost on the captain. In some ways it mirrored his own despondence. "Without question," Garus replied. "We still have to figure out how we will be leaving, but however it is, we will bring him with us. He may be no velen, but ad oceanum."

Garus stood back up and unclasped the broad cloak, shrugging out of the material. It slumped to the cave floor in a wet slump. Despite its name, the inside of the chamber was damp, it was cold. He flexed his arm, wincing slightly. The naga's ointment had helped to seal up his wounds, but they were still painful and raw. "With Lea's help, we could potentially get past the guards below. I wouldn't attempt it without him. Past that, I don't imagine he'll be able to help us much, but in open water, I can easily carry someone his size and swim. It's a dilemma, though."

Turning to Diamantus, he asked, "Should we try to make an escape, and relay what we've learned already? Or should we stay, and try to learn more? There's a risk that if we stay, they'll just execute us. If we leave, they might not be open to negotiations later."

[205/1675]

 

[MoonlitRain014]

Diamantus stood still for a moment or two, not speaking, features flat as Garus asked his question. Her face became more animated when she replied. "I s'pose we do have a clearer idea of what exactly it is that has pissed 'em off so much and what's going on with the berserk young naga."

She pondered a moment more. "We might learn more of value if we stay, but I don't like the attitude of that naga shaman bitch at all. Of course, if we bugger off, they might just kill us anyhow. You think we can get far enough away before they raise the alarm, Cap?"

Lea got a question shot in his direction. "D'you know their schedule? It'd help if we know when they come and go outta here and into here. If we're gonna run, we gotta maximize our chances of making it far enough before the bastards come after us."

[1154]

 

[Inks]

"Oh!" Lea startled, as if surprised that he was still being included in the discussion. "Uhm, I don't know much. Sorry. I don't even know what time of day it is. Or night. If it's night. ...Is it night?" He shook his head, waved a hand. "N-Nevermind! Er, what I do know - what I can tell you - is that it isn't really close to the time when they usually drop food off. Wouldn't be for...hours, at least. Though your arrival might change that? They might bring something sooner, for you, or they might delay it, if they...er...got better things to do. So...still not that helpful, I guess."

The immortal looked between them, worrying his lip. "Does this have anything to do with the in-fighting?" he asked, absently wiping his bloodied hand off on a corner of his cloak. "I don't know if it's related...but a lot of the naga don't seem to get along. Usually the, uh, the ones with different, ya know, colors. And you keep talking about the young...naga..." he said the word slowly, as though trying it out in his mouth.

"The frenzied ones? I thought something was odd about them. Whenever they'd take me for the...the, you know, executions, I got chomped a few times when they got out of control. Though it seems like they started keeping them...somewhere else? At home? Locked up? I dunno how naga work. Anyway, I don't think they like how I taste. They always stopped chomping pretty fast." Lea's smile took on a strained, narrow edge. "Not that it mattered, I was usually busy drowning the whole time anyway. ...But uh," realizing he'd been rambling, the white-haired man wrung his hands again, "anyways, you're saying something set them off to make them like that, right? Something involving...an emperor and some relics or statues? Your emperor stole them from the naga?"

There was something bright in the man's eye now, something clever and calculating that hadn't been there when he'd first awoken. Something that said that, beneath the amnesia and nervous hand-wringing, beneath a lost soul who was desperate for answers, lurked someone who'd been listening from the moment these strangers stepped into his cell. Listening, and thinking. "If something you stole is causing all of this, why don't you just work out a way to...give it back? Make amends?"

He glanced from Diamantus to Garus. "Especially if this emperor of yours didn't know the consequences of what he was doing, like you said. If they agree to let someone go to explain things, great -- er, otherwise, if you have try to break out to do it, maybe they'll forgive it once their kiddo snakes aren’t going crazy."

[456 / 1918]

 

[MoonlitRain014]

Diamantus' eyes were sharp and hard as the word "in-fighting" left Lea's lips. Leaning forward, she began to speak the moment there was a break in the conversation. "Elaborate on the in-fighting as much as you can, Lea. This matters!"

There was nothing on the muscle-bound velen woman's features that would indicate, confirm or deny what Lea was asking about regarding the stolen objects. Her only reply was curt. "The facts aren't fully established, but they are seemingly operating with that in mind."

She added, "As for giving things back, in principle I guess it kinda makes sense, but I feel like we aren't gonna be able to do enough to make any amends with the naga. I am not sure they're in any mood to listen to anything we say."

There was a coldness in her eyes as she scanned the immortal's face. "I very much doubt that they will just forgive it. Besides..." she glanced over at Garus, "I am not so sure that we have it in our power to demand it be given back. The decision likely rests with the Emperor himself, right Cap?"

[1342]

 

[swaswj]

"It rests with him, true, but if given a full understanding of the situation, I have no doubt he will return them," Garus said. There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice, but he didn't linger on the thought. "It may be a case where we should make the return, make the amends, and then worry about the aftermath. If it doesn't appease them, we can at least say we tried. If it does, then we save velen lives."

The captain sighed and scratched at the wound on his face, mostly healed but itching unpleasantly. "The in-fighting probably refers to the different tribes. Normally they stay away from each other, but as we've seen, they've been coordinating. That doesn't wash away all the bad blood they have with each other.

"I'm not sure how much you dealt with when you were active duty, but in recent years there are three prominent clans. The Marth Gwtheab Neodrwg," he began, lifting one finger. For Lea's benefit, he translated, "Clan of Green Water. They hold dominance in the Chlorae Ocean, and their scales are shades of green to match. Same for our friends here, the Marth Broty Neodrwg, Clan of Dark Water. Northern Tenebrae is their domain, and their scales, as you've seen, are perfect for blending into the shadowy depths here."

He frowned thoughtfully. "The ones that worry me most are in the south, where the Arsenic was heading. We know less about them because it was never easy to ingress into the Basal Lake, but it's likely to happen soon. Marth Trei Neodrwg, Clan of Red Water. And yes, their scales are red, but the name doesn't come from that." Turning to Lea, he asked, "What colors have you seen here? It could also have been lesser clans, but if you've seen reds or greens here then that portal you're speaking of might jump from one naga kingdom to another, rather than getting us closer to home."

[325/2000]