Foundering in Quickclay

The young woman's first emotion was of curiosity - so THIS was the bottom of the lake? She was intrigued by its cracked, dry-looking surface, exposed by months of terrible drought.

Then her emotion turned mischievous... the cracked surface bounced delightfully as she walked on it. She jumped up and down as if on a trampoline, and skipped across the lakebed like it was the surface of the moon.

As if the earth would have none of her fun and games, glue-like paste welled up between the cracks in the clay, and suddenly she found herself sinking slowly into thick, semi-liquid slime. Powerful suction around her shoes made sure she was pulled in deeper, no matter how hard she tried to escape. As she reflexively churned her legs in an attempt to save herself, it took a scant 30 seconds for the muck to pull her down to the bottom of her chin. Finally, chin deep, she freezes all motion, petrified in perfectly-still fear, and tries to detect if she is still sinking.