That night, they heard fire outside the tent. Valdulk and Magress creep out to look, and see five naked Loki's prancing around a bonfire merrily. They smile at the two adventurers, and chant, causing the fire to grow.
"I cast Control Water," said Valdulk. They spill over a bit of bogwater they had retrieved from a standing pond and enclose it over the fire before it can grow any bigger.
Loki was gone.
The next night, on their toes now because of Loki's nonsense, they all awake to the tent lifting off the ground and into the air. They peek out again at four Loki's who had grabbed it by each corner and lifted it. Before they could act, the Loki's drop the tent. It lands on the ground in a heap, almost collapsing.
"You really irked him this time," said Magress.
Rhymus didn't respond.
On their last night before traveling up the mountain, the winds were strong. Their tent blew around in the clearing like paper.
"Loki again?" said Valdulk. "When will he give it a rest?"
Outside, Loki was standing by the treeline, clearly visible in the moonlight. He looked worried, and backed off. They were about to scorn him, but then they saw Ra standing across from him and realized something bigger was going on here. Ra looked at the group, and knelt.
And then, the top of the tent tore open. The clouds moved in front of the moon, and Zeus appeared in the sky.
And then, the top of the tent tore open. The clouds moved in front of the moon, and Zeus appeared in the sky.
"My lord!" said Valdulk, not wanting to anger him.
"Danger lies ahead, mortals," he said in a booming voice. "A smart man would take heed."
"Listen to him," said Ra. "He is giving you his blessing."
Loki shrugged and walked away.
And that was all Zeus said. He was gone in a flash, the wind stopping in an instant. They were left with a tent torn at the top and the light of the moon as the clouds shifted back with Zeus's passing. Rymus went to work on sewing it up by hand, but Magress was quicker, and used a spell to tie it up in a jiffy.
Rhymus's composure broke, revealing the player (Titus) beneath -- "Really? You're just gonna steal my thunder like that?"
"What?" asked Hunter, Magress's player. "It's quicker."
In game, Magress lies back down to go to sleep. Playing his sitar, Rhymus stands over him and strums, singing, "If I could, I would chop your body like wood..."
It lulled Magress to the realm of dreams.
--
Alas, they made it to the top of the mountain. A Yggdrasil Corporation outpost, which was their destination, presented an older wizard who gave them Yggdrasil pins for their clothing (it would let the public know they were adventurers for the organization) and conjured a Mobile Magic Circle, allowing them passage all the way to The Knuckle, which was hundreds of miles northeast.
They traveled through, greeting the elf woman at the other end of the circle who was posted at the outpost atop the White Nail Mountains. (Rhymus kindly gave her a pickle from his stores of rations.)
So at last, they made it.
"They say the cliffs are the fingers of Poseidon, punching at the Great Whale that became Whale Island." - Jarra of Ovell, Mage of the Twelfth Expedition to the edge of the sea
A very narrow staircase cut into the side of the mountain allows passage below to the port city of The Knuckle. They climbed down into the seaside mist, noting a curious lack of ships at all the docks. Many docks were small, for yachts or canoes and such, but others were large enough to house buildings and shops, docking multiple large pinnaces and galleons. Yet it was quiet, and desolate. Only a few people walked about, and with the exception of an elf or two, they were almost entirely human.
"Excuse me, lad?" said Valdulk to a young boy who was carrying crates.
"What?" The boy didn't seem to like him very much.
"Have you heard of anything strange happening here?"
He sized them up. "Mages. From Yggdrasil?"
"That we are, you're right so far," said Rhymus.
"Yeah. Ships been vanishin'. Dunno why."
"Do you know where we can talk to someone of authority?" asked Magress.
He pointed to a larger building beside what looked like the town inn. They stepped into it, meeting Captain Dov, the fleet commander and town mayor. He smoked a pipe, wore a white tricorn, and dawned a long blue coat. "Yggdrasil, are ya?"
The group confirmed, and he led them to Artificer Vara, one of the only mages in The Knuckle. A friendly man who also dawned a blue coat, wearing work goggles and craftsman's gloves. Seeing immediately that they were adventurers from the Yggdrasil Corporation, he gave them each an Undersea Suit, which would allow them vertical and horizontal movement underwater, gave them +1 to their AC, and would keep them from needing air during the duration of their venture, at the cost of five feet from their movement speed.
"The threat comes from somewhere ten or so miles out, and definitely from below. You'll need these." - Artificer Vara
Provided a magical Artificer's boat (with a simple motor at the back that "anchored" the boat when lifted from the water), the three dawned their diving suits and traveled ten miles out. It took nearly an hour. They left the misty air of The Knuckle behind them and found the great wide sea and its vast blue glory.
Then, once they hit the right destination (the Artificer's motor recorded their distance for them), they pulled it from the water and parked the boat.
"Everyone ready?" Magress asked.
Rhymus and Valdulk jumped in. Magress sighed, and followed.
Their suits shone brilliant light from their porthole helmets, allowing them to see quite a bit in such dark depths. Valdulk could see more than the others with his natural (and Zeus enhanced) darkvision, and noted that they were dropping into an abyssal trench.
"Boys," he said "It's about to get cold and dark..."
"As if it isn't already," Magress quipped.
Beside the cliffs of the trench, they noted the remains of several ships. There were three basic ruins here. One side of the cliffs presented the group a bow and a stern, and the other a larger bow, each punctured with holes. They were newer ships, but looked to have been destroyed by something vicious. The group split and went investigating on their own.
On Rhymus's end, the inside of the stern yields a single large chest. With a successful strength roll, he opens it and peeks at a bunch of gold before heaps of seawater goes flowing into it. He closes it up, lifts it, and hoists it over his back.
"You sure?" I ask. "It's filled with gold and water now... it's dreadfully heavy."
Titus looks at me dead-on. "I'm bringing it with me."
So from thereon he was encumbered, and lost five more feet of movement speed.
Valdulk and Magress found little else on their ships, except all ships they looked at had holes as if blown apart by cannon balls... yet the edges of these holes were covered in teeth marks. On closer inspection, Valdulk deduced that it wasn't a large thing that bit out these chunks of ship, but a lot of smaller things.
"What could have done this...?"
Unfortunately, they got their answer. From the deep come four bright lights.
On Rhymus's end, the inside of the stern yields a single large chest. With a successful strength roll, he opens it and peeks at a bunch of gold before heaps of seawater goes flowing into it. He closes it up, lifts it, and hoists it over his back.
"You sure?" I ask. "It's filled with gold and water now... it's dreadfully heavy."
Titus looks at me dead-on. "I'm bringing it with me."
So from thereon he was encumbered, and lost five more feet of movement speed.
Valdulk and Magress found little else on their ships, except all ships they looked at had holes as if blown apart by cannon balls... yet the edges of these holes were covered in teeth marks. On closer inspection, Valdulk deduced that it wasn't a large thing that bit out these chunks of ship, but a lot of smaller things.
"What could have done this...?"
Unfortunately, they got their answer. From the deep come four bright lights.
"To harm something so beautiful... your death by my hand is dutiful!" - Rhymus, to the monsters
Ugly, despicable deep sea creatures emerged from the darkness. The shape of an angler fish yet also a gulper eel, they were covered in glowing yellow lights and possessed each the body of a mermaid in their mouths, their corpses decayed and hinged within their gaping maws.
"Foul!" said Magress (his player, Hunter, cringed at their description).
A fight ensued. One lashed at Magress, and missed -- others bit at Rhymus and Valdulk, forcing Rhymus against the back of the open stern, Valdulk swimming around to find a better position. The fight raged on in the watery depths when Magress raised his hand and said, "I cast Speak with Animals!"
And spoke to them he did. "What do you want?" he asked the one nearest him.
When it spoke, it spoke in a chant of a hundred voices. "We... are legion. We... are hungry..."
"I see," he said. "Well, there's no diplomacy with creatures like this."
And fought again they did, slashing and biting through the water. Everyone took a few hits, but the parasite fish were not letting up. One swam up out of reach and opened its mouth. The lights on its body blinked, and it conjured a deep, haunting whine.
Two sharks swam out of the deep.
The sharks swim and chomped at the heroes. One of the parasite fish spew blood ink into Magress's face, blinding him for a turn. Valdulk created currents with Control Water, forcing them away from his position on the watery battlefield.
"Foul!" said Magress (his player, Hunter, cringed at their description).
A fight ensued. One lashed at Magress, and missed -- others bit at Rhymus and Valdulk, forcing Rhymus against the back of the open stern, Valdulk swimming around to find a better position. The fight raged on in the watery depths when Magress raised his hand and said, "I cast Speak with Animals!"
And spoke to them he did. "What do you want?" he asked the one nearest him.
When it spoke, it spoke in a chant of a hundred voices. "We... are legion. We... are hungry..."
"I see," he said. "Well, there's no diplomacy with creatures like this."
And fought again they did, slashing and biting through the water. Everyone took a few hits, but the parasite fish were not letting up. One swam up out of reach and opened its mouth. The lights on its body blinked, and it conjured a deep, haunting whine.
Two sharks swam out of the deep.
"They can mind control other animals!" - Valdulk, fighting them off
The sharks swim and chomped at the heroes. One of the parasite fish spew blood ink into Magress's face, blinding him for a turn. Valdulk created currents with Control Water, forcing them away from his position on the watery battlefield.
The dice box presents one space upward in the water when lying on its side, and two when upright.
Magress thinks to bash the fish controlling the sharks, and disrupts its flow of mind control. The sharks stop following orders, and swim around.
"I cast Speak with Animals again!" said Magress. He had one spell slot left at this point. He pointed at the shark. "You!"
"Hmm? Hmm?" The shark kept swimming.
"Eat that fish beast!"
"Scary," it said. "Scary fish beast."
"But it's food!"
The shark perked up. "Food?!"
"Yes! Food! Eat it!"
As Valdulk frightened one, the shark went toward its would-be captor and bit it clear in half, enjoying a mermaid-corpse angler-eel parasite meal. The other swam away in fright before much else could be done, and Rhymus (who had consistently failed to get away from being restrained but still managed not to get hurt by the fish attacking him) made a move of valor. The creature finally let him go and swam back, gearing up to bite into his suit...
He tilted his shield, presenting the dull edge of it out before him.
The fish swims and opens its gaping jaw, only to be sliced in half by the edge of his shield. The two halves of it split like a cut of meat, spewing black and red blood into the water in great inky clouds.
One fish was left, but Rhymus's player had something to say:
"Can we keep the shark?" Titus asks me.
"Keep it?"
"We have a barrel, back home," he said. The others laughed.
"These are like, great whites, dude," I tell him.
"Yeah, it's not humane but we can put them in the barrel when we travel."
I don't know where he got this idea. "Dude... the great white is not gonna fit in that barrel."
The last fish wasn't having it. It came swimming at Magress. "Throw the javelin," Enrique and Titus say at the same time. While that ensued their laughter, Magress launched his weapon and pinned the last fish against the remains of the ship, ridding them of adversaries.
Or so they thought.
Dozens more lights appeared in the depths below. Dozens.
"Uh..." Valdulk was flabbergasted. The shark swam away in fear.
"What now?" asked Magress.
Another handful of lights. In total, around twenty-two more fish were swimming up to meet them.
"Well, I think we found out what was destroying those ships," said Titus.
So they swam from the depths, ferociously. Each of them made a roll on dex to see how fast they could go. A fish caught up with Rhymus because of his encumbrance, but they made quick work of it. The others were gaining. The blue of the sea came back into view, and so did the underside of their boat.
"They'll destroy it!" shouted Valdulk. "Climb in and book it!"
Rhymus lagged behind. "I am nothing if not a knight... this will not be my final fight!"
Magress and Valdulk got into the boat. The fish, a swarming horde quickly gaining, were now visible. Rhymus readied up his holy magic, and shocked them all with a bridging arc of electricity. A bolt of white static went frying into each and every one of their bodies, connected by the water abound.
But so too, was Rhymus.
He took the brunt of his own blow, absorbing the same double damage that all the enemies did. Shocked in the water like his adversaries, it looked like it was it for him...
Magress and Valdulk pulled him out of the water, onto the boat. He was shivering, pain roaring through his body. His valor was a sight to behold, but it seemed as if the last few fish that survived the attack were going to make it to their boat...
When, from the sky, came Loki. Wearing nothing but his triple-horned helmet and a flowing green cape, he wailed, dove into the water, and conjured a massive iceberg. As it surfaces completely, they see that the few fish that survived the blow were frozen in place within it.
"I take this as him saying, 'we're cool now,' to me." - Titus, out of character
And it seemed that they were. Magress tied the iceberg to the back of the boat and they set sail with evidence, a chest of treasure, and all their remaining limbs.
Victory!
And level up, it looks like.
First mission accomplished!
--
Date Played: October 4th, 2019
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