07/13/745 A.E. Midafternoon, after the battle with the birdmen.
The battle had gone well, as these things go, and only a few fatalities were amongst the Augustine's crew. A dozen birdmen, their feathers in a disarray and smeared with congealing blood, lay about the deck, over the railing, or entangled within the riggings where they fell. Janjit helped the crew as the bodies were collected and arranged on the aft deck. Jarmain landed then on the bow, one of the upper decks, after returning from his little escapade into the caves of their most recent attackers. He carried a leather thong, which bore a crude, uncut stone of some sort, but he had not acquired any information about their attackers, which is what he really wanted. Putting the stone in his pocket, he went to aid the ship's surgeon since the men were still in minor need. Soon, he would rest and have the power of magic healing at his disposal once again.
Sedoc sat back against the wheelhouse, smoking what was left of his cigar. Katsumi and Garren went about their business, practicing their music. Janjit went back to the galley, working with the cook. Trek continued to brood, looking ever forward, his thoughts kept to himself as they got closer to their destination. Gillmesh continued to learn about the ship, even helping to repair the minor damage done during the battle, mostly that done by incidental fire. All seemed well.
Eventually, Captain Tracy ordered the disposal of the birdmen's bodies, but first would come the services and ceremonies afforded to those who had given their lives on this journey. But the sun grew low, setting on the horizon, its lingering red light scattering across the waves for the entire length of the atmosphere when it was low and near the waterline like that, its ever-darkening crimson light against a darkening blue sky. A normal routine took hold once again, and the night passed.
07/14/745 A.E.
With the dawn came the time for the burials at sea. Four crewmen had gone down during that battle, and Tracy blamed his inexperience for getting too close to the coast of Hook's Island. He could do nothing for the fallen now, but promised himself he would try to become a better captain, learning more all the time, avoiding future mistakes, hoping as hard as he dared that his errors would not needlessly cost the lives of more of his men. He put his feelings aside for now and went to speak to Jarmain and Garren. "Please, fair priests, if you would, I think the men would appreciate it if one or both of you would perform the ceremony." They looked at each other, then back at the captain. Jarmain spoke, thinking he really didn't know ceremonies about the sea all that well compared to a priest of Poseidon. "I will assist Garren in any way I can." Garren straightened himself, knew the ceremony for asking his lord to accept their mortal bodies into his depths, ran it over in his mind, and said, "Yes, I will perform their last rights and send them into His waiting arms." The captain was relieved to hear this, saying, "Good; the men respect the word of your lord."
The ceremony was brief and to the point, and it spoke of a time when all would be reunited in the next life upon Poseidon's voyage to glory. The bodies slid, one-by-one, from the plank into the sea, weighted down by extra scrap metal, rocks, or whatever else was handy to take them to the bottom. After the ceremony, the first officer assigned a few men to rid the Augustine of the carrion it now carried. A few watched as the birdmen's bodies were unceremoniously tossed over the side. They seemed to take delight as their corpses hit the water with a satisfying sound, each splash a new victory over evil. The bodies floated, their feathers spreading out across the waters, soaking it in, until they started to sink below the surface or out of sight. Eventually, only the feathers remained in the Augustine's wake, and then they, too, were gone. (Alas, the feathers, so valuable to those who knew. Sigh). All quickly return to their daily routines.
07/16/745 A.E.
Two more uneventful days pass and the specialists begin to think ocean voyages are not very interesting or adventurous after all. Aside from their continued efforts at acquiring their new skills aboard ship, only the captain really continued to tell them new things. He mostly spoke about the few scattered small islands that dotted the region between the Larns Archipelago and the Asian Gulf. Mostly they were uninhabited, or populated with primitive tribes. Some even sported headhunters. Unfortunately, though many of the islands were named on his charts, not all were, and there were even more to be discovered, for no comprehensive exploration was ever conducted in these waters by the empire. He suspected the local fishermen knew more, but as they kept their fishing waters a secret (for obvious reasons), they were unlikely to help sea cartographers in that regard. At best, he might be able to tell an island's name and whether or not the charts indicated they had a source of fresh water there.
Jarmain cried out, "Hey guys? What's that?" to anyone above deck as he pointed in the direction of a coppery, shimmering light below the surface of the water. He had thought it a trick of the light the first time he had seen it, but this was the second time in as many minutes.
Suddenly, the ship was nudged soundly, rocking the deck a bit. The jarring motion was so sudden and unexpected that many crewmen fell down, hitting the deck soundly. Even a few of our adventurers failed to keep their footing. Below decks, Katsumi and Garren stop playing their instruments, wondering what the hell was going on. Grabbing their weapons, they headed toward the topside staircase.
"All hands on deck!!!" comes the cry from Lt. Commander Kirana Neval, her voice carrying the authority of command. The men below, even when afraid of what might be rocking the Augustine, were more afraid of displeasing the commander, and they hurried up on deck. Gill speaks to the captain while Jarmain relates what he had seen to all who will listen.
The ship was violently rocked again, but harder this time, not only making many fall down, but the upward movement of the deck seemed to rise to meet them, hitting them all the harder. Already several men lay unconscious due to exceptionally bad falls, though most remained alert and upright. Weapons were passed out again; even six harpoons were amongst the weaponry this time. Maybe it was a whale? Then it happened. A large, coppery, snake-like beast, a serpent of some kind, actually leapt out of the water revealing all of it, or most of it, it seemed. Its great length coiled in midair, the scaly loops then hitting the water with a tremendous crash. A wave rose up and lifted the Augustine again, quickly, but not unexpectedly, so the men stood their decks this time as the creature disappeared below the water once again and only bubbling could be heard and seen where the sea-beast had gone under. Whatever it was, it was bigger than the Augustine, and she was 85 feet long!
"SEA SERPENT!" came the cry from the captain, who sometimes did state the obvious in case anyone had missed it. The greed that had been in the men's eyes when they thought they might encounter pirates ill-prepared to take on an Imperial Vessel with combat specialists aboard was now replaced only with a look of fear; sheer terror, some would say. This was not what they were expecting, though it could easily be the reason why so many ships in this area had disappeared. "Holy fuck!" they thought collectively, I'm sure. Garren, knowing full well what was going through their collective conscious, knew even better it would not do. The fear needed to be subsided, replaced even, for only strength, courage, and determination would make any of them even slightly willing to fight against incredible odds. His hands flew to his instrument and a magical quality of the bardic skill flowed through him into it, inspiring the men as he sang a well know epic sea chantey where that crew had faced incredible odds, and won! They quickly took heart, and even though they knew the odds against them were incredibly bad, their fearful thoughts no longer ruled them, but their passions, their feelings, had been engaged and replaced with the feeling of certain victory through acts of selfless courage. The stuff of legend, yes, they would be the new stuff of legend. The serpent sprang into view again, this time coiling around the ship. "Attack!" the crewmen screamed, their newfound courage flowing through them like a strong shot of liquor warms the body.
The song continued in the background as the men sprang to arms.
"Let's be brave when the laughter dies and the tears come into our troubled eyes.
Let's cling to the faith of the old belief when the skies grow gray with the clouds of grief.
Let's bear the sorrow and hurt and pain and wait till the laughter comes again."
The serpent had encoiled the ship, two full loops, one forward, one aft, its naked-looking head far to the stern and out of reach of all but those who could walk on water, fly, or use missile weapon, and its bony, thin, whip-like tail lashing down from above; it had the run of the deck. Like a cow chasing flies away, it tended to whip at anything hurting it with uncanny accuracy. Though deadly as these attacks were, the real danger came from the coils about the Augustine. They gripped her, tightened around her, and began to squeeze. Already the creaking of the planks could be heard.
COMBAT BEGINS:
R1: Trekken attacks the creature with his sword, but as he was trying a new style of combat, it wasn't very effective. Katsumi tests her katana against the coppery hide, the glistening scales mostly turning her blade aside. A long red mark is left behind where she scored a more direct hit. Sedoc tried, but his blade is easily turned this time. Garren stops his song, the men's courage assured for a few more minutes. He cast a Magic Missile spell, and two missiles volley forth from his fingertips, unerringly hitting their target. He knew he'd hurt it, but the thing was so big, it hardly seemed to make a difference. Gillmesh lets go a harpoon aimed at the creature's head, but the medium distance proves too much, so even though less protected there, the harpoon fails to damage the serpent. The crewmen harmlessly hack away at it, flaking off a copper scale here or there, but they seem to do little damage. The captain and officers direct the men in between their own frantic attacks, most of which seem to come up short. The whip-like tail of the serpent streaks forth and hits Katsumi and an unexpected cry signals the sharp pain this weapon will bring to those it finds. Jarmain finally finishes his spell, casting Light upon the creature's eyes. Normally, such a big thing would shrug such a spell off, but the gods are with Jarmain this day, the illumination sticking right to the creature's optical orbs, effectively blinding it. Alas, the poor deep-sea creature does not depend too much on sight the way most land dwellers might assume.
The planks creak even more under the pressure brought to bear upon them by the coils of the serpent. The Augustine can only take so much more of that before she'd buckle. Things begin to look especially bad since they are far from any land.
R2: Janjit manages to sink a dagger into it, luckily finding a missing scale or something, a chink in its armor. Garren adds Bless to the fray, hoping the blessing of Poseidon will aid them all this day. Gillmesh switches to his bow, getting only one arrow off as he switches weapons. He aims at the head, the scales of copper oddly absent in that region, but the extra distance is no help. Yet he tries anyway, and he hits it. All other attacks from the specialists, though valiant, fail, the coppery scales proving to be too much of a defense.
A few planks buckle under the pressure of the ever-tightening coils. Some of the ship's railings collapse, and though the railings are not structurally important, it looks bad and inspires fear in the crewmen.
R3: Katsumi attacks, but slips on the blood of one of the dead crewmen. Not hurt, she struggles back to her feet. The flash of the whipping tail sails past her, connecting this time with Sedoc, the noble ranger taking it full on as the spiny bone of the tail bites into his flesh. Janjit finds another soft spot and buries another dagger. Sedoc missed yet again while Garren cast Silence on the head, trying to cut off what ever it is using to "see" its prey. (Vibrations?) More attacks fail miserably. The officers keep hurting it, but it's so damn big, it was almost like punching a tree or a brick wall.
A loud "CRACK!" can be heard from below decks. Oh oh; that can't be good.
R4: The men begin to wonder if they will ever see home again, the effects of Garren's song diminishing rapidly. Two more arrows find their mark from Gill's mighty bow, and still it will not fall. The captain orders the crewmen to fall back and tend to the Augustine, as reports come from below that she is taking on water. The 4th officer goes with them to direct their efforts. Magic Missiles again find their mark, as always, Garren continuing his efforts at chipping away at the wall of flesh. Jarmain implores Zeus to send a healing spirit. He does, and Sedoc is healed as he continues his efforts with his bastardsword. The bony tail slashes at Garren, cutting deeply into him. More attacks, more failures.
Another crack from below, and the cries of the men come from the lower decks. Something is very bad down there. Very bad indeed.
R5: Gill has this thing's number as he never seems to miss with his arrows, both shafts sinking deeply into its fat head. But is it enough? Is it ever enough? Once again, Janjit finds another chink in the armor, planting another dagger, hoping good things will come from his efforts. He leaves them inside the beast, thinking they probably will continue to hurt it as it thrashes about the decks. Trek, holy warrior and priest of Thor, continues to fail at his new battle technique, but he is determined to learn the new ways until all hope is lost. The tail whips out at Katsumi again, but at the last second she sidesteps it and the thing buries itself in the mast of the ship, getting stuck there for a time. She smiles quietly to herself and sweeps upward with her katana. The razor sharp blade cleanly severs the whipping tail off, rendering the serpent's tail attack nigh harmless. Only the ship herself is in danger now, but those aboard her could all well perish with her if she went down. Touched from behind, Kat feels the healing of one of the priests, thankful for it, but has no time to stop and thank him now. She moves off, looking for a new opening. The captain buries his longsword deep within the beast, its spastic death ripping it from his hands. Quivering, almost violently, the Augustine rocks as the serpent shudders, then quietly slumps to the decks, the coils sagging, loosening their mighty grip and taking the pressure off the hull. The naked head sinks below the waterline, and the hovering tail slams to the deck below. Except for the movement of the Augustine, the thing comes to its lifeless end and stops moving, save for the serpentine motion of its trailing body in the water below.
COMBAT ENDS:
"A large hole in the starboard side," reports the fourth officer. "We're taking on water, fast." The captain issues orders and the commander sees they are carried out. A bucket brigade begins to bail furiously, barely keeping up with the leaks. In fact, they seem to be losing the battle as the A.I.V. Augustine continues to go down. The captain knew he could fix it, but it would take time and men. Time, he didn't have, and even with all the men bailing, still they sank, so he had no extra men. He looked to the lifeboats, six twenty-soul dinghies lashed down to the decks, enough for all on board. But he would not go with them. He loved the sea, wanted to make his life here. And if he lost the Augustine, he'd never be given another command of his own. The men would be safe, he knew, but he would not give the order until the last possible moment. "Maybe the specialist?" he thought. "They have powerful skills; even magic." He hurried over to inquire. "Can any of you do anything to save my ship?" They looked at him, dumbly, most of them already bailing with the crew. They didn't seem to know what they could do. "Can any of you swim really well?" the captain asked.
Gillmesh and Katsumi hacked away at the dead serpent, trying to free the ship of the burdensome weight of the sea serpent. Garren joins in, but the effort is a gesture compared to the warrior's best. They made headway, but even in death the thing resisted their blades and the muscle that moved them. Jarmain, below decks, considered a Destroy Water spell, but decided he could at best eliminate only a tiny quantity in comparison to what flowed through the gapping hole in the side. More water would come in than he could destroy just in the time it took to cast such a spell. Then it hit him. Warp Wood might work; he could help repair the planks a bit, or at least make the hole smaller. He cast the spell, succeeding in his efforts, and though most crewmen had to keep at it, the men finally started bailing out more than was coming in.
The captain went to ask the trio hacking away at the lifeless serpent. "Can any of you swim really well?" Garren could, and said so. The captain asked if he would risk taking a sailcloth below the waterline. If he could position it correctly, the water pressure would draw the sail in, effectively blocking the hole. A plan is made, and Garren makes the attempt. He succeeds and the leaking slows to a crawl. Now only half the remaining crew is needed to keep ahead of the leaks. (10 more crewmen had died. Damn snake! Sigh).
The "cutting crew" finally hacks through the serpent in two spots with the majority of the serpent's body falling away and lightening the ship's load. Only a large section of it remained on deck, but getting it over the side could wait. (Katsumi ends up scaling it and keeping most of the coppery scales from her efforts since she believes an exceptional blacksmith or armorer could make a suit of scalemail out of them. In fact, if they could do it without using metal wire, the all-natural armor could even be worn by a druid, though that probably isn't too important to Kat).
Setting a course for a nearby isle, the captain takes the Augustine to the isle of Dakon. All he knows of it is its name and position from his charts, but it is the closest known land. They sail east for nearly twelve hours before the cry of "Land Ho" issues from the crow's nest. With skill, Tracy moves the Augustine on to a sandbar, effectively beaching her. After repairs, he knows she can be floated off later by removing her cargo and waiting for high tide. In the meantime, he sends men to the island to check it out and look for water and suitable wood for repairs, as well as some extra food for their extended stay. The specialists go along into the jungle-covered island.
Once again, Jarmain turns into an eagle and soars into the air, this time flying over the island to see what he can. He sees a hilly jungle, upon which there is a stream flowing from the east most end of the island and running the length of it, but forming a small lake toward the middle before its outlet continues west. The isle is too overgrown with vegetation to see much else in the failing light, though he also sees a hint of some ruins toward the east. A fallen keep? It's too dark to do better now, so he returns to the others to report his findings.
He lands to find Gill guarding the cargo set ashore, and Katsumi and Garren sharing an intimate moment. Then, out of the night, comes a scream from within the jungle somewhere. The screaming is horrible, frightening even, but it soon stops, replaced by eerie silence. Still wounded from the battle with the serpent, and low on spells, they bravely rush into the jungle to see what's happening.
Their search quickly brings them to a small clearing where the short, grass-like vegetation is covered in blood. There is a small wooden chest there, but nothing else can be seen. A few who specialize in herbalism notice this island has a lot of marijuana growing wild all over the place. Garren picks some. Gill and Sedoc follow a blood trail, the others right behind them. Janjit wishes to inspect the chest, but knows it will wait, so he leaves it behind for now. Garren's Continual Light rock illuminates their way.
Soon, the blood trail stops, as if whatever made it disappeared into thin air. Katsumi, Sedoc, and Janjit all look up and find a pair of yellow eyes staring back at them. Something about these eyes is unnerving, in an almost magical kind of way. Then a wave of profound fear washes over all of them, and Sedoc and Janjit fight against the impulse to wildly flee into the night, away from this unholy thing. Katsumi, on the other hand, is totally taken aback, and finds she must get away. SHE MUST! She runs into the night, in terror, blindly speeding her way through the jungle. Garren gives chase. A large black tiger-like cat (owner of the yellow eyes) jumps down at Sedoc and tries to tear his throat out.
A small battle ensues here, the cat scoring a few good hits, but with too many opponents, it succumbs to their attacks before it fells anyone, though Sedoc was still a very close call. He even faints when he can't stop his head from bleeding, but it turns out the blood is not his own. The dripping blood falling on him is from the hanging corpse of an ape-like man in the tree where the cat had been, apparently having dragged its prey up into the branches. Garren Holds Katsumi with magic, preventing her running any farther, but releases her after she finally calms down.
Upon her return, Kat furiously hacks away at the cat's body, ruining its valuable fur before she realizes what she has done. She does, however, take its head as a trophy, sending it to the Augustine and her refer-room to preserve it until she can have it stuffed. Janjit inspects, and then opens the box (1.5 ft. x 1 ft. by 0.75 ft.), finding a half dozen nice art items inside (100-200 GP each). Alas, that too would be considered part of "any treasure" they recovered during "the voyage," and thus 50% of it belonged to the empire, not to mention 10% of their 50% on top of that. And the church would get their tithe, too, though which church depended on each individual party member. Though they could always try not reporting it, they had all heard bad things happen to those who try to cheat the Alodarian Empire, or worse, the gods. Damn, magic was good sometimes, but it was hard to escape its notice as well, and given sufficient reason to use magic on somebody, it was hard to lie about most anything under the gaze of some spells that might be employed. Such knowledge puts most thoughts of trying to pull a fast one to the rear, where they were soon forgotten entirely.
Soon, all returned to the shore-party's camp since they were still wounded, tired, and badly in need of food and rest. The captain informs them at that time that they will be here for two more days while the crew repairs the Augustine. He gives the adventuring party members leave to do as they wish on the island for that length of time, but requests and requires them to be back before that time fully elapses. There was something in the formal way he said that to them, almost like it had an added legal consequence to it should they deliberately fail to comply. Likely, they thought, the clerics of Thor had already agreed for them to some "fine-print" contractual obligation they had heretofore been unaware. Luckily, they had no intention of trying to miss the deadline given to them, and so it probably wouldn't matter.
SESSION ENDS:
© February of 2000
by
James L.R. Beach
Waterville, MN 56096