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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 2, 2020 17:27:57 GMT
The ships swiftly pass through the calm waters, the Great Red Current carrying them almost two hundred miles a day in a great looping arc around the Paradisos Archipelago. The birds are multicolored and unique, no two having the same pattern, and even the most cynical of the party can appreciate the beauty, untainted thy the threat of the distant Mistlands to the north. Billions of jellyfish form the current, the primitive life forms feasting on fish and algae that grow in the deep moving waters.
After a week of pleasant sailing, the vessels come to a stranger sight; the strange slow whirlpool that forms a metropolis of shipwrecks all crammed together, warships and fishing boats crashed from thousands of miles eventually gathering into the thirty mile zone to the flotilla’s portside. Kjell, by far the sharpest-eyed member of the voyage, can occasionally spot a few survivors desperately trying to salvage parts to escape the endless abattoir, but far more numerous are the sharks and stranger creatures preying on whatever scraps they find in the dark waters.
It’s with this comforting sight that Captain Demeter signals the Tranquility to follow the Odyssey northeast, just scrolling the line separating the dead wrecks from the nearly black waters of the Nedrassian Trench.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 2, 2020 18:53:11 GMT
The waters as they turn from the Current get a bit choppier, and now the occasional wave sprays onto the deck, which provides some respite from the hot sun. Archimedes has captured a half dozen birds of paradise and a strange twenty appendaged squid a sailor had caught while fishing. The crew and Elise were visibly uneasy at the disaster porn to their northwest but the captain wasn’t perturbed at all, her usual perky demeanor unruffled by the mad max like struggles. Looking over the railing one can see millions of silvery fish and dolphins hunting them in this undisturbed natural paradise, and they are sailing above a massive coral reef that must be thousands of feet high.
Demeter heads up to the wheel and relieves the current pilot. “Anyone scared belowdecks!” She called out. “Everyone else hold on to the railing. Could get a bit fun!” She took a drink from a flask.
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Post by Damien Chevalier on Jul 2, 2020 19:09:22 GMT
Damien stayed below decks. He did not have too much of a problem moving with the ship, but there was no reward for going up on deck. He whistled to himself as the ship danced atop the heavy water. He rested comfortably in his room while he waited for the storm to calm down.
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Post by Tehol Nookington on Jul 2, 2020 19:27:51 GMT
Tehol was at the front of the ship holding onto the railing smiling delightedly, K'rull clinging to his legs and knee so that neither of them would be dislodged.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 2, 2020 21:13:14 GMT
K’Rull excitedly chirps and points as a massive shark’s corpse washed out of the water. Anyone on deck noticed within seconds. The captain takes a puff of her pipe. “Thornheart, bring that little cannon you drag along up top. The actual one, not the innuendo one.”
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Post by Tehol Nookington on Jul 2, 2020 21:17:49 GMT
"Good looking out buddy." Tehol reaches down and scratches him behind an ear. "Wonder what could have bit that thing in half." He muses to himself.
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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Jul 2, 2020 21:35:24 GMT
Justine had finished reading Nigel’s omnibus collection and moved on to the next best thing: staring into the crystalline waters to watch the fish dart and play and eat or be eaten. She grinned as she watched creatures with stranger shapes than anything she had seen on land glittered and danced under and around the ships hull. The hulking wrecks didn’t seem to bother her at all. And then the shadow of the great shark corpse revealed itself.
Her demeanor changed quickly and she shuddered. “Captain, what do you think could have taken a bite out of something like that?”
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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 2, 2020 22:48:23 GMT
Demeter chucked her apple overboard. “Probably the Serpent,” she said. “Nigel get the cannon. The small one. If one head ate and the others didn’t they get competitive.” She brushed her hair from her eye. “If you’re scared belowdecks now. If it gets close we have to stay quiet.”
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Post by Nigel Thornheart on Jul 2, 2020 22:58:56 GMT
"Sailing with Serpents!" Nigel exclaimed, ecstatic as he positioned Little Nigel and loaded the cannon with powder and a round shot. Being quiet was apparently not an option, as the Adventurer Extraordinaire only had one setting: EXCLAMATORY!
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Post by Tehol Nookington on Jul 2, 2020 23:15:50 GMT
Tehol eyes the loud obnoxious man caressing his canon like his sausage. He readies his bow and several arrows as well scanning the area while also thinking that in no circumstances will he allow K'rull to be fired from that gun.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 2, 2020 23:51:54 GMT
Tehol sees something strange figures approaching from under water. For once Demeter doesn’t seem as confident as she narrowed her eyes. “Welp, never seem those before. What’s the phrase...”. She pondered a quarter second, “battle stations! Right. This is you guys’ thing so like kill whatever comes up. Cabin boy! The guns!” Nigel’s little buddy ran up and handed him a loaded pistol.
Lazy Lenny looked over the railing. “They look like sper-“ his voice was cut off as a long thin pseudopod the width of a broom handle shot from the water and wrapped around his neck to pull him into the water.
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Post by Damien Chevalier on Jul 3, 2020 0:03:45 GMT
Damien rolls over in bed and yawns. Sounds dangerous up there. That’s for certain. He closes his eyes and tries to get some shut eye.
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Post by Nigel Thornheart on Jul 3, 2020 0:15:22 GMT
Nigel took one look at the pistol and tossed it back to the cabin boy as he unslung the arquebus from his shoulder and leveled it. The peashooter clearly wasn't quite enough compensation for him. As the pseudopod grabbed poor Lenny, he rushed forward to lean over the railing and fire a shot. It was less about saving Lenny than getting the glory of first blood drawn from the foe.
(Arquebus 70)
(It’s Heritage!: Nigel gains 5 to all combat rolls against any non-Imperial enemy)
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Post by The Forgotten God on Jul 3, 2020 0:28:21 GMT
75+87=162
Total damage: 27
The firearm belches flame as the lead shot makes a beeline toward the strange beast’s carapace. The shot strikes under the pseudopod dragging Lenny towards the colossal prawn’s mouth and it released the lad a moment before its second appendage ripped the boys head off. Strange greenish ichor sprayed from the wound and the creature made an unearthly clicking sound that underwater probably reverberated for miles.
The rest of the Odyssey's crew sees more and more of the monsters boiling up from the depths like ants from a kicked hill.
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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Jul 3, 2020 0:37:34 GMT
Justine’s eyes grew wide and her stomach churned. Before the moment had passed, she had run below decks to rouse anyone sleeping. It seemed they would need all hands on deck. She went room by room until everyone was on their feet.
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