Reckonings: On the Sea of Sorrows
Saint Balin Cormaeril
"By the Gods . . ," murmered Balin as he witnessed the reaction to the ghost. These people had gone mad in their efforts to reach the ship. Thoughts of negotiating with the ghost fled as Balin flew towards his foe. This had to be ended as swiftly and desisively as possible.
[OOC: Charge followed by full attack (Dire Charge) with the first attack a smite. Due to the negative levels I'm actually going to roll my attacks using the Invisible Castle online dice roller.
Attacks: 45, 42, 33, 22
Damage: 68, 30, 30, 30
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=673171
Hopefully it will actually send my post through this time.]
"By the Gods . . ," murmered Balin as he witnessed the reaction to the ghost. These people had gone mad in their efforts to reach the ship. Thoughts of negotiating with the ghost fled as Balin flew towards his foe. This had to be ended as swiftly and desisively as possible.
[OOC: Charge followed by full attack (Dire Charge) with the first attack a smite. Due to the negative levels I'm actually going to roll my attacks using the Invisible Castle online dice roller.
Attacks: 45, 42, 33, 22
Damage: 68, 30, 30, 30
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=673171
Hopefully it will actually send my post through this time.]
Currently playing Saint Balin Cormaeril
-
DeepShadow of FoS
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2916
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2003 1:43 pm
- Location: Heinfroth's Asylum
As Balin rushes forward to destroy the ghost, he catches his adversary's eerie glance and is struck by the mental command to get into the hold of the Relentless.* Satisfied that his crushing will has won the day, Pieter turns back the crowd and is totally unprepared when Balin cuts him down. By the time the saint's third blow strikes home, Pieter is discorporating into a cloud of ectoplasm. The ghastly crew pause in their fruitless attempts to reach Balin in the spirit world, and one of them calls out:
"What matters that the captain is under the weather! He'll be back on deck 'ere the sun rises, and we'll have to report; got our sixteen tons, and all that. Nor have his orders stopped for the folk here."
The grisly spectre points to the people still clamoring to get into the ship--Van Reise's mental command remains, even if he cannot impose it on anyone else.
"He'll keep taking cargo as long as he's got where to put it."
Constrained as he is by his captain's supernatural commands, the spirit's hidden message** is clear: the Relentless itself must be destroyed for Reise's evil to end.
[* During Balin's charge, Pieter gets a gaze attack as a free action, which succeeds. Balin is affected as if by a dominate person spell. Fortunately for Balin, his protective aura prevents Pieter from exercising this control. He hears the mental command to join the others in the hold, but he is under no obligation to follow it.
** Sense Motive, taking 2]
"What matters that the captain is under the weather! He'll be back on deck 'ere the sun rises, and we'll have to report; got our sixteen tons, and all that. Nor have his orders stopped for the folk here."
The grisly spectre points to the people still clamoring to get into the ship--Van Reise's mental command remains, even if he cannot impose it on anyone else.
"He'll keep taking cargo as long as he's got where to put it."
Constrained as he is by his captain's supernatural commands, the spirit's hidden message** is clear: the Relentless itself must be destroyed for Reise's evil to end.
[* During Balin's charge, Pieter gets a gaze attack as a free action, which succeeds. Balin is affected as if by a dominate person spell. Fortunately for Balin, his protective aura prevents Pieter from exercising this control. He hears the mental command to join the others in the hold, but he is under no obligation to follow it.
** Sense Motive, taking 2]
The Avariel has borrowed wings,
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
Saint Balin Cormaeril
Balin just looks at the ghost for a moment, then gives him a vicious grin," I guess I have only one course left to me then." Balin moves back onto the ship and heads below decks. Time to see how much of this ship he had to hole before it sank.
[OOC: Heading below the waterline and starting chopping holes in the ship. Due to Sunder Evil Item I do double damage to this vessel. Assuming this vessel is a caravel and has hit points and hardness equivalent to that, I will need to destroy 6 sections, each with 80 hp and 5 hardness. It will take me one round per section, hence six rounds not including movement time. Sorry about taking so long to post, I recently got promoted at work and have been scrambling to adjust to that.]
Balin just looks at the ghost for a moment, then gives him a vicious grin," I guess I have only one course left to me then." Balin moves back onto the ship and heads below decks. Time to see how much of this ship he had to hole before it sank.
[OOC: Heading below the waterline and starting chopping holes in the ship. Due to Sunder Evil Item I do double damage to this vessel. Assuming this vessel is a caravel and has hit points and hardness equivalent to that, I will need to destroy 6 sections, each with 80 hp and 5 hardness. It will take me one round per section, hence six rounds not including movement time. Sorry about taking so long to post, I recently got promoted at work and have been scrambling to adjust to that.]
Currently playing Saint Balin Cormaeril
-
DeepShadow of FoS
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2916
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2003 1:43 pm
- Location: Heinfroth's Asylum
[Balin: actually the sections have 55 hp and hardness 5. On top of that, when a section is destroyed, all adjacent sections lose half their original hp. One section will be enough to sink the ship if left unrepaired, but additional ones will speed it up. The sinking speed is 30 minutes divided by the number of destroyed sections: 1 section: 30 minutes; 3 sections: 10 minutes; 5 sections: 6 minutes, and so on. Thus, if you destroy 3 sections spaced 10 feet apart, and let the 50% reduction take out the two sections in between, the ship will be submerged in 6 minutes. Doing that on both sides of the ship will sink it in three minutes. Doing that on one side and then doing another three sections above or below will take out a 50'x30' chunk for a total of 15 sections and a two minute trip to the bottom!
You never said you re-materialized, so I'll assume you're still ethereal. That will allow you to move around without pushing through the crowds.]
On deck, the ghoulish crew are helping to load people in as fast as they come. As a small blessing to the townsfolk, they rescue the drowning first to ensure their master a prosperous bounty--dead men don't fetch a price, apparently.
Descending into the lightless hold of the ship, the villagers push each other out of the way and stand around aimlessly--Reise's mental command wasn't specific about where to go once inside the hold. Balin takes a few moments to find a place where rushing water won't immediately threaten any of the townsfolk. His first hit slices the timbers cleanly apart*; water sprays, snapping the surrounding boards in staccato crescendo.
As water pours in, townsfolk inside the hold look around anxiously and wonder what to do now. The magical compulsion cannot force them to commit suicide, but most of them remain unconvinced that staying will cause them to die. They reconsider quickly as another section bursts apart, and the lower hold begins filling rapidly. Charging back toward the original wall**, Balin is interrupted by a bolt of spinning white light that streaks toward him out of thin air.*** It spreads all around him and encases him in shimmering bands of force, which writhe and twist every which way to find purchase...but finally expend themselves against the defenses of Balin's ring.
The ankle-deep water has started to slow Balin down--and the townsfolk have all fled to the upper deck--when suddenly the wooden walls of the hold are coated six inches deep in solid ice. Apparently the invisible spellcaster has opted to plug the existing leaks to buy time, but the ice is already crumbling under the strain as Balin dashes back and forth across the hold punching additional holes.
Again and again the spellcaster unleashes what opposition he can, but even using a blinking effect to attack ethereally, it just isn't enough: summoned monsters are run down practically before they can defend themselves, magical darkness covers too small an area and simply forces Balin to select other sections, illusions are promptly identified and ignored, and so on. In his desperation, the spellcaster unleashes a smattering of offensive spells, some of which actually hasten the ship's demise!
Balin has punched over eight holes now, and the ship is literally falling apart under the strain, to the point where the crew and captain's quarters above have begun spilling their contents into the hold. In his mounting panic, the mysterious spellcaster scans about in the flotsam and jetsam for some sort of help. Using his ring to wade through the water preeternaturally fast, Balin turns around after his latest hit and sees a dark red, rune-covered urn with a brass stopper rise out of the water far ahead, lifted by unseen hands.
"Angel of light, your time here is over! I shall deliver you to my master, and he shall rework these timbers out of your own flesh and bone!"
The voice is that of the mysterious cloaked figure who enquired about Balin's relationship to "the changeling," but Balin also recognizes the unmistakeable imprint of a commanding consciousness: this arcanist is acting on Reise's mental orders. Still, Balin has little time to ponder the information as the man intones a word of power and pulls off the stopper....
The binding magics of the infernal flask snake out to ensnare Balin, but he resists with all his might****. Having failed, the flask's magics turn inward and disgorge an eight-foot mound of shaggy hair, which surveys the area with growing alarm.
"Oh...Pieter...what have you done!?"
Balin can't discern specific features from his vantage in the ether, but the creature looks somewhat like a hunchbacked bear, suffused with the unmistakeable glow of a celestial. Balin suddenly realizes that the story he'd heard was horribly, awfully incomplete: the captain had sworn his pact...and then sealed it by imprisoning his own rescuer! This act of betrayal had caught the attention of some malign force, and had continued for centuries...until now!
"What have you done, indeed?" groans the spellcaster, somewhere in the air around the ursinal. "If this ship sinks, this sea might return to the Mists that spawned it! For your own lives as well as the master's, I cannot let--!"
The angel waves a paw, and a black-shrouded man drops out of the air with a splash. Bottomless hood askew, he pulls it off snorting and sputtering to reveal a sodden mass of white hair.
"I'll grant that fleeing this place may be wise," the angel says in measured tones, "but this...ship...is a soulless abomination that must not continue. If you know why I should hold off finishing what someone else has begun, you had best speak quickly!"
Still recovering from Pieter's control, the spellcaster looks frantically from the exit to the angel. "Each land is linked to a single mind...err, perhaps a pair...no more than three...ah...masters of the lands. When the master is destroyed, or sometimes when he, or she or it--I mean--the land becomes...unstable. It may seek another master, or it may crumble into fog--hard to say which. These 'conjunctions' are dangerous...to say the least, what with crumbling into mists and all. The island is crumbling, and while it's falling, it passed to Pieter, except he can't set foot on land, hence the crumbling...please, can you get us to safety, I'd do it myself except..."
He trails off and shakes his head as if waking up after a long night. Balin was all set to fill in the "except" as he already used his best magic trying to kill Balin for Pieter, but now he's not sure. The man keeps shaking his head, trying to clear his senses--could he be mentally impaired? He was lucid while under Pieter's control, but now he's crumbling rapidly.
"...as I was saying, I-I've got a snowman ashore who could help me, but talking with him makes it worse. The boats are too full as it is--the snowman might help there, too, but I'm not talking to him..."
[Sorry about the tad bit of railroading here, but I wanted to get a little more out in the open before giving you the reins. With the ship going under in five minutes or less, you have that long to figure out a) whether you believe the old man's warning, and b) what you intend to do about it. If you have any more healing magic, you might try restoring the guy's sanity and see if he gets better spellcasting powers back. OTOH, you can't be certain if he's trustworthy, nor if he's really able to help.
* I've got (1d8+3d6+19-12) times 2, which comes out to about 42 hp per hit before hardness. Spend a smite and you can bust a section in one hit; otherwise it's a full attack.
** Two rounds, to be specific. If you use dire charge to zig-zag between opposite sides of the hold, you can destroy one section per round, and by spacing them properly you can destroy six sections for a five-minute sinking time.
*** Shackle spell, ranged touch attack using a quickened true strike to give it a +20. Targeted using a Gem (actually a pince-nez) of seeing, to negate the 50% chance. Rolled a natural 20 to hit, but Balin's ring of Freedom of Movement saves him.
**** Balin succeeded at his DC 25 Will save to avoid being sucked into the iron flask. Balin is in a rank 4 ethereal sinkhole of evil that is currently infused with a darklord, so the DC was increased by 6 from the original 19. (20+11=31)]
You never said you re-materialized, so I'll assume you're still ethereal. That will allow you to move around without pushing through the crowds.]
On deck, the ghoulish crew are helping to load people in as fast as they come. As a small blessing to the townsfolk, they rescue the drowning first to ensure their master a prosperous bounty--dead men don't fetch a price, apparently.
Descending into the lightless hold of the ship, the villagers push each other out of the way and stand around aimlessly--Reise's mental command wasn't specific about where to go once inside the hold. Balin takes a few moments to find a place where rushing water won't immediately threaten any of the townsfolk. His first hit slices the timbers cleanly apart*; water sprays, snapping the surrounding boards in staccato crescendo.
As water pours in, townsfolk inside the hold look around anxiously and wonder what to do now. The magical compulsion cannot force them to commit suicide, but most of them remain unconvinced that staying will cause them to die. They reconsider quickly as another section bursts apart, and the lower hold begins filling rapidly. Charging back toward the original wall**, Balin is interrupted by a bolt of spinning white light that streaks toward him out of thin air.*** It spreads all around him and encases him in shimmering bands of force, which writhe and twist every which way to find purchase...but finally expend themselves against the defenses of Balin's ring.
The ankle-deep water has started to slow Balin down--and the townsfolk have all fled to the upper deck--when suddenly the wooden walls of the hold are coated six inches deep in solid ice. Apparently the invisible spellcaster has opted to plug the existing leaks to buy time, but the ice is already crumbling under the strain as Balin dashes back and forth across the hold punching additional holes.
Again and again the spellcaster unleashes what opposition he can, but even using a blinking effect to attack ethereally, it just isn't enough: summoned monsters are run down practically before they can defend themselves, magical darkness covers too small an area and simply forces Balin to select other sections, illusions are promptly identified and ignored, and so on. In his desperation, the spellcaster unleashes a smattering of offensive spells, some of which actually hasten the ship's demise!
Balin has punched over eight holes now, and the ship is literally falling apart under the strain, to the point where the crew and captain's quarters above have begun spilling their contents into the hold. In his mounting panic, the mysterious spellcaster scans about in the flotsam and jetsam for some sort of help. Using his ring to wade through the water preeternaturally fast, Balin turns around after his latest hit and sees a dark red, rune-covered urn with a brass stopper rise out of the water far ahead, lifted by unseen hands.
"Angel of light, your time here is over! I shall deliver you to my master, and he shall rework these timbers out of your own flesh and bone!"
The voice is that of the mysterious cloaked figure who enquired about Balin's relationship to "the changeling," but Balin also recognizes the unmistakeable imprint of a commanding consciousness: this arcanist is acting on Reise's mental orders. Still, Balin has little time to ponder the information as the man intones a word of power and pulls off the stopper....
The binding magics of the infernal flask snake out to ensnare Balin, but he resists with all his might****. Having failed, the flask's magics turn inward and disgorge an eight-foot mound of shaggy hair, which surveys the area with growing alarm.
"Oh...Pieter...what have you done!?"
Balin can't discern specific features from his vantage in the ether, but the creature looks somewhat like a hunchbacked bear, suffused with the unmistakeable glow of a celestial. Balin suddenly realizes that the story he'd heard was horribly, awfully incomplete: the captain had sworn his pact...and then sealed it by imprisoning his own rescuer! This act of betrayal had caught the attention of some malign force, and had continued for centuries...until now!
"What have you done, indeed?" groans the spellcaster, somewhere in the air around the ursinal. "If this ship sinks, this sea might return to the Mists that spawned it! For your own lives as well as the master's, I cannot let--!"
The angel waves a paw, and a black-shrouded man drops out of the air with a splash. Bottomless hood askew, he pulls it off snorting and sputtering to reveal a sodden mass of white hair.
"I'll grant that fleeing this place may be wise," the angel says in measured tones, "but this...ship...is a soulless abomination that must not continue. If you know why I should hold off finishing what someone else has begun, you had best speak quickly!"
Still recovering from Pieter's control, the spellcaster looks frantically from the exit to the angel. "Each land is linked to a single mind...err, perhaps a pair...no more than three...ah...masters of the lands. When the master is destroyed, or sometimes when he, or she or it--I mean--the land becomes...unstable. It may seek another master, or it may crumble into fog--hard to say which. These 'conjunctions' are dangerous...to say the least, what with crumbling into mists and all. The island is crumbling, and while it's falling, it passed to Pieter, except he can't set foot on land, hence the crumbling...please, can you get us to safety, I'd do it myself except..."
He trails off and shakes his head as if waking up after a long night. Balin was all set to fill in the "except" as he already used his best magic trying to kill Balin for Pieter, but now he's not sure. The man keeps shaking his head, trying to clear his senses--could he be mentally impaired? He was lucid while under Pieter's control, but now he's crumbling rapidly.
"...as I was saying, I-I've got a snowman ashore who could help me, but talking with him makes it worse. The boats are too full as it is--the snowman might help there, too, but I'm not talking to him..."
[Sorry about the tad bit of railroading here, but I wanted to get a little more out in the open before giving you the reins. With the ship going under in five minutes or less, you have that long to figure out a) whether you believe the old man's warning, and b) what you intend to do about it. If you have any more healing magic, you might try restoring the guy's sanity and see if he gets better spellcasting powers back. OTOH, you can't be certain if he's trustworthy, nor if he's really able to help.
* I've got (1d8+3d6+19-12) times 2, which comes out to about 42 hp per hit before hardness. Spend a smite and you can bust a section in one hit; otherwise it's a full attack.
** Two rounds, to be specific. If you use dire charge to zig-zag between opposite sides of the hold, you can destroy one section per round, and by spacing them properly you can destroy six sections for a five-minute sinking time.
*** Shackle spell, ranged touch attack using a quickened true strike to give it a +20. Targeted using a Gem (actually a pince-nez) of seeing, to negate the 50% chance. Rolled a natural 20 to hit, but Balin's ring of Freedom of Movement saves him.
**** Balin succeeded at his DC 25 Will save to avoid being sucked into the iron flask. Balin is in a rank 4 ethereal sinkhole of evil that is currently infused with a darklord, so the DC was increased by 6 from the original 19. (20+11=31)]
The Avariel has borrowed wings,
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
-
DeepShadow of FoS
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2916
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2003 1:43 pm
- Location: Heinfroth's Asylum
OOC: I want to move things along here. If anything's confusing you, Gurthoron, please let me know. If I don't hear from you within three days, I'll be moving this thread along ASAP.
The Avariel has borrowed wings,
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
-
DeepShadow of FoS
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2916
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2003 1:43 pm
- Location: Heinfroth's Asylum
Water filling the hold turns blood-red, and flecks of frothy foam appear. Balin realizes what's happening and steps out of the ether. From here, he can see that the angel is an ursinal, one of the bear-scholars of the animal-like guardinals. The creature's bushy eyebrows knit together upon seeing him, and it gives a nod of greeting.
"The conjunction's begun!" the white-haired man gasps. "We're all doomed!"
"Doubtful," Balin admits, scooping up a handful of pink seawater. "I've seen this before."
The ursinal sloshes over to Balin and looks him up and down. "This world forbids any attempt to look within hearts--thank the Five for the scent of heaven in your footsteps! Do you know if this...magician...is trustworthy?"
"I know that, I know that!" the white-haired wizard huffs before Balin can answer. "We'll get out once it's settled."
The ursinal and saint exchange looks as they realize the remarks weren't addressed at either of them.
"Don't shush me, boy!" the wizard continues. "I've been tracking conjunctions since before you could walk!"
The ursinal regards the elderly man for a moment and then turns to Balin.
"Crazy he may be--" the bear-angel mutters with a flip of his hand. A black-cloaked and hooded figure drops into the foaming water beside his comrade and sloshes to his feet, sputtering into his hood. "But not that crazy!"
Unlike his elder, the second man stubbornly refuses to remove his hood, which only makes him all the more absurd as he sloshes half-blind in the reddening water, torn between rescuing his mad companion and fleeing for his life. With the ship filling up, all four are forced up on deck.
[Balin's options are limited here, but there are a few important choices to be made. Taking 2 on Sense Motive reveals the same innate distaste that has marked Balin's interactions with evil creatures, but that doesn't mean they can't be reasoned with. The ursinal is willing and able to heal the wizard, but will wait on Balin's advice.
With the Relentless in its death throes Balin must decide about the equipment stolen by Reise's ghostly crew, which was hidden somewhere aboard. The Relentless is a near-bottomless well of souls, and if it's destroyed for good, Balin may have trouble getting his gear back. OTOH, the dying ship is bleeding unstable negative energy (taking 2 on Knowledge (religion), that may yet affect anyone that lingers nearby.
The ursinal looks to Balin for guidance; he'd prefer they stay together, but will follow orders at least until he gets better bearings.]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Outside, Tessius and Marcella see the red foam bubble up frum underneath them, and the spymaster recalls a cloud descending upon him when he swam under the Pirate's Bane....
The compulsion of the villagers founders as Reise's command becomes tantamount to suicide, and those still on the makeshift rafts pull the cargo nets toward the beach with a tangle of bodies. The cargo nets unravel into smoke rings away from the Relentless, but Darcine and Lartius wade into the water with strong silken cords to pull the floundering villagers in.
Gulleye is hastily delegating to the rest of Memento Mori, when suddenly he stops and holds up a hand for silence. Heartbeats pass, and Gulleye dashes down into the surf, shifts from foot to foot while staring at the water, then reaches down and scribbles in the sand. It takes the other Mementos several seconds to realize what's the matter.
"We're...we're not sinking." Dermott can't help keeping his voice quiet for fear the sinking will begin again.
[Blaustein has stopped sinking, but the earth has been compromised by the rising water table and the earthquake--there are still many repairs to be made. The domain of Saragoss is combining with the Sea of Sorrows, as heralded by the infamous Red Foam. The exact meaning of the foam isn't obvious to any of the villagers, but they are sensible enough to start getting themselves out of the water before the sharks come, especially after the Mementos convince them that the island isn't sinking anymore.]
"The conjunction's begun!" the white-haired man gasps. "We're all doomed!"
"Doubtful," Balin admits, scooping up a handful of pink seawater. "I've seen this before."
The ursinal sloshes over to Balin and looks him up and down. "This world forbids any attempt to look within hearts--thank the Five for the scent of heaven in your footsteps! Do you know if this...magician...is trustworthy?"
"I know that, I know that!" the white-haired wizard huffs before Balin can answer. "We'll get out once it's settled."
The ursinal and saint exchange looks as they realize the remarks weren't addressed at either of them.
"Don't shush me, boy!" the wizard continues. "I've been tracking conjunctions since before you could walk!"
The ursinal regards the elderly man for a moment and then turns to Balin.
"Crazy he may be--" the bear-angel mutters with a flip of his hand. A black-cloaked and hooded figure drops into the foaming water beside his comrade and sloshes to his feet, sputtering into his hood. "But not that crazy!"
Unlike his elder, the second man stubbornly refuses to remove his hood, which only makes him all the more absurd as he sloshes half-blind in the reddening water, torn between rescuing his mad companion and fleeing for his life. With the ship filling up, all four are forced up on deck.
[Balin's options are limited here, but there are a few important choices to be made. Taking 2 on Sense Motive reveals the same innate distaste that has marked Balin's interactions with evil creatures, but that doesn't mean they can't be reasoned with. The ursinal is willing and able to heal the wizard, but will wait on Balin's advice.
With the Relentless in its death throes Balin must decide about the equipment stolen by Reise's ghostly crew, which was hidden somewhere aboard. The Relentless is a near-bottomless well of souls, and if it's destroyed for good, Balin may have trouble getting his gear back. OTOH, the dying ship is bleeding unstable negative energy (taking 2 on Knowledge (religion), that may yet affect anyone that lingers nearby.
The ursinal looks to Balin for guidance; he'd prefer they stay together, but will follow orders at least until he gets better bearings.]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Outside, Tessius and Marcella see the red foam bubble up frum underneath them, and the spymaster recalls a cloud descending upon him when he swam under the Pirate's Bane....
The compulsion of the villagers founders as Reise's command becomes tantamount to suicide, and those still on the makeshift rafts pull the cargo nets toward the beach with a tangle of bodies. The cargo nets unravel into smoke rings away from the Relentless, but Darcine and Lartius wade into the water with strong silken cords to pull the floundering villagers in.
Gulleye is hastily delegating to the rest of Memento Mori, when suddenly he stops and holds up a hand for silence. Heartbeats pass, and Gulleye dashes down into the surf, shifts from foot to foot while staring at the water, then reaches down and scribbles in the sand. It takes the other Mementos several seconds to realize what's the matter.
"We're...we're not sinking." Dermott can't help keeping his voice quiet for fear the sinking will begin again.
[Blaustein has stopped sinking, but the earth has been compromised by the rising water table and the earthquake--there are still many repairs to be made. The domain of Saragoss is combining with the Sea of Sorrows, as heralded by the infamous Red Foam. The exact meaning of the foam isn't obvious to any of the villagers, but they are sensible enough to start getting themselves out of the water before the sharks come, especially after the Mementos convince them that the island isn't sinking anymore.]
The Avariel has borrowed wings,
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
-
DeepShadow of FoS
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2916
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2003 1:43 pm
- Location: Heinfroth's Asylum
As the four of them flee the doomed ship, the moaning wind in their ears becomes pregnant with other voices, harsh and strident. Van Riese appears again on deck, no more than a flickering phantom as he calls his men to muster and sates his wordless fury with their hides. No more the dreaded sea-spirits, the ghosts of his crew appear now in full relief, cringing before their master and begging for mercy.
The ursinal slows, and his backward glances lengthen until he stands in the surf, enrapt by the tragic end of the man he was sent to save. He spares only a sidelong look at Balin* before slogging back aboard the ship and interposing himself between captain and crew.
"It's over, Pieter. Your offer has been accepted."
For an instant, Pieter's eyes flare white-hot, almost a shadow of the spirit he was before. "Get away from me, you filthy deceiver! I've no bargain with your kind!"
"I know." Dripping brine and pity, the angel gives a sigh like the last dying breath of autumn. "How you'll wish you had."
A darkness blacker than midnight begins to congeal at the captain's feet, and he slowly realizes what's happening. Summoning the last of his bravado, Pieter van Reise scoffs at the angel. "I'm sure I can work out a bargain with them, with this kind of haul."
"Your offer has been accepted," the ursinal says again. "But no one can offer what he doesn't have. Don't you see, Pieter? That's why you've been in the limbo for so long: you can't sell someone else's soul."
Turning away, the angel extends a furry paw to the ghostly crew, and leads them to the rail, where they gaze out at the hundreds of ghosts escaping from the shattered hull. Behind them, a furious Pieter van Riese raises his cat-o-nine tails over the heads of his crew...
...and plummets screaming into the welcoming shadows.
Now looking as they did in life, Reise's crew stand by the angel's side at the rail, watching the ghosts each depart to their own afterlife. One by one, they bid their goodbyes and turn away, their outlines blurring into the fog. Finally, the smiling first mate offers the creature one last friendly handshake and vanishes from sight just as the ghost ship Relentless plummets through the sandy bottom and into the icy waters of a netherworld. Thirteen of the bottomless hold's living cargo bob to the surface, gasping for breath as if awakened from an endless nightmare.**
* If Balin wishes it, the ursinal will heal the old wizard at this point.
** If Balin goes back for his stuff, he must make Swim checks to navigate the icy hold. The hold borders on the netherworld, making it supernaturally dark and cold (as deeper darkness; Balin ignores the cold because he's a saint) and it bestows one negative level per round, which Balin ignores because of his armor. He has five rounds before the ship leaves the material plane; after that he can try searching in the sandy bottom where it fell through.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Slowly people gather into family groups on the shore under the leadership of Memento Mori. As he slogs back out of the water, Tessius sees Marcella glance behind them, then slow and stop beside him at the sight of something in the distance. An eerie chill of deja vu runs up the spymaster's spine, so acute and precise that a name is on his lips before he's even turned around.
Kiraslee.
The fins of a dozen sharks trail in her wake like some macabre retinue, nearly boiling the water at her feet with their furious frenzy. She walks just above the surface, teasing them with droplets of gore from her fingers and toes. Crimson ribbons flow from a hundred wounds, so much that no one here but Tessius would ever guess her dress had once been white.
Graceful even in her mutilated state, the Ever-Bleeding One treads the glassy sea, closing the sixty feet between the sharks and the spymaster in three slow steps.
"I can smell my blood upon you. Whence have you come, and where are you going? Judgement is at hand, and I will not keep it waiting any longer!"
The ursinal slows, and his backward glances lengthen until he stands in the surf, enrapt by the tragic end of the man he was sent to save. He spares only a sidelong look at Balin* before slogging back aboard the ship and interposing himself between captain and crew.
"It's over, Pieter. Your offer has been accepted."
For an instant, Pieter's eyes flare white-hot, almost a shadow of the spirit he was before. "Get away from me, you filthy deceiver! I've no bargain with your kind!"
"I know." Dripping brine and pity, the angel gives a sigh like the last dying breath of autumn. "How you'll wish you had."
A darkness blacker than midnight begins to congeal at the captain's feet, and he slowly realizes what's happening. Summoning the last of his bravado, Pieter van Reise scoffs at the angel. "I'm sure I can work out a bargain with them, with this kind of haul."
"Your offer has been accepted," the ursinal says again. "But no one can offer what he doesn't have. Don't you see, Pieter? That's why you've been in the limbo for so long: you can't sell someone else's soul."
Turning away, the angel extends a furry paw to the ghostly crew, and leads them to the rail, where they gaze out at the hundreds of ghosts escaping from the shattered hull. Behind them, a furious Pieter van Riese raises his cat-o-nine tails over the heads of his crew...
...and plummets screaming into the welcoming shadows.
Now looking as they did in life, Reise's crew stand by the angel's side at the rail, watching the ghosts each depart to their own afterlife. One by one, they bid their goodbyes and turn away, their outlines blurring into the fog. Finally, the smiling first mate offers the creature one last friendly handshake and vanishes from sight just as the ghost ship Relentless plummets through the sandy bottom and into the icy waters of a netherworld. Thirteen of the bottomless hold's living cargo bob to the surface, gasping for breath as if awakened from an endless nightmare.**
* If Balin wishes it, the ursinal will heal the old wizard at this point.
** If Balin goes back for his stuff, he must make Swim checks to navigate the icy hold. The hold borders on the netherworld, making it supernaturally dark and cold (as deeper darkness; Balin ignores the cold because he's a saint) and it bestows one negative level per round, which Balin ignores because of his armor. He has five rounds before the ship leaves the material plane; after that he can try searching in the sandy bottom where it fell through.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Slowly people gather into family groups on the shore under the leadership of Memento Mori. As he slogs back out of the water, Tessius sees Marcella glance behind them, then slow and stop beside him at the sight of something in the distance. An eerie chill of deja vu runs up the spymaster's spine, so acute and precise that a name is on his lips before he's even turned around.
Kiraslee.
The fins of a dozen sharks trail in her wake like some macabre retinue, nearly boiling the water at her feet with their furious frenzy. She walks just above the surface, teasing them with droplets of gore from her fingers and toes. Crimson ribbons flow from a hundred wounds, so much that no one here but Tessius would ever guess her dress had once been white.
Graceful even in her mutilated state, the Ever-Bleeding One treads the glassy sea, closing the sixty feet between the sharks and the spymaster in three slow steps.
"I can smell my blood upon you. Whence have you come, and where are you going? Judgement is at hand, and I will not keep it waiting any longer!"
The Avariel has borrowed wings,
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home