The old lady who had spoken about the Wedding Rock answers Aella, ”Folk born with the gift must return to the sea at the end of their natural life… it has been our way since the time of the old gods…”… she is about to continue when a loud thunderclap shakes the lighthouse…
Increasingly dense sheets of rain pound the lighthouse as lightning flashes, illuminating the gathered villagers… and then a shocked cry rings out, and the assembly gazes nervously toward the stairwell that leads downwards. There, seawater – turbulent and salt-frothed – is creeping steadily upward, approaching a stain in the wall that must mark the previous highest tide… within moments of the flood waters being noticed, the entire lower storey of the building is flooded…
...screams of panic ring out as the small crow surge towards the windows...
Harry glances down at the water flowing into the lighthouse before looking over the panicked faces of the crowd. "That cannae be good..."
He moves closer to the stairwell, motioning to the others. "This not be natural! 'Ware yerselves!" He yells out even as he casts a spell to determine what is causing the flooding...
- the building storm is far from natural, a strong transmutation aura crackles through the clouds... and, is also swirling in the rising waters...
Marcus climbs back on to his chair and demands that the crowd cease their panic, "Pledge now your allegiance to Asmodeus and no harm shall befall you... the church decrees it!!! ...the villagefolk, even if they do notice the inquisitor's oratory, are unmoved by his demands and continue to watch the rising waters...
A wave picks up one of the boats moored next to the lighthouse and tosses it through the air - it smashes into so much driftwood and is then swallowed by the hungry sea...
...and still the waters rise...
Aella will spend a few moments staring at the rising tides in confusion. She can't quite comprehend what is going on, or why it's happening, but the disquiet in the room told her enough. Something must be done.
"Back away from the stairwell! Do we have anything to barricade it? Is there an emergency exit?"
She works as she talks, searching for any number of large objects with which to bar the doorway.
This was abit much, WAAAY to much water. She was fine with going for a swim, if it was on her terms, but when the water comes to her, not the best of places to be. She jumps to a drier spot
"Anything not to get wet, beautiful, so suggestions welcome!" she calls out to Aella from her new, but higher and drier spot
Harry gives Marcus a disgusted glare. "Ach, does he t'ink th' fires of Hell be rainin' down an' stop this flood? I dinnae think so!" Seeing the flood rising faster than any of his magicks can counter he turns to the others, "We gotta buy some time ta git this crowd outta here!" He hurriedly looks around for a way to block off the stairwell.
As Aella and Heirang look around for objects to act as some kind of a barricade, the waters continue to rise... Kit'Arr, racially conditioned to avoid getting wet, jumps atop a high shelf - it growns and complains under the sudden weight but holds fast...
...and then someone at a window calls out, "Look... Look... It's the Constable!!! Over here!!! We're up here!!!". Taking a look for themselves, the group see the outline of a boat. Fighting against the waves to get to the lighthouse, it is piloted by the farcical sight of the constable in his piles of weather proof clothing... for every three strokes forward, the water pulls him back two... but, silhouetted by the lightning that streaks across the sky, he is getting ever closer.
...and then, with a bang that reverberates through the entire structure, something - something beneath the water - seems to strike the lighthouse...
With the sudden shudder of the building, she grips the shelf with her claws, no way she was going into the water if it wasnt her choice... and if that little quake told her anything. She wasn't going to share a dark swimming pool with anything or anyone she doesn't know
"That constable better get here quick!" she shrieks!
"Or you lot will be stuck with a very unhappy, wet furred feline..." she wanted to throw a quip at Aella. But now was not the time.
"Blast all this water!" she yells at the ceiling
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Harry manages to stay on his feet despite the swaying of the lighthouse. "Somethin' big be trying ta collapse th' lighthouse!" He yells rather unnecessarily. "I need ta buy ye some time 'ere! Gonna try ta seal that leak!"
He then makes his way as quickly as he dared over to the stairwell before calling upon his water magic to send an icy blast at the opening.
Robert will begin searching for the cause of the attack on the lighthouse.
Robert's immediate reaction to the lighthouse shaking is to draw his pistol. And with it in hand,he begins to scan around the wild waters for the beast
This all apparently happens afer he stands up
Aella gives Heirang a gesture of appreciation.
"Mighty fine idea, Harry! Let us hope it can la-" The bang jolts her midway through dragging a wooden chest, sending her tumbling rather embarrassingly to her bottom.
"Mercy on my soul, but I can't stand this place!" She sends a very pointed stare towards the cowering feline, daring her to laugh at her misfortune and slow reflexes.
She sends a very pointed stare towards the cowering feline, daring her to laugh at her misfortune and slow reflexes.
This one she could not pass up, it was like an open invitation
"Don't look at me like that, you look great on your back"
The shaking of the lighthouse knocks over half of those who are inside to the floor… and cracks, quite dramatic looking cracks, to form in the plasterwork of the walls… but then things seem to suddenly turn in favour of the group, Heirang’s ice – formed whilst the water hasn’t quite started to flood into the room where the assembly was being held – seems to hold… water seeps through the floorboards from below but the water is now rising at a much slower rate.
…and outside, the constable is drawing closer… his boat will surely take no more than six to seven people but the chance of rescue, for some at least, remains… the boat is about thirty feet from the lighthouse when a rapidly growing bow wave appears behind the unwitting constable… moving with unnatural speed, the wave picks up the boat upon its crest and, somehow veering to the left, crashes it down upon the savage rocks – when the wave subsides, there is no evidence to suggest the boat was ever there…
As the crowd despairs, Marcus once more takes to the chair… and demands that the villagers of Blackcove reaffirm their allegiance to the church of Asmodeus, ”Do so… and no harm will befall you…”
Looking around, there really doesn’t seem to be any place to escape to… a ladder leads upwards, up to the light that illuminates the bay in a crimson glow…
– so far, nothing has breached the surface of the water…
"Marcus, that's quite enough out of you!" Lorne says, quickly losing his patience with the Asmodean. "Until your deity shows up and helps us get these people to safety, I'll hear no more, thank you!"
Seeing the constable's boat dashed to bits against the rocks, Lorne feels a pang of despair, but quickly beats it back. "Everyone, listen! Does anyone know how much room there is up top, there?" He gestures toward the ladder. "If there's room for it, let's start moving people up there."
Harry nods in replay as he stays nearby the stairwell. "I kin keep this hole plugged fer now, but don't lollygag 'ere!"
Lorne’s words seem to cool the rising panic amongst the crowd gathered around him… no longer surging towards the windows, the villagers look to Lorne for some kid of guidance and, when he suggests climbing the ladder to higher ground, the lighthouse keeper agrees, ”We can maybe get twenty or so folk up there… women first… quickly”
Marcus, glaring at Lorne as the villagers listen to him over the Asmodean, once more takes up his litany, ”You must abandon these old gods… forsake them and return to Asmodeus… the church demands…”
…whatever it was that the inquisitor believed the church would demand will remain a mystery as three enormous tentacles, leathery monstrosities splashing seawater as they move, crash into the room… two burst through windows whilst the third shatters Heirang’s ice and snakes up the stairwell into the room… Marcus tries to jump from his chair but he is too slow, one of the tentacles wraps around him and, giving the Asmodean no time to plead for help, pulls him from the lighthouse…
...the tentacle that has come up the stairwell attempts to grab at one of the villagers as they climb the ladder but the surprisingly spritely old woman somehow manages to escape its clutches… whilst the third tentacle, reaching in through the western window, grabs for Robert…
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Harry looks up to see the tentacle reach up to snag Marcus and yells in rage, "MARRRRCUSSSS!!" He then turns his attention to the tentacle which seeming sprung from out of nowhere, threatening the same fate for him.
"GAAAHHHHH!" He yells in a voice decidedly filled with panic.
He frantically recalls what he knew of what creatures sport these large tentacles.
"Good Gods!" Lorne shouts as the tentacle snatches Marcus from the room and out into the storm. Were this any time for a jest, he might wonder if he had wished Marcus's fate into existence; in its suddenness, the horror of it is almost lost on him. Almost.
His enchanted rapier, won in a game of chance with a priest of Cayden Cailean a few years ago, flies from its scabbard. Daring has always served Lorne well; with any luck, it would serve the people trapped in this lighthouse as well. Lorne dashes toward the nearest tentacle. "Everyone, to arms! Beat them back before they take anyone else!"
– there are tales of huge leviathans that dwell in the Hellmouth Gulf – tentacle beasts large enough to pull ships beneath the waves, these forces of nature are the stuff of legend….
Lorne’s rapier strikes the closest of the tentacles; recoiling from the sudden pain, it loops and curves back towards its attacker…
Kit moves in to help deal with the appendages
Harry steps back away from the tentacle, yelling out "I dinnae think ye wanna know that this is!" He then casts another spell on himself, as a crackling bubble of electricity surrounds him.
Moving in behind the tentacle that is looming over Lorne, Kit'Arr flexes her savage claws... spurting a black blood from the deep wound the catfolk leaves behind, the tentacle is swiftly withdrawn from the ligthouse...
...and, as if in complaint about the injury, the something beneath the waves once more crashes up against the lighthouse... the sound of wood creaking and splintering ominously echoes around the tower...
I'm sorry, I can't be with you, I'm taken right now. Now away with you! Robert says to the tentacle as he rolls away from its clutches. I will warn you, I've been told this hurts
And he will proced to bring his pistol up point blank,and fire right into the creature.
And then a five foot step back and reload
Moving backwards, Robert unloads his pistol – point blank - into the tentacle that had swiped at him… as a small crater explodes in the tentacle there is a grotesque smell of scorched flesh with a hint of gunpowder… for a moment the tentacle hangs stupidly before jerking into motion once more.
Taken aback by the sudden intrusion of the tentacles, it is all Aella can do to steady herself and draw her sword…
...the tentacle badly wounded by Robert snakes up the ladder and, coiling around a fisherman’s leg, plucks him from the ladder – and then another two tentacles coil into the lighthouse and, in the rising panic, grab villagers…
Aella could hardly believe her eyes at the chaos that so suddenly engulfed them. She went to stand up but the tentacles smashing through the nearby ice sent her sprawling once more. Again, this time with more care, the paladin stood up, the confusion in her face replaced by determination.
With sword drawn, Aella rushes to the nearest villager in danger. With a violent swing she attempts to sever the tentacle all at once.
Satisfied his own body is protected, he turns his attention to the tentacles grappling the villagers. Shouting arcane words loudly, he gestures wildly at the furthest tentacle while miming throwing a dart at it. a green blob of acid flies out to impact the tentacle...
Lorne runs toward the tentacle that Robert had already wounded. He knows he might not be able to hit hard enough to take the tentacles down himself, but he could certainly finish off one that was already damaged.
The tentacles prove to be tough-skinned, blubbery appendages and, despite their best efforts, neither Lorne nor Aella seriously injure the tentacle that is dragging one of the villagers towards a smashed window… Heirang has a little more luck, his magicked acid burning into the flesh of the tentacle – the stench is awful but the wound is not quite severe enough to cause the tentacle to drop the fisherman that it is grappling…
I don't really want to know what you're tryin to do with these people, cause the thoughts disgust me a bit. And unfortunately for you folk, Onyx here doesn't like those thoughts either. He has a few things to say about it, so listen closely. Robert says with a slight grin as he bring Onyx to hear again, prepared for his "discussion."
And, after Onyx is done speaking, Robert will proced to reload
Robert’s pistol goes off with another explosion that reverberates around the confines of the lighthouse and the tentacle that he was aiming at goes limp… the villager, a hunch-backed man, that it was holding is dropped to the floor – scrambling away from the twitching appendage, he acknowledges Robert with a toothless smile…
…and then Kit’Arr slashes with her claws a second time…
The sound of tearing flesh is quite grotesque as another tentacle goes limp – and a grappled villager runs free…
…meanwhile, the tentacle that Heirang tossed acid at – flailing in pain as the acid burns – constricts around the woman in its grip. There is a horrific cracking of bone as she goes limp… and the tentacle, nearly burnt through by Heirang’s spell, crashes to the floor…
…another trio of tentacles crash through the windows, the first flails after the man rescued by Kit’Arr… but misses… whilst the other two hone in on those who are fighting back – Robert is smashed against by a flailing tentacle but he jumps clear before it can curl around him… Aella is less lucky, the strong muscles of the tentacle gripping around her…
Aella, undeterred by her miss, repositions herself so that she is standing halfway between the two closest tentacles. She swings her greatsword in a vicious arc, aiming to slice through one and continue the attack onto the other.
The paladin finds her sword caught mid-swing. She turns her head to find a tentacle locked around her wrist, and though she tries to slip free she is far too late, and soon finds her arms pinned to her side.
Aella grits her teeth in an anger-fueled determination, plants her feet firmly, and flexes her biceps in an effort to brute-force her way out of the hold.
Is escaping a grapple a full-round action? [/ooc]
Harry sees the tentacles grab at the female paladin and shakes his head in disgust.
Can't let'em get too close!
He hurries over to where Aella is struggling against her tentacle and tries to free her from the blubbery tentacle.
"Unhand that woman!" Lorne shouts, turning his rapier against the tentacle.