I am off to check the ships, follow me when you can.
Alistar takes off to head back to the ships.
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As Alistair makes to head for the ships, the Mage turns to face him and grins wickedly.
Skinned one will not lea-- Urk!
The tips of Nalgi's trident explode out of the sahaguin's chest, spraying Alistair with thick black ichor. When the water calms down, Delben speaks in his monotone voice.
Wait. Nalgi and I will return to the ship. Harvey, you're in charge here. Find this Veska, and this fabled treasure.
With that, he mounts one of Nalgi's sharks and they make off back toward the ship.
Sunny pops back up again, "Here! Wait! Take this bundle with ye!" She calls, indicating her captive. "Don't hurt it none. I want it ta' be in fine nick fer when I get ta' play with it later." (^_~)
She then proceeds to search around thoroughly for anything the dropped critters have... or they might have dropped.
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Under the water, Sunny is able to recover the matching short sword to the one she boosted off the sahaguin earlier. They both appear to be made of something other than metal, and radiate magic.
These weapons are made from a type of coral referred to as Steel Coral. They aren't forged like normal swords, but are instead grown by those knowledgable in the art. It takes roughly 5 years to grow a one handed weapon, and 8 years to grow a two handed weapon. Since they are grown in this manner, it reduces the cost of magical enhancement by %35. The standard price of a coral steel item is the same as that of a mithril item of the same type.
In addition, a coral steel weapon with the broken condition can be "fixed" by submerging it in sea water, with the broken pieces secured to each other, for 1d4 days for a one handed weapon and 3d4 days for a two handed weapon.
These weapons were popular during the Azlanti war, and are still found, though rarely, in some underwater cultures.
The broken falchion that the warrior sahaguin wielded is still under the water, and is made of the same material as the short sword.
In addition, the Mage sahaguin had a necklace made of pearls around his neck, and one of them radiates magic.
Sunny shows off all the stuff she's found that's been dropped by the critters.
"Where d'we goes next?" She asks in a quiet voice.
Olhas shrugs, looking at the items and feeling like he should know these items, even as the knowledge seems to be eluding him.
"Well, there still is plenty of this place to explore, I would imagine?"
Alistar picks up the broken Falchion and stares at it a moment. his eyes glaze over white a moment as he speaks telling of the properties of these blades.
We should take these. They could be usefull. We will have to regrow this one. Now shall we press on. Lets leave the ship to the captain and Hagi. Is anyone hurt?
Alistar is right, we need to keep going and trust that the capt will take care of our ship
let's head on words forward. I want to make quick work of this place.
Sunny nods in agreement, "I be okeys!" She assures her friends, even as she begins to glide smoothly through the flooded passage.
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It appears the only way past this area is through the hole cut into the wall. Sunny climbs into it, discovering that it leads downward into the brackish water. After about twenty feet, it opens up and she can see what appears to be the sea floor. As far as she can see in all directions are buildings and other city structures made from coral, stone, and some kind of giant shells. Sahaguin swim about, hustling and bustling in between areas. A large group of them is centered around a giant corral, made from coral grown into a huge netted dome. Inside are two giant sharks, with Sahaguin riders, and they appear to be doing battle. No one notices her as she swims along the bottom of the tower, and she finds another hole leading back up into it about thirty or so feet away.
She returns to the group, and explains to them in her usual bright and cheery way, and leads them into the tunnel. They view of the city is actually quite breathtaking, as the colors and designs are far more beautiful than one would expect from bloodthirsty fish-men, and by this point the shark fights have gathered more attention, with one being bloodied up pretty bad.
Once the group makes it into the new tunnel, a brief climb takes place, but everyone is able to make it along well enough with each other's help. The room you enter into into is far less run down than the others you've seen so far, and even has art in the walls that is not damaged by the sea or time. It mostly depicts men, in formal military dress, and most likely Azlanti. A few show scenes of great battles. There is a set of double doors to the north of the room.
"I is be helpin'!" (^_^)
Sunny checks all about the room for maybe sekrit stuffs.
Alistar takes note of the room and the art.
This are great works of a lost people. These could be quite valuable if we can find a way to get them out without damaging them, but we can worry about that after we stop the creature that watches over this place. Lets move on.
Once Suny gives the all clear Alistar opens the doors.
Sunny looks around at the place they find themselves in.
"Well... maybe tha' peoples who made this place has more'n one set of doors..?" She suggests hopefully... though sounding completely unsure of things.
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The room on the other side of the double doors was once grandiose, probably the most lavish one in the entire fortress. It has long since fallen into disrepair, with about ten large holes scattered all over the floor, leading down to the sea. A massive hole on the other side of the room, at least twenty by twenty feet. About fifteen feet above it, a grand staircase hangs in the air, leading up to the second floor. It would appear the bottom half fell into ocean many hundreds of years ago.
The remains of fine ivory furniture lies in ruin in one corner, and a pile of rotted organic mush in another, probably the remains of ancient carpet, wood, and books.
The room hangs heavy with a sense of foreboding. The hair on the backs of your necks stand up. As you look around, trying to figure out what it once was, someone steps in a puddle, and the wet thwack resounds in the room. Suddenly, the water in the holes begins to roil and churn, and froth over onto the floor!
Climbing out of the giant hole is a massive crablike creature, large as a small house, ridden by a huge four armed Sahaguin! It pulls itself out of the hole and rears up to its full height of about ten feet, it's massive pincers clacking together. The sahaguin points a huge lance made of bone at you, and Glorts loudly.
GM <please do not forget me here!
Unable to reach the beast Alistar will draw and set his spear to receive the charge.
Only if it doesn't have reach
maybe the GM will return.
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The battle with the massive beast and it's rider is over quickly, with Sunny figuring out that the sahaguin using the "puddles" (which are actually holes in the floor of the room leading down to the water above the sahaguin city below) to quickly leap out, strike someone, and leap back in only to reappear somewhere else and reappear the process. She catches one as it's coming up, beheading it with a vicious swipe of her sword. The other sahaguin realize it's a bad idea and flee. Olhas stuns the huge mount with his scream, causing it to rear back, exposing its soft underbelly, where Alistair cleaves it in half. Harvey finishes the job with two bullets from his pistols, straight into the skull of the rider. A search of the bodies reveals that there isn't much in the way of loot, only a string of pearls and a lance made of some kind of bone.
After a few minutes of debate on how to reach the stairs hanging from the ceiling above, Noro finally "boosts" (read: chucks) Sunny up to secure a climbing rope for the rest of the group to use.
Once up, the surroundings change dramatically. The stairwell here has been travelled by sahaguin maybe once or twice, if at all, in its entire existence. The wood is rich mahaogany, the floors spotless white marble and the walls made of expertly molded wood, painted a rich red and gold. It opens into a hall, with quite a few doors. The rooms are more of the same, revealing exquisite statues and architecture, and stately bearings. Some look to be offices of some sort, some were once living quarters. The furnishings have long since decayed, art on the walls mostly degraded and worn. They are still in some sort of decent quality though, depicting scenes of battle, landscapes and people, all of Azlanti origin.
As you finish up your searches here, you hear a voice coming from a set of large doors, set in the back of this floor.
Borkissss, what issssss that racket outside? More sssshipssss? Kill them, bring me thier fleshhhhhh
A sniffing noise is heard, and the voice speaks again.
No, not Borkissss.... Not those wretched fissssshhhhh people. I ssssmell humanssssss. Pleassssse.... Come to Vesssska... Rid me of my burden and I will reward you....
Warily, you enter the doors, weapons drawn, expecting the worst.
Inside you find a white dragon. Not huge, though that's just relatively speaking. It's still about the size of your ship. It lays in the room, wings bunched up against its body. It's easy to see that it hasn't left here in a very long time, and it doesn't have the space to stretch out. It eyes you apprasingly and then speaks again.
Yessssss..... You look... Sssssuitable, more ssssso than the other wretched humanssss have been... I am Vesssska, protector of the third key, and ssssssufferer of a terrible fate.
Suddenly, it lurches its head to the side and speaks, apparently, the the corner of the room.
NO! You tell them too much! Eat them! Eat them and protect the key asssss you were ordered!
I won't! They can ssssave usssss! If they take the key, we are free!
They can't! No one can! We are doomed! Doomed to the geasssss, doomed to rot in this room, doomed to suffer those wretched fisssssh men!
NO! Let them TRY!
The dragon looks back at you, and displays what can only loosely be described as a smile. (It looks like a mouthful of really, really sharp teeth.)
You.... You musssst help me. You WILL help me. I am a sssslave to time, to the Azzzzlanti. I was captured, and put under a ssssspell. I must protect the treassssure of this arcane facccility. Thossssse who did sssso promissssed to return, to reward me with richesssss. They went away, never came back, never releasssssed me. You musssst take the chest, take it where I cannot find you, so the ssssspell will break. I musssst me free!
The dragon swings it's head again, and starts talking to itself again.
No! Won't work! Won't break! The ssssspell isssss to ssstrong!
Will work! No treasssssure, no sssspell! We only must ressssisssst following until they are gone! Gone away!
The ssssspell could make usssss inssssane! Could sssshatter mindsssss! No treassssure, sssstill ssstuck! No purpossssssse!
The beast looks at you again, and slides a massive clawed hand toward you, pushing a small, EXTREMELY ornate wooden chest toward you. In the semi-darkness of the room, you can tell it's carved with expert care, but can't make out what the reliefs are.
Take thisssss. I know not what it is.... I can't open it... Can't break it. Only know itsssssss called "Third Key". Take it, and I will resssssisssst chasssssing, ressssisssst killing. Take it, or I will kill you all and eat you here!
After a few seconds of discussion, and not being able to reach a decision together, Sunny darts forward and grabs the chest, and smiles to the group as she sprints past them, with a cheery Cap'n's order was to take tha treasure! I'm takin' it! Let's go!
The group follows, heading back toward the ship. As you flee, the sounds of crashing and screaming can be heard from Veska's chamber.
Once you arrive back out at the dock, the scene is grisly. Bodies of sahaguin are everywhere, speckled with the bodies of humans. The fish men continue to rise from the depths around the ships, and from the holes in the floor of the dock, as well as other hidden doors in the walls of the fortress. As you make it out of the door, a group of sahaguin block your path, lifting weapons menacingly at you. Suddenly, a very familiar, very large, very bloody chain sweeps across, cleaving through them and scattering them over the floor and into the water. The familiar voice of Urlak Kresh reaches you.
Captain is dead. First mate too. We need to go. Grin is already at the entrance, covering us. Get on the Trader, and let's go. Much longer and none of us will be alive.
As you follow him to the Horned Trader, you pass by a circle of about fifteen Sahaguin, all dead, and in the middle is the body of Delben Petch, his little drum broken and bloody. On top of him, with a sahaguin lance in his chest, is the body of Nalgi. His lance is wedged in the chest of a huge sahaguin. It's obvious the first mate died protecting his captain. Alistair grabs the Gillman's trident as he moves by, wheezing between breaths
This... Needs... A place.... Of honor...
When you board the Trader, she sets off immediately, swinging about and following the Grin out of the dock area.
As you leave, right when you think you've made it out, and the sahaguin are forced off the deck, the roof of the fortress explodes, and Veska rises out! A loud scream is audible.
Kill! Kill them all! The ssssspell commandsssss it!
The dragon flies over the two ships, spraying them with amassive breath of ice! Cannons fire, ballistas fly, and the dragon is pelted, and almost slowed. Another pass over the ships, and a massive crack is heard from the Grin! The dragon then comes straight at the Horned Trader, eyes red with hate fueled of ancient magic, and that deadly breath crosses the deck! Several pirates are frozen solid immediately, still more fall to the deck, screaming in agony as frostbite covers thier entire bodies almost instantaeneously.
The dragon, lifts up again, and you notice that the Grin is now behind you, dead in the water. The mainmast has broken, ice causing the wood to splinter and crack. Furthermore, the mast, when it fell, cracked the hull of the Inauspicious Grin, and the ship is taking on water. Doomed as she is, the crew is still bravely firing away at the dragon. It lands on the side of the ship, forcing it mostly underwater, and readies another breath. One of the gunners, thinking quickly, spins a cannon around, and fires it directly into the beast's open mouth! Veska's head explodes, and the body slides off the deck into the water. The sailor navigating the Horned Trader wheels the ship around, and a rescue mission ensues.
All of the loot and most of the sailors aboard the Grin were lost. The Horned Trader has taken a massive amount of damage, and can barely make half speed. Luckily, you're not too far from a well known place called Rickety's Squibbs, where pirates take captured ships to have them repaired and cosmetically overhauled so that they aren't recognizable anymore. Renamed and refitted, they can then be sailed on the open seas without being recognized by authorities as the ships they used to be. Upgrades such as more weapons, secret compartments for stolen loot, and increased cargo space can be done there as well.
Two choices await. You can take a popular route and get there faster, but risk being caught, or take a longer, less popular route, and risk running out of food and supplies.
The crew looks at you, expectantly. A few voices can be heard.
Oy! That ain't what we signed up fer! Where be our loot! Where be our food? Hell, where we be headed?! Who be captain now?!
The crew is worried, with good reason. What do you tell them?
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standing on the treasure chest that Sunny brought back
Okay Crew listen up! I be Captain now! We've been thru a lot from the last couple of days. This ship OUR ship needs repair and needs squibing. we're several days out from Rickety's place. The first order is to get this ship in working order. Then once we've got it repaired and ready to go, we've got some pirating to do.
There be some really good crew on here, and I do not want to see anyone fighting nor squabing on chores today. let's get to work
Sends out a sharp whistle
All Right Crew set the sail,
Sunny!, take two crew and get to the look out
Noro! Take the 4 crew memebers and see what we have for stores and wears please
Alistar! Grab 3 crew and see if we can make a couple of more repairs to the ship
Everyone else! man the deck, keep alert. Lower the colors. We're out numbered and out gunned out here at the moment, let's take the slow road to Rickety's
grabbing his guns out from the hoslter
Anyone want to counter my orders?
"Listen up to Captain Dagger. All is not lost. Besmara watches over us still. I am now your third mate. I will watch over you and you will bring your concerns to me. We are damaged and lacking wepaons for defense. So with this end we will take the long way to Rickety's Squibbs. Food will need to be rationed and we will fish to make do. Any man hurt gather around. If you find yourself worn down come and see me directly so that you can keep going. Do this now and your pockets will soon be lined with the prizes of the ships we take down. Do it not and you will find yourself on Besmara's ship befor your time. Norro is your first mate, and Sunny is your second mate, but I will be handling the navigation. Now as Cap'n Dagger said get to work we have a rough few days ahead.
Studies the maps and charts a few moments before plotting the course.
Stares and studies the boat before assigning repair duties.
For a small moment Sunny just lies on the deck... resting and recovering after every thing that's happened.
At Captain Dagger's calling, however, she wastes no time in scrambling back to her feet, giving a jaunty bounce as she salutes and races off to do her duties.
Olhas works to help Alistar improve crew morale initially.
He then focuses himself on seeing what weather is coming for them, keeping them abreast of any weather changes. In between his watching of the horizon, he dips in and out of the water, keeping himself relaxed, before returning to the boat.
Once he has done that bit of due diligence, he focuses all of his attention on figuring out about the chest they've been given, not entirely trusting of the response that happened when the dragon gave it to them. His eyes glow an oceany blue, as he focuses on the nature of this item.
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The feeling fades just as quickly as it came, except that you get the feeling it was desperately trying to tell you something.
The thing is definitely magic. Well, whatever is inside anyway. The chest itself, while being ornately carved to resemble waves (the sides) supporting a huge whirlpool (the lid), is not at all magical.
The magic you sense is old. Very, very old. Auras of enchantment, transmutation, and necromancy are the most powerful, although you recognize all the other schools of magic as well. What's disconcerting is the fact that you detect some auras of schools you've never heard of.
The chest itself is locked, with the most ornate locking system you've ever seen.
"Well that's...weird. Very, very weird..." Olhas says quietly, stroking his chin as he peers at the chest.
"This...whatever it is inside...It's old. So very old, and I have no idea what some of the magic involved in it is."