"Aye, and mad I am! What I am not is suicidal, and fighting the Hunger of the Deeps is suicide. I and my madness wish to live a while longer! If we lose the thing in the fog and turmoil, life could possibly continue. I'm open to other suggestions, but in the meantime, our course is set."
"This may be a stupid question, Captain, but what exactly does this creature hunger for?" Magnus asks, all the while maintaining his illusory crew in case of a second breath attack.
Magnus will also move toward the ballista and see if he can lend a hand to speed up loading.
"Same thing it hungered for when it was alive, I believe. Meat. Though as I understand it, it likes its meals a bit more ripe these days."
Magnus sighs and sends his illusory crew jumping over the far side of the boat, and clinging to the sides to draw its attention to easy prey.
Auric looks helplessly between the ballista and the monster, before running to the side closest to where the monster is coming in, readying his sword.
The creature pushes itself on, coming in again. It bypasses the illusory sailors flailing in the water behind the boat and rams the ship once more. It pitches, but does not capsize. The crewmen get the ballista reloaded and prepare to fire as the heads rear up, allowing Auric to take a swing at the great undead beast.
"BAAL DAMN YOU!"", Auric shouts, driving his sword into one of the thing's heads.
Smite evil:
Auric's sword glances harmlessly off the thing's hide as the boat pulls a little ahead of the beast once more. The ballista fires, the missile embedding into the neck of the other head with a sickening thump, the wound eerily bloodless.
Stilgar (assuming he's still going below) finds an alarming amount of water gurgling in through sprung boards in the aft hull of the vessel. The two bilge pumps are being hardily worked as other surviving members of the crew stuff oakum into the cracks in a makeshift attempt to restore the ship's seaworthiness.
Jon stares up at the undead monstrosity. "Auric! We must distract it so the ship may flee!" Jon seems to shimmer and in his place is an eagle, which cries out in a screech and launches itself at the beast's head!
Calling uppon the power granted to her, Kalaya draws forth a spell that would hurt the undead monster. She leaps forward reaching out to touch the monstrous creature.
Auric briefly prays. "Baal, let your steadfast fire sustain me beyond mortal injury to stand in your service."
The paladin bangs on his shield, taunting the beast to get its attention.
Magnus sees his allies rising up to combat the beast, despite it's clear size. "You're all crazier than me." He says, before casting levitate on himself and lifting up to face the creature head-on.
"The insanity is quite contagious, living in close quarters like these!", Auric shouts back.
Stilgar can barely make heads or tails of the commotion going on within the hull. Deciding that the crew has the situation under control, and not wanting to get in the way, the cleric runs back onto the deck to face the ghoulish behemoth.
"I don't know how much more damage the ship can take!" he bellows as he gestures at the monster with his shield hand. His hammer of force flies by for another swing, but yet again glances off its hide harmlessly. "Damnation!"
Captain Wilde gives a laugh from the helm. "She'll hold together, don't you worry!"
"C'mon, my beauty, hold together..."
Jon becomes an eagle and takes to the air, whirling past the great undead beast as it swims on. It raises a head and takes a bite at him, but he banks away at the last second, losing a tail feather or two for his troubles. It doesn't seem to consider him worthy enough prey to abandon its pursuit of the ship over, however, and it surges on after the Flounder.
As it closes, the ballista fires again, leaving a slight crack in its shell as the bolt shivers to pieces from the impact.
Magnus rises up into the air and the ship sails away beneath him, leaving him hovering over open ocean as the great beast comes on, but it does not stop for him either, passing beneath him and leaving behind a fetid stench.
As it closes with the ship again, heads rearing, Kalaya reaches out, her fingers grazing the cold, gray flesh of its cheek. As she does so, a nimbus of light spreads from her fingers to the thing's flesh, and it molders away beneath her power. The thing gives a roar and rears that head back away from the witch, the other targeting Auric. He manages to get his shield high enough that the great beak tears gouges into the wood rather than his arm.
Smite evil:
Auric once again strikes at the thing, but his blade fails to penetrate the creature's hide.
Following Kalaya's example, Stilgar quickly channels some curative energy into his shield hand. This time however, he steps forward to touch the great beast.
Magnus calls to Jon. "Pull me back over the ship. I have another idea." He holds out his hand, waiting for a lateral tug in the right direction.
Jon grabs Magnus' arm in his talons, winging his way back toward the ship with the gnome in tow.
The undead beast surges ahead again, ramming the ship with a roar. Timbers groan in protest and cracking sounds can be heard. As it rears up, Stilgar touches it, the energy of his spell blasting another wound into the thing.
Stilgar takes another desperate swing. It is hard to miss the immense creature, the head of his hammer landing against its undead hide with a solid thunk. Harming it unfortunately, was another matter entirely - the blow does not so much as scratch the surface of its defenses. He was better off using more magic, at this rate.
"Will the ship hold, Captain!?" he bellows, somehow more unnerved by the groaning ship than he was by the lacedon.
"I can only hope! cries Captain Wilde. "She's solid enough and so long as we have men on the pumps, we won't sink. I just hope it doesn't damage the rudder. If I can't steer, then going in there goes beyond mad to completely suicidal," he says, gesturing to the cloudy area looming before you.
At this point the air has gotten warmer. You can see what might be rocks, darker shapes within the clouds and rain ahead.
Hawk-Jon screams defiance at the serpent as he tows the floating gnome.
Once over the ship, Magnus asks to be dropped down, then he hands Jon Tuboo. "You two scout ahead. Tuboo will let me know when you have found a safe harbour and I will relay the message to the captain. I don't think that we're much threat against the beast, so we can at least be a boon to the captain."
Stilgar calls upon the mythic power granted to him by Wayland, using it to help him concentrate on his spell without being left vulnerable to the lacedon. The casting of the spell is a success, but as he reaches out to touch the undead creature again he fumbles, somehow failing to make contact.
As the Flounder sails into the mists, you note that the air is warm and muggy. You can barely see more than 10 yards before everything is lost to a white swirl of steam. The water is rough and choppy, and the wind shifts direction seemingly at random, churning the fog about. Great shards of rock rise from the water, some with vegetation growing upon them.
With a rumble another great shard suddenly breaks the surface, spraying water explosively about as it thrusts up into the sky to tower over your ship, which suddenly seems very small beneath this massive monolith that has grown up in your path. With a rictus grin, Captain Wilde hauls on the ship's wheel, jerking the ship violently to port.
[dice=acrobatics]d20+2
Acrobatics
Auric and Stilgar tumble to the deck as the ship lurches violently. Kalaya keeps her footing, and Jon clutches Magnus as his levitating form starts to fall away from the ship, keeping him with the rest.
A great groan and thunderous crack draw your attention up to the massive spire of rock, as it breaks under its own weight. Chunks of stone tumble back into the sea, sending great plumes of heated water skyward, and a great wave that pushes your ship clear of the worst, though some shards tear through sails and clatter off the deck. When the worst clears, the beast that pursued you is nowhere to be seen.
Magnus gathers his senses. "What now?" He says, looking around at the decimated crew and the pulverized ship.
Auric rises shakily from the deck.
"Ugh. I don't like the sea. That thing nearly sent us all to the bottom..."
Stilgar pushes himself off the floor, his eyes darting from port to starboard in search of the undead creature. But it was nowhere to be found. He idly picks a shard of rock off the deck before dropping it, shaking his head.
"Ah, the Shards. It seems that the Captain had Tindal's favor." The cleric grimaces. "We will have to pay him extra."
Despite the churning raw elements surrounding the ship, Captain Wilde has a smile on his face as his eyes wander across the mists, steam, roiling waters, and massive rocks.
"Some say the breach is widening slowly, that the area of the Shards gets bigger with every passing year. It's said that things are somewhat more stable near the center of all this, that some of the islands formed stick around, sometimes for years. Some also say that the most daring of pirates on the Tindal come here to bury their treasure. Whatever the case, we need to find a place to make anchor and see to repairs. Hopefully we do that before we're crushed by falling rock and sent to the bottom."
"I should hope Tindal offers you enough credit for your offering to get us all to relative safety, Captain. Have you seen a monstrosity like that before? Is this a common occurrence out here?"
A towering spire of rock ahead of the ship begins to crack, magma spilling from the fractures like blood from wounds as it crumbles into the sea, sending up great plumes of steam. Wilde steers the limping ship to avoid the catastrophe.
"Now that I have a bit of time to think on it, that may not have been the beast of legend that they say prowls the waters near the Shards. It had two heads, which I've not heard of, and the tales speak of it being much bigger. Perhaps it was a spawn."
The winds begin to shift dramatically, and the waters nearby roil as great bubbles of gas come up to burst at the surface. Wilde begins shouting orders to the remnants of his crew, and they move to adjust the sails. They are obviously frightened, but keep at their work.
Magnus is unsure how best to help. He decides to head down below to provide an extra pair of hands on the bilge pumps.
"There is a creature bigger than that?" Stilgar murmurs exasperatedly, rubbing his forehead. He shakes his head - he was not sure whether he actually wanted to know the answer.
Auric shakes his head, sighing.
"Don't this beat all. Magnus has the right idea, I'll see if I can help with the bilge pumps.", Auric says, following the gnome belowdecks.
"Bigger, yes, but only one head!" responds the Captain in an encouraging voice. "Not much chance of us running across it, I'd guess. Place is so big, what are the odds?"
The sailors below manning the bilges are glad of some relief. After another hour of sailing, you are called back up on deck. The ship approaches a craggy island, looking like a rocky spire that partially collapsed, leaving half of a jagged, rough cone, hollow and rounded in the middle, forming a natural bay. The thing has been hear a while, as it is festooned with greenery, a veritable jungle clinging to its rocky surface. Strange sounds echoing from the trees indicate that there is some type of life there aside from the plants.
"We're going to need some more wood, fresh water if we can find it, and any extra food available to stretch our supplies while repairs are made. I'd like to send you as an escort for my landing party. Oh, and if you find any pirate treasure, I'll gladly split it with you."
The bird-Jon alights on the nearest yard-arm, watching the panoply unfold in front of them.
Auric looks at the island, astonished.
"Of course, we did say we'd pitch in.", he says while buckling on his large backpack.
"Does Baal have any more miracles to spare, Stilgar? I'm still roughed up from that dragon thing."
"There is some to spare," Stilgar replies with nod. Bowing his head down, he clutches the holy symbol of space metal hanging around his neck and murmurs a few brief prayers. Waves of healing energy pulse out from the cleric, healing Auric and everyone else nearby.
Auric bows his head at the reassuring warmth of Baal's power.
"Thanks. I can still lay hands on someone should they be harmed, but it's not much. That dragon skeleton took it outta me."
"What's say we set up camp on shore? I'd not mind a night with solid ground underfoot."
Jon shimmers and his form changes from sea-bird to Jon again. "I agree. I could use a rest."