If the cryptid could smile, it would.
It does the next closest thing; it shows its teeth. It has many rows of teeth.
A massive tentacle whips out and knocks Unity 2 feet away per hit point of damage.
Well... nothing for it but to swim for their life now! At least the creature 'kindly' gave them a boost. Unity keep swimming in the direction they just got whacked.
The creature swims up beside Unity and looks at them. It then passes them just a little and looks back. It wants to race.
The creature is leading.
Well... a race was at least less likely to lead to them getting *eaten*, so Unity are perfectly willing to play along.
The cryptid shoots past Unity. It has dozens of trailing white tentacles, many with glistening thin bony hooks hanging out of them. Any creature that got tangled up in those tentacles would be shredded.
Unity sees the entirety of the creature in front of them. It's quite huge.
Well, they already knew they didn't want to fight the thing... not giving their all in this race seemed like a bad idea, so they keep trying, making a mental note to practice swimming more.
The creature continues to leave Unity behind it. It sees that Unity has fallen behind and begins to circle around.
If Unity wants to escape, now is the time.
Given their performance thus far, Unity rather doubt their ability to escape. Given this creature's actions so far, humoring it seems like a better choice... hoping that it will lose interest after playing for a while.
He does aim his swimming a bit upward, though. Maybe it'll keep 'racing' him closer to the surface?
Unity, after falling behind, suddenly shoots upwards. The creature looks for Unity
The creature thinks it might see where Unity went.
Henri nods, suspicions confirmed.
”Any idea which way might lead to land? Has anyone seen Unity?”
"Unity? Who's she?" asks one.
"There are more of you?" worries the other.
Henri nods, suspicions confirmed.
”Any idea which way might lead to land? Has anyone seen Unity?”
"Unity? Who's she?" asks one.
"There are more of you?" worries the other.
“Why are you assuming they’re a she? And come to think of it, why am I assuming all of the animal parts are male?”
She catches herself, and says to the men, “You don’t have to answer that. Unity is… unique.” And now she catches that. “I mean, I’m unique too, but Unity’s even more unique. You’ll see—when we find the island, there’ll be a lot of Unity-like… uh… fellas……… no. Wait. When I put it that way, it takes away from the uniqueness.”
Realizing she’s blurting spoilers, which is probably extra-rude when addressing characters is the story, Nissa drops the topic and turns to her friends.
“Yeah, wait, where is Unity? Didn’t they say they’re fishing? Assuming there’s fish.”
“Why are you assuming they’re a she? And come to think of it, why am I assuming all of the animal parts are male?”Henri nods, suspicions confirmed.
”Any idea which way might lead to land? Has anyone seen Unity?”
"Unity? Who's she?" asks one.
"There are more of you?" worries the other.
"It's the deep, growly voice, I imagine", Theo answers.
Unity aren't trying to hide--they're just 'racing' in a slightly different direction. They do try to get a feel for just what this creature wants.
Henri continues to look for a sign of land or Unity. Or birds or fish, for that matter. He’s thinking to pull the boat while someone rows, but it will help to know which way.
"Unity looked to have gone fishing in preperation. I imagine they're chewing on a catch." Zellgato tries to tap the comms to see if it works here to catch Unity's attention.
"How's the fishing, boats about as expected."
Henri nods, suspicions confirmed.
”Any idea which way might lead to land? Has anyone seen Unity?”
"Unity? Who's she?" asks one.
"There are more of you?" worries the other.“Why are you assuming they’re a she? And come to think of it, why am I assuming all of the animal parts are male?”
She catches herself, and says to the men, “You don’t have to answer that. Unity is… unique.” And now she catches that. “I mean, I’m unique too, but Unity’s even more unique. You’ll see—when we find the island, there’ll be a lot of Unity-like… uh… fellas……… no. Wait. When I put it that way, it takes away from the uniqueness.”
Realizing she’s blurting spoilers, which is probably extra-rude when addressing characters is the story, Nissa drops the topic and turns to her friends.
“Yeah, wait, where is Unity? Didn’t they say they’re fishing? Assuming there’s fish.”
[dice=Perception]d20+3
The strangers are baffled by Nissa, as are people on most worlds, when not being charmed by her.
Nissa does not see Unity at all. She does not see the gigantic tentacled thing moving beneath the boat.
Unity aren't trying to hide--they're just 'racing' in a slightly different direction. They do try to get a feel for just what this creature wants.
[dice=Survival?]1d20+11
With Unity not hiding, the creature circles back and finds him. It isn't clear what the creature wants, but, if you had to guess, it wants you to follow it. Or race it. Or play with it. Or wear yourself out so it can eat you. A bit unclear.
It departs again. Heading in a different direction this time.
"Unity looked to have gone fishing in preperation. I imagine they're chewing on a catch." Zellgato tries to tap the comms to see if it works here to catch Unity's attention.
"How's the fishing, boats about as expected."
"It's fine, except for the gigantic tentacle monster that seems to want to play a game with us," Unity reply over comms.
After a moment's debate, they follow after the creature, not wanting to test its patience just yet... and also just a little curious about it. They're fairly certain it's not a part of this story...
Over Comms "Did you say... never mind. Where are you?"
"You don't think he made it to the island ahead of us, did he?" The godling asks.
"Still below," they respond to Henri.
The creature pauses in the water and seems to wait for Unity.
When Unity comes to a stop the creature just stares at it and then stares up.
On the water above is a ship. A reasonably large one.
Zellgato curses aloud in a language or word none of you really knows. but the feeling behind it is clear. "WHY is there a monster Unity. Why..." unfurling his rifle and attaching his contact injector to the front. "I guess...we can eat a monster if it doens't eat us." glancing at the two civvies and then to Nissa and Theo as if to imply how weak and edible they look compared to the newly arrived crew.
"Is it a fight Unity? We dont' have land to escape to..."
Nissa flies up from the boat.
Her body flares up!
☀️
Henri begins a thorough examination of the water below his feet, pacing around the rowboat to get different angles of sun into the water below.
Zellgato curses aloud in a language or word none of you really knows. but the feeling behind it is clear. "WHY is there a monster Unity. Why..." unfurling his rifle and attaching his contact injector to the front. "I guess...we can eat a monster if it doens't eat us." glancing at the two civvies and then to Nissa and Theo as if to imply how weak and edible they look compared to the newly arrived crew.
"Is it a fight Unity? We dont' have land to escape to..."
”Monster?” ask the exhausted castaways.
You do not see any monster beneath you. Unity is a little bit away now, having swum fast and far in a race with the cryptid.
"Thus far, it's engaged us in a race and led us to a ship," Unity respond over comms. "So overall, it seems friendly? Can you see a ship around you?"
They pause. "It does occur to us that this sounds nothing like the story described to us. Our creator... may have anticipated our arrival."
As they're speaking, they wave at the creature in what they hope seems like a friendly fashion, then swim upward to get a closer look at the ship.
Zellgato Scans the horizon and spots it, and tries to zoom in with his scope to view the shipboard area.
"What do you see, Zellgato? Is she a named vessel?"
Nissa looks out toward the direction of the apparent ship.
“Oooh… a wooden vessel! It’s like half a mile away.” She points to it, though it might be hard to see it if you aren’t flying more than ten feet in the air.
The ship, Zellgato sees, is named Ipecacuanha. It looks like it would take a small crew of about 12, and Zellgato can see half that many people on the deck now. He can also see a large black cat in a cage on the deck.
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"Ipe..... I"ll spell it, Zellgato informs the group what he sees, including Unity as best he can.
Henri notes the spelling and flips through one of the book provided by the doctor, looking for this ship hoping for some context.
"Is the ship even from this story? Or have we corrupted the story and brought in a second - or third - storyline?"
Unity swim to the surface and cautiously poke their head above water to look at the ship.
Henri notes the spelling and flips through one of the book provided by the doctor, looking for this ship hoping for some context.
"Is the ship even from this story? Or have we corrupted the story and brought in a second - or third - storyline?"
The Ipecacuanha enters the story to rescue the starving protagonist from the dinghy. In the story, the people in the dinghy succumb to cannibalistic hunger first. If anything, the Ipecacuanha is rushing it a bit in pulling you back to the story.
Those standing in the away boat from the Lady Vain should have been attacked by now.
Unity swim to the surface and cautiously poke their head above water to look at the ship.
[dice=Stealth]1d20+3
Unity can smell animal life on the ship. He smells humans, who haven't washed in weeks. He smells rabbits, chickens, and hogs. He smells large cats, the kind that would eat all of the above, including the humans.
No one is currently poking their head over the side.
The ship is not on course to intercept the Lady Vain's dinghy.
The Olympian draws The Angel Sword and levels it at the two starving men.
"Oh no, you don't!!"
"Hmmm, given what little we know of this Dr. Moreau, it seems this ship is likely bound for his island," Unity report over comms, unaware of the conflict going on. "We could follow it for now, but it seems unwise for us to show ourselves alone to it."
They peek back underwater to see if their... large friend is still there.
Nissa is a little slow to notice what her dad’s already taking care of.
“Ooh, kitties..?”
When Unity turns to look, his large friend is gone. Given its size, its ability to disappear so stealthily is unusual.
The two starving men back off and sit back down.
A moment later, the Lady Vain's dinghy begins to move, seemingly of its own volition, following the Ipecacuanha at a distance.
The men find this strange and disturbing.
Soon, however, the party finds themselves approaching the Island of Doctor Moreau and its steeply rising cliffs. The inexplicable propulsion ceases and the dinghy drifts slowly towards the island shore.
Not far away, the Ipecacuanha crew use a small boat to transport a couple dozen crates and cages from the larger ship to the shore. A gorgeous black puma paces in one.
The crew of the Ipecacuanha doesn't seem to have spotted you. The island is large enough to land discreetly in many places. You could also just row towards shore waving hello as the Ipecacuanha unloads her unusual cargo.
"Well, making an entrance might be better than being discovered", Theo ponders aloud. "We got nothing to hide. Unity, what do you think?"
"I think we've got plenty to hide. But I rather think we're unlikely to pull that off on a place like this." glancing at the two extra tagalongs. Uncertain how their story is suppose to go exactly.
"How did you arrive here so fast?" Unity question, surprised. They take a moment to think. "Perhaps the rest of you can land where you can be seen, and we will come to shore elsewhere? Given our appearance, we will draw... considerably more questions than the rest of you here."
Theo nods. "Alright, Unity. We'll play it your way. Slip away when you can, and we'll join the story proper."
”Maybe Nissa should stay out of sight, as much as she can. She’s the ultimate scout with her size and ability to fly. And she can watch Unity’s back.”
Nissa agrees. “Okay, I’ll be the eye in the sky for Unity.” She zips upward, shrinking outta sight!
(Literally or just from the distance? Who can tell?)
Unity dive back down and start circling the island, looking for a good place to come ashore... and looking suspiciously at the way the rowboat came from.