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Post by Thorn on Dec 24, 2019 22:51:52 GMT -5
Here's part one of session 19's collaborative recap! In which the party seek out a sea monster with the aid of their new friend Gem, and a bunch of NPC sailors. Session 19 Part 1 Skipping BreakfastBasil, Anthony and Khamet leave the inn together and arrive at the ship at dawn. They see the Windblessed for the first time, a black-hulled ship tied up against the pier. There are a few people near the vessel- five on the right, five on the left, with four other figures on the left as well. Two of them the party besides Basil already know- Gale and Usavias. Gale has dressed up a little since they last saw him, in a black-and-green peacoat, and he’s dyed his hair brown for whatever reason. He has removed the jewelled ear cuff, revealing a badly torn left ear. He also has a highly decorative sheath on one hip, displaying the ornate hilt of a sword. Usavias on the other hand is wearing something plain and grey with a little red woolen jacket, but they still have a few pearls in their hair, because it’s good to stay a little bit sparkly!
The other two are a shorter, gracile wood elf in green-and-black, whose most distinguishing feature is a very long and dangerously sharp-looking nose. Beside them is a much younger elf with similar physical features, the remnants of some bout of acne, and a few pink-and-orange streaks in their otherwise dark hair. The latter watches the party with studious intensity.
Basil seems a little surly and withdrawn. Khamet: “Hi Basil! Welcome back.” Basil: “Yeah hi. Hello.” Khamet: “Hi!” Basil: “How are you?” Khamet: “I am actually quite good. I slept. Finally. In a proper bed. I really like proper beds, I’m not gonna lie. How about you Basil?” Basil: “Good. Good.” Khamet: “You seem upset. Did Juniper reject you?” Basil takes a second to switch gears. “Uh. I haven’t seen Juniper lately. Why, have you?” “No I haven’t but you know, maybe, I thought your heart was broken recently. Not literally of course, but. Figuratively.” “No. I’m good, thank-you.”
Khamet approaches Usavias and the two unknown wood elves, and addresses the adult elf with the Dangerous Nose. “Hey, are you guys related?”
The elf laughs, dipping his head towards the younger elf. “I’m related to that one, yes. This is my child Rynn. I am Cai Lyrelle, and I have something for your friend.”
Khamet: “Which friend?”
Lyrelle: “The one who is rather unfortunately and awkwardly not here, so I have to stand around in the cold, but um...the drow.”
Khamet: “The drow. I seeee. Are you the guy’s father? We met another drow.”
Lyrelle: “No.”
Khamet: “Okay. Okay.”
Khamet opens his notebook and writes something down. He adds a quick sketch of Lyrelle, making the nose extremely prominent, and is in the middle of doing this as Amani, Meallan, Gem and Tally arrive.
Tally is chatting to her companions but, when she sees Khamet with the elves, suddenly freezes. She makes a beeline for Lyrelle, rambling an awkward personal introduction, and making sure he knows about Arim. When he confirms that he does, Tally asks that if she dies in some horrible way and doesn’t return from hunting this sea beast, that he will help Arim get to the Ur lords. Lyrelle agrees, and hands Tally a letter before she steps away.
Gem is looking around for some place to get breakfast- somewhere cool and local! They have no money though, so...scrounging around in the shallows seems a more sensible option than trying to find a restaurant or something. Gale is a little offput by their curious priorities.
Gale: “I told you guys to be here at dawn, and um now you guys are all talking about food.”
He’s very confused. Gem tries to enlighten him! Gem: “So like, we’ve met here at dawn, and now we can like go get breakfast too.” Gale glances at his companions. But Gale is in charge of this, so he is encouraged to deal with the strange adventurers himself. Gale: “Okay. But please be quick.”
Amani addresses Gem. “Are you sure you want to eat a bunch before you go on a boat?” Gem: “I don’t see why that would be a problem?” Meallan: “I think it would be wise for us to eat on the ship. We could perhaps also get fish from the sea if we need?” Amani: “How are we gonna cook the fish from the sea?” Gale: “We have food and stuff. You won’t starve.” Amani: “Right. I assumed we would just eat something light for our packs. I kinda just wanna get going.” Gem: “I mean I’ve never had boat-food before but like, I’m always willing to try.” Gale: “It’s basically the same as regular food, you just eat it on a boat.” Gem: “That sounds so exciting!” Amani: “It’s not as...good, I’ll bet.” Gale: “Ouch.” Amani: “I mean if you need food...what? It’s all dry. ...I kinda just wanna get going.”
Amani is examining the guards. They recognise a couple by appearance, but can’t put a name to any. They don’t know any of these people.
Meallan: “We should go as soon as possible. It’s not wise to hang around. We can always eat on the boat?”
Amani’s disguise had been reapplied that morning, with Amani helping Tally to apply various products to disguise their features. It’s worked out really well! Amani can be confident that none of these people who barely know them will realise who ‘Inima’ truly is! What an excellently crafted secret identity! Of Sea People and Bird People Meallan sends Aytal to distract Gem from thoughts of breakfast. The party board the Windblessed with Gale, and are taken to meet the rest of the officers! The first mate is a wood elf called Elysrin, the quartermaster sea-elf called Narialis, the surgeon half-sea-elf called Cordelia, the cook another sea elf called Sylrona and, finally, Brindley, the human bosun.
Khamet asks Cordelia if she’s related to the ‘sea people’. Cordelia: “Yes. What did you think?” Khamet: “You just look like...you look so much like the sea elves, you know? Um. Except more...humaner?”
Cordelia does, indeed, have blueish skin like a sea elf- but whereas most sea elves are bald she has a short fuzz of black hair, and while sea elves tend to have purely black eyes hers are green with distinct irises and pupils. She squints at Khamet.
Cordelia: “I don’t like you.”
She leaves. Khamet calls after her: “okay, have a nice day!”
Amani puts a hand to their mouth to try disguise the fact that they’re laughing. Meallan approaches Cordelia.
Meallan: “He does that to everyone. Don’t take it personally.” Cordelia: “I mean, I will absolutely take offence, but thank-you for trying to defend your friend.” Meallan: “Well. You are free to take offence. He does ask some strange questions, but it’s not personal. He does that to everyone.”
Meallan, keeping his hood up, gathers the party together before the ship casts off. “Just in case one of us falls in, I do have a spell. The spell that I got from Usavias yesterday. If we fall in, it’ll allow us to breathe underwater until we can be rescued. For a day. It will need to be recast tomorrow.”
Amani: “It lasts the entire day? Nice.”
Meallan ritual casts water breathing on the party, Elysrin and Brindley. He does extend the offer to Gale, but Gale points out he can actually hold his breath indefinitely.
Amani: “Once we see the sea monster, I have a spell called ‘water walk’ for anyone who wants to go on the water and fight it directly. So once we get there, tell me anyone who wants to walk on water and I’ll cast it.”
Basil: “I could do so much treasure hunting with this stuff…”
Amani: “With water breathing?”
Basil: “Yess!”
Amani: “That’s an idea that we’ll look at later, how about that?”
Meallan: “Once we’ve finished the sea-monster, I do plan to go for a swim. If you would like to join me?”
Basil: “Yesssss! Yes yes yes.”
Amani: “You have fun. The water-walking would last an hour, by the way, so let’s keep that in mind when I cast it. Not nearly as long as water-breathing.”
The ship casts off. They have been told that at least two of them need to be up on deck at all times but, besides that, the party are free to do as they wish. Meallan stays up top as he wishes to look out at the sea. After an initially uncomfortable reaction to a gull-like aarakocra among the crew, Tally borrows a book from someone and disappears below deck.
The aarakocra takes off and flies a few circles around the ship as it leaves the port. Amani is up on deck watching him fly, Meallan with them. Neither of them can work out what he is, they have never even read about aarakocra before!
Amani: “Woah!”
Khamet joins in and, also, does not know what this guy is besides ‘giant bird person.’
Amani: “This might be an insensitive question, but what are they?”
Meallan: “I...don’t know, I’m afraid. It’s beautiful though.” Amani: “Oh. For sure.” Anthony is not so impressed. “Another lousy, stinking bird.” Amani: “This one can hear you and understand you.” Meallan casts Anthony a death-glare. Anthony: “What? I got a loooonng memory, okay?” Amani: “It was one flock of birds!”
Khamet asks a crew member what the giant bird-man is. The elf explains that he is an aarakocra named Sky. “He is quite friendly but does say some weird things, so watch out for that.” Khamet: “Oh. That’s not gonna be a problem.” Basil: “Yeah, he’ll fit right in.”
Gem is gazing out at the ocean. They have never been on a boat before, so they’re pretty impressed by this thing which is like the land but seemingly made of water. They’re like ‘whaaaaaaat?’. After a while they start to feel more nauseous than elated, and are not necessarily having a good time anymore.
They spend a lot of their time taking deep, nauseated breaths while staring into the ocean.
Aytal climbs the mast to examine this enormous, bare tree out on the ocean. Sky is circling around and giving strange looks. Occasionally, Aytal tries to swat the bird. Sky isn’t flying anywhere near, but Aytal just wants to Make Friend. Sky… gives Aytal a wide berth. Sky has something around his neck as he flies- a kind of metal collar. Crab People Eventually, the peninsula containing Cai Shaan disappears out of sight. The crew starts lowering brightly shimmering colored strips of fabric over the sides of the black ship.
Amani: “Huh! What are these for?” Sailor: “They deter the crab people.” Amani: “Oh. Crab people?” Sailor: “Technically they’re called the karkini, but we just call them the Crab People.” Amani tries to sound out the name because cultural sensitivity. Sailor: “They’re not really, you know, like us. They’re not thinking creatures. We just call them the crab people, because when you look at them, they look a bit, vaguely…they got two legs, and four pairs of arms. But one of those pairs of arms is giant claws.” Amani: “Um… have you ever tried... talking with them?” Sailor: “Well no, I haven’t personally tried talking to them. I just figured the people who’ve been here longer than me knew they wouldn’t talk to us. But they do like trying to attack… pretty much anything that passes, so we have these colored strips to deter them.” Amani: “Do they live down there?” Sailor: “Yeah, they live uh,” he gestures. “Under there somewhere?” Amani: “Do the boats ever cause problems for them?” Sailor: “I don’t know, I haven’t asked them, I don’t… Were you listening to me?” “What?” He repeats. Amani: “I am. I just don’t agree with you.” Sailor: “Hmm. Well, maybe if you met them, maybe if you were here, in the autumn, during mating season, when you’re trying to take a nice walk on the beach, and they scream, and they sound like human or elven screaming, and-” Gem: *Accented.* “And then the crab people try ta mate wit’ you.” Sailor: “Well, no-” Amani: “I do remember the screams…” Sailor: “Well I’m sure you would; they’re very hard to forget.” Amani: “They are. I think I heard one from a mile away or so at one point.”
Meallan was listening, and approaches. “It’s not their fault. They’re only doing what they’re supposed to be doing.” Sailor: “They could do it quietly.” Anthony: “They just gotta cover it with a little Careless Whisper.” Sailor: “I don’t know what that is.” Amani: “You don’t wanna know.” Sailor: “I mean, I guess I often whisper carelessly, so. Man, that lady over there hears all kinds of things she shouldn’t know because I do not have a very good inside voice, apparently.” Amani: “I see.” Meallan: “Perhaps if we leave them alone, they leave us alone.” Sailor: “I mean, that’s the plan. We just put these things down so they stay away.” Amani: “Huh. I wonder how that works.” Meallan: “Yes, I’m curious too.” Sailor: “Uhh, I don’t know. Go ask someone smarter than me. I just work here. It’s something to do with colors and stuff they don’t like.” Amani: “Alright, fine. Thank you for telling me about the Karkini.” The sailor nods. Meallan: “Yes, thank you. Very curious.”
By this point, Gem is throwing up off the side of the boat. The crew are ignoring this. Meallan pats Gem on the back and gives them some water. Gem meekly thanks him. Meallan: “Is this your first time on a ship?” Gem: “Yeah, like, I thought it would be fine, because like, I was in a cart with a horse one time? And that was fine. And this is like a bigger version of that. But it’s very different.” Meallan: “Yes. It gets… unsettling sometimes.” Gem: “Does it get worse?” Meallan: “It can, yes.” Gem: “Oh no…” Meallan: “But I was only on a boat once. And it was not very long.” Gem: “Where I’m from, we don’t really have like… water? Or at least not more than like a cup. So this is like, a whole new experience, and normally new experiences are great, but like, I’m gonna make a list, and this is not going on that list of fun new experiences.” Meallan: “Yes, the first time I was on a boat, not a pleasant one for me either.” Gem: “Do you wanna… do you wanna throw up?” Meallan: “I’m alright, thank you. I’m fine for now, but we’ll see how bad we go.”
Anthony: “This cruise is lame! There’s no pool, no casino, ours(?) sucks, the restaurant sucks, we’re getting ripped off here, guys!” Amani: “We’re fighting a sea monster.” Meallan: “It’s not a cruise, Anthony. We’re here to do a job.” Anthony: “Yeah, but we can at least have a little luxury on a boat!” Khamet: “Anthony. You know how this heavy metal scared off those badgers?” Anthony: “Yes?” Khamet: “What if the same can be used for the Crab People?” Anthony: “Hmm… could, but I’m worried about it backfiring.” Crew member: “I certainly hope you don’t have any heavy metal on the ship.”
She looks to Khamet. “Please don’t fall in, I don’t think you would float very well.” Khamet: “Oh don’t worry about me, I know how to swim.” Amani: “And he has water breathing.” Meallan: “Yes, he can breathe underwater for the next day or not. I cast it on him.” The crew member walks away muttering about “weird magic stuff…” Amani: *Affronted.* “What’s wrong with magic stuff?!” Meallan also gives an affronted look. The crew member turns around. “It’s just weird, okay? Uncomfortable. And I’m just gonna go stand over there and check the sheets.” Meallan’s ears flicker back and he looks annoyed. Amani shakes their head. Amani: “What is… up with that? What… Who doesn’t have magic every…? ...Well, actually, that’s a bad question. The better question is, who hasn’t at least seen magic?” Meallan: “Well… Some people just do not like… things that are different. That they do not understand.” Amani: “But it doesn’t make any sense.” Meallan: “It makes sense to me.” Amani: “Well, yeah, I just… don’t understand why it doesn’t make sense.” Hi in the Sky Eventually Sky lands and loosens the collar around his neck. Khamet: “Hi!! Hi. Are you Sky?” “Uh… Who’s asking?” Khamet: “I’m Khamet, I’m a paladin. I come from a land that’s full of sand- and I’m a poet, and I don’t even know it. And. I’m a paladin, and, I was told that you are an aarakocra? And. It’s nice to meet you. I really wish I could fly like you, you seem very good at it.” Sky: “I am Sky. I am from a land with many cliffs. I am an aarakocra, yes. It is nice to meet you, and thank-you. I do take pride in my flying ability.”
Khamet: “How does it feel when you fly?” Sky: “Ahhhh...how does it feel when you don’t fly? It’s like running! Very good.” Khamet: “Oh, oh, oh...is it like swimming maybe? But like, you’re swimming through the air.” Sky considers this. “I can’t swim. So I could not tell you.” Khamet: “Well it was nice to meet you Sky. Are you just kinda looking out for something?” Sky: “I’m just looking for the monster that, you know, we were sent out here to hunt?” Khamet: “Oh I see. Okay. Well, I don’t want to hold you up, but it was nice...”
He waves awkwardly. Sky waves back. Sky: “It was nice meeting you as well,” the aarakocra says. He struggles with Khamet’s name. “Met!” Khamet: “Mitt?” Sky makes small frustrated sounds. “Met. I am sorry-” Khamet repeats this. “Met.”
Sky leaves to speak with Elysrin, the first mate, who is presently shivering over by the railing. Nearby Gem is still throwing up over this same rail. Amani finds someone to ask. “Okay, do you have anything for them?” Sailor: “Yeah? We have some ginger...ginger tea, ginger...things? We could find them some ginger?” Amani: “I think that’d be good. I really... don’t want to hear this anymore?” Sailor: “Yeah it’s a bit gross. But I just didn’t wanna draw attention to it ‘cause-”
Gem retches violently behind them.
Amani: “Yep, that. I’m gonna go down below deck now.” Sailor: “I will go find something for your friend.” Amani: “Thank-you.”
Amani ducks below deck while the sea-elf goes to find something. Gem is brought some little ginger biscuity things. Sailor: “Hey, it might...I don’t know, usually you eat it before you get sick, but maybe it will make you feel better?” Gem takes the biscuits, which do actually make them feel a little better- more composed, at the very least.
Even though she doesn’t like the sun Tally, at some point, feels like she should probably take a turn up on deck, and leans back against a mast to read her book. Khamet and Tally greet each other, and Khamet peeks at the cover of the book she’s reading.
It’s by a very popular halfling author called Tuck Chingle! This volume is a somewhat raunchy romantic read, with a half-naked dinosaur man on the cover. Khamet: “Okay, I will leave you to read your… dinosaur romance…? ...Don’t stay here too long because I don’t want you to get sunburned.” She reminds him that she is currently sitting in the shade, and has no intention of getting sunburned either.
Basil’s hanging out below deck on his own, lowkey brooding. Sylrona at one stage wanders by and asks if he’s okay. Basil: “Yeah, I’m doing fine. How are you?” She sighs. “I’m alright thanks. I just think it would be nice if we could find this monster and get that over with, so I’m not worrying about that all the time.” Basil: “That thing sounds like a piece of work.” Sylrona: “Yeah, I mean...yeah.”
She takes a deep breath, and continues on her way. We’re On a Boat Elsewhere above, Anthony’s iphone is playing the Common version of the Lonely Island’s hit song, ‘I’m on a Boat.’ A couple of sailors are listening to this epic, very exotic, foreign, amazing song. They are very impressed by it! Anthony: “This is a sea shanty where I’m from.” Eager Sailor: “Can you teach us this sea shanty? We’d like a new one.” Anthony agrees and walks the little group and Khamet through the lyrics. They manage to memorise the chorus and sing it obnoxiously loudly alongside Anthony.
Meallan walks off to try and appreciate the peace and serenity of the ocean. Since there’s really no escaping that sound up above he retreats below, where their voices dwindle to a murmur, while keeping an eye out for the sea monster via Aytal on the mast. Aytal sees little besides Sky, some circling birds, and a small pod of dolphins following the boat.
A big smile spreads across Meallan’s face! He’s having a great time.
Amani, who went below deck to escape the non-peaceful sounds of Gem throwing up, goes down even further to escape the less peaceful melody of “I’m on a Boat.” They bump into Cordelia going over her supplies below deck. Amani: “Um, I was wondering… First of all I’m sorry about Khamet earlier. He asks a lot of insensitive questions.” She shrugs. “Thank-you.” Amani: “I hope you don’t get that too often?” Cordelia sighs. “Well, I mean it’s very clear, Inima. It’s very clear that I obviously look a little bit different to the other sea-elves. But I wouldn’t say I get it too much, no. Most people are not as um, strange as your friend.” Amani: “Which one?” Cordelia laughs. Amani: “I guess we’re all a little strange here.” Cordelia: “I mean, you. You’re probably the shiniest person I’ve ever seen.” Amani sounds flattered: “Thank-you!”
They change the topic. “How long have you been in Cai Shaan, if I may ask?” Cordelia: “Well, I’ve lived in Cai Shaan my whole life.” Amani: “How have I never.. Nothing. Nevermind.” Cordelia gives them a weird look. Cordelia: “If you’re wondering, perhaps, why you haven’t met me...I mean, I haven’t met everyone in this city.” Amani: “Yeah it’s just, you know...there aren’t a lot of half-elves. It’s just usually, I thought I’d met them all. All...two other of them.”
Cordelia has a moment of recognition. “Oooh. Oh, yeah, I know them. I suppose since, right, I’m half sea-elf and you are...presumably not. Perhaps half wood-elf?” Amani: “I’m half high-elf. I’m from Varentar.” Cordelia: “Oh. Okay, okay maybe that’s why we haven’t met. If you’re from Varentar.”
Amani ponders how much to say. “Well, I mean, I didn’t live my whole life in Varentar. I moved.”
She gives a little half-smile. “And which one do you like better? Varentar, or Cai?” Amani: “...It doesn’t really matter anymore. I’m not living in either place.” Cordelia: “Yeah.” Amani: “I guess if I had to choose, I’d say Cai.”
Cordelia looks pleased. “I’m glad. I think you made the right choice.” Amani: “It was barely a choice.” She considers this. “I mean, I’ve never been to Varentar so I can’t judge. But I’m mostly quite happy here.” Amani: “You’re not missing anything in Varentar. You’d be missing a bunch of high-elves who don’t consider much of any... others.” Cordelia: “Yeah see, that’s the impression I got, um. It’s good to have someone who actually lived there verify it though.” Amani: “Right. Yes. That’s true. Anyway, I was worried about...I’m not seasick now, but I was worried about how to prevent it from happening. Because I know it’s happened to me before.”
Cordelia: “Aww, well that shouldn’t be a big concern Inima. In a little bit, um, we’ll have a little snack. And you can have some ginger. And yeah, you should be okay.” Amani: “Alright. Thank-you.” Cordelia nods, and Inima waves goodbye. They run into Basil lurking in the hall.
Basil: “Hello.” Amani: “Hi. Um… I’m sorry if this seems too personal, but where did you run off to?” They seem a little concerned. Basil: “I was talking to a friend.” Amani: “Oh. I kinda thought you’d gone on a stealing spree.” Basil: “Na.” Amani: “Oh, well-” Basil: “Not this time... I mean, it’s a good guess!” Amani: “I suppose. I was about to ask what...nevermind it’s not important.” Basil: “What’s with the name change?”
Amani struggles with what to say. Basil: “Okay, that’s fine, I get it.” Amani: “I’m just...not supposed to be in this town, and really no-one should know I’m in this town. It’s really personal.” Basil: “That’s cool.” Amani: “So just call me Inima.” Basil: “I’ve got like six names. It’s fine.”
‘Inima’ half-laughs. “I guess I’m not alone then. Probably for different reasons.” Basil: “Eh. Probably.” Amani can tell that Basil isn’t in a great mood. “Did it...go okay?” Basil sighs. “Well…” Amani: “I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Basil: “You wanna take a seat?”
Amani pauses, then shrugs. “Uh, sure. I’m not missing anything upstairs.” They sit down with Basil. With some hesitation, Basil begins his story. Basil: “So. Say you’ve got a friend, and they’re really really messing up their lives.” Amani: “How so?” Basil: “In a bad way.” Amani: “Mmmm. I mean it depends- go on, sorry.” Basil: “Do you try to be nice about it, or do you rip the bandage off?” Amani: “Oh. If I thought someone was making a terrible mistake in their lives? Like, I mean…”
Amani thinks for a moment. “I suppose I’d try to be nice about it, but I mean...sometimes to be honest I don’t know how to handle it anymore. Not since...not since I learned about Meallan.” Basil: “Yeah.” Amani: “Yeah I thought I’d do it the nice way but I don’t know.” Basil: “But it just isn’t working out?” Amani: “I just don’t...I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him and I did anyway. Maybe tried to see if I could like, convince him, but it kinda just seems to have blown up. So I guess...I don’t know if I can be totally nice or totally mean about it. It just kind of is.” Basil: “Did anything change with that while I was gone?” Amani: “Uh...no, uh I think Meallan’s trying to...I know Meallan’s trying. I know he’s trying to be nice to everyone, Khamet’s not taking it at all, and I just...I just know I shouldn’t trust him anymore. Shouldn’t have in the first place. So no. You haven’t missed anything.”
Basil considers what he’s learned. Amani: “I’m sorry. This was about your friend. I guess I don’t know the answer to your question.” Basil: “No, it’s fine. I don’t think you could blame someone for ripping the bandaid off, could you? If it came to that. Amani: “I mean, I guess? ...I guess it depends on what it is. ‘Cause if something seems bad, but isn’t, it could go wrong. I don’t know what the situation is with your friend though.”
Basil just thinks for a minute, as others occasionally pass by the duo. “The thing is, I know it’s really bad. I have it on good authority that it’s really bad. And real bad stuff is probably gonna keep happening.” Amani: “Hmm. I wanna agree with you, but-” Amani trails off, pondering whether or not to say something. Amani: “You know for a fact?” Basil: “It’s gotten pretty obvious.”
They are interrupted by someone coming to tell them that there is some nice ginger slice waiting for them in the mess. They thank the person, but continue with their conversation. Amani: “I don’t know if you can really control what they really think is best for themself. But if it’s bad...I would say I’d try to get them on a different path, a more peaceful path, but I’ve found that’s so difficult.” Basil agrees.
Amani: “I’m sorry I don’t have good advice on this.” Basil: “No, I don’t know if anyone would. But thanks.” Amani: “You’re welcome, I’m sorry I couldn’t do much. Uh, I guess I’m just a little-” Basil: “Na, you’re good.” Amani: “I mean, I don’t know if I can say much unless I know what it is. Because I know there are some situations where something really is really bad, and some situations where it’s a stigma and I can’t really tell which one. But either way it requires a lot of care.” Basil: “Yeah. We might talk about it in more detail later, I’m still thinking about it.” Amani: “That’s fine.” Basil: “Let’s get food.” Amani: “Yeah I guess I should eat. I forgot to eat today.” Basil: “People forget to eat?” Amani: “I do. Sometimes.” Basil is shocked that people can just...forget to eat food! 10/10 The party and crew make their way bit-by-bit to the mess. Sky clatters in; Khamet greets him. Khamet: “Hey Sky, what’s up? I hope you had a fun time?” Sky grabs some food and swallows it in one gulp. He nods. Sky: “Nothing scary yet. That’s very good.” Khamet: “So speaking of food: what do they eat in your cliff-land?” Sky: “Cliff-land? Uh...small mammals, sometimes slightly larger mammals.” Khamet: “Okay.” Sky: “Sometimes berries. Very versatile.”
Khamet: “Very...very versatile. Okay. Well, what is your favourite small mammal?” Sky: “My favourite small mammal? Ahh...hmm. Hmmmmmm.” Sky thinks about this for a moment. “Mice are very, very tiny. They’re very unsatisfying but they taste very good.” Khamet: “Have you ever eaten a weasel?” Sky: “No. Uhhh...maybe, maybe once or twice.” Khamet: “How did they taste like?” Sky describes the taste of weasel. Khamet thanks him for sharing what weasels taste like, and Sky nods in acknowledgement.
Khamet: “I admit my diet is not like yours.” Sky: “Well you’re not a bird. Or ‘aarakocra’.” Khamet: “This is very true. I like to eat uh...chicken.” Khamet thinks about food and realises that he has no culinary knowledge. Khamet: “Yeah! We ate very interesting things, like uh...like beer.” Sky nods. “Mr Met, that is very impressive to me. I do not think I could slay a bear.” Khamet: “Uh...yes. Not that kind of bear. We don’t actually have bears, because they would die of the heat. I think. I think they would die. I’m not actually sure, I’ve never tried to shave a bear. Maybe I should try to shave a bear. What would a-?” Sky: “Maybe it would be like...you could have a bear without hair? Just like-”
Sky gestures at those around them. “-like these are like monkeys without hair.” Khamet: “Oh, well yeah! We are indeed monkeys without hair. And the sea elves are...pretty bald. So I guess that works? Yeah.” Their conversation trails off and Sky clatters back up top.
Meanwhile, Meallan approaches Basil. “Did you have a good excursion, out to Cai?” Basil: “Uh...yeah. Yeah. It was great. 10/10.” Meallan: “Find anything good?” Basil: “Ah no, it wasn’t...that kind of trip.” Meallan: “I see. Do you want to tell me what you did?” Basil seems hesitant. “Nothing important. How have you been?” Meallan sighs. Meallan: “I’ve been...trying to be nice.” Basil: “Yeah. I can tell.” Meallan: “It’s not easy, but...I’m trying what I can. It’s...it’s hard, and I don’t know if anyone notices, but I want to do my best. That’s actually why I wanted to speak to you.” Basil: “Okay.”
Meallan: “Well I was walking around. I know that you want a mount- a creature to ride on. I did find a goat who was willing, but I wanted to check that you would like that.” Basil: “A goat?” Meallan: “A goat, yes.” Basil: “Ooh...Yes! Yes, I would like a goat friend.” Meallan’s ears perk up. “Great. I’m glad. Perhaps when I get back on land I can try find that goat again, and I can introduce you two.” Basil squeals with joy! Basil: “Yay, goat friend!”
Meallan, now in a slightly better mood, approaches Tally where she is lurking reading her hot dinosaur novel. Meallan: “Hello. You’ve...I noticed you reading some, er, interesting novels, up on deck. May I ask what that is all about? Dare I ask?” Tally: “Oh, that was a very interesting book. It was the latest Tuck Chingle- a very popular author here.” Meallan: “Oh. Is this author any good?” Tally: “Ahhhh...well I’m not much of a literature sort of person, but I’m enjoying them a lot. Yeah. Ah- oh my, it might have been a long time, I think I got a little carried away! I only meant to start reading the book.” Meallan: “Ah so it...it must be good then. Although I don’t know if it’s my kind of...thing.”
Tally laughs awkwardly. “I don’t think it’s your kind of thing.” Meallan: “Yes the cover was a little bit...strange. It’s a reptilian humanoid...creature.” Tally: “It might be more...I think I’ll recommend a few to Anthony, to Khamet. Seems like their type.” Meallan agrees. Tally: “I don’t know, maybe there’s one in the collection that, you know, you could ask your lady to read it aloud to you before you fall asleep? That might be nice.” Meallan: “I...I don’t know if she would do that for me. She-” Tally persists. “Or maybe if you start reading it to her...? That could change things.” Meallan: “Well, perhaps. I don’t know if she would...enjoy that.” Meallan looks a little uncomfortable. He changes the topic. Meallan: “How was your conversation last night with the young drow? Did it go well?” Tally: “Oh yeah sure, we were safe. We were safe.” Meallan: “I’m glad.” Tally: “And he’s a half-drow.” Meallan: “Half drow. Yes. My apologies, it’s...I haven’t seen many drow, so I can’t tell very easily.” Tally: “It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a half-drow. I didn’t know either.” Pleasant Things to Say Meallan: “Are there...many? Drow on the surface, or half-drow?” Tally: “No…I mean so far you’ve only met Yzzy and I.” Meallan: “Yes. That’s why I was asking. It seems like there would not be...like there would be very few of you. From what I know of the drow. I was just surprised to see you.” Tally: “Well, Yzzy and me makes two. Two isn’t many, right?” Meallan: “It is not, but it is more than one. And it is more than zero.” Tally: “Yeah.” Meallan: “Have you been living up here long?” Tally: “Of course.” Meallan: “I get the impression that you started off in the Underdark?” Tally: “What makes you think that? Did you assume, from the way I look?” “No! Nonononono.” Meallan looks very embarrassed. “Just the way that sometimes...you say things.”
Tally: “No wait, I’m sorry Meallan, please just disregard what I just said. It was deliberately misleading, and it was insulting of your intelligence. Yes, of course I was born in the Underdark. I don’t know of any full drow who were not.” She sighs. Meallan: “Did all of you, or just...you and Yzzy, came up together?” Tally: “Mmm, no. We found each other up here.” Meallan: “Well, I’m glad. You did seem quite happy together.” Tally: “I can’t tell you anything about her background without her agreement, of course.” Meallan: “I understand. Even if I am curious.”
Basil joins in. “Do people leave this place a lot?” Tally: “The Underdark?” Basil: “Yeah.” Tally: “It’s...not easy. You don’t really want to, when you’re there. It’s kind of a...it’s a last resort.” Meallan: “Mmmm. I would draw parallels between myself and the clans, but I get the feeling that’s as different as- quite literally- night and day. It’s not easy to leave the clans either. Probably for quite different reason.” Tally: “I mean, for the Underdark you literally don’t know of any way out, and most of them are pretty dangerous.” Meallan: “Ah, different. Of course it is different.” Tally continues. “And it’s also dangerous for your health.”
Meallan: “Well, you managed to get out. And so did Yzzy. I’m glad that you did. I’m glad you’re here with us. Would you mind telling me about it some time? I would like to hear.” Tally: “If we survive this whole thing? Sure. Why are you asking me this? Did something happen up there? What’s been going on on this ship?” Meallan:“Oh, nothing happened. I just...everyone knows so much about me, but I feel like I barely know anyone else. I just want to balance things a bit.” Tally: “I can try and tell you more at some point, if I find something that’s pleasant to talk about. Yip.” Meallan: “Well, you know me. I have very little pleasant things to say. I don’t mind unpleasant things. But you tell me what you want, I suppose.” Tally: “Sure. I’ll think about it.” Meallan: “I’m going back up on deck. I want to see if I can spot any other creatures, perhaps even a whale. I’ve never seen one before.” Story Time! At the end of the day, while the ship lies at anchor, Gale suggests they hang out and tell stories up on deck. Realising he has a few hard-boiled sweets in his pocket he relates to the party...well, not so much a story as barely-disguised pining, but whatevz. Gale: “Ooooh. Oh I could tell you where these are from, it’s kind of cute? Uhhh-” He hugs his knees. “Yeah, okay, so...um. I. Have. This. I like to call her my ‘lighthouse-in-a-far-off-harbour’, but she thinks that’s cheesy. And whenever I go to see her she gives me these particular sweets, and I give her these particular other sweets. In like, an exchange of local and far-off sweets!” Basil: “Aww.” Amani: “That sounds nice.” Gale: “Yeah it’s nice. It’s not particularly interesting though, I just thought I would break the ice and hope to hear some nice stories about you guys. Who I know...literally nothing about.”
Amani seems nervous: “Uh, about us? Gale: “Yeah I mean adventurers get up to all kinds of things, don’t you?”
Basil: “Okay so this one time I tried to break into this guy’s house, but he had this giant pet snake and it bit me, and I was sick for like three days and I thought I was gonna die.” Gale: “Wow. That’s pretty intense.” Amani: “A giant snake…that is intense.” Basil: “It su-ucked.” Khamet: “Were you poisoned?” Basil: “Yes.” Khamet: “You can join the club of Anthony and you.” Anthony: “Hey yeah.” Basil: “Yaaaaaaaay!” Khamet: “Poison-pals.” Anthony: “Finally, someone that’s not me.” Basil: “Poison-pals!”
Gale: “I guess maybe I should have started with an interesting story. Uh...I did lose half my ear in a dramatic but mostly stupid way?” Meallan: “Your ear?” (As in, the half of his left ear which is clearly Not There.) Meallan: “I sympathise.” Meallan points to the little chunk missing from his own ear. Gale is intrigued! Meallan: “It wasn’t as dramatic.” Gale: “Honestly, I...mine wasn’t that dramatic either. It was mostly stupidity on my part. I wish I could say it was pirates, but really I just got it trapped in...gears. Uh, and I’m probably lucky I did not lose my head! But that’s fine.” Meallan: “Oh well, I fell into a thorny bush.”
Gale: “Okay. That’s also pretty embarrassing. You lost part of your ear by falling into a bush?” Meallan: “I was…! I was a child. I was a teenager.” Gale: “Man when I was a teenager, I mean I did some pretty stupid stuff, so I can sympathise.” Meallan: “I was...trying to show off, to prove that I was better than the other children by climbing a tree. There was a thorny bush below it. Slipped. Fell. And in my panic, I ended up catching my ear. It didn’t help that I have big ears.” He looks really embarrassed. “Can we please not talk about this anymore?”
He cuddles Aytal. Gale: “I mean, you shouldn’t be embarrassed.” Amani: “It could be worse? You could be out camping with other people in your class in Varentar, and then find out that everyone left without you because everyone sleeps for four hours instead of eight. Well...they didn’t like leave leave, but they kinda did everything without waking us up.” Meallan: “Oh, I’m...I’m sorry.” Amani: “Eh. It’s just one of the examples of how it goes in Varentar, with half-elves. Uh, I don’t wanna-” Meallan: “I didn’t realise it was so bad.” Amani: “Uh, it’s… just annoying? Heh.” Meallan: “Well I’ve met very few high-elves, but they all seemed rather...they seemed like they wouldn’t do that. But of course they were also high-elves who would go out into the forest to trade.”
Amani: “Yeah. I don’t know how they interacted with firbolgs, I never really left my city until later.” Meallan: “Well, I can tell you how the firbolgs interacted with them. Well, my clan at least viewed them with...suspicion. They were considered a necessity. They would provide us with resources we could not acquire ourselves such as iron, domestic animals, rare stone, precious gems...” Amani: “But how did they treat you?” Meallan: “The suspicion was mutual. The one that I knew, he was...rather annoyed at the suspicion that was levied at him, and I think that’s why he was so keen to get to know me.” Amani: “Wait. Really? He wanted to get to know you personally?” Meallan: “No. Well, I approached him first. Because I knew that they had magic, and wanted to learn it. And I saw that this one was a mage.” Amani: “Well, yeah.” Meallan: “So we spoke, and we got along decently well, and I asked him for books. And every time he came by- which was from every few months, up to once a year- he would bring me books. Sometimes he would let me keep them, sometimes he would just exchange them. I miss him.” Amani: “That does sound nice of him.”
Meallan: “He’s the...he’s actually the man whose face I wear, whenever I disguise myself.” Amani: “Oh. Sure. That sounds...really nice of him. I’m glad that-” Basil (fascinated): “You just up and stole somebody’s face?” Anthony: “Yeah Basil, how you gonna top that man?” Basil: “I don’t know! I’ll try!” Meallan: “I didn’t steal it, I just...I didn’t really know what kind of high-elf...he’s the high-elf who I knew the most. Thus I would disguise myself as him whenever I tried to be a half-elf.” Gem chimes in. “Does this elf still have their face? Or do you have their face now?” Meallan: “Oh...no! It’s...of course he does? It’s an illusion.” Gem: “Ooooooooh. Yeah, mmmmm. Okay.”
Basil: “So you like…borrow his face? But then he gets it back?” Meallan: “Well, technically I just copied it. His name was Aquilian.” Amani: “Aquilian.” “Aquilian,” Meallan confirms. Amani: “Sorry, did I hear you say earlier that you tried to disguise yourself as a half-elf once?” Meallan: “No, high-elf. I misspoke.” Amani: “Okay, okay, that’s fine. Well it’s...better.” Meallan: “He...was reassigned soon after I met my lady. By that point, I was sad but I think I would have been much sadder if I didn’t have her.” “I, well…” Amani trails off. Meallan glances around. “Perhaps someone else should…”
Gale: “Was this like, a romantic thing?” Meallan blushes. “No? No! No, he was, like a...teacher, to me. Not anything like that, no.” Gale: “Aww, okay. It’s still a nice story.”
Khamet: “Hey. I have a new story, about...a bird. Named ‘Spy’. Spy was a very nice bird, but he had a dark side that no-one knew about. Okay? He was a Spy-Bird, he spied on his enemies and betrayed the ruler of his realm. But was it really betrayal to a bird? Because birds do not abide by the laws of man, woman or child, or other people.” Khamet spins an entire tale of this bird, who one time saw the queen, and the queen secretly liked reading mystery novels. But mystery novels were considered trash literature, and he spread rumours about her, and it was bad. Throughout the story Gem is constantly looking at Sky, thinking oh my goodness, is it the same person?!?? Is the story about them?!??
Meallan leans over to Gem. “He makes things up.” Gem (whispering): “But what if it’s true?” Meallan: “I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re a character in his stories.” Gem gasps! Then adds: “I’ve got a cool story to tell.” They are encouraged to go ahead. Gem: “Okay, so this one time me and my sister Jem we um, snuck out in the middle of the night, and we went out and uh we found this like...like...river?” Gem tells this really long, grueling narrative. About halfway through they get distracted, forget where they were going with it, and just stop. Amani: “That’s...quite a story.” Gem looks very proud of themself for telling it. Amani: “Thank you… for that.”
Anthony: “One time I went to the 7-11 to go pick up some beer, and I left my wallet at home.” Amani: “What’s a 7-11?” Anthony: “A convenience store.” Amani: “What’s a convenience store?” Anthony: “They’re open 24 hours a day.” Gale: “I think your friend is making things up.” Amani: “I don’t know-” Anthony: “It’s legit.” Khamet: “Oh. Oh! He’s not making things up, he’s just from a faraway land called al-mustaqbal.” ((“The future” in arabic.)) Gale: “I mean I’ve seen faraway lands, and I’ve never seen a ‘convenience store’. Or a ‘7-11.’” Amani: “Uh, he brings a lot of very strange things which nevertheless work. I don’t know anything about where he’s from.” Meallan: “Yes, it’s...it’s a very strange land.” Khamet: “Yes. I can’t wait to hear his heavy-metal.” Anthony: “You’re the ones with the strange lands, c’mon. Giant squids, dragons…” Amani: “Those aren’t weird.” Meallan: “Those aren’t strange.” Amani: “Dragons are very normal.”
Gale decides to turn in for the night. “You can do what you like, but I need at least two of you up here at a time and I trust you to take care of that.” Amani: “Alright.” Gale leaves. Khamet also decides sleeping is a good idea, while Inima opts to stay up a couple hours longer. Amani: “Maybe those of us with darkvision are better off taking watches. We need to keep an eye out after all.” The party agrees, and alternate watches throughout the uneventful night. Seaspray on Feathers The party reconvenes in the morning. Gale and the other officers seem a little stressed, but besides that things appear normal. Meallan stops Gale. “Is something wrong?” Gale: “It’s probably nothing you should worry about.” Meallan: “Is there anything I can do to help?” Gale: “I don’t think so. Unless you’re like...we’ve got a surgeon, it’s fine. It’ll be fine.” Meallan: “Is someone hurt?” Gale: “Not hurt as such. Y’know, sickness in the crew is pretty common, but...I was just hoping it wouldn’t happen when we were tryna fight a giant squid monster, but y’know.” Meallan: “Mmmm.”
Amani: “What are they sick with?” Gale: “I dunno, just like a fever. It’s nothing crazy.” (For the benefit of the party, Thorn establishes that no, this was not caused by the Evil Sand!) Meallan: “Who is sick?” Gale: “Just Elysrin at the moment. Which is obviously a hassle for me, but you guys’ll be fine.” Meallan: “May we take a look?” Amani: “Are you sure?”
Gale: “Honestly, I don’t know how long it’s going to take us to find this squid, and I don’t want you to get all like feverish and gross as well. That would be...bad.” Meallan: “I can send Aytal to have a look? I don’t think he’ll get sick, unless the sickness can spread to fey?” Gale considers this. “I mean honestly, now that I think about it, would the sickness even spread to firbolgs? I don’t know how firbolgs work. Yeah, you can send Aytal if you like.”
Meallan sends Aytal down the stairs. Elysrin is not in any immediate danger of dying...but they do reach out and deliriously try to pat the cute little ‘cat’ which has suddenly entered the room.
Meanwhile, Khamet asks Sky about the metal collar around his neck. Sky touches it. “You don’t just think it’s a very nice accessory?” Khamet: “I mean, I don’t know. You are fiddling with it a lot.” Sky: “It’s a bit heavy, yeah.” Khamet: “And it seems like it’s very uncomfortable, at least.” Sky: “I mean you could say that. I like to loosen it when I come down to land, but- yeah! It helps me scan the ocean a bit better, so I can see if there’s anything nasty lurking under there.” Khamet: “Oh! You mean it lets you see underwater?” Sky: “Yep! Kind of.”
Khamet: “Oh that...that’s really cool. I hate water. I hate it when it gets into my eyes.” Sky: “Mmm. I mean yeah, I don’t really like the water in my eyes either. The sea-spray on your feathers can be veryvery nice. Mmm.” Khamet: “Well, it’s very nice on you. Very fashionable.” Sky: “Thank-you! I am going to make sure nothing’s trying to eat us?” (Why does he make it sound like a question? We may never know!) Khamet: “Okay. Have fun.” Sky: “Hopefully I will see you later.” Sky takes off. Khamet seeks out Tally. Drow Feelings About the Everqueen Khamet: “Oh, hi Tally! I have a question: were you actually his mum?” Tally: “Whose mum?” Khamet: “Uh, the guy. The drow guy. Amir...Amir? Arim.” Tally: “No, no I’m nobody’s mum. Nono.” Khamet: “Okay, well. I’m glad he is…” Khamet pauses. “I’m glad that you are helping him accomplish his, uh, something. That’s very cool.” Tally: “Thanks. Khamet, are you his mum?” Khamet thinks about this. “You know, I might be.” Tally: “Yeah, that’s why I’m asking you. Do you think you might be?” Khamet: “Hmmm...well, he’s not a half-elf. So I can’t be his mum. Here’s the thing though: maybe I can father a half-elf, but I don’t know if I can be a mother to a half-elf.” Tally: “Oh okay. You can’t do that? Oh, okay.”
Khamet: “Oh. Oh yeah! I was wondering about the Everqueen too. Um. There was a priestess-lady? That told me that you didn’t have the blessing of the Everqueen?” Tally: “Me? What does she know about me?” Khamet: “Well like...drow in general.” Tally: “Drow in general? Ah...they’re pretty cut away from the Everqueen, so that doesn’t really...work?” Khamet: “Yeah, yeah. Um...do you have any feelings about the Everqueen? You know, like because if I were a drow, I would be pretty mad that the Everqueen just kinda didn’t do anything about her sister.”
Tally: “Ah...depends if you’re asking if Downstairs Drow or Upstairs Drow have feelings about the Everqueen? I know that Downstairs Drow have lots of feelings about the Everqueen. Well, personally, as it happens, well, um how to put this...it turns out that some. drow. Well, at least one...they do still have the Blessing of the Everqueen. So apparently it’s not entirely lightproof.” Khamet: “Oh, I see. I see. Oh, okay, so um yeah but like do you have any feelings about the Everqueen? You know, do you ever feel like you were betrayed in some way? Because she just let you…?” Tally: “Well, the Downstairs opinion of the Everqueen that I...well like, that I grew up being told…is that she basically corrupted everything on the surface with this terrible light that is currently destroying us. It feels very destructive, doesn’t it? Ah, yeah, and that she would have also destroyed us...them, drow...if the Shadow Queen had not protected...them? So, uh, when you discover that all of this was not...the only version of the story...it can make one feel a little bit betrayed, yes.” (Khamet agrees.) Tally: “And you’re not sure who to trust, or who to believe, or who to worship. And personally, I don’t really care for any of those people who just want to grab a bunch of elves and do stuff with them, and cooler with the four elements. ‘Cause they don’t want anything from you, they just are.” Khamet: “Oh. Cool. Okay, well, I’m glad you found the four elements. They seem like nice...people?”
Tally laughs. “They’re not people, they’re elements.” Khamet: “Well, yeah...yeah but I mean like a piece of wood doesn’t want anything from you.” Tally: “Indeed.” Khamet: “So you like inanimate objects too?” Tally: “There’s a lot more to the concept of elements, and I’m not sure I’m the best one to explain this to you Khamet, but maybe if we stop by the Shrine at some point it would be interesting to you?” Khamet: “Cool! I would love to learn about your philosophy. Slash, religion. Slash...something.”
Their conversation is interrupted by a shriek as Sky dives towards the deck. The sea starts to churn, and massive tentacles rise up out of the deep. The boat spins almost ninety degrees, and the party hear shouting as sailors fight to regain control of the helm.
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Post by Gelquie on Dec 24, 2019 23:12:18 GMT -5
Session 19 Part 2 The Sea Monster Tentacles reach up into the air, as tall as the mast, indicating a large creature below. There are twelve large tentacles, 9-10m tall. It’s too difficult to tell where the creature is, but they’re very close to the ship, and they’re clearly gargantuan. Tally needs a moment to think, and Meallan and Amani need to stop being dizzy and nauseous from the spinning.
Anthony gives Bardic Inspiration to Khamet! Pirate metal! Arr! Then he goes to help man and load a cannon! Basil quick-climbs up into the rigging to get a better look. He tries to peer into the water from where he is. He can tell it’s gathered at the front of the ship and that its trying to wrap its tentacles around it.
Gem moves to the center of the deck to see everything around them. Then they use Stone Skin. The diamond freckles on their face grow and expand until they become complete diamond. Then they grasp their cutlass and use Magic Weapon to make it glow; magiiiic. They wait for the tentacles.
Khamet, inspired by the pirate metal, tries to smite off a tentacle! He doesn’t completely sever it, but the tentacle oozes black ooze and waves away from him. Then Khamet casts Shield of Faith on himself.
The crew get to work loading the cannons. Gale stops trying to navigate the ship because why, and he draws his shiny sword, which glitters like it’s covered in ice. He prepares to attack any tentacle that comes in range.
Aytal dashes back up to the deck to join Meallan.
Gale attacks two of the tentacles that are trying to move out of the way. He hits cleanly, but the tentacles seem hardly bothered by the cold on his sword at all. The sea monster slams a tentacle down on the helm, and then latches on. The ship begins to crack in the middle.
Brindley assists with a cannon. Sky lands and dashes below deck.
Upon hearing the ship crack, they snap out of their nausea. Amani: “Okay, who wants water walk?!” The party all agree! So does a random crewmember who thinks that would be very nice! As does Brindley. Amani casts Water Walk on them all and one random crewmember who’s manning a cannon.
Meallan casts two Eldritch Blasts on the tentacles clinging to the boat. One misses, the other… hits. The tentacle doesn’t let go.
Tally uses Shape the Flowing River to try to trap some of the tentacles in ice. Like handcuffs, but for tentacles. Two of them. The tentacles try to get away.
Anthony fires the cannon! ...And misses. Instead, he fires a Bardic Inspiration to Meallan. “Burn ‘em down! ...But not the ship.” Meallan gives Anthony a look for his insensitivity, but he gets it. He’s somehow inspired anyway. Anthony: “There’s no room for sensitivity on the seas!”
Basil fires a crossbow bolt at a tentacle. It sticks in. Yup.
Gem counts 4 tentacles not grabbing the ship. 2 wrapped around the bow (front of the ship). The other 6 are by the side of the ship. Gem goes to the 2 wrapped around the bow and uses Green Flame-Blade on the two. Then they use a quickened spell to attack one of them again, but misses. Still, there’s green fire everywhere! Very cool!
Khamet attacks twice at the ones Tally restrained!
3 cannons fire from the ship! Two of them miss, but the third one hits the tentacles! There’s a burbling noise from the creature, and the hit tentacle submerges underwater.
Gale attacks again! ...But the hits do nothing.
Aytal curls around Meallan’s neck and keeps watch for any tentacles and where they are.
The sea monster brings a tentacle against the helm again, utterly destroying it into splinters. The second two tentacles tighten its grip around the hull, and starts to draw the forward part of the ship underwater. The stern rises into the air, and waves start crashing over the front of the ship, hitting anyone standing there. Titanic time.
Anthony starts playing “Nearer my God to Thee” on his phone. Sky runs down below. All the officers are up, focusing on either the cannons or the monster.
Amani casts Chaos Bolt at one of the tentacles wrapped around the hull… and misses. So they back up towards the middle of the ship and from the scary monster.
Meallan casts Hex on the tentacles to weaken them. Then he fires Fireball at the tentacles at the front of the ship, targeting above the clump of tentacles to not hit the ship or Gem. It’s not as effective as it should be, but it does singe them a bit.
Tally hits one of the frozen tentacles with her quarterstaff twice, both very consistently! Then she punches it, but it really doesn’t do anything.
Anthony loads the cannons again! Then he gives Bardic Inspiration to… the ship! He plays a rousing naval song! Then he shouts to all: “C’mon lads, we gotta man the cannons! Get over here and help man the guns so we can fire them faster!” The crewmembers are roused, and they come and load the cannon for him! So he fires! Boom!
Basil fires another crossbow bolt, to no avail. Then he dashes down the rigging because he sees bad things in his future if he stays there.
Gem is standing at the front, water washing over them, tentacles in front of them. They use Twinned Spell to use Booming Blade to hit two of the tentacles. They take damage, and if the tentacles try to move, the energy around it explodes. Then they convert a third level spell slot into more sorcery points.
Khamet attacks a frozen tentacle twice, and hits so hard that he destroys Moni’s sound. The first one hits for a good amount of damage. The second attack, he takes some time to do. In the meantime…
Three of the cannons fire and two of them hit! The cannons are very inspired and do extra damage! Black ooze comes from one of the hit tentacles and the one Gem attacked.
Gale attacks! He gives a tentacle a paper cut.
Aytal goes over to Gem and keeps watch out for tentacles and weak points for them.
The sea monster pulls the ship further underwater, the stern rising higher. The energy around the tentacles that Gem attacked boom. The footing becomes unsteady. While most of the party manages to keep their footing or secure themselves against something, Anthony, Gem, and Amani lose their footing, fall, and all but Gem slide 5ft closer to the monster.
Amani fires another Chaos Bolt… and misses! They get up and try to get behind something for cover from the tentacles and to help keep them from sliding.
Meallan casts two Eldritch Blasts on the tentacles, and then Hexes them again. A lot of bleeding black ooze falls from the tentacles onto the deck.
Tally tries to hit again with her quarterstaff, but misses.
Anthony gets up just as the cannon he was using falls into the water. He makes his way towards the stern where the lifeboats are, ready to do some heroics! Just as he does so, he gives one more Bardic Inspiration to Amani.
Basil slides to the front of the boat and jumps onto the water (water walking!), then fires his shortbow at the creature. But he misses. At least it’s too preoccupied to eat him; the giant eye is not looking at him.
Gem uses Twinned Spell on Booming Blade again on two tentacles. Then he uses another two sorcery points to use Quickened Spell to cast Green Flame Blade. The flame hits one, then leaps over to another. The creature makes a horrible warbling sound, but doesn’t let go of the ship.
Khamet strikes with his second attack! He manages to hit a critical nerve in the tentacle, one required to move anything. All the tentacles bleed, and then burst with light, and the sea monster sinks… dead!
(Oh, but they can’t retrieve the sea monster for sea food… Gem tries to dive into the water after the sea monster, but hits the water because water walking.)
The ship flings back upright, but… Gale: “We’re sinking.”
Meallan and Amani set themselves on the crack in the middle and cast Mending, but it’s not enough; all they can do is buy time while Anthony helps sort out the lifeboats.
Amani looks unhappy as they cast it. “Well, at least I’m good for one thing.” Meallan: “I feel the same way.”
Tally: “Excuse you, you certainly did more damage than I did.” Amani laughs sarcastically. “Are you sure?” Tally spins her stick. “Pretty sure.”
When he realises Mending won’t work, Meallan grabs as many supplies as possible to chuck in the lifeboats, while Amani continues to spam Mending, and offers Water Walk to others, before eventually helping grab some supplies. Gem helps by grabbing, specifically, snacks. Tally saves as many Tuck Chingle books as she can.
Gem wonders how far land is. Like… a day away?? Much more than water walk can cover?? Inima: “Maybe we should find some other land that’s closer by.” Meallan: “I think that would be a good idea.” Inima: “Ask the officers if they know of anywhere.”
The Disaster Party and the Windblessed’s crew make it safely into the lifeboats and bob about together in the ocean. Inima again voices the idea that maybe they could find some closer body of land to get to. Gale thinks that sounds like a decent idea, although there’s another boat he can contact, full of people he clearly does not like very much. He can ask them to come and help if desired.
Amani: “That might be good.” Meallan: “Jerks or not, if they are our only chance…” Gem: “How can we contact them?” Gale: “See, there were two of us, right. You know that I was...this is supposed to be like an anti-pirate vessel? There’s another one. Uh, but uh...they...we had like this friendly rivalry going? And since I kinda got my ship destroyed I feel they might make a big thing of it, in a less friendly way.”
Meallan: “While we are here, while we are waiting, perhaps...do you know the site where the ship sunk that was carrying the sand that could transmute people and things?” Gale replies, already holding a Sending Stone. “I mean yeah, I know where that happened. We couldn’t get it from here very quickly at all. Why do you want to know?” Meallan: “I have a theory that it is somehow connected to this monster attacking Cai Shaan. I would like to go down there just to make sure.” Gale: “Sure? You know the monster is what destroyed that ship, right?” Meallan: “Yes. I do.” Gale: “Sure. Whatever.” Meallan: “I still think the two are connected. It may have destroyed that ship because it did not like whatever that stuff was.” Gale: “I guess that’s...” Meallan: “It is a theory. But I want to test it out.”
Gale agrees to this. Gem pulls out a bunch of the ginger slice from earlier, stowed in amongst their robes, and distributes it equally among the others. There seems to be rather a large amount of it just hidden away. Aytal curls up against Gem’s stomach like a little hot water bottle to try and make sure they don’t get sick. Playing Hero Amani ignores the offered slice. They’re busy staring out at nothing, not saying much to anyone. It’s hard to tell if they’re trying to space out, or if they’re a little down, or some combination of the two. Meallan reaches over and puts a hand on their shoulder.
Meallan: “Do you want to talk?” Amani: “There’s nothing to talk about. Not here.” Meallan: “It is rather cramped.” Amani: “Well that’s not ideal, but that’s not the point.” Meallan: “What’s wrong?” Amani hesitates. “Nothing I...I just-” Meallan: “Something is clearly wrong, Inima.” Amani: “Well, there’s just...it’s not ideal, and… I was hoping I’d do more.” Meallan: “So did I. I think you did alright. We did as much as we could.” Amani: “I did great with missing a bunch. What a hero I am.” Meallan: “Not everyone can be a hero.” Amani: “But...but I should be different now.” Meallan: “Why?” Amani: “Because I should!”
A sailor looks at them. “Well, we didn’t destroy that creature, that was you guys. And from where I was standing it looked like...you were doing pretty darn well.” Amani: “Well, yeah, the others did well against the creature. I’ll give them that.” Meallan puts his arm around Amani’s shoulders. They don’t resist, but they don’t exactly lean into it.
Khamet: “Well you cast water walk and that well, you know, could have saved tonnes of people. And you know, sometimes you don’t have to do the killing blow. I mean, if Tally hadn’t frozen the squid like that, I couldn’t have hit it as much as I did. So I mean, you can’t just focus on like, the big hero moments.” Amani: “Um, I… I mean...” Meallan: “I hate to say Khamet is right, but he is totally right.” Amani: “I…”
Gale seems frustrated. He points out that he’s lost his ship, and probably his job, and Amani is just sitting there complaining about how they didn’t do enough damage to the monster. The monster’s dead and it doesn’t really matter who killed it. Tally: “Well you might still have your boat if we’d just been faster at killing it.” Gale: “Well that’s on my end as well.” Gem points out that they actually still have a boat. It may be slightly smaller, but it’s still doing a pretty good job. Gale: “Thank-you, Gem.”
Amani: “I...I guess you have a point. I...I did show some of my power. And... I’m sorry for your ship, I’m sorry we didn’t act faster. I’m sure you won’t lose your job over this. We can talk about how well you did.” Gale: “Yeah well I mean, uh, I don’t have a ship. So what job do I have?” Amani: “I-I… Well… I don’t know.” Meallan: “Well, we’ll speak to Usavias about it.” Gem: “You could become a...a pastry chef!” Gale: “What? Very well.” (Amani: “Wait, really?”) Gem seems super pleased that their idea went over so well.
Inima: “Yeah...thanks. I...I just... it’s complicated.” They trail off. Before too long another ship arrives- slightly smaller than the Windblessed featuring a very smarmy sea-elf captain with a bandanna. She does absolutely nothing to help Gale’s mood by gloating that she now has the better ship by default now that the Windblessed, generally considered the faster of the two, has been destroyed.
Inima: “The other ship didn’t fight a sea monster...” The captain does not overhear. Some of her crew surely do, but they seem unbothered. Meallan approaches the smarmy sea-elf. “Could you not? He just lost his ship, give him some space.” Smarmy sea-elf: “Who are you?” Meallan: “I am one of the people who fought the monster.” “Huh. I guess that’s commendable.” “All I’m saying is: give the man some space.” Miali doesn’t reply, but she gives Gale space by default as she goes back to her actual job. Meallan, meanwhile, returns to staring off at the sea.
The Wavesong, at Meallan’s request, take the party to the wreck of the ship carrying the ‘radioactive sand.’ Meallan dives down, using his water-breathing spell, and casts ‘detect magic’ as he swims around the site. He does detect magic: the sand was being kept in large barrels, some of which have been damaged but others remaining intact. Meallan casts ‘mending’ on some of the barrels to prevent more sand from leaking out and washing ashore, and collects a sample of the substance into an empty ink bottle (the ink, of course, having been used earlier to transcribe a spell!) Using his mage hand, of course- he’ll be more cautious now he knows what the substance does! The Earth Mother Having mended the barrels to the best of his ability, Meallan returns to the ship and the party make their way back to Cai Shaan. It’s not a difficult journey, now that there’s no sea monster to worry about, and they arrive back in port early that evening. Gem finds space to draw a circle around themself in the dirt, etches some runes, and digs a hole in the centre to whisper thanks to the Earth Mother for keeping them safe.
Meallan: “What are you doing?” Gem: “Oh! So I’m just thanking, um, the Earth Mother. She’s like...a goddess? Like she watches out for us, and so y’know I asked her to keep an eye on me, and then I didn’t die. So I’m fairly sure that was, like, partly her? Mostly me. But partly her. Um...so yeah like I just thought I’d say like ‘thaaanks’?” Meallan: “I see. That’s...that’s very nice.” Gem: “She’s real cool. She’s really nice. You should like talk to her sometimes.” Meallan: “I...thank-you, but I don’t really...it’s not the custom of my people to do gods.” Gem: “Ah, that’s fine, y’know. She mostly just looks out for us, so. Me and my family. So it’s okay. I’m sure she understands.” Meallan: “I- we respect the earth. As it is. I have nothing against the gods. They’re just not for us.” Gem: “That’s okay.” Meallan: “I’m glad that you have a relationship of sorts.” “Mmm-hmm!”
Meanwhile Khamet is lurking nearby, writing all this down in his journal.
In Which the Party (somewhat unwillingly) Acquire a House The party, Gale and Miali are taken to meet with Lord Lyrelle. Gem has a spring in their step- they’re feeling good, head held high! Lyrelle, their child, and Usavias are all present. The child just watches studiously for the main part, and doesn’t speak much. But, most importantly...the party receive their 500g reward!!! They take 83 each and Gem, who didn’t want the reward money, takes the single leftover coin as a souvenir of Shaan.
Celes: “I’m gonna buy alllll the incense!!!
Usavias looks at Gem. “I will write you this letter, but you may need to wait a little more than five minutes this time.” Gem: “Okay.” Gem is patient for all of six minutes, while Lyrelle addresses the party. Lyrelle: “I heard how you dealt with those bandits, and took them to the centaurs. And presumably convinced them to ask us...if they were ours, which is not really their style so I can only thank you for that.” The party receive an additional thirty gold each (Gem aside) for turning in the bandits. Yay!
Lyrelle: “I also heard a rumour that you may have been sleeping on the beach?” Amani: “Is that a problem...?” “It’s only a problem in that it seems...what I would say, very uncomfortable. I was wondering if you might like somewhere to live?” Amani seems uncertain. “Uhhh…” Meallan: “As in…? Define ‘somewhere’.” Lyrelle sighs. “Well, I was going to offer you...we talked about it. There’s- it’s not particularly impressive, not…centrally located...but up by the beaches that you were sleeping on, in fact, there’s a house I could offer you. I technically own it, but Rynn here is fifteen and not doing anything with it.”
Amani seems nervous, although Anthony Khamet and Basil are onboard with the idea. Meallan takes Amani aside. “This really isn’t good for you. Given that you’ve been disguising yourself in Cai Shaan.” Amani: “No, it’s not. I- it’s...if you want the house, and everyone else wants the house, they can take it. I can always just find somewhere else. It doesn’t matter.” Meallan: “I do not care either way. But...what happened?” Amani: “Nothing happened, I-” Meallan: “Please, just tell me what happened. It’s-” Amani: “Nothing happened. I just left. That’s all.” Meallan can’t decide whether or not they’re lying.
Meallan: “Amani, if there’s a problem-” Amani: “I don’t-” Meallan: “I learned this the hard way.” Amani: “I don’t have to live in the house. It’s fine.” Meallan: “It’s not. But it’s not just about the house.”
Miali, the sea elf captain, is clearly displeased. “You guys didn’t give me a free house!” Amani points out that she didn’t actually do anything. Miali: “I’ve only been working for these people for, what, the past thirty years?” Anthony: “I’ll trade you my house for your boat?” Miali scoffs. “I’m not giving you my boat.” Anthony: “Eh, it was worth a shot.” Meallan: “I think actually the boat would be pretty good.” Lyrelle considers this to be a strange comment, especially in light of what just happened to the Windblessed while the party were on it.
Khamet advocates for Gale and his crew. "They lost a lot. Can you compensate them?" Amani backs him up. “They were very valuable in our venture, and now they don’t have a boat. If there’s anything you can do…um, they helped too.” Meallan joins in: “And Gale as well. He was a very good captain, he did his best.” Usavias responds in place of Lyrelle: “Yes, I’ll compensate them, don’t worry about it.” Amani: “Thank-you.” Meallan: “He was very worried about him losing his job, and his ship. Do you have another ship that needs a good captain?”
Usavias sighs. “I do not have another ship.” Meallan: “Then perhaps you could recommend him to someone?” Usavias: “Perhaps. He is a good captain, and he’s a good friend, and I’m sure we can find something to do with him.” Meallan: “It would be a shame for such good talent to go to waste. Thank you.” Gem’s Secrets Usavias tries to give Gem their letter. Gem doesn’t take it. Gem: “Cool, that- um, can you send it to my parents?” Usavias: “Okay? Do you have an address? Or somewhere that-?” “I can’t tell you that.” “Then how am I supposed to make sure it finds your parents, Gem?” Gem: “Just- just send it to them!” (ooc: it is explained that Gem’s understanding of the postal service is very limited.)
Usavias: “Gem...why are you so worried?” Gem takes the letter. “I mean, it’s a secret. And you’re not supposed to tell other people secrets. Like, have you never kept a secret before?” Usavias: “I mean, of course? Of course I have.” “Why don’t you tell me a secret, then?” “I’m not telling you a secret.” Gem: “EXACTLY!”
Usavias: “Fine. Good luck. Sending this. To your parents. Gem.” Gem takes the letter, and goes and stands in the corner where they pretend to read it.
Later, when they’ve been escorted back outside, Gem farewells the party. They say that their hero’s journey is not done yet, and in order to be a proper hero they need to adventure around some more. Apparently, hanging out with a band of seasoned...or well, y’know, not so seasoned...adventurers is not quite enough for them.
Amani: “Thank-you for your help.” Gem: “It was really great to meet all of you! You all seem like just a wonderful, kind bunch of folks.”
Gem gives everyone a hug. Amani doesn’t know how to react. Meallan is also confused, but he returns the hug nevertheless. Meallan: “Including myself? Do I seem like a kind person?” Gem: “Yeah! I mean, obviously this furry creature likes you- and I mean, if I know anything, it’s that you can trust small furry creatures.”
Gem takes off their crystal necklace and gives it to Meallan. Meallan is visibly moved, and Aytal dashes around Gem in gratitude. Gem gives an extra big hug to Tally (because they like Tally a lot!), and then before heading out they use ‘mirror image’ to conjure four illusory Gems in different colours (“like palette swaps in a fighting game!”); purple, green, yellow, and red. In unison, they do a curtsey-bow.
Amani is very impressed. Meallan does the same thing back, because they have that spell.
And so, Gem sets off into the great unknown.
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