View

Wet Cat

by Steel Claw

As fate would have it, I do not enjoy long & extended periods on board ships. I stayed belowdecks, working on Dannerick's enchanted bolt -- and vomiting my guts all the while.

I fared little better when I got abovedecks, when we began the approach into the Ocean's Spine maze. Though it had only been a day and some daylight leftover, I still could not stomach the trip.

Still, I stayed abovedecks wrapped in a sheet and holding myself together.

A Maze of Steam, Fog, and Rock

The Ocean's Spine was otherworldly: it was as if we had sailed (urgh) into a canyon of fire. Hot steam and chilling fog obscured our vision a few dozen feet from the sides of the ship, concealing great rocky spires and small cliffs that loomed in and out of vision. The entire place screamed of danger, and navigating the ship was more unruly than a new colt. Even if I had been of sound mind, the trip was nigh terrifying.

Both Murg and Theo set to work as Captain Betiriel held the helm. Murg contracted with the spirits and divinities of the maze, offering exchanges for control weather to disperse the strange fog and steam. Theo prepared to cast control water, but halfway through the incantation he stopped and moved instead to work the crow's nest.

"Far too high up," I worried.

Seeing my distress, one of Betiriel's ghost-crewmen approached and offered a vial. I downed it without a second thought, nearly retching my guts back out. But it helped, and I could keep my mind and the contents of my stomach where they should be.

Vision Granted

Murg was successful, his transacting able to clear more fog and water around The Drunkard's Boon. For now, we could see the maze as if it was a clear day with fair weather.

Abadar's favor granted Theo great vision -- Hrothimari aside -- and from the crow's nest our wizard spotted strange signs atop many of the rocky spires. There were wood and cloth strewn here and there, and what Theo realized were the wrecks of ships that had passed through the maze before. The damage they had taken were from claws, and probably something great and airworthy.

The going was not slow but not without apprehension. Carefully, Betiriel nudged his ship around spires of rock and past jagged cliff. The fact that we encountered nothing but silence and the push of the seas towards a large patch of white water that loomed far northwards. We could do little except give direction and guide his crew.

Alight 'neath the waves

We had made it far enough to lights in the southeast part of the maze, which we better understood as we got close. Betiriel warned that they were best avoided: electric eels larger than horses, the waters around them flickering from their latent electrical energy. Every bump they made against the ship caused us to tighten our breaths, but there was no problem between the eels and our journey.

More worrisome was the gap between sea spires: the ship slowed down, and all present called back and forth to ensure The Drunkard's Boon would pass safely.

All our focus was on that narrow gap, and thus was not prepared (though not surprised) when shapes appeared in our periphery. They were thirty seconds away:

A great beast, with black wings larger than the ship itself it seemed. "A roc!" one ghost shouted, and the crew leapt to action.

I prepared my sword and the Claws, just as Dannerick leapt to Murg's defense with an invisibility spell. "Stay out of trouble!"

With a roaring scream, the roc descended.

It spat up something that deserved to stay inside it's stomach -- something we have in common. It washed over Dannerick and I, striking me with some poisonous affliction.

When the roc landed, I tried an ensnaring web bolt. Theo following, dimension dooring himself and Milo to the roc atop the rock.

The webs did nothing, and the roc took an angry Milo with it high above the deep blue depths. I readied protective magics but the roc evaded, so I followed Dannerick's lead and shot at the roc (with Milo it its talons).

Theo raced across the ship's deck, collecting temporal magics around the midair roc. He unleashed that force seconds later, crushing time and energy on the roc in a single instant.

Then it dropped Milo.

The barbarian had his winged boots, of course, and sped midair after the dying roc.

"Sapphire!", and the Sapphire Claw unleashed a shot the roc could not avoid. It shattered part of the roc's skull, the aloft Milo splattered with guts and gore. The ship-bound Sapphire Claw flared blue, shunting some of its arcane energy to surround Theo and protect him from the roc's poisonous spew.

Astride, Theo commanded the Claw with his own wand to unleash a second torrent of magic missile, just as I had before. And again, the roc was ravaged by shard of pure arcane energy.

And then it was on board the ship. Theo had bent time around it, teleporting the roc to the deckboards. The weight of his spell carried over, collapsing the roc against the wood of Betiriel's ship and obliterating it completely.

I dragged a now-prone Dannerick with me to the side of the ship to heave our guts out, up and over.

"Maybe an hour or two, we can take the spillway out of the maze south," Betiriel reported. We pulled ourselves together in the meanwhile.

The Auran Plane

The eternal plane of water was a clearless blue and endless, thanks to Biteriel's water magics. The captain recommended that we beeline for the shrine, and seek forgiven for it later.

And so we did. With breathing and swimming magics, and great speed, the captain's ship sailed quietly and unnoticed through the plane. Hours later saw us at the shrine, a vortex underwater that brought the five of the vanguard to the primus aquas' lair.

It was great and crablike, and recognized Milo as the successor to the barbarian's mentor -- one who had come to the shrine ages ago. Our elementalist knelt, and when he rose the shrine's keeper summoned forth a great elemental of water -- to dance in battle.

I called to Theo, raising my left hand high, light glinting off of my ring of power. I cast champion's strength on Milo, just as Theo cast haste on it as well. We each sacrificed strength in turn (save Dannerick), and with our powers combined Milo flew faster than truth to duel the elemental.

And so it went! The aquan elemental swelled, pulling water to itself to regenerate and grow even larger. The waters at our feet began to waver and shake, streaming upwards into a dark stormcloud that fell to the floor once more in heavy rain and hail.

I left the Redfang to hold position with Dannerick, Theo, and Murg behind -- so Sapphire and I ran ahead towards Milo and the water elemental. Its waters lashed and writhed, and we leapt around and over to dodge the attacks.

In reaction to Milo's assault, the elemental reappeared southwards between myself and Theo's group. Without hesitation I pointed -- "Now!" -- and a blue-flamed fireball erupted on the elemental's position as it wove around shot from the Claws. It shuddered, water steaming off of its incorporeal body. Then the elemental roared a rushing sound, angry that my fire magics hit harder than it could fathom.

And then Milo struck it down, in one total blow.

Continue reading...

To Bezia: Dangerous & Familiar
10.22.19

To Waylay Arcadia
10.29.19

As the Gods Watch
11.12.19

Recap: Riding the River to Bezia
12.03.19

Honor Returns to the Redtails
12.03.19

Honor and Innocence
12.10.19

What Ends & What Begins
01.07.20

Night Before the Report
01.14.20

Adrenaline
01.28.20

Fairytale's End
02.11.20

CSI: Abominable Charges
02.25.20

Stones in the Basement
03.03.20

Saviors
03.17.20

A Night To Remember
03.24.20

The End Draws Near
03.31.20

Black Reckoning
04.07.20

Argyle's End
04.10.20

Two and Two
04.14.20

Concentration
04.21.20

The Magic in Winter
04.28.20

Real, Under, Dark: Indrada
05.12.20

Puzzling the Way Forward
05.19.20

The Cold Cases
05.26.20

Band through the Woods
06.02.20

Cold Claws of Death
06.09.20

Another Shot in the Dark
06.16.20

More To Learn
06.30.20

The Heart of Varunmund
07.10.20

Arcane Mishap
07.14.20

The Treasure of Weave-Steel
07.21.20

Rolling Bones
07.28.20

A New Land
08.04.20

Ice and Storm
08.11.20

Up Rocks
08.18.20

At the Top of the World
09.01.20

Beware the Depths
09.08.20

Granting Repose
09.15.20

Trial by Crystal
09.22.20

Cries of the Pained
09.29.20

Old Friends
10.06.20

Watch and Tower
10.13.20

The Death of a Gate and an Alhoon
10.20.20

Joy in Many a Reunion
10.27.20

A New Line of Questioning
01.05.20

Renewing the Offense
6th of February, 2022

The Last Vanguard
02.13.22

Portals
02.20.22

Heed the Changing Winds
03.13.22

Champions of the Winds
03.27.22

The Epicenter of Truth
04.03.22

It Begins Again
04.10.22

Stratagem to the Winds
04.24.22

Wet Cat
05.01.22

Another Hot Time
05.15.22

The Aegon Assault
07.31.22

Unfavorably Familiar
08.07.22

Cloaked in Red
09.11.22

Forged After War
09.18.22

Truthseeking
10.02.22

Two-Parters
11.12.22

Blade & Bow, Hammer & Axe
11.20.22

Faith, Truth, and Peace
11.27.22

Act as you know, and you will never shame me
12.04.22

The Stringing of the Bow
01.08.23

A Clashing of Fangs
01.15.23

Nleyke [v. To Wish]
01.29.23

Wet Cat

A Maze of Steam, Fog, and Rock

Vision Granted

Alight 'neath the waves

The Auran Plane

Continue reading...

Find your way!

Resources

WHO WE ARE

LEGAL

Get the news

Listen to our Podcast

Our Allies