[Nexus] Seaside

[Shadowcaller]

Seaside

What is this place? Seaside is exactly what it sounds like, a sea.

Isn't there already a sea in Outside? There is an archipelago outside the cost of outside but Seaside is the ocean outside that coast.

So how can I get here? Seaside is actually more connected to the rest of the nexus than one might think. From the ocean you could reach HALO, Inside, Outside, Riverside, Random Places, The Hunting Grounds and other locations you can justify being near the sea. There are boats going to every major island in the ocean so a PC can easily get to Seaside from any of those locations as well.

But what can I do here exactly? Seaside is made for sea-based plots take take place under or on the sea. Riding pirates and vikings, giant sea monsters, sunken cities, great reefs, eldritch monsters, underwater exploration, volcano islands with cannibalistic tribes and epic battles both under, on and/or above water.

Seaside is a vast ocean which links many of the major cities within the Nexus as nearly all rivers eventually end up here somehow. You can probably find a lot of the garbage and filth from the cities washed out here near the coast. But the majority of the ocean is clean, far from the city centers of inside and riverside.

Seaside have it's own cities instead both above and underneath water populated by all manners of underwater creatures who can't live above land or too far away from the water. Here you also find sailors, pirates, submarine crews, vikings and other air breathers that are associated with the sea.
The environment these people live in can be from tropical coral reefs and sharks to frozen seas and ice bears. Anyone can feel free to make up what exactly exist in Seaside as long it's primarly connected to the sea, for more land bound adventurers there is Outside and if it doesn't fit there either Random Locations might be what you're looking for.

Locations in Seaside

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Isle of Crab

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This floating island have recently risen from the very depths of Seaside and is completely inhabited by various species of crabs, some of them perhaps related to the crabs in Outside?

Shallowwater

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On the coast of a more arctic region, a small village lies near the water. It is little more than a collection of small igloos. They all face toward an area where water has collected on top of the ice, creating a shallow pool.

The inhabitants of this village are a number of selkies; people with mostly human-like upper bodies wile the rest of them resemble sea lions. They live here in a simple hunter-gatherer society.

If you want a location added to Seaside, just PM me and it will be added to the list. More locations will be added as more characters end up here.

[Shadowcaller]

Isle of Crab

A new island have recently risen in the middle of the sea of Seaside.

Having only been on the surface for a few days this island is still filled with with great pools of water and sea life which still somehow thrives despite the recent change of longitude. The ones that haven't managed to adapt makes food for those who have plus an army of seagulls who decided to make the new island their personal toilet, as if the stinking cadavers weren't bad enough.

But all that isn't really interesting, why would a bunch of stinking corpses want anyone to come here? No, what's interesting is the rusty submarine stuck in the middle of the island as from here a nexus-wide radio transmission is sent:

Help!
We are under attack and have nowhere else to escape. Please people of the above, we have heard there are great heroes among you and we need them right now or we will all be turned to slaves!

Our coordinates are [Isle of Crab's coordinates]. Please come as soon as possible, we will try to repay you by whatever means possible.
-The Crillians

[Morty]

[Shore, Away from Isle of Crab]

Thariza the Charr soldier from HALO is waiting there for one more HALO member, sitting on the sand by a boat.

[Deathkeeper]

Shore

The air shimmers for a moment, and then with a sharp crack! Lexington appears nearby. He looks about for a moment.
"There you are. Hiya, Thariza. I'm not late, am I?"

[Morty]

[Shore]

"No," Thariza says. For the record, she's a tall, cat-like humanoid with dark grey fur, short snout and curved, black horns. She's wearing heavy mail and has a shield strapped to her back as well as a heavy mace and a wooden rod at her belt.

"But I think it's some distance to that island, so we better get going. Can you operate a boat?"

The vessel appears to be a rather simple boat with a single sail and a pair of oars as back-up.

[Deathkeeper]

Shore

Lex is a seven-plus-foot-tall allosaurus-like reptile. He's currently just wearing a wrist computer, because not even Nexus logic can make a dinosaur look good in pants.
"Uh, I'm sort of from a desert planet and that's definitely not made for non-humanoids. I can 'port is there if you don't mind not having a backup escape route, else I'll just have to squeeze in."

[Morty]

[Shore]

"We can both fit on the boat," Thariza says. "I'd rather have a way out if they somehow block your magic."

With that, she hops into the boat and takes a seat by the rudder.

[Deathkeeper]

Shore

"Understood. I should be able to take the oars if things get bad."
And with that he finds a place to sit in the boat and does so. He isn't bothered by the boat's rocking.

[Morty]

[Shore ==> Island of Crab]

Thariza pushes the boat off the shore and directs it towards the island. The wind is favourable and the vessel heads straight to its destination.

[Shadowcaller]

Open Seas==>Isle of Crab

With a good wind it shouldn't take too long until the can see the Isle of Crab in the distance, looking very much like a coral reef that have been forced to the surface.

But as the boat is closing in the tiny crew might note three shadowy figures tailing it, swimming just underneath it. It's hard to make out what they are, but they are easily as large as grey reef sharks. They make no move to come up to the boat or stop them. If the two doesn't notice, or care about them, they will eventually descend, disappearing into the depth.

[Deathkeeper]

Open Sea - Isle of Crab

Lex didn't notice the shapes during the trip, having been focusing his attention ahead of them when not doing his own thing.

[Morty]

[Island of Crab]

Thariza does notice the shapes, but there's little they can do about them until they reach the island. Still, since Lex doesn't seem to have noticed, it's best if she warns him.

"Watch out. Something underwater is following us," she tells her companion.

[Deathkeeper]

Island of Crab

Lex shakes himself out of his meditation.
"Noted."
He pauses for a moment, then looks over the side at the shapes.
"You're not being very stealthy, you know. Can I help you?" he says mockingly in Speech.

[Shadowcaller]

[Island of Crab]

As Lex talk to the shapes they suddenly stop, it almost looks like they look at each other before one of them swims closer, trying to keep up with the boat. The surface breaks and the head of a finned humanoid appears. He is covered in green scales with two prominent yellow eyes and blue lips.

"What are you doing here?" He asks as the gills at the side of his head seems to be trying to adapt to their new surroundings. "It's... dangerous. You should go away, go home."

[Morty]

[Island of Crab]

"We've been called here to help," Thariza says dryly. "And we're no strangers to danger."

[Deathkeeper]

Island of Crab

"Essentially. Unless the distress call was suddenly a lie we're not going to back away now."
He shakes his head to emphasize the point.

[Shadowcaller]

[Isle of Crab]

The merperson looks between the two. "There were no distress calls from here and if they were, it's probably just a trap. This island is dangerous, it's no place for you abovers."

[Morty]

[Isle of Crab]

"Look, we know what we received and we can handle ourselves. Don't worry about us," Thariza says.

[Deathkeeper]

Island of Crab

Lex nods. "Trust me, I've walked out alive from traps laid by entities much more cunning and powerful likely to be here."
True, he had more backup at the time than one soldier, but he needn't say that.

[Shadowcaller]

[Isle of Crab]

The merman turns to look at Lex with concern. "Really." Is all he says before he submerges again, quickly disappearing entirely out of sight.

By now they seem to have managed to reach the shore of this strange island. From what they can see it's not too different from your everyday island. It's just that it lacks sand, ground and anything you associate with land. Besides rocks of course, there is a lot of rocks and coral large as trees in a myriad of colors.

There are also pools of water everywhere with all sort of sea life living in them, they should really be careful to not on step on something poisonous. It looks like half of the ground might actually be alive and moving. But this island is really dominated by one thing, crabs. There are little critters of all colors and sizes scuttering around in and out of holes and down into one of the water pools again.

Most of the crabs however are busy fighting over the sea life that didn't manage the transition from the depths such as a large flat fish of some kind. Their opponents are mainly other crabs and a swarm of seagulls whose excrement litters the strange landscape.

As the boat reaches land some of these winged marauders take flight but others are simply too invested in their meals to care. The crabs don't seem to mind after all.

[Morty]

[Isle of Crab]

"What a charming locale," Thariza says sarcastically as she gets off the boat. She takes her shield off her back and straps it to her left arm. "Well, I suppose we need to find the people who sent the distress signal."

[Deathkeeper]

Isle of Crab

"Yep. Best be careful. They could be right, after all."
Lex's Temporal Claudication appears in the air, from which he removes a blocky sub-machine gun. He'll take the lead moving out if Thariza doesn't move to.

[Shadowcaller]

Isle of Crab

They might need some good foot protection if they want to tread upon this ground without walking upon something spiky and poisonous. Otherwise they probably have to walk really slowly across the island. Probably need some hand protection as well as they need to get up a steep cliff first.

Some of the seagulls don't take kindly on the two intruders and fly over, screeching warningly at Lex and Thariza.

[Morty]

[Isle of Crab]

"Bloody birds..." Thariza gripes. She has armour on her hands and feet, so spikes and steep cliffs won't be a problem.

[Deathkeeper]

Isle of Crabs

With a sigh Lex reaches into his Claudication again and pulls out his Ground-Based-Hazard tools, which is just a pair if metal sandals fitted for him.
"You think I should get a full set of armor? I've never had one before, but I'm starting to feel like I should."
He has a spell for walking up vertical surfaces, so that won't be a problem.

[Shadowcaller]

Isle of Crabs

If they manage to get up the steep cliff they can a ancient submarine in the distance, sitting roughly in the middle of this strange island which they now can see is fairly large. It's just nearly perfectly flat so they can see a great distance. There aren't any real hills anywhere, just large corrals and huge piles of rotting seaweed which blocks their sight radius.

[Morty]

[Isle of Crabs]

"I can't see why not. Of course, I've been wearing armour ever since I stopped growing," Thariza says as they climb. When they reach the top and see the submarine, she puts her hand over her eyes to see better.

"Hmm. A submarine. It might be the source of the distress signal. We need to go examine it. This island is weird... it's like someone just suddenly lifted a piece of the seabed."

[Deathkeeper]

Isle of Crab

Lex peers out at the sub.
"Hm. Maybe the whole island is a giant sea critter that's randomly surfaced for the purpose of feeding. " he sounds serious about that.
"we'd best get over there I suppose."

[Shadowcaller]

Isle of Crab

There is always the risk of wading through piles of foul-smelling seaweed on their way there but otherwise there really isn't anything stopping them. As they get closer it appears like the island isn't as flat as they might have originally thought. Right behind the submarine is actually a hill made of stone with small caverns in it who are too close to each other to be neutral.

And there are movements around the submarine, but not of anything even resembling humans. It appears to be a whole colony of hermit-crabs the size of humans moving about around the submarine. It appears like they're trying to build a small wall out of stone around the submarine. The two might also note a giant white sign reading "HEROES WELCOME" in the middle of the village.

[Morty]

[Isle of Crabs]

"Looks like were were called here by a tribe of crabs," Thariza says. "The wonders never cease. Let's see what they need from us." With that, she resumes walking towards the submarine.