Seaside 4: Where Every Week Is Shark Week

[Earl of Purple]

Tower Island

"Coward! Heretic! Small-minded pitiful fool! Release me, and you can live forever! Sit on a throne made of solid gold as you dispense justice as you see fit! I can give you wealth! Power! Prestige! Respect! Anything!" The skeleton king sounds desperate as he shouts after the fleeing pirates. On the roof, there's a great view. They can see the entire island, their ship, and all the way to the horizon. Other than that, though, there's nothing really here.

Unless they look at the sea, and the sun shines at the right angle. Then, they can see all kinds of ruins under the ocean around this little island, as it appears to be simply the small tip of a massive sunken city... Though there's no way to get to it, without a way to breathe water.

Spectacle Sea Cave

That's a very creepy soapstone slab, though the gold is interesting- if Jack had some way of harvesting it. She avoids the bottomless abyss, because she's not a great swimmer. Jack decides which way to go by flipping the gold coin, and then heads deeper underground, going west.

Nobody would miss Jack, except maybe Jason if he turns up for the tour they've maybe arranged and she's not there. And even he doesn't know she's here.

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Sea Cave]

As Jack begins heading further down, she'll soon find herself in a strange situation.

A wall of water stands before her, clear and cold.

The flow up from the abyss seems to pool here in a fashion wholly unnatural, filling the passage and yet not flooding the chamber. Near the margin of the flooded tunnel the swirling symbols carved into the rock glow with a lurid shade of color that Jack will find herself quite incapable of describing. Should she touch the water, Jack will find that her hand never actually reaches it. The wall of water pushes inward, creating a nearly skin-tight bubble around her hand.

Well.

That's pretty different.

Isn't it?

Would running out of air be a problem?

[Earl of Purple]

Spectacle Sea Cave

It's creepy and weird and Jack doesn't really like it. Jack's going to try touching the wall of water, and when she finds it bends slightly away from her, she'll try hitting the wall of water with her shovel, see if it splashes or creates a bubble of its own and passes through without splashing or being slowed by the water.

She's not sure how whatever happens will help, but she's thinking about if she wants to go deeper.

[Shadowcaller]

[Operation Sea Slug]

Will shakes his head.
”Your magic is great Tammy but I don’t think I want an imp for an arm.
Anyway, I’m seeing a really tall cliff, and another spot with a thorny tree that probably can’t hurt Titania but might catch on our gear...uh...
Uh, and some blue motes coming from the shore? Captain, was there ever a base here? Because it reminds me of an airfield, where we had the airships land. It might be pointing to a dock.” he suggests timidly, looking again to make sure he isn’t seeing things.
”Can you see them on your sensors, Titania? Over there.”

Operation Sea Slug

Titania hadn't expected there to be a possible air field here, but just in case she turns on her radio to try and catch any oncoming signals just in case. "We can worry about the field later. I would not risk climbing at the tree however since I do not want to risk vegetation breaking under my weight. So if you can get us close to those cliffs, I can fire a line and carry Sam with me and then carry him up the cliff face. At the top I can try and anchor a better line and set up climbing gear for others. Possibly even a lift system for us to get equipment ashore." She reasons.

Once they do get close enough to the island, her chest splits open, revealing a multitude of gunbarrels before one fires. A metal cable stretches from the point where it hits the cliff to her chest, and she takes time to remove the line so she can tie it around the ship's mast or the strongest beam that she can find on the deck. "Climb aboard, Sam. And I can probably carry one more small person with me."

[Operation Sea Slug]

"Not an imp, geez!" Tammy claims but is quickly silenced by a glare from Sargera.
The gnoll shakes her head at Will. "That's impossible, none of these islands are big enough to support any airfields or boats for that matter." She gestures at the island. "Just look at that thing, who would want to live there? It was likely chosen since this is just about of of the most unimportant and inhospitable regions of seaside."
"Unless of course someone else got here before us?" Chip suddenly chimes in. "Blue motes sound like magic to me. Some manner of magical transportation?"

Sargera just gestures at the island again. "We'll find out soon. Fire away."

Chip will help them by tying the cables to two metal loops made for this very purpose.

As the bolos ask who wants to come with them Tammy starts jumping up and down and wave her hands. "Oh! Oh! Pick me! Meeee!"

[Tropical Island]

This brings pause to Anika. "I dunno... Wenomir would probably be pissed if I did. Besides, I don't actually know where they keep the thing. Only that its in some form of vault. Not to mention, artifacts like that usually need to be smashed in some special way, don't they? Since apparently I'd be way too easy if you could just crush the stupid evil things with your bear hands." Was that a pun?

[bc56]

Tower Island

The pirates look out over the sea and manage to spot the sunken city after a minute or two. They don't say anything, but it does help them understand what this place is for. They then head back down the stairs, ignoring the complaining skeleton and heading to the room with the chest. They poke at the chest for a time, trying to determine if it's trapped, before eventually stepping behind it and attempting to pull it open from behind, using the spear as a lever by putting the pointed end into the opening of the chest.

[Reinholdt]

[Tropical Island]

"How many vaults can they have? I thought you were on board for the reckless smashing plan?" Anika brought it up even! "Well, whatever. It was just a thought. That thing was the least of my concerns really." VIGIL won't ignore it forever... Right?

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Sea Cave]

As with her hand, the strange wall of water parts around the shovel, allowing it to pass through without any particular resistance.

Which is...

Strange.

But it would be an ideal way for land based creatures to be able to access this flooding portion of the cave without... you know... giving them spontaneous gills, or something.

Though considering the mutated bristle worm woman, given how warped and almost crippled by mutations she was, getting spontaneous gills while snooping around the cave might not be an unfounded hazard. Or maybe Jack would find her bird part becoming more like some kind of sea bird. There were all those bird calls coming from the other tunnel. They might be totally innocuous normal birds who got in here somehow (haha, sure) or maybe more awful mutants.

Either way, nothing comes leaping out at her all of a sudden.

And there definitely isn't some amorphous shape of glistening protoplasm rising from the abyssal well behind her, festooned with eyes and mouths and feelers forming and unforming like bubbles in a boiling pot of water. No sir, it definitely isn't filling the room with a sickly phosphorescent green glow or a nauseating stench of rotting sea life. Nope. Nothing like that. No reason to even bother looking.

[Earl of Purple]

Tower Island

The chest is positioned as close to the rear wall as it can get, so standing behind it is a little tricky, and the tower's curved walls means there's limited space to either side as well.

Regardless, the spear gives them plenty of leverage to open it, particularly since the chest is designed to open easily and smoothly so the spikes can slide out quickly and without warning. When it is, and the spikes are revealed it's unlikely either of the pirates gets hit by the points due to the reach of the spear and the possibility of approaching from an unusual angle- a diagonal to the front, for example. Inside, there's the complex mechanism that drives the spikes up and out, which also extends into the floor. There's nothing else in the chest.

Spectacle Sea Cave

Jack would not like to become a seabird. Her punny name wouldn't work then. She gulps, breathes deeply, and turns to glance behind as she considers the other tunnel.

If there's no protoplasmic blob behind her, she'll close her eyes and walk into the wall of water before opening them again and continuing onwards.

If there is, she screams and tries to hit it with her shovel before turning and running straight into the wall whilst taking far less care of her surroundings.

[bc56]

Tower Island

Satisfied with the loot they've gathered, the last two pirates return to the boat and row out to the ship.

Not everything is all right though. Remember the sailor infected by zombie sickness? Well, he's been busy, and the ship is probably overrun with injured and zombified crew by now.

[Earl of Purple]

Tower Island --> Back to the Ship

I don't know how large the crew is, nor how many the infected crew have had contact with. Therefore, I can't state how many zombies are now aboard the vessel, but there's a fair few. The surviving crew are probably stuck on the upper decks, whilst the zombies lurch and wander around below.

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Sea Cave]

There certainly isn't a protoplasmic blob behind Jack.

Why would there be?

Why would Jack ever think that's the case for any reason?

Because there sure isn't one there when she looks. Just the other hallway winding off into the darkness. Once she turns her attention back to the wall of water, there definitely aren't any stomach churning squelching noises as a mass of incoherent flesh doesn't ooze along behind her, sliding across slime-slicked stones. None of those things are happening, because there isn't a shoggoth in the hallway.

Totally non-existent shoggoths aside, Jack passes through the water barrier and...

Well.

Finds herself under water.

Sort of.

The bubble clings skin-tight to her and gives everything a wavering appearance as though looking through surface tension. It's dark in here, the only light from her torch and the strange coral that encrusts the wall sporadically. Running down the middle of the hall is a trench filled with... well... it looks like more water, anyway. Though it is hazy and opaque compared to the crystal-clear water Jack is moving through. The 'shore' of the underwater river is crowded with mussels and tiny white crabs and grotesque looking pink eels scavenge dead fish and squid from its surface. It's... brine, maybe? So saturated with salt that any unfortunate creature that stumbles in is picked almost immediately.

Lights flicker in the distance, ghostly blues and greens. Jack can feel a tug of flowing water down the hallway, but not enough to be hazardous.

Down in the brine, Jack can make out the vague outline of a humanoid shape, something glittering in their grasp.

[Deathkeeper]

Operation Sea Slug

Will resists the temptation to shake his head as he returns the binoculars. He would have the warlock investigate the magic(?) motes before writing them off. But he’s not commanding officer.

”If weight is an issue Titania, Tammy is probably the smallest one here.” Will admits as they gear up. And really, he would prefer the chipper goblin over hanging around Sargera. She’s kind of scary.

[bc56]

Returning to the ship

The pirate captain calls his men to lift him and the helmsman aboard. Once properly briefed on the situation, the conundrum becomes highly obvious. All the food and water is stored belowdecks, which is also where the zombies are. If the pirates want to be able to survive on the high seas much longer, they're going to need to drive the zombies out. They sit down to plan their next move.

[Shadowcaller]

[Tropical Island]

"Yeah! Uh, I mean, the vault is in some secret location in outside and I need to see the things I smash... usually. I mean, if I knew where it was I could at least try to smash it. Never know until you tried and all that." She seems satisfied with that logic. "But yeah, I'll tell you if I get some more information on that front. Until then, you mentioned that this map was snake-related, right? Since I just remembered that VIGIL is dealing with some crazy snake-cult, any chance that the two might be connected? I did hear that they came from seaside."

[Earl of Purple]

Spectacle Sea Cave

Jack would think such a thing because Rebo's a nasty who keeps suggesting there is something behind her, and also this place is starting to make her paranoid. Call it a bird's intuition.

Jack's going to continue onwards, avoiding the brine, following the current- which puzzles her, a little. The bubble she's in isn't quite skintight, so can she feel a current? She'll dismiss it when she sees the figure ahead, hefting her shovel and continuing forward whilst trying not to make any noise and not step on any mussels, fragile coral, or crabs that might crunch underfoot.

Pirate Ship

The zombies, however many of them there are, continue lurching around the bottom of the ship, eventually clustering where they hear voices and straining to reach up and devour the humans that they can sense, but not see.

[bc56]

Pirate Ship

The captain decides it is best to check on the situation himself. He pulls open the hatch leading to the hold, and sees a whole bunch of zombies there, too many to fight alone. He sits down to watch how they behave. There's got to be some way to outsmart them.

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Sea Cave]

Once she's close, Jack will be able to make out a picked human down in the brine, their flesh mummified by the salt. Clasped in their hands is a golden dagger with a wavy blade and a simple eye-like pattern built into the thick cross-guard.

It looks valuable! Just like all the other gold trinkets down there.

A chain, a goblet, a scepter, a multitude of coins.

And also completely submerged in the toxic brine.

Nothing alive is down there.

Nothing.

And if Jack were to swim down into the brine that looks to be a good fifteen feet deep, well...

She would probably get pickled, too.

The corpse is floating just below the surface, though, golden dagger clasped in shriveled hands.

[Reinholdt]

[Tropical Island]

"Huh. I thought it'd be on that big floating island." There's value in keeping valuables stored elsewhere in terms of information obfuscation. Longer response time if it gets found out though.

Ilpholin tilts her head. "A crazy snake cult? This is the first I've heard of that. What are they doing? I mean, that would match the imagery on the ship the map was found in, so it sounds possible to me. Maybe even probable." Why would anyone make a cult out of snakes? Spiders are much cuter.

[Earl of Purple]

Pirate Ship

The zombies are just shambling around. They seem to have enough awareness that they don't walk into walls or other hazards, though they have lost their sense of balance and occasionally fall over as the ship moves. There's about ten underneath the captain, looking up and reaching for him. They're pretty clearly dead; one bare-chested zombie's torso is riddled with bites and his ribs are visible in the hole. One has a cutlass at their waist, but ignores the weapon, just reaching gormlessly upwards like the others. Occasionally a zombie wanders into the group and joins in; less often, one hears a rat or something and gets distracted and wanders off.

Spectacle Sea Cave

Jack's going to try and pull the corpse closer, but not getting into the brine herself, if possible. She'll use her shovel, trying to hook the body on the blade so she can pull it towards her. The other gold is tempting, and she does have this bubble, but she doesn't understand it, and she doesn't trust the toxic brine. That dagger does look rather interesting, though.

Hopefully the body isn't some gross sea-mummy awaiting a foolish adventurer to disturb its rest, or pushed away by accident with the shovel.

[Shadowcaller]

[Tropical Island]

"Huh. I thought it'd be on that big floating island." There's value in keeping valuables stored elsewhere in terms of information obfuscation. Longer response time if it gets found out though.

Ilpholin tilts her head. "A crazy snake cult? This is the first I've heard of that. What are they doing? I mean, that would match the imagery on the ship the map was found in, so it sounds possible to me. Maybe even probable." Why would anyone make a cult out of snakes? Spiders are much cuter.

[Tropical Island]

"As far as I can tell, making those snake-haired woman-people in order to spread the influence of their big snake god. I know someone in that stupid cult and... yeah, its pretty dumb." Anika claims. "I guess there have to be more to it though considering how many people that follow that dumb thing."

[bc56]

Pirate Ship

Hmm. The zombies can be distracted by the sounds of rats. The pirate captain calls to the crew, telling them to open the other hatch and make a lot of noise. He then shuts the hatch and lies in wait. The crew do so, shouting various profanities at the zombies in hopes of attracting them away from the other hatch.

[Reinholdt]

[Tropical Island]

"As far as I can tell, making those snake-haired woman-people in order to spread the influence of their big snake god. I know someone in that stupid cult and... yeah, its pretty dumb." Anika claims. "I guess there have to be more to it though considering how many people that follow that dumb thing."

[Tropical Island]

Sounds like Anika doesn't know much either, other than snake cults are dumb. Well alright. Something about make snake haired women. Gorgons? Well that'd make sense. Like the Drow making drivers through blessed rituals to Lloth. That doesn't sound all that bad really if the snake people want to do the same. But how to turn that cult against the demons? Hmm. Maybe trick some demons into attacking the cult. That'd turn them into enemies right quick.

"Well if there's more to it, let's go find out. There was a green temple not too far from here I think. Do you want to check it out?"

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Sea Cave]

Jack carefully begins reaching down into the brine with her shovel...

And that awful squelching noise doesn't start up behind her again. Jack doesn't feel a sense of foreboding doom as an amorphous blasphemy against existence doesn't slither up behind her. The stones don't sizzle at its defiling touch, since there's nothing there. Space doesn't bend toward it, causing the walls to loom around the abomination, since there's nothing there to cause such a dizzying, nauseating effect. Jack doesn't get the distinct impression that formless limbs on reaching toward her, only centimeters away. She doesn't experience any of those things, because there isn't anything behind her.

Nothing at all.

Hopefully all those non-existent feelings don't cause her to loose her footing and go tumbling into the brine.

Or lose her shovel.

Or thwack the corpse and cause it to drop that knife deeper into the fissure.

Since all of those things would be terrible.

[UncleWolf]

Operation Sea Slug

Titania offers the little warlock a hand after the cables are readied. "Then climb aboard." Once she's on, Titania offers a hand to Will as well before testing the strength of the cables. It seemed nice and anchored enough so with that done, she begins swinging arm over arm to get to shore. Once there, provided there are no interruptions, she'll start climbing upwards to try and reach the top of the cliff. As heavy as she was, she had excellent grip and foot placement, so as long as the handholds can withstand her weight, they ought to be able to reach the top without issue.

[Earl of Purple]

Tower Island

Most of the zombies shamble off in the direction of the new, louder noises, but there's two that remain below the hatch with the captain above them. The two are the first casualty of the night, and a surgeon's assistant wearing a blood-stained apron, with a knife lodged in his collar bone.

When the zombies arrive at the other hatch, three more have joined them, one of them being the undead corpse of a powder-monkey with his lower face eaten away. In fact, the longer they shout, the more zombies they'll attract from the bowels of the ship. If they've got some firearms, ammunition and plenty of powder on deck, they might be able to thin the numbers with a minimum of risk... Though it would take headshots to down each one.

Spectacle Sea Cave

Jack manages to resist the urge to turn around for no discernible purpose, staying focused on retrieving the corpse and its shiny, shiny knife without entering the briny patch of death or dropping the shovel.

When she's got the dagger in her hot little hands, she'll turn desperately brandishing both shovel and blade to confront anything which may, or perhaps may not, be behind her... Though that's giving ample time for anything behind her to make the first move as she goes dagger-fishing with a shovel.

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Sea Cave]

Jack successfully retrieves the golden dagger. The thing is quite heavy for how small it is, though no more heavy than one would expect an object that's made of solid gold to be. Given that it's made of gold, it's probably a pretty lousy dagger. Gold is really soft metal, after all.

Then she spins around to discover-!

Empty water.

And one of those weird pink eels swimming lazily past.

Nothing seems at all out of place behind her.

Though...

That feeling of paranoia is gone for now, at least.

Maybe this place is starting to get to her?

Should she choose to inspect the dagger closer, the thick cross-guard sports an almost geometric eye pattern, three eyes across each side with little triangles above and below each set, filling in the space between them. The blade is curved, almost reminiscent of a slithering snake.

There's more tunnel before her...

And that tug of current is growing steadily stronger.

[Earl of Purple]

Spectacle Sea Cave

Jack has a quick look of the dagger, interested to see if the bubble around her has extended around the golden 'weapon' as well. It's an interesting design; a kris, I think, with a wavy blade?

She looks at the tunnel further on and gives it a serious think. On the one hand, that could be where the really good stuff is. On the other, this place is giving her the creeps. On the third hand, that current is worrying. It's getting stronger; she could probably still fight it, but that's not guaranteed for much further.

On the fourth hand, that could be where the really good stuff is, so she continues onward, letting her curiosity get the best of her despite seriously thinking about it. That, actually, was what decided her. She wasn't so spooked she just ran straight away without thinking about it, so it's not that bad.

[bc56]

Pirate Ship

The sailors do start taking potshots at the zombies, although it's slow going. It takes them a long time to reload their weapons after each shot.
On the other end of the ship, the captain leaps into the hold, drawing the fancy sword he found in the tower. He's fairly confident he can take two zombies, just not the whole horde. He takes a swipe at the surgeon's assistant's neck as he gets to his feet.

[Rebonack]

[Spectacle Sea Cave]

A kris would be an accurate description of the dagger, yes. And the bubble does indeed extend around her new trinket.

Jack continues on down the abyssal tunnel, the passage sloping gradually downward without ever feeling abrupt. Downward and curved ever so slightly to Jack's right. Distance feels... strangely difficult to judge in here. Before jack could easily estimate meters and get a good feel for how much time has passed. But... down here in the cold black? Time and space seem almost... warped. Twisted.

Pulling.

The tug grows gradually stronger.

The fissure full of toxic brine still rhythmically sloshes below her, promising an agonizing death should she loose her footing and go tumbling into the hazy chemical soup. Mussels still cling to the stone near the brine, hovering up bacterial wash, the only thing that seems to be able to survive in the deadly stuff. Strange deep sea fish still swim past occasionally, flashing with ghostly greens and blues. Jack will be struck with the intrusive thought that she should flash back at the fish, just to let them know she's there.

As she slogs on she'll soon come to a massive, bulbous soap stone protuberance hanging down from the ceiling, all covered in spiraling designs. Though perhaps the strangest thing about it is the fact that it's covered in eyes.

Not living eyes.

Carvings of them.

Not dissimilar to the ones on the cross-guard of her new knife. Two arcs with the ends touching, and a circle for the iris. But unlike the eyes on her dagger, these ones have pupils. Horizontal slits, holes that could accommodate a narrow object.

[Shadowcaller]

[Tropical Island]

Sounds like Anika doesn't know much either, other than snake cults are dumb. Well alright. Something about make snake haired women. Gorgons? Well that'd make sense. Like the Drow making drivers through blessed rituals to Lloth. That doesn't sound all that bad really if the snake people want to do the same. But how to turn that cult against the demons? Hmm. Maybe trick some demons into attacking the cult. That'd turn them into enemies right quick.

"Well if there's more to it, let's go find out. There was a green temple not too far from here I think. Do you want to check it out?"

Operation Sea Slug

Will resists the temptation to shake his head as he returns the binoculars. He would have the warlock investigate the magic(?) motes before writing them off. But he’s not commanding officer.

”If weight is an issue Titania, Tammy is probably the smallest one here.” Will admits as they gear up. And really, he would prefer the chipper goblin over hanging around Sargera. She’s kind of scary.

Operation Sea Slug

Titania offers the little warlock a hand after the cables are readied. "Then climb aboard." Once she's on, Titania offers a hand to Will as well before testing the strength of the cables. It seemed nice and anchored enough so with that done, she begins swinging arm over arm to get to shore. Once there, provided there are no interruptions, she'll start climbing upwards to try and reach the top of the cliff. As heavy as she was, she had excellent grip and foot placement, so as long as the handholds can withstand her weight, they ought to be able to reach the top without issue.

Operation Sea Slug

Tammy ignores Titania's hand and instead takes a running start before making a leap unto the bolos back. "Hupp!" She then clings on tightly as she points towards the island. "Let's ride!" A moment later the imp appears in a puff of green smoke on her head, giggling madly.

Indeed, it continues to giggle even as it falls off when Titania shoots herself over to the island, soon landing on the top of the cliffs.
Soon, the imp reappears right on Will's back, completely drenched and smelling like a wet rat. "lolowned!"
Before them is basically what they saw from the boat, cliffs and thorns as far as the eye can see. The only even remotely interesting feature is the larger hill in the middle of the island, likewise covered in vicious thorns with only sharp cliffs sticking out from them.

[Tropical Island]

"Sure. If its the same cult I'd like a word or two with them either way." She slams her fist into her palm for empathize on what kind of 'discussion' she'd like to have with the cult. She turns to look back at the beach where they came from. "I mean, I think the party is over anyway, guess we spent a little too much time on fun, eh?" She grins at the nymph.