Hello, Everyone!
Last time in our story, we had our heroes get to the place where the shipwreck of 'New Hope' took place and tried to find a trace of the ship's remains (or the remains of Christoff Pyron whose body they were supposed to find). Mary made a few octupi-familiars and sent them off to look for clues and danger.
Mary, Aurum and Bruno were standing on the underwater cliff and looking into the abyss below. They knew that the Sahuagin village was down there, but they were also certain that there should have been much more than that down there. After all, the trench probably stretched for miles under their feet.
Aurum took a rock and lit it with a spell. He dropped it in the deep and they watched it fall down, and down, and down…
… and then sideways?
It was as if something had pulled it into the side of the abyss. Mary concentrated on her third origami octopus and sent it down to inspect where the light had disappeared.
There, in a fissure a lot wider than the one the Sahuagin village resided in, a faint glow showed where the bard’s rock had been intercepted. The octopus slid in and stuck to the ceiling. It carefully moved ahead, until it could see better.
In the light of the enchanted rock, a horrifying sight was revealed.
The walls of the cave were covered with dead bodies. Some of them were old and gnawed to the bone, others were still fresh and decomposing. There were humans and elves and dwarves, there were Sahuagin and fish. Hundreds of them, stuck to the wall like the sick decorations of a serial killer. They were swaying on the current, eyes glassy and lifeless, limbs dancing as the water moved around them.
Mary felt like she was going to be sick. She exited her familiar’s senses and pressed a hand over her mouth. The image of Kloth’s laboratory flashed before her eyes and she barely kept herself from throwing up.
When she managed to collect herself, she looked through her octopus’ senses again. She didn’t imagine she’d be able to find Pyron’s body amongst all the others but she could at least try and see what had stuck the bodies to the walls.
A tentacle flashed from one of the cave’s alcoves, so fast that all she could see was the monstrosity of its size. In a blur of motion, it sprung towards her and she lost the connection to her familiar.
She found herself clutching the reef, heart racing and breath short and shallow.
“It’s… it’s a sea monster,” she whispered.
It was difficult to decide what to do next. Mary and Aurum started suggesting one or another – to turn invisible and swim down to the monster’s lair, to set a trap at the entrance of its cave, to wait for it to get out and then sneak in…
Bruno was uncharacteristically silent. When they turned to him, it became clear why. The dwarf was walking around, picking up the occasional coin left from the shipwrecks.
“You’re not even listening to us!” Mary grumbled.
“I am,” he said. “From now on.”
He sighed and tucked away the pouch he was stashing the coins into.
"Look," he said. "For me, going down to the cave would be easy. Once I step into the chasm, I’m going to sink like a stone. The hard part is going to be getting me up afterwards."
"We could tie you and pull you up," Aurum suggested. "We have our three ropes combined, plus the one we found in the Bag of Holding."
"I don’t think it’s going to be enough," the dwarf said. "Judging by how far the lit stone fell, this is way more than 200 feet."
"Could we talk to the Sahuagin and convince them to help us?" Mary suggested."Even if they don’t know Common, I can cast a spell that’d allow me to understand them."
"I wouldn't be so quick to turn to them," Aurum said. "They remind me of the lizardfolk in Nurvureem’s lair – a tribe of lesser creatures serving the Big Bad Monster in return for their own safety or some of its prey."
"Plus, what would they do to help anyway? They don't look like the fiercest of warriors," Bruno added.
Mary wished they wouldn't have to fight their way towards the creature's cave. It was really big – the end of its squid-like tentacle alone was as long as her whole body was.
"We could try talking to the monster itself," she said, thinking of one of the spells Granny Gretel had given her which would allow her to speak with animals. "These kinds of creatures are usually quite intelligent, we might try to reason with it. Offer it something? Like, if we go in and take one of the bodies, it'd get three fresh ones instead."
She realized what she’d just said and her ears started burning.
"I don’t know why I said that. I’m sorry," she mumbled. "It was a stupid idea, forget it."
They sat on the cliff, thinking about what to do.
"Maybe we should go back to Ekoba," Bruno said after a full two minutes of silence.
"What? Why?"
"I don't think we’re ready to face that thing right now," the dwarf continued. "I’m spent, Mary’s hurt… It’d be smarter to go back to the city, regroup and make a better plan, now that we know what’s waiting for us."
"You’ve got a point," Mary said. She wasn't too keen on going back to Ekoba but if it meant that they were going to have a better chance of success, then maybe it was indeed the better decision.
Aurum didn’t object. They stood up and prepared to go back the way they came from.
But fate--or chance, or mere coincidence--had other plans.
A shadow passed over their heads. The underside of a ship, parting the surface of the sea and heading straight towards the jagged rocks of the reef.
“We should warn…” Bruno began.
But it was too late. The ship sailed straight at the underwater ridge of the reef. A horrible cracking sound pierced the water and Mary and her friends saw the whole bottom of the vessel fall apart as if cut off by a ragged knife.
Several bodies fell into the water and, after the initial panic, they started paddling towards the silhouette of the lifeboat that someone had just lowered on the surface.
“Hurry up!” Mary sent a Message to one of the humanoid silhouettes paddling in the water. “There’s a sea monster underneath you!”
She didn't get an answer and repeated the same Message as many times as she could, each time targeting a different person. There was nothing else she could do for them right now.
It was as if they hadn’t heard her. They didn’t try to escape. On the contrary, after the sailors managed to get on the boat, they moved it towards the broken ship.
“What are you doing?!" Mary Messaged. "What could be so important in that ship that’s worth dying over?! Flee! There’s a MONSTER coming for you!"
Again, there was no answer. She took her eyes off of the shipwreck and instead looked down.
The monster was swimming up and towards them.
Uh-oh! Now they'd have to fight the monster! Why does everything have to be so difficult?!
Anyway, see you next time
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide, the Glossary and the Map for the series. You're welcome!)
An important disclaimer: These are my notes from a D&D game turned into a narrative. All the worldbuilding and NPC encounters belong to our DM, and all the actions of the other main characters (Aurum and Bruno) belong to my co-players. My contribution to the story is only everything Mary-related (actions, reactions, inner thoughts), as well as the writing itself.