The Voyage West RP

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Corth felt the rain tap-tapping on his head. He pulled his hood over his head and looked up and saw rain-clouds gathering fast. Too fast. Before he could blink, the tap-tapping rain became a downpour.
This isn't natural. thought Corth.

This guess was confirmed when armed Sahuagin came crawling up the side the hull of the Sea Giant. Corth flicked his dagger into his right hand.
Corth squared up against the closest shark-monster to him, the creature held a large trident and stabbed downwards. Corth nimbly dodged to the side, and threw the edge of his cloak over the tridrent and ensnared the large weapon.
Corth then sidestepped alongside the creature who stood about a head and-a-half taller, and he plunged his dagger underneath the Sahuagin's ribs.
It fell gurgling.

Corth still had the ornate Shortsword on his hip. He had once taken a vow never to draw it unless in the direst of circumstances, or in the face of great evil...At the moment, he didn't feel too threatened, and he had no intention of breaking his word - especially to himself.

But, that wasn't important, what Corth really wanted was his old heavy armour, and a good, stout mace.

Another Sahuagin began sizing Corth up. Corth could almost hear it's thoughts; Small land-dweller with knife. Easy prey. Corth smiled his wicked grin.
...Vailorath's Sigil began to warm.

 

Having headed back inside once justice had been deicded upon, Kala was busy sitting flicking through a large tome, trying to find something on this devil the sailor worshipped. She really had no wish to see a man cast out to sea and left to the hands of the gods, but that is what the priest had suggested, so it would be pointless arguing while onboard a ship. Not even a devil worshipper deserved such a fate, so she had headed to her cabin, in order to avoid the setence been delt. That night Kala went to bed early, as night set in, and slept a restless night, dreaming of sailors lost at sea, devils, demons as well as other horrors that fills dreams of one who has read one too many books.

Later the next afternoon, having spent the entire day locked in her cabin with a book, she heard a cry from above - muffled, she only caught "boarders". Deciding to go see what the fuss was, Kala slowly looked around the room for her staff. She threw her heavy robes over her shoulders and was just about to head out the door when she saw a scaley body pass by outside through the porthole. A small cry escaped her lips before she caught herself. The creature passed by without noticing.

Without a second thought, Kala grabbed the golden ring from her neck chain and began to recite a spell, one which she had used many times before. The lantern in her room flickered slightly as Kala drew the magic into her, concealling herself in a web of magic, hopefully hiding her from the eyes of what was boarding the ship.

After tying off the spell, Kala slipped outside onto the deck to survey the scene.

 

Trailen had slipped below to find something to eat and to get away from what had happened on the deck. He was not sure what to think about the decisions made, but he had realised there was nothing he could have done.

He was sat in his cabin listening to the sounds of the pouring rain, and the peels of thunder feeling strangely calm. Suddenly he heard a thud as something hit the ship, then he heard crys from above, he leapt up grabbing his Falchion from its sheath and charged up to the deck. It took his eyes a moment to adjust from the warm glow of the lamps below to the dark gloomy scene before him.

Monsters had managed to board the ship, he saw Max send a burst of energy towards one, but by then one of the creatures had spotted him. It leapt towards him wielding a bronze trident, he managed to bring his falchion round to block the initial thrust but the suddeness jerked his composure, his heart lept in panic and before he could even consider regaining control his arm burst into blue flame, the flame coursed down his arm and over the blade, the creature stept back stunned. Trailen took his moment and ignoring the pain sliced with all his might cleaving a deep cut across the creatures chest, it fell to its knees, then fell forward, dead.

The pain was almost unbearable, adrenalin kept him going though, steam hissed from his arm as the rain met the blue magical flames.

 

Oh no... not now Max thought Don't lose control here Trailen, not now...

This was no good! He needed stronger spells then energy bolts. All of a sudden one of the Sahuagin lept out of the shadows and stabbed at his ribs with trident already red with blood. Max was able to get his staff in the way and deflect it but another of the creatures, appearing as suddenly as the first, used this to its advantage and impaled his left arm on one of the forks of it's trident.

Max felt the world go red. Pain as he hadn't felt in years riped through his arm and brought anger in its wake. He spoke a prase dripping with vileness and pointed his staff at the creatures. They dropped dead, already roting.

He wrenched the trident from his arm, and felt faint. That had used up to much of his strength and he had lost blood. And that spell... he has sworn never to use it again.

These are thoughts for another time. Max thought to himself and sent a spike of ice at one of the creatures, saving the life of the sailor it had been about to gut. Then slumped to the deck, exhasusted.

Edit: Spelling

[ March 07, 2007, 07:53: Message edited by: The Magister ]

 

Trailen had slain two more enemies, he stopped to regain his breath for a second, he felt the flames on his arm, he felt them begin to push their way onto his chest...he could not let them...he fought for some semblance of control, the best he could manage for the minute was a stalemate, his arm and Falchion continued to burn bright with blue flames, but they no longer attempted to consume him...

...Trailen felt something crash into his back, falling hard to the ground he scrabbled to turn over. Raising his sword just in time for it to be caught in the prongs of a trident, the trident twisted and the weapon was wrenched from Trailens hands and clattered across the deck. The trident drew back ready to deal the killing blow, as it fell Trailen raised his arms, there was a flash and the trident was deflected by the flames causing it to scratch deep cuts into his leg before sticking in the deck.

He winced, but knew this was his chance to retaliate, rising he pushed his flaming hand into the eye of his assailant feeling it squirm and smolder. It let go of its Trident and reeled away clutching at its sizzling face, Trailen took hold of the Trident pulling it free from the deck and ran the creature through pushing it over the side of the ship...its scream was cut off as it plunged beneath the waves.

Trailen retrieved his sword, glancing around he saw the fight was seemingly no closer to an end.

 

Corth stabbed upwards into the chest of another shark-monster and it slumped like a sack of potatoes. It felt oddly good doing this again. Sure, Corth hadn't been 'on the streets' in almost twenty years. But, with the dagger in his hands, Corth remembered all the knife-fights that he'd ever been in. The brutal savagery of the untrained fighter came back to him.

Corth remembered street-brawls. Elbows, knees, fingernails and even the forehead were weapons. You just kept on hitting until one combatant went down.

Corth sized up another Sahuagin, this one held no weapon, instead, it leaped at Corth, all teeth and claws. Corth managed to slip on the wet deck of the ship. That accident probably saved his life. The claw went straight for his head, and Corth took a glancing blow to his brow. The rain coming down washed the blood straight into his left eye. Obscuring his vision.

But, as for the Sahuagin who now lay on top of Corth - pinning him to the deck with it's weight. It's left eye contained a dagger.

 

Mogrub's massive greatclub shattered sahuagin body after sahuagin body as he made his way to Urgeld, the armor and weapons of the sahuagin providing no defense against the fantastically strong ogre. Mogrub's powerful follow through often took out two or more sahuagin with one swing as if he was threshing grain. Glee covered the ogre's face as he howled and roared.

Towards the front of the longboat, the water appeared as if it had begun to boil. Tentacles burst forth from the water, grappling with the front of the ship. Mogrub bellowed and his face became tensed with fury as he flew into a berserker rage. Mogrub swung his club driving the sahuagin out of his way as he ran at the tentacles holding on to the longboat, leaping into the air and coming down with incredible force on a tentacle that had grappled on to sidewall of the ship, breaking off not only the tentacle, but driving through the sidewall as well. The tentacles pulled back and a few second later the body of a kraken surfaced near the ship. Mogrub, in blind rage, lept over board onto the kraken.

 

Slade stumbles up onto the deck, legs wobbly, head still swimming from whatever was used to knock him out. Slade mumles to himself, "See the world he says, it'll be fun he says, don't worry sailing's a piece of cake he says. By the gods if I did not like that brutish ogre I'd have stomped a hole through this boat already." Slade staggers toward the side of the ship, still dizzy, thinking his bulky extremities were not made for travel by ship." Suddenly he is hit from the direction he is traveling in. Still not completely aware of his surroundings the large Earth Genasi pushes back against the creature and forces it overboard. Suddenly, as if snapped out of his daze Salde realizes he has just knocked a Sahuagin off the ship. "Well that was quite pointless, it'll just climb back aboard," He muses to himself. Looking over his right shoulder he watches as Mogrub dives over the side of the ship to face what Slade can only assume is a giant tentacled octopuss thingy. He shouts, "Hey, I'm the only one allowed to kill that mangy, lying ogre." He begins to run towards this monster only to trip over his own ridiculous feet, cursing himself as he picks himself up and walks quickly to cover the rest of the gap between them.

 

"A Kraken? By the hells why are things never easy?" Max thought to himself

He finished tying up his wound with a piece of cloth taken from the dead body of a sailor and used his staff to lever himself to his feet.

I can't fight. Hell, I can barly stand. Looks like I'll need a bit of a bost.

He looked around and saw that the area of the deck where he was standing was currently standing was devoid of enemies. He hoped it ment the crew was winning. He also felt a small minor spell in the air. A spell of concealment, but not invisibility. The caster simply wasn't acknowledged as existing.

"Hello Kala. So nice to see you in joying the festivities. Planing to join in anytime? Don't let me keep you."

Deciding now was a good a time as any he pulled a potion from the inside of his robes. It was not the typical green of a healing potion, but a blueish colour.

"I should realy try to improve the taste of these things" He thought to himself and drowned the entirety of the flask. Energy rushed through his body, restoring his strength and magic.

Now... about those Sahuagin.

 

Kala couldn't help but smile, dispite the way things seem to be turning.

"You're a talented man, Master Spellman," she said, quietly. "But like I said, magic should be used to help, not destory. This battle is not for me, Max - I will save my strength for when it is needed."

Which will be very shortly, she thought, glancing towards the spot where Mogrub had once stood.

 

Corth hauled the body of the Sahuagin off of him, and levered himself up. His hip gave him a flare of pain which, of course made Corth give a curse to all wizards everywhere.

He turned around just to see the ogre Mogrub go hurtling off the edge of the ship into the certain doom of the Kraken.
"Gods' speed." muttered Corth. He knew the blessing was about as ineffectual as a raindrop in the ocean. But, Corth's amulet was still warm. Maybe Vailorath would grant him a prayer one day.

But, Corth was sure it wasn't going to be today. His guess was confirmed when two more of the Sahuagin climbed aboard the Sea Giant, and began baring their teeth at Corth.

Haven't I been punished enough? Corth ineffectually asked the world.

 

Trailen staggered, he had long since forgotten the pain in his arm, but he was beginning to feel exhaustion setting in. All Trailen wanted to do was sit down and catch his breath, even as this thought entered his mind he caught sight of another of the creatures approaching. It was more cautious than the others, it walked in a slight crouch with a poise that suggested a hunter.

Pushing away from the wall he had been leaning against Trailen staggered forward to meet his opponent. His arms could barely lift his sword but he managed, he moved to wipe the rain from his eyes and it was at that moment the creature lept. Trailen tried to step out the way, but he was caught off guard and was knocked flying as the monster hit him. He staggered to his feet again shaking his head to clear the dizzyness. At first he thought his eyes were squiffy but then he realised that two more monsters had joined their friend This is not good thought Trailen as the creatures lept as one.

Trailen swung his sword catching one of them and sending it crashing to the ground even as the others collided with him, he felt a hand grab his neck and instinctively clutched at the enemies wrist, the blue flames seared the flesh and the creature screamed and let go, Trailen fell to the ground choking, he clumsily dodged a punch from the other foe and feeling himself begin to fall clutched at the rags the creature wore, it suddenly became engulfed in flame, Trailen released it as it dived overboard but had regained his balance. One left, Trailen had had enough...

He bent down and picked up a trident and strode towards his victim, it lashed out catching Trailen on the cheek, but Trailen twisted with the blow and spinning knocked the enemy to the ground with the trident handle. Then with all his might he plunged the trident through his victims stomach pinning it to the deck, with his flaming hand he covered the creatures eyes feeling it writhe and twist beneath his grasp, after a few moments he let go and the creatures hands moved to its face before it fell unconcious from the pain.

The ship tilted and Trailen fell backwards towards the wall, and collapsed against it worn out, the flames began to dim and Trailen lay still in the hope of not being noticed.

 

Slade, realizing he will never make it in time to help Mogrub (nor is he sure he could for that matter), turns his attention to the melee going on around him.

"By the gods there is alot of these..... things"

Slade, realizing he is unfit to fight on the sea, attempts to increase his defenses.

"Something is wrong, I, I am unchanged."

All too late he realizes that the innate abilities granted him by his ancestors are incapable of being tapped so far away from the dirt and stone. He will have to rely soley on his training, which will fail him if he is unable to find his balance in such a foreign place.

Luckily for him, Slade is still strong enough without being centered to push a few more of these Sahuagin off of the ship.

 

Mogrub landed on top of the kraken and took his club as if it was a spear driving it down into the body of the kraken. An inhuman sound of anger issued froth from the kraken and one of its two largest tentacles wrapped around Mogrub, lifting him high into the air, the tentacle tightening around the ogre as it began to constrict.

"That foolish ogre... he can barely swim.", said Urgeld.

Urgeld shouted to his crew, "Stay on board and protect the ship!"

Urgeld's body began to twitch and tighten as his berserker rage began to take over, his mighty form giving way to the shape of a powerful brown bear. The bear Urgeld had become lept into the ocean, and began to swim towards the kraken. In the mean time, Mogrub had been smashing the tentacle that was constricting him repeatedly with his greatclub, until motionless, the tentacle. Mogrub proceeded to strike the head portion of the kraken's body with his club, before getting knocked off his feet by one of the kraken's smaller tentacles.

Suddenly a great force of water erupted around the kraken, knocking Mogrub into the water and tentacles wrapped around the kraken pulling it under water. Soon the water became filled with blood and a body of a kraken of colossal size surfaced.

A hideous voice issued forth from the immense kraken, "You have stumbled upon the domain of the Watcher of the Deep. Your deaths shall be tribute to the destructive natures of Lothgar and Tviar.

To massive tentacles wrapped around Urgeld and Mogrub pulling them high into the air. With the arrival of this second kraken, the winds started to gale, lightening forked across the sky frequently and thunder crashed fiercely. The Sea Giant began to buck on the waves in an unsettling fashion and many of the sahuagin fled from the deck of the longboat, back to the relative safety below the waves.

[ March 12, 2007, 20:56: Message edited by: Ilmater's Suffering ]

 

Slade's eyes widen.

He remarks, "How I wish my ancestors were Water Elementals right about now."

Though he truly thinks to himself 'if the monks had taught me their way I would be better equipped to handle this.'

Relenting, he knows that the training he recieved, that which honed his natural abilities and elemental gifts, is the best training (more like guidance) he could have gotten.

Slade snaps back as a sahuagin lands a weak blow across his shoulders splintering the shaft of it's weapon upon impact. Slade reaches back and clubs the shocked sahuagin with his gargantuan fist.

"Well, maybe I am still better off than those water boys." says Slade as he slams one of his massive feet down upon the sahuagin.

[ March 13, 2007, 05:46: Message edited by: Shadow Assassin ]

 

Max cast one last bolt of ice at the retreating sahuagin, and felt the ship give it's most violent lurch yet.

This ship wasn't meant to withstand this. It will break apart if the Kraken isn't stopped soon.

Max had witnessed Trailen's magic fire, and seen the effect it had on his body. The boy had talent, but would kill himself if left untrained.
Approaching the fallen Innate he pulled another potion bottle from within his robes.

"I don't know if you can hear me Trailen. I'm about to give you a restorative. It will taste foul, but is should help."
Max placed the bottle in the fallen man's hand, then turned to watch the events unfolding in the sea. He couldn't help stop the Kraken, so instead prepared for the worst. He prepared all the spells of water-walking and flight he knew, hoping it would be enough.

 

They were outnumbered and outmatched. Corth saw it. And, judging from the state of the others on board, Corth knew that they knew it too. Urgeld and Mogrub - possibly the two greatest warriors aboard the ship - had each jumped off the ship. But, whilst Urgeld was alive, his command - Stay on board and protect the ship - would be obeyed. Unofortunately, the ship's crew weren't able to deal with Kraken.

A sahuagin had managed to creep up behind Corth, and plunged downwards, but, Corth had heard the snarling creature behind him, and turned at the last second. Even so, the trident had caught him high in the shoulder, the tines of the trident going straight through his shoulder.

Corth screamed. The pain was intense. But, this pain was nothing compared to the pain inflicted by the followers of Vailorath. Hells, I've inflicted worse on myself thought Corth as he tried to bite back the pain.

Corth didn't want to die. He knew what awaited him. He'd been there before...Help me... Corth cried mentally at the only person that might help him.

 

Trailen was breathing heavily, the magic had retreated, his heart beat fast, his arm hurt. He saw someone move close through half shut eyes, a voice, a pressure in his hand...something about a "restorative".

Trailen moved his arm jerkely, squinting at the bottle in his hand, a potion...well he couldn't feel much worse right now, so whats the harm...biting the cork and wrenching it out he downs the bottle, almost wretching on the taste.

Trailen threw the bottle overboard, feeling a little strength return, his arm ached less and began to tingle, looking down at it he saw the burns begin to disappear. He climbed to his feet and retrieved his sword, looking around he saw the creatures were in retreat, then he saw the massive Kraken over the side of the ship...Just when things were looking good he thought.

 

Urgeld's powerful bear claws where able cut through the tentacle holding on to him, breaking free and falling into the water. The Watcher, having lost one of its two most powerful tentacles, dropped Mogrub from it's other large tentacle, picking up the ogre with a smaller tentacle. The Watcher proceeded to slap Urgeld with is remaining large tentacle, the hooks embedded in the tentacle, ripping into Urgeld's bearhide, driving Urgeld underwater. The water's surface tension slowed the Watcher's tentacle down enough that it was unable to grab Urgeld.

The storm had become by now a strong gale or even possibly a whole gale, with winds roaring at incredible force. The waves where beginning to wash some sailors overboard and few experienced sailors could even maintain their balance as the deck rocked feriously. All the sahuagin had abandoned the ship for the safety of the waves.

Urgeld powerful bear body fought against the waves around the Watcher's body as he came up, severing the tentacle holding onto Mogrub. The ogre climbed on Urgeld's back as the two proceeded to climb onto the Watcher's back, attacking its flesh with claw, tooth and club. A inhuman sound of frustration issued from the mighty kraken as the water began to swirl into a vortex off the port side of the Sea Giant. With a powerful blow, the Watcher sent both Urgeld and Mogrub into the water.

On the Sea Giant some of the more experienced sailors began to shout and cry out in terror as they watched on the most dangerous nautical hazards open up off their ship's side. A maelstrom began draw water down into the depths in a fierce frenzy. As if by some grace of the gods, a powerful wave struck the port side of the longboat, washing over it and capsizing the boat, carrying the crew away from the maelstrom.

Most of the crew lost consciousness as they where struck by the wave or as they where driven underwater, but a few of the crew witnessed the Watcher, Urgeld and Mogrub continue to fight. As their sight faded from the battering of the rushing water, they witnessed Urgeld and Mogrub being pulled into the maelstrom, holding on the the tentacles of the Watcher, attempting to pull the kraken into the brutal vortex with them.

 

Alandra took the shoulders of the unconscious Corth who was laying on the rough sand of the beach the crew had come ashore on. The half-elf shook Corth to consciousness in a not so gentle fashion.

"Priest, you're religious symbol is showing... you might want to hide that or you might find yourself on your own on this island."