westwhere | storm at sea

storm at sea | part ii

Thar she blows — part II of the Storm at Sea travel arc, lasting until 5 August.

RELEASE THE KRAKEN

SUMMARY: as allied pirate ships Pariah and Queen Zanyra sail onwards, mad captain Quicksilver Sam uses the artefact of the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company to call out to the notorious power of the haunted Crossing seas. He craves retribution from the crew of his former, drowned ship, the Storm at Sea — which rises up along other sunken vessels, all manned by undead sailors. With them is a vicious kraken. They attack, seeking Quicksilver Sam’s relic. So should you. Some characters dragged underwater reach a deserted dimension where time behaves aberrantly. To survive the two-three-day skirmish, keep your ship afloat and moving, hijack a few other vessels, fend off the undead and kraken, capture Quicksilver’s artefact — and breathe.

SAFE AT WA(TE)R | NAIL’EM TO THE MAST | STICKY FINGERS | THE STRANDING

Image source.

SAFE AT WA(TE)R

Quicksilver Sam’s Pariah continues into the black waters of the Crossing seas, escorted by ally Caladan Kreil’s Queen Zanyra and distantly pursued by Maximilian Hawk’s Concord of the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company. Characters can cross between the Queen Zanyra and Pariah by rowboat, until great storms darken the skies. Afterwards, reckless fools can risk their necks in the growling winds and drumming rains and traverse the rattling, thick chain that binds the two ships.

Quicksilver Sam joins the deck of the Pariah with a small box he opens to reveal a cut-out, impeccably preserved and warded human tongue. Once unwarded, the artefact seems to intensify the storms, while Quicksilver shouts out:

”Two years be, when the seas, them… they… broke’n’sundered and… was then. Then, when all of you! All of… all of you dead under the briny deep, you watched, and you plotted, and you… was then! We all broke bread under the black flag, and we were brothers… brothers of the Storm at Sea. Was enough coin in the coffer for everyone, but you, you had the greed in you, thicker than blood of our covenant, or water of any womb! You turned! You put me out to die, and now, look where you are? You lily-livered scurvies, you wake up now, look around you! You put me to sea? Left me to die? Samuel Vane, you thought me, I was for drowning? You look me in the eye, and you tell me so again, because I’m here for you! I’ll be ruin for you, Storm at Sea, I’ll cleave you!”

■ The tongue artefact summons up dozens of sunken ships from the Crossing, which take under an hour to fully emerge. They are manned by reanimated sailors — many whom you may have encountered as cored bodies underwater.

■ The Storm at Sea also rises, staffed by Quicksilver Sam’s now revenant crew. The vessel spearheads the undead offensive and approaches the Pariah — leaving her within reach for infiltration. Wei Wuxian will report back after engaging undead first mate Augustus Silvering.

■ The tongue relic also calls up an immense kraken, whose tentacles can be recognised as the ‘coral’ strings that had bound the sunken ships. The kraken is neither living nor dead and composed of the coagulated dark water that characters have previously encountered. Kraken meat is comestible but not seafood. It unexpectedly tastes of succulent white fish, best paired with a Sauvignon blanc and served generously with lemon, rosemary and dill. Do not overcook on the bonfire of your sinking ship.

■ You may end up locked inside cabins or brigs, whether ‘for your safety’ or at the first sign of insubordination against the on-edge captains.

■ You’re in danger as long as you remain within the Crossing seas. To steer the boats, take occasional shifts from exhausted pirates and learn to helm your vessel with navigational help from your companions.

■ (Wisps of) agitated spirits linger in the Crossing — some maliciously seek to push you overboard, while others protect you. Most are petrified. These remaining spirits are more akin to afterthoughts of emotion, which you can calm down, exorcise or ignore.

Image source.

NAIL’EM TO THE MAST

When you can’t beat’em, try again with a torch, a harpoon and a better attitude:

■ The kraken and undead violently attempt to reach the tongue artefact and sink the Pariah, Queen Zanyra and nearby Concord. Your enemies have hardened skins that require extra hacking, but regular weapons still work. Fire is especially efficient.

■ The kraken slams and sweeps its tentacles across the deck to drag ships underwater — do use cannons and primitive explosives.

■ The undead mount rowboats or swim to climb onboard. Fortunately, the storms impede your attackers, earning you respite between fresh assaults. Assume one-two hours' rest between attacks.

■ Extensively touching the living kraken tentacles slowly depletes your stamina and/or magical strength.

■ Consider taking Viktor’s steampunk boat and setting up primitive dynamite to sink these ships before their undead crew can reach you. Beware the storms.

■ You can infiltrate undead ships at any point, but can only commandeer one if you group up to man it.

■ Use diving suits that let you breathe four hours underwater and light up white for alert, red for danger, yellow for the urgent need to return on land and green-blue otherwise.

■ Bad news for the Pariah: on top of the undead, the kraken and the mad pirate, you are dealing with the incensed Hawk and Caladan Kreil, both whom send men to stop Quicksilver Sam’s summons at all costs.

■ Magical communicators are prone to glitches or disruptions amid poor weather conditions.

■ A school of mermaids is drawn to the kraken and the Pariah — warn them off with lights or lure them away with baits of food or blood. Speaking with them reveals they want Quicksilver’s artefact.

■ Those wishing to avoid violence can head to the more distant Concord by rowboat, under a white flag. Maximilian Hawk believes you are refugees aboard the Pariah and Queen Zanyra and will offer sanctuary. The sleek, highly disciplined and martial Concord faces significantly less attack, and you can spend a more peaceful time below deck. Alternatively, pair up to persuade the crew to give up chasing the Pariah, and convince Hawk and first mate Lattimore the ‘ancient power’ pursued by the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company should arguably never be found.

Image source.

STICKY FINGERS

Moments after his speech, a rattled Quicksilver Sam retreats with the tongue relic in his heavily guarded and magically warded cabin.

■ Group up to capture the tongue with minimal damage to ship and crew. Ideally, some characters can distract the guards or attempt to lure Quicksilver out.

■ Helpful tips: despite his questionable sanity, Quicksilver Sam has shown high regard for manners, women and his ship. The pirate guards are loyal, but skittish before the supernatural.

■ During the diversion, lift the wards or forcibly infiltrate the cabin by breaking the door in. Careful, as Quicksilver appears to have purchased a Taravast special — a small caged white owl, which paralyses in place those who meet her gaze. Someone should distract the bird or cover her cage to break her trance.

■ Everyone can hunt, but Five and Wrathion get final joint custody of the tongue. They have decided to ward and box it. This will see the kraken and sinking ships gradually lose power, then submerge within two days. The tongue stays with the duo. Given Kirk’s previous reveal, the group could choose to trade the tongue in with Maximilian Hawk and the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company.

■ If the tongue is ever brought near the heart possessed by Kaneki Ken, the two artefacts will briefly thrum in synchrony.

Image source.

THE STRANDING

Some characters captured by the kraken’s tentacles and pulled underwater lose consciousness, only to mentally wake up in the dimension of a perfectly silent, deserted and seemingly interminable beach island.

■ Characters experience time differently here, shifting between younger and older states every few hours. Up to you whether these changes are mental, physical or both, and whether your character is aware this isn’t their natural form.

■ Several mute, humanoid tar figures roam aimlessly. They largely ignore newcomers, but peacefully stop them from entering the dark sea waters.

■ The island sky is despairingly grey. There are no animals or plants.

■ Characters find they lose more of their memories, the longer they linger — particularly if they start to be politely but incessantly followed by tar figures, which gradually assume their form.

■ You can occasionally find human footsteps and writing in wet beach sand. The writing spells out children’s limericks.

■ Time passes differently on the island — dealer’s choice whether faster or slower than in the real world for your character.

■ Characters can wake up into the real world, if their bodies are rescued from where they’ve sunken underwater, remaining alive for up to two days in the vicinity of the kraken.

■ Characters may initially experience light amnesia and a sense of listlessness and estrangement from their bodies, once they have left the island dimension. This dissipates within a day’s time.

■ You can only reach the island once. Characters can be brought underwater by the kraken without entering the beach dimension.

QUESTIONS

NPC CONTACT

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ It's not her fault, really. They're in the middle of a storm, while being attacked by a kraken and an army of undead sailors. That she manages to steer the ship without it capsizing is more than he could possibly ask of her— and besides, she did warn him to hold on. ]

Yes, Number One, I think I can see that much!

[ He spots one of the dead pirates crawling up the edge of the ship, and he swoops over to kick him hard in the face, sending him back into the water. Then he unsheathes his sword, still holding onto the end of the rope for some support. ]

Just keep flying her!

[ Metaphorical flying. Point is, take care of the piloting, and Jim will take care of the sailors. Or try. ]

Do you know what you're doing with that?

( not that it matters either way when that's all they have going for them, little hope and wild chance and whether or not jim can match a pirate is probably the least of their dangers. but it'd be nice to know the risk to see if she might help or hinder his efforts with her flying )

[ To her question, he simply shrugs, lips pursed as he holds his ground. ]

Sure. I mean, it's a sword, you just swing it around. How hard can that be?

[ In his defense, he's managed more or less alright so far. Doesn't mean he might not end up getting hurt with it, but so far, bullshitting his way through it has worked, so.

The main issue he has with it is how heavy it is, but adrenaline helps with that too. With the next wave of undead sailors, he raises the weapon and swings it in a broad motion, managing to knock down a few of them, even nearly cutting a head off. ]

( though una keeps tabs on him between steering, making sure he doesn't get into too much trouble, she ends up in some of her own. the undead had come from different angles, one pulling her from the wheel which makes the boat jerk as the direction changes as the wheel spins back.

she's quick to fight them off, trying the quickest means of getting them away from her which ends with her picking them up and throwing them aside off the boat, running back to the wheel to get the ship back under control )

[ If Jim thought slamming into the edge of the deck was bad, this time around it's even worse. He doesn't see it coming when she whips the ship to the opposite side, and despite his hold on the rope, he gets slammed straight into a pile of barrels that either get kicked overboard or slam into his sides and head.

Not enough for serious damage, though, and he uses the momentum to plant his feet on the edge and start running alongside it, hold on the rope tight as he pretty much flings himself to the quarterdeck, just in time to shove one of the undead sailors away from her. ]

Need a hand?

[ He somehow manages the time to shoot her a lopsided grin, winking at her. ]

( she's ducking some arms already when he barrels into the sailors, relieved as it gives her some breathing space to be able to wrangle this ship instead of wrangling under sailors )

It's appreciated.

( she smiles back, looking out at a direction before back at him. this time she's the one that grabs him, a large wave from the kraken slamming into them. it's enough to shove the ship further away from some of that aftermath, and dislodge a couple of the sailors. and at least this time he's not falling anywhere. or not far )

Got you.

[ He's caught by surprise when she pulls him in, but she's strong enough to do it swiftly, and thank fuck for that. Jim's eyes go a little wide when he sees the wave land hard against the deck, letting out a breath before he turns back to her with the same too-easy smile. ]

If you wanted me close, all you had to do was ask.

[ Okay, maybe not flirt while you're under attack by zombie sailors. He straightens up and regains his footing, sword lifted again so he can fend off any further attacks, either to her or himself, while she hopefully steers the ship away from danger. ]

( he at least gets a smile before she (lightly) shoves him away )

That last wave gave us a little distance, should make steering easier if you can keep them away from me.

( don't make her let go of that wheel again )

[ The push gets a light chuckle from him, far too amused given their current circumstances. ]

Consider it done. I'll keep them off your ship.

[ Delivered clearly as a joke, although he does intend to do just that. ]

( you may joke, captain, but it's definitely her ship (wink).

and he does a damn good job, giving her a lot more opportunities to get them on a smoother course as they turn and start making waves away from the kraken and the antics going on )

We'll need to figure out a plan at some point.

[ They can wrestle for it (double wink).

He kicks the last of the sailors overboard, panting slightly but at least not bearing any cuts from his own sword, proving that he can indeed handle that. He is sporting some other scrapes and bruises, but those are mainly from being thrown around the deck. ]

Tuck tail and run sounds great right about now, but I'm not leaving anyone behind. We might need to go back in to help other ships get out of that mess.

I'll circle around.

( she'd love to just tuck tail and run but they're too starfleet for that, she might not really know any of them but there are a couple of people she's interested in. and who would they be if they just left people now? not the officers they're proud to be )

Out of reach enough to keep this smooth but close enough to see anyone that needs it.

[ Definitely not their style, it would go against everything they believe in. The few extra crew members they've picked up may or may not have a word to say about it, but they'll cross that bridge if they come to it. ]

Good, that'll work. I still have the lifeboat strapped to the back, but if that doesn't work out we can figure something else out.

They should probably put more emphasis on surviving without technology at the Academy.

( transporters would really make those rescues easier )

What the hell is that thing?

Finally, all my wild camping trips are going to prove useful.

[ Maybe, maybe not?? Jim does struggle with the lack of technology, but he's always excelled at adapting. So it's just a matter of doing the same now under more unique circumstances. ]

The beast? [ He glances at her. ] I saw it. When Bones fell in. It's this huge creature, I don't... think I've ever seen anything like it. Not outside of pictures, anyway. We'd call it a kraken.

( the fact that he's heard of it, potentially has seen pictures means that it's something explored, either from earth or another planet )

From Earth?

Right. It's a mythical creature, though, it doesn't actually exist back there.

[ Just like a great many things that exist here but not back on Earth. Magic and these mirrors being only a couple of examples. ]

Somehow it exists here.

( maybe this world was where the myth had originated? though she didn't know how well she believed that )

We can't do anything to it in this.

I don't know that we should do anything to it, even if we could.

[ He pulls a slight frown, glancing out to the sea, to where the other ships are. ]

It's native to this planet. Massive and dangerous as it is, I don't think it's our place to do it harm. We were the ones who got in its territory, it's not the creature's fault.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

storm at sea | part ii

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject