< Grasping For Comfort | Ex Pulplogs | Lobster Trouble! >
ST After a night of ill-omens, bad dreams and ominous visions, the passengers and crew of the Ill Omen waken to the light of a dawning Sun rising over the ocean's edge. The newly born sun rays illuminate a small island in the distance, rocky and unpleasant looking. In certain angles of light, the island almost looks like a screaming face.
ST Oteki informs the passengers that the island, incidentally named Torment Island, is home to Black Tide Knoll, the home of the Sea Witch.
Captain Oteki does not appear particularly pleased to be back here.
Myrrh "She certainly knows how to decorate...i'm sure she has excellent Feng Shui."
Xar`Rex eyes the island with distaste and no little trepidation.
ST The Omen soars further, quickly closing the distance to Torment Island. It will be only a few minutes before they land on its shores and make their way, on foot, to the Black Tide Knoll. So far, no defenses have been triggered and no strange monsters or normal monsters have risen from the land or water to attack them.
ST As they fly closer they all get a good look at the Graveyard of Ships, a huge expanse of choppy water that surrounds Torment Island. Shattered hulls and skeletal boats litter the surface, trapped upon layers of their predecessors.
ST Bloodfish Reef is a blue-red blur toward the horizon, surrounding the island of Widow's Redoubt. Lostman's Coast is behind them, the last little dreg of mainland, just beyond the curve of the horizon. And the ill-named waters of the Sea of Laments.
Captain Oteki "This be a hell of a lot easier t'do with the Ill Omen than it was the first time I was 'ere. Then again, this time, I be doin' it on purpose."
Myrrh "The first time was an accident?"
Carmine eyes the ships warily
Myrrh "You didn't leave on...very bad terms did you?"
Captain Oteki smirks. "The first time, I was dropped in th'ocean by a mutinous crew, an' swam me way t'land in order to avoid me own imminent doom. An' no, Myrrh me lad, I can't say I left here under th'most auspicious o'circumstances."
Myrrh "...She isn't going to be drowning us all is she?"
Captain Oteki laughs. "Nah. Meself? Possibly. The lot o'ye she'll likely wish to trade with, first."
Xar`Rex "...why are we dealing with her again?"
Carmine "She'd better not try." Carmine mutters. She hadn't woken up feeling great, even after Corve had talked her into sleeping agian
Captain Oteki "Because she be knowin' the ways o'the dead, Xar me lad. If there be anyone who can be helpin' Myrrh scry out Corve's missin' daughter, it be she."
Myrrh "So she's a necromancer?
Captain Oteki smirks a little. "Somethin' like that."
Xar`Rex ruffles his feathers. "We do what we must. Let us get this finished, soon."
Myrrh "Hm...I might have to ask her then. Especialy if she knows much of sorcery."
Corve "Yes. Let's." Corve joins the rest with a sigh, geared up and ready for whatever it is they're heading towards. He steps up behind Carmine smiling reassuringly. "Feeling better?"
Carmine smiles a not entirely real smile, and nods
Xar`Rex absently runs his claws through his wingfeathers, still unsettled by the dream.
Myrrh "So Oteki, did you have any..strange dreams the first time you were here?"
Xar`Rex "Strange dreams? Did you have them too?"
Myrrh nods to Xar. "Yes..I dreamed my wife had accidently married herself to "Vorigar the Wifeeatter."
Myrrh "Why, did you have a strange dream?"
Corve remains quiet, leaning a little on Carmine, one hand around her waist.
Xar`Rex "I dreamt that I was left behind. That I lost my wings." he stares off at the island.
Captain Oteki shrugs. "Not that I be rememberin'. But it seems th'lot o'ye have. That be interestin'."
Xar`Rex "Did you?"
Captain Oteki tosses a rope over the edge of the Omen. "I suggest we be gettin' while the gettin' be good. There be a child who be needin' us."
Corve nods. "Yes. Please." Corve slides over to the rope and is the first one over, making his way down.
Carmine jumps down.
Xar`Rex uses the rope, just in case.
Myrrh jumps down after Carmine.
Captain Oteki gives orders to his crew to remain nearby should they need to make a hasty exit, and after checking his equipment, is the last to slide down the rope, which is promptly hauled up. "Keep on yer toes, ye lot. Who knows what sort o' things be runnin' around this place."
ST The landscape of Torment Island is mostly barren rock with a few scraggly, twisted trees. Wind blows across the ground and over small holes, creating a haunting sound of whistles and screams. The entire Circle feels...watched, though not even Corve can detect a watcher.
Myrrh "I wonder if we should just announce ourselves..."
Xar`Rex looks at Oteki "She's your... not... friend..."
Captain Oteki raises an eyebrow. "We be needin' to get to th'knoll, first, lads. Y'don't announce yer arrival by knockin' on the street outside somebody's house, do ye?"
Xar`Rex "Lead the way, then." He gestures.
Captain Oteki sighs, and mutters a half-intelligible prayer to the Unconquered Sun, before setting out across the rocky ground.
Myrrh follows Oteki. "So why does she live all the wway out here? I thought the Lunars kept with their tribes of Beastmen."
Carmine "Beast .. man?"
Corve "Mutants. Humans with animal features." Corve shakes his head a little, hand slipping around Carmine's as they walk.
ST There are no signs of such things as the Circle moves along the winding path toward their destination
Xar`Rex fidgets. "They are not a pure race like we are."
Captain Oteki doesn't appear to be paying much attention, focusing more on his surroundings. From the grimace on his face and the conspicuous lack of his usual debatably witty banter, he has a lot on his mind.
Myrrh "So what aspect is she Oteki? Is she a shark? A dolphin?"
ST The winding semi-existant path eventually leads to a hill that overlooks a cove. The reason for the place's name is fairly obvious: the waters in the cove are black, reflective and completely opaque. Occasionally a fish rises above the surface only to disappear completely the moment it re-enters the waters. Nothing else disturbs the surface, not even ripples from the fish.
Carmine "Oh."
Xar`Rex "How did you get across last time?"
ST There is no need to get across, as Oteki points out a small, dark hole in the hill.
Xar`Rex "Oh." he peers at the dark waters. "Good."
Captain Oteki heads toward the hole, a sour look on his face. "If'n she kills me, I still expect ye lot to build me a monument on that nasty little island where we reacquired Corve an' Xar."
Xar`Rex "Don't die. I don't like that island."
Corve "Same here. Do you want me to accompany you, Captain? Just in case."
Captain Oteki "Nay. Better ye wait here, in th'hopes that I can barter for some assistance in retrievin' yer daughter. Wouldn't be proper to rescue the little girl only t'tell her that in exchange for her help, th'sea witch turned 'er pappy into a slug."
Xar`Rex looks thoughtfully hungry
Bird "RAWWWK! Unwise! RAWWWWK!"
Corve nods slowly. "... all right. Hurry back."
Bird is a big, black bird perched in a tree closeby.
Xar`Rex looks at the bird. "Who are you?"
Bird "RAWWWK!"
Captain Oteki pauses momentarily, looking up at the bird. "And what makes ye say that?" he asks, apparently unbothered by the talkativeness of the avian.
Bird "Unwise! RAWWWK! She wants to see them all!! RAWWWK!"
Myrrh looks up at the bird. "Is he her Familiar?"
Bird lifts its wings and flaps them in warning.
Xar`Rex "What if she doesn't?"
Captain Oteki rolls his eyes. "Fine. Looks like I'm bein' overruled by the Knoll. Let's be goin, lads an' lady."
Carmine shrugs and starts to walk forward.
Bird gives the Circle one last RAWWWK! before flapping its wings and flying to a further away tree, where it watches them go with big, red eyes.
Corve seems more than a little pleased at this turn of events, and follows into the knoll.
Xar`Rex does not seem particularly pleased, but his stony form follows nonetheless
Bird The knoll, being a very small hole in the ground, is impossible to enter in anything but a single file line.
Xar`Rex is following corve ^.^ thus is about third
Myrrh is following xar!
Carmine drops down before Corve
Corve drops after Carmine.
Captain Oteki gives a long, exasperated sigh, and enters last.
Bird Inside the knoll, the passage quickly widens out to reveal a vast cavern, one half of it filled with black water. There is a large fragment of shell as tall as Myrrh hanging at the exit from the tiny tunnel, like a gong.
Xar`Rex kicks a pebble into the water
Bird The water does not respond.
Captain Oteki raps a gauntlet-clad knuckle against the shell.
Bird The shell sends out a peel of sound, loud and resonant. A minute or so later, a dark shape rises from the surface of the black water. A well-fleshed woman slowly heaves herself above the waters and makes her way forward to the edge, where the Circle waits. Blue-black hair falls to her waist in heavy waves, almost obscuring her bright green eyes and mauve-colored lips.
Bird The black velvet of her low-necked, strapless, backless dress blends seemlessly into the inky skin of her lower body and its many elegant tentacles.
Myrrh "...octopus then."
Captain Oteki pinches the bridge of his nose between two fingers.
Bird "Yes, dear boy, I do rather favor that lovely creature."
Myrrh lets poor Oteki do the talking on this one.
Xar`Rex eyes the tentacles thoughtfully, then looks at Oteki
Xar`Rex "You are the Sea Witch?"
Sea Witch smiles widely, "Yes, I suppose I am."
Xar`Rex "Is that the name you like, or what others call you?"
Sea Witch "Why, I suppose I hadn't really considered. But you may call me Meliya"
Xar`Rex makes the traditional greeting gesture of the head of one tribe to another. "You may call me Xar`Rex."
Sea Witch "Well, I will keep that in mind, my dear reptilian."
Xar`Rex "Why did you choose a home so forbidding?"
Sea Witch "It is my home, how could I leave it simply because others find it distasteful?"
Xar`Rex "I did not say it was distasteful. Just forbidding. And alone in the waves."
Captain Oteki "Plus, this way if'n someone shows up at yer doorstep, ye know they're here for a damn good reason, an' not just visitin' on a lark."
Sea Witch "That too may be a reason, Oteki...and what ever does bring you back here?"
Captain Oteki frowns, leaning against the cavern wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "There be a little girl in grave danger, Mel." he explains. "An' despite me current proclivities, it ain't proper for one o'my stature t'let such a thing slide. Ye be me best hope o'findin' 'er."
Myrrh "I've already tried to scry her location but she's nowhere to be seen. I think she might be in the shadowlands."
Sea Witch "I am? Well, how...fortunate for...all involved." She smiles broadly and moves herself over to a rounded, somewhat throne-shaped rock where she settles herself, idly inspecting her fingernails.
Sea Witch "That would be a problem, if indeed she is. It is most...difficult to see into the dark lands."
Corve sighs, his hand tightening around Carmine's as he finally speaks to the seawitch. "She's... she's my daughter. If you can help..."
Carmine squeezes his hand back reassuringly
Meliya "So I see.. and what do you wish me to do, precisely?"
Captain Oteki "They need help bridging the gap so Myrrh can scry for 'er."
Meliya "My dear Oteki, if he can not do so from where-ever it was he when he tried the first time, how do you expect him to scry for her from here?"
Captain Oteki me pushes up off the wall. "'Ow the hell should I know?" he asks. "Do I look to ye like I've become a student o'the dark arts since me last visit? That was always yer department, not mine."
Meliya waves a tentacle in dismissal. "Paugh!"
Myrrh "Well then if i'm lacking can you teach me how? I'm not going to let this child stay there any longer than I can help it!"
Captain Oteki rubs the bridge of his nose again. "Look, Mel, I just thought that if anyone would know what we should do, it'd be ye. I ain't entirely certain how I got embroiled in this whole thing in the first place, altruism be entirely new t'me, but all I be askin' is for ye to help if ye can. If fer no other reason than because o'what we used to be."
Meliya "Mwahahah!" Her laugh, though it seems inspired only by Oteki's comments is somehow disturbingly...evil-laugh. Despite that, the octopus-woman slides off her stone and moves back over to the water. At a muttered word, a vast black stone cauldron rises from the depths.
Xar`Rex "What will it cost us?"
Meliya "Nothing much, nothing you will miss terribly. In fact, I can't imagine you even knowing it's gone."
Xar`Rex shifts his wings "What will it Cost us?"
Meliya "I might be...persuaded to take any of a few minor things."
Xar`Rex 's eyes flare with rich orange and he shifts slightly, "Meliya, we both know the terms must be set before the deal is finished."
Meliya "Be calm, my scaly friend. If a list you want, a list I will produce." She reaches under the water with a long tentacle and withdraws a parchment sheet, which she offers to Xar.
Xar`Rex takes it between his claws, letting the water drip off
Xar`Rex 's eyes widen slightly, then narrow again as he reads the list. "I thought so."
Xar`Rex bows once more to Meliya, "Allow us to speak, if you will. We will step oustide."
Carmine looks at the list
Meliya "If you wish, step outside. I will wait for one hour."
Xar`Rex sashays on out.
Captain Oteki follows! Eventually.
Xar`Rex waits until the others have been gathered around him before asking, "Honestly, do you people ever MAKE deals with gods and demons?"
Corve follows Xar, furrowing his brow.
Xar`Rex "Or anyone with any sense?"
Carmine "No? I've only ever met ... 4?"
Corve shakes his head. "Not really."
Captain Oteki raises a finger. "I'd just like to point out that I already made me deal wit' the Sea Witch. It ain't me place to interfere wit' the lot o'ye doin' the same."
Xar`Rex "NEVER. Make a deal. Without. Knowing. The Terms." he flourishes the list. "These items, you'll find, are everything you dreamed of."
Myrrh reads the list of demands.
Carmine reads too
Corve reads three.
Captain Oteki stands around looking bitter.
Xar`Rex reads it aloud to minimize crowding around and fingerprinting of paper, and accidental crushing. "Worthy Items for the Services Requested from the Sea Witch, Meliya"
Xar`Rex "The Wings of a Dragon-King Bound by Blood to the Land, or The Shadow of a Sorcerer, or The Fading Light of a Shadowed Woman, or A Contract of Return with a Captain"
Xar`Rex "What would you trade for a life?"
Myrrh "Contract of Return?"
Captain Oteki "She wants me back."
Xar`Rex taps his claw on the paper, "I do not think so."
Meliya The last line amends itself as they watch. "A Contract of Home-Going with a Captain Who Is Entirely Too Full of Himself"
Captain Oteki pauses. "Excuse me, no. She wants me back home."
Corve "She doesn't ask anything from me?" He finds this intriguing.
Xar`Rex "She does. Your love for Carmine, and the loss of her as she changes."
Xar`Rex "Unless you had a dream to share?"
Corve glares at Xar. "I had a dream. I'm not sure it's one to share."
Myrrh "The shadow? Bah...she should have asked for an arm, we could have shifted that."
Xar`Rex "I think it is important, right here, right now, Corve."
Corve sighs, effete and weary. "...I dreamt that I killed Carmine, because she led Falling Blackness and Scarlet Poppy's army. I didn't know it was her until after I shot her." His fingers wrap tighter around Carmine's hand, jaw set.
Carmine looks down.
Xar`Rex nods. "Ahh. Then, as I said, but more."
Xar`Rex runs a claw through his dashingly ember-colored feathers. "What is your shadow, Myrrh?"
Myrrh "I'm not sure...I woke up in my dream, read a letter about how my wife was married to a demon and then chased them into Malfeas..."
Myrrh "unless she means my actual shadow...and then I'm not sure what use it would be to her."
Captain Oteki "She's strange that way."
Xar`Rex shakes his head. "Undoubtedly it is something you do not wish to do without."
Myrrh "Well then I think we need to renegotiate."
Myrrh "Xeth knows how to make a deal...maybe he can help?
Xar`Rex "Please," he smiles wryly, "Who do you think is speaking." he sighs. "Sometimes I wonder how you people survive."
Captain Oteki "I've been gettin' by on me good looks an' charmin' selfishness until I met ye lot."
Xar`Rex "Then by all means, return home."
Captain Oteki "I can't be doin' that. I made me father a promise before 'e passed."
Carmine "But what if she does want one them?"
Xar`Rex "Oh, but she does. There is no question. For something so precious as a "beloved child's safety," she has the upper hand. And she knows it."
Corve "It'd be one thing if she could guarantee that safety." He sighs slowly.
Xar`Rex "What would you give up for that?"
Myrrh "Well if she wants my stone arm she can have it..."
Myrrh "Although i'm more interested in what she knows."
Xar`Rex snorts
Xar`Rex "If you are willing to give it up, it must not be valuable enough."
Carmine "I would give up my light for sun." She says, quietly.
Myrrh "Well I can think of many uses for the arm of a sorcerer Xeth! Would make an excellent artifact component at the least."
Xar`Rex looks over at Carmine, "Why?"
Corve grips Carmine's hand tightly, closing his eyes. He's torn, and it's more than a little obvious.
Xar`Rex "You would trade one love for another, and join our enemies, simply for the love of a child not your own?"
Xar`Rex "She's... MORTAL."
Carmine "She's important."
Carmine "She's innocent."
Xar`Rex "Innocence will not save the world."
Corve "Neither will your wings."
Xar`Rex "They'll help more than a child."
Corve "You don't know her fate."
Carmine "You are a monster Xeth."
Xar`Rex "Maybe her fate is sacrifice." he inspects his claws.
Myrrh grimaces and sighs. "Fine. If she wants my shadow so badly she can have it."
Xar`Rex "I am no monster. I simply have a longer view of life than you."
Myrrh "Although we could just grow Xar's wings back..."
Corve shakes his head. "He's not a monster. He's just a God." Special emphasis on just.
Myrrh "Or make him BETTER wings! Made from metal! Maybe a little fireworks rocket..."
Myrrh seems lost in project planning for a moment.
Xar`Rex glares at Corve, and snorts. "Xar wished to sacrifice, but I do not think I will allow it."
Myrrh "I wonder why she doesn't want anything from Corve."
Corve "Fear of change has always been your kind's greatest weakness," Corve says simply, having picked up a thing or two from all the lore Myrrh continuously babbles about. "She wants nothing from me because I'm already losing something."
Corve "It's not payment. It's a TRADE. For me not to lose Sun, one of you loses something."
Xar`Rex "It makes it harder, doesn't it? To have to choose someone else's sacrifice?"
Corve "That's why I'm not asking."
Carmine shakes her head in disgust and storms off towards the witch, glowing. "She can have my light. Sun for Sun. It is appropriate."
Xar`Rex eyes Corve, "You should stop her."
Corve "But you, Xeth, are not my friend. You can't be. I wouldn't ask a sacrifice of you because you don't understand the meaning of it; nor the reasons. I'd give myself for Sun, but she's not asking for me." Corve hasn't let go of Carmine's hand, and doesn't look like he's going to.
Myrrh "Yes we need to discuss this more!"
Carmine seems fairly intent on walking. She's also stronger than Corve.
Captain Oteki yargs. "Look, the lot o'ye have a mission to accomplish. Savin' the world, remember? Ye can't do that if ye be lackin' the things the witch be askin' for. The only thing in this equation that ye ain't really needin' to continue be me."
Corve ain't budging, and he's stronger than he seems at the moment. "Carmine, stop."
Xar`Rex growls, suddenly, and then runs forward, "Carmine, no! I will do it."
Carmine turns and scowls at him.
Captain Oteki "It be a question o'numbers, not sacrifice. I ain't doin' anythin' important out here anyway, just searchin' for a meanin' I ain't sure exists. Ye folks have a purpose, a quest. That be what's important. If she can help ye find the girl an' get ye back on yer tracks, then I'll set course northeast an' return to me kingdom."
Xar`Rex "Listen to me. Wings are not who I am. Light is who you are."
Xar`Rex "I do not understand Myrrh's shadow."
Carmine "It has to be worth something though, right?"
Myrrh "I think she means to use it in spells against me. There are celestial spells that let someone spy on me if they have my shadow."
Myrrh "At best. There's bound to be more uses for it."
Corve clenches his teeht. "Xar... I..." What to say? Suddenly everyone wants to help, and he's the only one there that can't do anything. "What possible use would she gain from any of this? Hindering our mission in any way would just... make it easier for the Cult to destroy Creation. Doesn't she suffer from that, as well?"
Xar`Rex "I do not know. Maybe she is on their side."
Corve "In that case we can't trust her to help even if we pay the cost she asks."
Captain Oteki lets them continue arguing, and just kind of slips out the back when nobody's looking, heading back for the cave.
Carmine "Perhaps she simply has to ask a price. She cannot do anything but make a fair trade."
Corve "I wish we had a way of knowing that left no doubts..."
Xar`Rex screws up his face oddly. "He says there will always be doubts"
Captain Oteki heads back down into the cavern.
Corve "...where is Oteki?" He looks around and widens his eyes, sighing. "Stay here." Corve lets go of Carmine and heads for the cavern.
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