< Witch Price? | Ex Pulplogs | Shadow For Sun >
Red Thing pokes its eye-stalks above water, watching the Dragon-King and his passenger. A stream of bubbles issue from the creature, just under the water. It takes Xar a second to realize that the thing is communicating with them.
Red Thing Or, trying to.
Xar`Rex "First barnacles, now lobsters. Am I dreaming again?"
Myrrh "Well I see him too..."
Xar`Rex "I could be dreaming you."
Myrrh "If you were dreaming me wouldn't I be spouting something cryptic?"
Xar`Rex "...you are."
Myrrh "Oh. Well I don't feel particularly cryptic and i'm damned confused by the giant lobster..maybe we should try talking to him?"
Xar`Rex circles down again, grumbling. "Hello?" he tries in several languages
Red Thing sends out a stream of bubbles in response to Xar's "Hello" in Old Realm.
Myrrh "Xeth, do you speak lobster?"
Xar`Rex "He does not. But the lobster seems to know Old Realm... Sort of."
Xar`Rex tries again "Who are you?"
Lobster Creature gestures with a claw, indicating it wants the two to come under water.
Xar`Rex "Um. No."
Lobster Creature gestures to itself, and the air, shaking its..."head"
Lobster Creature makes the "please come underwater" gesture again
Xar`Rex looks at Myrrh. "Uh. I'm not going underwater."
Myrrh "Why do you want us to go underwater?"
Lobster Creature Xar figures it out after a few more repetitions by the lobster-monster. It can't TALK above water. It wants them to come underwater so they can hear it speaking.
Xar`Rex "Hngh. It can't talk without us going in."
Lobster Creature nods.
Myrrh "Well I doubt he's much of a threat. He is a lobster after all."
Xar`Rex sighs. "Well when we get captured, tell Corve it was not my idea."
Xar`Rex drops myrrh back on the raft
Xar`Rex drops down after him and sticks his face in the water
Myrrh does likewise.
Lobster Creature waves at them with his claws, in a seemingly happy gesture.
Xar`Rex "Hello?" he bubbles
Lobster Creature "Hello! Thank you for coming! We had almost started to lose hope our signal would prove fruitless."
Myrrh "Why were you signaling people precicely?"
Lobster Creature "We need help. Our wisewoman told us that help would come from a flying ship. We set up this signal to attract them. I saw your ship pass, and you came to see! You will save us!"
Xar`Rex "What does your wise woman look like?"
Myrrh "Save you from what?"
Lobster Creature ponders. "Well, she looks like any woman does. Her claws are smaller then mine, but she is very old...and so her shell is turning blue. She has lots of barnacles. And there is a coral growing on her tail because she rarely moves."
Xar`Rex ponders that. Doesn't sound too dangerous.
Lobster Creature "Please, you must come see the Wise Woman."
Xar`Rex "To save you from what?"
Lobster Creature "Monsters"
Myrrh "Monsters? What do they look like?"
Lobster Creature "Giant...I do not know the words. The wise woman will be able to tell you more."
Xar`Rex sighs, and slips into the water "This was not my idea." and shifts into Mosok form.
Lobster Creature looks at Xar, astonished. "How did you do that!"
Myrrh "Oh stop being so gloomy. The lobster men want help they get help! We used to do this back in the day."
Xar`Rex "It is what I do."
Myrrh explodes in a pyre of essence, shaping creation around him before releasing it, surrounding himself with strange seaweed looking armor. He then hops into the water without a splash.
Lobster Creature "You are gods!"
Myrrh "Not really. I don't think i've had my way with any geese...atleast I think i'd remember..."
Lobster Creature "...what?"
Xar`Rex "...geese?" he follows the lobster
Myrrh "...nevermind. Just an old legend. Anyway take us to your wise woman and we shall try and stop these monsters!"
Lobster Creature "The wise woman will tell you everything, lords."
Lobster Creature makes a strange gesture involving his tail and clacking his claws in some significant pattern and a gyration of his mouth-parts.
Xar`Rex shrugs at myrrh in a lizardine fashion
Xar`Rex follows!
Myrrh also follows! INTO ADVENTURE!
Lobster Creature The way down is long. Very, very long. Eventually their guide, the giant red lobster-like creature, slowly starts to glow a faint pink-violet as the light from the sun is swallowed by the water. It takes forever, at least...forever. More likely hours, but it feels like forever.
Lobster Creature Eventually the lobster guide brings Xar and Myrrh to a cavern in the rock. On their way down they saw hundreds of other lobster-creatures, all glowing in different colors. Virtually every color imaginable is represented among their glowing shells. Some are obviously female: smaller, with less massive claws and a thinner, more sleek body. Their armor plates are more rounded.
Xar`Rex sighs to himself, thinking of the females of his tribe.
Lobster Creature Their guide is large, VERY large, now that they have others to judge by. He is nearly half again the size of most of the other males Xar and Myrrh see, with truly huge claws and thick plates of armor. From the looks and body language of some of the younger females, their guide is probably a very handsome lobster-monster. The scratches on his shell are shared by others. They probably represent status and such things.
Lobster Creature Eventually a cave is reached and within the cave, the wise woman. Her lumpy, growth-encrusted shell is glowing a flickering, faint gold as pure as Myrrh's anima banner.
Lobster Creature retreats to the end of the cave after introducing the visitors to the wise woman.
Xar`Rex sort of hovers in the water in front of her, and bows
Wise Woman makes a deep, respectful bow, spreading her claws. Her shell is covered in thousands of scratches, including some huge scratches that have been filled in with melted copper, gold and silver. Around her "neck" she wears a string of pearls that out-size and out-shine anything either of them have ever seen, in almost every color. Red, purple, black, pink, green...
Wise Woman Even more nacre has been layered across her armor-plates, making her an astonishingly beautiful, if alien, creature.
Wise Woman "My lords...you honor me...with your presence." She seems to have difficulty speaking, making a strange gasping-clacking noise every few words.
Xar`Rex "How can we help/"
Wise Woman "We are...under siege, my lords."
Myrrh "Well we couldn't just sit around and let monsters terrorize you and your people!"
Xar`Rex "What can we do?"
Myrrh "Who are these things that are attacking you?"
Wise Woman "I will...show you, lords." She turns slowly, and with great effort, tries to open a chest that looks to have sunk maybe a thousand years ago. It is made of solid Jade. "Lords...you are young...and strong...might one of you...open this for me?"
Myrrh "Xar, if you would?"
Xar`Rex mutters "this better not be a trap" and swims over, first looking for a lock
Wise Woman "It...isn't locked."
Xar`Rex uses his tail to lever it open, just in case.
Wise Woman Inside the chest a pearl the size of Myrrh's head sits in a bed of seaweed, glowing faintly white-silver-blue.
Xar`Rex "Pretty. What is it for?"
Wise Woman "Please...bring it to me. It will...show you our...enemy"
Xar`Rex pokes the pearl with something before picking it up
Wise Woman "It will not...hurt you, my lord."
Xar`Rex cradles the enormous pearl in his claws gently and lifts it, though the assurances of a creature he doesn't know is trustworthy are not extremely helpful in dispelling his trepidation. He offers it to the wise lobster
Wise Woman gently sets the pearl on a coral outcropping. The outcropping grasps the pearl and it starts to glow brighter. The wise-woman croons over it, waving her claws around it in circle. It starts to glow brighter, then shines with light like a captured star. In the light, a vision appears!
Wise Woman Something appears in the pearl, a creature that it takes Xar and Myrrh a few moments to recognize. The lobster-people, assumedly isolated from the surface and other intelligent beings, would probably have no idea what they're looking at. Humans. Humans, though not normal ones. The man floating in the pearl's light is lean, with sleek muscles and a completely hairless body.
Xar`Rex blinks
Wise Woman His face is concealed behind a mask of coral and leather that Myrrh and Xar assume is designed to allow him to survive at these depths.
Wise Woman Something whipped up by a Little God or a mortal thaumaturge, no doubt. The rest of the man is free of encumbrance except for heavy leather straps holding crystal bottles of...something, strapped across his chest and waist. Knives are strapped in between the bottles, heavy knives. In his hand he carries some kind of spear with a strange tip...
Xar`Rex "What does he do to you?"
Wise Woman "People like him, ... they come from the bright-world. They know where we are ... and come to find us. When they find ... one or two alone, or the old ... and weak, they take them. They take them ... back up the the bright world. ... We never ... see them again."
Myrrh "That's awful!" Studies the figure of the man...hairless? Maybe mutants of some kind?
Xar`Rex "Where do they come from? We will find them, stop them."
Wise Woman gestures helplessly. "Above...from the...bright place."
Xar`Rex looks up
Myrrh "Hm. Well as long as they are upon this plane they won't get away with this. Have any of yoru people gathered something of theirs? A weapon?"
Wise Woman Xar sees the ceiling of the cave.
Wise Woman "We have...this one..." she gestures at the vision in the pearl.
Xar`Rex "Can we talk to him?"
Wise Woman "He only speaks gibberish. We can not understand him."
Myrrh "Then maybe Xar can. He is very skilled with languages."
Xar`Rex "We will talk to him anyway."
Wise Woman nods slowly. "You may try to speak with him...Pink-Violet will take you to him."
Xar`Rex places his hand on the wise woman, and says a small prayer, blessing her with the balm of health. "We will do our best."
Wise Woman "Thank you...lords...we will...grow a shrine...for you."
Wise Woman "If you stop these monsters....you will have saved our...people"
Myrrh "Don't worry, i'm sure we'll have this all sorted out soon enough!"
TO BE CONTINUED!!
< Witch Price? | Ex Pulplogs | Shadow For Sun >
Stryck Wiki