[Plot] Dark Water

swaswj · Jan 1, 2020

Dark Water

Anguis Trigon, Phase Three

Deep, dark blue in every direction, ice-cold, pressing in heavily. The two velen floated, alone in the abyss. Still reeling from the lightning that had coursed through her, Diamantus looked around into the emptiness, one hand still clutching tightly to Garus' shoulder. The captain's orange scales were the only bright spot in sight, but the burly man was unconscious. The pair tumbled slowly through the rocking, frigid waters, only slowly figuring out which way was up and which was down.

Diamantus adjusted her grip, throwing the captain's arm over her shoulder and holding it by the wrist. She hooked her arm around his waist and began kicking, swimming upward. There was no telling how far down they were, but she was chilled down to the muscles and every movement left her bones creaking from the pressure. The ship was nowhere to be seen. She couldn't hear anything, no sounds of struggling or drowning. That should have been a good sign, but instead all she felt was dread. She dared not call out; the silence felt like a trap. So she swam, as fast as her feet would carry her, toward the surface and hopefully answers.

Then, out in the deep blue, she did hear something. A bony clacking, starting slow and growing faster, until it seemed like one continuous rumble. Garus stirred in her arms, groaning only briefly before his body went stiff. Doptetrei, he warbled out in the velen tongue, pushing Diamantus away and reaching for his belt. His three-barreled handgun trailed behind on a wire, but rather than reel it in, he grabbed a smaller handgun and a knife.

Diamantus pulled her heavy saber out, clutching her own pistol in her other hand. The noise now seemed to surround them, and only then did the first monster come into sight: doptetrei, red teeth, a small fish with a mouth that made up most of its body. A mouth filled with dagger-like teeth. Its eyes were glowing red, leaving trails in the dark waters as it flitted wildly about, straight toward the two velen but in an erratic pattern. Alone, such a wish would be laughable. This was only the first of a swarm, though, a school of dozens. Together they would shred any prey into pieces small enough for their tiny stomachs, a bloody cloud that would also draw in other, bigger predators.

Garus was the first to act, kicking forward and spearing the leading fish on his knife. Diamantus took aim with her pistol, firing two shots at the incoming wave. Garus clicked his approval and then fired past the woman, calling out a warning. Diamantus darted out of the way. The red teeth were closing in from every direction. She hacked with her sword, splitting several of the fish but more kept coming.

Up! Swim up! Garus called shrilly. Diamantus didn't have time to question it. The pair kicked wildly toward the surface, shooting, stabbing, and slashing at every fish that came too close. One ripped into the velen woman's pants, somehow missing her skin. Two of them bit wildly at her saber blade before she ripped it free and chopped at them. Furious fins and ravenous teeth surrounded the pair, and the water clouded with blood.

Then, somehow, they were free of the frenzy. Keep going! Garus commanded. They'll eat the dead ones first and then look for more! He holstered his pistol but kept his knife in hand as he swam desperately upward, trailing a line of blood from unseen wounds. We may see nagas soon, they love to send red-teeth ahead to hunt for scouts and spies!

Now that they were making their escape, Diamantus tried to wrap her mind around the implications. The doptetrei were native to the dark waters of the Tenebrae Ocean. They'd been hunted to extinction in the Sea of Occidens and couldn't survive warmer waters in the Copiae Ocean.

[650]

Note

Garus, Captain of the Arsenic before its destruction, finds himself cast away from his home and surviving crew into the icy waters of the Tenebrae Ocean, with only Diamantus for support. Squarely in enemy territory, the weight of his losses and his failure leaves him bowed and beaten.

Difficulty: 70
100+ Great Success
70+ Success
< 70 Failure
< 50 Critical

Mission Bonuses (Unique to the Mission)

+/-?? - The Upset: The situation resolved in an unexpected way.
+20 - The Best of It: You turned your disadvantage into advantage.
+20 - A Spark: Rekindle the captain's fire.
+0 - Survive: This is a requirement for success (obviously).
-20 - Words, Not Deeds: The message was lost because it lacked substance to back it up.
-20 - Bloodthirsty: Peace was never an option?

Standard Bonuses (each available once):

+30 - Page-turner: Wrote at least 3000 words.
+5 - Neophyte: Used a novice- or adept-tier ability.
+10 - Veteran: Used a skilled- or master-tier ability.
+20 - Legend: Used a grandmaster-tier ability.
+10 - Great Feats: Used a feat ability of any tier.
+10 - Magnum Performance: Used a magnum or ultimum ability of any type.

Roleplaying Bonuses (subject to reader scrutiny):

+10 - It's Personal: Your PC has a history with one of the characters, which is touched on or fleshed out here.*
+10 - Rogues' Gallery: The antagonists were given distinct personalities.
+10 - Playing the Part: You performed actions iconic to your character.

*In this instance, fleshing out some of the military history for Diamantus is an option.

MoonlitRain014 · Jan 5, 2020

At the surface, Diamantus easily treaded water, glancing around before briefly shutting her eyes and starting to breathe more slowly, to focus. Her motions became still and more easy despite the threat of the situation in which they found themselves. Somewhere below them the dopetrei were tearing apart the remains of their dead. Panic was a heartbeat away but panic was death. The velen woman turned to the Captain, her voice full of forced calm. "We need a direction. Floundering around out here isn't doing us any good."

Even though they were inured to some of the effects of the cold, it wouldn't be long before they'd start to feel it. The water lapped at Diamantus' heavily muscled, scaled body as she kept one eye on the water underneath her and one eye on the horizon. Land didn't appear to be anywhere in sight and she shaded her eyes, looking up to see the mid-afternoon sun. The explosion of the Arsenic had thrown them all into wild disarray. Again deep breaths came from Diamantus, muscles slowly unclenching as she floated in the cold waters. Shivering hadn't set in yet but if they didn't start moving again, it would. Once that happened, they'd be done for. There was also a disturbing, faint sound that was coming from behind them. It was the sound of water being powerfully churned.

The muscled velen fighter turned back to glare at Garus. "Damn nagas are on their way. We better fuckin' get moving or they'll make a hash out of us."

Fighting out here would simply leave two battered velen corpses floating in the cold waves. Glancing around, scanning the area Diamantus spotted a substantial piece of floating wreckage and pointed to it. "At least we'll be out of the Vis-damned water if we get onto that thing!" Without waiting, she began powerfully swimming toward it, propelled by her impressive physique.

[316]

swaswj · Jan 5, 2020

As Garus breached the surface, he sucked in deep gulps of air, hoping it would be warmer than the icy water. If anything, it was actually colder. Midway down one forearm and thigh, the bite wounds he'd taken from the red-teeth throbbed, alternating brief bursts of warmth as blood spilled into the water and deep stabs of cold as the sea water seemed to pierce beneath the skin.

"Be cautious!" he shouted at Diamantus. "We're not in the Copiae, that's not part of my ship!" Garus followed after her, favoring his left side but still keeping pace. If the frigid cold hadn't been enough of a sign, the waters around them were deep and dark, nearly purple, even under the mid-day sun. The captain knew the blue waters of the Copiae better than anything, and he had sailed parts of the green waters in the Chlorae in his youth. This dark water, though, came from only one ocean: the Tenebrae. Home to some of the fiercest monsters in Araevis, where few ships ever returned from.

He didn't want to take in more of the tainted waters than necessary. Before Diamantus reached the wreckage, Garus formed an image of the lady Serpens in his mind. He kicked downward in the water with one heel and lifted one hand above water to snap his fingers. In-between the two velen, there was a snap and glass-like tinkle as ice coalesced just above the waves. It burst outward, sending up splashes of foam. Water started to freeze, multiple patches of ice forming and then joining together. The miniature glacier bobbed in the water, some of its bumps and edges rough and sharp.

Garus hauled himself up onto the ice, shivering as he moved into the open air. He also hauled his three-barreled hand-cannon up out of the water, gripping it in one hand and his lighter pistol in the other. He covered Diamantus as she made her way to the wreckage. It was a common tactic for the naga to lay traps on such debris, but that was in the Occidens, where they battled the velen daily.

Tenebrae was purely ophidian territory, so would they do the same out here where no velen ought to be?

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MoonlitRain014 · Jan 8, 2020

Without thought, reacting to a man who would know what his own ship’s pieces looked like, Diamantus turned away and with several powerful kicks of her thickly muscled thighs and pulls of her equally powerful arms, she reached the artificial ice floe that had been created and hauled herself onto it. Now she stood alongside Garus, head cocked to the side, listening. Concern was plain on her features as she turned to look at the captain. “I’d say they’re comin’ in from the north-east. Best we brace ourselves, I don’t think this hunk of ice is gonna move us anywhere.”

As if on cue, a faint series of moving shapes could be seen on the horizon, coming closer through the dark water. Diamantus checked her pistol and had her heavy bladed sword close at hand as the enemy began to close in on them. “So how you wanna do this? Back to back?”

It wasn’t exactly a tactically secure place that they’d found themselves in, but at least they weren’t in the water and that darkness creeping through it was distinctly unsettling. Already Diamantus raised her pistol, readying it once the nagas got in range. Her jaw was set and her expression grim as she waited for Garus’ reply.

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swaswj · Jan 12, 2020

A sarcastic chuff was the elder velen's response. Garus slowly turned about, but there were no signs of land, only their refuge on the ice and the wreckage not far off. In the open water, even with years of experience fighting against them, Garus had little confidence in an open battle. Especially given the new behavior in the recent attacks.

Diamantus, for all her bravery, lacked the basic experience of the Pelagian navy, or what experience she previously held had eroded away. If Libra were there, Garus might have held onto a sliver of hope.

With that thought, Garus suddenly felt a weight settle in on his shoulders, the weight of all the years he'd been fighting and leading. He let out a chilled breath to fog up the air and then lowered himself down to sit on the ice, leaning one elbow over his knee. The cloak still hanging from his broad shoulders stiffened in the freezing air.

"There's nothing left to do," Garus said, weary and resigned. "They aren't like they used to be. No out-thinking them, no strategy to predict. They come in swarms. They're drawn to blood, just like the fish."

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MoonlitRain014 · Jan 15, 2020

Diamantus just stared at him, eyes hard and surprised, as the sound of the approaching naga grew louder. She clenched her free fist and glared down at the sitting form of the proud, fierce captain who seemed to have halved in size as he sank down. The sound was terrifying as it implied violence and forceful movement, but when the powerfully-built velen spoke there was no fear in her voice. "So yer just gonna sit the fuck down and let 'em come? That's yer Vis-damned solution to the problem?"

Her voice was sharp and diamond-hard, not brooking any argument. "Some fucker of a shaman blows yer ship up and kills half yer crew and passengers and all ye can do is sit there like a lump of chum fer the red-teeth? Get the hell up, Captain! Get the hell up and tell me how we can fight these bastards. They might kill us but d'ye wanna go down fighting or sittin' here waitin' ta die? I sure as shit know which one I wanna do."

Violently gesturing out at the oncoming enemy, her harsh voice barked out. "D'ya want all the death to be fer naught? If you just sit down and give up, the fact that people like Libra died fighting fer ya's gonna mean less than shit! I need yer fuckin' help here if we're gonna fight these Vis-damned things! Show me what a captain in our navy's made of instead of sittin' on yer ass on the ice, waitin' to die."

Diamantus' keen eyes were still scanning the horizon, her pistol held loosely but with intent. One eye was kept sharply trained on Garus, scanning him as if reading his face and his posture.

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swaswj · Jan 18, 2020

Her words fell on deaf ears. Diamantus wasn't saying anything Garus hadn't told himself, again and again over a dozen different campaigns in the never-ending wars to protect their borders. Each time, losing more of the men and women he trusted and relied on and, no matter how he hardened his heart, cared for.

"To what point or purpose?" Garus asked.

The ice floe shuddered, rocking hard enough to drop Diamantus to one knee. From her left, the first ophidian burst from the dark water. The creature was smaller than she expected, tightly muscled and clad in armored indigo scales, but lanky, a teenager at best. Any sympathy that might have provoked was wiped away by the animalistic gnashing of teeth. His eyes were a solid black, shark-like. It lifted up two glimmering blades, swords bent like the waves and made from a hardened nacre like the velen armor, only theirs was black, with a rainbow shimmer like oil.

Diamantus fired her gun before the naga brought his weapons down, but even as he fell, three more surged from the waves. Even down and out, Garus half-heartedly gave in to reflex, raising his pistol. The naga lunging at him, smaller even than the first one, bit the end of the barrel before Garus pulled the trigger. Rather than prepare another shot, though, he let go of the pistol, leaving it to go down with the naga's corpse.

Two more splashed up, leaving the pair surrounded by four of the juvenile, frenzied ophidians. One lunged with a spear at Garus, another surged high into the air atop its powerful eel-like tail and came down swinging a great-axe, while the remaining two lashed out with teeth and claws, fighting to rip into Diamantus from both sides at once.

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Note: First post has been updated with the success conditions.

Unofficial Theme for Garus Right Now

MoonlitRain014 · Jan 22, 2020

"To what point or purpose?! I like fuckin' breathing! That's the point and purpose!"

A further torrent of curses poured from Diamantus, but the attack was on them and there was no more time to swear or think. Reflection was what got people dead and fast. There were three ophidians now facing them, terrifying and full of a battle rage that was intimidating, even to those used to battle. As two of them rushed her, years of training and fighting made her muscles react without thought. Her pistol was holstered and her heavy blade moved, faster than anything with that weight should be able to, as she rapidly drove a chopping stroke at the face of the first attacker. In what seemed an impossible maneuver, the blade changed arc and direction to slash across the throat of the second attacker who came at her with razor teeth and slicing claws.

This fight was already uneven and made more so by the lack of any action from the captain. He was sitting hopelessly while Diamantus was fighting. Her face was set and hard, concentrated on the task ahead, but there was more than a flickering of fear in her eyes as she tried to fight off the ophidians with no help at all.

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Whirlwind Used

swaswj · Jan 26, 2020

The axe slammed down to the ice as Diamantus narrowly slipped to the side, pulling her blade back from the naga whose throat she'd slit. From the opposite side of the ice, the spear thrust straight into Garus' unmoving form but the captain didn't call out. Instead, he had drawn his combat knife, jamming it between the spread tines of the fishing spear.

However lost and hopeless he felt, he had decades of military training honed into his body.

Without his heart in it, of course, reflexes would only carry things so far. Indeed, rather than counter, he twisted his wrist to slam the knife and spear blade into the ice, accepting a furious clawed swipe across the face from his attacker before Diamantus chopped at the fiend to send him back.

The woman couldn't spare the attention to cover for Garus, though. The instant she turned her back to protect him, the naga with the axe let go of his weapon and lunged for her, grabbing her and pinning one arm to her side. The one with the slit throat came rushing in, blood spilling down his torso but prepared to fight to the death.

More curses spat free and the saber bit into the wounded naga's chest this time. Diamantus slammed an elbow into the one grabbing her, then punched behind her head, clocking it in the skull with the sword's hilt. She broke free, spinning and slashing across its stomach.

Already more were swarming to the surface on all sides.

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Note

MoonlitRain014 · Feb 12, 2020

The naga youth were a horror as they came in a rush, teeth sharp, muscled bodies rippling dangerously. Diamantus fought on, heavy cutlass slashing and chopping about her, her powerful body seeming to react on pure reflex and instinct, all the years of training baked into that body expressing themselves in easy motion.

Memory hazed back many years. The water had been full of bodies and the black clouds of blood from them, the enemy coming in seemingly endless waves. Diamantus had tried so hard to get to Velius, but he was too far away and there were too many of their attackers. She'd fought so close to him, killing anything in her way and was reaching him when one of the enemy slashed his throat wide open in gaping red flesh and he fell, choking on his own blood to die.

The tide of ophidians continued to wash over their small chunk of magically constructed ice and the muscled velen's voice rose, strengthened by the roughness of memory and loss. There was calm in her voice but also an air of authority that was given more weight by the velen's preternatural powers of persuasion as she spoke. "Ex Oceanum, Ad Oceanum! If I gotta die with you, I die with you. Mebbe I ain't part of your crew but I swore an oath and I take my oaths serious. Sit there or don't sit there, I ain't leavin' you behind."

The clamouring crowd of creatures was a dark tide washing over them, even as they were cut down, they swarmed anew. The powerfully-constructed velen woman was hewing away, but her motions were getting less crisp with each sweep of the blade. The water boiled with more and they were closing in more and more tightly to the position of the pair of velen.

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swaswj · Feb 16, 2020

The frenzied naga were relentless, falling back briefly from Diamantus only to attack again from another angle, racking up grievous wounds without showing any fear of death.

"Ex Oceanum."

"Ad Oceanum, sir!"

Garus clenched his fist, not wanting to hear the words. He did not want to be reminded of Libra, be reminded of all the men and women who had served with or beside him. The words brought it all back, emotion so strong that his chest physically ached.

Furious, the naga attacked. A claw slipped through to gash Diamantus in the thigh. The statuesque woman grit her teeth and thrust her cutlass into the beast's open maw, finally putting that one down. Before she could rip the blade free, another one chopped in with a sword. Its other arm was sliced almost clean through, dangling by a flap of skin, but the creature fought on, sluggish but fierce even as the waters frothed crimson around the ice floe.

Furious, the captain attacked. He grabbed the sword, growling as it bit deep into his palm. It also cut deep into the woman's shoulder, but if not for Garus stepping in, Diamantus might very well have lost her sword arm. "Damn you, woman," he growled out. "And damn all of you slithering eels!" He wrenched the sword out of the naga's hand with his good arm, booting the creature back to the water.

The captain and Diamantus moved so they were back to back, velen blood mingling with ophidian as they fought fiercely.

To what point and purpose? The thought flashed through the captain's head again and again, but the only answer he had was loyalty, a noble death accomplishing nothing except to show that some oaths were unbreakable.

Garus desperately reached for another option, though, something to give their deaths meaning. "Deo gwnuhiwnd!" His voice roared over the churning waters, hissing nagas, and the clang of weapons beating against one another. He shouted it again, then a third time before finally, mercifully, a shrill whistle cut the air.

The naga warriors shuddered and halted in their attacks. Garus reached back and grabbed Diamantus by the shoulder, stopping her from attacking the youths as they slowly retreated backward. "I'm giving you a choice," Garus whispered hurriedly in the common tongue. Ophidians shared the Himai tongue with velen, enough so to negotiate, but few of them could understand or speak the surface language. "A scouting party has at least one commander, one with their senses, one who can control the others. I'm going to parlay."

An ophidian rose from the dark waters, an adult male, clad in armor and holding a long spear. Colored scars on one arm marked the creature as someone of rank. Tail undulating to hold itself upright and above the water, the ophidian eyed them warily.

"Make no mistake, we'll likely die either way. But maybe we can do some damage before we go, eh? Or if not, use me as a blind, shoot through me and take this bastard out. It might cause enough confusion for you to get away."

The ophidian trilled out in warning as it approached, pointing its spear toward Garus. The creature eyed the bloody water, snarling at the sight of at least eight of its companions dead and several more likely to be there soon. Garus tossed his stolen blade into the water and held up his empty hands, standing between the ophidian and Diamantus.

"However it goes down, we'll see it through to the end, right? Ex Oceanum…" Garus met the ophidian's eyes and tapped the bars on his chest marking his rank. The ophidian tapped the colored scars on its arm, still wary but giving in to curiosity.

Garus could sense Diamantus moving behind him and braced himself for her choice.

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MoonlitRain014 · Feb 19, 2020

Looking around, the water boiling with sleek black forms, Diamantus grimaced as blood ran from the gashes and wounds on her muscle-bound body. There were so many of the ophidians that it was hard to see clear water. Her eyes ran in a circle around them, taking in those churning naga before settling on the ophidian leader for a brief moment before flicking over and focusing on Garus' face. "I'm willing to go along with the parlay ploy. Whatever happens, it's still Ex Oceanum like you say."

It was a ploy that might work. If death was nearly guaranteed, anything was worth a try. Her eyes again began to move as they scanned the area. Odds were being weighed, options calculated and angles examined. As the leader's expression moved to the curious, Diamantus continued to silently glance about and occasionally narrow her eyes in a particular direction or look briefly pensive before returning her gaze to the situation unfolding in front of her.

All around them, there was a miasma of barely contained ferocity. The young naga were at bay, but the atmosphere was contaminated by the rage that poured from the enemy. It almost had an animal stench in the cold air. Diamantus' uninjured arm was resting close to the pistol at her hip, inches away from twitching down and flicking it up and into action if it became necessary.

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swaswj · Mar 1, 2020

The moment stretched on interminably, air thick with tension. Even with all of the casualties, there were still more than half a dozen of the ophidians remaining. Garus and Diamantus had nearly exhausted themselves already, and if the fight went on, the best they could hope for was mutually assured destruction. More likely, they would die and at least some of the scouting group would survive.

Neither outcome appealed to Garus. Despondent and hurting though he was, he chafed at the idea of bleeding out in a meaningless battle in open water.

The leader of the ophidian group remained wary. He pointed with the spear at its bloodied brethren, and in Himai spoke, "Your strength is fierce, your weapons blooded. For safe harbor, you must dedicate your blessings to Lady Serpens."

Anticipating confusion, Garus explained to Diamantus, "He's acknowledging our prowess. A 'blooded' weapon is one blessed by Serpens. Before he will accept our parlay we must dedicate our weapons to her." Garus bent down slowly, grabbing his three-barreled handgun. He unhooked the retaining cord from his belt and, reluctantly, tossed it. With a heavy plop, it hit the water and sank, there to join the Arbiter's armory on the ocean floor. Garus then pulled a knife from his boot, presented it to the ophidian, and likewise tossed it.

Nodding his approval, the ophidian hissed out something unintelligible to its swarm. The youths snarled back in response, but an animalistic shout from their commander cowed them. Reluctantly, the younger naga held up their own bloodied weapons and dropped them. Two, whose blades had never touched flesh, held onto theirs. The leader likewise held onto his spear. It was unbloodied, and therefore unsuitable as a sacrifice.

It also meant that once Diamantus offered up her weapons, only the naga would have any.

The ophidian put a hand to his chest. "Iszikke."

The velen captain mimicked the gesture and gave his name. "Garus."

Iszikke narrowed its beady eyes as it moved in closer, trying to make sense of the rank on the uniform. "Warlord?" it asked.

Garus tried to think of the naga military hierarchy. He shook his head, holding his hand up at eye level, then lowering it down to shoulder level. "Captain," he answered, using the word in common. There were words in Himai for captain, but he wanted to keep some level of uncertainty for negotiation, if it ever reached that point.

The naga scowled, snake-like teeth bared, and demanded, "Where are your soldiers? How did you get past our war parties?"

Garus hesitated, turned to Diamantus for a moment, and finally, truthfully, shrugged. "I don't know."

With a bemused expression, Iszikke suddenly lunged, putting his spear against the velen's throat. After a moment, though, the creature settled. "You reek of blue waters," Iszikke noted, making a retching motion. Coming to a decision, the naga grabbed a bottle hanging from a long cord at its neck. "Seal your wounds, or the ullwua may not be able to resist. You will speak to Etiirshaii. You will answer for this war!"

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MoonlitRain014 · Mar 7, 2020

Diamantus followed suit, her face a controlled mask as she threw away perfectly good weapons. First the sabre and as she’d fired her pistols, she tossed them in too. She watched them glumly as they sank under the waves. They were now unarmed, surrounded by fanged horrors and in a situation that put them at extreme disadvantage, but it was what it was. The muscled velen’s eyes flicked back and forth, moving between Garus and Iszikke, the Himai dialect that they spoke was not so easy to follow. She opened her mouth for a moment and then shut it as Garus looked over at her.

The blood running down her scales was causing some of the young naga to lean in toward her aggressively, so when Iszikke produced the bottle, she was all to eager to get her hands on it after Garus was finished with it. The blood rage was alarming. Close in, there was an atmosphere and even a scent about the ophidians that made Diamantus keep reaching for weapons that she no longer possessed. She glanced at Iszikke, a question on her lips but one that stayed unanswered. Too many negotiators might spoil the soup.

However, she did raise the scaly areas that passed for velen eyebrows in Garus’ direction and spoke in their own tongue. “What’s he talking about? How the hell did we start it?”

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swaswj · Mar 15, 2020

Garus seemed just as bemused. "We didn't. They attacked us without warning. I've never heard anything to the contrary." Iszikke scowled, not comfortable with them speaking the common tongue when he couldn't make out what they were saying. To the naga, Garus asked, "How should we answer for defending ourselves?" He kept his tone level, careful to avoid revealing the anger brimming just beneath the surface. In the earliest attacks, Garus had lost several of his newest recruits. For months, they had been fighting for their lives, giving their lives, all to stop the ophidians from breaking through into 'blue waters.'

Iszikke's monstrous visage seemed to twist for a moment. It was there and gone in a second, so fast that Garus almost doubted he had seen it. He recognized it, though. It almost perfectly mirrored his own frustration and impotent anger. That alone gave him pause, and in place of that simmering rage he was left with confusion. "You will speak to Etiirshaii," was the naga's only response.

Garus and Diamantus shared a look. He wondered if she had seen the same thing he had. The naga scouting party looked at the blood in the water, but only Iszikke showed any remorse. The younger warriors still visibly seethed with barely-contained frenzy and ravenous hunger. A shudder rolled through his body as he wondered whether they would have eaten their fallen comrades, just like the red teeth, if not for Iszikke's control. He wondered how much control Iszikke really had.

The next hour passed in silence. Iszikke led the way, with Garus and Diamantus right behind, and the remaining youths surrounding them. The ones with swords stayed at their backs. If a new fight broke out, it would be over swiftly. For the present, at least, the parlay held. They would be granted 'safe harbor' until a proper agreement could be reached. Despite their ferocity in battle, the ophidians wouldn't execute them as long as Garus continued to act in good faith. At best, though, they would both be kept as prisoners of war.

Garus doubted the empire would send a rescue and negotiation seemed unlikely.

The waters they swam in were dark to begin with, but they also traveled deep, beyond the reach of Caesar's light. Iszikke had said they reeked of blue water, and Garus felt the opposite keenly in his bones: the deep violet, nearly black waters of the Tenebrae seemed foul in some indefinable way. His gills had a constant tingle and the wounds, even patched with the healing ointment, seemed to constantly throb.

Lights began to appear, mere pinpoints in the darkness. They were in patterns of three, sometimes seven, colors. They meant something to Iszikke. Garus could maintain his sense of north and south but the route they were taking through the dark water was labyrinthine. He could only assume that going in the wrong direction would lead to traps or dangers. There was no hope of making an escape now.

The depth pressure was making the velen's ribs creak and grind in his chest when a brighter light appeared ahead. Not just one light, Garus amended silently. It was dozens, possibly hundreds of lights. Walls and towers took shape, encrusted with barnacles and white coral. Ophidians moved through the water but far fewer than Garus would have expected. The visible ones were all mature, however. As they approached, the ophidians spotted Garus and Diamantus. Immediately, they swarmed, shouting questions over each other, words rolling through the quiet ocean ways. Two rushed off to announce their arrival.

One snapped commands to the berserkers, and the juvenile warriors hissed and shouted back. Like before, though, the adult managed to get control, leading the youths away. Iszikke explained the situation briefly, and new ophidians took up guard duty in place of the younger ones. All of the newcomers were armed. They passed through the gates in a towering wall Garus didn't even realize was there. He looked around with wide eyes.

Garus expected a war camp of some kind. He expected a forward outpost. What greeted the two velen beyond the wall was a sprawling city. The buildings were old, but still mostly standing, covered in barnacles and coral like the towers seen above the wall. There were cobble- and shell-lined streets, a thoroughfare passing through a sprawling marketplace. History taught that the ophidians remained a sophisticated society, but Garus had only ever seen them in war. Now he looked around and saw shops, saw signs above buildings, lined in colored lights to draw attention. Small statues of Serpens were placed above doorways. An effigy of Typhon was nailed to one door, and Garus guessed that to be a healer's office.

Their captors said nothing as they made their way through the city. More and more, the sheer scope was staggering, but what struck Garus the most was how empty it all felt. There were no children to be seen anywhere, and few civilians. Most of the ophidians they encountered were clearly soldiers of some kind. The group passed into a broad open courtyard, and sudden realization clicked. Ahead there was a castle, a three-sided spire with a triangular tower at each point. In the courtyard itself an enormous statue lay broken and defaced. It was a statue of a velen, with a stone crown. "Thalass," he blurted out loud. They stood in an ancient velen kingdom. It wasn't floating or anchored like the newer velen cities in the Copiae; they were perched upon the Frost-tide Seamount.

"Talloss," Iszikke corrected. Garus said nothing. He was sure of his guess, even if the name had changed.

The velen were led straight into the castle and then into the throne room, with no more preamble. The room was somber, glowing with blue-purple light. The throne itself was a deep bowl made of sea coal draped in kelp. Statues of ophidians lined the rooms, heroes or nobles perhaps. Garus looked around the room, surprised that the serpents were capable of creating art.

Then he looked up and saw the naga in front of them. The throne was empty, and a serpentine woman stood ahead and to its right. Etiirshaii, he knew immediately... and he recognized her. Tall, towering over the pair of velen, her scales were black and shimmering in a rainbow of colors, like sun on oil. She wore mail of red metal and bleached shells. Tattoos lined her arms, her hands, her fingers. Behind her head was a broad cobra's hood with bony ribs. Her teeth were translucent, eel-like, but she was not smiling.

It was the shaman who had possessed Libra, the one responsible for her death.

"You bitch!" Garus bellowed, bubbles frothing around his mouth and gills as he lunged.

[1125/4035]

MoonlitRain014 · Mar 18, 2020

The city around them was terrifying and impressive, ancient and eldritch as they moved through it. The lights had seemed to guide them in as they were lead here. Now all around them was silence and emptiness, something sombre and lifeless, except for their escort party and the incandescent rage that accompanied the young naga. The castle, the legendary castle now loomed up over them and Diamantus couldn’t help but stare upwards, eyes scanning this icon of her race's ancient past.

There was a feeling of deep time all around them, a sense of weight about their surroundings. The miasma of barely contained and deadly fury among all of the young naga berserkers still had her reaching for the weapons no longer available to her. The throne room was an intimidating sight despite the relative emptiness of the space. As they moved into the throne room, Diamantus felt the subtle shift in the muscles of her companion, a tensing and flexing that had her priming her own body as she sensed his own unease.

Glancing up she could see the reason for this tensing. There Etiirshali stood in all of her terrifying power and beauty. Diamantus felt a strange draw toward her, even as she exuded something more repellent. However it was very quickly obvious that Garus saw nothing about her that drew him at all. As he lunged, the powerfully built velen woman shot out a muscled arm and clamped her steel-like grip around the Captain’s arm and yanked him back hard, immediately seizing his other arm and holding him still, shaking him. “What the fuck are you doing? Do you want to die?”

She continued to hold him fast in her powerful grasp and glared into his face. “There’s no point in us having thrown our Vis-damned weapons away if you’re gonna try and fight them with your bare hands, is there? Calm down and think this through, Captain.”

[321/1794]

swaswj · Apr 4, 2020

Etiirshaii narrowed her eyes. Garus opened his mouth to shout more, but Diamantus managed to reel him back from the edge. His anger flared, then sputtered, and finally... died out. The captain felt despair take its place. He relaxed and whispered, "I can't... this is on you."

He clenched a fist and looked away, his other hand gripping the other velen's shoulder in a strained show of support.

The shaman watched for a moment longer before saying simply, "Kill them." She turned to leave.

"They requested safe harbor, my lady," Iszikke said, holding a hand out toward the nearby naga who lifted their spears.

Etiirshaii turned and looked at the insolent ophidian, as if stunned that anyone would dare speak out against her. "And their request is denied. They stink of the bloodthirst of their kind. The Tallosi have no words for such savages."

"You will hear their words!" the naga shouted, causing the others to raise their weapons, looking from Iszikke to Etiirshaii and back again. "Or have you already succumbed to the blood-lust? Have we all?" Iszikke hissed and swept his spear out toward the two velen. "These ones let go of their frenzy, freely offered their blooded weapons to Lady Serpens. They have asked for safe harbor. To deny them will only invite more suffering."

"Blood for blood!" Etiirshaii shouted, the force of her cry so powerful that even Iszikke shrank back, cowering from the threatening matron. She bared her fangs and snarled... but then seemed shocked at her own outburst. She scowled and folded her arms, considering Iszikke and the two velen. "It will do no good, but very well. I will hear their words. Then they will die." She floated closer, towering over both Garus and Diamantus, disdainfully gesturing toward them. "Well? Speak."

[300/4335]

MoonlitRain014 · Apr 8, 2020

Diamantus glanced over at Garus, green eyes shaded by a conflicting mixture of emotions, brows furrowed. Her stance was tense, mixing readiness with fear, muscles bunching and loosening as she clenched her fists. Trusting that Etiirshaii would understand what she was saying and speaking before Garus could open his mouth again, Diamantus adopted her most formal tone and contrite posture as she faced the intimidating shaman, her face as expressionless as she could keep it and her powerful physique forcibly relaxing as she began to speak. “My lady, I do not fully understand what has so angered you, but your anger is very real and I do not wish to diminish it. You say that we have murdered you and yours, that we have attacked you yet it is we who were told that we were under attack by your people. I bear no malice against your people. It is that we were informed that we were at war and you were the aggressors, the ones who initiated the fighting.”

She paused, “The Captain here is also angry because he believes a storm was summoned by you to destroy his ship and kill his crew solely for that sake, unprovoked. I would like to understand, if I am to die, what it is that we and our people have done to so anger you. If we have been mislead into this war, I want to know about it. I know my word means nothing to you but I give you my word as a warrior and as someone who has felt killing anger at injustice and maltreatment of people for whom I care that I and many of those that I know would never willingly enter into a war of aggression in which our side had committed the first attack.”

Bowing deeply, the powerfully built velen stood and waited, eyes not meeting Etiirshaii’s gaze, but not completely downcast either. Her posture struck a balance somewhere between respectful and resolute.

[329/2123]

swaswj · Apr 11, 2020

Before she had finished speaking, the agitated naga surrounding them began growling and gnashing their teeth angrily. Iszikke, too, glared at Diamantus. There was confusion in his eyes, and it was only that cloud of uncertainty that prevented him from lashing out.

Etiirshaii's expression remained cold and unwavering as she floated there in front of them. At least, at first. However, by the time Diamantus finished speaking, her look of disgust had shifted subtly. The shaman looked down on Garus and Diamantus… with pity. "How many did they kill?" she asked Iszikke without breaking eye contact with the woman.

"Nine," Iszikke answered, closing his eyes for a moment as his grip tightened on his spear.

Etiirshaii slipped closer and spoke in an echoing, otherworldly voice. The words were unrecognizable to the velen, but seemed to pierce through them, rattling in their skulls. Pressure built, every heartbeat loud and thunderous. Garus and Diamantus both clutched at their heads, voicelessly crying out until suddenly the pressure and pain were gone. "The man's blood-debt is like unto the very abyss, but the woman's is shallow." The towering ophidian began to circle around the pair. "Their words are sincere. The blood is drawn in ignorance… and therefore is shared, coating the hands of their emperor."

Silence fell in the throne room as the ophidians listened intently, waiting for the shaman's judgment. She circled slowly several times before speaking again, beginning while behind them. "Before the time of the Cataclysm, we were one. Whole of mind, whole of body, one in blood and family. When the world was destroyed, though, we became divided. You, the velen, abandoned we, the ophidian, forsaking us to the corrupted waters. Left to die, except we were granted strength by Typhon." Etiirshaii circled back into view, eel-like tail undulating in the dark waters, spear-like teeth bared, claws spread wide. Typhon, the banished counterpart to Serpens, was thought to be responsible for the ophidian's monstrous transformation. "The strength of the plague-maker made us whole of body, to survive in the sickened waters left to us… but it is the blessing of Serpens that makes us whole of mind, erudite and sagacious. In all the oceans, her blessing could be found in only three places."

Her eyes seemed darker as she looked from Diamantus to Garus. "Every ophidian must seek out the blessing. The gift of balance is all that separates us from the fiends and beasts, feral monsters. In return for power, Typhon demands a price, the blood-thirst; only Serpens can defer the payment.

"The velen stole that blessing from us!" Etiirshaii hissed out sharply, and the surrounding naga shouted curses at their legged cousins. "Your people came in like the red-teeth, slaughtered the guardians of Talloss, and stole the statue of our Lady! We fought, but were defeated. We sent spies, but they were slain. We sent envoys, but they were imprisoned. We journeyed across the ocean, to our brethren in the south, in the west. Their blessings were also taken from them!"

Etiirshaii suddenly lunged forward, grabbing Diamantus by the throat. The shaman's claws dug in, just barely refraining from ripping into the velen's flesh. Her eyes were wild, frenzied. "You speak of injustice and maltreatment! Not content with hoarding the bounty of clean waters to yourselves, you steal from us. You steal the fish from our seas, the wealth from our cities, the grace of our gods, our very children, and you dare to chastise us for aggression?!"

Iszikke was visibly shaking, caught between his promise of safe harbor and the authority of the shaman. He started to speak, to remind Etiirshaii of the rules of parlay, but then she released Diamantus and slithered backward in the water. "My sisters and I destroyed your ship, we killed as many of the velen and surface-walkers as we could, and we will continue until we have regained what is ours, and until every drop of blood is repaid! For every ophidian life, one of yours! For every ophidian child cursed as ullwua, it is only fair for a velen child's blood to spill! That is the only way to balance the scales! Now you understand why you are to die. Perhaps it will comfort your people in the afterlife."

Iszikke finally spoke up and shouted, "Enough!" He swam forward and pointed out, "Blood alone will not satisfy. I want my sons and daughters back!" Then, the naga angrily threw his spear away. "They are sincere in their ignorance? Then their guilt is lesser. Let them pay the blood-debt as envoy; even their murderous emperor would not kill his own!"

"How long?" Garus asked suddenly, eyes shut and voice strained. "How long ago did this happen?"

"It was sixteen years ago that Talloss blood was first spilled," Etiirshaii answered. "Sixteen years of blood to answer for!"

Iszikke hung his head. "It is only two years since children, those who had never known the blessing, became ullwua. The frenzy never ends, the thirst is never sated. They are no more than beasts."

[840/5175]

Note

MoonlitRain014 · Apr 25, 2020

Diamantus didn’t rub her throat and the muscles in her face resisted any expression, rigid control being exercised throughout her powerful body. Her voice, hoarse now, was controlled and she raised her head to meet the raging shaman’s and Iszikke’s one at a time. “If what you say is true, if someone in the ruling classes has ordered these things, I would see them brought to justice.”

She took a breath. “I don’t give a damn about aristocrats who would do that to our cousins. I don’t hold your desire for vengeance against you. If it is true and we have acttually caused that to happen to your children, there are no words for how I feel about it and what punishment I feel it deserves.”

Now her head hung. “I am ashamed if that is what we have caused. However, I can honestly say that I did not realize that we had done this. The knowledge that you claim to have is not anything we the velen have ever been told as a whole group, if it is actually true.”

The blue-scaled velen’s powerful fists balled for a moment before she relaxed them. “I give my word as a warrior that I will do what I can do help you in your fight, but you must also give me your word that what you have said is true. We have no way to judge it as it stands.”

Falling silent, the great muscled body of the woman was in repose, surprisingly relaxed for someone on whom a death sentence might be pronounced in short order.

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