The calm before the storm has been cut abruptly short; what should have been a smooth voyage toward war-torn waters is now caught up in a literal, and unnatural, storm. A veteran of several campaigns against ophidians, Captain Garus has recognized the signs of a shaman's storm-shaping and quickly recognized that the ophidian forces could not have reached so far into velen waters. Instead, there is at least one individual on the ship that has been possessed by a shaman, becoming a conduit for the wild magics to reach halfway across the ocean. With the storm battering at the ship, there's limited time to find the culprit and find a way to stop them.
Beginning from the next turn, you have 10 minutes (600 seconds) to locate the conduit, and stop them by any means at your disposal. Each turn, you should estimate how long your actions took -- if it helps, speak any dialogue aloud to time yourself. Your estimate may be revised if it's too far off the mark, and each GM turn will list the current official time remaining.
+/-?? - The Upset: The situation resolved in an unexpected way.
+20 - There Must Be Another Way: The conduit was stopped without resorting to killing them. Note that simply knocking them out will not work.
+20 - At the Buzzer: You succeeded with less than 30 seconds remaining.
+0 - Target Located: This is necessary to advance.
-20 - Standoff: Precious time has been wasted in a standoff between two or more individuals.
-20 - Aaand, Action?: Precious time has been wasted without actually doing anything.
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.
+10 - Assimilation: The overarching plot has been woven into personal plot.
-10 - Mary Sue and Gary Stu: It's 1000 years too early for you to break a sweat.
-30 - Fade to Black: The thread was not completed in a timely manner. Repercussions for the protagonists may follow.
To better flow, I've split the two groups into new threads.
Amanita, Micali, and Diamantus remain with Garus and the rest of the group in the mess hall: The Basal Lake - In A Barrel
You're sharing the 600 second timer, but the timer may progress differently in each thread. If either thread runs out of time, their progress will be halted until both threads are caught up. If either thread finds and stops the conduit before time runs out, both threads succeed. This gives you two paths for success.
At the suggestion that one of his crew might be involved, Garus grimaced and very nearly shot Micali for her sheer audacity. He had already made an example with Amanita, however, and though he was more than willing to shoot everyone there, he had enough sense to know that there wasn't enough time or ammunition to check everyone on board one by one. "My crew?" he retorted incredulously. "You have no idea what my crew has been through, what they've endured! There's not a one of them who'd be so weak-willed that--!"
"Captain, we can't…" Libra spoke up beside him.
"Shut it!" Garus growled back. There was a brief, haunted look, there and gone in a blink. A memory of the past, perhaps, when he'd encountered such things before? His tone changed and he pointed the pistol toward Laermont, motioning him toward Libra. "Take the bot and look into it! I doubt their magics work on a machina. You stay here," he added, looking pointedly at Diamantus. She wasn't part of the crew and he did not trust her. She was being too helpful.
"Kid, shut it and come with me," Libra called out, beckoning Gwendolyn. She met the captain's eye and pointed out, "No reason for a naga spy to draw a map, captain."
He grunted and let Gwendolyn past, reminding Libra, "As above, so below," before she sealed the entrance behind them.
Once the three had left the room, someone roughly grabbed Micali by the shoulder and shouted, "This girl just showed up right before boarding! Wasn't she too quick to point the finger at someone else?!"
[260/2060]
470 seconds remaining
For your turns, try to estimate how long they are, rather than how much is remaining. I'll do the 'remaining' on my turns. I timed how long it would take for all the spoken lines, added a little bit for appropriate gaps, and came up with 470 seconds (7 minutes, 50 seconds) remaining.
Libra, Gwen, and Laermont are on the hunt outside. I'm thinking Laermont will need to come up with the best way to use Gwen's map (and whatever she may have seen while mapping*), but whatever you plan, do it quickly.
About a third of the crew is in the main room, however, helping block the exits and entrances. There are ten entrances and exits, Garus is blocking one, and there are at least 4 crew members at each of the other 9.
Micali, Diamantus, and Amanita are still inside. It's an enlil carrying a rapier who is putting Micali on blast.
The title is a hint, but figuring out what it means is not necessarily required to pin down the conduit.
Outside the room with Diamantus Laermont, Gwen had calmed down somewhat, recognizing Diamantus from a dangerous event involving a mysterious temple a few months ago; but she still eyed the crew members with concern, worried they might carry the same temperament of their captain.
She had shuffled to hide from their gaze somewhat by walking on the other side of, and sticking close to Laermont while she flipped through her journal for the relevant map page.
"Well what I was talking about earlier, before their Captain-" she said with overemphasis while leveling a pointed scowl at Libra. "-started shooting people. Is that I think the possessed guy might be in the command deck somewhere. They gotta give information back to the mage that's summoning this big 'ole storm, so it makes a whole lotta sense for the guy they took over to be in a place where they can get a whole bunch of information about our whereabouts, fuel, depth, colors, passenger count, ammunition... What else do submarines have? Or is, 'do' the better word?"
As she finished speaking Gwen let her journal page fall open to a page showing the hall that lead to the command deck.
Laermont was impassive, as demvir always are. However, his whole frame seemed to carry some sort of tension in it and he was leaning forward already, every indication being made that he was about to start moving. As soon as Gwendolyn had shown him the page, he jerked his head in the direction of the hallway and barked, “Libra -- next to me! Gwendolyn -- you stay behind us!”
Without any further noise being made, he began striding down the hallway. His heavy bladed sword pulled free of its scabbard and his imposing, over seven foot height and bulk filled the hallway. Charging forward, urgency was conveyed in every one of his movements.
"Not the command deck," Libra said with confidence. "That's where the captain spends most of his time. Do you really think an enemy could escape notice while that close to him? For that long? No, they'll be somewhere more isolated." The velen lieutenant fell in behind Laermont, surprised at the towering machina taking charge. "I'm not the expert that Commander Garus seems to be, but a conduit isn't relaying information like a normal spy. They're a target, like a lightning rod that draws in powerful magics. And there's no threat to them. Killing a conduit doesn't harm the one possessing them. It's an incredible magic." She paused in her explanation, and clarified in a more somber tone, "It's rare but it has led to many deaths."
The trio turned a corner and Libra kept speaking, thinking aloud. "Now that most of the crew is occupied, the spy would have an opportunity to disable the ship more directly. What's the most vulnerable location on the ship, girl? I would bet anything that is where they'll be headed." Libra looked over Gwen's shoulders, trying to view the map for herself, matching the paths to each location with her own mental map.
[200]
400 seconds remaining
Reminder, Diamantus (the velen) is in the other thread. Laermont (the demvir) is the one with us.
Beyond the exposition Libra just fed here, you should expect Gwen and Laermont to do most of the solving from here on. You can, however, ask any number of questions as long as time remains. If you travel a long way, I'll estimate the time to travel. It may even come up that you'll have choices with different travel times and you'll have to make the call on what's the best use of time.
Gwendolyn's small hands tightened around the covers of her journal. Couldn't it be anyone then?
Her confusion aside, she pulled away from Libra, "Gimme a second!" Clearly still wary of her, and began flipping through her map again.
"Uhhhhhhh, the propulsion systems would be a spot to smash so we sink faster but it'd be kind of hard to do, just like trying to shut down the Atlas reactor that keeps the ship diving. I mean I guess the guy, or girl? Or whatever they are could maybe mess with it and make the ship implode, but I feel like that might be a lot."
As Gwendolyn spoke, her words rushing past each other like a waterfall being fast forwarded, she flipped through her journal pages. Stopping briefly on each page that referenced the part of the ship she was rambling about.
Finally she stopped on a detailed page filled with pipes made to pump waste, many of them leading through the ship's hull and presumably outside. "The exhaust room would probably the most vulnerable though, all it would take to really take us out is damaging that room. You wouldn't even need to breach the hull, just put holes in enough of those pipes and you'll screw up all kinds of things all over the ship, if not just leech water directly inside. The pipes around us would probably already have water in them in that case though, and I'm not really sure how easily they could be damaged."
[25 seconds]
I'm basing my assumptions of the submarine's inner workings off of some really general submarine cross sections. They all display nuclear reactors, so I figured an "Atlas drive" (I'm imagining an extremely powerful and large catalyst is imbued with the Atlas spell cast at the highest possible level that's fed a controlled stream of pulveris, guided a system of tubes and monitored by cantantus practitioners and Ingenarius folks, along with a handful of mages for emergencies) would be the best substitute.
As they moved swiftly down the hallway, Laermont was talking rapidly both to Gwen and Libra, mind seemingly moving back and forth between various priorities “What’s the fastest way there? Is Miss Gwendolyn right? Is this a likely target?”
The urgency in the big demvir’s voice was evident and there was a certain drive in his movements that seemed to speak of some deep internal reserve of energy being brought to bear. Every motion had a precision to it, but it was a precision borne of the need for efficient movement.
As they moved, the inspector queried further. “Find me other likely vulnerable spots. Libra, you help her rank those spots by likelihood of damage. Let’s go!”
"Exhaust room is a prime target," Libra agreed. "The Atlas reactor is well-shielded and would take a long time to deal serious damage to. They wouldn't want us to sink faster, so propulsion systems are out; the captain is trying to take the Arsenic deeper below to escape the storms above." At the next intersection, Libra paused uncertainly, mumbling to herself.
The velen lieutenant suggested, "The ballast controls are another prime target. There's at least three sets: fore, mid, and rear. If the water is flushed out, it'll thin the oxygen inside and force the ship back toward the surface. Check the map, we may be able to hit one or two of the control stations on the way to the exhaust room. The fore controls should be the farthest out of our way."
Libra folded her arms and looked at Laermont. "What's your take, inspector? Sure thing or longshot?"
"I think the exhaust room is still the primary target. A quick investigation of the rooms on the way seems prudent. If I were a saboteur, I'd do the fastest thing which is to hit the exhaust room."
The demvir didn't waver, if he had any uncertainty it didn't show outwardly. Turning to Gwen, he inquired in a hurried tone, "What does the map say, Gwendolyn?"
The entire time this was happening, Laermont was still moving forward down the corridor. His massive frame was dynamically thrusting forward, still driven by some kind of manic energy as they proceeded down the corridor at a brisk clip.
The trio rushed through the ship, Gwendolyn in the lead. In almost no time, they reached the room with the mid-ship ballast controls. The room was recessed off of the main hallway, locked behind a metal grate. There were no signs of tampering, yet, but as soon as they reached it, Libra pulled a ring of keys out. There were only half a dozen of the blocky metal keys, but they jangled loudly as the lieutenant tried them one after another. Just as she slid the third key into the lock and it started to turn, everything flipped and rolled.
Libra slammed face-first into the grates with the first lurch and then seconds later, the ship turned again. The velen woman yelled out in surprise as she was thrown rolling and bouncing down the hallway back the way they came.
The keys remained in the lock. "Hurry!" Libra shouted, finally grabbing a handhold in the floor grating. "Get to the exhaust room! I'll catch up!"
[165/515]
240 seconds remaining
Assume Gwen and Laermont were quick enough to hold onto something before Libra got thrown down the hallway.
As your turns start, the ship should be leveling back out, matching time with the other thread.
The demvir’s massive, powerful arm easily supplied him with the grip he needed and his reflexes were faster than the average human as he held himself upright while the ship lurched. His glance across at Gwen confirmed that she’d managed to stay upright as well. He pointed down the hallway toward the exhaust room. “We have no time to waste, let’s move, Gwendolyn.”
After seeing that she was following, the detective began to move at a pace that was surprising for someone over seven feet tall and constructed of biometal. It seemed that Gwen could keep up, so as she directed him, he barrelled through the passageways until they reached the exhaust room door.
Giving it a solid shove, Laermont threw it open and swept his pistol from side to side, covering the room. Whatever or whoever was in there, he wasn't taking chances.
And with that call, the emptiness of the room was blatantly apparent. Gwen's voice and the screech of the door echoed back to the group as a taunt. The dreadful sound that followed, and subsequent shaking, only added insult to injury.
It threw Gwendolyn to the ground for the third time that day, and set her panicking. "Oh Vis, oh fuck, oh Vis, oh fuck, we're gonna die! If the conduit isn't in here where are they? At the Atlas reactor? If they're like, not a cool magic fish person how would they hurt it? And they wouldn't go anywhere else either, Libra said they're too hard to damage! And all the crew is in the mess hall except for the people steering-Holy shit am I the spy?"
Still lying on the floor from being thrown again, Gwendolyn clamped her hands to both sides of her head while she desperately tried to make sense of her revelation, before dropping them again when she decided that remembering the day's breakfast was enough proof for herself. Then her hands came up to the sides of her head again and she turned her head towards the demvir.
"What did you have for breakfast!" She bellowed accusingly at the mechanical man, then paused quietly and asked herself: "Wait, shouldn't Libra have had an easier time keeping her feet than us? She works here all the time, why would she fall like it's her first time on a shi-"
The room was empty and the ship was listing. Laermont didn't waste any time. He looked towards Gwendolyn. "We don't have enough time to do anything about it now. This ship is going to sink, can't you feel it listing?"
He grabbed her and lifted her up. "We better get the hell out of here and make our way to the escape pods. There's no more time."
Always practical, he was turning and pointing towards the hallway. "The sooner we go, the better. We might not make it to the pods otherwise. I'm going to need you to tell me where to go so we can reach them quickly!"
If he had to, he'd use his size and strength to carry Gwen, but her sense of self-preservation was a better spur. Thinking too much now would be deadly.
"No! The ship is rising!" She shouted with an intensity that was rather ill-fitting for her size and pulled away. "-And there's only three people running around the ship!" She held up three fingers to punctuate this and began running towards the ballast controls.
"I know what I had for breakfast this morning, but Libra's gone, we don't know what she had, and she's by the ballast things!" She shouted over her shoulder as she ran, magical power snaking silver around her tiny arm as she prepared a simple spell.
With the ship twisting and spiraling, on the verge of tearing itself apart, Garus charged through the cramped and maze-like corridors with unerring accuracy. He and his crew had served on the Arsenic for years, and the newest among them knew their way around like the back of their hand. He wanted to strangle himself for his own stupidity. Libra said there was no reason for a spy to draw a map, but he never questioned why she would want one.
When? How long? They were questions without an answer.
Garus rushed past the opened control panel for the central ballast. It was too late to try to fix now with the unnatural storm hammering at the hull. The towering orange velen turned toward the stern, but then ran the opposite direction. The deadlier target was to the aft, but the least guarded one was to the fore. He went fore.
Then, as he slammed through a partly-open bulkhead, there she was.
"Libra!" Garus shouted, his voice echoing off the metal walls, drowning out even the cracks and shearing groans of the ship. He lifted his signature gun and pointed it at her, locking his elbow. They were past the point of shock-testing: the red-tipped bolts loaded into the weapon were lethal.
She stopped. Her back was turned.
Her silence was more damning than any test he could devise. Garus hesitated, finger faltering. "How?" he asked, gravelly voice choking.
Micali raced down the tight halls of the Arsenic as rumblings rocked the ship around her. Garus and Diamantus were in front of her, and she was single minded in her chase; she needed to find Libra. If not for justice’s sake, then for self-preservation. The escape pods would get her to the surface - and then what? Any non-velen would be stranded. The saboteur would possibly escape. Besides, Gwendolyn and the demvir were still out here, and Micali couldn’t forgive herself for leaving the girl to die. She’d already left one person behind on this journey to Aridus.
Diamantus stuck close to Garus’ heels, powerful leg muscles driving her forward as they charged through the labyrinthine passageways of the ship. Time was short and the saboteur had to be made to pay. Images arose in her head of what she would get to do to Libra when she got her hands on her, but she pushed them away. Up ahead, they could hear indistinct sounds and Diamantus knew that that they were closing in on the saboteur. Her hand tightened around her pistol in anticipation.
As the three rounded the corner, Micali raised her scope. Garus asked his question, and Micali refused to even consider a modicum of guilt. Her finger left its hovering state over the trigger of her rifle, no longer slung behind her back, and pressed down. Firm, resolute. The captain would not get his answer, as Libra’s head exploded outward, any remnants of a face surely disfigured by the exit wound. As the velen collapsed, Micali’s mind could only produce one thought; Vis, I hope I was right.
The crack of the sniper rifle was followed by sharp silence. The far end of the white-walled corridor disappeared in a red mist. Libra, back toward her assassin, dropped to her knees, a limp slump.
As the body started to fall to one side, a white-hot flash of light erupted. Garus yelled out a curse, while Diamantus and Micali each hissed in pain and attempted to cover their eyes, too late. In the blinding white, the image of a serpentine woman was burned into their vision, enormous, easily twice the height of the captain at the shoulders, with a tail many times longer, clad in scales glimmering with an iridescent rainbow of color. Red metal and alabaster shells formed mail armor over the creature's upper body, and tattoos in wild patterns spiraled down her arms, across her hand and palms, down to her clawed fingertips.
The creature was smiling, flashing translucent spiked teeth, akin to those of predatory eels. The skin behind her head flared out, a cobra's hood with distinct spiny ribs.
An ophidian shaman, the one who had used Libra as her conduit.
Garus unleashed a guttural growl, rushing ahead.
"Stop!" Diamantus shouted, reaching out blindly to try to stop the man. The image burned into their minds was just that: an image. A taunt.
Garus charged ahead anyway, dragging Diamantus with him. The ordeal was not yet over, however. An explosion sounded off the starboard side, reverberating around them. Then, a bolt of violet lightning ripped through the Arsenic, striking Libra's falling body. The lightning darkened, black as night, and arced out in five different directions at once. One bolt struck the pair of velen, while a second arced to Micali's rifle and then through her body.
The black lightning tore through the ship, already stressed by the forces of the unnatural storm and the ocean's own pressure. The hull ripped down the center and then the ship began to tear itself apart, with engines in three different parts of the submersible shearing off and spiraling in different directions.
Life ships tumbled away through the turbulent waters, whipped about on unnatural currents, some of them hit by the black lightning as it snaked through the expanse of ocean. They slammed against each other, against debris from the ship. In one such ship, Gwen and Laermont struggled to hold on, with just over a dozen other escapees in the pod with them. In another, Amanita and her demon were swept along, this ship again only partly filled. The life pods scattered, some surging straight for the surface while others were dragged on unseen tides.
Just as suddenly as the lightning came, it was gone again. Far above, the mass of dark clouds almost immediately began to dissipate. By the time the first lifeboat hit the surface, the rain had almost completely stopped, though the storm-high waves continued to slam into them.
On the ship's bridge, the helmsman slumped to the floor in disbelief, his back to the ship's wheel. Behind him, the glass in the windows began cracking. In front of him, cold seawater trickled through the bulkhead before the force of onrushing water slammed the rest of the way through the door and began filling the room. The velen gnashed his teeth and lifted up his vox, hoping someone heard the distress call.
His fellow crewmates had already gone to prepared the lifeboat pods, to evacuate as many people as possible. He had stayed behind, trying to ride out the storm, to keep the ship intact, to keep everyone alive. A wry laugh slipped out. "You owe me a drink for this, cap," he muttered to the empty room. "None of the cheap stuff, either."
Focusing on the gem in his hands, he called out the ship's last coordinates again. It had to be from the bridge, where the calls could be amplified. The water was already up to his chest, but he didn't bother standing. He exhaled from his lungs and sucked in the rising water through his gills.
Glass shattered from the intense pressure. The rest of the bridge flooded. The ocean pressed in, crushing him, but he stubbornly sent one more distress call.
The ship finally breached the surface, launching into the air before splashing back down. The yellow-feathered enlil nearest to the exit yanked back a lever. The canopy unsealed and retracted halfway, allowing sunlight and fresh air in. The pod was an oblong oval, with a rounded canopy. There was no means of propulsion, but there were survival rations beneath the bench seating.
A splash resounded nearby as a second pod breached the surface nearby. The life boats were a bright orange, similar to Garus' coloring, in fact. A third boat surfaced. When their tops opened, Amanita looked at their occupants, wondering if Diamantus made it out, but unable to find her among the survivors.
The spinning sometimes slowed or changed direction, but never fully stopped. More than one of the survivors hurled onto the floor as they all struggled to hang on. Debris rattled against the hull from the outside, and one particularly heavy impact dented in the outer walls of the lifeboat. A seam opened on the inside.
Another hit, more tumbling. Something began hissing near the back of the boat. A thunderous crack filled the pod and the seam split wider, letting water start spraying inward. Shouts rose up and the one velen in the group reached for a lever before being tackled by a demvir.
Somehow, though, the ship escaped the violent current, spiraling up toward the surface and breaching the water, before slamming back down hard. Violent scraping and squealing filled the pod, followed by brief silence and then a heavy thud. Everything stopped moving. The survivors sat in stunned silence for full minutes, sure that something else was going to happen.
When someone finally pulled the lever to open the canopy, Laermont and Gwen looked out to find they had washed up on an island. Relief was soon tempered by the sight of nearby debris, part of the Arsenic's tail by the look of it.
Splashing. A thud. Unintelligible shouting and the clamor of boots against wooden planks.
Ropes bit into her skin and then she felt the world spin as her body was flipped over. Hissing and grinding, then a snap as some of the ropes loosened. A heavy hand fell on her back, again, then again, until a spasm rolled through her and she opened wide, spewing sea water and bile. Her body was wracked with shudders as she emptied the ocean out onto the boards, gulping in sweet, sweet air and ignoring the burning in her chest.
Finally, Micali opened her eyes and looked around. By reflex, her hand went for her knife -- it wasn't there -- but she suppressed the panic. Three velen, fishermen by the looks of them. Not from the Arsenic. In fact, there was no sign of anyone or anything from the ship in sight.
Saying nothing, she craned her head back and got a better view of the surroundings. She was on a boat, not far from shore, but which shore? From this distance, the buildings she could see of the nearest village were tan and white, some with red clay tiled rooftops. The sun beat down mercilessly, and she could make out scrub palm trees elsewhere on the coast.
She began to rise, only then realizing she had a death grip on the barrel of her rifle, still entangled in the fishing net she'd apparently been hauled up with.
When the bolt of lightning ran through her, it was like fire in every nerve, flash frying her senses. For an unknown length of time she floated in a white daze, disconnected from everything around her. Libra's death, the vision of the ophidian, the blackness of the lightning, the blackness of death itself… they played through her mind over and over again.
The stupor lasted long enough that she began to suspect that might be it. After everything she had done and everything she had survived, maybe this was the end. Death… or purgatory. Then, reality returned. It was no gentle waking, as if from a dream; all of a sudden cold engulfed her, surrounded her, ice water rushing through her gills.
Diamantus opened her eyes. She was upside-down, underwater, one hand still holding tightly to Garus' shoulder. The burly man was still unconscious. All around them was open water, with no sign of the Arsenic, its crew or passengers, or even any landmarks.
If the frigid temperature was anything to go by, though, they were a long way from the Aridusian coast.
[1440/2195] Final
Although time ran out, Micali made the best decision given the situation. This may not be the prettiest outcome, but it's not a fatal one for you all. Obviously, I would have preferred for you all to figure out the hints sooner or enact Amanita's plan or something along those lines, but I will say that for Amanita/Laermont to make the choice to cut their losses and escape with their lives (and carry Gwen along for the ride) was smart. It was the right choice to make when things didn't pan out.
With that being said, I promise you guys that I do (and will continue to) drop hints whenever there's a puzzle or mystery to solve. Keep an eye out for them. Also, talk to each other. At least one of you had suspicions that you didn't share with the rest, which might have led to a better outcome.
The 1d100 rolls were for Micali and Diamantus, nearest to Libra when she was shot. The 1d20 rolls were for Laermont, Gwen, and Amanita. The rolls served two purposes.
First, the sum of your rolls, times 10, is how many survivors there are. Out of 2600 (including passengers and crew), there are 1440 survivors (1160 casualties). The 1d20 rolls are directly how many people are in your lifeboat, not including your characters; each life boat had a maximum occupancy of 20. (Unintentionally, my turn came out close to 1440 before revision, so I also bumped it up to that.)
Second, your individual rolls determined where your characters ended up.
Laermont (7) and Gwen (6) getting almost the same number worked out rather well, since they were near each other to start and ended up in the same life-boat, along with 13 other survivors. The lifeboat is no longer seaworthy, but there are still survival supplies in it, and there is debris from the Arsenic on the island. I encourage you to write chapters or collabs, potentially finding your own way off the island using what skills and items are available to you.
Amanita (13) had a smoother escape (also fitting, since she was maintaining her composure and trying to direct things), and is near some other survivors. The island the others crashed on is not immediately visible, but is not too far off. I'd encourage you to write chapters or collabs to try to reunite with the others or work toward your own rescue.
Regardless, the helmsman's distress call will bring in help within 7 days, if you don't find an alternative. Consider this interim an optional period.
The ones hit directly by the black lightning were actually teleported toward one of the shamans involved in the storm summoning.
Micali (84) was dropped into the Basal Lake itself, on its northern shores, near a fishing village I have not named, yet. You're welcome to name it, or ask me at a later time to give it a name. This is just outside the fighting surrounding Flumen Petram (southeast of Micali's location). Finding a way to Flumen Petram, or to the lab she's after, is your personal challenge. It won't be as easy as stealing a boat and sailing comfortably, but I look forward to reading what you decide to do.
Diamantus (34) and Garus were dropped in the Sea of Occidens, near where the fighting is fiercest. The low roll has basically resulted in a "back to start" outcome. That being said, they are now closest to the specific shaman who possessed Libra, and who they were given a vision of. I'm a little less clear on what to recommend here since Diamantus has motivations I don't fully understand, yet, but I look forward to seeing which way you go.
If any of you have questions, ask me any time. When I wrap up the Geamhess portion, I'll start the next phase. This may take a little longer, because I'll be working in some world-building descriptions for Pelagia.
