The sun gradually makes its way across the horizon, finally setting behind it as you journey ever closer to the mainland. Not sure what awaits you, you all find yourselves coping however you choose. Some perhaps asleep. Some reading. Some chatting or even staring at the ceiling and just listening to the groaning of the ship as it cuts a swath through the sea.

The groaning seems to intensify over the next few minutes. It's not just the creaking of the wood that you hear. It sounds as though the ocean is growling at you. It echoes faintly through the hull and makes your below deck quarters all the more eerie.

AJ, for her part, can hear something odd. A voice inside her head that hisses a warning. "Dead men tell no talessss...."

(OOC: You have all passed outside the border of the island. Powers or anything suppressed by the anti magic wards will now start to manifest. Let me know if you have any questions.)

In reply to Her Majesty (msg # 1):

AJ slithered up from the inky depths toward a silhouette cast by the moon above a ship. She stretched eel-like claw tipped tentacles with giant tooth ringed suckers all along them up toward the vessel. Her roar of hunger and dark blood soaked glee rattled the ocean and sent a fountain of bubbles ahead of her to froth the sea and quake the ship...

AJ woke up thrashing her arms like they were still those tentacles, roaring a battle cry like that bellow had been her own and for the first time since she was like three years old flipped herself out of bed.  Pain from her injuries cleared her head and the scream cut off as she looked wildly around.

She was in only a pair of loose draw string oriental fish patterned pj pants that sat nicely on her hips and a matching thin strapped crop-top. The bared mid-rift showed off not only the fact that she possessed a rather nice sixpack but also large mottled bruises and a criss cross of old pale scars in her bronze skin. She bounded back up from the floor to snatch her sword out of its scabbard where it hung on a peg near where her head had been in the hammock... and in the process bumped hard into Gi's Hammock which might flip her friend and Drizz the cat out of that one unceremoniously.

OOC: Not sure where Chance wants to have been sleeping but he is welcome to have been in the hammock with AJ. Only Sleeping though :-P

In the dead of night, Jack was not below decks.  His carefully laid-out bedroll had no occupant, except for a neatly folded coat.

He found himself on the deck, long after the others had taken to sleep, sitting on an emptied keg against the rail.  Tucked near the forecastle, away from the smothering sense of hostility that persisted even in dreams.  Beside him, his enigmatic suitcase rested, open, its contents bared.  In his lap, he held an instrument, bittersweet chords vanishing out over the passing waves.

---

Spoiler for Music: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb6uwj-xl8k

---

His playing stopped with a sudden, discordant jolt when he felt a shudder, as if a ghost had passed over him.  Or, perhaps, he had passed through a ghost.  He stood up, looking out over the water, his brow furrowing with worry.  Something seemed wrong.  The waves rippled in a strange, unnatural fashion.  Water droplets seemed to spiral into the air, launched by the ship's ever-pressing prow, with no intention of ever falling back into the sea.

He reached up, his hand tucking into the pocket of his vest, feeling the familiar pulsing tick of his gold watch, glancing down at it by pure reflex.  When he looked up, everything had returned to normal, the strange and unsettling dissonance seeming to have repaired itself in an instant.

He tugged off one of his gloves, rubbing over one eye, feeling suddenly feverish.  Maybe he could get seasick.

While he wasn't in her hammock, Chance wasn't far from, opting to avoid getting growled at by the 'Privateers' for any sort of being forward, by sleeping on a bedroll almost underneath AJ.  He wasn't initially woken by the outburst, but soon after... well, that's a different story.

He grumbles, still half asleep, "What the f..."

Q's crew were in their hammock's with the exception of Q, who was sitting on a set of crates he had pulled over from nearby; first watch and all that.  CK's ears perk up a bit but doesn't seem to move beyond that.  Ilsa groans and slightly lifts her head from the hammock.  Q?

"Go back to sleep Ils- Dock Rat just had a nightmare," Quinn replied offhandedly as he fidgeted with a match.  The young woman's head plopped back down and Quinn smirked.  "Ok there? Need me to tuck you in Dock Rat?"

Gi was in her own hammock, though not sleeping.  It wasn't that she wasn't tired;  she was, extremely so.  Her mother had guaranteed she was unable to rest the night before.  Several factors kept her from doing more than dozing in and out, though.  One was the sheer number of people, so she hardly felt safe enough to give in to the vulnerability of a deeper sleep.  Another was the fact she was naturally a light sleeper and each noise, foreign as the were, brought her to full wakefulness.  The biggest detractor, however, was her own pressing and restless thoughts and concerns.

AJs nightmares, though, were nothing new to her.  She'd crashed in AJ's cave more than once and both girls were often prone to them.  "AJ, you are okay," she said, soothingly, allowing her hammock to stop swaying so frantically before she shifted in it.  Unlike her friend, she didn't want to risk flipping out.  She'd had enough accidents for one day.  "We are on the ship, remember?  We are headed for the mainland."  Her words were gentle, soothing.  "Put down the sword.  It was only a nightmare," she added.  It wasn't that she thought AJ would rashly attack anyone without provocation - okay, at least not with a sword - but people were often unpredictable in the half-waking state.  Plus, Q seemed intent on provoking.  Then again, him acting normal might be just enough to help balance AJ out.

In reply to Gisela O'Cuinn (msg # 6):

Drizz Hissed at the sudden eruption and sank claws into Gi. He had been around both girls having nightmares before but the moment he came out of his nap on his persons chest... he smelled Fish. Not good yummy fish but rotten, dangerous, cat eating fish. Like that Shark Aj had proudly brought back to the cave one time.

That kept his fur up even after it would normally have calmed down, "Someone make that SMELL go away.... Why is the Ocean growling at us?!? "

In reply to Drizz (Cat) (msg # 7):

AJ looks wildly around, waving the sword in arcs that are both crazed and skilled, at least until the voices of Q and Gi sink in.

"Ew you wish Q," She growls while getting her breathing under control again. Then She gulps and says, "I am comin...IT...it is coming to eat us. I ...IT..wants to tear this ship apart."

Then something even more nonsensical than her lame attempts to relay a warning gets through to her and she looks incredulously at Drizz, "Did you just fucking talk?!"

Even her nightmare is forgotten in that moment of weirdness!

"Ow, Drizz!" Gisela called out the sudden claws, immediately trying to extricate them.  More worried about the pinpricks, it took her another moment to realize that Drizz had spoken.  As it dawned on her, she stared for several long moments at the feline.  She'd had him for a long time.  He'd never spoken before.  Was he magical and just coming into it since they'd crossed the barrier?  No, that didn't make sense.  The other animals had been able to talk.

"Brat," she muttered, still in shock over the sudden ability of her pet to talk.  Great, now he would really think he was a person.  Cat entitlements had been bad enough.  At least she'd met more than one talking animal before, so it wasn't as shocking as it could have been.  "Get off," she muttered, pushing the fat cat off of her.

While she hadn't truly slept, Gi hadn't paid attention to much.  She'd known they had crossed the barrier, but had been ignoring the noises.  More accurately, she'd tuned them out.  With AJ and the cat reacting so strongly, though, she figured she'd at least see what was going on up on deck.  She climbed out of her hammock.  "It is likely nothing," Gisela says to Drizz and AJ, "but I am going to make certain.  Things can get weird this side of the barrier."  She looks over at Q.  "You wanted to know when we'd cross.  We did not too long ago."  She had known they did.  Everything just felt different, more alive.

The night had been all quiet. Heck, even most of the day had been. Alameth could tell when they crossed the barrier though. It wasn't the noises of the ship or the noises of the sea even. For him, it was just the sheer pain and agony as his body changed.

He rapidly changed from the quiet giant to quite literally, a quiet giant of roughly fifteen feet in height. It would have been hard to tell if it was that, the sudden dip as this side suddenly gained a large amount of weight, or somethin..else that threw the cart over the side of the ship, a loud clang as it hits the outside of the ship when the length of the chain runs out and the sizzle of the lava hitting the water. It's the only thing that happens before he drops to the ground. He hits the deck of the ship, hard, as he comes down. The look of pain on his face is one thing that might deter onlookers, but it could also be the noises as he falls...one, two, three...four loud bangs against the deck as he catches himself.

Off to the side, his ring is shining brightly as it seems to hovers a few inches off the deck.

In reply to Alameth (msg # 10):

Awoken by a loud bang, Alani shot up like a lightning bolt and attached to the first high point she saw. Securely she hung on with her claws satisfied that she was out of danger and no longer moving, she looked around and noticed the mast of the ship a little to the left of her.....
WHAT was she ON? looking down she realized her claws dug deep into familiar tanned skin.
"ALAMETH!!!"she yelled, She tried to desperately retract her claws but was stuck in his overly elaborate leather shirt. "What in the Hades is going on?" she could feel his agony and felt worse for causing him more pain. She tugged at the shirt with her teeth in the hopes of being untangled.

Quinn sighed at G, looking seriously non-surplussed; like he had just had a bad fig and couldn't get the taste out of his mouth.

A moment later he glanced at AJ.  "I'm sorry, is that weird Dock Rat?  For the cat to talk?  Cause the bunny," Q began with a smarmy look before he broke out into a full grin.  "Wait if the Cat can talk now does that mean Jack can't," he asked loudly with a sense of hope that was bursting at the seams with mockery.

In reply to Quinten Heart (msg # 12):

Below decks Drizz, unceremoniously dumped on the floor, coyly looks at his favorite humans and just says, "Meow?" It comes out in a tone that says it was clearly not expected to be believed.

He dashes off after Gi quickly enough to avoid getting something thrown at him by AJ.

In reply to Drizz (Cat) (msg # 13):

AJ still looks befuddled as she responds to Q's question, "Um ... I don't know. Maybe? I think he is upstairs." She quickly pulls on a thin seal leather overcoat from her backpack and straps her sword belt on around it before heading after Gi.  She would not be fighting half naked!

Eva sits up in her hammock, grinning ear to ear and looking far too much like her father in that moment. "We've passed beyond the ward..." she admires, standing to be at eye level with the looking glass shard. "Mirror mirror..." she begins, running a finger down its length. It responds with an eerie green glow. "Oh this will do just fine."

Morg looks over at Eva and grunts in disgust. "Great. She just got creepier than Phasma."

Phasma sits up and giggles in an almost disembodies fashion. "I smell death..." she whispers through an unsettling smile. Her white hair has begun to levitate unnaturally as though she was underwater. She looks more ghostly and ethereal than ever.

Missy seems to be taking it in with interest. Mostly the talking cat. "Talking kitty! We can be best friends!" she shouts giddily.

"Shut... up..." Shan says in annoyance as he rubs at his temples. He looks quite perturbed by being awakened at what is conceivably an ungodly hour by his standards.

"For once I agree with him," Javed chimes in. He's already slunk out of his bedroll. He stands crouched like a hunter before putting his ear to the floor. "Somethings out there."

"Well we aren't out there," Quinn shrugged.  "Just don't go for a swim and the ocean won't bite," he added as he glanced about at Eva and Phasma; his eyes tightened just a second as his lips turned down at the corners before he went back to focusing on his match.  "We have a dread pirate and a friendly giant whose sole job it is to make sure we reach the mainland, I see no point in doing their job for them."

"Finally. Someone speaking sense. Let's listen to him."

The voice is muffled and comes... from Gi's bag???

In reply to Her Majesty (msg # 28):

Keeping to her norm, Gi's bag had remained tossed over one shoulder.  It had less to do with not trusting the others, though she really didn't, and more to do with the fact everything she had of meaning to herself was in that bag.  No way was she just leaving it laying around.

Gisela had made it only a few steps up the stairs when everyone else awoke.  She'd hesitated at all the voices, including Q's reasoned one.  Everyone was find, though, only AJ and Drizz seemed too bothered.  She didn't want to go find herself embroiled in a battle up above.  Q had a point that the Captain and crew could probably deal with everything.  On the other hand, she was feeling rather claustrophobic again.

Of course, her entire focus changed as a voice came from her bag.  "What is the world?" Gisela mutters, eyes wide as she un-shoulders her bag and places it on the step beside her.  Taking a seat on the stair as well, she inspected the bag.  No creatures on it to be the source of the voice.  Had something climbed in her bag?  Another talking animal, perhaps?  As if she needed more of those.

Finding nothing on the bag, she starts to gingerly pull things from her bag and placing them on her lap.  She put aside the wrapped parcel containing the white dress.  Wolf's suggestion had worked wonders on drying the green dress and, after returning the rock she'd been given, she had changed into the original dress.  She set aside a cloth-covered circle, several inches in diameter.  She rested it gently atop the dress.  So far, nothing that could have spoken.  A few books were placed next to her.  She shifted what was left, still finding no creature.

"It couldn't be," she mused.  She returned the items to her bag, but the arrangement now left a box-shaped impression on the back of the bag, pressed against it by the change in arrangement.  With a sigh and a heavy dose of weariness, she pulled a large book out of her bag - that was the box shape - and puts the bag on the stair below her.  She turned it over to as if inspecting it.  It was an ancient book, bound in a hard cover, but with the appearance of leather.  There were several strange markings all over it.  Wards, runes, and various knot work designs were a combination of etched and burned into it.  As if for overkill on security, there were two matching strips of leather attached roughly two inches from top and bottom, each with a fastened buckle to keep it shut.  Further, there as a latch centered between the two with a lock.  "No, that's ridiculous," Gisela mutters once more, shaking her head.  "I must be losing my mind."

Jack leaned over the rail, his ears drooping as he contemplated the contents of his gut, and tried to silently negotiate with them to forestall their revolt.  His head swam, the rhythmic rocking of the vessel seeming to shift moment-to-moment, from soaring weightlessly out of the waves, until it seemed ready to take off, to an almost violent pitch, making him bow over the rail and grip tightly with both hands.

It was only his intense concentration to the fairly constant surface of the water that allowed him to notice it.

He recoiled in shock, and, stumbling over his luggage, he scrambled to the door, heaving it open, and bellowing a warning belowdecks.

The sight of him as stood silhouetted in the moonlight was deeply disturbing.  His movements were jilted, as if he was being jolted by live wires, and his frantic gesticulations towards the starboard side looked like an inhuman, mechanical spasm.  No words issued forth as he called down into the crew quarters, only an insane barking monosyllable, bulging with vowels and consonants that seemed to trip over each other into a one-man cacophony that was over in less than a second.

And then, as swiftly as he had appeared, he simply.... ceased to exist.  His body faded at the edges, as he slowly turned to look over his shoulder, as if remembering some other business he had to attend to.  Then, without a sound, he simply vanished from view, as if he had never been.

Warning issued, he stumbled up the deck, towards the wheel, where the waking crew were undoubtedly clustered.  If they hadn't spotted anything, they had to know.

He staggered up the deck, tottering back and forth as the ship seemed to hover over the waves, bracing himself for the impact.

Just as suddenly, he appeared at the helmsman's side, tugging his sleeve.  "...some kind of monster," he cut in, as if in mid-sentence.  "Off the starboard bow.  Under the ship!  Did you see!?"

Alani got herself untangled from the decorative top Alameth wore. She landed on her feet. Alameth was huge, he had somehow grown and was taking up most of the deck.

In reply to Alani (msg # 31):

The big black cat gingerly strolls back up beside Gi on the stairs up to the deck, "Well since I am out of the Bag as they say...your not crazy. I heard the voice in your pack too."

Valuing his life he dashes away right after that up the stairs as if having her find out he can talk after seven  years was not going to make her feel crazy as well.

He gets up on the wildly swaying deck with the poise and balance of a true feline....and gawks at the grossly enlarged Alameth trying to literally crush Drizz's CRUSH!

He meows out back down stairs, "Uh I think you all should come see this..."

"Still don't care...," Q called out with total indifference.  His crew glanced at him slightly to which he frowned dismissively shaking his head.

Alameth looks towards Alani as his straps seem to loosen themselves and he gets to his knees. He quickly signs to her, "It would seem that we hit the barrier. I'll let the others know."

He proceeds to slowly stand up, making sure not to damage anything in the process. Walking slowly towards the cabins, he notices Drizz just a moment before he dashed inside. He drops to his knees with a bang outside the cabin stairs before he reaches his arm inside and knocks along the inside of the stairwell.

In reply to Alani (msg # 34):

Drizz scurries back down the stairs chased by a humongus arm larger than Alameths or the friendly giants.... maybe this was some sort of attacking beast! It beats on the walls when it misses Drizz, the cat dashing to hide behind Gi.

AJ does the only sensible thing...she jabs that big limb hard with her sword tip!

"BACK YE BEAST! BACK," She calls gleeful to be engaged in battle and sounding like she was performing in a shakespearean play!

OOC: 18:06, Today: AJ Rourke rolled 22 using 1d20+8 ((14)). Attack: +6 Dmg Bonus.

The wall near her being attacked first by a giant arm and hand, and again by her bestie, Gisela makes quick work of grabbing the bag and the book and jumping down the last few stairs.  It would seem that she wasn't going to be making it to the deck for some time.

"So, I understand you don't wish to fight on deck, Heart, but... what if the fight were to come to you?"

"Really? Your mother cursed people into barnyard fowl and it's a talking book you question?"

The old spell book was indeed talking. An oddly indented face had appeared on the cover allowing for the optical illusion that it's gaze could follow you around the room. Or... you hope it's an illusion.

"Dear God, someone DID actually reproduce with Madam Mim. I mean, I heard but seeing it for myself..."

The helmsman looks around in concern. His face creases in scrutiny of the dark as he stepped to the railing. He squinted at the water, trying hard to see what could have upset Jack so. All that appears is a roil of foam and a patch of seaweed lolling by.

"Twas nothing but a bit of kelp!" He says with a roll of his eyes. "Nothing to get your hackles up ab-"

His sentence fades off in a high pitched scream as an ungodly large tentacle rises from the deep on the other side of the deck. It comes down across the deck, shattering the rail and shaking the entire ship before it pulled back.

A second tentacle slithered up onto the deck and began probing the stairs to the hold. It was looking for something.

Morgan seems oddly nonplussed by AJ and her battle with the giant. Clearly he's seen more unsettling things. "Woman's insane..." he mutters, rubbing his eyes.

Alameth is suddenly pushed aside, his meaty arm being replaced by a larger, longer arm covered in tiny suction cups and a foul smelling sort of slime.

Morgan is on his feet in a single bound, drawing his cutlass. "KRAAKEN!" he yells at the top of his lungs.

In reply to Morgan Barbossa (msg # 39):

Wolf was awake long before the danger.  The commotion caused by giant hands and swordplay made sure of that.  But when the cry of Kraken came, he rose.  Wolf picked up his bow and strung it quickly.  He snatched up a quiver of arrows and his hatchet as he headed to the stairwell.

In reply to Wolf (msg # 40):

GM: Okay things are kinda blending together and hard to keep track of here. So I am going to break this scene up for now into the Above Decks and Still of Night (Below Decks) threads.

Above Decks: Alameth, Alani, Jack, The ships Crew.

Below decks in the "Still of Night Thread": Everyone else.

I have done up maps for the ship, and both the upper and crew deck as of round 1. lower case initials indicate an NPC, Upper case is a PC. Green lines are the Tentacles that have shown themselves so far. The dread pirate and his giant friend are currently unseen...probably in a cabin(s) on the Main Deck.  The Crows Nest is several stories up the foremast. Rigging and some boats on the main deck near the Forecastle described earlier are not shown on the map but still present. Alameth's cart has gone overboard into the sea as described in his post earlier.

From now on if your Above deck make sure you post in the right thread please to help us keep the story straight in each area.

Yes there are two ways to the main deck from the Crew deck, a ladder and a stairwell. The Stairwell is blocked by the green tentacle of the Krakken.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:42, Thu 20 July 2017.

In reply to The Voice of Reason (msg # 41):

The flailing rotten fish smelling tree trunk thick arm was studded with wicked looking suckers...and Drizz was having NOTHING to do with it. He fled further into the hold and straight to young Mim who was the furthest person away that the cat liked, so Eva did not count as being further away.

In reply to Drizz (Cat) (msg # 42):

The Giant arm got yanked out of the stairwell right after she stabbed it...but Aj's celebration was cut short when that ugly krakken limb replaced it. Morgan's bellow made her turn her head towards him...

The world slowed down baywatch style; Morgan was shirtless, muscular, tattooed, glistening with the faint sheen of sea spray that reached even the interior of the ship through the deck above, and wielding a cutlass while bravely launching himself upon a sea monster...AJ had never seen anything that hot since Chance had crotch kicked The Black Knight on a dare.

She actually got mooney eyed as he passed by to hack at the tentacle. She wanted to slap him on his firm posterior... but there were sea monsters to slay! Life just kept getting better and better!

Her own cutlass swept down to slash at the invading beasts sucker mouth pimpled arm!
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:06, Thu 20 July 2017.

In reply to AJ Rourke (msg # 43):

Gisela backpedaled several steps from the stairwell.  She wasn't afraid, but that didn't mean she lacked survival instinct.  She was no fighter and no use in a battle, so she freed the way for those who could fight a giant sea creature to have their way.  Besides, she didn't need to make herself the easily grab-able cliche princess again.  "Careful," she calls out to AJ and Wolf and, really, anyone moving to fight the creature.

Instead, she took stock of the room, looking for anything of use.

Ilsa spun out of her bunk and quickly stepped behind Q when the massive arm came lumbering down the stairs.  Q had scowled.  As the arm was replaced by a tentacle Quinn gritted his teeth and slide from his crate.  "...openly lament the fact that it's so hard to find good help and quietly make a list of the more incompetent peons for when you need to make... cuts... to the staff," he muttered silently as he stretched out a phantom kink in his neck.

He didn't move forward.  Rather Q glanced back to make sure Il was behind him and then frowned for a moment. "Where the hell...," he cursed before looking back and clenching his fists.

In reply to Quinten Heart (msg # 45):

Chance shakes the last vestiges of sleep from himself, before growling mostly to himself, and stating, "Well... I had someone curse me with an interestin' life before.  I guess this is life throwing seven again and again."  He draws his customary deck of cards before pulling one off the top and sending it spinning with deadly intent toward the arm of the Kraken.

"You definitely want three off the top..."

The little door on the side of Nyxia's lamp home opened up and the faerie poked her head out to see what the commotion was.

"Oh dear!"

It was definitely not good.  On the scale of not good, a kracken was off the scale.

She zipped out of her home, twinkling motes marking her path.  She flew toward AJ, then thought better of it.

"Oh dear," she cried again.  Someone was going to pay for disrupting her beauty sleep.

The roar of the beast can be heard from up on deck. The tentacle flops about, feeling around inside the hold. Morgan draws first blood as his cutlass hacks a deep wound in the slimy flesh. AJ's blade comes down next, spattering the floorboards with its blood as she deepens the wound. Despite the creatures arm being damn near cut in two at this point, it continues to flail wildly.

Chance's hit seems to be the last straw as the creature becomes tired of these games. It's tentacle wraps around Morgans leg. Morgan tries to hack himself free but the blow doesn't land. Another angry roar emanates from outside as the creature begins dragging Morgan up the staircase.

"Where is what?  What are you looking for?" Gisela demands irritably.  She'd been on boat long enough that the voice she was hearing didn't belong to those in the cabin.  And the crew wouldn't be demanding some unnamed thing or making threats based on it.  So... that left the least logical thing...  The kraken was talking.  Wonderful.

"If you tell us what you want, perhaps we can come to an agreement?"

"Oh look," Q muttered disdainfully, "the Dock-rats are in trouble." Loath to leave Ilsa's side, and not entirely convinced he cared all that much for the dock-rat's fate Q hesitated for just a second as he glanced around again, frowning.  In the end his disdain for incompetence outweighed his lack in interest and he moved to grab Morgan's hand; and save the idiot from his own self.

In reply to Quinten Heart (msg # 50):

Q just missed gripping his hand, the dockrat was pulled out of the hold and up onto the deck above....everyone chasing him now able to follow up the now empty stairwell.

OOC: Anyone following Morgan can now post instead in the Up on Deck thread. Everyone else post here.