Gaja stayed just a moment longer, crouching to soak a sleeve in the blood welling up. Then she leapt, and her ordinary relationship with gravity resumed.

  "It's comiiiiinnnngggg!" she yelled all the way down, until she crashed into the deck with a soft patter, like a cat coming down from a stool. Her left arm looked like she just assisted with birthing an auroch, and her grin was a little mad. "New friends, dead sailors, spoiled fish—we are free again. Please keep your legs and arms inside the boat; I can only protect so much." As the reasonable retreated to shelter, Gaja ran up to stand on the wheel. She kicked it spinning just as things started to move.

---

I can't believe I'm doing this, but a third miracle for Fire Dance. GM, are there separate situational hazards to choose between? I figure Being Disgorged sounds like a valid target.

Increase looked to his bosun and nodded. He would have to keep the man on in his retainer; he was quite useful.

"Brace yourselves!"

---

Using my last Effort for an Artifice Miracle. Going to protect the ship from harm. Hopefully that'll at least keep it intact. Can't say much for its occupants.

Coming up is much more rapid and violent than coming down.

The internal musculature of the behemoth flexes, and suddenly the ship is propelled upwards at an insane rate, acid rising up to the deck and spraying all around.

Even under the deck, the motion slams everyone to the ground, though miraculously, no one is harmed, moving on their own with graceful movements to positions where they will not be harmed. Not that you can tell with sight: without Claire, the interior of the ship is pitch black.

On the deck, only Claire and Gaja remain. Claire finds her dance routines taking over, and she makes odd graceful movements across the deck as the ship rises.

The darkness is blessed, as the ship once again squeezes through the esophigal tube, covered in acid that drops everywhere on the deck except where Claire and Gaja happens to dance. There is a horrific organic pulsing as the vessel runs into some sort of organic membrane, then the acid and gas from behind propel the ship through it, preposterously not tearing the vessel in half.

Suddenly the ship is in the water, madly spinning from the imparted force and the drag of the water. Only magic keeps the two on deck from floating off the deck, and the humans below from smashing around the hull like cheap crockery. The interior hull fills with water, but it will still be minutes before that's a concern, and pressure is working against it.

Claire and Gaja, light still glowing off Claire, are treated to an underwater view of the beast that swallowed them, a vast black and gold fish. Later if she checked her databanks or with Scholar, she might identify it as a ridiculously oversized Siclid or Oscarfish.

The thing gazed at them as they floated upwards, quickly moving off as bouancy forced them out of the water. Inside the cabin, the already knee deep water began poring out. Outside, the ship floated and bobbed. Sunlight robbed Gaja of her sight momentarily as her eyes adjusted to the glare, and the unbearable smell of rotting fish guts and acid were replaced by salt spray and.. well, it was still pretty fishy actually- you are on a fishing vessel.

But you are on the surface and you are alive, at least.

[OOC - Yeah, this would have killed a lot of people and the ship would have been seriously damaged without miricle use here. ]
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:01, Wed 28 Nov 2018.

Increase did not take the time to enjoy his survival and instead began bellowing orders.

"I need a status report! Did we lose anyone else?! What's the status of the ship?"

As he spoke he walked, bracing himself with an outstretched hand along the wall of the ship.

"I need this ship moving immediately. We do not want a repeat attempt."

The surviving men made their way onto the deck, blinking against the sun, amazed to be alive and in one piece.

The men were earily silent as they saw Gaja and Claire on the deck. There was no way either should be alive after that. A few made signs. "A damn miricle" one said as he started his duties.

The bosun took his first real breath in a while and relayed orders. "Captain, we lost the mast going down. Riggers! Craft! Get the jury rig out on the double!" He ordered. "Captain, it'll take us a half hour at least to set it up with the spare canvas."

  Gaja spent a few seconds wringing water and probably viscera out of her hair.  It still clung to her shoulders unpleasantly.  She caught up with Increase and the bosun still visibly annoyed about it.

  "You might have to dump the fish, too," she said.  "I know the pay is important, but it's the only reason to eat a boat.  You bring tons of food together in one place that moves slow."  She paused to wipe the ongoing drip out of her eyes.

Increase looked to the canvas and grimaced.

"No, I will see to it. Have the men empty the holds as Gaja has said. If anyone gives you trouble then tell them that they can go with the fish overboard and try their luck with the sea beast."

Increase then set about displaying his zenith ability. He worked with the speed of 1000 men as knowledge poured into his mind.

Once the men have the mast in Scholar's capable hands, it assembles rapidly, Scholar setting it up rapdily. The men begin dumping the fish en mass behind the boat and bailing the large empty holds for fish that had been established. No one argued with losing a payday: being eaten alive tended to put one's priority in order, and might rather put one off eating fish for a bit.

Despite scholar's speed, it still takes a bit to get the mast out of storage, and it's just being put into place when one of the crew screams "Starboard bow!"

A huge shape breaches the water, and the fish breaches the water, beginning to head towards the boat.

"Look at the size of that thing." One man said as he helped hoist the jury-rig into place. It would still be at least a minute, even with Scholar's inhumanly accurate rapid movements, to set up the place.

It was a minute that they didn't quite have.

The bosun screams "Ready harpoons spears and push poles!" but he can't manage much confidence as he says it, and looks at Gaja and Claire.

  "Claire.  Can you freeze it like the boats?"  Gaja looked anxious, which was actually a first on this trip.  "When it opens its mouth!"

  She stepped out onto the ocean off starboard, light as a waterbug.  Someone offered her a harpoon, but gusts were already whipping the surface of the water at her feet.  She squared her shoulders and walked forward as though there was any "going through" and "getting to" at that scale difference, but it was inescapably a show for the men's sake.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:22, Fri 30 Nov 2018.

Claire nodded. "Right. Increase, keep us at a distance," she called out, and then froze the water around the beast in a hemispherical iceberg.

Edited per a PM.

21:03, Today: Claire Durand rolled 5 using 1d10.  Boreal Spike smite damage.

One point of damage. Plus it's an ice fish now.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:04, Fri 30 Nov 2018.

Increase nodded and then spoke aloud.

"You heard the woman! Let's get this ship moving!"

Increase dedicated himself to assisting his men in getting the ship moving once more, wishing to put as much distance between them and the massive fish as possible.

The first time Claire used her power, it was scary and terrifying. Unlike the first time, the sudden burst of cold hadn't ended a dozen or so lives, instantly. However, this time, it created a vast block of ice, nearly half a kilometer long and a fifth of a kilometer deep, in the middle of the ocean, a sudden ice berg large enough that you could walk on it if you wanted.

And encased in that ice was the huge gold and black fish.

It was not totally encased. Nor was it dead, by any means. Actually, in terms of actual damage, it was totally unaffected by the ice, simply due to the sheer scale of the thing. A whale would be completely encased in the thing, instantly surrounded. However, this fish was HUGE. It had swallowed a fishing vessel large enough for a dozen or so men, whole, without great difficulty. The ice surrounded it, but it wasn't exactly a popsicle, and while slowed, it was already trying to struggle against it's icy bonds.

The only question was, how long would it take for the fish to escape it's icy prison.

Scholar did not intend to find out. Working with preternatural quickness, the mast practically assembled itself. The other topmen tried not to marvel at the ridiculous feat - which was fairly easy, given that the entire day had been a veritable cavalcade of impossible deeds. Within a minute, the topmen give their thumbs up.

The bosun wasted no time. "Turn leeward! Sails to full! And dump all the fish we got! Crack the barrels before you dump them!" Anything to get distance between you and the fish.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:37, Sun 02 Dec 2018.

[I'm assuming no one is doing anything else at the moment]

The ship seems to move agonizingly slowly at first, as the jury rig isn't quite as good as the origonal mainsail. Of course, it was designed and constructed by Scholar, and soon the ship began picking up speed.. and once it did, it moved quite impressively, and soon the ice berg began to fade away, as did a floating pile of fish from the ship's hull. It was interesting to note that it did not immediately attract scavengers - presumedly the leviathan had chased most competing prey off.

The captain had decided that the best route was anywhere but here, so the ship had quite some distance by the time the ice cracked around the leviathan with a deafening roar of crackling ice as the whole thing came apart, crackling and shreading under tons of fish flesh. The thing kicked it's tail and thrashed, sending smaller icebergs scattering across the waves before it swam straight down seeking warmer, breathable water. It did not immediately resurface.

"Set hourglass, on my mark" "Ready sir!" "Mark!" An hourglass began counting out the time. "Take knots!" Another crewman tossed a rope out the back to figure out their speed.

The crew kept their eyes peeled, looking for any sign of discoloration in the water where the thing might be coming after them, but after nearly half the sand had run from the glass they did not spy the oversized fish. While none of the crew cheered as to tempt fate (sailors being a notably superstitious lot), they did start to breathe slightly easier than before. The fish was either gone, or being cagey. The later seemed unlikely. Of course, so did gargantuan fish.

"Keep alert men!" Called the bosun Not that there was much they could do if the thing attacked from below again. He checked the speed ropes, his compass, and the wind carefully.

"Captain, it's been half an hour. If we've hit the winds I think we have, we could tack for shore. By night fall we should be near land. It's not ideal, but there's no way that damned thing should be able to get anywhere NEAR shore.

  "Closest shoreline's... that way."  Gaja pointed somewhere east by north-east, the other hand fussing with her hair.  The sunlight and wind were beginning to dry her out at last, and it had bunched into an explosion of tight ringlets.  "But it's not your city, just not on the ocean.  I lost track of the city in the fish."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:31, Sun 02 Dec 2018.

"We'll still be in the same rough area. Once we get to the shore we can just follow it to the harbor.

Might run into shore raiders or something, but I'll raiders over... whatever that was."

"The question is, how do we kill it? The region won't be safe for fishermen unless we can bring that creature down."

The bosun gave a an apologetic shrug. "I know I'm a fisherman, ma'am, but I've never heard of a creature that size.

Whales, sharks or a serpent, you'd use harpoons, maybe a ramming prow, but that thing makes a whale look like bait. I doubt a galleon with a full ramming prow would do well against it."

  "I know who might know," Gaja interjected.  She was squinting at the horizon in the direction she'd indicated.  The wind kept whipping her hair into her face, but she wasn't paying attention to that.  "When we get back, I'll go ask the right questions.  Claire should probably not come with me."

  She crossed her arms over her chest and took a deep breath before turning back to the others.  Claire got an apologetic smile.  "Certain taboos.  It's nothing personal."

Claire nodded to Gaja. "Of course." she said respectfully.

It's actually near morning by the time that the look out spies that the water has become shallow - far too shallow for the leviathan you faced.

Slowly, the crew begin to relax.

The remaining 11 crewmen plus the officers return to port uneventfully. It takes another 3 days (hugging the shore is not nearly as efficient as the course you took out) but you arrive back in port at the dock.

During that time, the crew spies the damage done to the craft, and it's nasty. Cracks run through the main spar, and the exterior is thinned where the hull touched the acid. The crew run the bilge pumps continuously: this wasn't unusual for a fishing vessel, but Scholar had designed this vessel not to need to run them normally.

The customs agent takes a look at the hull and give a low whistle, and the crew comes into port.

No bonus for the crew except those who died, but they are quite happy to have their lives, at least.

Sorry for the delay. Was at a wedding

Increase nodded agreement to Gaja.

"Have our course adjusted to the new heading and be quick about it."

When mention of fighting the leviathan fish came up Increase grimaced but ultimately relented.

"One day the leviathan will suffer for attempting to swallow my ship but not today. We were lucky to make it away with our lives."

Increase remained vigilant during the rest of their journey, keeping a watchful eye for the return of his adversary. Even the shallows were not a comforting sight and he only relaxed when they were safely docked back at the city.

As he crew unloaded he watched passively until his bosun attempted to disembark. He looked to the man with a softened expression.

"You're efforts were well appreciated. I would have you maintain in my retainer, your skills could prove quite useful and I will reward you according to your efforts."

Regardless of the man's decision he would allow him to return to the city proper before turning to address his zenith comrades.

"I cannot thank you enough for your assistance with that beast. Without you we would have surely died. As compensation I will fulfill a single request for each of you at a time you deem most fit."

  "Those men..." Gaja began, but trailed off as she watched them variously bless the dry land, greet family, or make haste to the nearest place they could get a drink and a meal on the story of the trip.

  She'd been quiet and conserved for most of the trip back, in sharp contrast to her casual and breezy behavior outbound.  She'd pulled her weight as well as could be expected without experience, and nobody could get into the rigging to fix snags or loose knots like she could.  Otherwise, she barely spoke.  During the day, there wasn't really that much difference between her and the rest of the crew but looks.  It was the same kind of brooding she'd done before leaving the island on the ark.

  At night, her footsteps over the deck had been more reliable than the rocking of the boat.  She hadn't slept at all; a faint melody blew in on the wind as the sun went down and never let up until dawn, and the howler had followed it bow to stern all night.  There had been raiders once, near the second midnight.  They'd gotten into range of a cheap spyglass and just turned around, rowing for shore as though for their lives.

  "Those men," she started again, on the dock, "didn't know what they were risking.  The dead don't know why they died."  Her voice was flat—not accusatory, but with no kindness to soften the inherent blow of the words.  She stepped off the damaged vessel without making eye contact with its captain and kept walking toward their colony-ship. "You don't owe me.  You owe them."

---

I think I'm checking out of this thread.  Gaja's going to tend to her great big pet for a while, then grab Sarnai and head out of town into the coastal wastes, looking for more-established tribes.

Claire looked at Increase. "We should get ready to establish the colony soon," she said.

She looked at Increase. "Tomorrow I'll arrange a concert and see if I can gather some laborers from the shanty town. That, and our share of the payment from the actual mission, should be enough to get our colony started once we set off."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:30, Sun 02 Dec 2018.

(OOC - NP. IF there's any member of the crew you want to make important, have a chat with or recruit, let me know. You've all certainly made a big enough impression!)

Once they get off the boat, the men are almost immediately asked about what happened, given the condition of the boat. These stories will spread through the city over the next few days.

"I'm not sure what you are hiring me for. Your abilities are... remarkable.

If you want me to help you with your next expedition, I'd be open to that. I'll need to know a little more, next time, given what happened on this one. But hopefully not one quite as fatal. I'm no coward, but I've no desire to go through anything like that again."

The bosun and the crew thank all of you. Gaja receives a rare smile from the near expressionless man who played the squeezebox so well, who was utterly silent throughout the trip.

Increase gave no response to Gaja's assertion that he owed the men of his crew anything and instead turned his attention to Claire.

"It'll be done. I will have Argent spread word to those who will listen and see if we can marshal support."

As for their portion of the reward for the actual mission he supposed that would depend on the nature of how the Lorenzi family depended on rewarding him for his efforts. Turning to his bosun he nodded in agreement with his words.

"Of course. I will be in contact with you soon. In the meantime I have to see to a few matters."

With that he dismissed himself and went to meet with his employers.