[written by Phil, player of Bartholomew Pettibone, concerning a no longer recent adventure, and earning Bart 100 xp per level]
From the Journals of Bartholomew Pettibone, of the House Pettibone
A Purveyor of Enchanting Sorcery
16 July 2022
Oxys Not Bob
As much as I put on a strong face, concerning the Ergahs, I must admit that they give me the heebie-jeebies. We are not completely aware of who or what the Ergahs are – having literally only briefly seen two (?), and interacted with one. And we have no understanding of what they are capable of. And this, dear reader, is called foreshadowing.
A time of relative quiet has rolled across our path; however, I and a few of my comrades found ourselves itching for some heroic adventures or explorations. Unfortunately many of my typical co-conspirators were indisposed. Avin was stashed away in some astral sleep-container, infested by some supernatural magic. We found Sesel constrained by mundane iqta business, and Pako informed us that Durham was secluded and deep into some metallurgical alchemy. And Lord Althis? Well, I don't know; likely secluded and besieged in his dark tower, deep in the undead territory of Tsur al'Qadim. So, in the end, Heijo of the Ink Stained Hands and I, accompanied by Gan (BATMAN), Raoden, and Vlana the Bard, commandeered Bob, and made fast for running deep and quiet.
Bob had informed us, long ago, that a potential “sister vessel” lay undisturbed, but inoperative, close by – that she was likely within the same cavern system we inhabited, and that he could guide us to her location. Now this would be a prize, and something to celebrate – if we could easily return unscathed and unhindered with a second vessel, in the image of Bob?!
Indeed, Bob had little trouble assisting us in navigating to our object of desire, with little fanfare. Bob was able to progress through the underwater pathways of this cavern system with ease. Our general heading was east – deeper toward Tel al'Safina, and further? Initially we passed the sakkra breeding/nursery grounds, where we so recently battled with odd vampirical creatures. From there we found ourselves traversing the Ocean's Throat entrance, under the watchful eyes of the Wasago Renyu of Fort Doghouse. We kept on, passing other connecting caverns (to be explored at a later time) and at last found ourselves at the location Bob had fixed in his consciousness. We were in a large – vast and very dark – cavern room, mostly filled with water, but having a ceiling so high that we could not see it.
Raoden instructed Bob to reach out with his various senses (one being very similar to my “Deep Sight”), and we were informed that it was clear, by metallic vision, that the sister vessel lay well below us, in water with a depth near to 100 feet! Bob saw no indication of life energy, and could detect no significant signs of large, living organisms. However, far off to one side of this enormous chamber Bob noted a dry-land ledge, and a powerful emanation of energy. Curious. But our prize lay below us!
We sealed Bob, and descended quietly into the dark, cold waters, hoping that our presence had gone undetected. As Bob dropped through the intervening water, his lights flickered to life, and we observed a fascinating sight. The sister vessel was indeed present, laying upright – but slightly entrenched – into a flat bottom of fine-grained muck. An odd looking, thick, crystalline or vegetative growth covered much of her hull – an intriguing ecosystem of cavern-dwelling life. How long had she lain here? We observed many scars upon the outer hull, indicating great blasts of energy, as well as several locations having large breaches to the interior. The form of those breaches indicated that something had punched cleanly through the hull material, from the outside. As we swung around toward her aft section, it became clear that the rear bay doors were wide open, and that this hulk was likely fully flooded. Raoden also called our attention to what appeared to be several areas on the hull where the indigenous growth had been cleanly cut away – work that looked recent – as well as what appeared to be three discarded environmental suits.
We set Bob down just aft of the hulk, with our lights flooding its interior. Heijo and I adorned ourselves with the telepathic crystals, and then they and Raoden donned our two environmental suits. I manipulated the ever-present strands of arcana, flowing around and through everything, and tied off a specific arrangement of complex knots.
With the completion of the first few knots, my eyes briefly went out of focus and then immediately refocused, and I knew that to my eyes all written language would now be readable for a brief time. As I finished the second set of knots, my breathing suddenly became much, much easier, so much so that water would be as air to me. And with these spells completed, and suits donned, we sealed ourselves off, flooded our hatch, and clambered out into the cold, dark waters.
Gan and Vlana remained on board, and through Bob, they maintained communicate with Heijo and Raoden. How odd it must have been for them to see us clumsily work our way toward the flooded hulk, slopping our way through the muck, small clouds of turbidity rising with every step, and rippled shadows birthed by Bob's stark floodlights. As we passed by Bob's bow, I looked back at him, laying there like a massive log in the muck. And clearly stenciled, I read the word 'OXYS', in a uniquely artistic and accented script. I chuckled to myself, and found it odd – both that my chuckle made only a muffled sound, and that Bob was not really 'Bob'.
We conducted a search of the hull, and quickly found that literally everything of value had been stripped away. The hull was basically just that, an empty, dead hull. Raoden also confirmed that there was no energy cell aboard, and that no life could be coaxed into any magic mirrors. In fact, where we expected there to be such communication devices, or even bulkhead touchstones, there were only empty holes and cabinets. This hull was dead, her innards scooped clean, and with those discarded suits outside, it was likely she was a ship of the damned. We concluded that her only value lay in the material of her hull. Unfortunately, we most certainly did not have the means to move her to a more reasonable salvage location. After a short discussion, we began our way back to Bob (Oxys).
And here is where the story gets strange. Gan and Vlana informed us that alarms had suddenly burst forth within Bob, and that the three discarded suits had begun to inflate, seemingly coming to life! Bob had also informed them that he sensed a large number of life essences coming through the water, toward our location – ten or more. Gan believed that the living suits would likely intercept us before arriving back aboard Oxys. He made a quick decision, and told us to sit tight.
Gan had earlier noted the absolute similarity between Bob and this sister vessel, and took bold action. Gan set his hands to the controls and lifted Bob minimally off the bottom, while immediately spinning him around like a compass needle. He then deftly abutted Bob's stern tightly to the open aft compartment of his sister. We now had cover for our escape, a tunnel, and had no difficulty returning to Bob. Damn – Gan can drive!
However, none of this stopped the advance of the suits and the lifeforms. Gan lifted Bob higher into the water column, then brought him down as hard as possible on one of the suits, mashing it into the muck, or so he hoped. At the same time Heijo provided power to Bob's defensive shield, while giving Bob instructions to lay his forward stunning rays across the approaching lifeforms. As these actions played out, I twisted my fingers through the arcana and wrapped slumber upon the path of the approaching nemesis. All of this happened rather quickly, and while the results were immediate, they were far from satisfactory. Two of the suits had attached themselves to Bob's hull and were beating relentlessly on him – they seemed unhindered by the defensive shield. And only two of the creatures diving to our position seemed to be affected by Bob's beams, or my slumber.
Having very little offensive, and apparently defensive, capabilities, we made the decision to flee. Valor, glory, and baubles would not be ours on this mission, but we would live. As we lifted to a slightly more shallow depth, and turned our faces toward home, we did get a glance at our swimming adversaries. Sakkra – pale, gaunt, and steely looking sakkra – with glazed-over, eyes of the dead. Yet one of their number was like the sakkra we had encountered not long before, being controlled and fed on by some spindly-legged spider-like vampire – creatures of an Ergah. However, Bob made fast time, and they were unable to follow us. While we retraced our path, returning to Bob Hall, Gan was also able to dislodge the flailing suits before they could do harm to Bob.
And so, we returned to Bob Hall, intact, alive, with absolutely no new-gained wealth, except in knowledge. I am certain that an Ergah was nearby, at that energy source. And I suspect they have salvaged the materials from Bob's sister ship, intending to use those items to increase/modify Bob's capabilities – before we wrested Bob from their confinement. I fear that we have truly pestered a sekeker nest into a frenzy!
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