[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!
