After defeating the sharks who thought to make a quick meal of them, the party quickly gathered themselves and resumed their descent toward the glowing portal in the sunken courtyard below ... and the group of sahaugin and sharks lazily swimming around it.
Even at that point, about 75’ deep, the water was already dark, presumably from the raging, violent storm that was happening on the surface. In the darkness below, the glowing portal stood out even more, giving you a fixed point to help you navigate the unfamiliar environment.
The group cautiously started descending toward the portal and the courtyard revealed by its glow when the water all around you lit up as though the noonday sun started shining on the water right above you. Startled, you all looked up to see near continuous, overlapping flashes of bright light from the surface above you. Startled by the intensity, you continued to watch for a few moments, wondering what could be causing these flashes of light and wondering why it’s lasting so long.
You are just turning back to your descent when the water all around you suddenly starts to buck and heave. Though somewhat disorientating, you all manage to look up, then gasp in shock at the sight: The remains of Jareth’s Tower, now in several very large pieces, have fallen into the ocean, almost directly above you!!
You desperately scramble out of the way, only to see the large parts of the Tower breaking up as the structure tumbles past you, wreathed in small air bubbles, pulled down from the surface. With a startled realization, you wrench your gaze back to the portal below. It looks like the sinking structure is heading straight toward the courtyard, and portal, below!
At the silent telepathic warning from Bannock’s weapon, all of your gazes snap to the side as a group of dark shapes dart out in a sharp curve from behind the rock spire which until a moment ago held Jareth’s tower above the waves. More sharks, no doubt alerted by the disturbance in the water, now speed toward your group!
Needing no further prompting, Quarion shouted back to his non-combatant passengers “Hang on!” With no further though he jammed one lever forward and heaved another back toward him. The crab-like apparatus abruptly flipped over on its back and began a steep dive, following the rush of air bubbles trailing behind the falling tower. Caught slightly off guard by the sudden maneuver, Brigga found herself being pulled along by the rope she had attached to one of the Apparatus’ legs. The rest of the party dove after them as best they could, fleeing the closing sharks, chasing the tumbling, sinking tower toward the enemies below, and your only way home.
Pieces of Jareth’s tower spun this way and that as they sunk into the depths but the main section of the tower seemed to be heading right toward the courtyard directly below. Thinking quickly, Jareth’s dolphin form darted down closer to the tower, attempting to nudge it off course enough to miss the portal. Seeing what Jareth was attempting, Quarion wrenched one of the levers to the side, causing the Apparatus into a wide corkscrew which brought it out directly behind the sinking debris, with Brigga bouncing along behind. The Apparatus’ large claws clamped down on the edge of the ruined tower. Inside the Apparatus, Quarion threw all of his weight against the control levers trying to spin the Apparatus. Rolling his eyes at the effort, Alisar lent his prodigious strength to piloting the Apparatus.
Together Jareth and the Apparatus put their considerable strength to altering the course of the falling tower. Judging that their efforts might not be successful, Brigga quickly pulled herself down the rope to the Apparatus. Flexing her Stone Gauntlets, whose deep crevices were continually steaming as the lava met the seawater, Brigga furiously kicked her powerful dwarven legs, and lent her supernatural strength to help nudge the tower just far enough out of the way to miss the portal below.
The fish men inhabiting the courtyard were swarming around the area, some dodging the falling debris, some just getting out of the area entirely. With a soul shaking concussive wave, the falling tower landed on one side of the courtyard, obliterating several standing columns and opening a massive crack in the courtyard floor.
The concussion hit everyone in the area, knocking them senseless for a moment as they all tumbled through the now murky waters. Bannock and Onarra, furthest from the impact, recovered first and began survey the scene around them. The main section of Jareth’s tower lay to one side of the courtyard, perched precariously above the dark drop into the murky depths, partially crushed by the terrific impact. The dazed bodies of PCs and fish men alike bobbed around the area, lit by the still functioning portal. One claw and several legs of the Apparatus broke off in the impact, while the main body spun listlessly, propelled by a small jet of air bubbles escaping from the cabin.
Several dark shapes continued to circle the area as Bannock and Onarra cautiously started back down to the chaotic scene. Bannock swam to Jareth’s insensate dolphin form and Onarra quickly floated over to Brigga, still in manta ray form. Bannock and Onarra brought the unconscious party members over to the Apparatus, keeping a wary eye on the fish men, who were beginning to move again, recovering from the shockwave. The Apparatus quickly demanded their attention, though, as the rupture began to widen and more air bubbles started to escape. Through the thick glass of the porthole, Bannock could see Alisar peering out, clearly trying to say something.
Sighing in exasperation at not being able to be understood, Alisar disappeared from the glass window. After a moment, a blue gas shot out of the rupture along with the escaping air, and immediately began to spin in a circle. After only a moment, enough blue gas had escaped to form a small whirlwind, which then shaped itself back into Alisar, in his normal size, nearly ten feet tall. The djinni looked around him with something akin to disgust at being totally submerged in water. Reaching past Bannock, Alisar put one massive hand over the rupture in the Apparatus and grabbed the stub of a broken leg with the other, then began to move toward the glowing portal.
Bannock, Alisar and Onarra converged on the glowing globe of water. The globe was just a little less than ten feet in diameter, and the water within bubbled as if it was being boiled, though no one felt any heat from the mysterious globe.
Another psychic warning interrupted everyone’s focus on the strange portal. Looking around frantically for sharks or fish men, the party instead saw several huge, brownish suckered tentacles curl up around the edge of Jareth’s tower. Something massive was coming up from the deeper depths!
Jareth and Brigga began to twitch and slowly move as they regained consciousness and a huge eye rose into view behind the rubble of Jareth’s tower. With no further encouragement, Onarra, Bannock and Alisar all darted into the portal, carrying the rest of the party.
You feel a tumbling sensation, not unfamiliar to you after recent events, and a sense of being … stretched. Then you crash into a hard floor. It takes a moment for you to realize that you are breathing air again, and you roll over to see where you are.
All of you are lying in what was once a fine room but which now has only low, broken walls and no ceiling. It appears you are at the bottom of a large hole, an excavation of some kind, nearly one hundred feet deep. Above you is the clear blue sky of a late autumn day.
To your side is the glowing sphere of water. As you look at the water, you get the sense that it is almost, writhing, this way and that, almost as though in pain, if that is possible.
A brisk wind suddenly whips around you as Alisar dries himself from his distasteful submersion. “Ahh, Master Bannock, Mistress Onarra, welcome back to Master Jareth’s … well, somewhat less-than-fabulous home. Also, somewhat less-than-actually-here, though of course, that’s because it just tried to fall upon us and crush us all to death on the Elemental Plane of Water. I will make us a feast!”
With that, as the party all regains consciousness, Alisar conjures a sumptuous feast with several ewers of ruby red wine.
Another daring escape for the intrepid Spaceman Spiff!
Ha! Aquatic adventure. Colossal mayhem. Feats of derring-do! I feel we missed participating in a batshit-cool encounter here, but I can also appreciate the pacing. Very cool recap Bob. Sorry we missed it.
Waow! I must apologize for the apparent instability of my ex-self's abode, while pointing out that it was constructed completely to code. Now I know why they recommended flood insurance!
Very fun wrap up, Bob. Sorry I've been absent. My whole family is sick, and I've been trying to keep up with my crazy workload while taking care of them and trying to avoid this viral Doom.
"This enemy you cannot kill. You can only drive it back damaged into the depths, and teach your children to watch the waves for its return." - Quellcrist Falconer
erilar wrote:Waow! I must apologize for the apparent instability of my ex-self's abode, while pointing out that it was constructed completely to code. Now I know why they recommended flood insurance!
Very fun wrap up, Bob. Sorry I've been absent. My whole family is sick, and I've been trying to keep up with my crazy workload while taking care of them and trying to avoid this viral Doom.
No worries. We've had multiple rounds of child/adult sickness here, too.
Another daring escape for the intrepid Spaceman Spiff!
Gimme a few days, I'm busy angry-posting on FB .....
