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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 2460078" data-attributes="member: 3285">Cast Upon Tides of Weal and Woe - Part 2a: Flotsam and JetsamKham steered the rudder as the ss’ressen rowed.  The rowboat lurched forward with each swing of the oars as the massive lizard put his back into it. Bijoux sat perched at the bow of the rowboat.  Beldin didn’t do much but sit in the middle in his banded armor.  He looked distinctly uncomfortable.Something bounced against the hull of the boat.  Bijoux dragged it up onto the boat.“This wood has some writing on it, but I can’t make it out,” she said.It read: BLA_K E_RE_“That’d be the Black Egret,” said Beldin.As they rowed closer to the shoals, the coral heads jutted upwards from the sea like jagged teeth.  Several outcroppings littered the path between the boat and the boy.“Well, I guess we stop here,” said Kham.  He patted Cal on the shoulder to stop him from rowing further.“Now what?” asked Cal.Kham walked to the other side of the boat.  “Now, we jump.”“What?” asked Beldin.  As he stood up, the boat rocked precariously.Kham hopped from the prow of the boat onto an outcropping of coral.  He spun on one heel, arms out. “See?  Piece of cAAAAH!”Kham slipped and slid down the side of the coral.  He managed to catch himself and scramble inelegantly back to his original position.Kham dusted off his jacket, but it was no use.  The entire back of his overcoat was soaked.  “I’m uh, gonna go get the kid.”“We’ll stay here,” said Beldin.Kham leaped to another outcropping.  He had moved out of earshot, drowned out by the crashing of the surf against the coral reef.“What is that?” asked Bijoux, pointing at a fin cresting the water’s surface.“I don’t know,” said Beldin.  “I’ve never seen it before.”“Me neither,” said Bijoux.  It was heading straight towards them.  “I’m not familiar with the native creatures of Onara.”“I am,” said Cal, his reptilian eyes narrowing to slits.  “That’s a—““SHARK, you idiots!” Kham had been shouting at them with cupped hands, but only when the waves subsided could they hear him. “Three of them!”Then something large slammed into the side of the boat.  There was a loud SPLOOSH!Bijoux looked around.  “Where’s Beldin?”“Who lives in a grotto down under the sea?” sang Cal in response.</blockquote>

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