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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 5060459" data-attributes="member: 3285">Crisis in Freeport: Part 7a – The Return of LeviathanAnother ship fell to the mighty sea creature, crushed by its many tentacles.  The hideous beast’s maw scooped up the survivors and swallowed them whole. As it did so, its eyes crackled with a dark blue energy.  Suddenly, a beam burst forth like a lightning bolt toward the tower in the middle of the sea.  The tomb of Leviathan absorbed the beam and glowed with a dark blue light.Kham looked down at the Leviathan Pistol at his belt.  It glowed with the same dark blue light.“Uh…”“I see it,” said Sebastian.  He was holding the Leviathan Bell and Sextant.“Me too,” said Beldin, who held the Leviathan Hook and Spyglass.  “This can’t be good.”A powerful bolt of energy left the kraken and shot towards the tower, followed by a deafening thunderclap.  The tower began shrinking, collapsing in on itself, as the energy surrounding it grew brighter.  Suddenly, the Leviathan artifacts were ripped from their grasp.  The Pistol, Bell, Hook, and Spyglas floated in the air toward the tower.“This is bad,” said Kham. “Very bad.”The tower disappeared, replaced by a ball of dark blue energy about twenty feet across.  The ball exploded outward with a blinding flash of light.  In its place was a grotesque creature from some twisted nightmare.  Leviathan was an insane amalgamation of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature. A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings; but it was the general outline of the whole which made it most shockingly frightful. A mountain walked or stumbled. The thing of idols, the green, sticky spawn of the stars, had awaked to claim his own. The stars were right again, and what an age-old cult had failed to do by design, a band of adventurers had done by accident. After vigintillions of years great Leviathan was loose again, and ravening for delight. There was a glowing mark upon its forehead, five stars over a tentacled skull.  The mark of the Full-Fathom Five.Each of the five artifacts was absorbed into one of the stars on Leviathan’s forehead, and the device glowed with a dark blue light.  Then, in a booming voice, the thing telepathically transmitted: COME BEFORE ME NOW.Ghostlike forms took shape in front of the creature at his command.  “The Full-Fathom Five!” shouted Beldin.Zoltan’s soul was ripped out of Kham, hurling him up into the air in agony before dashing him once more onto the deck of the Divine Fury. He lay still, unconscious, but none could spare him a glance.An expression of joy crossed each of their ghostly countenances, except for Cathy, who appeared afraid.The creature turned to face them.  WELCOME MY CHILDREN.  I HAVE RETURNED.  YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN WHOM YOU SERVE.  INSTEAD OF RELEASING ME BY SLAYING THE TRAITOR, YOU BICKERED AMONGST YOURSELVES.  I WAS FORCED TO RELY ON WEAK-WILLED HUMANS, WHO PLANTED THE SEEDS OF WAR THAT BORE FRUIT ON THE SEA, SO THAT THE SON OF LEVIATHAN COULD FEED ON THEIR FLESH AND I COULD FEED ON THEIR SOULS.  IT WAS THESE FOOLS WHO SUCCEDED WHERE YOU DID NOT.A long, taloned finger, the size of a man was tall, pointed in the direction of the Divine Fury.AND BY KEEPING THE TOOLS THEY THOUGHT HAD BANISHED ME FOREVER, THEY HAVE ONLY ENSURED MY RETURN. YOU HAVE SERVED MY ENDS BETTER THAN MY FAITHLESS SERVANTS.  SOON I WILL ENTER THIS WORLD WITH ALL OF MY STRENGTH AND THEN I WILL MAKE FREEPORT BURN.  I WILL LET YOU LIVE TO WITNESS THIS, AS A LAST GIFT FOR BRINGING ME BACK TO THIS PLANE.  CADIC CANNOT SAVE YOU. The creature turned back to its five former followers.  AS FOR YOU, MY FULL-FATHOM FIVE, YOU HAVE FAILED ME UTTERLY, AND FOR THAT YOU WILL SUFFER. I CALL YOU HOME.  THERE, YOU WILL KNOW ONLY TORMENT.One by one, a whirlpool of at the creature’s feet sucked the evil spirits within.  All of them begged their former master for mercy as they were drawn slowly to their deaths, except for Ezekial Carthy, who was no longer afraid.  He looked up at the avatar he once worshipped.  “Although I shall endure the slow torment you have prepared for me, I deserve it for what I have done.  Know this though: you will fail this day, and the mark of the Full-Fathom Five shall be wiped from your brow.  We are no longer your slaves.  Do now what you will with me, but with my last breath I renounced you, false god, and hope that your end will be a painful one!”With that, Ezekial Carthy’s spirit disappeared into the whirlpool.THE TIME OF EXILE IS OVER AT LAST.  ON THIS DAY, A NEW GOD WILL RISE.  AND I WILL BE WORSHIPPED IN BLOOD. Kham groggily got to his feet.  “What happened?”“Leviathan’s about to destroy us all,” Sebastian said grimly.“Oh, good, I was afraid I’d missed something.”</blockquote>

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