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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 80710" data-attributes="member: 143">Book III, Part 8The repairs to Raindancer continued swiftly, and on the morning tide two days after the wasp attack, the ship once again moved out to sea, leaving behind a depleted raider camp and some very disgruntled former raiders.  They took all of the supplies (save for a few half-spoiled perishables), treasure, weapons, and tools with them, along with the last outrigger.  None of them felt particularly sorry for the raiders.  Benzan spent most of the time in recuperation, although Ruath’s divine magic was able to help speed his and Dana’s recovery from the debilitating poison of the wasps.  Benzan was still not quite back to one hundred percent, but he stood on the aft deck with the others as Captain Horath plotted a southeasterly course around the southern coast of the Isle of Dread.  Thus far they’d only encountered mountainous cliffs and impermeable jungle along the great isle’s coastline, but they knew that settled villages (hopefully friendly) could be found around the southern reaches.  The first day back out to sea passed quietly, as they put the ship through her paces and tested the integrity of the repairs.  The wind fluctuated throughout the day, changing intensity and direction seemingly at whim, slowing their progress, but even Ruath did not object at the mild pace.  They enjoyed the reward of their work in having a restored vessel, mild weather, and endless possibilities ahead.  They kept to their southeasterly course throughout the night, and by morning they were within a few miles of the big island.  Their course took them to a wide channel between a rocky promontory and an island volcano to the south, which appeared to now be quiescent.  Beyond the channel the coastline of the Isle of Dread retreated again to form a wide bay, around which numerous islands could just be seen in the distance.  Benzan saw that Dana was standing alone along the port rail, and walked over to her.  “Hey.”Her look was guarded, not revealing anything.  “Look, I never got a chance to thank you, for what you did back on the beach.  It was absolutely nuts, coming back like you did,” he added with a grin, “but thanks.”Her expression clouded slightly, and she opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment the ship shuddered slightly, a tremor that seemed to shake the very deck plates under their feet.  “What was that?” Cal asked.  “Maric!” Captain Horath cried to the lookout at the bow, already running from the aft deck toward the bow of the ship.  “Reef or sandbar?”  He shouted orders at nearby crewmen to drop the sails, to keep the ship from being pushed further against whatever obstacle they had struck.“Sea ahead’s clear, captain!” the young bosun cried out from his perch, scanning the waters around the bow of the ship.  Horath had just reached the stairs to the forward deck when the ship shuddered again, this time tilting suddenly forward and to the side, as if something was dragging it lower into the water.  “What in the hells?” Benzan cried out, as he reached out and grabbed onto the rail for support.  Around him, his friends and the other crewmembers were doing the same thing, a few falling awkwardly to the deck.  The mystery was solved, after a fashion, when several long tentacles snaked out of the water and swept over the main deck of the Raindancer.* * * * * “Giant squid!” Horath cried out in warning, as the thick tentacles lashed into the ship, sweeping aside hapless crewmembers or twisting around the mast and decking.  The weight of the tentacles’ owner pulled down at the front of the ship, causing the deck to pitch at an angle and making it all but impossible for the crew to find a stable footing.  Even with that hurdle, though, the crew and passengers of the ship responded quickly to the attack.  Delem fired the first shot of the battle, launching a pair of magic missiles into one of the tentacles.  The fiery bolts hit with a heavy plop, searing into the tentacle but with apparently insignificant damage against the gargantuan size of the creature.  The tentacles were as thick around as Cal was tall, and they struck the deck with crushing force, cracking the solid wood planking as they groped for purchase.  Benzan hefted his bow and darted across the aft deck toward the starboard rail, to the side of the ship where the tentacles originated.  They had repaired the section of rail that they had lost in the storm, but even so Benzan was cautious as the ship sagged under his steps again.  He looked out over the side of the ship, and his heart froze in his chest.  Only the top potion of the squid was visible, pressed up against the side of the ship at the point where the fore and main decks met, but what he could see of the creature was… huge.  Its beak, easily twice the size of Lok’s shield, crashed into the side of the Raindancer,, sundering the sturdy boards as it ripped open the hull.  Meanwhile, its tentacles sought to drag the ship down lower into the water, into a watery grave where it could pick out the juicy bodies of its crew at its leisure.  Benzan saw all of that horror and danger flash before his eyes in an instant, but then he was drawing his bow, fitting one of his acid arrows to the string.   Lok had also moved to join the battle, charging down the stairs to the main deck where the tentacles were still doing damage.  A crewmember had been caught up in one, and he screamed as it lifted him into the air, crushing the life out of him.  Lok charged and cut into it with his axe, the frost-fringed blade tearing through the rubbery flesh of the creature but failing to cut deeply enough to free the crewman.The screams of two other members of Horath’s crew filled the air around them as the tentacles swept again over the deck, knocking them roughly into the frothing waters around the ship.  The ballista crew was trying to load their weapon, fighting the lurching instability of the deck, while several other crewmembers either dove for cover or launched desperate and ineffectual attacks against the groping tentacles.  Several had latched firmly onto the ship, crushing the deck or twining around the single remaining mast.  “It’s going to tear the ship apart!” Cal cried in warning.  Benzan gritted his teeth as his first arrow hit the body of the creature, but the arrow looked like a pin stuck in the side of a giant.  “I don’t know how we’re going to stop it!” the tiefling replied in frustration.  A probing tentacle snaked its way toward them upon the aft deck.  Dana slashed at it with her kama, ducking under its powerful return sweep.  While she avoided damage, the tip of the tentacle slammed into the ship’s wheel, blasting it from its moorings and knocking the helmsman back to fall stunned against the deck.  Raindancer was directionless.  Cal was at a loss, uncertain how he could possibly harm this massive creature.  He considered his wand of color spray, but knew that there was no way he could hope to make it across the main deck to get close enough to use it.  Suddenly, he felt very small and helpless… a feeling that lasted only a moment, before it was replaced by anger.  Anger at himself for giving in to self-pity when his companions needed him, and anger at this creature that was threatening to destroy them all.  His song burst from him, a rousing call to battle, and he loaded his crossbow, determined to go out fighting alongside his companions.  Lok, meanwhile, had been driven back as the tentacle he’d cut contorted and lashed out.  It finally released its imprisoned crewman, but Lok saw that it was too late as his crushed form fell in a heap on the deck.  Then the blindly flailing tentacle struck him hard, driving him bodily back against the wall of the aft compartment, and he only narrowly dodged aside as another lashing tentacle staved in the wood where he’d been standing.  He made it into the doorway that led back into the compartment, a dubious shelter as the ship seemed to be coming apart around them.  He nearly stumbled over a prone form and bent down to see Ruath lying there, a dark bruise covering one side of her face.  As gingerly as he could, the genasi reached into a pouch and drew forth a vial, carefully pouring the liquid into the unconscious halfling’s mouth as the violent struggles of the squid and the ship continued unabated around him.  Captain Horath and his crew held on atop the forward deck, fighting against the terrible creature as best they could.  The ballista crew had already managed to fire one shot into a tentacle and was reloading for another when the injured tentacle rose up and slashed down at them.  Two of the three crewmembers managed to get out of the way as the strike crushed the weapon, but the last… wasn’t so lucky.  Horath, meanwhile, was firing arrow after arrow into the creature, striking the tentacles or that part of the upper body that was visible over the side of the ship.  The truth of the situation was becoming increasingly inescapable, however, even as it twisted in his gut.  Raindancer was doomed.  And if they could not somehow fend off the violent attack of the squid, so were they.  Benzan gritted his teeth as his companions tried to fend off the massive tentacle that was sweeping over the aft deck.  Neither Delem’s fire nor Cal’s bolts were seeming to have much effect on it, and Dana’s attack with her kama only rewarded her with a blow that sent her sprawling against the aft rail.  Benzan knew that one stray sweep in his direction would send him over the edge, to a watery doom below.  He sucked in a breath, and focused his mind.  The chaos of the battle seemed to fall away from him, as he drew upon the newly awakened power of his magic.  He drew his powerful bow back, lined up his gaze along the green-tinged length of a magical arrow.  He saw his target.  As the massive body of the squid rolled in its continued struggles against the ship, a porthole-sized eye came into view.  Normally it would not have been a difficult shot, but with both the target and the shooter in motion, and with the frenzy all around, it may as well have been a mile away.  Benzan called upon the magic, and the eye seemed to suddenly grow closer and closer, until it filled his vision.  He fired.</blockquote>

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