Journal of Arcadius - Day 153

The Depths.

My misgivings were correct, and in the morning Sztuczka departed our group, intent on forging a path of her own. We bid her farewell.

We returned to the complex, met our guide, a sea Elf, as it turned out. We packed our goods into the bag of holding, and descended into the darkness. The first of the lower levels proved to be a flooded passage of coral, much like those above, but with much sea life, the one below that was of living coral with even more sea life. The third level down however was different... devoid of most life other than a strange black coral, and even stranger things, like worms made of shadow, that moved along it.

As we moved through the passages toward our goal, the shadow worms began to follow us. They coalesced and grew, and began to nip at the feet of those in the back of the party. We pressed on and reached a large underwater chamber where the shadows gathered and assembled into a vast black mass of shadowy tentacles. We fought this thing and eventually defeated it. From this chamber we exited through a titanic grate, one designed to block vast monstrosities of the sea, but not creatures so small as men, elves, and dwarves.

Moving through the open sea was strange, and dangerous. We were attacked by two beasts vaguely resembling giant reptilian dolphins, and later by a huge shark. Twice the shark attacked us, and each time was deterred by Ragnarr's summoning of a most unfortunate celestial shark - smaller than this beast, and in each summoning apparently doomed to fill the belly of our enemy. Ragnarr later proved himself most pious and worthy on this matter, as I shall discuss later.

Ahead of us was land - an upward slope of coral and sand blocked by swarms of jellyfish. However, our elven guide knew a way past them and we emerged on the surface, a shore of dead coral like sharp rock. We carefully made our way over it to dry land, and donned our clothes, armor, and gear. It proved to be a gloomy and rocky island, with two notable features: a brightly painted fishing village in one direction, and a strange keep made of coral in another. We headed for the village to rest for the night and regain our spells. Our guide chose remain at the shore.

The village proved to be a human one - blond and pale northerners. They were friendly enough, though most in this isolated place did not speak common. We found an inn and a boy who did speak it, and purchased rooms, food, and a bottle of akavit. We also met a woman, half-elven as it turned out, who is sent by Heracles, via her goddess Diana, to help us.

Praise be to the gods!

Her name is Aurelia, and she is someone skilled in woodcraft and the wilds, and has a wolf companion that is being kept in her room. I would guess she is a ranger or druid of some kind, though we have yet to see her powers in action. I thought her to be from a southern land, as she has black hair, a distinct melodious accent, and a complexion touched by the sun, though not so much so as the folk of my homeland. Indeed, she proved to be from a place called Torino or Turino that is in the region of Alcander's homeland. Most interesting!

Grungar spoke with her, and for reasons I cannot recall the conversation turned to his skill at mashing sculptures from beets. He became very, very animated on the subject and went out for what must have been an hour asking possibly everyone in town if they had beets. Alas for him, they did not.

In the meantime, I told Aurelia a quick version of our travels since the beginning and the needful but grim purpose on which we are set. She showed no fear and was ready to join us. About this time Ragnarr returned. He had spent his day sacrificing fish to Pelor and praying in apology for the fate of the shark servitor sent to us in the battles at sea. This was most worthy and correct of Ragnarr, and my eyes are now opened, seeing the truth and depth of his faith.

Praise be to Lord Pelor!

Once all our companions regrouped, we had food and some of us akavit as well, and then departed to our rooms for sleep. And, sleep is what I now need... tomorrow is likely to be a very long day.

*A*