Chapter 71
Preparing to go below deck, Gven draws Tempest Edge from its sheath across her back. The half-orc’s face settles into a veneer of calm, the quiet before battle covering it like a mask leaving only the tips of her fangs extruding. Now used to the gravitational pull in the Astral Sea, she steps over the hatch’s edge and slowly floats downward. Landing softly and quietly in the corner of the hold, Gven’s darkvision takes effect almost immediately, allowing her to survey the area. Interspersed with the hull’s wooden frame, Redbud’s roots have blocked off two areas along the southern wall, leaving an area roughly shaped like a thirty-foot-long rectangle.
She sees six creatures floating in various spots around the room. Their heads are bigger than a prize-winning pumpkin and appear bird-like, but without feathers—or even skin—and show the brain’s curvatures and tissue. A large beak protrudes from its front, but no eyes that she can see. Dangling from beneath the brain-like head are at least ten tentacles that reach the five feet to the wooden floor and end in several sharp barbs. They take several seconds to notice her and begin moving slowly to investigate.
With Gleaming Blade drawn, Dolor follows Gven into the belly of the ship and lands behind the half-orc, his tail providing natural balance to his landing. Noticing two of the parasites moving their direction, the warlock hurls three beams of energy at them in quick succesion. Two of them connect with their respective targets, burning into their heads and leaving scorch marks.
Bilwin drops into the hold with less grace, but prepared for battle with his axe at the ready. The dwarf takes a hefty swing at the closest creature, standing next to Gven, and slices through two of its tentacles. A beer stein appears floating next to the cleric and shakes slightly, the only indication of its magical attack on the creature. The creature’s beak opens in a silent scream from the damage done by Bilwin’s spiritual weapon.
The half-orc invokes her barbarian rage and slips around Bilwin to swing her greatsword at the first creature, slicing through several more of its tentacle arms. The creature falters from its wounds and Gven rears back with Tempest Edge then drives it point-first into the middle of the beast’s open beak and completely through its head. Thunder fills the enclosed room from the magical blade’s strike and the skinless brain explodes into a pink mist, covering Gven and Bilwin.
“Ewww, why’d you have to pop it like that?” Wiping the pink residue from his face, Bilwin exclaims, “Gross!”
Mond joins the others down below and moves to an unoccupied corner of the hold. Extending his hands at waist height, a thin sheet of flames shoots forth at three of the beasts grouped together. Each of their brain-heads appear singed and begin to ooze blood.
From the top deck, Dolor hears Grindlefoot, “It looks like there isn’t much room down there, even for a little person like myself. Holler if you need me!”
The beast closest to Gven attempts to bite the barbarian, but misses. As it hisses, a barbed tentacle reaches out and latches onto her forearm, piercing her overcoat and drawing a small amount of blood. The half-orc feels a compulsion to be still, to stop resisting, yet her rage overcomes the odd sensation.
Two of the parasitic creatures attack Mond at the same time. A beak breaks through the coat at his shoulder and he winces in pain. Within seconds, each of his attackers jab a tentacle into his arms, leaving open wounds and a feeling of unwilling immobilization. He shakes his head and regains focus; the feeling is gone.
Another creature approaches Dolor from behind and chomps on the tiefling’s back. He immediately turns around and points a finger at it, unleashing hellish flames into its exposed head.
The remaining beast goes after Mond with its sharp beak, puncturing the sorcerer’s upper arm enough that blood can be seen through the jacket sleeve. Moving his hands slightly, a barely perceptible barrier surrounds the half-elf.
Leading with Gleaming Blade, Dolor attacks one of the creatures standing around Mond. As the sword reaches the creature, the blade erupts into green flames and severs several of its tentacles. The beast falters, dipping closer to the ground as the tiefling brings the sword around for a second attack. No longer covered in flames, the magical sword slices cleanly through where the creature’s face should be. The amputated beak drops to the floor a second before the rest of the creature follows, silently meeting death.
Seeing Gven facing two of their opponents, Bilwin moves closer to the barbarian. With a hefty swing of his battle axe, the dwarf cleaves a chunk out of the creature’s head. Floating next to him, the beer stein shakes itself at the creature and delivers a magical blow.
With barbarian rage still coursing through her body, Gven wields her greatsword with the skill born of experience and practice. Tempest Edge glides smoothly through the beast’s head, cutting it in two pieces.
With a side eye, “There you go, dwarf. Finished it for ya.”
Knowing what works, Mond directs another ribbon of fire at two of the monsters. They both shriek silently in agony from the burning attack.
The three remaining creatures attack the sorcerer together, their fury evident in their viciousness. Fortunately, the shimmering barrier that surrounds the half-elf shields him from their assault.
Dolor lights up Gleaming Blade with green flames again and swings sideways at one of the beasts, cutting through several tentacles. The blade’s fiery magic cauterizes the wounds as it passes through. The tiefling follows the force of his swing and moves his body in a circle, his tail whipping with the force of the turn. He holds Gleaming Blade above his head, allowing its momentum to cut cleanly through the creature’s skinless brain. Gooey bodily liquids burst forth as it plops to the ground in death. Another creature recoils from the blade, singed by its magical flame.
Seeing Mond in pain, Bilwin lays a hand on the half-elf and utters a prayer to Hanseath under his breath. The sorcerer immediately feels relief flow through his body. Next to the dwarf, the hovering tankard whips itself at a creature, smashing in its head and killing it. The mug seems to momentarily move in some sort of victory dance.
The final beast is hurt and barely moving, shivering as it hovers tenatatively. Gven walks over to it slowly, holding Tempest Edge level with the ground and point-forward. Unable to retreat from the barbarian, it doesn’t move as she quickly pokes it, forcefully pushing her greatsword completely through the head. A gooey pink mist erupts into the air and settles mostly on Mond.
“Um, thanks.”
From the hold, Gven yells up to Redbud, “The creatures have been dealt with. It’s all clear.” The roots around the hold wriggle and move, opening up two areas.
The area to the southeast appears to be a lifeboat that crashed into the Lambent Zenith. There are stores of supplies and a single cot, where a reddish-brown dog sits attentively. “Hi! Hi! Hi! Are the bad things gone?” He jumps down from the cot and walks over to Dolor, sniffing the tiefling’s pantlegs. “It was dark. I was lonely. I didn’t like it. You smell like fire. I like it.” The canine moves to sniff Gven, Bilwin, and finally Mond. “Oh, you’re my favorite smell! You stink. You should bathe.”
Mond looks down at the red dog with its long tail and tall ears, “How are you talking?”
“Daveras gave me a present that I wear around my neck! Can I see Redbud?” Before they can answer, he hops over to the hatch that leads to the deck and begins floating upwards. A few seconds later, he barks “Redbud!”
The companions hear Redbud speaking slowly, “My friend…. I’m overjoyed to see you…. Now, now…. Take it easy…. You piddle when you get excited, and my roots don’t like that….”
In the southwest corner of the hold, Dolor notices the recently revealed study and investigates further. A desk and chair are situated against the southern wall; next to them is a bookcase loaded with books and scrolls. Nothing stands out to the rogue during his search, but he does find the invisible ward on the southern wall.
Bilwin enters the study a few minutes later, “Oh look, books! I love books. Especially books of maps.” Running his finger along the shelf, perusing the titles, one in particular catches the cleric’s attention. “Dissertations on the Abstruse Mind sounds like a fun read.” He pulls it from the shelf and turns it over in his hands, “Oh, this isn’t a book. It’s some sort of lock box. Dolor, can you?”
The dwarf hands the locked box to the rogue, who sets it on the desk and examines the lock. Without thinking about it, he pulls the lockpick from its safe storage in his bag and applies it to the box in a myriad of ways and directions, testing the mechanism within. An audible click fills the room and the box opens a tiny amount, indicating Dolor’s success. Returning the lockpick to its place in his pouch, the tiefling lifts the lid open and is met with a puff of gas. He immediately begins coughing and feels the poison’s effects. Fortunately, Bilwin is leaning over Dolor and instinctively touches the tiefling’s shoulder while whispering a prayer to Hanseath. Inside his body, the poison disperses without delay and Dolor nods his gratitude to the cleric.
No longer distracted by poison, Dolor discovers a lone journal in the lock box. Flipping through the pages, he sees that less than half of it is written in common, he doesn’t recognize the other languages. Handing it to Bilwin, “Maybe you can make sense of this. I’ll be searching the other room, what looks to be a lifeboat.”
The cleric sits in the chair and lays the journal on the desk, opening it to the first page. He intently reviews each page, recognizing a coded archaic writing style intermixed in with common and at least one other language. Less than fifty pages of the notebook are filled with the captain Inda’s notes, along with several illustrations of treasures and places discovered during their journey. Bilwin realizes that after discovering the piece of rod, she began testing how the magical artifact worked with her ship. Towards the end, she understood its power and the need to protect it, hence the magical wards. The dwarf eventually reads the passphrase to disarm the wards, “The moon sings a song for the lost.”
Dolor returns from the other room, “Nothing but supplies and a hundred gold pieces hidden inside one of the storage bins. Better than poison.”
Returning to the top deck, the companions see Ikasa sitting next to Redbud with a branch protectively wrapped over the dog’s back. Grindlefoot stands close by, enjoying the friends’ reunion.
Dolor walks closer to Redbud, “Thank you for your help. It’s nice to see the two of you back together. The parasites won’t be bothering you any further and we discovered the magical ward put in the study by the captain. Not knowing how the rod might react, we’ve left the ward in place for now. Is there anything we should know before we venture over to the bow section?”
The treant responds in his slow cadence, “I don’t move much…. And don’t know anymore than what I’ve shared….” Its eyes shift towards Ikasa, who lowers his snout and blinks slowly, as though feeling guilty or ashamed. “Do you know something, my small friend?”
The blink dog hesitates, slowly moving his head from one side to the other, indecision leading his reaction. With mild encouragement from Bilwin, Ikasa finally responds. “We were on a different ship, the Verdent Branch. Daveras has always provided for me and Redbud is my best friend. We were happy. Pirates attacked and we escaped in the tiny boat. A while later, I don’t know how long, we crashed into the Lambent Zenith. Daveras went off to find help.”
Ikasa goes silent for several moments, collecting himself. “I couldn’t save Palenna. The pirates destroyed the Verdent Branch and we escaped in the tiny boat. Palenna was a small one like them,” his muzzle points at Grindlefoot. “She escaped the shipwreck and floated off into the sea, all by herself. I didn’t tell Daveras or Redbud. Daveras wouldn’t want me to leave. He wants me to be safe. But I want Palenna to be safe. I want to find her and help. I’m worried that Daveras will not understand and be sad.”
The group has learned the secret of Ikasa, that the blink dog wants to find Palenna in the Astral Sea, but is concerned that Daveras will become despondent worrying about his canine friend.
Bilwin and Mond comfort their new canine friend while Dolor explains to Redbud that they need to rest before going to the bow portion of the ship. The treant welcomes them to rest while he watches over them. With a warning to Redbud, Grindlefoot Wild Shapes into a giant spider and weaves hammocks for the group.
As they sleep, Mond feels someone—or something—watching him. The half-elf opens his eyes to see Ikasa settled on the deck next to his hammock, staring up at the sorcerer. “I like you. You smell like bad food, and that’s good. Do you ever poop and eat it? That’s what you smell like.”
Long rest….