Ill Omens

From Marc:

I leave this record within the archives the Earl as a warning to future travelers who decide to brave the perils of the open seas to travel back to Isle of Faeroe



The event began a week into the second month of our travel. We had not seen land for longer than any of us wished. I had been feeling a growing sense of unease and had spent many a night consulting with the star of Kharid for a hint of what was to come. Kharid was not forthcoming, only giving scattered glimpses: splashing water, the sound of combat, muted roars, splintering wood… the last caused me to shudder… that image did not bode well while we were on the open seas. When our wizard, Bartix approached me with my companions shared concern of my withdrawal I decided to share my fears with. I knew were approaching something of great peril and whatever it was was close.

With Ruriks encouragement we approached the Earl Gaermund with the advice that he slow the Bera at much as possible while we took a longboat and scout ahead. Though the Earl had concerns over our stores of food he agreed to slow the dragonship for three days. We rearranged personnel so that only ourselves and a few rowmen were aboard the longboat and departed.

***********

Two days passed with nothing of note occurring. My companions were becoming vocal expressing that I should perhaps spend less time staring at the stars. If only they knew of the joy, wonder and horror that I see and feel from the astral aspects.
On the third day Oddney spotted an island in the distance. "That's it! " I cried, as a feeling of utmost certainty hit me. "That's what we're looking for."

No sooner than I finished my exclamation Edgar yelled for us to look at the water. Circling us were shadows in the water, moving too fast to make out. There were several but none large enough to endanger the boat. While we were wondering if they were going to attack we noticed they began to circle the boat. They seemed to increase in number as the water shifted and began to swirl around us. The speed increased rapidly and formed a vortex trapping our boat. I glanced to Bartix and his grim nod confirmed my sense that there was sorcery involved.

We tried to disrupt the vortex, however Bartix wasn't able to freeze enough of the vortex to stop it, my eldritch blasts weren't harming the wurms enough and Hermiads arrow were ineffective on targets under the water. Oddneys electric bolt caused one to leap out of the water. It was some kind of wurm! Our boat continued to race in tighter and tighter circles, the floorboards groaning, then cracking. My last memory was hearing a sharp cracking sound behind me and a heavy blow to my head.

The next thing I remember is trying to decide which was more uncomfortable, the sharp pain in my skull, the salty crunchiness of the sand in my mouth, or the itchiness in my trousers. I cracked my eyes open saw the half eaten skull of one of the rowers. With a shout I rolled away discomforts forgotten. Staggering to my feet I saw the rest of my shipmates in various states of consciousness and dress. Most of our armor had been damaged, some straps chewed, some plate dented. As I looked my sense of horror increased as I noticed that every one of the rowers had at least one major limb missing. Two were still alive, with Erik administering them. Armor,I realized, those without armor had been eaten… Bartix!

I spun looking for him. "Relax," I heard from behind me, "I got lucky…Mendas woke up before anything happened." Mendas grinned as he flourished, then sheathed two knives. Three gutted wurm corpses lay at his feet.

Shaking my head I breathed a sigh of relief that the rest of my armored companions were okay, though some armor was going to have to be replaced. Then I noticed Edgar was missing. No one had any idea where he was.

Looking at our surroundings I discovered we were in a subterranean corridor. It was warm… very warm. I was perspiring under my armor. Now that I noticed the temperature I saw that everyones skin had the light sheen of sweat. Water lapped at one end off the corridor. The water was dark with no hints as to how deep it wasLight shone down on the party from a few rocks that had had light cast on them. My inspection of our area complete I focused back on the wurm carcasses.

"Hmm," I said as I examined the corpses, "they look to be very young, their lids don't open." The other agreed but didn't have any other input. Hermiad pointed out that there were several wurm trails leading down the corridor away from the water. Unwilling to explore the water again we gathered our belongings, lit some torches and cautiously crept down the corridor.

Sounds wafted to us from ahead. Snorting sounds, growls, and what I could only describe as bark running against sand. The heat increased steadily. "I have a bad feeling about this, " said Mendas. Our jaws set grimly, we continued. A faint glow appeared ahead that grew stronger as we continued. And the heat continued to increase.

The corridor opened up and our worse suspicions were confirmed. We had come out into a large cavern. It was large…a few hundred feet long as it was wide. We could see hints of other corridors in various spots around the room. High above us we could see the walls sloped inward like a cone. The walls stopped in a circle through which we could see the sky. The room had many, many wurms in it. But they didn't attack. They hissed and slithered as they bumped and crawled over each other.

As we walked forward they backed away and kept their distance. It was if they knew we were a threat. After a few minutes we came upon a shelf… there was a drop of at least 50 feet with pits of bubbling lava. But scariest of all were the eggs….. hundreds of eggs lined all in the area below. A breeding ground. Even as we watched an egg top broke and a wurm slowly crawled out. As we watched we began to wonder how they got to the level we were on. As if to answer the question, the wurm suddenly rose into the air and slowly drift towards us. It soared over us and landed on the floor behind us. Startled we saw that the rest of the wurms had formed a line and were facing us.

Then we heard, no, not really heard… the words were placed directly into our minds. "My young ones are hungry." The voice "sounded" raspy, ancient. We exchanged worried looks as we drew our swords, knives and other implements, "and you two-legged ones have annoyed me with your interference."

A dark shadow appeared in the closest corridor to us and a gigantic head appeared… followed by a long serpentine body. "You triggered my preparations for the floating food not far from here. But there is time, yes, time before the brood hatches. I can prepare it again. But until then you shall be a snack for my young ones."

With that declaration the front lines of the young wurms surged forward. I immediately answered with dire radiance, the light burning the lightly armored wurms. Magic missiles erupted from Bartixs hands and the twangs from Hermiads bow and Oddneys crossbow filled the air. The wurms were dying easily but they were getting closer much too fast. A poison cloud covered the front ranks. Wurms twisted in agony as they shuddered and died. A gust of wind blew the poison cloud towards us. We coughed and our knees buckled as the edges of the cloud reached us.

"Stop that, are you trying to kill us, "cried Erik.

"I didn't create that wind, "answered Bartix as he released the spell.

A shadow appeared over us. I glanced up in time to see the serpents tail high above us. I barely threw myself out of the way as the tail impacted the floor throwing us from our feet. As it swept across the floor it knocked us toward the crowd of wurms. Dropping our ranged weapons we began to melee. "We've got to take out the big one" yelled Rurik as the tail crashed among us.

The fighters formed a circle around the magic users keeping the wurms away as we attached the serpent. I used a number of my spells, as did Bartix and Erik with no real effect. A couple wurms squeezed through the defenses biting the three of us badly. The tail crashed down again catching Rurik and knocking the rest of us onto our backsides. The wurms surged sensing our weakness but we managed to beat them back. Eriks cross shone brightly as he attempted to keep up with the damage we were taking. We were getting massacred, it was only a matter of time before one us fell.

"Bartix, "I called, "do you still have your ice field available?"

"Yes, you want me to slow down some of these wurms?"

"No, use it on the serpent; we've got to take him out. Wait for it, "I directed as I said a silent prayer to Gibbeth and cast the dark dream on the serpent. I felt it take hold and my mind split as I shared the serpents perspective of its surroundings. The floor beneath it split causing it to pull back away from us sharply. As the floor beneath it crumbled it danced to and fro trying to keep on solid ground.

"Ice," cast Bartix as the serpent stumbled back. It hit the field of ice that suddenly appeared beneath it and slide to the edge… and fell over. Second later we heard what sounded like the cross between a thud and a splash.

"To me, to me" cried Rurik, as we rallied one more time. The wurms surged once more, then quickly began to retreat as the sharp blades hacked at them. They began to act less and less coordinated and began to avoid us as they struggled to get away.

With the wurms retreating we all breathed a sigh of relief. Exhausted, I fell onto my side, gasping for breath. Ichor dripping from their blades, the fighters lowered their weapons. I was relieved it was over until I felt water tugging at my clothes.

We exclaimed in surprise and dismay as water washed across the floor and spilled into the area below us. We heard rumblinging all around us followed by water blasting out of the many corridors around the sides of the room. We heard the hiss of water hitting a hot surface below us.

Water poured from the various corridors threatening to sweep us of the edge of the precipice. We struggled to stay where we were. "That's curious, " said Oddney as the water level began to rise over our knees, "how is the water getting so high?"

Amazement stole over Hermiads face, "I don't think the water is rising, I think the island is sinking." Astonishment stole over the whole party. I felt at awe… if the serpent had been maintaining the state of the island, the power of its enchantments was astounding.

The water quickly filled the cavern and we were pushed towards the top. We swam towards the center and was ejected into the general sea. The water roiled and frothed from the displacement of the land. I struggled to fight the undertow of the island and saw the others were struggling as well, except for…Oddney! I called Hermiad, Bartix, and Mendas for help and we dove to try to find Oddney.

Luckily her frantic effort had kept her from sinking too far. We grasped her on the sides and struggled to pull her to the surface. With the weight of her armor there was no way we were going to be able to keep her afloat. Bartix had arrived to that conclusion and started to unbuckle it only to be knocked aside by Oddney, "are you crazy, you know what I went through to ..glub" as we all were pulled under the surface. I began to feel we were done for when a rough hand grabbed my hair… I screamed as it was pulled and water rushed into my mouth. The hand repositioned itself to my shoulder and with painful squeezing drew me towards the surface. Thankfully it repositioned itself under my arm.

As my head broke the surface I was surprised to see it was Edgar! "Look, I made a boat" he said referring to mix of planks and tree trunks he was sitting on. With his help we were able to pull Oddney and the rest of us out of the water and onto the mishmash of boards and trunks.

After we collected ourselves and recounted our experience to Edgar, we learned that when the longboat had been pulled under Edgar had managed to grab the mast and was able to float back to the surface. He was able to get to the island and spent the rest of his time knocking down trees and attempting to tie the trunks together along with some of the planks that washed to shore. When the island sank he sat on the logs and stayed afloat.

*********

It was almost two days later when the fleet caught up with us. And for us, now sunburned, dehydrated and exhausted, it was the most welcome sight in the world.