Chapter 19: Endless Nights

[Jeff]

Feb 2, 2021 9:14:29 GMT -4 Brian said:

Jeff, is the chest floating in the water? Is there a handle or something where a rope could be secured?

There are small but thick pull-rings hanging from two sides (the short sides of the rectangular cuboid shape). And yup, it's floating, else it never would have surfaced.

[Brian]

"Wait!" Melethos calls out. "Kal, quick, slip your rope trough the pull ring. We'll grab each end of the rope and drag the chest back to the others."

[Darren]

"Good. Yes," Kal says, awkwardly working the rope into his hands while trying to stay afloat. He attaches it through the pull rings, tying one end to each side to create a loop through which he and Melethos can slip. He places the rope around his chest and holds out his staff in front of him. Light springs forth on the weapon, leading the way as Kal and Melethos swim back towards Belarin and Histra. "Streko, Adamant, find something to float on and work your way back with us."

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Kal will cast Light on his staff. Let me know if the rest of it makes sense.

[Brian]

Melethos accepts the other end of the rope and starts swimming/wading back to the others, pulling the chest with him as he goes.

[Jeff]

Kal, Melethos, Adamant, Calirataia, Streko

Swimming with a staff (like swimming with a glaive) is difficult work, and trying to work with rope (like carrying a dryad) at the same time has Kal's body wants nothing more than to lie on solid ground in peace. His legs are working overtime. But he's getting it done, and no threats arise. Streko, at least, is able to help if he wishes; he is unburdened by a two-handed weapon or shield, only his chainmail. The new light, at least, makes it clear what he's doing: the gold of the chest seems to shine, and the details of the clinging skeleton become all the sharper. Though not moving at all, its empty eye sockets feel like they're observing.

Yet by the time the ropes is fed through the loops of the chest and tied together around himself and Melethos, each of them realizes something else: they can no longer see Belarin, Shorak, and Histra, nor any sign of the ship they were on. The masts have gone under, and only distant shakes of the flotsam can be glimpsed. Most have drifted away. The closest are some corpses.

A sour feeling takes hold. It's not even clear what direction they were in. There is no north or south here.

Belarin, Shorak, Histra

Belarin and Shorak suddenly see Adamant's light go out. They never do see Kal's. It's like a curtain has been suddenly drawn between them, and there is no sight or sound of them. The ship continues to sink, and now water rushes over their boots.

"We can only wait," Histra says pragmatically, and somehow her confidence helps.

[Dave W.]

Adamant's expressionless faceplate hides an annoyance born partly of concern and partly of weariness. We're all exhausted he reminds himself still bearing Calirataia and his glaive. He starts swimming back the way he came. Back to the sinking ship. It feels wrong in a sense... heading back to a sinking ship, but these last days have mostly felt wrong.

He puts his aching muscles into getting back.

---

if he comes across some bit of flotsam that looks helpful he will grab it and use it, but he's not going to go far out of the way to do it.

[Brian]

Melethos wipes water from his eyes... and notices the ship and his friends are gone.

"By the hells," he mutters, then speaks a few words of power, flicks one hand, and suddenly his voice rings out into the darkness.

"BELARIN, CAN YOU HEAR ME!"

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Melethos casts Thaumaturgy to increase his voice volume.

[Jeff]

There is no sign that Melethos's voice has been heard. It doesn't even echo or seem to roll across the water very far.

Belarin does not see or hear his friends.

[Ken]

Feb 2, 2021 12:19:46 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Belarin and Shorak suddenly see Adamant's light go out. They never do see Kal's. It's like a curtain has been suddenly drawn between them, and there is no sight or sound of them. The ship continues to sink, and now water rushes over their boots.

"We can only wait," Histra says pragmatically, and somehow her confidence helps.

Belarin engages in what seems like - given the circumstances - an unseemly flourish of his singed feyweave garments. Instantly, a half-dozen glowing lights emerge from the folds of the garment. Whether the lights are actually sprites or just lights in the shape of those fey creatures ... it's hard to say.

"KAL! MELETHOS!" he yells.

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I spent a good long while digging through old posts to see whether Belarin was wearing the spiky studded leather or his classic feyweave, and the last mention I can find of him changing clothes is last May, where he put on his feyweave for his dream visit to the tower. So I'm going with that! Belarin using his feyweave to cast dancing lights.

[Darren]

Kal stops kicking towards the ship and begins to tread water, leaning on the floating chest for support. "Melethos," he says calmly, reaching out to the tiefling. "Melethos," he repeats, "stop. Everyone, stop. Just wait. I think this is the magic breaking down. We're...nowhere...right now. I don't think there's anything to swim to. I think we must wait for the spell to break completely, and then we will find where we are. For now, just stay afloat and in sight of who is here. Belarin and Shorak have Histra with them. They will be okay. Streko? Adamant? Are you okay?"

[Jeff]

Adamant, Kal, Melethos, Streko, Calirataia

No sooner does Kal call for calm, then the water itself begins to change. It grows shockingly colder, and it's churning now. Not with bubbles, and not with a current. Something else. It feels like it's rising up above you almost like gravity has reversed, though you're still able to breathe, if with some difficulty. And you cannot see one another, though you are not blind. Like trying to navigate through driving rain at night, you can breathe but the whole world has become as thick as soup. There is only a whisper of sound, but you feel the force of the rising water trying to force you apart from one another!

Now it's time for Strength (Athletics) checks for swimming! This is to try to stay together and keep hold of one another, and for Kal and Melethos to maintain their grips on Kal's rope (and their staff and shield). And also for Adamant to hold onto his glaive and Calirataia (and for her to keep hold of him).

Please make two separate rolls. If you're disadvantaged (like Kal and Calirataia are), both rolls get that disadvantaged roll. Give 'em to me!

Belarin, Shorak, and Histra

The world grows so darker, and the deck below them is about to fall away from beneath their feet. Histra's hand is joined with Belarin, but she braces her staff in the other hand. "Shorak, take hold. Hold on of my arm, if you can. I believe we are going . . . wherever in Eberron we are closest to. It would be best if that's the same place together."

As the world seems to fold in around them, so does consciousness.

I need either an Intelligence (Arcana) check from each, or Wisdom (Perception), whichever you prefer.

Attachments:

[Brian]

The rushing, rising water disorientates Melethos. A wave crashes over him. He uses the flat of his shield to steady himself. He rises above the waters, sees he’s near Kal and the others.

He smiles. Then another, larger wave slams into him. He feels the rope slip, wraps his wrist around it. But th the effort throws off his balance. He slams his shield down, tries to regain his balance, but his arm starts to slip from the shield's straps.
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Melethos: 1D20+4 → 22( (18) + 4)#Strength (Athletics) Check

Melethos: 1D20+4 → 6( (2) + 4)#Stregnth (Athletics) Check

[Joe]

Streko begins to panic as the wall of water rains over him and up into the darkness. "Kal! Adamant! Shorak! Melethos! ANYONE!!"

He turns back and grasps the chest with one hand while snapping the fingers of his free hand. A bright, orange light erupts from the top of the chest and shines outward.

He sees Melethos struggling to remain stable in this new environment. "GRAB THE CHEST! FOCUS ON THE LIGHT!!" he calls out.
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Strength Check → 19

Streko casts Light on the top of the chest as he grabs hold of it and hangs on.

[Dave W.]

“Yes, gather together. We will see each other through. Calirataia, you hold on tight now... I will be your personal piece of flotsam. Streko, perhaps you could help Kal a bit.”

“Melethos, how much rope is there? Can we all even just wrap a length around a wrist?”

---

dlw32: repeat2 1D20+3 → 6; 18( (3) + 3);( (15) + 3)

Not to kibitz too much but Joe, does Streko have the cantrip guidance? He could give one of us (I’d suggest Kal) a +1d4 to the athletics check.

If necessary... if Adamant feels like he needs to drop the glaive to save Calirataia, he will.

Why does this remind me of our cracked up entry to Dolurrh?

[Dave B.]

"That chest better be worth it." Shorak mutters as he takes a firm hold of Histra's arm.

Disadvantaged perception check: 1d20+5=14; 1d20+5=7.

[Darren]

Well, that's a true bummer. Rolls for check #1 were 5 and 18. Rolls for check #2 were 22 (natural 20) and 4. Stupid disadvantage.

Kal feels his strength slipping away from him. This was a mistake. He realizes that now. Despair begins to overwhelm him.

The number of magic weapons that Kal has lost in water is becoming ridiculous....

[Ken]

Belarin grips Histra's hand tightly, and the darkness seems to swallow his consciousness....

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Intelligence (Arcana) check: 1d20(17) + 10 = 27.

[Jeff]

So results are...

Strength (Athletics) to swim

• Adamant - 6 & 18
• Calirataia - 4 & 5
• Kal - 5 & 4
• Melethos - 22 & 6
• Streko - 19 & 7
  

Arcana / Perception

• Belarin - 27
• Shorak - 7
• Histra - 18

---

Adamant, Calirataia, Kal, Melethos, Streko

It becomes quickly apparent that speaking is futile; most of your attempts to communicate with your friends are swept away amid the driving, upside-down "rain." Streko cannot even manage to cast a spell or reach out for the chest. Swimming becomes even harder as the water around and above you seems to flow in different directions at the same time; it's all you can do to hold on, to your gear, to the rope, to each other...

Still, you can breathe (those of you who need to); you're not properly drowning, though it feels like you should be. If only this strange rising sensation would let you surface around the Dragonfly. There'd be help then.

Adamant feels a surge of powerful water pulling at Calirataia. She has no strength to call out, but he can feel her arms tightening, trying to keep her hands locked together around his neck. When it's apparent he needs both hands to keep hold of her, he releases the glaive . . . . It is no loss, surely, not if he can hang onto this fey creature, this friend, this . . . whatever she is. He wants desperately to pull them both from this peril. He wishes Dol Arrah would help him, would send a spirit to bear them up and out. Strangely, he imagines a his savior as a hippocampus; which is absurd, he knows. A magical equine beast with a fish tail instead of a horse's hindquarters is not an image he has seen in any Sovereign scripture.

Kal is so tired; he's never been so tired. This dark water is taking him somewhere and he must let it. He tries only to at least keep what he still has: the staff that he earned. Strange thoughts assail him as he struggles. Where did the staff come from? Wasn't it that strange cave? Wasn't there a dragon, and a mound of treasure? Or was it given to him in Sentinel Tower by his instructors? He seems to recall being handed the shining staff by a woman. Lestri of Tantamar, wasn't it? She was very easy on the eyes, with long flowing red hair, skin a few shades darker than his, teasing eyes. She was older than him by a few years, and that only intrigued him more. Wasn't it she who presented him the Staff of Lightning and Thunder, for his heroism, somehwere in the Floating Towers of Arcanix? For his accomplishments. No, it wasn't that. "For deeds yet to come," she'd said, didn't she? "For heroism that lies ahead, far from here. Far from Sentinel Tower. Far, even, from Khorvaire. To another continent you will go . . ." Kal almost shakes his head. None of this happened, right? Is he dreaming? Is he asleep? He feels the staff slide from his fingers now, and he can't quite bring himself to care. If he could just sleep instead . . . 

Streko manages to keep sight of his friends for a short while, though he can't properly communicate with them. Then he realizes he's all alone in the darkness, in this water that's probably not Eberron's. He worries he may be separated from his friends and stranded in Mabar, the Endless Night. The realm of eternal darkness, that spawns undeath, misery, and negative emotions. Then he realizes he's not even afraid of the plane itself (though he knows he should be). He's more worried about losing his friends. He could share a dark fate stoically, he knows he could, as all halflings do, if they could just share it with the ones they love. As the darkness and wetness overwhelms him, he at least grasps, in his mind, to Olladra. Whatever fortune or misfortune comes, he wishes to give her a hand in it. Some say.

Melethos struggles. He feels the rope around his waist, so she knows he must still be hanging onto the chest somehow, though it bangs against him uncomfortably for a few times. His mind is filled with anger and defiance; he refuses to be drowned. If he must die, he would rather it be in battle, or in fire. This dark water is no place for one such as him, and he rails violently against it. 

Belarin, Histra, Shorak

Belarin and Shorak feel the ship fall completely away from their feet, sinking into a dark void, and they are left . . . standing, not even treading water. The water is calm, and it even feels like it's dissolving, slowly. But damned it's cold.

Belarin remains as calm as the water. He feels Histra's reassuring presence, and he knows—academically—that they've done the best they can. He has walked with his new friends through labyrinths of Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead. He's flirted with strange energies and foes on the edge of Kythri, the Churning Chaos. And, perhaps more importantly, he's lost time, himself, and the cares of his youth by dwelling in the Twilight Demesne. A permanent manifest zone between Eberron and Thelanis. He's spent more time on planar boundaries than any of his allies, even more than Histra (who through her upbringing has made contact with Mabar many times). He's not afraid of this. He's only afraid of how others will fare right now. He can feel Histra's hand in his, but it's trembling. Perhaps from the shivering cold. 

Shorak's second to last thought is of that chest the others went for, mentally grumbling about the effort and possibly the waste of seeking it. But as the cold begins to numb his body and his mind, he muses to himself that this has been the strangest period of Long Shadows in his life. It was never this unpleasant before. But then, while his tribe may have celebrated the influence of the Shadow, that was many years ago. In Stormreach it was a fearful and superstitious time for everyone around him. He feels like he ought to be paying attention to where he is right now, though. The cold has become fearsome. It is like the touch of death itself. It reminds him of the ghosts of Dolurrh, and now that he thinks about it, he wonders: what is the difference between the two planes, anyway? Dolurrh had its undead, though he knew not every spirit there was inherently hostile. In Mabar, he could feel the hate. That gaunt . . . would have done horrible things to him and his friends if it could. He tries to push it away, but the cold soon freezes his very mind.

---

Adamant takes 5 bludgeoning damage.
Kal takes 5 bludgeoning damage and is rendered unconscious.
Melethos takes 5 bludgeoning damage.
Streko takes 5 bludgeoning damage.
Calirataia take 5 bludgeoning damage and is rendered unconscious.

Belarin takes 14 necrotic damage.
Histra takes 14 (halved to 7) necrotic damage.
Shorak takes 28 necrotic damage and is rendered unconscious.

For those who remained conscious, feel free to add any final thoughts during this "transition." I'm going to close this thread very soon and start the next chapter!

[Brian]

Melethos fights like he's never fought before. Water surrounds him, presses into him. This is a dark, desolate place. He hates it.

The tiefling kicks with his feet but the beat of the water is too much. He doesn't know if he's being pushed up or down or sideways.

He's lost in the water, lost among his friends. Dark worms of hypoxia eat at his vision.

He has one final thought.

Will Jyoti be waiting for me?

[Ken]

Nothing from me. Very nice, Jeff!

[Dave W.]

Adamant is horrified when Calirataia falls unconscious again. He immediately and with no concern at all drops the glaive and wraps both arms around the dryad. "Stay with me. Stay with me." he tells her*

He silently start to pray, Great and Mighty Dol Arrah, whose warmth powers all Life, Your humble servant commends himself, body and soul, to You as he has all these past years. If this be my end I thank You for whatever Good I have been able to accomplish with the loan of Your Power.

If I am allowed, I will only ask that You help my friends. I will pay whatever Forfeit You require. I am Yours.

Whatever other affect, the prayer calms him...

---

* Not sure if he can speak still (he doesn't need air in lungs to speak) or not (there may be another reason to prevent it) but he will try.

ready to move on. Very exciting stuff!

[Joe]

Olladra, bringer of Feast and Fortune, here the prayers of Your faithful and devout servant. Know that I would willingly lay my life down for You and for those I care most deeply for. Know that I have no fear of death myself, for if it is Your will and desire, so be it. I ask, no, I plea to You for the health and safety of my friends, those who have fought by my side in your service, those who would continue to do so. If I am to be sacrificed for You, I humbly ask You to spare them and aid them on their journey to save Eberron from the dark tide approaching.

He knows he is crying, but cannot feel the tears for the water, cannot hear his pleas, cannot see the Rings of Siberys above or anything else for that matter. There is now only his faith and hope. Hope for his family and his friends. It is all he can muster now as this odd water surrounds him and carries him to the Host only knows where.
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Nicely written, Jeff!! Wonderfully suspenseful stuff!

[Jeff]

Thanks.

Chapter 20 begins!