Journal of Rollo Lavius 1

Entry #62 - Octopus and Seahag

(G62 - BG 11/09/09)

DAY 110 cont....

The first thing that happened was that Zalazar was taken over the side of the ship's rail by a giant tentacle and the cracking of his spine signaled his grizzly end.

The ship was also being assaulted at the stern by a sea hag that cackled as she fought off the blows of Shlump and some of the others. The hag put up a good fight but was soon felled by arrows from Meree and others and the blows of Shlump. The captain was totally dazed though and was cured later by Nobby.

Meanwhile, the giant octopus that was attacking over the port rail was doing a lot of damage to the ship and lashing out at people as the came on to the deck.

Shifty manned the ballista and started to load it. Ducking behind the forward stairs I summoned four crocodiles that held the monster off for a while and did it some damage but did not last long. Next I cast a Rogue Wave spell that swept it back and turned it over.

It then came for the ship again, angrier than ever. Shifty shot it with a ballista bolt and other joined the fight, including Mathmoss and Eriss. Moss got a few bolts into it and Erris ravaged it with Burning Hands and Ray of Enfeeblement spells.

Eventually, with the stink of burnt calamari in the air it slipped below the waves once more.

Nobby healed everyone up and we set about repairing the ship once more. I went to the forward rail and hallooed, 'Ahoy the Nixie!' until I got a reply that called back 'Lavina is dying!'. Immediately I turned into an eagle and followed the voice through the mist and landed on our sister ship.

Cascus had used all his magic defending the Nixie from their own attackers and had nothing left over for healing, so it was luckily I got there to use my own power to rescue Lavina. Once she was brought back from the brink of death I stayed on board for the rest of the day.

In the evening the wind blew up again and the mist began to clear.

DAY 111

I decided to set about the reincarnation of Kelech and Solomon (I persuaded Nobby to do a 'Speak with the Dead' spell beforehand.). After some discussion with the chaps and a bit of meditation for inspiration I decided to turn into an octopus and use Shifty's chest (taken from the Flotsam ooze the night before!) to take the two thousand gold coins required to be sacrificed down to the sea bed.

I found a suitable clear spot and using my tentacles set the chest gently down. The sand moved and sucked in, then a giant purple worm came out of the sand and gulped up the chest before swimming off.

I examined the resultant hole and searching around found five black pearls. Holding them in my tentacles I then went over to where the giant octopus' remains lay hoping to find the body of Zalazar but unfortunately the sharks had been at it and their was very little left.

Surfacing and hailing the Wyvern I climbed back on board and dried myself off. I then prepared some salves from four of the black pearls and cast the spell.

Well.... lets start with Solomon. He came back as a shield dwarf and he was not too put out by the transformation. He even gave me pendant as a thank you later on that day.

But.... Kelech was less than happy with his new form. To beat about the bush no longer

- he came back as a goblin.

The poor chap, I feel so sorry for him. I'm sure if he had but known this would be the result he would have chosen to stay in what ever heavenly realm he had been inhabiting rather than return to the material world as such a universally hated creature.

The end result is that we now have a near suicidal goblin lurking around in the ships hold. It was probably just as well I didn't find Zalazar as Silvanus only knows what he would have come back as - a bugbear maybe.

I admit I don't always understand the randomness of nature, so it was no great surprise that a few people remarked to me today that if anything should ever happen to them on this journey - just let them rest in peace, they would rather not take the chance!

I feel awful about Kelech, I was just trying to help but I suppose this is an important lesson for a druid - we have great power, but it can not always be controlled.

DAY 112

Good sailing today. We have a slight change to the crew roster, but I have managed to remain as a passenger so I got in a little tuition with Molly and a bit more of the opera done.

Nobby is hiding from the captain and Moss is up to something sinister while Shifty endlessly tinkers with the ballisatas.

DAY 113

In the small hours of the morning, again in the middle watch when Shifty, Kelech and Solomon were on deck, we were attacked by another giant octopus!