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Post by Strangers and Travelers on Oct 14, 2017 17:35:29 GMT -8
The edge of the ship was back the way they'd come, and Ugg followed Colby as the two began running back towards the exit. Only...the exit wasn't there any more. Where the passageway had been before, there was only a solid wooden wall, just as old and barnacle-covered as all the others. Dave chittered nervously, hopping off Colby's shoulder and climbing up the wall to tap against it and see if it was real. Of course, it was just as real as any other wall, and the squirrel soon returned to his spot on Colby's shoulder. Glancing back, the only ways to go were down the hall they'd been walking through or through the side passage. Who knew, perhaps Roderick was there.
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Colby Tebick
Established
Roleplay posts: 31
Age: 67
Physical Description: gnomish, so a small guy, adorned in beautifully made leather, that only if you look very closely can you tell is held together by vines. He has dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a perpetual smug half smile across his face. On his chest, a crest that seems to almost turn as you look at it, though it may be a trick of the light. On his shoulder sits a well kept red squirrel wearing a tiny helmet and armed with a dagger
Clothes and Equipment: Leather armour held together with vines
short bow and a foreign looking curved blade
A pouch filled with a variety of strange things
A softly glowing green gem embedded in the back of his hand
monocle hanging inside his armour ready to be donned
signet ring
rope hanging by his side
hefty looking coin purse, carried openly
Registered: Oct 14, 2017 11:05:13 GMT -8
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Post by Colby Tebick on Oct 15, 2017 1:34:29 GMT -8
Breathing slightly heavier now, Colby’s nerves were beginning to show. This was an unnatural place and he felt his powers dwindling somewhat. He turned to Ugg, “ok, well we have to find Roderick before we leave anyway. Follow this corridor, I’ll let you know if I hear him”
With that, he concentrated a moment and his form began to warp and shrink down in size, feathers sprouted from his arms and flowed over his head replacing hair, within an instant Colby had a much better sense of hearing, and Ugg had a squirrel on one shoulder and an owl on the other.
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Post by Strangers and Travelers on Oct 15, 2017 10:25:40 GMT -8
Dave glanced over nervously, as he always did when Colby turned into a bird of prey. Even though he knew that the bird was Colby, it still worried him to have a predator so close. Ugg headed down the corridor, glancing around nervously. As he walked, Colby's sensitive hearing would pick up a familiar, distinctive chattering from down the hallway.
"...and then I said, these aren't clams, they're scallops! So we grabbed all the scallops off the rocks and cooked them, only we didn't actually cook them nearly well enough, and it turned out that they were actually clams and not scallops, and we were sick for days after. But anyways, I know this recipe for scallops, and-"
Colby would hear a woman's voice, a soft "Shut up". Roderick let out a quiet "Mmmph" and fell silent. Ugg turned the corner, and the trio saw Roderick sitting in the corner kissing a mermaid. The mermaid broke away and looked up, flicking water at Ugg with her tail.
"Oh, I didn't know there were more of you. They're awfully ugly, don't you think?"
Roderick turned around, grinning at Colby and Ugg.
"Hey guys, look who I found! Why were we here again?"
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Colby Tebick
Established
Roleplay posts: 31
Age: 67
Physical Description: gnomish, so a small guy, adorned in beautifully made leather, that only if you look very closely can you tell is held together by vines. He has dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a perpetual smug half smile across his face. On his chest, a crest that seems to almost turn as you look at it, though it may be a trick of the light. On his shoulder sits a well kept red squirrel wearing a tiny helmet and armed with a dagger
Clothes and Equipment: Leather armour held together with vines
short bow and a foreign looking curved blade
A pouch filled with a variety of strange things
A softly glowing green gem embedded in the back of his hand
monocle hanging inside his armour ready to be donned
signet ring
rope hanging by his side
hefty looking coin purse, carried openly
Registered: Oct 14, 2017 11:05:13 GMT -8
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Post by Colby Tebick on Oct 15, 2017 10:48:15 GMT -8
Colby hops off of Uggs shoulder and shifts back into his usual gnome form, and for the second time today makes a subtle gesture to Ugg to be ready to attack.
Addresing the mermaid he says, walking menacingly toward it "I am going to give you one chance to let go of him and tell us how to leave this ship. If you make a move to do anything but those two things I will kill you" He fixes her with a steely gaze, determination taking over him. He needed this to be a success.
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Post by Strangers and Travelers on Oct 15, 2017 11:15:44 GMT -8
Roderick frowned, confused. He leaned forward and kissed the mermaid again, but she planted a hand in his face and pushed him away. Her smirk vanished, replaced with a bitter scowl.
"You'll kill me, huh? Is that what you'll do? Go ahead, kill me! It can't be any worse than what they did. You land-dwellers are all alike!"
The mermaid's tail slowly began to change, the glittering green scales turning into a steely grey. Huge cuts and gashes appeared in the tail, dripping blood down into the salt water pooled on the floor. More lash marks appeared on her torso, too. The mermaid's bosom vanished under Roderick's hand, replaced with raw, brutal wounds. A cut appeared across her throat as well, completing the transformation. The mermaid grabbed Roderick by the neck, bringing a razor-sharp fingernail up under his chin.
"Go ahead then, kill me! Do you think you'll be fast enough for me, huh? Fast enough to save your friend? Look what the sailors did to me after they caught me! I'll do the same to your friend here if you don't leave me alone!"
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Colby Tebick
Established
Roleplay posts: 31
Age: 67
Physical Description: gnomish, so a small guy, adorned in beautifully made leather, that only if you look very closely can you tell is held together by vines. He has dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a perpetual smug half smile across his face. On his chest, a crest that seems to almost turn as you look at it, though it may be a trick of the light. On his shoulder sits a well kept red squirrel wearing a tiny helmet and armed with a dagger
Clothes and Equipment: Leather armour held together with vines
short bow and a foreign looking curved blade
A pouch filled with a variety of strange things
A softly glowing green gem embedded in the back of his hand
monocle hanging inside his armour ready to be donned
signet ring
rope hanging by his side
hefty looking coin purse, carried openly
Registered: Oct 14, 2017 11:05:13 GMT -8
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Post by Colby Tebick on Oct 15, 2017 11:21:48 GMT -8
Colby winces slightly as the mermaid's, supposedly true form is revealed to him, but only for a moment, she doesn't matter, there are more important things at play here.
He watches as Ugg slowly moves behind the mermaid and he talks to her. "You will regret that if you do it. This is a cursed and terrible place, perhaps you have been caught up in it also, perhaps you are another of it's tricks. Either way, the idiot is mine"
As those last words passed his lips he darts out a hand and a vine bursts from the wall in an attempt to restrain her hand and Ugg moves in to attack from behind
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Post by Strangers and Travelers on Oct 15, 2017 11:43:46 GMT -8
The mermaid glanced back at Ugg, chuckling bitterly. She pushed the nail harder into Roderick's skin, eliciting an uncomfortable squeak.
"Go ahead, hit me. Come on, what's the worse you can do, huh? Nothing they didn't do to me already! Look at me! The sailors, they caught me and cut me up! I'll do the same to each and every one of you, starting with your blabbermouth friend and ending with that fluffy thing on the brute's shoulder!"
As the vine burst through the wall in a shower of barnacles to catch her wrist, she swung her blade-like nail up. The vine pulled her wrist back as she slashed, causing her to miss her mark and cut Roderick's face instead. At the same time, Ugg swung at her head, knocking her to the ground with a splash. Roderick fell back, clutching his face.
"W-what's going on? What just happened! What happened to her, she was just fine a moment ago! Who are you calling an idiot?"
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Colby Tebick
Established
Roleplay posts: 31
Age: 67
Physical Description: gnomish, so a small guy, adorned in beautifully made leather, that only if you look very closely can you tell is held together by vines. He has dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a perpetual smug half smile across his face. On his chest, a crest that seems to almost turn as you look at it, though it may be a trick of the light. On his shoulder sits a well kept red squirrel wearing a tiny helmet and armed with a dagger
Clothes and Equipment: Leather armour held together with vines
short bow and a foreign looking curved blade
A pouch filled with a variety of strange things
A softly glowing green gem embedded in the back of his hand
monocle hanging inside his armour ready to be donned
signet ring
rope hanging by his side
hefty looking coin purse, carried openly
Registered: Oct 14, 2017 11:05:13 GMT -8
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Post by Colby Tebick on Oct 15, 2017 11:49:35 GMT -8
A whole series of vines begin to grow from gaps in the ships wood, attempting to tie the mermaid down, Colby gives Ugg another nod of approval and pulls Roderick up to his feet. "I'm calling you an idiot! Seduced by a mermaid? really? That's adventuring 101"
He walks toward and stands over the mermaid. "So what are you doing here and do you know a way out?" His tone going from snarky to menacing in a heartbeat. "I'm usually a good person, or at least I like to think so. But I'm under a lot of stress right now and abducting someone's companions doesn't exactly warm you to them."
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Post by Strangers and Travelers on Oct 15, 2017 12:09:15 GMT -8
The mermaid struggled against the vines, trying to cut her way out to no avail. A few moments later, the mutilated mermaid was bound tightly to the ground, unable to so much as flop her tail. She glared at Colby, eyes black and dull like a doll's. She shook her head at Colby's question, and revealed a mouthful of pointed teeth as she spoke.
"There's no way out, don't you get it? You can't escape this ship, it's a prison! There's no way to escape, not even death. Once you're in here, you're here forever! When this ship floated, deathly ill sailors would rather jump off the side than die on-board. Even that didn't save them, though. After they'd drowned, they reappeared on the ship, sailing it through the seas for decades. There's no escape from this ship, in life or in death."
Roderick, meanwhile, sighed.
"She was just sitting there, all pretty and perfect and, uh, soft...who wouldn't? I guess it must have been an illusion though, I guess she doesn't have any, um...I guess she isn't so soft anymore..."
He rubbed his face, glancing down at the bound mermaid on the ground.
"Man, they really did a number on her, didn't they?"
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Colby Tebick
Established
Roleplay posts: 31
Age: 67
Physical Description: gnomish, so a small guy, adorned in beautifully made leather, that only if you look very closely can you tell is held together by vines. He has dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a perpetual smug half smile across his face. On his chest, a crest that seems to almost turn as you look at it, though it may be a trick of the light. On his shoulder sits a well kept red squirrel wearing a tiny helmet and armed with a dagger
Clothes and Equipment: Leather armour held together with vines
short bow and a foreign looking curved blade
A pouch filled with a variety of strange things
A softly glowing green gem embedded in the back of his hand
monocle hanging inside his armour ready to be donned
signet ring
rope hanging by his side
hefty looking coin purse, carried openly
Registered: Oct 14, 2017 11:05:13 GMT -8
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Post by Colby Tebick on Oct 15, 2017 12:15:59 GMT -8
"Look, I've seen a lot of cursed magics in my time and there's always a catch or a way to destroy it, we just need to find it. Starting by finding our way to the deck of the ship, might be as easy as climbing down. Not like we're going to drown on a beach"
He looks down at the mermaid and the vines tighten against her slightly, "You have any reason why I should let you go? you going to be useful? Or do I leave you tied up for the couple of days these vines will last?"
Pointedly ignoring Roderick Colby was back to creating flowers between his hands, he still had a few tricks up his sleeve but he had no idea if any of them would help him escape.
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Post by Strangers and Travelers on Oct 15, 2017 12:36:21 GMT -8
The flowers fell to the water, drifting gently out the doorway and down the hall. When Colby looked back down at the mermaid, however, she was gone. The vines laid limply on the water, their captive having seemingly dissolved into thin air. Ugg simply shrugged, and Roderick was too busy chattering nervously to notice that the mermaid had vanished.
"She was just sitting there, so I started talking to her, then she kissed me! Did that really happen? Her tail was so clean and sparkly, but I guess that wasn't real either...or was it? Is any of this real? I really can't tell the difference anymore, just like I couldn't tell the difference between those clams and scallops that one time..."
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Colby Tebick
Established
Roleplay posts: 31
Age: 67
Physical Description: gnomish, so a small guy, adorned in beautifully made leather, that only if you look very closely can you tell is held together by vines. He has dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a perpetual smug half smile across his face. On his chest, a crest that seems to almost turn as you look at it, though it may be a trick of the light. On his shoulder sits a well kept red squirrel wearing a tiny helmet and armed with a dagger
Clothes and Equipment: Leather armour held together with vines
short bow and a foreign looking curved blade
A pouch filled with a variety of strange things
A softly glowing green gem embedded in the back of his hand
monocle hanging inside his armour ready to be donned
signet ring
rope hanging by his side
hefty looking coin purse, carried openly
Registered: Oct 14, 2017 11:05:13 GMT -8
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Post by Colby Tebick on Oct 15, 2017 12:42:28 GMT -8
Colby flicked his wrist towards Roderick and a green swirling bubble grew around his head, the sounds of his incessant talking ceasing and without a word he began to walk, attempting to make his way up and out of the ship.
Colby took up the rear, placing minor magical effects on both of his companions in the hopes that if they were taken he could track them. Now he had both of them and some form of plan he was beginning to calm down. Though he still needed to work out a way to destroy the ship. Fire?
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Post by Strangers and Travelers on Oct 15, 2017 12:48:43 GMT -8
Roderick's protests were thankfully contained by the bubble, which distorted his face like a carnival mirror. Sighing, he fell silent and followed Colby along the corridor, letting the bubble burst with a soft pop. As they walked, Colby would notice his flowers floating down the path, propelled by a gentle current. Unfortunately for him, even the briefest glance would tell him that the wood was far too damp to burn, and was encrusted with non-flammable shellfish. Dave climbed up on Colby's head, glancing back and forth as he chittered quietly. After a while, Roderick spoke up once again.
"Do you think she might have been a ghost?"
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Colby Tebick
Established
Roleplay posts: 31
Age: 67
Physical Description: gnomish, so a small guy, adorned in beautifully made leather, that only if you look very closely can you tell is held together by vines. He has dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a perpetual smug half smile across his face. On his chest, a crest that seems to almost turn as you look at it, though it may be a trick of the light. On his shoulder sits a well kept red squirrel wearing a tiny helmet and armed with a dagger
Clothes and Equipment: Leather armour held together with vines
short bow and a foreign looking curved blade
A pouch filled with a variety of strange things
A softly glowing green gem embedded in the back of his hand
monocle hanging inside his armour ready to be donned
signet ring
rope hanging by his side
hefty looking coin purse, carried openly
Registered: Oct 14, 2017 11:05:13 GMT -8
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Post by Colby Tebick on Oct 15, 2017 12:53:39 GMT -8
"Well the wound to her neck looked like a little more than a scratch"
As they proceeded up the boat Colby began to experiment on sections of wall, using different magics in an attempt to break it down, first the fire, then growing plants in the cracks and pushing the wood apart, he tried his hand at some minor necromancy trying to prematurely decompose the wood and a host of other things, leaving a strange variety of damaged walls as he went
"I suppose it would be futile to ask if either of you two has any ideas on how to dispose of this thing?"
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Post by Strangers and Travelers on Oct 15, 2017 13:13:48 GMT -8
Colby found the wood difficult to burn, but was able to push it apart without too much difficulty. However, no matter how many walls he cracked open, he always find himself in yet another identical, damp corridor. The interior of the ship seemed like some kind of maze, full of rotting wood and clams that Roderick swore were edible. The flowers Colby dropped simply drifted down the path, following some sort of invisible current through the labyrinth of a ship. Ugg and Roderick shook their heads at Colby's question.
"No idea, boss. Maybe we should try to find another ghost and ask them..."
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Colby Tebick
Established
Roleplay posts: 31
Age: 67
Physical Description: gnomish, so a small guy, adorned in beautifully made leather, that only if you look very closely can you tell is held together by vines. He has dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a perpetual smug half smile across his face. On his chest, a crest that seems to almost turn as you look at it, though it may be a trick of the light. On his shoulder sits a well kept red squirrel wearing a tiny helmet and armed with a dagger
Clothes and Equipment: Leather armour held together with vines
short bow and a foreign looking curved blade
A pouch filled with a variety of strange things
A softly glowing green gem embedded in the back of his hand
monocle hanging inside his armour ready to be donned
signet ring
rope hanging by his side
hefty looking coin purse, carried openly
Registered: Oct 14, 2017 11:05:13 GMT -8
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Post by Colby Tebick on Oct 15, 2017 13:20:09 GMT -8
"Thought not... We appear to be in some kind of endless maze, so attempting to go up isn't working. This current must be going somewhere right?"
No longer really talking to his companions Colby lead them along the corridors, following the flowers he had created
"If we can get out of here I think I can deal with the ship, but there's no way I can do it from inside."
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Post by Strangers and Travelers on Oct 15, 2017 14:11:33 GMT -8
Colby followed the flowers as the water flowed through the path. They led him on a twisting path through the ship, seemingly impossible at times. How the water flowed up the stairs was anyone's guess, but it somehow worked. Eventually, they opened a door and found themselves in a crow's nest, thousands of feet above the beach. Surely the mast hadn't seemed this high from the outside! Glancing back down at the trapdoor they'd come through, there was clearly no way that they could have gotten up here from the hallway they'd just been in. Peeking through the trapdoor once more, they'd see the hall that they'd just been in a moment ago. Water dripped from the door, flowing through the crow's nest and off the edge. All of a sudden, Colby would hear a soft "Mmmph" from behind him. Turning, he'd see Roderick in the arms of the mermaid once more, fully restored and bouncy.
"Hey guys, look who I found! She certainly doesn't feel like a ghost! Maybe we just imagined the whole thing in there. Look at her, she's not cut up at all!"
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Colby Tebick
Established
Roleplay posts: 31
Age: 67
Physical Description: gnomish, so a small guy, adorned in beautifully made leather, that only if you look very closely can you tell is held together by vines. He has dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a perpetual smug half smile across his face. On his chest, a crest that seems to almost turn as you look at it, though it may be a trick of the light. On his shoulder sits a well kept red squirrel wearing a tiny helmet and armed with a dagger
Clothes and Equipment: Leather armour held together with vines
short bow and a foreign looking curved blade
A pouch filled with a variety of strange things
A softly glowing green gem embedded in the back of his hand
monocle hanging inside his armour ready to be donned
signet ring
rope hanging by his side
hefty looking coin purse, carried openly
Registered: Oct 14, 2017 11:05:13 GMT -8
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Post by Colby Tebick on Oct 15, 2017 14:17:34 GMT -8
This was what snapped Colby, he was done. With an unintelligeable shout spiked vines burst from the wall on either side of the mermaid and began to wrap around her neck. Colby shapeshifted for the second time today, this time into a giant eagle and attempted to grab up roderick between his new talons with a view to fly him down to safety.
Hopefully Ugg could look after himself for the time being
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Post by Strangers and Travelers on Oct 15, 2017 14:26:30 GMT -8
The mermaid protested, morphing back to her true, mutilated form as the vines wrapped around her neck and cut into her skin. Roderick protested as he found himself clutching nothing but a bloody wound for the second time that day, and the mermaid smacked him with her tail hard enough to send the poor man flying off the edge of the crow's nest. Ugg grabbed Dave, shoving the squirrel into his pocket for safekeeping. Dave poked his head out of the half-orc's pocket to see what was going on, making a very odd image indeed.
Colby managed to just barely catch Roderick by the collar of his jacket, managing to slow his fall enough that he wasn't seriously hurt when he landed face-first on the beach. Roderick groaned, spitting out sand and dried kelp.
"Ugh...why does that keep happening to me? It was just like before, she was just fine...they were right there..."
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Colby Tebick
Established
Roleplay posts: 31
Age: 67
Physical Description: gnomish, so a small guy, adorned in beautifully made leather, that only if you look very closely can you tell is held together by vines. He has dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a perpetual smug half smile across his face. On his chest, a crest that seems to almost turn as you look at it, though it may be a trick of the light. On his shoulder sits a well kept red squirrel wearing a tiny helmet and armed with a dagger
Clothes and Equipment: Leather armour held together with vines
short bow and a foreign looking curved blade
A pouch filled with a variety of strange things
A softly glowing green gem embedded in the back of his hand
monocle hanging inside his armour ready to be donned
signet ring
rope hanging by his side
hefty looking coin purse, carried openly
Registered: Oct 14, 2017 11:05:13 GMT -8
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Post by Colby Tebick on Oct 15, 2017 14:30:30 GMT -8
The colby-eagle screeched a warning to roderick hoping he would stay out and looped back around to try and pick up ugg, if the undead mermaid didn’t disappear with the ship he could worry about her then, for now he needed to get his othe charge safely back down to the beach, not to mention Dave, who he valued far above the other two combined.
As he reached the crows nest he looped his enormous talons around The half-orcs arms and attempted to drag him off the cursed vessel
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