[SD:OA] Just A Small Cult - Chapter 8

While the leaders fought, their people also went at it. In particular, Gem was having a grand time on the back line. An odd position given their proclivity to charge right into the mess of things.

Except for the fact that unlike the attack yesterday evening, this horde of cultists was mostly White threats and not early White either. Oh, and there were a few green threats thrown in to match up with the stronger members of the crew. So while Sssally is holding her own, even pushing forward a little, everyone else is being pushed back.

Sssally, in turn, had to retreat as well to avoid being surrounded. Back and back, until their backs were to the crafters. Sssally tried to rally the people, “Hold the line! Azzz long as we can salvage the partsss later, the more work done the better!”

The cultists didn’t appreciate the idea that the ship wanted to leave and so pushed harder. Gem was in the back line with their magic, but Samuel was fighting on the front line still and so got a front-row seat as the large spawn landed a mighty blow on the first mate. The side swipe is strong enough to send the scarred catkin flying back towards the ship.

With the first mate pushed back, the defensive line quickly succumbed to the Dagon’s spawn. Though everyone chooses to retreat over being turned to paste by that giant pillar. The crafters working on the repairs are now in full retreat to the ship. Though the defenders are close behind.

In fact, they outpace the attackers. Not necessarily because they’re that much faster. Rather, the cultists pause to wreck the various bits of wood the crafters had been working on. They don’t even stop as the crew launch the Salty Baron.

“I don’t care if it’sss not seaworthy! We need to at leassst try for a more defensssible beach.”, and Sssally cranks the wheel.

The Salty Baron almost flounders in the water as it turns towards the open water.

Sssally straightens the wheel, “Wind magesss! Give us a boossst!”

And a trio of sailors begin channeling some continuous wind effect, pushing the boat away from shore.

And speaking of the shore, back there, the Krakenfolk shaman laughs at their attempt to escape and begins some sort of ritual.

Except it is at this point that Sssally does one of those super loud whistles using her fingers. This was the signal to reveal their actual plan. Because Everyone knew the cultists would be attacking in the morning.

So while it ran the crafter’s ragged, they had worked overnight under a massive illusion. Or rather, a bunch of illusions with Emrys having assisted. Because while the ship wasn’t fully repaired, they had repaired the important parts.

And now, with Sssally’s signal, the crew stopped holding the ship back. They charge out towards the ocean to gain some distance.

Sssally hands the wheel off to one of the crew and pulls out a shark tooth the size of her hand. Across the tooth’s surface, are tightly spaced runes. The tip of the tooth easily slices her palm and blood seeps out. Not much, but it was enough.

She wipes her bloody hand over both sides of the tooth, activating the magic. “Brace yourself!” And the runed tooth, now glowing pink, is tossed into the water below.

A wave rises up behind the shop, pushing them forward. Though not for long as an opposing wave rises in challenge, only for the water to fall away, revealing the two waves to have been respectively, a pod of whales and dolphins, and a shoal of giant squids, squidfolk, and deep ones.

The two sides wrestle for control of the water around them as the Salty Baron works to gain distance from the island. Not that them being at sea could stop any of the cultists. You could even say they have the home field advantage.

Not that Gem lets this darken their mood. They might have lacked a wind spell that could help push the sail, but that didn’t mean they weren’t able to assist in other ways. As proven earlier, their Wind Blades seem quite able to hug the side of the boat, knocking any climbers off.

Gem stands ready when they hear a call from the side. Not that there isn’t a lot of shouting going on, but this is what they are listening for.

“We’ve got climbers making headway!”

Over there! Gem channels a Wind Blade as they rush over to where the call has come from. The time to get there is more than enough for Wind Blade to reach the first charge level, well, and the current limit of the skill.

Gem looks over the side of the ship, and yep, a bunch of deep ones are below, clawing their way up the side of the ship. “That’s going to leave a mark!”

Then they pull on the sides of the Wind Blade, stretching it to twice, three times as long before tossing it down at them. Not that it stops expanding when they release the spell. By the time the blade reaches the deep ones, it has extended to five times as long as the original.

Gem isn’t sure how much power the charged version loses to expand that much. Except that it is still more than enough to handle simple boarders. Either chopping off extremities of the unlucky or hitting with enough force to knock them off.

Those enemies that managed to hold on despite that, proved they were worth the attention of the crew to handle. And so Gem was bouncing around the ship, sweeping the sides. All the while colossal monsters battle around them.

Or rather, what Gem had considered colossal.

It started with two waves of water ahead of the ship. The one on the right is more of a swell, while the wave to the left had more of the classic tsunami shape. This wasn’t too odd as more giant squids and whales had been showing up ever since the fight had begun.

There was just one problem that Gem noticed. Not before the crew, but they weren’t sharing, more worried about securing everything. The problem was simple enough. The sound was off. Or rather, the sound was delayed like what you expect from distant thunder.

Gem’s eyes shine and they begin to unconsciously smile. The fight was about to be overshadowed. In a big way.

It was in the air, like before a lightning strike. The waves like seeing the puff of snow on a mountain top that proceeds a devastating avalanche.

Gem can’t turn away, so yells to her team. “Guys! Grab something sturdy! We’re in for a WILD ride!”

The others aren’t sure what is up, but they can hear something in Gem’s voice. Everyone can, even those unfamiliar with them. This probably saved many of the various passengers that are still with the ship as at this point. They all run below deck or grab onto whatever is nearby.

There is a moment of stillness.

Then the waves fell away from the two distant waves that had appeared so close by. The gentle swell revealed a being which calling it a whale would be understating things. Across from it the tsunami shatters as fanged tentacles reach out, a squid of mottled darkness, releasing an oily black mist, presumably of ink.

A rolling blanket of noise reaches the ship and blasts past everyone. Then the two beasts, Leviathan and Kraken, roar.

And the sound reaches the ship instantly, there is no time lag from something as mundane as “the speed of sound”. The two mythical beings assert their presence on the world around them, devastating everything around.

On the ship, the monsters still climbing the hull are stunned and blown away. Below the water is almost worse off, the sounds causing actual damage. Though those on deck aren’t safe.

One passenger was unlucky enough to be holding onto the railing and was blown into the water below. The rest manage to stay on the ship, but are sent sprawling if not holding on tightly enough. And in a bit of an ironic twist, those that made it below deck had it the worst as they were slammed into walls.

Over this all, Sssally yells, “Starboard, Full Speed! This isn’t our fight anymore.” And the ship turns sharply, racing parallel to the literal Kaiju fight that was erupting in the distance.

Violent waves crash over the ship as the remaining passengers are guided below deck.

Around them, the Cetaceans, squids, and deep ones gather with others of their own. What fighting there is more involves those small groups isolated from the others battering their way out.

Not that the deep ones that ship passes don’t try to grab on. Sssally handle this simply enough, though a bit wasteful of her resources. At regular intervals she would send out a pulse of magic through the ship, blasting any hanger-ons. It was worth it though, as the ship made amazing speed, slipping in-between the groups as even the squids and deep ones were avoiding each other.

Below deck, Gem is literally vibrating. “Did you see them? How far away they were! Are there Kaiju on land as well? I want to ride the whale!

“I hope the Kraken doesn’t hurt them too much. Though for some reason, I can’t see either of them managing to actually win. Also! If those two can just show up, what were the cultists up to you? You’d think they’d be performing a ritual to summon something like that.

“Though I guess that still could have been the point? Except you know, without having the Leviathan show up? Like, I assume they sense when the other makes a move? Can’t be too many of either hanging around.”

June pats them on the head, “It’s fine, get it all out. I don’t have answers to everything, but let me tell you what I know.” She turns to Emrys, “Though I guess I’ll give you a chance first. Do you have any answers? I must admit, I’m not exactly the most knowledgeable about the Kaiju situation.”

Emrys laughs, “I admit, Kaiju weren’t my main focus. I’ve been mostly researching the alignments after seeing how strong Gem is. I don’t think I can manage any of the ‘good’ alignments, so might do a heel turn and try to be Evil.”

Samuel sighs, “I don’t see what’s so hard about Law. Then again, I’ve always been aiming for that, even before knowing any of you. Crystals and metal are simply too effective for a tank. Besides, the Lawbound are known to have the best tanking legacies.”

Gem sticks their tongue out, “Meh, to each their own, but Order seems so boring. All about chains of command and following orders. Besides, how would you even join up? They assign you your adventuring group.

“Not that you have to join them to be Orderbound. Just Lawbound, which I guess is required to access their legacies? But like, Lawbound isn’t even a system recognized thing? They just don’t have any pretenders because you need to be locked into Order to join and if you’re locked into Order, you won’t lie about being a part of them.”

June rolls her eyes, “Well aren’t we a diverse group as I plan to go Good. And Emrys, you should be able to get Evil if you make sure to angle everything so it’s you doing your own thing.

“You aren’t helping a fellow passenger get below deck, you’re improving your own image to later get benefits from it.

“Anyway, Kaiju, we aren’t fighting them any time soon. They do exist on land, as well as in the sky. The most commonly seen Kaiju actually being the Roc. What with how they like to fly around randomly.”

Gem frowns, “A Roc and not the KunPeng? Like, Rocs are just large birds, which is kind of boring.”

June shrugs, “They didn’t exactly ask for my opinion. Though if I had to guess, they chose it because of that. The KunPeng is too big and with the whole flying thing? They probably wanted what would inevitably be the most often seen Kaiju to be boring. If it was too strange, constant exposure would make not only that Kaiju seem less fantastical, but the other Kaiju as well.”

The ship shudders particularly hard.

Emrys, “Blarg, I suspect things won’t calm down for a while. They were so far away and yet we still suffered. I bet they’ll be in the background for quite a while.”

June shakes her head, “I doubt the actual fight will last that long. They might be peak existences, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t those who are looking on from the outside, hoping to gain an advantage. They’ll slap each other a bit and then part.

“If one is the clear winner, they’ll wipe the nearby enemies and go home. Likely though, they’ll tie. Some Kaiju are stronger than others, they’re peak existences. So while the difference in strength between them is many times the strength of everyone on this ship added together? That difference isn’t that big to them.”

Corruption Most Foul - Chapter 7

And All We Got Were These Black Gloves - Chapter 9