Scene D - Leoman's Cove

[Author]

The boat near's Leoman's Cove. At Jordan's command the boarding plank flies out of its holder and slams into cliff face.
"Welp, let's get going," Marilynn says as the last piece of her splint mail slips in place. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a large object wrapped in a gray cloak. "For the record, everyone, I stole this from the man it was made for," she says, and pulls a large shield out from the cloak. The shield is red and trimmed with gold, and on its face is the golden visage of Tiamat. A large gash is cut lengthwise across the eyes, and very old bloodstains cover it.

[Author]

Kai shivers a little at the sight of Tiamat's emblem. "Got what he deserved then."
"Little bit."

The party does some things. There were Harpies and Murlocs. Luc recognizes that the Shaman's scepter is actually a Totem. A quick listen to the spirit within lets him know:

Lesser Storm Totem:

Ultimately the party defeats the Murloc Shaman and lets the last little one escape. The go past another barricade into room with a large ledge at the back, a pool of water at its base and a stone altar upon it. Upon the altar is a glass bottle with a ship in it.

"Huh, could probably sell that to a collector," Kai says.

Marilynn sighs. "The great Leomun's Cove, little more than a fish-goblin cave."

Jasper leaps up onto the alter and sniffs the lip of the bottle, then jumps back. "How the fuck did you end up here...." she murmers, and turns to the group. "Kai you're not going to want to sell this."

"Is it... is it a *real* ship in a bottle?"

"To say the least."

[Mori]

Mori playfully spins her staff around with a cocky grin across her face, almost dancing through the treasure room after the hard fought battle. By and by large, she seems rather pleased with herself and her preformance.
Ah treasure! Always the best part of adventure, besides the hot bath afterward.
She stops spinning the stick once Jasper mentions the bottle, and quickly cries out "DIBS! Wait, shit. You got first pick."

[Author]

"And here we were saving up for a boat."
"First pick isn't exactly fair if the pay comes down to one big ticket item," Marilynn says
"No it isn't... but perhaps I was right about that friendship," Kai responds, walking up the steps to the upper ledge. "If everyone's willing to share."

[Mori]

"Hmmm... Who'd be the captain?" Mori asks, leaning on her staff.

[Tracy the Cat]

"I nominate anyone but me. Captain means responsibility, and fuck that!"

[Author]

"You realize that fighting alongside others means you're partially responsible for their survival?" Troy asks.
"Now that," Kai says, reaching the stone altar and turning around to face Mori, "Is where first pick comes in! Now what's so special about this thing..." Kai picks it up and inspects it, then he too looks startled by something.
"Let's take your new toy outside," Jasper says.
The party scrounges up whatever lucrative-seeming trinkets are about the cave and heads out. When they leave the mouth of the cave, there is a Murloc head poking out of the water. It dissapears for a second, then samples onto the shore unarmed. It kneels before Mori and presents to her an inscribed silver ring with sparking gem.

Gem of Brightness:

[Mori]

Mori kneels down to greet the Murloc and accepts its offering. She gives it a nod of acknowledgment then slips the ring on. While admiring its beauty she reaches out to it telepathically and states.
Thank You. Now, Go Forth And Be Greater Then You Were. You Are Getting Another Chance Phil. Take It, And Become More Then A Monster.
I really really hope this works. If this little guy could recover... Gah, what am I thinking. He'll probably just find another tribe and start being a monster again.

She stands back up and turns to Kai. "So, you want to be captain eh? Tell me Captain o captain, can you actually sail a ship?"

[Author]

Phil cocks his head to the side. Great One... Is Pleased?
"Admittedly not," Kai says.
"Can we have this discussion outside of harpy territory?" Lynn says, moving on ahead.

[Mori]

Yes. Great One Is Pleased Mori thinks, smiling at Phil.
"Good point. Back to the boat then? Let's not tell Jordan about our prize though."

[Author]

"Ooooooh but then when will you open it? The suspense is killing me guys," Jasper says.
"Take it to an empty coastline outside of town. We probably don't want everyone in the harbor knowing we have this either. Flashing our swords at the bar was enough."

[Author]

The party continues on down the shore until it becomes apparent that the Murloc is following them.
"Um... It seems you've really made friends with that one, despite... Killing everyone it ever knew. I'd have though the ring was simply appeasement since we've proven its betters, but..."
"And yet, as a pack animal ruled by magic-users, if their instinct is to follow whoever is most powerful, with special credit given to magic powers..."
"I thought you didn't tell people things," Marilynn says.
"Never explaining anything doesn't get us anywhere!" Jasper responds, "I like to make people wonder, and sometimes I like to nudge them along. When I feel like it."
Meanwhile, the Murloc glances around at all the people who stopped to stare at him, then finally looks at Mori. "Glrac?"
"What the fuck... " Kai mutters.

[Tracy the Cat]

Tracy laughs. "Aww, it's like a little dejected puppy. You know, if puppies were ugly little fish people. Can we keep him?"

[Author]

"No," Troy says, "We can't keep a-"
"Troy!" Jasper interupts, "are you saying you'd miss out on a chance to discover what a domesticated Murloc could be capable of? If it can be domesticated, taught a full language even? Not to mention more about the properties of Mori's apparently translating telepathy! Perhaps it will prove too wild, but if we don't take it now we will always be wondering 'what could have become of that Murloc.'"
Troy pauses, clenches his jaw and sighs. "Well, I wasn't wondering that."
"Like I said, I like to make people wonder."
"You can't be serious," Marilynn says. "The fuck would we even keep it?"
"Uh, the boat?"
"Right, this magical boat you insist on keeping. Why aren't we selling it?"
"We can talk about this later. Outside of harpy territory."
"Fair point."
"Maybe we could teach him to swab the deck! Any ideas on how to get him past past Jordan?" Kai asks.

[Mori]

Mori just sits back and watches as the group starts debating on what to do with her new Murloc friend. As the bickering starts to intensify she sighs then looks down to the little fish-goblin and asks "Are you sure you really want to join this?"

[Author]

Phil just stares up at her, uncomprehending.

[Mori]

Right, duh. Idiot.
Do You Wish To Follow Me? She asks again.

[Author]

You defeat elder. You command this one. This one is yours.

[Luc Weiyn]

Glancing between the new staff in his hands and the lone murloc, Luc gives a thoughtful hum. "Seems a little messed up to kill all his friends and family, then take him in as a pet... but it's also kinda mean to kill all his friends and family, then basically forsake him to a life of loneliness. The poor guy might not do all that well on his own. Hey, if the little fellow really wants to follow us, and uh- isn't planning to slit our throats, I say we let him stick around. Hm..."

Luc begins mumbling a few words underneath his breath, but quickly stops with a weary sigh. Who was he kidding? He didn't have the energy to cast any more spells, that spelunking trip left him spent. Instead, he turns to Mori. "Well, you're the translator here. What kinda vibes are you getting off him?

[Mori]

"He's calling me "Great One" and telling me that because we defeated elder that I command him and that he is mine." Mori answers. "He seems to have attached himself to me because, well, telepathy and such.

[Author]

"One thing to defeat its elder, another to communicate with it after."

[Tracy the Cat]

"Hey look, we can argue about philosophy and all that jazz later. Right now we need to get out of here. If the fish wants to follow, I can just make him invisible so the captain doesn't know he's even here," Tracy says, looking a tad bit annoyed. "Now let's get moving before something goes wrong."

[Author]

"Well, that's helpful!
"Albiet uncomfortably deceptive," Troy says.
"There's always the 'don't take the monster along' route."
"Good chance you're leaving him to starve, especially with no leader."
"So? We straight up killed the rest of them."
Troy sighs. "Jasper's got a point, and I'm 'helper of the helpless' and all that."
"It applies to monsters?"
"In this situation... Possibly."
"...get on with it, then."

[Tracy the Cat]

Tracy sighs. "Look, I'm really bored now, okay. I made the damn fish invisible while you were busy arguing. Can we go now?"

[Author]

As they walk along the coastline, out of the corner of her eye Mori's reflection looked... Different to her, but as she turned to look there was nothing amiss....

So the crew returns to Jordan's ship with an Invisible Murloc, and despite a few comical close calls and Mori needing to say 'no you may not eat them,' Jordan never notices the additional passenger. In fact, Mori sets the precedent not to eat anything without express permission.

When they reach town, the group quickly moves to leave it, both to get Phil out of sight and to find a place to check out the new boat. Troy goes into town to get Crystal, and agrees to meet the party at a spot down the coast.

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