Chapter Thirty – The Ooze
Mareday, 20 Tamihr, Year of Folivor the Restful Sloth, 489 years AWA
Aboard The Danrorr’s Fury, Matalis Ocean
Kere and Cali were both sleeping soundly in their hammocks when a sharp knock came at their door. Bleary-eyed, Kere rolled out of her hammock and opened the door, blinking against the sudden intrusion of lantern light from the corridor. Behind her, Cali quietly extracted herself from her own hammock and came to stand at Kere's shoulder.
Captain Rasharo stood at their door, his weathered face tight with tension. "We're under attack," he said without preamble. "It's more than my crew can handle. I need you to get your people up on deck right away." His gaze flickered past them into the cabin. "I'll get someone to watch after Sondil."
He was already moving down the corridor toward Sondil's quarters before either of them could respond.
Kere and Cali dressed with practiced speed, buckling on armor and checking weapons. Then Kere made her way down the narrow corridor, knocking sharply on each door in turn.
"We need to fight," she called, keeping her voice loud enough to wake but controlled enough not to create panic. "Get your gear and get on deck."
Neric's voice came muffled through his door: "What are we fighting?"
"The captain didn't say," Kere replied, already moving to the next door. "We'll find out when we get there."
The companions emerged in various states of readiness—some fully armored, others still adjusting straps and checking that weapons were properly secured. They made their way up the stairs to the main deck in a loose group, weapons drawn, senses alert for whatever threat awaited them.
The sight that greeted them stopped several of them in their tracks.
A whitish amorphous form occupied the starboard side of the mid-deck, its surface catching the lantern light in ways that made it hard to focus on. The creature had no discernible features—no face, no eyes, no limbs that Kere could identify—just a shifting, semi-translucent mass that seemed to pulse with its own internal rhythm. Bits of sea flotsam were embedded in its gelatinous body: fragments of wood, rope, what might have been part of an old barrel.
From the water alongside the ship came a sound that made Kere's chest tighten with alarm. Meri was making noises she'd never heard from her dolphin before—alternating between agitated chattering and shrill squeals that spoke of genuine distress. The dolphin's sleek form cut through the water in frantic patterns, surfacing repeatedly as if trying to warn them or perhaps trying to find some way to help.
Monoffa, Wenthe, and Jenna had been first up the stairs and now stood on the port side of the upper deck. They'd had to move there to make room for the others still emerging from below. Monoffa took in the situation with one quick glance, her pupils dilating wide in the dim light, then descended the short ladder to the mid-deck and began making her way around the port side—presumably to approach the creature from behind where it wouldn't see her coming.
Wenthe followed Monoffa down to mid-deck but immediately cut across toward the starboard side, her alchemist's instincts apparently telling her the most direct path was best. Jenna paused for only a heartbeat before following Monoffa's lead, her rogue's training favoring the flanking approach.
Cali pulled out her morningstar and immediately cast her Light cantrip, the ball of the weapon blazing with sudden radiance. She was still too far away for the light to reveal much more detail about the creature, but it made it easier for everyone to see where they were stepping on the deck, reducing the chance of someone tripping in the chaos of combat.
Kere moved swiftly to where Jori stood at the top of the stairs, placing her hand on his shoulder and channeling magic through the touch. She felt the spell take hold, Jori's muscles swelling and rippling as supernatural strength flowed into his body. The Aquatic Elf's eyes widened slightly at the sudden rush of power, but he nodded his thanks and moved forward to engage.
As Kere searched her memory for any knowledge of what this creature might be, she came up empty. It didn't match any natural creature she'd studied. Given that it had apparently come from the sea and attacked their ship, it must be something born of wildshard influence—one of the many unnatural things that inhabited the Matalis Ocean's more dangerous waters.
Neric, positioned on the starboard side of the upper deck, moved around Kere and descended the ladder to mid-deck. His small Halfling frame looked particularly diminutive next to the bulk of the ooze, but he set his shoulders with determination and took up a defensive position, ready to support however he could.
Perx's voice cut through the chaos with the calm authority of someone who'd faced these things before. "It's a type of ooze!" he called out, already beginning to cast. A rush of air settled around his form as protective magic took hold. "Visual and mind-controlling spells won't work on it!"
Good to know, Kere thought grimly. That ruled out half her usual combat repertoire.
Jori, enhanced by Kere's magic, moved down the ladder and strode directly toward the creature. He came to a stop only a few feet from the ooze's amorphous bulk, his low-light vision allowing him to see it more clearly than the others. In the mixed illumination of Cali's Light orison and the ship's lanterns, he could make out a vaguely whitish-grey coloration to its translucent mass. The embedded flotsam shifted within it like bones floating in gelatin—a disturbing image that suggested this thing had been consuming debris from the ocean floor for quite some time.
Jori gripped his trident tightly, hoping he wouldn't regret letting himself get this close to something that looked like it could engulf him entirely if it wanted to.
Captain Rasharo descended the ladder to mid-deck next, taking up a position near Neric on the starboard edge of the ship. The captain's expression was grim but focused—this was his vessel under threat, and he would defend it with everything he had.
Thydek followed his captain down, pulling his warhammer from his belt as he moved. The Dwarf positioned himself just behind Jori, ready to support the front line.
His beady brown eyes assessed the ooze with professional calculation—measuring threat, planning strikes, preparing for the worst.
The ooze moved with sudden, disturbing speed.
A jet of acid erupted from its mass, spraying outward in a cone that caught Jori, Thydek, and Neric. Jori's Elven reflexes served him well—he twisted aside at the last second, the acid searing across his side rather than catching him full-on. He grunted softly with pain but kept his feet. Thydek simply absorbed the hit with stoic endurance, his jaw clenching but making no sound. Neric took the full force of the spray and grimaced as acid burned across his left arm, but seeing the resolve of the two men beside him, he only shook off the excess and maintained his position.
Monoffa continued her flanking movement, reaching the bow end of the mid-deck. She was nearly in position now, just a few more feet and she'd be able to strike from behind.
Wenthe made it across the deck to the starboard side, coming to stand to Thydek's right and slightly in front of Captain Rasharo. She assessed the situation with an alchemist's analytical eye, already calculating angles and judging the splash radius for her bombs. Too many allies in close proximity to the target—she'd have to find another approach.
Jenna followed Monoffa around the port side, positioning herself just behind her friend. The rogue's hand moved to her weapons, ready to strike as soon as an opening presented itself.
Cali raised her hand and channeled divine energy, summoning her spiritual weapon. A ghostly morningstar—matching the one in her physical hand—materialized just behind the ooze on the opposite side from Jori. She directed it to swing at the creature's mass, but the translucent, shifting nature of the ooze made it difficult to judge where to strike. The spiritual weapon passed through empty space where the ooze had been a heartbeat before.
Kere moved down the ladder and took up a position between Thydek and Neric. She was close enough to the ooze now to see how its surface rippled and shifted, how the flotsam within it rotated slowly in some invisible current. The sight was deeply unsettling.
Neric's hands moved through the practiced gestures of spellcasting, his fingers tracing precise patterns as he released magical energy toward the ooze. The effect wasn't immediately visible, but suddenly the creature seemed to sink lower against the deck, its movement becoming sluggish as if gravity had increased its hold on the amorphous mass. The ooze didn't have legs to be affected, but the magical effect worked on its entire gelatinous body, making it harder for the thing to flow and shift as it had been doing.
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Perx grunted at Neric's choice—Grease wasn't the spell he would have selected against an ooze, but it might slow the damn thing down. He pulled out his crossbow, loaded a bolt with practiced efficiency, aimed carefully, and loosed. The bolt flew true, thudding into the amorphous form and sticking there like a pin in a cushion. The ooze quivered but didn't cry out—if it felt pain, it gave no sign.
Jori pressed his advantage, slashing at the ooze with his trident and following up with a bash from his shield. Both strikes connected solidly, his magically-enhanced strength driving the attacks deep into the creature's mass. Where the trident pierced, the ooze's surface seemed to pull inward, and where the shield struck, the entire creature shuddered.
Captain Rasharo began casting, his voice carrying the particular cadence of bardic magic. A dissonant chord rang out across the deck, followed by a cone-shaped emanation of pure sonic force that slammed into the ooze. The creature flinched—the first real sign it had given that it could be hurt—and emitted a low, moaning sound that seemed to come from within its mass rather than from any visible mouth.
Thydek moved to his right, positioning himself adjacent to Jori for better tactical support. He roared—a deep, resonant battle cry that echoed across the deck—and brought his warhammer down on the ooze with all the considerable strength of a Dwarven warrior. The weapon connected with a dull, wet thud that suggested the hammer was sinking into something that was neither quite liquid nor quite solid.
The ooze retaliated immediately, forming two crude approximations of tentacles from its mass and slamming them toward Jori. The Aquatic Elf had just hurt it badly, and the creature seemed to recognize him as the primary threat. Both blows connected solidly, and Jori cried out—not so much from the impact itself but from the acid that accompanied each strike, burning wherever the ooze's substance touched his skin. The creature then attempted to wrap around him, trying to grapple and pull him into its mass, but Jori's quick reflexes saved him. He twisted away at the last second, using his enhanced strength to break free of the grasping pseudopods before they could secure their hold.
Monoffa continued her movement toward the bow, finally reaching a point where she could cross from port to starboard. She made it about halfway across the forward section of the mid-deck before running out of movement, but she was in position now to support her companions.
Wenthe pulled a tanglefoot bag from her alchemist's kit and hurled it toward the ooze with practiced accuracy. The bag burst on contact, releasing its sticky contents across the creature's surface. The ooze clearly had no feet to be tangled, but the adhesive substance combined with the Grease spell beneath it to further restrict the creature's movement. It shifted and quivered, trying to flow away from the sticky mass, but couldn't.
Jenna followed Monoffa's path, coming to stand just behind her friend at the bow end of the mid-deck. She was too far away to strike yet, but another few seconds and she'd be in range. Her hands were already on her weapons, ready.
Cali attacked again with her spiritual weapon, directing it to swing at the now-sluggish ooze. This time the ghostly morningstar connected solidly, slamming into the creature's amorphous form. The ooze didn't make a sound, but it wiggled in what was clearly an agitated fashion, its entire mass shuddering with the impact.
Kere made a quick decision and began casting. A blunt-edged stone discus materialized from thin air and flew from her outstretched fingers, spinning rapidly as it crossed the distance to the ooze. The stone slammed into the creature with considerable force, and this time the ooze did let out a sound—an almost strangled wail of pain that was deeply unpleasant to hear.
Neric cast again, the spell's effect not immediately visible. Both Jori and Thydek were close enough to notice small gouges appearing in the ooze's center, as if invisible claws were tearing at it from within. The creature's agitated movements became more pronounced, though it still couldn't vocalize its distress beyond those occasional moans.
Perx, having nothing better to contribute at this range, loaded another bolt and took aim. This time his shot went wide, the bolt sailing past the ooze and clattering against the far rail. He cursed under his breath and began reloading.
Jori, standing in the most dangerous position directly in front of the creature, struck again with his trident and shield. The trident found its mark easily—the ooze was too sluggish now to dodge effectively—and the shield landed another solid hit. The ooze's wail turned to something that might have been anger, a deeper, more resonant moan that suggested the creature was reaching the limits of how much damage it could sustain.
Captain Rasharo cast the same spell as before, another dissonant chord followed by a cone of sonic energy. This time the cone's area was wide enough to catch Thydek as well as the ooze, but the doughty Dwarf merely shrugged off the effect—his natural resilience serving him well. The ooze, however, took the full force of the sonic blast and shuddered violently.
Thydek swung his warhammer again, connecting solidly with the ooze's mass. Where his weapon struck, the creature seemed to compress and then slowly expand back to its original shape, like a water-skin being squeezed and released.
The ooze attempted to move, straining against both the Grease spell beneath it and the tanglefoot bag's adhesive covering its surface. It managed only the slightest shift in position before stopping, unable to flow forward. Desperate now, it lashed out at Jori again with its crude tentacles, but the Elf was ready. He dodged the blow cleanly, his enhanced reflexes and the ooze's sluggish state combining to make the attack easy to avoid.
The creature was clearly on its last legs—or would have been, if it had legs.
Monoffa moved the final five feet into optimal position, raising her hands to cast, but before she could release her spell, Wenthe acted.
The Catfolk alchemist, lacking any more useful extracts and noting too many friendly people nearby to safely use her bombs, pulled out a dagger instead. The weapon was small in her clawed hands, not her preferred tool, but she was out of better options. She let the dagger fly toward the ooze with as much force as she could muster.
The throw wasn't particularly powerful—Wenthe's strength lay in her mind, not her muscles—but sometimes precision matters more than force. The dagger struck the ooze and sank into its mass, and apparently hit something vital within the creature's gelatinous body. The ooze shuddered once, violently, and then simply collapsed, its semi-solid form spreading out across the deck in a pool of rapidly dissolving ooze-stuff.
Thydek quickly grabbed Wenthe's dagger from the spreading mess and handed it back to her, the blade dripping with caustic slime. Monoffa and Jenna both groaned in frustration at not having been able to contribute an attack before the fight ended, but the important thing was that the threat had been neutralized.
Kere pulled out her own dagger and cast Light on it, providing additional illumination as she knelt beside the dissolving corpse. The ooze's remains were already beginning to break down, but there were solid objects within it that hadn't been digested. Using her dagger carefully to avoid the worst of the acidic residue, she searched through the remains with the methodical attention of someone trained in natural sciences.
She found very little: a cracked ioun stone showing scarlet and blue coloration, and three small gems—a sapphire, an emerald, and a pale blue pearl. Nothing else of value, just the flotsam that had been visible embedded in the creature's body.
Kere cast Create Water, allowing half a gallon of fresh water to wash over the gems and the ioun stone, cleaning away the worst of the acidic slime. "Not much here," she said, unable to keep a note of disappointment from her voice. "But we should identify the stone to see if it's magical."
"I can do that," Monoffa said quickly, eager to contribute something useful since she'd missed the actual combat. She took the cracked sphere from Kere and cast Detect Magic, her pupils dilating as she perceived the magical aura. "Definitely magic," she confirmed. Then she cast a second spell, studying the stone more carefully. "It's an ioun stone," she announced after a moment. "It makes a person slightly more knowledgeable about matters of arcana."
"Oooh, I'll take that," Wenthe said with immediate enthusiasm, grabbing the stone from Monoffa's hand before anyone else could respond. She studied it for just a moment, turning it to catch the light, then placed it in orbit around her head where it began to slowly circle.
Kere frowned at Wenthe's presumption. There should have been a discussion, a mutual decision about who the stone should go to. But before she could say anything, Perx put a hand on her shoulder and told her softly, "It's fine. I think Wenthe is actually more knowledgeable than I am about arcana, so she's welcome to the sphere."
Kere nodded, accepting his judgment. If Perx—who was clearly one of the party's most knowledgeable members about magical theory—didn't mind, she'd let the matter pass. But she made a mental note to have words with the Catfolk come morning. This kind of behavior wouldn't do moving forward. It would build resentment among the other party members over time if Wenthe kept simply taking things without consultation.
Captain Rasharo approached Kere, and she offered him the three gems.
"You keep those," he told her firmly. "We are more than adequately compensated for our trouble by King Eldoran." Then he added, his expression softening slightly, "It was your dolphin that alerted my men on watch to the fact that there was a problem. I'm grateful she's along. Come morning, we'll lower the jolly boat and you can make sure she didn't get harmed by any of the ooze's acid."
"Thank you, Captain," Kere said sincerely. "I'd be grateful for the chance to make sure she's well."
She turned to call Cali over to see to the injured, but the cleric was already at work. Jori, Thydek, and Neric stood near her, waiting their turn for healing. Cali clutched her shawl briefly, focusing as she channeled a bit of her own life force into the sacred cloth, then released two quick bursts of healing energy in succession.
The wounds of all three injured men closed rapidly, acid burns fading and bruises disappearing as if they'd never been. Then a wave of vigor seemed to wash over all four of them—including Cali herself—as the life force she'd invested in her shawl was restored with interest.
Thydek bowed formally to her. "Thank ye, me lady."
Jori and Neric also offered their thanks, their voices carrying genuine gratitude. Taking acid damage hurt in ways that normal wounds didn't, and the relief of having that burning pain suddenly removed was considerable.
Kere raised her voice to carry across the deck. "We need to get rid of the corpse. Let me get Meri away from whatever side we elect to dump it overboard on."
She moved to the port rail and looked down. Meri was floating in the water there, her movements slow and gentle—quite possibly asleep now that her mistress had dealt with the intruder. Satisfied that her companion would be safe, Kere called back, "Dump the corpse to starboard."
Captain Rasharo, Thydek, Jori, Wenthe, and Kere worked together to move the ooze's remains. They were all initially worried about acid damage, but it appeared the acid had come from some kind of internal sac or protected area within the creature. The outer surface was rubbery and the form was shapeless, which combined with the creature's considerable size made it awkward to move rather than dangerous. With effort and careful coordination, they finally managed to maneuver the bulk over the rail and into the dark water below.
"I want us raising anchor early," Captain Rasharo told Kere, his tone brooking no argument. "We'll sail before first light and then take a late breakfast using our same nooning shifts. I'm sure there will be scavengers that come to feed on that thing, and I don't want us anywhere near them when they arrive."
"Aye, Captain," Kere replied with her characteristic serenity. "I'll have my group ready."
The captain nodded once, satisfied, and turned to begin organizing his crew for the early departure. The companions began making their way back below deck, exhaustion starting to set in now that the adrenaline was fading.
As Kere followed them down, she couldn't help wondering what the ooze's presence meant. A creature that bore signs of wildshard exposure, appearing in waters that were supposed to be protected from exactly that kind of danger. Another piece of evidence that something was wrong with the route, that the protections were failing or had already failed.
But they'd survived. They'd fought together effectively, protected their charge, and emerged victorious. That counted for something.
She'd worry about the larger implications in the morning. For now, she just wanted to get a few more hours of sleep before the early departure.
Though given how her heart was still racing from the combat, she suspected sleep would be slow to return.
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