“Open fire!” Sonya shouted. Her voice inspired a hail of gunfire from the crew, flintlock pistols flashing in the dark. They were joined by Patrick and Grey throwing bolts of energy, but to no avail. The tentacle drove back into the abyss before they could hit their mark.
“You’d think a kraken would be easier to hit,” Patrick commented, having to hold the brim of his hat up to stop it from drooping in the rain.
“I don’t think this is a kraken,” Grey said. “At least not the way we know it. If it was, it would have swallowed the ship by now.”
“So what is it, an octopus with one massive limb or something?”
As he said this, another tentacle rose out of the ground and began to fall on them. The crew and the adventuring party that they were delivering scattered before it impacted, smashing down on the deck, sending splintering wood flying. Amelia sliced apart a plank that had been sent flying at her before running her sword through the monster’s slimy skin, but it nearly fettered the monster.
Neokraken
4600/5000 HP
The tentacle pulled back, vanishing into the depths. Amelia yanked the sword out so she didn’t get dragged down.
“What the hell’s a Neokraken supposed to be?” Patrick asked. “As if putting ‘Neo’ in front of it explains what the hell it is.”
“We’ve got bigger problems than the name,” Amelia pointed out, holding her sword up like an umbrella and wiping the water away from her face. “We’re meant to kill this thing?”
“We’re probably just meant to drive it off,” Grey said. “This is far too strong for anything we’d be meant to fight at this point, and we can’t hit the thing half the time.”
“So we keep on the defensive and hope this isn’t another Draconautis,” James replied. “Got it.”
Another tentacle jumped out from the ocean behind them and rushed towards the three with incredible speed, like it was going to spear one of them. James appeared in front of it in a flash of blue light, taking the blow for the group, but being thrown back off the edge of the ship in the process.
Cieth
Shield
---
Cieth
200/350 HP
Amelia caught James by the shield, and the other two helped pull him up. While this happened, the tendril reeled back and prepared to swipe at them: it was going to smash the sails apart. The four of them all ran up the deck as it swiped. James and Amelia leapt up and met it in mid-air, Grey yanked the air as he drew the life out of the monster, and Patrick threw a Firebolt at close enough range not to fizzle out.
Cieth
Rending Strike
---
GlassAngel
Piercing Blow
---
Trident743
Firebolt
---
Skibabylon
Life Drain
---
Neokraken
4305/5000 HP
---
Trident743
170/250 Mana
---
Skibabylon
Healing Pool
590/600 HP
Their combined attacks wounded the kraken, breaking through the tough hide that covered the tendril. They heard a scream of anguish from below the water and it retracted, vanishing into the abyss. James and Amelia landed back on the deck, while Grey looked into the ocean to see where it had gone.
“Keep on your guard!” Sonya shouted to the other sailors, who immediately trained their guns on the water, albeit no less scared than when the tentacles were actively lashing at them.
“We can hit a lot harder than I remember,” Patrick admitted.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
As the party looked around, trying to see through the rain, they heard a shout from the crow’s nest.
“Incoming!”
Through the rain, black globs of ink slammed into the deck. It exploded into a smokescreen on contact, covering the deck in dark, damp mist. Patrick tried to light up a flame to see, but it was stifled by the rain. Soon after, the screams started, sounds of the crew being picked off one by one.
GlassAngel
Whirlwind Cutter
The smokescreen around the group dispersed slightly. As it did, they saw a much thinner, lithe tentacle wrap itself around Grey and try to yank them off deck. James sliced it off easily, but another one came out of the depths and stabbed him in the back. It was shredded by a bolt of light from Grey.
Neokraken
4270/5000 HP
---
Cieth
170/350 HP
Amelia ran forward into the smoke, swinging wildly in the hope she’d hit one of the seemingly endless tendrils. As she did so, the smokescreen faded away, revealing the kraken had fled.
Encounter Complete
All Party Members gain 1000XP
All Party Members gain 2000 Gold
“I think we could have killed that thing,” Patrick said, trying to wring out his cloak.
“If you want to swim after it, feel free,” Grey said, "but I'm quite happy being alive."
“Get some wood!” A sailor shouted from below decks. The group turned around in shock and horror as more of the crew ran up onto the deck, chucking water overboard in buckets.
“We’re sinking, aren’t we?” Patrick said.
As they pulled away from the kraken, the storm began to clear up. As they broke out of the heavy rain and rough waves, they saw a bustling port town sprawling out before them, with several docked shipping vessels along the quay. The sandstone structures were dotted with palm trees. Beyond that was nothing but endless, vast desert, sprawling out farther than the eye could see.
Hammerfell was finally in sight. They just had to not sink before they got there.
James Stats: Level: 9 VIT: 200/350 STR: 20 DEF: 30 DEX: 10 SPL: 20 INT: 1
Amelia Stats: Level: 9 VIT: 150/200 STR: 30 DEF: 15 DEX: 25 SPL: 5 INT: 1
Grey stats: Level: 9 VIT: 200/200 STR: 20 DEF: 15 DEX: 15 SPL: 30 INT: 1 Healing Pool: 600/600
Patrick stats: Level: 9 VIT: 132/150 STR: 35 DEF: 15 DEX: 20 SPL: 25 INT: 1 Mana: 170/250
The battered ship slowly pulled up into the port. As soon
The tail finally stabbed through Oblivia’s throat. Even without her organs, she was still alive. It didn’t matter how much of her body collapsed, so long as she still had hit points. Draconautis looked down at her, his teeth inches away from her face.
NOW, IF YOU WISH TO FEEL SPECIAL, IF YOU TRULY WISH TO SEE A PART OF THIS GAME NO ONE ELSE HAS. LOOK UP.
The spear of the tail struck her brain.
Warning
Visual System Failure
Her vision changed, the lights of the city fading away and the city turning from pristine to a ghost town, covered in dust and veins. She tried to look down at the city, but Draconautis forced her to look at the thing floating above the Tower of Night.
A massive crucifix floated above the tower, and bound to it by swords, spears and chains linked to the city’s other spires was an equally massive corpse. A robed figure was trying to decompose, rapidly rotting flesh immediately stitching itself back together.
The face was limp, but the eyes. Oblivia could see life in those eyes. She could see the chest of the creature heaving as its lungs weren’t functioning as it should, as it tried to pump oxygen to a body that didn’t need it. All the while a sky full of eyes looked at it and a land that looked even deader than it did in game.
And she knew she’d seen the figure before. Their statue was directly below her.
She was looking at a god.
WOULD YOU LIKE A BETTER LOOK, MADISON PRESS?
She tried to speak, but all that came out of her mouth was blood.
OH DEAR. I’M VERY SORRY TO HEAR THAT.
Draconautis howled with laughter.
YOUR POWER WAS ENTIRELY IN YOUR HEAD. YOU UNDERSTOOD NOTHING AT ALL. BUT YOU KNEW THAT DEEP DOWN, DIDN’T YOU? YOU KNOW THAT YOUR LIFE MEANS NOTHING. SO THAT IS WHY I SHOWED YOU THIS. TO SHOW THAT IT MEANS LESS THAN THAT.
Eventually, mercifully, he pulled the tail out of Oblivia’s brain.
Visuals fixed
A big ticket has been filed.
Kable Interactive apologises for the inconvenience
Then it all returned to her. The world faded back into view. She was left back on top of a tower in Kries, Draconautis smiling harder than he ever had when he had killed her before.