Fantasy Cursed Island

[Deadwood Deer]

"I'll figure something out, I've probably got a favor I can call in," Adran waved it off, "We've got enough stored in the bag for a couple days."

"There is no way in the Depths I can feed all of you," Veo shook her head, "I can't produce fruit and medicine at the same time."

---------
Down at the village, the water level had stayed exactly where it stopped when Shuffle had last been there, the surface she could see being entirely undisturbed up until it met the roof of the downward slope. The water was colder than before, somehow.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle watched the water for a bit before wading in, cautious of whatever she'd heard before. She was about up to her thighs before she remembered the mirror. She shivered a little as she retrieved the mirror, but her flame marks kept her from getting too cold, at least. She held up the mirror as she looked at it. "Hello, me. I need to talk to everyone else."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"We hear you, came Emfa's voice on the other end. "And we can see you."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle smiled. "Yay! I just gotta keep it in front of me, right?" She started walking further into the water as she spoke.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Yes," joanne agreed, "You will not be able to speak with us with water through your gills, but we will be able to commune with you."

The water continued downward, deeper and darker, the only light in the hall being from Shuffle's ring as she went into the water.

Once she was past the hall and into the main cavern, however, light reappeared from an unknown source. The cavern seemed completely flooded with water until about two thirds of the way to the ceiling, where there was air, a huge mound of stuff in the middle. If she swam up to it, Shuffle could see two things. Where there was a large mound of rubble and sand in the center of the place, on top was a sort of island. There were no trees, nothing like that. But there were what looked like treasure, gold and silver items all coated in what looked like bile, as though they'd been puked up. In the center of the island was a circular collection of the items in a bowl, with a bottom of a soft insulative material. Inside this nest was a clutch of twelve ivory spheres, each about twice as wide as Shuffle's head.

On the roof of the cavern was ice where it had been broken through. Unnatural, obviously, clearly some manner of magic. The air was warm and humid outside the water despite the water being remarkably chilly. Down at the bottom of the cavern was another mound, rough and jagged, but otherwise perfectly blending into the bottom. Two large golden eyes watched Shuffle swim around.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle nodded as she dipped below the water, swimming on with the mirror pointed at herself. She looked around as explored, overlooking the jagged mound as the larger one caught her attention. She swam up to the air pocket, looking around as she came up to the surface. Spotting the island, and a bit of stuff on it, she dove back down, gaining some speed to jump out of the water and land on the land.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

The bile coating the surface of the treasure trove island was slippery and difficult to grip, but manageable, especially with Shuffle's foot structure allowing her to hook her claws on things. THe watchers on the other side quickly lost visibility as the mirror fogged up almost immediately from the humidity.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle stumbled a moment before she managed to get a grip with her feet. She didn’t noticed the mirror fogging up as she was distracted by the shiny. “Guys, I found treasure!” She walked around, inevitably finding the spheres, the likes of which she’d never seen before.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Evidently the mirror being fogged up also prevented the transfer of sound, because there was nothing coming in through the other side. Mirrors did rely on reflections, after all. Down at the bottom, the eyes narrowed as Shuffle landed on the island, the mound beginning to move as it swam without disturbing the surface, invisible in the dark depths as the monstrous creature watched Shuffle from below.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle looked the spheres over before setting the mirror down and picking one of them up. “What is this thing? It’s all slimy.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

The sphere was heavy, easily weighing at least two thirds as much as Shuffle. There was a ripple and a splashing sound behind Shuffle as a ridge of the creature's shell broke the surface when it turned to dive.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle’s ears flicked before she turned to look at the water, watching the ripples for a moment. She blinked before crouching down to pick up the mirror again, tucking it under her arm so she could hold the sphere in her hands. “Guys, I think that thing is still here...”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Shuffle's clothing, still wet but still capable of wiping away the fog on the mirror, came incoherent shouting from the other end as conscious members of the party. Among the incoherent shouts was "RUN!", as the creature broke the surface again as it leapt out of the water.

It had a head like a dragon, on a long neck going back into an enormous shell like a turtle's, leading into an even longer tail with large fins. It crashed down onto the island, it's beak inches from Shuffle's face as it roared... something at her. It sounded like language, but not a language Shuffle knew.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle put her ears back as the monster jumped out of the water before she turned and ran to the other side of the island, diving in with the sphere and her mirror. With her arms occupied she relied on her feet and tail to propel herself through the water as fast as they could, circling around the island to find the way she came in.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

The dragon turtle dived back into the water with an enormous splash as it chased Shuffle and its egg around the island. Because of its size and shell, it wasn't nearly as agile in the water as Shuffle, but definitely faster as it tried to take snaps at Shuffle's tail, to get a grip on her.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle ducked and swerved through the water as she did her best to avoid getting snapped. She soon spotted the way she came and headed in that general direction, though she kept having to swerve.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

The dragon turtle kept pace easily, snapping at Shuffle, but she was more nimble than the turtle, which was so focused on retrieving the egg that the mother turtle didn't even realize the entrance to the hall was coming up until it slammed into it and its shell kept it from going further. It roared ineffectually into the water around it, screeching at Shuffle as she escaped.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle kept on even as she heard and felt the slam behind her, with the roar following. It wasn't until she had jumped out of the water and ran a good ways away from the water she stopped to catch her breath and look back. She'd managed to lose it, it seemed. She sat down and set the egg on the ground near before checking the mirror.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

The spherical egg started to roll down the slope, but stopped when it's rolling was prevented by goblin structures.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!", Veo demanded from the other side of the mirror, "How did you piss that thing off?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle put her ears back from the shout coming from the mirror. "I don't know! Maybe it wanted the treasure I found?" She glanced away from the mirror to make sure the egg hadn't gone too far before standing up. "I'm gonna head back to you guys now."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"You stole it's treasure!", now Adran was in the reflection, "You stole from a dragon's hoard!" He vanished from the reflection before an "Oh, we're fucked!", came from the background.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle blinked before simply putting the mirror away. She wasn't looking forward to getting yelled at in person, but she didn't have a choice. She sighed and retrieved the egg before heading back to camp with it.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

When Shuffle got back to camp, Adran and Joanne were waiting for her. Emera was hovering around, not particularly interested in anything the party was doing. Inside the room, Jerry was stirring again, the anesthetic wearing off much faster than anticipated in the few hours that had passed since Jerry was dosed. She was sitting upright, but much like when she had a concussion, Jerry didn't seem particularly aware of her surroundings through the haze.

When Shuffle walked up with a dragon turtle egg, Adran and Joanne both just about lost it.

"You stole an egg! An egg! How stupid are you!"

"You have put all our lives in danger."

"We're screwed! You stole an egg from a mama dragon turtle!"

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle put her ears back and looked down, shrinking back as if she wanted to be too small to yell at. "I'm sorry..."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Sorry does not change that-"

"It's just a turtle, how bad can it be?", Emera chuckled, checking her nails, "You're scared of a turtle?"

"Emera, for once in your life I need you to use your brain for something besides finding ways to complain about customer satisfaction." Adran was not in the mood for the succubus' shenanigans today. "Unless you wanna go wrestle a gods-damned enraged dragon turtle-"

"Sweetheart," Emera's eyes briefly flashed red, "I'm a demon."

"By all means, then, go pull the status card on an angry momma," Adran gestured towards the village, "I'm sure she'll totally listen to a bansished demon!"

"Hehe," Emera chuckled, "Sorry, sweetheart, I don't speak Draconic, I didn't service dragonborn and demi-dragons."

"Then shut up."