Ch.2: "Trouble in Paradise" / Volcanic Paradise Island Arcadia

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto flinches at the sound of the slap; it seems her suspicions about the man and his "favor" were correct. She watches as Sonja dives into the water, and moves to the railing to look closer. Is it just the way the sunlight shines on them through the water, or do Sonja's legs look more like a fish-tail?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

As the ferries continue toward Arcadia, Leto's other suspicion is also confirmed. Somehow, Sonja has transformed into a mermaid.

The mermaid finally recognizes Leto and says, "Hey, I remember you from yesterday! What's your name? They call me Blonde Sonja, but just Sonja will do!"

The others introduce themselves as Hanna Barbaric and Stone Bridgette. Nissa does not call herself Knee-High, but instead gives her full name, Nissa van Donk.

After Nissa is done speaking, Hanna gives Nissa her horned half helm while Bridgette removes Nissa's footwear from the bundle. She keeps the blanket, perhaps as a towel for her mermaid sister after she finishes her swim.

Nissa laughs as she watches the more expensive ship weigh anchor as a team of healers tend to the unconscious man.

"He'll survive," she says. Turning to Leto, she adds, "And so will we. There are worse places four broke girls can get stuck than Arcadia, right?"

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto smiles and calls back, "They call me Leto! Nice to meet you, Sonja!"

She listens to the other sisters' introductions, then nods at Nissa's comment. "That's true. My friends and I aren't going to Arcadia as tourists, though. There's danger there we're looking to fight. Maybe you and your sisters would like to join us?" A lava demon whose bounty is twice that of the breel seems like it will need twice as many people to take down.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Bridgette says, "You can count on my fists!"

"Yeah, your fists," Nissa says. "The rest of us will melt are arms off if we go around punching monsters made out of lava."

Hanna says, "I'm not crazy about my sister having all the fun, but we need the money."

Sonja calls up, "I can sell my mermaid bra!"

Nissa says, "No way I'm giving you a reason to wear less than you already are. Can't you see Leto's a huntress in the bounty hunting business. She probably knows where to find those wanted posters and we can team up to do a job we can handle."

((Stone Bridgette has agreed to join the party in Arcadia!))

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto smiles up at Bridgette. "Thank you so much. There's plenty of silver in it for you if we win. And I'll definitely keep a lookout for Wanted posters for you." She nods to the other sisters.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

All is peaceful (though a bit loud) as the Fairy Boat makes its way to Arcadia.

For some reason, Kell remains silent while Hess is off playing with kids her 'age' and Leto is conversing with fellow northerners—who seem very enthusiastic about joining a Barbierian Wyvern-Slayer.

The nymph leans over the rail where she can see Sonja happily swimming on her back.

((PM to tbgg))

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell calls out to Sonja, "Hey, there's something in the water behind you. Can you sense it? It's kind of hard to see."

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

"No," Sonja calls up. Then she notices the wake forming about a hundred feet behind her--and closing in. "I mean yes!" she shrieks. "Please stop!" she tells whatever creature is coming at her.

Kringle shouts, "Shark!"

Mibbles says, "It's too leviathan-colored to be a shark."

"Water is leviathan-colored. It's too shark-sized to be a leviathan."

"That's just its nose."

Bridgette says, "Shut up, fairy-men. My sister needs saving, and I don't care what's down there."

Jay Pikeman, a security guard with a nametag, offers Bridgette his spear, but the towering amazon refuses.

His partner, Doug Hammerhead says, "Hey, there's a nymph. Maybe she can fight a water monster."

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Jay asks. "All nymphs do in water is look pretty."

Bridgette is already overboard, but Hanna comes to Kell's defense and says, "That nymph killed the breel!"

"What's a breel?" Jay asks. "Is that a kind of eel?"

"Eels are water based," Doug says.

Jay loans Kell his Ordinary Spear. Nissa offers to hold Kell's staff if she'll go in the water to help.


((Kell temporarily has a weapon that can be used underwater!))


"But you should stay here," Nissa says to Leto. "You can shoot that thing if it peeks up from the water."

"And what about me?" Hanna asks Nissa, "What do I do?"

"Puck me up so I can see what's happening down there."

Hanna picks up her tiny sister and tells her, "It's about time! When we were pretending you were a baby, I wanted to hold you but Bridgette wouldn't let me have a turn."

"There, there," Nissa says.

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto nods at Nissa's advice and takes an arrow from her quiver, holding it loosely on the string and keeping her eyes on the shape in the water.

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell hands Nissa her staff, accepts the spear, and gracefully leaps into the water, imagining a form fitting bodysuit of the lightest stretchiest material she can imagine in turquoise blue as close the water's color as she can get it. It won't disguise her figure, but she'll be darned if she's going to let any of these men see her naked. Aphrodite would be glad for the chance to show off her body. So I'm going to be DIFFERENT.

Once in the water, Kell dives below the surface and peers toward the thing coming up on Sonja. What is it?
Kelleia:2D6 → 7(5 +2)#Perception Check - what IS thing in water?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Kell's chiton shrinks to become a hair accessory. As for the rest of her outfit which is controlled by her own imagination, that becomes a form fitting suit that reveals her figure and simultaneously maintains her modesty.

"Shrinking clothes?" Jay remarks.

"But she's less naked than before," Doug moans.

Whatever the thing is in the water, it seems to have lost interest in Sonja. The creature is heading straight at Kell!

Leto doesn't have a shot.

Kringle shouts, "Killer narwhal!"

Mibbles crosses his arms. "Not in this climate."

The creature speeds toward Kelliea, and just as it looks ready to impale her with its horned head, it instead leaps over her out of the water—a blue-green dolphin with a horn on its head!—and… it turns out Kell isn't very far from the Fairy Boat. The horned dolphin collides with the boat, and his horn penetrates the hull. He flops over 180˚ and beats on the boat with his tail fin.

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto winces at the plight of the trapped dolphin, and doesn't bother readying her arrow. Instead she tries to look into its mind, wondering what it might be feeling besides the obvious confusion and panic.

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell yells up to her friends, "Hold fire, everyone. I have reason to believe he might be friendly."

To the dolphin she says, "Well, that's a rather awkward situation you've gotten yourself into. You're from her, aren't you? Aphrodite, I mean."


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Kelleia's POV
The horned dolphin emits several blue-green sparks and an overwhelming scent like expensive cologne. Four cloven-hoofed legs shoot from his body, his tail becomes fluffy an almost white with a hint of aqua. His head sprouts a mohawk of the same aqua-white, and his teeth grow long and rectangular like piano keys. He becomes a handsome turquoise unicorn—then plunges into the sea.

When his head emerges, he doesn't look quite as handsome, but he's still a unicorn. His horn is only four inches long… and kind of limp.

Kell only hears whinnying, but she is able to understand the unicorn's thoughts:

AAAAH! Who is this lady? Get her out of my head! Why is this happening to me?



Leto's POV
Leto slumps over unconscious.

Before her body sprawls onto the deck with a thud, Leto can already see flailing hoofed limbs sprouting from her body. There is a wrenching pain in her head—then the pain stops abruptly. She plunges into the sea!

She manages to force herself up out of the water by cycling her hooves in a motion that is not at all graceful but surprisingly effective. She looks at Kell who seems rather small in her eyes.

Leto realizes she is now in the mind of the unicorn dolphin, and that she is apparently a horse or unicorn now. And she's a he. That might not bother Leto so much. The fact that she can't end the connection with this beast is troublesome.

((@Ireth, we both rolled a 9, so you succeed at connecting but are not in complete control. Leto has never experienced this before!))

 

[tbgg]

Ch.2: "Trouble in Paradise" / Volcanic Paradise Island Arcadia

Kelleia

Kell, narrowly avoiding the falling unicorn and getting thoroughly soaked when the creature hits the water, assumes the unicorn means her. "I didn't do anything to get INTO your head. I merely asked you a question. And now that you're back in the water, wouldn't it make sense to change back to a dolphin?"

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto dimly feels her body falling before her mind is enmeshed in the unicorn's. His panic stabs at her mind; she tries to pull away, but can't, which makes her panic as well. This has never happened before! What can she do now? She wishes she could scream, even with the unicorn's whinnying voice.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

The unicorn continues to thrash in the water.

Bridgette asks Sonja, "Should I punch him?"

Sonja says, "Nah."

Bridgette swims back to the boat, where Hanna awaits with a rope for her sister to climb.

Sonja keeps a safe distance from the chaos. She can see Kell is in no danger, and she can also see that whatever's going on is between Kell and the blue unicorn.

Helix's thoughts continue to project to Kell as the voice of a ranting man:

Of course you're not in my head! How can you be in my head when you're in front of my face? And have you ever tried turning into a dolphin? It takes a lot of concentration which I can't do when your ladyfriend is screaming in my brain!

Why does this have to happen? Same shit, different nymph! And when I say shit, I mean regular shit! Unicorns shit rainbows!

Oh, why'd I even bring that up? There's never a second chance to make a first impression!

As the unicorn continues to clumsily tread water, whinny, and project a panicked rant, those on the boat aren't sure what to do about Leto. Fortunately, Nissa is much calmer than Helix.

Nissa calls down to Kell, "I know you're busy, but your friend Leto fainted. Does this happen a lot?"

Bridgette says, "I can slap her awake, but only with your permission."

Hanna says, "No, Bridgette! You'll knock her head off! Kell, I can give her mouth to mouth."

"With her permission, or it's weird."

"Saving one's life is never weird, Bridgette."

"You make it sound weird for me to slap people. Slaps save lives too."

 

[Ireth]

Leto

When the unicorn -- Helix, apparently? -- comments on her screaming, Leto tries to calm her thoughts. After a moment she focuses her thoughts on an apology to the unicorn. I'm sorry for panicking. I'm not used to this at all.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

That makes two of us, Helix replies to Leto. Apology accepted.

Kell can only hear Helix's thoughts.

Gimme a sec, Kell. I gotta talk to your friend. The one in my brain.

Helix is starting to calm down, and he's calm enough to take the form of a dolphin.

You okay in there, lady? We're a dolphin now, so you just enjoy being a dolphin with me while I introduce myself to Kell. In fact, you're very lucky. You can find out who I am and that'll save Kell the trouble.

So Kell, it's like this. Yeah, I'm from her. I mean Aphrodite, not you're brain-dwelling friend. A bit of pronoun confusion, and I may even be wrong about your friend being a lady, but she thinks in a girly voice, so I'm probably right.

Anyway, you gotta cut Aphrodite some slack. I mean, yeah, she's an arrogant control freak, literally as promiscuous as they come, and yet when it comes to your love life, you gotta be as frigid as the driven snow.

But did you ever stop and think that maybe the goddess of love and beauty sees a true beauty in you? One that's not just about looks, and she's giving you some tough love—keeping you away from the lusty life most nymphs fall into.

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Thank you. I'd leave you be if I could, but I can't -- you have a strong mind!

At the comment about her gender, she laughs -- or the closest thing she can do without the ability to vocalize. Yes, I'm female. She listens curiously as Helix introduces himself to Kell, and speaks to her of Aphrodite. There's little for her to comment on about that, as she has next to no frame of reference to fall back on.