The Frigid Woe (DW) - Act 1

The Captain watches the chaos unfolding across the ship as he tries to recover and is inspired by the heroics that he sees. Teo had looked doomed to fall overboard if not for his last second transformation, magically escaping into the air as a fleet-feathered falcon, while Bonepipe swung out over the edge of the ship, like the wings of Glory itself carried him, to save a handful of the crew about to slip off the deck.

The acts of his companions motivated his own efforts as he managed to right the ship, but only by also taking a sudden and unexpect step backwards to keep his footing and exert enough leverage on the wheel. Unfortunately, his leg drove directly into the path of a passing crew member.

Helga, the Master-at-arms of the Symphony and one of the longest serving and most trustworthy of the 30-person crew, had been hustling a massive bundle of harpoon bolts across the deck as the ill-timed evasive maneuver wreaked havoc. Her strong, shout dwarven stature, with its low center of gravity, had helped her steady herself as the ship's deck listed wildly, but she could not have foreseen Mance's sudden back-step while righting the wheel.

Harpoon bolts clattered across the deck as the woman lurched forward. Her short legs scrambled desperately to regain control, but the slick conditions made the attempt look almost comical as she disappeared over the railing!

"HELGA! NOOOOOO!" Mance rushed to where the woman had tumbled, only barely avoiding the same fate.

As smoothly as a melody floats from the strings to the horns of an orchestra, one of the helmsman stepped into replace Mance at the wheel, holding the ship steady now that it was in a better position.

Mance peered over the edge of the deck to see Helga's fate. Hanging upside down, only a few feet from plunging into the icy depths, the dwarf hung by her foot, tangled in the rope of a harpoon bolt.

Mance grabbed the rope and immediately realized that he didn't have the strength to pull her back, it was all he could do not to let her slip further towards the freezing water.

His deep commanding voice beckoned to the rest of the crew for aid ...

Mance's call for help brings Bonepipe barreling across the maindeck and up to the helm. Wil he make it there in time to help pull Helga up?

A few of the nearby crew jumped in to to help pull Helga back onto the deck, but the loop around Helga's foot was slipping, it wasn't clear whether they'd be able to get her up in time.

But then, hearing Bonepipe behind him is music to Mance's ears. In fact, he suddenly has an idea for the end of Bonepipe's bagpipe concerto! But that must wait for now, he thinks to himself. With Bonepipe's added strength they quickly heave the wide-eyed and disoriented Helga back onto the deck.

"My sincerest apologies Helga! I fear that was completely my fault, but I'm glad the crew was ready to help at a moments notice!" He emphasizes Bonepipe's contribution by clasping Bonepipe's hand in celebration and pulling him in for a hearty slap on the back.Then turning to everyone else who helped he continues, "Great job everyone! Now where did that Leviathan go?"

"It's resurfaced there!" One crew member yells.

"It's charging the ship!" Another adds, panic on the edge of their voices.

Helga shakes the senses back into her head and grabs the harpoon bolt that had saved her life. Standing up, she quickly loads it into the nearest harpoon. "It's all yours, Captain!"

Mance steps up to the device, grasps the trigger, takes aim ...

... If I can get one good shot, it might be enough of a deterrent to stop the sea creature from messing with us further ...

... and fires at the approaching beast.

Teo in falcon form swiftly dodges all of the action occurring on the deck of the ship and flies out over the water and begins circling the ship overhead, trying to get a better view of the threat of this creature.

The giant fish rocks the boat but Bonepipe is unfazed! He grabs a harpoon but instead of loading into the gun he raises the barbed missile over his head and roars out a challenge at the leviathan.

"That all ya got?! Come at me, ya overgrown bag o blubber!"

"Huzzah!!!" Mance cheers as the harpoon hits the target ... Bullseye, no, Leviathan-eye! ... he thinks to himself with a chuckle until he realizes that the attack doesn't halt the sea monster's charge.

Mance swears and braces for impact by holding onto the harpoon launcher for dear life as the icy beast crashes directly into the hull of the ship ...

Once the ship steadies after being rocked by the collision, Mance looks over the side of the boat to inspect the hull for damage (OOC: Discern Realities?) and then out towards the leviathan wondering whether the harpoon strategy had any chance of success.

"Teo," he yells up towards the falcon who has a better view and also understands the mentality of animals, "Do you think the harpoons are working? If we keep defending like this, will we scare it off? Or do we need another strategy? I'm not sure how much more the ship can handle before it takes serious damage!"

Thinking quickly, Mance forms a back-up plan. He had dabbled in mimicking whale-song with the lowest notes on the Symphony's flame-organ during a performance a few years ago, perhaps it would placate the beast?? Might as well prepare all options. "Firemaster Byron, stoke the furnaces! I want full heat for the organs, asap!"

In the meantime, he needed to be sure the hull was intact. If they were taking on water, they would be finished. "Helga! Bonepipe! Keep trying to scare the beast with the harpoons, or anything else you can think of! I need to go below deck to assess the damage."

The water's cold, so cold! Worse, it messes up Bonepipe's hair! With a roar that echoes across the water, the barbarian hurls the harpoon at the leviathan! A throw from too far away. An impossible throw. The first shot falls short, but with a snarl Bonepipe grabs another harpoon and this time the shot covers the distance!

As Teo soars above the ship studying the leviathan, he can't help but admire it. The enormity of it, the beauty of it, the strength of it, it's all just so wonderful. A spirit this large and powerful must be so wise to have such a hold over nature , to grow to be that size and survive in such harsh conditions. Then, the leviathan breaches the water and nearly capsizes the ship with a large wave, Teo is rocked back into the moment.

Teo swoops back down towards the ship after hearing Mance call out their name. He reverts back to his human form mid-air over the water to yell in response, "KEEP SHOOTING IT! I HAVE AN IDEA!"

Before hitting the water, his body dissipates and then expands tenfold into a massive black and light frost-blue orca (with tiny little reindeer antlers of course) that splashes into the water below. Teorca retreats a bit further below the surface before turning around and speeding towards the leviathan, attempting to bash the side of the enormous creature, hoping that if the party is able to do some damage to it and attack from multiple fronts, it might be scared off.

As Teorca's sturdy head rams into the underbelly of the leviathan, they can feel something inside the leviathan crack and snap loudly, but the bump to the head leaves Teo a bit dazed for a moment, leaving himself vulnerable for a moment too long!

Rushing back up to the deck after checking for damage, Mance hears Teo's encouragement for more harpoons before the druid transforms again and dives into the sea.

Following the suggestion, Mance hurries to the launcher, but finds Helga having trouble loading another bolt. "It keeps jamming Captain, the beast's impact with the ship mis-aligned it!"

He's about to help Helga re-align the launcher when he sees Bonepipe's meteoric hurl, the harpoon streaks towards the creature, sinking deep into the creature with incredible impact.

"Looks like we have a fully functional launcher right there," Mance says to Helga pointing to Bonepipe with a smile. "Don't worry about this one for now, go make sure Bonepipe has a steady supply of harpoons ... if we have any left!" he adds seeing how few harpoons were left in their supply. (OOC: given Bonepipe's partial success choice of using up ammo)

Reassessing the situation, he notices that despite the herculean effort, the barbarian was completely drenched in icy water. Bonepipe's focus on the leviathan was so strong that he was completely ignoring it, but it was going to freeze him solid before long, even if he refuses to acknowledge.

"Byron? Are those furnaces ready?" Mance runs over to the main flame-organ and blasts flames from all pipes at once. The resounding sound, like a horn out of hell, floods the entire ship with a blast of protective heat.

As the sound fades into the night air, he begins playing the deep soothing refrain of his whale-song inspired piece hoping it might sooth the creature from its attack.

Teorca shakes off the counter slam and when he reevaluates his surroundings it seems the leviathan is gone! They’ve scared him off! …until he looks down and sees the leviathan barreling towards him from deep below him.

Teorca swiftly repositions himself to stand in the leviathan’s path, and readies himself to redirect the leviathan’s next attack, hoping to shove the beast towards the surface to give his allies a better chance to hit the creature.

With many exultant chest-poundings and hip-thrustings, and fiery blasts from his bagpipe, Bonepipe dances around the main deck, fully confident that they've scared the monster off.

"HAH! Did ya see that harpoon throw?! That tosser's tossed, innit?!"

Seeing Bonepipe's celebrations makes Mance think that it's working! He's not sure if it was the harpoons, Teorca or his whale-song, or a combination of all, but he continues to play just in case. He doesn't want to stop prematurely only to have the Leviathan return. Also, something doesn't seem completely right, Teorca hasn't resurfaced yet either, which worries Mance and makes him skeptical whether the danger has completely resolved ...

Seeing their predicament, Mance thinks their best option is to tilt the ship forward to encourage it to slide off the iceberg-like formation, perhaps with a little encouragement from Teorca.

He continues to play the flame-organ to keep the leviathan calm and sings inspirational instructions to the crew with poetic lyrics that effectively communicate ... "Everyone to the bow ... the weight will tilt us forward ... to slide the boat off ... throw Teorca a rope ... they can help pull ...