Drowned

DrownedThe Grand Fair of Divesse
Divesse (Haven, Warren)
Tier 1
Mid-day

Divesse was once an aqueduct, funnelling water down into the City Beneath from the rivers on the surface. Now, it is a quiet market settlement where around thirty families make their homes.
From the central structure, the inhabitants construct walkways, ladders and staircases that twist and twirl up into old maintenance tunnels, natural caverns and constructed platforms. It’s a matter of pride to have the tallest, the most complex, or the most intricate struts leading to your home, and above the market stalls, lanterns twinkle and glimmer through wrought iron metalwork and brightly-coloured glass.

This week is festival time, and the traders have gone to great lengths to make their stalls as attractive as possible to travellers. Streamers of red and orange flutter in the slight breeze that blows through the tunnel, sacred incense burns with the smell of cloves and resin, and – as is tradition – all the rats in town are caught and have bells stuck to them for reasons that are lost to history. There’s a sense of hope for a good festival and, therefore, a good year to come.

The market is in full swing: selling treasures pulled from the depths beneath, bushels of mushrooms and salted lizard meat, and devotional clay tablets on which the faithful write prayers to those lost in the City Beneath in the hopes that their spirits will hear them. Some of them will.

Who are our Delvers, and what are their motivations to be in Divesse?

Mahjid leaned against a wall and took in the sights of the market. It just felt unreal, almost dream-like compared to the image he had in his mind. Of water and blood flooding the streets, of hooded cultists with wicked knives and waved blades butchering those who fled in panic.

Visions like these were disturbing, but the mind adapts and his had steeled itself against such horrors. Yet on and on they came again, like waves crashing into the sea, each one pushing with more force than the previous, each vision more real and twisted than the one before it. Almost as if whatever was causing these images was also adapting in response to his psyche, just enough to remain one step ahead.

At first, Mahjid thought it was the horrors of war. Memories from the frontlines. But over time, the dreams became more and more specific, pulling him to the bottom layers of the Spire. When he ran into the corpse of a Hound in some tunnel, he took it as a sign. No one cared he carried the badge of a fallen human while being a gnoll. Apparently, just filling in for a dead man was good enough that he hadn't been asked any questions. And so, his post-army civilian life ended and his assignments began anew. Except this one. He had volunteered for this one, as soon as he'd heard about the curse and saltwater floods. It matched his vision. He had to witness it. If he was lucky, he'd get some answers too, or at least some peace of mind. He knew it wouldn't last forever, of course, but his was a hunger that had to be sated, even temporarily. A night's sleep without those dreams would be respite enough before they'd return. He just had to oblige.

Stepping from the carriage the Detective Chief Inspector fastened his overcoat. Looking around the crowded market center he took a deep breath smelling the foul bitter sweat reeking stench of his new Haven. The carriage master unloaded the satchel and hammer that Karras, badge no. 187 called his possessions. The silver shield gave an air of importance to him that, if one asked he didn't deserve. Still one couldn't discount the massive Hound Sergeant that strode confidently to the elevated center of the square. Outpost 13, Devlin's station.

Karras caught a blood fly that had landed on the back of his neck, with a flick of his thumb knocked its head clean off. Then produced a jar, one with an enormous brightly colored fighting fish and fed the insect to it. The fish devoured the blood fly in a single bite. "You think hes going to need convincing huh?" Karras asked the fish and grumbled nodding in agreement. "Thats why I brought the Rotgut."

Mahsa weaves their way through the heaving market, pulling their shawl tight around them and fastening the buckles of their gear, their eyes flick from one person to the next. It had been a while since they had spent any time in a haven.

A curse of a peculiar nature and a Quartermaster who will pay to avoid it at all costs. It could prove to be a welcome stop on a long journey. Asking around may be fruitful but first to find some supplies and get something close to sleep.

A deep cough stops them in their tracks, the deep lying sickness in their lungs hard to shift. After hacking for a moment to clear their airways, Mahsa stops in front of one stall, dark eyes meet the vendors, "How much?" pointing to the salted lizard.

Cooked food makes a change

The market is in full swing. Many a peddler stops the characters with offers of his goods and Mahsa soon finds their paws tearing at a delicious salted lizard from, allegedly, the sacred waters of Sump station.

The crowd ebs and flows as Karras tries to meander through it. He finds Outpost 13 empty, safe for a single young boy, who points the inspector out to the main channel. It is there where Devlin is finally found, overseeing law and order during the fair. Upon seeing Karras, the local sergeant raises his eyebrows.
"The fish-man, huh? Heard a few stories 'bout ya, sayin' ye pissed sum'an off and now gotta do the worst postings. Not good lookin' for me, dat's for sure..."
The very essence of this man seems to stink with alcohol, as he tries to put on a serious expression upon his red face.

Meanwhile, a traveller in a long hooded cloak stands immobile in the centre of the fair. That would be no strange sight in the City beneath, yet after standing in the same spot for a while water starts to pool around his feet. Both Mahsa and Mahjid can see this and the hair upon their body starts to involuntarily raise - both feel this is not good.
Should Karras look around, he should be able to notice as well.

"Best that we walk and talk." Karras says as he avoids treading into a puddle that had doubled in size during his stride. Thankful immediately for the booze he saw two gnolls looking about as apprehensive as he suddenly felt. "You there, and you, lets follow your instinct for now and try to find the cause."

Turning to his contemporary he pulled the cork from his bottle of rotgut, took a belt and offered it to Devlin. "Lets head below to the waistworks. It won't be pleasant but it appears our work is cut out for us. That keeps it simple enough. Find the leak."

Mahsa looks at the odd fellow then to Mahjid and back again. Nodding in acknowledgment.

Seems work will be easy to find.

Mahsa stoops by the swell of groundwater dips two fingers in and rubs the wetness between finger and thumb, before raising it to their ear. Turns to Karras and simply says "I'm Mahsa" before taking the mans lead.

Mahjid gives Karras a side glance, not sure if the man is oblivious to the growing pool on the red robed man's feet. "Ask that guy?" he finally blurts out, hoping he won't come out as if disobeying rank.

DrownedThe Grand Fair of Divesse
Divesse (Haven, Warren)
Tier 1
Mid-day

Seeing the water pouring from below the man's robe, the sergeant curses.
"Da hell ya think ya doin'?!"
Devlin strides forward and pulls the stranger's hood down, after which a scream of terror escapes his lungs. A pale, undead face hisses at the soldier, showing rows of sharpened teeth. A rusted blade misses the sergeant's neck by mere inches as the wierd beasts attack him!

Soon after that, chaos breaks out. More pale strangers turn up from everywhere, either summoning the water from beneath their feet or vomiting it at the fleeing peddlers!
Apparently the dreams and prophecies were true - this is the start of Divesse being attacked by the mysterious curse.

"It's happening! It's finally happening!"

His insides screaming with an unsettling mix of excitement and terror, Mahjid draws his knife and charges at the cultist. The blade is but a distraction though, meant to open up his target's defences so he can bite a chunk off his flesh. This curse is a doing of the Heart and he must experience it to the fullest. He must savour it. He must consume it.

After the attack, Mahjid looks around to assess the situation. If there's but a few cultists, killing, arresting or otherwise incapacitating them should be easy enough, but if there's too many of them or the flooding is too fast, it might be time to focus on evacuating instead...

"Alright kill them all. Let the light sort it out!"

Karras grips his hammer tightly and charges into the thickest group of vomiting watery strangers raising his hammer overhead and beginning to bludgeon his way through the mass.

Karras jumps into the fray, flailing his hammer and hitting one of the strange undead right into the torso. Satisfied with the hit, he does not notice the pale corpse rising once again and jumping at him from the back, burrowing its rusty blade into him!
Bleeding, but nowhere near defeated, the Hound is now facing a hissing drowned corpse, ready to exchange blows once more.

In the meantime, Mahjid feints masterfully, getting past the beasts defense and ripping most of its throat out. Swallowing the meat and sinew as the corpse falls back, the gnoll suddenly sees.
The Vassals of the Drowned queen were all over Divesse and there were far more of them, than the landwalkers could kill. Vomiting gallons of saltwater or summoning it from below themselves, they will sink the place in a matter of hours and prepare it for Her arrival.
The vision recedes as one of the terrified townsfolk bumps into the gnoll, bringing him back into the chaos.

Mahsa seeing that the town is lost already, makes their way to Karras. Drawing their knife they stab the risen corpse, twisting the hilt through the pale flesh to show willing. At the same time they bark at the hound "We need to make our way out of here, there's too many of them."

Mahjid snaps out of his vision, eyes still wide at what he saw. Dreams were one thing, but visions are a whole new experience, and that's on top of the unexpected taste in his mouth revealing the cultists to be undead.

"We need to evacuate!" he yells at Karras. "They can't be stopped! Get people out of here!"

With that, he looks around for a potential exit, as well as any locals in dire need of assistance.

"Seems so! Then let's get to high ground!"

Karras didn't retreat so much as continue to fight through, attacking the thickest concentration of undead he did give ground letting the others decide which point of egress to take.

DrownedThe Grand Fair of Divesse
Divesse (Haven, Warren)
Tier 1
Mid-day

Mahsa jumps at the undead attacking Karras, hoping to slash the monster with their knife. The beast turns out to be incredibly fast, dodging below the attack and replying with a slash of her own. Mind-shattering pain envelops Mahsa's mind, as they feel their leg giving out below them.

Karras comes with his hammer once again, yet even his attack is dodged and the man is thrown away by a sudden current of saltwater that the undead expels from his mouth.

"Bow before Sternoptyx, the First of her Vassals!" the undead proclaims, showing rows of decaying teeth.

"Bow to me blade ya cunt!" Devlin, the local leader of the Hounds, jumps at the undead, slashing wildly. His attack gets riposted with what would seem as almost a lazy block, after which Sternoptyx grabs the poor man by the throat and raises him high.

"I bow only to Her... You will not be so lucky."
As the undead responds, he raises his rusty blade, prepared to end Devlin's life.

---

Meanwhile Mahjid gets a better look at his surroundings. There are multiple people in need of help and finding a safe path out of here would be no easy feat.

People needing help:
Devlin, the leader of Hounds - Soon to be executed by the undead Sternoptyx
People of Divesse, running into their homes - There is little hope for these people, evacuation is the only salvation for them. Yet will they understand?
A group of 4 children, accompanied by their teacher Sorrow-Gathers-Stormlike - Currently stranded on a small "island" on the bottom of slowly submerging Divesse. If nobody helps them get away, they will surely drown

"Any of you cowards flee and I will crucify you! I am the only Devil here!" Karras using every bit of his imperiousness as a Sergeant of the Hounds, he demanded every bit of the cultists attention, saving Devlin from a horrible fate in the process. He circled around leaving the horrible creatures back exposed to the warriors gathered, while simultaneously and paradoxically opening an avenue for people to retreat to the Heart.

Karras' baleful green eyes glowed in his fury and he leveled his vactic gaze at the threat to this Haven fully committed to dying where he stood to save the people therein. His murderous leering stare boring into the Fiend. "Look me in my eyes Sternoptyx, even your shriveled heart will know fear!"

Perhaps had he not been so legendary in his unshakeable resolve and boldness Karras would not be in this situation. It was that same fearsome reputation that had him in a romantic fling with Captain Hastings wife. Now, Hastings was looking like he would get the last laugh.