(G61 - OR 04/09/09)

DAY 110 cont.

Everyone with a weapon now ran up onto deck as fast as they could, which meant that the gangway up
got very congested. In the dark and confusion of pressing bodies, the creature, a flotsam ooze,
lashed out and grabbed at people. It got Shlump, but although injured he managed to hold onto the rail.
It then got Keletch who was dragged over the side and killed.
Nobby cast a wall of fire along the side of the ships rail and the beast didn't seem to like that
at all, but it still hung on to the ship.

Everyone was throwing things at it and firing off arrows and crossbow bolts - it was a real barrage
of missiles! I summoned a flaming sphere but the creature just absorbed it with a smokey burp.
Nobby also cast one of her slow healing spells that seemed to hit everyone around me, but me. I got
my lightning spell ready, but had to react quickly when Shlump was injured again.
I was able to heal him, but I too was grabbed by one of its huge grey oozing tentacles and pinned
to the deck. It was also extreamly sticky and I could not pull free.

Mr Badgerington flew into a rage and attacked but was also pinned. Eriss stepped forward to use her
Burning Hands spell and was also attacked.
With so many attackers trying to throw it off the ship though, eventually the thing slid back into
the water and took Shlump with it. It nearly had Eriss and me too. I was unconscious by this point,
battered to near death by its ghastly rubbery limbs.

From what I heard later, Nobby bravely leapt through the flames to rescue Shlump with a powerful
healing spell and they were returned to the ship.

I came back to consciousness, cradled in Lirith's arms, who had saved me from certain doom. I smiled
weakly up to her and she seemed overjoyed to see me back in the land of the living. The light of a
lantern shone behind her, giving her a most angelic look and my heart skipped a beat.

Soon though, Nobby was back and using all her healing magic to get people back on their feet. Shifty
called me below decks where him and the carpenter were patching up a hole the monster had made. I
cast a Shape Wood spell to help as Shifty explained he had tried to help me with a healing potion but
had been unable to get it down me as I was out cold. I wonder if that's true? Or perhaps he was just
thinking about his own skin as I have the power to repair sinking ships!

Shifty also organised getting a chest onboard, part of the flotsam, but then he skulked off with it
so I don't know what it contained. Then the bodies of Solomon and Keletch were retrieved and put
down in the hold.

What a strange and unpleasant creature? I hardly think it is natural, more of an aberration, but
maybe worthy of further study. Such a shame it killed two of the crew.

~
I just have time to write a little about my confused love life.
Firstly, I like Lirith a lot. She is the sort of brazen 'tough cookie' that I like and I suppose
perhaps she reminds me of Mashai.
I still feels guilty over Mashai's death and perhaps it's because of this I feel attracted to Lirith?
Perhaps I want to do the right thing with her as some kind of atonement.

However, things are back on with Lavinia, and she has been on the scene for longer than Lirith.
For a while, I thought I was falling in love with Lavinia, but well, all that stuff happened and I
got to see the tetchy, bossy side of her a bit too much. If only she would say what she feels instead
of hiding either behind innuendo or angry silences. I suppose she has a lot on her mind.

I still think it best that he sees how things go with Lavinia first. If we do somehow, by some
miracle, become a proper couple, then that's fantastic. If it doesn't happen then maybe Lirith
will still be around...

.. oh! Don't I sound like such a cad? I sound just like my elder brother Nissa before he married
Umi and settled down. He seemed to have a different girl in every port.

Also, in all of this heart ache and confusion - I am not getting any! You would think that for
all the emotional energy this is taking I would at least be getting my end away - but no -
I've not even kissed a girl since Port Ishal and that was nearly a month ago. Actually so much
has happened since then that it almost feels like a life time, but what a night that was!
That was the night me and Lavinia were intertwined in one ship while Raz and Fatima were
in the other

OK, that's the plan then, get Lavinia drunk like that again so that she lets her hair down
and forgets her worries long enough to allow for a bit of fun. Hmm, that didn't work in
Nyranzaru, but the situation did improve I suppose.
She's so random, I just can't judge her moods and they are so changeable. It's almost as if
some huge bearded Teutonic god is rolling dice to decide her moods for her!

Actually, I find it rather annoying that when Raz, my close friend, died, instead of getting
sympathy from Lavinia, I got the blame. She seems to blame me for everything that goes wrong
on the Wyvern, when it is nothing more than bad luck. Surely it is not my fault if our ship
is some sort of pirate magnet? I wish she was there for me more. Perhaps I should be there
for her more though?
I think I will say that to her next time we talk, 'Listen. We have had a difficult time
and we have more difficult times ahead. We shouldn't be fighting between each other. Can
we agree to always be there for each other?'
Hmm, being on different ships doesn't help though. I'll be glad when we finally reach our
destination. It feels like our relationship is on hold until then.

~

Not very tired as I was full of healing magic, I joined the others back in the passenger cabin...
...only to be woken again in under an hour by yet more commotion up on deck.