“You mean you haven’t found any treasure.” Thava grinned.
Iados scowled. Td had hopes. But these ships have been picked clean.”
“The Blue Lady does have a use in mind for the treasure she’s finding.” Thava snorted. “She’s no better than a pirate.”
“Perhaps not, but she’s more powerful than any pirate I’ve ever crossed blades with.”
“Are the crew armed well enough?” Shang-Li glanced at the sailors as they crept along the ships.
“I believe so. But weapons aren’t going to turn them into first-class fighters.”
“I know. But maybe they will give them enough of an edge to stay alive.” Shang-Li peered up into the constant blueness. “I haven’t found any way to tell north.”
“Nor have I.” Iados glanced around. “We’re going to have to map by landmarks. And there’s no way of knowing how much time passes down here either. I haven’t a clue how long it’s been since we sank.”
“We don’t know how big the Blue Lady’s domain is either.” Thava stared at the ships. “Though with as much damage as she has done, I would say that her range is quite large.”
“Iados!” One of the sailors screamed in terror. “Over here!”
Quickly, the tiefling drew his weapon and trotted to the man.
“Oldyr and a couple of the others went over there! They were attacked by those things!”
Shang-Li drew his sword and scanned the nearby forest. A flurry of activity in the brush line along the ship’s prow drew his eye. One of the sailors had gotten seized by a man-shaped creature. At first Shang-Li thought the sailor had gotten trapped by his opponent’s ropes, then he saw the “rope” writhing and knew that they were tentacles.
Despite his efforts to free himself, the sailor remained stuck fast. He dug his heels into the ground but was dragged slowly toward his captor.
Blue lightning flickered in the man-shaped thing’s body.
“Spellscarred,” Iados growled.
A tremor of unease shivered up Shang-Li’s spine. During his travels he’d seen a few of the spellscarred, those people and things warped by an encounter with the plaguelands, remnants of the terrible Spellplague.
A change wasn’t always for the betterment of the individual. In Chondath, one of the Spellscarred had been left without his bones. He lived as a blob in a butcher’s tub for all to see. Yet another boy had been changed by the plaguelands and given the ability to heal almost instantly from wounds that would have killed another man.
More often than not, the plaguelands created monsters instead of granting power. But that fact didn’t keep some from seeking them out and trying their luck.
And then there were those unfortunates that encountered the plaguelands despite their best efforts.
Shang-Li swam forward. Iados and Thava already closed on the battle. A few other sailors took up arms as well, but they followed behind.
The shambling mockery of a man wasn’t alone. Three others lurked in the relative darkness of the brush. The cobalt flames coursed through their bodies as well. Closer now, Shang-Li felt certain they’d once been human. Their features had changed and ran together like melted wax, and the flesh had turned a mottled plum. But they wore the tattered remnants of clothing.
Their heads came to severe points, as if their skulls had been hooked by something and drawn upward. Yellow eyes peered out beneath a bony ridge of brow that curved into the creatures’ cheekbones. The squat, heavy bodies promised strength and durability. The tentacle had sprouted from the center of the thing’s hand.
“Help me!” the sailor squalled. He tugged fiercely at the tentacle that had roped him but couldn’t free himself. His feet stirred up small clouds of silt as he fought to keep his distance.
“Let him go,” Iados commanded.
The sea shambleShang-Li could think of no other name that fitglared at the tiefling, but there was no indication of whether it understood. Turning its attention back to the imprisoned sailor, the sea shamble grabbed the tentacle with its free hand and hauled the sailor in closer.
Shang-Li swam down and drew his dagger with the intention of cutting the sailor free. A second sea shamble lurched into motion with surprising speed. It lifted its arm and pointed at Shang-Li. A blur launched from its palm and became the tangling spirals of a tentacle slightly thinner than Shang-Li’s little finger.
Before Shang-Li could avoid the tentacle, it wrapped around his right ankle and quickly climbed all the way up to his thigh. When it constricted, Shang-Li felt the blood flow to his leg shut down. A burning ache made him immediately wonder if the thing carried some kind of poison as well. His senses faded a little and he became convinced that it did.
He raked the dagger through the tentacle, sawing frantically through the muscular length. His senses continued to splinter, and double-vision filled his head. He unwrapped the tentacle from his leg, sickened by the way the thing continued to wiggle despite being severed from its host.
Iados blocked a tentacle from another with his spear, quickly tangling the obscene length around his weapon. He shoved the spear into the ocean bed and held on fiercely as the sea shamble sought to drag him in. Then he drew his sword and slashed the tentacle free. The sea shamble stumbled backward as dark purple blood spewed from its wounded appendage.
Feeling started to return to Shang-Li’s leg, and blinding pain knotted his muscles. He shoved the agony away and swam toward his opponent.
The sea shamble darted away as Shang-Li closed. It threw its other hand forward and a tentacle shot out of the palm. The sword vibrated in Shang-Li’s hand as he hit the tentacle, but the thing wrapped his weapon. Yanking his sword free, Shang-Li slashed through the tentacle, and swam toward his attacker.
Growling, the sea shamble launched itself at Shang-Li. The thing opened its hideous mouth and revealed jagged, curved teeth.
Shang-Li planted both his boots against the sea shamble’s chest. Rough hands grabbed Shang-Li’s ankles and the sea shamble tried to pull his feet into its mouth.
Rolling to his side, Shang-Li arched his body and stabbed the sword into the sea shamble’s face. Purple blood spewed into the water around the creature’s head. The blue fire scarring its body flickered brightly, then dimmed and finally went out.
Shang-Li swung his sword and cut the sea shamble’s head from its shoulders. The thing collapsed slowly and tentacled predators closed in on the corpse at once. Shang-Li turned to give aid to his companions.
Thava held a tentacle in her mailed fist. She yanked and the sea shamble flew through the water and landed at her feet. She placed a heavy boot at the center of its chest and bore down. Then she swung the battle-axe in both hands and cleaved the creature from crown to chest. A cloud of blood erupted into the water.
The sailor that had first gotten caught floated listlessly. His eyes stared sightlessly through the sea. One of his hands loosely held a couple of gold coins that worked free of his fingers and drifted down to the ocean bed.
“Gods, these things are foul.” Iados swam back to join Shang-Li.
“There are more of them lurking there.” Thava freed her axe with a jerk. “Perhaps we’ve outstayed out welcome in this place.”
Shang-Li looked at the floating dead man and remembered his visits from the Blue Lady. “There’s no place down here where we will be welcome.”
Shang-Li, Iados, and Thava headed up the salvage party, taking turns scouting ahead as they retreated from the sea shambles. They found another shipwreck a mile from their last position, a warship. The deck was charred black, and the sails were scorched tatters that wafted on the ocean currents. Arrows and crossbow quarrels stuck out from her hull. An intricately carved woman hung at the mast, smudged in places by the same fire that had threatened the ship.