[This thread is part of the Event “Night of a Thousand Phantasms”, but may be a bit different from the norm. If your character is reluctant or incapable of dealing with the spirits and yokai from the event, these creatures may grant you the nice and physical creatures that your hero is comfortable with. You can just do your everyday hero job by fighting them, but these sea creatures can also be a valuable source of intel to you and the world by being witnesses to the mysterious creature that no sailor has survived to describe. You know, without going insane.]


Orghunz warily glances upwards to the sky, half expecting a large silhouette to be looming over them and already being mid-swoop to consume them whole. The sky is an empty blue, however, without any such nightmarish monsters. He glances down into the pitch black abyss below, and not seeing anything there either. He should keep his eyes down more often, the creature was well-camouflaged and near undetectable down there. They shouldn’t be here, they shouldn’t even be near deep regions like these right now.
With an annoyed grunt that was as much anger as it was his shame of being afraid of anything, Orghunz puts a bit more power behind his strokes to swim faster. He shouldn’t be scared of anything from the sea other than its god beings, it was unnatural for him to be anything but the top of his food chain. He shouldn’t be anything but the monster that others feared.

Yet, here he was.

Here he and his family of sea trolls were, swimming alongside the lesser species that were supposed to fear them. They were degraded to allowing the merfolk to come near enough to see the yellow of their eyes, without grabbing and eating those delicious half-humans. The only solace that he had, was that all the other species seemed just as dissatisfied with the situation.

Orghunz looks at the Sahuagin warlord, or rather the poor third-elect excuse for their warlord. Just a month ago, their tribe was over a hundred strong and led by a warrior that even Orghurz could respect. They had encountered the mysterious black creature twice since, and their tribe was now reduce to a bare two dozen. The boy that led them was barely even strong enough to lift the trident that their former warlord used, chosen because he knew the basics of how to call forth the powerful sea magics that it contained. But the sea streams and whirlpools that he could summon were nothing compared to what they should be, a weak shadow just like how he and the surviving shark-people were but a poor remnant of what they once were.

The Sahuagin warriors looked at the merfolk and sirens that swam not too far away from them but clearly sticking together. They too knew how delicious the weaklings' flesh was, but abided the coalition that had been forced upon them. The sirens weren’t to be harmed, and even their good-aligned prey the merfolk had to be spared. Probably to be used as a snack once rations got thin, but they all kept that part unspoken.

Orghunz looks at the markoth swimming at the very end, the only creature of their group that he was somewhat wary of. Even his powerful and regenerating body would die if it were to be eaten and digested by that ravenous creature. It was actually quite impressive that it still followed them without eating anyone, considering that these solidary creatures couldn’t even keep their sea spawn slaves for a few months without devouring them. Yet it seemed to stay in line, even now that the mental hold on it was gone.

The Kuo-Toa, they were getting more unpredictable though. Even Orghunz could tell that their sub-group of a about 150 fish-people was starting to fall apart with the demise of their supreme leader. The same leader that had convinced Orghunz and all the other races to combine their forces to fight the new monster. The same powerful mage that had somehow dominated the morkoth’s mind and shaped a small city with his strange magics. Slaossk the Mind Flayer, the powerful mage of Kuota city and the overlord of the Kuo-Toa that lived there. Slaossk the Aboleth slayer, who was feared for his unknown and very potent magic and intelligence. Slaossk the Schemer, who could defeat foes several times stronger than his minions with careful planning and deception.

Slaossk, the powerful mage and leader of their combined forces, who was eaten by this new threat in the first few seconds of the battle.

How futile his attempts had been. It had taken him days to gather these forces and stop their internal squabbling. It had taken him so many hours of planning and discussing to make even Orghurz understand why they had to group up against this great threat. A threat that none of them could face alone. It had taken him so much effort and he had spent so much resources on their ambush, only for the powerful dark being to just break through it without effort and devour the proud mage whole. Their alliance and its attack had fallen apart not moments later, less than a minute into their well-prepared battle.

They had regrouped a few hours later, all understanding the necessity of their numbers even when the one that had united them was now dead. And they had all known that Orghunz, being the strongest amongst them, was their leader. Sure, none had said it out loud, but it was obvious.

And under his leadership, they had decided to go to the shore where the creature couldn’t reach them. Under his banner, they would attack the seaside town of Jheriu and live on supple human flesh while waiting for this creature to die. The island of Abed was big enough to stay out of the creature's reach, but not big enough to house too many humans. Perfect for them. And once it was over, he might return to his home caves after it was gone or he could stay as the leader monster of the town. Probably the latter, if food was plentiful on the island. It didn’t matter. What mattered was survival.

Orghunz smiled, knowing how smart he was and how foolproof his idea. They would just have to wait things out, let the mighty Kraken or godlike Leviathan deal with this new threat. Surely neither of these two sea gods would allow a new competitor to take their territory? Hell, the creature even looked like some kind of black or spirit-form kraken, so they’d undoubtably consider it an intruder. The problem would resolve itself, and Orghunz could live like a king while it did. Safely on the surface, where there weren’t any such issues right now.

The slope of the coast was slowly starting to appear underneath them. Good. He could smell the putrid stench of human civilization in the water, telling him that they were coming closer and closer to their destination. Soon enough they would be save, feasting on these defenseless humans.