Dicing with Death: Episode 194

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==Synopsis==
Divan stays overnight in Psynes. He decides to help them with their fishing problem and during swimming finds a dead female elven body. As nobody in the village knows anything about this, he goes diving again and meets another aquatic elf, and returns the body to him. The aquatic elf is very grateful and he rewards divan with a golden circlet. Divan is informed of the monster that is causing the problems for the village, but he is currently inept to deal with it. The river turns red and Divan returns to Platos, only to find him surrounded by Romulus soldiers. He tries to fight them but gets overpowered, and both him and Platos are taken as prisoners. During the interrogation, Platos bites his way out of confinement and releases Divan too. They manage to escape and get back to Psynes, much to villagers' dissatisfaction.
==Recap==
===5th July===
Divan is in the fishing village of Psynes, which is downriver from Romulus. Psynes has a problem with the fish not coming out to be caught. Divan goes swimming into the sea, with a potion of water breathing, and goes in search of the fish.
As he swims, he doesn't see any fish but does see starfish and sea anemone. With a light spell, Divan goes down deeper and around. He finds a small trident head stabbed into a small leopard shark. The remains aren't fresh. The craftsmanship in the trident head is of good quality with intricate details carved into it, and it looks like it was snapped off from the shaft. Divan takes the trident head and leaves the shark. Divan then finds the body of a female aquatic elf, beside her lay pearl earrings and a coral crown. Divan takes the aquatic elf out of the water, along with her clothing which he found.
The aquatic elf hasn't decomposed much at all. Divan casts detect magic and discovers the aquatic elf's pearl earrings radiate magic. Her coral circlet isn't magical.
Divan returns underwater to search more and finds an underwater cenote 300 feet from the shore, at the end of an underwater valley coming from the surface river. Divan is forced to the surface as his potion wears out and returns to shore. 
Divan then calls over some villagers to see the aquatic elf remains. The villagers have never seen a aquatic elf before and haven't heard of a cenote. Divan finds the temporary elder of the village, Nestor, since the actual village elder has gone to Nekraut. Nestor has never heard of a aquatic elf either but has heard of the cenote. A crowd of 40 gather to look at the deceased aquatic elf. 
Divan sets out with another potion of water breaking to explore some more. He ventures down into the underwater cenote. Inside he finds a living male aquatic elf within. The aquatic elf is in merfolk form. Divan gestures to the surface and they both go to the air. On the surface Divan is able to talk and explains he found the remains of a deceased aquatic elf, and hands over her belongings. The alive aquatic elf says the deceased aquatic elf was Nadia, his cousin. Divan takes the male aquatic elf to the shore.
The male aquatic elf, after mourning for a while, reveals an Aboleth has come to the area, which is why there are no fish. The aquatic elf says there is nothing that Divan can do about the aboleth. The aquatic elf transforms into a form with legs and goes to shore to collect Nadia. To the elder of the village, the aquatic elf calls himself Triton. Divan returns the pearl earrings and coral crown. Divan helps Triton take Nadia into the sea. 
Divan and Triton swim down into the cenote with Nadia. Divan discovers that deeper inside the cenote is magically lit and filled with fish life. 20 or so sea elves watch as Divan and Triton swim. The body is taken from them. Triton signals for Divan to wait. 
After some time Divan is gifted an ovalish circlet, made out of thick golden thread, called Sorona. Divan and Triton return to the surface. Triton again thanks Divan for what he has done, and says the sea elves will do what they can to deal with the aboleth, and the villagers will have to make do in the meanwhile. Triton expresses his respect for Divan's actions, saying he wished more humans were like him and then takes his leave.
Divan wears the circlet. He finds it makes his mind more clear. It also allows him to cast ESP once per day, and answer one question per day as per the Legend Lore spell.
Divan realizes the blood river with flow directly in the aquatic elf home. Divan decides he has to stop the blood river now. When Divan gets back to shore he goes into the village and informs the villagers of what he was told and that the sea elves will try to return the fish by defeating the aboleth.
Overnight, Divan gets legend lore on the aboleth and its powerful capacities - an evil spellcasting fish.
:The aboleth is a loathsome amphibious creature that lives in subterranean caves and lakes. It despises most land-dwelling creatures and seeks to enslave intelligent surface beings. It is as cruel as it is intelligent.
:An aboleth resembles a plump fish, 20 feet in length from its bulbous head to its fluke-like tail. Its body is blue-green with grey splotches, and its pink-tan underbelly conceals a toothless, rubbery mouth. Three slit-like eyes, purple-red in color and protected by bony ridges, are set one atop the other in the front of its head. Four pulsating blue-black orifices line the bottom of its body and secrete grey slime that smells like rancid grease. Four leathery tentacles, each 10 feet in length, grow from its head. An aboleth uses its tail to propel itself through the water and its tentacles to drag itself along dry land.
===6th July===
The creek turns red with blood. The villagers are horrified at the sight, even with the warnings. Divan slips out of town and heads upriver. 
At midday Divan gets within sight of Romulus without going near. He gets on top of a hilltop and sees chaos coming from Romulus as the creek is blood here too. There is no sign of the Romulan leader. Most of the armed people also seem to be gone. Divan continues up the creek to the garden valley where he left Platos the small god.
At the garden valley Divan sees 10 solders & their leader spread out in a wide circle, while one soldier is carefully going towards Platos's shrine. The solder inspecting the shrine gets bitten in the face. The solder retreats. The leader orders in 3 solders to destroy the shrine. Divan tries to sling the leader but misses. The leader sends 3 solders to fight Divan. Divan fights with them and knocks 2 of them out and the 3rd retreats, calling for the leader, Remus. 
Divan keeps fighting with the other soldiers as Remus grabs Platos with a gloved hand and starts to walk away with most of the guards. Divan gets grappled by one guard as the other checks to see if he can stabilise the people Divan knocked out. Divan passes out.
A few hours later Divan wakes up, restrained, inside Romulus, inside a compacted earth building. There is a lower level guard inside the building. Divan is questioned on how to turn the blood back to water. Divan says they must atone to the gods. The guard points out that making war isn't a sin.
Remus comes into the building and asks where Divan is from. Remus claims to be a prophet of Bellum, and as he takes more villages, Bellum will award his people with more and more strength. Platos has been put in a wicker basket in the meantime. Divan explains that they must worship Platos if they want the river to turn back to water. 
Platos is brought before Remus and Divan. Platos does not speak. Remus considers Divan mad. Remus leaves to cast bones to find out Bellum's will.
While Divan is in the building with the guard, Platos breaks out of his cage and bites on Divan's ropes. Divan distracts the guard by answering more questions, without giving up his home village. Divan casts strength of stone and punches the guard unconscious in a single blow, breaking his jaw.
Platos advises Divan to flee without getting back his gold circlet. Divan casts armor on himself and runs for the hills. It is after 4 minutes the Romulans realise that Platos has escaped, but by that time Divan has reached the hills. Divan makes his way back to Psynes.
Divan escapes the search parties and makes his way to Psynes.
As he gets back to Psynes, Divan tells the story of how the Romulans took his town and their worship of Belum turned the river red with blood. The villagers are afraid of Divan and blame him for this situation. Divan leaves the village like the villager's request. 
==Experience==
No experience is given out this session.
Category:Dicing with Death Episodes
Category:Divan Episodes