Phantasmal Rift Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
phantasmods) wrote2016-05-31 11:09 pm
phantasmods) wrote2016-05-31 11:09 pm
DUNGEON: KEYSTONE REEF
KEYSTONE REEF
(Map will come in the near future, with apologies from clumsy mods.)
AREA GENERAL
Northeast of the Station, past the Fingers and the gentler waters of the beaches, lies Keystone Reef, a series of rock outcrops that were once the bane of passing ships, and the reason for the lighthouse that still half-stands on the same section of cliff as the station itself. The area is distorted by a Fissure effect tied to the sea, and the amount of distortion waxes and wanes with the tide. At low tide, there is almost no visual distortion above the surface, but at high tide, trying to see much beyond ten or twenty feet is like looking through the surface of a heavily rippling pond.
But that is still less intense than the magic that lurks below the surface of the waves... Those who find themselves submerged, whether by accident or an attempt to cross the Fissure by swimming, will discover that the magic of the Fissure permeates their bodies the way the water does their clothes. The exact effect varies from individual to individual, perhaps tied to one's natural ability with magic, perhaps not.
And what is the nature of this effect? On the low end of the scale, it's small alternations - the sudden magical ability to breathe water, a little webbing between your fingers, perhaps so far as a set of gills along your ribs or neck or an unexpected set of shark teeth. From there, the amount of transformation into something of the water progresses, up through "standard" sorts of mermaids all the way to the point where you might have difficulty recognizing yourself in the mirror.
At least it means that drowning is no longer a concern. Luckily, the effect is temporary; returning to a stable section of reality will restore your legs and lungs quickly enough, though you may have to throw yourself upon the mercy of one of the beaches in order to thoroughly dry out first. Also luckily, the effect of the Fissure doesn't hurt, and doesn't deprive you of the ability to breathe air; it's still perfectly possible to pop up to the surface to speak to the land-bound.
The question before you thus becomes: Stick to the dry of boats and beaches and a familiar body, or dive deep and see what below the surface has to offer...
Resource: Water crystals
Frequency: small ones common, large ones uncommon to rare
Type: Energy/magical resource
Environment: Everywhere the tide reaches... So, pretty much everywhere.
A familiar sight to those who have explored the caverns below the station, these blue crystals cluster along the cracks between rocks. They are always wet to the touch, and can be used as a resource for any water-related magic.
Critter: Dragon Eels
Danger level: High if provoked
Type: Magical beast
Environment: Underwater; Glitterstone Beach, the Fingers
Behaviour: Day: Sleepy, holed up in their nooks. Night: Active hunters.
These sea serpents remain hidden in underwater nooks during the day, only coming out to hunt at night. Ranging in size from five to twenty feet long, the adults are the largest and most dangerous thing the shoreline has to offer. Fortunately, they are fully aquatic, and not much interested in anything above the waterline.
The most notable trait of these beasties is that they're lit by an internal glow, which creates a mesmerizing effect given the distinct colors of each individual's scales. The second most notable thing is their mouths full of large, sharp teeth.
The most dangerous trait, however, is that they reflect all forms of magical attack or interference back at the caster. Combined with their hard, glossy scales, size, and quick speed in the water, this makes them quite dangerous to try and fight...
Lucky for you that, unless you're stupid enough to go swimming close enough to register as prey, they won't bother you if you don't bother them.
Critter: Invisigulls
Danger level: Annoyance
Type: Magical beast
Environment: Above-water, everywhere; largest nest colony is aboard the Trivesta
Behaviour: Heard but not seen; defensive of nests
These seagulls - thankfully mostly normal sized; a few are a bit larger, but none breaking more than about double what you'd expect - certainly sound normal... But how they look is nearly a complete mystery, as they're visible usually only as distorted light and shadows cast on the ground.
Aside from the invisibility, they're pretty much entirely normal gulls. They're a bit easier to see on the ground and in their nests, tucked along the crevices of rocks and shipwrecks. For the most part, they have no interest in doing anything more than making off with a snack or two...
Unless you do approach their nests, which they defend fiercely with their beaks and surprisingly sharp-clawed feet. And given that they nest in groups, it's easy to get mobbed by a whole flock of protective parents.
THE SHALLOWS
A line of rocky outcrops visible above the waterline - and even, at lower tides, available to climb on without getting completely soaked to the skin. In general, they're much like the ones closer to shore, though with a slightly different variety of barnacles, snails, and other creatures between the rocks. There are actually several distinct lines of the rocks, with the waters between them reaching no more than twenty or perhaps thirty feet deep. They're close enough to perfectly clear that the bottom can be easily seen, too.
And in those spaces between the rocks... Coral, fish, the occasional growth of seaweed. Starfish large as a man's head, the occasional ripple of an eel or octopus. All the ocean's best is on display beneath the surface, making the warm and relatively calm waters a tempting place to go for a swim.
Or at least an interesting place to be stuck going for a swim, if that should be a thing that happened to you. There's not many sharks in these waters that would consider taking a bite out of you (they're mostly the sort that bottom-feed), and the fish are friendly, so it seems relatively safe, as long as you keep aware of the currents.
Hazard: Boiler coral
Danger level: Mild
Type: Magical creature (technically)
Environment: Underwater; anywhere there's enough light for coral growth, but primarily the Shallows
Activity: All times
A bright red branching coral that sticks out from the rest of the reef - largely because nothing else grows around it and even fish don't venture particularly close. Those who swim over to investigate why will figure it out quite quickly - the water is significantly warmer near the boiler coral, and a good eye can even spot the occasional bubble of steam drifting up from it as the water in direct contact with the polyps literally boils. Fortunately, being coral, they're not exactly going anywhere.
Critter: Kissing fish
Danger level: None to low
Type: Animal
Environment: The Shallows, the Coral Graveyard
Behaviour: Smooch and mooch
These small fish - the very largest are perhaps half the size of a palm and most of them are much smaller - are almost perfectly eye-shaped save for their heart-shaped tails and their surprisingly full lips. They occur in several different shades of orange, but always with a line of red along their dorsal edge.
And they're quite friendly. In fact, just let this little guy swim right up here and give you a kiss. Boop!
The "kiss" of the fish has a mild euphoric effect - in small doses, it's a mood lifter, though in large doses it can leave you giddy or doofy in ways that leave you vulnerable to other, more dangerous creatures. The fish themselves feed in the kiss, scraping off the outer layer of dead skin, scales, or what have you. This isn't particularly dangerous unless you let them kiss the same spot too many times - at which point they will eventually scrape down far enough to draw blood.
And you know what they say about blood in the water...
OUTER SANDBARS
On the outer edges of the reef are these sandbars - the result of sand piling against the outer ring of rocks for centuries, perhaps longer. As a result, several of them are high and even dry; certainly at low tide, there's an expanse of sand, but even at high tide a few places pop above the ocean, and even more are in that weird position of being walkable if you want to risk getting your feet wet.
The three most prominent sandbars even have plants growing on them, though all three are distinctly different kinds of plants. The smallest and southernmost is your traditional sort of 'deserted tropical island' with a whole two palm trees and a patch of sea grass. The second and largest is practically a jungle of its own, though a fairly small one, perhaps the size of a football field including its sandy edges. The third, you'll be lucky to see the sand at all, as it serves as a mire of mangrove-like trees and vines.
Critter: Helios fish
Danger level: Annoyance
Type: Fissure creature
Environment: Over open water, primarily out near the sandbars and over the Gap rather than the Shallows
Behaviour: Drifting
These large, flat fish are... Well, they're something, alright. Actually, those familiar with marine biology will note that they're almost exactly identical to sunfish, except that they're "swimming" (whatever passes for swimming)... Through the air. The only visual difference is the gold sunbursts along the back sides of their fins and tail.
Interestingly, their floatation seems to only function above water - on the rare occasion that the huge fish actually drift over the sandbars, they immediately drop from the air and flop onto their sides on the sand, windmilling their fins hopelessly until the tide comes in and restores their buoyancy.
Critter: Vine Snails
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Animal
Environment: The mangrove sandbar, or very rarely the wetter parts of the jungle sandbar
Behaviour: Sluggish
These large snails - cowries, technically - average out to fist-sized, and hide among the vines of the mangrove sandbar, at or just below the waterline. Their flesh is a moderate grey - their shells are dark brown, with a scattering of iridescent, almost metallic gold spots. In the rippling water, they could be easily mistaken for sparkles of genuine gold.
The greedy should watch their fingers, however - if disturbed, the snails defend themselves with a venomous bite that induces paralysis, to a potentially lethal extent. (It's unlikely you'll die, since falling into the water will cause you to turn into a mer instead of drowning, but it's not impossible, especially for physically smaller characters.) Those immune to poison or who protect their hands while harvesting - thick leather or better - will find them without much more defense than that, however.
Critter?: Abandoned pots
Danger level: Are you sticking hands in strange pots? No? Then you'll be fine.
Type: Magical object
Environment: The desert island sandbar
Behaviour: Potty-mouthed
These lidded pots - three in total, made of a dark purple ceramic and patterned with sunbursts, crescent moons, and narrow-armed seven-pointed stars respectively - are obviously part of a matched set, if you should manage to see them together. However, any given character will only be able to discover one at a time - in order to get the full set, you must have at least three people, one to discover each pot buried in the sand.
No single pot can be removed from the sandbar - they must be taken together, as a set of three. Those who attempt otherwise - to take only one or two pots - will remain that their loot vanishes as soon as they take their attention away from it, even out of an extradimensional inventory, and returns to the sandbar near the waterline, buried once more in the sand.
Opening the lid reveals nothing but blackness - obviously supernatural, as no amount of light shined in reveals anything at all. Reaching in when all three pots are present - that is, on the sandbar or if the three are taken together - just gives a damp sensation and perhaps a curious lick of a rough tongue, too long and pointed to be a cat's but not dissimilar in sensation. Reaching into an isolated pot, however...
Well, it's a good way to lose a hand. It seems they really don't like to be separated.
Organic material of any sort dumped into the pots will consumed without a trace, including water. However, items of metal, stone, or plastic can be safely stored inside - just turn the pots over to retrieve your items.
SHIPWRECK: THE TRIVESTA
Numerous shipwrecks adorn the rocks, but the largest by far is the great metal hull of some modern-looking shipping craft, with TRIVESTA in faded paint along one side. Tilted up at an angle, the ship is large enough that you question how it even got here among the rocks in the first place; only a small portion of the back end is submerged.
It's possible to enter the shell of the great ship via a gash in the side, practically opposite where the name of the ship is. Those of particular height may wish to watch their heads on the way in. Inside the hull is the cargo hold, a dark, wide empty space with only a bit of old seawater at the bottom and the shells of a few cargo containers. (They're all empty.) No light from outside reaches within, but there are yet gently bobbing lights...
Up top, for those who can reach, the crew quarters and steerage of the ship are open, rusted doors hanging almost sideways from tilted hinges. Pretty much everything is rusted and water-damaged beyond use. There's quite a colony of seabirds, however, including one impressively large, empty nest - one that might call to mind a familiar foe for those who went on the first expedition.
Critter: Ghost Jellies
Danger level: Mild
Type: ???
Environment: Inside the Trivesta's cargo hold
Behaviour: Curious?
Anyone who brings a light into the hold of the great ship will soon find themselves with company - floating jellyfish, all of approximately the same size (eight to ten inches) but with a wide variety of bell shapes and hanging tendrils. Looking carefully will reveal, in fact, that no two are perfectly alike. All glow the same misty blue, but only in response to another source of light - in the absolute dark, they go dark and invisible as well.
Bumping into these jellies doesn't sting, however, luckily for those in the dark. In fact, it's possible to entirely pass through them, though the sensation is unsettling to say the least. Not-quite fully-formed emotions tickle at the minds of those who do, easily mistaken for one's own thoughts, though the jellies are for the most part placid.
For the most part, because the jellies do react to one thing other than the arrival of light. Those trying to exit the ship again - either through the gash in the hull or by finding themselves an exit in the upper section - will be beset with an anxious crowd that must be pushed through in order to leave.
CORAL GRAVEYARD
While some handful of shipwrecks besides the Trivesta are scattered along the surface rocks, the vast majority are hidden completely beneath the waves. The hulls of wooden hips butt up against metallic shells, and the fingers of masts and other rigging stick up from the layer of sand on the sea floor as the continental shelf levels out and stretches beyond the boundaries of the Fissure. The ships here are a horrible mix-and-match of eras and technologies, the sort of thing that must have been induced by the Fissure itself drawing shipwrecks in from other worlds.
Still, it's a more than worthwhile place to hunt for treasure, if you're so inclined. Many of the older wrecks are covered in coral to the point that they're very much becoming part of the reef, especially those made of metal rather than wood, and there's even a rune-covered stone ship that must have been magical at one time.
Just take care to keep your wits about you, for coral and fish aren't the only things that have made their homes among the wrecks...
Critter: Panther Sharks
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Animal
Environment: Coral Graveyard, occasionally the Shallows
Behaviour: Playful
You know how dangerous it is to play with a large predator like a tiger or bear that can take your face off entirely with a single paw-swipe?
Panther sharks are like that, but aquatic. A greyish purple so deep it's almost black, save for lighter grey bellies, these sharks are about the size of a mer-ified person, eight to ten feet in total length, and they're quite friendly! Maybe too friendly, as after a brief period of investigation, most of them tend to decide they want to play.
With, you know, their mouths. Nom. They do seem to understand pain as a concept, but they're not great at reading people body language. Giving them a bap in the snoot to convince them to let go or so on tends to get confusion, and most of them have scars from playing with other members of their species.
On the other hand, if you can handle the noms and a bit of shark wrestling, you might find yourself with a friend...?
Critter: Spider-crabs
Danger level: Mild
Type: Animal
Environment: The Coral Graveyard, primarily inside or underneath shipwrecks
Behaviour: Does whatever it does
These are probably, technically, not giant spiders. At least, their faces are way more like crabs, if you look close, but how much difference does that make when you see something large and scuttling out of the corner of your eye? Not much difference, really.
These exceptionally long-legged crabs wind up standing at about three feet in height, with a profile similar to a daddy long-legs/harvestman - relatively tiny body, unsettlingly long legs. They're a greyish-blue that tends to fade into the background of the shipwrecks, with lighter underbellies and long, narrow pinchers that are still strong enough for quite a grip.
But their appearance isn't the origin of their name. Rather, the name comes from the fact that they do, in fact, spin webs - thin filaments that are visible mostly where they thicken up to attach to walls, an interconnected latticework around the creature's den that alerts it to any fish that comes and gets tangled. You can get tangled up plenty easily too, if you go near their lairs, but at the size of a person it's not difficult at all to pull yourself out of it, especially if you have a knife or something. The unwary, though, will find themselves beset by a very unhappy, hungry spidercrab.
They're also quite delicious with butter. For those who like crab legs, now these are some crab legs.
THE GAP
Cutting across the reef almost perfectly at the two-thirds point by the north-south measure, the Gap is a crevasse stretching approximately east-west across the reef and extending further out. It's deep, deep enough that the weight of the water makes the pressure too intense for characters to actually reach the bottom of it, unless they have some way of contending with the intense pressure inside.
It's also dark. The sunlight only really filters in when the sun is directly overhead, and even then the distance from the surface renders it weak and dim. That doesn't mean that the region is lifeless, though - far from it. Pale filter feeders arch up from the cliffsides, hanging in midwater for anything that flutters down from the surface, and dark fish with bioluminescent spots lurk through the poor light of day to come out glowing at night. Strange-looking jellyfish bob up and down, their tendrils lit up in hopes of attracting curious food...
Resource: Dark crystals
Frequency: small ones common, large ones uncommon to rare
Type: Energy/magical resource
Environment: The Gap, potentially anywhere sunlight doesn't touch at all
It's not hard to find places in the crevasse that the sun doesn't reach at any time of day at all, particularly as one goes further down. In such places, you might find these crystals - sharp and spiky like quartz points, and reflecting no light at all. They seem instead to practically absorb it - even taken up to the direct sunlight, they remain pits of black against the background, their faces only known by touching them.
Critter: Dragon Salamanders
Danger level: Low unless harassed
Type: Magical creature
Environment: The Gap
Behaviour: Defensive
It's easy to tell from a glance that these creatures are close relatives of the larger dragon eels above; they have a generally similar head shape and, like their cousins, come in a variety of colors. Unlike their bright, glowing cousins, however, the salamanders are very much in the pastel range, very close to to white, and for the most part, they don't glow. The exception is the very tips of their long whiskers - two pairs, one whisker on either side longer than the other - which float out of their burrows to attract prey.
Also unlike their cousins, the limbs of the dragon salamanders are more legs than fins - they waddle and climb along the sides of the cliffs as much as they swim. Those who watch carefully will realize that while they still have eyes, they're not especially functional - like cave critters, the dragon salamanders are almost completely blind. They're also much smaller than the average for the eels above, typically reaching about three feet in length at max.
There are two more notable similarities, though - like the eels, they're very much predatory, and will bite down on anything that attempts to invade their burrows, regardless of size, and like eels, they're not capable of letting go once they're attached save for ripping out whatever chunk of flesh they've latched onto. Also like the dragon eels, they reflect magic entirely. Outside of their burrows, they're reasonably amicable creatures, more inclined to flight than fight.
Hazard: Sting pens
Danger level: Low to medium
Type: Sessile animal
Environment: the Gap
Activity: All times
These strange, narrow white creatures look much like incredibly fluffy quill pens, hence their name. The other part of the name is even more easily explained - like certain jellyfish, the pens have a few tendrils that hang further out from the main body of the creature, and those tendrils, nearly invisible in the dark, have a nasty, paralytic sting. It's not anything that will cause more than inconvenience to something as large as a human, and the pens furl themselves inward if aggressed, but man, that's not exactly pleasant.
(Map will come in the near future, with apologies from clumsy mods.)
AREA GENERAL
Northeast of the Station, past the Fingers and the gentler waters of the beaches, lies Keystone Reef, a series of rock outcrops that were once the bane of passing ships, and the reason for the lighthouse that still half-stands on the same section of cliff as the station itself. The area is distorted by a Fissure effect tied to the sea, and the amount of distortion waxes and wanes with the tide. At low tide, there is almost no visual distortion above the surface, but at high tide, trying to see much beyond ten or twenty feet is like looking through the surface of a heavily rippling pond.
But that is still less intense than the magic that lurks below the surface of the waves... Those who find themselves submerged, whether by accident or an attempt to cross the Fissure by swimming, will discover that the magic of the Fissure permeates their bodies the way the water does their clothes. The exact effect varies from individual to individual, perhaps tied to one's natural ability with magic, perhaps not.
And what is the nature of this effect? On the low end of the scale, it's small alternations - the sudden magical ability to breathe water, a little webbing between your fingers, perhaps so far as a set of gills along your ribs or neck or an unexpected set of shark teeth. From there, the amount of transformation into something of the water progresses, up through "standard" sorts of mermaids all the way to the point where you might have difficulty recognizing yourself in the mirror.
At least it means that drowning is no longer a concern. Luckily, the effect is temporary; returning to a stable section of reality will restore your legs and lungs quickly enough, though you may have to throw yourself upon the mercy of one of the beaches in order to thoroughly dry out first. Also luckily, the effect of the Fissure doesn't hurt, and doesn't deprive you of the ability to breathe air; it's still perfectly possible to pop up to the surface to speak to the land-bound.
The question before you thus becomes: Stick to the dry of boats and beaches and a familiar body, or dive deep and see what below the surface has to offer...
Resource: Water crystals
Frequency: small ones common, large ones uncommon to rare
Type: Energy/magical resource
Environment: Everywhere the tide reaches... So, pretty much everywhere.
A familiar sight to those who have explored the caverns below the station, these blue crystals cluster along the cracks between rocks. They are always wet to the touch, and can be used as a resource for any water-related magic.
Critter: Dragon Eels
Danger level: High if provoked
Type: Magical beast
Environment: Underwater; Glitterstone Beach, the Fingers
Behaviour: Day: Sleepy, holed up in their nooks. Night: Active hunters.
These sea serpents remain hidden in underwater nooks during the day, only coming out to hunt at night. Ranging in size from five to twenty feet long, the adults are the largest and most dangerous thing the shoreline has to offer. Fortunately, they are fully aquatic, and not much interested in anything above the waterline.
The most notable trait of these beasties is that they're lit by an internal glow, which creates a mesmerizing effect given the distinct colors of each individual's scales. The second most notable thing is their mouths full of large, sharp teeth.
The most dangerous trait, however, is that they reflect all forms of magical attack or interference back at the caster. Combined with their hard, glossy scales, size, and quick speed in the water, this makes them quite dangerous to try and fight...
Lucky for you that, unless you're stupid enough to go swimming close enough to register as prey, they won't bother you if you don't bother them.
Critter: Invisigulls
Danger level: Annoyance
Type: Magical beast
Environment: Above-water, everywhere; largest nest colony is aboard the Trivesta
Behaviour: Heard but not seen; defensive of nests
These seagulls - thankfully mostly normal sized; a few are a bit larger, but none breaking more than about double what you'd expect - certainly sound normal... But how they look is nearly a complete mystery, as they're visible usually only as distorted light and shadows cast on the ground.
Aside from the invisibility, they're pretty much entirely normal gulls. They're a bit easier to see on the ground and in their nests, tucked along the crevices of rocks and shipwrecks. For the most part, they have no interest in doing anything more than making off with a snack or two...
Unless you do approach their nests, which they defend fiercely with their beaks and surprisingly sharp-clawed feet. And given that they nest in groups, it's easy to get mobbed by a whole flock of protective parents.
THE SHALLOWS
A line of rocky outcrops visible above the waterline - and even, at lower tides, available to climb on without getting completely soaked to the skin. In general, they're much like the ones closer to shore, though with a slightly different variety of barnacles, snails, and other creatures between the rocks. There are actually several distinct lines of the rocks, with the waters between them reaching no more than twenty or perhaps thirty feet deep. They're close enough to perfectly clear that the bottom can be easily seen, too.
And in those spaces between the rocks... Coral, fish, the occasional growth of seaweed. Starfish large as a man's head, the occasional ripple of an eel or octopus. All the ocean's best is on display beneath the surface, making the warm and relatively calm waters a tempting place to go for a swim.
Or at least an interesting place to be stuck going for a swim, if that should be a thing that happened to you. There's not many sharks in these waters that would consider taking a bite out of you (they're mostly the sort that bottom-feed), and the fish are friendly, so it seems relatively safe, as long as you keep aware of the currents.
Hazard: Boiler coral
Danger level: Mild
Type: Magical creature (technically)
Environment: Underwater; anywhere there's enough light for coral growth, but primarily the Shallows
Activity: All times
A bright red branching coral that sticks out from the rest of the reef - largely because nothing else grows around it and even fish don't venture particularly close. Those who swim over to investigate why will figure it out quite quickly - the water is significantly warmer near the boiler coral, and a good eye can even spot the occasional bubble of steam drifting up from it as the water in direct contact with the polyps literally boils. Fortunately, being coral, they're not exactly going anywhere.
Critter: Kissing fish
Danger level: None to low
Type: Animal
Environment: The Shallows, the Coral Graveyard
Behaviour: Smooch and mooch
These small fish - the very largest are perhaps half the size of a palm and most of them are much smaller - are almost perfectly eye-shaped save for their heart-shaped tails and their surprisingly full lips. They occur in several different shades of orange, but always with a line of red along their dorsal edge.
And they're quite friendly. In fact, just let this little guy swim right up here and give you a kiss. Boop!
The "kiss" of the fish has a mild euphoric effect - in small doses, it's a mood lifter, though in large doses it can leave you giddy or doofy in ways that leave you vulnerable to other, more dangerous creatures. The fish themselves feed in the kiss, scraping off the outer layer of dead skin, scales, or what have you. This isn't particularly dangerous unless you let them kiss the same spot too many times - at which point they will eventually scrape down far enough to draw blood.
And you know what they say about blood in the water...
OUTER SANDBARS
On the outer edges of the reef are these sandbars - the result of sand piling against the outer ring of rocks for centuries, perhaps longer. As a result, several of them are high and even dry; certainly at low tide, there's an expanse of sand, but even at high tide a few places pop above the ocean, and even more are in that weird position of being walkable if you want to risk getting your feet wet.
The three most prominent sandbars even have plants growing on them, though all three are distinctly different kinds of plants. The smallest and southernmost is your traditional sort of 'deserted tropical island' with a whole two palm trees and a patch of sea grass. The second and largest is practically a jungle of its own, though a fairly small one, perhaps the size of a football field including its sandy edges. The third, you'll be lucky to see the sand at all, as it serves as a mire of mangrove-like trees and vines.
Critter: Helios fish
Danger level: Annoyance
Type: Fissure creature
Environment: Over open water, primarily out near the sandbars and over the Gap rather than the Shallows
Behaviour: Drifting
These large, flat fish are... Well, they're something, alright. Actually, those familiar with marine biology will note that they're almost exactly identical to sunfish, except that they're "swimming" (whatever passes for swimming)... Through the air. The only visual difference is the gold sunbursts along the back sides of their fins and tail.
Interestingly, their floatation seems to only function above water - on the rare occasion that the huge fish actually drift over the sandbars, they immediately drop from the air and flop onto their sides on the sand, windmilling their fins hopelessly until the tide comes in and restores their buoyancy.
Critter: Vine Snails
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Animal
Environment: The mangrove sandbar, or very rarely the wetter parts of the jungle sandbar
Behaviour: Sluggish
These large snails - cowries, technically - average out to fist-sized, and hide among the vines of the mangrove sandbar, at or just below the waterline. Their flesh is a moderate grey - their shells are dark brown, with a scattering of iridescent, almost metallic gold spots. In the rippling water, they could be easily mistaken for sparkles of genuine gold.
The greedy should watch their fingers, however - if disturbed, the snails defend themselves with a venomous bite that induces paralysis, to a potentially lethal extent. (It's unlikely you'll die, since falling into the water will cause you to turn into a mer instead of drowning, but it's not impossible, especially for physically smaller characters.) Those immune to poison or who protect their hands while harvesting - thick leather or better - will find them without much more defense than that, however.
Critter?: Abandoned pots
Danger level: Are you sticking hands in strange pots? No? Then you'll be fine.
Type: Magical object
Environment: The desert island sandbar
Behaviour: Potty-mouthed
These lidded pots - three in total, made of a dark purple ceramic and patterned with sunbursts, crescent moons, and narrow-armed seven-pointed stars respectively - are obviously part of a matched set, if you should manage to see them together. However, any given character will only be able to discover one at a time - in order to get the full set, you must have at least three people, one to discover each pot buried in the sand.
No single pot can be removed from the sandbar - they must be taken together, as a set of three. Those who attempt otherwise - to take only one or two pots - will remain that their loot vanishes as soon as they take their attention away from it, even out of an extradimensional inventory, and returns to the sandbar near the waterline, buried once more in the sand.
Opening the lid reveals nothing but blackness - obviously supernatural, as no amount of light shined in reveals anything at all. Reaching in when all three pots are present - that is, on the sandbar or if the three are taken together - just gives a damp sensation and perhaps a curious lick of a rough tongue, too long and pointed to be a cat's but not dissimilar in sensation. Reaching into an isolated pot, however...
Well, it's a good way to lose a hand. It seems they really don't like to be separated.
Organic material of any sort dumped into the pots will consumed without a trace, including water. However, items of metal, stone, or plastic can be safely stored inside - just turn the pots over to retrieve your items.
SHIPWRECK: THE TRIVESTA
Numerous shipwrecks adorn the rocks, but the largest by far is the great metal hull of some modern-looking shipping craft, with TRIVESTA in faded paint along one side. Tilted up at an angle, the ship is large enough that you question how it even got here among the rocks in the first place; only a small portion of the back end is submerged.
It's possible to enter the shell of the great ship via a gash in the side, practically opposite where the name of the ship is. Those of particular height may wish to watch their heads on the way in. Inside the hull is the cargo hold, a dark, wide empty space with only a bit of old seawater at the bottom and the shells of a few cargo containers. (They're all empty.) No light from outside reaches within, but there are yet gently bobbing lights...
Up top, for those who can reach, the crew quarters and steerage of the ship are open, rusted doors hanging almost sideways from tilted hinges. Pretty much everything is rusted and water-damaged beyond use. There's quite a colony of seabirds, however, including one impressively large, empty nest - one that might call to mind a familiar foe for those who went on the first expedition.
Critter: Ghost Jellies
Danger level: Mild
Type: ???
Environment: Inside the Trivesta's cargo hold
Behaviour: Curious?
Anyone who brings a light into the hold of the great ship will soon find themselves with company - floating jellyfish, all of approximately the same size (eight to ten inches) but with a wide variety of bell shapes and hanging tendrils. Looking carefully will reveal, in fact, that no two are perfectly alike. All glow the same misty blue, but only in response to another source of light - in the absolute dark, they go dark and invisible as well.
Bumping into these jellies doesn't sting, however, luckily for those in the dark. In fact, it's possible to entirely pass through them, though the sensation is unsettling to say the least. Not-quite fully-formed emotions tickle at the minds of those who do, easily mistaken for one's own thoughts, though the jellies are for the most part placid.
For the most part, because the jellies do react to one thing other than the arrival of light. Those trying to exit the ship again - either through the gash in the hull or by finding themselves an exit in the upper section - will be beset with an anxious crowd that must be pushed through in order to leave.
CORAL GRAVEYARD
While some handful of shipwrecks besides the Trivesta are scattered along the surface rocks, the vast majority are hidden completely beneath the waves. The hulls of wooden hips butt up against metallic shells, and the fingers of masts and other rigging stick up from the layer of sand on the sea floor as the continental shelf levels out and stretches beyond the boundaries of the Fissure. The ships here are a horrible mix-and-match of eras and technologies, the sort of thing that must have been induced by the Fissure itself drawing shipwrecks in from other worlds.
Still, it's a more than worthwhile place to hunt for treasure, if you're so inclined. Many of the older wrecks are covered in coral to the point that they're very much becoming part of the reef, especially those made of metal rather than wood, and there's even a rune-covered stone ship that must have been magical at one time.
Just take care to keep your wits about you, for coral and fish aren't the only things that have made their homes among the wrecks...
Critter: Panther Sharks
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Animal
Environment: Coral Graveyard, occasionally the Shallows
Behaviour: Playful
You know how dangerous it is to play with a large predator like a tiger or bear that can take your face off entirely with a single paw-swipe?
Panther sharks are like that, but aquatic. A greyish purple so deep it's almost black, save for lighter grey bellies, these sharks are about the size of a mer-ified person, eight to ten feet in total length, and they're quite friendly! Maybe too friendly, as after a brief period of investigation, most of them tend to decide they want to play.
With, you know, their mouths. Nom. They do seem to understand pain as a concept, but they're not great at reading people body language. Giving them a bap in the snoot to convince them to let go or so on tends to get confusion, and most of them have scars from playing with other members of their species.
On the other hand, if you can handle the noms and a bit of shark wrestling, you might find yourself with a friend...?
Critter: Spider-crabs
Danger level: Mild
Type: Animal
Environment: The Coral Graveyard, primarily inside or underneath shipwrecks
Behaviour: Does whatever it does
These are probably, technically, not giant spiders. At least, their faces are way more like crabs, if you look close, but how much difference does that make when you see something large and scuttling out of the corner of your eye? Not much difference, really.
These exceptionally long-legged crabs wind up standing at about three feet in height, with a profile similar to a daddy long-legs/harvestman - relatively tiny body, unsettlingly long legs. They're a greyish-blue that tends to fade into the background of the shipwrecks, with lighter underbellies and long, narrow pinchers that are still strong enough for quite a grip.
But their appearance isn't the origin of their name. Rather, the name comes from the fact that they do, in fact, spin webs - thin filaments that are visible mostly where they thicken up to attach to walls, an interconnected latticework around the creature's den that alerts it to any fish that comes and gets tangled. You can get tangled up plenty easily too, if you go near their lairs, but at the size of a person it's not difficult at all to pull yourself out of it, especially if you have a knife or something. The unwary, though, will find themselves beset by a very unhappy, hungry spidercrab.
They're also quite delicious with butter. For those who like crab legs, now these are some crab legs.
THE GAP
Cutting across the reef almost perfectly at the two-thirds point by the north-south measure, the Gap is a crevasse stretching approximately east-west across the reef and extending further out. It's deep, deep enough that the weight of the water makes the pressure too intense for characters to actually reach the bottom of it, unless they have some way of contending with the intense pressure inside.
It's also dark. The sunlight only really filters in when the sun is directly overhead, and even then the distance from the surface renders it weak and dim. That doesn't mean that the region is lifeless, though - far from it. Pale filter feeders arch up from the cliffsides, hanging in midwater for anything that flutters down from the surface, and dark fish with bioluminescent spots lurk through the poor light of day to come out glowing at night. Strange-looking jellyfish bob up and down, their tendrils lit up in hopes of attracting curious food...
Resource: Dark crystals
Frequency: small ones common, large ones uncommon to rare
Type: Energy/magical resource
Environment: The Gap, potentially anywhere sunlight doesn't touch at all
It's not hard to find places in the crevasse that the sun doesn't reach at any time of day at all, particularly as one goes further down. In such places, you might find these crystals - sharp and spiky like quartz points, and reflecting no light at all. They seem instead to practically absorb it - even taken up to the direct sunlight, they remain pits of black against the background, their faces only known by touching them.
Critter: Dragon Salamanders
Danger level: Low unless harassed
Type: Magical creature
Environment: The Gap
Behaviour: Defensive
It's easy to tell from a glance that these creatures are close relatives of the larger dragon eels above; they have a generally similar head shape and, like their cousins, come in a variety of colors. Unlike their bright, glowing cousins, however, the salamanders are very much in the pastel range, very close to to white, and for the most part, they don't glow. The exception is the very tips of their long whiskers - two pairs, one whisker on either side longer than the other - which float out of their burrows to attract prey.
Also unlike their cousins, the limbs of the dragon salamanders are more legs than fins - they waddle and climb along the sides of the cliffs as much as they swim. Those who watch carefully will realize that while they still have eyes, they're not especially functional - like cave critters, the dragon salamanders are almost completely blind. They're also much smaller than the average for the eels above, typically reaching about three feet in length at max.
There are two more notable similarities, though - like the eels, they're very much predatory, and will bite down on anything that attempts to invade their burrows, regardless of size, and like eels, they're not capable of letting go once they're attached save for ripping out whatever chunk of flesh they've latched onto. Also like the dragon eels, they reflect magic entirely. Outside of their burrows, they're reasonably amicable creatures, more inclined to flight than fight.
Hazard: Sting pens
Danger level: Low to medium
Type: Sessile animal
Environment: the Gap
Activity: All times
These strange, narrow white creatures look much like incredibly fluffy quill pens, hence their name. The other part of the name is even more easily explained - like certain jellyfish, the pens have a few tendrils that hang further out from the main body of the creature, and those tendrils, nearly invisible in the dark, have a nasty, paralytic sting. It's not anything that will cause more than inconvenience to something as large as a human, and the pens furl themselves inward if aggressed, but man, that's not exactly pleasant.
BOSS AREA: SIREN'S PUSH
At the far end of the reef, distant enough that the cliffs are only a bit of a vague haze in the distance, stands a rocky island with another lighthouse perched upon it. Unlike the one at Keystone, the tower of the Siren's Push lighthouse is intact... At least on the outside. No light shines from the top, but that's only to be expected when the place is abandoned, right? Even the little dock that must have once allowed the lighthouse keeper to come and go is worn away by time.
Actually entering the tower, however, will reveal that it's been gutted, quite literally and thoroughly - there's only a thin walkway around the edges of what was once the floor of the lighthouse, and the pit below opens to water that flows in from hidden caves around the base of the island. Indeed, those on the water side will find that some of those caves are easily wide enough to swim through, allowing access to the inside of the lighthouse from beneath the waves.