In the Throes of Adventure | The Coral Cove Incident

Bentbranch peeked over the edge of a short drop off, his blue, tree-like horns wobbling in the breeze. His peach eyes narrowed as he made an attempt to lift Sage with his mind — it, like usual, did not work.

“Curled Twig, you dirty liar!”

Bentbranch turned to walk back to Casper and Kiyoshi, who were searching frantically for something to pull Sage back up with.

“Yeah… Miss Sage is stuck real good.” Bentbranch plucked Curled Twig — his makeshift companion — off his head and tossed the tiny figure into the air.

From over the lip of the cliff, the trio heard Sage groan. “Sage, you coconut head!” A pause. “Looks like my Aura Diffuser is busted.”

“Does that mean we get to watch you blow up?!” Bentbranch screeched with glee at the idea.

“No, but I’ll blow you up if you don’t give me a hand, Bentbranch! Get over here and grab my hand when I launch up.”

Bentbranch’s eyes widened at the thought of him and Curled Twig incinerated in an aura explosion. While there was just as high a chance that it heightened his strange affinities, it was just as likely he would be loose goo hanging off the rocks, branches, and oscillating coral structures of Coral Cove.

So, he scurried right over.

He watched Sage pull a green pearl out of her bag and smash it on the ground. A small whirlwind erupted beneath her and she sailed straight into the air — the pearl diffusing a medium amount of Wind magic to create a powerful updraft. Shooting straight up, and far past the ground her companions stood, Sage shouted down to Bentbranch.

“Any time now, you Cherry pit!”

Bentbranch lobbed Curled Twig toward Sage, creating a barrier ramp underneath Sage. While she dropped onto it a bit hard, she rolled safely down on the translucent, shimmering aura construct. She puffed onto the dusty ground and tipped her head to Bentbranch.

“Sorry for calling you names there, Bentbranch…”

“Say what now?” Bentbranch couldn’t even remember what she’d yelled to him up there. He thought she was having the time of her life — it looked like she was having the time of her life anyway.

Sage shook her head and inspected her Aura Diffuser closer. “Argh, what rotten timing for something like this.” They had stopped to take in the ocean view, but the patch of dirt Sage was perched on gave way to the ledge below; causing her to fall directly onto the device she used to manage her obscene aura generation.

She gathered the group around her and explained the risks of her being unable to manage her aura creation.

“Well, there’s got to be a way to manage it, right Sage?” Casper, a slightly translucent Gooey asked.

“I suppose so. I did survive all this time without my tools. It’s just more complicated…” She clapped her face in her hands then looked back toward the main road.

“The Lost Ones hired us to defend them while they harvest the Mammoth Clawdragger… I won’t be able to fight, but I think there’s another option.”

“But, uh, Sage, hm, you’re the best, em, fighter we got,” Kiyoshi said quietly.

“Not true at all, Kiyoshi. You’re plenty useful in a fight — being able to turn monsters friendly and all,” Casper’s eyes sparkled.

The last fight they were in, Kiyoshi had enchanted a Tree Slinger to dispatch a group of nasty Bush Trawlers; both types of creatures awful in their own right, but the Tree Slinger got the job done and even showed them its stash of coconuts afterward.

The Tree Slinger is a peculiar beast that stands about six feet tall, with massive, bulky arms that reach the ground, with a short, pronounced tail and a thickly set jaw. Its fearsome appearance is augmented by two long fangs that hang down to the base of its neck. When it hunts, it rips small trees from the ground and uses them like clubs — and when it’s done, it files its oversized fangs on the bark of the dislodged tree. Despite their hunting prowess they can be a bit unintelligent, but they make surprisingly sturdy tree forts.

Bush Trawlers on the other hand, were much smaller than Tree Slingers — however they hunted in packs. They stand about four feet tall, with equine-like heads accented by four stubby horns and a narrow, toothy snout.

They hunt with their knife-like nails, and massive, smoking tails. They extend the magical smoke flowing from their tails like a net, and when prey is touched by the smoke it sticks to them; then the pack descends on their prey. Thankfully, they can’t take much of a beating from small trees being slung around.

Kiyoshi grinned. All Bentbranch could remember about the fight was that his horns had gotten tangled in the Tree Slinger’s club, which gave him a front row seat to the ensuing carnage. He and Curled Twig had a long chat about violent solutions after that.

“Right, so, I’ve got a few Earth pearls here. I had one of the Lost Ones make them for me ahead of time. When we fight the Draggerlings surrounding the work site, I’m going to use one of these to create a dirt dome. I’ll diffuse my aura into the air, giving you guys the opportunity to cast as much magic as you like,” She looked at Casper, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

He still hadn’t shared his magical powers with the group, preferring to fight with a non-elemental magical style that augmented his physical abilities.

Bentbranch had stumbled across Sage and Casper discussing the nature of his powers, but the conversation was fraught with frowning and frantic hand waving. He wasn’t always the brightest, but Bentbranch knew a thing or two about rare magics.

Being an always former student of Gumbo had its perks!

“Shall we head to the work site then? I can’t imagine the Lost Ones are going to appreciate being truly lost when the Draggerlings cut them up!” Casper shouted, whirling around so the others couldn’t see his face.

“Young Gooeys. Welcome to the Mammoth Clawdragger work site. We are in need of your support. Now!”

By the time the Questing Crew made their way through the mess of small coral structures that lined the path to the site and navigated through the impact crags of one of the sea creature’s twelve legs, the workers were already in deep trouble.

Many of them had taken cover under Earth magic domes.

The Coral Cove may have been a pulsating and vibrant region, but it was very unkind to outsiders. When Bentbranch heard Gooeys complaining about quests, it was almost always about Coral Cove and its never ending list of weird monsters hiding behind every corner.

“Help. Me. PLEASE!” A monotone Lost One shouted a short distance away.

One of the Draggerlings had scooped up the Gooey in its large, crustacean claws, and was scuttling toward a cave along the closest impact wall.

The Mammoth Clawdragger had come crashing down onto Coral Cove somewhat recently, fundamentally shifting the topography of the region for miles. The creature itself was about 150 feet wide, with twelve legs, four sets of claws, and a mass of shaggy, ocean seaweed and other plant life growing on its back.

It suffered a killing blow from a laceration that ripped through its midsection, and the Gooeys had no idea what kind of beast could do such damage to one of the biggest creatures they knew about — let alone what launched it from the ocean in the first place. The region had been struck with several tidal waves after the impact, which left the work site filled with water in certain parts.

The Lost Ones’ solution was to create earth bridges over all the flooded areas, creating intricate layers of catwalks everywhere. And of course, this meant that the raiding Draggerlings were also everywhere. To top the whole mess of a situation off, two of the Mammoth Draggerclaw’s towering legs were angled straight into the air. If at any point they gave out, the damage could be catastrophic… and deadly for any Gooeys in range of the impact.

Sage shouted over the yelling Lost Ones, crustacean clicking and skittering, and general chaos the scene had erupted into.

“Kiyoshi! Bentbranch! Get after that kidnapping scuttler — Casper you and I are going to handle these Draggerlings.”

“You don’t have to tell me thrice!” Bentbranch shouted. His belly felt queasy with excitement. He’d never been on a chase before!

Bentbranch created a barrier below Kiyoshi using Curled Twig, and with a hup! had the enchanting Gooey floating behind him as they rushed to catch up to the Draggling stealing away the Lost One.

As they dashed into the cave, Bentbranch looked back as Sage shrouded herself in an Earth dome and Casper raised his arms toward the sky. The air crackled with energy — Bentbranch had always wanted to see a Gooey use — what Bentbranch assumed was — Lightning magic, but his curiosity would have to be handled later.

“Come on Kiyo! We’ve got a sea bug to steam!” Kiyoshi groaned, as he lazily floated along holding Curled Twig’s tiny stick hand.

Sharp crustacean toes clicked and klacked frantically down shockingly smooth tunnels. If Bentbranch had to hazard a guess, this tunnel had been much smaller before the tidal waves hit Coral Cove. With little to stop the water, it must have eroded the cave system and created the perfect nest for these particularly aggressive Draggerlings.

Bentbranch clutched at a medallion in his satchel and sucked in a huge breath. Exhaling slowly, the air that escaped his mouth expanded visibly, creating a slick aura construct for him to drift on. It arced up and around the walls — designed to perfectly accelerate Bentbranch’s body mass.

They needed to catch this Draggling before it brought the Lost One wherever it was taking them.

“Hey, erm, Bent! Don’t, uh, you think that, hm, it’s a bit weird?” Kiyoshi looked worried.

“That it’s taking the Lost One somewhere?”

“Eh, yes!”

“Maybe it wants to have a little chat with him! I’d love to have a chat with it!”

Bentbranch curled a bit tighter, shooting forward with his tree-like horns whipping and trailing behind him. He could hear Kiyoshi shout something, just as a large and deep blue claw shot out of a false wall.

Bentbranch could feel the vise grip adjusting, preparing to crush him in two. He smirked, then sneezed, creating a spontaneous barrier between himself and the claws as they adjusted. However, the barrier had appeared with such force that the lower hinge of the claw was blown clean off.

“Oh! That was an accident!” Bentbranch whistled as a very angry Blue Draggerling crashed out of the false wall.

It was far larger than the one they had been chasing — and it didn’t seem happy to have the bigger of its two pincers destroyed.

“Hey there Kiyo… I’m all out of tricks here.” Bentbranch backed up against the wall as the Blue Draggerling stalked toward him. “You can do your thing any time…”

Kiyoshi closed his eyes and held out his hand. After a second, glittering dust flowed forth and surrounded their blue foe.

It whirled around, swinging madly. After a few moments, Bentbranch could hear his enchanted target bubbling and warbling as if they were creatures it was familiar with.

Kiyoshi jumped up and down, cheering that his magic worked.

“Not a moment too late! Now, Mr. Azure Crustafoon, care to show us why you need that Lost One?” Bentbranch puffed up with pride as they strode into the towering cavern. In the middle stood their target, and it looked scared. The Blue Draggerling scuttled toward the smaller, red Draggerling and they seemed to have a strange bubbling, clicking, and scritching type of conversation.

The Lost One arched up and waved at Kiyoshi and Bentbranch. He didn’t seem too worse for wear, all things considered.

After a few moments, the larger crustacean turned and motioned for the Gooeys to follow. The smaller put the Lost One down and the group turned to the right and trudged single-file down a long tunnel system.

As they went deeper, they could hear the ocean roaring and sunlight began to illuminate their path. When they arrived at the end of the tunnel, the group exited onto a thin lip overhanging the sea.

“Oh, Earth Fathers. They will drown us!” the Lost One barked, his monotone voice carrying his best approximation of worry.

“No, I don’t think so, Square-face,” Bentbranch smiled at the Lost One. The ocean air felt hot, which was odd for this time of year.

The Blue Draggerling tapped Bentbranch on the head with its claw. The creature began to gesture, squatting then slowly raising both hands in the air as it stood. Looking confused, Bentbranch snatched Curled Twig back from Kiyoshi.

“What’s that Curled Twig? Rising? Something rising? Oh…”

The Blue Draggerling pointed frantically at the water. About a mile out to sea, the water roiled. A multi-pronged spike protruded from the water. Then two.

Then five.

A long sandy-brown tail swung out of the water, and rapidly rotated in the air. After about a minute, the tail came down and clapped the surface so hard a massive waterspout swirled into the air.

“What in the, em, Elder Goo…” Kiyoshi was breathing heavily and his eyes were wide.

Above them, the air grew dark as a mass of storm clouds gathered ahead. So this was how lightning magic worked… Bentbranch rubbed his hands together, thoughts swinging madly in his mind.

For one, that lightning magic wasn’t going to work. For two, whatever was out there in the ocean was likely coming for the Mammoth Draggerclaw corpse. For three, he finally understood what the Draggerlings were being so frantic about.

They had been living in these caverns, and another tidal wave would wipe them out. Really, nobody would survive if that sea monster ripped the crustacean monstrosity from the land. Bentbranch laughed madly and leapt from the ledge, just as twenty massive lightning bolts blasted from the sky. As he fell toward the ocean a few different things happened all at once:

First, Bentbranch took a strange contraption out of his bag and shoved it into his mouth. And swallowed it whole.

Second, the legs suspended in the air acted as lightning rods for Casper’s lightning magic.

Third, just before he crashed into the ocean, Bentbranch glowed brightly as he created a rather large aura platform.

Fourth, the waterspout began to launch large fish in the air. The sea beast was hunting for food. But just as its canine-like jaws snapped out of the water, the creature froze as the Mammoth Draggerclaw’s legs twitched violently.

“Kiyoshi! We’ve only got a few, or maybe many, moments before this stops working. Jump on! You too Scuttlebrains! And Square-face!”

The glowing barrier zipped forward to the work site.

As the unlikely cohorts crested over the catwalks and set down in front of Casper and a now-revealed Sage, the hulking carcass was acting like anything but dead.

“Casper, I think you jolted that thing alive with your lightning magic! Oh Elder Goo, I absolutely loathe sea bugs…” Sage’s pink body grew pale.

“How was I supposed to know that would happen?!”

Bentbranch couldn’t quite tell if Casper was excited or furious. It probably didn’t matter right now, as Bentbranch was growing fatigued from the use of his Metabolic Aura Stone. It accelerated his aura generation for a few minutes, but unless he juiced up more he wouldn’t be able to get them out of this.

“Hey, I’m going to get veeeerryyy dizzyyyy if we don’t…” Bentbranch grabbed Curled Twig, and began to talk in a higher register. “If we don’t get a move on, Bentbranch is gonna konk out. Sage! Can you do your aura thing please?”

Sage rolled her eyes and jumped onto the platform. Casper shouted for the Lost Ones and Draggerlings to jump on — Bentbranch always knew Casper was smart enough to read the room for him.

With twenty Lost Ones and fifteen Draggerlings pressed very close together on Bentbranch’s platform, Sage let her aura erupt again.

Bentbranch held out his hands and drew it to him. His eyes snapped open and glowed as the platform darted into the air. Just as they cleared the catwalks both legs careened down and collided with Coral Cove. Two towering dust clouds shot into the air on either side of the barrier float.

Bentbranch looked back to see the water spout collide with the shore, dumping water everywhere.

To make matters worse, the Mammoth Draggerclaw writhed madly as it worked to flip itself over to face down its assailant. An ear-splitting roar filled the air as the spiked sea monster rose from the water, its hulking, shaggy body displacing worrisome amounts of water.

The magical raft soared through the air to the edge of Coral Cove, where the colorful structures dwindled to grass and trees. Bentbranch set the group down on the ground a bit hard, and collapsed. As his vision went dark, he felt a great crash shake him to his core as the Mammoth Draggerclaw succeeded in flipping itself over.

Chapter 2.5 — A Clash of Titans

Amelie had flown toward Coral Cove just fast enough to see an enormous canine-like sea beast rear back after being struck by a shockingly tall Mammoth Draggerclaw.

The giant crustacean had been dead according to reports from her scouts — and to see it alive and fighting was a nightmare. The entire Coral Cove ecosystem was likely to suffer catastrophic damage from this fight. There wasn’t a lot she could do to stop this, she just needed to incentivize the beasts to take their fight to the ocean!

How she was going to do it was another story.

As she coasted over the forest line, she noticed a mass of bodies congregated below her — then she heard yelling. She wove a magical rune in the air and shot down to the ground in a flash. Amelie had acquired a few new tricks during her time huddled away in Asheron’s study.

When she looked up at the group, she was greeted by a pearl-colored Gooey shaking another with tree-like horns quite hard. Two other Gooeys stood by looking worried, while a rambunctious group of Draggerlings clicked and bubbled at each other frantically — as if making decisions.

Finally, there was a large gathering of Lost Ones drawing out guides for some sort of building. I’ve never seen anything like this… Amelie wanted to laugh, but the imminent threat of the giants brawling deflated the instinct.

“What in the world are you all doing here?!”

Amelie jogged up the group, and narrowly dodged a high-pressure water blast from a Blue Draggerling doing its best to look dangerous. The Gooey shaking the one passed out on the ground quipped at Amelie’s assailant and it relaxed.

A small pink Gooey spoke first.

“Princess! We were contracted to protect the Lost Ones at the Mammoth Draggerclaw worksite. We might have accidentally revived it…” she trailed off, seemingly embarrassed.

“Revived it? How?”

A translucent Gooey raised their hand. “Me, Princess Amelie. I used Lightning magic.”

Lightning magic?

No Gooey had enough aura for such a thing without days of ritual casting. Seeing Amelie’s confusion, the pink Gooey explained her peculiar aura defect — which made the feat of performing Lightning magic make sense.

Their explanation of things gave Amelie an idea.

“You, what is your name?” She pointed at the translucent Gooey.

“Casper.”

“Grab on. I’ll explain on the way!”

Casper jumped into her arms and they took the skies.

Amelie tucked her pink dragonfly wings tight to her body so she could get there faster. Utilizing some technical flying maneuvers she was able to completely clear the distance between the tree line and the battleground in record time, even with Casper clinging to her.

“OKAY! I need you to trust me, Casper!”

The Gooey shrugged in her arms. She could appreciate his matter-of-fact demeanor at a time like this. She was very well convinced that even Mushroomhead would give her grief for the impending reckless ness— but Casper apparently couldn’t be bothered.

“I’m going to fly us as close to the spiked creature as we can get. I’m going to siphon its aura, and I need you to cast the biggest Lightning blast you can!”

“The biggest? Sounds fun!”

Despite their shouting over wind and beastial screeching, Amelie couldn’t help but laugh this time. This was the most coconut-brained plan she had ever cooked up.

Just as her voice trailed off from laughing, the Mammoth Draggerclaw tucked low; suffering through an especially violent claw strike on its lush carapace. The canine-like sea beast’s mouth began to glow, and the air felt as if it were boiling.

The sudden rush of hot air drove Amelie far higher than she had planned, but it helped the duo avoid a sudden lashing of the beast’s tail. The swelling heat stirred the clouds ahead into a mass of sparking lightning clouds.

Just when you think that people are the biggest threat… Asheron couldn’t have concocted a situation as threatening as this!

Amelie’s hands trembled incessantly as she and Casper rose and dove with the changing air pressure. She figured they probably had one shot at this.

To make matters worse, the tailed creature began to slap the water as hard as it could multiple times. And as Amelie dove to make her move, three water spouts sprung into the air. From ocean to clouds, the spouts connected and raged violently. There was no sun, only rain, monsters, and intolerable heat emanating from the more powerful of the two monsters.

Amelie was forced to steer back toward the Mammoth Draggerclaw, which seemed to have run out of strength. The duo landed on the crustacean and stared down their rampaging opponent. Its eyes blazed with energy as it prepared a devastating breath attack — when Amelie realized there was another way to enact her plan.

She would have to put their current resting place out of its misery.

As the sky strobed with red, orange, and yellow energy, Amelie sucked in a shaking breath and touched the slimy shell below her. Using her free hand, she carved runes into the air. Drawing its life-force to her fingers, she drew up a long string of energy and touched Casper with the same hand.

He shrieked as the monster’s life energy flowed into him. If he didn’t start casting right now, the Gooey would probably explode from aura overload. Casper swelled rapidly, but just as suddenly as he expanded, Amelie felt the air ripple with concentrated aura.

This is going to work!

A solidified lightning bolt took shape a dozen feet above Amelie’s head, the static energy causing her hair to stand up straight. Casper weaved his hands back and forth, shaping the elemental energy the best he could. The skies above flashed as the clouds added their own energy to the gargantuan spell being woven.

Amelie felt the Mammoth Daggerclaw heave and collapse under them as the last of its life energy left its body. Sensing the end of the life energy slipping into the air, Amelie clutched at the tail of it, keeping it from escaping into Casper. She needed to help guide the spell, and tangling the energy around her arm would give the Gooey some stability.

Just then, there was a blinding flash as the beast opened its mouth, unleashing the breath attack.

Water spouts whirled toward the shore line, and it seemed as if the fate of Coral Cove was left in the hands of just one Gooey.

But his attack wasn’t ready yet.

The natural lightning mixing with his spell would have created extra complexity he likely had not anticipated. The breath attack surged toward them — a rolling plasma cloud that was likely to incinerate them before it even reached the Mammoth Draggerclaw.

“Bentbranch ANY TIME NOW!!!” The tiny pink Gooey shrieked over the crackling of Casper’s Lightning spell.

Amelie spotted the tiny ball of goo that Bentbranch launched into the air. It had sticks for arms and a tiny cape flapping in the wind. And as the plasma cloud reached the tiny figure, a large barrier forced it to curl around and away from the shore where Amelie and Casper stood.

“Show that thing who’s boss, Casper!” Bentbranch’s voice cracked as he fell backward into the sand.

The sea beast let loose a furious roar and rushed forward. But it was too late! Casper narrowed his eyes and roared a tiny, Gooey roar, launching the magnificent lightning bolt at the creature.

There was a deep and fearful animalistic whimper as the attack made contact with the unprepared monster. The scene erupted into a burst of colors as a mind-numbing thunderclap shook Amelie down to her toes and through her wing tips.

Perhaps Amelie had misjudged how much energy was necessary to handle the beast? The smell of torched fur filled the air as the surging waterspouts dissipated. As the beast fell back into the water, a small tidal wave surged toward Coral Cove — prompting Amelie to snatch Casper into her arms and launch as high as she could.

They watched as the wave washed over the Mammoth Draggerclaw.

However, the water didn’t peel back into the sea. The sea beast’s towering fall into the ocean had shifted a large portion of land upward and out of the water. Combined with the holes the Mammoth Draggerclaw had made in the ground, most of the excess water had drained deeper into the earth.

Somehow, Coral Cove had expanded in all of this. Amelie shook her head at the unlikely luck they had stumbled across today.

“Princess, look!”

Amelie watched with Casper as the sea beast turned toward them and snarled. However, it seemed to regard the Gooey in her arms. Then, it groaned to its feet and stalked deeper into the ocean — eventually disappearing over the horizon.