-TERRARIA, THE SUNKEN SEA-
As the group continued to swim about the depths of The Sunken Sea, one of Amidias’s men, who was currently positioned at the far back of the group along with two others, felt something disturbing as the merfolk looked over his shoulder.
Noticing this, one of his nearby allies questions:
“Coralis, you alright?”
“P-perhaps… but I can’t shake this feeling that we’re being watched. I could’ve sworn I heard movement a small distance behind us.” Coralis responds.
“Try to keep on your fins. This place hasn’t been explored in years and the only ones who seem to have been here before are the enemy, the cultists.” The guard responds.
Coralis is quick to regain his composure as he then nods his head in response before saying:
“You’re right, It was likely some of the wildlife here. I’m surprised by how passive some of them appear to be.”
“According to the changeling, most of them are only provoked when you attack them.” The guard responds as he turns his gaze forwards once more; away from Coralis. “Let me know if you get that feeling again, alright?”
No response comes from Coralis which prompts the guard to question:
“Coralis?” The guard then turns back, only to see that Coralis is now gone. However, the guard’s eyes widened in horror as he noticed a trail of blood that was left behind where Coralis once was. Managing to recover from his fear, he shouts:
“Everyone! There’s somethi- bleurgh!”
Everyone who was currently swimming in front of the former guard instantly turns around as their gazes are met with a horrifying sight. The guard’s words were silenced as it is revealed that a serpentine entity has bitten him clean in half; feasting on his lower half. The serpent simply glares at the group as it lets out a haunting roar.
Following this action, other identical entities were now emerging from the nearby darkness as they let out the exact same roar as the first, just outside of the group’s vision.
“Everyone! Prepare for battle!” King Amidias roars out which causes every terrarian, pony, and merfolk to take on combat stances. He then conjures forth his trident and says: “Step into the light! Foul creeps of the deep!” Upon saying those words, Amidias’s trident then starts to glow with a powerful blue aura which incidentally matches the bioluminescent color of the creatures themselves.
Everyone’s eyes widened in a mix of fear and horror as they could now truly see what was stalking them: Large serpentine entities which were practically seven to nine feet long in length. The group forms a large circle formation as they turn back to back; aiming their weapons towards their shared foes. They start to combat the serpents while also being sure to not break their formation as various fight scenarios play out.
……….
“What the buck are those things?!” Rainbow Dash roars out as she takes aim with her Minishark.
“Ah’ don’t know! But they picked the wrong group to mess with!” Applejack exclaims in response as she prepares to swing away at the group’s rapidly moving foes with her Orange Phaseblade.
The serpentine monstrosities continue to dart in rapid succession all around the group, waiting to pick off any who were foolish enough to move away. One of the creatures tries its luck and darts towards Applejack.
“Wrong move, ya dang varmint!” The cowmare roars out as she rushes forth a short distance and meets the open maw of the creature head on. Gritting her teeth, she swings the Phaseblade in an upwards motion with all her might as the energy based weapon cuts the entity’s lower jaw clean in half and leaves behind a vibrant burn mark, which also stuns the monstrosity as it lets out a painful screech.
“I’ll finish it off!” Rainbow exclaims as she unloads her Minishark into the serpent all while the creature’s red blood continues to fog its general area due to its wounds.
……….
“Take a Harpoon to the face, motherfuckers!” Jeremy The Angler exclaims as various spear-like projectiles are let loose from the weapon.
“Thank goodness you had multiple of these Harpoons!” Tanner The Guide shouts as he, Terralestia, and Sai Sahan were also wielding the same weapon, courtesy of The Angler, as they fire away at the darting serpents.
……….
King Amidias was currently letting loose bolts of lightning from his trident all while his faithful guardsmen were both defending him and assisting the rest of the group with their combat scenarios.
“I’ve always dreaded the day that I would see this species of Sea Serpent,” King Amidias comments. “They are incredibly intelligent! Take notice of how they keep their distance and wait for an opportunity to strike us!” The King then glances towards his trident and says internally:
-I could easily finish them off were I to possess the trident’s full power. But she has the other half-
……….
Wielding a very particular bow that was reminiscent of the black form of a changeling, Echo Silhouette was currently firing off very unique arrows as they explode upon impact into what one could easily mistaken to be fireworks.
Taking notice of this and positioned next to the humanoid changeling, in addition to Applejack, Rainbow Dash inquires:
“What kind of arrows are those?”
“Jester’s Arrows, forged from fallen stars themselves.” Echo responds as he fires off another arrow which results in another light show that damages their foes.
……….
The battle continues to wage on and during this time, Amidias has sadly lost two more of his men. However, the group in turn were able to kill off five of the serpents. Despite those victories, a large number of the serpents still remained as they continued to dart around their intended prey, letting loose screeching roars in the process.
Echo Silhouette suddenly gets an epitome as the humanoid changeling roars out:
“Everyone! I have a plan but you must continue on when I tell you to do so!” This causes everyone else present to listen attentively, all while they continue to brace themselves for the attacks of any confident serpents. “I’m going to transform into something that can buy you all enough time to escape and continue onwards!”
“No!” Applejack roars out. “We can’t just leave you here!”
“You misunderstand, Applejack,” Echo replies with a smirk and a determined expression. “This isn’t some ‘sacrifice myself and die to let you all escape’ scenario,” Suddenly, a familiar green flame starts to surround the changeling which in turn doesn’t seem to be affected by the waters all around them. “No offence, but I can’t have any of you get in my way.”
The cowmare can only noid in response as she and the other members of the group start to move behind Echo. They then swim backwards in order to give the humanoid changeling some room. The green flames that surrounded Echo now start to enlarge themselves as the vibrant green light from those flames causes all of the serpents to stop before him. Slowly but surely, a large entity was slowly starting to come into being as a series of black tentacles thrashed about which were attached to an arrow shaped head; followed by large orange eyes with black slit pupils.
King Amidias instantly recognizes the creature that the humanoid changeling has become as he comments:
“One of the apex predators of the deep, which happens to prey on sea serpents. A creature that inspired many tales by land lovers: The Kraken.”
Now assuming his new form and with a deepened voice that nearly shakes the local area, Echo exclaims:
“Go! I shall tear them apart and ensure your safe passage!” The Kraken-like entity exclaims as the monstrosity sends forth its tentacles and manages to entangle various members of the serpent pack. Echo then brings them to his hidden maw and starts to devour the captured serpents one by one.
As this goes on, both Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s eyes were widened in shock as the pegasus comments:
“Ok, I’m pretty sure that our changelings can only transform into creatures that they’ve stolen love from before.”
“Yeah, and Echo’s never been to the sea before, at least from what he told me,” Applejack responds. “So when in the hay did he meet a-”
“From what Lord Anubis has informed me,” Terralestia interjects. “Echo’s species just needs to imagine the creature or form they want and it becomes a reality. No prior contact with the creature is necessary. You remember them disguising themselves as statues, right?”
The two ponies, in addition to various other members of the group, continue to watch on in shock as Echo continues to thrash his tentacles about which either sends a serpent hurling into the floors of The Sunken Sea or entraps them before the kraken-like entity then brings them to his maw and eats the creature whole.
“Come on, we need to take advantage of this opportunity and leave!” Sai Sahan exclaims as everyone else nods to the terrarian in response before the entire group turns and swims away from the ensuing battle. The last thing they could hear as they continue to distance themselves from the fighting was the fear inducing roar of the kraken-like entity.
Some time passes by and after having escaped the large pack of serpents; allowing Echo Silhouette to engage their deep sea foes, the group was currently relieved to spot something that was all too promising to them all: An undersea temple which was obviously dedicated to Crabulon as the statue of a large crab-like entity was all too prominent.
Rainbow Dash in particular could only stare on with a deadpan expression as she comments monotonously:
“All this for a bucking crab…”
“Ah’ know, R.D.” Applejack responds with a deadpan expression of her own. “Ah’ know…”
……….
The group was now entering the temple but something else was starting to capture their attention as glowing objects littered the inner sanctum. Upon realization, they could now see that these were in fact: Glowing Mushrooms. Then, after heading deeper into the flooded temple, they were surprised to see that there was a sort of surface coming up. Incidentally, the glowing mushrooms were now becoming even more numerous as they drew near the water’s surface. The group finally breaches the surface of the water and now found themselves in a large chamber but unlike the one they had arrived in, this one was covered in bioluminescent soil and of course, the ever present mushrooms.
Everyone simply stares on in awe as King Amidias comments:
“By the corals of the sea, I never thought I’d ever see it for myself…” This catches the attention of everyone else present as Jeremy The Angler questions:
“Wait, where the hell are we?”
“Oh my goodness, I recognize this place,” Terralestia states. “I’ve never been here before but I read all about it back when we were still… Yharim’s students,” Terralestia says in disgust as she then walks towards a small cluster of the glowing mushrooms and comments: “There’s no mistaking it, this is: The Glowing Mushroom Biome.”
While many of the group’s members lets out ‘awes’ and ‘whoas’, Rainbow Dash in particular comments with a deadpan expression:
“Gee, go figure- ouch!” The cyan pegasus lets out a painful exclamation as Applejack hits her stomach region with a forehoof.
“Rainbow, don’t be rude.”
“Oh come on, I was just saying-”
“Ooph!” A new voice exclaims which causes the group to turn towards a new entity who seems to be splayed out on the floor. From what they could tell, this new individual seems to have tripped and fallen. However, what gets their attention even more is the fact that this entity was a sort of sentient mushroom humanoid.
Everyone was of course shocked by this new creature as they took on expressions to match their current state. However, one in particular, Terralestia, comments:
“T-that’s… a Truffle.” The aforementioned entity then starts to rise back onto its feet before attempting to dust itself off. The humanoid mushroom then turn around and comments:
"Forgive Shroom if Shroom has scared you. Shroom knows that Shroom look is scary, but Shroom no try to harm you. Shroom wish to be friend, no foe. Also... Shroom want your help."
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