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"EVERYONE!" You yell, "GRAB SOMETHING THAT FLOATS, NOW!"
"Floats?" Louise seems confused.
"What?" Yuuki joins her in confusion.

"YE HEARD ME! I MEAN IT! RIGHT NOW! EVERYONE!"

Atlas seems too red-in-the-face to even process what you're saying. His mouth has expanded beyond what you thought was the limit of what a human mouth could expand. His row of teeth glistens in the sunlight.

This is either going to be the most dangerous thing you've ever done, or the greatest thing you've ever seen.

>Secret-SECRET trap time!

>Deploy it quickly, don't care about casualties!
>Let him wear himself out some more.
>Wait for everyone to get prepared, and start!
>Other?

>Either ways, roll 1d100 with your post, best of three!

File: land_of_biscotti_pan.webm (1.6 MB, 640x360)

1.6 MB WEBM

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>>1862534
>Secret-SECRET trap time!
>Wait for everyone to get prepared, and start!

>>1862560
Also
>Ice floats, grab ice!

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>1862534
>Wait for everyone to get prepared, and start!

hi announcer, doing ok?

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>1862534
Forgot dice

>>1862605
I'm doing better than yesterday, so I think I'm doing pretty good!

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>1862534
>Wait for everyone to get prepared, and start!

Not caring about casualties is a bad idea.

>>1862605
Also, nicely done on that roll.

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>>1862534
>This is either going to be the most dangerous thing you've ever done, or the greatest thing you've ever seen.

File: Atlas2.jpg (187 KB, 800x800)

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You need to buy time for everyone to prepare themselves for your next move.
That means trying to keep Atlas off of you while they grab their floatation devices.

Speaking of which,
"'EY YOU!" You yell to a confused-looking soldier, "GRAB SOMETHIN' THAT FLOATS IN WATER, NOW."

Atlas seems deaf to the commands you're barking at the soldiers. He concentrates all of his hate and his malice like a beam aimed straight toward you.
Speaking of things aimed at you; one of those is a rather large burst of extremely sharp icicles. A green missile made of wind manages to shatter all of them before they skewer you whole. Cody, thanks for being on top of things.

You, right now, need to concentrate.

You take to one knee, but are not about to pray for salvation. For all the good it would do, you doubt anyone up there would be willing to listen to you at this point.
No, you're kneeling down for a much more unreliable gambit.

Slowly, your fingers sink into the mud below you. It's somewhere around here; you felt it yesterday.

Ah, there it is. Perfect.

Your only hope now is that Atlas didn't feel it earlier when he was manipulating the ground and the earth. You suspect he may have been too busy to notice such an advantage for you laying just beneath his feet. If he had known when we were choosing the battlefield; you're certain he wouldn't have agreed to fight here. He would have taken it to the desert or the mountains.

It's too late for him to back out, now.

You grab a hold of it, and this is where it gets dangerous. You need to bring the entirety of it up to the surface at once.

You stand up, and you can feel the weight resting against your shoulders. It feels almost as if you're trying to lift the entire weight of Biscotti all at once.

Then you consider another problem: this could cause the battlefield to collapse into a two-hundred foot hole.
Well, one problem at a time.

You stand up, and are just in time to notice Atlas standing just inside of arms reach. His face is distorted into the kind of smile you would expect a town guard to have after realizing that he just caught Jack the pirate.

RRRRUUMMMBBLLEEE
KRRSHSKRKRSHSHHK

The entire battlefield stops.
Even Atlas' maniac smile has been replaced with a blank slate that stretches past you for hundreds of miles.

GGRRUMMBBBBLLLLEEEE

"JACK, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT SOUND?! WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?" Yuuki is covering her ears, and shouting. She's gathered all of the kids onto a makeshift iceberg, which is the perfect impromptu boat.
"DAMN IT LASS, NOT NOW!" You shout back at her.

Atlas, suddenly realizing that he may have been duped, is trying to find safe ground of his own.

>Tackle him, go on close!
>More attacks! Keep him off-guard!
>You need to weigh him down somehow! Get Dorje to crush him with stone!
>Cody! Quick! On me! We're going in for the knockdown!
>Other?

>>1864972
>we
And there's my first POV error of the thread!

>>1864972
>Tackle him, go on close!
yer sinking with the ship, Atlas

>>1864972
>>Tackle him, go on close!

File: 1391745282052.jpg (45 KB, 594x383)

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>>1864972
>Tackle him, go on close!
Whats the worst that could happen?

I forgot to add: 1d100, best of three?

Rolled 49 (1d100)

>>1865989
wee!

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>1864972
>Tackle him, go on close!
A good captain goes down with his ship!

Rolled 92 (1d100)

>>1865989

>>1866701
oh yes!

File: Cody1.png (23 KB, 299x285)

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Damn it, he IS trying to find footing!
You don't think he's onto your plan, but you do know that he's bracing for whatever it is! That might be enough to render the whole thing meaningless!

"CODY, ON ME!" You yell at him.
He jumps almost a solid foot off the ground, but takes off right behind you.

"WHAT ARE WE DOING?"
"GOIN' IN CLOSE!"

"JACK, I THINK THAT-"

You don't listen to Cody, but instead ram straight into Atlas! He loses the niche he was bracing himself against, and goes flying across the battlefield!
You'll be feeling the result of that shoulder-check tomorrow. Right now, your #1 concern is to keep him cornered while nature works its magic.

KKRSHSHSHSKSKKRKRRRRMMMMMMM

You don't have long, either. It's going to come to a head any moment now.

Quickly, you take the fight straight to him; to his face, that is! Your fist pounds against his unexpecting nose with precision and power! You think he's so taken aback by you deciding to fight him with your fists; that's he's not even sure how to respond, yet!

He does give quite a good counterpoint; that counterpoint being him grabbing you by the wrist and giving you a good toss away from him. Cody is quick to capitalize on his opening, and gives Atlas a swift kick in the stomach.

You stand back up, and try your hand at shooting him. Each shot seems to reflect uselessly off his chest, and shatters into shrapnel.
At the very least, it gets his attention off of Cody for a minute.

He tosses Cody aside, and then comes straight for you. You punch him in the chest, but that doesn't even phase him. Then you try for his neck, but he merely coughs and steps back.

Atlas quickly swoops over and grabs you by your arm, but you quickly counter with a kick right to his nads.
Now, you're not entirely sure just how strong Atlas' upper limit may be. It's somewhere between "Huge" and "Infinite". At the same time, you do know that is a weak point for all men. He stumbles backwards, and releases your arm.

KRACKA-BOOM!

Cody turns just in time to watch the cliff side overlooking the battlefield explode. Soon, every indentation, pot-mark, crater, and low-point on the battlefield is erupting.

"Alright Jack, time to tell me what the fuck you just did!" Cody holds onto his hat, and dashes past you.

The cliff side gives way, and mountainous boulders are thrown and tumbled as if they're mere specs of dirt.
Quickly, you find yourself running just behind Cody. You need to get back to the crew, and make sure they have their boats and pontoons ready.

>Cont.

File: United.Kingdom.full.1723237.jpg (354 KB, 600x847)

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NO SERIOUSLY, JACK! WHAT THE HELL?!" Yuuki notices you running back to her iceberg. Quickly, you and Cody hop on. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?" Sheesh lass, not right in your ear.

"It's-"

CRASH!
A mighty wave of water overtakes the battlefield, tosses and throwing everything in its path. Trees, carts, seige weapons, even entire outposts are destroyed and discarded.

"IT'S AN UNDERGROUND LAKE!" You yell to Yuuki over the thunderous roar of water rapidly closing in on you. "IT WAS TRAPPED IN A CAVE, DEEP BELOW THE GROUND. AYE FOUND IT YESTERDAY DURIN' THE BATTLEFIELD SURVEY. AYE GAVE IT SOME ENCOURAGEMENT TO COME ABOVEGROUND."

"An underground lake?" Louise can't believe what she's hearing. "Do.. underground fish live in it?"
"NOTHING LIVES IN IT, NOW!" You shout, "EITHER WAYS, THE BATTLEFIELD IS BOWL-SHAPED. IT'S ENOUGH WATER TO DROWN BISCOTTI SEVERAL TIMES OVER. HANG ONTO SOMETHIN', AYE ALREADY-"

That's when you see it.
Or more specifically, him.

Atlas' eyes are practically glowing at this point. He saunters toward your makeshift boat with an evil look on his face. His hands have already gathered fireballs, and he seems less than amused with the wave of water closing in on him.
Damn.

>Get off the boat, you gotta hold this guy back.
>No! You can do this! stay on the boat! Stop him from here!
>Get someone to do something, (What?)
>Other?

Either ways, 1d100, best of three.

Rolled 16 (1d100)

>>1867458
>Combo attack with Cody, Yuuki and Dorje, make a storm and add stone/ice to it.
>try to control the water around you defensively

Rolled 92 (1d100)

>>1867458
>>Get off the boat, you gotta hold this guy back.

File: Calypsosmaelstrom.jpg (1.17 MB, 1538x648)

1.17 MB JPG

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>1867458
>>1867473
+1

Wonder if we can get some kind of maelstrom going

Rolled 56 (1d100)

>>1867458
>No! You can do this! stay on the boat! Stop him from here!
Throw EVERYTHING at him!

File: Spoiler Image (112 KB, 1200x883)

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Okay, this is clearly going to be a problem.

"EVERYONE, WE'RE GONNA TRY'N POOL THE WATER. MAKE A STORM OUT OF IT!"
"Aye aye." Cody readies up some green bolts of energy
"Wait, how are we gonna-"
"Got it!" Dorje has already summoned a few massive chunks of stone.

You quickly grab ahold of a gusher of water, and direct the stream straight at Atlas. Maybe with a little luck, you can push him right into the tidal wave.

He withstands the first barrage, and attempts to push back against the second.
"YUUKI! CODY! AYE NEED YER HELP!"

Immediately, the two heroes throw their intertwining bolts of blue and green. They strike Atlas in the chest, and merge with your massive pillar of water.
The water coating Atlas freezes, and the wind blasts him back into the massive wave of water. He makes an almost anticlimatic 'splash' as the mountain of water, debris, and stone overtakes him.

It's over.
Right?

Oh, wait, there's still a massive mountain of water, debris, and stone about to impact the iceburg you're standing on.

"BRACE FER IMPACT!" You yell.
Quickly, you try to grab a part of the tidal wave to use as a shield. You're able to create a sizable dent in the oncoming water, but it's still going to sweep you away when it gets here!

"I GOT THIS!" Dorje yells.
He plucks a pillar of stone straight from the Earth like a twig. Gently, he sets it under the iceburg, and raises it atop the pillar.

The rush of water harmlessly flows under your makeshift boat, and the water level eventually lifts it from the pillar.

"That was a close one." Yuuki sighs.
You're not even going to bring up the fact that the other soldiers who were on the field are definitely going to get slammed with a wall of water.
Oh well, it's their fault for not knowing ice magic, you guess.

"TORNADO WAVE!" You hear way off in the distance.

You turn to see one of Biscotti's knights; Noel. She has elevated what seems to be an entire section of stone clear over the oncoming wave. Her soldiers stand proudly atop the shale plateau she's made for herself, and they appear none the worse for wear.

Showoff.

RRURUUMMMMMMBBBLLEEE

Hey, you thought that you were done with that?

The tide, out in the middle of the newly-formed lake. Something is happening.
The water where Atlas was thrown into has started to slowly drift, and spin.

"It's a.. whirlpool?" Louise comments, helpfully.

That's when a tornado comes straight out of the center of it. A genuine waterspout that dwarfs any naturally-occurring one you've ever seen.

"Oh."
"I think Atlas is pissed." Thanks Cody, you're extremely helpful.

>That means it's dry in the center of that thing, right? Take the fight to Atlas.
>Try to stave it off from here.
>Maybe get a little further away, work out an attack plan.
>Drink.
>Other?

>>1870315
shit.
>Drink
>That means it's dry in the center of that thing, right? Take the fight to Atlas.

>>1870315
>Drink.
>That means it's dry in the center of that thing, right? Take the fight to Atlas.
>Finish that flask.

>>1870366
>Finish that flask.
no, make Atlas finish it! pretty sure his clean lifestyle can't deal with alcool

>>1870375
I'm sure Jack has fresh flasks for him, no need to give Atlas an indirect kiss.

>>1870315
>>Drink.
>That means it's dry in the center of that thing, right? Take the fight to Atlas.

>>1870315
>Drink.
>That means it's dry in the center of that thing, right? Take the fight to Atlas.

>>1870315
>Drink
>Take the fight to Atlas
RAMMING SPEED!

>>1870315
>Drink
>That means it's dry in the center of that thing, right? Take the fight to Atlas.

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The maelstrom of water, ice, and rock continues to swirl in the center of the new-found lake.
A gigantic waterspout ascends from the center of it up into the heavens.

If it's swirling, that means that there's a depression in the middle.
If there's a depression in the middle, that means it's probably dry.

Atlas.

You take out your flask and down the whole thing all in one go. Yuuki watches on with terror, and it's almost as if she can read your mind.
"I've seen you drink that way before, you're not thinking of doing something crazy, are you?"

"Yar, Lass."
"What are you thinking?" Cody sighs.

You keep an eye on the massive funnel-cloud. It may not be moving very fast, but it is moving. Something like that could still engulf the armies clinging to makeshift life-rafts and debris. You're thinking Atlas is starting to take this just a tad bit too seriously.

"Aye'm thinking of goin' in."

Your crew is silent.

"Well, aren't ye gonna say anythin'?" You turn to Yuuki.
"No, this is just about what I expected from you." She rubs her head, "I'm not going going to try to talk you out of it."

"CAN WE COME? THAT SOUNDS AWESOME!" Louise is beaming.
"No!" Yuuki grabs her by the ear, "Absolutely not!"

"Hey, is that a ship?" Dorje tugs at your sleeve.

Sure enough, just off the port side of your iceberg, a wooden craft is slowly approaching. You're going to say it's about the size of a galleon, but it seems to lack any sort of sails to propel it.

"What the hell?" Cody echoes your sentiments perfectly. "Biscotti is land-locked, what kind of crazy asshole would build a ship in the off-chance that another crazy asshole made a big lake in its back yard?"

>Cont.

File: Tuile_Grin.jpg (265 KB, 850x1219)

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"JACK!" You hear shouting from the bow of the ship. "LOOK WHAT WE FOUND!"
Tuile, the wonderful crazy asshole that she is, stands proudly front-and-center of the vessel. She has a captain's jacket on, and everything.

"JUMP ON!" She has the wildest smile right now.

You're not one to argue with a woman asking you to board her ship. With a hop, you find yourself landing gracefully on the deck much to the applause of the crew on board.

You turn to ask Tuile a mountain of questions, but are instead met with her bounding across the deck to get to you.
"Jack that was SUCH A GREAT FIGHT, I can't get enough of it; I love you-"
Quickly, before you can voice any concerns; she pulls you into a kiss that lasts an inordinate amount of time.

It feels good to be finally recognized for your deeds.

Yuuki ruins a good moment, as she tends to do.
"Princess, where did you find a ship?!"

"The shipyard, of course!" Tuile pulls away, and you can see more of her makeshift captain uniform. It looks so cute on her. "The airships are apparently meant to float on water, for emergency landings. So we just went and got a ship, brought it here with magic! It's great!"

"Yar, aye'm proud of ye, Tuile." You rub her head, her tail flops back and forth with vigor.

"So, captain, what's the next step?" Tuile smiles.

"Aye'm goin' into the tornado te fight Atlas, of course."

There's a moment of silence, and Tuile's tail goes limp.

"I'm sorry, you're going to do what?"

>It's probably not dangerous in there.
>He might try to drag that thing toward this ship if I don't go
>'Love you sweetie', kiss her on the forehead and jump in
>Just get the boat closer, will ye?
>Other?

Either ways, 1d100, best of three!

Rolled 14 (1d100)

>>1873521
>'Love you sweetie', kiss her on the forehead and jump in
so cute

Rolled 96 (1d100)

>>1873521
>'Love you sweetie', kiss her on the forehead and jump in
>Prepare to beat him down with water.

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>1873521
>It's probably not dangerous in there.
>Besides Atlas
>'Love you sweetie', kiss her on the forehead
>Drink
>and jump in

File: Spoiler Image (30 KB, 519x304)

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Oh damn it, you maybe shouldn't have mentioned that last part.

"Lass it's fine, really." You take out your emergency flask, and take a quick drink. "Thar's probably nothin' dangerous in there, well, besides Atlas."
"Don't it's fine me, Jack. You're NOT jumping in there, and that's final." Tuile's tail flops down, and she crosses her arms

Uugghhh.

"Atlas will tire himself out eventually, and will have to surface for air, so just wait a few minutes and don't even give that-"

"Love ye, Sweetie." You give your bride a quick peck on the forehead.

Then, with a running leap, you jump off the bow of the ship and dive head-first into the water.

--

You know, for a sailor, having the ability to control water is a really big help.
One benefit is the ability to simply think about where you want to go; and be propelled in that direction faster than a dolphin can swim.

It's like the water is working for you. None of this old-fashioned business where you have to struggle and fight against the untamed sea. Here, in your domain, the water is your friend and your servant.

You hit some turbulence as you approach the wall of water circulating around the vortex. It takes a little bit of strength on your part, but you're able to power through it and breach the wall of the storm.
Suddenly, you're standing on air.
You fall a good twenty feet down to the ground. Just as you suspected; Atlas has made a whirlpool so strong that the very inside of it exists entirely on dry ground.

Perfect arena to fight someone, if you wanted to confront them alone.
Devious one, that Atlas.

Speaking of which, there he is right now. He's crouched on the ground, and is facing away from you.

"ATLAS!" You shout at him. He may be trying to ready some kind of surprise attack. "AYE'M HERE TO SETTLE THIS ONCE AND-"
"SHH!" He shouts.

Wait.
'shh'?
No one gets to shush you!

"Atlas, this is-"
"Jack, I know you're thinking of the fight right now, but this isn't the time."

You're not entirely sure what would be the time, if not right now.

"Jack, that aquifer you pulled from, do you remember how big it was?"
"How big?"

"Yes, Jack, think. How much water did it have?"

"Aye'll answer that after ye answer why yer makin' a whirlpool." You take out your gun and ready it on him, "Ye think ye can sink me with that trick?"
"I don't Jack, the answer is simple. I'm not making it."

You lower the pistol, and think about what exactly he's trying to tell you.
"Jack, from here on out you need to be very, very quiet." Atlas lowers his voice to but a whisper.

You look around you to notice a strange shape appear in the wall of turbulent water surrounding the arena. With a blink of your eye, it disappears into the deep, blue sea.

But it was there, you definitely saw it.

>You need lightning
>You need.. ground?
>You need to use its medium against it.
>You need a drink.
>You need to calm down, first.
>And maybe listen to Atlas.
>Other?

>>1877567
>Is that a kraken? please don't tell me it's a kraken.
>You need lightning
>Ask Atlas if he has a plan

>>1877567
>You need a drink.
>Or two.

>>1877567
>Drink 2 of your extra flasks
>Ask him what the hell is down there with you
>Formulate a plan
>Beach that bastard beneath the water
Aw hell, something was down there.
Welp, time for some 2 on 1, we gotta do more damage than Atlas to win! I wonder if anyone is jumping in after us.

>>1877567

>>You need to calm down, first.
>>And maybe listen to Atlas.

>>1877567
>>You need to calm down, first.
>>And maybe listen to Atlas.

>>1877567
>You need to calm down, first.
>And maybe listen to Atlas.
>How big was the underground lake?

Rolled 85, 27, 55 = 167 (3d100)

File: Spoiler Image (102 KB, 636x782)

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Okay, no need to panic.
You just need to calm down some.

Calm down, and maybe listen to Atlas.

He doesn't seem to be worried, so why should you?

After all, it's not like-
At least, you hope it wasn't.

You feel yourself reaching for the flask inside of your jacket pocket.
"I-is that a.. kraken?"

"I don't know what that is." Atlas replies softly, and curtly.

Quickly, you pitch the flask back into your mouth and empty the contents into your stomach as fast as possible. There clearly has to be a mistake. This cannot possibly be something that is happening right now.

"How big was it, Jack?"
"Big." You reply, "Aye thought it would flood the valley, and you with it."

"I think now is a good time to tell you something, Jack." Atlas retains his quiet voice, "I can't swim."
"So does that mean aye win?" You finish sipping from your other flask.

"Yes, Jack. If we weren't both surrounded by a giant monster, you would have won." Atlas sounds a little bit annoyed, "Now, can we please discuss ways in which we can fight the giant monster? Also, ways that may not result in me drowning during the fight."

"Aye could.. try to starve it? Maybe drag water away from it so it beaches itself-"
"This is a water demon, Jack. You want to get in a test of strength with a water demon?"

Atlas makes a good point, there.

"Okay, maybe he will tire himself out." Atlas catches a glimpse of something in the water wall, "He's trying to pump the water up so he can use it, but he doesn't seem to have very good eyesight. If we both just keep our voices down, he might get bored and swim somewhere else."

"Then what?"

"I don't know Jack, one thing at a ti-

BZZT-

There is a flash of light, and an ear-shattering bang!
"EN GARDE, YOU MONSTER!"

There's a slight hum as Louise appears in a flash of blue and throws a bolt straight at Atlas.
He jumps in surprise, and quickly counters with some red lightning of his own. He strikes the bolts right out of the sky, and takes a defensive pose.

Suddenly, all three of you stop in your tracks as you hear a low-tune hum. A hum that almost pierces to your very soul. It sounds like what you imagine a roar would sound like if the ocean itself tried its hand at it.

"What was that?" Louise blinks, but she still appears charged with lots of electrical energy.

>Louise, get out of here, now.
>Defensive stance
>It's time to act, do something, quick
>Try the test of strength against that thing.
>Please zap that thing to cinders.
>Other?

Either ways, 1d100, best of three.

Rolled 88, 10, 76 = 174 (3d100)

Ignore these!

>>1880034
>Louise we have a problem, giant water demon. We need to get out of here.
It'd be nice if Louise could zapaport us all away, but I don't know if she can and I wonder if Jack knows enough about her trick to ask. She can at least go and warn the others.

>>1880042
Also, we probably have enough water control to surf us both to safety, if the thing weren't there.

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>1880034
>It's time to act, do something, quick
>Louise, get out of here, now.
>Tell her to get all the booze she can find
>Get the giant monster drunk

Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>1880034
>Louise, that's a water demon
>Please zap that thing to cinders.
>Atlas, give her a hand if you can

Rolled 83 (1d100)

>>1880034
>Louise, that's a water demon
>Please zap that thing to cinders.
>Atlas, give her a hand if you can

Only a 2% chance of this roll to actually matter but here I go anyway

File: Louise_Fencer_3.jpg (234 KB, 500x583)

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"Louise." You whisper, "That's a water demon."
"A WHAT?!" Louise jumps.

"Louise." You say, as calmly as possible, "Ye need to keep yer voice down, and not make any sudden movements."

"U-okay! Whatever you say!"
It seems she was never taught what an indoor voice might be.

"Jack." Atlas whispers something, "It's about to strike. Take your sword out."
Oh goddamn it.

"Louise, when ye see that thing, ye need to hit it with everything ye got, aye? Zap it to cinders."

"O-okay." Louise seems less enthusiastic than she was a second ago.

WHOOSH!

A single, slimy tentacle smashes straight out of the wall of water, and homes in on the loudest thing in the arena!

"LOUISE!"
Louise shrieks, and blasts it with a bolt of yellow electricity before it can strike her. Immediately, the tentacle flinches away!

You take your cutlass, and quickly slice clean through the tendril! It flops uselessly on the ground; twitching uncontrollably.

There's that hum again.
HummMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

"ATLAS, A LITTLE HELP 'ERE?"

Atlas starts to glow red again. Louise, picking up on what Atlas is about to do; starts to glow a shade of yellow herself.

They both fire twin beams of concentrated electricity straight into the bleeding stump that was that monster's arm. The creature withdraws back into the dark blue.

"YAR! THAT WAS-"
"That didn't work." Atlas coughs.
"Like, not at all." Louise frowns.

"What?!"
"It's the water, Jack. The electricty is going straight into the water." Atlas moves to stand between where the monster last appeared, and Louise. "I think this demon has probably faced someone with lightning powers before, and is bracing itself against that."

Oh, great.

"Louise, get outta here."
"What?!" Louise still doesn't understand the concept of an inside voice. "And just leave you here?!"

"No, go back to the ship and tell Yuuki. Let 'em know thar's a demon about."

Louise pouts. She knows when she's just being put somewhere else for concern of her safety, but there's more important things to think about than hurting Louise's feelings.

CRACK!

Louise snaps away with a massive burst of lightning. Atlas has to turn around and do a double take to be sure he just saw what he thought he saw.
"Where did Louise go?" Atlas sounds a little panicked, "Is she safe?!"
"She's fine, fer right now let's thinka what to do here." You take another drink from your flask.

>Louise is out, time for you to do the same thing.
>..Can you do the same thing she just did?
>Ice, Atlas. It's time to switch it up to Ice.
>Make a stone pillar, get us above the water!
>Other?

>>1882241
>Louise is out, time for you to do the same thing.
>..Can you do the same thing she just did?
>Ice, Atlas. It's time to switch it up to Ice.
>Slow it down, and make a boat for us.

File: Pirate_Ship1_Ice_Age_4.jpg (115 KB, 1920x814)

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>>1882241
>Louise is out, time for you to do the same thing.
>..Can you do the same thing she just did?
>Ice, Atlas. It's time to switch it up to Ice.
>Slow it down, and make a boat for us.

Seems like a good time for an Atlas powered ice ship

>>1882241
>Atlas, throw molten rocks at this thing! we'll either fry it or boil it alive!

>>1882241
>>Louise is out, time for you to do the same thing.
>>..Can you do the same thing she just did?
>>Ice, Atlas. It's time to switch it up to Ice.
>>Slow it down, and make a boat for us.

File: Atlas_Smile2.jpg (282 KB, 580x700)

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"Louise is out." You try to make your point clear before the monster comes baCK, "Time for ye to do the same."
He turns and looks at you with a worried expression.

"Ye can do what she just did, right?"
"I can say with honestly that I have no idea how she did that."

That's interesting.
"So.. yer sayin' her powers are greater then yers?"

That does seem to irk Atlas, a little.
"I'm saying that I'm completely self-taught. Advanced techniques that I did not learn on my own are amiss to me."

Oh right, he is a collosal idiot, after all.
That does bring up another question.

"So yer not great with magic, eh?"
"I know what I was able to learn, and that's all!" He seems rather defensive about this, "You have the advantage of knowing archmages and martial arts masters from far-off lands."

"Ye had ten thousand years to find 'em yerself, ye know."
"That's not the point." He grumbles, "The point is that I do not know how that kid did that."

So, there goes that idea, at least.
There's a hum way off in the distance, but it does feel like it may be getting closer.
"What can ye do?'

"Right now? I'm as lost as you are."

You think about this situation for a minute. You remember something that just happened, and was actually quite a neat trick that you-
Oh.

"Atlas, can ye ice?"
"Yeah."

Oh, of course. You'll have to thank Yuuki later for giving you the idea.

"Atlas, Ice floats. If aye grab water from the whirlpool, can ye spin it into a boat? An Ice boat?"

"That sounds tricky, but- I can certainly try."

The hum grows closer.
"But before that, can ye help with keepin' the monster off our backs?"
"I might have something for that."

He smashes his hand into the roaring torrent of water. Slowly, the water seems to turn a little more transparent.
The roaring water, is also slowing down.

"Are ye icin' the water?"
"That, I am."
"Don't do it too much, or the whirlpool will collapse with us in it."

He takes his hand out of the water.
"..Sorry Jack, I didn't think of that."

You grab a section of icy water, and start to draw it toward Atlas.
"Start spinnin'."

Quickly, you increase the flow of water to Atlas as it becomes apparent that he can easily keep up with your pace. You're soon pulling enough water to actually draw down the eye of the whirlpool. It starts to become further, and further cramped inside the confines.
Until the point that the boat isn't even able to fit inside of it anymore. Its icy bow crushes and pulls against the torrent of water that surrounds it.

>Hop on, and slow down the water until it floats to the surface.
>Try to get a bead on where the monster is before you go anywhere
>Make it larger, you need a massive chunk of ice in order to do this.
>Just ask Atlas to push it to the surface using stone. You can calm the whirlpool from up ther
>Other?

Whatever you do, 1d100, best of three.

Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>1885977
>Make it larger, you need a massive chunk of ice in order to do this.
>close it when we get inside, make sure the tip is sharp
Archimedes powered ice bullet is a go

Rolled 21 (1d100)

>>1885977

Rolled 27 (1d100)

>>1885977
>Try to get a bead on where the monster is before you go anywhere
>Can you feel it in the water at all? Try feeling the movement.
>Make it larger, you need a massive chunk of ice in order to do this.
>Mention that you don't think anyone else can do Louise's trick either.

>>1886019
>>1886117
>>1886239
Here's to hoping a 60 is enough then.

File: Jack_And_Friend.jpg (200 KB, 980x1490)

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"Make it larger!" You yell.
"Got it."

You need to make it as big as you possibly can.
That's what she said-

NO NO, This isn't the time for this! When did you drink your secondary flask, anyway? You drop the empty container and continue pulling water from the surrounding maelstrom.

HuumMMMMMM

It's getting closer.

You punch your hand into the miasma, and try to see if you can feel where he is.
It's..

There he is.

A hundred feet out; he appears to be spiraling with the current of the water.
Maybe you did more damage to him than you expected?

HUMMMMMMMM

Never mind, forget you ever said that.

"Jack, I think we're ready!"

The boat is now having problems even staying still. It violently rocks and sags beneath the swirling tidepool.

"AYE! Use some more water, make the tip razor-sharp!"

Now, here is the tricky part.
You gotta collapse the whirlpool so the makeshift boat floats to the surface.

WHILE the massive wall of water doesn't crush you in the process.

You hop in, and Atlas closes the ice canopy. It won't protect from the pressure, but it might protect from the shock.
"You ready, Jack?"
"Before we do this, aye wanted te say; Aye don't think anyone else can do Louise's trick either. So don't feel too bad." You smile at him.
He's smiling, too.

Both of you break out into laughter.
This is crazy. This entire plan is crazy.
Let's go.

Both you and Atlas take hold of the spiraling blue that surrounds your tiny makeshift marine craft. A- A, uh- submersible vessel or something like that.
With a pull, the mountain of water all comes crashing down.

KHRSHSHHSSHHK
The crystal canopy shatters, and water comes rushing in. Thankfully, the water is more than managable enough at this point to not be too big of a shock.
Of course, making this out of Ice is a downside on its own. Your footing nearly slips off the frictionless surface, and that alone probably would have condemned you to Davy Jones' locker.

There's a blast of cool air as the chunk of ice surfaces with a splash! You nearly choke as your lungs gasp for clean air.
That-
Was pretty terrifying, you're not going to lie.

But shoot, who cares about that?

"HAHA! ATLAS! DID YE SEE WHAT-"

...
"Atlas?"

You turn to survey the deck of your new makeshift boat.

But- as you once suspected.
No Atlas.

...
HUUMMMMMMM-


>"Well shit."
>Take a drink, dive back in there.
>Signal the others somehow (How?)
>Monitor the monster's movements, first
>Try to locate Atlas before you jump back in (1d100, best of three)
>Other?

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>1887973
>>Try to locate Atlas before you jump back in (1d100, best of three)

>>1888003
Man today is not my day when it comes to rolling...
Is there any bonus from trying to sense things in the water, which fits Jack? Possibly together with his past as a pirate?

Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>1887973
>Try to locate Atlas before you jump back in (1d100, best of three)

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>1887973
>>Try to locate Atlas before you jump back in (1d100, best of three)

Information! Unless that doesn't work, and then ACTION!

>>1888011
oh nice!

>>1888003
>>1888011
>>1888015
So 74, pretty good.
Think we succeeded.

File: United.States.full.1712290.jpg (181 KB, 600x684)

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Okay.
No one panic.

Atlas was just here. He couldn't have gone too far.
Well, that's obvious. He slipped off the boat and is probably sinking like a rock.

How do you live ten thousand years and not know how to swim, anyway?
It's easy.
Just paddle your hands.
Float on your back.

Or, in the pinch, just flop your way to the surface.

Furthermore, you would think being adept at all things magic would make it easy for him to find ways around that. Like, for instance, pulling air from the surrounding water to give himself a bubble to breathe.
Or maybe just propelling him to the surface with a jet of water.

Oh, what are you doing? Atlas needs help, and then Atlas needs to help kill this blasted creature.

Gently, you stick your hand in the water and listen for the vibrations.

Oh.
There's that creature again. It's so loud and so gigantic that it seems to drown out any smaller, simpler sounds around it. That's a problem if you're listening for someone struggling to swim.

Clunk
That wasn't the monster.
That was something hitting the lake's floor.

shish, shish
That is something wading through the grass. Something small, but its noticable enough to be heard over the monster.

Shit, it is him.
You immediately sigh, and realize that you have to go back in again.

"JACK!" You hear Yuuki yelling, "WHAT IS GOING ON? SOMETHING ABOUT A MONSTER?"
"AYE!" You yell back, "BIG MONSTER, IN THE LAKE! ATLAS IS DOWN THERE WITH IT!"

There's a few seconds of tense silence, but Yuuki finally responds.
"WHAT DO WE DO?!"
"GET CODY! HAVE 'IM JUMP O'ER HERE!"

There's a thump that shakes the ice-boat you're floating on.
"Okay, I'll ask. What the fuck do we do, Jack?"

"Aye'm goin' in, ye follow with an air bubble. Got it?"

"Sure Jack, Got it."

You take a breath, and can hear the monstrosity below.
HuuuUUUUMMM

Damn it.
Are you really going down there with that thing?

It may be missing an arm, but it still has seven other arms. Krakens are the last great myths of the sea. The one thing no one has ever been able to disprove or prove accordingly.
-You're about to dive in and fight it with your fists.

You've done some really crazy things in your lives, but this might be the craziest.
This will take some guts. This will-

That's when you feel a hand push you in, and the cold water envelopes you whole.

Behind you, Cody is smiling and giving the thumbs up.
You'll be sure to return the favor tenfold later.

>Thread End.

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Folks, thanks for the thread. I really appreciate how far we've come and how close we are to finishing.

Next time, we continue with the UNDERSEA BATTLE WITH THE KRAKEN! After that? I think that might be our Epilogue thread. Which means next thread is technically the last one of this story.

So, until next time! Your homework is to think of ways to take down the Kraken, because Jack definitely needs the help. See you around!

>>1890539
>Your homework is to think of ways to take down the Kraken
Hmm, if we get swallowed whole we might be able to make it burst with water from the inside. Or Cody might have an easier time with his magic, but I don't see him being more likely to go along with it.

>>1890539
thanks for running!
we should try to get it on dry land and fry it, like Ultros

on a barely related note, Akun seems to have some free speech issues atm, i can't decently recommend you to move there anymore, even if it has almost zero chances of affecting you

>>1890838
What happened?

>>1891057
long story short, owner suddenly came out of his hidey-hole to ban loli, despite him being from /a/ and loli [smut] being fine since the beginning of the site, 5 years ago

he tried claiming it on the ToS first but ended up just saying that the pedos on his site should just leave

I see.
>>1891092
This MAY be a problem, I'm not sure. I'm thinking of the next story I was trying to write; and the one I wanted to start on Akun would star a character who was teenage-ish (giving her an age isn't quite right, but it's a technicality). No romance or anything at all, but the idea that it could just get deleted and I could get banned for the nature of having that character could be a problem.

I did write a magical girl story with characters who were mostly in middle school, so that might be a problem if I tried to move there. (perfectly platonic, but it's still a chilling effect).

>>1891134
Well, he clearly was targeting smut, but ended up putting in the same bag "anything a lolicon would enjoy", so...
On the other hand, he did say teens were fine
but for how long? can we really trust him?
i don't think so, but maybe that's just me being too in favor of free speech and unrestrained creativity

>>1891174
>Well, he clearly was targeting smut, but ended up putting in the same bag "anything a lolicon would enjoy", so...
Did he delete any stories?

>>1891760
as far as i know, not directly, but two QMs already surrendered their stories to deletion and a mod visited a third to have him remove references to the MC's age in the prologue of a running quest

>>1891805
>a mod visited a third to have him remove references to the MC's age in the prologue of a running quest
This bothers me more. Platforms trying to change the context of a story to fit their needs is what QQ does.