Peek: The Wild Blue Yonder

Just a few short months ago, Yendo would have never dreamed of getting to see something like this. But here he is, overlooking the dropoff into the deep blue, steeling his nerves to go further.

His nerves would be in better shape if his son and his friends weren't stirring up the sediment in their eagerness to go out with him. He sighs and grips his trident before turning to address them all. The tides will keep flowing, no matter how much he wishes they would pause. Delaying won't help anything.

"Settle down!" he orders, and to the young merfolks' credit, they hurriedly swim into a vague formation of order before him. His son floats in the middle, his sharktooth knuckles resting easily in his hands. He would prefer if Yenlarn would have taken up a spear or trident, but his son insists on getting in close to any potential foes.

His friend, Klyrnev, does prefer a spear, and has thankfully mellowed out significantly after the incident with Thedeim. He's seen the lad chat with the Shield missionary a few times, and wouldn't be surprised if he swaps to a shorter spear and a shield eventually.

The third member of the group, Iola, has her wand at her hip still, the young woman preferring to not carry it unless she's actively casting something. Yendo would have expected her to be among the many who are actively delving rather than take on this task, but he won't complain about having a Tidecaller along, no matter how young.

And rounding out the group is Pirkel. Yendo doesn't know how the lad gathers the urchin spines, nor how he can throw them through the water like he does, but he can't argue how effective they are.

He nods to himself, the impromptu inspection over, before speaking. "I hope I don't need to remind you how dangerous this can be. The deep blue is full of what the Rangers call stagnant mana. Monsters will be thick as kelp down there, so we will go slowly. It may be dangerous, but it's important. Stagnant mana can produce true sea monsters and endanger ships. It wasn't important while the Captain had His policy of no entry, but now the ports are opening, and ships will sail once more.

"The Rangers need us to cull the population of monsters so nothing too dangerous can show up, and the merchants will pay handsomely for us to keep the routes safe." He pauses, watching the excitement of those gathered only increase. "We will not be doing something so grandiose today. We're scouting, not delving. You four are still new in your classes, and though I'm a bit older and experienced, I won't be a match for anything truly nasty out there. So keep your eyes open. We'll be staying near the surface today, so keep an eye on the depths. Whitecap will keep me informed of anything he can spot from the air. Do you all understand?"

They all nod eagerly, and he has to resist sighing. They'll learn eventually. "Then form up on me, like we practiced." They leap to comply, with Yenlarn and Klyrnev moving to either side of him, Iola behind him, and Pirkel at the rear. Yendo nods and focuses skyward for a moment, signalling to Whitecap the seagull to scout ahead.

He moves out, too, and the young adults swim with him, all looking as professional as they can. He has to admit, they keep it up for longer than he would have thought. It's not until an hour later that they start showing signs of boredom. They start looking at each other more than at their surroundings, and soon chatter starts.

"So... what're we looking for?" asks Pirkel, voicing the question they all have.

"Anything that shouldn't be here."

That quiets them for another ten minutes before Iola breaks the silence again. "No really: what are we looking for?"

Yendo holds his hand up to signal a stop and turns to look at her. "Anything that shouldn't be here."

"It's... kinda boring," points out Pirkel, and Yendo snorts at that.

"Bored scouts are safe scouts." They don't look too convinced, so Yendo expands. "You know why I'm not giving any specifics for what we're looking for?"

"Because you don't want us to worry?" asks Klyrnev, and Yendo shakes his head.

"No. It's because I don't have any specifics. Nobody has tested these waters in a long time. The only reason we know it's not safe out here is because stagnant mana is never safe. So we need to figure out what's lurking, so others will actually know what to be on the lookout for."

"What if we don't find anything?" asks Yenlarn, and Yendo smiles at his son.

"Then we'll have to come back and keep looking, and hope every day stays nice and boring. Let's continue." He leads the way, with the others looking more thoughful than bored. It's still a flavor of distracted, but at least a quiet one. It continues for almost another hour before Pirkel shouts.

"I see something!" He points into the depths, and the formation smoothly rotates to face whatever it is. He can't make out much detail at this distance, but it looks like an eel, or possibly a serpent. Large, but not too intimidating. Ten, maybe fifteen feet long. He glances to the others and is glad he won't need to tell them to get ready. Yenlarn and Klyrnev have taken defensive stances, while Iola has her wand out and looking focused. Pirkel has an urchin spine held at the ready, and all of them hold their breaths as the creature approaches from the depths.

As it continues to rise, details can be made out, and it's soon obvious it's not an eel or a serpent, or even alive. It definitely used to be, though. The young ones relax as they see it's just a severed tentacle, nervous laughter building before Yendo shuts it down.

"Don't relax! Casual retreat backward for now."

They look confused at his order, but thankfully obey. He doesn't stop backing away until the tentacle is just barely visible, before addressing them. "Do you know why I backed us off from it?"

"Poison?" guesses Pirkel.

"No. Tentacles don't just float from the deeps for no reason. Something down there lost a fight, and I don't want the victor to come chasing that piece and find us."

Their eyes all widen at that, the inexperienced youth having never considered that. "What do we do?" asks Yenlarn.

"We wait. If nothing comes up after it in about thirty minutes, we'll grab it and head back. If something does come up after it, we stay far away enough to get a basic description, then head back, too."

The wait is tense, but uneventful, and soon they all go get a closer look at the tentacle. "What kind of thing is it from? A squid?" asks Klyrnev, and Iola shakes her head.

"Squid have their suckers mostly on the end, but this has them all along it. And they have barbs...?"

Yendo nods and stabs it with his trident, glad to not have to directly touch the thing, especially as it slowly curls around the head and haft. "A kraken tentacle. Not all of them are the huge monsters most people think of, but I don't know enough to tell how big this one was. Let's get it home to someone who will."

The others watch the tentacle coil with apprehension, but none argue. The return is tense, but at least they all keep their eyes peeled the whole way back. He just hopes none of them will have to eventually deal with either a wounded kraken, or whatever presumably ate this one. No matter how that fight went, he doesn't want to ever meet the victor.

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Inspired by Stickboy and others who wanted to see how Hullbreak and the enclave are doing. I also forgot to credit Gustave Dorland and others for the peek last week, too.