Ultraviolet Odyssey Part 11: Bloodworms and the Moon River

This is the eleventh part of a solo, narrative campaign within the Ultraviolet Grasslands RPG setting, created by Luka Rejec. The text is edited together based on outputs generated by Sudowrite,

Karnelia di'Orca is a tall and slender figure, with long dark hair and piercing eyes. She wears a flowing red robe adorned with intricate golden embroidery, and carries a staff topped with a blood-red crystal. A single black vertebra is visible at the base of her neck, marking her as a member of the secretive wine vampire order.

Jalosti i'Grati is a short and stocky purple-skinned young wizard, with a wild mane of hair and a bushy beard. He wears a flowing purple robe, and rides a machine horse that shimmers with shades of rust and metal. In his hand, he holds a staff of polished black wood, etched with arcane symbols.

Arcia Bodizie is a rugged and weather-beaten Safranjina, with a scar running down her cheek and a patch over one eye. She is dressed in a patchwork of scavenged clothing, with a long, flowing coat of dark blue and a bandana tied around her head. She carries a curved sword at her side, a sign of her status as an exiled pirate. A small furry mutant vole sits perched on her shoulder, giggling at anyone who pets it.

Soundtrack: 'A Cold Embrace', Black Tusk.

Chapter 19

Standing near to the crimson skeleton of the great red rock a day later, Jalosti observed Karnelia as the biomechanical bloodworms writhed around her outstretched arms.

 

The worms moved like extensions of Karnelia's own body, with each creature following the rise and fall of her breath. Wherever she looked or moved her hands through the air, they would writhe rhythmically in response.

 

Jalosti was filled with awe at Karnelia's skill to be able to summon these creatures from out among the bloodied grasses here in the distant west. As he watched from a safe distance, Jalosti surmised that it must be her wine vampire powers combined with the strange affinity she had developed for the stone markers that allowed her such control of the creatures. Despite his fascination with biomancy, his caution was greater. Perhaps it was best not to inquire too deeply just now...

 

Arcia, who had been guarding their perimeter, approached Jalosti with a casual shrug. "What's she doing now?" she asked, her curiosity plain.

 

Jalosti turned to Arcia, his eyes wide with wonder. "She's controlling the bloodworms," he said in awe.

 

Arcia walked over to Karnelia, her hand hovering over her sword hilt.

 

"What is the point of all this?" she asked the wine vampire in a gruff voice.

 

"The magnetic worms were harnessed by the Heart of Gold Blood Cult. They enhance blood magic. I can feel every pulse of every blood vessel in every organism for miles" explained Karnelia, a strange intensity in her eyes.

 

Arcia had always respected the vampire priestess's power, but never before had she seen her as confident and self-assured.

 

"It is time for us to continue onward," she said in a calm but determined tone. The group set off westwards once more, Arcia and Jalosti leading their mounts with Karnelia walking ahead towards towering spires green pine visible on the horizon. Karnelia's magical control over the creatures was undiminished as she and her companions continued across the steppe.

 

The pine forest in the distance beckoned, but it also brought with it a sense of unease that none of them could quite name. When they came upon a gigantic lophotroche shell - an ancient organism similar to a cuttlefish - some began to feel fear rather than awe at its grandeur, for who knew what mysteries lurked within such depths?

 

The lophotroche shell was the size of a citadel, coated in mosses and fungi that grew over its weathered surface. Gnarled and twisted lumen pines crept up its sides as if searching for a way inside. Wisps of ghostly fog hung low to the ground, like an ominous warning from beyond the veil of death itself. The air around it smelled of loamy earth yet strangely sweet. A mournful noise, like the toll of a bell, rang out from within the shell.

 

Arcia motioned to the others to be silent, as she slowly crept ahead in order to investigate. Her eyes lit up with surprise when a group of figures dressed in flowing robes emerged from the shell. More strangely still, each pair of figures carried a heavy pinewood tun between them.

 

 

The leader among them spoke first: "Greetings travelers! Are you here looking for sustenance? Sugars we specialize in... the sweetest you shall ever taste".

 

The group stared at her confoundedly before pulling themselves together enough to respond "Yes indeed!" Karnelia stepped forward boldly ready o haggle with the sugar-sellers. She asked a dozen questions hoping to gain some insight into who these strange figures were, and from where their sweet sugars had come from.

 

After much back and forth discussion between Karnelia and the mysterious figures, Karnelia's eyes widened in shock as they revealed their true identity. "We are not mere merchants of sweets," one of them spoke, "but rather escaped polybody rebels. We live as one with the Great Creature inside the shell". Although they had escaped from the Porcelain Princes, their glandular links were still active. Together they formed a collective entity in semi-unity with one another, living in symbiosis with the lophotroche.  Arcia, Jalosti and Karnelia were no friends of the Porcelain Princes, and they felt sympathetic with the pine-dwelling symbiotes.

 

The polybody sugar specialists were keen to make a deal, offering various types of sugary treats from inside the giant leviathan's flesh!

 

Realising that the confectionaries could fetch a high price further west, Arcia exclaimed "Let's scrape together what little money we have left and buy the sacks of pink sherbet". Karnelia raised an eyebrow at Arcia's sudden enthusiasm for sugary sweets, but she saw the glint in Arcia's eye and knew better than to question it. They pooled their remaining coins and made the trade with the polybody rebels.

 

After the trade was complete, Jalosti looked around at the group and chuckled. "Who would have thought that we would be trading with symbiotic rebels living inside a giant cuttlefish shell in the middle of nowhere?" he said wryly.

 

With their new supplies in tow, the group continued their journey westward past the spires of green pine. Karnelia retained her strange attunement with the landscape, and they  journeyed unharmed for another week through the ghost grass, passing the foothills of the Behemoth Chaos to the south and Old Turalia to their north, a great expanse of dead white trees beneath the cold, bright skies.

 

Finally they arrived within sight of the Pylon Heights and the Moon River. The river, glinting like silver coins in soft ripples, could be seen darting through gorges beneath fields of majestic citrus mallow. High above them towered dozens upon dozens of strange structures built from crumbling dryland coral, reaching up into a distant sky like some kind of ancient mechanical forest.

 

"Pylons from some kind of bridge," surmised Jalosti.

 

Karnelia, who was often lost in her own head when it came to the domain of possibilities and cosmic entities, felt a tingle up her spine.

 

"The bridge is long gone now," mused Arcia. "We'll have to ford the river".

 

Jalosti nodded. "Yes, but first we shall have to find a safe passage". He searched the horizon for signs of life other than their own. All was quiet in this place between the worlds - nothing stirs save for the slow stars high above and those creatures who remain hidden from sight in dark depths beneath. But there... there on a half-crumbled pylon in the middle of the great wide river there seemed to be movement and activity.

 

He motioned to Arcia, who took out her pirate spyglass. "Looks like a settlement or outpost in the middle of the river," she confirmed.

 

 Karnelia frowned, "Let's go have a closer look - but be on guard. Traveler's tales tell of river full of dangerous creatures."

 

The group cautiously made their way towards the edge of the river. As they got closer they glimpsed the top of the Near Moon on the horizon - and gasped. The cratered planetoid rose incongruously from the plain beyond the river, the sunlight of the dying day casting it red.

 

Their enjoyment of the sight was interrupted by a rustling in the reeds nearby. Yellow-eyed dire water rats had been stalking them, and their sharp claws were now ready to pounce. The heroes steeled themselves for battle, drawing swords and staves as they faced off against these fierce predators.

 

Arcia leaped forward with her cutlass, slicing into the body of a rat as it leaped at her. Jalosti's voice rose above the chaos as he spoke the incantation for Swifferack's Burning Conflagration, setting a group of rats on fire with a burst of flames. He raised his hands higher and the flames grew larger,  consuming the dire rats in a fiery inferno.  Karnelia summoned forth her blood magic, amplified by her bonded blood worms. Her eyes rolled back in her head, her hands shaking as the blood worms shot out from her body like crimson rays of light. A cacophony of screams arose as the dire rats succumbed to their fate, their flesh boiling and liquifying before the ravenous blood worms devoured their corpses.

 

The power of their combined might was enough to drive off their attackers, but not before Arcia had been bitten on the arm by one of them – leaving a single deep wounds trailing bright crimson drops onto the muddy riverbank.

 

"Arcia – how are you doing?" asked Karnelia.

 

"I'll... be fine," she whispered back weakly. Groaning in pain, she leaned against Karnelia with Karnelia wrapping arm around her waist to support her weight.

 

"We must get across the river," Jalosti declared.

 

The three started to ford the river, carefully holding each other steady and guiding their mounts across the chilly waters - Arcia wincing from her wound as she shuffled ever closer to safety. As they entered, cool mud squished between their toes and tiny fish darted between Jalosti's legs. With each step, the river revealed its secrets: from giant freshwater mussels sleeping in silty depths to lazy eels remembering stories of past travelers gliding through foggy waters. The sky above seemed to stretch out forever as if eternity lived at the horizon.

 

Jalosti stole a glance back at his mechanical horse, anxiously wondering if the old thing could handle the journey ahead. His stomach twisted as he imagined it rusting due to the waters or malfunctioning and costing them their lives.

 

Without warning, the waters began to surge, rushing at them from upriver like thunder worms.

 

"Hold on to me, Arcia!" cried Jalosti, bracing himself against being swept away by the torrent.

 

The horses started to panic, and one of the sacks of the precious sherbet came loose - swept away on the waves. Karnelia grabbed tightly onto the manes of their horses, desperately trying to keep them from being swept away too. The others clung onto her and held each other close as the vast waters surged and threatened to sweep them away with its immense power.

 

Her mind raced, searching for a solution to their seemingly impossible situation. Suddenly, the waters parted and a group of harlequin rowboats appeared from the fog - each one with strange painted faces and wild jester robes – could it be? They were here to help!

 

One of them shouted out "Come! Our boats will save you from the river's treachery!"

 

The heroes heaved a collective sigh of relief as they scrambled onto the boats, eager to get away from the treacherous waters. Harlequins reached out to seize the reigns of the horses, helping the animals swim to safety.

 

The Harlequins skillfully evaded the raging waters until eventually one by one each boat was safely docked at a pontoon underneath the pylon outpost they had spotted from the shore.

 

They were wet, exhausted and in the debt of the flamboyant Moon River sailors who had saved them - but at least they were alive.