Eel Issues

Eel Issues
Date	7/28/2025
Storyteller	Slayzo
Tier	Expert
Player Characters	Ariyu, Arumi, Willowroot, Rinazomi
Rewards	275exp, 1200g, Decanter of Endless Water
Result	Success
Author	Arumi (Aru)
Downtime	6

Associates go on a relaxing fishing trip in the caverns.

(The following report is written cleanly and with crisp penmanship)

07:15:48 – Day 1

My sister and I will be meeting with our fellow associates at the Crossroads for this expedition, as the small lake we’ll be fishing out of is underground. The following is a brief description of those in attendance.

• Ariyu – My ever-dependable twin sister, and an accomplished angler.
• Coconut – My sister’s companion: a particularly well-collected capybara
• Arumi – Civic wizard and scribe. To be honest, I’ve never been very good at fishing.
• Gold Ship – My companion, a willful and mischievous horse but a stalwart mount
• Willowroot – A centaur with mastery over the elements of wind and earth. I get the impression she’s no stranger to a rod.
• Rinazomi – Current worshipper of the recently deceased Szuriel and self-described cannibal. She’s threatened to murder me in a very graphic manner. I’ve noticed she didn’t bring any fishing tackle – maybe they fish differently in the Old Country.

08:12:05 – Day 1

As the last of us arrived in the Crossroads, we’ve been briefed on our mission by Mahgne the Wise, a Dero denizen of the caverns. There has been a recent series of attacks on fisherman around a local fishing hole; the bodies were found mostly by the water, though some were chased to the entrance of the cavern leading to it. Some of the bodies were burned, while others were partially eaten. The Dero seem convinced there is no other local fauna in the area outside of eels, though there are some rumors of very rare sightings of a mysterious bird-like creature around the lake as well.

My sister has suggested perhaps the lake is home to a Tidehawk – an incredibly rare type of elemental bird, while Rina believes there is some manner of ghostly bird responsible.

Our task is twofold: catch 20 eels for a stable supply of food, and rid the fishing hole of whatever manner of creature is attacking the local populace. Willow has taken it upon herself to invite Drake to fish with us, though she has asked him not to participate in fighting should it arise.

It’s apparently two days of travel to get to the lake; we’re departing now into the depths, led by Mahgne.

10:03:00 – Day 3

After several uneventful days of travel in the underground, we’ve arrived at the lake. It’s surprisingly peaceful down here; when conjuring a cabin for the night, there’s no sound but the roaring fireplace, and it makes for a very comfortable evening.

Mahgne has departed, and we’ve all spread around the lake; it’s actually very small, so with just a little bit of distance between us all, we can mostly cover every angle to try fishing in it. I, alongside my sister, have chosen to stay on the side opposite Rina, who managed to borrow some makeshift fishing supplies from the locals to participate, with Willow and Drake between us while we wait for any bites.

11:03:00 – Day 3

Our first hour fishing has had mixed results.

Willow managed to catch an eel.

My sister did not, and I both didn’t manage to catch anything, and nearly damaged my rod in the process. Rina snagged her line on a crystal formation in the middle of the lake, and shortly after dove into the water to try to dislodge it, ultimately destroying it in the process. She seems to struggle swimming, and it was difficult for her to get back to the shore. Ariyu sent Coconut, her capybara, to wade into the water and help her.

Drake had set off back to a nearby settlement to get some replacement and extra fishing supplies in case anyone else damages theirs and is just now returning.

The waiting continues.

12:03:00 – Day 3

There have been some strange developments in our second hour of fishing.

Willow, my sister, and Rina all managed to catch an eel – the last of which was of a quite prodigious size, warranting its own barrel – but my catch was a little more interesting. At first, I had thought my line simply snagged, and Willow offered to swim below to check what it was caught on. When she dove into the water and traced the line, she found that a strange purple hand was holding on to my hook. When she returned to the surface and explained as much, I decided it would be most polite to simply sever the line; we wouldn’t want to hurt whatever creature had decided to hold on to it.

Rina offered to cut it for me, approaching me with a bladed gauntlet drawn – which at the time felt more like a threat than anything. But, to her credit, she did simply sever the line for me, and after some time reattaching a spare hook from my tackle, we all resumed our fishing.

Hopefully whatever creature is down there doesn’t get caught by any more hooks.

12:38:15 – Day 3

Battle Report:

Casualties:

• None

Injuries:

• Rinazomi – Severe blood loss, numerous bite marks of varying size; nearly dead
• Willowroot – Minor injuries due to several small bite marks

Summary:

We have fled the lake.

After resuming fishing, nothing immediately happened, but after around 30 minutes of mixed success, Rina’s fishing rod was pulled out of her hands and into the lake. She took the liberty of diving in after it with neither weapon nor armor, and shortly afterwards, the water around where she entered became thoroughly bloodied. Willow dove in after her and dragged a severely injured Rina to the surface on her back, where I used my magic to fetch both of them from the water’s surface to my side.

It was then that we discovered the culprits behind the attacks on the fishermen – two aberrant clusters of eels roughly formed into the shape of humanoids, who aggressively chased Rina and Willow out of the water, biting and shocking any who came too close to them. Rina was simply too injured for us to continue fighting without endangering her, and so she rode Willow to safety while my sister and I helped cover our escape. I’ve managed to close Rina’s wounds with Willow’s help, and we intend to return to the lake to fight the creatures with a more favorable start after retrieving Rina’s gear.

12:53:03 – Day 3

Battle Report:

Casualties:

• One semi-cohesive aberrant mass of eel-creatures – thoroughly encased in toxic metals, numerous lethal arrow wounds
• One semi-cohesive aberrant mass of eel-creatures – innumerable scrape wounds related to earth magic, large cuts from a greatsword, partially encased in toxic metals, several arrow-related injuries

Injuries:

• Rinazomi – several deep bite wounds, seems to be missing blood due to her own magics
• Willowroot – several shallow bite wounds
• Ariyu – several deep bite wounds, slight burning from exposure to electricity
• Coconut – thorough burns due to excessive electricity, numerous deep bite wounds, was briefly unconscious

Summary:

Upon returning to the lake, the creatures seemed to have returned to the water; we couldn’t see them anywhere. We used this time to prepare ourselves, with Rina putting her armor back on and retrieving her greatsword.

Seeing no other option, we resumed our fishing, and it wasn’t long before Rina was dragged into the water by her rod. Willow helped return her to the surface and took the rod herself to begin reeling in the creature, eventually managing to bring it to the surface, quickly joined by the second one surfacing nearby to attack us.

During our first encounter, we discovered the creatures are deceptively slow, so we took to hit and run tactics for this battle; Willow held her ground and kept shoving a mass of the creatures back into the lake, where it would scrape itself over the harsh, sharp earth she kept between it and her. Rina assisted Willow, running to swipe at the mass before retreating back, while my sister and I dealt with a second mass of the creatures on the sidelines. Ours managed to grievously injure Coconut, but Drake managed to drag the capybara out of danger while we finished the creatures off with a large, continuous application of noxious metals via magic, and large amounts of well-placed arrows.

With one of the masses dealt with, we all collectively managed to whittle the last one down, though it proved to be very tenacious, ultimately being crushed to death by a massive rock hurled by Willow.

As Willow and I tended to the groups wounds, a majestic bird of pure water – the Tidehawk of my sister’s suspicions – emerged from the lake, and spoke to us, thanking us for dealing with the creatures. It bestowed upon us a blessing: a decanter of endless water, which Willow accepted with reverence. Rina seemed a little disrespectful to the elemental, but the rest of us thanked it for meeting with us. It did warn us that a third group of the eel-monsters was present in the lake, but that it intended to deal with them itself. It seems as though all 3 groups of eels would have been too difficult for the Waterhawk to deal with itself, and so it had been waiting for someone to help cleanse the lake of them. After our brief meeting, it departed, diving into the lake to go find the last of the creatures.

We intend to resume our fishing now; we still need to catch 20 eels for the Dero before we can leave. It seems as though the barrels we were using to store the previous ones were emptied after the first encounter, so we’re starting from scratch again.

18:00:00 – Day 3

We have successfully caught enough eels for the Dero.

I did not intend to ‘keep score’, as it were, but some of the others insisted. I’ll list the participants in descending order by number of eels caught: Willowroot, Ariyu, myself, Rina, Drake, with Coconut and Gold Ship sadly tied for last; they didn’t seem keen on participating. With our eels secure, we’re beginning the several days of travel back.

08:13:25 – Day 6

We’ve safely returned to Onadbyr after delivering the eels.

Drake parted ways with us at the Crossroads, and we were given 1200 gold pieces to split between us all as payment.

With that, this expedition is concluded.

-Arumi, Civic Wizard