Thomas laughed. The fiend driving the boat had been winning, had come very close to throwing Thomas’ control off, but something had jerked it away. What that something was, Thomas cared not. What was important was the win.
Now my trump card, the half-daelkyr thought. He gripped the startled body of the stormstalk and yanked it from its roots in his flesh. Pain and weakness hit him as he lost blood and tore nerve endings, but he was prepared for it, and his concentration on the ship did not waver.
The stormstalk hit the floor, and twisted around in terror to stare at its former master. Thomas ignored it, closing his eyes and grabbing with his mind.
The walls behind him buckled, and then peeled away. The wall was still there, but thinner, as he mentally forced the now-pliant wood into long, twisting strips.
Space and time, the Crimson Ship moves space and time, Thomas realized, grinning, finally understanding what he held.
The strips of wood, still connected to the ship, lurched forward and burrowed into the spot near Thomas’ neck where the stormstalk had been. Power and awareness flooded Thomas’ mind and the ship became his fully.
The Crimson Ship had been built to be adaptable. It wasn’t a symbiont, but Thomas could make it behave like one.
“I claim thee,” Thomas said, speaking the guttural, twisted language of his father’s people. “I CLAIM THEE!”
The stormstalk, realizing that it was no longer needed, blasted the door jamb, and then escaped through the newly-opened crack. Its former master ignored it.
Thomas opened his eyes, light emanating from them. He could still see, but he did not bother, not with his eyes. He saw with his mind. He saw the latticework of dimensional warping, the power behind the ship, the forces that –
That were surging unfettered, beyond his control.
“I CLAIM THEE!” he shrieked. But it was a panicked cry, not the triumphant utterance of a few moments before.
White light filled the world, and the Crimson Ship – along with its occupants – ceased to exist.
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5 comments:
WHAT!!???! Lol. Sometimes you Really do shock me with how intense things get.
Kudos.
-Devin
Heh. Just doing my job!
I know, and that's why I read it. LOL!
yikes- i was just wondering how thomas could be manipulating such a powerful object...
He has 12 ranks in Use Magic Device and the feat Skill Focus Use Magic Device. I left it ambiguous if he rolled a 20 or suffered a mishap (plot device vs. rules, plot device wins.)
When I first read about the Crimson Ship, I wondered if a UMD check could help someone take it over, and what the result of a mishap roll would be.
Given that Thomas' UMD check was enough to manipulate the control weather spell in the druidic staff, I figured thsi wasn't such a huge stretch.
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