16989/JLD Book Club II: Frostbound Manuscript

JLD Book Club II: Frostbound Manuscript
Date of Scene:	01 February 2024
Location:	Deception Island, off the coast of Antartica
Synopsis:	Zatanna Zatara, Nettie Crowe, Marie-Ange Colbert, Lydia Dietrich and Belinda Gutierrez recover the Frostbound Manuscript. Nettie is almost eaten by a squid
Cast of Characters:	Nettie Crowe, Belinda Gutierrez, Lydia Dietrich, Marie-Ange Colbert, Zatanna Zatara

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Nettie Crowe has posed:
    DECEPTION ISLAND -- a volcanic island off the South Shetlands, near Antartica.

    Nettie had made a joke about planning a summer cruise on short notice. It was indeed summer in the Antarctic.

    And a balmy 34F/1C, the waves were choppy, the boat they were on was *not* a Carnival Cruise ship, but something privately chartered from Argentina, and the captain of the boat was a "charming" man who appeared to speak no languages anyone else in the group could fathom except Nettie, who jauntily would translate in the nicest terms possible what he was talking about.

    Everything was ship shape as the sun set -- quite late in the evening, creating a duskiness that spread over the ocean.

    The volcanic island looms before them in the gloaming, light coming off the few active research stations.

    Nettie stood on deck, wearing a thick coat, her two crows tucked with their heads peering out.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda stands on the deck's edge, heavy coat momentary proof against cold and spray. Wrapped from head to toe against the cold, the thick mittens covering her hands hide the positively white-fingered grip on the ship's rail.

The ocean. Majestic and monstrous, euphoric and terrifying.

"I do not think I can stand over these deeps, Abuela," she remarks quietly, gazing out towards the distant island. Mostly so as not to focus too much on the waves that look ready to smash the vessel into so much splintered kindling.

"Are the waves always so.... Much?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "Remind me again why we're here?" Lydia asks, hugging herself against the cold she cannot feel. "You're up to something. You're always up to something."

    She's dressed like any sane person would be in this weather. A thick black wool peacoat, jeans with warm looking boots and a knit cap that she's somehow managed to stuff enough of her wildly curly hair into to keep it on top of her head. And, as always, the starfield of her mutant power surrounds her in a twinkling display of lights. And, like any good boat passenger, she has a lifejacket on. While she can't drown, she'd rather not spend the better part of a decade walking across the bottom of the ocean to find dry land.

    "Heck if I know," she replies to Belinda. "The only time I've ever been on a boat was either one of those rowboats out in a lake, or a cruise ship."

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
Snow. Ice. Truth be told, Marie didn't particularly dislike these things. Unlike intense heat, the solution for intense cold was adding more and more layers, and that fit well with the girl's modest demeanor.

Which is why she, too, is bundled up like an Alaskan, faux fur-lined hood tucked over her head and concealing the red hair beneath. Heavy coat, heavy boots, heavy pants... and probably layers of each.

Unlike Nettie and Belinda, though, Marie remains seated. The seer has a lap desk across her legs, and she's carefully shuffling through a deck of tarot cards... getting used to doing the procedure through her gloves, in case she needs to lean upon their strength.

"I think so, mademoiselle. Though, this is my first time being so close to them." she chimes in after Lydia, trying to keep her voice calm and steady. Her trips to the Savage Land hidden within the frozen continent have more typically occured through other means than sailing, afterall!

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
As a concession to psychological comfort Zatanna has taken her mother's long sealskin coat and hat, dating back to an era that found wearing animal skins acceptable, out of mothballs. The poor seals were sacrificed on the altar of high fashion and warmth long ago, so after burying her nose in its collar and finding a lingering trace of her perfume, Zee brought it along. Much more socially approved doubled merino wool gloves and a scarf chink the other inlets of cold air.

She balances on the deck in fashionable warm-faux fleece boots and looks out over the grey, froth-capped waves, admiring the symmetry of the volcano-born island as they approach their destination. The unintelligible conversation between the Old Crow and the Captain occasionally comes to her between gusts of wind.

"I hear that Cape Horn has been the challenge of many a good sailor - known for its terrible waves."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "You cannot, mija. Which is why I'm watching you like a hawk." Nettie states to Belinda, eyeballing the werewolf. The snowy and icy weather threatens elsewhere.

    "We are here to find a manuscript, a magical tome called the Frostbound Manuscript. It is said to be guarded by demons of the sea and ice, encrusted in the rhime of the ocean." the old witch states, and then she gives a peturbed look out over the sea. "I should... probably start posting the missives again. Hrm." she considers, adn then looks around to the others on the boat's bow.

    The captain steers the boat about, broadside to the island. The island gives a distant rumble, as if it wasn't pleased to see the Justice League Dark.

    The boat then gives a loud lurch, it's slammed to the side as something strikes the starboard bow, and starts pushing the ship away from the island!

    NEttie gives a surprised 'WARK' sound, and she goes skidding along on her side, grasping at the railing as Corvax and Torny then flap out of her jacket to stay aloft!

    "We've been hit!" Corvax shouts out "Light up the night ladies!"

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda snorts softly, forcing a grin as she prepares to respond to the others-- Then a lurch, drawing a squeal of shocked protest from the girl! Airborn, for a precious few seconds-- landing again a second later, and ever so *grateful* that it is the wooden deck beneath her feet and not the boundless ocean!

"Should that not be 'Avast me hearties!' or a hearty "Yarr'?" the wolf-girl remarks, snarling as thick fingers fetch the tube from the case at her side. Simple, mundane, effective-- a tube-launched emergency flare, comically small in her oversized hands. Aiming outward and upward, she tugs the activation loop, wrenching it off in her eagerness. With a blast and shriek, the rocket sails upward, bursting into a vibrant white gleam as it slowly begins sinking.

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
"Demons of water and ice? That sounds..." Marie trails off as she tries to gameplan for what cards might be the most effective against such things, or if brute force (as much as she can muster it) might be the better plan. The sudden lurch of the ship, however, causes Marie to bobble her cards and get rocked in her seat; but she manages to hold onto them. It's not the first time someone, or something has tried to knock her focii out of her grasp.

"As you command, Madame!" Nettie wants light? Marie can provide it; sorting through her cards and... there it is! As she grasps the Star card within gloved fingers, she summons forth a replica of the star upon her card -- floating about thirty feet above their vessel and providing light to the area. Hopefully enough, with the added light of Belinda's flare to unveil their possible foe from the cover darkness provides!

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "Ack!" Lydia cries out ins surprise as the boat is hit, arms windmilling for balance. Once she regains her footing she says, "Let me see what's going on." Her starfield coalesces into a pair of wings which lift her off into the air, and she hovers over where the boat was hit.

    "Uh. Okay. Shark fin, but probably not a shark," she reports. "And lights. Could be-- ACK!" She wasn't expecting anybody to fire off a flare, and the sudden bright light momentarily blinds her sensitive eyes. She hovers there over the water, rapidly blinking her eyes, trying to get them to adjust to the new level of light. "Eyes," she finishes. "Could be eyes."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The ship's leap sends Zatanna dancing down the slick deck for a few breathless feet. Sharp shadows delineate everyone on board from Belinda's timely flare arching overhead. As the flare fades into the dark, Zatanna snaps her fingers with a murmured word bringing a bright globe of light, worthy of a halogen lantern, to hover over the deck.

"Too vague, my feathered friend," she castigates the bird flapping above them." To Lydia, "It felt big enough for a whale."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Corvax flaps about, looking absolutely distraught flying in the cold air as the night is indeed lit up.

    Figures start to ripple out of the water, and Nettie gives a yelp as she's grabbed off the side, and there's a 'splash!'

    "Nettie!" the youthful Torny shouts out, "If she gets too far from me it's going to hurt!

    The ship gives another lurch, the tail of the beast rising up. It's translucent, icy in form, and the huge block head rises up out of the water, showing a massive, ice-covered Sperm Whale, twice the size of the boat as it slams into the boat again. There's a CRACK.

    "AYE LASSES! We're taking on water!" the captain of the boat shouts out in English.

    Marie-Ange is flying above, with Lydia a little higher than herself, lit up by Zatanna's light.

    And climbing up over the railing, is a spindly-armed creature, looking like some sort of spiny crab with a goblin-like face. Abyssial words are uttered as it launches its spiny lance at Zatanna first!

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Torn a dozen ways at once! Water aboard boat! Sea Monster! Abuela overboard! What to handle, what to handle--!

Spiny demons climbing over the railing? THAT she can handle!

"Pointy bits to yourself!" Belinda-- Silverdane snarls, eyes gleaming as she lunges for the spiny spear. Still shaky aboard the ocean-bound vessel, she manages to mostly get the way of the sharp weapon, missing her catch-- interposing with her shoulder instead.

"Crowe overboard!" she adds, howling out with a wince. /Cold/! "She has lifevest, but was grabbed!"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "Nettie!" Lydia's cry echoes that of the younger corvid. "God dammit, Nettie! You're always getting eaten or falling off a boat or.... //things!//" she huffs in exasperation.

    She quickly takes off the lifejacket and tosses it to the deck of the ship. "I'm going to go find her before she drowns," she announces to the rest of the team. With that, her wings fold up and she dives headfirst into the water. At least she doesn't need to breathe. That'll make this rescue effort a lot easier.

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
"Madame Crowe!" Marie yelps as Nettie goes overboard, eyes going wide. "We hav--" Oh, good. Lydia's on Nettie-Retrieval duty! So she's quickly trying to survey the field and... "Look out!" she calls out towards Zatanna, pointing dramatically at the creature that's attacking the magician. Right now, she's just trying to keep the light active so that her teammates can see what they're doing.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Sea brine and the iodine of whale breath inundate the ship as they plunge under the whale's attack. Occupied with searching for the Old Crow taking an unexpected ice bath, the mage misses the visitor boarding the ship.

Marie's call alerts her just as the serrated edge of a claw snags her scarf flapping in the wind. The claw skims the chest of her precious coat missing, leaving it untouched but returns tasseled with bright red fringe.

"Good one, Belinda," she calls. "Now, it's time for us to fly."

Reversed syllables covered by the roar of the waves lift Belinda and the Captain from the deck in tandem. Zatanna joins them and the three fly together on level with the others."

Hovering, she keeps a worried eye on the roiling water below them as Lydia searches for Nettie.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    SPINY DEMONS FROM THE BRINEY DEEP! The ship begins to crack below the group.

    The winds pick up, howling.

    And in a rattle of ice and ocean around them like a million crysaline sabers echoes. Lights on shore pop on as radios crackle to life inquiring about an emergency flare --

    And as the ship's torn asunder by the massive icy whale, the foredeck rattles and begins to fold.

    Below the waters, Nettie is being pulled down, trailing bubbles behind her as she's seized by tentacles. This was Not A Good Time and why is she ALWAYS getting in trouble on these missions? Probably because it's the easiest to see, Nettie looks up to Lydia, and she points downwards to the lights -- there is a sunken cargo ship there. The lights are slowly swimming down towards them, where a squid is taking Nettie as well. Hoarfost is trailing along the bottom there in blossoms of ice spikes.

    The target's plain to "sea"!

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
One moment-- Shipbound Seawolf.

The next-- Hovering Howler!

Silverdane's eyes widen in shock, surprise-- a suspiciously girlish squeal of delight as she takes to the air (slowly), hovering upward with a manic, toothy grin. "Up here ye great gibbery gits from el Casillero de Davey Jones!" Eyes glittering as she exhales a gusty sound of delight, she curls her fists together, gazing down on the myriad of glittery, unblinking eyes. "I am coming for all of you!"

Howl anew-- and dive!

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia is finding it a bit hard to maneuver under the water, since her woolen peacoat absorbs the seawater like a sponge, constricting her movement and weighing her down. Damn it, she should have taken that off, too.

    She nods at Nettie once she catches up to her, peering down to see the giant squid that's threatening to bring the old witch to Davey Jones' locker. Tipping herself down, she rushes at the cephalopod, a golden harpoon forming in front of her and when she gets close enough she sends it flying, aiming to impale the creature right between the eyes.

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
Thanks to Zatanna, Marie doesn't have to exchange the Star for a more.. easily-ridden creation, but the truth was? It seemed like it might end up the better idea sooner than later, but not yet. Above the sea was dark enough. Below the sea? The light would come in handy. Frowning to herself, the French girl clings to her summoned Star and wills it down into the water -- taking a deep breath of her own before submerging. With any luck, one of the others has the equivilant of a magical (autographed, glow-in-the-dark) snorkel to offer those who may (eventually) neeed to breathe!

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Lit from below, the opaque depths of the waves turn a sickly translucent green, revealing the wavering form of a ship wreak below. Casting a finder's spell spotlights Lydia to Zatanna's relief, while the whale cresting the waves and falling back hides Nettie from Zatanna's view. Under them, the ship protests its death as the decking buckles and she catches a loud sigh from the Captain, floating by her side.

"I'm sorry for the ship, Captain. I can put you ashore, far enough in for safety. It looks like the others have decided to go swimming."

Words no sooner spoken and the bereft captain is lofted high up on the icy beach.

Cleaner brightness joins the light from the ocean. Zatanna is the last to take the plunge in their group. Her sealskin hat and coat are whisked away on her word, then with perfect form she knifes into the waves to join the others.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    The creatures all abandon ship, the captain is cursing up a storm in at least three languages, and Nettie is still underwater. The old crowe raises her eyebrows as Lydia manuevers, and she gives a yelp as a claw from the squid's tentacle digs into her. Then the squid is struck (From Hell's Heart I stab at thee!), and blackening the waters with squid ink, it tries to get away from being made into the world's largest calimari appetizer!

    The sea is now darkened from ink, oil, and gasoline. The boat they were riding on was sinking steadily into the depths.

    The creatures see the howler and the star diving, and the spiny gremlins of the sea -- presumably the demons discussed earlier -- begin to go after the two.

    There is a boat coming from shore, presumably because of the distress flare launched by Belinda -- the huge ice whale turns, and begins to head for it.

    The captain looks at the ship, looks at Zatanna, and then about as he was about to say something he's lofted high and towards the beach, with an 'AAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIEE!"

    He lands safely in the soft sands, going right over-head of the scientists who were coming out to try and check on what the ehck was going on.

    And they see the ice whale.

    They *turn around*.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
In a tiny corner of her mind, Silverdane reminds herself: not truly swimming. Not true flying either.

That stops neither experience from being gleefully euphoric!

And cold.

Fighting out of the lifejacket's protective enclosure, she cuts it away with a slash of swift claws. The better to plunge into the dark, unspeakable deeps, at least until the gleaming magics do their work, setting the underwater world ablaze with vibrant radiance. A glance back-- sea demons, sea crabs, pursuing. Tempted to turn, to face and fight-- growling, grimacing, focusing. Diuve. For the shipwreck!

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia watches in satisfaction as the giant squid lets go of Nettie and tries to get away. Normally she'd chase after it, but right now her priority is to get the senior member of the JLD to the surface so she can, you know, breathe.

    She zips through the water and scoops up Nettie into a princess carry, and quickly ascends until they both burst out of the water. "Nettie! You okay?" she asks, spitting out water. "The book! Is it in that shipwreck below?"

    That's when she notices the icy whale going after the other boat. "Goddammit! Zee! Can you get Nettie over to the shore? Marie-Ange! Do you have a card that can slow down the whale? Like... the Tower or something? Fry it with lightning?"

    She watches as Belinda dives for the boat and winces. Hypothermia is going to be a problem for everybody when they're done here. With any luck they'll be able to get inside and warm before it sets in.

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
What does the mistress of the tarot do when she's underwater and enemies are coming?

Well... truth be told, there's not a ton that she /can/ do except turtle up and play defense. Instead of 'riding' the Star underwater, she wills it to spin around and /push/ her down further, instead. Freeing her arms to cross over her chest and try to keep her cards protected, and allowing her to use her legs in controlled thrusts to kick at the coming foes. Underwater isn't her forte, but her combat training... between the X-Men, Amazons, and the Black Panther, they make sure that she gets a couple licks in, even though those spiny gremlins, more suited to the water than she, are currently winning that particular battle.

...of course, when Lydia's retreating towards the water's surface with Nettie? Yeah, the redhead's going to follow that lead, surrendering her efforts at offense for a chance at escape from the watery grave and clinging to the Star with her legs as it rises once again towards the surface.

As she breaks said surface, there's a gasping breath of air... and she hears her name soon after. "Non, Madame Lydia! I..." she trails off for a moment, looking around quickly. The situation's getting dire. "I will try... please, if I fall, recover me before the waves do!"

Fate works in mysterious ways. Fate had the Star poised and ready on one side of the deck as she needed it. Fate /also/ had the Tower as the top card of the deck's other half. Eyeing the whale to try and memorize the position, she closes her eyes and summons forth the a twenty-foot-tall tower of stone above, and a little bit ahead of the charging whale. The visage is flickering -- as is the Star's -- but she's just got to hold it long enough for gravity to do the rest!

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna sputters at the awful taste of gas and oil slicking the waters and then, she is past into the breathtaking cold, swimming toward the outline of the wreck below them. That smack of cold water in her face reminds the mage to protect not only their wolf from drowning but the Old Crow.

"".retaw rednu htaerb enadrevliS dna worC dlO ehT teL," she murmurs, bubbles streaming from her mouth..

Up ahead Marie-Ange's Star glimmers, guiding the way downward and then suddenly reverses, leaving her in the dark as a rush of water from a tower rising from the depths spins her head over heels.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna sputters at the awful taste of gas and oil slicking the waters and then, she is past into the breathtaking cold, swimming toward the outline of the wreck below them. That smack of cold water in her face reminds the mage to protect not only their wolf from drowning but the Old Crow.

"".retaw rednu htaerb enadrevliS dna worC dlO ehT teL," she murmurs, bubbles streaming from her mouth..

Up ahead Marie-Ange's Star glimmers, guiding the way downward and then suddenly reverses, leaving her in the dark as a rush of water from a tower rising from the depths spins her head over heels.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    As Above, so Below.

    The tower rises out of the water, the waves coming from the disturbed sea, mixing the salt with mysterious fresh water from the manuscript below. The whale strikes the tower, unable to stop itself, adn with its mass striking the tower, the whale of ice strikes it, peeling off some of its mass before it rattles itself to shivering slivers from the impact of a falling tower.

    "I'm fine!" she sputters, coughing up water. "The water's oddly fresh! No wonder the boat had a spot of trouble -- Well PLAYED Colbert! Well chosen Zee!" NEttie barks from her plae in the ocean, shiering -- and then she calls out "The fight's below! The manuscript's in the shattered boat on the bottom, I can feel it in my bones!" Nettie barks, her crows returning to her as Corvax asks "Are you totally insane?!" before ducking back into her jacket with Torny.

    Now with the ability to breathe under water, in spite of the bone-chilling cold, Nettie dives uder again, awkwardly swimming down the span, through mixed clouds of squid ink.

    There are a couple of blasts of purplish magic as she blasts the gremlins away, with witch and wolf decending towards the bottom of the ocean <<We should all be so lucky as to see it!>>

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
A skilled swimmer would stroke, slice through the waters, cut like a pike through the immutable mix of ocean and ink.

Silverdane.... dog-paddles. And only makes headway through the fortune of Zatanna's magic. Time for moritification later.

Scent is a strange thing in the water; some things are muted, others amplified. Copper scent-- blood from some distant seal, long-eaten. And others, everything else-- some familiar, others utterly new, alien for a creature of the world above the waves. Above it all, following that tingle, the itch that tickles at the back of brain.

Silt swirls from the seafloor as she comes to rest alongside the ruined ship. A piece of wood drifts down from above-- a spar from the vessel above, reduced to so much ruin. Silverdane grimaces, drawing a (watery!) breath, hover-floating-swimming forward to seek an entrance into the wreckage.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "That works, too," Lydia says, when Zee casts her water breathing spell. She lets Nettie go when old crone goes to dive back in the water, and looks about assessing the situation. It looks like the tower has taken care of the whale so the sailors are safe. Thank goodness. So it's time to dive back into the water.

    She follows the others down to the wreck and puts herself in guard position while the others search for the book. She becomes spiky, like a sea urchin, ready to send any one of those spikes towards a gremlin or other watery threat.

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
Marie-Ange doesn't have to be a fortune teller to know her own limits, and the likely results of trying to exceed them... but it doesn't hurt by any means. There's a smile from the redhead's lips as she catches the sound of the Tower splashing into the water, but moments after the stone structure does its job...

...it's just simply... gone.

Leaving water suddenly displaced where there was briefly a building until gravity, once again, does its job. Lydia especially would likely notice that the Star that the seer was riding has /also/ vanished, leaving gravity to send a ragdolling Marie towards the water.

Fortunately for her, she never took /off/ her life-jacket.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The world turns purple as blasts of magic streak past Zatanna tumbling in the currents. It's not the first time the intrepid Nettie Crowe has saved the Mage. The taste of blasted demon lingers, mixing in the brackish water. She straightens and swims in place until Nettie is nearly abreast of her, catching a glimpse of Silverdane making headway, all four limbs paddling.

Down they go. Magic tugs softly at the mage, beckoning her toward the wreck. Up ahead Lydia does her rendition of a spiky echinoderm, daring someone to attack them.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Down the group goes, decending to the frozen bottom of the Antarctic ocean. Above them creatures swim -- the gremlins are largely absent now.

    A leopard seal stops with a curious look to the swimmers, and shows its mighty teeth before swimming off. A shark solemnly swims by, uninterested in large prey.

    And at the bottom of the ocean, in a pillar of fresh water created by its magical force, against a small forest of icy fronds and frozen-over kelp, there is a...

    To call it a book would be misleading. It's not nearly as well put together. It's held together with an iron nail, threatening to rust out. Its pages are stiff and kissed with the fern-like patterns of frost, its text in an icily pale blue.

    The manuscript sits at the bottom of the ocean, free for the taking.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
The world is quiet, strangely still yet full of motion. The instinct to pause, to breathe and scent and draw deep- set aside with effor. Silverdane braces her feet on the floor, moving by hop and paddle to join the others as her eyes adjust to the strange gleam. Pause, gaze, breath held in check.

"It looks..." She pauses, reaching up to touch her lips. Water lending speech a bubbly, harmonic resonance! "...ancient," she continues, looking back to the tome. "Like has been here forever. Just taking--" She tilts her head, nostrils flaring by instinct, quivering. "--surely not so easy?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia retreats backwards, towards the tome, making sure that nothing gets by her. And nothing seems all that interested in them so that job is easy. Except for that seal. When it bares its teeth at her she bares hers right back, fangs extended and the seal decides that it wants nothing to do with that.

    When Belinda asks if this was easy, she gets a *look* from Lydia. Unlike the others she can't speak underwater, but that incredulous look says it all: You call this //easy?//

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Nothing is free for the taking. Not in the world of magic that Zatanna knows. There is always a price. Yet, there is the book, anchored to the ocean bottom with a rusty nail through its heart, waiting for a willing hand to take it. Zatanna hesitates, bobbing in the current of fresh water, and turns to look at Nettie, her black hair shifting to veil her face.

"Take it, Nettie." the words englobed in a magic bubble that pops near her ear. "I'm cold and ready to take us all to warmer weather."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "I can't touch it." Nettie admits quietly. "The minute I do, it'll burn my bones and blood vessels. It's cold, but it's Holy. That's why it's purifyin' the waters." Nettie states, "Lyds, Silverdane, Zee -- one of you has to grab it up."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Silverdane nods, smiling briefly at Nettie before drawing a long breath to steel herself. "Am least magical," she reasons. "So if anything unpleasant happens...." Stretching her neck, she swims forward carefully, hesitantly, eyes watching the Tome with exquisite care.

"San Cristobal," she murmurs quietly. "Wolf-headed saint, patron and warden, Bearer of Burdens. Watch us in our time of need. Be with us. Amen, y gracias."

Breath, prayer... Reach, touch, clasp. "...cold," she murmurs, gazing at the frosty letters, the ragged, spiked tome.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Like a mother watching a child cross a street, Zatanna hovers waiting to intervene were a bolt of magic to speed toward Silverdane. She points to the surface but waits for the others to leave first being one of the most able to protect them and herself. Ignoring a shark making a beeline toward a leopard seal she keeps an eye on their loba and eager for a word from Nettie.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    The tome fills Silverdane with coolness. Not anything radical, or a tendency to wear sunglasses and lean against walls no, but a gentle coolness that fills the limbs and eases the heartbeat. Relaxation and the sensation of floating weightlessly in the water. The tome gives a soft tone out, like the peal of a silver-toned bell, and with a wavering of magic, all four would find themselves standing on the surface of the water, however briefly -- and then PLOOMP! Right into the now properly salty drink.

    Nettie sputters, coughing, and she flails her arms about.

    "I give it up, worst Summer Cruise ever. All right, you lot, let's get back t' warm, dry land!" she croaks, and with a cross word, she creates a portal back to New York City, the Candle, Booke and Belle -- right by the fire place. "Everyone in. Tea's on me."