An Underwater Adventure

1

“Mayor Sharp, the offering is in 2 minutes. Is everything ready?” asked a townsman. “As ready as we can be.” Mayor Sharp sighs, “Send the courier in before you leave.” The townsman left his office shortly after and in walks a dark skinned tall elf with a satchel over her left hip filled to the brim with letters. “You wanted me for something, sir.” “I did Ann. I want you to send out a bounty in the neighboring towns to kill this under water beast. Set the payment for 2,000 gold pieces as long as the beast is killed.” “Are you sure? Sir , I don't mean to question you but is this the wisest choice.” “I don't know Ann but our resources are slowly depleting and the people will start to feel it soon. I am sure about the bounty but make sure the bounty hunters speak to me first.” “I will send it out at once, sir.” With a nod of his head, Ann was off to send the message out. Sharp looked at his bare office with just the furniture and let out another sigh, ‘Best to get ready’ he thought.

The town is relatively small with the beach in the west, 15 3-story houses to the south, a marketplace to the north, the mayors house and office is between the market and the town square, with the town square in the middle. All the color is drained out of the buildings so it looks all uniform in a tan color for everything but the fountain being a worn and cracked dark green color. Even the market is deprived of color as the food is as colorless as the town. The townspeople gather in the square for the offering to the sea creature that they have yet to actually sea. When the creature shrieks the townspeople must not look for fear of being taken to the water and never seen again. For the offering the townspeople have gathered the last of the gold and silver in all different forms like silverware and placed them in front of the fountain towards the beach where they wait. After about 6 minutes a high pitched screech is heard in the distance and everyone immediately puts their head down fearing death. A deep voice that sounds like it has not been used speaks out, “More is needed next time.” and with another screech the creature disappears into the sea. The Mayer lets out a shaky breath when Ann comes running up to him, “Sir! Your message has been delivered to the surrounding towns.” “That is good Ann.”, he turns to address everyone, “We need to find more gold and silver. I’ve sent out a bounty of 2,000 gold to anyone who kills the creature but if no one comes we need to prepare for when it comes back.” and with nods of agreements the townspeople left to their own houses.