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[colour=lightseagreen][h1][b][i]Ashalla[/i][/b][/h1]
[b]Goddess of Oceans and Storms[/b][/colour]
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Ashalla floated through the ocean between Atokhekwoi and Dragon's Foot, carrying Vakk's music box with her. The journey was slow by her standards, but she passed the time by listening to the box's melodies. But as she swam, she sensed that something was amiss, although she struggled to identify exactly what. The box failed to soothe her anxiety over this feeling of wrongness. Then she heard Qiang Yi's prayer.

[i]O Holiest spirit of the Sea, Ashalla. Your grace and power are second to none in the ocean - as such, this servant asks that Your sacred boon follows us still as our voyage progresses. Thank You for everything.[/i]

Why would Qiang Yi ask for a renewal of her boon so soon after having received it? Had not her word been enough? Unless some event had made him doubt. Then Ashalla realised that what she had been feeling must have been a violation of her blessing, some occurrence which had defied her divine will, and this had led Qiang Yi to doubt her word. Immediately, Ashalla left the Box of Orchestration and swam as quickly as she could towards the Zhengwu.

When Ashalla reached the southern peninsula of the Kick, she could see the dispersing remains of the battle. Sharpened sticks and splintered planks and bark drifted in the sea, along with a few sets of clothing. The Zhengwu floated near the shore, damaged. And in the water, Ashalla could taste a trail of black blood. She recognised the creature it came from. The wind began to pick up and clouds darkened the sky as she saw the proof of what had happened. There would be a reckoning.

But first, there was reparation to do. She looked upon the Zhengwu and inspected it. The crew were wounded but recovering; there was little that Ashalla needed to do there. She noticed with a touch of pride an effigy depicting an oceanic woman on the bow of the ship, which she assumed was a rendition of herself. The most pressing issue for the ship was the breach below deck near the stern, which was allowing seawater to leak into the ship. Several servants were trying to repair it, but as they could not enter the water they were having difficulty.

Although Ashalla knew nothing of ship-building or carpentry, she could help with this. She extended her essence into the ship through the breach, becoming the water which had leaked in, then she pulled out of the ship, taking the water with her and leaving the inside dry. On the outside of the ship, Ashalla froze the water around the breach to stop the influx of water. It was a short-term fix, as the ice would melt in these warm waters, but hopefully it would be enough time for the servants to repair the breach.

Ashalla then turned and swam after the trail of blood, taking the tempest of her simmering rage with her.

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The leviathan angler swam lethargically through the depths of the ocean. This angler had acquired a few small scars along its front, and one of its left eyes was missing, leaving an empty socket. Its tentacles were suspended around it, sensing for any vibrations which would indicate an approaching creature. Its light cast an eerie glow through the water, which it hoped would attract something to eat.

Then it saw a school of fish, attracted to its lure. Their iridescent scales flashed in the angler's light as they swam closer. The angler waited, mouth slowly widening as its next meal drew closer. Then, when the school of fish was within lunging range, the creature tensed its fins and tentacles to surge forwards.

But at that very moment, it sensed movement all around it, and as it lunged the water around it grew heavy and thick, immobilising the leviathan angler. The school of fish scattered, but the abomination suddenly had much more pressing matters vying for its attention than food.

[colour=lightseagreen][b]"I had promised that ship safe passage through my ocean,"[/b][/colour] seethed a voice like a rumbling storm.

The ocean water held the angler in place with crushing pressure. The angler could not move, and a simulacrum of fear began to emerge from its frayed soul for the first time in its existence.

[colour=lightseagreen][b]"Then you attacked that ship, in defiance of my promise."[/b][/colour] The voice grew in intensity, her fury evident.

The water stilled around the angler's gills despite the surrounding turbulence, denying the angler oxygen. The water pushed into its mouth and the pressure inside the angler began to increase.

[colour=lightseagreen][b]"Now they question whether my blessing is still with them."[/b][/colour]

The water pushed harder into every crevice and facet of the abomination. Its wounds re-opened and oozed black blood into the ocean. The angler was not capable of many feelings, but pain was one of them, and it was feeling pain even worse than when it had lost its eye.

[colour=lightseagreen][b]"You have made my words untrue, cast me as a liar!"[/b][/colour] The voice now roared with the tempestuous fury of a maelstrom.

The angler's gills and other eyes started to bleed, and it could feel indescribable pain as internal organs ruptured.

The voice screamed into a climax. [colour=lightseagreen][b]"For that, you die!"[/b][/colour]

The water surged inwards, and in the blink of an eye the leviathan angler exploded. Shreds of meat and shards of bone billowed outwards in an expanding cloud of black blood and bile. Where the angler once was dwelt Ashalla, her rage peeling off her as turbulent currents which stirred and spread the remains of the leviathan angler. In time the remains had dispersed, and Ashalla's anger had subsided.

[colour=lightseagreen][b]"May that be a warning to you,"[/b][/colour] she called out through the ocean to leviathan anglers and other sea beasts. [colour=lightseagreen][b]"The ship bearing Shengshi's servants is not to be harmed."[/b][/colour]

Her retribution complete, Ashalla swam off, returning to the Box of Orchestration.

[hider=That fish was biting for a smiting]
Ashalla senses a disturbance in the force, hears Qiang Yi's prayer, puts two-and-two together, and races off to inspect the Zhengwu.

She comes across the aftermath of that ship's battle against a leviathan angler. This makes her angry for the first time ever. Before acting on her anger, though, Ashalla provides some minor assistance with the repairs. She dredges all the seawater out of the bottom of the ship and slaps a big ice band-aid over the breach in the Zhengwu's hull, hopefully giving the servants enough time to fix it properly. She leaves without saying anything, although the crew would have noticed a brief tempest stir.

Ashalla tracks down the Leviathan Angler which had attacked the Zhengwu. She is absolutely livid, for she had promised the ship safe passage yet this creature of the ocean had attacked the ship, defying her divine words and casting her as a liar. As punishment, she explodes the Leviathan Angler in a particularly painful and gory manner. This, I think, is the first smite in Mk 3.

Ashalla shouts a warning to all the other sea creatures.

Throughout this post, the Box of Orchestration was left unattended.

[i]No Might spent[/i]
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