[Plans] Lose it in Shallower Waters

There are murmurs among the crew, superstitions giving way to whispered knowledge. Leviathan attacks are rare, but they do happen. Must or madness takes hold, and no ship can hope to withstand the onslaught of an enemy this large and this fearsome. The Demeter certainly can’t.

‘It won’t eat us," a Mariner asks, his face sweaty and coloured a sickly green. "Surely?"

‘Crush us, more like," another answers, keeping his voice calm despite a shaking hand betraying his fear.

You order them to cease their pointless speculation. Nothing will happen to ship and Crew, for you are prepared.

The small dots of calm on the Mirrormap, the silvery peaks surrounded by shade, do not show actual islands. They instead show rocks and reefs, shallow waters best avoided under most circumstances. But where the Demeter will struggle, the much larger Leviathan has no hope to follow. And so you take the helm and steer into the lesser danger.

Jagged spires rise like gripping fingers from the starboard waters, and a sandbank lies due port. A single error would see you breach the hull or run aground on the shoal. The engine whines under the strain, and your white-knuckle grip on the wheel makes your muscles burn. Waves break against the hull, and the Demeter lurches forward, even as it takes your all to keep her straight.

And then the waters calm and the lane broadens. You are still surrounded by hazards, but they are far enough away that you dare entrust the helm to a sweating Mariner.

The open Sea beckons beyond, and the Leviathan is gone.