Yeah, Acutus will keep pressing forward since he doesn't really have any reason not to. I'm not super smart on "shark senses", but I do know animals in general tend to "feel" weather changes sooner than humans do.
Okay. Acutus begins to dart forward. More on that later, after I've read what the others do.
Pressure is not an issue for an airy sphere forms around the ship that Johan takes under. However, his thinking is that underwater is the enemy's terrain, and getting forced under puts us at a disadvantage. Taking to the sky, where the enemy has no power or presence' seems like the wiser course of action.
Though Junior may not be smart enough to think that through. So it is Robeto that gives the order to lift off. Johan instructs everyone to strap in and strap down in case we have to make a barrel roll 
Not wanting to drop from an insane height into a hurricane, Lucas does as asked and quickly takes a seat and straps himself in. He also finds some way to tether Horus as well so that the falcon won't get separated from the ship if the ship rocks or, God forbid, has to spin.
forsooth, what is this water pressure of which you speak? What sort of man or spirit could pressure water, which hath neither ears nor will to be thus swayed?
okay, I was in a silly mood...
Okay. The ship goes up flawlessly. It's a race between it and the storm: Will you be able to go over it first, or will you be swept up under?
Between johan's previous roll and Horus early warning, it seems like you're gonna make it by a small margin.
However, as you reach the stormfront, the winds pick you up, and a new, smaller storm brews up over you in a few moments, not unlike one wrought by Clouds of Rain and Thunder, taking you in its embrace, shaking the ship right and left.
Anchoring yourselves was a great idea, as you see everything on the deck being thrown one way or another. As you progress upward though the smaller storm, the ship creaks, battered by the winds. In a roar of thunder, lightnings suddenly cracks the sky near you, and, for a moment, hope seems lost.
What says you? (and make a roll in all cases)
Acutus: As you progress forward, you sense the water pressure changing around you, which is a bad sign in your experience. Soon, the light diminishes, the storm above hiding the sun, and the currents try to pick you up. Your instinct screams at you to seek deep water, in order to protect you from the storm waves. In the distance, you perceive what seems to be a huge mass of fishes, all moving together.
Really, I wouldn't even had thought about it if it wasn't mentionned twice - One in LoH, and once in an insert in another, older book.
Johan VanHalen, Stormrider!
Perception (?) +1
Profession-Seaman 6 (danger)
Die Roll 1d1=8
For a Total of 16, adding Confidence could ake that 19 or even 22 if needed.
[twisted]
Lucas holds firm to his seat, unable to think of anything to do that can help except to stay quiet and keep out of the way. Horus, a creature of the air, is slightly more used to being pushed around by the wind. But even he is happy to be secured to something more stable than just his two wings.
Acutus will dive down to deeper waters, attempting to get below the storm as quickly as possible.
(Acutus needs to be wary of getting sucked up in a vortex and becoming a one magus Sharknado!)
(couldn't resist)
:mrgreen:
(You didn't tell me what you wanted to do, I assume you go with your original plan of going over the clouds. We can retcon if not)
The howling winds threaten the ship apart as it speeds through the storm, yet Johan's will doesn't falter. The cords holding the sail snap, and it gets stuck to the mast, flapping wildly behind it.
And suddenly, it all ends.
You emerge from the clouds into a clear blue sky, the sun shining peacefully above your head. Under you, a sea of black clouds roll, and you hear the sound of thunder.
Wirth looks sick, but Riad laughs wildly That was insane! Do you often do this?
(No confidence needed, one confidence gained.)
Acutus, you begin to dive, and you sense the sea above you rolling, threatening. There's no other fish above you, although you can perceive a few under, most of them diving away from the storm. No other fish, that is, save that huge mass you saw before. If this keeps up, they're gonna be ripped appart, yet they don't seek safety... until suddenly, they disband in an arc, fleeing for the depths.
Anyone wants to do something special?
(An apology: I've played again some amber, and between that and the lack of time, I realize I fell back on old reflexes of diceless gaming.)
Awesoness!
And yes, this is exactly what I intended. Up and over.
Roberto looks at Wirth, slaps him on the baxk, and laughs.
[color=red]See? That's why I hired and then promoted the kid! He,s got eggs like a bull! And he's been blessed by King Neptune to boot!
Roberto contemplate trying to determine if he can dispel the storm with Perdo, but waits to see what others are thinking.
Lucas gives everyone a big smile when the air starts to calm down. "Well, that wasn't so bad," he says with a laugh of sheer delight at being alive. "I only thought I was going to die three times while we were in the storm."
"Well done, captain!" he calls out to Johan. "Well done."
Then he peers down at the storm. "If that storm is magical in origin, our enemies have much greater power at their disposal than I thought. That kind of storm magic is far beyond anything I can do."
[color=red]You underestimate your potential and forget the providence of the Allmighty.
I reason the storm must be magical somehow. Too coincidental and well placed for mere happenstance. I would guess seventh magnitude at least, maybe eighth. I know an all purpose counterspell that is half as strong. It would be a long shot though. A more specific Perdo Vim versus Auram spell, or the right Perdo Auram spell, would work much better.
My list of things to do just keeps growing.
Wirth, Master of Apromorian arts, perhaps you know a specific unravelling?
Johan thinks all you guys are stupid jerks, and says so.
[color=green]All youse guys is stupid jerks. Just fly over and past it, then back down and under really deep like.
[color=red]I'll bust you in the head you stupid jerk! That idea might work. But that might mean skipping a stop over on Riyad's island and gathering intelligence.
We need to contact Acutus. We all exchanged Arcane Connections as I recall. Lucas, I remember your mentioning you knew a communication spell?
Wirth almost chokes when Roberto slaps him.
Don't. Do. That.
For an instant, it seems like he's gonna throw up. He takes a few tentative steps, trying to recover
You're right. That storm would have killed us.
Seems natural for a sea creature. And Attumah ain't alone. Maybe he had dozens of soldiers on this. That'd explain the last storm.
But how would they know about us ?
Wirth frowns
Never had the time. And Unraveling the Fabric of Auram wouldn’t work if this is a creature’s doing. I could try a spont. Don’t think it’d work. And the storm hides us from the sea, anyway..
You needn’t fear missing Riad’s island, though. Based on what Acutus told you, you were still several days from it.Assuming you traveled mundanely (which doesn’t tire Johan), you’ve done about 1/3 of the way, one half if you went purely under his guidance. The storm would both need to be countrywide and last several days to be a real problem.
Waiting for lucas and Acutus.
"I do," Lucas replies. "But it's range is only sight. I can't manage to use with with an arcane connection unless someone can cast Wizard's Reach for Mentem spells at the fourth magnitude." He looks over the side of the ship. "If I could see him down there, even from this height, I could send him a message. But not with an arcane connection."
"Of course, I could try and spontaneously cast my Whispering Mind spell using the arcane connection. It'd be a real stretch of my abilities, but I might be able to make it work."
He pauses and considers the problem again. "There is one other possibility I can see. It's not perfect, but just might work. It would mean tampering with Acutus's memory, which I hope he'd forgive me for. But it's a possibility. I could try and cast a spell using the arcane connection that would change his memory of what we said to him the last time we saw him before the storm came. For example, we could add in a memory of agreeing to a rendezvous point, and then go meet him there. The trick with this spell is that I'd have to get past his parma, and I'm not sure how difficult that would be. We have an arcane connection, that's a start. I also know his name; that helps too. If we could manage to cast his horoscope for today, that would be even better."
"Unfortunately, the spell would only last a moment. He'd have a flash of the memory, then he'd know it was fake. Would he take that fake memory as an attack by our enemies or as an attempt at a message from us? I'd hope the latter, but I'm not sure." The Mercere magus shrugs, then adds, "At least it may be worth a try."
[hr][/hr]
Lucas's Whispering Mind spell was originally designed to allow him to communicate while in animal form without giving himself away. Now that I see how useful having the spell at Arcane Connection would be, I'm going to have to look into getting it. But hindsight his 20/20.
If Lucas could voluntarily use a stress die in casting, he might be able to cast Whispering Mind at Momentary Duration with Arcane Connection range. But he'd have to roll a 15+ on the stress die.
His memory idea has a much greater chance of success, though it means having to break through Acutus's parma (and technically attack Acutus with a spell). I'm assuming we have an AC like a strand of hair that lasts for weeks. That's a +2 penetration. (if it's blood or a lock of hair, then we have a +3). We know his name, that's +1. The spell is only level 5 (base 1, make a minor change in memory, +4 AC). But it has to beat a 20 magic resistance (Acutus would have a specialty in Muto magic for his PM).
Unfortunately, Lucas has a Penetration of 0, which means he'd have to get a penetration of 21, or roll 7 over what he needs to cast the spell, i.e., 12. His MuMe CT is 20, which halved is 10. So he'd need to roll a 4 on the die for the spell to work.
If we can boost the penetration bonus to +4, either with a better AC or a horoscope, then he only needs to roll 6 over what he needs, which means that he's guaranteed to have the spell work unless he botches it.
Of course I'm making some assumptions about how Mentem spells work that may or may not be true. I was assuming that if you alter someone's memory, once the duration is over they remember the true memory, but remember remembering the fake one - they just know that it wasn't real. If all memory of remembering remembering the memory goes too, then forget my plan.
(Trogdor, just one thing you forgot...Acutus can't be affected by Mentem magic while in his heartbeast...it would have to be Animal)
Acutus will keep diving to stay under the storm, while still going in the direction of Riad's island.
??? you lost me in there.
First, the penetration bonus doesn't add to your Penetration. It adds to the penetration multiplier to the Penetration skill.
So if, say, you've got a Penetration skill of 4 and an AC multiplier of +3, you add 16 (4* 3+1) to your spell's penetration.
[strike]Sadly, your Penetration is 0. If this was a skill you could use without training, I'd have allowed you to chose your specialty, but no dice 
So you've got no penetration bonus here [/strike] According to the wiki, Lucas has Penetration (Corpus) 01, so you've got a penetration bonus of 1*(1+3+1) = 5
Your penetration is this, minus 05
So, to penetrate a MR of 20, (21 + die)/2 - 05 must be greater than 16 (acutus MR + Aura 1 - penetration 5). Which means that (11+die)/2 must be over 16. You must roll over 22 (33/2 > 16)!!!!
Also, Acutus has an error: Parma Magica can only have a specialty in a Form, not in a Technique (it's in the corebook, IIRC). Unless he chooses Mentem, this helps you, by 10 points, meaning you'd only need to roll over 12 (23/2> 11)
Do we agree?
Except Mentem doesn't work on his Heartbeast. Only Animal.