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Post by Veliky on Nov 8, 2022 13:27:55 GMT -5
A crash of lightning sends sparks across the ocean's surface. The night is as cold and wet as the Luna Sea itself. Rain adds such volume to the waves that one can almost see the water rising.
Yet the waters become utterly tame[1], like a savage dog in the presence of its master, as an enormous ship of strange, geometric construction glides along. The waves at its side refuse to touch its hull, the sea before it flattens into a welcoming path and the current behind it does its part by pushing it along. It might almost be seen as a sort of harmony, but those attuned to the whims of the ocean know that it is jurisdiction, not rapport, that demands this cooperation. This ship is the Nin Hloth, whose law is the sea's.
The Nin Hloth's expansive deck is like a landscape of its own. Dragging taloned feet along the rain-soaked are beings bizarre, yet familiar; machine, yet walking like men. For the owner of this mythical vessel is, too, someone strangely familiar.
"We should be close. Keep your eyes out!" Veliky's bellows from the Upper Command Deck are barely audible over the rainfall, but her Blixtbot™ minions are quick to relay her words; within minutes, they will be heard throughout the entire ship. There are hundreds of the autonomous beings; Veliky is the only living soul among the crew. That is, except for today, as an exception stands beside her. "Zarius, I need you to be the first down there when we find them. Needless to say, the bots won't be a calming sight for a bunch of traumatized fishermen."
It isn't long - less than a minute - before a Bishop marches up the stairs and stands at attention. "Mistress Veliky, report: we have located an anomaly."
'Anomaly' can mean many things when spoken by a Blixtbot™. In broad terms - of which it is - it is something unknown that draws their attention.
Veliky pushes herself off the railing she'd been leaning on and, at the Bishop's indication, minces to the port side. There, in the distance, she can see it: lights on the water, a circular raft, bobbing up and down on the waves.
"That's them." She raises her voice to a commanding shout. "All units, prepare to extract the payload!"
1. Sea Caller
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Nov 8, 2022 16:56:54 GMT -5
Zarius stands against a railing with his arms folded as the Nin Hloth sails through the storm. The vessel itself was impressive and an imposing sight even in the middle of the storm. The waves dared not disturb the vessel and its crew of metal contraptions despite the hurricane raging around them.
He wasn’t much of a sailor himself, but he had been on a handful of vessels in the past. Hell, he worked with smugglers on the regular, not that Veliky knew that. At least he hoped she didn’t. She probably would have never invited him along if she was aware of that. Though it would be amusing to see her rattle off criminal charges that would never come to fruition. Not that he wasn’t guilty, it just was unlikely he would ever be brought before an actual court.
“Oh, yes. I am the most calming sight to see appearing out of a storm.” He jests.
Of course Veliky was correct, it would be best for someone with a more…organic touch to talk to the possibly panicked individuals. That said, he still was a tiefling and some people had issues with his kind with their devil-like appearances.
He looks about the ship at all of Veliky’s automatons. It was a strange sight but he had gotten mostly used to seeing the constructs accompanying the quarterling these days. The sheer number of them was astounding though.
Part of him was curious about the whole process of creating them, but Veliky had made it very clear she had no intentions of trusting him with any information that could be used to turn the bots against her. Not that he would. Veliky was more valuable as a somewhat tolerant ally than an annoying enemy.
Zarius follows Veliky through the rain over to the side of the ship. He squints as droplets of water pelt his face and soak his clothes. The sooner they got this job done, the sooner they could make for dry land. Luckily for them the missing sailors were now within sight, their small raft tossed amongst the waves without a care. In a few moments they would glide up next to them and be able to haul them aboard.
The tiefling stays well out of the way of the Blixtbot™s by simply hoping up on the rail then walking down the side of the vessel.[1] As instructed, he ensured he was the first one down by the raft in order to calm the soggy civilians.
[1] Spider Silk boots
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Post by Veliky on Nov 8, 2022 22:44:54 GMT -5
Off goes the charcoal tiefling. Ominous though his yellow eyes may be, psychology would have it that they're preferable to the bots' red lenses.
Veliky looks over the deck of her ship, ponderous, with her hand on the wooden railing. This job has been simple enough; however much it rains, it couldn't have gone worse than the last time. A thunderbird... Veliky hadn't even known of such things. But, even if one of those leviathans had shown up again; or if something worse had decided to stand, float or fly in her path; she is far better equipped than she was back then. Where the Nin Hloth was once a fortress; now, it is a kingdom. No mortal being could assail it.
For a moment, Veliky finds herself reflecting on the past. This feeling of invincibility: she can barely remember a time before it. When she thinks clearly... yes, there had been a time when she was scrounging and scavenging through abandoned holds in Thunderhoof Village. The memory is bathed in morning sunlight, yet it bleeds an unplaceable anxiety. The more she tries to ignore it, the stronger it becomes. It feels heavy and cold, cold...
The sound of cracking wood draws her eyes to the post upon which she rests her hand, upon which frost is beginning to form. Everything about the sight is unnatural, from the speed of its invasion to the sheer impossibility of ice forming alongside fallen rain.
She pulls her hand away. As she watches, other parts of the ship begin to freeze over: the railings, the deck, the hull, even the sails. Yet the rain remains rain, even as the temperature plummets below freezing.
The Bishop bot, still standing nearby, drags its talons along the frosted planks. "Alert: anomaly detected."
Veliky lets out a long breath, visible in the frigid air. "Y-Y-Yeah," she utters through now-chattering teeth, hugging herself. "I c-can s-s-see that-t. S-S-Stay alert-t."
Just as the words leave her trembling lips, just as the frost has covered a fifth of the massive vessel, the air becomes suddenly thin, as if it were just sucked from the atmosphere. The feeling causes a sharp pain in Veliky's ears and skull, as if her head is ready to split in two; she grips her scalp and grunts in agony. The bots, too, are affected; their sense of balance suddenly stripped, they struggle to stay on their talons: a task made especially difficult by the frosted deck.
Then, through the drops of rain, in the sky above the Nin Hloth, sparks of arcane blue manifest and swirl like a whirlpool in the dark clouds! The ghastly vortex bends and stretches its maw into places beyond the fabric of reality! And, from that maw, translucent chains of ethereal blue stretch and rattle unnaturally, as if floating in water! And following them is the figurehead of a ship - sails, stern and all - possessed of that same glow! The echoing sound of a port bell echoes through the air.
The ghost-ship's torn sails guide it through the air, heedless of the complete lack of substance beneath it! And from its bilge hovers an army of spectral figures: skeletons and other corpses, dressed in the ephemeral, ragged clothes of long-dead pirates.
Veliky's eyes widen, only to narrow in indignation. "N-n-never eas-sy, is-s it-t?" She breaks into a sprint, astonishingly balanced on the icy planks[1], toward a brass bowl attached to a brass pipe. It's like the bell of a trumpet, and its body extends below the deck. She shouts into it, and her voice is carried throughout the vessel.
"Hostiles on the... up! Battle stations!"
1. Sea Legs
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Nov 10, 2022 11:32:17 GMT -5
Zarius stands horizontally out from the hull of the Nin Hloth a few leaps away from the waterline as the massive vessel pulls up to the small raft.[1] As the ship towers over the raft, the fishermen look up in a mix of awe, relief, and uncertainty. The tiefling gets closer to their raft and reaches out to grab onto it and pull it against the ship’s side.[2]
“Hold on, we are here to get you to safety. Please remain calm and I will help you get on board.”
He starts to help them up once the Blixtbot™s lower down a few ladders. About half of the fishermen are finished with their climb to the main deck of the Nin Hloth when Zarius notices his breath hanging in the air. A shiver runs up his spine as the temperature dramatically drops and the sky seems to part above them.
Looking to the clouds, he sees the spectral ship’s arrival. Great. Just what they needed. It was a ghastly sight and didn't bode well for the Nin Hloth and its crew.
“Keep moving! Get below deck once you are up!”
He rushes the last few fisherman up the ladders as the frost spreads across the ship’s hull. One of the fisherman nearly gets their hand stuck on the rungs of the ladder by the sudden layer of frost. Zarius puts his hand over his and uses his body heat to help him free without tearing his skin off.
“Go!” He shouts at the last fisherman as they clear the railing.
The tiefling herds the group to the safety of a lower deck. “Stay out of the way and keep together.”
Turning on his heel once they’re settled in a corner away from the mechanical crew, Zarius races back up to assist Veliky and the constructs in fending off the invading skeletal pirates.
Long ghostly chains dangle down across the upper deck of the Nin Hloth as a boarding party of pirate skeletons clamber their way down and start their attack. Zarius races forward as the first few touch the deck and his fingers slip into the rings of his knuckle knives.[3, 4]
One of the skeletons turns its attention to the tiefling with an unnerving head tilt as its distended jaw gapes with a ghostly moan. Zarius wastes no time closing the gap and slamming his fist into its ribcage. The skeleton's bones burst into pieces from the impact and shards of ribs go scattering across the icy deck. The spine cracks and the top half of the skeleton clatters to the ground, leaving the pelvis and legs standing.
Two other zombies look down at their fallen companion, then at each other before turning to Zarius in confusion.
"Next." The tiefling flashes a malicious grin.
[1] Spider Silk Boots [2] Iron Grip [3] Dashing [4] Knuckle Knives
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Post by Veliky on Nov 10, 2022 21:39:38 GMT -5
The spectral corsairs descend onto the deck like a falling sky! In their presence, the rain freezes into snow before it touches the deck. It's as if the ghost ship, from whatever realm it came, brought Winter in its tow!
The guttural cackling of a madman draws Veliky's eyes up, to the sight of a legless spirit, swinging two cutlasses with insane abandon and floating straight toward her! The sounds of his blades cutting through air are muffled, yet echoing, as if coming from somewhere far away.
But Veliky is unafraid. She knows that the greatest defense is the hidden one.
As the spirit closes in, a Rook unit materializes, piece-by-piece, into sight! By the time its form is fully visible, it has already leapt to intercept the spirit, slicing it in half at the chest with its longsword. Its physical weaponry is surprisingly effective against the ethereal being; in fact, it seems especially so[1].
The bot's flight takes it onto the deck. As it deftly lands[2], it brings its sword down on another spirit, destroying it. Thoroughly immersed in the fray, it engages in what a thinking being would call a rampage[3], cutting down every spectre, shamble and skeleton in its path. Much of the crew has already joined. A skirmish on the deck, between construct and undead, it's a battle of the lifeless! The Blixtbots™ defend the terrified fishermen on their path to the lower decks.
But Veliky is quick to notice something odd - and perturbing. Her teeth grind with concern as the sundered undead release little motes of blue light that waver in the air before floating, as if drawn, up and back into the ghastly galleon. She lets out a breath of dew. What new Hell does this entail for her and her crew?
Suddenly, she feels herself grabbed, yanked and lifted into the air by gnarly, translucent hands that are as cold as Autumn's vengeance! Before she understands, she's face-to-face and eyes-to-eye with a skeletal, yet bearded visage. Its ghostly teeth chatter as it speaks in a voice that's mocking, yet plagued by desperation.
"Think ye can kill what is dead?! Once, we return-ed! Forevermore we shall! There is no escape for ussss, not in mercy nor death-tha!"
Inches from Veliky's face, his jaw grinds open. He inhales: hopeless, weak, like a grandfather's last breath. Veliky feels the heat, the life draining from her face, drawn into the spirit's maw and some unspeakable depths[4]!
But, suddenly, the spirit gags and chokes! His sputtering seems to fade between realms. He stares at Veliky; without lids, his single eye betrays no emotion, but the pain and confusion is clear in his empty, ragged breaths. And he gasps in shock when he sees Veliky's eyes, her irises which have turned to a fiery brass[5].
"Graveyard shift, huh? You should see my hours."
She rears back and sends a headbutt into the spectre's skull! Its ectoplasmic form is obliterated in a flash of radiance[6].
Without anything holding her, she falls, letting out a yell of pain as she lands butt-first on the frozen planks. Fortunately, her innate divinity is quick to heal the bruise and extinguish the pain.
She's quick to stand and dust herself off, but lets out a groan of frustration when she sees that the spirit's essence - that little, blue mote - remains, and drifts back into the vessel above. Within moments, she sees that same spirit emerge from the hull again, rejuvenated entirely!
"Ugh, faa've wuler tam mab enabababa maag!" She raises her left arm and screams with divine authority, "Maintain the defense! Failure! Is not! An option!" Her declaration reverberates within the crew's very soul - and within Zarius' - implanting a desire - no, a need to banish these creatures into the abyss! And it offers strength, power[7], but will it be enough to kill the dead?
1. Sigil's Blessing [Holy] (Rook) 2. Cat's Grace (Rook) 3. (Sword for Dummies) X-01 Novice 4. Draining Touch (Spirit) 5. Heavenly Infusion 6. Angelic Light 7. Inspiring Presence
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Nov 15, 2022 16:21:13 GMT -5
The two zombies Zarius was squaring off with start to shamble forward towards the tiefling who had just obliterated a skeleton moments before. They draw pairs of nasty-looking, hooked blades as they approach. Zarius’ cocky grin soon shifts as the zombies suddenly zip around him with unexpected speed and go for a pincer attack while flanking him on either side. [1]Zarius ducks under the pair of swinging blades just as they shave a few stray hairs off the top of his head. The blades clang together over him as he winds up a punch and delivers a crippling blow to e the knee of the zombie on his left. The zombie’s knee audibly cracks and bends backwards which takes the undead down to kiss the deck of the Nin Hloth. The other one raises both its dual blades up over the tiefilng’s head and brings them down quickly. Zarius spins out of the way, feeling the fabric of his outfit tug sharply as a piece is pinned down under one of the blades now impaled into the wooden deck. He pulls back hard, tearing the material just before the zombie comes in with a horizontal swipe at his neck with the free blade. The other zombie crawls towards him and makes a grab for his tail. A flash of fury crosses Zarius’ face and he slams his heel into the animated corpses’ face. “Do not touch my tail.” He snarls, just catching sight of another few zombies surrounding his current position. "Maintain the defense! Failure! Is not! An option!" Veliky’s commanding presence fills the air with a strange energy. The low roiling fire deep within Zarius suddenly builds into a roaring inferno and his golden eyes burn with a blue light while his fangs and nail sharpen and lengthen. [2] Smoke billows from his mouth as an overwhelming presence makes its influence known. Fight. The pirate zombies swarm around him only to be grabbed and thrown clear overboard of the ship or slammed into one another. One zombie’s limb comes loose as Zarius catches their wrist and slings them around roughly. [3] The limb, once liberated from its original owner, is used as a club Shaa-style to knock another into the ship’s railing which they tumble back over to the calm waters below. [4]Zarius pants, more smoke being exhaled from his lungs. It burns and his body feels like its burning up from the inside. There was no time to stop though as more undead pirates descend from the ghostly ship. He stands up straighter and the glove-like wrappings on his arms unravel as he steps forward into the fray. [5] The wrappings spring to life and Zarius starts snagging ankles to trip enemies or reel them in like fish only to slam his fists into their faces. [1] Dashing (zombies) [2] Abyssal Darkness [3] Iron Grip [4] Improvised Weapon [5] Constrictor Wraps
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Post by Veliky on Nov 17, 2022 19:19:19 GMT -5
Chaos - whimsical chaos. This is what Veliky sees on the deck of her ship: snowfall to be seen, frigid cold to be felt and the remote clashing of proximate, immaterial blades to be heard. Wherever a ghoul or ghost falls, their essence only returns to the spectral vessel above, to recorporate and rejoin the battle mere moments later. Veliky grinds her teeth and scowls; how is one supposed to win a fight like this?
The Blixtbots™ easily obliterate their foes with irradiating steel[1], but to what end? Ease does not always entail flawlessness; even now, Veliky turns to the starboard-bow, just in time to see one of her own bodyguards - a Bishop - clattering to the ground, beside another fallen bot. Both of their hulls are unnaturally corroded.
Veliky, seething with frustration, slams her fist into a frosted railing. Then, she deftly climbs[2] atop that same railing and stands, overlooking the chaos.
Lightning crashes into the ocean again, but not the natural lightning of the ocean typhoon; its violet bolts crackle along the water's surface, lingering, as if the sea were rejecting it for its very nature: like oil.
Veliky breathes into cupped hands to warm her face, just enough to cease the chattering for a moment. "Halskrim decero...!" she spits betwixt the descending flakes. Not Halfling, nor Common, nor even Goblin: an incantation of the arcane tongue. Her chest begins to burn with mana; light-energy surges through the veins in her neck and face, pumping from where her heart might be and glowing white beneath her skin. Her breathing becomes heavy and strained. It isn't a comfortable process, but it's necessary for what she's about to do.
She raises her arms and pushes them forward, sending out a pulse of dull, umber energy that washes over the entire ship and into the sky! Where it passes any of the undead marauders, they freeze in place[3]! Hovering wraiths hang in the air like paintings nailed into nothingness, while the skeletons and zombies simply become suspended in time. Some of them, trapped in unbalanced stances, teeter and timber unceremoniously to the ground. Even the ghost ship and its ghastly chains become absolutely motionless.
The bots don't waste the opportunity. Those undead they'd been fighting, they begin chopping to pieces. The more are killed, the more the snow abates, becoming rain once more. But the result, still, is the same: their essence lingers where their forms fail, and rise into the flying vessel.
"Kahn!" Veliky curses angrily from on high. By now, the white glow has faded from her face. She'd hoped the spell would somehow hinder their recuperation. But it did, at least, provide a moment's respite.
She walks briskly and easily along the frosted railing, before sliding down the handrail of the stairs, onto the main deck. She marches toward Zarius, grabbing a cold bottle of Blixt™ Pirate's Rum from a nearby crate as she passes.
"This isn't working! Zarius, hold down the fort. And keep those fishermen safe; I don't trust our walls to do much against these vida-ekk-na! I'll be back."
She looks away and raises her right hand. "Broom!" In response, one of the noncombatant bots tosses her a familiarly tiny, gnarled broomstick. She whispers another command and the broom, too, obeys, hovering[4] in place for her to take a seat upon it. And off she goes, soaring through the rain, then the snow, toward the ghastly galleon.
1. Sigil's Blessing [Holy] 2. Sea Legs 3. Halt Undead 4. Flying Broom.
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Nov 19, 2022 1:22:33 GMT -5
The pause in the battle is welcomed since Zarius was being overwhelmed by a horde of zombies and skeletons. As the undead freeze in their tracks, Zarius slams his way out of the pile of rotten bodies and stumbles over to the railing where he coughs up plumes of smoke. His lungs burn and it is hard to breathe.
He takes a moment to catch his breath, his eyes flashing back and forth between blue and gold before Valiky comes stomping across the deck towards him and barking orders.
“What are you going to do by yourself?!” He calls after her as she takes off into the air on her broom.
His tail lashes in irritation and he curses in the devil’s tongue. The spell Veliky had cast continued to fuel the infernal fire inside him, bolstering its flames and boiling his blood. It was both invigorating and excruciating. He grits his teeth and turns back to deal with the remaining undead.
As the undead start to move once more, he snarls and throws himself into the fray with a flurry of punches and slams. He's making a fair amount of progress in busting up the undead horde before they fully recover from Veliky's spell.
One zombie descends from a chain onto the crossbar of the ship’s mast. It pulls out a crossbow slung around its back and aims down at the brawler as he thins out the number of undead on the deck along with the Blixtbot™s. It pulls the trigger and launches a crossbow bolt when his back is turned. Zarius whips around and manages to catch the bolt out of thin air after hearing the twang of the crossbow.[1] He flings the bolt back up at the zombie, knocking it off its perch. The zombie plummets to the deck below and smashes against the deck with a splat.
A small victory, but progress none the less. Each fallen undead is one less that can reach the vulnerable civilians below deck. Each one he takes down is buying more time for Veliky to do whatever it is she has planned. He keeps focused on that despite the burning in his chest and the heat radiating through his veins. He can bear it for now. He just hopes Veliky acts quickly.
[1] Deflecting Palm (1/2)
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Post by Veliky on Nov 23, 2022 18:13:55 GMT -5
Soaring through the swirling admixture of snow and rainfall that defies all reason, the halfling is intent on defying all odds! Indeed, what can she do by herself? What weapon or trick could possibly repel the attackers that defy all mortal wound? She cannot be certain, but she does have one hope: the only reinforcement that permits her face to remain steeily resolved.
Keeping one hand firmly on her broomsteed, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a bottle of Blixt™: one that only recently began production[1]. It possesses the same dark-brown hue as its namesake (and flavour-muse). She clenches the stopper in her jaw and yanks it out with a ffoom! Then, keeping as tight a grip on the broom as she can with her thighs, she uses her other hand to produce a handkerchief, which she stuffs halfway down the neck of the bottle, letting the other half hang out.
It's then that the broom comes to a sudden halt, as Veliky had forgotten a rather crucial step.
"Gah, dart!" she curses loudly at herself.
With a swift U-turn, she reapproaches the Nin Hloth and swoops through the open gapways of the Upper Command Deck. As she does, she holds the bottle out to the side and ignites the rag with a torch affixed to a nearby sconce.
"Dart, dart, dart!" She continues to curse herself. Her folly has wasted precious, dwindling time. Already, the undead have begun to break free from her spell.
She returns to the ascent. Flying almost directly upward is as perilous as it is disorienting. The rain and snow constantly pelting her eyeballs are the least of her woes when she has a 300-foot drop to fear. But Veliky is nothing if not determined. And she knows that the price for surrender is as dire as - if not moreso than - the price for failure.
She's nearly there: another ten seconds, perhaps. It's a pittance of time in any other circumstance, but such terrible stakes paint it as an eternity. The mast: that's her target. If this ship functions in even any remote manner like its worldly counterpart, the loss of its sail should spell its doom - and her victory.
Five seconds. She can now see the crew on board; their eyes that twinkle without light, that yearn without feeling. But so, too, can they see her. They wail and point with gnarled fingers and spectral guns! The flintlocks send sparks of the same phosphorescent essence that constitutes the spirits' own beings, ready to fire at... nothing, for Veliky has vanished[2].
The explosion of gunpowder in a flintlock chamber echoes, but muted and echoing; one would think it the howl of a storm before considering a gunshot. The ghost-bullets swerve and meander through the air, as if possessed themselves, but pierce only the air. Meanwhile, Veliky is a whisper on the wind, utterly undetectable in the chaos. She has free rein to observe the activity on the ghost-deck, which she watches with confoundment.
The undead jitter and rattle, as does the ship itself. Their emergement from Veliky's spell is a slow one; to the dead, it feels much like a terrible sickness, and its end is just as freeing. The spectres hover across, somehow unbuffeted in the maelstrom. There are more physical manifestations, too: zombies and skeletons, like the ones that Zarius now battles; at their touch, parts of the ship become tangible, allowing them to walk and go about their tasks unhindered.
But who is in charge of the ghastly lot? Veliky can spy no undead that would seem to stand above the rest. Perhaps the mindless need no complex instructions - then again, one would think they'd need more.
A bizarre noise draws Veliky's attention to the hull. Little detail can be discerned through the ethereal echoing, but the rhythm reminds her of her own machines. She peers down, just in time to see it.
Through makeshift gunports ('makeshift' meaning that they are truly just ruptures in the hull), spectral harpoons are launched at obliterative velocity. They are monstrous things, the sort fit for hunting whales, and they're raining down upon the Nin Hloth's deck! Still, they do not pierce, but rather slip through the planks, as if the ship were made of water. And, where they strike, the deck is covered in a thick layer of frost, and a dozen bots are frozen solid.
Veliky grimaces and growls. Ever the calculator, her mind immediately clicks to the thought of how (and who) she could possibly pay for this degree of frost damage. But that's a consideration for later. She has far worse to fear if she doesn't act now.
She turns to the mast - no, the masts. Unfortunately, there are two of them. Still, destroying even one should be a severe hindrance. Flaming bottle in hand, she zooms through the air, keeping in speed with the now-reaccelerating ghost galleon! She has never been an adept thrower, but she does possess a mathematical mind; even in this admittedly complex process, she knows what must be done. Her cloak falls, revealing her to the skeleton crew, but they have not a second to react before she launches the bottle with all of her strength! Its arc is precise, its aim is true, its destination is definite! Its trajectory takes it directly to the foremast's base, where it... passes through. There is no explosion; the glass doesn't even break. The bottle simply plummets through the ship's spectral skeleton before falling hundreds of feet into the Luna Sea below.
Veliky's anger is immeasurable. "Should've fucking guessed."
1. (Black Flask) Blixt™ Pirate's Rum 2. Invisibility
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Dec 6, 2022 23:18:00 GMT -5
Zarius narrowly dodges the harpoon as it strikes the deck of the ship and coats the area in a burst of ice. The tiefling lashes a zombie and throws it into the freshly formed ice spikes, impaling it through the chest before he uses his arm wraps to pull himself over to the mast of the Nin Hloth.[1]
Swinging around, he plants his boot heel in a few skeletal jaws before releasing the mast and skidding across the slippery deck. He breathes and assesses the situation. He catches sight of Veliky as she throws the improvised incendiary and for a moment there is hope that it will have an effect. That hope is quickly dashed as he sees the flaming bottle fall down into the sea.
No time to lament though, he runs over and smashes his fists into the ice created by the spectral harpoons. They needed to at least free themselves if it came down to attempting to flee from the flying frigate. The shards of ice are cold and after managing to free one of the lines, his fists feel numb from the cold. He glances at the remaining tethers, wondering if it would even be possible to get them free before the next wave of undead descended from the ghost ship.
They were running out of options, and he was starting to run out of ideas. The best he could do is defend the crew and civilians from the never-ending stream of undead. But despite his best efforts, even he was reaching his limits.
A number of zombies all dogpile on him at once. While he manages to get in a few hits and down a few, soon the numbers overwhelm him as the number of Blitxbots wanes. One undead latches onto his leg and drags it out from under him as the others overwhelm him and topple him down to the deck. Their nails scrape across his skin and a few sets of wretched broken teeth sink into his flesh.
He grits his teeth and tries to get them off of him, but more just pile on to keep him pinned down. Things were definitely looking dire.
Back aboard the ghost ship, an echoing moaning sound emanates from the ship as the doors to the ethereal captain's quarters swing open with a ghastly squeak. Stepping out is a terrifying figure, rotund and festering with rot. They may have been human at one point in their existence, but undeath has left them an amalgamation of limbs and exposed organs. The burning eyes of the captain lock on Veliky as a puff of icy breath passes through their cracked lips.
[1] Constrictor Wraps
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Post by Veliky on Dec 13, 2022 18:44:22 GMT -5
'Perfect,' Veliky thinks. 'Just perfect.' The brass drains from her eyes - a temporary blessing - as she first sees the bloated captain stepping onto the deck. Where he treads, the ethereal planks materialize, turning from translucent blue to rotten green and allowing him safe passage.
Veliky stares at him with the same expression that she does with all her negotiation opponents: skepticism, criticism and judgement. It's a revolting creature that would surely petrify any normal person, but Veliky's seen worse. In fact, she's eaten worse.
"You should take a note from your bone-thugs; you'd look better without the flesh."
The captain's eyes are unwavering, unblinking, as it takes a heavy step forward. Its rasping breath catches and scratches in its throat until it musters a low voice that's powerful in spite of its deathliness.
"The flesh recalls what the mind forgets."
Her eyes narrow. The walking corpse is difficult to read. From what she can glean, he's one of two things: highly intelligent or woefully mad. She knows which one she's betting on, but what's she betting? She isn't a good fighter at the best times and these are not the best. She obviously isn't getting out of this with just words, but she doesn't have much else.
Her thoughts are interrupted by the grinding of metal. Suddenly, ghostly chains emerge from the planks below her! She couldn't hope to react to them in time; they wrap around and constrict her, binding her arms against her body to a degree of painful tightness. She can feel the broom handle jabbing her, uncomfortably, in the jugular. Her arms and legs are bound completely; the spectral steel is frigid against her skin. They're somehow immovable, despite being completely immaterial. She can't move!
"D-Dammit!" Restrained as she is, a curse is the most she can do to express her anger.
And the captain steps forward again. Every footfall is with a heavy thump under the weight of bloated meat.
"We all bear the marks of our demise." He walks past the spirits that constitute his crew. Their bodies are mutilated in myriad ways: one has a hole in her skull, running from temple to temple; one has lost his entire lower half, where guts now hang and sway; one would appear unharmed from the front, but his back is covered in wounds that fester with barnacles. "But you," he says with a burning leer toward Veliky, "you will not linger. Your soul be forfeit and gone."
She can't turn her head very far in either direction, but she can hear ghostly hammers and feel barrels falling upon her. She grimaces; the captain isn't close enough. It's a damn good thing that she's a master at stalling.
"So what's the deal, then?!" she spits. "I know they don't use money in the afterlife; what're you after?"
Another freezing breath passes through the gaps in the captain's shattered teeth. What skin remains on its face twists and contorts, though any readable emotion has long-since rotted.
"Gold and flesh be weightless to usss." Another several thumps mark its resumed approach. "Barr-ed are we from the land where widow's spouses sing. The price of passage be not in gold; the price of passage be not in blood; the price of passage be in souls. Souls be our bounty; we shall deliver them so that we, too, may be delivered."
It raises a bloated, rotting arm into the air.
"Bring them in!"
Veliky can hear the grinding of spectral machines below her, below the deck. There's a sudden shift in weight; the wind goes still for a moment. The harpoons... Veliky can't see what's happening, but she has a decent idea and it isn't good.
On the Nin Hloth below, the chains attached to the harpoons tighten as mechanisms strain to reel them in! Their ethereal energies pervade the ship's hull, painting it in lifeless shades. The ship shifts, causing many crewman to stumble, some falling over the side. The Nin Hloth is an utterly massive vessel - nearly 1,500 tons, not including its heavy equipment and crew - and yet, spiting all worldly logic and spitting in the face of reason, the chains grind and begin to lift the entire vessel out of the waves and into the air! The sky tilts nauseatingly and all sense of weight seems to warp and confuse.
The ghost-ship continues its flight, utterly heedless of the Nin Hloth's weight. Only, now, it begins to circle around. Its course and trajectory point to the very aperture from which it emerged in the first place, into the maw of the portal and dragging the Nin Hloth with it! At its speed, there are only a few minutes to spare before they are all brought into the unspeakable realm beyond.
But dimensional kidnapping isn't the only fear for those still aboard the Nin Hloth. The bots still contend with swarms of undead corsairs, barely managing to keep their balance on the now-airborne vessel. But not one of them feels this stress greater than Zarius, who's become buried under a horde of his own. All he can see is rotting flesh, all he can feel are jagged nails. But, then, the meat-mass shifts; a blade pierces through moldy hide, just beside Zarius! It pulls out, but it can still be heard slicing and hacking at the veritable heap of undead until a gap begins to form. At last, Zarius has room to breathe as a sword-wielding Blixtbot™ cuts through the barrier! It extends a spindly hand to him.
"Conscript Zarius, instruction: we must regroup. Your assistance would-"
It stops and turns its head. The bots never stop without reason and, following its gaze, a reason becomes terribly, terribly clear.
Jaws opened wide, swimming through the very air as if to mock a bird, is the skinless skeleton of a great white shark! A thin layer of translucent ectoplasm covers its massive bones, but its razor-sharp teeth are unsecreted as it rushes toward the Blixtbot™!
The bot raises its sword, but is utterly helpless; in a swift, brutal motion, the skeletal shark plucks it from the deck and crunches its bones into scrap, spraying grey Blixt™-blood over the planks and leaving Zarius unaccompanied by anything but the dead.
As the battle rages on, the bot's sword[1], still crackling with electricity[2], whirls through the air before sticking blade-first into the wood, in front of Zarius - just as the skeletal shark wheels to face him.
1. Sword for Dummies 2. Sigil's Blessing [Lightning Rune]
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Dec 14, 2022 23:53:48 GMT -5
Zarius shakes off the last of the zombies trying to keep him down as he reaches for the construct's extended appendage. Blood streams down his body from various cuts, scrapes, and punctures all over his body. Everything hurts and his muscles ache.
The construct's help is gratefully appreciated, though it was all too brief as the skeletal shark scoops up the construct in its jaws and destroys it between its jagged teeth.
"Dammit." He swears under his breath, pushing himself up onto his feet once more.
Things just kept getting worse. First it was zombies, then it was harpoons, now flying undead sharks. Gods forbid a spectral kraken doesn't descend from the storm next.
As the shark wheels around midair to face him, he picks up the sword begrudgingly. The reality was that whatever powers he had gained as of late were not as effective against the undead as he'd like. He had few options, not being a caster at all and being limited to punching things. To be fair, he was very good at punching things.
The sword however, felt natural in his hands. It was strange as he had no formal training in fighting with blades. He had some training fighting against those who were very skilled with blades, but that's about as close as he has gotten to handling a blade himself.
Facing down the shark, it starts towards him and picks up speed rapidly. Zarius tries to plant his feet to brace against it, but the ice is slick under his heels even with his boots providing what adhesion they can. He clicks his tongue in annoyance. Plan B then.
The shark closes in quickly, its jaws gaping wide to swallow him whole. Instead of dodging or holding his ground, the tiefling actually dives forward into its open jaws, narrowly avoiding getting his tail cleaved off by the teeth which snap together like a steel trap. The inside of the shark's form is mostly made of the gooey ectoplasm which acts as a pseudo fleshy skin.
Realizing that he would have limited air to breathe, the tiefling takes the blade and jams it up into the cartilage making up the shark's spine. The shark flails in pain as the electricity of the blade courses through its form. It slams into the deck of the Nin Hloth before swimming up into the air towards the ghost ship.
Zarius holds his breath until he can see the deck of the ghost ship below him as the shark crests the railing and circles around the mast. He then drags the sword down its spine towards its tail before slicing through its gelatinous belly. He drops out of it and twists in the air to land on his feet on the deck as the shark careens towards the bloated captain and slams into the helm of the ghostly ship.[1]
The tiefling pants and faces the captain, sword brandished in the walking corpses' direction.
"Why do weird things like this always happen when I am around you?" He comments to Veliky.
[1] Cats Grace
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Post by Veliky on Dec 17, 2022 4:53:25 GMT -5
Against the helm, the ghost-shark smashes into hundreds of bone-fragments, and splatters ectoplasmic gel into the air where it hovers and lingers unnaturally. The helm, too, is split asunder; the planks and pillars linger and hover strangely.
It's a shocking sight for all to see... but the fright doesn't last long. In seconds, some dozen ghostly firearms are trained on Zarius, as are the burning eyes of the captain.
"Anotherrr walks among the dead..." The voice rasps; if a sound could be dusty, this is. The weapon he points at Zarius is a monstrous thing - one that would be known as a 'blunderbuss,' by those that know the ports and dingy taverns where pirates haunt.
At least Zarius took their attention off of Veliky. But he didn't take the chains off her. She can't even turn her head enough to see him, but she can voice her sarcasm at his question. "It's honest work; you'll get used to it."
She turns her eyes forward, back at the objective.
"Cover me. I'll take the captain."
She closes her eyes, tightly. Suddenly, her skin lights up with a brilliant flash[1], shattering the spectral chains into hundreds of pieces! Immediately, echoing pops pierce the air as ghostfire flashes from matchlocks, but she's already zipped away on her broomstick[2].
Her hastened flight takes her over, around and under the ship! The battle on the Nin Hloth still rages below, but Veliky's eyes are focused on the task at hand - and on evading the bullets that pursue her, as if with minds of their own! She has a plan, but she can't enact with these annoying death-pellets pursuing her!
She clenches her right fist, holds it to her mouth, and spits through clenched teeth, "Replicant; overcharge!" On the back of her hand, an arcane, brightly-glowing circle appears surrounding a pictograph of a humanoid shape. She turns her hand, and snaps her fingers; materializing around her, from patches of burning mana, is a squad of flying Veliky-duplicates[3]!
She needn't say a word; they know what to do. They scatter and diverge, and so do the bullets! The true Veliky still has one chasing her down, but it doesn't keep up for long; like mosquitos, they only bother in swarms.
One of the replicants is caught and pierced by a bullet, and dissipates - a grim foretelling of Veliky's own potential fate. But she can't hesitate; the time is now! Her eyes fill with that same brass[4] light as she crests the hull and spies the bloated captain who glares at her for but a moment before she rams directly into him, lifting him off the deck with the shocking force of the broom's magic! The recoil sends pain shooting through her skull, and creates the sensation of pins and needles on her skin: whiplash, and not in any moderate degree. The shock nearly causes her to let go of the broom - but not quite.
The broom continues its flight, carrying the captain with it! He feels no pain, but spits curses that are all but smothered by the deafening wind.
His weapons long-gone, the captain swings a meaty arm, but Veliky's quick to duck beneath! Rain and snow berate her, but she remains stoic and unwaveringly focused. As they round the underside of the bow, weaving between harpoon-chains, the captain throws a fist that's nearly twice the size of Veliky's own skull! And yet, in spite of the blatant difference in strength, Veliky smacks the fist aside, with such awesomely divine force[1], that it knocks the captain's arm brutally out of its socket (in fairness, the rot may've helped)! No blood spurts from the severed limb, but chunks of it peel and fall below.
The broom is driving into the captain's stomach, with such force that it's beginning to drive *in* to the captain's stomach. And yet the dead man does not wail or protest. It only leads forward and gurgles through a flapping jaw, "Your doom be already seal-ed! We be forbidden from death, and life cannot vanquish death."
...This actually does, for a moment, break Veliky's iron focus - enough for her to roll her eyes.
"Why do you think I brought you?"
She reaches forward and presses a hand against the captain's chest. Her hand begins to glow and heat[1]; her heavenly power is a blight upon his rotting flesh! The corpse fills with light, shining from its eyes and the bulletholes in his chest! And this - this causes him pain. Perhaps it is not a pain of the nerves, but one that runs far deeper. Agonized howls echo into the night.
Towing the screaming and glowing corpse, she ascends into the night sky - above the deck, above the masts, nearly gracing the clouds! Only there does she halt. Of course, the captain keeps going; momentum carries him further, further... until he reaches the keystone of his airborne arch and begins to fall. All according to plan.
Note: what Veliky's about to do, should not be attempted.
As the captain begins to plummet, Veliky takes the broom out, from beneath herself, and swings it at the bloated corpse, carefully aiming so as to propel him directly toward the ghostly ship! Where her physical strength fails her, Raguel's blessing[1] grants her swipe, the force to launch it downward! It plummets like a shooting star, and almost as quickly, until-
FFFOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!
The captain's body crashes through the deck, and, with a blinding and awe-inspiring explosion of divine light, the ghastly galleon is blown asunder. Its estranged halves linger in the air, like an awkward silence. Below, on the deck of the Nin Hloth, the undead assailants look up, in bewilderment. The ship's destruction doesn't stop the Blixtbots™ from cutting them down, nor does it stop their souls from reconstituting and reviving, yet the pirates seem to have lost all will to fight. They seem confused, lost... but not sorrowful. Perhaps their true emotions can't be understood by those that yet live.
Veliky looks down, eyes full of a similarly inscrutable emotion. She can't claim to know what just happened, but she knows that the threat, as it stood, has ended.
Or so she thinks.
"Kuh-" She clutches her stomach, and lurches as she's pierced by a spectral bullet. It must've targeted her whilst she was battling the captain. It's a strange feeling... Veliky hasn't been shot before, but it surely can't feel like this - cold, wet and tingling, like numbing cream. But there is no soothing numbness. It hurts. It hurts, badly.
Her head begins to feel light. She can feel her consciousness slipping away, like water through cupped hands. But she pushes through it; if she were to pass out here, she knows that she'd never awaken. With her waning strength, she orients the broom so that it points toward the still-suspended Nin Hloth.
"F-Forward..."
1. Angelic Light 2. Flying Broom 3. Replicant 4. Heavenly Infusion
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Dec 20, 2022 3:13:54 GMT -5
Zarius breathes and adjusts his grip on the hilt of the sword. He hadn't fought many foes who used firearms, but he knew how to deal with projectiles. The issues was the sheer number of barrels that were directed at him.
He glances at Veliky who was still bound.
"Honest? Ha. Whatever you say."
There was no guarantee he could even free her from the bonds. Hell, there was no guarantee they would survive this whole ordeal. Though they had been in bleaker situations before. The major tasks before them were to defeat the ghastly pirates, free the ship, and get out of this area before anything else crazy could occur. Zarius had all but decided that Veliky was a magnet for chaos. It was likely the universe was trying to balance out how she tried to enforce order to an oppressive degree.
"Cover me. I'll take the captain."
He's about to respond when there's that blasted divine light. He flinches out of memory of the pain it once seared into his own flesh. There was no time to recover before the sound of matchlocks fired upon Veliky as well as himself. Dropping to the deck, he manages to evade most before he rolls back up onto his feet and dives for cover behind the mast. It doesn't work as intended and he just barely manages to change the trajectory of the bullet.[1]
The crew on the deck of the ghost ship are quick to reload or draw their swords and descend on the tiefling while Veliky swooped around pursued by a swarm of bullets. Zarius engages with the crew and cuts down who he can while also knocking them back into one another.[2]
He doesn't pay too much attention to what Veliky is up to until she careens into the captain, whisking him off into the sky. What was her plan exactly? It was a mystery to him. All he could do was trust she knew what she was doing and keep the crew from taking him down and making off with the ship.
While he keeps his focus mainly on the fight before him, the radiant light of the illuminated undead captain from above does draw his eye skyward. He was like a flare soaring up into the storm clouds, only to start free falling back towards the spectral ship. Veliky strikes it, propelling it like a rocket straight down at an incredible speed. Zarius' heart almost stops as he finally realizes what Veliky intent was. He needed to move, and move fast.
Quickly dodging back away from the fight, he leaps off the deck of the ship and enters his own freefall just as the captain slams into their own vessel and burst it into pieces in a spectacular and terrifying display. The tiefling has no way to slow his descent, or control where he will land. As the deck of the Nin Hloth rapidly approaches, he times the impact of his feet on the wood then tumbles across the deck, redirecting the force the best that he can in order to land without injury.[3]
As the ghost ship collapses in on itself, the Nin Hloth also descends and lands heavily back in the waters below. Many of the undead are knocked overboard by the dip and rise of the vessel as it bobs a few times before finally settling into the calm caused by the magic it is imbued with to calm the waters around it.
Zarius looks around and sees the constructs go about cutting down the last remaining ghouls and chucking them overboard. He also spots Veliky descending on her broom towards the ship. Pushing himself back onto his feet, he manages to stagger over and catch her just as her grip on her broom loosens and she falls a few feet from the broom. She was injured and exhausted. Neither of which were a surprise and Zarius goes about tending to her wounds the same as he had before.[4] Luckily this time there was no need to reset a dislodged bone.
With the undead out of the way, they could make their way safely out of the storm and back to solid land much to the relief of the civilians who managed to stay hidden from the zombie horde. Their task complete, Zarius would return the borrowed weapon and bid farewell to the quarterling once they made landfall. While not a particularly devout individual, he would ask the gods show some mercy and have the next time their paths crossed not be nearly as exciting.
[1] Deflecting Palm (2/2 per topic) [2] Blow Back (1/2 per topic) [3] Cats Grace [4] Medical Kit
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