Return of the Emblem Chapter Fourteen: Fight

[Nanami Touko]

"Ten, alright... H-Hey big girl. Hope you don't mind me sitting up front." Eva let Haythem help Jam up before climbing up herself, planting her butt up front and staring down at the rest of the people who might be coming along. Even for a short ride, Angelica still preferred flying to riding anything else that could fly. That left Thales? He seemed like he was ready to help. Maybe some of the other crew members would hop on as well.

"You seemed eager for this, Jam. Wanna get back at this whole mess?"

[Toogee]

Jam followed Haythem to his wyvern, where she was promptly helped aboard. Normally, she would have stayed behind, having had enough of battles for the day. But the day was tragic: it needed to end. If this would get them to Kigen the fastest, the dancer would figure out the cannonif she had to.

Luckily, Jam wasn't going alone. Eva was right in front.

"I just want to get to Kigen," Jam replied. "Leave all of this behind."

Jam sighed: there was one thing she would miss as they headed south.

"Erion, the others. Do you think they made it to Neviskotia?"

Edited April 16, 2017 by Toogee

[Xinnidy]

"Got it." Quick and simple, it made sense in the current situation. Maybe later they could sort things out better and Thales would get some idea of how deep whatever he's got himself into. Right now, the issue shifted to getting to that ship and seeing if he could get any gun to work... for whatever reason. Just focus on this one thing, questions later. For today, that would have to do as a mantra.

Thales blinked as he finally eyed the... green-ish wyvern thing that was way beyond its rightful size. And its rider was staying? J-Just focus. He'd dealt with Sasha. Questions later. Questions. Later. Sighing, the boy helped himself onto the giant wyvern, sitting further back, nodding. "Ready."

Edited April 17, 2017 by Xinnidy

[Phoenix]

To the Basilisk

After another minute of gathering up some obvious picks among their own group, Haythem also pushed Amon into going, as well. The sancturan figured it would be easier to get around if they at least had someone with them who had, however briefly, been on the ship before. Haythem still opted to hang back and keep gathering more people, even the mercenaries from Lexi's crew.

Isis took off with what little grace she could muster from her starting position, gently jostling the Deadly Dandelion and beating her wings hard to get above the ship. Taking off with her back to her the water had been difficult enough, but with ten passengers to mind, she also had to be careful not to throw anyone off. She didn't even begin to look like she knew how to fly until they were halfway to the Basilisk; it took her that long to get flying straight and properly ascending, again. With no particular destination in mind, Isis carried her passengers up to right wing of the ship, just by the command tower and numerous emplacements built into the connecting platforms. From there, she looked for a stable place to land, and just happened to settle on the walkway leading to the right wing anima turret.

Amon quickly hopped down onto the all metal walkway and had a look around. The closest of the big guns was indeed the right wing anima turret, though he reminded himself that they needed to get all three of them working to put on a convincing show for the imperials. Best to start here then, and find out just how many people they would need. Without waiting for everyone to disembark, he made his way over to the anima turret. From the outside, he could tell it was likely a two story structure, though possibly a bit cramped on the top floor if the sloping roof was any indication. There appeared to be at least one entry hatch, though he quickly deduced there was likely an identical one on the opposite side of the building, possibly even four in total. That would make entry and exit a lot easier since the entire turret had to rotate to allow the guns to fire accurately.

"I hope this thing isn't locked from the inside," Amon winced as he took the thick handle and pulled. It didn't budge. "Please ..." he groaned, pulling harder this time. Much harder, and with both hands. The hatch finally gave in and opened. As one concern left him, another swooped in to replace it. Amon couldn't see anything inside the turret other than a thick metal wall just a few paces from the entrance. The only light inside was from his own doing, having opened that stubborn hatch. "Great, I didn't think to bring torches or runes for this." He could only hope for now that the imperials had their own methods of dealing with the fully enclosed space and the darkness that produced.

[Mercakete]

As he was heading toward the big, formerly-glowing ship...thing... Wait, was that metal it was made of? How was metal floating? Or did it just go all the way down to the sea floor? Any...way... Whatever the thing in the strait was that had previously been glowing with golden weird emblem magic, there was a big wyvern flying from a ship towards it. Norbert thought he recognized the wyvern as Isis, but with the day's natural light fading faster and more drastically by the second, the deep shadows and the distance made it tough to be certain. It landed on the big mass of metal, though, and it looked like people were getting off of it.

Rizen landed on the metal thing just a couple moments after the wyvern did, though some distance away. Norbert had wanted to land as soon as possible in order to given the pegasus' wings a break. The rest of the way, they traveled by hoof. Rizen was a little uncertain of the terrain at first, though. It was loud and strange, and she didn't want to get too close to that predator over there, either. So, Bert decided that, as a compromise, even if that was Isis, he'd only make her get so close to the thing. As they neared, it became more and more obvious that many of those who were dismounting the large wyvern were, in fact, group members. Additionally, that was, indeed, Isis.

"I knew I'd find you here," Norbert commented as he pulled up by Amon. He took a moment to glance around before adding, "whatever this thing is... What's been going on?"

[Phoenix]

Catching Up

Solving the lighting problem would have to wait a moment. Just as well, since people were still climbing down from Isis. "Bert? When did you get here?" Amon's questions came on reflex, and it took him a second to register the pegasus rider's own inquiries. "Err ... this might take a while to explain." Where to start, even? "I'll go over the details while we're working but to start, Joanna's needs our help to end this battle without anymore killing. We're going to bluff the 'skotians, but we need this ship's cannons for that. That's why Isis is bringing people over from the ship."

There was still no telling how many people they needed for each turret, and as far as his eyes were concerned, he wasn't sensing anything different about the vessel anymore. Perhaps that meant the Basilisk really had been claimed for Sanctuary, now.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"We just arrived," Norbert answered Amon's question. That brought up sour memories, distracting him a little bit from the issue at hand. Not completely, though. From the sound of things, Joanna was coordinating a plan to stop the conflict between the Imperial invaders and Norbert's own countrymen. That was simultaneously surprising and unsurprising. The goal and motives were very characteristic of the Winged Cleric, but she didn't seem this...assertive. That was the surprising bit, and led to Norbert trying to decide whether or not to ask about it. In the end, he decided he'd leave it alone for now.

"Well, it looks like you're dedicated to this plan, so I may as well help," the rider put in. Then, he looked around again with a clearly uncertain grimace. Evidently, this was some kind of ship. "This...thing's strange, though. I don't know how you're going to get anything done, or what I can do to help."

Here, Norbert dismounted Rizen, though he wasn't sure if that was what he was supposed to do, and it showed on his face. "Is this...ship even safe?" Besides being a hunk of metal in a large body of water, he would've been surprised if Amon had had this thing waiting here for them. Just who did this belong to?

[Phoenix]

Sticking to the Plan

Amon winced at the news. If Norbert had only just now caught up, then they had all but left Ursium without him. He had his pegasus, so one could argue that catching up with them would be easy, but that wasn't necessarily the case. Joanna's ability to keep in somewhat regular contact with him remotely had allowed the sancturan to put the issue out of mind, but now he didn't have anything helpful to say about the matter ...

Looking back on the situation, this increased pace hadn't been entirely their doing. Their deal with Lexi had started this blockade run, and sure enough, the 'skotian armada arrived just in time to force the hand of every player at the table. Now they really were dedicated to this plan. If they couldn't scare the armada into withdrawing, the Deadly Dandelion and the Emi Maru would have to somehow slip past all the fighting. Somehow. "Yeah, we're committed to this plan," Amon nodded somberly. "I'm still trying to figure it out myself, but all we need right now are these guns," he pointed to the two story metallic turret beside them. "It looks like this whole thing turns to aim the cannons, so we'll have to get that working, again. Luckily we don't have to actually hit anyone with it. We just have to fire some warning shots."

As for whether or not the ship was even safe, Amon couldn't confidently answer that. The Basilisk was certainly built sturdy, but that said nothing of safety on the battlefield. He supposed so long as that blonde woman with the lance didn't come after them again, they would be relatively safe.

[Mercakete]

These...buildings were guns? What kind of ship even is this...?! Norbert did what he could to dismiss how overwhelmingly unshiplike this ship was. It was more tanklike than a tank, let alone than a ship. They were committed, though... Bert would probably never be comfortable with this until he learned more about just what had actually happened since he'd been closing in at least, but for now...

"So, what do you want me to do?" Norbert asked, "And just whose ship even is this?"

He did notice that Amon hadn't answered his question about the ship's safety. It did seem oddly deserted... Normal ships, at least, usually had people bustling about. He'd leave the questions there for now, but he was also wondering what to do about Rizen. How were they supposed to move a gun that big? How would they not go deaf when it went off? How would they keep it from spooking the animals? Was there anywhere safe for Rizen to rest while he worked?

[Nanami Touko]

Isis' flight was quick, but Eva stayed worried for the wyvern as it carried a large group of people. That she could manage the feat was really impressive, Sasha struggled past three people. Still, they landed without worry, and with an encouraging pat on the wyvern, Eva hopped off, rushing over to Amon to-- "Aw, what..." That's just great. My day didn't need more of this...

"Amon, what do you want me to do? Point me at something that needs done and I'll do it. I got the gist of the plan, just, uh... This is a really intimidating ship, you know? I don't have the first clue about how to start running things on it..."

Edited April 23, 2017 by Nanami Touko

[Dandragon]

The boat rocked as Mavis stood there with her dislocated arm being held by this old lady, waiting for her to finish. It had been uncomfortable, to say the least, with her forcefully moving her bones back into their proper places. But, as time went on, the pain had lessened...sort of. It was more likely that Mavis had simply gotten used to the feeling, or was just able to ignore it by focusing on something else. Either way, the grunts that Mavis had been giving slowly disappeared and was replaced with silence, as she stood there with her arm outstretched, in the hands of the supposed doctor. But, as time CONTINUED to go on, Mavis started to get impatient, tapping her foot on the wooden floor so that she wasn't simply doing nothing. She kept silent so as not to anger the person fixing her broken limb, but at least she spoke up.

"So, is this gonna be much longer? I don't wanna be just standing around for half the fight."

Edited April 22, 2017 by Dandragon

[Mercakete]

Well. There was Eva. Evidently, she was looking for direction, too. Still, her presence fouled Norbert's mood, accenting the memories of being left behind with the pegasi and their riders without so much as a warning. It hadn't just been her, of course, who had done that, but the reminder was there, and its irritation was making it harder and harder for him to focus on the task at hand, especially since he only had a vague idea of just what said task was. The pegasus rider was scowling and tense, now, but he didn't look over at the Neviskotian woman. There were things to be done, and he was doing his best to block out his indignation.

[Snike]

Apparently they were at the bottom of the sea, as the sinking enemy ship just appeared right in front of them, without any warning, in a golden aura. Pete leaned back from the gun port in utter disbelief, and waited for the next act in the godly farce that this battle had turned into.

[Phoenix]

Enlightening

Once the rest of her passengers had dismounted, Isis waddled a few steps to get clear of everyone, and then slammed down her wings to take off, again. The blast of wind shocked Shadrak out of his awe induced stupor, which was when he noticed Norbert had landed nearby. The druid looked up briefly as Isis flew overhead, circling around to return to the Deadly Dandelion. It was impressive to see her acting on her own yet still cooperating with everyone. It was as if Haythem was still in total control, despite having remained on the ship. "Lot of crazy things happening today," Shadrak noted as he headed over toward the discourse.

"I don't know how it works, either, Eva," Amon grimaced, "The first thing we have to do is find some light. I didn't think the inside of this building would be pitch black, but it makes sense; there aren't any windows. After we can move around and see what's what, then we can worry about finding the controls. I just hope we have enough people with us already to get this first set of cannons working." They still had two more to get a crew for, which Isis was currently handling, but they still had no idea how many people it would take. Lexi's ship was crewed by more than a hundred people. The Ursian ships had more than two hundred men per ship. The Basilisk was absurdly huge compared to any other ship he'd seen. It must have taken a thousand men to ... no, best not to fret about that, now, he decided. He was already barely composed with so much riding on this.

"If you want my input," Shadrak began, "they probably use runes for lighting. Putting torches in there might actually be dangerous in a tight metal space like this. Runes aren't really a big leap since the cannons are using magic, too. I can't imagine the cost of operating this ship, though. They must have mountains of stored energy aboard." Leaning around the conversation and staring at the dark wall just beyond the door, he added. "If I'm right, we should look for objects stuck to either the walls or the ceiling. They're probably the runes we're looking for, and switching them on shouldn't be too hard."

"We'll start there, then," Amon nodded.

Free and Clear

After the old woman popped Mavis' arm back into place, she gave the arm a quick exam to make sure there was nothing else wrong with the poor thing. "Looks good. You're going to have to be more careful, child," she chuckled.

Edited April 22, 2017 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"When we find the runes, what're we supposed to do with them?" Norbert asked Shadrak. At least this was regular magic, but it still didn't make much sense to him.

[Toogee]

As Jam dismounted and looked to where Amon had pointed to the guns, she was taken aback. They were far larger than she imagined. They were bigger than her home! She couldn't see how less than a dozen people would be able to man all of them. Maybe they only needed one gun to make a point.

The only thing stopping them from going inside was the impenetrable darkness. Shad suggested that the ship might have runes to light the way. Someone had to enter and start the search. Jam squeezed between the others to get to the doorway.

" 'Scuse me," Jam said as she used her anima magic to form a small candlelight in the palm of her hand. "Make way for the LightBringer!"

She didn't stray too far inside; she was still visible from the doorway. Despite her chipper attitude, the dancer was wary of running into any undersea creatures that may have hitched a ride during the Basilisk's revival. Jam waved her lit palm along the walls and to the ceiling, seeing if she could spot any sort of clue as to how to light the place.

Edited April 22, 2017 by Toogee

[Phoenix]

Energy Crisis

"Have you ever tried to solve a puzzle or anything like that?" Shadrak asked. It sounded almost rhetorical. "You get a full picture once the last piece is in place. A lot of basic runes tend to work like that; the actual rune is carved on the face of multiple pieces that fit together. When the pieces are in place, the rune's active, but if you take away a piece, it's off. The ones I've read about are usually made out of just two pieces, either halves or a large part and a small, easily moved part. When you find one, there should be a way to connect them together to turn them on."

"What if they're already connected?" Amon winced, "what if the reason the lights aren't on in there is because they ran out of power?"

Shadrak tried to dismiss that idea. "How would-" but then it hit him, "oh crap, that magic seal from earlier! That's probably why they're not working. Why else would they be turned off, right now ..." He crossed his arms and tried to think. They might need another solution. "If we can't find any extra energy stored in there ... I guess we'll just have to have Jamilla turn up that spell of hers."

Amon groaned. He was less worried about the lights now and far more so about the cannons. If their energy was stored the same way the runes' were, their plan might already be sunk. "Let's ... have a look inside, first. We'll figure this out." Rather than bringing that up prematurely, he thought it best to head in after Jamilla, and hope against hope that there was some unaffected power source inside.

[Mercakete]

Well, that was an interesting lesson about runes -- or at least the kind that light a place up. They weren't nearly as unknowable as Norbert had imagined. The talk about the energy that powered them being gone, though... Well, that was too bad, but if Jamilla -- yet another reminder of that incident at the Imperial-bandit encampment -- could just make light using her own magic, why couldn't they just rely on that? In fact...

"Can't Jam just keep the place lit for us?" Norbert asked as he followed Amon. He would've just stayed outside until the problem was solved, but in his eyes, the solution was right in front of them.

[Xinnidy]

Well, that was a ride. More than once Thales thought he'd be thrown off of the wyvern at least twice. On top of that, the ride reminded him he still hadn't braided his hair since the unfortunate wagon incident. Albeit short, when the ride was done Thales hopped off and his first priority was to patch that, tying up the tail end of his hair into a loose knot. Pity the person sitting behind him during that ride, at least he didn't get hair in his mouth. Pbbt.

A pegasus rider landed in their vicinity, one Thales would assume part of the Ursian army until the moment he chatted up Amon. One of the group, apparently. At least that made things trivial. What wasn't trivial was the very ship they were in, so Thales tried to figure out his surroundings while quietly listening in to Amon and the others. The structure was bizarrely complex, and certainly didn't shirk in gun size. All the technology that made that ship afloat seemed too modern for Thales to wrap his mind around, but he at least grasped the concept of a magic reserve feeding the guns and runes. Powering them, if you will.

If they're out of power, then what do we do? Thales was no mage, he didn't know if there was a viable way to 'refill' these reserves, but maybe...? "Um..." Thales interjected, hoping he wouldn't be out if line. "If that power ran out, would they have some other way to light the runes?" It seemed like an evident weakness. Sure, it was probably an extreme case, but if the ship was drained of magic, would it just become a giant, dark husk floating through the sea? That seemed like a problem. This thing was shooting after that crimson carnage --assuming that was the seal--, so there could be something else.

[Mercakete]

All this talk, and one, crucial detail was still a mystery to Norbert. And considering the excessive use of "they" and "their"... "Okay, so, whose ship is this, anyway?"

Did everyone kill a bunch of people and take their ship or something? I don't see anyone around. And what's this about a magic seal? That in and of itself brought other things to mind. Namely, when a magic seal had been brought near Raquel. "And besides asking the owners how to work this thing, if the problem is that it's out of power, then why not ask Jo if we can use her emblem piece? Nothing can drain those, though I don't know if anyone knows how to power the ship with it."

[Phoenix]

Ghost Ship

"For Joanna's plan," Amon began, his eyes searching the faintly illuminated areas for the runic devices, "we really need all three of these buildings and their cannons working and this place is too big for just one light to work for us."

"This is a 'skotian ship," Shadrak chimed in at Norbert's next question, "Amon never got around to explaining how he took the thing, but I doubt we'll find any of the original crew aboard. We would have seen someone by now."

"They all fell in the water ..." Amon grimaced.

"Sounds about right. Oh, hey I found one," Shadrak beamed, pointing at a small bulge in the wall, just a short ways ahead of Jamilla. "Let's see if there's anything wrong with it."

Boarding Call

Haythem smiled as Isis landed on the starboard edge of the Deadly Dandelion and tried to right herself, again. "Alright," Haythem started waving, "another ten! Come on, don't be shy!"

[Mercakete]

Amon's explanation made sense, given the new details. Also, according to Shadrak, this was a Neviskotian ship...and it was Amon who had taken it. And Neviskotians fell into the strait. I...really missed a lot.

"Okay, I'm going to want to hear exactly what I missed, later," Norbert commented. It sounded like Shadrak found a rune, but it was closest to Jam, so Bert figured she could see if it was activated or not, herself. "For now... Amon, what the heck? You're a wielder, now? And your power is to warp things without their passengers aboard?"

He'd seen the emblem light earlier, and he saw the ship appear out of nowhere. Maybe it was a sort of...delayed warp? I guess it was kind of useful in these situations, but if passengers were left behind, it wasn't as though everyone could just climb onto something and be warped wherever Amon wanted them to go.

[Phoenix]

Anima Turret: Right Wing

Shadrak headed over to the bulge on the wall. "Here shine that a bit closer," he asked Jamilla as he looked over the shape. It wasn't a part of the wall itself but it was bolted on at a few key indentations. The actual device sat inside a frame that looked like half a glass lamp's casing resting on its side. Inside the glass was a the rune Shadrak was expecting to find. Below the main casing was a small handle about four fingers wide. Pulling the handle down would break up the runic patter, separating a small piece of it that was attached to the handle. Pushing the handle back up would reconstruct the rune and get the light working, again. The rune was already complete, though, which meant Amon's fear about the power situation had just been confirmed.

"We need a quick fix, I think," Shadrak decided. "Jamilla, do you have a tome on you? We don't need a lot of energy to get these working, just enough to keep important ones on while we work. After that it doesn't really matter, and if we find some extra energy stored here, we could just use that." They'd have to find those stores first, of course, which meant getting some decent lighting in place.

It was too dark now for Norbert to see Amon's eyes clearly, now, and despite how reflective, how jewel-like his irises had become, they didn't generate any light of their own in the darkness. On the bright side, that at least gave Amon the chance to prepare the pegasus rider for some of the more unsettling aspects of what had happened, his eyes included. "It's not that specific, Bert," Amon began, "I can claim things that will help Lady Aisha restore Sanctuary. I'm not sure exactly how this ship will help, but it worked, and as soon as I did that, it disappeared. My eyes changed, too. They feel really heavy now, but I get a good sense of the value of things if I focus on them for a moment. I'm pretty sure that just means how valuable something is in restoring Sanctuary, though. That's the only way I know how to explain it."

[Xinnidy]

At least the pegasus rider seemed as out of the loop as Thales himself, which meant if he stuck close he could learn some more about the group. Talk of the Emblem and Emblem pieces came back again, which was really hard to grasp this suddenly. You're not the only one who would appreciate some clearing up, for sure... Thales remained mostly quiet, though, preferring to just quietly listen.

They managed to find a light rune, but unfortunately it was indeed out of power. How are we going to light up this place before... bedore things start shooting at us? Honestly, it was a small miracle the Ursian navy didn't do a thing about it yet.

"Tch." Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot Thales could help with thanks to his nonexistent magic training. Sighing, he let the girl do her job, staring further into the darkness. As soon as the power issue was settled, he'd need to decide what was the best way to maneuver these guns. A misfire could be pretty terrible...

[Mercakete]

"Restore Sanctuary?" Bert asked, more to himself than to Amon. The rune situation seemed to be being worked on, so he stuck to the courtesy Amon was showing him as resumed his own task of getting at least some sort of grip on the current situation. Amon's power seemed to fit him pretty well -- he was a good guy in general, but he was also quite devoted to his homeland. As for Sanctuary and what Amon meant by those words, Norbert figured something...inaccurate.

Grinning, the rider gave a nod. "I see. So, Aisha's working to act as a leader to the rest of Rexia, huh? That's good; I'm glad she's finally extending her protection and resources to the rest of her people."