Return of the Emblem Chapter Fourteen: Fight

[Nanami Touko]

Jam lit the place up, and Eva tried to follow along in their talk as they went on about runes and lighting and power and-- "Ugh, I don't get a word of this... All I know is how my sword works. So... Like, just, do we have to find some other power source them? Wouldn't Angelica have a tome?" Why isn't she here yet? Eva scratched her head, sighing.

"At least you're getting some more information, Thales... As disjointed as it is. Even I didn't know Amon could do that... Amon, you can seriously do that for anything with this... Value, of yours?" She didn't really get the whole talk of Sanctuary. Really, as good a guy as Amon was, she didn't know much about him. Something about some lady Aisha. She sighed and stared around the room. "Well... I'll worry about that later. Shaddy, any luck?"

[Ether]

Angelica took a moment to gauge herself when Eva asked if she was up to cast. To be entirely honest, she wasn't, really. Her body felt drained, she ached everywhere, and even now, the crimson sky hazed over her vision, that cursed draining field remaining at the front of her mind, even if it had already disappeared. By the time she had been ready to say anything, the wyverns had been loaded up and had started to move.

Well, it was likely for the best anyway. In her current state, she'd be of little help to their operation.

[Phoenix]

Anima Turret: Right Wing

Amon winced. Norbert hadn't gotten his meaning ... and fair enough; the story wasn't so simple as a change in attitude. Amon didn't know how he felt about Aisha behaving the way most rulers did, trying to oversee and protect everyone, even dissenters to a degree. To his own knowledge, it was a nice ideal, but far too dangerous for those loyal to the Queen. The danger had seemingly been realized now that Sanctuary was destroyed.

"It's not what you think," Amon said after a moment of thought, "I found out today that Sanctuary ... the city, was destroyed. Lady Aisha was captured by the Tide, the people Fizza used to work for. Other than Lady Aisha, I've got no idea who survived. It's a long story, but this power of mine is going to help me get the resources we need to restore Sanctuary. I don't know if the situation is going to be like it was before ... I hope it isn't, but either way I can't let things stay like this."

That depressing rehash dealt with, Amon relaxed his shoulders, which had unknowingly become stiff. "I don't know what the limits are ... but so far it's worked on everything I've tried it on, and whatever I focus on, objects, animals, people, there is some sort value there." He thought back to his first use of the ability, when the sancturans and wyverns were plummeting into the water. If he hadn't used it on Isis, she would have drowned or bled to death in the strait. Amon leaped forward to the destruction of the command tower. Haythem had also been gravely injured. He too would have bled to death if Amon hadn't used it to save him. Then there was the Basilisk. He'd claimed the damaged ship for the restoration of Sanctuary ... and here it was again, just like new. The same could be said of Haythem and Isis. Their injuries were gone.

"... there are things I still don't understand." Most importantly was that sense of value. He'd figured it was strictly in relation to the restoration of Sanctuary, but something about that felt inaccurate. Come to think of it, there was one thing he saw that outshone even the Basilisk ...

Shadrak shook his head. "The best we can do for now is get some extra light magic ... or anima ... whichever these run on. Then we can look around before they run out of power. Maybe we'll find where they keep their magic stored here. Infused magic shouldn't be affected by seals, so if they keep them stored that way, we just have to find them. That said," the druid crossed his arms, "we don't really need all the lights working. Just enough to light up key areas should do it. We're just trying to fire the cannons at the 'skotians, right? Not settle in and make ourselves comfortable?"

"As soon as we're off this ship, it's going to disappear," Amon warned, a hint of bitter determination in his voice. He had no intention of letting the Ursians aboard.

[Mercakete]

When Amon began correcting his guess, Norbert frowned in curiosity. Then, the news hit. It was surprising news, and Bert himself had a sort of mixed reaction as Amon explained it. First, having been there, himself, he knew the sort of defenses the place had. That someone could have breached those and destroyed the whole city was the surprising bit. In a way, though, it was to be expected. Being elitist like that was bound to turn people against the city -- a good number of them, too. He also felt bad for Amon, -- and then, a bit delayed, Haythem and Malik, too -- especially with how brutal the attack sounded. That they had not only lost their home, but the possibility that none other than the Vasilus survived... That was devastating news. However much he disagreed with how Aisha ran things, and however much he'd wanted the inherent faults to lead to a downfall, he hadn't wished this. Rather, at the heart of it, he'd wanted people to be treated fairly, for their benefit. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if Aisha had been a fairer ruler -- if she'd protected all of the Rexians equally instead of giving paradise to the ones she liked.

It was also a little surprising to hear Amon say that, though he was trying to restore Sanctuary, he hoped that it wouldn't be like it was before. That kind of restoration -- fixing the problems the previous version had, instead of turning a blind eye to them -- that was the kind he could get behind. Of course, he couldn't just throw himself at every cause he agreed with... Thinking on it, he realized he probably had that tendency. Raquel's issues, the Imperials, the Fallen, Wrath... Even taking sides in squabbles, where he saw one person being treated unfairly. He didn't regret this behavior, but he couldn't help but think back to Stein's warning about focusing on the most prominent threat. I'm beginning to think too deeply into this. I have to focus on what's right in front of me, for now.

It seemed that Amon had shifted his focus from Sanctuary, so Norbert did, too. The topic had shifted to Amon's powers, themselves. It was still related, of course, but the subject was definitely changed. That sure was an interesting power. No matter what Amon focused on, he could see if it would be useful for restoring the city. It was certainly useful, but...not immediately so. Amon, himself, didn't know its limitations yet, but that was to be expected. He'd only just recently gotten these powers, after all.

Shadrak was talking about the rune situation, meanwhile. Norbert had stopped paying attention to that, figuring those who understood those things better than he did could work that out. He caught scraps of that conversation, though, and then Amon gave his warning. Bert figured that, since they'd be off the ship, that didn't matter too much to him. Really, he was surprised that the Neviskotians hadn't yet tried to take their ship back.

"Once we get the magic we need, how are we going to fire these cannons, anyway?" he asked Amon, "You do know how they work, right?"

[Toogee]

On 4/24/2017 at 11:36 PM, Phoenix said:

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.

Jam shined her magic over the runic device. She had never seen anything like it back at home. Shad seemed to know what he was doing, though when he suggested to use her tome, the dancer was skeptical.

"Uh, sure, if you think it will work..."

Jam took her tome in one hand and held her other against the device. Having never powered such a device, she was simply using her magic like she would in battle. She really hoped she didn't break their only light source.

[Phoenix]

Anima Turret: Right Wing

"I wish I knew how these things work," Amon gritted his teeth. Joanna had sure dumped a lot on them. Amon hadn't even been certain he could bring the Basilisk back at first. Now he had to figure out these massive cannons before the Ursians boarded them or the Neviskotians got close enough that warning shots wouldn't send them packing. At the very least, Amon had some help. Shadrak was proving useful outside of battle too, which was refreshing in a way.

"When Haythem and I fell into the water, we wound up on this ship ... but, we got dragged straight to the captain. I didn't get a good look around, especially not at these cannons. We'll just have to hope someone left some notes lying around. You'd think they wouldn't be too complicated, though; they're just cannons ..." It seemed the one thing Amon's emblem ability was lacking was the bestowal of operational knowledge. He wasn't going to complain, though. Frankly, they didn't have that kind of time.

When Jamilla reached out to the rune, Shadrak said, "Pretend you're giving magic to another mage. Once that energy's close enough to it and not being controlled, it'll respond to the rune." Assuming it was the right type of magic. If Shadrak thought for even a second that these lighting runes could somehow run on dark energy, he'd have been the first to try it. Fortunately, Jamilla's spell worked. What began as white light shifted into a gentle azure and began to illuminate the hall.

"Awesome! Okay, Jamilla, if you find anymore, just do that. We'll have this place lit up in no time." Realizing he was getting ahead of himself, he took a verbal backstep, "R-right, not all of them, just ones that are sitting next to things that look important ... machinery, notices or signs on the walls. Anything that might look important. Once we can actually see, it'll be easier to figure out what we're going to do and how we're going to do it."

[Dandragon]

Mavis looked over her right arm, flexing her fingers as she appreciated being able to move it, again. While it wasn't completely healed, as magic would probably be needed, she could actually use it now. And she had to, if she was going to help out anymore. Mavis smirked, and looked back at the Doctor, impressed with her work. "Well, thanks for that. Feels better than before, let me tell you!"

With a nod of grattitude, Mavis stepped out of the infirmary, and immediately noticed something different about the crew members. They were all looking at something outside, but Mavis wasn't able to see it from under the deck. So, taking the stairs up to the top, she looked out to the see and saw a new ship among all the others. A few moments of staring, and Mavis also noticed that the ship had some people missing, including that wyvern rider, Eva, though here ride was still here. She spotted a silver haired, tan skinned fellow also seemingly waiting around, and decided to call out to him. "Hey there! What's going on up here? I've been down below for the past...I dunno, hour?" Mavis did not have a great sense of time without a clock.

[Mercakete]

Amon and Haythem somehow fell off of something into the water and wound up on this thing, then they were brought to its captain. Norbert's brow furrowed at the absurdity of the partial information and opened his mouth to ask about it. But then, he shut it. He could get that story later...provided anyone cared to fill him in later. Either way, the specifics there didn't seem relevant to the task at hand, so he left that unasked. More relevantly, Amon didn't know how these cannons worked, but the presiding guess was that they were magic-based or machinery-based or both, and were far more complicated than the oversized guns traditionally found on ships. Rather, the plan was hinging on someone finding operational notes found near the controls. Great. Meanwhile, Shadrak taught Jam how to light a rune, and she did, in fact, get that done.

"Well, if there are notes around here, they're probably in Neviskotian," Norbert surmised. He was beginning to get agitated at this plan's construction...or rather, lack there of. "I can't read Neviskotian, so I'm going back out onto the deck to keep watch. If there's something you need me to do, let me know. I'll tell you if anyone's coming."

[Mercakete]

((Site double posted on me. If someone could delete this, that'd be great.))

Edited April 26, 2017 by Mercakete

[Xinnidy]

The more Thales listened in, the more he felt he'd goofed it. Sanctuary... Aisha... whatever the emblem pieces do... holy-- There was too much to keep track of. Cursing under his breath, Thales followed Shadrak and Jam keeping a small distance. Lighting runes suddenly looked like a very interesting skill. I'll have to talk to Amon later when things aren't risking shooting us to the bottom of the sea. Thankfully, it wasn't long until the rune was lit, that was good. Jam could light these up, he'd keep it in mind.

Of course, that was only the beginning of their work. Now they could start searching for ways to figure out the guns, and from them... warning fires, right. The pegasus rider's passing comment did spring up an idea, if very basic. "Hey, Eva, you can read 'skotian, right?" She sure could speak it... certainly she wasn't illiterate.

[Nanami Touko]

"Huh?" That was a weird question to ask, wasn't it? "Of course I can read Neviskotian... I can read Common too. You think I can't read just because I'm not that sharp on things?" She grinned, shaking her head. "Well, I might be stupid, but I'd have to be a pretty sad adult to not know how to read. If we find anything, journals, instructions anywhere, let me know and I'll translate. Easy as that."

[Phoenix]

Anima Turret: Right Wing

"Alright," Amon nodded at Norbert.

"Hey!" It was a voice from outside the turret, "You find any valuables in there, let us know!"

Amon glanced back at the entrance. That was definitely one of the mercenaries that came over with the first group. Were they just here for the loot? At first Amon felt himself getting angry, but then a thought struck him. Could they actually loot the ship? Anything that was aboard right now, weapons, ammunition, money, documents, that had all been claimed for the restoration of Sanctuary. It would have all disappeared and reappeared with the ship. That begged the question: Could they loot this ship, or were its materials all inalienable possessions of Sanctuary? Amon's ire subsided as he realized it was far more likely that there was nothing they could take from the Basilisk that wouldn't disappear with the ship. He couldn't be certain until it happened, but he was feeling confident, now.

Amon shook his head. "That's not going to work, just get in here and help us since you've got nothing better to do," he called back.

Shadrak listened to the short exchange between Eva and Thales and sighed. "You don't have to keep calling yourself stupid, you know ..." She was obviously lacking in self control, but the fact that Eva could read and speak more than one language was ... somewhat impressive. She was at least on par with the average mage in terms of literacy and language skills. More importantly, that ability would be useful. "Let's look for some instructions while Jamilla handles the lights."

From the look of things, they should head further inward. The building wasn't all that large, and he got the feeling he'd be going in a circle if he just stuck to the inner wall. Sure enough, when he turned around, he saw a staircase leading up to the second floor, the view of which had been blocked by the wall just beyond the entrance. Was that to protect the interior if the hatch was destroyed? "Hey, let's check upstairs," he said, pointing toward the staircase. Amon had to round the inside wall just to find it.

The Deadly Dandelion: Main Deck

"A friend of ours is planning to end this battle without anymore bloodshed," Haythem explained as a pair of mercenaries scampered up onto Isis' back, "we're using that ship to fire warning shots at the Neviskotian fleet. Anyone who wants to help get the cannons ready needs to head over, now. Just hop up on Isis here and once she's got enough passengers, she'll fly you all over."

Haythem glanced out toward the nearest Ursian ships. They seemed to be holding their positions for the moment, but the specs--sailors--that he could make out from this distance were scrambling like mad, like rows of ants rushing both ways over a log. They were cautious and scared now, but sooner or later they were going to realize the Basilisk was virtually empty. "I suggest getting over there quickly. Isis still has to fly everyone back, after all."

"Not necessarily," Lexi interjected. Haythem hadn't even seen her coming. "If we get a bit closer they could probably hop back onto the ship by the rigging. That'd save some time, yeah?"

Edited April 28, 2017 by Phoenix

[Nanami Touko]

"Eh? Why not? I do pretty stupid stuff all the time..." She didn't quite get it, but... Maybe he was trying to compliment her? Odd. Oh well. "Sure thing. Just shout for me if you find anything... Or if we find anything upstairs, it seems." This place looked like it had a lot more to it... Just how big was it, really? It had looked big on the outside, but... It was proving much larger than she'd expected. "Musta been expensive to put this together..."

[Mercakete]

Bert left the gun-building just about as soon as he got the response from Amon. There was some talk of Eva reading things, but Norbert had figured that would be obvious. She was Neviskotian, after all, so she really should have been the one looking for notes.

Who was that guy, anyway? Norbert wondered as he came back out onto the deck. Normally, he probably would've been blinded having come out of a place so dark, but the sun was more or less set by now, and Jam had been lighting the gun place's interior. So, the lighting was more or less comparable with the mountains blocking the harshest of the remaining sunlight.

Rizen shuffled her wings restlessly and adjusted her footing, loosing a quiet bray. Norbert frowned at his mount. She'd been apprehensive about landing here, and how he wondered if the ground was uncomfortable for her to stand on. Humans and wyverns had pads on their feet, but Rizen relied on her hooves. Perhaps the shock from them striking the metal with all the weight she was carrying was painful. The rider looked at the ship with a new distaste. I wish this thing was made of wood like any normal ship. Still, she had just spent quite a bit of time flying, and who knew when they would have to suddenly take off again? She needed to rest her wings and he needed to stay on this thing, so the pegasus would just have to endure it for now, as much as Bert hated that conclusion.

Speaking of what had to be done, Norbert turned his attention to the sea and the sky to watch for incoming ships and fliers. Amon took care of the other guy's earlier looting question, so he ignored that one. The others could handle the allies they had aboard. As for him, he was more concerned with members of the two, warring militaries.

[Dandragon]

"So, we're boarding the thing after all. Alright, move over boys, I'm coming with!" Mavis, with her right arm now back in working order, climbed her way 'Isis', odd name for dragon, she thought, and sat herself behind the present mercenaries also riding the wyvern over to the military boat, though upon taking a good look at it, even from afar, it looked a lot more like a fortress. 

Mavis looked back at the captain, Lexi, as she spoke, responding to her suggestion. "I'd say that we at least try to keep the thing. Do we really want the 'Skotes getting those cannons back? I sure don't."

[scorri]

Lumi slowly uncurled from her position on the floor and glanced up at the healer. It seemed like everyone else had left. Being helpful. Except for her. She stood up carefully and glanced again at the woman. "I... Is there anything... anything that I can do to help? Help you I mean. I can't... go back up there. But I could maybe help here. If you needed something."

They reached the kitchen safely and Hoshi glanced around. She didn't immediately spot anyone in there, so she headed over to the storage and found a few pieces of bread and an apple. <"Here, this is a good start. I'm not sure what else there is but they probably aren't cooking much right now given the fighting. If you want more though, let me know. We might be able to find you something.">

[Toogee]

Jam continued lighting areas inside the right turret. She traced the runes with her hands until she hit a node that needed activated. Just as Shad instructed, the dancer used her tome to pass magic to the runes. Enough of the runes had been activated that the way to the second floor was revealed. Shad suggested continuing upward, which probably meant more runes to light. She raced up the stairs to lead the way, looking for the next set of runes to light.

"Whew. And I thought I wasn't gonna get any exercise on this trip."

[Phoenix]

Right Wing Anima Turret: Rotary Floor

Shadrak didn't have a response to Eva's question, so he simply sighed at her. After that, he followed after Jamilla, hoping to get a good look at the second floor and give his assessment early. Amon stayed behind a moment to address the others that had accompanied them. "Try to figure out what this floor is for. If there's no ammunition here, it must be used for something ..."

"Sure, sure," a mercenary brushed him off. Fortunately, they were all curious, and would have investigated the place on their own. They of course, had other motivations for doing so, but the ship was still a modern marvel of engineering, and without anything obvious to loot, they would definitely try to figure out what was what.

Ring Wing Anima Turret: Gun Floor

Shadrak kept one hand on the railing of the staircase while Jamilla started lighting more of the runes. No point in wandering around up here aimlessly in the dark. With just one rune lit, the worst of the darkness was expelled, and Shadrak could see well enough to get around. He noticed more railing and a ladder leading up to what looked like a hatch on the ceiling. Given the angles of some of the other walls, Shadrak concluded that the hatch on the ceiling led to the very top of the building. That meant the cannons had to be on this floor. Little did he realize that the only thing between them and the cannons was a simple steel divider. A bit of wandering to the left or the right of the staircase would reveal the cannons.

What caught Shadrak's attention first was a darkened doorway to the left of the staircase. He could barely see anything inside from where he was standing, but it looked like the room was full of large cylinders. He took a few cautious steps toward the open room.

Main Deck

Lexi shrugged. "That ship disappeared a little while ago ... and now here it is, again. I doubt the Ursians or the 'skotians are gonna get their hands on it if it keeps doin' that."

Haythem chuckled. "It belongs to Lady Aisha, now. It should disappear again as soon as we're done with it," he explained, scratching at the back of his neck nervously.

Infirmary

"Help me?" The old woman sounded amused. "My, I don't get that offer often. I'm out of patients, right now, but the ship's certainly taken a good thrashing today. Would you mind taking a look around for me? I'm sure there plenty of injuries, but the crew knows how small this infirmary is. They don't always come right away," she explained, shaking her head.

Edited April 30, 2017 by Phoenix

[Xinnidy]

"...Just asking." Thales shrugged. "I've seen all kinds of people. Not trying to judge you when we just met, that's just rude." Well, 'all kinds of people' was a stretch, but some just happened to never need reading skills much, even if it was a handicap. Granted, it wasn't all that common. Reading and speaking in more than one language is something. Guess these guys hold themselves to a higher standard. No harm done. Well, it was his first time in an actual mercenary group, surely they'd understand.

...No they wouldn't, they didn't know that.

But that was enough of it, with proper lighting and a new floor upon them, Thales decided to quietly follow Shadrak and Jamilla upstairs, finding it more productive to do with his time. It was a slow climb, all things considered, but they had to wait for proper lighting. There was a hatch on the ceiling, compelling to look at, but this turret couldn't be that tall, right? On the other hand, there was also a door in front of them... but was that the right way? Pondering, Thales walked past, eyes trained to the door, leaning against what he first assumed to be wall, only to notice his shoulder pressed against an edge --wait, there was more of the room past there!--. In fact, it didn't take more than a single look with the little lighting they had to realize what was further ahead. "Oh, wow." These cannons were imposingly big, but then, that seemed to be the recurring design philosophy behind this ship... thing. "Uh, there's the cannons." If those weren't it, he'd eat his own shoe.

Edited April 30, 2017 by Xinnidy

[Nanami Touko]

Eva shrugged at Shadrak's sigh and followed along after the few of them, eyes peeled to look for anything with words written down on it, but not exactly running into anything obvious. With a sigh and a quiet mumble, she kept following Shadrak upstairs, watching him head off into the room. "Shout if you find anything you need read!" Meanwhile, Thales had apparently found the turrets? "Nice! At least we know where those are when we finally get it all working. Sorry if I'm pretty useless here, all this... Scrounging around for stuff, not exactly my forte."

----------

Haruhi followed after Hoshi, tired, but fine now, after the whole debacle with the shift blew over... Literally. That thing getting blasted out of the water was a sight to see, but she didn't quite care about it either way. As long as they made it to Kigen fine... <Never thought I'd be thinking that, heh.>

As she was handed the apple, she greedily took it and started chomping into it, the fruit devoured in under an minute. Sheepishly, she set down the core, and tried her best not to go at the bread just as fast. "<Sho... Er, ish thish all? I mean, uh... I don' wanna be greedy, but...>"

Edited May 6, 2017 by Nanami Touko

[Phoenix]

Basilisk: Gun Floor

Entering the open room, Shadrak saw that it was half filled with large metal cylinders. They looked positively heavy, but he could easily make out some grips at the top. Convenient enough. That's what he thought until he tried to move one of the things out of the room and into the faint blue light. Just one cylinder was almost too much for him to carry by such skinny handles. They dug painfully into his fingers and he only got the thing a few feet before setting it down. The loud clank resonated throughout the turret. The thing could have easily weighed ninety pounds by the druid's estimate. "Merz ..." Embarrassed, Shadrak knelt down and pretended he'd gotten it as far as he wanted to. "Alright, let's see what these things are." It was still too dark ...

"Hey Jamilla, come here! There's got to be a rune somewhere in this room." Even though it was too dark, Shadrak still suspected he'd found something crucial to the operation of the cannons. That there were so many of these things implied that they might be ammunition casings. They didn't look like up scaled power spheres, but the spherical shape of normal ones was simply for ergonomics. Power 'cylinders' may have served the Basilisk crew better than spheres.

"What'd you find?" Shadrak looked toward the opening to see Amon coming up the stairs and into view. "It sounded like something fell up here."

"Yeah ..."

[Nanami Touko]

The loud clang alerted Eva to Shadrak moving stuff around, heading over and glancing at him before lifting the cylinder with a small huff, waiting around with it. "Did you need this somewhere?" Amon came up the stairs after, Eva standing around with it, wondering if it needed to go anywhere. "Izzis for working the turrets, or something? Ammo or... Fuel? Or whatever? I don't have the slightest idea where to start."

[Toogee]

Jam turned at the sound of Shad dropping the cylindrical object. From Jam's perspective, it appeared the object took Shad to the ground on bended knee. Smirking, she walked over to Shad to find a new rune. This particular rune wasn't easy to spot as the others, and the dancer was rather curious as to what Shad found. Instead, Jam knelt next to him, waving her magical torchlight over the cylinder.

"Looks like one of Greta's bullets," Jam commented. "Though, you might want Eva to load this one, tough guy."

Jam patted Shad with her other hand after her teasing jab and held her magic-lit hand closer to the cylinder. Maybe there were runes on it that would give them clues.

[Phoenix]

Big Shells

Shadrak sighed. "There's so many of these things, I can't imagine them being anything but power sources for the cannons. These blasted grips are almost pointless, though." He flicked one of painfully thin bars and stood back up to his full height. Given the look of the room, as well as the caution signs all over the place, these cylinders were dangerous if nothing else. "Since you volunteered, Eva," he glanced down at the rider's hands, "and since you're wearing gloves anyway, can you bring a few of these out to ..."

There was a thought. Where were the cannons, again? "Hold that thought, we need to find the cannons first."

"You said they were over there, right?" Amon asked Thales, pointing toward what he hoped was the front end of the turret. "So just bring them over there, then. Then we'll figure out how they work." Once Amon headed over that way, he saw a gigantic assembly with an even larger cylinder protruding from the wall and ceiling. That had to be it ... and if these shells weren't breach loaded, they were screwed. "Yeah, this is definitely it. Let's look around for a breach and a trigger."

Second Wave

Taking Haythem's word on the matter, Lexi returned to the helm. More of her recent hires stepped forward to board the massive wyvern and as soon as the wyvern had ten new passengers, she leaped from the deck and maneuvered herself awkwardly back into forward flight, delivering them to the Basilisk shortly thereafter. <"One ... maybe two more trips should do it,"> Haythem mused aloud, thinking Lexi might have been onto something, earlier.

Making his way passed the gathering crowd, Haythem approached the captain. "You said they could get back by jumping onto the rigging, right? Can you move get the ship close enough for that? I'm starting to think it really would save us some time ..."

Lexi smiled, as if the nod preceding it wasn't confirmation enough. "Just let me know."

Prepare to Fire

By the time Isis had returned for her third batch of passengers, the Basilisk crew had managed to unlock and load one of the cylinders into the cannon. The mercenaries poking around on the rotary floor had also figured out that the entire building could be turned to allow the cannons to aim at targets along the horizontal plane, though they hadn't quite figured out how to get it working. Once the second shell was loaded, Amon went to check on the rotary floor while Shadrak fiddled with the pitch mechanism. To the latter's surprise, these machines ran on manpower rather than runes. To Amon's relief, the same didn't hold true for the rotating mechanism. It required runes to function, and fortunately for them, it seemed to still be functional, its power source being stored in a similar fashion to the magic casings on the gun floor.

After a couple of minutes, the mercenaries figured out the controls, and Shadrak found a convenient relay port--or four--to relay instructions down through. That just left the other two turrets. They likely had identical layouts, so that meant it was time to get them staffed. Figuring the people that had come over initially could handle the right wing turret, Amon started directing everyone else to the other two turrets on opposite ends of the ship. He instructed them not to try and hit the imperial ships, only scare them, and to keep shooting in their general direction until they started to turn around. After that, they were to meet up back at the right wing turret and prepare to leave. If not for his ominous warning that the ship would disappear soon, even if they were still on it, wasting time or even looting, Amon doubted they would have bothered coming back anytime soon.

The next few minutes were nerve wracking for Amon in particular. They had barely enough people to get anything working, and even Jamilla had to help Shadrak, Eva, and Mavis adjust the pitch on the cannons in the right wing turret. It seemed like each turret required a minimum of twenty people to operate with any sort of efficiency. Knowing there were likely a good deal more than that for actual battle situations was a little daunting. Soon, though, the turrets began to move, pointing the massive anima cannons toward the Neviskotian Imperial armada in the distance. "They're going to fire as soon as they're ready," Amon noted, "so we'll do the same. I just hope the Ursians haven't gotten here, yet."

One Ursian ship in particular was closing in, but it wouldn't arrive in time to stop what needed to be done. The ship's crew were still intent on boarding the Basilisk, and it would only be a few more minutes until they did just that ....

Edited May 12, 2017 by Phoenix

[Dandragon]

"Phew!" Mavis wiped the sweat off her forehead. The cannons were finally in position, and it took every ounce of strength she had to move it, even with help from the others on the boat. It was certainly far more of a workout than she had anticipated. With a deep breath, Mavis took out the canteen of water she carried with her and took a small drink, before wiping her lips with the arm of her coat. "Haah...Least I still have this." She said, referring to the fact that most of her traveling food was gone, thanks to a run in with that Sea Wyrm.

Mavis turned her attention back to the cannon that she had been moving into place, and it was a sight to see for sure. More high tech than anything she had seen in her life, though that could have been because she mostly stayed in the Cottage she had called home. Even so, none of the stories her father told her said anything like this. And it was daunting, especially up close. No amount of strength, muscle, or fighting prowess was going to save her from that blast if she ever got caught in it.

Placing the cork back into her canteen, Mavis turned to face the rest of the people that had just helped her with the cannon. "So, what's next?"