Into the Horizon and Beyond - The Voyage of the Dawnchaser

By any and all standards, the ship was a beautiful thing to behold. It was a pretty large vessel, big enough that the port had to be expanded exclusively so that she could be secured to it. The whole thing was made of strong wood, dark red in some place and a lighter cream color in others. It had three huge mast, with the smaller one being at the front, the medium at the back and the tallest one right in the middle. A seasoned sailor would note how the masts were cleverly constructed as to allow easy re-rigging into a lateen sail. The sails for their part were mostly a cream color, with a the main one having a bright red sun over a horizon painted on it. The ship had many levels, two on the back of the ship and one on the front. Of the two levels on the back (called the Aftercastle) there was first a raised platform where the proud ship's wheel was there for all to see. Behind this platform, and going up some stairs was the officer's quarters, a section of the ship reserved for the Captain, her closest advisors and other things of the highest importance. In the front of the ship, there lay the Forecastle, a raised platform which housed on the lower level the comfortable rooms for the passengers and on the higher one some of the rooms for the actual crew. The deck between these two castles was mostly flat and highly spacious, made of cream colored wood, though here and there were a myriad of of latches and hatches which probably meant there were quite a few compartments, stairs and storage space all around. Beyond this and the Forecastle lay a small deck right before the bowsprit, the pole at the very nose of the ship, under the which lay the pride of the ship, her figurehead. And on the Dawnchaser, the figurehead was the figure of a young maiden, hands clasped together and eyes closed as she faced forward, enveloped by what appeared to be flaming wings. This beautiful figure was made of a strange alloy of metals, which sparkled golden and crimson in the light of dawn, as if the peaceful maiden truly were enveloped by flames.

Yes, that Dawnchaser was truly a wondrous sight to behold.

By now, morning was almost over, the sun had reached high in the sky... not right at the top, but pretty high anyway. After a long day of interviews, some as long as to merit a drink and a few bites to eat, some short enough to only warrant a shrug and a thumbs down, now most of the fresh crew were assembled on the main deck of the boat as preparations to leave port were conducted by a small number of veteran sailors and small orbs of light which moved around and pulled on ropes with unseen arms. Right at the moment, the Captain was not on the ship... instead she was on land, speaking with a few people in turn and finally with the major of town. It was a lively conversation, full of laughter, boasts and words of the good the two of them had done the other.

However, the new crew would have little time to take in all of this as very soon a clear melodious voice rose to take their attention "Alright everyone! Line up now, you might not be exactly green but you are new to this ship so pipe down and listen to what I have to say!"

The speaker was a surprisingly young human woman who at most must be twenty, with flaming red hair tied up in a ponytail and with ocean blue eyes. Her manner of dress was pretty light, with loose pants, soft shoes and a short sleeveless top. Still, for how simply she dressed, she had a fair amount of jewelry on her body, going from around fours rings on each hand, a rune engraved piece of silver metal which clung to her earlobe and a nice golden collar. She held a list and a pen in her hands, though she looked straight at the assembled people as she idly wrote down on it "I'm Yeoman Jeina Brooks, in charge of everyday operations in the Dawnchaser and of her crew. Which means that I'm directly in charge and must look after the wellbeing and efficient work of the whole lot of you. As you might see I'm pretty young, so please don't force me to act like the nanny or anyone's mother. At the same time, I'm here to assist and help the lot of you, so if anything comes up doubt not in asking"

"Now, we'll be setting sail in about..." Jeina then snapped her fingers and from one of her rings appeared a thin sheet of light with some runic scribblings on it. After she nodded, the sheet disappeared as promptly as it had appeared "Five minutes and thirty eight seconds. Before I tell you all what to do and where to go, do you have any questions? Don't be afraid to launch them all at once, I got a good memory and will answer each in order"

If I'm sure of something it's that I'm not sure of anything.

"Question!" Piers Da Donna, otherwise known as Ogre Donna, or Bear Donna, yelled. He raised and arm, no normal arm, but a massive mechanical one plated in gold. Small puffs of steam shot out of the joints as it moved.

"Are there a lot of dolphins where we're going?" he asked. "If so, I'll be more than willing to cover maintenance costs for my arm here." He ran a hand, itself connected to an arm that was only strangely large and hairy, along the length of his prosthetic. "''She'll need lots of oil, gunpowder, and soap to wash the dolphin blood off."

He let out a laugh that sent sent his massive, tanned, red fur colored gut into fits of hopping and seizures.

To the law and for the good of man. All I need to live by.

Further mechanical clanks followed Donna's arm as one of the Riders stepped forward. A massive Griffon sauntered past the Dolphinpuncher, a Cat riding on its back. Not a fucking Neko, nor a simple talking cat. A Cat, with a capital C. He had a full suit of platemail on, save a helmet tucked under his arm. The Cat nodded to Donna.

"Agreed, Dolphins are monstrous creatures. They kill for fun, you know? I've seen many a man killed by them, it's nice to know we have someone else who knows about their menace." The Griffon leaned down to stare at Donna's arm, then brought its own mechanical claw up next to it for comparison, twitching in time to the machine's steam clicks.

The Cat stared momentarily, then precariously leaned down past ninety degrees to reach over and offer a hand to shake, casually supported by a standard flight harness. "The name's Guy Managan, I'm one of the combatants aboard this ship. This creature here is Patches." he patted the mechanical beast he was bound to, still examining the man's arm. "I think he likes you."

"Awrk."

Samsara, the best damn cartographer the Dawnchaser had the priviledge of having, stood there, tail swaying too and fro. "Huh... no, not really, I just want to get to work! Hehehe. Sooner we leave, the sooner I can lay the land!" Samsara said as she peered into the sky, a bright grin upon her face. "Ah..." the lizard girl couldn't help but appreciate the weather.

"Can I ask why you're punching dolphins to begin with?" her eyes narrowed. Were these people really kind of stupid? Well, no, she wasn't one to talk about stupid. Nope, not at all.

Guy pulled himself upwards slightly to get eye contact with the lizard girl, narrowing his eyes back at her. "Clearly you've never seen them for any extended period of time. Dolphins aren't smiling, their skulls are shaped that way. Dolphins kill for fun. The stories you hear about them being playful and kind are false."

Piers stared at the griffon in awe. "If there were ever a flying beast that could carry my behind across a valley." It was a terrible, proud thing, and he knew better than to think less of if for its metal parts. "Like a kitten, if I let it. Which I'll not."

To the law and for the good of man. All I need to live by.

A long and vibrant hum, mostly intended as a "Hmm" or a "Er" kind of sound, came to their flanks as a large mass of a man came forward. A Snailman, yes, but to describe him as such is semantics to some. "Now I've spent a few years on the islands, spent some time fishing, seen plenty of dolphins. I've never even heard of them killing people, unless you consider men something your size". He stood over the two, arched slightly.

edited 19th Sep '12 7:33:20 PM by wikkit

Guy and Patches shook their heads in unison, then the Cat hoisted himself back up to sit on the saddle fully. "Look, I'll just say that I've been a soldier for over two decades, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about. Let's get on the open ocean and see for ourselves once the dolphins show up! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to hurry and get the best spot in the stables."

With another rattling clatter like the sound of a shop's shutters, Patches' wings extended to their full length, a massive network of brass gears, shafts, and canvas. He strode purposefully forward and, again in partial unison, Patches and Guy raised a hand. "I want to just get into a nice room and make sure Patches here has a good stable to stay in. Do the Stables have hatches directly accessible to the outside, and if so where are they?"

"Don't be mean to pretty girl, buddies, pals" said Dr. Fabius as he appeared behind the Horned-Lizard. "We be friends on ship, no?"

---

"Yo, I ain't afraid of no dolphins," said a tall elph in a set of leather clothes nearby as he stood near the snail man. The cigar hanging from the left side of his mouth slightly muffled his voice, but was taken out and held in his left hand. He made a fist with his right and mimicked a punch. "Sons of bitches get near me, I'll just drag it down. See who's laughing after a couple hours. Me."

After a brief moment, he added, "What are dolphins, anyway?"

"It's a glandular problem, ya fu-" he turned around to inspect his heckler. "Snail." He turned to Yeoman Jeina, chuckling. "Lady Jeina, did I miss some memo here?" He asked. "The meat on this ship is salted, right?"

He turned back towards the snail man. "Hope you like lemons, friend."

To the law and for the good of man. All I need to live by.

Hovering around the heads of her crew mates to be, a pixie darted this way and that, picking up bits of conversation and mentally recording anything of interest to jot down in her journal later.

Ducking under a mechanical arm that was on its way back to it's owner's side after being raised up, Yathelalina could not help but roll her eyes at the Cat's insistence that dolphins were all evil murderers. "Yeah, so says the man whose species is so well known for mixing well with water." She muttered sarcastically.

With all the talking going on, there was no way the woman taking questions could hear her tiny voice. Yathe did not feel like shouting so wth gossamer wings flapping to fast to see, the winged woman rose up above the heads of those in the crowd nearby and darted over to where Jeina was.

She wanted to know where she would be sleeping. Yathe needed a place to set her scrolls and personal items down, it was such a drag (literary, the heavy bag she was carrying was causing a drag on her flying) carrying it around. Seeing as Jeina was already talking to someone else, she hovered lower and waited impatiently.

""What are dolphins, anyway?" An elph wondered behind her. Yathelalina turned around and gave him a look.

"What, you've never been to ocean before?"

Jeina shot the assembled men a thoroughly disappointed deadpan look before she noted something down on her papers "Alright, if the only question I'm asked is about the availability of dolphins to punch I must imagine the Captain gave you all a terrific debriefing on land... That's a tad unexpected, actually"

"As for the answer to your question, Mr Da Donna, we're going to sail the entirety of the seas all the way to the end of the world. While I cannot make any promises, I am almost completely sure that, yes, we'll be running into some dolphins at some moment or the other. However, if you wish to punch them you'll have to do so on your free time or when I point at one and tell you 'Kill this smiling devil right now, Mr Da Donna'. Any other circumstances of dolphin punching on your shift will not be allowed"

"Mr Managan, didn't the crew in charge of loading tell you to leave your Griffon with them so that they could take it to the stables?" asks the Yeoman as she turns her eyes to the Cat.

If I'm sure of something it's that I'm not sure of anything.

"No," whispered Dax to the pixie after Jeina addressed the group, "But I've been diving in lakes and rivers since before I could walk. Ocean's pretty much the same thing, just a bit bigger and less crowded."

"Yes, don't be mean to pretty ladies boys," a young woman said. "Or do. You never know. Maybe they're into that." She walked (or rather, slithered, as she was a lamia) towards Fabius, her fellow medic, who was in the middle of reprimanding the would-be dolphin punchers. Needless to say, unlike Fabius, the pink-haired half-snake women wearing barely enough fabric to cover someone half her size (not counting the tail of course) stuck out a great deal.

"Oh, and boys? If you're going to kill some dolphins, come see me first. I hear their fat makes exquisite oils," she said smiling, imagining the possibilities. This trip would be fun fun fun. "Anywayyy, I did have one question. Your sick bay, is it already stocked? I believe I gave your captain a list of things I'd need. Herbs and such."

edited 19th Sep '12 11:02:35 PM by KSPAM

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

A hand shot out from somewhere near the back of the group, belonging to a short girl still in her teens, clad in armor with an excessive blade strapped to her back. "Who's the cook?"

In another spot in the crowd, a pale blonde woman in a strange black dress stood quietly.

As Jeina responded to the half-mechanical giant, there was a bit of a commotion on the land side of the ship. A few quiet scraping sounds and a steady stream of muttered profanity washed up over the side, followed in short order by a grey-skinned hand grasping the bottom rung of the safety railing. This was succeeded in turn by a grey... person - while attractive enough in a general sort of way, with a slender muscled build, the newcomer was androgynous enough as to give the people who took notice of him some pause. He wore a blue sleeveless tailcoat, threadbare and slightly faded, and sailcloth pants; these billowed in the salty breeze as he vaulted the railing with preternatural grace. "Ah, shit, someone tell me I'm not late," he gasped, hefting a rucksack back up his shoulder. "I had to run clear across town."

It's been fun.

"Just by a little." A tall muscular, grey-haired and definetively well armed man with golden eyes dressed in an old and worn uniform told the newcomer. "You missed the answer to the very important question about wheter or not there will be man-killing dolphins to punch the ever-living snot out of." He then said with a completely deadpan voice as his hand rested on the large sword hanging by his waist and the other hand correcting the fasterners for the cutlass' seathe on the other side of his hips.

Smack dab in the middle of the assembled crew, a bespectacled blue eyed, blonde-haired man with a musket slung on his shoulder and wearing a green shirt, long wool socks, dark tan pants and an overcoat of the same color; pinches the bridge of his nose in distress all while shaking his head from the downright insane behavior of the "highly experienced and specialized" crew that he would have to work with for an indefinite amount of time.

"This will be a long voyage..."

Shameless Self-promotion ho!

Safe to say that Samsara was a bit on edge about what she had just heard. So dolphin's were evil? "Y-yeah right." the lizard laughed to herself. What bully indeed. There was no way they were the demons that Guy and the Dolphinpuncher had described. "He—

Then Dr.Fabius appeared, out of nowhere, causing Samsara to — "YEEP!"

She yelled out in fright. The lizard took a few steps forward to get away from the Dr, but then she realized he was friendly. Her eyes had teared up, her figure slouched. "O-oh man, I'm sorry. I'm a bit anxious."

Zander stood amongst his crew mates, trying his hardest to get too much attention turned his way. His was a young, strong fish man, but he was terrified of the idea of everyone on the ship turning on him. The Dawnchaser may be the most beautiful ship in all the world, but it's so called crew, was no where near as magnificent, in fact it was by most definitions awful. But at the least these guys where on his side.

Embrace the Magnificent Bastard Within!

Johannes stood close to Nevenka, patting the River Wyvern's scaly neck mostly for his own comfort than hers. While Johannes was mostly wondering about all the strange people that he would be working with the coming days, Nevenka was a lot more interested in the Pseudo-wyvern standing not far away. The young rider hoped the two females would get along, or this would be a long and difficult trip.

---

Rin was on the edge of the gathering, trying not to stand out too much, despite the faint chill radiating off of her. She'd had a long chat with the Captain about what her duties in the Engine Room would entail, so the half-Snow Girl really wanted to get to work already.

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

"Alright, the lot of you!" Piers said, shooting both his hands up now. "You've been warned. I, the man-cat, and the snake-lady for the first team when the inevitable happens." He turned to Slyph.

"Careful now miss, you'll not want the likes of their kind inside your coils for too long. It's not even remotely worth the oils."

To the law and for the good of man. All I need to live by.

Dalhouse watched and listened. he had many questions but doubted that the ones he wanted to ask would get answered.. Those could only be answered by watching, listening and perhaps by more underhanded means. So all he did was shake his head, roll his eyes and mutter, "fools" under his breath.

Trump delenda est

"You will be being my nurse?" Fabius asked the Lamia, his face showing a bit of curiosity but not betraying his smile. "I thought I will be only medic."

"If you want someone to make something good from the oils the hatred of dolphins will provide, you can make sure I'll put them to good use."

The voice came from a somewhat tall woman with a black dress on with her her of a matching colour. By her ears, one could tell she was an elf. She was followed by two humanoids which didn't have much features other than the fact they were black all over. They seemed to be carrying various supplies at the moment.

"Oh, and those two behind me, they're my helpers. So don't shout demon and pull out your weapons."

Soon afterwards, a young man wandered in. His most noticable feature were the fox tails and ears. His fashion sense looked like a mix of a commoner and a noble's wardrobe. When taking sight of Sylph, he ran towards the lamia, his eyes caught on her scalier lower body. "Wow! You have a tail instead of legs! Does that mean you're a mermaid? It would be so awesome to have a mermaid as a crewmate!"

edited 21st Sep '12 5:29:36 AM by JustaUsername

Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.