The Magnificent
Zander did his best to get to the port side as fast as he could. His muscles were aching for some good old fashioned combat. Apart of him was hoping that he knew some of those pirates, cause if he did he was about to have some fun.
Embrace the Magnificent Bastard Within!
"I am needing to be seeing the medical wing at once," said Dr. Fabius as he followed the Yeoman. "Must prepare to be doing surgery."
Dax wildly ran around the deck, looking for something to do, while trumpeting a note out of his trunk in frustration. "Where's the water?" he asked as he ran past the gunner, fighters, sailors, and anyone else still on deck. "We're on a ship in the damned ocean, but how do I get some water without jumping off?"
edited 22nd Sep '12 12:28:41 PM by nman
Dreams of Revenge
"Blast!" cried Wallace as he saw the ship come under attack. If he had been a particularly superstitious man he might have taken this as an incredibly bad omen for the voyage ahead, but he tried to avoid letting mystical beliefs cloud his perceptions - out here, the sea was the only ruler of men and fate. His mood was lightened by Eirene Z. Dawn's speech. She was a damn good orator, to say the least - was there anything she was ill suited to?
Sloughing off his awe, the werewolf cursed himself as he realised that he had neglected to bring along any ranged weapons - his only method of defending himself was his trusty sabre. He'd just have to help with the cannons, even if he was relatively inexperienced in their operation. As he loped toward the nearest cannon, he managed to snap off a quick reply to Dax. "I don't know - try below deck or something!"
He hadn't had much time to familiarise himself with the ship's layout, so it was a wild guess based on some of the vessels he had served aboard. Hopefully he hadn't just caused Dax to waste time, but since they were in the middle of a battle he was concentrating more on the task at hand. What an interesting day this is turning out to be...
Locking you up on radar since '09
When the meme so supreme you let out a scream
As soon as Dante heard the order, he ran to the other side of the ship, ready to attack. There was no way he'd pass up such a fantastic opportunity to fight. Grinning confidently, he pulled his wand out of his pockef.
"These guys are here early, eh?" he said to anyone who could hear him.
"Thanks", said Dax as he turned around, though because he wasn't looking, he slammed right into a rather scaly looking girl.
Samsara — Deck — Chapter 1 of the Great Lizard Legacy — DEAR GOD PIRATES
"W-wha!?" Samsara heard someone talking to her, then suddenly, the boat rocked. Oh god. Oh god. The lizard was going to go top-side. The rocking of the boat, the young lizard girl had been on the edge of it.
Very smart, girl, very smart.
"W-w-waaaah!" over the side she went. Her hat fell off her head, her hair danced to the whims of the air as she descended to her watery grave.
Yeeeeeep. This sucks.
"Oh shit, oh shit," Dax said, watching the girl fall overboard. Taking a deep breath, he jumped over and followed her down, though he made sure he'd land to the side and not on her.
Samsara — WELCOMED TO DIE — Descending Into a Vast Watery Tomb
Thoughts raced through the girl's head. Okay, swimming in warm salt water couldn't be all that bad, could it? Course, her maps would get wet, so would her hair and her skin. Water made her smell like shit though, and that'd be unpleasant for the crew members. Not to mention that her maps were going to get soaked.
Wait.
Maps were going to get soaked. They were still on her person, locked away in the bag hoisted over her shoulder. All of her hardwork, gone just like that. The lizard found her resolve, a motivation to not get wet. However, someone had been on their way to save her. "Ah crap!"
Almost in the water.
No, no, I don't THINK so!, Samsara unfastened one of the gloves cover her hands, which now dangled from her wrist.
"NOT TODAY, GRAVITY!" in a violent motion, she slapped the side of the boat with her ungloved hand. Her descent halted after a second. Wait, the guy that fell! Ah damn! "HAAAH!" Samsara through her other arm out as she grabbed onto Dax's arm. saving him instead. "Phew..."
"Oh, uh.... okay," said Dax, hanging there. He thought she was going to fall into the water, but it seemed like he didn't have to help after all. Not sure of what else to do, his trunk made its way up near her face. There was a convex bubble of clear water at the tip. "Thirsty?"
edited 22nd Sep '12 4:48:00 PM by nman
Green food
As the Dawnchaser began to leave port, Curio heard cheering from the port. Curio came to the other side of the ship to see a croud had gathered to watch the Dawnchaser leave. Still riding the high of his excitement, the normally more reserved Curio joined the young looking swordswoman at the railing in giving a last cheerful farewell to the people of the world.
Curio leaned on the railing and watched the coast slowly begin to shrink. He turned to and opened one of the large pouches he carried at his side to ensure he had brought everything. Quills, ink pots, blank journals and notebooks of various size, some calculation devices, some books for reading when he had some fee time, a couple extra pairs of glasses. Everything a historian would need to record this journey.
Curio noticed the young swordswoman walking towards a lizard demihuman deep in thought.
I'm probably going to be quite occupied with our discoveries later on, Curio thought so perhaps now would be the best time to get to know the crew. This voyage's journal will, no doubt, require some knowledge of the crew and its activities. His rational thus formed, he decided he would start by joining the swordsman and lizard in conversation.
"Uh, hey. We're finally setting sail, huh?"
"Indeed we are." Curio responded next to them, inviting himself into the conversation. "And I tell you, I cannot think of a better thing I could have done with my life. To have the honor of recording this great voyage, at last i'll have made a truly great contribution to this great age... You know, with all the discoveries we'll be occupied with on our voyage, we may not have a better chance than now to introduce ourselves, so i'll introduce myself first." He gave a modest bow to the two "My name is Curio Benede-"
Suddenly, there was the sound of a heavy impact on a magical barrier and the ship lurched starboard, causing an unexpecting Curio to tip over mid-bow and flail his arms before falling forwards onto the deck, knocking his glasses off. Dazed and confused, Curio got up to his knees and put his glasses back on. It was then that Curio heard the call from the crow's nest. Pirates!
As he scrambled to his feet, Curio bemusedly wondered what half a dozen pirate vessels were doing waiting for this ship. Now that he thought about it, the news of Dawn's voyage had spread far and wide throughout the land. Dawn was known to be very wealthy; the case must have been that the rampant spread of news had reached the ears of various pirates. In the long wait for the summer solstice various groups of pirates must have ganged up with one another to set a trap for the Dawnchaser!
Curio's blood chilled. The gateway to his dreams had turned into a deathtrap! Curio quickly paced back and forth, running his hands through his hair. He didn't know how to fight! Those pirates would make chopsticks out of his wishbones! Just as Curio was beginning to consider jumping ship, he heard the captain call out to her crew.
Curio couldn't help but be slightly annoyed about the words, "as expected." If Dawn knew this was coming, it would have been nice to have some warning. Nonetheless, the captain's speech was undeniably rousing, and Curio could feel his panic being rapidly downgraded to edgy nervousness.
The yeoman's call reminded Curio of what he had joined this voyage for and set Curio's mind into motion. "Th-this battle will need to be recorded." He thought to himself and began looking for the best place to observe the ensuing fight. Curio's eyes rested on the steering platform. It's height and proximity to a world renowned hero would be ideal for him. Curio ran up the stairs and onto the platform, almost bumping into the sluggish helmsman, and gave Dawn a curt acknowledgement before stopping next to the wheel. He stood there, ready to observe the battle.
One thing was for sure. Curio's journal was to begin with many large booms.
edited 22nd Sep '12 4:53:33 PM by SonofMelonHead
"And then the dead man of the dead did dead things to all the dead people."-Two Best Friends Play Dark Souls
Hyoth started to pull this beautiful ship about, as something black and spherical crashed into the magical shields. He had no idea that the ship had so much magic that it blocked projectiles, so he was doubly worried. Are you serious? Someone is trying to take the ship already?, he thought to himself. Scanning the horizon, the assailants made themselves plainly visible. He looked to the captain for orders...
And she started speaking. He thought it was noble and all, and she was a pretty good orator, but there were important things happening. Seven of them.
With the captain finally turning about to order him, he gladly took the words. "Aye, captain!", he shouted as he brought the ship hard left. The most impressive of their enemies lay before the Dawnchaser, and they now were heading right at it. Hyoth was ready! No mere brigands would take them on and live!
The Maid
"Now that's better, down here nice and safe... not like we're in much danger up there with the Captain and our fellow crew members taking charge of things. Still, down here the battle is a bit less distracting" said Jeina as she moved down the hallway.
"Ah, the barrier is produced by... well, the heart of the ship. It's a tad complicated to explain, you better see it by yourself" says the Yeoman... just as the party reached a split in the way.
"Hmmm, I guess the circumstances don't allow for a full tour. I better guide each of you to your post as quickly as possible" mumbles Jeina before she starts fiddling with one of her rings... After the which her image flickered for a moment and suddenly there were two Jeina's standing before the assembled crew.
"Alright then, Engineers to the left with me. The heart is down this way and deeper in the ship" says the Jeina on the left.
"Doctors, Cooks with me to the right" says the Jeina on the right "Now, don't look at me like that... there's not actually two of us. This one that is talking right now is merely an illusionary double. Takes a little bit of concentration to pull off but I can manage guiding the two groups at the same time"
"Oh, whatever it wishes to do to help our friends in the air" says the Captain to Violet's question.
"Oh, good of you to join us, Curio" says the Captain with a wide grin as she stands with her arms crossed "Got my first words on the trip written down?"
She then, once again looked at the Hyoth and grinned "Well, Mister Hyoth... time for you to learn what this vessel is capable off"
With that, Hyoth would notice how the wheel was attached to a raised wooden counter which extender about a meter or so to every side of the wheel. On this counter there was a whole bunch of navigational tools... a compass, astrolabe, little dials which indicated the approximate depth of the waters around them... almost all he could want to know he would be able to learn from them.
"Now, Mister Hyoth... if you press against this jeweled button here..." Eirene did so and soon enough the image on three opaque sheets of glass shifted and changed. Two of them, set on the counter on each side of Hyoth showed what he would see should he step to the back of the ship on either side and then looked back. The one on top of the wheel, on the other hand, showed what he would see be standing at the very nose of the boat.
"The ship has its own means of propulsion... if you move this lever forward..." says the Captain as she does so... and soon enough the ship started to pick up on speed, moving straight forward "Though of course... it's a lot faster if we use the wind on conjunction with what the ship can do by herself"
The Captain then caught sight of the dark man that accompanied her during the interviews and called out to him "John! Put some winds on our sails!"
"Aye, Aye, Captain" says the man, with a bright smile on his face as he grab hold of his staff. He whispered something under his breath and the swung with all the strength on his arms... which caused a strong gale of wind to hit their three sails... making the ropes and wood groans as they suddenly pulled the whole ship forward.
By now they were moving fast... way faster than any other ship on these seas should be able to. They were practically flying over the waters on collision course with the big mighty enemy galleon.
"Alright, that's about it for the lessons of today, Mr Hyoth... the wheel is yours. Now do me a favor and make my ship ram that fat Galleon at the very top of our speed. After that, I leave our battle maneuvering entirely on your capable hands"
Guy would find no names of great note on those vessels. A couple were raunchy names, a few of them had no names at all. There were two small but quick vessels, two medium sized boats, full of angry pirates bearing weapons as they prepared to board the Dawnchaser and two battleships full of cannons. Then the last one was the large galleon that the Dawnchaser was heading straight against.
As Guy flew close to the medium vessels, her would soon be met with a flurry of arrows, hatchets and other ranged weaponry going right to his way.
On the other hand, the Riders that were not as busy would soon see two winged shapes take to the air from the large Galleon... and heading straight towards the Dawnchaser.
edited 23rd Sep '12 1:41:59 AM by daltar
If I'm sure of something it's that I'm not sure of anything.
Planet-Killer
"W-whoa!!!"
The ship's sudden acceleration towards the pirate flotilla had caused Algernon, who was about to load a cannonball into the gun to lose his footing and stagger until he regained his balance by hitting a crate; fortunately he kept a death grip on the heavy ball of pig iron in his hands as he feared more dropping the thing on his foot than the pirates he was going to have to fight.
"This day is certainly full of surprises!"
Gritting his teeth, the gunsmith's son goes back to position and pops the cannonball in before taking aim and letting the weapon rip at one of the medium ships before drawing his loaded flintlock pistol and waiting for boarders.
edited 23rd Sep '12 6:23:32 AM by Strigon
Shameless Self-promotion ho!
Once the pirates had gotten within range Martin armed himself with his rifer and started shooting at whatever pirate heads he could the, those close and not deafened by the cannon fire could hear the gears in the rifle turn for every pull of the trigger.
In order to avoid getting hit by returning fire Martin crouched and took cover behind the railng. It was all a manouver he have had imprinted in his mind ever since he had joined up with the Barisian Royal Marines and for fifteen years of service after that
"Well then, seems it's amateur hour on the high seas." Guy muttered. He again scoffed in disconcern as the ranged weapons rained down on him and Patches, doing a few basic barrel rolls before pulling up. As he hovered about a hundred feet up, Patches tugged his harness back towards the Dawnchaser with an urgent "Hrauk!" It seemed that two passengers had already fallen overboard! Guy recalled one of his first training exercises, where the physical fighters wrestled eachother off the boat while he worked on catching them. Patches narrowed his wings with another rattle and dove, streaking down at Dax and Samsara for a rescue.
Never Trust
t occured to Dalhouse that for pirates to be laying in wait like this they must have been told and probably hired. He filed this away as a minor data and made a note to himself to try and find out who might have the motive and the purse to try and sabotage the voyage.
Trump delenda est
Green food
"I was, ah, just getting to that now captain." Curio replied, adjusting his glasses and taking an inked quill and blank notebook out of his pouch. "'Hear me well my crew... uh... needless to say the glory of this ship..." Curio muttered under his breath as he quickly jotted down the captain's memorable speech that he could remember it when he wrote the journal's first entry true and proper tonight.
Curio's writing was paused for a moment by the rush of wind from the Dawnchaser's staggering speed. The fluttering of pages in the journal the wind had caused vexed Curio slightly, though that was pushed aside by his curiosity at the ship's apparent self-propulsion. Those magic shields were an item of interest as well. Curio would have to ask Dawn about this when there weren't a couple hundred angry whiskey-drinkers coming after them.
Curio perked up suddenly at the captain's last words. She wanted the helmsman to do what with this ship!? Oh dear. Curio quickly pressed down on the restless pages and hurriedly continued to write. He would have to finish writing the captain's words, and fast!
"And then the dead man of the dead did dead things to all the dead people."-Two Best Friends Play Dark Souls
Pattern Select : RHB
— Mazz D'aryu —
((Red is dragonspeech))
"Let's get some height," Mazz said as he and Huntress went aloft, gaining altitude until they were circling high above the two fleets, obscured by the sun.
The griffin was swerving amoung the ships, eventually arcing back to the grab a pair of fallen crewmen, as the Dawnchaser moved towards the pirate vessels.
Wait. Towards the pirate ships.
Mazz sighed, "... aggresive women." Huntress bucked. "I didn't mean y—"
"Not that," Huntress roared in reply, banking so that Mazz could get a better look below. Two shapes had taken off of the pirate flagship.
"Let's give them something to worry about," Mazz said as the pair pulled a half split s and dove towards the one of the two shapes.
edited 25th Sep '12 6:51:06 AM by zzzdragon
Fear the Gothilolions! | Anime list
"Hwark!" Patches jerked his head upwards as he slowed his descent; Guy turned accordingly.
Oh good, the other Rider was dealing with the assailants. Patches slammed into the side of the ship a few feet next to the clinging crewmen, sinking his talons into the hull. Guy flipped up his visor and yelled, "Lizard girl, jump on! The Elph can swim and you need to get your scrolls as far from the water as you can! Erm, by the way, I'm Guy, in case you missed it. Which I believe you did."
edited 24th Sep '12 5:34:11 PM by Taco
"Yep," Dax agreed with the Cat, as he tried to work his arm free.
"Yes, you have magics, very nice" Doctor Fabius said, following the fake Yeoman. "Lead, please."
Samsara — BEING SAVED!
The demihuman was about to climb up the side of the ship, but then someone came to the rescue. Excellent, her luck had been shifted the other way. "Alright... one, two, THREE!" Samsara pushed all of her weight off of the ship. Shortly after, she had let go of Dax. "I'm very sorry!"
Afterward, the girl had set herself upon Patches, rather disoriented from the leap. "Oh boy, never doing that again..." she had placed her hand back into the glove to stop it from sticking to everything.
"It's cool, babe." Dax said as he fell down the side of the ship, hitting the water with quite a bit of force. He hung on to whatever part of the ship he could grab as it dragged him along. On the bright side, he could now fill up - though not completely, he need to keep some air handy. With nothing else to do, he started drinking up some water as he waited.
Never Trust
Dalhouse had been watching the drama of the lizard girl and the elephant man trying to save her with a mixture of calculation and amusement. When the girl was rescued and the elephant man apparently left to fend for himself he figured that he could earn trust points with both the elephant man and the crew in general if he helped him. Someone owing you their life or thinking they did could always come in handy. There were always coils of rope kept in convenient spots on any ship, there were too many uses for it not to be. He ran, grabbed one, tied a quick loop in one end and threw it towards the Elephant man then braced himself against the railing.
edited 25th Sep '12 4:02:59 PM by tricksterson
Trump delenda est
Guy pointed at his own harness, telling Samsara, "Hold onto the harness, even if it's less than a hundred feet!" Patches' wings clanked once and launched up, boosting up onto the deck and clinging to the rail. Guy coughed awkwardly. "Patches, I don't think she can climb up you..." Patches made a drawn out gurgling noise, evidently a Griphon Sigh, and grabbed Samsara in his organic talon; then he dropped the girl on deck unceremoniously and launched off; Guy unhooked the massive six-foot lance mounted on his saddle and aimed himself at the two enemy Riders.
Ah, the first battle of the voyage before they'd barely left port! Guy fastened himself into Patches' harness more tightly, then put his helmet on. The armor, combined with Patches' prosthetics, reflected sunlight to a blinding degree, turning the Rider into an indistinct shape as he skimmed the water, checking the names of the ships for anything significant. He also made sure to note the Wyvern coming out of the ship; much faster and lighter than Patches, but incapable of outputting as much raw force, simply because the other creature wasn't augmented with various mechanisms. Guy made a mental note to meet the other Rider later as he weaved between boats, scanning the hulls for names.