Duty Session 424: Still Tide Pirate Lair

SpritesHero does not look pleased. In fact, seated as he is atop those wind-whipped rocks, the scent of salt-spray strong in his nostrils, his expression is positively bleak. And no wonder. It's a tricky path down, with unknown hazards a-plenty. Also, it's cold and damp, and the treachery of those sea-slicked rocks threatens many a future tumbling into the seething bay below.

Occasionally Robert leans out a bit more to get a better look at potential routes--but without much success. He'll simply have to wait for the scouts to return with their report.

Ayame picks her way down the outcrop of the rocks, arms spread a little and wings fluttering as she descends to Robert's level, looking about warily and breathing hard as she finally settles down against the stone, leaning back against it "Seen anything yet?" She asks warily, her voice low and quiet as she scans about

SpritesHero grimaces outright as he hops down off his rock. "Doom," Robert answers in sepulchral tones. Invoking a set of papers from his inventory, he forks them over to Ayame. "Still waiting on final details, but here's the preliminary report. Long story short, it's a well-chosen pirate lair, well-guarded. Isolated, single-path in and out. Not even a need for an escape tunnel since they've got a small landing for craft, though I suppose one might have been paranoid and installed one anyhow. In short, I don't see any slick way about this. I think we may just have to brute-force the thing."

"Lovely" Ayame groans, flicking through the paperwork with a small scowl "We should have a look around, anyway. They might worry people would be coming in by sea, but they'd still want a way to get out. Or at least I would" She wrinkles her nose, adjusts her spectacles, and hands the papers back with a sigh

SpritesHero takes the paperwork back, vanishing it into his inventory just as the last set of scouts run in with their report. Which....doesn't add much. "Scouts have nothing," he informs Ayame. "Alright, let's see what we can do. I'll take the left, you head that way," he instructs, indicating the opposite side of the bluff with a slash of his hand. "Meet up again down at that rock that looks like Prophylaxis's hat." Truly, it is a very mushroom-shaped rock.

"That's what came to mind?" Ayame asks, looking over the rock dubiously, but she moves on down, starting to scout about. She scuffs the ground with her feet, listening as she walks, quick little steps to disturb the ground and careful little prods of strange rocks. Every so often she turns, looking for Robert, shaking her head, and continuing on, down, towards that rock, with a reluctantly annoyed expression

"Well, what would you describe it as?" Robert inquires once he hears the tell-tale pitter-patter of Ayame's quick feet. He stands there, before said rock, hands linked behind his back and wearing a rather dubious sort of expression. Perhaps a bit too intent on scrutinizing said rock, which may or may not be a root cause of his lack of luck in finding a secondary path. "No luck on my end. You?"

"Let's go with mushroom" Ayame notes, but she shakes her head "Not a thing. If there is, they've hidden it all fairly well, which either speaks of wonderful things for how much they expect to use it, or I've gone entirely blind" She gives a small smile

"Mushroom is too prosaic for a duty involving pirates," Robert observes with a mildly hurt expression. "But have it your way. Mushroom Rock." The glance he offers at her over his shoulder carries the judgemental weight of a millenia of poets. And then he's off, picking his way amongst boulders, sliding here and there where the pounding of waves have worn the rocks smooth. He's not exactly quiet, but at least there's no massive clattering either.

Nonetheless, the village of downtrodden inhabitants no doubt have more than enough warning of his approach. Certainly more than he has of theirs, for he rounds a bend in the bluff and nearly walks face-first into a thatched cottage.

"I don't really have much in the way knowledge of pirates. Only ran into them once" Ayame shakes her head "But nothing wrong with prosiac" She offers a wry smile, following him down to the village and looking about, grabbing the back of Robert's top before he waltzes into a wall "Careful there" She murmurs, amused

It's almost comical, the way Robert skids to a stop, arrested by Ayame's hand upon his collar. If only she had a cane for yoinking him off-stage.

But she doesn't. Probably. So instead there's just a strangled sort of gurgling as Robert stumbles backwards, his movements uncontrolled and off-balance. The inhabitants, broken as they are, look either judgemental or sorrowful. Clearly they don't expect this duo to be making it out intact.

Ayame brushes down that collar, looking ever so slightly amused "Be a bit more careful" She advises, chuckling, as she starts to look around "You see if you can talk to them. I'll see if I can find anyone who might tell us more for a bit of money" She suggests, slipping off with her quick-step

"Right."

It would appear that Robert's own thoughts are not so different from her own. Only instead of money, booze, food, and a bit of chatting appear to be involved. Thus it is that, upon Ayame's return, she'll find Robert clearly hard at work.

Which is to say, he's busy snacking away and getting his new friends boozed up. On the plus side, he appears to have gotten them talking. On the other hand, they're not exactly talking about anything relevant. Or decent, for that matter.

Ayame, meanwhile, is red-cheeked and is rubbing her hand fitfully, shaking her head "No one was willing to talk" She mutters, sitting down by Robert and blowing on her hand before stretching it carefully "Everyone's a little desperate, it seems" She forces a smile "How about you?"

SpritesHero tips his nonexistant cap to the others, before examining Ayame's hand with a faint frown. Not that there's much he can do about that. So he simply offers her a bit of cold cluck-cluck. He has the grace to not comment. "We've got a way forward," he informs her, "but it's going to be rough. We'll be breaking through the main entrance. You good to keep going? It'll be risky."

"It's fine. We can head on in" Ayame nods with that same fixed little smile "After all this, I'm determined to at least get somewhere today" She pushes out another little chuckle and a sigh "You lead on, then. I'll follow and stop you bumping into anything you shouldn't" She nudges him with a little grin

SpritesHero elbows Ayame back, but not unkindly, and tucks any remaining food into his inventory. "Alright. Counting on you," he answers with a warmer, less-fixed smile as he sets off.

It's a smile that fades quickly enough, however, as he sees what exactly 'well-manned' means. Gargoyles on scout perches. Various humanoids with both ranged and melee weaponry. A few with suspiciously high-quality arms and armor.

"Well crap," he intones, neatly tucking himself away from behind a boulder. "Think you can provide ...well, some rather large and flashy spell?"

"Against so many?" Ayame asks dubiously "I wasn't expected an open field fight" She considers, and plucks her wand from the bun in her hair, running it around the edge of her shield. A muttering in a low tone, before she finishes with a cry of "Ignis!"

Fire bursts from the shield. Not in a jet, but in a wall, erupting from the edges and trailing after Ayame as she charges forward. There is one safe place in such an occurrence; and off to the sides is not it.

Then it is a good thing that Robert is not, in fact, off to the sides. He charges straight forward, in Ayame's wake, snapping off clouds of darkness here and there. Oh, they're not particularly effective. They're certainly not doing much damage. But what they do offer is a bit more confusion to the battle, a bit more uncertainty as to where Ayame and Robert actually are. Which, judging by the furious roars and screeches from around the pair, can only be an advantage.

Once battle is joined, it's a brutal affair. The flames don't last long, but it cuts the numbers of the enemy down enough for the two to get in close where they can't be surrounded easily, and Ayame's shield can come into play properly. She fights ferociously, bashing with the shield and blasting with the wand, starting to cut a swathe into the fort proper

Ayame takes point and--frankly--does the bulk of the work. Robert plays support, occasionally nailing the intrepid kobold that gets too close on their 6 o'clock. But for an evasion build like his, this is a far from optimal situation. By the time the pair break through the surrounding mob into the fort's doorway, he's littered with red streaks and pucture marks. But at least now they have a funnel, so long as they can ensure nothing will rush them from inside the fort.

The push into the hallways eventually gives them room to pause, and Ayame leans against a wall, breathing hard "Tougher than I'd like" She mutters, singed and flushed and scraped all over "But at least the worst is probably past in here. How are you holding up?" As she takes a moment to adjust her gloves, smooth out her skirt. Tie back escaping tresses. Catch her breath.

"I'm fine," Robert answers with clipped tones, jaw tight. It's a default response, and not particularly one driven by any sort of self-examination. He's still firing blasts backwards, more concentrated now. But the horde has thinned out considerably, and it's mostly down to a few fire-terrified kobolds poking their snouts into the hallway. "Can only go forward at this point anyhow, yes? What've we got?"

Seems like exploration of the chamber will be mostly left up to Ayame, as he continues to cover their backs.

"Sure?" Ayame asks, helping him on, breathing slowly as she starts to look around. Slinging her shield to her back, she murmurs, a lilac light luminescing from her wand as she starts to examine the writings. She frowns, and glances back, before she starts to trace the wands in the air, leaving a light behind as she copies the words, waving them to the centre, over the pool

"They're mirrored" She explains with a small smile, moving to look at the writing, then nodding "A whirlpool" She explains, bending to stir the pool with her wand, listening to the slow creak of stone on stone around them

SpritesHero does his best to chip in, really! Regrettably, this amounts to setting a weak bit of flame in the air, which...sort of illuminates the room. But for the most part his attentions are locked on making sure stragglers don't make it inside to ambush them. Which is to say that the creaking of stone on stone sets his alarm bells ringing. "Sure," he lies. "Uh, Ayame, talk to me. What's going on over there?"

"Door. Or trap and we're all about to be drowned. I rather hope a door" Ayame grins cheerfully over "But my money is definitely the former. I think we're fine" She winks.

Sure enough, soon the door grinds up, and open! Ayame stands, unslinging her shield again, though there's a rather subdued breath of relief

"Sounds good enough to me," Robert answers, flinging bits of furniture into the rear doorway in order to at least slow up any pursuers. With that he spins aorund and bolts forward. "We've got...maybe a couple minutes to handle whatever waits for us."

What waits for them is, in fact, the Captain himself. Metal sings menacingly as he draws his weapons from their sheathes and blitzes forward in a ferocious assault. Nor is it one that Robert avoids, instead redoubling the speed of his approach with a blast of flames and sulphurous fumes.

Ayame, as well, rushes in, putting her weight behind her shield to simply bullrush the captain. It's not enough to knock him down, but it is enough to occupy him, especially as she begins to blast raw magic at short range, keeping him occupied!

What follows can only be described as a confused mess. Sword and scimitars clash, the sound echoing sharp and clear, parry, deflection, and riposte clanging, hissing, ringing a menacing melody. Magical blasts send dust and smoke swirling--along with sending a suspicious green vial flying out of the Pirate King's hand, hurtling through the air and sinking into one of many pools with a soft 'ploop'. Whatever it was is apparently important, for Ayame's action may as well be a taunt. Robert is forgotten entirely. Right up to the point where Robert neatly plants his rapier in the boss's back.

As the Pirate King stiffens at the blow, Ayame takes advantage to bash a scimitar down with her shield, and ram the metal rim into his chest, making him stagger back and impale himself up to the hilt. The Sylph flashes a little smirk, stepping back and breathing hard, before twisting to stare at a pool of water.

An erupting tentacle tends to get attention, after all. She dives out of the way, as the thing wraps around their enemy's legs, and starts to drag him for the depths

SpritesHero does not squeak. But he definitely leaps out of the way with a bit more alacrity than is strictly necessary. Throwing knives flash between his fingertips--but he evidently reconsiders and, after a few deep breaths, tucks them away into his inventory once more. The boss--and by proxy Robert's blade--is dragged, screaming, into the watery depths. "I'm not really up for finding out what that thing is," he comments to Ayame. "Not today, at least." And no wonder, judging by the sheer number of crimson damage marks. And a dangerously low health bar.

"No, I don't think so" Ayame mutters, staring after the tentacle with wide eyes, then dodging away as the rapier is flung back out of the pool "I think it didn't like your sword" She grins back to Robert, before she slings her shield back and looks around "At least we can grab something before we get out?" She suggests

"Plus it would be rude," Robert answers as he strolls over to pick up his rapier, giving it an appraising once-over glance before tucking it back into its sheathe. "And if this kraken going to be returning my weaponry, it is most polite indeed." Adopting a pious expression and posture, he bows to the pool before turning around to survey the spoils. "Seems like gold. And rather a lot of it."

"Grab a few bags, and get out?" Ayame suggests "Most of this is going to go back to the Landers, but I want at least paying for this" She muses, selecting a couple of bags and weighing them "Well, at least one has coins" She grins "This'll do me"

"And this'll be enough for me," Robert quips back, tucking away his own loot which is neurotically tuned to be almost identical to Ayame's share. Turning around, he heads at a clipped pace back towards the entrance. "Well done," his tones can be heard to state as he rounds the corner and goes out of sight. "This could have ended very badly, but for you."

"Wouldn't even have made it in without you" Ayame smiles slightly, but she lets out a heavy breath, glancing warily to the water "Alright. Let's move, shall we? I for one want some warm, non-salty water I can see the bottom of before the end of the day"

"Agreed," Robert responds with a momentary backward glance over his shoulder. Out past the mayhem, back through the village, then a mad scramble up that rocky bluff once more. "I for one could do with getting this salt out of my hide. And a nice, piping-hot stew."

"Definitely something like that" Ayame agrees, keeping her wand in hand as she makes her way out, keeping close to Robert and glancing back nervously at the wide, rippling sea "Hopefully the last we see there" She mutters