Piracy!

    The Baroness Wake is easy to miss. She's not dressed in one of her usual outfits, but rather in something quite different, indeed. She is wearing an unusual mixture of fighting uniform, funeral raiment, and wedding dress. At least in form. The colors fit none of these properly, for the veil, cast back over her hair, is a pink so pale it nearly appears white, and the skintight dress is of pure black. The skirts appear ragged, in fact little more than a couple moth-eaten long pieces of flowing, black fabric remain. Under all this is a body suit of pale purple and blue. On either wrist are crude, thick bracelets of some dull metal. With a few links of chain dangling from each, it is clear they were once shackles.

    Yet she is in command of the journey to come, and is already aboard a ship. Wake's current fleet consists of three ships. They may not look like much, but they promise to be swift and they are well kept. The crew-all Landers-are the Silver Tongues, a banished group of pirates who were long ago betrayed by a Dukedom noble.

    "We'll be setting sail shortly, with your blessing," the tall, dark haired captain says to the Baroness. She nods her head in assent. "Thank you, Captain. The wind will favor us this day. Of course, we shall be making some of our own to outpace what we are granted."

    The Captain sets about his tasks, mostly ensuring everyone is prepared and no one is slacking. "A day that starts well, ends well, people! Let's not be sluggards!" he barks out. He adds a string of obscenities, but his crew is skilled and knows their business, so it's more for tradition than in anger.

Schneider has come to charter an accountant, and sail the wide accountant-sea. But somehow he wound up here. There was apparently some confusion. But there were assurances that there were bad guys that needed to be dealt with, and he's good with dealing with bad guys. An Exploder Wizard may seem like a bad idea for someone to have on a naval crew, but it's even worse for your enemies, if they're in ships that are flammable. He will try to find a place out of the way to stand while people who actually know what they're doingg do ship things. They're probably important, too. "Just to check again," he asks Wake. "Do we /have/ to capture all these ships, or is sinking them OK, too. Like do we lose points if maybe one or two of them get blown to matchsticks?"

As usual Wake is accompanied by her friend, bard and general keeper. In some ways one could considered Kauchemar her bodyguard, though in most cases Wake is more than capable of taking care of herself. The Were Fang was just an extra bit of precaution. They are dealing with pirates after all, so a small bit of cautious is just proper business conduct. "Taking a crew that has beef with the other Nobles under your elegant wings. Very classy." She shut the book she had been browsing a few pages of and tucked it back into her inventory. "I guess it is time to show the invaders they are not as safe at sea as they think... even if it is only merchant ships for now. That means supplies, which means less support to their own war efforts if they lose them."

"Uchuu kaizoku no jikan da!" - It's time for space piracy! - was the first thing shouted by Chikako Douji in response to the invitation to join the Baroness' little expedition. She even took the time to hunt up a new outfit, pairing a baroque naval officer's jacket with ... a short skirt and blouse that look remarkably like an everyday school uniform. At least she's got a decent pair of boots to go with it. "A fight -and- some nice fun plunder at the end. You do know the way to a girl's heart, don't you?" (Up from below the ribs is the best, she's said repeatedly before.)

As for raiding merchant ships... "Far more important than the warships, Kau. You're close, though - an army marches on its stomach, a fleet sails on its. The harder we can make it for them to keep their battleships operational, the less they can use them. And then..." She grins and holds up an open hand, curling it into a fist, the leather glove creaking as she tightens her grip. "We take them for ourselves."

Syx heard that they were going to get to be pirates. So he'd gone and gotten everything he needed to help look the part.

Which for him mostly consists of an eyepatch. He already doesn't wear a shirt 90% of the time, "Yar, me mates. I hear we be settin' sail for plunder and glory!"

No he probably won't do this the entire time.

... Probably.

    Yuuki is hanging upside down from some of the rigging. Why? Well, because she's Yuuki of course. Though as she's hanging there, she's staring at Wake, looking a little amused. Finally she comes out and says, "You know, I swear that every time I see you, you're always wearing something weirder and weirder." To be fair, Yuuki is hardly the perfect picture of fashion given she wears practically the same thing day in and day out. But hey, when you find an outfit you really like in a game, you stick with it!

    But it looks like they'll be setting sail soon. So Yuuki unhooks her legs from the rigging and flips down to the deck on her feet, "Hyup!" She then points forward to nowhere in particular, "Let's get this show on the road! ... On the seas!" Yuuki grins in amusement, putting her hands on her hips, "Time to do a little pirating! And there's no dee arr em to stop us!"

    "Merchants for today," Wake replies to Kauchemar. There is a warmth in her tone as she speaks to her friend. More than bodyguard, bard, and keeper is how Wake views Kauchemar. "As Chikako says, we'll get their fighting ships when luck allows. And where it doesn't, we'll find a way anyhow." The comment gains the Captain's approving attention. There's more than just agreement in that look.

    She turns her attention to Schneider and smiles. "I ask that you direct your flames with care, but fear not. We have talent with artes here, so damage can be mitigated. Besides, this crew can swiftly get a vessel seaworthy enough to limp home. Or tow home. The fleet is to grow."

    Wake tilts her head at Yuuki's comment. "This? Hm. I suppose The Right Clothes were simply trying to take their best stab at what a priestess of the Beautiful One might need to wear. Who am I to argue with a relic's opinion? I have to say, it got the shackles perfect, and it is easy to move in. It does show a greater expanse of the chest than I would have expected, and leaves little to the imagination below. But then, she is a goddess of fertility."

    Wake does not allow distraction to last, though. "Captain! When you are ready, let's be away! Please let my friend below decks know we are underway and may join us whenever she wishes."

    With that, they are off to sea. The path carries them north of the Dukedom. Their journey leads to the northern coasts of the Ninetails Dominion, and sure enough, air and water artes both come into immediate use.

Schneider peers at Wake, but the news is this will mostly be merchants, so he will fiddle with his spell loadout. "Flames are like Honey Badgers," Schneider explains, implying they don't care. "But I have other attacks, not to worry." Of course he still has mostly fire attacks. But there's a few other attacks in there as well, once he's finished futzing with his spell list. Lightining has replaced a couple of his fire spells. Does he have spells other than fire and lightining? Not really. A few odds and ends. Wizard lock and door opening spells, general everyday stuff.

Once at sea, Schneider will stand by on the helmdeck, out of the way of sailors again, but close at hand in case Wake has any instructions. "Too bad we haven't invented cannons," he muses. "This would feel proerly 'Age of sail'."

"A fine strategy. We don't want to over-extend our reach before we can handle it." Kauchemar draws her staff, letting it rest against her shoulder. "I have wind and water at call should we need them. And a few other tricks ready for our charming guests for the night. Who needs cannons when we can hurle the very forces of nature upon them? But in the meantime."

Of course this is when she goes into a chain of sea shanty renditions to bide the time and keep the crew on task. Everyone knows pirates have a fine appreciation for a good musician.

Chikako knows some wind techniques, but honestly, she's more of a bash-em-over-the-head sort than the sophisticated-magic type. "Don't worry about me, I'm just here to thump their marines when the time comes," she tells Kauchemar. Then it's time to find a place to kick back and wait for the fun to start. She doesn't hesitate to turn a hand to work if asked, but she doesn't seek it out, either.

"So, gotta wonder," she asks at one point, "We got some good ideas of where their ships are going to be?"

    Time to do some magic!

    Yuuki stares blankly as some of the others unleash their wave artes to help the ships move along faster. She is very much of no help there.

    Though as the topic of cannons comes up, Yuuki hmmms thoughtfully and rubs her chin, "That would be a fun way to board an enemy ship... Launch myself out of a cannon at them! Too bad Prophy isn't around." She smiles and shrugs, "Swinging across on ropes will have to do!"

Syx will probably try to punch a hole in the ship. At least, you know, that's what he did the last time he fought pirates. Of course now he has to BE a pirate. Which is fun because this is more of a privateer thing.

"So are we trying to capture the ship or sink it?" He asks, as he leans agaisnt one of the railings, having dropped the pirate thing eventually, "I assume we're gonna sink it because if we capture it then we'll need to crew it.."

He also does join in with shanties whenever he can. He actually has a pretty good singing voice to go along with Kauchemar's playing.

    "I have put forth an inquiry into using Scale's wonderful new invention to create projectile explosives," Wake says to Schneider. "That is a starting point. Mixing it with Pela's batteries, I hope to make light artillery. But rest assured, the end aim is something that will be very much up your alley, Master Schneider."

    For much of the trip, Wake speaks with the crew. She has a way about her, and focusing as much as she has on developing a talent for working with landers, she charms them in a variety of ways. They also openly appreciate the music. It seems Landers love it, and these sailors especially enjoy a good shanty. The captain is often stomping to the beat, and when there is a bit of down time, there is even dancing.

    Once the northern arch of the Ninetails is cleared, things get a lot more serious. The crows nest calls down regularly and their course is maintained with great focus. The captain mans the helm directly at this point.

    "We could do with a bit more speed," he says. "I'd suggest, my friends, that we hope to catch them at daybreak." The captain speaks to Chikako, "We have, Oni. Under the orders of the Baroness, we have been keeping track of them for some time now. While they are clever, we have seen all manner of tricky, shifting schedules over the years. With the right push, tomorrow morning they'll be in plain view, just a touch or two to the starboard side."

    Wake explins to Syx, "We will be taking their ships. And if the Landers aboard favor a prison cell to a journey to the bottom, they may be inclined to ensuring we get back home. At least, whoever is left. Once the fighting is done, we can cut to a skeleton crew on our vessels and easily man another."

    More artes are applied and time passes. Rest follows for much of the crew. They want to be rested come battle. Sure enough, as the sun rises ahead, the silhouette of two ships can be made out on the horizon. They travel in a tight formation, where they might easily support each other. But it also makes it easier to target both, as well.

Schneider looks uncomfortable with things going up his alley, he's a young man yet. The doctor won't need to do that until he's fifty, right? Or maybe she knows about his other secret project, with the Uranium? Nono, that's been kept on the downlow so far. "Ah," he says. "Well, good?" He will try not to sound too suspicious at this point.

And listeing to the Captain explain our goal and how he plans to get us there, Schneider can only nod. "Souds good," he says. Whether it -is- good or not, only time will tell. He will take a shift summonin air elementals to help push the ships, but he's not a spectacular air mage, and the effect is not as great as all that. But he will eat and sleep, when those times come, he wants to be fresh for the battle when that happens.

"A bit more speed, Captain? As ye wish." Kauchemar pauses briefly to bow. "Escuse me mates, you've been a wonderful audience, but time has come to tend to duties of me own." With that she stands and strolls to the back of the ship. It takes a few moments of concentration and she calls up a large air elemental to blow into the sails, filling them with more wind to help accelerate the ships along. It's crucial they catch their quarry at the exact oppritune moment.

One has to wonder how much the Oracle has peaked at the future, as while she warily never states towards a definite victory or defeat, she seems to be nudging things into a certain set of affairs towards a specific altercation. Nudge things to wear they need to be at the right moments.

"Sounds good to me, skipper." Chikako nods and settles in to wait impatiently for the target to arrive, taking the time to be sure she gets a good healthy meal the next morning. And cooking one for the rest of the adventurers, as well. She spends an hour or so deep in the ship's hull, however, picking among the ballast stones to select a few that will make good projectiles. After all, there's only one Yuuki to throw.

When she emerges, she's taken on her 'true' form, the crimson-hued amazonian monster with a toothy grin to share with the sailors. And somehow has managed to find a perfect match for her outfit sized to this form. Impressive dedication. "Right," she says. "Looks like we'll be in range within the hour."

Once Syx's question is answered, he begins to formulate what he'll do once they get there. He decides to start climbing, scaling the rigging of the ship to get all the way up to the crow's nest up top.

He PROBABLY won't go all the way through the ship, he figures.

    "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Yuuki bounces up and down as she watches the horizon for the enemy ships. She doesn't need to prepare for the fight or anything. She's always prepared! Besides, she doesn't really do anything ranged herself. Most of the time. If she wasn't so fond of her sword, she might consider throwing it at things. But that just seems like a bad idea when she wants to keep it.

    Hmmm, maybe she needs to find a way to develop a skill to recall her sword to her hand... Not a bad idea. Sadly probably not something she can work up in the next however many minutes before they engage the target ships. Oh well, she'll just have to wait until they're close enough for her to jump over!

    Which is why Yuuki asks, "Are we there yet?"

    With the aid of more wind power, the ship cuts through the water at remarkable speed. The Captain smiles, his eyes focused, "With this kind of power I could take the stars from the sky and weave them into a necklace fit for you, Baroness," he declares. He's very much into his work.

    With this kind of speed, the distance is swiftly reduced. All around, the crew is working. The sails are allowed to catch the full push of the magical wind, hooks are made ready, spears gathered. It's all very efficient and businesslike. They've done this before.

    "The rest of the fleet is swinging around wide to ensure we aren't disturbed," the Captain explains. "Whenever you are ready, friends."

    "Yuuki!" calls out Wake suddenly.

    "We're here."

    The enemy finally notices their danger, but surprisingly late. They were looking ahead, not behind. Cries go up and their crew grabs whatever weapons they have at hand. Most look inexperienced in combat. There are, however, some forces on the ships that are far more formidible and well-armed. They don't look alarmed. They look pleased to finally have some action.

Schneider is watching the enemy ship we're closing in on so rapidly, looking at the defenders on deck. Bowmen and casters, though too far away still to tell if they're Landers or Players. But they're Palace Landers, and that makes them targets, and he starts gathering his magical energy, muttering mystical words, or perhaps heavy metal bands as dark lightning crackles around him. When we get close enough, someone's going to get it, right in the face.

He chants, "Second Heat, I summon thee! From dark Heavens, roll forth, the Spirits of Thunder! Thunder Attack of Spirited Destruction! GILBERT!"

The crack of thunder splits the air, and tendrils of lightning scour the deck, seeking warriors and touching them exploratively, and where it touches, violent, savage damage, brutal electrocution, merciless and painful. Dark Schneider does not have any nice spells. This is a spell he hasn't used in a while, so it may be unusual to see Dark Schnider hurling huge amounts of lightning at the enemy ship as soon as it's within lightning range.

Chikako grins and watches as the enemy ships loom closer. Almost in range... almost... "Hey, Yuuki, you want that lift?" she calls out, casually - mostly joking. But at this size maybe she *could* throw Yuuki all the way to the other ship.

Probably safer not to try, though. She -does- have a number of large ballast stones worth throwing, though. "HEY!" she bellows, doing her best to pick out an officer to target. "YOU! WITH THE HAT!" She hefts one of the mid-size stones, gets into a good throwing stance, and - "CATCH!" And then the first of many such stones is on its way from Cannonball Oni.

    "Woo!"

    Yuuki rushes up to the edge of the ship and jumps up to stand on the railing. She grips some rigging to keep her balance and looks out at the approaching ship. As they get into shouting range, Yuuki calls out, "Heeeeey you! Yeah, you guys!" She draws her sword and points it towards the ship, "Be warned that you face the great and mighty Zekken! All those who don't want to face my Absolute Sword should lay down their weapons. It would also save us some time you would bind yourselves as well, but I understand if that might be a bit difficult. So just your weapons should be fine!" Yuuki swings her sword at the air a few times for good measure.

    Okay, so Yuuki is not the most intimidating person around. But who knows, a few of them on the ship might be so dim, or so scared already, that they actually listen!

    Or not~

    Still. It's only polite to introduce yourself to people before you start attacking them.

As the small pirate unit nears the target enemy ships Kauchemar draws back her windy propulsion assistance and strides back down to the main deck with everyone else. There is already a frosty glimmer around the skull adornment of her staff as she takes it from her back, a hint that she's already charged its elemental machine components with something in preparation. With the other hand she gives the Captain a brief pat on the shoulder. "Looks like you were right in catching them with their bilgedeck wide open." She's trying to make a sailing ship play on 'with their pants down' but it's only so-so effective, but no matter. Then she takes her staff in both hands, making a few arcane motions with it.

Wake wants to try and take any uncrowned crew for themselves, and keeping them out of the fight would still go towards reducing the strength of their opposition, so we will go along with that. Kauchemar finishes the conjuring and thrusts her staff out in the direction of the enemy ships. "AVALANCHE CRESCENDO!"

Great wads of ice and snow manifest from the air over the ships and rain down upon the deck. Crewmen struck directly are likely to be either knocked out cold (pun intended), or just froze in place. Either way they are alive, but unable to fight unless they manage to free themselves. For others the patchs of ice and snow left on the deck may become a hazard to keep moving about the ships to keep up their sailing duties.

The ship comes into view, and Syx grins a little bit, "Finally. Lets do this." He says, as he hops up onto the very top of the mast. As soon as they're close enough to see their targets, he picks out one of the warriors on the deck, "That one looks good." He says to himself, before he points both hands to the sky and lets out his battle cry.

"OOOOOH YEAH!"

And then he jumps, plumetting through the air and towards the armored warrior. Syx's plan is to smash into the guy, and smash him below decks. He also hopes he won't crash all the way through the ship and sink it.

You know, spending the entirety of the trip so far below decks was mostly a result of just needing her space. Jazz barely likes sea travel in the first place, but it wasn't like she wasn't working down there anyway.

Now, with a ship in view, the Undine has emerged onto the deck proper, a hand held to her hat in the breeze.

"Guess this is it," she says, more directly to herself than anything else. She focuses on the other ship, then quietly places her charts back in their scroll case and back into her long, black coat. "One Sea Witch at you services, I guess," she adds.

    The initial meeting results in all hell breaking loose. Lines are cast between ships, weapons thrown, then swords drawn. The ships nearly crash into each other. That would be bad, for the record.

    But even before that madness breaks loose, Schneider's attack falls on the enemy warriors. The group of them is immediately torn into, tearing deep into the health of one of their number (a sliver of health left) and bringing the rest down by a good third at the same time. Answering fire rains down from a pair of archers up in the enemy's crow's nest.

    The other warriors charge into battle. There are two swordsmen, a hulking were fang with a club in each hand, and a woman with knives.

    Lots of knives. Several of them are immediately thrown at Yuuki. "Nice to meet you, traitorous filth!" It's not a very polite greeting, and she didn't even tell Yuuki her name. Rude!

    Oops, recount time. Make that just one swordsman up top. The other is driven below decks by Syx's leap off the mast. The thunderous impact is so great that it has some of the enemy crew gaping in shock. Clearly this is not the kind of fight they are used to. Plus why is it so cold? A considerable number of them are frozen in place now, while some simply fall and stare at the sky. "Weather in this place.. is strange," someone comments.

    Jazz's appearance earns a smile from Wake. "Glad you made it just in time for our diplomatic session!" An arrow whizzes by Wake's cheek. "I think it's going swimmingly!" she exclaims before turning her attention to healing the poor crewman who was struck by that arrow.

    Speaking of being struck by something, the enemy captain is just drawing his sword to leap into battle when a stone crashes into him. He stumbles back, losing a third of his health, then glares at the Oni that hit him. "A demon among demons! This one is mine!"

"Just in time to join the party," Kauchemar comments as Jazu joins them on deck, lowering her staff a moment and smirking. "I shall leave the witching of the waves to one more appropriate, then."

By the gleam in her eye Kauchemar already has other things in mind. Arcane gestures are made, switching from elements to the supernatural. "How about we take advantage of some superstision, hmmm?" She grabs onto something from the spiritual realms and redirects it towards the enemy ship. Where it manifests in the form of.. a cat. A ghostly cat, so it's likely some manner of baneko. More importantly, it's black in color, as black as midnight.

We all know what happens around black cats, right?

The Baneko doesn't have to do more than just sit there, staring at sailors. The supernatural presence of bad luck is enough to make weapons slip from hands, deck planks randomly snapping free to smack people, or stumbling into ropes that just happen to snag ankles.

Who needs to shed blood when you can just sow chaos and confusion amongst the enemy?

    Whaaaaat? They don't surrender to Yuuki's might? Well, okay. That'll just make this more fun!

    And right now that fun comes in the form of knives being thrown at her, "Ack! Woah! Hey there! Watch it!" Yuuki ducks and weaves her way around the thrown weapons, before looking confused at the greeting she gets, "Traitorish? I don't remember pledging my loyalty to anyone other than my guild. And I certainly haven't betrayed them!"

    Yuuki shrugs. Clearly this woman must be mistaking Yuuki for someone else. Maybe there's another Zekken out there? Yuuki may have to track them down and deal with them at some point.

    But for now, Yuuki turns her focus to winning this fight, "Right then! On guard!" Yuuki leaps from her ship to the enemy one, quickly charging the one that had thrown the knives at her, "Knives are for eating, you know! Swords are for fighting!" Yuuki proves this as she launches into a quick series of stabs towards the woman's chest.

Schneider throws up a magic shield againsr the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and return fire, and it deflects away from him as he stands there on deck looking smug about all this. The enemy looks injured, but they're still fighting back it seems, so he wil have to do something about that. What he does, of course, is haul out one of the big booms he has, and as he casts, a miasma of evil energy seems to gather around him.

"Deep Doomsday. To the spirits of land and air, bound by the pact, fulfill your obligation now." He takes a slow breath, then bellows, "MEGADETH!"

Explosive fire washes over the deck, almost too fast to have a physical impact, which is lucky or the deck would be blown clear of enemies, but also of masts and gunwhales and everything else. As it is, scouring flames surround the enemy warrioers, searing them horribly, burning them for huge chunks of HP before the flames dissipate. The miasma lingers a bit, but is more a sense of unease than a source of harm. But the victims will know for damn sure that they've met a wizard.

In the below decks area where Syx landed with his target, the salamander lays there looking up at the hole in the deck above him, "Wow. I'm not dead." He seems more surprised than anyone else. He picks himself back up, just in time to get hit by the sword from the guy he landed on, "Hey! Ow! How are you still alive too!?" He moves to try to grab the guy and suplex him, but the Adventurer manages to elude his grip. This is why he usually sticks to PvE!

The two of them can be heard below decks grappling and fighting, slamming around below there. Syx probably doesn't need help. Yet.

Chikako smirks, pleased to have the Captain's complete attention. "The word you're looking for," she says, hopping up onto the railing in preparation for a leap across, to confront him directly, "is ONI!"

Grinning wild and fierce as she steps into melee with the man, she leads by slamming her fist into his gut. "Tell me, Captain," she asks casually as she lifts an arm to catch his blade on one arm - by the 'clank' there's some sort of armor underneath the fancy jacket. "Can you swim?"

"Yes. Why do you think they call them 'wave artes'?" says Jazz, all dry voiced to Kauchemar.

She observes the battle a moment, keeping her head down, as she figures out what to do. While the wind seems to pick up around her locally, causing her hair lift at its edges like she's some kind of magic-using anime character (SURPRISE), she seems to be focused on her companions. Waiting for the right moment, no doubt, to place her next action in play, though she's not at all idle. Zipping out from below decks behind her is a colorful, tortoise-shell styled ... cat ... that is also a fish.

"MEW," says the cat-fish. It's a Summon, after all, and its mewl-blub is very, very loud. It spins around Jazz rapidly, sailing through the air. It is a flying... cat... fish, moving through the air like it remained under the seas, but never far from it's keeper.

Jazz side-eyes it, then sighs. Still, there's another mewl from the creature and it seems to be sharing something with Jazz, who is nodding her head.

"There's still a few people hiding below decks on that ship," she gestures at their original target. Not a surprise, but no doubt good to know for when they take it. She's now turning her attention back to the larger ship and drops to one knee. Her hand presses into the ship's deck.

"O, darkest oceans," she begins, "darker than blackest night, I beseech you to grant us your blessing and your strength so that we might bear the trial to come." Gotta do the RP, right? Still, a column of black waves erupt around her and as she raises her hands and return to her feet, they erupt around her allies and ther crew. Each of them feeling empowered. 'Abyssal Strength' appears on their buff bars.

"Lets get 'em," she adds, much less formally.

    The Baneko further hampers the effectiveness of the crew. They really didn't need that added difficulty. Wake's pirates are able to take advantage of the openings, swiftly binding many of their adversaries, some even surrender rather than face yet more danger. With the ice and the cat having such a serious impact, the first ship is falling fast.

    Also falling fast are their more powerful warriors. Schneider's fire spell burns so hot the mast smolders. One of the enemies (the one directly hit previously) bursts into pixels, while one of the swordsmen, who takes the brunt of this strike, is sent hurtling into the sky. Burning like a torch, he crashes onto the deck of the other Palace Lands ship, then bursts into pixels as well.

    The club-wielder rolls away at the last moment. She takes damage, but remains alive.

    Below, at the bottom of the Syx crater, a very shocked and injured enemy just barely gets out of being suplexed to death. Several sword slashes are directed at Syx in response.

    Wake looks to her Captain, who remains at the helm, keeping the ships locked in battle. "We'll need to ensure that second vessel can't escape, Baroness!" he explains. "Men, prepare to fire the grappler!"

    Meanwhile, the enemy captain has abandoned the helm and focuses on Chikako. His smirk fades when the first strike puts him down in the red and knocks the wind from him. Worse yet, his weapon is caught and he can barely hold onto it. "Swim?" he chokes out.

    Yuuki's knive wielder falls back. Throwing knives is her thing. Getting shredded by the leader of the Sleeping Knights is not. Well, it wasn't. Now it is. Which is why she bursts into pixels. It's too bad, she looks like she was about to say something really witty, too!

    Sensing a need to aid her friends in battle, Wake turns her attention from the Captain's work to the other ship. A quick leap and she lands near Syx's crater. Eying the battle below, and seeing that Syx has nearly defeated the enemy, the Baroness reaches out. "The will of the Goddess," she whispers. Then she focuses her mind and a power bursts from her, driving her companion to succeed where he has otherwise been unable to. A word is caught in her murmuring, pulled from her in a sudden cry.



    "FEHU!"

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    Whilst this is going on, the second enemy ship draws into range. It seems like it's been eons, but really only a few moments have passed. A huge, armored hulk of a warrior leaps aboard. The only enemy the other ship puts forth for now. Hard to tell what's under that armor, but it's tall and built like a tank. The enemy wields a heavy blade of absurd dimensions and makes its way straight for Yuuki.

Schneider is clearing the decks pretty easily of rank and file flunkies, blasting them with flash fire and lightining in an effort not to set the whole ship ablaze. They're on their last legs, it seems, and Schneider means to scythe those legs out from under them. His next spell is a -bit- simpler, "High-volt, annihilate my enemy ........ Strike!" The crack of thunder echoes once more, and if it's not as intense as before, there are fewer enemies left alive. The lighting surges through them savagely, and Schneider looks around for more enemies to fight. There's the boss, he sees, now that the trash are down. He'd used all his big spells already, but he's still ggot some pepper left.

Syx's combat is entirely close quarters, and fighting a guy running sword and board is never fun. Still, he manages to finally break past his defenses. He throws a pair of elbow strikes, and then feels the will of the goddess getting involved in his fight, as the power from the Baroness helps him slip his opponent and give him a German Suplex, cracking the wood. Syx then kips up, flipping the armored fighter onto his shoulders.

He jumps again, flying past Wake, and lands on the deck. Though land is probably the wrong word, as Syx unleashes his Ragnarok Driver onto the soldier, the burning meteor hitting the deck right in front of the boss from the other ship.

Syx rises up from the shattered remains and tombstone of the adventurer he had been fighting, and wipes his arm across his face, "What're you waiting for, big guy? Let's dance."

    Yuuki's final lunge pierces the knife-wielding fighter, causing her to vanish into pixels. Yuuki shakes her head a little, "Such a shame... She probably should have stuck to doing that trick in carnivals." You know the one where they throw knives at people on a spinning wheel?

    Thankfully it looks like they've got the upper hand against those on the ship, with many surrendering. That is until Yuuki hears a large impact behind her. She turns around to face the armored hulk and whistles, "You're a big boi!" She grins in anticipation, tapping the tip of her boot against the decking as she sizes the the large target up.

    Yuuki leans forward and then dashes straight towards him, though first she zigs left. Then zags right. Then at the last moment she leaps and spins, swinging her blade around in a full three sixty blow.

    Yuuki's headband shines ever so faintly.

    The deck plank beneath the one of the large behemoth's feet suddenly cracks under his weight, briefly throwing off his balance and keeping him from performing an effective guard against Yuuki's strike.

The second ship's captain leaping onto the first is hard to miss, even from the main deck of their own. "Ah. There he is," Kauchemar comments in such an off-hand way that one gets the impression she already saw that this was a confrontation coming. "Second phase, bigger boss with better defense." That's why everything went smoothly up to this point. And then the Nightmare is... not standing there.

It's hard to tell which of her expedient abilities she used to get to the other ship, but she did. However there's already a lot of people to get in the bosses' face, so instead she directs her Baneko to lend an assist rather than get involved directly at first. The spectral cat floats up, and rather than casuality from it's presence tries to actually focus it's negative vibes at the armored form. Unfortunately his will is proving to be rather more than a simple summon can supress.

And true to cat form, the Baneko disappears in a huff of attitude at not getting its way. "Tch. Typical feline..."

"Yeah, swim. You know, that thing where you flail your arms and try to fly, except you're in the water. Which, well, /ship/, lots and lots of water around, falling off is /bad/, yes?" The Oni - head and shoulders taller than the sailor - grins toothily down at him.

Then she simply takes hold of the sword in question with her other hand, wrapping her massive hand around his on its hilt, and lifts him up by it. "Here," she offers, turning to one side to dangle him over the water. "Let me demonstrate." And then she lets go.

Being the water-wizard she is, and having gotten a good idea of positions and delivered a potent buff, Jazz is now on her way to aid in the fight itself. Blasts of water, of course, are her chosen form of attack here. Highly pressurized blasts of water that she calls from the aether, so to speak. She's definitely keeping back, now. She is, after all, not exactly the most proficient or deadly warrior on site.

(That's probably Yuuki, in case there was any doubt.)

    The crew is managed, the warriors are dead, and the enemy captain doesn't know how to swim. Or maybe he's unable to on account of being deceased. Regardless, it's a hell of a day at sea!

    The big bad who arrives moves surprisingly well for such a giant frame. But Yuuki's faster. In this round, much faster.

    The first strike is a serious one, but he's a lot stronger than the first set of enemies. His parry fails, but his armor still shields him from some of the damage.

    His attacks are quick, too. Far quicker than a sword that size has any right to be. The weapon flicks out at foes as swift as any dagger, and with far more force and power.

    "Tough boi too!" Yuuki happily admits as she has trouble getting through the large man's armour. As he moves to counterattack a soft glow of light appears around Yuuki. Moving even faster than normal she leaps into the air, twisting her body over the huge swinging blade, before she lands in a crouch.

    Darkness stretches out from Yuuki's sword, growing the blade to greater than its normal size, at which point Yuuki aims the tip towards an opening in the large man's armour and attempts to drive her blade into him!

    Wake has an off round. After aiding Syx so effectively, she is slashed by the boss (rude!) She then sees Yuuki try to strike and so Wake tries again to invoke her Legend powers. But the second time is more difficult, and try as she might, she fails to aid her friend. There's no fancy rune, no nifty words of power, just a failure to tap into her gifts.

Schneider looks over at the bigbad, and smirks as he stands well out of range of his attacks. Which is just as well for him, but there's no need for a handsome, debonair hero such as himself to get in the face of big, ugly villains. He casts "Brain, Brain dead. Obey your blood oath, come forth from the land of Avalon. Fire of Gehenna, become a fiery blast and burn everything around us! ...... EXODUS!"

But at the last moment in his attack, one of his allies crosses between him and the boss, and he's forced to raise his aim, firing the spell over the pirate's head to avoid hitting a party member. That's the hazard of casting big fire spells into melee. On the other hand, the ship isn't engulfed in thousand degree flames, so that's good for everyone.

The armored captain's vicious sweeps with the sword are probably going to force others to clear the space around him. Which would give him an advantage in a continuing melee fight with that reach. But the blade only slices through shadows as the Nightmare Bard ceases to be standing where she was.

Now she's standing at a fair distance behind him, expecting his attention to be mainly on striking at and defending against the powerful Adventurers directly before him. So she can take advantage of being a bit more sneaking. Jazu isn't the only one that can take advantage of the terrifying depths of the seas, after all. Though this technique is originally hers, so it still counts. Kauchemar opens a summoning circle that glimmers on the deck just beneath the man's feet. Out of which a gyser of water erupts, blasting against his form but probably not doing much in the way of damage.

Nor was it intended to.

The gush of water is a carrier, depositing numerous very small but highly toxic jellyfish upon the armored captain's form. By very small we mean small enough to get in the seams of his armor with the water, and sting the more vulnerable flesh that lies beneath to deliver their poisonous payloads.

Syx moves in with the others, dodging strikes from the big guy and then moving in. His strikes are rapid, armored fists glowing hotter with each strike.

He picks up the pace as he strikes, ducking and moving and striking, until his fists actually burst into flame and he delivers a haymaker blow before bouncing away to set up for another strike.

Chikako watches over the rail as the fellow she'd dropped struggles, then sinks beneath the waves. Smiling lightly, she turns to see who's next. And there are not, it would seem, many takers.

Well, that's OK by her. They're here to take the ship, after all, not kill the crew.

But there is /one/ remaining target. Apparently the captain of the other ship. Big. Tough. Fast.

Perfect.

The Oni throws her head back and ROARS like a lion, then leaps forward, charging at him, dodging around the attacks of her compatriots as she closes in on the foe. "HEY!" she shouts, sliding aside from a swipe of his blade. "This! IS! YAMATO!" Each word punctuated by a blow, the final a massive, blatantly-telegraphed haymaker that he is nonetheless unable to stop... and sends his head spinning with a rather disturbing 'crack'.

She stands over the fallen man as his remains pixellate into oblivion, and looks over the remaining crew. "Anyone else wanna dance?" she asks, cracking her knuckles.

Jazz sees what Kauchemar has done and look on in approval, actually. Seems that trick has a special place in the heart of the jelly-fish inspired Undine in the first place. Still, she's eyeing Chikako secondly, having already done what she can do from her distance at this time.

She's got herself ready for more, just in case, but it seems like matters are heading towards 'well in hand'. Her gaze briefly goes to Syx, too. Taking stock of the people she hasn't really had the opportunity to meet until now. Her head-tentacles form tiny question marks.

    And with that, the battle ends. The Captain successfully catches the second ship before it can begin to race away. The mission has concluded in a success!

    "Well, that is the end of that," murmurs Wake. "Captain, if you could? We will not want to linger here long."

    The enemy is swiftly bound and the crew begins to take charge of their new vessels. They move as people who have done this before. Because they obviously have.

    Wake leaves them to it, and returns to the original ship, pausing only to heal the crew as she goes. "It's going to be a time before these are missed. By then we'll be far away and none the wiser."

    

Schneider looks relieved as the party members are able to smash the boss even without his contribution, and as the prize crew heads over and the prisoners are brought aboard, he will head belowdecks to such cabin accomodations are offered to the sort of bishounen heroes like him, ie the same as the other players, a cramped double cabin shared with Syx. Luckily, there's just the two male party members, so it's not too cramped, and he will sling his hammock and crash out, his work here complete.

Chikako grins. "Always wanted to pull that line, just too bad I didn't have a well to kick him down." She looks around at the surviving crew, now quite eager to surrender, and grins. "Good, nobody else wants to be stupid? I'm gonna go see what goodies he had."

That said, she heads down to delve into the Captain's cabin, searching for loot, documents, and maybe some fresh food and booze to enjoy. And a nice nap on his nice soft bed.

    "Well, Captain, it looks like your fleet just grew by two ships, and in quite good shape. Admittedly a bit singed, but that's nothing a few fresh boards can't fix."

    All things considered, this looks like a smashing success. There's a hold full of booty, two new ships for her friends, and without any losses.

    The trip home is an uneventful one, as well. Whether by luck or simply strength of planning, it's privateering that goes off without a hitch. Yet it's just the beginning. Wake eyes the prisoners, considering. She will have to figure out how to address that matter another day. She is not goinng to let them be killed, in any case.