From The Depths

     A call for help has been put out while adventurers delve deep into the colosseum's depths to destroy the heart of the monster nest deep within. Several adventurers who had been planning to delve into the depths even holding back to help with the sudden emergency consuming the island.

     Those that are just now arriving find themselves in a much deeper fog than normal, a heavy fog that almost seemed to weigh on ones hearts and minds as much as obscure their vision. A wild mix of feelings palpable on the air, sorrow, anger, resentment, all echoing in the mists of the fog as barnacle-covered and broken skeletons walk the city, many of the skeletons all but completely shattered, and yet it didn't seem to bother them as the ghostly outlines of their original bodies keep the ragged skeletons together to fight their eternal battle. Men, women, even some children barely old enough to hold a sword walking the streets, all seeming to make their way towards the ocean.

     And yet, perhaps, the call for reinforcements was too hasty? The skeletons seem to be passive, not aggressively active and hunting down the adventurers. In fact, the few that have been injured so far mostly just seemed to do so by managing to touch one of the skeletons, which swiped at them in retaliation. No, the Skeletons weren't there for them. They were here for something else entirely.

Yeowang was here for the original mission, and his alert as the ghostly undead shamble through, on their way to some mysterious destination with their secret purpose. Well, she's here to clear out monsters, and undead are monsters, so this is what she's here for, but the curious passiveness gives her pause, and she will defer to the more experienced gamers, as monsters that don't attack confuse her. She is one of the ones that got swiped at for attempting to stop a skeleton, and she backs away when it seems that it's only fighting in self defense, looking to the other players with a shrug. "Any idea what's going on?" she asks.

"Seems like we're finally going to have that Spriggan get-together in the guise of a Monster Murder Murder Party we keep trying to organize but somehow always fail to, after all," Uta, with her hands on her hips, mentions to Miyako, as she surveys the scene from... well, 'a safe distance' is overdoing it. It's literally a handful of steps from the thick of the assembling crowd -- and that's -right now-, who knows what it'll be like in few minutes. "Granted, it's only the two of us," Uta continues while she crosses her arms, "and more non-Spriggans might join us... but hey, it's a start, isn't it? Besides, we can grant them the title of Honorary Spriggan- do we have the authority to do that?", she asks, with a frown. "Who's in charge of Spriggan-ness anyway?" She returns to look at the crowd, vaguely reminiscent of a horde of commuters who haven't had their coffee yet, and stoically takes the effects of the light drizzle. "I'd have said the Bandit King, but these days... I guess it's Anarchy?"

As Yeowang comes into view, Uta blinks. Opens her mouth. Closes. She swipes her menu open, materializes her casting staff (white, in the shape of a coiling snake which holds a red gem in the shape of an anatomically correct heart at the top), and holds it towards Yeowang. "By the Chaotic Powers of Anarchy, which I arbitrarily Bestowed on myself by virtue of a Power Vacuum, I hereby Knight you Honorary Spriggan!" she says, miming the knighting ceremony with her staff, pointing it just over each of Yeowang's shoulders from a safe distance.

"We're having a Spriggan (and honorary Spriggan) only monster murderparty as soon as these people get strange ideas," Uta then explains, before returning to look at the crowd, perplexed. "Apart from this... no idea."

    "Well," Miyako muses as she listens to Uta's request, "It sounds to me like it ought to be interesting, at least." She's been meaning to get something going for Spriggans in general, after all. "Honorary Spriggan, though?" She considers it for a moment.

    "eh, what the hell. So long as they're cute and willing to murderize monsters with the rest of us, they can be Spriggans for a day. Just remember to giggle when you kill stuff. It freaks them out." She grins, maybe a little -too- wide.

    And then Yeowang is dubbed Honorary Spriggan. "Remember, giggle and be cute while you kill stuff," she admonishes the newly-dubbed Spriggan. "Half the fun is being adorably terrifying. Adorifying? Is that a word?"

    She looks over at Uta, then Yeowang, then at the rather less than aggressive crowd of skeletons. "Enh. I say it is. So it is."

     "Nah, I'm really not sure myself." Sir Vey responds to Yeowang. "It seemed to start shortly after the raid party went down into the colosseum." The knight responds from his defensive position at the edge of the camp, large tower shield being used as a wall to deter any wandering undead from entering the hastily set up adventurer camp. Honestly, if the undead weren't so passive, the camp probably would be overwhelmed rather quickly and easily.
     Sir Vey moves to allow Uta and Miyaki into the camp, opening the 'door' of the camp so to speak. Yeah. There's several knights manning that tower shield door in shifts. That thing gets heavy. He just seems to stare at the goings on as Uta ... knights... Yeowang as an honorary spriggan. Maybe this fog is doing strange things to the adventurers too? Hmm. Sir Vey will have to confer with Sir Prize later to see what she thinks. "Well. I guess you three will be Spriggan right into it then?" Yes. He thinks he's funny. He's even laughing at his own joke, the dork.
     ... ... Yes, Sir Vey decides, as he listens to Miyako. The fog /is/ doing something to the adventurers too. Something very strange. He's going to have to go take shelter from their wrath with Sir Prize later. That's the only reason. Not at all because they're a couple and he just wants cuddles later, nope.

     As the adventurers settle in and prepare for their exploration, the calm lapping of the ocean upon the shore becomes rapidly much less calm, splashing, almost roaring water audible as something comes from the water. A war cry can be heard through the fog as the skeletons suddenly charge towards the source of that splashing. Loud thuds audible in the distance as ... something ... lands in the city. Running past the adventurer charge is ... a familiar figure. The Captain of the sunken vessel that had unsunk itself in the center of the atoll. It's time to start getting to the center of this mystery.

Yeowang has been made an honorary Spriggan? "Why would I want that?" she asks, puzzled. And the giggling requirement is met with a skeptical frown. It looks like the giggling has been rejected. She's not a giggler at the best of times, and she replies coolly, "Thank you, I'll be all right as I am. Are you unhappy with who you were, to select another race?" She hasn't got the hang of roleplay obviously, and is almost the opposite, an anti-rper, who tries to bring RL into the game rather than trying to play the game as if it were RL.

Psychoanalysis aside, she looks to Sir Vey as she takes cover, listening to what little information he has. She feels the effect of the fog, but is made of sterner stuff, and watches as they march towards ... "What -is- that?"

A bit too grounded in RL, she doesn't quite have the understanding of the fantasy tropes that most gamers have, and she has no understanding of the significance of undead marching toward some ship. "Are they going to crew this ship?" she wonders. "Is it a fight? Just something we should watch and deal with the winner?" So many questions.

"I don't do giggles!", Uta snaps at Miyako, appalled by the suggestion. "And I'm pretty sure our background-Lore-provided ancestors didn't earn us the Secular Burden of being dubbed the Loathed Race, still weighing massive on today's generation of Spriggans, by being -cute- while murdering things." She begins to ramble, "You see, there's a certain -aesthetic- to murder. It's all about the -mood-..." She even holds her hands in front of herself as she begins gesticulating and mimic, while she launches into a (rather well referenced, to be honest) college-level lecture about the semiotics of assassination.

Luckily, Miyako interrupts her by giving an analog suggestion to Yeowang. "I don't think she-", Uta manages to get out, tentatively, barely audible, when- well, her comment is made redundant by Yeowang herself.

Sir Vey is the one to save the day, this time, leading Uta and Miyako into their camp.

"...I...Guess?", she says, with a frown, at Sir Vey. She's not sure about the quality of the puns of this knight. 2.5, 3 tops, out of 5.

As a sudden -something- appears, Uta spots the Captain. "Hey, I know that!", she exclaims. She glances at her staff: the Captain's Ring from the quest of the Phantom Atoll is still there, forming a small, barely visible, yet essential part of its magical structure, along with the Maidensong Heart that forms the focus of the gem.

Memories.

Clutching her staff and pulling it closer, as if she was afraid of someone taking it away, she frowns, "...Is this a word puzzle? Has the captain come to shore to recruit a skeleton crew?"

She squints harder, trying to see what it is that has just crashed into the city. If she can avoid being spotted by the captain, all the better -- you never know if he might want his ring back.

    "Because Spriggans have more fun," says Miyako (not Miyaki, that's someone else, and they have no sense of humour) to Yeowang. At the next question, her face darkens a bit. "If you knew what I left behind... well, don't ask." She shakes it off and looks out into the fog. Listens to Uta's lecture on semiotics, taking mental notes.

    As the two knights back off, she waves casually to them and saunters into the camp, taking a glance around to see if she recognizes anyone. "Three and a half groans out of six," she adds to Uta's rating of the 'joke'.

    She doesn't recognize the ship's captain - to her they could be anyone - she never did get to see that part of the questline. Still, it seems like something is off, and she pays close attention to the next few moments.

     No, the skeletal army was not going towards the ship. In fact, they were going the opposite direction of the ghost ship that had unsunk itself in the center of the Atoll. No. They were running towards whatever that massive splashing is. "Yeah, no idea, ma'am. I'm just here to keep the door closed on our base in case stuff goes out with the waves. And hopefully make it back home on my own two feet instead of a trip to the church."
     Sir Vey thinks he's funny, Uta. And that's all that matters! Now, onto more important matters: "With sword out and charging with a war cry, it's unlikely that a crew is being re-crew-ted there." Sir Vey comments. There was, maybe, some vague familiarity to this unfolding events, related to things Uta had seen in the past, but nothing directly seen. The sounds of something massive thudding along the ground is audible in the distance, as the skeleton former residents of the city charge towards the sounds. Squinting through the fog, Uta's staff seems to clear a brief path in the fog for her, its connection to the event allowing her some insight into the events.

     It definitely wasn't a recruitment drive, unless you meant the skeletons dying as they fight a ghostly Sahuagin army. And carving a path through the ghostly lander army was a massive ghost of a Sahuagin ogre. Skeletons sent flying with each swing of the Sahuagin ogre's massive coral club. A losing battle, it seems, on the side of the landers, to the point some of the skeletons are beginning to run back, some carrying ghostly children to hide them away in houses. A flash of light as the Captain leaps towards the ogre-- and the ghosts disappear.

     Only for it to begin once more, the skeletal ghosts gathering once more as they make their way towards the shoreline....

Sir Vey meanwhile, says, "Hey, better rating than normal!"

Yeowang arches an eyebrow to Miyako about who has more fun. "I think fun is entirely the responsibility of the individual, and I don't think there is a racial bias in the available levels of fun." But for the rest she won't ask, as requested. She supposes some people have valid reasons to be in the game and be fine without logging out, though reasons not to be human puzzle her a bit. She watches the skeletal army going away from the ship, maybe sent out /from/ the ship? But there's the opponent, the ghostly ... "Wait, what's going on?" she asks aloud as the ghosts disappear. "/Should/ we be doing something?" She's confused by so many game things.

"Do we?", Uta asks Miyako, completely devoid of sarcasm -- yes, a genuine question.

Uta probably took HP damage from Sir Vey's pun. Probably.

She tries not to think about it as she intones a chant- a very short one. A Jingle, more like. She doesn't do giggles, but she does do jingles. The lyrics to this one are strange -- did she just sing "Vanilla Vanguard!"?

Whatever the lyrics were, her skin takes on a luminous sheen, glowing bright, adding extra clarity and visibility to her search already. It is notable that her staff seems to part the fog, and give her a better glimpse into the unfolding events. Events that leave her thoroguhly confused. Monsters versus monsters? That's new. Is she... supposed... to take sides? Is this-, wait, no, that's not something new. Slimes attack other slimes all the time.

Just as she's about to make up her mind and launch into a full-on attack against the Sahuagin, however, the diorama resets, so to speak, leaving her just as, if not more, perplexed as before.

"Trapped in time..." Uta more thinks out loud than outright says. "...Just like on the Maidenson isle..."

"I don't know, Yeowang! Last time people were outright -frozen- in time, but this is different," she finally yells to her fellow Adventurer at a distance, fully conscious. "It's like Groundhog Day all over again. I -think- we have to somehow break the loop...", she gestures. "...maybe if I were to learn more..."

This is when she takes the fountain pen clipped to her belt, materializes a notebook into existence, and begins scribbling down, in an attempt to Loremaster the event that seems to be repeating before the Party's eyes.

    Miyako pauses to watch the ghostly charge. The giant Sahuagin. ... attacking the town? The ghosts defending it? She blinks and just -watches- for a long moment, trying to take in the sight.

    And then... it repeats. "... frak. Chronal Hysteresis. That's not good." She looks over at Uta, then back to the show.

    "I think we need to get in there and murderize that ogre. Maybe... maybe the whole event is stuck in time? Maybe we can -stop- it?" She sounds almost... hopeful.

     You know who's definitely not having more fun? The ghosts. The ghosts are definitely not having much fun. A desperate stand on repeat. Trying to defend their home from a Sahuagin threat that defeated them in ages past. What had once just been an event at the Phantom Colosseum becoming their unwaking nightmare. "...Probably?" Sir Vey responds to Yeowang.
     The luminous sheen, glowing bright and adding that extra clarity had shown what was actually happening a bit better. Monsters against Monsters... something about that thought feels incorrect. Something that could be confirmed with a quick examine of one of the passing undead. They don't read as enemies like a normal monster would, more like NPCs or Landers normally would. And as Uta starts to scribble, she's able to determine two things:

Source: Sahuagin: Lie
Source: Ghost Ship: Truth

Miyako, meanwhile, also has a decent theory on a possible solution, so there are two possible options to attempt to follow, should Uta decide not to trust her pen. And that battle repeats once more, the roar of a battle cry as the skeletal ghosts run towards the shoreline to attempt to defend their home once more. The whole time, perhaps the only thing not repeating, being the serene floating of the ghost ship in the center of that giant saltwater lake that takes up the vast majority of the Atoll.

Yeowang gives Sir Vey a flat look reserved for people who are not helping. But she has no idea what's going on, and while Miyako's speculation seems possible, it seems Uta, who has some sort of way of determining things, as determined ... but wait. She's got a similar skill, herself, does she not? It comes up so rarely, she hadn't considered it, but this does seem like a pertinent place to use it. She places a hand in an inside pocket, touching an object that she hasn't shown to anyone since it was given to her, and she certainly won't mention any secret words aloud, as that's not the way that organization works.

But things do clear up a bit, and she will say aloud, "It seems like these Sahaugin originally assaulted and took over the city from the humans, with the help of the Sahaugin Ogre, who is their hero." She sighs at the sudden insight, it was perhaps something that could be surmised, but it seems better in this sort of situation to know for sure. "I think Miyako is correct, though I don't know if we can affect the past by joining a battle of ghosts." But she will give it a try.

"And it seems that the source of all this is... not the Sahuagin?", Uta frowns, during an attempt to subdue her recalcitrant pen into writing something. Change of plan, as she moves to the line below. "No, it seems like the actual source would be the Ghost Ship itself." She looks up, in the distance. "So... the ship is some sort of... movie projector? Either that or its'-" Pause. Scratch head. "...casting the metaphorical 'net' that is keeping these people trapped in time? I think our best bet is to swim towards the ship if we want to get to the root of the problem." She clips her pen back to her belt, and shimmers the notebook out of existence. "Let's do this. We're all on the raid/party chimlink, right? I will head to the ship to see if I find anything. You two can deal with the ogre if you want. I'll keep you updated via chims. If anything comes up, we tell each other. We stand ready to support where it's needed."

And that said, she heads towards the ship. Swimming if necessary.

Or, more like, riding her staff as if she was a witch riding an underwater flying broom, with the strongly water-attuned Maidensong Heart used as a propeller to thrust her forward through a backwards-spouted magical jet of water.

A jet propulsion underwater flying broom.

    Well now. On the one hand, Miyako rather likes the idea of being able to save the poor trapped villagers. On the other... she trusts Uta. Who is telling her that no, that's not the right thing to do.

    If there's one thing she hates, it's being trapped in Analysis Paralysis.

    On the gripping hand, Never. Split. The. Party.

     The Spriggan looks towards the ghostly Ogre. Back towards Uta, already headed out towards the pirate ship. Back to the Ogre. And the once-again-being-slaughtered townsfolk.

    "Fuck it," she says finally. She'd never forgive herself if she didn't even /try/. "If we lost the chimlink, *explosions*," she advises Uta as she runs off towards the town.

     Sir Vey is, in fact, not helping! He's on guard duty and covering an important choke point to keep the war /out/ of the camp of exhausted adventurers from the battle to take the city from the Sahuagin. The plan to attack the ogre is getting more weight as Yeowang joins in on it! If nothing else, likely defeating the ghost will help to weaken the effect, and strong enough light magic is generally a good option for fighting undead. Also fire. Nobody can forget the fire.
     And Uta suggests... splitting the party! And then begins making her way towards the ghost ship. There were some mildly leaky boats that could probably have been used, though might have sank after said use. Her movement method is probably the better one, really. Very little stops Uta from approaching the ship, though with each foot she moves closer to the ship, there is an overwhelming sense of melancholy. Now, she just needs to either fly or climb up onto the boat! ... Which is actually not the hardest thing in the world. It's not really seaworthy, what with the giant hole in the side of the boat that goes almost all the way down to the waterline. Covered in barnacles, rotten and splintered in many different spaces, the boat is slick to say the least, and treacherous in many spaces. Soft sobbing can be heard from somewhere within the depths of the boat, the exhausted sounds of a man who has lost everything.

     Meanwhile, Miyako charges off towards the battlefield! Towards the early stages of the battle, the undead townsfolk have only just begun to fight the Sahuagin. Many of them armed with poles or spears used for fishing, or pushing boats through the shallows around the atoll itself. A few of them have swords, others have oars, but overall this is a force made up of what were probably once peaceful villagers with a few seasoned guardsmen throughout. And at the front of the charge, the captain. Dancing with an elegant sword in hand through the Sahuagin army, where his blade goes, a sahuagin falls. But in his skill, he is making a novice mistake at the same time. Used to dueling rather than all-out war, his swathe through the Sahuagin battlefield starts to fill in behind him. Leaving him isolated as he makes his way towards the ogre, while townsfolk begin to fall.

Yeowang is mercifully free of the terror of splitting the party, rather being familiar with the historical military tactic of detaching a group to accomplish a side objective while the main mission is also being carried out. She rogers up on chimlink, though, and considers that while she can fight the ghosts, they fought her quite hard before, perhaps the objective /is/ in the ship. Well, divide-and-conquer is a phrase for a reason, and she will lead such of those as will follow her against the ogre. She does, in fact, have Light magic, but her specialty is mixed martial arts. But maybe the mix, in this case, contains a healthy dose of anti-undead magic. It does contain quite a lot of whupass also, she's got plenty of that, and will spread it around with a big shovel. Metaphorically.

The impromptu sky jet traces an arc on the water as it approaches the Ghost Ship, without slowing down. Uta narrows her eyes. Splash, splash, splash, the staff skims the surface, skips like a flat stone, then, at the last minute, the item is jerked upwards and-

Off it goes, jumping, with a slow motion effect as Uta leaps, a figure a darker silhouette against the disc of the sun, hexagonal lens flares giving adding a touch of artistry to the dramatic camera angle.

...and straight into the hole she flies, tumbling on the ground, boards cracking and possibly disappearing as she lands on them, but due to her martial artist's training, she instinctively pushes herself up or sideways every time such thing happens, or just slides on on slick surfaces.

After multiple tumbles, while upside-down, she gives herself one last push upwards, and with a flip, she's right-side up, leaping from board to board, spinning kicks at thin air, compensating for the ship's roll, yaw and pitch at each jump; the trick is not to spend enough time on the boards, and always, if possible, land where there are bearing beams. Harder to go wrong there.

She eventually leaps her way towards the Ladder leading up. No time to stop and use it, though, she's got a momentum going, so she lands just below the hatch; her knees bend, to store energy, and when it's released all at once in a jump, with a twist of her legs and hips, she propels herself to spin towards the hatch in the ceiling, which she clears -- barely. The landing sees her splitting her legs into a straight horizontal line perpendicular to the rest of her body, as if for delivering two simultaneous flying roundhouse kicks, and with a -thud-, she lands with her feet on each side of the hatch.

Stuck in a sort of reenactment of Van Damme's feat (feet?), she balances precariously across the way down "...Good thing I never skipped leg day...", she phews. "...I'd better find a way to get up soon tho', this is..." Pause. "...many things, but comfortable is not one of them," she comments, while she starts to look around for possible ways to proceed.

* * *

Through plenty of wuxia action on the top deck, Uta eventually finds her way to the locked door her party once took shelter in while running out of air. The soft sobbing is coming from in there.

She stands there, staff held at her side, uncertain of what to do. She inhales. "I found the room we took shelter in during the quest. I'm going in," Uta says, quitely, into the chim channel.

* Knock Knock *

    And it's into the fight! Miyako hurtles herself into the fray, instantly spotting the spectral Captain as he fights his way through the crowd of monsters. Well, that makes it clear what she needs to do!

    She flourishes her by-now-familiar war-fans, both of them gleaming black with her favored Darkness magic as she draws on that arcane power to slide herself 'into phase' with the battle, if she can. Treading the very edge of the ephemeral.

    It is this, she hopes, that will allow her blades to cut, her strikes to wound, her *actions* to *affect*.

    Her shadow dances through the ghostly battle, placing herself at the Captain's back, slicing and slashing at anything that tries to take advantage of his weakness. Instinct tells her this one is *important* to the battle. That if he were not so wounded before facing the ogre... well.

    She hopes. She cannot let herself -not- hope. And so she fights.

        And the winds are singing freedom, they sing it everywhere
        They sing it on the mountaintops, and in the city square
        They sing of a new day dawning, when our people will be free
        Come and join our song of freedom, let it ring from sea to sea!

     Melee strikes against ghosts are ... not always the most effective. Luckily, Yeowang has more than just melee strikes, as she invokes the power of Lawful Magic. And/or light magic. And general anti-undead magic, really. Much like the captain, her attacks cut a swathe through the Sahuagin, which seem surprised, almost scared as an 'invisible' force strikes and attacks them, initially the Sahuagin not even acknowledging the adventurers until being struck. A few striking at the air to attempt to hit Yeowang, but the attacks largely go wide as Yeowang is already gone by the time they swing their wild, terrified attacks.
     Crumbling boards and slick surfaces are no trouble for Uta as she leaps and soars through the air, her feet almost seeming to barely touch the boards until she's under that hatch. A quick push off the base of the hatch leaves a cracking crumble until she's up in that split, and then up onto the top deck. Soon, she was on her way to the doorway. And knocking on the door. Knock knock. Knock knock. The sobbing stops. The door does not budge. Was there the subtle sound of a skeleton shaking behind the door? Just as Uta is about to do something about the locked door, the wheel that holds the door locked creaks, and starts to turn, and the door slowly swings open. A familiar sight sits before Uta. The captain sitting in his chair, tattered clothes and half-eaten hat perched atop his head. Unlike normal, however, blue flames are softly glowing in his eyes. In spite of this, he is unmoving, as if hoping that he is not attacked by this invader, salt water pooled on the floor at his feet. That overwhelming sense of melancholy almost infectious in this room.

     Meanwhile, Miyako is hurtling into the fray with war-fans, placing herself at the captain's back and supporting this ghostly visage of him that is on the battlefield, instead of sobbing in the remnants of his watery grave. Almost two sides of the coin, this one is dashing, moving from Sahuagin to Sahuagin to stab it, to destroy it. Supported and kept from being injured by the hand of Miyako, as Sahuagin stumble and make surprised noises from each 'invisible' attack, as if the adventurers were some ghostly force to /them/ instead of the other way around. And soon, the party comes face to face with the ogre, knocking Sahuagin and Townsfolk alike into the air with that coral club. The captain approaches, his mouth opening as if he were saying something. The massive fish-ogre seems to just... smirk, giving a low laugh that echoes through the area. The captain leaps, the ogre's coral club lifted to meet him -- and leaving it open to attacks from the adventurers.

While the past is immutable, perhaps the spirits can be given rest if this ogre is destroyed?

Yeowang continues to cut a swathe through the sahaugin, smashing, striking, hitting ghosts surprisingly hard. Well, they hit her, it's only reasonable that she can hit them back. Spinning to avoid their counterattacks, she strikes with a short punch, then a sweeping kick, mixing up her attacks out of habit so her opponents don't get used to any one thing. She does have quite a repertoire of attacks, as befits an advanced student, and she will use her agility and her ability to predict combat positioning to stay one step ahead of their counterstrikes.

She will move up to support Miyako in fighting the boss, hard kicks and punches with bare knuckles land over and over, she must go through speedbags like candy when she trains, punching repeatedly at the same spot, which racks up a combo bonus, but she does it because the more often you hit the same spot, the more severe the injury you inflict.

"Greetings, uh, Captain," Uta states, with a salute. An oddly appropriate salute, or as close as it comes to being appropraite, for someone who's pretty much a landlubber. But she seems to have picked up appropriate behaviour here and there during her quests. Etiquette skill at work. "I hope I am not interrupting anything important," she says, as she swipes her menu to inspect this creature. "I am an Adventurer, and a healer," she says, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. "Is there... Is there anything I can do for you?"

    Miyako smiles in satisfaction as her blades slice through the ectoplasmic foes, even more pleased by their dismay at the effect of her tactic. There's no need to speak, nothing to communicate - she just follows the Captain's lead through the crowd of monsters, a flickering shadow that strikes and fades and surges again.

    She doesn't care if it doesn't really change anything. If she can't save the townsfolk. She has to do what she can. It's who she is. And if all she can do is avenge them, give their spirits solace? Then she'll have to be satisfied with that.

        What have I now?, said the fine old woman
        What have I now? this proud old woman did say

    She spends a single second admiring the captain's leap into combat with the ogre before following in his wake, lashing out at the monster's legs and guts to hinder it so the Captain's spirit can strike the finishing blow.

        I have four green fields, one of them's in bondage
        In strangers' hands, that tried to take it from me

    She doesn't stop with a single blow, but continues her dance, cutting away at the ogre with slice after slice, slash after slash. Fiercely determined that It. Will. Fall.

        But my sons have sons, as brave as were their fathers
        My fourth green field will bloom once again, said she.

     Almost as if she were dancing, Yeowang continues her way through the battlefield, striking Sahuagin, countering their attacks, destroying them... everything that she can to end these ghost's unlives! And then... hard knuckles and firm kicks strike the ogre to support Miyako! Dealing as much damage as she can to the ogre! Its HP bar is starting to go down, as the captain continues to move through the air, almost in slow motion as the players attack the ogre.

     On the boat, Uta is face to face with the captain, sitting silently as she greets him. While those glowing blue fires in his eyes don't actually seem to shift, that feeling that his 'eyes' have fallen on Uta is palpable. The salute eventually gets a long, slow, tired sigh from the captain, who waves her hand slightly. "At ease." He inspects as The Captain... but as an Object instead of a Creature. As if he were still that unmoving skeleton that he had been the first time she met him, rather than true undead. He is, however, somehow enchanted right now, and an examination would show a subtle dark aura surrounding him. "...There is no helping me. I failed. And my people suffer for it. Just leave this old man to his memories and suffering."

     Back to Miyako. No need for talk. No words spoken by foe or ally, war cries on all sides that are somehow spoken but not at the same time. The war fans strike the legs of the ogre. The movements continue, cutting... cutting... cutting... cutting. It. Will. Fall. After all. That was its fate to begin with, wasn't it? Time seems to resume in this story on replay, the injured ogre faltering. Shaking. That coral club continuing to swing towards the captain, and that flash of light growing on the Captain's blade. Slash. Through the ogre. Slicing down, slicing through it. And the captain lands on the other side, the ogre falling in twain and breaking into pixels.

     "...Ah... though I managed to kill the ogre... afterwards... I fell to the ogre's allies because I was too injured to fight."

     The sahuagin try to close in behind the captain, only to meet adventurer blade and foot, attacks meant for the captain to claim him after his victory.

     "...Just enough strength to stumble back to my boat, to float on a half-broken boat to my ship. Get up to my quarters and fall on this chair... just in time for it to be destroyed by the Sahuagin. Dying as my ship sank to the depths."

     The captain's fight continues, the townsfolk seemingly heartened even in the face of many of their members injured or killed. A small group, mainly those seasoned fighters fighting on. Slowly starting to fall, and yet... there was that hope. Some mysterious force helping them.

     "And here I've sat. My soul trapped in this skeleton... lamenting my failure as I watch the city I loved become little more than a Sahuagin breeding ground." The captain slowly talks, saltwater tears beginning to flow out of his eyesockets once more. "...So there is no helping me. ...There is no helping those who have lost everything."

Yeowang continues the pulverizing fisticuffs, delivering savage strikes to the undead and their leader. It's a DPS race, to defeat the sahaugin before they can kill the captain in this re-do of that old battle. If they can do that, maybe that will shift how this tableaux plays out? It may not change hostory, she has no illusion about that, but it may help the ghosts to rest. Some of her long blonde hair has come loose from the bun she has most of it gathered into, and she's flushed and sweating from the continued effort, but she's not slowing down yet, fatigue hasn't got its hooks in yet. This is just the third round, or thereabouts, and she's got a lot of clobbering left to do.

Uta drops the salute, as instructed. She listens. Silent.

Something stirs inside her. A flash of light, as memories take over.

* * *

It is still the Early Days. Chaos reigns in Yamato, due to the Apocalypse having happened very recently. A massive influx of Adventurers, the supply chain in disarray. It is already a feat to find shelter. Food is eagerly sought after, and has zero flavor (unless it's a straight-up raw ingredients). Chaos reigns, Adventurers are scared, confused. Newbies doubly so.

One can see one such newbie walking around the perimeter of a Root Town, rummaging through bushes for anything edible. It's Early Days Uta: longer hair, bottom level gear; her uniform is halfway between a gi and medical scrubs, her gloves are shorter and simpler.

"Oh, berries!", she exclaims, beaming, as her hands shoot in to grab the found items -- and miss completely. She has to try again, slowly, and the first time, to her great dismay, she ends up overshooting her grasp and squishing one potential source of food.

"Uta!"

Uta, who had managed to pick two or three fruits through slow and calculated movements by now, turns to look over her shoulder at the source of the voice. It appears to be a tall, broad-shouldered man with a white robe. Some sort of priest type.

"Huh?"

"You look medical. Do you have the Pharmacy skill?"

"How do you know my name?"

"Inspection."

"What?", Uta asks, narrowing her eyes and frowning.

"You don't know what inspection is?"

"I'm new..."

"No big deal -- come with us, we'll teach you some basics. We really need all the help we can get these days." Cut to some sort of makeshift camp hospital. Exactly the kind of thing one would expect during such circumstances. Long lines of people wait to be admitted, and inside one of the tents, over an operating table which is basically a wooden table with a cloth, lies a patient.

"Good thing we found you," a warrior type begins barking towards a terrified Uta, "things are crazy these days. We've got all the good healers tied up and the Landers keep coming. Even some newbie like you who can take a pitiful stab at a cure is a vast improvement."

"Sh-shouldn't you be curing people instead of teaching me then?", asks a tense Uta, who is holding a scalpel in one hand and a healing potion in the other. A much cruder staff than her current one leans against the wall, ready to be grabbed.

"Nay, the healer is my other charater. Got locked into this warrior bit. Zero healing skills. Anyway, we'll get you some practice on the Landers."

"L-landers?"

"NPCs. They aren't real people. Just fake dummies created by the software."

A man with a massive red gash through his chest is placed on the table. His HP is dropping at an alarming rate. Uta tenses.

"First of all, you need to inspect them-", the warrior explains, calmily.

"I-inspect? How?" Uta asks, her hands trembling at the sight of the wounded man. "Open your menu."

"But... but..." She looks between the two items she's holding.

Left. Right. Left. Right.

The Lander shatters.

"Too slow," tsks the Healer. "Next!"

*Shatter. "Wrong potion. Next!"

Shatter. "Terrible scalpel technique. Next!"

Shatter. "Next!" Shatter. "Next!" Shatter. "Next!"

Uta is frozen, trembling, scalpel in one hand, staff in the other. Her breathing is audible.

"You're taking this too seriously," the warrior type laughs. "Relax, They're just NPCs. And they'd have died anyway even if you weren't there..."

Uta doesn't look convinced.

"Look, I think you should practice your Etiquette skill now," he says and gently moves a rather shocked Uta towards the entrance of the tent. "Go out there and practice telling their next of kin that the operation didn't succeed."

* * *

Contemporary Uta is still silent.

"I cannot say I know what you yourself feel," she begins, serious, somber, towards the Captain. "But I know what it means to feel like people have died because of your shortcomings." There is the same melancholy in her words. The same melancholy as the one sprinkled by the drizzle. "But Time, as they say, is the best healer. It has a way of putting things somehow right, in the long run." She casts a glance at the salty puddle. "Tears that have been shed will not flow back..." And then she gestures in the general direction of the atoll with a bittersweet smile. "But time marches on. It improves things. Slowly. No matter how long it takes." Look in the distance. "As we speak, Adventurers are clearing the Atoll from the Sahuagin. Ridding it of the vermins that did this to you." Look down, hands clasped between her knees. "The dead are dead. We cannot do anything about it," Towards the captain again. Slight smile. "But we can bring new life to the city and the Atoll. And we're doing just that."

        October winds lament around the Castle of Dromore
        Yet peace is in her lofty halls, my loving treasure store
        Though autumn leaves may droop and die, a bud of spring are you

    Miyako fights on, even as the spectral ogre falls, turning her attention to the rest of the monsters. To her eyes, shifted half into otherness as her magic has taken her, the ghosts are as real and solid as herself, their pain and fear and rage and desperation so very plain to see. And so she fights, for them, for their tears and cries and all those they've already lost.

        Bring no ill will to hinder us, my helpless babe and me
        Dread spirits of the Blackwater, Clan Owen's wild banshee
        And holy Mary pitying us for Heaven's grace doth sue

    A flash of shadow, and she's parrying a sahuagin's blow away from a farmer before chopping its arms off with a flourish of her fans.

    Another flash, and she cuts a fish-man down from behind before it can catch up with a fleeing youth.

    Another flash. Another. Another.

        Take time to thrive, my ray of hope, in the garden of Dromore
        Take heed, young eaglet, till thy wings are feathered fit to soar
        A little rest, and then the world
        Is full of work to do.

     Slowly, but surely, as Yeowang continues to fight on, the Sahuagin forces begin to thin out. Each attack growing less fierce. The townsfolk beating back the fish assault. Slowly. Steadily. More and more of the fish fall, the ghosts disappearing into ectoplasmic whisps. Each strike almost seeming to be killing them... too easily, now. As if the 'memory' had given way, and it was just confusion among the fish, while the townsfolk fight on harder. Fewer townsfolk fall. More Sahuagin fall. Until it is just a small group remaining.

* * *

A silence falls over the captain as that gaze watches Uta. That moment of flashback. That melancholy. He couldn't see what happened in the past, but he could see her face. Hear her voice. Time is the best healer. For him, time has been torture. And yet. At the same time. This girl has come before him.

He knew, elsewhere, others were fighting on his behalf. Even if it may be a futile fight against a memory of a battle long past, there was that sense that that past version of him was winning. And so the skeleton listens silently. Still unmoving. That darkness around it flickering softly.

* * *

Miyako fights on, her fans slicing through Sahuagin and Sahuagin. A farmer falling from his back, landing on the ground and nearly being sliced down -- only for Miyako's fans to dismember it. Flash. After Flash. After Flash. Sahuagin after Sahuagin falls.
     Eventually, there is a cry that goes out among the townsfolk. Not one of war, not one of sorrow. Not one of melancholy. One of victory. Many of them had fallen, but against all odds they had pushed back this assault. And for the first time, one of the ghosts acknowledges the adventurers. The Captain turns towards the adventurers who had come to their aid, and he gives a salute. A tired smile on his face. And in a flash, the battlefield was empty once more. But this time, it was different. There was a light flying towards that ship.

* * *

"...Little spriggan. You speak with wisdom beyond your years, and I can see a deep pain within you as well." The Skeleton's voice intones, a soft sigh escaping him. "...They are clearing the vermin, huh? ... Hopefully, your heroes do not fall as ours did. My friends. My family... never to return to our original home. I can only hope that my little Maiden survived... though it's been long enough, I'm sure she's gone too." A wistful, ever so slightly hopeful tone to his voice that maybe the Maiden had lived to die of old age.

Light bursts into the room, the spirit of the captain standing next to the skeleton now. "...New life, huh? ... That sounds good. ... Do these old bones justice, little spriggan." The spirit stepping over to take his seat in the captain's chair, a brief visage of a confident old pirate smiling in the wake of a victorious battle. And then, all at once, it all fades. "...You'd best leave, little spriggan." A warning given for a simple reason:

The boat was starting to sink once more. The sound of water flooding the lower holds of the decrepit pirate boat, as the skeletal remains of The Captain begin to crumble away into a white powder.


Victory?

     Elsewhere, in a land far from the colosseum, a young woman saved from the ice begins to stir.