On the Horizon

Just after noon, two days after the Black Wave and the Fall of Ezzo.

Something is out there.. on the ocean.

THey appear first as only dots on the horizon, fuzzy shapes that can barely be made out from the surroundings. They slowly congeal into mute shapes, smeared across the distance in shades of brown and brilliant white sail. A pair of sturdy sailing vessels cut through the ocean with masts half-furled as they approach the coast cautiously, probing the land for safer harbor... or at least as safe as it ever gets out here.

An eye gleams under Polaris's helm. "A CRAFT!" They roar! Here comes something they can get over to this beach. "THE NORTH STAR IS BURNING BRIGHT! I WILL GUIDE THEM!!" They dash to the edge of the beach from their resting place in the sand, and raise a warhammer. "ENLIGHTENED...!" They start, initiating the sword art!

And never complete it. The light just grows and grows at the tip of the hammer, forming a beacon meant to guide the ships to a safe spot!

There happens to be a large sand castle on the beach. It's a nice sand castle. It's actually sturdy enough for people to be in it. Att made it.

Proteus had nothing to do with the castle. She is, in fact, sulking on the beach for various reasons that have nothing to do with completely failing to gather material to make bikinis and swim trunks for the beach episode. Okay, maybe it has something to do with that. Among other things.

Still, the sight of the dots on the horizon get her attention. "Could it be?" She wonders aloud, and hops off of the crenellation to the ground, ignoring the brace of sand-shaped cannons to stand in Polaris' general vicinity. She looks more irritated the closer she gets, but she puts up with it. Looks like the knight has the whole signalling thing down pat. "Well, that'll be nice."

     Continuing from last night, Haseo has opted to sit away from the rest of the group against a nice rock. Not because of any fear of danger, but because he prefers to be by himself when he can.

     He's passing the time by just idly flicking through his menu and stat screen, before he overhears Polaris' reaction. A ship? Heading this way? Considering the current state of Ezzo, it's probably not NPCs, so it has to be a PC. Probably.

     Picking themselves off the ground, they go to see what's up.

     "Well. That was fast."

    It's been a night, but Wynfei has been working with the other Adventurers, trying to help the Landers get situated. Making rough shelters and just overall trying to make people feel comfortable.

    He did manage to sleep and in the morning he tried to do some fishing, though as he fishes and not catching anything, and yes he's using his tail, he has fishline tied to the end and he casts it out. As he does this, he looks and sees something out there. "Hey how is eveyrone, we all good?" he asks.

The ships themselves stay out in the (relatively) safer waters further out from the shore, bobbing sedately in the water out past the breakline. People can be seen scurrying around on deck, though Landers or Adventurers can't be seen at this distance. They lower row boats from the larger ships and make their way towards the beach.

Nureha is on one of the first row boats that hit the beach. She is in a grey robe and unremarkable white blouse and skirt. Starter gear as everyone else, with a black staff that she uses to keep herself from falling in the rolling surf.

She pulls back her hood, looking across the beach with quick little jerks of her head until she locates Haseo, then Proteus. Her eyes dart around for someone else and her shoulders relax, smiling fondly at the sand castle. "Well. I'm glad to see you've kept yourselves occupied. But.. as much as I might wish to examine the conditions here before leaving, I don't think we should QUITE push our luck. The other ships will be arriving shortly, and no doubts that will draw it's share of attention." She gestures to the boats to anyone who she is not familiar with, waiting for everyone to be collected together while the crews of the boats get people sorted out.

The ENLIGHTENED STRIKE arte disperses dramatically! "OCCUPIED!" Polaris says, planting both gauntlets at their waist. "HA HA HA! Occupied is one good way of putting it!" Their index finger points skyward, indicating the dome established for the rest of the island. "We have been busy saving the Land from its greatest threat yet!! If you want to know what has happened, then you need only me, the legendary POLARIS! I will tell you everything there is to know about what happened here!" This big knight is ready to go, it looks like!

Proteus is in some basic, drab clothing herself. A hooded cloak, tunic, and breeches. Worn boots. All in 'newbie gear' coloration.

There is an actual expression of relief on Proteus' face as he sees Nureha leading the charge on the rowboats. "Of course she would come through." She sighs in relief. "Come on, everyone. We're getting out of this hellscape." She waves, gesturing. Wynfei gets a nod, and points to the incoming craft. "Yes, we are in fact 'all good'." The Imp confirms.

She turns towards Haseo and waves. "Haseo! Get over here! I'll go fetch Att in a minute." She looks back to Nureha and tilts her head a bit, her tail swishing about. "It's good to see you again... But I admit, it just doesn't look right without your old stuff. But we'll talk more on the ship." Quickly, she pops into the castle, dragging out Att and anyone else that she cares about hiding inside, and piles everyone on the rowboat.

Of course, this puts her in close proximity to Polaris, who promptly begins doing his Polaris Thing again, and the Imp winces. "We all ran from the corruption and then held off a giant murderous guardian while the Bandit King did the actual work to put up the barrier and save the world." She says, summarizing and beating Polaris to the punch. Maybe a little petulant, but hey.

     "Tch. Occupied isn't the word I'd use, but whatever."

     Haseo scratches the top of his head as he turns back to look at where they came from. What the heck is all this about anyway? And why is Ezzo glitching out of all places?

     He eventually returns to reality as Proteus calls out to him, making his way to one of the available boats as he begins the slow and painful process of boarding it.

     "Speaking of the bugs, have you guys seen any of those weird glitched mobs on the other side? I'm going to assume no, otherwise you wouldn't have the time to come get us."

"I NOTICE YOU SKIPPED THE PART," Polaris matches Proteus's petulence, and exceeds it with vastly more petulence! "WHERE YOU INSULTED MY GOAT AND THEN BEEFED IT DOWN A CLIFF." Shut the hell up, Polaris.

"Oh." Nureha turns towards Polaris and puts both hands on her staff. Her tail swishes to one side, an eye flicking as she tilts her head slightly to the left. A broad smile brightens her face as the LEGENDARY POLARIS gives forth his enthuastic pose. "My my." her face flushes. "I absolutely have to hear this. Come sit with me, sir knight." she gestures to the boat as she wades through the ankle deep water with about as much dignity as one can really expect from such a situation ( Or perhaps a little more)

She stops as Proteus comes close to speak with her, nodding and tilting her head with the vaguest hint of a shrug. But there is an additional wrinkle here as she attempts to followe them. There are TWO boats, and a handful of rowboats, and MANY MORE than can ever possibly fit on either. However.. this doesn't seem to phase Nureha, who begins to hum under her breath, the song underlying her words as she speaks up.

Her hands brush together and then still as she explains, plainly and eloquently, that ships would be arriving every couple of hours until they ALL had safe passage.

Having quelled initial fears of being left behind, she gestures again to Polaris. "Come, tell me your tale of.. adventure." she steps back into the row boat, seating herself with her hands in her lap, smiling eagerly.

"And Haseo, we'll talk on the ship. But suffice it to say that things have been busy on either side of the ocean." she looks..

Properly /SCANDALIZED/ at Proteus. With a look of. 'Oh. Who is never going to live it down? Oh yes. Someone we know'

No Polaris. Please. Go on.

"What's your swim skill again?" Proteus replies meaningfully, looking out into the water.

    Wynfei makes his way over to the boats that have come to help them. He looks at the dome again. He listens to the others as they speak to the new arrival, "How long will it take to get everyone off this island?" he asks as he moves to the boat, "May I enter as well?" he asks.

HELM-GLEAM! The helm catches the light in just such a way that it seems almost like Polaris themself is grinning widely! "Indeed! This legendary effort was tremendous!" Cronch cronch cronch CLOMP THUMP. All six feert of knight stride over sand, and then into the rowboat. "UN-CHECKED." The answer to Proteus is filled with smugness.

Polaris has a long tale to tell. "From where I saw it, this all started with some brand of misfiring weapon. That great, dark wave originated in a titanic, malfunctioning canon in the mountains west of Lia Fail!" They gesture intently in its general direction. "Without an opportunity to investigate, we were forced to flee from truly invulnerable monsters, which could annihilate the durability of equipment with the properties of their horrid Infection even as smaller, less-threatening creatures. Still now, we can't afford to re-enter the quarantine, because of the threat they pose to even a legendary combatant like me!"

"You mean un-checked as in 'you never checked it'." She points out. "Because the other meaning doesn't make any sense whatsoever. You're a braggart, but you're not incoherent. Yet."

    She sits back and simply lounges, listening to the Knight. At the end she supplies, "But mostly because that dome field is more or less impenetrable." Proteus adds. "Even this knight here is more or less useless without Haseo."

"You certainly may."

Nureha gives an indulgent sweep of a hand to one of the other boats, directing some of the crew to get them ready as well as some are already pushed away from the beach on their way back. She remains to direct activities ( and hear the grand and epic tale of ADVENTURE) until everyone from the first wave is safely loaded onto the larger ships. The second ship begins to reel in it's complement of adventurers and lander refugees as well.

Nureha makes all the appropriate noises of DEEP and COMPELLING attention, raising her eyebrows slightly at the mention of Lia Fail and the titanic cannon. "Oh. And why is that?" she asks, looking pointedly at Haseo with a raised eyebrow. "Never mind. I suppose such things will come in their own time."

While still being regaled by ADVENTURE, the ships make preparations to depart.

    Wynfei gets on the boat once he is invited on, he didn't have any tales to regale anyone with, he wasn't here for his own legend either. As he is about to step onto a boat, he helps a few of the Landers onto boats that had room, making sure the elderly, women and children were on first, then he would get on. "Thank you, what is your name Ms." he asks Nureha. "Thank you for your kindness."