Duty Session 111: The Ezzo Rescue

The New World Alliance was negotiating with the Dukedom to get help with a large task, and as part of the arrangment the Kingdom wanted help wrangling up some of the lingering refugees in Ezzo, promising doing so would open up more ships and men to aid in the discussed task. Shiruba, fresh into her promotion, was put to the task of getting the venture together. To which she was quick to connect certain people she knew had reason to go to Ezzo yet. And a general call out to help was forth as well regardless of allegience. Even if it was to help establish themselves, Ezzo was a matter larger than one Alliance.

The wolfgirl was waiting on deck with some of the elder crewmen, watching the Landers work as they get ready to set off as soon as the Adventurers were set. She was doing her best to remain calm and ready... but the frizzy state of her tail was a dead giveaway she was still feeling anxious over this being her first real big mission as a Guild officer. "As soon as everyone checks in we'll be set to sail."

The elder crewman just nods his head a bit, not being much of a talking time outside of barking orders.

    A particularly dark, yet white armored, were-fang was already onboard, and not far from Shiruba. The warrior was just sitting on a crate with a wetstone, tending to the newer of her two blades. One that maybe Yuuki could remember, given the strange little ability it had during their contest. Thankfully, there are no voices, at least not right now.

    "Consider me checked in."

    Yuuki is here as part of the general call. She's not done this quest yet and it seems like it'd be interesting. With the majority of quests taking place on land, it's a novel thing to do one out at sea!

    As such the energetic Imp was quite excited and here early. She now sits on the ship's outer railing, legs swinging back and forth, tail swaying as she watches people boarding. She gives them a happy smile and wave in greeting as they do.

Few people had heard from, and even fewer people had seen, Kaydon for nearly three weeks. When Shiruba came to check on him she had found him covered in burns and bruises, suffering from the burnt and bleeding status effects, as well as the dehydrated and hungry effects. But he was done.

Having been successfully healed, and forcibly fed, the were fang was now on the boat, holding a cloth wrapped SOMETHING in his lap. He hadn't really said much yet, "I'm ready." He replies to Shiruba when she asks for folks to check in, however.

While most know Rylen as a performer and acrobat, today he seems to be dressed for a day on the open sea. By some miracle, he is actually not shirtless, wearing a fitted jacket which is likely meant to keep off the worst of the chill and spray from the ocean. As a mentor for Crescent Moon, he was likely sent to assist on this particular mission, since helping others seems to be what he does in regards to his time in the game.

"Glad to be of assistance, m'lady." He offers a bow towards Shiruba, the gesture sweeping and elaborate. "Crescent Moon is always happy to lend a hand where needed. Rylen Corvus, Beastmaster and Mentor." He offers out, knowing that he hasn't met everyone coming on this little expedition.

He seems the picture of calm, a smile on his face, more than happy to return the wave towards Yuuki as he joins the others on deck.

While most Adventurers so far as she knew were out of Ezzo there were still a few lingering possibly. Not to mention who knows how many landers who needed to escape as well. So here Miho was, and she was looking to Shiruba with a grin.

"I'm hear and Shiruba are you needing a suppler of arrows by any chance?"

Business yes it's something Miho does do. She also took a look over Rylen who was much taller than she was.

"Dont' you run that new Peco ranch?"

She asks tail swinging lazily as she does so.

"Hey, you're doing great," Dareshetani murmurs to the wolfgirl through a small smile as he boards the ship, and passes by to secure a seat on a bench somewhere out of the way of the sailors. The were-hyena is clad in a mix of linens and leathers, his customary bow visible slung on his back.

"Oh, checking in," he adds for the sake of the formality as he gets himself settled. It's been a while since he was on a boat this size, and his knuckles tighten slightly around the edge of the bench to ground himself as he takes deep breaths to ward off any onset of queasiness.

    Amalthea has things to do and places to be. But sometimes, even the old Paladin knows when it's time to take a step back and just... Wait. With the third floor boss raid coming up, Amalthea has been super busy in Zumfit, but with as much of the research on that handled, all that was left to do was kill time until then and do something else that can be productive in the meantime.
    So here she is, making her way up the gangplank onto the boat, with her face buried in her notes, scribbling away here and there as she... Hums a familiar seeming tune. But she pauses, stuffing her notes away.
    "I am here now." It's a simple announcement, followed by a warm smile. "Figured I'd throw my lot in for this while I take a break figuring out raid boss mechanics."

Once the Adventurers are aboard and checked in the Landers go about their busy of untying lines, raising anchor and riding the tide out of port until they're in the clear to open the sails.

Kaydon finishing his intense project finally was almost heaven sent timing. Since it meant he could both fufill the promise to help Arashi, and probably test out whatever it is he came up with. It's only having her proverbial hands busy keeping things in order that Shiruba hasn't tried to snoop at what he's got wrapped up.

She nods a little to Miho. "I infuse them with magic myself, but I can always make use of the base stock to do so with." She nods towards Dire'yena Werefang. "He's also a hunter, you should check with him as well." Resource management! Or something. The reassurance from others, and seeing people from the other Alliances were interested in helping, does help sooth her anxiousness a bit.

At least until they have been under way for a bit. The ship is fine, the sailing is fine, most of the crew seems to be doing their job.... But the Captain seems to be unusually surly, and despite having a few crewmen huddled around him is giving really off-putting commands.

The Elder Crewman that had been assisting Shiruba squints at him and his ineffectual leading. ".. Sum'thing seems off, lass. And not in the 'Captain had too much rum on shore leave manner, either."

Dare is just sitting there, minding his own business, in through the nose, out through the mouth, keeping the seasickness at bay, when his ears flick in response to some argument among the crew. He looks up, and his upper lip wrinkles in puzzlement as he squints at the captain.

"Hold on, is that a player?" he murmurs to himself. Then, louder, "Hey, what's going on?" Looks like trouble brewing. He glances around and stands up, uneasily flexing his fingers and rolling his shoulders in case some kind of physical intervention is needed. He'll let someone else try to sort this out with words first... but if necessary he'll help muscle the troublemaker out.

    Through much of the trip so far, Yuuki has just been keeping herself occupied exploring the ship. Balancing along railings, standing right at the prow, climbing down the side for a closer look at the ocean. She's hanging upside down from a line of rigging, within earshot of Shiruba and the Elder Crewman when the latter brings up some concerns.

    Yuuki looks a little confused. The Captain seems fine to her. But she's not a sailor so what would she know? But that's when Dare brings up the fact that this man is actually a player. A quick inspection from Yuuki confirms this...

    "He's an imposter! Get 'im!"

    Yuuki releases her hold on the rigging and plummets down towards the Captain, trying to land on him and restrain him. She's surprisingly strong for her size.

As Miho mentions the magic word, 'Peko', Rylen grins, "That would be me, m'lady. I am glad that word is spreading. We hope to be able to offer basic mounts as well as riding training so that travel can be made easier on the isle." He explains, "That, and I think more people should appreciate pekos." He chuckles to himself.

As the ship gets underway, he sets to aiding the crew whereever possible. Sometimes it is carrying supplies, other times helping with spooling ropes. The Pooka doesn't stand idle for very long. So, it's easy enough for him to pick up on some of the unsettled whispers from the crew.

Hearing Dare mention a player, he turns his attention away from what he's doing for just a split second in order to run an INSPECT when... one of the crew decides to drop one of the barrels... onto his foot.

Gritting his teeth, Rylen does his best not to make a sound, but rather than dealing with the situation at hand, he spends the next few minutes hefting the barrel off of his nearly crushed toes, and then trying to make sure no permanent damage had been done.

    Ship sailing was not Arashi's forte. Sailing in general really wasn't something she's done a lot of. So, rather than deal with the captain that has NO CLUE what he's doing, the were-mare just shoots a nasty glare toward them before wandering her way over to Kaydon. Sure, she doesn't know the project is done, or what he has all wrapped up, but considering what he embedded in a wall, well, it isn't rocket science. That's why once she's close she simply holds out an unused whetstone for the weaponforger. "I know you don't need it now, but I imagine you will soon." It's her way of saying congratulations. He wouldn't be here any other way.

Miho has noticed something odd about the Captain he's flagged as an Adventurer when she inspects him and it's not long before they clearly show. They have no idea what in the name of the gods they are doing. She will join out the others in calling them out.

"Hey we should let one of the landers who know what they are doing run the show!" She would also be considering getting a peko at some point, but for now she's got to worry about the Captain who could wreck this operation because they wanted to RP.

Kaydon had been eyeballing the 'captain' for a while now. He hadn't said anything, he was still really recovering from his ordeal. When Arashi comes over to him, and offers him a whetstone, he smiles, "Thank you." He says, taking it and then bowing his head.

"And thanks for the burgers the other day. It helped a lot." Though now with all the commotion of people figuring out the captain is not who he says he is, the were fang gnoll rises up, and positions himself between the so-called captain and the door to the captain's quarters, to prevent him from making an escape, "Restrain him, put him in the brig." He glances over at Shiruba for a second, since she is the leader of the adventurers on this mission, "Unless you think we should keel-haul him."

    That's odd. Something seems to be up with the captain. And no sooner than Dare suspects the presence of a player, Amalthea's eyes narrow.
    A quick INSPECT confirms suspicions and-- And there goes Yuuki.
    Amalthea can't help but smile as the younger girl DROPBEARS onto the 'captain'.
    The old Paladin's pace is very casual as she slowly strides toward the man and takes to a crouch, assuming Yuuki's got him good and pinned.
    "Well hello there." She says genially, tone warm and friendly as she offers the man a smile.
    "Seems you've stowed away thinking you could take things over for yourself is that it?" Mused as she rubs her chin. "The thing about that is... Your orders are very conflicting and we can't have you browbeating the poor Landers into doing what you want, when we have a very important job to do."
    She's still smiling.
    "So you have some options, young man..." She offers gently.
    "You step down and help us." That's one and she holds up a finger to emphasize her point.
    "We drop you overboard." She says, a second finger coming up to join the first. "Or..."
    "We beat you like you stole something and *then* drop you overboard."
    Amelia Theodore is still smiling as she offers this option, counting on three fingers. Though she does hold up a fourth finger at the notion of keel-hauling.

It might of been planned mutiny. It might of just been a greedy player looking for some quick score, or to troll. Taking advantage of Landers not doing Inspects worked to weasel his way in, but once his intention isn't really important as once the gathered Adventurers are onto the ruse. They quickly mussle in, putting the stooges he'd swayed to his cause aside with little issue. Most of them had faced much stronger and nastier threats by this point.

He tries to save face with an accusing point as he backs from the group. "See? Told you there'd be a mutiny! Stop them!" "Stop yerself!" the elder crewman barks back as he's realized what's up from the way the Adventurers are acting.

"As tempting as that is Kaydon, this isn't a Pirate Movie." Shiruba chimes in
Being caught rattles the man into trying to turn and run to jump ship, but a sharp blast of wind whipped up Shiruba blows him back onto the deck, perfect for Yuuki to pounce on and hold him for Amelia to prove why you don't mess with your Elders. He whines a little, but realizing he's beat hunches down in his shoulders and skulks. "Yes ma'am."

The venture continues onward! ... But an unruly imposter turns out to be only the first problem to deal with, as one of the main linemen has come down with a rather ill manner.

"That," the elder crewman grumps, "is too much rum before settin' sail most likely."

    "You're welcome," Arashi replies to Kaydon before he decides to have a word with the 'Captain'. Then everyone else. Yuuki, Amalthea, on and on it goes, enough that he's insisting its a mutiny. "No, not really..." she muses as she draws out a dark looking, black blade. "It could be if you really want.." she muses on before instead offering it over for Kaydon to inspect.

    As she does so, she's not entirely aware of landers asking for aid with Scurvy. Did no one pack oranges? Eat oranges? Oranges make it OK, you know? She seems more interested in Kaydon's apprasial. Though, she does pause to peer at it. "What, no, no stabbing the sick," she whispers. Did anyone else even hear that..?

Luckily for Rylen, the others have matters well in hand when it comes to the unusual 'Captain' they found themselves with. He's still rubbing his sore foot while he listens to Amalthea give him his options. Though he already had a high respect for the woman, it goes up yet another notch at that moment.

In the real world, Rylen has some experience with helping people who have physical injuries. However, someone acting ill while on a ship at sea is another matter, entirely. He makes his way over, still limping slightly on that sore foot, "I've seen my fair share of drunkenness, and this doesn't look to be it." As for what it /could/ actually be, he seems to have little clue.

"I wouldn't imagine someone prone to sea-sickness would take a job on a ship, would they?" No, he isn't exactly helpful in the diagnostic department. "I'll... get him some water, maybe that will help."

    The evil imposter has been bested! Yuuki stands up, dusting off her hands. She gives a thumbs up to the Elder Crewman, "Not to worry. We'll take care of any threats whether from outside, or within!" Poor troll picked the wrong ship to troll on.

    Some more time passes as they sail the waters. Yuuki has since finished her exploration of the ship and is now keeping herself occupied by doing the thing where you stab a dagger between your fingers, showing off her speed to some of the Lander crew.

    But it seems that one particular crewman is not doing so well. Yuuki looks up at the sick man. Her eyes then light up, "Oh! This happened on a quest previously! I was able to find a rare medicine plant nearby. Maybe this is recycled content!" Yuuki suddenly runs off to look for plants. Apparently not considering the fact that they're in the middle of an ocean on a boat.

    After about a minute, Yuuki returns, looking a little unsure as she wanders up to the sick crewman, "I couldn't find any miracle plants... But I did find this strange glowing mushroom. Maybe it'll help?" She produces said glowing mushroom.

    The strange glowing mushroom turns out to be a mild restorative item.

A sick crewmate? Dare is NOT the person to ask for help with this. He does go through his inventory to see if he has anything that might be applicable, but let's be honest: if he did, he would have taken it himself instead of relying on deep breathing to stave of seasickness himself. "Sorry, I don't... have anything," he offers only an apology as he reclaims his seat before he adds to the problem. It looks like Yuuki has a potential solution, at least, so that assuages his irrational feelings of guilt somewhat.

Kaydon takes the blade Arashi offers him, taking a moment to look over it, "When did you pick this up?" He asks, as he inspects it. It feels weird, having it in one hand, while the gleaming blade that's wrapped up in his other hand waits for its big reveal.

"Hold on." He says, as he looks to the commotion with the sick crewman. He tosses Arashi's blade back to her, and moves to the sick Lander. He isn't a healer by any stretch of the imagination, but he did pick up a small healing spell to fix himself up when he was constantly injuring himself over the last few weeks, so he casts it on the Lander to try to help perk him up.

Miho says "Lock em in the brig we can turn em lose when we get back from this whole mess." She notes to Kaydon a bit later Miho is trying to help with the sick crewmnan. It's been ages since she's had to do first aid of this sort. So she'll give a shot but it doesn't go so well she's clearly frustraded as she ends up not coming up with anything that would help.

    With the 'captain' handled, it's all smooth sailing from here on out. ... Or it should be, except when one of the Landers falls sick. This could be a problem. Especially when the rest of the crew look to the players.
    "Huh... What was that skill Paladins have..." Amalthea muses, rubbing her chin as she cycles through her options.
    "Ah right." Murmured as her hand takes on a warm, faint, glow, which she gently pat-pat's the afflicted sailor.
    "Lay on hands. Heh~."

Shiruba's ears perk up at someone mentions seasick. "Some people don't get a choice, Rylen. If a family is seafaring in tradition, they likely force it upon their offspring regardless." Something she does sort of know from personal experience. She rummages a bundle from her inventory and hustles over while others are applying Light magic, and Yuuki has some sort of healing mushroom. "Fortunately, I thought to bring some motion sickness medicine from the town alchemist." Score one for the leader being organized?

The man is cured enough that he can be taken down below decks, away from the open sea air and visible waves, and put to work with counting stock instead.
He's put to work with the Wannabe Captain, who's probably still going to get puked on at least once during the trip. Serves him right.

The trip progresses with little event... until there is very much an event as the entire ship rocks to the side abruptly with an audible *WHUMP* to the opposite side. "Something struck our starboard!" Shiruba shout.. then pauses to look at the Elder, who nods approvingly that she remembered the right term and direction.

The ship settles back on the waves, while the source the sound and creaky skittering that follows is soon revealed to be two hideous fish things with skeletal limbs climbing onto the deck. "Ugh, these things!" Shiruba growls, recalling the intrusion of the original rescue trip to Ezzo. "THOSE you can keelhaul all you want Kaydon!"

Demon fish! Dare bounces back to his feet, reflexively reaching for his bow, before he realizes that arrows probably are not the best thing to use against skeletons. All those open spaces and all. He switches his grab to his drum, instead. Drawing a deep breath and starting to hammer a beat to back up the musical magic, he... stops again. They are on a boat. 'Rock You Like a Hurricane' is probably not the best mojo to be summoning here.

"Uh..." he stammers for a moment, and then quickly changes tempo and substitutes some Elton John. "It seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind~"

A wind does indeed pick up and sweep across the deck, battering at the fish monsters in an attempt to sweep them overboard, but it appears that they DO know what to cling to, and hold their ground.

    "I found a pretty deep dungeon near the arena while it was going on." 'Near', however, for Arashi has a VERY DIFFERENT MEANING than it does for most people, giving how far she wanders on her personal quest. Speaking of which, just how far was it to Ezzo, anyway? Did the lander she was seeking really travel this far? Quite a trip, really. She's snapped out of these thoughts when Zothin is 'tossed' back. She blinks. She squints. 'Really?' is all her gaze says. She'll chalk it up to three weeks in the forge.

    Then the entire ship shakes, causing Arashi to stumble. "What -now-?" she barks, marching over to the railing to see... zombie.. fish? "...Are you serious..?" Both weapons come out to deal with this situation. "We have a fish problem! A bitey boney fish problem!"

Rylen seems to consider Shiruba's idea, "Huh... I suppose I never thought about the fact that people in this world might be driven more by tradition than choice." He laughs then, the sound soft, "Glad you've come prepared, though."

As time passes, the ache in his foot seems to fade, likely just natural regeneration of hit points over time. He is, though, avoiding the crew members moving the supplies around, if only to not have a repeat of the prior incident.

His eyes look out to sea, as if he were considering something, until the sound of something striking the hull drags him back to reality. "What in the..." One might expect fish-men, but these are... very much not anyone's idea of fish-men. They are like some sort of creepy undead reverse-mermaid.

"I'm afraid you weren't invited on this cruise, my fish-faced friends." He sweeps his arms in a gesture that resembles some sort of martial arts, the wind following as he thrusts his hands forward, slamming into them and trying to force the monsters overboard.

    Yuuki's unexplained ability to gather restorative items despite having no skill in herbology wins out again! With her help (and maybe some assistance from the others) the sailor is going to live! Although probably still be a little sick. Yuuki pats the man on the shoulder as he is taken below deck.

    More time passes. Yuuki is currently taking a nap. Hanging in a makeshift hammock strung between two barrels. When suddenly the ship takes an impact to the side. The sudden shifting of the boat causes Yuuki to roll out and land on the deck with a groan.

    Standing up, the Imp rubs her face as she looks around in confusion, "... What's happening?" That's when she spots the Undead Fish, "Oh! Finally! Some excitement!" Yuuki draws her sword.

    Soon enough the Imp Gladiator crosses the deck, hacking and slashing with her blade with usual expert skill. Occasionally she pauses to laugh as the moving sushi try to bite her only to meet air, "You'll have to do better than that, fishies!" Stab stab slash slash.

There's one thing very few people know about Kaydon, and that's that his player is a Marine, and the original job of the Marines was to defend ships from boarders. So he's in his element.

After the ship finishes rocking and the enemies appear, he turns away from what he had been doing, and looks down at his left hand. He smiles, ever so faintly, as he pulls the wrapping off of the black scabbard that surrounds the blade, "Looks like it's time to test this thing out."

He grips the hilt with his right hand, and draws the gleaming Damascus steel from the scabbard, quickly sliding that sheath onto his back. Gripping the weapon with both hands, anyone who inspects it will find that it's listed as a Masterwork Damascan Templar Blade.

The were fang quickly crosses the deck towards one of the fish monsters. He remembers facing them down the first time they went to Ezzo. That feels like it was years ago, even if it was only three months ago. But he didn't have his new weapon then.

He strikes out with the sword in an extremely powerful overhand strike, clearly intending to use the new steel to cleave one of the fish monsters in half with a single blow, though with the hard work the others are putting into the fight, no doubt it will have been worn down by Yuuki's rapid strikes, Rylen's powerful magic and Arashi's dual wielding. He knows that he couldn't show off his new weapon without the aid of his fellow adventurers, even the ones that are not on this quest.

Miho smirks at Shiruba "And sometimes we want to do the family business. Being a blacksmith has been pretty much setting you for life till the last 75 years." She notes with an amused smirk on her face at this. Things do go better however, for the most part, she's helping out where she can. However, a few things end up going south namely the bone horror things. She's quick to draw her Katana and engage them but she will attempt to use her blade against these horrors.

"It's like that one horror manga..."

She just gets into a frenzy as the mere idea of being in a universe effected by that one horror manga writer? Makes her flip out but things do not go very well for her.

    Now with the sickened crew member handled, all that's left is SMOOTH SAILING. Seriously, what else could go wrong now?
    Except bone fish on bone legs.
    No sooner than something hits the starboard, Amalthea glances over the side. Her expression falters at the sight.
    "..."
    It's kind of revolting.
    "... I've read that manga manga." She murmurs to Miho. "It didn't end well." She says, unslinging her shield and drawing her blade.
    Taking up a tanking position she starts spamming her taunts as she lays into the undead sealife, sword glowing with holy smiting light.

Let's be honest. These fiends probably don't have much in the way of free thinking, but that doesn't excuse that they picked the wrong ship to harass.

When the Adventurer crew consists of a Champion Duelist, the Pwny that fought her to the literal line, A warrior with a brand new personal weapon to field test, a highly protective Paladin Grandma, and several other more than capable people... Yes, they're about as boned as their limbs are.

Swords, more swords, more special swords, wind magic and wind martial arts, Paladin vs undead. Shiruba climbed partway up the rigging so she could shoot over the heads of the melees, and strikes with electrified arrows. The creatures are quickly routed and flung back into the hideous depths they came from.

Afterwards the Elder Crewmate runs over to the railing to look down at why they're boarding made so much noise, and lets out a salty string and seafaring swearing that isn't suitable to be written out! Followed by "WHAT LANDLUBBIN' BILGERAT LEFT A LANDIN BOAT ONLY HALF AWEIGH?!"

Almost every other crewman on deck points at the doors to the lower levels. At the same time there's a retching noise and a scream of disgust from the would-be imposter. The Elder cusses some more as he facepalms. "Just get it up here, and get the others ready. We're almost at landfall!"

Shiruba on the other hand looks a bit relieved. "It could of been the ship damaged... Not that it excuses his sloppy disregard."

Dare moves over to the group clustered around the longboats to assist. He helped build Hifumi's inn; surely he can help patch up some boats too?

Unfortunately, the rocking of the boat seems to be getting to him, and he's feeling rather woozy by the time he crosses the short distance. He sits down suddenly, heavily, on the deck and has to apologetically wave off one of the crewmates when they come to hand him a hammer. It's all he can do at the moment not to puke and add to the difficulties.

"I...uh... can someone help me to the rail?" he asks instead.

    Yuuki phews as she sheathes her sword once more. They weren't exactly very challenging. But it was still fun. Especially after such a long journey. But it's almost over, as they appear to be getting close to their destination!

    But then, tragedy! As they are notified that one of the landing boats is partially damaged, a number of the others go to assist. Yuuki tilts her head a little. She's not a crafter. But then, what she lacks of for in skill, she makes up for in eagerness to help! Nodding confidently, Yuuki moves to assist to.

    The Imp Gladiator picks up a hammer. She starts hammering. One. Two. Three. CRACK. Yuuki puts too much force into the last swing, causing the hammer head to put a new hole in the landing boat.

    Looking around for a moment to see if anyone noticed, she slowly places the hammer down, stands, then walks away, whistling innocently.

Miho is a smith she could fix any broken metal parts of the boat, however she's proves to be utterly usless at tying to do anything with this sort of thing it goes somewhat comedicly bad for her, she looking mortifed as one thing fails after another. She finally just steps away looking dejected her tail drooping very low.

    FISHSTICKS FOR EVERYONE. Hacking, slashing, julienne style slicing, there's no real chance for the fishy zombies to succeed. It was nice, not having to fight with Kaydon, and Yuuki, and the rest. She can't help but eye Kaydon's pride and glory at this point. It was an -impressive- blade. He clearly got the perfect forging that he wanted. It would probably get discussed, eventually.

    As for this .. damaged boat. Well. That just reminds her of the Caravan Escort quest she did. She hated that quest. She hated everything ABOUT that quest. She hated that it reminded her of some archaic old computer game that she never won at. And now she has to do deal with it now? ... Pass. She'll just work on her blade some more. Buh.

With the fish dealt with, at least for the time being, Rylen seems to have only a moment's peace before another problem rears its head. "I'll lend a hand with the boats." After working for almost a month on the ranch, he had some skill with doing basic repairs.

So, the Pooka settles himself down to begin work, trying to patch as well as he can given the limited amount of resources that they have on hand. He has a decently deft hand at it, but the damage seems pretty extensive. "This will have to do, for now."

    SMOOTH. SAILING.
    It should be happening but it's not. Especially with the boats in such... Poor condition.
    Amalthea scratches her head, reaches for a rope and tugs it.
    And nearly loses one of the away boats.
    "..."
    Amalthea decides to let the others help with the boats after that.

With the fish monsters dealt with, Kaydon sheathes his blade and, in the aftermath along with the others, notices that the longboats have been damaged. If it was during the fight, or because of the incompetence of the former 'captain' who can be sure, but he knows he has to get to work.

He's spent almost a month hammering away at steel, so hammering at wood is a welcome change of pace, as he works to get the boats back into good enough shape to head to shore. They don't need to be perfect, they just need to not-sink.

The Adventurers try to help, but the battered longboat is busted up pretty badly. It is mainly a lack of time and proper material holding them back from making more than jury-rigged patching. When the call of "LAND HO!" and crewmen move to drop anchor at port comes, Shiruba suggests they just use the longboats that remain an the time they have left. The Elder Crewmate agrees, and gets the Landers on lowering the boats to collect refugees and get supplies to those remaining. The busted one is kept tied close to the ship, serving as an extra platform to move people and supplies across rather than losed.

Meanwhile there's a lot of squabbling, pushing and shoving as people try to get to boats, or the supplies, or both. "There's still more people here than I thought," the wolfgirl muses as she climbs down from her perch to help try and keep the situation organized. Hopefully Arashi can find who she's looking for herself, Shiruba has her hands full being in charge right now.

Miho is a tiny lady by most standards however she's pretty strong for her frame. She will get to work helping loading boats where she can. However, people start trying to butt in line or cause other problems and one group just gets a ticked off Miho. She has her hands on her hips her tail ramrod straight.

"That's enough keep it orderly we will pack in everyone we can even if it means you will end are stacked in like sardines in a can."

One guy gets uppity and Miho wacks him in the shin with the thagomizer on her tail.

"Are we done, sir? Stay in line."

After being helped to the side of the boat by a more-sympathetic-than-most crewmate, and emptying the contents of his stomach into the sea, Dare spends the rest of the boat trip lying low and sipping water to manage his churning stomach.

Upon finally making landfall, though, he begins to recover his senses. So he volunteers to stay on land and coordinate things on that side while the longboats make their back and forth trips.

At this point in the evacuation, he can be found standing on the pier blocking anyone else from charging the boat. "Look, guys, I've said this once, I'll say it again, there is only so much room on the boats. We are NOT leaving until everyone is aboard so just stay calm and wait your turn. Look, do you see me getting in the boat? No. Because I know they're not going to leave any of us behind. I know we're all tired and impatient, but the less pushing and shoving we have, the faster this can all go."

He may also be buying off some of the Lander children with molasses sweets from his pockets.

    As much as Arashi is trying to help with all the logistics and such, moving adventurers and landers alike, it's clear the were-fang has another motive, and one that's distracting her. It's just like Shiruba is thinking, Arashi is looking for someone and is wandering a bit wider than most may like trying to find them. The pushing, shoving, yelling, she tries to help with but, well, she's got other things on her mind.

Once the group lands, the massive amount of folks surprises Kaydon. He had thought they had taken most of them away from Ezzo by now, but he supposes it was a WHOLE zone and everyone who had been an Ezzo player had been stuck here, plus who knows how many Landers.

He was getting another good look at the chaos behind them, still contained for now, thankfully. Pulling out his sword again, and his shield, he takes position near the dock, to ensure that there will be no trouble.

The large, intimidating looking were fang will probably keep a lot of people in line just with his very presence. And if not, well, they get to taste what the hilt or flat of his blade feels like, because he has no intention of killing any of them.

    Yuuki stands triumphantly at the head of one of the landing boats as they make their way to shore. A successful crossing! Despite some setbacks.

    Now they just have to do it again.

    First thing's first though, there's still a lot of people needing to escape this dangerous continent. Too many for the boat they came on. And they're rushing the landing boats.

    Yuuki confidently moves up the beach and takes a firm stance, raising her hand towards a group of people trying to rush the landing boat she had arrived on, "Now hold on folks. We need to do this all orderly and the like. Now, I believe standard practice is women and chi-ack!" The rushing group ignores Yuuki, crashing into her and dragging her small frame with them as they make for the landing boat. There's too many of them for her to fight back!

Joining the others as the group lands, Rylen has a moment of real shock at the sight of just how bad things are. He had heard many stories about Ezzo, but this is beyond his imagination.

It takes him a moment to realize that people are rushing for the boats, so he raises his hands slightly. "Easy everyone! We'll take as many as we caaAAAH--" And the hoard of people pushes him right off into the water with a splash.

Rylen bobs there in the water for a moment, pulls strands of silver hair out of his eyes, and then swims for one of the longboats. When he finally manages to climb up into it, he laughs to himself, "Not my most shining moment, alas. Still... at least some good is being done."

    Well it looks like the boat issue is handled. Somehow. But the issue is with how many people are still left waiting for a way out.
    Amalthea frowns as time passes and things only grow more tense.
    She's walked out among the people, giving gentle words of reaffirmation and encouragement where she can but the tension gets to the point where it can be cut with a knife.
    Time to do something about that.
    Walking amongst the marooned landers and players again, a soft light suffuses the old Paladin's body, drawing eyes and ears with her brilliant aura.
    It's actually a higher end shield spell but it should serve the purpose of making her look very majestic.
    "Everyone please remain calm..." she says in her gentlest voice. "There is plenty of room on the boat but you must all wait, everyone will have their chance to leave this place. Just please remain calm and orderly and all will be well."
    She looks radiant. Almost divine even as she smiles warmly and tries to lessen the strain on everyone around her.

Shiruba didn't leave the ship, there was enough people going down there to help move the people and supplies as needed. Turns out it's a good thing she stayed up on deck, as while monitoring the process she spots a few people trying to sneakily swim out to the boats to grab supplies off of them before they get to shore.

"Really? Really?!" Shiruba pulls an magic infused arrow from her quiver and fires it into the water. There's a brief flash of light under the surface, and the bubbles that had been trailing towards the boat and quickly trailing back towards land to get back in line.

It's not hard to tell who it was, they're dripping wet now. But other than being forced back into line she's not going to do anything, because they're still people that need to get off this deteriorating landmass. Jerks or not.

    And that was that. The boats were full of landers and adventurers, everyone was on the way back. Arashi, however, would be fairly uncertain if they had collected Hayashi Unmeiha until they reached port back where they started. Why? Said lander was on the other vessel from her.

    At the final destination of the trip, spotting them, Arashi found the man's ring in her inventory, wandered back, and offered it up. As she did, the two started to converse. He seemed curious, while she was answering questions, which ultimately led to her setting her broken blade in the man's hand. To call his expression crestfallen would be an understatement. He'd offer it back, and the two would wander off.

        "We have ... much to discuss, then..." he'd inform, the two heading off to a familiar place to them both.

Miho seems very happy as they get the last people on board the ship. She's playing with soime lander children for a bit. Whom seem facinated at her tail. She actually lets them play with it for a little while seeming to have a good laugh about it. Still it's going to be a bit of a trip back, but the good news is they got a lot of people out and that's what matters right?

Kaydon seems to have gotten several of the Landers and other Adventurers fascinated with his sword. Which at least means they're not pushing and shoving and trying to get onto the boat.

He shows it off to them, doing what he can to explain how he made it, and the amount of work that went into putting it together. And of course he does not leave out the fact that his friends helped him along the way.

Eventually as many rescuees as possible have been loaded onto the ship, with supplies left in their wake. Anchor is pulled and the ship sets off for it's comparitively quiet return to the Isle of Beginnings.

Shiruba slouches in a comfortable spot once they're underway. Her first big mission as a leader is a success, but boy is it exhausting. She needs a nap on the way home.