Duty Session 184: Still Coast Pirates

At one point this had been a Stillwater Bandit camp. Like many before it the camp has been left in a disheveled mess. Unlike others before it, this one was abandoned by it's inhabitants rather than trashed by Adventurers. Now the Hunter's Guild has set up a post here, to help guide such Adventurers after the fiends, as there is only one place they could of fled -- Out to sea.

"They are equally brave and foolish to seek refuge on the waves. The coastal lines are more active with trade increasing between the Kingdoms to support Adventurer activities... But that puts them at the same Leviathan risk as well." "And us to go after them," Shiruba replies to the Guild representative by the boats. "Yet, the task must be done. Both the expeditions and the Trade Company need supplies brought by these routes safely." "Very well then." The rep turns to ready the boats, while Shiruba awaits the arrival of others for the venture. Some she likely called in to help, others may simply be coming at the same time to tackle the same Duty.

    Wisteria comes, because she's a Steel and ... no she's here because she's always looking for oddities and glitches, and damned if her last few trips to sea hadn't produced results. Of course those were Ezzo so HMMV this time.

Goldenblade had heard there was a need of adventurers, and though she's got a handful of projects in various states, she's eager to take this on as well. She doesn't sit still well. "I'm working on a project that will make us something like scuba gear," she notes. "That will help us for swimming. But it's not ready yet, unfortunately. Hopefully it won't matter." She looks around, looks back to the others, and says, "Also, fighting pirates is useful to everyone."

Pirates? Not cool!

Kotono fighting pirates? Now that's cool!

And, of course, don't forget Miyako tagging along!

There's no pirate songs from Kotono, just a determined look on her face as she arrives, twirling her knives and looking ready for a fight. "Let's see those pirates take on a swift ninja like me!"

    Merek takes time to put on his armor, from the strapping to the scarf which the man wears along his features adjusted. With hands along both of his twin blades, they are drawn and he nods a bit to the party, "Well, either way we need to free the shipping lane."

    "Pirates, eh?" Miyako shrugs and shakes her head. "I'd dig out an old sea chantey or two, maybe," she muses, running through her memory for appropriate songs. "But, well." She shrugs and follows Kotono to the camp. "Time to clean house."

Kaydon always liked pirates. At least you know, the kind of pirates that were 'good guys' that were stopping Imperial ships on the high seas. These weren't those kind of pirates. So Kaydon is more likely to want to stab them into oblivion. So he sits on a bench, sharpening his blade with one hand while he looks at the gathering group, "They're getting bolder. That's no good."

These pirates have been a source of much consternation for the Scale Emblem Alliance. The longer these brigands are allowed to ransack the trade routes surrounding the Tower, the more strain it places on the logistical network that keeps the climb going. Prophylaxis, Doctor of Tolbana, has dedicated quite a bit of time to exterminating these bandits, but whenever it had seemed as though he was about to corner their commander, the leader managed to slip through his grasp.

But now they have boats of their own, and the Stillwater Captain will find this magus to be quite a tenacious hunter in his own right.

"At least we've managed to burn down some of their bases," he says with a quiet huff, "But until we can destroy their naval assets, they're just going to be able to move and set up shop somewhere else. We're going to have to deal a decisive blow and force their captain into a confrontation they can't escape from." But whether that's going to be the case today... Prophylaxis has his doubts, but he remains optimistic.

Shiruba greets the various people as they arrive, though her ears cant towards Goldenrod when she speaks up. "If you can get some replication of SCUBA functioning, I know several explorers that would be interested in seeing it." Herself included. But that is for another time. She steps up onto the ledge of a boat for that extra bit of height and addresses the group. "As you are all here, I am assuming you have heard of the recent developements. The Still Water Bandits have apparently abandoned their remaining camps on various shorelines. At the same time, there is been an increase of pirate activity on the coastal trade routes. These two things cannot be coincidence, but the Hunter's Guild has put out a job request for a proper investigation, and if necessary elimination of any iliciet activity we find." She then turns partially to comment over her shoulder. "This is actually a sizable party, thank you for having the boat prepared." The guildman nods, and steps off the craft while the Adventurers board.

Once that is set and the group is aboard they cast off from the shore and out onto the waters. Unfortunately it doesn't take long to find that the weather is not as pleasant on the water as it was on the shore. Winds are strong out in the open, and the water is rocking and choppy. Then just rocky in general as the current and wind is more than the smaller craft can handle and is violently pushed against some nasty chunks of rock jutting from the sea.

"Shit! Abandon ship!" is about all the warning Shiruba can bark as she catchs sight of the peaks over the waves just barely, and too close to turn the boat side because of the hard waves.

    Merek boards along into the boats, which well... When it throws the man into the water, he begins freezing that with a sheet of ice. He then walks along upon it while he takes a moment to assist anyone he can up. Still, it's not really the best. "Alright, well that was pretty nice," the man notes. "You all alright?"

Additional pirate activity on the open ocean is not a good thing for anyone, let alone the various merchants and tradesmen who supply both newbie adventurers and veterans raiding the tower. Prophylaxis' expression is grave as he mounts the rowboat, but it's not exactly clear why, precisely, that he looks so pale. Is it the coffee? He hasn't slept much lately, after all.

...

It's only when things start going /really/ pear-shaped, a moment before the boat capsizes, that he finally says: "This is probably a bad time to mention that I am a really, really bad swimmer, isn't it?"

And then they all go overboard, and all Prophylaxis says is 'blub.'

Time for a little boating, anyone for a chorus of "Over The Sea?"

Well, not for too long.

The ships are wrecked by high winds and sharp rocks, and the order to abandon ship is given. Kotono isn't about to waste time, she's about to get the heck off of this ship!

The girl attempts to perform a swan dive off of the ship into the water, and she does a good enough presentation...

Only to wind up hitting her head on a rock that's just beneath the surface. She comes up to the surface rubbing her head and scowling. "What is this, a cartoon?!"

"Shove off from the wharf-edge, steady / Watch for a smooth, give way / If she feels the lop already / She'll stand on 'er head in the bay."

    It seems that Miyako does indeed have a song for every occasion, even for a small boat on a stormy sea.

    Unfortunately, all things must come to an end. "Look out!" she shouts as she spots the telltale signs of waves breaking over the rocks. Too late, the boat is hurled onto the rocks by the wave and everyone is tossed into the water.

    "Ko-chan! grab my hand!" She's keeping afloat somehow, but the waves are pushing everyone about... and then there's the pirate ship. Oh bloody hell....

Goldenblade nods to Shiruba, "I figured that'd be a useful thing, that's why I'm working on it. It's surprisingly complicated." Apparently, so's rowing, though the weather seems to be a factor also. "Guess I should've worn the swimsuit," she sighs. But she keeps rowing, at least until the rowboat's smashed on the rocks.

From there, it looks like the only place to go is the pirate ship. This would be the perfect place for her air bottle, but it's not ready yet, not even a prototype. She'll set out with the others, and in real life, she was a pretty good swimmer, even in the ocean, but here, she's barely able to dog paddle, and that's not enough. She'll need some assistance from the other adventurers if she's going to make it.

    Wisteria goes into the water, the tall Albino girl lets out a short "ACK!" of surprise and consternation before she goes in and sinks like a stone. The girl flailing about until her head pops out "No..." bloop she goes under again. Then she shifts, bun isn't much better at swiming than human but at least her endurance goes up and she can be under longer without drowning damage. Then she manages to catch ahold of someone or something to get her close enough to join in trying to board the ship. Her white fur plastered to her skin, her ears drooping. "First person to laugh gets bitten." she says looking miserable and well soggy.

Kaydon is able to try to navigate the waves as best he can, but it seems the water is too much for the group as a whole. A huge wave washes over his boat and he bails out, immediately sinking because of all his armor. Eventually he surfaces, however.

He swims to the side of the pirate ship and grabs the anchor chain, hauling himself up onto the deck and taking cover.

Shiruba leaps off the boat shortly after her own warning. The Cait Sith can swim fine enough, but diving is another matter entirely, especially when the waters are rough and the rocks unnaturally high. So while avoiding a crash or the boat capsizing, she's quickly caught in the powerful wash of the waves and slung around a bit. Boy they could of really used that diving gear now, isn't that ironic.

By some small blessing the waves carry the Adventurers farther out in the water but closer to a larger ship that is pointedly keeping it's distance from those rock formations. Shiruba finally gets back above water to draw her bow and fire an arrow into the side of the ship. It has a climbing line fastened to it, giving her and others a chance to grab on and climb up the side of the craft.

And it's out of the ocean and into the bilgetank as it's not even the first step climbing onto the deck that the wolfgirl stops at the sight of the drunken carousing sailors. Well at least they still found the pirates.

    Merek looks to the pirates while he takes a moment to nod along to Shiruba, then he begins to check his potion belt. He takes something from it, then he begins to pour it into each of the drinks. Something that will bring them to sleep while he offers a nod along to the party. He then begins to shift along the deck quiet like.
    "WITH CATLIKE TREAD! UPON OUR PREY WE STEAL!" he begins singing with the pirates. They're drunk, he is wearing a hood, he probably can look like a pirate.

Goldenblade grabs onto Shiruba's line, and will pull herself back onto the pirate ship, panting hard by the time she's aboard. She looks around, but it seems the pirates are drinking and don't quite know yet that they've been boarded. That's fine by her. She spots a kobold cabin boy, or servant of some sort, and waves him over. She'll pass him a coin, and say, "Don't mind us, we were just hvcing a swim. Also ... please don't mention us. We're ... uh, just passing through."

Thanks to Miyako, Kotono has a hand to hold as she gets out of the water...

And onboard a pirate ship.

"Great... just great." She says, but then she raises an eyebrow as she notices that there are a bunch of them partying instead of looking for intruders. Goldenblade seems to have the right idea as Kotono takes out a few gold coins of her own and says, "Here, buy yourself a drink. I'm sure you probably need one after this." A wink.

    Miyako inches her way up the anchor chain, pausing to give a hand to Kotono, until they can peek over the deck and get a look at the situation. "Psst!" she hisses, getting the kobold's attention... and then Kotono has a bribe for it. Excellent.

    "Right," she murmurs, pulling herself onto the deck and crouching behind a set of ratlines so as not to be immediately obvious. "Who gets to play distraction?"

    Oh, wait. That's Merek's job.

From his hiding spot, Kaydon is trying to get the kobold's attention. But it seems the little guy is a bit too preoccupied to notice the were fang. Kaydon mutters to himself, and does his best to sneak past the pirates in order to get with the rest of the group towards the aft of the ship.

"Blub..." says Prophylaxis as he stubbornly holds fast to Shiruba's literal lifeline. He's pretty sure you can still in fact die by drowning in this strange new world, so the existence of stronger swimmers and, more importantly, people willing to pull his ass out of the metaphorical fire is welcome.

...He's still utterly soaked to the gills when he makes it up onto the pirate ship. What are they all celebrating for, anyway...? With a soft grunt, he passes one of his party members a vial of transparent, faintly fragrant liquid and says: "Pour a bit into their drinks. It'll knock them flat on their asses real fast." Sleeping potion? Or maybe just... pure ethanol...?

Either way, Prophylaxis spends a few minutes drying himself off with the power of ~magic~ before proceeding after the rest of the party through the soon-to-be unconscious pirate crew.

    Wisteria fishes through her inventory until she manages to come up with a little vial. "There we go, here a bit of this.... should be interesting at least." she giggles "It's used for enchanting but I got some on me once and got it in my mouth on accident... the debuff is... uhm... interesting." she offers even as she cloaks herself in darkness to slip some of it into the mead barrel.

Shiruba cusses under her breath, and instinctively leaps for the first cover she can. This results in her diving into a barrel.

Unfortunately it's a barrel that had held some of the pirate booze. More unfortunately, some pirate wasn't able to hold is liquor and seabiscuits very well, and puked in said barrel at some point. Now the barrel rattles around, topples over, and rolls away. Before the wolfgirl finally manages to rumble back out of the barrel holding her nose and trying hard to not gag, or think too hard about being damp with alcohol now.

Fortunately, with others distracting pirates, or farther lacing their drinks, no one regards the cait sith rolling around in a barrel as more than a hallucination as she tries to catch up with the rest of the party slinking about the ship. The party manages to avoid disrupting things too much despite the fumbles, but find their way farther into the ship blocked by some rather imposing looking doors.

Goldenblade sidles down below with the others, until we're stuck at a locked door. "I know this one," she says, pulling out a small kit from her belt. It's soaked, and water drips out when she opens it, but the tools are metal and fine, though they'll need drying later or they'll corrode.

For now, though, their use as lockpicks is where they're needed, and Goldenblade puts them to good use. It's not -just- a lock, it's more complex, but she, at least, is able to work the lock portion of it to get us through.

The group seems to be working on getting the door open. Kaydon is pretty sure they've got it covered, so he draws his sword off his back and guards the group. Better safe than sorry just in case things get out of hand.

    Merek tries opening the door with hands, that doesn't work. He does adjust the gloves while he nods a bit to the party, "Alright, it looks like you all will do better with that."

It takes timing and the right amount of physical effort. Fortunately, Kotono knows how to control her physical skills quite well due to being an acrobat. "OK, I think just like this," She says with a slight, confident smile.

Pirates soon to be regretting their hangovers (or maybe not, as Prophylaxis seems to be weighing the utility of just setting the ship on fire and escaping), the group moves onward. But in their way is that obstacle that stymies all adventuring parties, great and small, for all of time.

It's a locked door.

"Uh," the wizard says as the others Do Their Thing. When it comes time to wedge the ancient lock open, he shrugs his shoulders and just says: "Don't look at me. I'm a doctor, not a body builder."

    The soggy albino bun girl looks at the whole situation. "Alright just tell me when." She says putting her shoulder into the door, adjusting her nubby little claws against the wood and gets ready to apply WereFang force when eeded.

    Miyako is glad to leave the drunken pirates to their celebrations (even though she's -fairly- sure the party could've taken them all), but a locked door at this point -annoys- her. "Who designed this tub? This makes no sense," she mutters. She slides into place to try to push the door open, but it doesn't move for her, so she slips out to let Kotono take it. "Probably scripted by somebody who knows zip and zilch about ships."

While this wasn't necessarily the wilderness she was accustomed to, Shiruba approaches the matter much the same as she would a cavern or another internal environment. Her ears are perked, her eyes are sharp, and despite the annoying drenched booze smell lingering in her clothes she manages to ignore it long enough to find a tiny recess in the back of the massive ancient lock. She fiddles with it a bit, and a mechanism obstructing the interior of the keyhole clicks out of the way. This frees up the internal mechanisms to actually move when a key is placed in it, it in this case, Goldenblade's lockpicks. Then it's left to everyone else to pull the lock open, a feat of strength in itself, and remove it to finally open the doors. Did they find the treasure room of ill-gotten booty?

Nope. They found their way into the Galley... though to be fair food is pretty valuable. But not this food, as the chamber is in utter disarray. "What the..." Shiruba sputters, first at the accusation from the cook, and then realization that the food here was -horrible-. Ugh. She willingly ate food when it tasted like dry flavorless cardboard, and even she doesn't want to touch this slop. "Bu.. ugh. Where's Gwen when I need her," Shiruba mutters. Looks like their best bet at getting through here is just to play along so the Galley crew doesn't call in the real pirates on them.

Goldenblade had come here to fight pirates, but is now expected to cook for them? Well, that'd be a lot better if she knew how to cook. But she doesn't, so she just throws stuff together, mixes other stuff, cuts up some other things, and pours them over something else. "There we go," she says with no confidence. "A meal fit for a king." At least if you wanted him to gag.

    Kokoro use to help her mom... help might be a too strong a word really... she cut vegitables into uniform peices then went back to cleaning her gear, reading her books, or practicing. And her experience shows as Wisteria chops up something neatly. Looks proud of her self, and then drops it into the pot... that something is just as likely to be raw tarro as it is to be turnip... she has no idea.

Cooking?

Cooking!?

Prophylaxis makes a face and thinks back to his college days. Cup ramen for every meal, seasoned with just a bit of black pepper and maybe a few eggs. Nothing more than that. He may be a decent pharmacologist, but...

The herbs... They're all awful too. Or at least, all labeled with names that Prophylaxis finds utterly baffling. What the heck is Sailor's Foot? Who uses Sea Wench's Scar!?

Kaydon looks at the pirate cooks who want them to come up with something to fix their cooking. He doesn't know the first thing about cooking. So he wanders over and grabs some meat off a rack and tosses it into one of the pots because he has to at least pretend like he knows what's going on.

Kotono gulps. "Well, I could, try?" She smiles nervously and tries to do a little slicing and dicing with her knives...

Only to reveal herself as a bit of a fraud.

    Merek looks along and begins with a nod while finding a nice place to settle in and begin to assist with herbology. He does manage to assist, all the same they don't succeed in full either.

    Miyako shakes her head again. The /Galley/ is behind such a massively locked door? This is making less and less sense with every passing moment. Still, she ought to at least try to address the challenge.

    So she takes a moment to examine the available ingredients. Dismisses a rancid cut of port, and the next is more gristle than beef... and what passes for spices available? "Just dump these out, there's /mold/ in the box... you can't eat this." She shakes her head and steps away, there's nothing she can do for this hot mess.

Shiruba doesn't know much about Cooking, but she at least knows how to prep meat for cooking because Hunters have to do that. This isn't exactly field dressing, though. She grabs a knife, tries to ignore the fact that it's rusty and dull. She picks some meat, ignoring it's actually a giant diseased rat someone probably just found dead on the ship. She grits her teeth, cuts up the rat meat, throws it in the pot, and gets the other 'cooks' attention on the pot so the party can slip away. At least the herbs Merek helps prepare give it a nice smell to help keep their attention.

Shiruba makes a hasty retreat for the nearest exit of the room before she ends up vomiting or something from the cruel crimes against culinary arts.

Said exit leads farther into the ship, past multiple rooms of various sorts, and a narrow passage towards the rear of the ship. It might be inaccurate to REAL ships of the era but the rear is usually where they put the important rooms in video game ships. But there's some guards, and these seem to be Pirates that are on top of what they are doing standing guard rather than lollygagging about like drunkards.

    The further the party goes into the depths of the ship, the less happy Miyako is. "Nope, wrong, idiotic, stupid, /completely/ wrong... who the heck scripted this quest? Because I need to shove about a dozen anchors down their throat." She barely even notices the pirate guards, she's so upset with the general arrangement, she just slaps one across the head with the butt of her naginata and pushes on past them.

    "Whoever set this up has very obviously never so much as looked at a ship, ever."

To be honest, Kotono has no idea what she's doing. First she's sneaking along, then she's looking around, then she finally trips over her own two feet and falls flat on her face.

"Owie!" She says as she rolls back onto her feet. "That's going to leave a bruise!"

Goldenblade is, by this time, spoiling for a fight, and in close quarters, the bricklayer has it all her own way. A stomp on the deck splinters it, and makes the enemies' footing undstady, leaving them wide open to vicious cuts and slashes. Their HP bars fall like a barometer in a storm, or maybe faster. Actually quite a bit faster, really, and they don't much know what to do. Half the time they're stabbing each other, the way the floor keeps shifting under them, but Goldenblade keeps them stirred up until they're willing to submit in exchange for their lives.

    Merek does not look like he's minding the decor of that ship while he takes the time to shift the twin blades forward a bit. He then begins to swing into the enemies while he fights with the pirates as well.

"Relax," Prophylaxis sighs, giving Miyako a gentle shoulder pat as he passes by. "It's clearly just streamlined for a better gaming experience. Like one of those platformer levels." Except with no platforming, and inexplicable stealth sections. Speaking of which, there are a couple of guards up ahead that need to be snuck by.

...Or.

"Gentlemen," Prophylaxis drawls, strolling up to the two guards with a smile on his face and a bag of coin in his hand, and a FIREBALL ATOP HIS STAFF. "My friends and I have business in that room behind you. If you would please move out of our way so that we don't have to accidentally set this entire boat on fire, I would be most..." He jangles the bag o' coins, "Appreciative."

...Is this bribery or intimidation!?

BRIBETIMIDATION!?!?

Finally, a problem Shiruba can actually deal with. Though she takes a moment to just facepalm at Prophylaxis. Then wolfgirl saunters down the hallway "Gentlemen. What my colleague means to say is you all staying standing here and ignoring the partying above is quite admirable, good show. Bloody good show. This ragtag crew needs more such dedication. So have a wee bonus for the good work" She drops a few coins in each of their hands, and strolls towards the far doors.

The guards look at each other, and like true cutthroats pocket the loot before turning and intending to jump the Cait Sith anyways.... But the bribes from her and the Doctor just make a great distraction for the rest of the Party to bumrush them while they're debating slitting the two Cait Siths' throats and pocketing the bribes before the Captain demands a cut. Katanas to the head, angry stomping and slashing, a powerful stomp shaking the deck more than even sturdy sealegs can stablizing from, making it easy for the murderbun and gnoll-it-all to finish off the job with their special weapons.

"Well, that was a little messy, but it worked." Shiruba swung open the doors and headed into the final cabin.

The first thing she sees is the maps on the table, and like a true cartographer runs over to try and grab some. She doesn't even notice the lizard woman until a foot in the side shoves her away from the table, the lupin yelping as she hits the far wall. "Well well, what do we have here?" Forked tongue flicked from the First Mate's mouth as she scoffed. "Tresspassers." She laughs mockingly. "The captain wouldn't be pleassed with me if I let you esscape." The First Mate draws a wicked large cutlass, extending it towards the party as she hops down from the desck. "Let'sss dance..."

Shiruba rolls over on the floor, grabs one of her freezing arrows, and quick fires it at the woman. Because everyone knows reptiles hate extreme cold.

    Wisteria moves along her katana coming out crackling with dark energy... and she boops a gard, then the next each she passes in turn gets a nice boop from the flat of her sword. The enchantment stunning their mind and rendering them blind or unconsious. She keeps herself moving forward until they meet up with the first mate.

    She's done this dance with one of the captains before so it's time to throw down with this lizard lady as well. Katana still at the ready, the now only mostly damp albino bun girl, pushes off with one large foot before there is a boom of acceleration and she begins pinballing around the room with her sword slashing a the boss whenever she crosses paths, while maintaining enough speed and random vector that she's a right pain in the ass to keep track of.

Kotono prefers to let her acrobatic ability do the talking, spinning around and bouncing about like the little ninja she is. She only stops occasionally to try to land a hit on the boss, but for the most part she's moving around, never looking back.

When we see the lizard woman offering to dance, Goldenblade snorts and says, "We can dance, but your toes won't like it." She leans in, slashes with one sword, and steps aside before a counterstroke can land. She continues the pattern, attack-dodge-strike-dodge, shifting away from the counterattacks as we fight in the crowded cabin.

"You're going down," she promises the mate, knocking the cutlass off target with one sword while she strikes with the other. There's an advantage to dual-weilding, if you can manage it.

    Merek nods a bit while he takes a moment to swing the twin blades along into the first mate. The man then begins shifting the weapons, while he uses the spell, "RAGNAROK'S WISDOM!" Then he begins to swing in a flurry. The flames shimmering about along that pirate.

Look. Prophylaxis may be willing to bribe them to look the other way, but he's not going to do it without making it abundantly clear that this party is not to be trifled with! That's just, like, cutthroat business rule number 1. Fortunately, he's not given any reason to set the whole place alight, and Prophylaxis is able to retrieve his Bag O' Coins as the two toughs disintegrate. "I think that went well," he chirps as the party proceeds, "We should be getting close. If we can take out their captain--"

Except the captain isn't here. Figures. Prophylaxis swears softly under his breath as he ducks back out of the way of a sword to the throat. This woman is agile-- too quick for him to safely cast at without accidentally blowing the entire room to bits. So instead he goes to try and bind her with a bunch of shadowy tentacles!!

Clearly though, the First Mate has seen enough anime to know not to get caught up in that trap, and slices Prophylaxis' attempted snare to bits. But it might just be a sufficient enough distraction for the rest of the party to do their thing.

In a situation like his, Miyako normally /would/ have a song to share. Something about the Drunken Sailor, maybe, or from Kipling. She's just a bit too annoyed with the utter idiocy right now to bother, however. She just rips into the pirate, wielding her blade like a thrusting-spear, not caring for anything at all but to get away from this travesty as quickly as possible.

    She's complained now and again about how some of the Adventurers treat the world like it was just a game. How she's certain that it's much more than that. Things like this, however, really shake her certainty. And her respect for the Landers. "Just die already so I can get away from this offense to all things nautical," she tells the pirate.

Kaydon didn't bring any of his ranged weapons or anything this time, so when the group engages the FIrst Mate in the tight quarters of the captain's quarters, he realizes that he's going to need to do something to help deal with her. He moves over to the side and grabs a mug off a table, hucking it towards her with abandon. There's no aim or anything, he's just trying to distract her while the others deal with her.

The First Mate swiftly deflects Kaydon's attack with her oversized cutlass. But that opens her up to several other strikes as Shiruba's freeze arrow hits her in the shoulder and Proph's vines ensare her. For a moment, until she slices through them.

But before she can storm upon him she's forced to try and parry the lightning speed strikes from the ninja and the murderbun and the pissed off nautical fan, and they keep coming too fast and repeatedly for her to deflect consistantly, and every blow crackles against chilled hide. It becomes even harder to deflect attacks when Goldenblade steps in to lock up the woman's sword. This makes the perfect opening for Merek to do what Merek's do best -- gratuitous application of FIRE.

It's followed by a creaking crash as the impact hurtles her across the room and against the back wall.

She snarls, spitting some blood. "Stronger than I thought. But I'm not content to die here. Not when there is more treasure to be found." She uses her foot to push a chest out from behind the desk, and kick it towards the party. "Take that. Have your reward, but you won't have me!" She slams a fist into the boards behind her, and a trap panel slides apart to drop her out of the room. A splash follows a few moments later as she's ejected somewhere watery below.

"Yep, should have figured we weren't going to be getting to the bottom of this one just yet," Prophylaxis sighs as the First Mate makes her getaway. Who builds an emergency exit directly into the sea into a room like this? That sounds like a real good way to flood very, /very/ quickly.

But, hey, maybe it's magic? He doesn't know. At least they get loot-- cured sharkskin, in fact. Prophylaxis... is not actually quite sure what he's going to do with this just yet. Hm.

But another problem poses itself.

"...So uh, how are we going to get back to shore?"

If they take a lifeboat and it breaks up against the rocks again... That'd be a problem.

Goldenblade looks over when the mate does a runner. "Well," she observes with a shrug. "This has been an unexpected quest all around." She peers at the others, checks out the loot, examines it, then drops it in her inventory. "Not sure what I'll do with this, but I've found uses for quite a few of the odd trinkets we've been rewarded with. I'm finding it feels less important to keep them as keepsakes wthen -everything- is unique and interesting."

As far as getting out of here, she says, "Well, now we know about the rocks, we should be able to avoid them, right? We'll just wait til it gets dark and slip out?"

Shiruba gets up and dusts herself off. "... Is anyone else a little concerned about Boss Monsters having the sense to -retreat-?" She sighs and shakes her head. "Let's grab the goods from the chest and 'liberate' one of their tender boats to get back to the shore. They're probably still too drunk to notice, anyways..."

"I've got a better idea," Miyako says. "Who here knows 'Fireball'? Because I need to put this offense to all things nautical out of my misery." She's half ready to just take her naginata and start hacking at the mast if no one else is interested.

"I don't," Kotono says. "But we should destroy this!" She scowls darkly, something not often seen for someone like Kotono.

    "I don't know, I think it's definitely an indication of intelligence," Merek notes then to Shiruba, while he takes a moment to think about it, sheathing the twin blades along upon the back of the hips. "Alright, we succeeded. We should tell the Guild, which means waters will be safer. I am going to try to open a water route for the trade company when it's clear."

    "Safer," scoffs Miyako. "riiiiiight. Safer for what, talking ducks? Animated sea turtles?" She shakes her head. "We haven't stopped any pirates. We just robbed some. That's just going to encourage them to do -more-."

"Hopefully the trade route will stay clear. But I doubt it. If they're getting bold enough to attack then we may need to look into arming our ships better." Kaydon muses, before looking at Miyako, "What would you rather us do then? Walk back out there and start swinging swords?"

    Miyako turns to Kaydon and glares. "To be perfectly honest? Yes. That's what you -do- with pirates. There's a legal term for it, 'hostis humanis generis' -- 'enemy of all mankind'. Any competant naval officer would be burning this ship to the waterline and shooting or hanging everyone abord."

"As problematic as the pirates are, I'm not in a mood to risk having to respawn just to piss off a whole ship of them with only eight of us here." Shiruba tosses her share of the loot in her inventory. "Let's get off this tub."

"I'll be fireballing the thing /after/ we're clear of swashbuckling range," Prophylaxis sighs as he makes his way out of the Captain's Quarters. If nothing else, it'll give the pirates something to take care of while we're making our getaway."