Duty Session 271: Still Coast Pirates

The pirates near the Isle of Beginnings continue to be a problem. There's far more of them than was previously anticipated by the Hunters Guild. And it seems that the maps and secrets they hide are rather cryptographic in nature. As such, a team has been dispatched to once more go onto the breach, and infiltrate their ship.

Cyrus has gathered a small party, and is checking the longboat for any damage while he's at it. "Let's hope the waters are calmer today." He remarks to Merek and Mikage, patting the wooden frame on the inside.

He then looks back at the rest of the party. "Remember, we're trying to infiltrate quietly, and be noticed as little as possible."

    Merek nods a bit to Cyrus, while he seems to think about it, "Alright, I will do what I can," he says, taking the time to look from that longcoat which he wears, adjusting the crossbow which he keeps with him, while he thinks about it.

"Calmer or no, I think Rama is going to stay behind on dry land." Mikage explains. After last time, there is no way that she is risking her companion in the choppy seas. The feline, however, looks a bit put out at this. He sulks, head on his paws.

"I promise, we'll be back soon." The girl reassures him.

Then, looking towards the others, she nods, climbing into the boat. "If they're doing as well in this region as it seems they were last time, it shouldn't be a problem. I bet they got a huge boost from that recent event, too." Pirates are not her favorite people, it seems. "Let's go."

"Go on. Sassaral has made snacks for you." Cyrus tells Rama. "Go - get the snacks!" Glancing aside at Mikage in amusement after that.

The waters are definitely calmer than they were last time. With Mikage and Merek on the longboat, Cyrus starts using a water potion he sticks under the water to push the boat forwards, slowly start going through the cliffside waterways.

But after a bit of moving around, the waterways start to look /very/ samey. And just all enough that they can't get a birds eye view on things. "Someone want to help me map this, or figure out the airflow through this place?" He asks.

Cyrus looks /intensely lost/.

    Merek nods a bit to Cyrus, while he takes a moment and picks up the map, beginning to write upon it with his pen. "Alright, if we travel that way, we should be able to manage it, alright," he notes. Then a nod to Mikage, "You know, I didn't think I'd be fighting pirates when I was back in High School."

"Lucky cat, he gets snacks." Mikage comments under her breath. It is well known that Sassaral is an amazing cook, and the fact they are heading out for adventure and the feline is getting treats feels ever so slightly unfair.

"Right." Focusing back on the task at hand,s he turns away from the shore, seeming relieved that the waters aren't nearly as bad as they were during their last voyage. "I can try getting the winds to cooperate a bit. See if we can't get enough speed to catch up with the pirates."

She takes out an arrow, focusing wind energy into it as it gathers at the point, and then fires it behind them, creating a force of wind at their backs, blowing them forward. Assuming the others can figure out the right direction to go. "Rather be dealing with pirates than sitting in an office, at least."

With Merek and Mikage jumping in where Cyrus is somewhat flailing, they start making actual headway through the waterways. Between Mikage's use of that arrow to get a burst of air flowing through the region - speeding them along - and Merek doing his own kind of mapping, they start figuring things out real fast.

There, in a cliffside cave, hidden deep in the shadows, lies the pirate ship they were looking for. Cyrus puts his finger to his lips, making sure folk are being quiet, and stops rowing. Letting the boat coast towards the ship.

"When I was in highschool, I thought it was going to be Ninjas." Cyrus whispers, as he hears music coming off the ship. "Looks like this one made a recent raiding party. Good. Let's sneak on board, and blend in. And hope they are too drunk to sense that we are Adventurers."

The longboat halts against the side of the ship, and he begins to climb the ladder up, the others in tow. When on top, he grabs his flute and begins to flute a merry little pirate song that jumps in with the one the others are already singing.

    Merek looks to the pirates, while he nods a bit to the two. "True enough, can't think that it would be wonderful to be working in an office," he notes. The man begins to try and sneak along while he watches, though he manages to make noise.

At least they aren't trying to get onboard a ship going at full clip on the open sea. That means it is a lot easier to sneak on board. Almost as soon as they arrive, it becomes clear that the pirates are well distracted, and that allows her to blend into the shadows.

"I think the way in was up that way. There were less of them around so..." She whispers, and then begins making her way, quietly, through the ship. There are enough boxes here and there for her to hide amongst them, keeping out of sight.

There is no way that the shy and quiet girl is going to try to blend in with the festivities. That is better left to more charismatic people.

Though merek manages to make some noises, Mikage guides him along the right route. And Cyrus moves himself in the way so that Merek becomes less obvious. His musical tune sends a wave of merriment through the pirates, and eventually they make it down into the depths of the ship unharmed.

"Okay, I think I still know how the code went for this one." Cyrus then remarks, getting to the thick lock and begins to tinker with it...

But it's not doing anything.

    Merek looks around in that Lower Decks place to try and assist, although it looks like he's not managing to do a lot while he nods a bit to the party while thinking.

"Wait, are you sure?" Mikage asks as Cyrus begins to ty to work through the puzzle that should get them below decks. "I don't remember seeing this one before." She points at one of the symbols, then looks confused.

Betweeen herself and Cyrus, the two seem to be working at odds with each other when it comes to actually finding a working result. "Sorry." She murmurs, having just moved something he had set in place.

She's still fiddling with the small pieces of the puzzle door when a large shadow passes over them...

"It's okay." Cyrus answers Mikage. "Maybe you're right, maybe..."

As the trio continue to make enough noise to wake a sleeping bear trying to get through the door, they end up getting ambushed. The door suddenly opening, and a big pirate suddenly whacking Merek in the face. Right before two other big ones come in and two-handed-blow Mikage and Cyrus unconcious using their special Sword Artes.

When they wake back up, their health is a bit on the low side, and they've been thrown into a cellblock down in the depths of the ship. There's this headache like throb pulsing against the insides of their heads, and they still have a 'GROGGY' status on themselves.

They're tied down. A rather functional way to keep Adventurers at bay these days by monsters and Landers. They can't resurrect when tied down. They can't get their equipment either.

Then suddenly, a gleam of light. A rat were fang cutting Merek loose first, declaring; "I get you out. You help escape? Yes yes? Good. Yes." Speaking rather rapidly, the Lander cuts Merek's cable loose, followed by Mikage, then Cyrus.

The cat rubs his wrists and then touches at his head. "Damn... how long were we out?" He grunts. "I can... blow the walls I think. It'll be a bit noisy though." He points out, getting up, touching the wooden side of the door and casting Detonating Chains without his potions, setting up a det-cord.

    Merek lifts up a magical circle, and begins to provide a little bit of light, nodding to the Were Fang in thought. The man follows along with the party, "I will keep the place in a little bit of light for you all," he notes.

When Mikage awakens, she groans, "Did anyone... get the number of that truck?" She squints, her head obviously throbbing from the impact. The girl tries to tug herself free, to little effect. Yet, it seems that they have a benefactor in the form of the Were Fang who seems to share their cell.

"Thank you." She offers in a quiet tone, not sure who might be listening. Then, Cyrus goes making a bit of noise with his attempts to escape. Miki winces, then turns and places her shoulder against the door, trying to force it open.

She isn't the strongest when it comes to raw strength, but the ability to focus magical energies seems to bolster it, as water energy freezes and breaks part of the lock as she forces the door forward.

"This way. This way." The rat remarks remarks, after they get through the door. With Merek providing light, and Mikage ramming the door with her body after Cyrus' cord didn't do quite as much damage as expected, they finally managed to get out.

"This way. Quick. Quiet." The ratling Were Fang notes, pointing at a chest just outside of the brig. "They put things in there." Pause. The rat looks around at all the other chests in the room. "Or that one... or... or that one." The rat then dives into one of the bigger chests, small enough that it looks like they're getting swallowed up by the chest.

"I'll look for my potions." Cyrus points out to the party, and starts searching the chests as well. "Let's get our gear back. I don't want to switch to the stuff in my inventory. It's nowhere near the right level."

Following the lead of their fellow prisoner, Mikage moves quickly on her feet. She's missing certain key inventory items, including her bow. That is not something she is willing to leave behind. Luckily, without an understanding of how the magic works, the Pirates weren't able to actually make much sense of the weapon.

She manages to find it immediately, pulling the strange staff-like object out and hugging it to her chest before sliding it back into its holster. "Over here." She motions to the two of them. "There's a whole chest of potions. I can't make any sense out of any of them."

One random liquid in a flask looks like any other. "We should hurry."

    Merek looks around for his things, eventually placing them up onto himself while he takes a moment to nod along to that party with him.

Finding their stuff takes far longer than expected, especially with Cyrus' collection of potions amidst all those other ones. And extricating the rat takes even more time, after it gets stuck in one of the chests! It takes all three to pull the rat out!

"One... two..." PULL!

The trio falls on their ass, getting the rat out of the heavy chest. "Thank you! Now, quick quick!" The rat declares, pointing to the outside. Up the hall they go, the party still going in full force. A distraction, the rat suggests.

"Big badaboom?"

"I can do big badaboom." Cyrus remarks, grabbing one of the flasks, and then throwing it out the hall towards the mast of the ship, where it detonates and spreads fire!

    Merek looks to the mast as well as the things that need to be taken care of. The man nods a bit, then he makes an explosion along with that potion of his as well.

"You guys take care of the distraction, I'll stick to running." Mikage is not exactly versed in the arts of explosions. In fact, the Fire element is one of the few that she is not naturally gifted with, perhaps because of its inate distructive nature.

So, as soon as they start setting things ablaze, she is using her swiftness to try and run as quickly as she can, avoiding the pirates whenever possible as they seem far more intent upon trying to put out flames than paying attention to her.

"Almost... there." She pants.

Boom! Goes the mast - Merek's alchemist flask hitting after Cyrus' simple fire potion, making it that much more for the pirates to have to deal with. The trio them dodge out of the hallway and try to make their retreat. Cyrus grabbing the short-legged Were Fang by the scruff to put them on his shoulder to try and get them out.

"We got this. Back to the boat!" Only to suddenly be met by an enormous Rhino being that stands in the way, immediately flinging their flail towards Cyrus. "OHSHIT!" The youth calls out, ducking out of the way. "He's in the way. Let's take care of this!"

The youth immediately throwing a Thorn Bind Hostage potion onto the Rhino, binding his arms and legs to stop him from using that flail again anytime soon. "Quick!"

"I'll keep him distracted. Get the damage in." Perhaps her mana is a bit low at this point, especially after having been knocked unconscious. Whatever the case, Mikage seems to focus on the evasion rather than putting up much in the way of her usual DPS.

Still, her quick movements are enough to keep the warden occupied, as he continues to try to hit her, rather than paying attention to what Cyrus or Merek are doing.

    Merek swings along with the magic of Frost Shock to make it easier for the party to take on the Warden while he nods a bit along, "Alright!"

The team manages to freeze and CC down the Warden enough to entirely put the Warden in its place. "You only got lucky since you got the drop on us last time." Cyrus calls out, as he monk-punches through the CC-Frozen Warden. The ice shattering, and all the thorns on the Thorn Bind Hostage exploding. Shattering the Warden, and allowing the trio to get down along the side of the ship and get on the longboat.

"Damn, we'll have to try better next time. That stupid door..."

As they manage to get into the longboat, Mikage rubs at the back of her head, obviously still smarting from the impact earlier. "Let's just get out of here. We can regroup and figure out a better plan for next time."

She certainly doesn't want to end up back in a prison cell. That much is for certain.

"I'll get some wind behind us." Apparently, this is what she'd saved her mana for, in order to make sure they can make a proper get away while the Pirates are dealing with the fact that some parts of their ship are still smoldering.