Duty Session 328: Still Tide Pirate Lair

There's pirates causin' trouble, and they gotta be stopped. Of course, when you've got bottles of rum, you're gonna be causin' lots of trouble! Arrrr!

But that first requires them to reach the lair. Kotono, who happens to be leading things off here, looks to the others who have gathered and says, "It looks like it's not going to be easy from here. Everyone be careful." She sheathes her daggers as she looks around to figure out where to go. "They might have planted something for us, everyone be careful." The girl then adopts a serious investigative stance, moving slowly as she seems to be looking for something...

    So, they've finally found where the pirates are coming from. Mizuki's down for investigating... "Hi! I'm Mizuki! I don't think we've met..." She holds out hands to shake with each of them, the cheery catgirl dressed in a midnight-purple ninja gi and overly long bright red scarf. Once greetings are done, on they go! The were fang climbs with ease thanks to her enhanced physical abilities, but when the path ends... she doesn't let that get her down. She sniffs at the wall, searching for a different scent in the air, sensitive whiskers feeling for subtle air currents...

Tenko is a wanderer, and she always seems to show up where she's needed. The kitsune arrived just in time when the other pair needed their third for this mission, and she offers a bow to them, "I have gone against these pirates before, we need to be wary if the captain shows up."

Shaking hands with Mizuki, Kotono says, "I'm Kotono, nice to meet you." She bows to Tenko as well, before resuming her search. "Should be something around here..."

Her hand comes up with a hidden switch of some sort hidden in the wall, and she pulls on it, revealing a secret passageway. "Looks like I'm on to something here." She steps into the passageway carefully, sniffing a little as a familiar scent comes to her. "Smells like a typical pirate cave... if there is such a thing," She comments. "Let's be careful, OK? There's no telling what we're up against here."

    "A typical pirate cave? How do you know what that smells like?" Mizuki asks. "It does smell like the sea, though..." She stops and takes a deep sniff. "Weird that there are no monsters... or at least guards." On and on they go. "Did we... miss it? Step off the path? This water has to go *somewhere*... a cave big enough to hide a ship in, maybe...?"

Tenko had dealt with the pirates on their ships, but this was new. This was going into the belly of the beast. But as they were moving in the path, she noticed something, and with the help of the others. She pauses as she nears the entrance and after looking inside considers their options.

Kotono thinks she can figure out what's with this water, if there's anything special about it...

But she comes up empty.

Sighing, she lets the others take point as they press on, not letting her failure get her down just yet.

Because there's something else to deal with it seems.

There's a strange song that's becoming louder and louder, and then the humanoids are spotted. Kotono tries to stop herself, but something is enticing her to keep moving forward. "I don't like this," Kotono says, struggling to keep from going further forward. "Don't go near it!"

    Mizuki's ears perk up first. "Do you hear that...? It's a catchy tune..." She can see them in the distance sooner than others with her night vision too. "Aww... I can see where this is going... Shame, it was such a pretty song, too." She takes a deep breath.

    "o/~ THIS IS THE SONG THAT DOES-N'T END," She belts out. " IT JUST GOES ON AND ON MY FRIEND!" She gestures for the others to keep moving as long as she is hopefully countering the siren's earworm with hers. "SOME PEOPLE, STARTED SINGIN' IT NOT KNOWIN' WHAT IT WAS, AND THEY'LL CONTINUE SINGIN' IT FOREVER JUST BECAUSE THIS IS THE SONG THAT DOES-N'T END... o/~"

"I concur, not going near it would be best." Tenko says, as she opts for her bow instead of her katana, switching her stance and taking aim.

She is distracted when Mizuki starts singing, but she realizes it may help drown out the siren's call, so Tenko uses the distraction to fire her arrow at the throat of the siren.

Pulling out one of her spell runes quickly, Kotono invokes a spell of light, which generates a magical barrier with a heavenly choral sound that drowns out the evil song. "It worked!" Kotono says with a smile as she moves past the Sirens with little difficulty...

Only to find that they've come upon what looks like a village of sorts. And it doesn't look like it's inhabited by villagers either.

"Sahuagins!" Kotono cries out, readying her blades. "Looks like we're gonna have to take them on!"

    Blue fire in a mysterious pattern? "Well THAT'S ominous..." quips Mizuki. And then... a sahaugin! Wearing clothes to show it's intelligent. Will it talk? No. "Sahaugin?! Are the pirates working WITH them?!" She crouches into a low martial arts stance and moves her arms around before abruptly standing up and raising her arms -- stone rises out of the ground to cover the party in armor that doesn't feel like it weighs anything to them! "Tch... they're too spread out and we can't cross water quickly! I guess we run and if they chase we'll have to lead them to a choke point!"

"I'll cover your back." Tenko replies to Mizuki, as she plans to lead them back into a chokepoint, "I can fight them in close quarters, the chokepoint is our best option!" Now if she can just get their attention to lead them..

Slash-slash, Kotono's coming through! With blades of slashing!

She makes it through the Sahuagin ambush OK, but then there's more trouble ahead. As soon as she sees what's ahead, her eyes widen. "W-wait a minute, the pirates are Sahuagin?!" Her jaw would hit the ground if it could.

She looks to the others and gives a brief nod before saying, "It's time to send these pirates to the bottom of the sea!"

    "Oh COME ON!" Mizuki shouts, as the ritual circle is lit. "I guess that's what we get for running..."

    The Sea Lord rears its ugly fishy head, Mizuki narrowly dodging a tentacle with a feline yowl. And just gives Kotono a 'did you seriously just say that' look. "They're Sahaugin! They LIVE there!"

    The kitty ninja tries to find her way around the boss arena. "Keep it off me! Can either of you tank? I'm DPS!" She dodges tentacles with ninja speed and elemental techniques, stabbing the adds (and taking some stabs in turn) until someone else has finally drawn enough aggro to get attention off her, then leaps onto the monster and makes her way to a weak point like an eye or something, breathing a burst of fire and then repeating the process until aggro resets. Eventually, she runs right up to its mouth and spits the biggest fireball she can right at its throat!

"I am not a tank by nature, but I will do what I can!" Tenko replies, as she draws her katana and rushes into the fight. Even if she has to swap aggro with Mizuki a few times, they should be able to handle it and bring the boss down with just the trio!

Her firey katana manages to land blows here and there, but she'll draw as much aggro onto herself as it takes, "I'll follow your lead on swaps!" She calls out to Mizuki, letting the were fang take point on it.

At last, the enemies are defeated and the trio stands victorious.

"We did well everyone!" Kotono says, twirling her blades before giving a thumbs up to the others around her. "Thanks for helping me out! I appreciate it!"

    The fish gets away. "Ugh. I know that counts as 'defeating' the boss, but it feels bad when they just get away..." Her fingers brush her sahaugin-inflicted wounds. "Although, maybe we'll need to be more prepared, next time."

    Mizuki collects the ash and Appraises it. She reads aloud: "'A strange bit of blue ash that was gathered from the ritual chamber of the Sea Lord, one of the leaders of the Still Coast Pirates. It seems to produce a blue flame which does not go out when doused in water and may have something to do with a Sahuagin ritual to summon the Sea Lord.' Useful for water, fire, alchemy, cooking, and diving. Huh."

    She turns and gives Kotono a thumbs-up and a smile. "You're welcome!"

While Tenko does her best to help keep the boss at bay, it does manage to escape. The kitsune curses silnently under her mask...But if the hunter's guild still sees this as a win, then she can let it slide.

Taking her share of the ash, she offers a deep bow to Mizuki and Kotono, "You are very welcome. I am the one who should be thankful for you allowing me to come."