Reckonings: Umberlee's Belly

[MatthiasStormcrow]

Shadross on the enemy ship, and Cortez on his way

Shadross lands on the deck of the ship with relative ease, and ignores the crew, tumbling past them on his way to the crude hut where he saw the pilot earlier. Keeping one eye warily on Harrin, he watches the confrontation between the ghost and the dragon, and hoping to distract Harrin to buy the dragon an opening, he calls out with what he hopes sounds like cocky bravery, "Don't mind me, Harrin, just going to steal your ship! Fair's fair, innit?"

Cortez, meanwhile, seeing the insubstantial lower part of the ship and realizing the problems it presents, has pulled forth a well-worn flask from his pack and downed the contents in a single gulp. Once he judges that Cutter has gotten close enough, he pats Cutter on the neck, whispering, "Good horse," into his ear - and then floats up off of Cutter's back, pulling out a slender black rod and snapping it into place with the press of a button in front of the approaching ship. "Hope that works," he mutters. As he continues flying upwards, he observes the confrontation and between Harrin and Sariel - and can sense the outcome*. He grunts under his breath to Ciera, "I hope you can fix that Dragon....fast!"




[OOC: Not sure how far it is from where Shadross landed to the pilot's house, but he's going to tumble around/over/under anyone in the way and head straight there. He'll subdue the pilot once he gets there, unless that looks like it's going to very difficult, in which case he'll stop holding back and just dispatch the pilot as quickly and efficiently as possible. He doesn't really anticipate much trouble from the crew, though. If he gets there and has time to spare, he'll start steering the ship as hard to port as possible; ideally getting the ship turned all the way around and up into irons, but even if he doesn't have enough time to make that much of a turn, anything to keep it from ramming the Runner perfectly head-on is good by him.

Cortez is riding out a bit further than I'd originally envisioned, so if you don't mind I'm going to have him pull out his Potion of Flight and drink it on round 3, while Cutter is dashing out there; once he gets close enough (on round 4) he'll simply float out of the saddle (I dunno if a 'dismount' check is really appropriate, but, just in case, he makes his fast dismount check) and once he reaches the appropriate height, snap the Immovable Rod into place such that the ship can't avoid it no matter how it steers. (Cortez knows Shadross well enough to have an idea of what the elf'll try to do -- and they both are practical enough to recognize that the still-unstuck Smiling Serpent is the most valuable of the four ships, so he'd guess Shadross would steer to port [towards the Bane, away from the Serpent], if it makes any difference.) Once that's out of the way, he's going to start flying up towards Harrin and Sariel, pulling out his weapons as he goes.]

[Nathan of the FoS]

OOC: Oh, how I wish Peregrine were on the scene. He'd smack Harrin so hard he'd have to go to the Wildlands to get his teeth back.

It was running neck and neck for a while there, but Harrin is now definitely my Least Favorite Person in Saragoss.

[Le Noir Faineant]

OOC: Again one of my pesty questions... So, the action contiues here and we are going into battle?

[Nathan of the FoS]

OOC: Again one of my pesty questions... So, the action contiues here and we are going into battle?

Yep. Our peculiar situation (especially being split into two groups, if you can call Peregrine a "group") means that we do a lot of stuff in split-scene things--so the conversation at the lifeboat is going on while Peregrine talks to Marta and you guys fight with the ghost ship about two hours after the conversation ended.

[Le Noir Faineant]

I don't get it. So, where is Anders now? Where is the battle taking place? *Brain hurts...*

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I don't get it. So, where is Anders now? Where is the battle taking place? *Brain hurts...*

The battle's taking place on and around the ghost ship that's trying to ram the Smiling Serpent. Anders is at the lifeboat and has been there for about 2 hours. Think of the "Talking at Cortez's Lifeboat" thread as a flashback to two hours ago, and you can fill in anything Anders discussed with the others in those two hours there. But this thread is happening now, and after that conversation, Anders is free to leave the lifeboat and join the battle as Cortez did a few posts up this thread.

[Le Noir Faineant]

I don't get it. So, where is Anders now? Where is the battle taking place? *Brain hurts...*

The battle's taking place on and around the ghost ship that's trying to ram the Smiling Serpent. Anders is at the lifeboat and has been there for about 2 hours. Think of the "Talking at Cortez's Lifeboat" thread as a flashback to two hours ago, and you can fill in anything Anders discussed with the others in those two hours there. But this thread is happening now, and after that conversation, Anders is free to leave the lifeboat and join the battle as Cortez did a few posts up this thread.

Thank you! Now I understand!

I'll then enter the fight!

[Le Noir Faineant]

Anders will be the very wrath of all hells against his enemies, lighting the ghost ship with waves and rays of shining blue energy.

Floating high in the air, he unleashes all his magical force and the frustration of the latest hours on whoever crosses his way...

[Energy missile, Energy bolt]


When he feels that he has helped enough to clean the board of the ghost ship of the minor creatures that might lurk there, he'll focus his concentration on Harrin. [With magical energies, it should be no problem to blast the ghost away, shouldn't it?]

What this might look like

[The Giamarga]

OOC: Psionic energies not magical! If you want to say magic at least call it mind magic.

As for pics: Psion, Epic Psion, Psion uncarnate, Energy Missile (from the Expanded Psionic HB Gallery)
Soulknife
Soulknife's Mindblade vs a Ghost, more psionics pics

[Nathan of the FoS]

When he feels that he has helped enough to clean the board of the ghost ship of the minor creatures that might lurk there, he'll focus his concentration on Harrin. [With magical energies, it should be no problem to blast the ghost away, shouldn't it?]

OOC: Er...at the moment Harrin is possessing Sariel--so please don't blast him too much. Yet.

[Le Noir Faineant]

OOC: Thank you for the pics, friend Giamarga! I had quite a hard time finding proper pics of psionics in general. Though... Isn't Anders supposed to look like someone like Keanu Reeves in Buddha and not like a member of tattooed Vin Diesel mafia of bald psionics? (If only Brandi was here, she would make some funny jokes at Dion's expense... )

OO2: Turkey's out, so word is that they're serving fried dragon cohort at Anders' place this year...

[DeepShadow of FoS]

OOC: Energy missile might reach, but burst is a 120'-long stroke--how are you getting within range? You've got two options for closing in, as I see it: your griffon or your uncarnate body ability to move through the ether. Griffon would have you there in round 3, but you'd be material; uncarnate you'd be there on round 5, but in the ether where Harrin can't avoid you. Material world has material complications, like a certain dominated gold dragon. Spirit world has spiritual complications, like a whole bunch of decorations and rules you don't quite get.

BTW, you can't use Control Air to float around the lifeboat, but you could it use to nullify the wind. The ability only works in a 50' radius, so this would only buy everyone a couple of rounds before momentum carried the ship through (at around half current speed). If you used it more than once, you might be able to stop it altogether. Current wind speed is 18 mph, so you'd need to spend 4 points per use to reduce it to 0. This has a range plently long enough to reach the ship from where you come on deck, so I'll allow this to take effect retroactively from the end of round 2 if you choose it.

Choose wisely.

[Le Noir Faineant]

So, Anders will choose the spirit world, since he won't want to harm that certain dragon you were talking about, and concetrate his mystical powers against Harrin... Hope that was a wise choice...

OOC: I have a griffon? Since when?!

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Marta and Peregrine on the Rogue's Wake

As Marta realizes what Peregrine is saying, she recoils in horror and dissolves totally into tears. Before Peregrine can form his next words, he finds his sword offering unsolicited advice for the second time today.

"Listen to what she means, not what she says! She's wrestling with those last awful moments, as the last of her sheltering madness crumbles to reveal the awful truth! She needs only a compassionate hand to hold and ears to listen, someone to help her through the worst, and then you can go back to your hunt for lesser treasures!"

The sword cannot hide the scorn in the last few words, and Peregrine hears the telepathic voice cracking with the strains of emotion.

"You asked me not ten minutes past where your help lies. It lies in everyone you meet, before your eyes all the time, yet for all your wisdom you haven't the sense to take it! You're surely right about how I've never healed your soul, because for all my power, I cannot heal what breaks itself the next moment! Compassion for the wounded soul is true healing, not merely balm for a body that will bend and break with the piling on of y--"

The unfinished echo of the final word hangs in the Inquisitor's mind, the reality of it pulling him in an instant through confusion, alarm and then panic: the sword has vanished from his side, with only a faint wisp of mist to mark its passing.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Gone!

Until this moment Peregrine had not realized how pervasive its presence had been--how it had offered companionship even its (her!) silence. Had she absented herself by choice?...

Peregrine instjinctively rejects this thought, but nothing springs to mind to replace it except the weeping of Mme. d'Honaire. Peregrine stares at her back, thinking involuntarily of one of the memories he buries deepest.


"Heya, runt! Come out and play! We wanna play soldiers and zombies, and you're our best zombie!"

He risks a glimpse over the windowsill and sees Hard Peter, stone in hand, standing in the alley; shrinking back, he bites his lip and tries to breath less heavily. No-one would believe, looking at the boys scouting up and down the alley and their quarry hiding in the abandoned house, that they were the same age; the searchers are at the edge of young manhood, and Hard Peter shaves his peach-fuzzed upper lip once a week, while the boy hiding is certainly no more than seven. But they are the same age, and five years of steady persecution have been leading up to this moment.

The hiding boy knows what comes next; the chase, the stones, and a battered body left for the ravens to pick. Seven years old is not too young for murder in the Burning Peaks. He has seen it before; he has even done it before, although not as part of a pack. He had thought, when he lured Yellowjack down by the ruined cisterns, that the torment would stop when Yellowjack died (and Yellowjack came with the intent to kill him--the clasp knife in his hand showed that); but Hard Peter had taken up leadership of the gang, and he was cannier than Yellowjack had been.

And now the endgame; if he lives until the morrow, the military recruiters will come, pay Madame Hardbeak in broad silver drachmas, and take the class of seven, but Hard Peter has determined he shall not. Hard Peter has declared his last act in Hardbeak's Repository will be the death of Runt, and Hard Peter keeps his promises.

"THERE HE IS!"

Running, and the stones. One hits him high on the shoulder blade, but he keeps his balance and turns the corner. Only a miracle would save him now, and Runt has never heard of miracles; only fear keeps him from waiting for the stones in despair.

Rounding a corner, he strikes something warm and firm and tumbles to the dust.

"Runt? What are you...oh no you don't, Ugly Pete! Put that down!"

It's Singer! Singer, who gave him two sections of an orange on Victory Day when she was a Seven and he was a Five!

She advances on the gang like an angry lioness, and puts one hand to the billy club at her waist; there are seven of them and only one of her, but her woman's growth (and she is a tall woman), her club, and most of all her moral outrage cause them to cringe before her; after a moment they drop their stones and run.

"Runt? Are you all right?"

For the first time the boy lets Singer embrace him, and his tears wet her coarse canvas shirt.

That was the only time (setting aside the occasional company of whores when he was a little older, a young soldier in service to the Destroyer), child or man, that Peregrine was embraced by anyone.

He has done what some account to be great deeds, and faced death many times; nothing he has done takes more courage than raising his hand and placing it on Marta's shoulder.

She pulls away; Peregrine lets his hand fall, then, visibly taking hold of himself, moves to seat himself next to her and puts an arm around her shoulders.

For a long time--seconds--she leans away from him, and he is about to let go; then she turns and grasps him around the neck, sobbing into his shoulder. Unsure what to do next, Peregrine finally clasps his two hands to make a loose embrace around her. "I'm sorry," he says (idiotically, he would think later). "I'm sorry."