< Storm Callers | Ex Pulplogs | Indigestion >
ST Only moments after the retreat of Falling Darkness and the unknown storm-callers from the sight of the Ill Omen, Xar'rex had done something foolish. With only the shortest notice that he was going to investigate the island that Falling Darkness had steered his airship towards, the lizard had launched himself from the Omen's deck and flown after the Abyssal at top speed, quickly fading into a black speck on the horizon.
Corve sighs as he watches the speck that had been, moments before, Xar. "... that lizard is going to get us into so much trouble one day." Right. Because that hasn't happened already.
Captain Oteki paces on deck. "Ye know, if I'm to be steerin' the Ill Omen after yer friend, there, I'll be expectin' some sort o'compensation. Not t'be a bad host or anythin', but this ship an' 'er crew be all I have."
Captain Oteki scratches the back of his head. "Which seems t'beg the question as t'why I ain't got better defenses for 'er."
Myrrh "Well I'm not exactly sure Xar can find us if we keep going at our pace..."
Corve turns to Oteki and sighs, leaning on the rail of the ship and looking in the distance. "And I'm not about leave Xar to his fate with Falling Darkness. Turn the ship, Captain; we'll find a way to compensate you."
Captain Oteki peers off into the horizon, and pinches the bridge of his nose between two fingers. "Aye. I believe ye shall." he says quietly. "All right. Here be the parlay. The Ill Omen and I will get ye there, and I'll do me best to help ye reacquire yer friend. In exchange, I want twenty percent o'anything we might be able to steal in the forseeable future, as well as some assistance from this obviously brilliant gent and the errant Dr
Captain Oteki repairin' any damage done to me ship, as well as possibly makin' her a little more defensible should these heroics be becomin' a habit."
Captain Oteki points at Myrrh in reference to the "brilliant gent" comment.
Myrrh "Shouldn't be too hard...we'll just need some wood...and wire...and..do you have any firepowder?"
Myrrh "I'll have to drill some mounts for the balistas of course..."
Captain Oteki sticks out a hand in the universal sign of "handshake". "Any objections to th'deal as I be explainin' it, lads and lovely lady?"
Carmine glances at Corve then shakes her head, red hair waving and apparently dry, despite the recent severe storm. "Not from me, Captain."
Myrrh "Well assuming you can find some more materials I should have no problem at all with the ship. I don't really need tools either."
Corve shrugs and shakes his head, still glancing at the horizon where Xar disappeared to. "No problems, Captain. Let's get moving."
Captain Oteki closes his eyes for a moment, and there is a momentary shiver of electricity in the air as Essence coalesces into complex, luminescent rings of lines and sigils around the lot of them. As they fade, the captain spins, and begins yelling orders to the crew to bring the ship about.
Captain Oteki just gets the ship going where it's supposed to go, dammit!
Myrrh examines the damages so far, making estimates of what he'll need on the trip ahead.
ST So far the only damage to the Ill-Omen is a lightning scar on the upper decking and some minor cosmetic issues from the harsh and sudden storm. Adding weapons to the ship won't be nearly as hard as Myrrh had been expecting: the ship has all the proper equipment to attach and supply armaments much more advanced then mere balistas, though none of it is being used.
ST As Myrrh pokes around, Oteki's crew gets to work and shortly the Omen is soaring after Xar and Falling Darkness towards the island on the horizon
Corve steps over to Carmine, arm wrapping around her waist as he leans his chin on her shoulder. "Are you OK?" Not because she doesn't seem it; it simply seems the thing to ask.
Carmine smiles and leans a little closer to Corve. She nods reluctantly, but then she never really took travelling on the boat easily either, there wasn't much for her to do... then something had happened and she'd done nothing.
Captain Oteki does the sailing thing, and whistles a jaunty tune to keep the mood light.
Myrrh "Hmm...where did you find this ship exactly? It has quite the impressive mountings. Essence cannons for example."
Captain Oteki hangs upside down from some rigging, adjusting the sails. "That particular tidbit be a story for another time. Let's just say that I be privy to evidence that suggests that this ain't me first time as Captain o'the Omen."
Myrrh "Hm. Well I might be able to put something together. Might need a bit of jade for the wiring...I'm sure I can get away without needing hearthstone mounts."
Myrrh glances back at Carmine and Corve for a moment before going back to work, heading to the lighning scarred deck and reforming the materials back to their original condition.
Captain Oteki "The whole ship be powered by one o'me Hearthstones, actually. I never did figure out what th'bloody thing be for, so I left it in there."
Corve sighs softly, watching their destination with narrow eyes. "I just hope there's something left of him by the time we get there." He's worried; Xar shouldn't have gone out by himself. He shouldn't have gone out at all after Falling Darkness.
Captain Oteki eventually saunters up behind Corve and Carmine. "Sorry to interrupt, but I think it best to be askin'. What sort o'calamity be I sailin' us all into, here?"
ST The deck where Myrrh has somehow turned some spare bits of wood into a perfect patch is now shining and new-looking, amazing considering it only took him 10-minutes!
Corve turns to Oteki and sighs, somewhat reluctant to tell the man about the actual dangers they may be facing. He glances at Carmine.
Myrrh dusts his hands of and stands up, looking satisfied. "There we go! Good as new."
Captain Oteki raises an eyebrow. "I ain't too fond o'the sound o' that there sigh, Corve."
Carmine "I think we just enlisted you into a quest to save Creation. From the Black Viper Cult, who sent the island crashing into the sea."
Corve sighs again. It's disturbing. "Eh. Yeah, what she said, basically." He squeezes Carmin's hip gently, watching Oteki.
Captain Oteki 's brow furrows a little as he thinks about that, and then his face splits into a wide, sparkly-toothed grin. "Well, ye certainly stumbled onto the right boat, then, didn't ye? Ev'ry epic story about savin' Creation needs a dashin', rogueish leadin' man, an' ye lucky dogs are sailin' wit' the best." he replies cryptically, before tromping off. There seems to be just a little less jauntiness in his tune this time, though.
Corve snorts a little when Oteki is out of hearing, looking at Carmine. "I think you scared him, love."
Carmine "Well I didn't want to lie to him..."
Corve "I know. Heh. He'll be more prepared for it if he's wary."
Carmine "Anyway, it just means that maybe his 20% will be really quite big."
Corve chuckles softly. "Probably. I'm surprised he came up with such a low number all on his own."
Captain Oteki continues adjusting rigging, and eventually wanders up to Myrrh. "Ahoy, lad." he says quietly, about as close to seriously as someone who sounds like an irish rock star pirate can. "I be needin' to... ask ye for an additional favor, should we eventually find ourselves with a bit o'time."
Myrrh "Hm? What do you need?"
Myrrh admires his handiwork on the deck, first age materials were such a joy to work with!
Captain Oteki stares at the ground for a moment in thought. "Well, despite me amply obvious nature as an amazing and superior example o'the species, an me mind-bogglin' list o'talents, I be lackin' in a certain... punch, when it comes to directly defendin' meself against physical damage. An' as someone with a number o'talents o'your own, I be hopin' ye might be able to... aid me in somethin' of an increase in... personal armament. I be wi
Captain Oteki I be willin' to pay for materials, and for yer time." he explains, managing to sound both confident, egotistical, and kind of embarassed at the same time.
Myrrh "Oh? Armor huh...what were you thinking of?
Myrrh glances at Oteki's frame, looking for measurements.
Myrrh "Breastplate? Chain shirt? maybe a nice superheavy plate suit like the dynasts wear?"
Captain Oteki shrugs. "Armor, weaponry... I've been mostly gettin' by on my considerable bare-handed talent. Somethin' that plays off o'that preexistin' skill might be o'some use."
Myrrh "Hmmm...alright, i'll think on it. However if you want me to make something of the magical materials it will definitely be on the costly side. Jade doesn't grow on trees...except in the wyld. And even there the jade screams when you smelt it."
Captain Oteki gives something of a smirk. "I ain't in the business of scavenging and piracy for th' prestige, me lad. I be fairly capable of mitigatin' any required costs."
ST All the wonderful smalltalk is engaging and takes everyone's mind nicely off the boring, uneventful trip to the island. It takes nearly five hours to reach the island where Xar and Falling Darkness had been headed. From above the island is barren with only a few patches of dense, twisted forests amidst rocky crags and boulder fields.
ST The coast is an ugly mass of sharp stones and black sands with no romantic beaches and gentle tides in sight.
Captain Oteki quirks an eyebrow. "Charmin', don't ye think? I'll be certain to mark this here place on me charts, be a lovely spot to build a summer cottage."
Myrrh "Well a little geomancy and i'm sure it'll vastly improve..."
Carmine "What an ugly place."
Corve "What did you expect?" What? Everyone's thinking it.
Captain Oteki "I sort o'like it. Then again, I've always looked good in black."
Myrrh "Well we had better be careful, he had someone else with him as well..."
Captain Oteki maneuvers the ship through the air around the island a little, trying to get a good look at the lay of the land.
Corve "I think I recognized her from Chiaroscuro," Corve says, biting the inside of his cheek.
Myrrh "Well that's not suprising...but what's she doing with him? She didn't seem all that...skulls and spiders when we first saw her."
Captain Oteki keeps looking around. "I was too busy to get a good look at 'er. Pretty? No?"
Corve shrugs, giving Carmine a short smile, unconscious. "I couldn't say." Someone's blind.
Captain Oteki seeks out a decent place to drop a line to the ground, and brings the ship to a hover. "The Ill Omen'll gain some altitude and circle about until such a point that we be finished here."
ST There doesn't seem to be any docks or structures on the island...but there is one spot on the rocky beach at the south where the black sand has been scattered around and there are signs of disturbance apparent to Corve's sharp eyes
Corve pauses for a moment, giving the spot a glance and then nodding to the others. "Over there," he says to Oteki, pointing at the spot. "I think we need to start down there."
Captain Oteki nods. "Then there we shall go, me lad." he replies, and steers the ship into a placid hover over the stated spot, lowering lines to the sand below. "Now or never."
Corve leaps over the side, grabbing a line and sliding down along it. He drops the last few feet to the sand below, shaking his feet to wriggle it from his toes a little.
Carmine just jumps.
Captain Oteki gives his crew their orders, and then slides down a line to land below, his boots making a graceful thud on the sand.
Myrrh jumps over the side of the boat, landing on the sand without a sound. "I hope Xar didn't get any silly ideas while he was over here..."
Corve "Because Xar never gets silly ideas. He'd never go jumping after the most dangerous enemy we have to date without waiting for the rest of us." Corve rolls his eyes.
ST With everyone on the ground below, Oteki's crew takes the Ill Omen off the circle the island at a safe distance, ready to swoop in for a daring rescue if they see any signal for help from their Captain.
Myrrh "Well I don't think we have too much land to cover...let's move out!" Hefts his rifle and waits for someone who actualy knows how to track to lead.
Captain Oteki slips on Mjolnir's Grasp, flexing his fingers in the oversized gauntlet, and scratches Jin on the top of his little draconic head. "Lead the way, lads."
Carmine waits for Corve to lead on, since he knows where they're going
ST While Corve is studying the beach for any clues as to where Xar or Falling Darkness may be a quartet of arrows springs up from no where. None of the Exalted saw it coming and none heard the arrows' flight. And not even Corve can tell where they came from.
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