"" Selena shouts as she flies off the Lady Wave, hovering over the captain and Mihara: as the symbol on her hand starts to buzz, the half-succubus feels a surge of energy going trough her body, as she swoops with inhuman speed down on the captain.
"I...I didn't knew I could do that!" she looks up to the Kitsune with wide eyes, a grin stamped on her face. "He's all yours foxy!"
The captain's insult appears to spark something within Mihara as she deftly avoids his attack.
"I'll show you 'peasant'! I am Three-Tailed Yao Mihara, eldest daughter of the Yao Clan, Second Lord of the Whispering Moon, Descendant of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and Inheritor of Khalharum!" the Kitsune roars, aiming a flurry of attacks to multiple vital points. "Bow!"
Favoring an elegant style, Mihara's strikes are pointed and precise, piercing straight through.
Oh, son of a- Wait. Wait. No. Remain calm. Practice her breathing exercises, remember the lessons, don't drop her mortal visage in the midst of this crowd... whew. Okay. She was good.
"Might wanna look at your Captain!" She called cheerfully, walking across the plank and focusing on the Wizard with her Evil Eye.
The moment after she did that, she whipped her hand through the air, casting another bolt of Blindness at the wizard. That was all the extra power she wanted to use against this ship, but it ought to be enough. Hopefully. And as for how she could use a hex and cast a spell so quickly? Screw your limits, reality.
Aibek continued moving down the ship to make the most of the time they had. Aibek watched the slavers on the other side, Aibek couldn't decide if a growl or gruesome smile would work best, so did both while staring at them with amber eyes, watching where they were going.
Nigrum watched the man's odd movement, no doubt a spell of some sort. But it seems to be an unseen one. Not waiting for him to cast another he closes the distance and brings Tsui down again.
Having given his offer of surrender, he had no interest in dragging things out with the wizard. With effort Tsui disappeared with speed as another strike came at the mage.
The north east gun crew collapsed in a heap as Tsui took the blinded wizard's head from his shoulders, this time unable to see and let alone dodge the attack. The captain, a stunned look on his face, reached down to find that most of his insides were now entirely in the wrong place - most notably the deck - and collapsed in a heap.
The three remaining gun crews continued to fire, but the rifle shots from your allies were telling on most of the rest of the crew. Aibek and Azri's comments obviously got to them, and they dropped there weapons.
The western crews both turned on Nigrum, after his attack. Realizing they weren't dealing with a normal creature as he floated over the pit and sliced there master's head off, they swapped ammunition to something...special. The heavy shot glints eerily as it slides down the barrel. Obviously rushed and panicking, they nevertheless took aim.
The remaining eastern crew targeted Ayreth.
Azri darted across the deck, black energy surrounding her hand as she punched out at one of the remaining soldiers, aiming to... convince him of the error of his ways. "Your leaders are dead!"
"...But if you surrender now, you may be permitted to live." she added a moment later, remembering some earlier discussions. "It's your choice whether you want to live or die."
One shot misses him while the other grazed him but still did not bloody him much. Unfazed with Tsui dripping blood he threw out the blade, the blood flying clear of the fine edged sword.
"He chose death. Am I to take it that you have made that choice over surrender?"
He gives special attention to the one that managed to shoot him.
Mihara waits and sees the reactions of the Slaver crew before acting.
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Ayreth arches an eyebrow at the slavers as the shot just misses her. She strides forward purposefully, but pauses when she hears Azri yell through the mist. "Well?"
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"Uh. Gross" Selena comments as Mihara guts the captain. She then moves to grapple the nearest slaver, but stops after hearing Azri's words: not-so-patiently, the half-succubus waits for the slavers' response.
"I'd say it's an improvement compared to what he used to look like."
With a look at each the remaining gun crews laid down there weapons and surrendered.
Crew members from both boats swarm over, tying up prisoners and manning important positions. Rigging is altered and maneuvered as the three ships cling together.
The second ship is yours.
Whitebeard moves up near Aibek. "We won't have much time. With that wizard dead his spell is crumbling." Indeed, the fog around you is already thinning. "And the fog will have carried those gunshots. Two more to go. What's the plan?"
"Depends on whether we fight the ships together or apart." Azri noted. "We seem to be quite capable of taking these ships one-on-one, but I don't care for the odds if we split our power. I think it would be best to focus on one other vessel at a time, even if we take a bit more damage in the process." As she spoke, she pressed her hand against her side, healing herself with negative energy. Being hard to get rid of was one of her charm points... and, sadly, not something she could share with others. "I'll deal with the slavers." she added, wandering over to them.
"Hi!" she said cheerfully. Keeping her back to Whitebeard's crew, she moved a hand across her face. As she did so, her mortal visage disappeared, replaced by something a bit more... dead. "Do I have your attention now? Good." the Lich said, holding up a fistful of negative energy. "You are in a lot of trouble at the moment, but I'm happy to be able to tell you that you have an opportunity to get out of most of it. Those who cause trouble for us here will not be shown mercy, but those who obey our commands will be shown leniency. In particular, we don't plan to execute you out of hand unless you cause problems... despite all the fun I can have with bodies. More importantly, you're likely to face prison time for your criminal acts, but those who provide us valuable information will face a lot less time behind bars. You may even have a chance to rejoin society and live a healthy, happy life. You saw what we did to your captain and the wizard - neither martial nor magical power will save you from us if you decide to remain our enemies. Be good, though... and tell us what we want to know when we ask... and we can still be friends." She smiled, moved her hand over her face again, and reactivated her mortal visage. "I'm glad we had this little conversation."
With that, she walked back towards Whitebeard. It probably wouldn't be long before they were underway again, and she had every intention of being ready for that.
Selena grins at Mihara's comment about the captain: getting back on her feet, she looks around the deck. "I...guess that taking them on without splitting up is better, yes. Best not risk it, and they might get cocky if they only see a couple of us attacking: if they surrender, we don't have to run after each one of them." the half-succubus nods, starting to get the hang of this 'strategy' thing.
Tugging on Ayreth's sleeve, she points to the stairs that go below deck "Shouldn't we tell something to the rowers real quick, before we attack the next ship?".
Aibek glanced at the captain before looking up at the thinning fog, "Seem to be doing well so far, though still need to check for casualties across the ships. I...I personally would prefer not to push our luck or risk anyone else if it were possible to race for it under cover, but it doesn't look like this will last us long enough for that." Aibek said, giving out a small sigh with amber eyes looking around.
"Looks like we're going to have to head for the next ship and prepare for another battle. Maybe if we can make a big enough display, we can make at least the last ship turn away which will make it easier to get these ships safely to our destination. " Aibek said, thoughts rolling around an anxious mind before a small smile pulled at muzzled lips.
"None of these seemed to know us specifically which was my fear, we seem to be random hit. As they do not seem to know us, I could try to let out a wolf's howl, if I can get it loud enough for them both to hear it may make them think this is a werewolf ship going through their companions. It would likely make them turn away or at least slow pursuit. It regularly worked back home... other than with werewolf hunters... one of the others might have something as well... " Aibek tilted head, amber eyes moving towards the coming ships, and then asked the captain, " What do you think?"
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Ayreth turns as Selena tugs her sleeve."Indeed, sister. As you can see...," she gestures towards the captain's corpse where Emmitt is recreating his earlier search. "I'll take care of it."
As Emmitt finishes his search for the keys, she hears Aibek's plan and asks with a sincerely confused tone, "Why would we ever let them escape?"
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Below deck, she will do much the same as before, with much the same motivational speech and promise of freedom, modified by her earlier experience. There is more of an emphasis on "rowing towards freedom" and only a passing mention of making the slavers row once the danger is passed.
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"I think our friend has gotten a desire to see these slaves freed," Whitebeard murmured half to himself. The stocky Dwarf shook his head, although whether he approved or disapproved of the notion wasn't very clear.
"If I may make a suggestion..." He considered for a moment. "We're stretched tight with two ships. Unless you can think of a reason, I recommend leaving a skeleton crew on the new ship and only fighting from the other two. I don't think we could manage, otherwise."
Aibek turned to see Ayreth, amber eyes showing very mild surprise while considering what the Oracle and the Captain said. "I don't see it as much as letting them escape but the best way to keep what we have. We've done great good so far and stretching ourselves too thin to gain more is likely to test our luck and put the crew and those already freed at greater risk - it's almost a miracle so few have been harmed so far. Between making the boats less manageable and the growing number of questionable slaver prisoners..." Aibek sighed, amber eyes showing a mind pulling into a whirl of anxious calculations.
Reorganizing so the third boat has a skeleton crew to make things manageable as the captain said and taking the time to further secure slaver prisoners - not sure how exactly but it needs to be something we can do quick that will ensure everyone's safety - our luck may hold to the other boats if you and the others desire it. Or we can try scaring them off, if they can be, and try getting them later once we're in control of the city and have more resources if that is your priority and desire. Right now, mine is getting this ship and it's crew - and the other ships we've taken - to our destination as safely and quickly as possible and taking on the other two is more risk and time to me. If you want to get them, let us work fast to reduce those risks and time." Aibek said with a small shrug and muzzled smile, amber eyes going over the boats they had trying to figure out the best and fastest way to get ready for upcoming contact with slavers.
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"But... but they're right there! Just begging to be hunted down!," Ayreth replies in a rather bloodthirsty tone. Ayreth looks around at her companions and Captain Whitebeard's crew through the quickly dissipating fog.
She quickly switches tactics. "They'll just hurt more people if we let them go! Are we to do what is safe, or what is right?" She steps up on a bucket. "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing."
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Selena pauses for a moment when Ayreth calls her sister. Beside the fact that she was an only child, she never felt very connected to her parents, no matter how she loved them.
I always thought that grampa Zhen was the only person in the world I really was attached to, the only actual family I had. But maybe...
For some time, the half-succubus looks the white-haired woman directly into her eyes, then smiles. While she's below deck to inform the slaves of their new-found freedom, the half-fiend waits on the deck with the others.
_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_
"I...don't really like to leave a job unfinished." Selena comments to the possibility of scaring the slavers away.
She doesn't comment about that strange 'skeleton crew' thing.
I mean, Azri's good, but aren't undead usually evil and dumb? Wouldn't it be better to leave just the people needed on a ship and go on, instead of dabbling in necromancy to make skeletons?
"I agree. We've not had much trouble with these last two ships. I think we should see this battle to the end. If it were just letting the slavers flee, I wouldn't care so much, but scaring the others off would also entail abandoning their slaves, and I have no intention of doing such a thing."
Aibek's small smile dropped, taken aback. With a soft, carefully words, Aibek spoke, "I... I already agreed to assist you in your priority if that is what you and the others desire. My recognizing the growing potential for loss, the limit of our resources, being concerned for the lives of the crew and the newly freed and not wanting to see them die so you can get a bigger catch when we can get as many slavers as you want later with better resources does not mean doing nothing or letting evil triumph or whatever you wish to accuse me of when I was simply putting forth an idea that works in my experience to the captain that might prevent losses when he asked me for plans for our job which is to get to Khalharum and not these cretins. There is no point in a hunt if it causes one to lose what one already has and the risks to the crew and potential alternatives must be considered in any plan."
Aibek sighed "As the Captain pointed out, we can not take all three boats towards your next target and expect victory. So I am going to go recheck security of the prisoners so we can move forward without them as a concern, if - Captain - you will pick who you think is best for the crew for the new ship before we lose the fog and that boat gets here. Aibek turned away, "I hope that your luck holds as long as your desires." Aibek walked away through the shadows with silent rolling footsteps.
Whitebeard nodded to Aibek. "Thank you. For caring for my crew."
The captain started barking orders, having slavers stripped of weapons and armour and tying them up. There was nothing like sailors for tying knots. Whitebeard split the remaining slavers, about twenty all told, between the three ships.
He also ordered his crew to retrieve the double hackutts and other guns and begin to move them to the other ships.
"Perhaps some of our newly freed companions would like to make use of their former captor's weapons, should the ruffians decide to try something while we're busy?" Mihara suggests, as she prepares for battle, shifting her outfit to another impossibly ornate Tian robe, one not spattered with blood.
All right, minimal necessary crew on one vessel, helping those slaves to freedom, while the other two ships tried to keep their offensive power concentrated and be ready to take on the remaining vessels. Yeah, that seemed workable, especially if they could keep up the pace and take down the leaders and wizards - they'd be the most trouble.
Satisfied, Azri returned to the main ship, and settled down to stretch her senses through the fog and try to give them the opportunity to outmaneuver their foes.
Personally it mattered little to him, letting the slavers go or not. Slavers would not give up their trade for anyone, greater powers then their group had failed. At best they could prove that they were too costly to tangle with and at worse they would make themselves targets as a danger to their trade. While he did not agree with slavery, he felt no need to shepherd the weak. The strong would not become slaves, even in defeat one could choose death over slavery. You can not conquer a people who refuse to be conquered.
"I will remain with the captains ship as before. I will also aim for the wizard again, should this one be cunning enough not to expose himself with in moments. I will target the captain."
"I'll go for the spellcaster as well. I'm dying to try out that new trick of mine." Mihara says.
Like the others, Selena takes position for the upcoming battle.
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Ayreth shakes her head as Aibek walks away. She mutters aloud, but mostly to Emmitt, "Not sure what I did, but I think I offended Aibek. But we hunt answers as well as men, and we should find out if we were their intended quarry or we just happened by." Ayreth sighs, still frustrated that she does not always read people well after her isolation. Emmitt looks at her, inscrutable as ever, offering no insight.
After a moment of reflection, she sets her shoulders, resolved to set things right when she can, but hopng it can wait until the ships are out of danger.
As the newly defeated ship is left behind you move towards the remaining Fog bank. However, it quickly becomes obvious that the slavers are no waiting around. One galley rows out of the fog at high speed...and a few moments later the second one follows it.
But something is odd. The two ships are fighting each other, and don't seem to paying any special attention.
As they close boarding crews invade the first ship, and soon the sounds of intense fighting breaks out. Soon it is all over. The other two ships drift, about a mile away from your current position.
"Huh," muttered Whitebeard. "Didn't see that coming."
"What's going on? I can't see through all this fog."
"We should check on them."
"We're not the only ones who might want to take down a slaver." Azri observed. "Still, I'd like to see if we can salvage the slaver's vessel. Would you be so kind as to take us forward, Captain?"
Nodding, the captain directs both ships forward as the fighting wraps up. The two ships close quickly, and the Andoran flag becomes obvious to everyone. Although it's hard to tell from the lack of uniforms what's going on, it seems the ship with the Andoran flag has won.
As you approach, a tall Elf strides to the side, her flamboyant purple cloak billowing in the wind. "Ahoy the ship! I am Elastansa Urisal, commander of this vessel in the name of the Eagle Knights of Andoran. Who are you?"
Whitebeard glanced over. "Well? Who are we?"
"We are apparently not going to be the new owners of that ship." Azri muttered, just barely loud enough for her companions to hear. She pounded on her chest a moment later to clear her throat and spoke up.
"Well met, Dame Urisal!" she called out. "We are travelers bound for Khalharum, to restore and improve it, and have just finished freeing the captives of two other vessels from the scum who crewed them. I'm afraid we plan to keep the ships for ourselves in order to promote trade and general welfare within the city, but if you'd care to visit our port in the near future, there may be some former captives who'd like to go with you. We were hoping to take that vessel as well, but it appears you beat us to it, and we have no intention of contesting your prize."
Best to start off on the right foot with these people, eh? She'd heard a lot about Andoran, and while some of it sounded a bit silly - voting to decide rulers, hah - they could be valuable allies in the future.
Andoran, was it? Mihara recalls that name coming up in the past; the Whispering Moon had seen sailors from its coasts before.
"It is good to see other forces keeping the slavers down," Mihara smiles as she approaches, reappearing from within the fog bearing her human face.
The Eagle Knights are Andoran's answer to the slave trade. They are known to assault such traders when they can. There are rumors that they also try to infiltrate such organizations. They are generally considered among one of the greatest forces for freedom, but there are dark tales about the lengths some members are willing to go to.
Andoran itself is known to be a land of freedom, having severed all ties with the devil-ridden nation of Cheliax.
With some effort, Selena recognizes the Andoran flag: she heard the name during a number of conversation and history lessons back in Taldor...but the half-succubus never paid attention to either of them.
"Sorry, could I ask you something, just to be sure?" the half-fiend starts after Azri's finished "Do you know if these slavers attacked us by chance or if they were specifically targeting us? There are some people that want us not to get to Khalarum, and it wouldn't be the first time that they hired someone to delay us." Selena asks to the Andoran captain.
"Your help is greatly appreciated," Mihara adds, "And it is as my friend says. We fear that there may have been more to this attack than a mere opportunity targeting."
The captain nodded. "This...fleet," she said, almost spitting the word, "Was told where you, specifically, were and requested to intercept you. We were told you would be easy pickings with a valuable cargo and strong slaves." Another twist of the mouth accompanied that word.
"My plan," she added, "Was to attack them from the rear while they focused on you but...obviously, you didn't need the help. Or if they overcame you fast, try and barter as many of you as we could."
She glanced at the other ship. "So you want the vessels? Fine, although I suggest you put a lot of work into making sure no one thinks they are Okeno's yellow sailed ships. Indeed, we'll be happy to give you the one we caught - I don't have the troops to man both and do our mission - but I...request any of the captured slavers in return, to face Andoran justice." The way she smiled slightly suggested that it would not be a pleasant experience for the slavers.