Mordecai's smile does not waver and nor does his body quake. "If you insist, good sir."
He turns back to the cloud then and can't help but giggle a littleat it, a particularly childish sound. "We should probably get off this bridge, but, how come you have some many different voices anyway?" he asks, before starting to move discretely back towards the shore again, leaving the others behind.
A number of high-pitched voices giggle in chorus.
"Eagle-boy, attack the man on the burning ship!"
The arrow struck true, piercing a chain vest the man wore.
The man, having once again reloaded and leveled his pistol at Sir Nigel, waiting to fire as to give Nigel a chance back off, as he had demanded, once again shot at Sir Nigel when Sir Nigel again attempted to cast a spell with a pistol aimed at him.
But, the shot missed.
The man did not fall asleep.
Seeing the large, flaming vessel bearing down upon the makeshift bridge. Xane hustles along a little. Though she tries to give off an air of unconcern.
The cloud shuffles along the ship bridge toward the approaching burning ship, ready to move back if there's danger of an imminent collision.
Nianju stops and peers back as his new cloud friend stops following, and in fact reverses direction to the ship about to crash into their little bridge.
Eyes unblinking despite the shot and gunpowder, Mordecai's tiny digits trace another sign and he pushes out again with his silver mist.
As the ship readied to imminently impact, before Mr. Big and Sir Nigel's turn, the fellow piloting the fire ship jumped over the side and into the water.
"The ship careens into the bridge, causing mass havoc, damage, and general mayhem, ahem. Seth sure knows how to be a mild irritant. At least I presume it was him, I don't have many enemies on that plane.
"Ow!" exclaims a high-pitched voice. A chorus of other voices echo agreement with that, and there are a few sniffles and groans as well. The cloud almost seems to stumble backward along the now-damaged ship bridge.
After a few moments, a sigh can be heard from a number of voices at once.
"Celestial Dolphin-boy! I summon thee! Kill that nasty man for me!"
Nigel directs his pheasant to hover just out of reach of the fellow in the water, hovering above him. "Well, good show, old boy. A mighty explosion of wood and flame, what. I now ask you whether you wish to earn your freedom and your life back. My name is Sir Nigel, and I bow to the Count's orders. Who are you and whom do you serve? Oh and do watch out for flipper over there" he adds, gesturing to the dolphin. "He bites."
Xane hustles along and tries to help move the horse off the now possibly on fire bridge.
As Nigel hovers over the man who had dived into the water, Nigel might notice that it wasn't a man anymore when he surfaced, but in fact, a very wet dog that was doggy paddling to the opposite shore, holding a gun in its mouth, being harassed by Flipper.
The dog was giving Nigel quite an angry irritated look, but it was more busy not-drowning than attempting to speak.
"Hey! Leave the dog alone!" exclaims a voice from the direction of the bluish cloud, upon hearing the pheasant-riding fellow's remark and seeing the action in the water. Other voices join in with comments of their own: "Hey! Stop that!" "Flipper? What's a flipper?" "Don't know, but it had better stop!" "Yeah, quit it!"
(Edited.)
I went ahead and retcon'd it a bit to go off what Nigel said instead.
(Edited.)
Nianju find a new hiding spot on one of the ships that survived the impact, watching the current goings on in confusion. Whoever was Seth, and why was he so angry at them? It wasn't like the Count had sent them to do anything to him, and then he'd turned into a dog; that was weird.
His new friend had been far too close to the ship when it hit the bridge too, he hoped he was okay as he peered around trying to figure out where everyone had ended up.
Xane ambles along the not disintegrating bridge of ship's decks and makes her way to shore and the horsy. (^_^)
Mr. Big continues to track the dog and fire arrows at it.
"Throw a fire ship at me will you!"
Safe ashore, Sir Rhaym wheels his mount and prepares to render assistance.
He looks with astonishment at .Xane. apparently walking through the destruction completely unharmed.
Mr. Big's arrow flies wide, and the flipper continues to ineffectually harass. The situation where Mr. Big is, is beginning to become more firey, with the danger of burning becoming more pronounced. Smoke is applying a 20% miss chance, now.
Upon the shore, a mist shrouded tower can be seen, further down along the coast and atop a hill, and a path can be seen both leading to it and further inland.
Xane hustles to shore and moves to stand besides the horsey.
Mr. Big stashes the bow and hops into the water to swim to shore. He will also call Flipper back to him to help him swim.
Swim
As the other's head towards shore, abandoning their interest in the Kamikaze 'Seth' Nianju clambers down the side of the ship to slip into the water and swim after the fellow, offering his aid in getting the fellow to the other shore if it seems the dog will accept it anyway.
"So, the majority of our entertainment lies safe upon the shore, having demolished with amusing enthusiasm nearly everything or everyone who might have given them a clue as to what was going on. Will they choose to go inland, chase Seth, or go to the mysterious tower of ominousness? Or all three!"
Once ashore, Mr. Big drinks a potion of healing.
Excellent!
Nigel directs his mount to an elegant landing upon the shore. Dismounting quickly with a look of irritation, he surveys his surroundings carefully. "Where has that blasted creature gotten to, what?"
"Wait, Friend!" calls a voice.
The cloud moves slowly across the ship wreckage to the water, climbing (?) down the side of the ship and then moving cautiously along the top of the water after Nianju.
"Wait, wait, wait... are you alright?" asks a timid voice from the cloud's direction.
Sir Rhaym gazes at the flaming wreckage of ships with some confusion.
"What on earth was that all about?" He muses aloud.
Valinor gives .Xane. a look that is simultaneously haughty, suspicious and worried and edges away from her.
Looking around, Sir Rhaym spots the tower.
"The Tower! That is our goal!" He proclaimed, pointing at the tower with his lance. "Onward Valinor! We ride!"
Valinor rears up in a heroic pose, neighing, before launching into a gallop along the road to the Tower.
"Return to the sea Dolphin-boy! Come Can-man, hopefully this tower will have some answers for us."
Mr. Big dismisses flipper. He looks over at .Xane. and Sir Nigel, and says sarcasticly.
"It was so nice of the shiny fellow and the horse to wait for us, wasn't it?"
Xane shrugs in reply to Mr big,
"Well, that's what horses do, right?" And she begins to trudge along after 'Mr Shiny man' and his horse.
"Maybe the Count is insane, but that's only a faint maybe. And if he is, then some magical force is probably behind it, guiding him towards some purpose." With an offhand manner, he grabbed the two arrow shafts in his chest with one hand, his fist squeezed them together without so much as a wince, and yanked both arrows out in one motion. He cast a meaningful eye at the cloud as to the condition of his health after this. The wounds bled, but already seemed to be healing before their eyes.
"I don't know that purpose's entirety or even goal yet, but I can sure as hell tell that I'd rather be toiling in the rocks of Phlegethon than having any part in the Count's twisted tale."
"All I know, is that when you destroy the working parts, what you get is a broken machine."
"Wait, does he make planes or demiplans?" "I'm confused!" "The man said he makes plans!" "He also said we look smart..." "We always knew the Count wasn't really crazy." "Shh!" "But can we trust him?" "Trust whom?" "I don't think so!" "Of course we can!"
The various voices begin speaking more quickly, and switch to another language. The discussion continues for a few seconds, then ceases.