| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
As his sister starts speaking Spanish and running towards the ruins, Frostbite runs after her, "Get back her young lady, now is no time for possession!"
The rest of the Sentinels arrive just as the huge galleon sends longboats full of ghostly crew towards a small landing below the ruins of the Spanish fort.
Psyche stretches out her senses and finds that the malevolent force on the pirate ship is drawing all sorts of energy towards it, pushing its way into the real world. She realizes that there's little that can be done to stop the damage already done; the emotions that have kept the spirits in this area have found mortal anchors -- and so long as Mattie is affected, then Psyche's own mental energies is helping keep the spirits here in this world.
Even as she tries to use her modern training and powers, Scorch sinks further and further into the persona of the woman on the cliffs, watching her beloved and his crew fight the villainous pirate and lose. She remembers hiding desperately from the pirate crew who stormed the fortress in search of her and her son. She managed to slip from their grasp by wedging herself into a tiny crevasse in the fort's basement. However, as she pushed her way deeper into the small cleft, her ring finger was caught and her wedding band slipped off her hand. She had to leave it behind.
Isaiah extends his senses into the aether to try to ascertain the phantom's weaknesses and initially surmises that the apparition is similar to the spirit sinks that pock the Iron Federation's historical sites. However, when he sees Horizon unleash a blast of crackling energy towards the ghostly vessel, the energy simply ablates and surrounds the ship. When the blast subsides, the pirate ship appears even more solid.
Mosaic also sends a beam of light at the galleon. Her coruscating blast sinks into a bottomless pit, the ship completely unharmed and worse, less translucent.
Praetoria, clad in her shining regalia, races towards the ship and towards its black captain. She spies him, a ghastly vision of a desiccated corpse clad in a heavy captain's coat and tricorne, wielding a cat o' nine tails and a blazing cutlass. Her weapon passes harmlessly through the ghost, though she manages to deftly avoid any retaliation.
The first of the longboats reach land, and a large contingent of ghostly pirates start heading up the rocky coastline. Though their skin is wispy and flaking, their eyes burn with menace and their cutlasses gleam with a deadly edge.
Trenchard flicks his wrist and his cat o' nine tails lashes out and catches Praetoria. Chunks of her regalia are flensed from her form as a chilling cold presses deep into her bones. In a voice that echoes from beyond the grave, the ghostly pirate whispers, "I'll have your heart just as I've claimed Annabelle's."
Even as he says that, the chains and ropes of the ship's rigging come alive and reach out to grab ahold of the Legacy.
Horizon lands hard on the deck of the forecastle, incensed and clad in his power. Even though the wood of the deck was still vaguely translucent, it held his weight as he issued his challenge to the pirate captain.
Trenchard turns his head towards the boy out of time and stares him down with rheumy eyes and a baleful glare. "This is my time now, cur! I'll bleed the life out of you!" He holds up his own cutlass and looks very skilled in its use.
As the ghostly pirates advance upon you, what do you do???
As the captain’s whip catches Praetoria’s sword arm, the power contained within the ghostly weapon causes her sword to fall and vanish, and the armor covering that arm to rip away and dissipate as well. Just as she begins to retaliate, the astral chains and ropes lash out and bind each of her limbs, pulling them taught and stretching her arms and legs out to the point that bending the joints of her limbs is near impossible!
”AAAGGGHHHH!” she cries out as her arms and legs burn from being pulled so hard, like being put in a medieval rack! She tries to power her arms and legs free, but it is no use! ”I don’t...think so...and don’t you...UUUNNN...don’t you dare start chanting Kali-mah!” Kayla grunts, straining against her bonds even as the chains and ropes begin to lower her from the air to the deck.
Only thirty percent of my power...sources of energy can bolster it...
As the chains and riggings move Kayla’s helpless form closer to the Captain, she grits her teeth and closes her eyes, and tries to focus on pulling all of her power inward, trying to break through her own barrier so she can in turn break free of the chains!
__________
Whippoorwill have given him enough self defense training to protect himself if he got into a physical fight. But that was without actual weapons. He was winging it now as the pirate captain brandished his cutlass.
He wasn't worried about Prae, knowing she'd get out of it. But he also didn't care as much as he wanted to tear this insane ghost apart. His vantablack blade had the advantage of being hard to tell where its edges ended, as he charged forward.
First, take away his advantage.
Light blossomed and flashed from his dark raiments to confuse and blind him as he struck out for the man's sword arm. He wouldn't be much of a threat if he could remove his weapon. His own sword cut through the cutlass like butter, the blade severed from the handle and falling with a clatter.
Oh boy. That looked bad. This thing was not a typical spirit... it was an energivore!
Across the communicators and in voice, Isaiah shouted out. "Sorry, wrong assesment! That thing is an energivore! Don't hit it with anything it can absorb! Shin... aim for absorbtion yourself, it's basically made of energy. Everyone else... I can't say I really know what's going on here, too much interference. Try to use powers that don't leave your control. I'm going to try something a bit risky."
The ghost ship was feeding off of energy... but it wasn't the only one that could pull that kind of trick. Inquiry was going to need to get into melee to try it, though. And if it was already going to tangle with a ship, it might as well do it with some style...
Inquiry dove into the water and headed for the galleon, its darkened outline changing and elongating as it did so. It pushed Aetheric energies into its shifting hull, ensuring it would be able to touch the spectral vessel.
Eight seemingly fleshy tentacles, glimmering slightly with intricate runic patterns, rose from the water around the Blinded Banshee, crashing into the decks and gripping the ship, shaking the entire vessel. They lashed at spectral sailors, and curled around the masts. A synthesized echoed from under the water, where the bulbous shape of a 'head' was vaguely visible, Iron beak biting into the hull. Of course, Inquiry didn't expect the physical punishments to really harm the ship, merely disorient the spirits... the real threat was the Mana Distillery gradually humming to life within the artificial Kraken's gullet. Though it did hope the ferocious display would distract and disorient the ghostly pirates.
One tentacle crashed into the deck near Praetoria. Perhaps it could be of help in her liberation...
Reaching the remains of the fortress' gate, Scorch pauses for a moment, looking around. In her mind's eye the scene seems to flash between the present and the past. One moment Scorch is looking at the fort's ruins, the next, Annabelle surveys the bustle of soldiers preparing defences against Captain Trenchard. Turning to her left, she runs towards the steps to the basement, desperate to get away, desperate to find her lost ring.
Frostbite continues to pursue Scorch, who is clearly reacting to things that he cannot see. What he can see though is the ghostly undead horde approaching from the beach. Rory creates a wall of ice around the fort, unsure if it will do anything, but he hopes it will at least slow them down.
Gallowglass looks at the ghost ship and wonders, What could *I* do that could affect THAT?
She doesn't have long to ponder it though as she sees Mattie is still confused and is now running off.
She and Bear leap over a weathered wooden gate to cut her off.
Gallowglass wraps puts a hand on each of Mattie's shoulders and says, "Mattie, stop, breathe, take a look around. It's me, and your brother...and Bear!"
On cue, the lovable Aussie jumps up to lick her face.
We can't end this while it has her mind, but trying to tell her I wasn't Filipe just made things worse.
The ring? She lost it somewhere near here. Maybe it could help? I know how much her eyes sparkle when she looks at it, ever since I gave it to her on that June... morning...
Damn. That's insidious.
Normally I'd never be able to find a tiny piece of metal like that, but the veil is rent, there are ghosts everywhere; normal is not on the table. It might have enough emotional significance that I can find it...
As the robotic tentacle crashes next to her and her attempt to channel into what power reserves she had (even if she didn’t know how to really do so) failing, Kayla strains against her bonds trying to free herself.
She starts to shout a warning to Horizon to get away from the Captain, who was clearly an extremely powerful ghost or spectre or something, but he conjured an energy sword and cut the Captain’s cutlass in half instead! His heroics on her behalf gave Kayla hope, even if she felt ridiculous at being the damsel in distress...again!
First Dusk and his mind control thing...then Shard and being turned to stone...then Dr. Dread...now Captain Spookbeard and his heart fetish...
Kayla clenched her hands into fists and clenched her teeth as she pulled as hard as she could against the chains around her forearms and calves...
The otherworldly ropes and chains surrounding Praetoria resist her efforts to overcome their strength and worse, they seem to keep her from tapping into the powers of her Legacy. Thus, for the moment she is unable to do much except for struggling against the rigging and watch as Horizon engages the pirate.
The few hours of training with Whippoorwill helped considerably as Shin trades blows with Trenchard. He gets a lucky shot that fractures the pirate's cutlass, but doesn't anticipate the follow-up counterattack with his cat o' nine tails. As the strands of the cat touch Horizon's energy barrier, it peels it away as if it were fog.
The pirate ship rocks as Inquiry assaults it in the form of a kracken. The ghost crew swarming on deck draw their weapons and attack the sea monster. The tentacles slam and grasp, coiling around the mainmast and reaching into the rigging after Praetoria. Isaiah has certainly caught the ship's attention, though he realizes that as he interacts with it, it's drawing power from his own reserves as well.
Then, with his hand suddenly free thanks to losing his cutlass, Trenchard reaches into his belt and pulls out a flintlock pistol. He takes aim at the Kraken and pulls the trigger. An otherworldly gout of flame accompanies the thunderous crack of the pistol and Inquiry reels.
On land, Mattie remains caught up in the visions of the past, fretting about her ring as she looks around at the soldiers. Something tells her she knows that they're all going to die, and only by hiding would she live. Gallowglass steps into the vision and calls out to her, helping her recall her own persona, if only for a moment. Because every time her eyes fall upon Kylie, she sees Filipe and her heart surges with desperate love mixed with grief.
Psyche pushes out with her mind, focusing on the ring that she could somehow picture clearly as if she herself had commissioned its make. Somehow, she knew she wouldn't find it in the fort. She had been on the Stalwart Worthy when it was lost, shouting orders at his crew, pushing them to make best speed. Terrified, because Trenchard was attacking the fort and he would not be there to protect her. He knew it would not be in the fort, because when he finally arrived, it was in ruins from the Banshee's cannon fire. So he'd engaged the pirate ship there in the shallows. And when he fought Captain Trenchard, the ring had been on a cord around his neck...
The pirate invaders spread out, eyeing the rest of the team with their empty sockets. Several move to surround Psyche, brandishing weapons and moving to attack. The others pull out nets and cast them at Gallowglass. They do not seem to notice Scorch at all, however.
One of the nets manages to fall around Gallowglass, hampering her movements. Psyche looks down and sees a gleaming basket-hilt saber in her hand.
Inquiry kept a solid grip on the ship, even as it was assaulted. It was acceptable to lose a little energy now, if its overall plan worked. If energy was being drawn from it, that meant there was a connection, and flows could be reversed The Mana Distillery whirred to life, flow limiter thrown wide open, intake lines connected to the ship/kraken's tentacles. The flow began to reverse. The hungry fuel refinery started to replace the lost energy...
And then the ship's ghostly captain scored a lucky hit and ruptured one of Inquiry's fuel tanks, sparying a cloud of refined liquid Mana into the air. Oh dear. In this kind of environment, anything could happen. And who-knows-what was was about to happen very hard.
As Praetoria strained against the ghostly chains, the remaining pieces of the Regalia on her arms and legs vanished as the chains continued to sever the connection between Kayla and her powers.
”No...not again...” she said as she struggled. The idea that she could soon be bound and naked didn’t even cross her mind. She was tired of being the victim. The damsel in distress. The Zelda to everyone else’s Link.
Then the explosion of Inquiry’s mana battery rocked the ship, and golden liquid energy began to fly out into the air. As it began to flow into the ship, however, it seemed to sense something else near...and the golden cloud changed course and began to flow wash over Kayla.
She could feel her strength growing, the sickening feeling in her stomach fading. She wrapped her hands around the ghostly chains began to pull with all her might as more of the energy from the alien ships battery flowed out and into her.
”aaaaaaAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!” Kayla screams as she is enveloped in bright golden light that erupts around her in a flash...
__________
Frostbite unleashes a blast of cold to form an ice barrier between the heroes on land and the incoming pirates. However, the ghostly apparitions pass through the wall of ice and cold without faltering!
Thank goodness someone was able to get through to her, if only briefly. Nets came flying in and caught Ness. Rory worked to free her from the net.
"Quickly, help Scorch with what ever the hell she is doing, it maybe the key to ending this," Rory turns to face the spectral pillagers forming an icy saber in his hand, "S+!# this is probably going to hurt..."
These apparitions aren't the fight.
Eu não posso deixar esses cães me atrasarem.
I have to get to their captain.
Eu tenho que recuperar meu anel de casamento
That's the only way to stop this
Ele não pode ser autorizado a manter meu coração!
Psyche tried to simply sweep the deathly pirates from her path, but when she beckoned, instead her own crew rushed forward to engage them! But at least she had a moment's opening.
Ducking and squeezing through the fray - she wasn't sure how much to trust her flight if her telekinesis was wonky too - she burst through to get a clear sight of Captain Trenchard's ship.
Her primeiro marinheiro was in trouble. He was dueling Trenchard bravely, but the kiss of the tails was too much and he was reeling!
Shin. I'm not going to let him take someone else I care about into this madness. We're getting that second date, damnit!
Não, na verdade somos apenas amigos. É só que eu fico com tesão em longas viagens...
Her webs gathered up into a heavy captain's coat of her own, Psyche flung herself at the ship, swinging down on a 'very conveniently placed rope.'
The vantablack mantle wasn't just armor, but a way to constantly store power in light, heat, and radiation. Breaking it when he wasn't prepared for that was, to be blunt, catastrophic. It wasn't just a field that drew in power - it was a shell that kept it at a safe distance from his body.
He screamed as his whole body suddenly seemed to seize up, before it felt like he was bloating. Isaiah's Mana, the ghostly apparitions, even Praetoria's energy was drawn to him, his body unable to keep it from permeating his skin, his muscles, his organs, perhaps even his very soul. He felt like he wanted to vomit, purge himself before this energy ate himself up from the inside out.
Horizon doesn't know how to stop this. He knows that Dusk would know what to do. Dusk wouldn't let some ancient ghost beat him. Isaiah's last words to him are ironic, he doesn't think he can do anything now but absorb. So that's what he does, as terrfied as he becomes of what will happen to him, draining all heat, all light, everything and anything he can from his surroundings. He doesn't notice Prae's glow or Psyche swooping into to save him. All he can feel is hunger and thirst and anger and fear...
Annabelle pulls away from her maid. "Ana O que você está fazendo? Nós precisamos nos esconder! Os homens de Trenchard estão nos portões! Nós não podemos nos deixar ser pegos!". For a moment her expression shifts and Scorch looks down. "Bear?" Almost imediately, however, her expression shifts again and she grabs Gallowglass's hand and frantically pulls her towards the remains of a stone staircase leading downwards into darkness. "Rapidamente, para as adegas. Nós podemos nos esconder lá!"
Ana. What are you doing? We need to hide! Trenchard's men are at the gates! We can't let ourselves be caught!
Quickly, to the cellars. We can hide there!
Confluence.
On board the Blinded Banshee, the kraken shape that is Inquiry disgorges his refined fuel from a well-placed shot by the ghost-pirate captain.
Horizon staggers back from fighting with the pirate, his vantablack casing opened by the energy drain of his cat o'nine tails.
And trapped in the rigging, Praetoria tries to tap into the powers of her legacy to free herself and join in the fighting.
All the while, Captain Trenchard has been siphoning the varying forms of energy -- psychic, biohuman, and techno-mystical and steadily growing in strength.
The myriad energies converge in spectacular fashion. A carapace of blackness engulfs the pirate ship as even light is drawn towards the center of the confluence. A deafening silence surrounds the ship from the outside.
Within the shell, though, a discordant cacophony of senses erupt. A spiraling cloud at the top of the tallest mast opens a spinning vortex that lances down. Radiant Praetoria is drawn inside, and the golden light she was emanating vanishes.
The dark blues and grays of the crackling energies remain barely enough to illuminate the deck of the ship. Trenchard sneers at Psyche, another cutlass appearing in his hands as he readies to do battle.
Horizon opens up and tries to draw all the energy around him within himself. He successfully draws in any deadly energy that he might have unleashed when he lost control, but most of the energy he expected to contain is already gone -- or taken.
Outside the black cocoon, those on the island can see the darkness lift and the Blinded Banshee appears with a crash against the waves, solid and completely in this realm!
Still partially possessed by the spirit of Captain Filipe Da Luz, Psyche swings onto the forecastle to engage with Trenchard. He sneers at her, even as her eyes are drawn to the ring around Trenchard's neck. Her mind comes to the worst conclusion, that she was too late and he had slain her beloved and took the ring as a trophy of his conquest.
You are underwater, holding your breath, bewildered about what just happened. Your surroundings are that of a beautiful underwater paradise, with fish, coral, and seaweed all around you.
A large bearded man holding a trident floats in front of you. "It's been a long while since you've visited my realm. What brings you here?
A suddenly-appearing contingent of Portuguese soldiers rush forward and engage most of the pirates. Rory rushes forward and ices over the wet net, which shatters.
Freed, Gallowglass is back and able to act. Rory turns and is set upon by the remaining pirate ghosts, who are also seemingly supercharged by the events happening on the ship. In an contemptuous swing, the lead pirate shatters Frostbite's ice sword leaving him without a weapon as they approach.
"Take the women, kill the men," the pirate lieutenant hisses.
The well muscled man waves his trident. "You will not drown in my realm unless I allow it. Now, speak. You have not visited in quite a while. Why have you come?"
"Rory, thanks for getting me outta that thing!
"Mattie, that's right! It's Bear! And me, and all the Sentinels. And you're a friggin' superhero who doesn't need to run away right now! And I think you want me to follow you but I don't speak Portuguese. And--oh crap, lemme deal with this--"
She turns to shoot at one of the pirates advancing toward Rory. Not sure what'll help, she uses a regular arrow, aiming right for the head, since she's pretty sure these things are already dead.
Horizon felt sick to his stomach from taking in all he had without the benefit of his vantablack field. He was surprised there wasn't any more to take in, and grateful as he got control over himself again. He didn't know what his limits were, but he felt he might have died if he'd taken everything. He still felt strange, a mixture of energy roiling inside of him. His powers were supposed to only effect radiation, weren't they?
A thought for another time, as he stumbled to his feet, surprised he still held a vantablack blade in one hand. His hand shook as he vented all the energy he'd absorbed into that sword, watching it grow and thicken into something most men wouldn't be able to wield one handed. He felt steadier after that, but still didn't think he could help with this. But Psyche was here, and as angry as he felt, he couldn't abandon her.
She didn't know what his cat o' nine tails could do!
He didn't think about it, but launched himself forward, exposing his back to the lashes as it came out at his...lover? Friend? He didn't know anymore. But he'd still protect her, even at his own expense.
The bearded man looks up, where the light refracts and glitters over everything in this underwater palace. "Huh. You've forgotten your place. As most of us have. 'Tis a shame."
He leans forward and studies the remains of Praetoria's regalia. "Pirate ghosts, huh? That seems to be Trenchard's work. I've never minded a bit of piracy, but he interfered with my niece's business. She made him pay for that."
Frostbite is set upon by three pirates, two holding his arms and the other shattered the icy sword.
Rory laughs, "The blade was just for theatrics..." as the third pirate raises his blade to cut him down, Rory uses the two holding his arms to flip over, driving his heel into his would be executioner's chin. Landing back on his feet he smashes the arm bar twins' faces together. Frostbite feels good for about a second before realizing how many pirates were left....
Annabelle desperately looks around at the fight, seeing her maid and her footman bravely confronting the pirates, she turns to face them. Drawing herself straight, she steps toward the lieutenant. "Não! Pare. Se você os deixar em paz, irei com você. Apenas não faça mal aos meus servos. Eu irei em paz. Leve-me para Trenchard.."
No! Stop. If you leave them alone I will come with you. Just do my servants no harm. I will come peacefully. Take me to Trenchard.
The man gives a tired sigh, like he was dealing with a child who wasn't grasping a simple concept.
"I mean your place in the firmament. Trenchard's a descendant of mine. Figure out yourself, and you might figure out who I am," he says cryptically.
"Well, if you're so eager to get back, I might as well send you on your way. It's sad when family stops by but can't be bothered to visit for a while."
In a blur that you cannot track, he swings the trident at you in an arc. While the weapon doesn't strike, it creates a vortex that spins you around and disorients you. After a moment of pressure, you open your eyes and you see that you are floating among a reef that looks real and not something out of a fantasy. In the dim light that reaches the ocean floor, you see an old wreck of a ship. A glint of a reflective surface catches your eye, and you see a cutlass grasped by a skeletal hand. On the finger of the hand is a man's ring.
Well, given the way things are going, maybe those are clues, or key to dealing with these things...
She uses her power to help propel her through the water. Not as fast as flying, but much faster than a regular swimming stroke. She takes the cutlass and ring, feeling bad about essentially grave robbing, before turning to the surface and rising as quickly as she can safely. She bursts through the waters surface, gasping for air and looking around for her friends.
Inquiry recovered from the shock. It still had more fuel; the loss of one tank was an irritating and expensive blow, but would not stop it. Especially when in the middle of such a storm of energy. And the corporeality of the spirits meant they were more vulnerable than they had been before.
While it would have liked to attack the pirate captain, who was likely the core of this entity, Inquiry was unsure of its abilities to do so without harming allies. But it could wreak havoc on the ship so that they could at least have a relatively fair fight with the captain. The artifical Kraken thrashed, tentalces suddenly lined with sawtooth-like 'suckers' that shredded planking, cut rigging, and slashed sailors with equal ease. The one wrapped around the mainmast twisted, and with a grinding crash sheared through the trunk. And below the waterline, the steel 'beak' bit and tore, ripping open a hole to let seawater flow in to the now-solid vessel. And the Mana Distillery worked, drawing at the energies encased in the ship, weakening it. All this mattered little in the long run without harming the core, it knew, but it would distract it, possibly harm the overall spirit. And that would leave it open.
Across the communicators, a cool voice sounded. "I'm pretty sure that the captain is the core! Hitting him should damage the whole thing. Wish we had time to search for this thing's physical anchor, but we can do that after we weaken it enough it won't be able to stop us."
Psyche reeled before the ring, her captain's coat splintering into her corona of webbing. The grief over Annabelle's death was overwhelming, the cutlass dissolved in the psychic storm, but there was still too much interference in this astral hurricane for her to just lock everything down with her mind.
"Damnit Isaiah! We called for help specifically because I thought you might actually know How to Help! Or did you fake up your expertise too?"
She had an idea. It was stupid, it was dangerous, but denying this haunt wasn't getting her anywhere. If you can't go around... ...apenas esmague a parede!
Psyche's bearing changed entirely as the coat recoalesced. And as he redrew his sword, Captain Filipe swore to himself that Trenchard would steal no more souls this day.
His First Mate, made foolish by strong emotion had interceded, giving him a moment to advance untroubled by the Cat, but it was not his love whose ring graced a blackguards neck, not his duty to be done.
"Agora não é hora de agir como Pátroclo, seu idiota"
Placing himself back at the fore, he met Trenchard, sword to sword and hate to hate. He locked blades and drove the murdering bastard back against the gunwale for a moment, some Power drove him to grab hold of the ring by its chain, yanking it back with him, as Trenchard's boot hurled him back.
"O coração dela nunca foi seu, Trenchard."
When Praetoria grasps the ring and cutlass from the ocean floor, she feels a sudden presence within her. The earlier confusion is wiped away as Captain Filipe Da Luz settles on her mind, filling her thoughts and emotions with the powerful grief and love for her beloved Annabelle.
She breaks the surface of the ocean, finds the Blinded Banshee and flies onto the deck. Regalia shifting to look like a Portuguese captain's uniform, she brandishes his cutlass and seeks out Trenchard.
At the same time, Psyche, overcome with grief, sees how he dies. He sinks to his knees, the fight going out of him. Trenchard lifts up his sword and readies to make the killing blow.
Just then, Horizon thrusts his blade at the captain, knocking his aim off so that the sword thunks into the deck next to Psyche.
Then the spirit of Filipe Da Luz flies from her. Back to her full mind, she lashes out at Isaiah briefly. Then as she squares off with the pirate captain, she snatches the ring from Trenchard's neck and suddenly she is Annabelle!
Scorch, you are yourself again as the possession lifts!
Annabelle is joined her beloved Filipe as they square off against the foul villain that destroyed their lives. Trenchard, face frozen in a rictus snarl, hefts his weapons and readies to do battle. Isaiah keeps the rest of the crew busy and away from the forecastle, though the ship's animated rigging engages Inquiry!
Back on land, Gallowglass and Frostbite engage the pirates. Not holding back, Ness fires her regular arrows and drops a number of undead as Rory mixes it up with his fighting style honed by training under Silver Shield. They rip through the landing party in efficient fashion, and in short order, the pirate invaders are no more.
What do you do??
Annabelle ducks behind Filipe, reaching beneath his coat to bring out a long barreled flintlock, that may not have been there before.
Laden with deadly purpose, she waits for a clear shot, a moment in the fray when everything lines up. When it does, a strange glow fills the muzzle of the gun, and she shoots.
[ooc]If someone spends Team I'll resist or avoid his blows, but either way, I'm going to surprise, impress or frighten him
Scorch shakes her head to clear it, feeling a wrench as Annabelle's spirit leaves her and she feels her own consciousness return. Irresistibly, her gaze is drawn to the battle raging out on the water, where she sees Filipe and Annabelle fighting the pirate captain. Snarling with remembered hatred and fear, she launches herself into the sky and streaks towards the figures.
Kayla comes landing into the deck with a heavy thud, crying out ”Annabelle! Meu amor!” she lifts her blade and points it at the Captain. ”Você vai pagar por isso, Trenchard! Seu reinado de terror termina aqui!”
She lashes out at Trenchard with her cutlass, but her pent up emotions causes her attack to over be over extended and off balance!
”You will pay for this, Trenchard! Your reign of terror ends here!”
"Where the hell are you going now? These women will be the death of me...
That stung. Isaiah/Inquiry knew they had made a couple bad calls in there, but at least they were trying. Still, would it have been better to just stay quiet? Too late now.
The ghost ship fights back against the Inquiry/Kraken, but its attacks fall on hardened armor this time. No mere steel, wood, and rope was goin g to harm Inquiry. And it had had about enough of beating around the bush.
Slightly miffed, Inqiury decided to interfere in the battle atop the forecastle after all. A tentacle swung toward Trenchard, deftly wrapped around the ghostly captain, lifted him into the air, and started simply squeezing the built up energy out of him, Mana Distillery drawing at it as well. The 'head' rose out of the water, giving another gurgling roar, while the decrease in distance let it divert some more material to armor, and it directed more energy to resilience. It'd have to figure out what to do with all this astral-rage-black Mana it was acumulating, but at least the earlier rupture meant it had a whole empty tank to fill...
Confused by the girls spouting things in odd tongues, and watching Inquiry lift the Captain out of the water, he tries to think of what to do now. The way that Praetoria addresses Psyche...
He gripped the blade , surprisingly solid for something made of condensed energy, and roared as he flew up, extending the field around the blade to make it longer, and longer, until it was as long as the boat itself. Dusk could cut through seemingly anything with his blade - an old wooden ship? That should be no problem.
I guess it's hopeless to think I could have been happy. Maybe I am destined for darkness...
Gallowglass sighs as she and Frostbite manage to take down the undead pirates. "Nice work, Frosty!
"And Scorch, are you feeling okay again?"
Gallowglass looks out at the spectral-mana-vantablack swirl on the waters and scratches her head. "Now what can we do about that, Bear? Any ideas?"
"WOOOOOO... now that was awesome," Frostbite fist pumps as the last pirate falls, "that was some mighty fine shootin' there, Hero." He then turns and looks out to sea and the utterly insane maelstorm of swirling energies... "That, however. does not look awesome... "
Annabelle (Psyche) and Filipe (Praetoria) square off against Trenchard. The naval captain advances, swinging his sabre rapidly at the pirate, but is unable to find an opening. Instead, Trenchard deftly parries each blow contemptuously. "Even now, wallowing in your failure all these years, you cannot beat me!" he hisses and swings his cat. Filipe's sword goes flying from his grip.
Then Annabelle steps from behind her lover with a flintlock pistol leveled at the pirate captain. With a thunderous crack, it dishcharges and Trenchard reels, falling backwards into the arms of the kraken attacking the ship! The recoil of the pistol sends Annabelle several steps behind her where she falters and slips, tumbling down into the hold of the Banshee.
Incensed watching his hoped-for girlfriend and teammate's closeness, Horizon embraces his future self's nihilism and brings his powers to bear on the very ship itself. He slashes down with all his might and causes a tremendous split in the Banshee!
Below in the darkened hold only the dim light from the outside and a few whale oil lamps proved enough light for Annabelle to see. That, though, is enough to show her the sudden onrush of cold salt water gushing towards her!
Isaiah, meanwhile, has Trenchard in the clutches of Inquiry's tentacles. He directs it to flail the pirate captain about, preventing an effective counterattack. That lasts until a handful of crew swivel a gun at the fore of the ship to aim at the alien vessel. With a deafening roar, a pair of cannonballs chained together blast at the kraken's tentacles and wind around them, binding them together and severely limiting their range of motion.
Trenchard spins out of the hampered grip, catches a line of rigging and swings to balance on a yardarm. "Ye'll be paying for that, foul beast! I'll have ye diced up for me stew!" he menaces, leveling his cutlass at Inquiry.
Filipe is now faced with the choice of chasing down Trenchard or venturing into the depths of the Banshee's hold to find Annabelle. What do you do??
Meanwhile, Scorch takes to the air, assessing the situation and hoping that she can fly in and help her teammates. It hits her rather quickly: she's a flamethrower, and the pirate ship is made of wood.
Gallowglass, too, rushes out to the coastline hoping there's something she can do to help out the battle on the pirate ship. It's close enough she could arc some arrows and hit the ship, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to do it in such accuracy to help. No, she'd need to get out there to really help, but then it might be better to get them off the ship and onto dry land. It's likely the best way to stop the fighting and make sure they're safe from drowning.
Suddenly, she looks at Frostbite. Maybe he could freeze over the water and form an ice bridge?
For all of his hopelessness at the possibility of happiness, there was still that part of him that cared. Cared as he saw Kylie fall into the ship's hold. He couldn't let her drown. The blade folded over his body to enable flight, keeping his arms and torso free as he flew down.
Flying lessons with Whippoorwill really helped here, as he swooped down to catch Kylie - or whomever was possessing Kylie - and pull her to safety before the sea could reclaim her. He lifts her out of harm's way, avoiding any danger to himself as well.
Gallowglass shakes her head, agreeing with Frostbite. "Totally not awesome, and they need us.
"Do you think you could freeze us a bridge out there? Maybe we could use it to evacuate our friends?"
"Well I guess there is only one way to find out..."
Frostbite tries to raise a frozen bridge from the sea but the churning of the power infused vortex caused it to crumble.
*cough* "... looks like 'No'"
Rory backs way from the edge a ways, at a full sprint the young hero flies from the edge plunging towards the water below on the way down he could be heard yelling, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeee!"
”Annabelle!” Filipe cries out as he dives into the belly of the ship to save her! Suddenly, he se’s Another man carrying her out of the ship, while flying. It causes him to pause, confused.
Then he...realized he was flying too. He....I...
I am Kayla...Kayla Taylor.
Shin can see Kayla, still appearing as herself dressed in the seafaring garb, struggling to come to her senses. She has a brief moment of lucidity as she pleads with him ”Get...get her safe!”
She then turns to cover their escape. Trenchard! Face me!” she cries as she wills a divine cutlass to form in her hand.
Filipe lands once more in front of Trenchard on the yardarm. ”Face me, man to man!”
Scorch angles towards the pirate captain standing on the yardarm and angles towards him, filled with a thirst for revenge that lingers from the scraps of memory she retains from her time as Annabelle. Blinded by her hatred, she fails to follow her training and line up her attack properly from behind Trenchard, and he easily steps out of her way.
Inqiury briefly faltered, bound. But it quickly remembered that it was no simple sea-beast. Still, the ruse was useful, misdirecting the ghost pirate's attacks, and providing understandable context to possessed allies. And there were other resources in play...
Back on the shore, Isaiah stirred from reverie as Inquiry/Isaiah redirected some processing power to him. He slotted in an Aetherlance crystal, and took careful aim, using Inqiury's sensors as forward spotting, and armed with a weapon that did not suffer from such interferences as gravity and wind. He sighted on Trenchard, and fired off a single well aimed shot, a blast that tore at Trenchard's essence and left a long scar in his supernatural defenses.
Andressa De'Liano Aka Triplight
