The dire bat clutches Lumi tighter, scheeches eerily at the full moon, and launches itself from the window.
Gate's stomach drops as the bat unfurls its wings like dark sails and plummets into the night, attempting to catch an updraft along the castle cliff. The creature seems to be having a difficult time flying and Gate, hanging on for dear life, misses the stone parapet by mere inches; suddenly the castle wall falls away and the cliff is revealed: a hundred feet of sheer, lichen-clung rock plummeting to the black waves below. Just when it seems as if he's not going to make it, a strong updraft catches the wings and the bat levels out in the cool air, sailing clumsily towards the city.
Samen, looking out the window, sees the dark shadow of the bat and its passengers outlined like shadows in the full moon. Lumi's pale nightchothes fluttter behind like a delicate tail, and Gate hangs in the air, one hand grasping a claw.
Whole party is up
”Put us down, you flying rat!”
Gate tries to keep his grip and aim the bat at the ground!
"Quick! We need to get outside and follow them!" Samen thrusts at the bat before him one more time, then without waiting to see the result runs for the door.
The bat shrieks at the stars — Gate's fingers slip, and he's in freefall for split-second before he grabs back on!
The bat falls to the floor; some of its blood stains the fine carpet.
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”Is this really happening? Someone needs to get control here.”
Gate tries to swing a leg up and get onto the bat!
A Boy and Klaytal are up
The boy gasps as the bat flies out with his ward and the big bully. "Hey you, come back!" He takes a rabbit doll out of his tiny pouch and changes his tune.
"Let zephyrs carry us through umbral mist
To grasp our friends and carry them back hence.
Go fly, my friends. Return milady to her bed."
Klaytal, shaken from what he saw upon opening the door, finally snaps out of it. He strides near the window and teleports on top of the dire bar. ”Here goes nothing! Hopefully that extra turkey leg I ate earlier weighs us down just right...!”
The bat swarms chitter as they fly back out the window, swarming into the moonlight.
The bat pitches sharply to the left and then rolls down to the right in an attempt to make Gate fall!
It screams in frustration when Gate manages to hold on; together they leave the cliffs behind, soaring out over the lake.
Gate hears a boom and sees a blossom of fire over the docks — it looks like the locals have decided to have a post-party fireworks show. He might have the best view in all of Morsain from up way here.
Whole Party is up.
Gate tosses back his hair and unbuttons his shirt a notch when he sees the fireworks and the crowds below.
”Looks like the festivities continue. Let’s say we join them, shall we?”
Gate tugs and pulls on the bat’s large, pointy ears in an attempt to direct the creature toward the docks.
”Hold onto your chaplet there princess. This might be a bumpy flight!”
"Let quickling’s feet become our own this hour,
That we may meet our threat upon the ev’ning wind."
Suddenly Klaytal and Samen feel themselves hastened as the boy speeds by on his way downstairs.
Samen & Klaytal are up!
Samen feels the acceleration provided by A Boy as he leaps from the balcony onto the the chandelier, and then down via the decorations, rushing to make his way outside.
Klaytal also rushes after Samen, hoping to get outside as fast as possible.
Samen runs furiously out, leaps off the balcony, catches the rim of the golden chandelier, and swings down into the courtyard. Landing, he tucks his knees into a roll before coming up onto his feet, dusting his perfectly-pressed lapels, and running full tilt to the gate.
Klaytal rushes behind and slides down a rose garland; he lands gracefully on the couple's table and leaps down to the ground. Hundreds and hundreds of petals, broken free in the slide, flutter in the air like pink butterfly wings and trail in the swashbuckler's wake.
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The bat doesn't respond as Gate intends. Beyond whatever rational bat-sense it had in the first place, it flies straight up into the night, and spins a few times for good measure. Lumi's nightgown, partly torn into a long tatter, trails behind like pale smoke.
Looking over the fuzzy little head, Gate sees nothing but stars. To the left is the curve of the world.
Seconds later the air seems to slow and then, for a moment only, Gate experiences the sensation of absolute weightlessness. The air here is so still…
the sky falls and his stomach is left behind — the bat is falling straight down, with nothing but water coming up fast!
A firework booms; the crowd cheers.
Whole party is up
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"A sweet smell tossed up by foul actions. I pray our princess rose falls as gently!"
Klaytal continues to rush outside toward the water. "Guards! Guards! The princess has been taken from her room! During her slumber, a dire bat has snatched her and smashed outside the window! She flies over the lake!"
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He's as bad as the boy. Why waste your breath on flowery speech at a time like this?
Samen continues his journey to what all too quickly looking to be the airborne party's landing spot.
The boy runs out onto the balcony and attempts to replicate Samen's maneuver.
His chest puffs out with pride as he sticks the landing, giving Samen a reflexive look of rivalry. He quickly continues moving out to the street, searching for the bat.
Gate tries to grapple the bat and choke the mother scrathin' guano out of it.
The bat levels out as Gate chokes it — a rocket shoots by, nearly missing them. Ahead, Gate can see faces in the crowd gazing up at them; below, the fireworks barge; above, a ceiling of fire and sulfur; behind, the castle and Lumi's nightgown whipping in the air like a tail.
The crowd cheers at the hammerhead maneuver!
The bat tries to break free of the grapple, losing control for a moment and freewheeling towards the heart of the crowd in a tail spin. People start to run.
Whole party is up! Gate and Lumi are nearly over the docks, where a crowd has gathered to watch the show.
For those exiting the castle, they see a rickety old cart ahead, laden with grumpy chickens, holding up traffic at the end of the bridge. The route is blocked.
"Foul fowl! Out of the way!" Samen vaults over the cart, hoping to maintain his speed toward the descending bat-glider.
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Brumlud Moldwattle, the filthy old keeper of grumpy chickens, shakes a greasy fist at Samen as he leaps gracefully over. Foul yerrself, sir!
The boy dives under the cart, springing up into the busy crowd beyond and singing as he goes.
"A cart, a cart, to keep me from milady fair.
But when it’s low I’ll lower go,
To end up high and cow our foe!"
As he approaches the town, space bends and he appears on a gently pitched roof.
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Moldwattle shouts Aint no cows! These here chickens, ya dang skeeterin’ fool!
As the water approaches, Gate attempts to grapple Lumi away from the bat and fall gracefully with her into the lake!
Gate slides down the furry body and wrenches Lumi free. Fangs snap at him! They narrowly miss Gate as he lets go, freefalling into the night air.
He tries to shield Lumi in a cannonball-style dive, but can't quite hold on.
Gate is plunged, along with Lumi, into the cold water.
From a distance Samen, A Boy, and Klaytal watch Lumi, her nightgown trailing behind, plummet like a comet into the water. They hear someone in the gathered crowd scream and another firework explodes.
The bat wheels around and flies downwards, hovering over the water and waiting for its target to surface.
Gate can see its large shadow on the surface above, in the watery moonlight.
Whole party is up! Klaytal, you can have 2 rounds of actions here
The bat, Gate, and Lumi are 30 feet out from the end of the docks. You can get there this round if you teleport, or had teleported last round.
Gate attempts to swim to shore, holding his breath and carrying Lumi!
He goes underwater and tries again!
He swims 15 feet back toward surface and the docks!
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Lumi's face rises to the surface.
However, unbeknownst to Gate, the bat looks eagerly at its resurfacing target…
Samen moves and teleports to the end of the dock. Lacking any sort of ranged weapon on his person, he dives in and swims toward the group out in the water.
The boy moves along the roofs, making his way closer to the lake.
As he draws closer to the bat, he holds up his doll. The eyes of the rabbit prince glint darkly in the moonlight.
The bat stares at the rabbit prince, awaiting its command.
Bring her to me.
The boy smiles and calls out to Gate. "Its will is mine. Let the bat retrieve my friend."
Klaytal is up!
The bat successfully wrests Lumi away!
The bat picks up Lumi and flies to A Boy; her wet body drips in the air. It gently puts her down on the rooftop and lands nearby. It then places its wingtips protectively on either side of her sleeping form, with its taloned thumbs up in the air. The membrane of its wings shadow her body as it hunches down over her to stare at A Boy. It works its fangs anxiously and its eyes glow like pale yellow lanterns.
Lumi looks cold and wet, with some bruising on her leg from the fall but otherwise stable.
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Not fully understanding what the heck the boy is talking about, but not wanting to drown Lumi either, Gate lets the bat take her.
He then swims ashore and climbs onto the docks, dripping wet.
”That was quite the dramatic rescue, wasn’t it?” Grinning with pride, he slicks back his hair. ”Good thing I’m not afraid to ride a giant bat when the moment calls for it.”
Beaming, he bows and waves to the onlookers.
The crowd has shied away up till this point, what with the dire bat and all, but a group gathers around Gate on the dock once they understand he's not actually dead.
There are hoarse cheers — a few onlookers throw flowers at Gate's feet and someone swoons at his wet, unbuttoned shirt.
People talk excitedly about how the surprise aerial display — and dramatic crash landing — made tonight the best fireworks show in memory. They wonder aloud who was playing the princess, and how how such a performance can ever be topped.
When Samen climbs out of the water the crowd applauds him too. They boo at the bat on the rooftop, whose clearly the villain of this performance.
A boy runs up and tugs shyly Gate's sleeve. He has a scrap of parchment and a piece of charcoal.
Autograph, mister? What's your name?
"Play it off." Samen whispers to his compatriots. "Better they don't know if was actually her." He then glances to the bat, standing over the princess. "Is that thing going to bite me if I go pick her up?"
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Still standing atop the rooftop, the boy approaches Lumi, cupping her head gently in his hands and setting her sleeping body in a comfortable position. He heals her injuries, and then some of those suffered by the bat.
"There you go. We can’t always choose our masters."
He wills the bat to point him in the direction it was meant to take Lumi.