2679/Duty: Sastasha Seagrot

Duty: Sastasha Seagrot
Date of Scene:	25 July 2015
Location:	Hydaelyn Reborn <ARR>
Synopsis:	Adventurers clear the Sastasha Seagrot of pirates, and acquire a pirate ship.
Cast of Characters:	255, 626, 737, 742, 756, 789, 815, N'raha Tia, 826

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Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
Notice from the Adventurers' Guild of Eorzea (posted on numerous bounty and adventurer boards, including the Syndicate Network)!

Duty: Sastasha Seagrot
Location: Skull Valley, Western La Noscea
Type: Dungeon
Urgency: Medium
Difficulty: Low

Enclosed Message: Following the investigation in Skull Valley and the interrogation of the captured pirates, Baderon Tenfingers has delivered information regarding the Serpent Reavers to the Maelstrom's upper command. Scouting parties have determined that the pirates have fortified their location in the secret caverns under La Noscea, and the forces needed to clear them would make Limsa Lominsa too vulnerable to an opportunity strike by its enemies.

The Maelstrom would have adventurers enter the Sastasha Seagrot in their stead and slay or capture this Captain Madison. While the strike wouldn't end the Serpent Reavers completely it would significantly reduce their threat.

Adventurers will be joined by another party of adventurers led by one Avere Bravearm, who has volunteered to lead the strike against the Serpent Reavers.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    For newcomers: WELCOME TO EORZEA. Land of magic, adventure, and mostly some more adventure. Most of everything here feels magical and connected to the world in some fashion, especially inhabitants; can't throw a rock without hitting some source of magic, whether it's someone or just the grass.

    Your destination today is one of the entrances of what the locals call the Sastasha Seagrot, a series of tunnels and underground streams that cover most of the region of La Noscea. Needless to say, having bandits and pirates use these tunnels for their work makes their job much easier, and local authorities' much harder.

    The closest Warp Gate (and Aetheryte for that matter) are in Aleport, a fortified port village maybe half a mile to a mile south of this particular cave entrance. It's evening, and the sun is setting. You were supposed to meet the other group of adventurers here, but a Yellowjacket (local militia dressed in yellow) will have informed you they, uh, got impatient and ran ahead. They seemed underequipped, he notes, so if you could hurry it up, that'd be swell.

    And thus we skip right to your destination. A large cave entrance in the hills and mountains, which would be easy to miss under most circumstances. About a dozen pirate bodies are scattered here and there, and it seems Avere Bravearm and his three companions have cleared a way in for you already. Though visibility is initially poor due to fading daylight, a few meters into the caves and it goes right back up. Large, glowing blue crystals and plant formations are located here and there, providing a nice view of the caverns. Paths of stone and platforms form a path deeper, following one of the streams of water.

    You have been given a map, but scouts couldn't find the pirates' camps in the cave at all. They suspect it's hidden, so you'll have to do some searching.

    ALWYN is with you, naturally, spear out and all.

    AHEAD: Caves, water.
    To the sides: Caves, water.
    Back: Caves, no water.

    A trail of dead wildlife (large crabs, stingrays, menacing jellyfish) does pave a sort of trail to follow at least.

Dorotea Grahn (742) has posed:
Some people can't just stay away from adventure.

Dorotea hasn't gotten to spend much time in this world yet, but she loves adventure and exploring and that's why she's even affiliated with the Syndicate Network. And so perhaps it was no surprise that she volunteered for such a thing. Without even checking to see if anyone else she knew was coming, even! Sometimes you just have to cope with the hand you're dealt, and that includes coworkers.

Dorotea fully understands getting impatient and running ahead. She's exactly the sort of person who would do that. She sort of /did/ in coming here with no preparation - though she takes the map, presumably to fix that. (She may even look at it at one point.) And so she went from Aleport to the Seagrot at a jog. It's not that far; she's gone further, certainly, at faster speeds.

It gets her there fairly un-tired, at least. She slows down once she gets there because she half expects something to jump out and immediately tackle her. Nothing does, though possibly because all the wildlife has already been killed.

"Huh," she says, scratching the back of her head, near one of the tails. She comments to one of the other temporary groupmembers, "I figured they'd be louder."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Well if you were looking for N'RAHA to shy away from this, you'd be dead wrong. He might be just as ill-equipped as those other adventurers who went in, but he's got heart, he's got spirit, and for those who have seen him recently...

    There's a bit more steel in his spine at being with the rest of the offworlders who've been showing up.

    The Miqo'te is in his best ratty brone armor, carrying a hefty axe over his shoulder and looking like he's ready to fight All The Pirates. At least his tail is swishing awful excitedly. He is looking at that map though. "Honestly, if it was me, I'd be looking for some sort of underground bay or lake or rails or something. You need either water or steel to move a decent amount of stuff around." He taps the haft of that axe against his armor and hmmmms.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Familiar with Eorzea now, Kyra traverses the Aetheryte with few issues. She'll likely wait a little bit to travel along with someone and she can keep up perfectly fine, opting for using her Chocobo summon matrix to get from Aleport to the mouth of the cave. Geared up as usual, it should be no surprise to anyone now to see that she's packing the alchemized CURE-ALL healing gun on her back. The front of her hoodie is already unzipped, her other weapons and mixtures easily accessible. There's also an empty-looking messenger bag with her.

    Kyra also has a curving, fleshy horn growing from her forehead. It points up and peeks outside of her Moogle-eared hood.

    "...hm. Should we split up? It might take less time but with fewer it'll be harder to take on the pirates." Kyra speaks up as she moves to the dead wildlife. She cuts pieces and parts off of them liberally, stuffing it into plastic baggies that are in turn put in her messenger bag. The white mage seems inclined to follow the trail of dead random encounters, if only so she can loot their corpses for alchemical materials.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
Because he's getting a feeling that this Kyra who keeps showing up might want to do the honours of healing. Bertram has left his staff within his armoury chest. Instead, he has brought with him a dusty old time filled with arcane writings. "That doesn't sound good. We must needs make sure they don't get themselves in any more trouble." His advice said, he starts reading an incantation from the tome, and soon enough a large glowing cyan critter forms out of the aether. Like a living, crystal squirrel with three tails. "Ready to go in when you guys are."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    For a second time, Setsuko Kaminagi steps through the Aleport warp gate, and for a second time she finds herself worried about the quartet under the leadership of Avere Bravearm. Hearing that they've gone on ahead puts a scowl on her face, and without even waiting for most of the rest to alive, she's off at a swift run herself - bringing her to the entrance to the caverns rather quickly.

    "Right now, what we're looking for is the adventurers," she responds to N'raha, walking past without skipping a beat. Already, her blade is coming out of its sheath. "I distrust the wisdom of that fool with a sword." She turns her head slightly to address Kyra, offering a simple, "If you do, be careful. They seem to have slain a fair few creatures, but there could still be more lurking. Or pirates lying in wait after all the commotion.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin really ought to get one one of those fancy horse birds he sees people riding all the time around these lands, considering how often he has to leave his bike behind and hike around these days to avoid damaging it. Then again, a Chocobo is a lot of responsibility and he's kind of a flake. He might also be holding out for the day his protaginatory ventures net him an airship or something.
    Either way, he's here, and with a backpack across his back. It's looking sorta dirty and beatup by now, because he's been on a lot of crazy ventures by this point, but it's still in one piece and he is pretty amped to be on yet another adventure in Eorzea. The guy running these posts seemed pretty cool and it was one of the few times he felt pretty useful.
    "Hey heeeeeeey, I've arrived," Shin declares to people present, waving around to everyone, even the slim number of people he hasn't met yet, "Shin Tokuyama, Combat Vagrant, is on the case once more in Eorzea. I'm ready to bust some pirates in the mouth."

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    Vivio Takamachi looks excited! It might have been the large sense of magic on this world. It might have been the charming port town she arrived in. It mostly definitely was probably the sight of Chocobos, which was accompanied by cute squeals of joy and requests of 'Can I ride one!?' and exclamations of 'I want to ride one!' But ultimately she's excited for the chance to fight some pirates!

    So Vivio stands with the group in the entrance to the cave system. She holds the straps of her backpack as she wanders forward with the others, wondering out loud, "So do these pirates have a pirate ship too?"

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    As combat vagrants, arcanists, white mages and assorted adventurers gather, Alwyn distributes LINKPEARLS of a shiny blue color, granting access to his Linkshell as long as it's on you. Handy! (+radio/init NAME=20132.0 and then use that +radio/key I pasted earlier in +ooc)

    To Vivio's enthusiasm, Alwyn (with his tiny pet dragon on his shoulder) grins and answers: "There might be a larger section of the cave where they have a ship, or where it opens up to the ocean. They wouldn't be pirates without one, I'm sure we'll find it."

    AHEAD, following the trail of dead bats, crabs, jellyfishes and... giant fish?, one can start hearing what sounds like bickering. Loud bickering, and occasional electric shocks.

    "Will you QUIT touching that, Avere?" asks Paiyo Reiyo.
    "Hahaha, but it's hilarious!" answers Liavinne.
    "EDDA, STOP GAWKING AND HEAL ME!" shouts Avere.
    "I-I'm exhausted, and we're out of potions and ethers..." stutters Edda.
    "Well maybe if ye'd bloody pitched in to buy some too," retorts Avere.
    "S-Sorryyyy..." comes Edda again.

    The group crosses shallow water to reach a larger stone platform and a dead end. There are three large crystal structures, a BLUE, a GREEN and a RED. Avere is by the BLUE one, and touches it again as people arrive, receiving a shock for his trouble. (Avere is a man in leather and brass armor, Edda a young woman in beige-white robes with a pointy hat, Paiyo is a Lalafell in dark blue robes, and Liavinne is a woman in brown and green leathers, quiver on her back.)

    "This bloody puzzle! I know the pirates be hidin' behind it!" argues Avere, while Liavinne is practically rolling on the ground laughing everytime Avere takes a shock. Paiyo is just kind of super frowning, and Edda seems to be shouldering all the blame.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "I KNOW HOW TO SOLVE THIS!"
    Shin declares this as he walks up the group of other adventures and starts popping his knuckles, "Really, the answer was in front of you all along."
    He proceeds to explain, dusting his hand off, "See, Red means stop. Blue means you're in violation of the red light and can get a ticket or something. But GREEN means go. So obviously, you pick the green one," He says in a 'You should have guessed this' tone.
    And then he triumphantly puts his hand on the green orb with a big smile on his face.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
SARAH PARSLE is here and she's expecting everything to be terrible. Pursuant to this, she is wearing WATER WINGS and a LIFE JACKET. She already has her JENGA STACK out, working on trying to keep it balanced as she proceeds into the caves with the others through the area.

"These guys are industrious, at least. Getting all the work done for us. Of course, they've probably taken all the loot too." Sarah comments. "Sword guy, in front. Combat vagrant, flank and murder anything sword guy doesn't instantly cut in half. Guy with the glowing rat, you're with me, I like the nightlight motif."

Apaprently done grabbing party members, Sarah advances on the scout team. "Maybe if it hurts when you do it, you should STOP DOING IT." Sarah yells. "Anyway, hey look, it's an obtuse puzzle meant to keep out people who don't belong here, big surprise." She looks around. "Anyone see any clues? These pirates look dumb so they probably have an obvious clue as to which one is the right one. Or if you want to do it the other way, just poke a different one until we figure out which one works."

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    Vivio ooooohs quietly in antitipation of pirate ship. She's heard stories about pirate, seen shows about them on TV, but she's never actually met one... Not that she knows of.

    Vivio continues further into the cave with the rest of the group. Following the trail of dead animals seems like it'll lead them somewhere... Though Vivio is a little sad at the sight of the dead creatures. Though she understands that animals in this world tend to be a little more aggressive than normal.

    Upon hearing voices, Vivio goes on alert and tenses up a little bit... Pirates? As they get closer, Vivio blinks as the words become clearer. Not pirates? Vivio walks through the shallow water and stops at the edge of the platform. Those people don't look like pirates... So Vivio raises her hand to wave at them and says cheerfully, "Hello!"

    Meanwhile, from one of the pouches of Vivio's backpack, a little plush bunny pokes its head out. It then climbs out and rises into the air. It looks around curiously for a moment, before sighting the RED crystal. It floats over to it, experimentally reaching its pointed plush arm out to touch the crystal.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Well, if you really wanted to get N'raha grumpy at people, this would be a good way to do it. They're looking for these people and they sure found them, bickering and fighting and yelling at each other.

    The catman sighs, and looks over at Setsuko and the others before clonging his axe against the ground, the noise ringing in the depths.

    "OY! What the hell's the matter with you lot? I..." And then there's an explosion of activity from the off-worlders and the Miqo'te settles in to watch a bit. They're the ones with the greater combat experience in here right now. All he's got to do, really, is keep between them and the danger, for the most part.

    He does glare at Paiyo and the archer though, those green eyes narrowing a bit. "That's hardly a way to treat your conjurer, you know. They ain't just people what dispense Cure." That axe taps against the ground again, as he watches the rest of /his/ party fan out.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
"My name is Bertram Silent, and the 'rat' is an Emerald Carbuncle." Bertram says with no rancour, just a gentle correction. The ... adventurers who went in before them, well... Bertram decides it's better to say nothing and let the others handle it. Instead, he starts casting a spell on Avere, who seems to need it. He channels his aether through the arcane inscriptions in his arcanima tome, creating a curative energy to flow into Avere. "Physick."

Dorotea Grahn (742) has posed:
Other people arriving get Dorotea to introduce herself, too, triggered by Shin doing just that. She thumps herself with a fist. "Dorotea Grahn!" she says, with good vigour. "I'm from Alexander Academy."

Which may explain why she looks at Kyra with a little worry. It looks like she's going to go over and talk to her, in fact, but apparently decides not to, picking her way through the caves. But she still looks worried!

She looks worried right up until the point that she sees the other group failing. Then she snickers. "Just push 'em all!" she suggests, looking from one to the other as she identifies each one in turn.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Shin! Great! You get up front again!" Kyra waves him ahead of her as she carves up some kind of giant stingray.

    "Well they sure are making a lot of noise up there." Kyra says to Setsuko. "They're all going to alert the pirates for sure if this was the right cavern. THough it probably is-" Kyra finishes packing up a few scales and gestures at the crystals. "-that looks like a puzzle and puzzles usually mean you're on the right track in a dungeon or secret base. So he does have a point about pirates hiding behind it. As for solving it, hmmm..."

    Kyra looks thoughtful. "Absent of any other clues, if I had to guess, maybe you touch them in the order of descending wavelengths of visible light for colors. That is, you would touch them in rainbow order: red-green-blue. But that's just a guess." She doesn't move to touch the crystals since Shin and Vivio are already touching them-Vivio in particular starting with the one she would have poked. "-though, hmmm..." she digs through her bag and pulls out a crumpled piece of paper, "...a lot of those pirates had this note on them about the captain liking his wine red after a grin. That's redd with two d's by the way. I don't know if that's significant or pirate literacy."

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
"Bertram, awesome, nice to meet you. I'm Sarah. Is that a carbuncle like a gem, because it sure doesn't look like a water parasite." She snorts at Kyra, however. "Spectrums? Seriously, it's pirates. They're probably too brain-rotted from grog to know what waveforms are, let along what order to do them in."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Hey, their captain might be smart enough to think about it. Pirate captains are usually the smarter, charismatic, dashing ones, right?" Kyra chimes in cheerfully, putting the piece of paper away, "At least that's what they're like in romance books. Er. Not that I read them. But red before a grin. So...."

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
"/Red/, then /green/." Sarah supplies. "And you have NO idea how real pirates work, do you? It's not all Jack Sparrow and sexy men swinging on ropes. It's harsh, brutal, and evil."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko likely hears the sounds of the bickering group long before most of her own does; it prompts her to move more quickly, at least until she ascertains that they're not in any immediate danger. Then she relaxes, at least long enough for the group to reach the room with all the crystalline, coral-like things. Shin seems to have the puzzle-solving down pat. So she advances right alongside Sarah, towards the fool in the brass armor - but while she only yells at Avere briefly, Setsuko takes the time to walk right up close. Right into his personal space, in fact. And her voice is probably a fair bit more icy than those who know her are accustomed to. "I tolerated your beratement for your healer's perceived shortcomings. Barely. But if you verbally abuse her again over a situation that /you yourself/ caused, you and I are going to have an issue. /Are we clear?/"

    She doesn't wait for an answer. She doesn't particularly care to hear it, nor can they afford it in the middle of a hostile area. She's more concerned with what seems to be some sort of puzzle, and how people are working on the solution. "Everyone, be on your guard. Even solving this properly may bring them down on our heads."

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Shin touches the GREEN CRYSTAL(coral). It chimes.
    Vivio's Device triggers the RED CRYSTAL(coral). It chimes.
    Something clicks ahead.

    "I was going to try that next!" Avere argues to Shin.
    "She's right, you know," Paiyo says, in response to Sarah.
    "S-Stop! Avere was just trying to help us progress..." Edda mutters.
    "Man it's CREEPY how obsessed you are with him," Liavinne comments.
    "It's called love!" Edda shouts at Liavinne.
    "Stay out of this, cat!" Avere barks at N'raha.
    He's healed by Bertram! He's too busy yelling to thank him.
    "This is child's play! She should be able to keep me up," Avere grunts, evidently defying Setsuko in her stance. Edda interposes herself between Avere and Setsuko though, frowning.
    "Leave him be! It's okay, it really is." she says.

    Suddenly, the dead end of a cave wall rumbles and parts ways like a secret door. Unfortunately, a MASSIVE Coeurl (think giant leopard with supreme body-length monowhiskers) comes out of it. Chopper is its name, not that it's going to introduce itself.

    The beast (eyeballing it, about eight foot tall and three times that length) immediatly leaps for SHIN and VIVIO, being the two closest to the secret door. Electricity is shooting out of its whiskers too! That's a bit more dangerous to everyone in general, while Shin and Vivio just have the claws and teeth to worry about.

    The discord amidst Avere's company does mean the lot of them are shocked by the Coeurl's paralyzing blast and relegated to standing to the side. Are they arguing amongst themselves exclusively now? It mostly seems to be Avere yelling, Edda defending him, and the other two passing assorted comments. Oh well!

N'raha Tia has posed:
    CUE THE MUSIC!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSSPqzuT_rI

    Bother. Well this went sideways awfully fast. N'raha is about to start shouting at Avere again, before CHOPPER shows up. Right then. The Miqo'te snarls a challenge to the Coeurl, bellowing in anger as his axe flashes over in a massive red flare, and he brings it smashing down on top of the ELECTRO CAT with a sundering force meant to REALLY GET ITS ATTENTION.

    And then he's yelling at the other party. "SHAKE IT OFF, YOU LOT AND GET TO YOUR FEET."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Woo! Dadada da da da dun dun DUUUUUN!" Shin says, holding his arms up triumphantly as they accidentally open the doors! His triumphant little tune doesn't last too long before his hands come down and he dusts them off, walking away from the coral. His victory is short-lived, however, since a big cat monster is charging out of the newly opened door towards himself and that little girl, "LOOK OUT!"
    Shin's first instinct is to put himself between the monster and Vivio, trying to take the brunt of its attack (though probably not all of it) as claws cut deep into his suit and open up some pretty big wounds on his chest, which stain his red suit a deep ruby from blood loss, "Ow! Damnit!" He's at least accidentally following the 'take front row' suggestions from Sarah and Kyra.
    His follow-up is pretty simple, because he's a simple man with a simple dream. He curls his right hand into a fist. It glows with a red aura and then comes streaking down towards the throat of the Coeurl, trying to catch it right in the larynx and crush it with a martial arts strike.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    "If you're going to hurt yourself over and over on purpose, you-" The demigod glances downward to Edda briefly, her expression softening at the conjurer's intervention-

    A wave of electricity passes over the demigod's body, prompting a hiss of surprised pain. It doesn't even slow her down, however. Indeed, she's around in a heartbeat, charging in towards the massive coeurl at full speed. In a cave like this, the full-sized version of Zanjintou would be dangerous. So for now it remains small, a simple katana - more than enough, in her hands, to lay open the hide of a beast like this, especially when she darts past along its length so that she can take a long swing at its side.

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    Vivio blinks and looks around as she realises her Device has gone off to do its own thing. She spots it touching the crystal and says, "Chris! What are you doing?" Vivio runs over to grab the plush bunny but it's too late and there's a click... And some rumbling... Followed by the sounds of big footfalls.

    Vivio slowly turns around, spotting the Coeurl. She ehehes quietly, then asks, "Nice kitty?" Vivio instinctively raises her arms as the Coeurl leaps towards her and Shin. Thankfully Shin takes the brunt of the assault, leaving Vivio with just some somewhat torn sleeves.

    Looking again, Vivio sees Shin go for Coeurl's throat. Moving pretty darn quick, Vivio dashes around Shin and beneath the monstercat's large head. Irridescent light forms and surrounds her right hand, which she closes into a fist and launches an uppercut to the Coeurl's chin, striking in concert with Shin. There's a blast of magic light when said fist makes contact.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
"Look guys, you're all almost as crazy as my own adventuring team and that's a problem. Thankfully, it's not our job to fix it. I do like you though, you're actually smart." She points to Paiyo. "Make sure you don't die."

They open the door! "What the crap, that's the reverse order." Sarah objects. "That's bull-" RAWR.

"Oh crap, giant doom cat. Of course, some kind of massive guard... cat."

She stays at range, since she's not stuck with melee DPS, smoothly withdrawing and hurling Jenga blocks at the cat. "Hit the cat hard, watch out for the lightning whiskers. Shin, tie them in a knot or short them or something." She suggests, horribly dangerously for Shin but hey, that's what he's getting paid for.

Dorotea Grahn (742) has posed:
"Ha, see? Easy puzzle," Dorotea says, with the attitude of someone who didn't even try to solve it because there are brainiacs on the team that aren't her.

Dorotea starts to stride forward toward the wall even as it opens up. Unfortunately, this means she is right there when it /does/ open up and disgorges a couerl. She has a vague idea of what they are and throws herself dangerously to the side; she ends up slamming into some of the coral, so hopefully it's sturdy enough to take a teenager slamming into it.

She springs back to her feet remarkably quickly. Dorotea focuses on the monster - monster. Couerl. Yeah, she can use this.

"Hey, monster! Catface! Cat...whisker...thing!" Dorotea slams her hands together repeatedly; the gauntlets make a hell of a racket when she does it. "C'mon, over here! Yeah, nice and easy." She is edging around so that, if the couerl does face her, it's facing directly away from the paralyzed crew - the other side. "C'mon, do your zappy thing over here, c'mon, c'mon!"

Blue mages, man.

But to get its attention, Dorotea does more than just pound her gauntlets together. The air around her flickers blue, condensing into a series of diamonds, and Dorotea throws what looks like a pinecone at the monster. This is because it is a pinecone.

Pinecones, however, do not normally explode in a spray of shrapnel pine-pieces as soon as they hit something. At least it smells good.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
"Like the gem. There's another Carbuncle I can summon which is based on topaz." And then, challenge to experiment with new strategems. Right after the paralyzing blast, Bertram starts to walk right towards the Coeurl, his tome lighting up as the arcane designs are used to bring forth a sickening spell known as 'Bio.' The Carbuncle starts flinging gusts of wind at the beast, and Bertram closes his tome briefly to give it a firm 'thwack.' Right after, the time lights up once more as Bertram goes for even more magibiological weaponry in the form of Miasma.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "It's...not?" Kyra frowns, looking extremely disappointed. "No, I've never met any real pirates before. Unless software pirates count, heh heh."

    Meanwhile, Kyra feels warm fuzzies inside as the rest of the group here chews out the other group for being jerks to their healer.

    The other party continues to bicker and Kyra rubs her head. "Man, seriously, give it a rest." She waits, electing to lead up the rear of the group so she has a good idea of who's getting hurt and who isn't should they run into trouble. Good thing too because trouble quickly arrives. "Coeurl! Watch out for its Blaster! ...it can do that here, right?" Kyra starts casting, readying a Shellga spell with a quick mutter. She lifts a hand, directing at the party when the white glow turns purple. "-oh shit! Oh shit, get out of my way! MOVE!"

    Abruptly, Kyra shoves her way up to the front of the party, even putting herself in range of the lightning and getting hurt to do so. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt her own party.

    Again.

    It would have happened to anyone still between her and the coeurl too by the time she gets up there. She thrusts her purple-glowing hand in front of her and unleashes what turns out to be a massive gravja spell, slightly reminiscent of their last encounter with Diabolos.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Shin intercepts Chopper! It's a big clawed dino-cat-thing, but it's not exactly on Shin's level. If he intentionally takes a hit, maybe, but one assumes he won't do that twice! The punch to the Coeurl's throat sends it reeling back.
    N'raha's unable to distract the beast off Shin, but taking his axe to the beast's skull pierces halfway through its... for a lack of better term, chitin, or maybe that's scales? Either way, the axe puts a gash into the cat's head.

    Setsuko darts past Chopper, cleaving into its side with her katana. Though she can't open it outright, the red streak is still indicative of a deep wound.

    Vivio MAGIC UPPERCUTS the Coeurl, exhausting it rather than wounding it outright. It crashes back a few more feet, almost right back through the opening it surged out of.

    Dorotea goads Chopper. This'll pay off momentarily.

    Horrible magical sickness flows into the Coeurl courtesy of Bertram, weakening it. This may make Sarah's orders easier to carry out for Shin, since it seems to slow down!

    And then Kyra SLAMS the beast with a gravity spell. It whimpers, loudly-- it seems very badly hurt. It considers retreating, before a voice speaks up behind it.

    "Yarr, intruders!" yells Captain Madison, a man in black and red leathers with a captain's tricorn on, a sword and a shield. Oh, and a parrot.
    "Intruders, introders, squaaack!" the parrot says.
    "Ye'll never get me alive! Attack, ye survy dogs!"

    From the secret door opening, a dozen large, feral black jackal-like dogs surge out, with red pirate bandanas around their necks. The beasts attack EVERYONE, no exceptions! Captain Madison stays back to watch.

    Chopper, the Coeurl, turns its glare towards Dorotea now, despite its heavy injuries. Its whiskers spark, and it fires a deadly blast of magic straight towards her! That's worse than paralysis, that's Blaster! It can hurt like HELL. And paralyze. Or kill.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'RAHA snarls again as he catches the outside edge of that Gravja, feeling his axe being sucked into the well. He plants his feet but still gets dragged forward into it a bit. But he's not dumb. You gotta bend before breaking and he uses the motion to his advantage, or tries to.
    Those green eyes narrow and he lets go of his hold, dancing forward and into the attack, which brings him into a shoulder tackle on CHOPPER< trying to interrupt that Blaster attack by belting the Coeurl in the face with his axe and then swinging to break something in one of its legs.

    Oh wait, now there are dogs. N'raha knows this because one knocks him flat on his face, and starts trying to rip through his bronze armor with teeth and claws and biting.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
"That's near. Hope it works out with that." Just when you think they can just tank and spank this, Chopper prepares to nuke the hell out of Dorotea. "Someone tank that. That's going to blow her in half!" She calls out, moments bfore the parrot calls out.

"Wait. Parrot." Sarah looks up. "Oh hell, it's the captain... And dogs. It's always dogs." Sarah hisses, and turns to try to run away, a Scurvy Dog snapping at her heels and back as she tries to desperately hurl Jenga blocks at it, running in circles and desperately trying to keep it balanced.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Injured though he may be, Shin has the presence of mind to go, "Dude yeah! Sick uppercut! Much props, yo. Ten pounds of TNT in a five pound bag. Dap that shit!" The martial artist extends a closed first towards Vivio, expecting a fist bump from the tiny girl as if she was another bro. He has a bright smile on his face as he watches her with that heterochromatic gaze of his.
    Of course, he doesn't get to take too long to shower the girl with praises for her Belkan Punch style of Magic Kung Fu. Instead, the SCURVY DOGS are coming out. He cracks his knuckles as they close in and then dash-steps forward. There's a flare of Ki around him as he shouts, "Tetsuzakou!"
    He collides shoulder-first into the side of one of the dogs. A blast of red energy erupts upon imact and tries to propel the dog into one of its friends, or outright into a wall with a pretty immense force. The specific dog that he tries to target is the one chasing Sarah Parsle.
    "Yo! Radio Girl! Come over here and I'll run interference! You did hire me for that!" He shouts to her while she runs.

Dorotea Grahn (742) has posed:
Dorotea got Chopper's attention.

"That's what I'm talking about!" she yells, banging her gauntlets again. "C'mon, kitty kitty monster. You guys get the dogs and the pirates, I'll handle this!"

Not that Dorotea doesn't have a dog too. She kicks at it as it bites at her leg, then bends down, grabbing it. She flings it at Chopper, half to get it out of her way and half to see if cats and dogs really do fight in dungeon ecology (she can write an essay on that). It also frees her up so she can run toward Chopper. She's still trying to make sure the Couerl fires that electrical discharge at her -

Wait, Dorotea thinks, blearily, halfway through her forward run. That's a /different/ electricity.

The Blaster slams into Dorotea. She /tries/ to memorize it, to internalize that flow of energy, but she's not entirely sure she manages it; the energy literally picks her up and throws her back across the room, where she ends up sparking for a few moments.

Yeah, she's probably paralyzed. But not completely, because she manages to stick one hand up well enough to give a thumbs-up. A really, really off-angled thumbs-up. She's still sparking.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Nobody else /seemed/ to be hurt by that at least, right? Kyra seems relieved that the effects were mostly directed to Chopper. She herself starts to retreat to the back of the groupd where she feels more comfortable when the captain appears. "-oh jeeze, you really aren't kidding, Sarah. This guy isn't dashing at all." Kyra draws her gun as she moves backwards and the pirate talks. It's a good thing she does, too, because a dog is lunging at her.

    Kyra unloads her entire clip from the Galiandan-style handgun into the lunging beast. Killing it or not, the momentum is still there and it knocks her over onto the ground. With the beast on top of her, she quickly tries to scramble out from underneath the monster.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
"Let's try to use standard strategem seven forty eight." Bertram says as he gets clawed in the face by scurvy dogs and sucked into a gravja, even if only mildly. "Everyone hide behind the tough, sturdy combatant, in our case N'raha. Conjurers to keep him standing, and then everyone else optimizes offense for multiple adversaries." He sounds like he's quoting someone, it doesnt' feel like him at all. He starts casting Bio on each dog, smacking the Coeurl when he has the opportunity.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
When Shin yells to Sarah, she looks up and skids, banking as she executes a YOUTH ROLL, lunging past the Scurvy Dog in an attempt to keep it from pouncing on her. There is a long gash put into her side for her effort, but eith a yell of pain, she runs past Shin, hoping he can pick up the aggro.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko stops on the other side, bringing her blade back around in preparation for a second attack along Chopper the Coeurl's side. The captain's voice stalls her, however, and that's enough time for a jackal to close distance and sink teeth into her thighs. "Ghh-!" Her response is simple, and pragmatic; she whips her sword down, making a fast and precise cut with a blade that can carve through steel, right through the neck of the creature attempting to shred her leg off above the knee.

    By that point, Chopper has turned itself away, putting it just out of reach. All Setsuko can do after taking a hard bite to her leg like that is bring Zanjinto around in a high diagonal swipe, unleashing an arc of impossibly sharp, blue-white divine energy towards the coeurl.

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    It's an impressive sight to see all the fighters here make their attacks against the large monstercat. At least until there's a sudden blast of gravity magic from out of nowhere. Who would have thought the Coeurl was capable of that!?

    Vivio quickly jumps away from the monster to get clear of the Gravja spell. Landing again, she watches the Coeurl, hoping it'll give up soon. Her attention is briefly drawn by Shin, to which she grins and returns the fist bump!

    Vivio spins around at the words from the pirate captain. Oh hey, an actual pirate! He even has the parrot! Vivio grins in anticipation, "About time you showed up!" The young girl reaches out to grab the plush bunny floating in the air beside her. Holding it up she calls, "Sacred Heart! Set up!"

    Irridescent light flares into life around Vivio, mostly hiding her from view. The silhoutte of the girl inside begins to grow in size, filling out into the form of a young woman. The light vanishes with a flash and light burst of wind, leaving behind the older looking Vivio in her fancy Barrier Jacket outfit.

    Banging her fists together in excitement, Vivio shifts into an attack stance and smirks towards Captain Madison, "You're mine!"

    Vivio begins to charge forward at high speed, straight towards the scurvy dog that's likewise charging her. Just as they're about to meet, Vivio jumps. Her foot comes down on the head of the dog, likely knocking it into the ground as Vivio uses it for footing to jump higher into the air. Though it's probably a move that may come back to bite Vivio later as it's likely not enough to stop the dog.

    Vivio arcs over, soaring towards Captain Madison as magic gathers around her fist. She begins, "Axel..."

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Unfortunately, N'raha is too late to interrupt the Blaster! But not too late to belt the Coeurl in the face some more with his axe. The weapon digs in, drawing blood and an eye! It blinds the Coeurl on its left side.

    Shin punches a dog into another dog! Namely, this protects Sarah and himself from scurvy dogs. They're called scurvy dogs because they actually have scurvy, by the way.
    But also, pirate puns.

    Kyra's handgun puts one of the poor dogs down.

    Sickness flows out of Bertram into each of the dogs he can see and tag, his magic weaving poison into each one. Their health ticks away!

    Setsuko's shockwave will manage to tag both dog and Coeurl; the dog is slain, while the Coeurl, now wounded to the point it can barely stands, has actually stopped its assaults completely.

    Also: Dorotea may or may not have learned Blaster!
    (Consent is certainly given.)

    Vivio charges straight for Captain Madison. The man panics, taking a step back. "I said ye'll never catch me!" And then he BOLTS. He's actually pretty fast on his feet (like most Eorzeans, he has access to magic), but what probably helps more is the fact behind him were hidden half a dozen pirates, all archers, who raise their bows and fire a volley towards the magical girl! There's a fire arrow, a poison one, and the rest are laced with concussive water. These guys aren't exactly top-tier, though. But if all they need is to buy their captain half a minute, they might manage.

    Chopper, the Coeurl, has ceased movement for now. It isn't dead, but it's whimpering and curled up in a corner. Some scurvy dogs remain, but nothing that can't be cleaned up quickly. Dorotea might need help if she's still disabled, on the other hand.

Dorotea Grahn (742) has posed:
Dorotea will figure out if she learned Blaster properly later, when she thinks to try it.

Right now she's trying to get to her feet despite lingering disablement. Under ordinary circumstances she is pretty sure she could fight all the dogs coming after her and come back for more; right now she's sluggish and occasionally sparking. "C'mon, you - stupid dogs! Someone get the pirates!" She missed a lot of what happened (she is, for instance, definitely going to ask where Vivio went and who the new girl is later).

Dorotea gets up, but one of those sparks arcs across her boots as she starts to move, and she nearly stumbles right back down. She forces herself to stay up via sheer stubbornness, and channeling power into another Blue Magic, she -

- punches one of them right in the snoot. The Goblin Punch doesn't seem to have any special effect when leveled at them, but it stings and it makes an impressive blue flash when she does it. But, injured and debilitated, she really /could/ use the help... even if she'll never ask for it.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra rolls the dog body off of her with a considerable amount of effort to her white mage muscles. Wearily, she picks herself up, seemingly much less chipper now that she had to contend with a magical misfire. Silently, she switches her weapons, exchanging her handgun for her dartgun. From one of the bandoliers on her chest, she withdraws a dart with an orange liquid filling its glass resevoir.

    "I'll handle the status cleanup. You guys run ahead and catch that guy! I'll catch up!" Kyra announces as she loads the dart into her dartgun. With little hesitation, she fires the Remedy-filled projectile at Dorotea to hopefully spare her of being a paralyzed sitting duck for a bunch of vicious dogs.

    Another dart is immediately loaded, more of the remedy variety, and aimed and shot preemptively at Vivio. Should she actually get hit with the poisonous arrow.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    "GET. OFF. ME."

    N'RAHA the Maurauder rolls a bit, kicking up at the dog which has its teeth locked around a piece of that bronze armor, until he can roll all the way around and kick the damn thing in the face.
    And then treat it like a boulder, and we all know what sort of enmity that axement have for boulders, rocks and other such things.

    His chopping overwith, he rolls his neck, feeling blood dripping down his back from where the dog got through that armor, and mostly from his tail which is now limp behind him. He'll feel that eventually.
    The miq shuffles around to orient himself towards where the captain ran, and then runs forward. Bertram's Tactical Planning sinks in, and he's moving to cover Vivio who is no longer a little girl but again he'll have a better chance of processing all of this once he's not in the middle of battle lust. "PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SPEED, YOU SALTY ARSEHOLES."

    Clearly, not directed at Vivo, as N'raha spins in place and launches a blast of aggravating energy at one of the archers. "COME ON THEN! LET'S SEE THE FIGHTIN' SPIRIT THE SAHAGIN PUT IN YOU."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    "Vivio, fall back-!"

    That's all Setsuko can do from here. The dog has released her thigh in death, but the captain and Vivio are too far away for her to do much. Most of the dogs are handled, but a couple remain, and the demigod chooses to focus her time on those. The nearest in fact, one that Dorotea isn't already dealing with. She pushes her body to the limit for just an instant, just long enough to cross the short distance with inhuman speed, and unleashes a simple, lethal upward slice at the remaining hound.

    "I'm staying behind. Everyone else move on ahead when you can," she calls out. "...Except Avere's group."

    Her blue eyes fall on the presumably-still-paralyzed Avere, and the look she gives him makes it clear that's not a request, but an order.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
Sarah gets saved from the sick canine assault! "Thanks Shin, you're the best conbat vagrant." Also the only combat vagrant she knows, but she's not sharing that for the moment.

Everyone more or less agrees when the Captain bolts with incredible speed. "Okay people, move. Let's not give him enough time to prepare something." She points, trying to direct people forward. "Hit them hard, don't give them a chance to regroup." She orders. The catte is altready on the job, which pleases her too.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin will forever remember the day he fistbumped a 10 year old girl with some sick beats maneuvers. He will also utterly not recognize Vivio if she ever takes her older form, so that will lead to comic mishaps later on that are gonna be great. FORESHADOWING!
    "Thanks! Trying to do what you asked me to!," He says to Sarah, spotting a sulking Kyra as the Adventure Lass starts directing people to go on after the fleeing coward pirate. He decides to take a minor detour while they travel, "Yo! Heal lady! My friend here needs a patch up and some of that good, good prescription-grade healin' you're dealin'!"
    Kyra gets a punch in the shoulder upon arrival. Not a hard one, more of a tap to get her attention with a closed fist, because Shin can see she's sulking a bit, "Hey. You know. There was this Chinese philosopher, Zhuangzi, smart guy," Shin stretches a bit. Despite directing Kyra towards Sarah, he's pretty beat up himself, though seems somewhat unphased by the injuries for whatever reason. Ostensibly, adrenaline. Actually: ???.
    "Anyway, not much of a thinker, myself, but that guy once said 'Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free: Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.'." He points at Kyra with a finger gun gesture, "Can't fight what's already happened. Roll with it instead of dwelling."

    Otherwise, though, he's mostly content to follow after wherever Sarah deems fit to go.

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    Crap. Vivio's spell is cut short as she finds herself in need of defending. The magic dissipates as Vivio brings one hand around, knocking an arrow to the side. Then another with her other hand. The third arrow, one of the concussive water ones, strikes Vivio in a blast of water, more arrows flying into the mess.

    Coming short of her intended landing point, Vivio lands in a crouch. There's a cut on her cheek and the girl struggles a little as she feels the poison beginning to pulse through her body... At least until something else strikes her. Vivio feels her strength returning thanks to Kyra's dart. She briefly calls out, "Thanks!"

    Standing up again, Vivio calls out in response to Setsuko, "I'm fine!" Returning her attention to the Pirate Captain, she sees him booking it and leaving his men to fight. Wow, he's not much of a Captain...

    As more arrows are unleashed, Vivio shifts her stance and pushes off with her feet. She speeds forwards towards the group of archers at high speed, literally ducking around the flurry of arrows aimed at her or any of her allies behind her. She quickly closes the distance to an archer, a fist coming around towards the side of the archer's head, a small blast of magic lighting up on impact.

    Then in a flash, Vivio speeds towards another archer, leg coming around in a kick to the archer's side as she calls, "Revolver Spike!"

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Goblin Punch takes a dog out! It really helps Bertram just went and spread awful poison to each of them, because they've not got much life left to them.

    Kyra provides status effect cleanup!

    N'raha pretends the dog is actually a boulder for a moment there and applies his axe to the beast. This works exactly as well as expected because seriously fuck boulders. With that done, he charges for the archers! They turn out not to be all that great at defending themselves up close, once the catte actually closes the distance, so he'll be at an advantage.

    Vivio brings her fist to one of the archer's heads, knocking him out instantly. No injury! Just very unconscious. That leaves five (four if N'raha charges in), but let's be honest, these guys won't last. You may as well consider them already down.

    On the other hand, Captain Madison has booked it.

    YOUR OPTIONS:

Stay behind with Avere's group and try to sort their shit out.

Or pursue Madison into the depths of the Seagrot.

    Those who pursue the captain pass through wood-reinforced tunnels and constructions, until they reach what looks like a hub. To your LEFT, the deckhands' quarters and The Hole, which looks like a prison. To your RIGHT, the rowers' quarters, the navigator's quarters and a large locked and barred gate. Ahead, the captain's quarters. In the middle, seats, counters, and drunk pirates. It seems this place is called the Dead Man's Drink. None of the pirates bother with the intruders, perhaps because they have alcohol.

    Meanwhile, Avere grunts. "Well, here we bloody are now. Wasn't enough y'had to just show up 'n suddenly become the stars, now you gotta take our glory too. If you two'd just killed faster," he shoots a glare at Liavinne and Paiyo.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko stands to watch her allies retreat for several seconds, before turning around to regard Avere's group. Her first words are towards Edda - with a hint of gentleness to her tone, a certain degree of sympathy for the girl. "Edda. I know it's your instinct to stick up for him, to defend him, but he needs to speak for himself. I want to hear his own words and reasoning. This is important."

    Next her gaze turns on Avere, and all emotion drains from her visage. Chilly and stern, she fixes him with a look for several seconds, before asking a simple question. "Avere Bravearm, do you care about the lives of your comrades?"

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
Who has time to deal with pubbies who spend more time complaining about eachother's faults than getting the job done? Bertram doesn't, so he chases, ignoring the pirates as much as he can to find himself at a locked gate. "A barred passage. Should we use strategem four oh two: Acquire key or strategem three fourteen: Brute Force." He muses aloud, seemingly going over lessons that he has been taught. "What do you guys think?" The cute little emerald arcanima construct decides to sit on Bertram's head during this.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    "AVAST YOU ARSEHOLES." N'RAHA belts one of the archers in the gut.
    "NEXT TIME PERHAPS-" He swings the flat of his axe into another's head.
    "YOU OUGHT TO FIND A BETTER LINE OF WORK." This as he kicks another in the kneecaps and then brains him with the pommel of the axe. He will graciously leave one for Vivio, as he growls and stalks towards the bar. The Miqo'te's got a full head of steam now. He's full of aether and he's FEELIN' IT. Is this how these off-worlders feel all the time that they're fighting? Is this normal? This is new and exciting for the Miqo'te and he still hasn't noticed the blood or the fact that he can't feel most of his tail. The bits he can move thrash happily though.

    Drunkard pirates. Amazing. This is their quarry now. Well. N'raha happily axes the nearest barrel of something, spilling it open loudly as he howls. "YER COUERL IS DEAD AND YER CAPTAIN'S TURNED TAIL AND FLED, BOYOS. I GOT FIFTEEN OF THE HARDEST ARSEHOLES I EVER MET AND THEY'RE ALL COMING TO KILL THE LOT OF YOU, IF YOU DON'T CLEAR OUT AND TELL US WHERE THE CAPTAIN WENT."

    Let's give Bertram some cover. Or, you know, let the fighting go to your head, one of the two.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "At least that worked." Kyra mutters dejectedly as she loads up another shot, this time filled with hipotion. Before N'raha runs off, Kyra fires at the Miq. A few extra hipotion rounds are kept on hand just in case someone else needs healing of that kind. She, naturally, seems rather reluctant to use her own magic now. Additionally, she continues to linger behind the group, waiting through the cleanup as she replaces the empty clip of bullets in her handgun with a fresh one.

    "Huh?" Kyra looks up, moving slightly after the punch, "Sure, of course, combat vagrant guy. Hold still for a moment, Sarah." She pulls out the needlegun again and shoots at her with it. There are no apologies for the unpleasantness of being darted. It's either that or crushing hell gravity today, apparently.

    Shin offers some words of encouragement. Kyra tries to smile but comes up short. "I can't accept not being in control of my own magic like that." she says quietly, "It's too dangerous. If this keeps up, I won't be welcome on missions."

    About to follow, she hears Avere start shouting at the rest of his party. Rather than follow, she whirls on him and jabs a finger into his chest aggressively. "Listen you ungrateful little shit, I don't know if you've noticed but this mission isn't being televised. And you're damn lucky I forgot to livestream this or else your crappy behavior would go /Multiversal/. The way I see it, you've got two options: this behavior towards us and your fellow party stops here and nobody else outside of this cave learns about it. Or you continue acting like a jerk and you'll suddenly discover you have a /very/ hard time getting help from anyone in the future."

    She steps back, her arms crossed, "Now answer Setsuko's question."

Dorotea Grahn (742) has posed:
Dorotea Grahn gets bailed out. She isn't sure she's going to thank them for it, because she's the kind of girl who has enough pride to not /want/ the help, but perhaps she picks up on Kyra's current mood. Or maybe she just knows when she oughtn't push her luck.

"...thanks," she says, kicking one of the dogs (it doesn't need to be kicked anymore). "Ha, we showed /them/." She's still pained, but this is Dorotea - she won't admit it and will keep on trucking just as long as she can. And at least she's moving more or less freely again.

Self-confidence is something she has never lacked in.

"Hey, Kyra!" she calls, just in time for Kyra to give Avere the third degree. Honestly, Dorotea agrees with most of what she's saying. "You were supposed to wait for us anyway! So you come with us, or - or I'm just going to leave you next time you get stuck behind a /puzzle/. I got that thing's attention so it wouldn't hunt the paralyzed! The last you could do is stop accusing us of stealing your glory. You practically left it all lying around."

"Now c'mon, we can do this as a team or we can leave you here and just do it ourselves. Your choice!" Dorotea has her arms crossed.

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    Vivio takes a moment to recover after the fight. As she does so she glances back at the other group, particularly their apparent leader who is berating the others for no reason at all. She considers interupting, but Setsuko and Kyra to get it before she does... They seem like they can handle it. Vivio decides its better she back up the others.

    Vivio makes her way into the so-called tavern and looks around at all the pirates. She grins in excitement of fighting them all... But then they all seem to be distracted by their alcohol. Vivio doesn't understand the attraction herself. But then she is only ten, even if she doesn't look it right now! Still, a battle avoided is probably a better thing.

    Vivio ehehes as N'raha attempts to interupt the Pirates' fun, "You sure that's a good idea?"

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Edda uncomfortably stands back when told to.
    She fidgets a lot. You can tell she's out of her element now.
    Avere just shrugs at Setsuko. "'course I do. What's a bloody adventurer without a crew? Ain't my fault Liavinne drinks more than she nocks 'em arrows, and Edda couldn't cure th'cold."

    As Kyra approaches him, he frowns, and Edda frowns even more, struggling with the urge to come to his defense. "We ain't ask for yer help. T'was supposed t'be OUR glory hour. We'd have been famous, 'n rich. The adventurers' that done saved La Noscea from th'Serpent Reavers. But 'course not, y'had to all come in."

    Finally, it's Edda who answers Dorotea, unable to stay back any longer. "P-Please, he's just doing what he thinks is best for us."
    Liavinne rolls her eyes.
    Paiyo sighs. "Truth be told, we're likely too exhausted to pursue the captain now. You lot should go ahead, if you intend to finish this."

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Bertram proposes brute strength to open the gates.

    N'raha insults the drinking pirates.

    Alwyn facepalms. (Yes he's totally still here, shut up.)

    One particularily large pirate steps forward, a large keyring on his belt. "Wot, y'think you so tough? C'mere kitty, I'm gonna make a new fur coat!" Cue large pirate lifting a very, very large mace and trying to bring it down on N'raha, with surprising speed for a man his size and muscle mass. The other pirates cheer and watch on, as if this were entertainment rather than a threat to their lair.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Yeah well, it's easier to lean out from a punch than lean into it. You might learn to control it better if the prospect doesn't cause you to mood dump right after it happens," Shin comments as he sets down his backpack and sighs a bit. He starts to peel off the stained white shirt and suit coat, stripping to the waist with a bored manner about him. He's got a ton of scars, but even the coeurl claw marks are already starting to heal. They'll leave marks along with the bullet holes and some other wounds from his time in the Multiverse.
    Averre's group intrigues him, though. Of course, Kyra and Setsuko are already already laying into the others. So Shin's wisdom is much more blunt, "You're all a buncha slapdicks. Like... seriously. I'm amazed you even made it into the dungeon, so there's that," He grins and then, still shirtless, snaps both fingers and gives the entire group a set of finger guns, "Luckily for you, I need practice at this evil minion gig."
    He picks his backpack up off the ground and upends it. Apparently, at some point, he enchanted it to be holding. Because a ton of stuff falls out. Among them are: A dozen vibroblades, a ton of assault rifles, some laser guns, some laser gun cartridges, no less than 6 bags of Gil, two bags of dragon gold coins, about six thousand dollars split among 12 separate currencies, and a Garlean Gun Sword.
    "You can't go fight ahead, cool. I'll be your dungeon boss. This pile of crap is your loot table. Team up, beat me, and it's yours. Gotta use that sweet, sweet teamwork, though."

Lv. 20 Shin Tokuyama - Kung Fu Boss Fight Has Appeared

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    "I don't want to hear excuses or blame-passing," Setsuko replies firmly to Avere. "Just your answers to my questions." She remains silent for a moment, turning to glance Kyra's way with a faint nod, and then to speak simply to Dorotea, "I'm not letting them leave until I've said my piece. The problem here is deeper than just bickering and childishness."

    She reaches down to her belt, unclipping Zanjintou's sheath, so that she can plant it vertically on the stone and rest her hands on it. Her eyes fall on Edda once again, and while she's not as harsh as she's being with Avere, neither is her voice as soft as it was. "Edda. Avere is, unless I'm sorely mistaken, the leader of your group. That means that he bears the responsibility for giving you directions, and for what happens if the directions he gives are poor ones. I know you want to help him, but making constant excuses for him, trying to protect him from the consequences of his behavior, is doing the exact opposite. You're /hurting/ him. He's just going to keep making the same mistakes over and over, until those mistakes get one of you killed. Get /him/ killed. You need to let him face the truth of his behavior if you want what's best for him."

    And now it's Avere's turn again. "And that /is/ the truth of your behavior, Avere. Every time you make an excuse, every time you blame a mistake on your archer's drunkenness or the limits of your healer's abilities, you're diverting responsibility for your own shortcomings." Quiet fervor begins to creep into her words. "As a leader, it is your /job/ to know the limits of those under your command. It is your /job/ to know when a task is too much for them. If you keep dragging them off into more than they can handle because your eyes are too clouded with 'glory' to see that you're pushing them beyond their limits, then the next time you hurl blame at Edda for her healing not being where you think it should be, you're going to be blaming a /GRAVESTONE!/ And then what will you do?!"

    It's something even those close to her have almost never seen. Setsuko is angry. She is very nearly furious. She finally picks up Zanjintou again, clipping it to her belt, and continues after a second or two in a slightly calmer voice. "You won't find glory in a grave, Avere Bravearm. You won't find fame and happiness amidst the corpses of your comrades. So I want you to look right now at each of your allies - look at Paiyo Reiyo, look at Liavinne, look Edda /right in the eyes/ - and ask yourself if your glory is worth their lives."

    Only now does she finally turn aside, out of the way, leaving their path to Shin clear. "If you continue acting like a child, Avere Bravearm, I will pick you up and carry you out of here myself, because this is no place for children. Lives are at risk. If you want to start behaving like an adult, if you want to start acting like a leader who is worth the respect of his subordinates, this is your chance. Show me you're capable."

    She glances Shin's way, and says simply, "Don't go easy on them."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Oh shit that's a big dude. He's big even for a Roegadyn. That mace comes down and N'RAHA barely has time to bring his axe up in a cross block and... dammit, he hears the haft of his shoddy gear start to splinter. Not good not good at all. This poor old thing isn't going to take much more.

    That said, he can hear more people going on in the background now, and it turns out those Fifteen Arseholes are not in fact coming to back him up. Right.

    The miqo'te grins up at the Big Guy, and snarls. "I think it'd be a little small on your big fat head, scab." He ducks in and forward, and... Well, remember that he's wearing heavy armor, he's just about the right size for this, and it's a vital tactic one forgets about when they wade in like this.
    There's a flutter ofmotion from the Miqo'te as she steps forward with a dash, and knees the pirate right in the nuts. With his plate mail on.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "...hmm." Kyra makes a thoughtful noise for a moment. "Well I certainly haven't thought of that before. Or of even...controlling it if I can't /stop/ it. I just wish it wouldn't..." briefly, she flashes back to that moment in that security shack. With the guard she tried to heal. A haunted look overcomes her face. "...hurt others."

    She offers an unfired dart to Shin in case he wants to stick himself with it and full heal before his apparent boss fight.

    "I'm going to go catch up with the others." she says as she pulls out her handgun again, "Since me talking with these guys doesn't seem to be helping either of us. Catch you in a bit." she murmurs as she runs off after the others off into the pirate tavern.

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    Vivio watches the large pirate stand up... Wow that's a big person. Even more so for Vivio, who even in her adult form is only about five foot two. Still, she does actually have a look of amusement on her face. Perhaps if this giant pirate gets beaten, the rest will be more cautious about opposing the group.

    And if they still choose to be stupid, the probably brief match will give Vivio a moment to charge her magic.

    Vivio watches N'raha block the blow and then cheers, "Go cat-person whos name I can't remember!"

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
Bertram has a slight problem. Certainly, his arcanima are well-suited for combat, they're less good at destroying obstacles. So, he asks for help on the radio even as he utilizes a cross-class skill. In but a moment, the emerald carbuncle jumps up and dissipates into the aether, which is channeled through Bertram's grimoire into a new carbuncle. The topaz carbuncle may look identical in all but shade, but it is not. More aggressive looking, it takes up stance between Bertram and any pirates, ready to intercept anyone who tries to sneak up on him. At the same time, Bertram's limited carpentry skills are used to try to find a weak point in the gate.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
Sarah gets needled by Kyra. She yelps from the surprise, but it's HEALING NEEDLES, so she deals with the poking. Healing is good, much better than what would probably be an infected dog bite or whatever.

Sarah approves (+.25)

Shin goes to flex and get muscular, while Sarah goes to back up Catte and Ratte. Hey, that's a good team name. She lets N'raha brawl whils Topaz Tanks, continuing to simply rack up JENGA COMBOs from her increasingly delicate-lookign stack of balsawood. "This is stupid," She says simply. "Keep focused. We can get this while everyone else seems intent to play relationship doctor. What the hell, people, that's not our jobs." She grumps.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Paiyo shakes his head at Shin (who is definitely not an Infernal Exalted called Yuri), the small Lalafell disagreeing with his challenge. "We are beat. Both Edda and I are exhausted and out of magic, Avere is still injured, and Liavinne..." he glances towards the Elezen woman.
    She's drinking a bottle of pirate booze now.
    "Well, it is as you see," Paiyo tells Shin (who is STILL not Yuri).

    Avere just kind of grunts at the admission they're spent.
    But it's true, it wouldn't be much of a challenge right now.

    At Setsuko's words, Edda seems to panic. Is she hurting him? She's hurting him? No, that's wrong. That can't be right. But it's also completely right. She's not a very good Conjurer.

    Avere takes it all with his usual level-headedness, that is to say he spits-- at Setsuko. "Don't you go'n tell me how t'do my job. Yeah, s'true I want t'be better. I want t'be like you folks, storming in, killin' everyone in your way like it ain't nothing. I don't need help for that."

    Paiyo frowns. "This is most unproductive. We should go. You have a pirate captain to kill and a bounty to claim; we have wounds to lick, and an archer who needs water and rest."
    Liavinne frowns. "Heeeeey, I'm not drunk yet, you know?"
    Paiyo shakes his head. "But you will be by the time we get to town."
    The Elezen grins. "W-Weeeeell that's true."

    Edda shakes herself out of her shock to bow politely to everyone. "I'm sorry you had to see all this. Please don't worry, next time you see us we'll definitely be real adventurers too! I'll make sure of it!"

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    "Then you're doomed to never find the glory you seek," Setsuko replies in a cool voice, opting to ignore Avere's... expectorant response. "Because all of us got where we are by first knowing our limits." She turns to give Shin something of an apologetic look - they don't seem to have taken him up on his offer, regrettably - but then stops to regard Edda for a moment. "...You have nothing to apologize for. But please. For his sake. Don't cover for his mistakes. Try to make him correct them, so that he can get better. So that he becomes a better leader. Otherwise, one of these days, he's going to get one of you killed. Including possibly himself."

    Hopefully, 'covering for him might get him killed some day' will shock some sense into her.

    But she has no more to say, so she turns, breaking into a jog with intent to catch up to the others.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Laaaame, but fine," Shin says as he reaches deep into his backpack, about up to the shoulder, and pulls out a fresh shirt and jacket. The shirt is slipped on and slowly buttoned up, "I was hoping to get some character acting in for my evil subordinate gig coming up, but fine. I guess if you're going to mutually agree, that works too," He grumbles, slipping the fresh jacket on over the coat and digging out a new tie.
    "Still," He comments, starting to shove stuff back into the backpack, "Bruce Lee once said that to know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person," He sits down on the floor of the cave and starts sliding gear back into the backpack, "Think about that. You guys need to learn how you work with eachother or something like that, I guess. I dunno, I'm not here to lecture you or whatever," He murmurs as he rummages around in his backpack some more, sticking his head and shoulders into it to look around.
    When he comes back out, he's got a big bottle of Pocari Sweat in his hands, which he unscrews and starts to drink from. He also unapologetically jabs himself in the thigh with the dart from Kyra as he hangs out drinking his sports drink, "I'm sure they'll get it eventually or whatever."
    He might be internally sulking that he doesn't get to be a boss fight.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    N'raha knees a pirate in the crotch.
    He crumbles onto the wooden floor like so much dead weight. The other pirates burst out in cheer, and a female Roegadyn even offers N'raha a drink. A Roegadyn-sized drink. Might want to turn that one down. Still, that is the sight anyone who runs to catch up with the forward group comes back to.

    The GATE can now be opened with the keys dropped by the big, drunk asshole. Or you can blow it open by asking Vivio, that's still on the table.

    SKIPPING TO: PAST THE GATE.

    After unlocking, breaking or otherwise bypassing the large gate, the group comes across more caves and wooden structures, but ahead they can see that the cave opens up, completely; a massive opening, and indeed, a pirate's ship! The ocean! Water! Truly a real pirate lair now.

    CAPTAIN MADISON, far ahead, bolts the moment he needs the gate breached or opened. Towards the wooden docks, towards his ship. And as he reaches it, something surges out of the water. A large Sahagin, about ten foot tall to the captain's six. The humanoid, fishy reptile man wields a large polearm-- and evidently, he and Madison have a disagreement, because he plunges it into the captain and then tosses his body aside.

    Your problem may have just fixed itself, excepting the presence of a large Sahagin you now have to deal with when you reach him.

    BACK AT AVERE & CO: Edda nods slowly to Setsuko. She seems completely uncertain and lacking in confidence, but she figures nodding so this stops and they can go home is the smartest thing to do right now. Paiyo gives a more respectful bow to Shin, and nods as well. "I've heard such wisdom but not phrased quite like that. If nothing else, consider it to have gotten to me."

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
Sarah, by now, has perched on N'raha's back like some kind of Jenga Turret. Also, it gives her some visual range. Once she spies the fishguy, she points, her bored almost-apathy becoming actual anger. "Hey! I KNEW WE WERE TAKING TOO LONG! THAT GUY JUST STOLE OUR KILL! Catman, beat the crap out of the fishguy!"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    'Oh god why are you on my shoulders' would be N'RAHA's normal response, if not for the fact that he just floored a Reaver, hald haf a glass of ale, and was STILL FEELIN' IT. Sahagin or not, he's charging in. Though now he's got the Big Dude's Mace instead of his sadly broken axe. He'll get a proper maurauder weapon once he's out of this place.

    With Sarah on his shoulders like that, she'll get the clear sound of him cracking his neck as he steps into the chamber, and helpfully kneels down to let Sarah off. "HELLO FISHMAN. We're here for the Seagrot and I guess you think the bloody place is yours. NOT ANY MORE." He SLAMS the mace into the dirt and scrapes it back up and around until it's on his shoulder. "COME ON, THEN!"

    His open is much like the one for the Archers, because it works and dammit that's how he's trained. He lashes out, a bolt of energy slapping into the giant fishman, and he roars a challenge as he comes out swinging.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    The sound of fighting up ahead, particularly what sounds like a rather drastic change in the enemy forces to judge by radio chatter, prompts Setsuko to go from 'jogging' to 'flying at full speed'. If she didn't have the reaction times she does, she'd probably break her neck on a cavern wall. As it stands, she skids to a stop right before the gate leading into the docks. That... is a very large fishman. And it looks rather angry as well. But as imposing as he looks, there's an upside to this, Setsuko realizes.

    This is a wide-open space. Plenty of room for a twelve-foot blade.

    The demigod takes a short hop to the fore, and her blade snaps out to its full size. "N'raha, help me flank-" And the catman is off. Well, at least he's enthusiastic. A few seconds later she's off at a run, vaulting right past Denn the Orcatoothed and then coming back around to pin the fishback between herself and N'raha. Around that tremendous blade of hers whips, coming in for one slash, a second, a third.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
The Maurauder is already on the Sahagin, so a quick combination of magical theories, and Bertram's Topaz Carbuncle makes way for the Emerald, who immediately starts flinging wind at the nasty Sahagin who interrupted this already unpleasant dungeon experience. Bertram flings magical biological poisonous junk at the boss while he gets into range to give the Sahagin a solid thwak with his grimoire. Then, he starts summing highly unpleasant Miasma.

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    "-BUSTER!" The gate is blown open by a large blast of magic and Vivio walks out of the dust. Oh wait, they had a key? ... Ah well.

    As the tunnel opens into a wide cave, Vivio's eyes go wide at the sight of the awesome pirate ship. Now that's what she's talking about!

    Things get a little less awesome though as Vivio sees the fishperson stab the Captain and proceed to throw away his body. Vivio's eyes go wide... What? Why? Why did it do that? What is it? Vivio turns to look at the others questioningly... But they're already launching there attacks against the fishperson. Vivio guesses she should do the same.

    Vivio sweeps her hand out to the side, a triangular spell circle appearing on the ground beneath her. She starts, "Sonic Shooter..." Vivio isn't risking getting in close with that giant sword Setsuko is swinging. Several orbs of irridescent light appear in the air around her, the sound of energy humming growing in volume. Vivio finishes, "... Assault Shift!" The magic orbs burst, beams of energy streaking towards the Sahagin to explode on contact!

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra passes through to the others pretty quickly, thankfully ignored by boozing pirates long enough to get by. She can also tell none of the other pirates here are captains because NONE of them are dashing or smart-looking. Wisely she does not comment on this.

    Kyra shows up just in time to see the Sahagin toss the now dead captain into the water. While the others move to engage, Kyra does two things:

    First, she picks a dart off one of her bandoliers and hurls it at N'raha. The mixture inside of it imparts an effect roughly equivalent to a haste spell.

    Second, she heads for the body of the pirate captain, very quick to loot the thing before something comes along and does it before them.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Well, if I reached one person, that'll be enough for me today," Shin says to Paiyo as he holds out the bottle of Pocari Sweat. If Paiyo takes a sip, it's basically a japanese sports drink that tastes lightly of electrolytes and is very delicious. It also exists in real life, look it up. Anyway, Shin takes the bottle back after a few moments.
    There's a pregnant silence as he thinks. He finally has the group relatively to himself, so he can try to make his own statement while he stays behind. He moves to stand up and throw the backpack over his shoulder, "Look. I'm not gonna baby you, I'm not gonna be that hard either. I'll be direct about this."
    He stares at the gathered party, "You're gonna, each and as a group too, eventually hit a point where shit hits the fan. Happens in everyone's life, and the speed of the fan and the viscosity of the shit varies from person to person."
    Shin scratches his head slightly, "But if you're together, between the four of you, I'm sure someone can remember to bring some paper towels and an umbrella. Then it won't be so bad, yeah?"
    He waves his hand, "Shit, I dunno. I don't really do heroic speeches. It's something I should work on, probably, since I'm not really a silent protagonist."

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    "OUTSHIDERSSSSSH!" Denn the Orcatoothed replies, because he is immediatly engaged. Then again, a Sahagin doesn't look very friendly to start with, so it was a pretty solid bet he was going to be hostile. "Firsht thish ushelessh captain deshecratesh our shpawning groundsh, and now he'sh allowed intrudersh into our lair! I will feed your shoul to the Lord of the Whorl myshelf!"

    The bolt from N'raha slams into the Sahagin and he flinches, but he responses by slamming his polearm down, sending a shockwave of water for the catte.

    Setsuko is met by the clang of steel against steel as the fishman's polearm crashes into her blade; for a brief moment it seems as though he will be able to match her strength, but then he bucks, and with a roar compensates by becoming wrapped in a bubble of water. Setsuko's blade crashes into it instead of the weapon now, shattering the bubble explosively. This is bad for her! And bad for Denn, because her blade cuts into his fishy flesh too.

    Horrible poisons seep into Denn courtesy of Bertram, but he does not allow it to slow him down. Instead, the Sahagin points his polearm at the would-be Arcanist, and a lance of water guns out for him, while he still has his strength.

    Vivio's exploding blast sends Denn off his feet, crashing into a wooden crate behind him. It seems full of coins and gold. As he rises to his feet, the polearm is pointed at the magical girl-- water forms around her, trying to trap her in a bubble! It'd be harder to break from the inside than the outside, if it works, demanding one of her allies help.

    Kyra will find, on Captain Madison, an Aetheryte Crystal. It is attuned heavily to the element of water, and has the Sahagin's symbol engraved into it. It's half the size of a fist, at most. Otherwise he's got a nice quantity of gil on him, and a tricorn.

    Sarah isn't ignored; she might notice there are holes in the wooden floor, where water has started bubbling. There's locks the metal grates that haven't been slipped into place, namely! Might be useful, because that looks like movement under the water.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Paiyo will take a sip, but just a sip. It's more likely that Liavinne, if Shin won't withhold it from her, will reach for the bottle and chug that down like it's soda.

    "Perhaps that is true. In the end, each of us is here because we sought glory. Adventuring parties have one thing in common, and it is their temporary nature. Once we cannot cooperate any longer, our paths will split. It is unfortunately how most adventurers end their prime," Paiyo answers.
    Avere just sort of makes an angry noise.
    Edda and Liavinne both swoop over to him to calm him down. Oddly one might notice the two eye each other uncomfortably as well. Jealousy? Something like that.

    "No matter, thank you for your words. I hope you and your friends find what you came here to. Perhaps the next call to arms will be our moment instead," Paiyo says.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
Blast! The water attack sends Bertram flying, and through a stroke of poor luck he lands against a rock and hits it. He's Knocked-Out, and bleeding. But, at least, he's still breathing. The Emerald carbuncle fires one more gust of wind before dissipating into the air, its supply of aether cut off.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'RAHA gets knocked off his feet by the rush of the water, which gives him enough time to duck under a sweep of that polearm, and get back to his feet. But then shit's kicking off all around him, and there's bubbles and katana and trapped magi and all of it and THIS BASTARD "ISN'T PAYING ATTENTION TO ME LOOK AT ME, DAMMIT." Yeah that all sorta started coming out after a few moments, as he snarls and dashes in again, aiming the end of the mace at the fishman's gut, coming around with it again in a wide arc aiming to crush its kidneys or whatever a Sahagin's got in the general area.

    He calls out though, looking over his shoulder. "GET VIVIO OUT OF THERE BEFORE SHE DROWNS. AND WATCH THOSE GRATES."

    And then Bertram's down. "KYRA, GET HIM UP OR GET HIM SAFE, WE NEED YOUR HEALING."

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
N'raha has driven her closer and now it's time to make use of the one time she can measurably contribute to the things an adventuring group does: Kill things.

As she prepares her assault, however, she notices the bubbling behind them.

There is only one solution for this. "Dammit. Of COURSE he has reinforcements! Someone, go lock those grates on the far side or we're going to get a bunch of friends! I'll get these!" She turns, leaping from N'raha's back and scurrying over to the grate, fiddling with the lock to jam it closed. Once she's done that side, she runs to the other one she didn't tell someone to deal with.

And then Bertram goes down! "Crap. This is going horribly."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko takes a bursting water bubble to the... well, not so much 'face' as 'entire front'. But it slams her hard, knocking her back a good several steps. She drops into a cautious ready stance, and is about to go back on the attack when Bertram takes a hard hit. "I'll cover him!" Setsuko's ability to fly is incredibly useful at times - like needing to reposition to cover a downed ally. She lifts off the ground without a second thought, going high over Denn and taking the chance to slash downward at him on the way by. Her intended path puts her on the ground right between Bertram and the sahagin warrior, standing guarded and ready.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Or," Shin says pretty respectully, looking around the group as his drink is hoisted by Liavinne and drank all at once, "And I'm just throwing it out here," He notes with a gentle smile on his face as he looks between them.
    "You could use being adventurers as a spring board to something more," He explains, putting his hands in his pockets, "I find it impossible you guys can dislike eachother this much," He notes, looking at them all.
    "Have you tried to bond? Tried to become friends first?" He inquires as his rocks on his feet, "I met my best friend because I liked doing stuff like this. But if you don't bond more than 'We all want glory', of course you're not gonna succeed."
    He shoots em fingerguns, "Sit down at a table. Talk about your hopes, your dreams, your hobbies. Become friends. Might save your lives one day," He gves a thumbs up.

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    Vivio was charging up for another volley of beams when water begins to surround her. Before she can realise what's happening, she's suddenly engulfed inside the bubble. She holds her breath as she bangs on the inside of the bubble a few times... It doesn't seem to be working. This could be a problem!

    Vivio closes her eyes, keeping herself calm as she begins channeling mana to her hand. If she plans to get out of this, she'll need something a little stronger!

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra is merrily looting away when probably the worst possibly thing happens right now: they lose their other healer. "Wait-what!?" Kyra hadn't been paying too much attention at the moment, having been pawing around Madison's body in search of loot (and honestly clues as to why this is suddenly happening). She didn't see what took Bertram down specifically and technically she doesn't really need to.

    Kyra makes a face of dismay and murmurs somehing quickly. It's a lot more elaborate and complicated-looking than a simple cure spell it turns out:

    "Life!" she calls out with a final word, directing the restorative magic to Bertram. Shortly afterwards, she reaches onto her back and pulls out the CURE-ALL. It's fortunately already set to restoration over remedy so that makes her so much more faster as she uses the weapon to follow up with more traditional healing. Though Life was good at restoring from unconsciousness, it didn't really do all that much to help wounds that were left before it happens.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Between Setsuko and N'raha's continued blows-- to the gut, and then nasty cuts-- and Bertram's lingering diseases and poisons, Denn the Orcatoothed eventually falls. Battered, broken, poisoned, the last of his life slips away.

    The steel grates, after being locked, bang loudly as Sahagin attempt to pass through, and fail. Eventually they catch on that their leader is down, and withdraw. Healing from Kyra is no doubt appreciated at this point, although it does seem like the figting is over for now.

    The PIRATE SHIP is yours. It does not have a name. It is a fairly generic wooden Final Fantasy boat, although with pirate aesthetics. It doesn't seem to have been stolen from Limsa Lominsa, lacking any such markings; and for that matter, you weren't told of a stolen boat either. Finders keepers, right?

    Onboard, a number of fancy magically-charged weapons and clothing sets can be found. Loot stockpiled from adventurers killed, no doubt; simple weapons, reinforced clothes, stacks of gil and backpacks full of assorted qualify of life belongings. Something definitely lingers on all that equipment; it would be incorrect to call it haunted, it's more like... the leftover experience and magical residue from their prior owners?

    Mostly it just serves to make the gear a bit better than what you could buy from a store.

    To Shin, Avere replies: "Don't have time for that. Got adventures to go on. Ain't no adventurer ever become famous by sittin' an' talkin'. Gotta go out an' kill stuff fer the right people. S'all there is to our job."

    Edda and Liavinne pass on commenting, but Paiyo just sort of frowns. "It would be much nicer to find a just middle, but perhaps I can convince him in time."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "You're right. Adventurers become famous by succeeding," Shin comments as his foot hooks behind him and he taps his toe on the ground awkwardly, looking to Avere. He sighs a bit, looking to Edda and Liavinne. Paiyo gets his point, he's sure the other two at least understand, but this guy seems hard. Like a more stubborn version of himself.
    "The story of an adventurer who dies prematurely is a tragedy. It leaves a scar on the story of everyone he associates with," He scowls a bit, "You try to play it hard, but think about that. You die, how does it affect everyone around you? You can take one step now to bond with you team, or you can take a six foot plunge under the ground," He crosses his arms.
    "Your story, the one people tell about you? It should be something people shout and cheer over, with beers and shit. Not a tragedy men tell while drunk and need a sobering thought," He concludes, picking up his backpack and walking towards the exit.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Loot? Setsuko does not need your silly newbie loot.

    Although she does stare briefly at the ship, quietly pondering something. More concerning, however, is Bertram's health, and she'll make sure that's seen to before she does any kind of exploring, or leaving. She does, however, intend to explore. To clear out any other lingering pirates, and ensure the Sastasha Seagrot is no longer hospitable for the Serpent Reavers. After that, she will be leaving.

Vivio Takamachi (737) has posed:
    Vivio says something in her bubble of water, pulling her arm back. She then swings and with a large blast of magic the bubble explodes into a cloud of water and steam.

    Dropping to the ground, Vivio takes a few deep breaths before standing again. She looks around for the fishperson that killed the Captain... Only to see that it has already been defeated. Well...

    Vivio walks up to the others, squeezing the water out of her long ponytail. She looks around at the group and starts, "So," She looks at the pirate ship, "what do we do with that?"