3386/Day of the Dowhar

Day of the Dowhar
Date of Scene:	13 November 2015
Location:	Void - Deep Void (East)
Synopsis:	A ship sends an SOS call and comes under attack by three different parties.
Cast of Characters:	11, 347, 353, 513, 604, 626, 650, Starbound Flotilla, 896, 908

---

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    There is, as it turns out, a natural warpgate somewhat nearby the action. Getting from the warpgate to the scene of the... problem may be a bit more tricky. The warpgate is also... moving. It is apparently on the back of some kind of space whale? A really big one. Surprisingly, it has about earth-normal gravity and an atmosphere, which is breathable... but anyone coming via warpgate will basically be walking on the dirty back of a giant whale.

    The scene itself is also a little weird! There are four ships involved here, at least before the other players come into the game. One is a ship that looks like a giant penguin, which is coasting lightly through space and appears to have its sail tattered, the mast cracked down the middle. A large number of crew are trying to handle that, which seem to be a mixture of anthropomorphic penguins and hippos. Two others look like some kind of wooden nautilus(es? nautilii?) that appear to have been chasing the penguin-ship, but are now in a complex evasive maneuver to avoid the final ship, which looks like a boat with giant, crystalline green wings upon it. Sharp eyes - this is QUITE a distance - might be able to identify that crew as being made up of elves.

    For those on Nobeard's ship, the One-Eyed Jack is approaching at high speed, just now dropping from spelljamming speed to tactical speed. Jack is the one addressing the crew now. "All right, men! Here's the situation. We're going to be going after the Uspo and loot it of anything useful while the Man-o-War is occupied with the illithids. Don't do anything stupid if we get some attention from either of the other two. Dowhar aren't much for fighting, but the giff with them can be pretty dangerous. The ship is useless, don't worry about it. So are the Dowhar, but we'll be taking quarter this time!"

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    YESTERDAY.
    "Can you open a portal to the Citadel?" Gudako asks a Gnome Mage.
    "Nope!"
    "Oh. Darn then."
    "Coming right up, missy!"

    IN DARNASSUS.
    "Master look, a boat!" says Berserker.

    IN STORMWIND.
    "Master! A Warp Gate!" says Caster.

    AT SPACE DOCK #784B-GAMMA.
    "I want to ride a penguin ship!" says Berserker.
    BERSERKER LUCK RANK: B.
    "Sure, whatever, I'll just hand them this magic wand I took from the Night Elf city, I bet that covers the riding fee." Gudako answers, bartering a stolen wand for ship passage.

    NOW.
    "E-EEEK! Master, the ship is shaking!" Caster shrieks.
    CASTER LUCK RANK: D.
    "Cool! We wound up in a spaceship battle!" Gudako exclaims, somewhere in the passenger holds of the penguin ship. She appears on the deck, neither of her Servants actually materialized at the moment, her usual smile on her face. She should probably be worried, but she isn't.

    "Hey, penguin. What's going on? Can I watch?" 8D

Finna (513) has posed:
    "Just 15 percent?!" Finna's not big on numbers, but she knows that's not a lot. The little fox emerges on the whale... and immediately regrets it. SHE IS NOW IN SPACE. LOLWUT.

    Even though things are pretty damned chaotic up there in the void she sets about frolicking on the whale's back, bouncing and flipping at the marvel that is GRAVITY.

    But she's been in space a few times before. This weird marvel is worth about thirty seconds of playing around while she has her eyes on the skyward events.

    But hrm. She can't be sure that there's AIR up there, past the whale. Or any appreciable gravity. How to cross the distance.

    By making like Spider Man, really. Literally.

    Shifting to human form, the crafty Lunar focuses her Essence through her arms in emulation of spiders, activating special Chakra points in her palms. With a single thrust she sends a silvery-white line up, up, up towards the distant Penguin-ship. It's quite a drain on Essence generating that much silk, but it's the only way she's going to have any CONTROL of her approach!

    But if successful in attaching to the hull, she just starts climbing through the heavens, holding her breath and fortifying her body against the hazards of space she knows.

Laer (353) has posed:
    The distress signal got Laer's attention, as she was always interested in value and there was an outside chance she'd be able to loot for free instead of merely get fifteen percent off. As such, she's managed to make her way to the general area via portaling, and then spotted something she was at least familiar with. It's a simple dimension door and Laer's stepping out onto the deck of the One-Eyed Jack. She's looking around with some bemusement and her hands raised in the intergalactic symbol of 'I'm unarmed aside from an almost full complement of spells that are surely in no way threatening.'

    "Didn't expect to run into you all out here. Are you the distressed or the distressees?" Laer asks, not wanting to make assumptions that the tide hasn't turned in the time it took her to get here. "And is there a cut available, either way?"

    Laer had taken one look around at the battle and made the quick decision - be on the side with the Beholder pirate.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Strangely enough, Kyra seems pretty well equipped to deal with the issue of a space-based piracy problem. From the warpgate, should it be big enough to accomodate such, a spaceship emerges. It is shaped somewhat like a shark encrusted and burdened with vines that, despite being exposed to the harsh vacuum of space, thrive like any plant would.

    It is the Rafflesia, personal spaceship of Kyra Hyral.

    "Rafflesia-" Kyra commands, standing at the helm and...not actually personally piloting the ship, allowing the AI to handle the harder aspects of rocket science. She feeds it the coordinates that the last SOS came in on. The AI itself doesn't verbally answer back-it was put on mute a while back.

    When the Rafflesia finally arrives at the coordinates, Kyra discovers her fish-shaped-ship fits in pretty well with the other animal-shaped ships flying around. She assumes the ship shaped like a penguin is the victim and those nautilus-looking ones are the aggressors. She's not what to make of the big ship, which is chasing the nautili.

    Shrugging, she heads for the penguin, trying to hail the ship with a quick message: "Here to help, move to evacuate, I will cover."

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     Alongside the One-Eyed Jack, a smaller craft pulled up, flying along through the void. It looked like a transport vessel. Sleek and covered in black with the occasional white lining throughout. Definitely not a combat vessel. But it was fast. And that was probably the intention.

     Inside, at the bridge, a young man sat in the captain's seat. He wasn't relaxing however. Where the armrests of the captain's chair were, his hands rested upon a holographic control scheme, piloting the ship and studying all information being fed to the screen. "Heh. Would you look at this? Never is the job easy huh?" Raine muttered, though still donning an amused smirk upon his face.

     Floating in an out of sight was Fragarach, lying down on her stomach in midair, she lazily thumbed through a comic book. "Mhmn. A conflict between spaceships. How cute. Try not to get us killed. Or, well you killed."

     Pause.

     "By the way, we're out of snacks."

     Raine's brow twitched. "Yeah, about that. It's /not/ the time! Thanks for the reminder though." He tilted his head slightly in thought. "...Wait, did you dig into my secret stash?"

     Fragarach hummed casually, pretending not to hear.

     Raine facepalmed. And then he focused on the sight ahead of him. Particularly the whale and... "Hold on. Computer, zoom in on point eight." The display zoomed in and Raine blinked. "...What the hell is that girl doing out there?" He asked no one, in regards to Finna.

     Must...resist urge...to laugh.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The STARBOUND FLOTILLA are here, in their standard Durasteel exploration equipment! Moonfin, the fishman, is in elaborate full-body durasteel armor that looks like a powered cross between a diving suit and a samurai's armor, glowing cyan at the faceplate. Biteblade, the humanoid plant, is in durasteel plating with elaborately carved wood and bone ornaments over glowing powered components that glow an intense green. Pavo the bird-girl wears a pirate-aesthetic set of mesoamerican-style armor, with yellow bands of energized fabric linking the pieces and powering them. Each has a heavy industrial-yellow two-pronged plasma-cutter-like tool strapped to their side, a Matter Manipulator.

    The SFS Kaleidoscope -- four other ships welded together, lashed with vines, and given a heavy railgun -- is where Biteblade will be with Eiko, and it slips in begind the SFS Rapacity, a pyramid-styled craft bristling with strange red gems, and the SFS Connoisseur, a light blue fish-styled sleek spacecraft. They're heading to close in on this, intending to use Pavo's high-power teleportation array to beam in, or at least to allow Eiko to do so, for now. Biteblade has given her free run of the well-furnished ship so far, and it'll be easy to just sort of get on the pad if she needs to. As for what the Starbounders themselves do, that'll be just a moment...

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    The penguin-people on the ship with Gudako are kind of frantic, but fortunately for them, the hippo-people - Giff, as Gudako may know them from various conversations - are actually military-minded. In fact, they probably swing to the opposite end of strict. One of the penguins - called a Dowhar - stops briefly to chirp, "PIRATES! Ohhhh, first the illithids chase us for NO REASON and now pirates!" He's gesturing wildly toward the oncoming ship.

    Then Finna latches onto the Uspo ship, webbing attaching to the hull. They have no idea if she's friend or foe, but that looks like a boarding maneuver to them! Finna will find that... she can actually breathe out in space, but after about thirty feet beyond the whale's back, the gravity vanishes. She somehow still has air... for now. In fact she has her own little air bubble, but if she stays out in space too long it will run out eventually.

    But what does the Uspo do? Gudako has a close up look of how the Giff handle things. "CUT THOSE CORDS, MEN!" The hippo in charge bellows, gesturing his saber at the webs. The nearest Giff... wheel over a cannon and start trying to aim it at the webbing, despite the proliferation of swords laying around.

    The commander then turns and yells out, "PIRATES INCOMING! LAUNCH THE SPACE SWINE!"

Metal Man (11) has posed:
The wily army had long been with the Feds but they'd been a lot quieter lately they'd been seen doing a lot of help in Defiants world with civilians, rumours abounding Wily was building a city to take in refugees ans helping to rebuild some of the ruined cities. It was odd but who knows. The Wily armry might just be going to get some PR or to prove they are not a terrorist group. After all they do have distint markings and don't hide whom they are in combat. Yer the repoirts had reached Metal Man isn't bothered about the gravity but is mutting.

"Should have brought Star Man along."

"He'd be too busy posing for the ladies of the multiverse."

"Ya he really is a showman more than a fighter, Wily didn't even make em for that."

"So long as a robot finds a purpose in their existance, Mate."

"Hey the money he ships home keeps the power on and the Doc fed."

Metal Man, Bubble Man and Wood Man are onboard the Skull Shuttle anad are moving in on the responded distress call.

"So why are we doing this?"

"One to get a discount on supplies and two Illithids are a meance to organic life in general, that's just community service."

"Actual monsters, who shouldn't be left alive."

"Yes they eat people's brains, there's nothing to mince about."

The Shuttle is making it way at high speed to board the stricken ship. They have no stealth systems so they are likely to get fired at as they make their way in and they are not hiding their confederate IFF

"This is Metal Man of the Wily Army, we hear you Uspo and are here to help.>>

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Starbounders are pretty cool in Eiko's book. They've helped her out before, but this is her first time on a spaceship. After spending the trip over looking through Biteblade's vessel, as they close in, she's looking over the increasingly complex situation with a chin-rubbing gesture of the thoughtful adventurer-slash-looter (and maybe occasional hero).

    "Those guys are getting defended... those guys look pretty tough... those guys are in a bind, which means... Hey, Biteblade, wanna go cut up one of those squid-ships? Either that or try taking that one in back from behind." Eiko's not too keen on going in alone on account of not knowing how easily she'll be able to teleport back if she gets outclassed, which isn't especially unlikely. Dying's not on the agenda.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    "Illithids? You mean like, squid people? Mind powers?" Gudako asks back-- not super familiar with the species, but at least familiar with the trope to some degree. "This is so cool! I didn't know those guys could have spaceships!"

    <Master, please pay attention to the danger!> mentally communicates her Caster, incorporeal. <No danger here, just playmates!> replies her Berserker, same deal.

    "Foxes should listen to cats," Gudako chimes out loud. "Let's play pirate too! Yarr and matey and... other... pirate slang terms. Hm." Gudako muses. "Nah I've got better."

    She idly points towards Finna. "Berserker, kill~."

    Cue the red-robed fox lady with cat mitts and boots. She appears out of thin air, materializing mid-violent pounce towards Finna, claws extended. The strength of the Servant is pretty high, but that agility is pretty absurd too. Pretty high-tier even by the Lunar's standards.

    And this is how you escalate misunderstandings.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Penguins."
"Aye. What, ye never heard tale of DREADWING?"
"Floran get in fight with penguin military. Tiny penguin tank."
"That's spectacular. Why are we here, exactly?"
"Fire sale."
"It is going to be /on fire/ soon."
"Be why they have a sale, idiot."
"Floran exercissse economic prudence!"

    Time to jump on in! The Kaleidoscope slips on by the Rafflesia and Kyra can practically hear Biteblade call out, "Hi, heal friend!" Before they blast their way alongside the merchant craft. Giant penguin? PAVO is going to know EXACTLY how this works. She's going to get Biteblade to link into her array, and try to blast their way, through that teleporter, to somewhere lightly shielded inside. They're not here to rescue, of course, but they are here to raid. Biteblade regards Eiko thoughtfully. "Hmmmm... Could be good! Big hunter ship! Good prey! And other people, already loot merchant."

    Pavo crackles from a nearby screen. "Aye, lass! Plenty be going to go after that ship, but ain't much yer gonna find on the big Penguinoids with so much competition! Get up on that pad, lass, let's get to raidin'!"

    Pavo is going to try to inject Biteblade and Eiko into one of the nearby Illithid crafts; presumably Kyra might come along too! Moonfin and Pavo themselves are currently sticking to running outside, ready to strike more intensely with their ship-mounted weaponry, while the Kaleidoscope, Biteblade's craft, zips away!

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Fortunately, Scarlet is on the deck, and she can vouch for Laer when the elf appears on deck. "Oh, hello again," the medusa purrs. "I think we can negotiate something."

    Jack replies, "Yeah, our major caster's on the helm, we could use someone like that." So it looks like she has something to handle.

    Kyra finds that... the ship doesn't have a radio, exactly, but her approach isn't aggressive so they don't appear to be opening fire. The ballista on one end is aiming at Kyra's ship, but not really looking like they're going to fire... they're just being careful.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "...hello...?" Kyra starts rotating through frequencies, trying to reach the penguin ship with little success, "...hm, maybe their comms are fried. It's even worse than I thought. Rafflesia, prepare to pull up to it-not sure what else to do though...maybe give them a space tow..? Er, wait..." Yeah, although it's not actually firing, she doesn't really like the fact that it's pointing ballista at her and immediately reconsiders getting any closer.

    Kyra sees the Kaleidoscope fly past, recognizing the ship right away, "...ahh shit." Now she switches comms again, this time to ones she knows will reach other ships-in particular the Starbounder's ships, "Soooo since I see Pavo's ship here, I'm guessing you guys are here to loot. I, uh, came to rescue so if you guys could just...loot in a non-interfering way...?" She frowns as she watches the Starbounder's ship veer away from the seiged vessel. "..oh, well, that works."

    The Rafflesia breaks off to pursue the Kaleidoscope.

Finna (513) has posed:
    Finna scowls when her line is cut! But she's already passed the gravity zone... which means every tug on that cord has already sent her floating towards the besieged ship. Except... without that cord she has no CONTROL of her direction. Oops.

    For a brief moment she's in a panic. NO CONTROL! Is she going to just float for hours until someone can rescue her? Will she have enough air?

    This was maybe a bit silly.

    But then she feels the AIR around her... and grins. Flesh ripples on the Lunar's back... and ERUPTS into a pair of snowy owl wings! But just as she's pondering how best to flap without gravity to form any sort of proper lift...

    CLAAAAAAAAAASSSHHH-CLANG!!

    "WHAT THE HOOPIES?!" Sparks fly and light flashes in the void between the whale and Penguin ship. It takes a moment to see just WHAT happened there... because Finna's sent flying at a COMPLETELY different angle now. Heading straight for the bow of the penguin ship BACKWARDS. Flecks of blood flow from her injured arm where one of the claws was a bit too fast for her to completely divert it. Dismayed and angry, she readies her own claws more properly. Silvery light swirls around her fingernails, transforming them in no time at all.

    "Oh someone's SO getting it for that!" As always she's full of huff and bluster, but her heartbeat's also now going a mile a minute. Whoever her assailant is, they're FAST. Fast enough to take HER by surprise... ALMOST by surprise, anyways.

    Also this Zero-G thing is a problem. She has no purchase to put any serious weight into her blows, and any clash will send her in the opposite direction!

    The Exalt seems rather concerned about these as she hurtles through space, on guard for a repeat attack!

Laer (353) has posed:
    "Ah, that's good, then. I've just been informed that a loose associate of mine is on the ship shaped like the strange bird." Laer hadn't actually caught Gudako's name, but they sounded 'loose' enough to her. "Would you prefer me to stick to support, or would you rather I take a slightly more active role in things?"

    That's actually a rare offer, but it's been a bit since the elf had shown off, and there were times when making a good impression on people helped. Such as during a completely insanely chaotic battle with loot on the line for dividing up later. She doesn't look directly at the medusa, because she's not really a believer in taking those sorts of chances.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Raine is coming up alongside the One-Eyed Jack, and that means Raine's ship gets someone targeting it. "Friend of yours?" Scarlet asks with amusement. There's a man eying Raine's ship curiously over the railing, and rubbing his chin, but if Raine isn't making any aggressive moves then hell, why not?

    Eiko and Biteblade decide to head onto an illithid Nautiloid. Appearing on the ship they'll find that the deck looks like... a wooden ship deck, but is very dark. Extremely dark. A purple, tentacle-faced being looks up from where he's apparently loading up the catapult. Or rather, an ogre is doing so, while the illithid watches. Tentacles twitch as it sees the invaders, gesturing for the ogre to attack! Which it does by... hurling the rock. Probably not the best idea, given the close quarters and relatively slow wind up.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Metal Man attempts to contact the Dowhar! Unfortunately they too lack comms! This world just hasn't been unified long enough to have actual radios widespread, it seems!

    The only reason that Metal Man's ship isn't being fired upon is because they don't have THAT many weapons to spare! The Uspo is largely a trading vessel, so their defense screen appears in the form of... several flying pigs with penguins riding on the back deploying in a screen between the various incoming craft and the ship. "SPACE SWINE, FORM UP!"

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    It's a scientifically proven fact cats lose their ability to flip mid-air to land on their feet in zero gravity. The fact this is a real study that was conducted might now make you feel bad for the cats, much like Gudako's player did upon finding out.

    Lucky for Finna, the red-robed Berserker does not come in for a second strike! She disappears, reappearing by Gudako's side on the deck of the ship. She glances up and overboard, eying the Lunar with a wide :3 as though she were dinner. Which, given those wings, she probably REALLY DOES think she is dinner right now.

    Much like a cat, Berserker is also following Finna's every spin and movement with both head and eyes. This probably looks very silly.

    Gudako is trying to weight options right now. "Huuuuh. So, the pirates are friends of ours. That's awkward. Whatcha wanna do, Berserker?"
    "Berserker wants dinner, master!"
    "Cats shouldn't hunt airborne birds," Gudako says.
    "Berserker can bring it down!"

    The big cat paws of the Servant reach into her sleeves, withdrawing a set of paper talismans. She hurls them towards Finna! They glow idly, but as sorcery goes this is insanely low tier, especially compared to the same talismans Finna saw a few days back from the other Servant!

    Among them are minor assorted curses. A bad luck curse, a toothache curse, a small gravity curse (aiming to bring her down!). It's really not the sort of stuff that leaves a dent.

    Gudako continues watching, smiling, musing. "Ooh, maybe I'll ask the bird what to do. I've never let a bird decide what I should do before." And then her attention is taken by the frontline of SPACE SWINE. She really picked the best ship to be on.

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Oh, so squid-guys see pretty well in the dark. Eiko should have thought to bring some kind of gear for this; it's not that rare a monsters-related thing, and these are definitely some familiar-looking mobs.

    Eiko tugs at her sword and it--doesn't come free. It's totally stuck in there, not budging in the slightest. Well. She could always try bashing the ogre or its master with the scabbard... "Haha, not doing that!"

    She ducks out at a rapid pace, leaving the gun deck if she can and trying to get to the holds, avoiding the ogre as she goes. She's holding her sword over one shoulder, now, and if another thing with tentacles show up (nothing with tentacles is ever good news) around the next corner, it's going to get a primitive clobbering.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Meanwhile, Kyra steps away from the bridge after giving a number of commands to the ship, giving it a set course to orbit with path correction based on whatever aggro the Rafflesia might draw while it's on autopilot. One of the benefits of having an active AI, clearly.

    Moments later, after a good shot of the teleporter, she too appears on the deck of the Illithid Nautiloid, seconds after the ogre hurls the rock at Biteblade and Eiko. She takes one look around and, with little pause, turns and aims her hunting rifle right at the ogre. It doesn't look like much-nor do the darts it fires look like much either. If they happen to penetrate through the ogre's skin, they deliver a very powerful neurotoxin-based paralytic.

    "Watcha guys doing?"

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     "Hey idiot. Maybe you should actually say something to the ship you're beside?" Fragarach casually commented while continuing to flip through a comic book. It was pretty thick. She'd be at it for a while.

     Raine rolled his eyes and didn't respond, but could see the logic in it. With a sigh, he spoke. "Computer, bring up the comm. Now let's see...Hey , ship beside me, I come in peace, or something along those lines. Is that good? No? Okay whatever, I'm here to find one of our people. That good? Should be. Okay."

     Pause.

     "Oh right. Name's Raine Arland, you need me to do anything in the interim, I'm all ears. Otherwise I'll be cruisin' along~" And that said, he shot forward, thrusters pushing the ship towards the one with the Penguin motif steadily.

Metal Man (11) has posed:
Metal Man says "Am I actually seeing this?"

Wood Man gets dramatic and shouts out in a booming voice.

"PIGS IN SPPPPPPPPPPPACCCCCCCCCCEEEEEE!!"

Bubble Man just stares under his goggles at his brother for a moment, with a how am I reltion to you etched on his face almost.

"Okay they can't hear us make ready to board the hostile ship and get to it. These things are not human so the laws of robotics even if we had it don't apply here."

"Aye, These space dogs be going to be deep sixed."

"Bubble now isn't the time for talking like a pirate!"

Bubble Man shrughs a bit as the shuttle comes about and makes for the hostile ship and is going to move to boar it. Leaving a Joe to pilot Metal Man ges to the back air lock and soon is leaping out followed by the other Wily robots and a unit of Grabby Copters which are carrying Sniper Joes with them. It's time to board!

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "You go, sssword friend, Floran handle ssstabs!" Biteblade calls out to Eiko. She draws her power daggers... And then CATCHES the boulder on her face. Slammed backwards down into the deck however much the attack might damage the hull of their own boat, Biteblade is smeared over the thing, armor crumpling.

    But then she HEAVES the boulder off of her with a straining shove, and looks bloodily at the Illithid. "Isss cool big prey for throwing rock! Floran gonna go ahead, eat both." Kyra's here! Handling the ogre. Biteblade goes after something else. She dashes forward, trying to struggle through the lack of light that inhibits her photosynthesized energy, and go after the Illithid! She can get a boost to compensate for the dark, and recover some of her lost HP, if she can manage her effort to KNIFE-TACKLE the horrible creature and pin it to the deck with her daggers, and begin devouring some portion of it.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Well, the Dowhar weren't firing on Kyra... and when the Rafflesia turns to head toward the Nautiloids, she'll see a ragged cheer from the decks! Boy, they're glad they decided to hold fire, aren't they? If the ship makes it through this, she'll have some allies! Though... maybe she'll also realize how shitty Dowhar are as allies.

    Nobeard is floating onto deck on the Jack, and snorts lightly. "Arr. We should have ye on the front this time. Well, front enough for the crew. Keep behind Jack, it'll be fine. Should be fun."

    The man talking to Raine just shrugs. "Well, as long as you aren't in our way, whatever. It's kind of open season on the penguins, huh?" Unfortunately Raine and the Jack will need to break through the line of SPACE SWINE incoming. Though at least one of them is going to be coasting soon, as one of the rays fired from Nobeard's eye strikes one. There are still four to take care of. And also...

    "FIRE!" Gudako gets an up close look at a cannon shooting a spider web. They should probably be shooting at the ship, though? The Commander seems to have an idea for that, too. "PREPARE TO REPEL BOARDERS!"

Finna (513) has posed:
    Well this is a puzzler! Finna's sharp eyes can see the Tamamocat hurling SOMETHING at her... but in her insane spin it's REALLY hard to figure out just WHAT they are. What she DOES know is that she has wings now. And so they are MIGHTY MIGHTY FLAPPED.

    ... Which, certainly, changes her trajectory. Except now she's spinning in an entirely different direction and--

    WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!!

    "Aaaaaaoooooooowrgh!" The fox, through some insane trickery of fate or luck (good, bad, or otherwise, it's hard to say) slams through a window. The sorcerous tags, unless they have HOMING abilities, are... probably not going to strike her. What trickery does the Berserker employ in this situation though?

    As for Finna though, well.

    Now INSIDE the ship, with her wings crumpled and tons of broken glass cutting her all over, is sort of flopping around in a heap. "What is WRONG with this place?!"

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer smiles toothily at the mention of wanting her to be more upfront, a hand going down to sneak into a bag tied around her waste, coming out with a long fang of some sort. It's not at all impossible that some of the crew will recognize it as a dragon's fang. This is going to be more likely in a moment, as Laer starts to sing in Draconic, the tooth glowing and seeming to melt away.

    As does Laer herself into a pool of red light, before an adult red dragon takes off from the deck, seeming to not have too much trouble with the gravity of the situation, spinning a few times towards the Space Swine before taking in a deep breath.

    Once she's breathing out, brilliantly hot flames in spite of the vacuum, Gudako might just have that option for bacon after all.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    The paper talismans... just kind of fly off. They're really basic, not especially powerful, and despite Berserker's strength, she's not the greatest at magic. It's already odd enough she's a Berserker with magic at all! That makes two.

    The red-robed fox frowns, having lost sight of her dinner. She pouts, and stomps her foot, and then Gudako pats her in the head. "There there, Berserker. Mister commander! We're going to go secure your cargo since we suck out here~." she tells the Giff, while watching the spider web cannon fire. This ship is amazing, god damn.

    Unless stopped, Gudako heads back into the ship! With her Berserker trailing behind. She starts looking for the cargo hold, which hopefully is either easy to find or on a map somewhere. Preferably unguarded, but she's not above handling the matter pretty directly if it is.

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     "Gotcha. No getting in the way happening here. You guys do your thing, and I'll do mine. Yep." Raine spoke into the comm once more before focusing on the frontal display.

     Ah crap.

     Pigs.

     Raine's worst enemy.

     Nevermind that he just made that up right this moment.

     "Crap. This ship's weapons systems aren't anything to write home about. Alright, evasive manuevers first! Fragarach, prepare to reinforce the cannons." Smirking, went in, steering the ship left and right evasively, as well up up and down, doing what he could to keep out of harm's way.

     Fragarach meanwhile sighed. "Hah? But I'm at the good part here. Charge them up yourself."

     "Uh, hello? Not the spellcaster here? Come on, get the hell to it!"

     "You owe me for this."

     The ship veered around once evasive movements completed, with as much damage mitigated as possible. The ship's main cannons, which weren't that powerful, but were enough for this purpose, thrummed to life, and then two bolts of laser energy fired out, splitting into multiple smaller rays to seek out the space swine unaccounted for.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    The elf ship is hammering the one Nautiloid... and the other is being assaulted by the Flotilla crew! Kyra PROBABLY chose the right ship to assault as well. The illithid raiders are likely the most in the wrong group here, since they're likely to want to eat brains and all.

    Eiko manages to dive off to the side, and can dash toward the hold. There is another illithid right around the corner, and it burbles in shock right before a loud THUNK slams into its head. This doesn't happen before it unleashes a desperate psychic shriek toward Eiko, though!

    The same psychic shriek power is being used against Biteblade, but well... it might hurt, might not, either way these things aren't fighters, at least not the ones that are on the crew here. Tendrils flail, trying to grasp at the Floran at the same time as the fingers claw. Ichor spurts a lot more though, as the thing is just a crewman, not a warrior.

    The ogre is a bit more of a problem, charging with a roar... and getting a tranq dart for his trouble. Amazingly, the ogre looks at it and yanks it out, starting to step toward Kyra with a low, gutteral growl... but it only manages about three steps before crashing into the deck.

    The group can now go down into the hold, or try to make their way forward, toward the bridge.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Biteblade!" Kyra calls out, the fact that the Floran has been bloodied not going unnoticed. She's about to lift her hand to field a heal in her direction when the ogre growls at her. Her eyes widen and she lifts her rifle, pumping another two darts into the ogre out of panic. It takes one step towards her, she backs up, and the pattern follows until it faceplants onto the deck.

    Heaving a sigh of relief, Kyra turns for Biteblade and holds out a hand, "Heal!" White magic could at least repair damaage but it probably wouldn't help much with Biteblade's need to eat for energy. Hopefully the illithid will provide the sustinance that the Floran needs! Once the other two are free, she'll follow them below deck.

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Eiko finds a crewman (assuming the illithid actually do any work around here) and delivers the overhead strike she'd readied for just this eventuality. It ALMOST falters fatally, but she's a lot of forward momentum going for her, and is practically leaping into the swing by the time she's hit. It's only after she has both feet on the ground that she wobbles, groaning at the pain, and making a note. "Psychic damage. Gotta work on that next. Or fire? Frikken dragons. Work on both."

    If the squidman is still up, she won't so much as pause in her speech while methodically bashing its head in with repeated hits. Then she'll check its body (living or not) for something like a knife, which could prove useful for the next part, before stepping over and into the hold.

    She's hoping for easily looted treasures just piled around, but if everything is in crates and barrels, it'll be time to start prying things open to figure out what's worth taking. Chests are usually a good sign. Nobody sticks their rum and gunpowder in locked chests.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Raine and Laer prove to be EXCELLENT at providing support! Nobeard eyes(haha) the dragon that appears, then laughs as Laer sends out a burst of flame that fries several. They're... actually not that strong, compare to the people around them. Maybe a whole squad could be more of a threat, but with Laer, Nobeard, and Raine sending lasers, eye rays, and flame breath at them... the screen of swine is soon sizzling pork that fills the atmosphere envelope with mmm-mmm goodness.

    Finna smashes into a window to see two Dowhar peering at her. They shuffle away, because that was clearly an accident and also they aren't fighters. The Giff laughs at Gudako though, "I like you!"

    Giff are weird.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Biteblade is slammed brutally by the psychic wave, but she doesn't need things like "higher thought processes" right now. Thankfully, Kyra has Biteblade's regeneration issues handled, otherwise the combined wounding would knock her out of the fight too early! Biteblade focuses though, allowing herself to be grasped in order to kee the crewman in grappling range.

    The hold, on one hand, sounds like it's full of whatever valuables the illithid might want. So once Biteblade's free -- and dined on Illithid flesh, potentially, that can't be a great thing to do -- she'll be right up on her feet, energized and READY TO GO!! Dashing on after Eiko and practically bouncing off the walls down into the hold, eager to loot and kill and do so with such quickness that it'll be hard to keep up with her and harder to react to her sudden assaults.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Pirate talk? Seriously? Well, fortunately people aren't around to hear Bubble Man's talk. All that are around are... well, smashing into the Nautiloid, the copters and Joes will find a small crew there to oppose them! The illithids aren't using mind blasts this time, but their human slaves are lining up with powerful crossbows to target the incoming robots, unleashing a hail of bolts at them. It's obviously just the guard for the heavy weapons though. Busthing through them will lead directly into the ship's command centers.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Gudako is below decks! And... so is Finna. Finna can go on the attack, or try to talk her way out of trouble, or whatever. But Gudako and the two Servants will go down and... find lots of crates. Lots and lots of crates. There's a couple chairs around as well, but mostly crates of what look like furniture and clothing, plus some... things. Trinkets, basically. Mechanical toys?

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer, once done with the pigs, will fly in the direction of the distressed ship, hoping to be intimidating enough to prompt an immediate surrender of all of the cargo and such. This would probably work better, on an intimidation level, if she didn't look so awkward flying as a dragon. Zero gravity doesn't help the cause, either.

    Still, having a massive red dragon tumbling towards your ship is almost as intimidating as one clearly in control would be, and there presumably will be a vanguard of pirates behind her to go on the assault as well. Assuming she manages to not actually crash into the ship and leave a dragon-sized hole, at least.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Eiko and Biteblade are going to be sporting some headaches, but at least Kyra can support them! Eiko DOES find a wavy dagger that is pretty evil-looking, and can probably hear the chaos up top. Brain eaters are not getting much sympathy, it seems.

    They don't have gunpowder, though. Gunpowder doesn't exist! The illithid ship instead has only a few items of interest:

    * Several sacks of some strange... mold.

    * A pool of liquid in a barrel.

    * Quite a few sacks of coins that appear to be made of steel(??)

    * A metal barrel that is extremely large and doesn't appear to have any normal means of opening.

    * Several crates of paintings. The canvases are all ruined by huge streaks of dark red though.

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     "And that takes care of that." Raine quipped, powering down the cannons and diverting all energy back to thrusters. With the obstacles out of the way, Raine set a course forward, following after that conspicuous red dragon. No need to put on a show when THAT was up front. "Hey, Fragarach, why don't you ever turn into a dragon?"

     "Do you want me to destroy your ship?" Came her distant reply, followed by a pageturn.

     "Okay, maybe not."

     "I thought so."

     Raine rolled his eyes. "Computer, activate autopilot. I'm heading out." He stood from the captain's chair, his hands leaving the controls, which faded out of sight as the ship began to pilot itself. "Alright, let's see what the damage is..." He mumbled to himself, leaving the bridge and heading down to the hangar to disembark onto the deck distressed ship below.

Finna (513) has posed:
    Finna's not having ANY of this. First she gets a load of some people staring at her... than they go toddling off. "Awwwrghooo... ow ow." But she stands and decides...

    Screw this. Gonna switch strategies.

    The wings immediately vanish into her body again. The rest of her ripples and shifts...

    When the transformation's over with she's no longer a she.

    Now there, in the hallway, stands a man. A mountain of a man, easily seven feet tall and broad enough that he could probably wrestle a bear and WIN. His muscles have muscles, his scars have scars - particularly a big, dark one across his BARED, PHENOMENALLY HAIRY chest. Legs and arms like meaty tree trunks, he grabs his sword from the ground (wait, wasn't that a broken? No you're imagining things) and begins tromping down the hallway. TALK HIS WAY OUT OF TROUBLE?!

    No. It is evident in ERIK BLACKBURN's VERY STRIDE what the MOUNTAIN THAT WALKS is out to do. He needn't explain anything to the Dowhar. Not even that intensely weird transformation, if they happened to observe it. In his MANLY SWAGGER one thing is communicated.

    These pirates are done for. THE HERO HAS ARRIVED! The hero who is said to have learned the secrets of the Cactuars themselves. Who these guys here probably know nothing about.

    When in doubt, refuge in AUDACITY works very well.

    "Awright 'en. Les' sa wat these piiiiiirats can DO."

    What accent IS that anyways?

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    Crates! And no guards. Lucky her.

    Gudako wanders in, with Caster still dematerialized and Berserker now taking the lead. There's something to be said about cats and curiosity, and that's precisely why the catfox starts poking at the weird mechanical toys.

    ... after she claws one of the chairs to mark her territory and stretch a bit. She couldn't help that one. It was right there! Unmarked!

    For her part, the master just peeks into random boxes. Can't possibly all be furniture and weird gadget toys, can it?

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Illithid flesh tastes like really crappy calamari. Just, you know, since it came up. Blech.

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Okay, let's see. COINS. Coins have to be valuable, at least if people are keeping them around. Can't be good for anything but money, unles they're ammo for something, and these people (using the term loosely) are using catapults, so probably not. Steel is weird, but it has to be worth something to someone.

    Eiko points out the coins to Biteblade first. Her matter-gadget can take stuff-not-weld-down pretty quickly, she's noticed, so that should be taken care of straight off. Next is... mold and mysterious liquid. Eiko would be a bit worried about either of these things killing her on contact, though if they don't...

    She leans in, and gives a sniff at the liquid, then dips a finger in if it doesn't seem too dangerous. She's got ways of dealing with anything that doesn't kill her outright, at least.

Metal Man (11) has posed:
Metal Man and his crew get aboard the ship and are alreayd moving into fight. The Joes use their shields infamous for taking insane level of damage to block the bolts but this keeps them from attacking. They however charge ahead moving to knock the humans out of the way. Some attempt to subdue the mind puppets. The Wily army's been around long enough to know a few things about this sort of thing. Not much but enoug to get these guys are either salves or mind controlled. GRabby Copter will just attempt to grab and restrain the slaves even if means some fall and they do. After all they are just basic mechanliods.

Metal, Bubble and Woodman barrel on through attemoping to use htier mass to get into the command cwenter and Metal Man if he gets in ther will yell. He'll start looking for the 'mind flayers' and start slinging blades, Bubble Man has a harpoon in hand and Wood Man seems to be unarmed, well to those with no experiance with him.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Whelp. This is gonna be interesting. Gudako is going through the cargo unmolested now, and the chair is... surprisingly comfortable for being plain wood. Finally, she finds some nice-looking textiles in one, and a CRATE full of halberds. They look... overlarge for a human, in fact. Easily twelve feet tall and incredibly heavy.

    The Dowhar gasp! "THE HERO IS HERE! THE HERO!" "WHAT HERO?" "I DUNNO?"

    The giff who barges in has his eyes light up. "By Gromaj's left tusk! Just what we need! We're under attack by pirates!" He turns and moves with surprising speed upward, unholstering a large wheel-lock pistol from his side.

    Of course, the deck is scattering because a RED DRAGON, a strange ship with someone carrying a HUGE SWORD, and in another moment a BEHOLDER is appearing. "HAR! Hand over the cargo and no one gets hurt, lads!"

    Quick, save us ERIK!

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra's smart, she doesn't go down into the ship first. Except at least this time there doesn't seem to be any monsters or even more crew to close in on them so the caution almost seems unnecessary. Yet she remains vigillant since Illithids are also known for horribly messing up minds. What if it was an illusion they all were seeing?

    Though while she cautiously explores, she picks up some of the coins and looks them over She immediately knew of their value, given their strange weight comparied to real gold but despite that, she isn't stopped as she picks up some souvenirs for the trip.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Looting! Well, there's no more hunting to do, no more stabbing. Biteblade has Pavo yelling in her ear, of course, shouting to go grab everything! As per usual, Biteblade just sort of runs with it, and handles looting for Eiko! Anywhere Eiko points her, she just runs over and points her Matter Manipulator at it, which lets her take in large amounts of furniture, and loot, and pieces of the ship... And pretty much anything else that seems narratively convenient for the little plantgirl to be picking up.

    "Isss all loud upssstair. You think, leave? Or think, maybe we go, loot bridge? Not sssure."

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Metal Man and crew make short work of the crossbowmen, even just subduing them. They lack much motivation, being basically charmed. But afterward, crashing into the command center, they'll get a glimpse of several Mind Flayers in a circle, concentrating. Two more are up, and one of them had a fireball prepped, hurling it toward the group with a burbling of arcane enchantments and an explosion that blasts through the walls of the deck. They must be getting desperate!

    In the hold, Kyra weighs the coins, but more importantly they seem to have stamped units on them. These are CURRENCY... somewhere. From the dust, maybe the illithids didn't know what to do with them either.

    Biteblade just yanks up anything she can, which is an awful lot of shit. Though investigating the mold finds it rather harmless, really. It doesn't even itch or anything, nor does it send spores up in the air. It's more like... solid chunky fungus, easily portable. The liquid, however, just feels slimy and disturbing, and it smells HORRID.

Finna (513) has posed:
    WHOMP, WHOMP, WHOMP. The form that Finna has taken is no illusion. Not entirely. Erik tromps up the stairs and onto the deck. One meaty hand strokes an unevenly kept dark, overly tangled and fuzzy beard as he strolls out into the light under the stars. On the outside he is the very image of a mighty berserker, a barbarian warrior forged in the cold and the snow. The only thing he's missing is... a shirt, maybe. Or armor. Big, thick leggings are all he wears.

    He simply strolls across the deck, facing down the dragon and glancing periodically at the Beholder.

    There's a *CLANK* as he clamps his jaws down on the flat of his blade and solidly folds both arms across his chest.

    Then... with the sound of awful, crunching steel the sword simply SNAPS IN TWO. Munch. Munch.

    He bit his own sword in half and is SWALLOWING FRAGMENTS?!

    It'll take quite an act of will to tell that there are no fragments, and what's hitting the ground are just pieces of railing.

    He just stands there, stalwart and solid. Just DARING anyone to threaten the ship further.

    Every hair on his chest ripples and flexes individually in waves. Or maybe that's chest muscles flexing. Really hard to say.

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     ".....Well." Raine started, watching what went down on deck from the back hatch of his own ship. Some huge guy just came from below deck and BIT A SWORD IN HALF. "...Cool." He grinned and then, as if not caring about the danger, leapt out of his ship, veering downwards until he landed onto the deck of the distressed one, right near the red dragon.

     "Yo." Raine greeted Erik, a two fingered salute following. "So you look like you've got some guts. That's good, I like guts. Buuuuuut..." He gestured to belowdeck, which was being blocked by said giant of a man. "We gotta get down there. For various reasons. It's cool, right? We can just mosey on by while you stay up here chewing on swords. Yeah? Yeaaaah?"

     A pause.

     "...So how'd that taste anyway?"

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Starbounders have a WAY better inventory system than Eiko does, so she's gonna leave Biteblade to that. Delegation! In the meantime, she's wiping that horrible liquid off her finger as well as she can (not on her sweet coat, freshly mended from that time she set herself on fire), and looking back out the way they came.

    Walking that way, "Hey, Heals, cover me. I figure we might have time to hit the boss before we gotta get out of here. If not, better than not trying." Back toward the bridge, then. "Bitey, follow up whenever you run out of stuff. Don't take TOO long, got plenty more stabbing to do, but no rush 'till there's a rush."

Metal Man (11) has posed:
Metal Man is storming in the blades start flying at the Mind FLayers as he takes a hit from the blast he's damaged but he's sditll going. Bubble Man crahses through harpoon ready and dives at the nearest one intending to put the harpoon into the thing's head. Wood Man then shows his power as the bulky Robot shows his power leaves appear, yes but not just anything they are synathic and have edges that are nearly monoflilment keen. He'll launche them into the ranks of the mind Flayers as Metal Man keeps up his attack there is no mercy no restraint not for things like this.

"You do not belong in this world or any others monsters!"

For once he may be right given what the Mind Flayers are.

"You scum are worse than the coucil of Robotics!"

Barks Bubble Man for all the goofyness of his look he's quite serious, also he makes use of the bubble lead which will just crush anything that gets caught under it. While Wood Man seems very unhappy about these thingds iun general he is silent.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Eiko, Kyra, and Biteblade will hear some inhuman shrieks as Metal Man, Bubble Man, and Wood Man burst into the scene and... begin to shred the illithids to pieces. None of the people here are particularly a challenge for these Elites, being relatively minor raiders.

    And when they die... the Series Helm goes down, and the ship's faint feeling of motion lurches to a halt. It's dead in space now, though at least still seems to have gravity and air thanks to the peculiar physics of this world.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Of course, the problem with attempting to intimidate a red dragon is that they are, by nature, not the sorts to consider their actions. Laer in her usual elf form would probably reconsider; the dragon doesn't really hesitate, instead launching itself awkwardly forward to bring claws to bear.

    Those claws aren't really super cordinated; Laer's just not that great at the movement parts of being a dragon. This isn't because she's not fully one; it's because red dragons just tend to be a little awkward. So those are mostly also going to damage the ship, being quite easy to dodge, even as she growls out. "Surrender! You called out that you were in distress. Do you want to be in more?"

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Ahh, damn. Oh well. Kill-stealers will happen.

    Eiko backs off, not wanting to start a wholly new fight, and hopes Biteblade has a swift teleport-back function on the ship.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Please recover the swordswoman."
"But big fight right here!! Floran wanna hunt!"
"Go upstairs and loot more, ye lazy weed!"
"Am I the only one concerned for the wellbeing of our younger candidates?"
"Aye."
"Of course it falls on the Hylotl to have any noble morality."
"Uuuuugh, if will shut ssstupid fish face up, will get sssword friend!"

    "Need to go? Kitchen get too hot, lot of kill!" Biteblade says, grabbing Eiko and yanking over. "Floran isss protect! Here, we leave! Quick! Hug Floran!" What. Well, Eiko won't have a chance to object, if she's trying to swift-teleport back. Because Biteblade will just immediately hug her and initiate the teleport, way too hot to have her nearby! They've done enough raiding today, it'll probably be fine!

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Hmm. Dragon and Raine handling the hero. Nobeard just decides to make it easier to loot. There's a reason even the giff are scattering, becaus eeven THEY aren't going to go against the monsters here. "Arr. We'll be taking the loot. Why be ye defending these cheaters anyhow?"

    The Dowhar squawk about that, but a lancing green beam from Nobeard's eye into the deck shuts them up. The door to the hold disintegrates, letting anyone go in... or out. "We'll just be taking one mouthful, heh. Each."

Finna (513) has posed:
    "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahaha!" The MIGHTY MIGHTY MAN unfolds his arms as Raine approaches! And... blocks the passage below decks.

    "..... No." Exclaims the man, voice deep and rumbly and grand. "None kin pass!" Each of his fingers flex open then close again, causing enough muscle on that arm to ripple and bulge that it's like the surface of a choppy sea.

    "Bu' ad'ice, 'at's free. Ye dunnae 'e m'rits of IIIIRRRRRRN 'n yer gut, kid? They be p'enty."

    Seriously, where does this accent come from?

    "Why, eet opins u'a whoooooooole new w'rld of poss... poss... STUFF."

    As if to PROVE THIS the man lets loose a bellowing HOWL, both arms raising high... and EVERY SINGLE HAIR ON HIS CHEST WRITHES INDEPENDENTLY. They shimmer, gleam like metal and STRAIGHTEN UNNATURALLY until they resemble the quills of a porcupine.

    And OFF THEY GO, flying across the deck making an AWFUL RACKET when they penetrate the hull - if only just barely. Each a tiny pinprick arrow.

    What the HELL.

    The GREAT MAN exhales... then claps a hand down on Raine's shoulder after getting a GOOOOOOOOOD look at the Dragon. "Ey, kid. Wh'r's'dis eh-gain? Ey'm na sure."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Speaking of getting out, Kyra does not go down with the illithid ship. She doesn't stick around to gather up steel coins. Once it's clear that the ship is startig to drift, she too is teleported out after a quick signal is sent back to the Rafflesia.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer is not exactly certain of the translation of the man, considering the option for eating him or for stabbing him. The dragon doesn't technically have anything to stab him with, but that's not going to get her to stop. At the same time, she doesn't exactly want to fight.

    She tilts her head back, blasting fire straight upwards and away from anything that might actually burn, then bends back down. "Even if you survive, strange man, every bit of your hair will be burned to ash. You will be bald for all eternity over your entire body, a suffering that will last a lifetime. Begone, fool, and be thankful for my mercy every day as you shampoo."

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Even NOBEARD has to stop and stare at the ridiculousness of this. "What." The beholder stares... that is, about five of his eyes turn and look at what's going on there. Fortunately, the crew has decided discretion is the better part of valor.

    "Surrender! We surrender!" The Dowhar flaps useless wings. "If you fight here the ship is gone anyway!"

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     "........"

     Raine stared up at the giant of a man.

     His brow twitched as he tried to understand just what was said.

     It twitched againas he witnessed the display of 1000 CHEST HAIRS.

     A bit of radio banter follows, an then he just feels drained. "....Yeah man...yeah." Raine just nodded and sighed out that response, utterly incapable of mustering up anything else.

     He turned around. "I'm gonna just...stand by in my ship. My ridiculous quota's been met for the week." He walks off, hand raised. "Yep. That's it for ol' Raine. Ain't no country for old men here." Raine you're not even old, shut up.

Finna (513) has posed:
    Erik staaaaaares at the threatening dragon. A single, large drop of perspiration rolls down the side of his face. The heat, or fear? It's hard to say. But he answers it by IIIIIIIIIINHALING enough that his chest puuuuuuffs up dramatically... and then exhaaaaaaaaaaling... "HRMPGHHHH!" With a mighty flex that flesh contracts down to normal size again, SQUEEZING OUT a new set of chest hair.

    Raine may have had enough ridiculous for the week, but there seems to be no end of it with this guy. "F'n, d'nlrn 'e secret WAYS OF THE CACTUAR!" The way he pronounces this WAY is with a completely different accent, like a Japanese man speaking english.

    But the call to surrender gets his own eyebrows quirking in opposite motions. One raises, the other falls. this goes on for about five seconds back and forth, then he sighs in disgust and waves his hand.

    TROMP, TROMP, TROMP. Over towards... the EDGE OF THE DECK?!

    "Y'r gattin oof easy, 'izzy!" The MIGHTY MIGHTY MAN huffs... just before he takes a SWAN DIVE OVERBOARD.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Erik dives over the edge of the ship! Everyone just watches as... he passes past the middle of the hull, and feels gravity reverse itself. The fall slows, reverses, and sends him back upward, past the plane of gravity again... where the process repeats itself.

    Unless Erik does something to stop it, his graceful swan dive ends up more of a weird bobbing that slowly drifts out to the edge of the atmosphere envelope.

Finna (513) has posed:
    WOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooing! Up... and down... and up and down. Erik Blackburn doesn't so much flail as he looks left... and right...

    ... And after a bit of this, starts making wildly exaggerated swimming strokes to push against the air. back towards the hull of the ship, whilst muttering a string of completely unintelligible gruff cussing collected from all across the Multiverse.

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     From the bridge of Raine's ship, he watched all of this on his monitor.

     And he facepalmed.