2616/Leve: It's Probably Pirates

Leve: It's Probably Pirates
Date of Scene:	12 July 2015
Location:	Hydaelyn Reborn <ARR>
Synopsis:	Adventurers investigate a group of pirates known as the Serpent Reavers.
Cast of Characters:	Arthur Lowell, 255, Lyria Mason, 747, 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)!

Leve: It's Probably Pirates
Location: Skull Valley, Western La Noscea
Type: Investigation
Urgency: Medium
Difficulty: Low

Enclosed Message: Baderon, owner of the Drowning Wench in Limsa Lominsa, has noticed that numerous of his shipments have gone missing lately on their way to the city, and has heard rumors of pillagers and plunderers up to no good. He suspects that the Serpent Reavers, a group of notorious pirates, may have resurfaced after a long period of inactivity. He would ask for adventurers to check the northern regions of the western lands, specifically Skull Valley, for any traces of the pirates; and if they are found, he would very much like them questioned rather than killed, to find out as much as possible. He has dispatched a group of four adventurers before you and would also request you locate them.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    For once, your destination is not the Twelveswood.

    The La Noscean region of Eorzea is more mountainous, teeming with only mild vegetation even close to the shores. It's kind of a very large island, a mini-continent attached to the larger mainland. Ruled over by the Maelstrom, pirates and mercenaries turned good a fair while ago and living in the city of Limsa Lominsa, it has a very different atmosphere from the Black Shroud.

    Your destination is Aleport, a fortification on the western shore of the western region of La Noscea. Built of white marble, it's equally a change from Gridania and its surrounding outposts. The Sun has already mostly set, though the area around Aleport is lit by the blue glow of the massive Aetheryte Crystal in the small fortification's center, and lighthouses besides. There's numerous houses and buildings, a number of which are built into the massive wall surrounding the docks for security, though this late only few people are still out. Yellowjackets, mostly, AKA local militia.

    You've been given a map and a heading, essentially due straight north. The last group of adventurers before you used the same heading, but never returned; they've been gone since morning. Fearing something may have happened to them and the threat is greater than they thought, they are sending you Elites instead.

    ALWYN is obviously already on-site, next to the Aetheryte and the Warp Gate. He's munching on some tuna-kebob, or what looks and smells like it anyway.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Different the isle of Vylbrand may be, but the difference is not unwelcome in its own way. La Noscea is a very beautiful place, and Setsuko is quite happy to walk slowly, to listen to the distant shore, the gulls calling from the air above Aleport. Even in the immediate aftermath of a sunset - or, perhaps, especially - it has a kind of beauty entirely different from the Twelveswood.

    The demigod is walking almost the moment she appears, though, not bothering with things like 'stopping to talk'. Questions can be asked on the way, after all! Alwyn knows how to walk and talk, if she remembers correctly. "So. These Serpent Reavers. Tell me about them?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'raha is not far from Alwyn, as the young adventurer seems to have already grafted himself as some sort of apprentice to the lancer. Not that he would admit that, but it's sort of that way. At least they always seem to end up at the same place taking the same jobs.
    Unlike the lancer, he's once again clad in his heavier armor, the iron and steel and chainmail resting easily on his frame. For his part, the miq is eating a big stick of bread with spices and cheese baked into it. Looks a little cruncy though, like it's preserved or hard baked.

    And then people start arriving and, uwah, we're already going. N'raha plucks up his sword and his shield and starts trotting after the group, tail swishing a bit. "Promise not to upset the locals this time, ma'am?" This to Setsuko. It's an attempt at a joke.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
Bertram, being the goody two shoes that he is, has accepted in part in the (possibly vain) hope that the previous party yet lives. He appears in a burst of aether right next to Alwyn. He answers the Demigod's question on behalf of Alwyn, walking alongside right away. "They're pirates in league with the Sahagin, a Beastman tribe associated with the Primal Leviathan. Compared to the relatively civilized pirates of Limsa Lominsa..." People can tell he's straining not to indulge in stereotyping those by the slow, careful way he states that, "... the Serpent Reavers are extremely ruthless and diplomacy tends to fail. I don't believe they have been tempered, but based on their behavior... I wouldn't rule it out."

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
SARAH PARSLE is here for some more adventure. She heard Epicea actually got off her bed to go kill a dragon. She can't let the lazy troll princess get one up over her. TIME FOR MORE EORZEA.

Aleport is fresh with the smell of sea brine. Sarah isn't really a boat person. She figures she'll ride one when she has to. Instead, she arrives on land from Limsa Lominsa proper, having paid for a chocobo porter. Even the jaunty chocobo with the cute hate could not offset Sarah's determined gaze of detatched mild annoyance at basically everything around her. Yes, she went overland despite there being a warpgate right there. "Did you people see the birds on the way in?" She asks. "The things are insanely fat. They look like beach balls with feathers and bad breath."

She shuffles along to hang out with the others, listening and looking over towards Alwyn. "Hey." She waves. "Missing persons this time? This is going to get weird, I bet."

Lyria Mason has posed:
SO it was basically banit huntin, okay pirate hunting. This would be an odd bit given her own roots? Yet a job was a job right? Sides these guys seemed to have got sloppy. Either way Lyria was here and she just seemed to love being near the water. She takes a look at the map again and seems to know where she's going pretty well now.

"Tch that thing does not /deserve/ the name Leviathan."

She's not even going to hide her concept for that primal given her own origins as a child more or less of Levithan. Still she seems to drop it for the moment.

"These pirates don't get a Pirate who is known for /not/ killing people who Coperate tend to be less likely to sick people like us on them."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "I heard some shit about SKULL VALLEY," Arthur says, swaggering on through the warpgate with a grin and a laugh as he confidently gets through. "And I HAD TO get ALL up in THIS SHIT. WHAT'S UP, YO?" He's going to, of course, immediately join up with the group, soon deciding to drift, weightlessly, alongside them, recliding in the air with the god-tier outfit flapping along. "So THESE GUYS are the ASSHOLES of ASSHOLES. Alright, NICE. So, I'm on KNEECAP HARVESTING DUTY when we FIND these CHUMPS, what's EVERYONE ELSE doing? ADVENTURER RESCUE? CAPTURE STUFF? Gonna join in the FEMUR FARMING?" He wants to make sure everyone has their designated roles before they get there!

    Bertram gets a laugh! "Well, HEY, if they don't WANT DIPLOMACY, they don't GET DIPLOMACY, right? EASY PEASY." Sarah is also noted! She's that newbie who keeps showing up! "YO KIDDO, yeah, MISSING DUDES time. Try not to JOIN 'EM, yeah? Or join 'em while RESCUING, anyway. SHIT though, some FUNNY GODDAMN BIRDS, yeah! Hahahaha."

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    "That," Alwyn answers as Bertram explains. "I think. I haven't been here very often. The further we go out of Gridania's territory the more lost I am. You hear things when you wander a lot but it leaves a lot of holes too. If this had something to do with a Primal I bet we'd have been told or this would have been tagged correctly." Hard to say, though.

    The map, one hopes, is in someone other than Alwyn's hands; anyone who's paid a smidge of attention to him would have noticed he isn't very good at reading them. "There's a big Sahagin camp way up... erm... somewhere, but not where we're going. What's weird is that the reports cite the pirates have been moving around way faster than they should be able to. Unless they have their own Aetherytes set up for teleportation their sighting reports don't make sense."

    In the dead of late evening slash almost night, it's pretty easy to spot any lights, either ahead or back; it's not so dark one needs any to see, though, although occasional rocks or bumps in the off-the-road terrain could cause trip-ups.

    "Yeah, those are dodos," Alwyn answers Sarah, before answering her and Arthur in the same breath. "Missing people, jerk pirates. I think we need them alive to question them, so even if they fight to their dying breath we should make sure we get at least a couple. I can stay back and try to catch runners, I need to practice my leaps anyway."

    No Dragoon ever reached the skies by NOT trying to.

    After about fifteen minutes of walk up north, having passed through small valleys and annoying hills, and between nests of very large lizards and gigantic toads, one could start seeing a few fires up ahead, amidst tents. From afar, it really looks like it was built in a rush, with clutter on the ground everywhere. Movement can be seen, now and again, of men in leather armor with assorted weaponry, mostly swords and axes.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    "I'll try not to create too many rumors of a Primal sighting," Setsuko replies to N'raha. Is that a faint smile on her face? Couldn't be.

    But the Serpent Reavers, apparently, are serious business, so it doesn't take long for her expression to return to properly cool and businesslike. "It might be best to assume they have an aetheryte network set up, then. I'll try to disable at least one safely so that we can find out for certain, though." Needing no lights of her own, the demigod simply walks steadily on as if it were the middle of the day. Beyond that, she seems to remain mostly silent.

    Only as they draw near the camp does her blade come free of its sheath, and she speaks in a quiet voice. "This place... there's going to be a fight here. I can sense it. I'll come in from above." And then her boots lift away from the ground, allowing the demigod to drift upward into the sky. She intends to simply fly up out of the range of the firelight and float overhead, where she can wait for others to begin the assault. And then dive down into the fray.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Oh hey, people he recognizes. The armored miq waves to Sarah and Arthur and sorta glances at Lyria and Bertram talking about Primals. A little shiver runs down his spine and he just grips tighter at his sword. Not something he even wants to think about, really.
    He at least has some commentary for Bertram in;re Pirates. "Well, the ones who are teaching me the arts of the Axe are pretty okay, at least. I mean, a bit gruff about me bein' awful young but..." He shrugs a shoulder under his armor...

    He's just about to answer Setsuko when she takes off and starts flying. Soooooo cooooooool... But the reason presents itself. "Ah crap. Pirates." He slings his shield off his back and looks over his shoulder. "Want me to get in there first, otherwise? I'm pretty sure I can get their attention."

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria Mason looks over to N'rash for a momnent grining a bit, she's clearly happy to see them that much is clear and she's takenin in the rest of the group as well. There's a few new faces here.

"They don't know how to Pralay it seems, Arthur."

She gets set up and she seems she's ready to go, right?

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
Sarah waves to catman (who is not dead, much to her slight pleasure) and also notices Arthur is on the case. Sarah inclines her head deferentially to the man who is actually a god of her world, nodding. "Hello, Mr. Lowell." She states, before looking to Alwyn and nodding. "Dodos. Well, they're probably goign to go extinct at this rate, I can't imagine them being good for anything other than rolling around." Vaguely bitchy sass dispensed, Sarah moves on to more important matters. Like walking to the site.

Sarah, being the opposite of flashy, just kind of bluhs over on the side as people look over the camp. "This place looks like a water hobo lair, all right." She comments. "Let's get this moving." Sarah waits for N'raha or some other tank to get things moving. Once that happens, Sarah begins slipping around the sides in the confusion, taking advantage of loud people with axes and swords in order to try to look for information on the missing people (or the people themselves).

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur laughs and gives Alwyn a quick thumbs-up! "SURE THING, bro, you CATCH whatever still has the CALVES to get the hell out." And then he puts a hand to his chin. "HUH. Moving TOO FAST, huh? I'll keep an eye out for SPACEY SHIT if you keep an eye out for the PIRATEMOBILE." By the time they're at the camp, he's settled back down on his feet. From his Strife Deck he draws his COMBAT BROOM, a large steel apparatus, and flicks it until it bares its ROCKET THRUSTERS. "HA HA HA!" He laughs boisterously at Lyria's words, and flicks a switch on the broom's handle. "Well then it's OUR JOB to teach 'em to WANT IT!"

    Once everyone's in place, Protects have been cast, people are ready to dive, and similar suchlike, Arthur Lowell's rockets light up and he BLASTS OFF towards the camp, kicking up a huge cloud of dust with the broom between his legs and screaming. His intent is to dive into and through the perimeter of the area, slipping off of his broom and attempting to smash it brutally into the legs of the first person he sees. "WHAT'S UP SHITHEADS! Everyone POINT SOMETHING SHARP at me! C'mon! LET'S DO IT! I brought you SONS OF BITCHES a HUNDRED GODDAMN HAULS of ASSKICKING, so bring out all that BOOTY you've been PIRATING, you GREEDY SHITS!"

    He's also gonna double check local space for UNUSUAL BEHAVIOR. Teleports, things like that? He's no Seer of Space, though, so a non-elite stealth setup might still hide it.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
As it seems like the fighting is about to get started, Bertram does the White Mage thing and summons forth fields of condensed aether around his fellows, the blue shields fade from sight quickly, but they decrease the energy of anything that seeks to pass through from the outside, brightening up when that occurs. "Looking to become a big burly Marauder, N'raha? Best get to the front then, I'll help you out from the back."

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    "Setting up a network like that... it wouldn't be easy. But if they really are working with the Sahagin, it's not crystal they'd be lacking," Alwyn answers Setsuko, before squinting to look ahead. The rusted old Gae Bolg is removed from his back, twirled once for balance and then planted in the ground idly.

    "Just be careful, they might execute their prisoners, if they're even alive still. Finding them should be our first priority!"

    The Lancer nods to N'raha. "Go ahead. I'll circle out back with Sarah."

    Also: "Dodos are a pretty good source of meat."

    Arthur will find-- nothing unusual. That almost assuredly rules out teleportation. There are still lingering traces of such magic on the party who came from Aleport through the Aetheryte (so Alwyn, at the very least), but none anywhere near that camp.

    At a quick glance, there seems to be about a dozen Serpent Reavers. Most are not human, but rather Roegadyn, standing a foot or two taller than your average human and with pale blue skin. Their leather armor is metal-plated in places, mostly the gloves and chest. Their equipment seems pretty mundane.

    Near one of the tents, a girl in pale beige robes with a matching witchy pointy hat and wooden staff, and another in leather hunting gear with an empty quiver on her back and a bow to her side, are tied up, hands behind their back. They're guarded by two of the Serpent Reavers.

    The pirates are spread pretty evenly across the camp in a circle, so there's not really a 'front' or 'back' to speak of. They don't, however, seem to be guarding the North position at all, so that's where Sarah'll want to be. The prisoners are closer to that end.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    RIGHT WHO ORDERED A DISTRACTION?

    That will be coming from N'raha, who rolls his nexk, flicks his tail, and... He stands up straight, sword blade tapping against his hip as he swaggers a bit. Let it neveer be said he hasn't been learning from the Maurauders. Too bad there's no rocks to bleed here. He also doesn't have his axe.

    Once he's in clear, visible range of the pirates, he SMACKS the sword against the shield, one two three times, calling out a Gladiator's call. "OY YOU LOT! I am N'raha, and you sods have somethin' I'm looking for! And I don't think a single one'a'ya has what it takes to stop me from comin' ta get my friends here! So!" CLANG CLANG CLANG goes sword against shield. "LET'S HAVE A GO and MAY THE SEA SWALLOW ALL OF YOU."

    I-is he grinning? Oh my yes he is grinning as he raises that sword and shield into a defensive position, eyeing up the crowd. Who's first?"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur sticks to his plan. Charge in on a rocket, smash the nearest guy. They've got upper body protection, so he sticks to the lower body. Best way to capture someone is to break their legs, that's just a fact. His first prority: Get RIGHT to the prisoners and GRAVITY SMASH the pirates away! With a tremendous boost of his rocket broom and a heavy swing, and all that aforementioned shouting, Arthur is going to attempt to apply a GRAVITY enchantment to his broomstiock that has enough force to knock one of the pair away, and hopefully snap a femur or two.

    His priority is keeping them from executing the prisoner, not disabling them just yet. Someone else will have to handle PRISONER RESCUE and the OTHER PRISONER GUARD, of course, as Arthur is entirely focused on the glorious harvesting of kneecaps.

Scarlet Everille (747) has posed:
    Scarlet has totally been here the entire time. She's just been busy with... magic things. It takes a lot of concentration to prepare these sorts of things after all. 15 minutes isn't unusual.

    Perception magic is her most primary specialty, and so nagivating around in pseudo-dark isn't too difficult for her. She of course spots the two non-Roegadyns immediately, but not wherever the other two might be, if they're present at all. Mildly concerning. "I'll be able to take care of the prisoners should they try." she says to Alwyn, finally turning off her touch menu. "All of you are more than experienced enough fighters, so I'll try not to get in your way."

    She rattles off a series of hand signals at nobody in particular, and then sidles out of the way where a Reaver won't see her by accident, allowing a quartet of hunter-type familiars invisibly into the camp, built for sensory tracking, speed, and ambush. Two of them immediately make their way to the prisoners, while the other two move past, scouring the camp while under the effects of remote vision uplink to show her whatever else they can find. She scans for teleportation magic as well, but if Arthur hasn't found much, there's only a small chance that she might find anything else.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    One good thing about taking to the air is that it gives you a good overhead view of the terrain. Setsuko's eyes could put an eagle to shame; from here she can see every Reaver in the camp. Including the guards nearest the two prisoners. It's impossible to see where the other two might be, so for now, the best they can do is free the two already in sight.

    Once her decision is made, the demigod acts without a moment's hesitation. She descends from above at full speed, taking Zanjintou in a two-handed, underhand grip that allows her to put all her strength into a falling stab. She means to drive it into the shoulder of the one Arthur's not bludgeoning with a gravity-empowered broom, so that he'll be finished before he can even make a move; from there, for a split second, she'll actually let go of the grip so that she can turn around, reach over behind herself, and draw the sword out - whipping it forward into her usual ready stance. Anyone coming in after them will find her facing them and ready for their attack within a half-second of her landing.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
This only takes a moment to look over. Sarah nods as the scouting action bears fruit, and positions herself at the North end to go in when all the ruckus goes down. While she has no particular stealth abilities, she is a small girl in the middle of a large number of burly and loud men (and cats).

Idly, she ponders /why/ they would be so weakly guarded from the north, and why they'd keep their prisoners closer to that direction..."

Suddenly, she looks up, over her shoulder, northwards.

You don't guard a side if you have reinforcements on that side.

However, Setsuko and Arthur are moving, and she's forced to get her hustle on as she scurries in, immediately going for the pair of prisoners. "Sssh." She says, shushing them before they can cry out and give away that she's up to shenanigans. "Hold still a second." She reaches out and begins undoing the knots that are keeping the pair secured. You can just /see/ the Interaction bar filling.

Once complete, Sarah gestures. "Come on, move quick and quiet. We're getting you all out."

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    N'raha charges straight in; two of the Reavers immediatly run for him, one with an axe and one with sword and board. They seem all too unhappy, and their shouts alert the rest of the camp, many of them turning their eyes to the fight. The ones by the prisoners at least seem smart enough to keep closer eyes on them now. The axe trails fire as the pirate Marauder tries to bring it down vertically, while the one with the sword and shield goes for a careful thrust, and seems ready to defend his partner.

    Arthur goes right in too, blasting one of the two prisoner guards back. He crashes into the tent's tissue, which is dragged along with him when he hits the ground. The pirate seems to be getting up, but entangled in the tent like that he may take a moment to free himself. This leaves the last of the two to draw his sword and charge at Arthur, a quick blur of motion indicating a flash-step, and a lightning-fast slash.

    It's easy to forget all inhabitants of Eorzea have superpowers sometimes. Granted, nothing to match someone like Arthur, unless he's deliberately sloppy.

    Scarlet (who was absolutely here the whole time) will find no traces of magic, beyond the base connection to the Aether all Eorzeans have. Her familiars will easily get to the prisoners, their guard distracted by Arthur. Of the two women, the one with the quiver actually seems drunk off her ass, and the slightly shorter one in the robes is just sobbing uncontrollably. In the camp, there are no more prisoners. However, in one of the tents, planted on a table with a knife, is a map marking a location somewhere to the north of here, and about fifteen other locations all across La Noscea, some of which concord with sightings.

    Setsuko comes down to shank the man attacking Arthur (probably only a split second after he attempts such), the blade piercing through one of his shoulders. He drops his sword as a result, but attempts to shield bash Setsuko in rebutal, still on his feet.

    SETSUKO AND ARTHUR are then beset by two more Reavers; one has a staff, and conjures a blast of water towards the Space God. The other a bow and arrows, trying to nock one towards Setsuko. It seems poison-laced, of the damage + weakening kind.

    Sarah sneaks out back with Alwyn (though the Lancer is going to stay perched on some rocks, in case of runners). As she reaches the prisoners, guarded by Scarlet's familiars, it's the Archer(?) who greets her. "HI! Oh man, they let us drink their stuff. It's strong! You should sit down have some with us." Hiccups and the way she speaks indicates she may have had too much. "HEEEEEY EDDA, STOP CRYING, YOU SHOULD HAVE HAD SOME TOO, IT'D CHEER YOU UP!"

    This noise actually causes two of the Reavers to make for Sarah now, both wielding axes. One goes as far as to hurl his axe towards her; it seems chained or roped to his forearm.

    As the party makes a ruckus breaking in, two figures on a nearby hill spot the action. The short one, obviously a Lalafell, in blue mage robes, points down at the camp. "Here's our chance, Avere!" The larger man, in bronze and copper plate, with sword and shield, nods. "We wouldn't be here if she weren't so bloody useless though y'know. S'like all she cares 'bout is ruining me chance at becoming an adventurer."

    The two join the fray, the Hyur's complaints aside; Avere surges forward to slam into one of the Reavers still guarding one of the camp edges, and a bolt of lightning from the Lalafell finishes him off.

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria Mason says "That's a good way to put it, Arthur. Shall we get toi it?!"

She's now getting ready to join the party now as Arthur gets ready to head in. She gets the idea rescuing the people if they still live is what they need to do here. So it's not long before she's moving in with the others as they go to attack, pistol in one hand, vibro cutlass in the other. Thankfully her allies are getting ready to distraction. She's following Arthur up attemping to aid him in keeping the hostage from being killed. She's also now firing a few shots, and will use her cutlass when things get close. Yet? She's gong to also start making use of her gomancey asshe forms a sphere of water and launches it towards the guards.

ARthus is ahead of her and she's just playing follow up here making sure to try and keep them down. The one that goes after Arthur would find he's got Lyria charging them Cutlass ready and being put to use the moment she's in range.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Well, N'raha wanted a fight, didn't he? The catman snals as he becomes a boulder. An UNYIELDING BOULDER! The shield lifts up, and the miq yells right back into it, a sudden sheen of light enveloping its surface as energy attempts to blunt that CHOP. The shield holds, at least, but the miq's feet slide backwards a good 6 inches from the force of the blow. He staggers as well, leaving him more open to that piercing thrust from the other pirate.

    The tank cat struggles to the side, favoring the new dent in his armor. Right. He glances over the men's shoulders at the swarm of other adventurers... and that grin comes back. It's a bit grimmer though. "Shoulda put some more effort into it, boys. I think we have this day." He slices back in at Axe Roedegyn, the tip of his blade twirling in the air a-
    It's a familiar move to those who were at the fight against the skeletons. A blinding flash of light at the tip of that blade, and N'ara uses the blinding moment to beguile his way into the step on the axe man, inside his swing arc and attempts to skewer the pirate with his sword. He's have to put up with his fellow sword man for a bit longer.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    The mage attempting to attack Arthur is beset by Lyria, charging at him with her sword. Lyria's blade crashes into an invisible shield, the same Protect spell that Bertram is so fond of using. Another staff-wielding Reaver appears, channeling his magic into the shield actively-- rather than a reactive one, he's created an active wall between Lyria and the mage. It cracks and almost gives way under the attack, straining the Conjurer.

    But it's still there! Knocking the wind out of the healer's lungs would be the easiest way to deal with that, but Lyria and Arthur could try overpowering the shield too.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
The battle has begun in earnest, and thus Bertram's work starts as well. He begins by tagging N'raha with a lasting influx of curative aether, knitting wounds closed as soon as they happen. The spell won't last forever, or undo serious wounds entirely, but it'll help while Bertram starts flinging magic rocks at the Reavers going towards the captives. These rocks are sticky in addition to blunt, weighing down those they hit until the aether that made them dissipates once more.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko finds that her sword hasn't gone deep enough to finish the other reaver off. That in and of itself is impressive. But on top of that, he's trying to slam a shield into her. There's only one viable response for that.

    Keeping her left hand on the sword still driven into his collarbone, the demigod pulls her right arm back with surprising speed, and then drives it straight forward into the shield. A corona of blue wraps itself around her clenched fist, enabling her to smash that punch straight /through/ the wood - and hopefully into the jaw of the Reaver behind it.

    In the same movement, she pulls Zanjintou out of his shoulder and swings it around, still in that under-hand grip, to bisect the arrow flying towards her in mid-air, right down the middle.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Oh hey! Someone flash-stepped at him, and was ABOUT to stab him before getting impaled? Thank goodness for that last bit. "Deliberately sloppy" is one way to put what Arthur is. If one's critical of it, anyway. What it more is would be something like "self-destructively bloodthirsty". He continues going for the legs, of course; the DROPPED SWORD is noticed, and as it clatters towards Arthur after its holder was impaled, he notices that now the impaled combatant is going to bash Setsuko! "Thanks! HEAD'S UP!" He calls, whirling around and kicking the hilt of the sword!

    His MAGE OF SPACE abilities give him the abilities necessary to make instant geometry and physics calculations! Such as those necessary to KICK a sword such that it slings through the air and attempts to lance square through one of the hamstrings of the Reaver Setsuko just swung at and hopefully at least stunned! And that's when the gush of water magic slams into Arthur and takes him off his feet with a wet, blunt-force brutal CRACK noise!

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
INTERRUPTED. And then the Archer ruins everything.

God damn Archers.

Sarah looks up in horror as she yells out and draws Reaver aggro, and then she looks over at the incoming Reavers, and then back at the drunkard. "You /moron/! We're trying to save you! Now you might get me goddamn killed, you retard!" There is a yell as the axe hits her in the side and sends her flying, tumbling on the ground with a wound. She grunts and forces herself up.

With a flick of her STRIFE SPECIBUS, Sarah produces her JENGA STACK and prepares to STRIFE. Crowraven was right. It can happen AT ANY TIME.

Just as things are about to look super desperate, Avere and some potato-looking guy show up to engage backup. "GREAT TIMING, GUYS!" She yells at the pair, before she turns and pulls a couple blocks out of the Stack and hurls them at the incoming Reavers. <pok>

Gooooooooooood, she needs to level up so she can use some class abilities or something.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur is sent skidding, bruised badly by the impact. He's knocked through the rest of the camp, slamming into the ground once or twice, until he plants his broom's hilt in the ground and manages to skid to a stop and stand. He's over nearer N'raha now! Just after that brilliant FLASH goes off! He swings his broom around, holding it handle-first, and loads a magazine of FORCE BOLTS into the rifle built into its midsection.

    He fires, now on some of the other rousing attackers who have been drawn in on N'raha from behind, attempting to hit them while they're focused on the Miqo'te. Force bolts explode with powerful bursts of kinetic force when they impact, but it's stunning, nonlethal, or bone-breaking, not like ballistics.

Scarlet Everille (747) has posed:
    Scarlet has the occasion to drop 3 of 4 familiars out of Phase. The first one appears well out of the way, at the more remote corner of the camp, revealing itself to be a (predictably) faceless, arrow-headed creature shaped like a malformed, emaciated dog, covered in slick grey skin that undulates with the motions of millions of tiny cilia, and with a tangle of lengthy flagella trailing from the base of its skull in a non-existent current. One of the tendrils deftly yanks the knife free of the table, splitting it in half in the process, and another more gently rolls up the map, carrying it back as the disturbing creature noiselessly lopes off into the dark.

    The second two appear next to the recently freed prisoners, close enough that their unsettling aura is palpable. They do much the same thing, tangling up the archer and the mage before they can protest and then hauling them off at a full tilted sprint, disproportionately strong to their wiry, skeletal frames. The couriers exit the camp as fast as possible, exfiltrating the two adventurers that don't seem to be at all fit for combat to somewhere safer where there companions can come and get them later.

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria Mason hist the protect spell, it's one she knows well. She should have seen it coming, but now she's got a reaver in her grill and it's guardin the mage that's going after Arthur. She looks to them for a moment and looks them over. She shifts her stance again, given how strong water is in this region? Given how good she is with it? She's got an idea she lowers her weapon and no move to focus on the healer sening a powerful jet of water toward the healer attemping to well hit him hard enough to wind them and perhaps kock them over.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    N'raha executes a fancy, blinding maneuver, just enough trickery and power behind it to skewer the axe-wielding pirate. His sword and board compatriot frowns, suddenly running it to try and shield bash the catman straight in the face, and follow with a one-two cut of his own, neck and chest.

    That times Bertram's healing and support rather well, if he succeeds. The blast of stones distracts the Conjurer, whose protective spell on the mage weakens as a result, and whose feet can't carry him away from harm quite as quickly.

    Setsuko puts on a display by punching right through the shield, just as Arthur knocks the sword right through him, knocking (or perhaps killing, considering the double sword wounds) the pirate still going at her. The arrow is cut out of the air as well, the archer considering his options now. He decides to bolt-- North. This leaves the mage and healer; the healer drops his protective shield, sending a blast of wind towards BERTRAM! The mage shoots another bolt of water, but this one's for Setsuko.

    Liavinne, the Archer prisoner, just frowns at Sarah. "Well fiiiiiine, be that way miss uppity rescuer, WE DIDN'T ASK YOU TO SAVE US ANYWAY, GOSH. BARMAAAAAN, I'LL HAVE ANOTHER!" Edda, the sobbing Conjurer by her side, stops crying the moment she sees her two fellow adventurers breaking throught he camp edge. "Liavinne, please stop antagonizing our saviors! Look, they're still alive!"

    Jenga blocks slam into one of the incoming axemen, knocking him back. He seems sturdy enough to handle it, though heavily shaken by the impact from such a small object. As he tries to rise, Avere cuts in with his blade, a blast of fire from his Thaumaturge companion finishing that handywork.

    They can't stop the second Reaver though, who still charges for Sarah! His blade gleams red and orange and he slams it down, a shockwave of energy and fire shooting for Sarah, and both prisoners!

    Arthur comes to N'raha's rescue, taking shots at two additional Reavers that had been readying bows and arrows. This actually disarms them, and rather than do the intelligent thing and realize they're wounded and weaponless, they draw shanking knives (knives for shanking) and charge Arthur madly.

    Scarlet's familiars extract Edda and Liavinne from the camp; the Conjurer certainly doesn't protest (although she insists to be taken to Avere and that Lalafell, Paiyo Reiyo), but the Archer just makes a lot of rambling noise about how this isn't even the highest amount of times she's been kidnapped in one day yet.

    Lyria produces her own burst of water, and once the healer is done attacking Bertram, he's suddenly swept up in a powerful jet of water, and slams into one of the tents. He struggles to get up and start casting a healing spell on himself-- he'd be easy to knock out like this.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    THANKS REGEN. THANKS BERTRAM. THANKS ARTHUR.

    N'raha manages to get one of the pirates when the other one stomps in to try and run him through. He tanks the shield bash in the face, stunned and staggered for a moment as that blade smacks into... a gorget, worn round his neck. The guy from the store was right, those things can save your life!
    Not so much the shot to his chest which slams into the iron plating there, the aether in the attack rpping through the armor and scraping flesh underneath.
    And then N'raha lets out another challenging call, bleeding as he is. That regen's sealing the wound at least. "COME ON THEN! You're outnumbered buddy and your FRIENDS ARE DYING. Give up, already, unless you feel like dying today!" He takes a few steps back and moves into a defensive stance once more.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko is about to go in after the archer with full speed, when he makes one of the smartest decisions she's ever seen a sorely-outclassed enemy combatant make. He's giving up, and she has more pressing concerns; she'll let him leave, though she'll also alert her allies to his retreat. Maybe they can capture him. Meanwhile, she has-

    SPLOOSH.

    If water were laughably ineffective as a combat spell, no one would use it. it has enough weight and mass that, especially when launched as a magical attack, it's capable of battering the body, cracking the bones. But Setsuko is made of sterner stuff by far than an ordinary human being, and when the mage's spell slams into her, she staggers a few steps back, only to turn and respond with a cool stare that promises only one kind of rebuttal.

    Holding Zanjintou in her right hand, she lifts the blade up horizontally, cutting edge to the sky, pointed at the mage. Blue divinity flows down and around the blade, and the warrior brings her fingertips up, starting at the crossguard, then rapidly running them along the flat right out to the tip of the blade and back again. The movement sets all that divine power spinning, compressing, compacting, forming it into a projectile that will both pierce and hit with a powerful impact.

    And she fires it with a single thrust, and a roar of, "DENKOUSEKKA!"

Scarlet Everille (747) has posed:
    In short order, a trio of freakish hunting hounds stalk out of the darkness surrounding Scarlet, having found a nice place to sit out of the way of the swords and sorcery as usual. Two of them set their living cargo down in the grass, though one keeps a hold on the drunkard just in case she decides to charge off again, gurgling unnervingly through the pulsating gill slits in the side of its throat. The last pads over to its master and deposits the map in her hand, allowing her to stretch it wide in front of her and snap a few pictures of it with her smartcollar while she examines it.

    The fleeing archer gets the fourth familiar after him. Silent, invisible and intangible, the hound only becomes beknownst to its prey halfway through a 30 foot leap, flickering into existence like a hallucination from a bad trip and crashing into him from behind, sending him straight to the ground. A storm of whirling flagella quickly snatch his weapons and ammo from him, tearing and slashing where they have to in order to remove any bindings, before quickly twisting securing him physically with a level of restraint just short of bone-breaking. "Got the runner." Scarlet intones into her radio, still absorbed in her map.

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
Good news! The prisoners are rescued!

Bad news! Sarah still has aggro, and she's got a weakness to being punched in the face. Or in this case, blasted by a shockwave, overpowered and knocked over, the JENGA STACK falling over as she loses her balance. "ARRRRRRGH!" Sarah yells in frustration. As she drags herself up, she simply grabs at the fallen blocks and hurls a fistful of them at the man in impotent, perhaps desperate anger. "Just GO AWAY!" She yells.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
The cutting winds hurt Bertam, slashing open his skin and causing him to bleed, and thus he is of a mind to retaliate in kind. He collects aether into sharp air around the opposing conjurer, trying to cut deep into his skin and perhaps even hinder any casting.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur Lowell is made out of shouting and mangrit. Two men rush him with knives and he just starts yelling. It's one of those "RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" sorts of yells, meant to be as absolutely intimidating as possible when he lets the knives just sort of sink into his body in a spray of blood. He's got some reinforcement in it from his echeladder, but he's still a Squishy Caster and the blades plunge in. "YEAH! Feed my flesh SHARP THINGS you DUMB MOTHERFUCKERS. IT'S DELICIOUS, you BLEED WHAT I MEAN?"

    And then, using the superior leverage that this gives him, he immediately and deftly whip the broom he has around, encircling the arm of one of his attacker and, with a horizontal movement, attempting to snap it at the elbow while simultaneously stepping sideways to attempt to break the second attacker's knee. Then, successful or otherwise, he immediatelky tries a tremendous gravitational maneuver to take the hopefully-crippled one and swing him around by grabbing and whirling him about with gravity magic to slam him into the other man's torso. "Sit the FUCK DOWN, yo!"

    Then, there's Lyria, disabling that healer. Setsuko, getting the mage. There's one person to go help: Sarah! Hopefully those two that attacked Arthur are at least mostly dealt with, because Arthur disengages, sweeping his broom back and blasting forward with a tremendous dash to go help her! More yelling and bleeding on the way in, intending to just sort of ram the man before he can get another proper attack of at her, to force him to engage a melee target.

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria Mason smirks for a moment as she sees the healer is now busy. She's going to make use of this now to chase after them and endure they are not in the fight. She recalls her hiring that she's to restrain and capture these guys if possible. There's a little bit of a tactic she's picked up from back home. She's got some zip ties and duct tape handy on her as she rusehs in. She's going to strike the healer with the pommel of her blade.

IF she or Arthur can take the guy down? She's going to move to use her zip ties to tie the healer up and then duct tape his mouth. Which should hopefully put a hinderance on his magic use.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    N'raha defends (and gets healed) against the pirate's assault. The taunt does seem to get to him, as he considers whether to lay his sword down, or just try to bolt past the catman. Give him a moment to decide.

    Setsuko's divine projectile pierces clean through the mage, who topples over. Dead? Unconscious? That's up to her and how much she wanted him down. He is, either way, out of action.

    As Edda and Liavinne are put down, Edda immediatly gets back on her feet, lifting her wooden cane up. Brilliant white and blue magic gushes out, and washes over most of everyone in the area (pirates excluded), giving everyone a nice (but little, compared to Bertram's potency) shot of healing magic.

    Scarlet's remaining familiar practically mauls the feeling archer, ensuring he won't be fleeing anymore. Or doing much of anything else tonight, besides screaming incoherently about evil beasts.

    Bertram trades Aero for Aero, blasting the healer off his feet and interrupting his healing cast. He falls to one knee exhausted, and bleeding as well.

    The Marauder still targetting Sarah is forced to turn away from her when Avere rears up, striking him with his shield. As he prepares to retaliate with his axe, Jenga blocks pelt him, causing the lumbering pirate to turn to glare at Sarah in pain, just as a bolt of ice strikes him and knocks him down to the ground next to her.

    He's out cold, no pun intended.

    Paiyo Reiyo will approach the girl with a smile, the Lalafell offering a hand up if one is needed. "Thank you for helping rescue our comrades, child. We were attacked and split, and bid our time until we could attack."

    Avere is much less eloquent, and seemingly more angry. "Quit yappin' Pai, those damn beasts took 'er. Now she gone and gotten captured 'nother time, we're never gonna be rich and famous."
    "Relax, you saw the way the beasts carried her. Perhaps they were an Arcanist's familiars. Come, this way, let us go meet them," replies the Lalafell.

    Arthur does his best to be intimidating, and it doesn't work-- right up until he gets stabbed. And keeps screaming. And. Okay that's getting disturbing now.

    Gravity magic and broom break the bones of his attackers, forcing them down and whining in pain. They plead for their lives, evidently sensible enough to do so. Unfortunately the delay means by the time he turns to help Sarah she's already been assisted by Avere and Paiyo, but they'll all want to regroup anyway.

    Lyria, finally, knocks the healer out with a simple strike.

    The final Serpent Reaver, the one facing N'raha, puts his blade down and lifts his hands up, surrendering.

    In the coming moments, everyone will be able to regroup and search the camp (there's gil, a few spare weapons, stolen food and assorted villager goods, nothing especially valuable). First chance she gets, Edda will be in Avere's arms, kissing him.

    Paiyo Reiyo drags Lievinne around by the ear, and is the one to address people. "Thank you for your help, strangers. We're an adventurer group trying to get started, but we may have gotten in over our head. I'm afraid we found nothing useful, not even a clue." Avere interjects with, "I bloody told ya we needed potions. Her healin' ain't good enough yet."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    The Serpent Reaver mage won't be getting up again. Setsuko has a simple policy: if you use lethal force against her, she will return the favor unless there is a particular reason not to. She's just turning to continue her attack on the Reavers when a wave of healing magic washes over her, synergizing with her own healing factor to repair both the bruising and cracked ribs from the water blast, and the splinters and cuts from putting her fist through a shield. She shakes the latter out, and then gives the camp one last visual sweep before taking to the air again.

    The swordsman comes down out of the air right beside Edda, just in time to hear Avere - and to shoot him a cool stare. "Assuming that healing spell that just covered most of the camp was her, I found her abilities quite sufficient." She turns to rest a hand on Edda's shoulder. "Are you alright? The pirates didn't hurt you, did they?" Liavinne seems fine, and the other two weren't captured. Edda is the only one who looks as if she could use the concern.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    There's a growly noise from N'raha as the last Reaver does the right thing and drops his weapons. That said, he's still going to be more than a little rough as he kicks the sword and shiled away an-oh hey that's an upgrade. How did these guys get better stuff than him? He grumps and keeps his sword pointed at the Reaver's neck as he shuffles over to kick the shield up into his other hand, idly trying to change gear while keeping the prisoner covered.

    The juggle of a scavenger is real, folks.

Scarlet Everille (747) has posed:
    With matters taken care of, Scarlet finally arrives in camp, trailing 3 of her pets behind her as the fourth drags probably the least injured Reaver into the middle of the group, still restrained. "You're more than welcome~" she responds to Raiyo. "We have interests of our own, but we wouldn't ignore fellow adventurers in a pinch." Fellow... yes. She holds out the map, letting it unroll from her fingers so that everyone can see. "Do any of these locations look significant to you?" She then looks to the struggling pirate as though he were an afterthought. "Oh, and if you have any questions for him, please ask now."

Sarah Parsle (789) has posed:
Just when Sarah is worried she's about to get introduced to that axe up close and personal-like, he gets blasted. Tiny Lalafell man helps Sarah up right before she gets mushed by the big evil pirate marauder guy. Sarah actually looks appreciative for a moment. "Thanks for not letting me die, guys. You're pretty cool." She says, and looks over to Arthur, who also tried to help, and waves towards him. Everything is cool, yo.

Post-combat insanity, she looks over at the others. She just kind of draws away from Edda kissing Avere, and she throws a look to Arthur, before looking back to the others. "If you guys jump in headfirst, doesn't matter how good her healing is, you're going to get murderfaced. Figure out what you're doing and what you can handle. Getting killed or captured isn't going to help anyone."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    The catman, though, looks up and over at the others. Right. A moment to get into his crap and he pulls out some rope to tie up the Reaver. "Right, asshole. I'm sure the Yellowjackets have some words for you, now don't they. Just be glad it was us what came to you and not some others from Limsa."

    A mean little whisper in the Reaver's ear. "Now please wait kindly for the Admiral, why don't you?"

    And then he's back up, standing up, and waving to the others. "What do we do with this heathen?"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur gets a shot of healing magic! Thank goodness. He disengages from the disabled attacker of Sarah and heads on over to meet with the others after doing a bit of looting, stuffing random crap into his Sylladex to sell later. He still has those knives lodged in him. "HAHAHA! Allllright, that went well!" He stretches out, as if relaxing after exercise. "HEYA NEWBIES!" He gestures to the group they rescued rather than Sarah, just to make sure the distinction's clear. "DON'T WORRY, shit worked out, right? S'cool, we all FUCK UP a bunch when we get INTO THE BUSINESS. We got PIRATES now! Bunch of 'em, to ASK stuff, so there's GOTTA be a lead we can get from ONE of these assholes, right?"

    He wanders over to some pirate or another, maybe those ones he yelled at while they were stabbing him. He... He still has the knives in him. "OI! Where's the SHIPS goin'? How're you ASSHOLES getting around SO FAST? Bah." He's not expecting the interrogation to actually work, just demonstrating the direction the interrogation has to go for now.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    "It's alright, he just says those things so I work harder and push myself," Edda answers, while Avere just sort of shrugs in Setsuko's direction. One might almost have noticed that Edda was much more into their reunion than he was, though he's more grumpy they failed than angry.

    Alwyn is going to show back up around then, dragging a Serpent Reaver by the feet. Looks unconscious and tied up. "Heeeey I got one!" Cue a pause and stare. "Oh. You guys got like ten. Haha. Well! That worked out.

    As people mention what to do with the pirates, one of them yells up: "No! We be refusin' to answer! Cap'n Madison said he'd throw us out t'sea for Leviathan t'dine on us if we divulged anything!" Anything, well, like he just did.

    "It don't matter, ye'll never find our map!"

    Scarlet found the map.

    "Arr-- err-- ye'll never decipher our map!"

    Another one of the pirates speaks up, one of the injuries ones Arthur just kind of bonecrushed. "Ye be on yer own, I don't want no dyin'. It be a map o' the Sastasha Seagrot's entrance points. They be secret caves and rivers under the land we navigate. Used'ta belong to the Sahagins, but they gone left it some time back so we use 'em to get around. Had 'ta clean up some wild beasts down there but's easier than going places on land."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Edda's answer tells Setsuko that it isn't the first time he's said this sort of thing.

    This time, the stare she gives him is more than just 'cool'. "The military method of encouragement isn't suited to everyone."

    But that's starting to get into the personal matters of others, so that's where she's going to leave it. Instead she focuses on the Reaver that refused to speak - and the one who didn't. "What this 'Captain Madison' said is irrelevant. You're being turned over to the authorities regardless, and that puts you out of his reach either way, doesn't it?" It sounds as if this Sastasha Seagrot will have to be cleared by the Lominsans at some point in the near...

    Oh, sod it, we all know who's going to be clearing Sastasha out.

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria Mason see sthat things may be over at this point. She tilts her head for a moment at the people they saved from the pirates.

" Well this seems to have worked out well enough right?""

She looks at what's happened. She keeps her weapons ready as she looks for other hostiles there could be others hiding about here right?