3292/Eels, Bugs, and Foxes

Eels, Bugs, and Foxes
Date of Scene:	29 October 2015
Location:	Void - Deep Void (East)
Synopsis:	Hagane Town comes under attack, and it's pirates to the rescue.
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, Staren, 320, 353, Blurr, Wuyin Tsai, 571, Starbound Flotilla, 673, 896, 900

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Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Hagane town is, as mentioned, a bit quaint compared to some parts of the multiverse. It's located next to an icy mountain that is rumored to have an amazing swordsmith upon it, for anyone who bothers to look ahead or knows the area. It's also populated largely by, well, militia and villagers.

    This means they aren't doing too well!

    The invaders are few in number, but brutal in nature. Despite the film coverage, the town is largely fighting off a cluster of human and elf 'soldiers' right now. They're barely clothed, lean and wiry, and covered in scars. They also advance heedlessly, fearlessly, charging over barricades and advancing with a steady, almost monotonous manner. While they fight sluggishly, their absolute lack of fear is making them hard to drive off.

    The larger beasts are behind them, massive plated creatures with large claws that tear into the defenders who manage to reach them. There look to be maybe a half dozen of these creatures, crashing through walls and gathering up bodies, while the humans are dragging some villagers toward the ship hovering just above the town.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    This isn't a large enough battle to warrant the presence of the Black Sun battlecruiser itself, and honestly if the Flotilla's radio hadn't lit up about people responding to it, Flint probably wouldn't have actually cared it was happening. As it stands, he's here because he was bored and because the Pure in his chest was causing him more frequent medical problems due to the downtime he'd been taking of late and the general reductionin violence since the Wolkenritter joined the crew.

    Really, so lazy was he about his arrival that he hadn't even brought a ship. Instead, a hollowed out space missile streaks down through orbit and towards the assailed village, fired from his ship some many distances away and deployed via a cross-system three-stage munitions deployment. As the hollowed out missile slams into the ground it... does NOT explode cataclysmically. Instead, it kicks up an intense cloud of dirt and dust, creating a crater upon impact as the metal remnants steam and hiss against the ground.

    Out of the crater climbs Flint Hawke, adjusting the hat on his head and holding an opened Space MRE in his hands as he looks around. Pulling on the brim of the hat to set it in place, he digs around in the bag of MRE and pulls out a gel juice pouch, idly biting open the spout and sucking out the beverage inside.

    "'s all this about, then?"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    From out of the sky, six heavy, bright beams blast into Hagane town, or whatever is close enough to avoid the dangers of teleporting into such close proximity of another ship! 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. Albert the monkey-man is wearing elaborate dystopian commando armor reconstructed with a 'rebel spy' aesthetic: A sleeker faceplate, a slimmer form, and a more chaotic design that integrates thin, resilient plates of durasteel, and lines of bright white. George (just plain human) wears a set of futuristic EVA-combat and exploration armor in a suit that glows a gentle red at the faceplate. Seft, the robotic Flotilla member, is wearing full-on medieval knight armor with a soft energized blue glow below the plates on her body, and especially around the eyes. Each has a heavy industrial-yellow two-pronged plasma-cutter-like tool strapped to their side, a Matter Manipulator.

"Berserker-type null-fear foes. No shock and awe."
"Well I'm shocked, and here's me goin' 'awwww'."
"Strike to cripple, rather than induce pain or exhaustion. Be as what you must to wreck any ship with a single wave."
"Panicked. They are bringing the natives to their ship. We have to stop them."
"We gotta get paid, lass, got no sense puttin' ye neck out for nothin'"
"Quiet. Reach the defensive walls and barricades. Reinforce.
"Right. Hunt now. Worry later."

    The starbounders kick off, dashing in short bursts of energy. Each Starbounder draws their respective weapon: Power swords, power battleaxes, heavy power crowbars, gyro-hammers, power daggers, the works. They charge the incoming berserker-style enemies in formation, and go right for instant incapacitation or death: Dismemberments, broken bones, decapitations, things that a normal person should not be able to get up from. They work in perfect tandem, in crashing wave after crashing wave, a six-man blender of murder that tries to clear out the defenses area. Looks like they want to get ahold of the defenses; presumably if they can clear the area out, they have plans to reinforce the defenses!

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
After months of fighting creatures from the mythology and nightmares of humankind, Wuyin Tsai, Defender of Gaia, Army of the Dragon and Bee to Buzz All Bees... decided he needed a new sword.

Honestly, coming by a replacement on his homeworld is not terribly difficult. He could go to one of the equipment suppliers hidden in Seoul, cough up some hard-earned PAX, and come away with a serviceable weapon. He could just as easily go wrench one out of a corpse somewhere in the field and modify it with Anima circuitry on the fly, which would be nearly as good. However, when it comes to weapons, there's something to be said for quality and tradition.

Wuyin wears a dark green buff coat over black nearly everything else. Some kind of kabuki mask, white and red, is affixed to his upper back while an effigy of a faceless man made in copper wire hangs from his belt. He's got a knife. It doesn't look terribly impressive. The 3D glasses are as present as ever and just as anachronistic for this part of the multiverse. A few of the villagers have commented about it, but he's been frustratingly cryptic with them.

Currently, Wuyin is standing on a partially-overturned stack of crates near the crater that just got made. He waves at the man who climbs out of the crater, and gestures over his shoulder at the enormous spider-ship and the scarred raiders.

"Some sort of raiding party," he calls, ignoring introductions and not bothering to ask who Flint is. "I was thinking of killing them before they slew all the swordsmiths in town. Care to join me?"

Laer (353) has posed:
    The alert draws attentions from all sides, naturally. Even sides that may not have what would technically be called a ship. Laer's not going to take action right away as she arrives, though; rather, she's going to float nearby, staying well away from both the beasts and the humans, tilting her head and watching as some of the villagers are tugged towards the ship.

    She'll float further up, possibly risking being noticed if anyone actually looks up at something other than the ships or glowing things, trying to spot the people on the floating ship. They seem the most likely ones that she would want to deal with; the villagers are moderately meaningless, after all.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    The Crimson Spectre doesn't make a big show of its arrival to the world. That's not Alexis Maaka's style, no. She prefers subtle approaches herself, and she's aleady well prepared for the operation once she gets a look at the situation from up high.

    Her vessel's topographical sensors draw up a map, giving her a bird's eye view as she arrives via shuttle and lands on an outcropping near the village.

    She exits, armored up and clutching a large caliber sniper rifle and sporting an X95 assault rifle slung over her shoulder.

    Given her internal neural computing software and ballistics computation programs, she doesn't need a spotter, so Maaka goes to work.

    Laying out near the edge, she rests the rifle on a bipod and checks that her rifle's zeroed in, then takes aim at the invaders.

    Maaka takes a breath, "Time to get paid." And then she exhales.

    The .338 Arctic Warfare Magnum rifle lets off a thundering report, the round going across the land until it streaks towards the grape of an unsuspecting pirate. This ought to be a turkey shoot, today.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    It doesn't take too long for the COGNIZANT ODYSSEY to arrive. The fairly sizable craft - a large frigate that could probably have numerous fighters docked outside were it made for that - proves to be airworthy after exiting FTL. Its atmospheric descent is computer-controlled and executed with FAR more G-forces than any human body could withstand. Any plain humans aboard would probably black out.

    Thankfully for Rory White, if there are any humans aboard, they are INCREDIBLY augmented ones.

    The shining silvery-grey steel hull is plain and covered in sensors, but there's not really much in the way of weaponry. Particle and kinetic shielding's evident though by the telltale shimmer surrounding the frigate.

    What evident weapons it does have are pretty TINY. Turrets that aren't much bigger than ordinary guns swivel about on its sides, emerging from hatches that didn't seem to EXIST until needed and seamlessly vanish after the weapons flip into place. None of them are bothered at all by the superheated hull. Exactly what these turrets are designed to fire though, that's hard to say... unless one is familiar with mass drivers and lasers.

    The ENTIRE VILLAGE is bombarded with an active sensor sweep from the Cognizant Odyssey along with the Spider-ship.

    Rory White's not using her typical body. Instead she is currently sleeved into the Cognizant Odyssey's cyberbrain. The motion of every turret and sensor, every thruster is as her hands and legs, fingers and eyes.

    "Trying to convince you to flee would just be a waste of time, whoever you are." Her voice comes across the open band AND speakers... and she's surprisingly flat-toned. Not a sign of being calm, but instead highly focused. "Instead my decree is this. Cease hostilities and I will stop firing!"

    Not the most diplomatic thing to say... but in a situation like this? Screw diplomacy.

    Rory has railguns. A few of them, anyways.

    And the weapons howl with hypersonic force, propelling tiny slivers of dense metal at the Spider-ship's obvious weaponry first.

    On the ship's far side - away from the Spider-ship - a hatch opens, and a half-dozen Saucer drones float free, each equipped with personal-scale laser weaponry. The lasers aren't very powerful but they acquire targets precisely as Rory paints them in her sensor net and open fire with invisible beams on some of the marauders. The lasers aren't very powerful - they do not cut down marauders like blasters set to kill or anything. Instead they use pure heat on flesh, inflicting PAINFUL burns. Weapon hands and eyes are preferred points to aim at, and they fire with the machine precision only an optimized AI could manage!

Yukihana Masamune (900) has posed:
    As it just so happens, before the chaos and carnage had begun, two figures had been coming down the mountain at an unhurried pace. An older man, well on in years but hardened and fit enough to not let something as trivial as age slow him, and a young girl in a delicate pink kimono, decorated in snowflake patterns. Apparently a normal sight in the town, they had been paid no mind, and generally went about their business, going from stall to stall, perusing the mining town's latest diggings, in search of good iron. No one had even paid much mind to the fact that the two were armed- a right reserved mostly only by samurai.

    And then... Hell broke loose.

    Now the two are among the defenders, the man wielding a plain and well loved katana, and a worn blacksmith's hammer in each hand. In the girl's hand is a much more ornate blade, drawn from a red saya. The look eschanged between the two is one in silence, the girl's hesitant scarlet eyes meeting the man's heavy black gaze.

    "If you cannot use your blade then put it away and go home." He says, voice rough.
    "I-I I can- I will. ... I will try." She replies, voice quavering.

    And then there truly is hell. Blood stains the snow as they enter the throng of defenders, joining the wild and desperate battle to stave off the thrall soldiers and plated beasts.

Staren has posed:
    The town of... 'Steel', Staren's pretty sure that translates to, is under attack by bug aliens! That's not a good match, because it looks like they don't even have modern technology... and while there's a chance that it could be some kind of fantasy city full of mages who will hilariously blow up the aliens with overwhelming magical force, that doesn't seem to be what's happening. This fight not only isn't ending quickly, but the attackers have overrun the town and are... carrying people off? That's not a good sign. Curious that most of the attackers appear to be humans and elves. Wasn't this an alien attack...?

    Staren doesn't have time to count bodies, but at a glance he can see there are 'many'. A small part of his heart sinks -- there will be no peaceful resolution today. The rest of his heart hardens. These are bad people. Each one dead will make the future for everyone else a little brighter...

    Staren is in his armor, but is flying over the town on... a broom? He flies over the invaders, a slight distance towards the ships, and then energy wings appear on his back, like an insect's but stylized and of transparent orange energy. They flutter silently as he dismounts the broom and stuffs it in a bag far too small for it, then dives down, grabbing a small cylinder clipped to his belt.

    Staren activates his plasma sword and lands with an overhead chop on the first raider who's carrying a prisoner. If that drops him, Staren dashes for the next one, seeing how many he can slice through before they have time to plan and counterattack. If that /doesn't/ drop him, Staren draws a second sword out of thin air and does his best to turn the first raider into charred chunks of flesh with a mix of brutal slashes, stabs, and unarmed attacks with elbows and feet to keep him off balance.

    Staren doesn't bother saying anything. Words will only make more enemies pay attention to him and waste time.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa had got the call for help and now is arriviung with the rest of the Flotilla as trhey come in mass she also gets it's not just the Flotilla howing up. She'd end up with Rory porting in and she has no idea that Rory's well coming in by Ship. She's still not had enough training to directly jack in and use a ship alone but she is coming in on the ground.

<<Hooking into tac net now.>>

She was wearing XCOM issued carapace armoure today and not her normal issued gear she was also carrying a full out MEK Minigun. Given her size that should be saying something.

She also deploys her scout drones nd hooks them into the network.

R <<We need to make it to the defenders! They are going to get overwhelemed.>>

She's going to put the Chiangun to use as she attempts to cut herself a path to the defenders.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint is still drinking that gel-ish juice (fluids in space are messy any other way, duh), as Wuyin comes over to him. He quirks an eyebrow and watches the approaching man. He seems to consider the offer for a long few moments, weighing his options as he considers it, "I suppose I could get involved. I finished my juice anyway." He tosses the crumpled pouch to the ground and holds out the MRE bag, "You want the dessert out of it? Brownie, I believe. Bit of a delicious treat."

    He shrugs, either way. If Wuyin doesn't accept it or if he does, the now-empty MRE bag is tossed to the ground. He wipes at his mouth with the back of one sleeve and then lets out a bit of a sigh, "I guess I can bill ya. Or bill someone. Who knows?" Another shrug is given and he reaches towards his belt, drawing a pair of heavy blaster pistols from his sides.

    He eventually looks around the area for a good place to proceed. After a few moments, he waves at Wuyin with a blaster and then gestures vaguely in Yukihana's direction, along with her taller male friend, "Oi. Looks like a smith there, yeah? Go give em a bit of help, maybe get a discount or a reward."

    He starts to stroll forward, casually opening fire at the attacking forces between himself and the fox/her master.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Those who are watching and engaging the 'berserkers' directly, like Laer(from above), Flint, Wuyin, and the Starbounders, can tell that they aren't exactly berserkers. They're advancing fearlessly, but it isn't because they are worked up into a frenzy. In fact, their attacks are a little stiff, jerky... almost lifeless. Even the one that Staren attacks, slicing off an arm, just looks dumbly at the stump before making a strangled cry and collapsing.

    It's their eyes, mostly. The eyes are basically dead, like they don't /care/ if they live or die. They also fall pretty quickly, all told... yet somehow, it takes a lot to take them down. Even a sniper bullet needs to hit square in the head to drop them. It's not that they're undead or enchanged, they're just... very persistant. Alexis can get two or three at least.

    It's the big ones that are a problem, stomping along and just casually swiping down anyone who approaches from the village. Buglike and plated, with huge mandibles, the biggest problem seems to be that when the town militia forms up against one of them... the militia suddenly starts fighting amongst themselves.

    The smith and the girl with them end up facing one of these beasts, one which is roaring in pain as the minigun from Kotone saws into its plating and manages to penetrate it. Bleeding, the massive hulk stomps toward the first opponent it sees: the smith. Dangerously sharp claws make a vicious swipe toward him! The girl, at least, is dealing with a normal human.

    As for the defenses, they don't seem to have anti-ship defenses, but there are high places that are somewhat fortified. The Starbounders can see right away why these were of little use: the foundations are stone, and those plated beasts tore right through the stone like it was made of soft, warm butter.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Rory decides to go after the ship, and the assault causes cracks to appear on the crystalline abdomen, and also manages to shatter the forward ballista. That's right, the ship is armed with... a ballista. Presumably there are other weapons, but they aren't quite visible yet. The massive ship is turning, creaking loudly, but it's a slow and ponderous thing. Yet there is a bit of a problem, as the four spiderlike 'arms' of the ship are widening. Apparently they're used to trap ships, and it's attempting to do just that to the Cognizant Odyssey.

    At the same time, a fast-approaching object can be detected! It's another ship, but this one is, while large, not quite so massive... even if the back of it seems to be a chunk of rock with some trees on it, and the rest is a large boat-like shape, complete with sails and mast. It slows dramatically as it approaches, hitting the atmosphere... and the crackle of a lightning bolt lances out from the ship's bow, which is decrated with a single crystal 'eye' and the other side sealed up. The bolt lances toward the spider ship's side, but seems to be aiming /away/ from the deck, more toward the mechanism of the grappling arms.

Staren has posed:
    The man stares at his stump. Staren stares at the man for a second, then cuts through his torso and runs to the next one. Now that he knows how easy they are to take down, he picks off a couple further-away ones with the beam cannons on his arm, then runs and cuts down another one or two (just slicing right through necks or torsos) while the beam cannons cool down. With his smartlink and Rory's tacnet, hitting the raiders and not the people they're carrying is easy enough.

    But now Staren has a bigger problem. Literally: Some kind of hulking, umber-colored insectoid with plate armor is approaching, and... the locals are fighting eachother? What the hell?

    Staren holds out his arm, sword held horizontally with 'blade' pointing across his body, because he's not using the sword -- a small port on the forearm fires a little missile, the size of a magic marker, which burns futuristic high-tech propellant to abruptly accelerate to supersonic speeds -- this is an armor-piercing micromissile, designed to ram into a hardened target, pierce defenses, and explode inside.

    Staren hopes it does its job. If not, he starts backing away and thinking of a new plan...

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
Wuyin stares at Flint over the rim of his 3D glasses for a couple of seconds. Then, he reaches out and takes the brownie. "I don't know anyone I'd consider sane who would say no to that." It goes... somewhere. A pocket on him, maybe?

Flint takes a stroll, and Wuyin follows after. He hops down from the boxes, stretching as he does. "Sounds reasonable. I've heard the workmanship here is quite good," he asides. Wuyin quickens his pace, getting a little bit ahead of Hawke and pointing at one of the berserkers -- or maybe zombies, though not quite the undead kind. An arc of lightning jumps from the effigy on his belt to his extended left hand and out to the armed man, and leaps to his allies from there, burning raiders and getting the attention of the ones who don't just drop.

They close, and he does it again, following the second blast from his left with a swing of his right, grasping air -- until a chain made of green-tinted light coalesces, whipping forward and hacking into any who get through with the sickle spinning on the end. If one of the big bug-things come their way, he'll have to change his tactics a bit.

While they fight their way towards the sword-wielding pair, Wuyin calls out to them: "Excuse me! I am looking for the smith on the mountain. Are you perhaps he?" He doesn't sound terribly harried, and he's making the very reasonable assumption that the man with the plain-looking sword is the expert of the pair.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis raises an eyebrow as she notes the invaders not going down from center mass shots. Headshots do the job fine, though. She wonders what happened to make them so sturdy; Are they zombies of some kind? Brainwashed or given a crapload of bath salts so they ignore all pain? It's a disturbing effect, and taking them down non-fatally would just result in more trouble for the guys down there, so she goes back to dropping targets like the finger of an angry god.

    Her rifle barks again and again as she aims and fires, taking time to line up headshots that are assured to kill them quickly and cleanly.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint is... remarkably cheery despite the grim business of killing men. Then again, as a Freelance Space Enthusiast, he's had to come across some grim dealings indeed, so people being cut down or shot down around him is not a new sight for him. If, hypothetically, he were a Space Pirate of some sort, it would just be another day at the job for him.

    And that's why he's able to sing himself a jaunty little shanty as he goes:

    "Away down South where the cocks do crow,
    Way down in Florida.
    Them girls all dance to the old banjo.
    And we'll roll the woodpile down."

    "Rollin! Rollin! Rollin the whole world round,
    That fine gal of mine's on the Georgia line!
And we'll roll the woodpile down!"

    He's actually quite a skillful fighter who seems almost completely at home in a chaotic battle instead of a duel or an honorable fight. His Freelancing Space Enthusiasm has given him a smooth sort of battle instinct that sees him ducking around and under swings of blades that come at him, weaving inside of weapon reaches to plant the barrel of a blaster against someone's chest or under their chin and blow them away.

    Any time someone DOES strike him with a blade, it has a mixed result. Some crack and pop, bouncing off a shield that appears. Others slip past the shield and cut open his flesh, only to find it be like grinding against steel and their weapons coming away with black traces of blood.

    "Really very rude of them to be doing this when you have business in town. I so dislike when armies attack with no forewarning. You would think they would have the courtesy to schedule ahead so men with pressing business can take care of it beforehand."

    And to Yukihana and her Master, he gives a suitable Freelance Space Greeting, "Ahoy!"

Laer (353) has posed:
    The new arrival will get Laer's attention much more fully than the spider ship had had it, and the elf will start to drift vaguely in that direction. She's still keeping her distance, so as not to get caught in the crossfire of the inevitable shooting back and forth that the ships might get into, but she's trying to rise further upwards to look down at the new ship. This is going to actually make her rather more obvious, particularly as she's going to pull out some paper and start to trace a rough sketch of both ships.

    She's actually not an exceptionally skilled artist of this sort, but she seems rather lost in thought as she works, fascinated particularly by the trees on the ship. This may actually make her a bit of a floating duck if someone decides to take a shot, but given her seeming neutrality in the actual conflict other than recording it it may be unlikely for anyone to expend the effort.

Yukihana Masamune (900) has posed:
    In the wild melee, the crack of more modern weapons fire is... New and unheard in this region. It is distracting0 it adds to the terror. Scarlet eyes are wide as the girl faces off with one of the more human attackers. She nearly loses her head, between her foe and the umber hulk, though; ducking just barely in time before replying by reaching for her blade. In one smooth motion she draws and cuts, a strike like lightning, audibly whistling through the air as she cleaves with all her might, resheathing it smoothly in the same instant to follow. But she's already panting, breathless and bloodied, she looks to Flint with an expression of utter bewilderment when he swoops in a-singin' and a-fightan'
    "H-... Hello?"

    Of course, the older man is of another caliber entirely. "And who would like to know?" He does reply to Wuyin, voice more gravelly than an old unpaved road, his form is smoother, deftly evading as the umber hulk focuses upon him, he darts in, his age not slowing him down in the least as he strikes, a smooth series of consecutive blows, hammer striking with tremendous force, blade biding through where hammer cracks chitin, his assault is almost over as soon as it begins, dealing out swift, unrestrained violence, before he backs away a pace with a grimace, his own clothes beginning to stain red very rapidly.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Staren cuts down a few more of the raiders, allowing the townspeople to stagger and flee toward the nearest buildings with some hurried thanks toward the 'armored knight.' The umber hulk eats a missile, blasting into the plating and making it screech in pain as it staggers, clutching the gaping hole in its chest. But... it looks like these plodding, plated beasts are little smarter than they look, as one of the others comes to the aid of his ally via erupting from the stone path under Staren's feet, claws grabbing and trying to tear into the armor.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    Unfortunately for Rory, the Cognizant Odyssey is a floating brick. In atmosphere, its design is... AERODYNAMIC ENOUGH... for flying STRAIGHT. But hovering and turning is another matter entirely. It takes it forever. The Spider Ship, more specialized in this role, would little trouble closing the distance or latching on. But Rory isn't about to let that happen without a fight.

    SCREW TURNING. The main thrusters revv up. IN atmosphere, and especially THIS close to a village she can't put them anywhere CLOSE to maximum. Not even 20% would be safe - but the Cognizant Odyssey moves faster in a straight line than in a turn and it's trying to give the Spider ship the slip.

    That probably won't work.

    What WILL work is how the railguns all focus fire on the arms with spectacular precision, a hailstorm of metal shards becoming a stream of fragments aimed to try and simply CUT ONE OR TWO of the arms off by repeated strikes at the same joints.

    TNot knowing what exactly that weird lightning is supposed to be, Rory diverts more power to her shields and just prays this manuever pays off.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Isss like dead on feet."
"Make them dead off their feet."
"Easy for you to say, dude, it's fucking /tough/."
"Keep 'em away from them fortifications, ye dogs, all ye need!"
"The living offer little progress; only the land shall be our victory."
"Urgent. Provide cover immediately. Attempting to reinforce."

    Seft darts in on the fortifications, focusing on stemming the tide. Stone? NO! We DURASTEEL now! Plates of heavy durasteel form fresh girders that spring up, making months of construction progress in seconds. Reinforced steel plating cover them and fill in the spaces, working along the guidelines of this area's original walls. Every so often, she even plants a heavy SECURITY TURRET. The group can do little but clear out the zombie-like super-enduring foes from their workspace, even all six of them can't stem the whole tide... but they have their own tactics. While Biteblade, George, and Moonfin handle the entities themselves with vicious daggers, punching and battering, and samurai slicing, Pavo starts setting up things like semi-obvious pitfall traps and Albert can start dispersing things like AoE chem grenades from his Grenade Launcher. If they're slogging through messes of burning chemicals with their lifeless movements and lacking fear of death, they can turn this tactic against the enemy!

    Unfortunately, Moonfin is swiped heavily by one of the larger creatures, George only barely escapes a cluster of the smaller ones, and Biteblade is... Well, Biteblade is doing fine. In fact, Biteblade is going to try something: BITE DOWN on one of the zombie-like foes! Her CANNIBALISM BOOST should let her become even MORE powerful in the face of these difficulties. They note the incoming ship... But have no certainty about things until that one shows more of its intents! What does it want here? It's helping so far, though, so the Starbounders aren't calling in their own ship-to-ship combat solutions.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    The umber hulk fighting the smith staggers, but its claws are bloody. With a grunt, it shakes its head and turns to glower at the incoming heroes that are helping... er, 'heroes' that are helping the smith. This isn't just a glower though. Those two large buglike eyes on either side look really... swirly... and disorienting...

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa grimaces and doesn't like where this is going but they have to focus on the Villiages and she knows it. She looks at the pair and pushes for them. She's going to have to watch her shots as it's gone into melee combat but the cyborg is pushing to catch up. She fires off another short burst but she can only carry so much ammo. She's going to put it to use though she turns pivods and fires off another burst on something coming from behind. She turns lets out a cry as she unloads into it but that's the last of heavy rounds she's got. She now drops the weapon to the ground she'll have to recover it later, if Shen or the Doc gets angry she'll deal with it then. For now she's moving to pull her smg and make sure it's ready. She's now makeing for the Wuyin , Flint and the girl. There's still more things around here to deal with and she does not want to be a lone fighter.

"Damn it I need to find a way to carry more ammo."

Wuyin is someone she's not seen in a very long time and she's not seen Flint often.

She does start valunting towards the man and the monster and opens fire with a controlled burst form her SMG as she drops towards the ground.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    The sniping of the humans and elves causes them to collapse pretty quickly, and after a few minutes the militia stop fighting one another. The bloody assault is being turned back... except that those plated creatures are still tearing through the ranks. They've had a few injured, though, and they can be beaten, that's clear. With support from the Elites, the remaining four umber hulks - two of which are badly injured anyway - are not going to last long.

Staren has posed:
    Staren's reaction is mixed. The missile was a good hit, and one or two more like that will surely kill these things, but he doesn't have enough ammo to deal with /all/ of them.

    The attack from below is /completely/ unexpected. Fortunately, Staren's armor is far tougher than the stone, though not invulnerable -- less 'like a hot knife through butter' and more 'like a saw through tough plastic'. It'll get through eventually, but Staren better think of something fast.

    Staren looks down. "Oh COME ON! You gotta be kidding me!" He stayed away! He stayed a sensible distance away from the monster and /one is still grabbing him/! How do they /always/ know that grappling is his weakness?! He tries to pull free, but doesn't expect it to work -- he's already considering other options. Since its body is exposed, he blasts it with his beam cannons, while holding his other arm UP -- four more micromissiles sail into the air, then come down, aiming to blow a significant portion of the umber hulk to bits! (If it lets go and retreats underground, or pulls Staren into the ground, the targeting software is smart enough to not detonate and blow up Staren instead)

    If that gets him free, he reactivates his wings and takes to the air. Seems he needs a new approach!

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Laer gets to see what's going on with Rory, then! The targeting of the grapple ram is a good idea, and that's what the lightning bolt targeted as well. One of the arms creaks and starts to fall downward, sweeping the roof off of a house but otherwise doing no harm. Another cracks loudly, and when it tries to close down on the Odyssey, it snaps in two. The other two do close in, but they need at least three to get a solid grip, so they merely scrape along the hull for now.

    And on the deck of the newcomer ship, several figures are gathering toward the bow. One of them, a pale woman, is chanting and pointing toward the 'eye' of the spider ship... which explodes outward after thin greenish beam erupts from her fingertip. The others are hurriedly clearing the way as something /very large/ and looking like a mixture of armor plates and adorable brown fur erupts from belowdecks, charges across the deck and over the ram portion, and LEAPS across the intervening gap to soar into the now-open eye. The tiny gnome atop the saddled giant space hamster squeals, "YAHOOOOOOO!!!!"

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr had been searching a nearby planet for a fallen recon probe when the footage of the village being attacked popped up on the comms. Quickly finishing up the retrieval mission, he returns to his ship and heads for the disturbance--might as well since he happened to be in this sector of space anyway.

    In a flash of blue light that lances down through the sky, the Autobot appears near the attack, scans the situation quickly, and targets the large plated creatures who appear to be the greatest threat. And they're also closer to his his size, anyway. Hey, they're just like the Swarm right except not as bad because they aren't as huge. Well anyway, he blasts at them with photon cannons, doing his best not to cause too much collatergy damage to the town. It's kind of hard though, when you're so much bigger than everything.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    The Starbounders have erected some DURASTEEL shelter for the militia! This is a lot harder for the umber hulks to tear through, and they're rallying behind it with breathless panting. "Thanks," one of them says.

    Another one is offering to look at Moonfin, while Biteblade... well, Biteblade finds that they're normal humans, but that just means that they're easier to chew through, doesn't it?

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Suddenly, Alexis gets up.

    She slings the sniper rifle over her shoulder, taking the safety off her Tavor as she begins to slide her way down the mountainside, her boots providing traction as she descends. Once she's in sprinting distance of the village, Maaka makes her way towards it at top speed, managing a /frightening/ pace as she gets in close.

    "Hey guys!" She greets the Flotilla cheerfully once she's in speaking distance, not sounding at the least winded as she takes aim and fires upon one of the big hulk guys. "Sorry I'm late, had to leg it all the way down here. I miss much?"

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint is somewhat entranced by the massive eyes on the creature, shaking on his footing a bit and remaining distant and distracted for a few moments. He stands there, trying to figure out what he was just doing and make sense of precisely what he should be doing. Luckily, he's not the only one who rides his body. And while the other entity can't exactly speak to Flint in words, it CAN speak to him in instinct.

    That thing is trying to impede your violence. KILL IT.

    As a result of the conflicting influences on his actions, Flint's next move is somewhat sloppy. He holsters one of his pistols and takes out an ERCHIUS FLINTLOCK that he had confiscated during one of the Flotilla's many missions. A flintlock looking pistol, it uses Erchius-treated powder to launch a projectile with absurd force and power, not unlike a hand-held armor-piercing cannon.

    Relying on instinct, he lifts the weapon and tries to land a gutshot on the being that is using a Confuse effect on him. Unfortunately, all the conflicting mental messages means that his shot is much, much sloppier than usual. And it may miss entirely if the giant creature reacts in time.

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
"Quite rude," Wuyin asides. He drops the chain rather than drawing it back to him, letting it shatter into fragments of rapidly-disappearing emerald. "Scheduling that sort of thing in advance is the only civilized way to do it."

Whereas Flint is moving with comfortable ease amidst the chaos of the battle and nimbly evading enemies' strikes, Wuyin is instead barreling right into them. His own fighting style goes from brutal elementalism to a helping of mystical chaos as the distance of engagement shrinks, wading into the midst of the enemy raiders apparently without fear.

Wuyin draws enemy fire by being flashy and obvious. He leaves ripples of green light on the ground where he moves, and fading after-images follow his steps. The after-images break and run in different directions, drawing the eye and throwing enemies into confusion while he slips into the midst of them. Wuyin opens and closes his hands, new weapons created of the leashed chaos manifesting in his palms: hand crossbows, which he swings to aim at the heavens.

He lets loose. Two bolts fly upwards with an audible 'click,' and a half-second later, dozens come back down. They fall like drops of rain onto the cluster of raiders, narrow green bolts of hardened light that do a decent job turning them into pincushions and a better one affixing them to the ground. Without wasting an instant, Wu dismisses the crossbows and crosses his arms, fighting claws growing from the viridian haze.

"Do you know 'Captain Kidd,'" Wuyin asks the Freelance Space Enthusiast, calling to him over the clamor of the battle. "I kind of like that one."

He looks back to the gruff man. "My name is," they're in at least something like Japan, he thinks, go with the other order, "Tsai Wuyin, and I am in the market for a new blade. I was led to believe you were the man to speak to about that sort of --"

The Umber Hulk bears down on them. Wuyin catches its eye -- and pauses, suddenly struck with a sense of indescribable aimlessness. He thinks his vision is swimming. He thinks he can see all around him and nothing in front of him. He thinks he can see the notes and tones and weft and weave and the endless, endless beating of a thousand thousand insect wings and --

"How do the Oni demons exchange brotherly love?" Wuyin asks nobody in particular, his voice odd and faraway, words spoken as if unfamiliar. He's frozen in place, halfway into a defensive stance, the claws still an electric green wrapped around his hands and forearms. He hasn't looked anywhere but the monster. "Let us count the ways..."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    A plant is at home in the dirt.

    Now that Biteblade has meat, she doesn't need the sunlight. Now that she doesn't need the sunlight, she can go underground. In one hand, she holds her matter manipulator, which begins to rev, like a chainsaw, swapping to its drill fun<span style="color:tion.

"cxterm15">Staren has alerted us to an underground threat. Remove it.</span>"
"Floran HUNTSSS!!"

    And Biteblade is tearing her way off through the dirt, a heavy power dagger in her offhand, using her extensive mining experience and hunting skills to counter those horrible plated bugs when they burrow, and purge them from the underground by slamming into them as if through some terrible underground pounce. If there's none underground now, well... She'll simply pounce them from below!

"Someone make sure I just saw what I saw and I'm not on the drugs here."
"Ghhhh... Yes, that was some form of steed, resembling..."
"Yeah, I'm not missin' this shit, I'mma get right in on this."
"Tired. I will go make sure George survives. And investigate the newcomers."

    Seft has completed most of her work. She and George link up quickly, and both of them are suddenly blasting off with rocket systems in their armor! Using that and a combination of grappling hooks, they're heading off to go follow the strange hamster and its violent boarding action. And apparently, Pavo came along too!

"Ye scurvey dogs, ye best not be callin' dibs on me loot!"

    Moonfin is always okay with people looking at him, even though this might mean medically. He'll need a quick bit of medical care -- those things are FUCKIN' VICIOUS -- but he'll probably be OK. Albert stays with him, keeping him safe and continuing to fire his grenade launcher in support of the others on the armored foes

Rory White (673) has posed:
    After detaching and damaging the arms, Rory's very pleased to find that this ship's not quite as capable of doing what it wants as she feared.

    And with it she gets an idea.

    lead this ship away, further and further away from the conflict, where if it were to fall it would land on open ground.

    The thrusters continue at that pace but weaponfire slows. She'll just have to see if it will give chase.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer is going to keep watching, right up until the part where the gnome rides the hamster across. That's going to get her to drop her sketch, which will start to flutter downwards towards the battlefield, and mumble something to herself. It could be roughly translated to 'Really?' judging strictly by her body language.

    She's going to head down, trying to land on the newcoming ship, hands raised in the universal sign of coming in something like peace as she tries to land next to the pale woman. "...Needing help?" She'll ask, having identified someone who clearly knows what they're doing and doesn't seem to need help, and is thus safe to offer it to.

Yukihana Masamune (900) has posed:
    One thing may immediately become apparent, up close, to Flint and Wuyin. Kotone too as she starts making her way in that direction.

    "Father!"

    That's what the girl cries out, instantly taking to the old man's side. Though he tries to shoo her support away, he's visibly weakening, the wound clearly taking its toll rapidly. Though despite calling him 'father' there is a noticeable difference between the pair. The fighting locals seem to pay it no mind, or perhaps cannot notice it. He is human. She is not.

    A sharp yip of panic and she's dragging the blacksmith back, staggering and disoriented from the Umber Hulk's glower. It is the girl who gives Wuyin a true answer, hasty and shrill. "Yes, he is who you seek, just help us!" Apparently she need not ask, as the pirate captain and the member of Dragon set to their grim task. As the Umber hulk is peppered by Kotone's SMG, Wuyin plows through the humanoid raiders that haven't yet broken from the battle, the rainstorm of crossbow bolts maiming and piercing man, elf, and even the Umber Hulk as they descend, Flint's Erchius powered flintlock punching a hole through the chitinous plating of its gut, earning a screech of pain and rage, gnashing its massive mandibles and viciously swinging razor claws in its injured effort to fend them off, displaying immense strength even with its terrible wounds, not too keen on replying to such a poetic musing on the familial tendencies of mountain ogres.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Alexis joins the Starbounders! Biteblade burrows into the ground, but only finds one that is erupting FROM the ground, so will need to find another target. Fortunately, there's one nearby, which is starting to burrow down... but the giant plated beast instead gets a Floran to the face, which is not at all what it expected, and is left shrieking as it jerks back away from what SHOULD have been a safe haven.

    Meanwhile, the one that erupted from the ground is the one defending the hulk that Blurr just shot. Blurr's shot blasts the arm off of the wounded hulk, but the companion one bursts from the ground and slashes viciously with claws that are... surprisingly tough and sharp, trying to basically tear out the giant robot's servos. They are not worried about the size difference, and also apparently not stupid. They're also pretty tough, because the one that Blurr shot STILL isn't dead, though it's groaning and in no condition to fight after having taken numerous wounds and a photon blast.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Staren shoots out some missiles and beam cannons! This is a good idea when an umber hulk is trying to SAW THROUGH ARMOR and such. The missiles streak around, then arrow down and blast into the... ground. Yeah, they're not stupid, the hulk retreated into the earth again at the last minute. Well, almost the last minute.

    There's a lot of ichor around the hole that was left, so it's probably not going to get far. Especially with Biteblade down there ready to ambush it.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis is confused at what George means before she sees for herself the gnome calvaryman, and pauses mid-firefight. "...is that a frickin' hamster?" She has no idea what to make of it, but today's full of weird stuff so she puts a pin in it for now.

    Going back to battle, she fires another burst of fire towards the Hulk that appears from bellow.

    Helpfully she brought armor-piercing rounds for the X95, and the Tavor barks another onslaught of lead downrange before it clicks empty, and Alexis lowers it to reload. By the time she's chambered a fresh round into the pipe, she spies a Transformer arriving to help out as well.

    She takes off after George, Seft, and Pavo, hitching a ride by snagging onto the human explorer with her grapple. "You gotta get me one of those jetpacks one day, mate!" she calls out, before she holds on for dear life during her trip.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    It takes Flint a few more moments to gather his senses after the gaze is broken upon him and Yukihana calls out for her father. He shakes his head several times and waves the spent flintlock, clearing the huge cloud of smoke that roils around him. He slips the pistol back into his jacket and instead takes out a glass jug. He pulls off a cork with his teeth and takes a heavy slug from it before corking it again and tossing it to Yukihana, "Give 'em this."

    (It's not medicine, it's rum. Flint's pretty sure the guy is a goner, but he at least wants to give a dying man a drink. Pirate's Code.)

    And then he turns back to the Umber Hulk, "Oi mate. Ya really put me in a bother there. Real annoying. Plus you hurt that nice man there, also rather rude of you. Rather rude, I think." Flint reaches into his jacket and pulls out a cylinder about the size of a soda can.

    Of course, Wuyin also made a request of him. So as Flint charges in, he does cheerily sing:

"O, my name was Captain Kidd,
as I sailed, as I sailed,
O, my name was Captain Kidd,
as I sailed.
My name was Captain Kidd
And God's laws I did forbid,
And so wickedly I did
as I sailed, as I sailed.
So wickedly I did
as I sailed."

    As he sings this chipperly, he darts forward and rams his hand into the wound in the thing's gut up to his forearm, taking some nasty gnashes and claw swipes as he does so that tear open his jacket and sizzle against his shield with a loud cracking noise. A massive wound opens in his chest that spills black-stained blood to the ground as it begins to bubble and heal.

    As Flint pulls away, the white phosphorus grenade he embedded deep into the creature will hopefully detonate in a very 'internal organs searing' way, considering he has the pin for it hanging off his finger.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    The deck is full of... uh. Creatures. Two lizard men, a couple kobolds, the pale woman from before, and also a veiled woman with a bow. The bow is drawn and pointed toward Laer as the elf lands, but given the gesture she isn't shot at. Instead, the pale woman speaks, "Help, hm? One of our crew, the first mate, is on that ship. We're just retrieving what is ours. We don't need-"

    "Harr," rumbles another voice from belowdecks. "If the wench be wantin' ta help, let us hear her offer, eh? Not many be dealin' with pirates. I be curious."

    "CAP'N ON DECK!" One of the kobolds yips, and everyone snaps to attention as the large, five foot wide sphere rises up from below. Several of the ten eyestalks weave and look toward Laer, looking her over, but the massive central eye is covered by a large black patch. "What have we here, then?"

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
The Umber Hulk, though wounded, is a monster in a fight. It swings its massive razor-claws, and one catches Wuyin in the side, drawing a grunt as the wind is knocked out of him and he's swept from his feet. He leaves blood in the snow and dirt, hitting the ground on his good side... and then practically leaping back to his feet, focused wholly on the <span style="color:reature.

"c#eee8aa">One is for the House-in-Chains,</span>" Wuyin wheezes. He catches his breath and lowers his head, running back in at the monster. He speaks conversationally as he attacks it from below, sweeping his magically-formed fighting claws across one of its legs in a wild spin. He stops and comes back the other way, hacking through carapace and the meaty insides with reckless abandon. He speaks in a curious, almost thoughtful tone. "Every link is forged from a white-hot soul."

Wuyin rises, jumping back and hopping to the side and away from another swipe of the huge mitt and its razor claws. "Two is for the House of the Unwritten Talisman," he calls, staring through the different-colored lenses of his glasses wide-eyed. "They know the true name of something even they fear to write down." He comes back at it again, jumping up and stepping onto the back of one of its clawed hands, jamming his own claws into the carapace at the shoulder and pulling downward. This could be unfortunate if it's still got its good foot pinned to the ground.

"Three," Wuyin says, feet touching the ground for nary an instant before he's back in motion, "is for the House of Bloodied Silks." He takes off, jumping clear over the creature and flipping upside-down in mid-air. He rakes its head with both hands, ripping at the mandibles and catching with hooked claws of chaos-born metal as he goes right over it. He hits the ground to its right, its good side, and lets the claws fall away.

The chains come back. He whips them at the mauled monster, a half-dozen individual chains lashing out, coiling tightly around its body. "Clotted stains," Wuyin exhales, swaying on his feet, "are the hieroglyphs of their history."

He pulls, hard, clearly intending to tip the unbalanced thing over and make it fall on its face -- and to jam the grenade Flint so helpfully stuck into the hole in its chest between monster and hard-packed earth, giving it nowhere to go but 'off.'

Staren has posed:
    Staren's in the air. He looks down at the battlefield.

    Okay, he's not really out of ammo, just almost out of micromissiles built into his armor. He deactivates his beam saber and reaches into that bag of his. He pulls out a large magazine, passes it to his other hand. The launchers on his shoulders flip into position.

    One missile, this one larger, flies towards the wounded umber hulk he first shot, exploding on contact or airbursting on a miss, superheating the air for about 15' around it into plasma. Let's see how well umber hulks cook! Maybe Biteblade will enjoy cooked umber hulk.

    Staren pulls out a launcher in his right hand. It looks like a rifle, but the size of the barrel is absurd for a bullet. He slaps the magazine into place. There's no need to work the slide -- everything is electronic in /this/ gun.

    Staren aims down at the hulk trying to grab Blurr and fires. It's like the micro-missile from before, only about four or five times as big!

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa gets she needs more firepower than she's using she does have a trump card as Staren reminded her. She's kept her pistol loaded with the resonace rounds for stuff like this. She shoulder sthe SMG as she keeps bouning baout with inhuman agility and now she's going to have to wait for her opening to attack. She isn't shocked Wuyin is looking for a new blade after all. Given what he's got to deal with she's be shocked if ht wasn't really. The Umber hulk is sitll moving and it's time for her to do what she can to bring this thing. She fights in a way that it's clear she knows how Wuyin fights she's shifts she moves and leaps bouncing up about buildings here never keeping still. Though she may do some damage from her body's weight as she bvounces about finallys he comes down for a landing as Flint finishes his song and he opens fire with the ressonance rounds hoping to breach the thing's shell some more before it can do any more damage.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Of course, this would be a strange enough meeting for most people. Laer, unfortunately for her, knows precisely what sort of creature it is she's meeting as the Captain. Which may be why even she's not quite able to hide the flinch and sudden glancing to see if her path to retreat is clear, at least before she gets past a surface look.

    "...Ah." She'll start, before recovering her usual sensibilities. "I simply did not expect pirates to be interceding in a fight like this, until I heard of your first mate being lost to that ship. And your crew caught my eye. Eyes. I thought I might help out for a cut of whatever you take, in any case."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Hahahahaha! SSSURPRISE FLORAN ISSS A SSSURPRISE!" Biteblade shouts. The two predators ram into each other vertically and Biteblade is slammed back into into the dirt with brutal cracking noises like bark splintering, crushing armor and damaging with blunt trauma, but with Biteblade boosted by the cannibalistic action, she regenerates to combat-capabe -- though not unharmed -- state instantly, leaping up with tremendous force. With her greatly increased energy and the help of strength-enhancing armor, it's intended to be force enough to launch the Umber Hulk up into the air, while viciously stabbing them repeatedly with a power dagger, until she can slam it into the ground with a heavy strike intended to pierce deep enough to finish the thing!

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    The ship turns and starts to retreat, but does the giant spidership follow? That's a good question! It... starts to! There seems to be a fire that's burst into being somewhere in the ship, and it lurches toward the Odyssey. It makes it a little ways, too... before it suddenly tilts downward, creaking as it plummets toward the main square and crashes down, 'head'-first with a splintering noise.

    It appears that the ship just lost power... whatever was holding it up in the first place. It's come down not far from Yukihana and the others.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr isn't worried about the one that just lost an arm. It may not be dead, but it's pretty much down for the count. Besides, he has other things to concern himself with. Such as another one of those things trying to tear his servos out with surprisingly sharp and durable claws. They dig into the plating on his arms as he raises them to shield himself. "Gah! Getoffgetoff!" he protests, and attempts to throw it off as hard as he can. He grabs at its limbs, or whatever appendage he can get a hold of, and tries to fling it toward its own peers, if any happen to be within throwing range.

Yukihana Masamune (900) has posed:
    The girl has to fumble when the bottle is tossed her way, a small squeak as she nearly drops it at least twice, but she passes it to the master smith, as instructed, not noticing how he slides his forge hammer into her hand as he accepts it and drinks gratefully.

    Still, the Umber Hulk may be injured, but it is no less dangerous if not approached properly, and the silver-haired girl draws a breath. When she exhales, she unleashes a plume of white fire, briefly blinding the beast and leaving it so terribly open and susceptible to Wuyin, Flint, and Kotone just going to town on it. Though its strength is enourmous, the pirate's hand suddenly just punching clean through its wounded gut takes a fair portion of the beast's wind and fight out of it.

    Unfortunately the punishment simply does not end there. It can't keep up even with a wounded Wuyin, claws swiping clumsy with pain, comparing the two would be like comparing a shack trying to stand against a tempest as claws hack out its ability to stand, and from there the rest comes tumbling down in a series of terrible miseries wrought upon the beast. Rightly deserved as it is hacked, bloodied, beaten by chains and peppered with resonance bullets alike, ichor staining the snow as it topples.

    Try as it might to fight the throes of death coming upon it... It is given a very explosive reminder of the white phosphorous grenade left in its stomach, the sudden eruption vaporising the hulk from the inside out.

    This area of the village is beginning to calm- or at least was, before the ship crashed. But even with that happening, the girl seems oblivious. She's shaking her father. Gently at first. But more and more urgently, with soft, keening, whines.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    George and Seft land into the 'head' of the ship right as it's coming down. There, they'll see a bit of what has caused it to come down! First, there are bodies! Several bodies, cut off or skeletonized by acid(?) are here. Some humanish, others... like a spider-eel of some sort. Eel head, spiderlike body.

    And toward the back, there's a large wooden chair, somewhat ornate but with large shackles for the arms and legs. A dead man is in it, chest impaled with a piece of wood that serves as a makeshift spear. From the scratches on the chair arms, it looks like whomever is in that chair is not going to enjoy it. It also looks like the chair is split down the middle by the 'spear.'

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Blurr finds the claws scraping over his armor and yes, biting into them. Not tearing as easily as stone, of course, but these things are vicious! Hurling it away does work though... and the missile blast from Staren blows it into chunks. SPLATTER!

    Biteblade might be hurt, but umber hulks are kind of not... aerial combatants, and it's flailing and vulnerable. These are probably not long for this world.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    DOOOOWN goes the ship, much to Rory's surprise.

    But by this point in time, one of her unseen drones has had no trouble securing a fallen human raider and beaming it aboard on a flash of light. Examination quickly commences.

    Meanwhile, the ship's weaponry now turns to any remaining raiders, focusing on only ones where there's no chance of friendly fire. Railguns and lasers cut apart the ground with merciless machine precision!

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Laer gets several eyes on her, but it's the veiled woman who speaks next. "For payment? Hm." A faint hissing is heard, and a snake peeks out from the veil before vanishing again.

    The beholder grunts, "HAR! Bold! Very well! If ye help us get Jack back, we'll give ye a bit of the plunder. I like this elf!"

    It also looks like Laer will have something to help with, soon! As the poor kitsune is struggling, and the Starbounders are checking out the bridge, there's a lurching creak and a very loud, very dangerous vocalization. It's a shrill, female voice of a gnome, and it says one single word: "Oops."

    Then there's a loud crash, as from belowdecks, barging out the side and into the street. The massive armored hamster scrambles across the stone as the ship creaks, hurrying AWAY from it. The girl gnome atop it also has a man, bloodied and wearing scraps of clothing, sitting behind her.

    The Starbounders and Alexis are both in a prime position to see something HUGE burst from underneath though, and see it from behind. The others see it from in front. It looks like a massive, bloated, wormlike entity. An eel-like head with sharp teeth hisses loudly, and the huge shape's barely-functional legs skitter at its side. Spiderlike claws are trying to find purchase, but it mostly just heaves its bulk forward.

    From a bleeding, gaping cut along the side of its stomach, a few tiny larvae-like spider-eels tumble out, screeching and snapping at one another, then scrambling toward Flint and Wuyin and Kotone.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint is wiping his arm off with a towel that was in his coat, watching Wuyin as he cuts down the monster in front of him. Flint cleans ichorous monster guts off his arm and sleeve while the wound in his chest bubbles shut and vanishes, "You are a bit of an odd lad, you know that?" He may seem unphased by Wuyin's display, but rather he's simply gained the ability to hide his amazement as all good Freelance Space Enthusiasts should to protect their emotions.

    "Bit creepy, too, I imagine." He muses.

    He holsters the other gun he was holding and fishes out his flintlock, pouring more Erchius powder into it and loading another one of its ridiculously heavy slugs as he avoids the 'Foxaphaunt In The Room' that is happening nearby. Not because he doesn't care, but because he is bad at handling that sort of emotional situation.

    Eventually, though, he elects to address it, "Oi." Flint begins, watching her awkwardly. Out of respect for the dead man, he does take off his Captain's Hat while he speaks, looking to Yukihana.

    "Legacy of a man, so to speak... sum of his works. It's not the material works he does." Flint fishes around in his pocket and takes out a large gold coin, which he rolls across the back of his fingers and watches Yukihana with a slightly serious expression, "At least, to me." As the coin hits his thumb, he flicks it upwards in a heavy spiral.

    "It's the people he leaves to remember him. The stories that get told." He watches the fox girl seriously, putting the hat back on his head, "He may be gone, but he never left you. Tell stories about him, keep him alive through what you do. That's the best advice I can give you."

    Flint then swipes his hand across the air in front of him, aiming to catch his coin in a dramatic flourish to emphasize his point for Yuki. Only, when he opens his palm, the coin isn't there. In fact, he looks upwards and, for anyone who follows his gaze, there's no sign of the coin. It never landed, either.

    "... the bloody hell?" He says aloud. This particularly weird turn of luck leaves him distracted, unprotected, and vulnerable as the spider-eels are skittering towards him.

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
The beast dies in a conflagration. Wuyin stumbles a step backwards, and his head clears up of buzzing and of the monster's gaze all at once. He takes a second to take stock of the situation, glancing this way and that with minimal movement. His eyes are concealed behind the lenses of his glasses.

Wuyin lowers his hands, and the chains slowly break apart. Now, away from the carnage, it's easy to see the mask on his back is alight with an amber glow. The eyes seem to track anyone who passes near it. At his waist, the effigy crackles and hums with electrical energy. Both gradually fade away. "I've been called both before," he says to Flint while he gets his breath back. "Good shot."

It takes him a few seconds before he decides what to do next. With careful steps, Wu moves over to the body of the swordsmith and to the nonhuman girl mourning him. He looks down at them both. After a moment, he says, "I'm sorry. He had skill. But are /you/ injured?" It would be really bad luck if the two of them died when he'd come all this way and killed all those... well, people is cutting it close.

The hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Wuyin turns, spotting the little things on the ground. He raises his foot slightly and stamps the ground, once, lightly. The air suddenly gets more frigid, and a wave of white mist and clear ice rolls outward and away from the group of them, freezing anything touching the ground to it... unless they're little spider-eel things, in which case they're probably just frozen solid instead.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr watches with satisfaction as the monstruous hulk thing that had been trying to rip him apart is flung away and then subsequently blown up by Staren. But almost as soon as that threat's gone, another even -bigger- one shows up. More specifically, a giant worm-like thing.

    "Look out!" Noticing Flint caught off guard and the smaller ones coming at him, he just slaps at the spider things, attempting to squish them/sweep them away before they can get to the man, or at least delay their attacks long enough for him to gather his wits.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa plays her part in bringing down the Umber Hulk. She wtches it drop but she unerstand she's too late she looks to see Yukihana embracing the smith trying to wake him up and. She closes her eyes for a moment. She's not sure what to say she looks over to Flint for a moment.

"I'm sorry for your loss miss, keeping the memories alive is something you can do. Flint is correct in that it's a thing we can..."

She's about to say more when one the coin vanishes into thin air and then the elees come form the body going after them.

"Like bloody Crystalids! Look out! Incomming from the corpse!"

She's already opening fire, she's also moving again as she shotos at them, Wuyin has asked abotu helping her but well there' the damn eels.

Staren has posed:
    Staren is in the air. It looks like the fight is over, so he starts to fly down, but then--Suddenly, Staren gets a tacnet ping as Kotone identifies more enemies. He turns and OH DEAR THAT'S NOT GOOD. The whatever-they-ares are swarming! Could these be the puppet masters??

    Well, not for long. Staren turns to look at them, and five more plasma minimissiles (the remaining armament of his shoulder racks) rain down on the giant Neogi and the young. They're like slightly smaller fireball spells!

Yukihana Masamune (900) has posed:
    Sniffling turns to sobbing for a moment before, Flint, Wuyin, and Kotone attempt to console the girl. Her shoulders tremble as tears roll down her eyes, fingers gripping the old worn hammer in her grasp. She seems to visibly -wilt- as she hunches over the fallen swordsmith. Were she not mourning her father, the disappearance of that coin would have drawb her attention, no doubt of it, but for the time being, she wobbles to her feet.
    From all appearances, she is uninjured, yet she wavers as though physically reeling from the emotional trauma of losing a loved one.
    "I... Have no one to tell stories of him to..." Whispered as she slowly draws her katana from its red saya once more. The blade darkens. It's not tarnish... But as though the sword itself were alive and of like mind and soul with wielder, a miasma of black fire flares to life along the edge, the very blade itself radiating misery, agony, and loneliness wafting off the sword in waves as she takes a step towards the Neogi, but falters, eyeing the beast and its spawn. Her gaze turns upon her own sword, and then there's a hesitant pause. Before she just backs away from it and slides the sword back into the sheath.

    "And now this hammer is more of a weight than it ever was."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Yeah, Maaka, or maybe lose some weight." George jokes on the way up. Then he regards the interior. "I like this guy's class."
"Disturbed. Such brutal tactics... This is terrible."
"For once I agree with the tin-can. All the loot, /melted/!!"

    Priorities.

    The Starbounders all stumble when the vehicle crashes, and latch onto the ship with their grappling hooks when it crashes! All three suffer some damage from the heavy impact! They're knocked around by the crash. And then, something emerges below! It's pursuing the guy they went in after!! George leads the charge right back to where they entered, peeking over the edge.
"Shit, they're messing with the guy on the thing."
"Confused. With--"
"Kill the damn eel, ye dogs, he's got the loot from inside! Ye need some /right/ t'be callin a share of it, savin' 'em's as good as any!"

    Good enough. George, Seft, and Pavo leap down from above, taking advantage of their high ground. Seft's heavy powered battleaxe and Pavo's power-cutlass are intended to cleave THROUGH the horrible worm's eel head in a well-sync'd tandem surprise attack, while George intends to land on it with a tech-powered SLAM that is meant to stun with a strong shockwave that clear out some of those horrible spider-eels.

Laer (353) has posed:
    "Alright, then." Laer says, deciding to exit the negotiations as soon as they're remotely favorable. Also, because there seems to be explosions and such happening. The elf will give a glance downwards, and then make the decision to do her best impression of helping without actually getting out front. Every group of pirates can use a few extra helping hands, after all.

    She'll stretch her hands up over her head while she considers, and start in on the pirateyest song she can think of that she can twist into the notes of a haste spell, hopefully helping all the people around her make the ship not explode or anything.

    The exact lyrics are difficult to translate, as Laer's singing in abyssal, but the word for gold appears approximately fifty times in the first verse.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis just lets the joke go, before all joking goes away with the sight of gore. Unlike George, Alexis isn't so impressed by what she sees. "Jesus Christ..."

    Disgust bleeds through her words, and she shakes her head before she's knocked around by the crash as well, but otherwise okay as she keeps pace with the others.

    Leaping into the fray alongside the Starbounders, Alexis lets her Tavor hang over her shoulder as she draws dual SIG-Sauer pistols, the P229s blazing away at the spider-eel thing all the way down. SHe pauses after landing just to reload, sliding fresh mags into place with a deft motion thanks to her Matter Manipulator, then chambering the pistols in a manner akin to a John Woo action hero. That thing is much more handy than she expected it to be, and cyborg dexterity never hurts either.

    "Alright, 'Lovely', come at get it."

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Three separate people all helpfully intercept the worms coming at Flint. Which is a fortunate turn from a bad moment of luck for him. He lost the coin, but at least strange little eel monsters didn't attack him. He seems awkward about dealing with upset little girls, despite the fact that his named crew is comprised heavily of them lately.

    "Perhaps right now you don't, but some day you will. If you ever find yourself in need of transportation or men to hear your story..." He fishes around in the pocket of his coat, holding out a business card towards her, "You feel free to look me up. Always one to lend help to the fair few friends I can find."

    The card, if she takes it, is a fairly plain business card.

Flint Danger Hawke
Freelance Space Enthusiast
Contact Frequency: 357.43.66.cEwQ241
"It's legitimate!

    He gives her a bright smile as he extends his hand as if to shake hers. He's overtly neglecting the rampaging monster, but that's in his nature. He has a feeling making nice with Yukihana will be far more beneficial in the long term.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    A wave of freezing ripples out, which also helps to save Flint, considering he's distracted. The first few of the little beasties are frozen solid, and the others are screeching and squirming as they obviously can't take the cold. Unfortunatley they just keep coming, more of them bursting from the dying, massive and gurgling body. They try to swarm, though they are fortunately easy to splatter via hands swatting or bullets firing, cutting down the little things without trouble.

    The giant eel itself gets pretty badly-hit, too. First plasma slams into it, then a power-axe cracks its skull open. It's a pretty tough beast, but it's also horrendously slow, and it is badly hurt already. It's thrashing about as it's riddled with bullets, and its young are swatted and shot down.

    The hamster skids to a halt, and the man on top groans, "Oh no..." The gnome squeeees and claps her hands, bounding off to stare at the guns AS they are firing. "It's an autoloading mechanism for a wheel lock pistol, loading through the breach! Ireallywanttohaveonecanihaveoneipromesitwillprobablycomebackinonepieceoratleasnomorethansevenand-"

    The man slides off the grunting hamster, eying the people and glancing at Yukihana and Flint especially. "What's wrong with them?" Then he notices the dead smith, frowning.

    Laer's singing bolsters the pirates, who call out an 'ARR!' loudly! The singing is joined by a flute, actually... and if she looks back, she'll see the medusa(with eyes still veiled) is playing it to back her up. The kobolds skitter down first, followed by the rest of the crew heading into the ship to secure any booty.

    Well, mostly. A rain of mystical bolts do fly down to hammer into the Great Old Master from the mage on the ship above.

Staren has posed:
    The Great Old Master isn't down yet and /someone's/ still shooting. Staren supplements magic missiles with nonmagic missiles and beam cannons until the spells stop coming. He assumes the other person, apparently being from flying magical ship world, knows what's up.

    Then he flies down to the people around the fallen smith. Staren looks from the girl to her father, wordlessly. He puts his missile launcher away and pulls out a pair of glasses. His visor retracts, allowing him to peer through the glasses at the smith. He shakes his head grimly and puts them away again.

    Finally Staren looks around. "Who was he?"

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer manages to not miss a beat when she realizes just what kind of creature is playing backup for her, which is good because she'd rather not look foolish in front of this particular crew. Also, she's going to stop looking directly at them.

    Just as a precaution, generally. Their feet are perfectly fine to watch, probably.

    She'll continue to sing, even as she follows along several seconds after the kobolds, wanting to make certain that she gets a fair cut of the loot and as such 'helps' sufficiently. Of course, her spells really are quite effective and give the perfect excuse to not actually do anything like 'pick up heavy things' or 'get stabbed'.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    The air SCREAMS. Eerie crack noises and ripples scatter dirt and debris and probably chunks of Giant Eel.

    Oddly, the noises happen AFTER the scattering dirt, but just infinitesimally delayed. Such is what happens when HYPERSONIC METAL SLUGS pelt the ground, strafing the remaining monsters.

    The Cognizant Odyssey's still high overhead, although starting to settle in towards circling the village and scanning for anything too amiss.

    As it passes overhead, Rory White's usual body teleports down in a beam of light near Staren and the others. Only now can she show much expression.

    Sorrow mixed with rage. "So much pointless carnage... am I too late?"

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
Wuyin watches for more of the things. He doesn't think he can repeat that so quickly, so he doesn't. He points at a spot on the ground, drawing anima from the earth and from within himself, a honey-colored glow surrounding his extended hand. He clenches it into a fist, turns it over, and then makes an upwards-sweeping gesture with two extended fingers. He needs something more long-lasting.

A spike of ice rises out of the ground. On top of it, a crystal-clear globe forms, glittering wherever the light hits it. It rises off the spike and floats a couple inches above it, wobbling up and down... and, every few seconds, it touches the tip of the spike, releasing another wave of cold to keep any more of the thing's young off of them, should they be lurking nearby.

"The swordsmith," Wuyin remarks to Staren, "from the top of the mountain. I believe that she," he inclines his head to Yukihana, "is his successor. He fell in the fighting."

Wuyin winces. He touches his bloodied side, reaching into a pocket somewhere and withdrawing something small, square and dark. Without further preamble, Wuyin eats the brownie from earlier, finding it to be perhaps the best part of a Freelance Space Enthusiast's dinner /and/ an effective medical kit. For him, anyway.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa does what she can to comfort Yukihana but there's still the raiders and the horrible eel things to worry about. She can not fault her for being broken up about this she lost what seems to be her father or something much like her. She lowers her weapon as things wind down she holsters her weapon and now heads over to Yukihana and looks at her ofr a moment.

"I'd lkike to know who that mand was as well. He was a brave man a very brave man."

<<I'm afraid you might be too late Rory...still do what you can.>>

She lets out a deep breath and looks about.

She now looks Wuyin for a moment as he gives some details and she nods looking sad.

"It's a comfort to see your still alive Wuyin, we need to keep in better touch."

She does want to catch up she looks at his wounds cringing.

"Captain Flint, it was good to have your back up on this, we're fortuante to have you along for this."

She now turns her attention to Yukihana and takes one step towards her.

"I'm sorry for your loss..."

Staren has posed:
    Staren blinks at Wuyin. Wondering what he's doing here... but is there any point in asking? "Ah." He looks to the young kitsune. "...I'm sorry for your loss." What more is there to say?

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis holsters her pistols when the eel thing stops moving, and she frowns for a second. "Hold on a tick, let's check for a pulse." She reaches inside her matter manipulator, before pulling out a double-barreled shotgun sawed down to handcannon size. Loading double-ought buck, she braces it to the head of the monster.

    ...and that's it. No point wasting buckshot on a carcass, it should've woken up by now anyways. "No pulse."

    With that out of the way, she approaches Yukihana just as Kotone does the same, and drops to a knee.

    Her deathmask of a helmet opens and unfolds to reveal Alexis' crimson hair and golden eyes, as well as a stoic but not unsympathetic. The poor girl lost her father, Alexis oughta say /something./

    She rests a hand on Yukihana's shoulder, gently nudging her for a moment. "I'm sorry about your da, kid. And the rest of the dead." She says, and that's that. All that's left is respectful silence for the fallen.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "I... am sorry, miss." Rory looks sadly upon Yukihana... but as if not realizing that this is kind of a weird thing to do while trying to show sympathy, idly slaps a Nanobandage on Wuyin Tsai's shoulder. The Little plum-sized glob has some really nice anesthetics and clotting agents. Because she has no idea there's any such thing as healing brownies, that's silly.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Heading into the hold WILL find a good supply of... 'treasure.' Okay, some of it is actual gold and such, but some is trade goods and the like. There are a few feeble slaves left, which are quickly put down(though not all are killed), and one cowering neogi left. One neogi isn't an issue for a full pirate crew!

    "We leaving anything, Cap'n?" one of the crewmen asks. The beholder replies, "Yarr. Methinks the strangers out there would be a bit angry if we took all the booty. Choose yer enemies wisely, eh?"

Yukihana Masamune (900) has posed:
    Handed a card, scarlet eyes squint at the text blearily, as the girl wipes her eyes on the bloodied sleeve of her kimono. The sniffing dies down, but she seems in no better condition than she was in a moment ago. But she manages to get her quaking to a minimum, tail giving a half-hearted swish behind her. Flint doesn't get a handshake he gets something else entirely.

    This is when the fox-girl sits herself properly, hands touching to the snowy ground in front of her heedless of the cold as her forehead then joins them in a very low and formal bow.

    "I... I thank you deeply for your kindness. I thank you all." There's a long pause before she rights herself. "I will bury him and then... I am not quite sure, admittedly. I do not think I wish to return to the mountain anymore, now."

    "I am Masamune. Yukihana."

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint waves a hand at Kotone vaguely in response to her comment, "Hardly a bother to show up." He shrugs a bit, "A little bit less Space than I'm used to in my missions, but I'll make due."

    He looks back to Yukihana as she bows to him, giving another awkward wave of his hand as he says, "Like it says on the card. Flint Danger Hawke. Freelance Space Enthusiast. I wish I had met you under better terms, lass, but it seems to be a rut of a situation, I'd say." He waits a few moments and then waves his hands at her in a fluster, "Stand up! Stand up! You don't bow at a Captain anyway. You salute. Like this." He snaps off a salute for her to demonstrate.

    "That's how you greet a Captain."

    He looks up at the sky again, still wondering where that coin went. It'll turn up. He sighs and runs his hand through that long blonde hair, "Try travellin'. See the world. 's what I did when I was your age. Signed on with a fine-" He realizes he's in mixed company and doesn't even miss a beat, "-salvage vessel and got to travellin'."

    "Consider it, lass."

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer will hmm as she looks over the treasure, picking over some bits of it. "Oh, you'd be surprised. I recognized a lot of the others who intervened. Some of them are more charitable sorts." She'll be taking her share in gold, given an absence of magical items, and won't even try to cheat. Mostly because she doesn't really want to have to fight off an entire pirate crew right this moment.

    Also, money's slightly superfluous. A truly unique item might get her attention more.

    "...You work in this area often?"

Blurr has posed:
    With the giant worm-thing down for the count and the rest of the armored bugs mostly in pieces, it seems the immediate threat to the area has ceased. Blurr scans the perimeter just in case though, to make sure none of them so much as twitched before he lets his guard down to consider the grieving humanoid who appears to be a cross between a human and some other Earth animal that kind of reminds him of Corona?

    Like the others, he also examines the man, and also finds he is definitely dead. Which must be why the girl is crying. "Er, sorry about that." he sighs. "I guess we've all been there before." The Autobot glances around at the others briefly. Well maybe they haven't, but he certainly has.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The worms are dealt with. The eel is killed. Biteblade has dealt with the Umber Hulk, and is wounded. Moonfin has mostly recovered from his wounds. Albert has finished his business. Seft, George, and Pavo are all knocked around and winded, but they'll be okay. Thankfully, it's Moonfin specifically who approaches Yukihana.

    "Child. You are uprooted; what kept you here was family. What kept your family here is not something that holds you. But you respect it, regardless, I believe. Child, the greatest honor you could do for your father is to live in the way he thought best, and to honor what cause he had to treat this place as his home."

    "I am a swordsmith, myself. Did he pass his craft to you? I am a member of the Starbound Flotilla. We have found many opportunities for such a craft to bring great profit. And we are purveyors of equipment that would arm the home that kept your family rooted, for whatever cause, against future assault." He bows in a mock-humble way. "If you can find a vessel upon which you might serve, your travels with us will be compensated through ensuring the defense of the home your father cared for. You need only find a vessel that will allow you to serve aboard, to accompany us. Do this, and follow, and you will ply such a trade far away from the source of your misery, while you still pay respect to the father you loved."

    "However, first, I ask you allow me to assist. A swordsmith deserves a gravesite of good craftsmanship. As a Hylotl missionary, I possess such skills. There will be no charge, nor favor demanded for it."

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    The gnome is still tugging on any sleeve she can find. "Can I see? Canicanicanicaniohthislooksinteresting-"

    The townspeople are slowly starting to come out from hiding and gather their own dead, by now, and eying all the travellers uncertainly.

    The man in rags grunts, rubbing at his wounds. He gives Flint a respectful nod. "Cap'n, eh?" Then... he reaches out and shows an absolute lack of respect by /ruffling/ Yukihana's head. "Sorry about your dad, but the man has a point. A girl like you, I think the Cap'n would take you in. If only to the next port, if you don't want to stay. He's done it before."

    The others don't get a smile or anything, just a nod. "That's one less Deathspider. The Neogi are a real plague, eh? That's... what those were, if'n you've never seen one before. Jack Patch, First Mate of the One-Eyed Jack."

Staren has posed:
    "Can you see /what/?" Staren asks the gnome, at a whisper.

    "Deathspider? Neogi? There's /more/ of them?" Staren holds his hand to his forehead and sighs.

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
Wuyin gives Rorya weird look when she slaps a bandage on his shoulder -- or, rather, a glob that is apparently a bandage. If she's got the sensory equipment for it, she could probably tell he's healing at an already-alarming rate. Maybe it /is/ the brownie. Did Flint put something in it? Like a Hi-Potion or something?

"What exactly is that," he asks her in a quiet aside, not wanting to interrupt the peple offering aid. All he's going to do is make her life more...

...interesting, let's say. They can do their thing in the meantime.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "A nanobandage! ... And it's not supposed to work THAT quickly." Rory notices, alarmed. Did she do something wrong by applying that? The blue-haired young woman seems confused by this development.

Yukihana Masamune (900) has posed:
    Being taught how to salute earns an almost bewildered look from the fox-girl. And she shakily attempts it. It's near perfect, up until Jack Patch gives her a good ruffling, earning a sharp yip of surprise and mild embarassment, vilpine ears splaying. But on to the most serious and grave of offers. "... It need not be complex. A stone mound. With his sword standing from it will do. But I accept." She answers Moonfin softly. "But once that is done, I wish to be away from this place, yes."

    That answer is to Jack.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa replies back to Flint.

"You'll be back between the stars soon enough, right?"

She looks to Moonfin as he makes his offer to help with the tomb she's going to offer to help but then she hears the name.

"I see Yukihana Masamune...."

She goes wide eyed for a moment, it's clear she knows the name. She wonders if it's connected to that Masamune? She does not know and dares not ask now she does seem to calm down and shakes her head a little bit. She then hears the warning there's more of the things that they fought she pauses for a moment lookng back to the others. She looks to ROry for a moment.

<<Wuyin does that, don't worry about it.>>

"I think there's no shortage of where you might be able to go...and if you need help with the gravesite I will help if it's needed."

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    The gnome points. "Your gun!" Starry-eyed, she looks up hopefully... and then the armored giant hamster noses her back. "Not now, Mister Scribbles, can't you see I'm doing SCIENCE?!"

    Jack shrugs, then winces. "Neogi. Guess this place is too far-off to know about them. Those things," he gestures at the spider-eels. "Everyone else is just slaves to them. They call them 'slave-meat' if that gives you an idea. Everyone hates them, even the mind flayers."

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    A blip of a dimension door brings someone else to the scene. "Arr, what be ye doing here, jim lad?" Yes, he really talks like that. 'He' being the large, floating orb with the eyepatch on the central eye, and the ten eyestalks looking over everyone else. "We should be going, before the navy starts looking this way."

    Several eyes turn to the gathered group. "Captain Nobeard remembers his debts and is fair, let it not be said. My boys have left a bit of the booty in the Deathspider, if you're quick enough to grab it first."

Staren has posed:
    Staren looks from the gnome to Jack, and back to the gnome. "...It's an Argonaut design anyway. Since you're using them to fight... /those/ things..." Staren reaches into his bag and pulls out the missile launcher. It weighs something like 35 pounds loaded. He hands it to the gnome. "The missiles are proprietary, my own design, but I'll sell them to you at a good price, and give you designs for free ones." He looks at Rory. "It's what they'd want, right?" When he sees the gnome struggling with the heavy weapon, he pulls his micromissile pistol and offers that. "Here. Four shots. Looks like two or three should kill one of those bug things." And then he reaches in to his bag and hands over a tablet computer full of seeker weaponry designs. Its battery should last about 500 hours, or until the gnome takes it apart, whichever comes first. "Good luck. Contact me, or any of us, if you get a lead on more of these slavers for us to hunt down."

    And then: Beholder! Staren doesn't know what one is. He nods, and repeats the offer of help against the Neogi.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer will look away again at the dimension door, but she'll reach into her bag, tossing over a book. It's one of hers, naturally, describing vaguely some events in the multiverse, but most relevantly it's signed with all her contact information. "I know some people willing to pay for good work. Let me know some time if you're interested. Thanks for the gold."

    With that, and still vaguely freaked out, she's going to open her own portal out; someone could follow behind her for a solid twenty or thirty seconds after, if for some reason they wanted to.

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
"Ah." He stares at it for a moment, and then looks up at Rory again. Wuyin's expression is difficult to read at the very least from behind the 3D glasses. "I'm immortal, or as near to it as I'm aware. Thank you for the thought, though. I'll be fine." He looks to Yukihana, and bows low. "I am sorry we could not save him. I will be in touch once you have had time to grieve. Perhaps you possess the skill to make me something I can use, but discussing it now..." He shrugs.

Wuyin starts to seperate from the gathering of people. Too many for his tastes. He pulls off his buff coat and draws a black garment from a pocket too small for it and starts to put it on. He's looking towards the horizon with a vague sort of frown, and checking his phone while he does it. Maybe he'll go somewhere else.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    To the man in rags, Flint nods his head, "Cap'n Flint Hawke, of the Black Sun freelance vessel," He notes as he keeps his hands in the pockets of his billowing coat. He watches the man as he makes his own offer to Yuki. Probably better for that particular vessel, considering he's not sure what use he'd have for a swordsmith on his own ship, otherwise he would have offered to take her himself.

    Flint lets Yuki make her decision at that point, giving Kotone something of a deferential sort of hand gesture as he says, "Eventually. I'm only here because I wanted to test something else and this happened to be close enough. I can do that... oh what is the term..." He snaps his fingers a few time, "Unshift to get back to my ship whenever I want, so there's no harm comin' out this far and they're not stupid enough to mutiny any more."

    Flint cocks an eye and looks appraisingly at the flying sphere with an eyepatch that comes through a portal soon after, "Ahoy," He notes vaguely sizing up the other being and trying to figure it out, "Treasure's no concern for me today. Pays in its own right to help the Flotilla out where I can." He notes with a faint twittering of his fingers towards the sphere, "Never know when a good deed done turns into a good deed returned, or whatever the good type of person might say about all that."

    He grins, "I just like people owin' me favors more'n owin' me treasure."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Oh, aye? DAMN!" Pavo shouts! She's off like a shot. Time for loot.
"Concerned. I hope no living enemies were left in there too..."
"Will be fine! Eye friend isss good captain probably."
Moonfin sheathes his sword dramatically. "Your assistance was invaluable, and it would appear we have some overlap in our purposes. Remain in contact with us, Nobeard." He snaps dramatically, summoning a small radio device -- an earpiece, unfortunately -- from his Matter Manipulator that he hands off to Jack Patch because Nobeard doesn't seem to have any relevant parts to mount the earpie<span style="color:e...?

"cxterm50">Also, please have this, because your appearance is unacceptable.</span>" Another snap. Simple hylotl robes for Jack. Needs something better than rags, Jack! Something with pockets that aren't ripped forever.
George is also here for some reason. "Wow, even for an alien you're really weird. Hey, Pavo's been salty that she's the only pirate-themed member we got that's actually straight-up about really being a pirate, come hang out sometime." Then he's turning to Yukihana. "Hey, kid, we'll let you have your space after Moony does his grave jam, alright? But we'll make good on that, you know. You do some work and we'll keep this place protected. You decide if that's an important thing to you or not, though, not dad."

Seft has also managed to drag her dented body on over here. Her eye-visor turns to u_u and she emits a soft beep before speaking. "Kind. I have no interest in profits. If you require assistance within my reasonable abilities, of any kind, please ask it. Your father died as a hero and you do not deserve to have to bury him. But I respect your choice in doing so. Whether or not you decide to leave through the route of space, I'll be happy to provide you with anything you need."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    BEHOLDER

    Alexis is about to pull a martian space marine and aim that shotgun right at the eyepatch wearing floating..eyeball thing, before better judgement has her holstering the weapon and just kinda inching away awkwardly instead. She nods to Yukihana, "Keep the money, I'll find something amid the wreckage before I go." She says, forcing a smile before she begins to head on over to rumage for LOOT.

    Shiny bits, trade goods, gold, Alexis portals it all back to the ship once she gets a good pile going. It's just enough to satisfy her for today, and she leaves enough for the other pirates before nabbing a musket or two, a blunderbuss, a pair of cutlasses, and so forth.

    Before she does portal out, she produces a rugged but servicable radio device able to be used while clipped to a belt, complete with earpiece. "Here, you might need this. It's a communications device, you'll need it soon." She says, handing it to the girl before she begins to rattle off how to operate it as carefully and clearly as she can.

Nobeard (896) has posed:
    Jack blinks as he's given a new outfit! "Oh, man, thanks! The ship's tailor Liefeld is going to be so jealous!" Pockets. Awesome.

    The gnome, Merinella, squeals as she's handed a ton of stuff. "Great! Thankyousomuchyou'rethebest! Let me put this in a safe place! MISTER SCRIBBLES!" She calls out the name and the hamster lowers his head. Immediately, the little gnome shoves everything she was handed into the hamster's mouth, where its cheek pouches bulge from holding it.

    Nobeard chuckles, "Really? That sounds like quite the interesting business transaction. We'll be in touch." Hey, what happened to his pirate speak?!

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "huh?" Rory's startled out of some of her own thoughts, her little blurt coming out shrill and unfocused. She narrows her gaze at Staren. A few seconds later... "Um... are you sure they'll know how to use those responsibly?" She's clearly been stressed to near the limit by this experience.

    So much blood. So much carnage. So much death and ruin and needless loss of lives that cannot be restored, cannot be replaced.

    It weighs on her, even though she's quite bad at expressing her feelings.

    Oh... well...

    "Rory White of the Argonauts, caretaker of the Cognizant Odyssey." Odd to identify herself as its caretaker and not captain, but again: oh well.

    "Masamune Yukihana, you are welcome aboard at any time. For now though, I'm going to help with recovery and repairs. This... should NOT have happened."

Yukihana Masamune (900) has posed:
    And then there's Nobeard. Vulpine ears prick right up when the dimension door ports the Beholder captain over. And the kitsune's scarlet eyes blink slowly at the sight of him. Before she's inundated. There's that bow again, this time to the Flotilla crew, nodding in assent to their collective offer. But then she sits up, rubbing her eyes, looking even more worn than she had a moment ago. "Ah... Yes you came looking for my father." She is reminded by Wuyin. Before Maaka teaches her the arcane art of How to Radio. "... And now it seems you have a means to even reach me. "He taught me what little I know. If you still truly desire Masamune steel."

    That said... This is about when she keels over, face down in the snow, over Jack Patch's feet.

Staren has posed:
    Staren blinks at Rory. "There's a manual on the tablet." he looks from Rory, to Marinella. /Oh/. He does feel slightly sheepish. "Don't point them at anything you don't want dead. Even if it's empty. Never assume it's empty. Don't put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to fire." That might not quite be what Rory meant.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint grins at the man, "Sounds dandy. We'll talk some time soon. Here's my card if you ever want to look me up and you're in a jam with coin to spend," He holds out another card towards Nobeard:

Flint Reliable Hawke
Aggressive Venture Capitalist
Contact Frequency: 357.43.66.cEwQ241
"Forceful Economics!"

    He pauses, "Wrong card, sorry."

    He then holds out another copy of the card he gave Yuki earlier:

Flint Danger Hawke
Freelance Space Enthusiast
Contact Frequency: 357.43.66.cEwQ241
"It's legitimate!"

    Whether the card gets taken or not, an odd effect happens a few moments later as he snaps off a salute, "Catch you another time, Cap'n."

    There's a faint black shimmer around him and he seems to abruptly get pulled out of reality due to Unshift.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa stares te the Beholder she's not sure what it is but he? It? Seems to not be hostil and did have their crew pitch in to help stop this madness. So what's she going to say though the eye stalks unsettle her a little bit.

"I'm going to help where I can with clean up and anyone who might need help."

sShe catchews what FLint has to say, and gets he needs to get going.

"I'm not caring about money today, not when fighting things like that."

<<Rory I'll do what I can to help with this clean up>>.

"Nobeard my thanks to you and your crew as well for your help here and I'm Kotone Yamakawa."