Scene #5534: Skandalia: The Survivors

Owner	Pose
Septette Arcubielle	It's been one week since the Meregho Saeno was slain and the fog around the island of Skandalia was dispersed. As soon as confirmation went out, a dozen ships descended on the area like a flock of seagulls on a bagel. Some ships came to dredge up all the surviving valuables that had sunk to the seafloor after the Meregho's depredations, passing a cut along to the Elites who participated. Days later, others came to make sense of the island that hadn't appeared on any of their maps- and the last accurate maps of this area were only a century and a half old. 'Chernozem', Ren's second invitation called the place. 'Black earth'. It wouldn't take the Elites long to find out why. The Ariadne's Threads they're mailed whisk them away when activated, and warp them to Chernozem's coast. Several boats are already cast up on the shore, with sailors and guards helping shipwreck survivors in sun-bleached clothes into rowboats to carry them back to their ships. The survivors still look dazed and bewildered by their sudden rescue, though hardly unhappy. The most striking thing about the island, however, is its coarse black sand. It remains black even out to the waves, with not a trace of the customary yellow; even further towards the island's interior, where wooden cabins are visible through dense green foliage and trees, it only yields to a dark grayish soil interspersed with black rocks. Once the Elites are all arrived, Ren steps out from the underbrush of the island's interior, looking as severe as in the video- if a bit less awkward in her demeanor. She hails the group with a wave before approaching to speaking distance, with a shorter figure wrapped in a dark robe following at her heels. At a distance, it looks as if her companion is some flame-haired lost child... but as they get closer, it gradually becomes apparent that Ren is over six feet tall, and her partner only slightly underbuilt for an adult.
Septette Arcubielle	"Forty-three shipwreck survivors from three different wrecks," Ren says without preamble, "and five children born on the island. Twenty-one have chosen to leave, and twenty-seven to stay. Without you, they would not have had that choice. Thank you." It's clear that she's attempting to open on a positive note. There's a hint of worry in her stern demeanor, rather than the cheerful warmth that one might expect on such an occasion. Ren's taciturn partner broadcasts it much more clearly. Her eyes are open wide as she looks over the party, and ringed with dark bags; her motions carry the gentle tremor of prolonged stress and anticipation. It's clear that there's something she wants to get out- even subtly tugging on Ren's sleeve for approval.
Kutsuuko Shiratori	The threads again. Ugh. Kutsuuko had been looking at the thing in the mail with no small amount of trepidation all day, vaguely dreading the time and date to use it. Of course, in the end, she does. A feeling of responsibility and self-criticism at her childish aversion to teleportation wins out. She is rewarded with a much less dramatic, and immediately hostile situation to be dumped in. In fact, after reacquainting herself with up and down, there's the heartwarming sight of people being rescued. That does a lot to improve her mood. Save one thing. "Didn't you say this island was lost a century and a half ago? How recent are these wrecks? I can imagine one wound up hitting an island they didn't know existed by accident, but three of them all in the same generation? I'd have expected these to be the survivor's great great grandkids or something."
Kung Jin	Once more, Jin uses the Ariadne's Thread to get to the location in question, and then sent his coordinates to the Special Forces. Not only because they need to know his location for extrction if something happens, but because he can have assistance in relief efforts to come here if desired For now though, Kung Jin is with the group, and heads over to Ren when she calls the group to her location. Ren begins her explanation without preamble, so Jin does as well. "Good. Do you need any help getting the people off the island?" he offers. "Maybe some supplies for the people shipwrecked? It'll take some time, since they won't be able to just teleport here." Jin turns his attention to the smaller figure tugging on Ren's sleeve, and nods politely in greeting. "What's the matter?" he asks. "I'm assuming something terrible was discovered?" Pessimist or realist? Only time will tell.
Kyoko Takada	It's easier this time, but the whole teleportation thing is still kind of unnerving, if for what are likely entirely different reasons for Alpha-39 than for Kutsuuko. She gets over it before having to show her face to anyone, and uses the item. Missing her rifle, a couple sets of pouches, and possibly some of her knives, A-39 looks relatively light-weight, and more common-soldier, if you ignore the age thing and the ever-present mask, presently hanging by its straps. This /was/ supposed to be an easier time than fighting that monster, right? In fact... "I'm here for the salvage cut, but it sounded like you've something else that came up, is that right?"
Starbound Flotilla	"So they've just been living out here? Chilling?" "Would you have any other option? What else would they do?" "Mh. For George, wreck a second time trying to get out." "Aye, 'tis true he would, but ye have not an obligation t'say it." "Relieved. As long as they are able to return to civilization..." "Nahhh! Why go back? Perfect good island isss here! Sssmart will ssstay." No big shows of armor today, the Flotilla arrive without that gear, meet up with Ren, and chatter among themselves. "Gotta admit," George says, shuffling around and kicking at the strange sand. "Biggest thing I gotta know is how this island actually got /here/. Is this an island that was moved from somewhere else, or did it just form, or...?" "Thoughtful. Possibly volcanic in nature? The blackened nature of much of this could suggest as much. But for a viable ecosystem to emerge on this island..." Seft emits a soft, intimidated beep-sequence. "Worried. Perhaps Etria's flora and fauna are yet more resilient than expected. I should perform a scan." And she does, attempting to collect samples to examine them for origins. "I've more worries of the nature of those mutations. Even Etria's harsh and powerful ecosystem seems bent in ways quite wrong. We should look for signs and then of sources of such creatures." Moonfin says, putting a hand to his chin thoughtfully and studying up and down the beach, hoping Seft's scanner will catch something like what he's looking for.
Staren	Now that there's no storm blocking access, Staren's parked his ship in orbit high above. He has no idea what will be called for today. Will he need a giant robot? A suit of environmentally sealed armor? A bunch of scientific equipment? A team of robots to move salvage? Now whatever he needs he can get in minutes. He beams down near the commotion, manifesting wings and flitting around till he spies the gathering of elites. For once he doesn't have armor on. Staren doesn't need a calculator in his head to do that math. That's not a large enough population for long-term genetic health. He doesn't comment on that, though. "Glad we could help. So... what did you call us about?" As for questions about the island, he's come to the same conclusion as Seft, nodding when she gives her explanation. He recognizes the black sand -- he had an... 'aunt' that lived on a volcanic island before unification -- and it explains why it wasn't on any maps. "Perhaps we should talk to a local botanist and zoologist, about whether it's unusual for an ecosystem to be established so quickly."
Septette Arcubielle	"It does seem strange, though they weren't all in the same generation," Ren replies guardedly, after acknowledging Kutsuuko with a polite nod. "The currents in this area seem to have changed from what historical records indicate. Hard to say if that's a result of the island appearing. The newest two wrecks are a couple of decades old; the oldest, we have yet to locate records of. And it's that wreck we're most concerned about." Before she can elaborate, Jin catches her attention. She nods to him, in turn, before answering: "We have the transportation well underway, but supplies could be quite useful- clothing and medicine, especially; they seem to have adequate food for the time being. In the long term, Skandalia's cleansing will open up new trade routes through this area, which should keep the island supplied with amenities. But it will be months before the first merchant vessels pass through here again." Apricot and Staren's questions snap the steely warrior back to her original line of thought. "Right, yes. The first wreck... we believe it holds potentially valuable materials from the Abyssal War. Relics from that time are rarely functional- never really intended to last- and even less so when submerged in seawater for a century and a half. But the raw materials alone would be quite the windfall." She tenses up slightly, her poise faltering for a moment. "But many of the salvagers... refuse to help investigate it. For, perhaps, good reason. Even the fish seem not to want us to examine it. Too dangerous for divers. Too delicate for cranes. And we've found other things on the island, as well..." The fish? That might be an answer to Moonfin's question. Seft's investigations confirm Staren's suspicions, as well: the island seems to have been formed through volcanic activity, when an undersea cone breached the surface. But by most ecological models, there shouldn't be any trees at all on an island less than two centuries old- much less a thriving forest. After a moment of hesitation, the red-haired girl steps out of Ren's shadow and fixes her wide yellow eyes on Jin's face. "You should follow me, I think," she says, then turns on her heel and walks off into the forest. Ren shoots her an enigmatic look, the sort of coded expression that old friends sometimes share, but doesn't stand in her way.
Kung Jin	Jin nods to Ren's words of what might be needed. "Understood," he agrees, and gets back on the radio to the Special Forces, in order to make it so. He relays this -- food seems fine, just clothing and medicine. Abyssal wreck, huh? Jin frowns a bit. "Well, given what I've heard about this world, most of the plants and animals here seem remarkably offended by the existence of humanoid beings, so..." He trails off, letting that speak for itself. Basically, anything that tries to kill him is pretty much going to be explained like this. Ren's partner suddenly walking off gets a blink. "Huh?" He shoots a questioning look at Ren, but then follows after the cloaked person. "Hey wait! It might be dangerous!" he calls, jogging to catch up.
Staren	"Sure thing, how much clothing and what medicines do you need?" He can order his ship to start making the clothes right now! Medicine might be slightly trickier, but it's not like if it comes to it he can't get something through the Concord. Eyebrows go up when she mentions relics from the Abyssal War. He hasn't really had the chance to examine any, aside from Septette herself and what was left of that one giant robot. "Really? They weren't intended to last? Not the impression I get from Septette... The fish don't want you to? That's interesting... so whatever it is can control animals?"
Kyoko Takada	Given that she's not equipped for fishing, Alpha-39 thinks she was right in her assumption that there wasn't going to be any shooting on her part, today. "Okay," she says in a casual drawl that clashes with her appearance in potentially novel ways, "there's more than a couple things wrong with all this on the timeline side of things. But I'm just going to focus on the ones that affect me, if it's all the same to you. Why's it too dangerous to go in the water, and do we have a warpgate for boats around here? Some idea of how much that salvage under the sea might be worth would be good to know, too." She gives an inquisitive look to the unnamed extra, but isn't about to get in Jin's way, either.
Starbound Flotilla	"Have trouble with fish? Want fish gone? Asssk for Floran to hunt? Floran kill? Pleassse?" Biteblade asks, approaching Ren and getting nearer and nearer with each question until she's practically leaning /onto/ Ren's larger form. It's actually kind of distressing. "Floran isss very good at hunt." She says, showing off every one of her teeth in a wide smile as if the teeth were proof of what she's saying. "Confirming. It is definitely a volcanic location, but this cannot be ecologically possible, the ability of this ecosystem to claim new territory is..." Seft says, finishing her scans, and widening her eyes. "Fascinated. It's beyond anything I've ever seen, at least, oh my goodness. Perhaps we can explore more underwater. We have some armor that is designed to survive depth and combat against aquatic enemies, maybe we can help with the obstruction like we did before?" "Life starts at the sea and returns to the sea. The creature we fought seemed to be spending time there. Perhaps we may yet find another nest, or at least the source of its aquatic changes. If the diving is not best, we have retrieval systems that may handle it more delicately than a simple crane." Moonfin says, eyes closed in contemplation, before nodding firmly. "Please take us to the site of the trouble. Any of the rest of you," She gestures to the others in the group. "If you require equipment to join us, in either retrieval or in explanation, it shall be provided." George notices Kung Jin heading out, and raises an eyebrow at Ren's partner. "Keep in touch, guy. Give us a shout about whatever you see, yeah? Not a lot of room for mysteries staying isolated from each other on an island as new and small as this, I'm betting."
Kutsuuko Shiratori	Kutsuuko just continues to look more and more confused and offput as the situation is explained, even without access to any of the data being gathered by the others. "I guess it'd be too convenient to hope that something like this has happened before, right? These guys look . . . alright. If they've lasted this long, I'm not immediately totally worried about what could happen in a couple more months; especially with that bird dead. I'm concerned about what 'however they got here in the first place' could have done to them." Not like she has much choice about following though. No questions are going to be answered by sitting around. "Wasn't she made by some kind of space alien tree?" Kutsuuko shrugs at Staren. "Usually, wartime equipment assumes a high rate of attrition and demands quick manufacture. More and more it sounds like there's some kind of 'trapped in amber' effect going on." Her guesses for the Flotilla are sort of half-assed though. Her expertise on things like 'trees' and 'fish' is next to zero. "Could have been seeds carried on the ships, maybe?"
Septette Arcubielle	"It's no surprise that they try to attack humans. Aggression is to be expected," Ren elaborates, one hand drifting to the pommel of her sword subconsciously in response to the topic. "What is unusual is how that aggression is applied. Strictly maintaining a perimeter. Not pursuing when trespassers break off. Sabotaging dredging attempts. Not just going after blood in the water. Some territorial creatures act like that, normally, but unless they've made a home in the boat itself... it seems unusual." The look on her face hints that she wanted to say 'unwholesome'. "There's a warpgate for boats about a dozen miles from here," she says to Apricot, her expression betraying a bit of curiosity at the soldier's appearance- as if only now, on closer inspection, she'd noticed the contrast between her age and demeanor and apparent profession. Still, it goes politely uncommented-upon. "Why do you ask? Is there a ship you were thinking about bringing in to help?" She looks surprised at the fact that Staren wants to know how much they need right now, as if she hadn't realized that the process might be that simple. "I- I don't know, off the top of my head. Simple things. First aid, antibiotics, anti-parasitic substances like quinine... haven't assessed them medically, yet, but tropical diseases seem possible. Thank you both, on their behalf," she adds to Jin and Staren both. It doesn't seem like she's the kind of person who smiles much, but for a moment, she almost does. "But as for your other question- it might be better to say that Yggdrasil's creations were neither proofed against or made vulnerable to the depredations of time, but that any longevity they had was strictly tied to their innate durability. Simple devices, intended to be regularly maintained, have rarely survived. Not every commodity needs to be bulletproof, and once something goes wrong, it's hard to fix." Then there's Biteblade- oh, no, Bitey. Ren's uncomfortably intense mien instantly sharpens to a razor edge of disapproval as the Floran hassles her, seeming to parse her playfulness as social aggression or a power play. One gloved hand plants itself directly over where Bitey's nose would be, and she gently but firmly ejects the overeager huntress from her personal space with a slow shove. "Fine," she says, composing herself before digging in her pack and throwing a piece of salmon-like meat in the Floran's general direction. "The largest fish we've seen out there is a Grey Wanderer. Go over there-" she waves her hand in the general direction of a spot down the beach, where a few salvagers are arguing and pointing at sheets of paper- "to the wreck, and see if you can't catch it. But it won't be happy." There's no sign of the ship itself there, save for a funny shape far below the waves a few hundred feet off the shore. Perhaps it was never fully beached.
Kyoko Takada	"Yeah," Alpha-39 says, glancing over to the sea a moment, then back to Ren, "and this might surprise you, but there's people who make a living out of pulling stuff out of the water. Most of them don't overlap with combat work, though in the case of that crew," and here she gestures to the Flotilla members, "I'd say it does. If the problem was just a lack of cranes, that's not hard to cover, if the salvage is worth a lot. But if the water's dangerous, that needs to be dealt with first." She shrugs. "I'm not an aquatic type. Too claustrophobic, too easy to get caught with no way out, and some of my equipment would flash-boil. But part of my cut of the salvage is down there, so I don't mind paying someone else to bring it to me. It's not like I'm losing anything that way, right?"
Septette Arcubielle	The flame-haired girl walks into the forest, and the forest swallows her whole. If she didn't periodically stop to make sure Jin and anyone else following could still see her, it'd be all too easy to lose someone in the deep underbrush here. The plant life is unpleasantly thick and vibrant, to the point that visibility is harshly limited and it begins to feel more like a wade than a stroll. The shadow-like woman's path through the forest, fortunately, is quite short- it's barely a hundred feet before they reach a clearing of sorts, still just barely in earshot of the conversations on the beach. The sun shines down through an unnatural hole in the canopy, and the grass and roots slowly die out as they approach the center of the clearing, as if some invisible toxin were leaching into the ashy soil. In the middle of the clearing is a flat-topped black rock, and on the rock is a sleeping person in shining gold-and-white armor. No, not sleeping- their back is arched toward the sky as if bent in agony, their arms and legs splayed out at uncomfortable angles. And not quite a person, either: there is no shining armor, but rather a metal exoskeleton with delicately gilded plates. In its hinges and cracks, one can clearly see the mechanical workings underneath. And yet the figure's eyes are closed peacefully, their face untarnished and unrotted despite the gaping circular hole through in their chest. "The people here claim not to know anything about her," the red-haired woman says in her gentle and quiet voice. "I believe them. But she didn't drag herself here. Not without even a core."
Kung Jin	Jin turns to look in George's direction. "Will do," he confirms, and then turns back to follow the girl. He jogs to catch up, trying to stay within line of sight of the girl, not wanting to lose track of her through the thick forest. When he comes to the clearing though, he pauses. Blinks. "Uh. What's this?" He does get nearer, noting the armor is an exoskeleton, and that there's a gaping hole in the being's chest. He looks at the one who led him here. "A core? Like a power core? Is she a robot of some kind?"
Kutsuuko Shiratori	An obvious stranger to dense, choking jungles, Kutsuuko is just starting to seriously consider getting out the God Arc and razing the place for a path (wrestling strongly with the idea that the survivors staying here might still need it for sustenance) when they reach the end of their walk. "Is that . . .?" she doesn't even finish. It's pretty obvious what she's going to ask. There can only really be one outcome. Instead, the God Eater crouches down and picks up a handful of tainted soil. "I think I heard about this. Magical contamination, right? Here, mana is supposed to be a pollutant or something. Does this happen when their cores break?" She gives the figure a casual glance through the thermal spectrum, but doesn't expect to see much before she approaches, looking for anything that would prevent her from carrying the corpse away. "I believe them too. I mean, she might have wound up here for any number of reasons like they did, especially if some of the crap washed up on this island goes back to the war. We can't just leave her here though." Kutsuuko glances to Kung Jin. "A yggdroid, I'm pretty sure. Same thing as the skelebot who sent the contract before, except /only/ missing the core instead of everything /but/. It's like their brain and their power source at the same time. I hope it wasn't just . . . removed or something. Like it's still lying around somewhere. The 'ground zero' here doesn't make that likely, though."
Starbound Flotilla	Biteblade sliiiiiides out of Ren's personal space like a statue. "Floran will make Grey Wanderer unhappy!" She calls out, clapping a button on her Matter Manipulator to summon her armor and drawing a pair of power daggers. "And then Floran will make Grey Wanderer tassstyyyyyyy!!" She sort of realizes that Ren wanted some personal space. But she also sort of has a lot of trouble caring! Meat people are so /weird/. She's going to hunt this in the most direct way possible: Running, screaming, into the waves, and stabbing anything that comes at her too quick. The others soon follow. The Flotilla sets up a strange sort of forward camp, one where the others can acquire a little suite of breathing equipment around the jaw area, and dive in, or firing off exploratory tethers down below the waves from fishing-like retrieval stations. Depending on what the others want, they ought to be able to approach this from any angle.
Staren	Staren nods, starting a fabrication job of a couple large boxes of clothing and making a note to look into the medication later. He also nods at the explanation of abyssal war creations' durability. That makes sense. Speaking of which, here's one of those now! "Maybe the bird moved her, because she was shiny. Maybe leftover enchantment, or programming in the motors and hydraulic systems, allows some movement after death. Like a chicken with its head cut off." He moves closer to inspect the hole. "The bigger mystery is, what could take out a yggdroid with such power and precision?" Which is why he's examining the hole for clues to what sort of tool or weapon could have made it.
Septette Arcubielle	The shadowy lady walks- glides, almost- around the stone altar, running her fingers around its edges. "Shiratori is correct," she remarks softly. "A robot from the Abyssal War- almost certainly from that shipwreck out there. They're not usually this intact. It's very, very rare for a core to break outright; normally, everything else gets destroyed outright first. I don't know what would happen if it did. But that's not what happened here, anyway." Once she's on the other side of the altar, she peers down over the body, seeming to somehow gain a foot or two of height in the process. Then she shrinks back down and shakes her head. "The core's just gone. Those things weigh easily a hundred pounds- it's not as if some animal could've carried it off. And as for the rest of it-" She shoves on the robot's side with all of her meager strength as a demonstration, and the yggdroid barely budges. "Weighs as much as an elephant. It's possible to move it, just... not easy. We don't have the manpower at the moment." Or do they? It still doesn't explain the lack of vegetation around the altar, but maybe that's just what happens when you have a magical artifact like this sitting in the same place for a century and a half. And if they could find the core, somehow...
Staren	"Do you need to move it?" Staren asks as he approaches it. "I could animate it, though that might be a bit creepy."
Kutsuuko Shiratori	Kutsuuko frowns deeply at the idea that the poor Yggdroid's core could still be around here. "You don't think some kind of monster could have taken it, do you? I've heard of what it's like for a yggdroid without a body. It's not pretty." To response of the lack of manpoweder, Kutsuuko slides her arms under the mechanical corpse, and then with a mild grunt, hauls it up in a princess carry. Her weapon weighs almost as much, and obviously she'd been augmented to the point of being able to use it adeptly. The yggdroid might be too heavy to wave around like a sword, but carrying it around shouldn't be too much of a problem (unless they wander into deep mud).
Kung Jin	Jin nods to Kutsuuko's observation. "Looks like it," he agrees. As for magical contaimination? "Wouldn't surprise me. Given how dead all the plantlife seems around this particular area? Yeah, I'd be willing to bet just that -- that her core was destroyed around here," he observes himself.
Septette Arcubielle	"Right," Ren says to Apricot as she follows the group down the beach, "and that would be worth it. The problem is that it's danger stopping them from bringing it up, but it's superstition stopping them from killing the fish. There are all sorts of peculiar beliefs that the people of Armoroad still have about these sorts of relics. Holdovers from when there really were things that could reach out and bite you just by your looking at them, or could kill you with their blood. If you can get rid of the fish, somehow, then I suppose that-" She's interrupted by Biteblade running into the waves SCREAMING, and visibly cringes in anticipatory horror. "Hey! No! That's not-" Whatever she was going to say, it's drowned out by an immediate unearthly shriek, followed by a shark-sized beast suddenly erupting from the waves at highway speeds, leaping towards Biteblade, and landing in the shallow surf with a thrashing movement. It looks like some kind of elongated, serpentine coelacanth, with dappled gray scales and fleshy jaws. Didn't Ren just give Biteblade the Grey Wanderer's favorite bait? It sure seems like it's worked. The steely warrior grasps the handle of her sword, but looks to A-39 and the other Starbounders expectantly. Despite appearing ready to intervene herself, it seems she'd rather see how they handle this on their own. Fortunately, the Grey Wanderer is quite literally a fish out of water, thanks to Biteblade's incredibly adept taunting-and-bait combo- certainly not as menacing as the Meregho was, especially in its current state.
Kyoko Takada	"Oh, yeah? Is it just superstition? Killing the fish won't put blood in the water that draws in bigger fish, whose blood attracts endlessly bigger fish, or anything like that, will it?" Alpha-39 asks, shooting Ren a curious look. She doesn't seem in a hurry to interfere with Biteblade's hunt, the fish having just beached itself, though she's not getting too close to it, all the same. Even relatively small fries can put in some surprising motions by slapping against boat hulls, and there's no telling how long a body that size could hold its breath. Firing automatic weaponry into a melee is always kind of a messy idea, anyway.
Septette Arcubielle	"Animate it? You mean, like a necromancer?" The flame-haired woman scrunches up her face slightly. "That does sound pretty unsettling. You can already do that just by pumping enough magical energy into it, in theory- the arcane machinery to run on that power's already there- but it'd take a huge amount. I mean, you're-" Her explanation is interrupted, of course, by Kutsuuko picking the robot up wholesale. "Woooow," she breathes softly, swooping around the altar to get a better look. "You're really strong! Stronger than Ren, maybe!" The 'maybe' is probably unnecessary, borne more of hero-worship than any realistic view of Ren's capabilities. But don't tell her that! Handling the yggdroid is harder than even its weight would indicate- it's fixed in a kind of rigor mortis, giving it a permanently ungainly shape, and its weight makes Kutsuuko's feet sink deeply into the volcanic soil with every step. Fortunately, the robed adventurer's able to guide them back out through the forest along better-used roads with more compact dirt, past driftwood cabins that have been constructed with surprising care and sturdiness. Maybe there's a carpenter somewhere among the survivors, or maybe necessity is just a superb teacher.
Starbound Flotilla	"Yeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!" Biteblade screams out, slammed down by the creature, seeming to be engaging its jaws in a grapple. While outer layers of her armor give way, and the powered enhancement systems spark and sputter from overloading, Biteblade's alternating between holding its jaws on her body and trying to stab it in the face repeatedly as much as possible, to prevent it from getting away. And she is holding the salmon in her own mouth as if to taunt it, biting down on it repeatedly. The other members of the Flotilla swarm around, darting in from the flanks, George, Albert, and Seft launching grappling hooks to secure it in the shallows with absolutely perfect coordination and firing with one-handed projectile weapons at the side, while Moonfin and Pavo leap in from above with melee, trying to drive weapons into the beast from above, stabbing towards its head with huge bounds, and trying to carve deep slashes along its neck and spine. Aside from Albert's tactical coordination yells, it's almost wordlessly coordinated. The Starbound Flotilla have no hesitation about displaying whatever Ren may want to see of their abilities and coordination.
Septette Arcubielle	"You seem pretty familiar with how worlds like this work," Ren answers, even as her eyes remain fixed on the fight in the surf. She starts to slowly unsheathe her katana, which glows a frosty blue along its blade- but then, seeing how well the Flotilla coordinates to bring down the Wanderer, shifts her judgement and puts it away again. "That's a sensible reaction for members of one species protecting itself. But this is a whole ecosystem. They can't tell between blood spilled by a human and blood spilled by a natural predator, and it wouldn't make sense to form a multi-species deathball every time something gets bitten by anything else." Speaking of which- other creatures, ranging from barracuda-like beasts to glowing starfish, have arrayed themselves a ways offshore. They're watching the struggle intently, but are somehow bound not to stray too far from the wreck, as if by some instinct or standing order. The Wanderer, for its part, fights about as wildly as one would expect a huge fish out of water could. Outside of its natural environment, the most it can do is try to constrict Biteblade's chest in its scaly coils, which her futuristic armor mitigates quite nicely. When the rest of the Flotilla opens fire, punching holes in its scaly hide with their energy blasters and drawing sprays of blue caustic blood, it lets out a terrible shriek and opens its jaws wide- wider than the joints of its skull ought to allow, until its mouth looks almost like a lamprey-like disc. White tendrils erupt from somewhere in its throat, trying to worm their way inside Biteblade's armor and rip it off! Fortunately, just then, the flame-haired sorceress strolls out of the woods with the rest of the party, close enough to the ongoing struggle to let them jump in if they wish! It doesn't seem like the Wanderer has a whole lot of fight left in it, but every bit helps.
Kutsuuko Shiratori	"No need for that." Kutsuuko huffs, hefting the incredibly awkward robo-corpse with its terrible center of balance. "Let's treat the- nngh- heavy bitch with a bit of dignity, okay?" She smiles a little bit at the praise. "Special vitamins." she manages to say, before losing her straight face and letting slip a mildly self-depreciating laugh. On the way back, now definitely appreciating the packed roads, Kutsuuko tunes into some concerning news on the radio, regarding how things are going with Biteblade and her crazy hunt. <<"Are you sure? Does it look infected? Or do you think it looks like the thing that could have given it to the Meregho Saeno? I knew it had to be some kind of contagion or parasite or /something/. It must have come from this island.">>
Kyoko Takada	"See, I come from another world where everything is trying to kill you. And weirdly cooperative about it. Maybe not what you'd call a functioning ecosystem. And that..." A-39 says, while toggling her firearm to single-shot and eyeing down iron sights, "looks an awful lot like..." Even without fully-automatic fire, being up close to her SMG going off is on the loud side, and waterfronts make for an excellent echo. She fires half a dozen carefully placed rounds at the tendril roots visible in the lamprey-beast's mouth. "...cooperation. Might be that we shouldn't think of this as a multi-species front, but a single colony protecting its territory.
Starbound Flotilla	"Aughh! Auuuuugh! Hasss mouth armsss! Hhhh!! Hurting Floran!!" "Code Blueblood! Starbound Four, move in, elemental!" "Determined. I've got it, Albert!" "It shall be held!" "Aye, hold fast, mateys!" "Better be dead instead of held /real fast/!" Biteblade is heavily damaged by the ruthless assault of those limbs. But after fighting one of those things, it seems, Albert's demanded the Flotilla come up with tactics specialized for it. Seft closes in hard while Moonfin and Pavo stab it more with intent to immobilize than to kill, and draws a pair of hand-axes that flicker with elemental energies. Leaping up, she descends and tries to embed them deep in the creature's flesh, and detonate them with heavy overloading of their internal power systems for a whole-body elemental blast, still drawing on that experience from Septette's gauntlet. Brutalize it with a thorough volley of resource-intensive self-destructive impacts! That's the plan. Hope it works soon, too, because Biteblade's losing armor fast, and fleshy, wooden snapping noises can be heard as the limbs tear at her. She's almost tempted to try biting into this thing and chowing down to activate her regeneration biochemistry, but such a feast is something they've long come to believe may be biohazardous to say the least.
Staren	Like a necromancer? "Kinda? I think of it more in terms of, I can animate a body the same as anything else, rather than use of some kind of necromantic power that only works on formerly living things." He gets a look at the hole. "Geeze. It's like the area around the core just /disintigrated/. Or something went through so fast it basically did. I doubt the core survived. If it were being cut out they'd probably only have cut one side of the armor." Staren comments. And then Kutsuuko just picks it up, the hell? That's certainly something. He's watching her, trying to figure out how that works, until they come back out onto the beach where biteblade is hunting a fish. From inside its mouth. Surely a Floran hunting strategy -- If inssside prey, it cannot essscape! -- or somesuch. Still... if Biteblade needs any help, he's happy to shoot the fish from far away with his laser pistol. Two barrels concentrate tremendous energy in two little pinpricks of monster flesh, or whatever else they hit, enough to create a small explosion as a tiny speck of matter goes from solid to plasma. While it's not on par with his missiles or laser rifle or the like, it still packs quite a punch -- on par with his micromissiles or half of the dual beam cannons on his armor, perhaps. Certainly not what someone from any but certain futuristic worlds would expect from a sidearm!
Septette Arcubielle	Ren doesn't seem the type to flinch, but she does grimace and slightly lean away from the SMG being fired, evidently unused to being around gunfire. It's undeniably effective, though. A-39's shots cluster tightly around its jaws and the base of its skull, severing the tendrils at the root and piercing its head even where they go slightly off-center to gruesome effect, noticeably slowing its thrashing. The Meregho Saeno certainly wasn't bulletproof, and the Wanderer isn't any tougher; it seems to be more 'mini' than 'boss'. Ren isn't doing much to interfere, but her companion doesn't seem to have gotten the memo: with a dramatic sweep of her hand and brief incantation, the sorceress points at the serpentine monster, causing it to abruptly lock up as if suddenly paralyzed. The paralysis lasts for a couple of seconds at most before the Wanderer shakes off the malediction, but it's enough time for Staren's sidearm to blow a pair of gaping holes in its flank and the Captains to descend on it with their elemental axes! Finally, the creature uncoils from around Biteblade and falls into the shallow water limply, still twitching and shuddering under residual neural spasms. Its blood leaches into the water, turning the surf pale blue and stinging any open wounds. There's barely enough of the creature left to analyze; Etrian creatures seem durable not through flat resistance to damage, but through anatomical decentralization and berserk perseverance. As such, the physical result of the party's attacks is more or less what one would expect from dumping that kind of aggregate firepower into a shark-sized fish. There is still enough to draw a few tentative conclusions, however. While the Wanderer is natively covered in fine gray scales, in patches the scales are darker and coarser. Its blood vessels are scarred, slowly corroded from the inside, and stringy white tendrils have spread throughout its body with no clear nexus or center. Off in the distance, the swarm of organized sea-life has dispersed- where to, it's hard to say. Perhaps with the death of their apparent leader, they've fled- or perhaps they'll regroup later.
Kyoko Takada	Alpha-39 sighs. "Maybe less explosions next time?" She didn't want to get in close, but it might be necessary. It doesn't matter how durable something is when you've chopped it clean in half, and you can always cut progressively smaller halves. But that'll have to be saved for another time, assuming the autopsy information is still important. Still not showing much in the way of tension, the child-soldier shrugs. "Let's work with the idea that those things are acting in concert. Wiping them out could anger another body of the same type elsewhere in the water. Fu... this is getting messy. Hey, space captains!" She calls out to whichever Starbounder is nearest. "I'll pay you part of my cut as a bounty on dredging it up, but I'm not going down there while it's underwater. Or, hey, here's an idea. You do construction and traps, right? We could build a dam around the wreck and lower the water inside. Either way works for me." A-39 toggles her safety back on, and gives the water her best "not dealing with this shit" expression, before moving back off from the beach.
Septette Arcubielle	Ren lets out a slow sigh, approximating worried relief, and absentmindedly rubs her ear with one hand. Seems like it's still ringing. Her other hand relaxes its grip on her curved sword. "Cooperation of a sort is normal," she says, watching the serpent fall with some evident approval. "Organization like that... is not. If it were, I suspect humans would no longer exist. However, it isn't completely unheard-of for colonies of lesser monsters to organize under a stronger one for survival, if only temporarily. I wonder... if they remain organized after the Saeno and Wanderer are gone..." She knits her brow, still seeming not-quite-at-ease with the creature's death. It's the soft-voiced sorceror who approaches the corpse first, her bright yellow eyes flitting from the creature's mangled flesh to Biteblade and back again. "As fascinating as this is, there's another body that I think you're entitled to look at. It is, after all, technically scrap." Her head jerks towards Kutsuuko and the yggdroid body. "If you're looking for materials... well, I don't think that anybody could object to you taking it apart."
Starbound Flotilla	Biteblade pops her head out of the mess of meat and death brightly. "Floran, greatessst hunter! Very ssstrong! Alssso! Floran hasss very broken arm! Tall missssion friend hasss more fish bait? Floran wantsss, need for regeneration biochem-treatment activator." She calls out, waving over at Ren. Needs meat! She's badly wounded. Seft and George get to work on extracting her, while Moonfin cleans his already-warping blade and heads toward the beach. "We shall do all we are able to recover the corpse. As for draining this area, that, too, may be within our abilities, but not on this day." He says, wiping his blade in elegant motions. "It shall take time, and some labor, and we must ensure the evacuation is completed first, so as not to interfere. But it shall be done if we are able." He says, to A-39, seeming to accept her request and her price. It's well within their abilities, at least, to reshape things in certain ways like that. "More pressing concerns. Pavo, loot." Albert speaks in terse terms, working on reeling the corpse in, however turned to gibs it may be. Pavo perks up, and heads for the robo-corpse! As she dashes over the beach, she looks FASCINATED by Kutsuuko's find. "Ahoy and avast, matey!" She calls out. "I'll have a look at what ye be haulin', if ye not mind!" She's got loot on the brain, but she has a hunch, a vague feeling, that there might be more here...? Let's see if the local monster hunter will let her get a good look.
Kyoko Takada	"Yeah, of course." Alpha-39 accepts terrain transformation not being a same-day affair. It'd be weirder if it was. She doesn't yet know just how weird the Flotilla's capabilities are. Her attention then turns to the yggdroid corpse. "Hey, isn't that..." ...like someone else they know? Yes, obviously. "Looks a lot like a person-corpse." She says this with distaste. "Robots aren't my thing."
Staren	"Maybe Septette could use it?" Staren comments, re: the yggdroid body. "I guess probably not, but there's a chance... are dead yggdroids usually this, well, whole?"
Septette Arcubielle	"I've never seen one this intact," the sorceress responds, folding her arms behind her back and marveling at it in the brighter light again. "Septette included. With only the core gone... but nobody knows where that could be. If the core were active, we could find it by its magical signature. But it probably just looks like any other gem."
Starbound Flotilla	"...Magical signature, ye say?" Pavo looks at the corpse. Then, she puts a feathered hand to her chin, reaches down to her Matter Manipulator, and pulls out... A gem! Purple, opaque, and the size of a softball, it looks like. She hoists it heavily, between two hands, and then sort of... Eyeballs how big it is compared to the missing core. Where did she even get this piece of treasure? "Hmmmmm..." She's hesitant to offer up her buried treasure so quickly as to try inserting it immediately, of course.
Kyoko Takada	Alpha-39 says to Staren, "Yeah, might be a use for it. I just don't like cutting up people for parts without a good, pressing reason. Even if they're dead." And then Pavo has... a thing? A-39 may not have seen her pocket that thing previously.
Septette Arcubielle	As Pavo holds up the gemstone so close to the fallen yggdroid, something funny happens in the water: the shoal of fish that had menacingly circled the sunken ship seems to regroup, only to retreat to a respectful distance, as if instinctively imbued with some mixture of aggression and panic. Perhaps they could use it to ward off the hyper-aggressive wildlife in their attempt at salvaging the ship? A funny change comes over the robot, as well. Some subtle, ill-defined glow comes over it, like the nagging visual sensation that separates a sleeping person from a corpse. Nothing happens- not just yet. Chernozem itself is like a jewel, a shard of the past trapped in amber. The amber is cracking.
Kutsuuko Shiratori	Kutsuuko, being the one holding the Yggdroid at the time, has to belay her commentary on the obvious correlation between the biological deterioration and parasitic 'blue blood' contamination of the now-dead monsters to ask the obvious question: "The hell is that? The hell did you /get/ that?" she asks Pavo. It makes holding the robot feel . . . weird. Even perceptibly, Kutsuuko's grip goes from the kind one might use for hauling furniture to carrying an unconscious person from a fire. "The hell are they /afraid/ of it too? Even if it has something to do with the core, hell even if it /were/ the core, wildlife doesn't normally run away from 'droids, right?" Kutsuuko shakes her head. "I wouldn't want to take this little lady to pieces so long as there's a chance she might still be 'alive' somewhere."