The day begins with the crisp smell of snow and frost on the air, the chill was mild but nevertheless it's a reminder of what's coming.

 The Mauritania is huge, a true ocean liner, by the standards of the day. It could transport 2165 passengers, over a thousand of those 3rd class passengers and around 500 of each 2nd and 1st class. An astonishing 802 crew served aboard the British vessel. It's literally the largest and fastest ship in the world right now, with 8 decks. The multi-level first-class dining saloon of straw oak was decorated in Francis I style and topped by a large dome skylight, and a large lavish smoking room and a quash court were just some of the accouterments that the ship offered it's passengers with the right accreditation. A new feature of the day was the Verandah Café on the boat deck, where passengers were served beverages in a weather-protected environment.
Link to The Maurentania

 It's an astounding site to see moored at the pier and lines of guests were already filing onboard by the time the team finds the rendezvous location to begin boarding. Penny gives  a ticket, passport and documents necessary for their journey. The gear is already aboard the vessel by this time and all that's left is their personal belongings and changes of clothes, toiletries, etc. Much would be available to them aboard the ship, as you notice that you've all received 2nd class tickets to avoid being exposed to the riff-raff or unsavory elements below decks. The accommodations include a large storeroom supposedly containing several cars, but in reality had been emptied for their own uses Penny says.

 With both heartfelt and professional adieus and godspeeds, the Maurentania soon enough set's sail for Paris...

 Each of you find your sleeping quarters, though small, quite comfortable. Each held a small bath and lavatory and dresser for your personal belongings for the 5 day journey ahead.

OOC: Feel free to talk amongst yourselves and utilize the storeroom for power useage, the smoking room to socialize with the crew and other passengers if you like. Get to know one another's characters a bit more as well. This is also your opportunity to do some power stunt practice, skeet shooting(aim practice), excercise, etc. I'll be posting updates as needed and I plan to close this thread by Thursday unless everyone decides to vote to press forward.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:17, Sat 05 Sept 2020.

Ms. Sanderson would go to the smoking room for a nice Cuban cigar.

Power stunts: I would like to try to work on True Sight as a power stunt for Sonar. Basically sound waves penetrate illusions and such.

While Asar has been on a ship before, in fact recently since he traveled to the great land of the United States of America, this ship was much bigger. There were also a lot of people on board and the crowds were not something he enjoyed. That he could see over everybody helped some, but he was constantly concerned with bumping into somebody and accidentally damaging them. Once they were aboard he was less skittish. The room as small, especially for him, and he wondered how Angok was fairing.

He wonders off to find heavy weights like anchor chain, a long straight metal bar, rope, a bench, a pulley wheel and some other items he can use for weight lifting. Once they have been moved to the 'work room' he goes and finds Angok and sees how he is doing.

Angok's trepidation with getting on board the ship had been overcome by the need to remain as inconspicuous as possible amongst the crowd of people clamoring to get aboard. To hide his appearance he'd worn a wide-brimmed hat and pulled the collar of his thick pea coat up to hide his facial features as much as possible. He hadn't really had a clue what the ticket, passport, and documents were beyond a cursory understanding of what Penny did, but he'd successfully made his way aboard by watching those in front of him and just handing the documents to the appropriate people and keeping his head low.

Asar would find Angok in his room, doing his best to ignore the strange swaying sensation by putting his things away in the dresser. At the knock on the door he opened it, surprised that anyone had come to see him. "Hello," he said in that deep, gravelly voice.

"Glad you decided to come along on this adventure. Just remember it is only 5 days and I will do my best to distract you, which is what I came over to talk to you about. We have the use of a somewhat empty cargo container and I thought it would be a good idea for us to get to know each others strengths. There are some basic weights and other things I plan on pulling together down there. Once you are done putting things away I would like to invite you to CC4, that is the container, for some light exercise and sparring."

He grins at Angok, showing no teeth, and it is obvious he enjoys looking somebody in the eyes at eye level without having to lean down or lower his chin to his chest.

"Who knows, maybe we can teach each other something."

Angok smiled, although his smile could be mistaken for a sneer given his facial features, as Asar spoke. He listened intently, doing his best to understand the huge man's intent, if not always the exact words he used. What he did understand was the man wanted to train, and perhaps fight with him. That seemed very acceptable and a good way to further take his mind off of the strangeness of this massive floating container.

With a nod, he turned back to look at his room, "I can go now."

Sil is easily found walking around the ship, just enjoying the air for the first hour.  Her hypersensitive sense of balance gave her some trouble at first, but gradually, she relaxed into the sway of the ship. She has not spent too much time out on the water, and this is a new experience for her.

Does Ms. Sanderson want to practice against a real illusionist?  Or perhaps Ace bumps into her?  If she does not run into anyone, she will eventually go to the cargo room to see if she can find or watch the others.

"Excellent."

The two of them make their way down into the C cargo hold to Row C and the 4th container there. It takes some effort to unlatch the containers opening, but once unlatched it is easy to open and close. The inside is empty except for a long metal bar, some anchor chain, a container of water, and a few towels from Asar's room.

Once inside he removes his clothing own to his waist and does a little bit of stretching. The muscular sinews under his olive skin ripple as he does so. He proceeds over to the bar and puts two of the lengths of anchor chain onto it. Gripping the bar he lifts it up with his legs, then his arms, and finally over his head. He lets it down somewhat gently and steps aside for Angok to try.


OOC: Each section of anchor chain weights about half a ton, so Asar just lifted a little over a ton with effort, but not much.

Angok and Asar:

 When you enter into the storeroom, Asar's lengths of heavy chain each clank solidly when they are moved around, though the clanking din of the engine below are certainly adequate cover for their exercises...

 Angok is easily able to lift six of the half ton chain links, and with some effort and time work up to ten tons worth at the cost of extreme effort. Asar takes up where Angok leaves off and manages to get the entire length of chain over his head, with a bit of sweat, unsteady movements and the distinct feeling that all this weight concentrated in one place is actually shifting the ship below him in the water.

OOC: Each of your respective strength ranks can be seen on this new sheet I made and then modified to be useful for us from the alternate ranks tables. The info is also available on page 5 of the Netbook Judges book in the shared google folder.

Link to Alternate power rank benchmarks

This message was last edited by the GM at 02:21, Thu 03 Sept 2020.

Hiram spends a Good 10 minutes after boarding the ship hidden away in his room, silently panicking as the sheer magnitude of what he's become a part of hits him.
He is unused to being around People that act like... Well, People, compared to the other homeless. And he's so unused to the creature comforts he now has access to in his cabin that it leaves him distinctly uncomfortable.
It is only after a while of rolling back and forth, wrestling with his thought, that he decides he has to center himself. Putting his thoughts to paper and getting starte on his journal of the trip would perhaps calm him. And he does have the option of getting a wide selection of real, quality food...

Thus motivated, he makes his way to the ships restaurant lounge and stocks up on a whole armful of Any food that can be easily Carries. He manages to ignore Any weird glances he no doubt gets from other passengers. He got over Any shame when it comes to procuring food long ago.

Thus stocked up on anything from glazed ham to bread, sausage and cheese, Hiram makes his way to the storeroom that miss Penny mentioned. It would be a much homier place for him, where he can hopefully relax.

All such thoughts fly the coop, however, when he walks into the room only to see it already occupied by Angok and Asar, the latter lugging around large pieces of metal and chain with the ease of some modern Goliath.

Hiram barely noticed his pen and journal falling to the ground, only subconsciously holding onto the food as he startes bug-Eyed and with mouth agape at the spectacle.

Nic would have marveled at the ship, and did just a little, but he'd been on a somewhat similar-but-lesser version before, at least a couple times, during his various forays in to more wild areas. Like his last journey, to Siberia.

Still, it was a very nice, and well-accommodated ship. And he took full advantage of what was offered. 2nd-class and a large storeroom, that was good. The quarters were more than what he was used to, and if he wanted to see the stars, he could outside for a bit.

He wasn't too difficult to find most of the time, as he didn't wander aimlessly and usually had ideas of what he would do each day, which included a morning exercise regimen, taking advantage of running water while they had it for cleaning, and eating three more-than-square meals a day.

He practiced in the storeroom with his aim using the light attacks he could use - less about aim in general, but more about getting more comfortable with the blasts from his eyes and hands. However, he also had an idea and began to try to not just control the light around in general, but more specifically to change the coloration and the light around him specifically, trying for a chameleon or invisibility effect.

Asar looks up anad gives Roach a smile.

"We are trying to ascertain something about our limits, well I am at least. I know that I can pick up 10 of these sets of chains without over straining myself in the least. Unfortunately there are few things that can be grasped and lifted that weight more than 10 tons that also happen to have convenient handholds. Want to try using some of your gifts?"

The guys seems awfully cheerful...

"10 tons..." Hiram says incredulously, before the rest of the sentence register. He swallows nervously, before stammering on.
"I, I'm not sure... I wouldn't know how my mimicry could be property testes with this... equipment. A-and My eating anything is, well... unbecoming. Especially since I just got proper food. And my... rage is not safe to test. No offense meant, but I cannot control it well. I might Hurt you, despite your Strength. I.... Couldn't bear doing that... again... " he says, his voice trailing of and he is unwilling to look Them in the eye.

"Understood, understood about the other two. However, the mimicry, if you can summon it at will and don't need to be near an actual animal, should allow you to gain some of the animals traits? Could you not mimic bear, elephant, or some other much stronger animal and see what you can do? I am not insisting, just attempting to help us learn our limits so that we can trust each other when 'fecal matter hits the rotary impeller'."

He gets out of Angoks way and motions for him to try it.

"Well, I could try... I've never really attempted to mimic something as abstract as an animal's strength before. I'm not sure if it'll work, since I don't know how their muscles work together. Though, I suppose I did succeed in gaining better eyesight by imagining having the eyes of an eagle before..." Hiram says thoughtfully, scratching his chin.
He then closes his eyes, his face scruching up in concentration as he imagines having the strength of... an elephant. He'd seen one of those in a circus as a child once, and it is one of the animals he still remembers vividly, what with it's sheer size and odd appearance.

OOC: Hiram tries to mimic the physical strength of an elephant.
Mimicking a normal animal is a Typical intensity FEAT, so with my (Incredible) Mimicry, I need to roll 36 or above.

17:34, Today: Roach rolled 57 using 1d100.  Animal mimicry - elephant strength.

Angok nodded to Asar when the big man motioned to him. He'd never seen another person that strong, and was quite impressed by the man. He wondered if that was normal, or at least possible for a normal human, or if the man's strength was somehow modified by the Tunguska event, much as Dr. Short said others had been.

He stepped up to the chains, initially just picking up one link to get a feel for how heavy they were, and what sort of grip he could get. Quickly he worked up to six of the links, lifting the 3 tons of weight relatively easy. He set the chains down for a moment, turning to the new man that had entered and nodded in agreement with Asar, although he didn't know exactly what the animals were the man had mentioned. After taking a moment to catch his breath and rub his hands, he reaches down and grabs the chain, straining heavily and beginning to grunt as he lifts 10 tons up, before dropping the links. "I think that's about all I can lift, at least for now," he says as he steps aside, bending over to catch his breath.

Ace actually did bump into Sil, and it was on the way to the cargo room. “Oh, pardon me.” Art said as he took a step back and motioned for Sil to please proceed ahead of him. “I had heard some of the others were using the cargo room as a sort of temporary training grounds or makeshift experiment lab for their abilities. I thought I might pop in for a quick peek.”

Sil smiled at Art.  "I heard the same.  I go by Sylvia by the way, " she offered her hand.

"We should go watch, and when you have time, I have an idea I'd like to try with you." She looked around to ensure they were out of earshot of anyone.  "I was thinking about what you said about your range.  I might be able to extend it.  I didn't mention this earlier, but I'm a clairvoyant as well.  I can see quite far away, and... I have reason to believe I can share it with you if I concentrate.  Imagine if we could combine our abilities -- it might make the difference for our survival."

She instinctively liked Art - something about him seemed trustworthy.  Hopefully her instincts were not wrong -- sometimes they were lately, as people were a little puzzling to her outside of a textbook.

OOC: Typical intensity for you is automatic. ^_^ You can easily do this and the rank of your strength is equal to your rank in this case, an initial power stunt for you might be to duplicate more than one ability at a time or perhaps combine them somehow.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:07, Fri 04 Sept 2020.

Nic made his way towards the storeroom, looking for Ace specifically, but several of the others might have more insight or capability than he. He was frowning and half-lost in thought when he spied them ahead just about to enter the storeroom.

"Excuse me please! I need to speak with you. Both of you actually."

He jogged down the hallway to try and catch up to them.

With a sort of mental click and the sudden tensing of his muscles telling him that he's succesfully changed his body, Hiram opens his eyes and flexes his arms experimentally.
The part that makes his power hard to work with is that he feels no real difference unless it's an animal ability that makes drastic changes to his body. He doesn't really feel stronger, even though he knows that it worked.

Only one wayto find out, then. With somewhat nervous movements, Hiram moves over to a smaller one of Asar's homemade weights, and hefts it with both hands before taking a deep breath and lifting it. With ease, as it turns out. A few tons are heaved of the ground, and almost dropped as hiram finds it much lighter than he'd ever have dreamed.

He looks wide eyed from the weight in his arms to Asar and Angok, before licking his lips nervously and looking at the bigger weight they've both lugged around.
Putting the small one the ground carefully, he steps over to the 10 ton weight, warms his hands and hefts it.
And lifts it of the ground just like the other two did.
Holding it in front of him, with a bit of strain but still very much doable, Hiram looks at the others.

"Uhhm... So it seems I can make myself stronger. Fancy that." He says sheepishly, a slightly confused smile on his face, as the sheer ludicrousness of the situation has yet to set in fully.

Art heard Nic calling to them and turned around. “Hello. It seems that time is working well to place us all together.” Art smiled. “Your timing seems a bit urgent, however. I hope we haven’t encountered a serious problem already.”

Art spared a glance back to Sylvia, gauging her own reaction to the seriousness of the moment. It really was imperative that the group learned to communicate and act like a team, for the safety of all. Art’s encounter with the psychic creature still had him a bit rattled, but he tried not to show it.

Asar grins and loudly says, "Excellent!"

"You must learn of the Mongoose, the Rhinoceros, and the giant sea turtle. If only the great dragons were still alive to day that you could emulate them!"

He ponders for a few moments and says, "Something to think about, of Angok can shape shift into an animal, I wonder if you could emulate that animal that is Angok?"

Sil doesn't seem to be worried. (True, the ship staying afloat did, occasionally, give her some anxiety at night, but the theory of buoyancy was sound.  It was just her usual phobia of dark, enclosed spaces, aggravated by new surroundings.)

"What is it?" she asks, slightly curious.  "Did something happen?"

Ms. S entered the improvised training area, still smoking a cigar and still with her eyes closed. She stood with her back to the wall and observed silently, allowing their sounds to wash over her.

Nic gave a nod. "I was wandering around, getting a feel for the ship and the people. I felt like I was being watched, and when I got down not too far from here, I heard...I don't know, it sounded like a...boot scuffing on the floor or something. When I turned the corner, I saw...a fading red...glow? Like a hand print, with like...'writing' above it, saying 'Help Me'. But then they...'cooled', or faded or something."

He shook his head. "I can take you to it but I don't know that there's anything there now." He shrugged. "Maybe I'm going crazy." Which is probably something he should have considered before he told people he had 'seen' something.

Ms. S said, ”Odd, I felt nothing with my sonar. I suppose it could be something that used no sound?”

“A psychic imprint?” Art suggested. “A time distortion? An actual supernatural manifestation? Considering what we were shown earlier and told about this expedition, I wouldn’t be willing to rule out anything without investigation. Shall we go have a look?”
This message was lightly edited by the player at 21:01, Tue 08 Sept 2020.

"It sounds like there is a mystery here waiting for us to solve it. Lets be about it then."

He heads off with Luminary leading the way.

Ace stood holding the open door as Asar walked out. Peeking in at the others, Ace waved them all out. “Feel free to join us. It sounds like a great opportunity for a group exercise.”

Sil nodded and went along.  "It's possible there is a being who is trapped. We have an obligation to help. However, we need to keep our wits about us in case it is something else.  There are other worlds out there, and some hold monsters that would eat the human race for breakfast."

She kept close to Ace.

 The group moves to check out the corridor wall that Nic points to, and can see a smudgy black mark on the wall. It looks like it could've been a hand print from one of the coal porters though and doesn't look particularly meaningful now unfortunately. The place he explains where the words help were written seems to just have some paint missing from the wall. Not totally out of step with the rest of the hold's two year old paint job. It all looks a bit scuffed.
 Just as you begin to think Nic may have seen something you can't, you hear commotion from the decks further up. There is a buzz of voices and crewmen calling out to others.

****

 Those who move to the main deck see numerous watchers pointing at something out in the water, but it's late and most have begun to bed down for the evening. The crew though seems anxious and have sprung into motion, calling to the bridge crew.

 Out in the water you can see a hazy glowing ship, it looks ok but devoid of life and seems to be drifting currently. The ship says NEUSTRIA on the side of the hundred meter ship flying a french flag. It looks like a passenger ship or cargo vessel, perhaps a bit of both like the Mauretania, but smaller by a decent margin with a large hold and few upper decks and only a few flickering lights remain to show any sign of life at all.
 The Captain soon appears at the railing with binoculars and to bark orders to the ship deck, he obviously plans to send a boat to the other, as crewmen call out to anyone over on the other vessel. The Mauretania slows her pace and steers slightly to intercept...

OOC: For those who decide to join the main deck scene feel free to use any specific other powers right now, that you don't mind being seen using or otherwise feel insecure about in plain sight.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:19, Wed 09 Sept 2020.

Ms. S will focus on her sonar to discern whether a person is involved.

The boat comes within 30 meters of the vessel and tries to maintain that distance. You can all see the main deck now just above the sloshing waves.

The Captain finally begins to get preparations underway for his first mate and some of the sailors to head across. You all hear him remark in French that, "the Neustria has been missing for a month! We've got to see what happened to her crew!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:10, Thu 10 Sept 2020.

Angok had followed the group out of sheer curiosity, but quickly became bored staring at a wall that had apparently had some sort of message on it, but was no longer there. When he heard the commotion from above, he decided to go see what it was all about, watching the sailors as they set out to investigate this new ship.

Nic had no idea what had been behind the message and nothing had appeared since. No one else seemed to have a solid idea either, so the 'new ship' showing up grabbed his attention. He headed up to the deck to see what was what.

He shrugged and gave a nod. "Of course I'll go check it out." He looked at the others. "Anyone else want to come along?

Hiram had silently followed the others as they talked of weird messages and "presences".
He had no idea what to make of it, nor did he understand half of what they talked about, but he wasn't gonna pass up a chance to perhaps be of help.
Lord knows he still didn't feel like he was qualified for this expedition.

He raised his hand when Nic asked for volunteers to go on the other ship. "I'll go. Though I'm unsure I can be much help. None of my studies covered derelict ships."

Asar looks out at the other ship and then at Sil and Ms. Sanderson,

"If the others want to investigate the other ship, then perhaps we can investigate this missing person. There is evidence, at least that I can sense, that whomever wrote on the wall has some kinds of powers. I don't know what they are."

He offers to head back to the location where they were and see what they can find on the other side of the cargo container or bulkhead where the message was written.

“I will go with the scouting party.” Ace agreed. “Some of the crew will be investigating and it would be best if some of us were there to help protect them should things go awry.” Ace looked at each member of the group for confirmation of the choices. “We can join with the apparition investigation group after we have cleared the mystery ship to compare notes.”

 Ms.S nods to those who had joined her at the railing to watch the first mate and some of the crew assembling to make the crossing to the scuttled ship. "a note if you please, there are some strange sounds coming from that vessel. At least a few heartbeats...not all are human sounding but maybe some savage beasts."

 She folded her hands then as if in answer to Asar's unasked question as she hung her parasol on an arm, "if you'd only lead the way kind sir."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:23, Fri 11 Sept 2020.

 The darkening evening light finally fades out as the party splits two ways...

 Asar and Ms.S begin to make their way back to the holds for now.

 Meanwhile three brave souls move to join the away team to scout out the derelict ship. The First mate and two other seamen are now boarding one of the rafts. The Captain takes one look at the volunteering men and nods, he seems to know they are aboard even if they aren't very public about it, perhaps he was briefed by the Penny.

OOC: If anyone wants to change their minds, Angok or Sil so far have not chosen, so let me know which you choose or you alternatively may want to do something completely different. This is supposed to be at least part sandbox after all! ^_^

 The Mauretania team go back down side to take a look around again. When they reconvene in the storeroom there's a note on the ground, seemingly slipped under the doorway. It seemed they had some kind of benefactor aboard:

'The Mauretania is being shadowed. Seven miles abreast by a vessel of some size.'

 There was no signature nor any further wording to demark who it could've been.

 Additionally, the team seems to find the bulkhead where the Nic marked out his experience to be interestingly empty except for Asar's most divine senses. Otherwise the hall is dark and the lights flicker slightly with the sway of the waves.

(OOC:Anyone here can make an intuition roll again to see if you detect anything further)

****

 The Neustria begins to loom over head when the team begins their approach. It's around this time that the weather begins to take a turn for the worse, the light ocean spray becoming full on rain and with the winds picking up swiftly. In the distance a crack of thunder booms out.

 The First mate begins to speak to his men in French and turns to the three teammates onboard, "Le navire a l'air sain. Je suis sûr que le capitaine a dû le saborder pour une raison quelconque."

 Soon the group comes to the side of the vessel and begins to lash the dingy to the side. The ship is sturdy feeling and seemed none the worse for wear as they appraised it for damage or some other signs of abandonment. As they approach midship, the Neustria's bridge flashes and a barely audible roar is heard over the sounds of the ocean. From here it looks like a five deck ship, two above main and two below. The first mate climbs up and onto the main deck to lower the rope ladder to the others. "Donnez-moi votre main s'il vous plaît!"

(OOC:Anyone here can make an intuition roll again to see if you detect anything as well.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:16, Fri 11 Sept 2020.

While the others are looking around for more clues, Asar is over at the exact spot his team mate had pointed out. He touches the spot and then brings his hand to his mouth. The flesh around his eyes seem to tighten slightly as he concentrates. He turns to the others and says, "I am just not sure about this situation here, but if there is another ship shadowing us, perhaps it might be a good idea to be on deck to help our friends and keep watch?"

Hiram gratefully took the sailor's offered hand and let himself be pulled onto the ship.
"Merci" He said, happy that he could apparently dust of his somewhat rusty french.

Once aboard the Neustria, he looked around with interest, before turning to the sailors.
"Excusez-moi, mais avez-vous une idée de la raison pour laquelle quelqu'un ... saborderait ce navire, comme vous l'appeliez?"

he was nervous about the sound, the "roar" they heard when approaching the ship, but since the sailors seemed unperturbed, perhaps it was just some natural engine sound of the ship?

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
OOC:
Intuition check
14:07, Today: Roach rolled 31 using 1d100.  intuition.

French translation: (Just thrown through, google translate, as I don't actually speak french :P)
"Thanks"
"Excuse me, but do you have any idea why someone ... would scuttle this ship, as you called it?"

---

Neustria:

 Apparently the other sailors didn't hear the commotion from the bridge or see the flash because they each in turn look where the three of you look. The rain seems to be making it difficult for them to hear, as they are constantly asking "what?." They are normal you all end up reminding yourselves, after all.

 The main deck looks in order for the most part. There are even some magazines laid near the deck benches. There's something slick and slimy on the deck though and it makes it difficult to keep purchase in the rain. There are many doors to inner cabins, dining rooms and bulkheads leading down to the lower and upper decks and class sections. So far you distinguish a steerage below deck and a first class deck above. You guess the steam engine is located on the lowest deck and the bridge on the upper fore-deck. The sailors begin to call out to anyone onboard loudly and are almost completely oblivious to the next scene. Each takes a bulky hand torch and gives one to each of you and begin to fan out with orders from the First Mate who turns to answer Mr.Brull curtly and squinting away the rain from his eyes, "Pas moyen de savoir jusqu'à ce que nous puissions trouver le capitaine. Nous pouvons prendre les ponts supérieurs, vous trois pouvez prendre les ponts inférieurs, oui?"
[Translation: "No way to know until we can find the Captain. We can take the upper decks, you three can take the lower decks, yes?"]

OOC: This is for those who would be on deck and watching from the other vessel too.

 From the area around the bridge a slender shadow moves swiftly yet spidery, with four long limbs and diminutive head, but a stretched out muscular way of moving. It creeps around to the other side of the vessel facing away from the Mauretania just like an ant crawling across a leaf and lets out another screeching roar, much louder this time and for those on the Neustria, you can hear answering calls from down further below deck. This time as if in answer the sailor's blood runs cold, their flashlights jerkily scanning in the direction of the sound.

 One of the sailors asks in a low scared tone, "Que se passe-t-il?"

OOC: Everyone who is watching the main deck make an intuition check against Remarkable intensity. Describe how you're watching or investigating the scene on this deck.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:09, Sun 13 Sept 2020.

Having come back up onto the deck, having not gotten any more clues below, Asar's own footfalls and the sound of the rain muffle his perceptions just enough to keep him from noticing the roar and the creature. He is, however, thinking of a way to get across to the other side. Perhaps jumping would just be best.

Angok, still on the deck of the Mauritania, was vaguely watching what was going on Nuestria as he noticed Asar return to the deck. Turning, he nodded to the big man, "Find anything?"

"Nothing I hadn't seen before. Very mysterious, but I did get a message in the container."

He hands over the message that says the ship is being followed and the odd distance of 7 miles astern.

"Have they found anything? Do you think you could jump to the other ship?"

Nic glanced back at their ship, wondering if this was a mistake. Then rain started coming down and he reveled in the feel of it for a moment. But then he put that out of his mind. There were other things to focus on, more important things. Something felt...off. He couldn't explain it.

He didn't understand the French being spoken, so he ignored it. If it was important, he figured someone would translate for him. He turned to look towards where the roar had come from.  He ignored the crew from the ship. He ignored the rope ladder.

He hesitated a moment, frowning. His eyes slowly turned towards the stairs going down. He took a step towards them, moving slowly - to others it might look like he was moving cautiously and trying to keep his footing, but to him he felt like he was in a dream, uncontrollably heading towards something, one foot slowly after the other.

He waved off the hand torch someone tried to hand him, absently, not even really looking at it or the person. He didn't need light. That was the one thing he never needed again. He gestured at himself and began to glow, starting with his forehead and eyes. He didn't seem to care if he was seen doing so. His mind was...occupied some.

Then the second roar came, along with...something...moving. He glanced away from the stairs towards the sound once more. He was torn. He let out a sigh and yelled towards the crewmen, but oddly his voice had almost no emotion in it, "YOU SHOULD BE RUNNING NOW!"

He started moving to try and get a better look at the roaring thing, whatever it was, one hand half-raised as if in preparation for...something. His whole body was glowing now. There was an annoyed look on his face, though it was probably hard to see it.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:39, Mon 14 Sept 2020.

Angok shook his head, "I can't really see anything over there, but there is something...wrong over there, I just don't know what it is." He considered the big man's question for a moment, looking thoughtfully at the distance between the ships, "I think I might be able to jump over, or I could always turn into a bird and fly over, but then I would be a but underdressed," he added with a toothy grin.

He glanced down at the piece of paper in his hand, unable to decipher the strange scratching on it, "What does it say?" he asked as he handed it back to the big man.

Mauritania




Sil had followed Asar and Ms. S to the hold, watching warily as they investigated. Like them, she puzzled at the note's message.

A wash of sharp clarity hit her as they returned above deck, emerging into the rain. Her first thought was a sudden idea about the note. Perhaps it was coded. Perhaps not. She would have to try a few ciphers.

She wasn't paying attention to the other ship until Angok spoke. His voice shattered her absorption into the riddle. She could easily see further than a regular human; now she looked across the way.

Ace tried to get a handle on what was going on, but he was coming up nearly blank. He was probably trying to take on too many factors. So instead, he decided to focus on what he did know. First was the proximity of his companions.

“Something slinking around on all fours, almost spider like. It seems to be calling to more of its kind down below. The deck has a residue of slime that is like that of jellyfish, but there is the scent of burnt ozone. Whatever that may mean. Have your pistols ready. I am not sure if my force field can be used to cover others as well. With telekinesis, I can probably push or throw the creatures. That is provided that I am fast enough.”

Ace turned to Hiram. “What the hell are the French sailors saying?”


OOC :
19:39, Today: Agent Ace rolled 41 using 1d100+40.  Intuition check (+40 karma).
 

Asar tells those on the team that are near him, "I feel something...very old over there. Something that we must keep from getting into the wrong hands. It will have guardians and...they are probably what is left of the crew.

I can take two of you with me and jump, but the landing might be interesting. I could try and run us across the water, but it is choppy. Then again, we could just climb down into a boat and row over quickly. What do you think?"

NEUSTRIA:

 Option 1: There are several hatches leading to the lower decks. If it's like the Mauretania, it will lead to the steerage and then again lower to the cargo, coal, boilers and engines. You currently hear no engine sounds. Just the occasional screech. It's probably just bats...

Option 2: Head to one of the stairs going upwards towards the bridge. There are two flights of stairs to the bridge, the next floor up is the first class cabins most likely. Anyone who looks up the stairs will notice a rather large amount of sloughed skin, like a wet pile of rags, clinging to the railing near the next floor.

Option 3: Into the saloon you're next to. It looks dark behind the glass. There appears to be some broken glass and more than a few cracked window panes. At least one of you might notice the bit of blood on those panes, old and half erased. There was definitely a fight in there.

Option 4: There's no shame in running for your lives and getting those sailors to safety! The three sailors begin to bolt as another blood curdling cry rolls out into the night.

Option 5: Wait? Just as you think it, a long thin arm with an equally skinny five fingered hand grabs the rail and begins to pull itself up, ever so slowly. It's owner is obviously unaware of it's having revealed itself not five feet away...


MAURETANIA:

 Meanwhile things on the Mauretania start to become a little more heated as sailors are trying to warn everyone away from the sources of the screeching. A cacophony of voices begin to drown out the single voices from the Mauretania by this point. Even the Captain is waving his hands and furiously shouting for their return.

 For the people that had gathered to watch the events unfolding in tonight's drama, collectively gasped in helpless terror as more new creatures began to emerge from various places around the ship, like grotesque contortionists, coming out of porthole sized windows and cracked doors and hatches across the Neustria.

OOC: After everyone has posted or Wednesday arrives, I'll be posting again to advance the turns. ^_^
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:03, Tue 15 Sept 2020.

If the noise on deck is getting too loud, Sil impatiently waves her hand, and it's like a muffling curtain has been dropped and they -- she -- can think again without all the echoes, and cries, and shouts, and chaos.  The effect is a small sphere, softening noises from outside.

"There's trouble, some kind of... beast... or thing."  A chill runs through her as she relays details.  There are many monsters.  There's no chance it's THEM.

Hiram turned his head to Ace, becoming increasingly worried at the serious things his New companions were doing and saying.
"They Are asking us to look around below deck, while they Will search the rest of the shi... God above!" he began, his sentence tuning into a slightly shrill exclamation as his head whipped around at the sudden outburst of luminary and he saw the things Come into view. He scrambled around for the pistol he'd been given. Only to Come up empty. He left it in his cabin.
Lamenting his unpreparedness, he turned to the sailors, and repeated Luminary's warning for Them to lave in french.

"w-what dp we do?!" he then stammered to the others, not faring to take his eyes of the monsters.

OOC:
Hiram chooses option five, or rather the situation chooses for him as he is quite out of his depth. :p

00:00, Today: Roach rolled 80 using 1d100.  Intuition

00:01, Today: Roach rolled 46 using 1d100.  Psyche +20 karma.
Whoops, added +20 to the dedcription, but not to the actual roll. Up to you whether it counts or not, Arbiter. With the +20 it'll put me just Over the minimum roll for a succes, though.

This message was last edited by the player at 22:04, Tue 15 Sept 2020.

At the sight of the creatures that seemed to be coming out of every door and window of the other ship, Angok turned to Asar, "We should go now, before it's too late for the others."

Asar grabs those willing to go and drops down into one of the ready boats already in the water. He puts them at the bow and takes the stern himself putting his feet into the water and running against it. This should very quickly push the boat across those the 30 meters of sea water.

"Lash the boat to the side, there," he points before he gets to them.


EDITED OUT ADVANCING TO THE DECK
This message was last edited by the player at 22:32, Wed 16 Sept 2020.

Ace looked around. Spotting the spindly hand, he shouted to the others. “Look out! One of them is crawling up the railing!”

Not wanting to act too quickly lest he make a mistake, Ace planted his feet firmly on the ground and watched for the invader to finish making its climb. Once it was fully into view, he would likely try to sock it one with the telekinesis.

OOC :
19:44, Today: Agent Ace rolled 40 using 1d100.  Psyche check.
19:42, Today: Agent Ace rolled 6 using 1d100.  Intuition check.

NEUSTRIA:

Seemingly from nowhere a man seemed to approach in the air from the direction of the Mauritania, hovering just above the level of the deck. He was wearing a hefty duster coat and a gray fedora and was gliding through the air as though he were light as a feather, standing upright with his palms stretched flat down. As he cleared the railing of the balcony something seemed to give and he dropped the couple of feet down to the deck with a considerably loud thud, as if someone had dropped a ton of bricks upon the deck.

"I am here to render assistance," he said. "Please indicate the nature and direction of the threat."

OOC: Intuition... not his strong suit so a 51 is still a white result by a narrow margin. I intuit nothing.

01:00, Today: Geo rolled 51 using 1d100.  Intuition check.

This message was last edited by the player at 05:02, Wed 16 Sept 2020.

A gun shot rings out just before Geo moves from the Mauritania to the Neustria.  The wind and rain alter the trajectory of the bullet just enough that it misses its intended target.  Instead, it hits the creature in the shoulder.  Its arm useless and dangling, it realizes there are other players on the field and attempts to escape.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:37, Wed 16 Sept 2020.

Nic shook his head at Ace. There was too much going on. "No, there's one there, one coming from in front," He whirled and moved towards where they'd boarded the ship, "and there's one cutting off our escape route!"

As he ran back, he leaned forward a little and stared wide-eyed at the creature he'd spotted. From his eyes came twin blasts of yellow light, lancing outward to strike the creature hard!

"Come on! We should regroup!"

Another shot rings out, but the bullet causes spark when it ricochets off a bulkhead.  The creature's movement had made the shot a difficult hit.  But, he begun to learn how to meditate whole firing off rounds at paper, or charging another armed assailant.

OOC: Everyone who has not already performed a psyche check should do so now and list your Psyche score for reference.

Mauretania's starboard side facing the Neustria:

Sil: You see the a flash of light again from the bridge area, but really you see Nic begin to light up like a gnorsh-flepper! You have to turn away from him when he does that because of the brightness. You can see terrible things coming out of the various cabins on the main deck. Soon there would be at least ten of them converging on the team. It appeared there would be no choice but to confront the creatures. As the marksman on the Mauretania also noticed, the creatures were not mindless, it felt fear and had an instincts for self-preservation and as a result it clambered away injured. (OOC: You may say you are on Asar and Angok's boat if you wish.)

Asar and Angok: You both notice the intense flair from Luminary as simultaneously shots ring out from the Mauretania. After everyone gets into the boat, Asar manages to motorboat the dingy across the gap in a hurry. In the waves and roiling seas however it would be another few seconds before they would achieve anything approaching a proper boarding and springing from the boat was just as likely to sink it as get them up onto the deck. At the moment, he can feel the tiny boat creak underfoot and knew it was true. At that very moment the crewmen and the first mate managed to half climb, half drop into the other dingy lashed up. They were swearing in french and completely panicked.

Phoenix: Though he was extremely fast with his issued 'ought three, he was having difficulty get a lead on the creature's janky movement. He was peripherally aware however of his cohort crossing over towards the scene like he was flying on butter.


The Neustria's Port side:

Ace: You see the thing begin to peer over the side railing a huge toothy grin and dripping wet hair that looked like seaweed clinging to it's face. With whip like appendages it makes a grab at Ace and snags his jacket in it's bony fingers and begins to pull him in...

Roach & Luminary: Hiram can see the shadows basically coming to life at that second. Something had just grabbed Ace, and Nic was shining so brightly that he could see in all directions very clearly now and one ahead of Nic gets plinked in the shoulder by someone one the Mauretania. There was something behind them as well he notices as he turns just in time to see it advance on him with a snarl. It was at that last second that Nic blasts the creature that would've cut off their escape route and it's knocked back over the side of the vessel as it's faced with a laser blast emanating from Nic's eyes with a shining grin as it bursts into flames.

Geo: You see the scene below you unfolding as above, but only barely notice in time to see the creature stalking towards you on a parallel deck, weirdly it looks like a thin armed man with extra long arms. You only have a moment to react before it springs like a cat bunching up for a pounce...

OOC: If you want to perform actions not related to a power check the Universal table along the top to examine your options for quick reference.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:05, Wed 16 Sept 2020.

He unlocks and slides the bolt back, then slams and locks it home, loading a third round into the chamber.  He scans the deck of the other ship, spotting the one grabbing Ace.  He chooses to ignore the one he has already shot setting his cheek-weld to the stock and looking through the scope.  He brings his sight picture to center-mass, the movemnt s of the ships making that a difficult emough shot without trying for a smaller target, like the head.  Breathe.  Relax.  Aim.  Squeeze.  Another shot rings out.


16:57, Today: Phoenix rolled 56 using 1d100.  Remarkable shooting skill.
Another Green Feat roll.

19:12, Today: Phoenix rolled 81 using 1d100.  Excellent Psyche Feat Roll.  Yellow.

07:47, Today: Phoenix rolled 66 using 1d100+16.  Initiative+Intuition.

This message was last edited by the player at 11:51, Thu 17 Sept 2020.

Seeing the unusual assailant reeling back and readying to pounce Sam reacted. He squared his shoulder, set his feet, and charged. He bored towards the oddity with full steam to try and slam it into the bulkhead. It was more agile than he anticipated however. It slipped harmlessly to the side leaving him to crash into the bulkhead alone. Not just into, but with his strength and durability his charge tore straight through the metal bulkhead into the ship's interior.

OOC: the dice roller hates me. And yes, I checked the material strength in the book and Geo does the damage on a charge to break it even if it's osmium steel (though just barely if it's that and not regular steel).

17:08, Today: Geo rolled 26 using 1d100.  Endurance-charging roll.

initiative check

15:43, Today: Geo rolled 73 using 1d100+6.  initiative roll.

This message was last edited by the player at 19:46, Thu 17 Sept 2020.

Asar moves over to the rope ladder and uses it to vault himself onto the deck. There is concern on his face that his new friends and companions are in danger. He speeds around just a moment to get his footing, but seems to grab something out of the air before he takes a defensive position between Agent Ace, Luminary, and the main egresses of the ship where he might expect the monsters to come boiling out from.

"We need to defeat the monsters and get into the hold my friends....so this doesn't happen again."
17:10, Today: Asar Uludu rolled 36 using 1d100+16 ((20)).
.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:15, Thu 17 Sept 2020.

Ace didn’t expect the creature to be on him so quick. He tried to push it away with the telekinesis, but the force didn’t build the way that it normally did. Most be shock. Luckily, a shot rang out and struck the creature. Hopefully it would be enough to help Ace break free from its grip on his jacket.

OOC :
21:32, Today: Agent Ace rolled 12 using 1d100.  Telekinesis . [White Feat]

05:18, Today: Agent Ace rolled 87 using 1d100+20.  Initiative . Initiative roll using 1d100 + intuition score.


This message was last edited by the player at 22:42, Thu 17 Sept 2020.

With all of the commotion happening on the Neustria, Angok decided there was no time to waste and chose not to wait until their dingy had pulled up beside the ship. Instead, he took a step back and as his clothes dropped to bottom of the boat a falcon took off towards the Nuestria.

He hoped that with the craziness going on his transformation hadn't been seen by the crew, but there was no time to worry about that now. He circled around the Neustria, trying to get a full picture of what was going on, before looking for a relatively safe place to land and regain his form.

Initiative: 105
Shifting into a Falcon- Animal Transformation (+20 Karma): 110

16:27, Today: Angok rolled 110 using 1d100+20.  Animal Transformation + 20 Karma.
16:26, Today: Angok rolled 105 using 1d100+16.  Initiative.

OOC:  Initiative (10), Psyche (19)

Having come over with the others, Sil is climbing the rope ladder when she is momentarily blinded by Luminary's light. Amazing, she thinks, in spite of it all.

But, when she can see again, her blood runs cold.

They. Are. Everywhere.

As a creature grabs Art, she screams in explosion of sound that visibly vibrates through the air, wailing toward the creature like a banshee firework, impacting against the creature's face, right where its tentacles connect.

OOC Bullseye hit with her Remarkable sonic attack.

The situation was escalating out of control far too quickly for Hiram too cope with. He barely kept control of himself when the creatures appeared, but the subsequent blinding light, suddenly arriving people and shrieking noise was all too much.

While not in a mindless panic quite yet, Hiram was scared out of his wits. With no other idea what to do, he let himself fall into his flight or flight mindset. Because whether he fled or fought, Roach was much better at it than Hiram.

Letting himself go, his anxious whimpers turned into a deepening growl, and finally an animalistic howl that sounded nothing like something meant for a human throat.

He rounded his gaze on the closest of the creatures, crouching down, his leg muscles tensing as he prepared to launch at it fists and teeth first.

OOC:
Hiram activates his berserker power. His Reason and Psyche drops to Feeble, and the lost ranks are split between Strength and Fighting, raising them to Incredible (Strength) and Remarkable (Fighting). He also gains Excellent Iron Will.

As for Initiative:
21:27, Today: Roach rolled 31 using 1d100+8.  Initiative.

OOC: So for this round I'll take the order that we posted for initiative. Then for each round we'll keep rolling initiative, and I'll resolve each in order in my updates ever after so we'll know the order before we post up.

 MAURETANIA Starboard side:

Phoenix: Phoenix takes his next target's motion into account and rather than trying to squeeze off two shots this time in quick succession he takes his time...and lands one center mass on the creature grabbing Ace. The beast snarls and spins with the force of the bullet but still holds tight to Ace as it begins to reel him in. It didn't seem to feel pain like other beasts, just a hideous cry of anger. Nevertheless though, ichor begins to spill from it's wound in emerald rivulets.

 NEUSTRIA Port side:

Geo: Sam's toughness more than made up for the damage he caused as he burst through the top deck of the Neustria. The force of his charge however shredded the bulkhead before him as he shouldered through the metal bulkheads with ease, but also he hadn't planned for the creature to so effortlessly sidestep him. As a result, he had unintentionally embedded himself into the superstructure because of overshooting. As he shakes off some disorientation he realizes he'll have to make his way back through the cave he had made or risk tearing the ship apart around him.

Creature on the top deck: The creature clambers towards the hole that Geo had made and peers down with a huge sneer and launches himself at frightening speed towards Geo. Just as Geo looks back towards the way he had come, the creature slams into him.

Asar: Coming to a moment's rest between Luminary and Ace, you see the shot that hit Ace's assailant and with a twist of consternation, he sets himself against the thudding they can feel in the deck, something of a stampede coming their way. Of course just at that moment too, the doors to the saloon burst open as they began their next salvo....

Saloon Creatures (1,2,3): Three of the creatures threw themselves at the huge man seemingly entangling him in their long sticky and sinewy appendages but with enough force to slam him into the railing, the second and third grapple with the man's barrel shaped arms. Only the second creature latches it's lanky legs around his entire arms and torso successfully, getting him into a rather primitive but effective hold while it rakes and bites at him. The third rebounds off the deck and up the side of the wall looking for a new target.

Ace: Ace could hear an audible pop sound sound as Phoenix's bullet passes through the beast that was slowly overpowering him. He could see the green blood pouring from it's chest wound and yet the creature seemed still intent on making off with him as a prize. He tried in vain to summon the will to push it away with his TK but rather it seemed too gentle and his focus was not yet resolved.

Angok: In a flash Angok was an avian raptor and airborne, launched away from the raft. He sagely thought to take in a view of the entire ship before deciding where to strike. As he turns he can see all the combatants that he assumed were fighting the creatures back including the man who had been flying a moment ago above them and then the he comes around to the starboard side of the Neustria, and what he sees frightens him.

 He sees a gigantic sea creature stuck to the side of the ship like glue. The beast was thick but flattened against the ship and appeared to have a count of five huge tentacles, each easily as wide as a floor of the ship's decks. It did not appear to have a mouth, face or eyes. In total the creature had to be four decks wide, he guessed as he could not see the submerged portion. He'd seen such things before, and his friend had named them starfish.

 Beyond that, Angok could see some of the long limbed men scampering too and fro across the darkened side of the ship. He noticed some movement in the top deck however and took note, as he did not see any of the creatures there but rather a young man of late teens in a windowed room that peered across the front of the ship.

Sil: Ms.Silan could see the beast trying to pull Ace towards the sea and with some consternation realized she had to act now even as she rose up the rope ladder. She let out a roar of her own and amplified it into a shockwave that raced towards the beast. The wave hits with thunderous force and tears at the body of the creature, who only now cries out in pain as bones shatter with the vibratory force. It releases Ace involuntarily and seems to curl into an insectoid-like ball as it drops over the side of the ship, Ace was suddenly freed...

Roach: Hiram shed his skittish side and released the inner beast, just in time to see one of the creatures rush him from the burst saloon entry, heading for a tackle. However Roach is far too wily for that and the creature smashes into the railing next to him.


OOC: That's three down! Just so you know, there are many creatures and they'll continue to come out of the hold, I have an exact number but I doubt we'll want to reach it. So offing every creature isn't necessary to get to the bottom hold.

Next round order of Initiative...
1.Angok
2.Ace
3.Geo
4.Phoenix
5.Asar
6.Roach
7.Sil
8.Enemies(5 in sight, +1 big one that Angok saw)
9.Luminary(unless we can get a roll tonight! ^_^)

Post up by 4:30PM PST tomorrow(the time this update was posted)
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:10, Sat 19 Sept 2020.

The creatures hit him like tsunami and he wasn't as prepared as he thought. He flexed his physical muscles to get the creatures off of him, but they had wound around him to tightly. Instead he bent his will upon one of the creature's throats, wrapping it as with a garrotte and pulling it back away from his body. If nothing else it will crush its throat to the point that it would release him if only to reduce the pressure.

08:19, Today: Asar Uludu rolled 58 using 1d100+16.  Inish ROll Round 2.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:20, Sat 19 Sept 2020.

Ace was thankful to be free from the creature due to the help of the gunshot and the sonic attack. So he didn’t waste any time attempting what he had in mind next. Pushing himself to his limits, Ace began to project his force field and stretch it not only over himself, but over all of his companions as well. If these creatures wanted to fight further, they were going to have to work harder to even get at anyone.

“I have placed everyone inside my force field! I have no idea how long I can maintain it like this! We had better get down to the lowest deck quickly!”


OOC :  07:34, Today: Agent Ace rolled 39 using 1d100+20.  Initiative roll using 1d100 + intuition score
14:01, Today: Agent Ace rolled 89 using 1d100+50.  Telekinesis (Power Stunt).

Roach reacted to the creature slamming into the railing with a guttural snarl, befor grabbing at it and opening his mouth wider than could possibly be comfortable.

Then, with no hesitation, he bit at the creature's head, aiming to tear at it's neck.

OOC:
Hiram tries to bite the monster that attacked him, but misses.
21:08, Today: Roach rolled 22 using 1d100+10.  Bite (Edged attack +10 karma).

21:10, Today: Roach rolled 87 using 1d100+8.  Initiative. (If we roll each round. ignore if not)

Nic was torn, and had hesitated after blasting the one creature. There was a lot going on, a lot of these strange creatures coming from every direction seemingly. Help had arrived from their ship, but he wondered if it would be enough.

He knew he was currently the 'light source' by which many were able to see on the deck and if he left, it might impair their ability to fight too much. But he had somewhere to be, that pull was still tugging at him.

So he made a decision. He concentrated on the ambient lighting around them on the top deck there. He frowned as he tried to make it brighter, make what light was there brighter, to give his allies enough to see by. The results were...exceptional.

He then quickly began to head to the stairs where the hold was. "We must go below! We need to get to whatever is done there!"

13:19, Today: Luminary rolled 47 using 1d100+26.  Initiative.

13:26, Today: Luminary rolled 90 using 1d100.  Light Control.

Lowering the rifle, James realizes that his shots are not helping the others very much.  However, with the rain, he can not be of any greater help by joining them.  But, another idea comes to him and he sets the rifle aside.  As long as he does not get wet, he should be able to assist them.
Staying under the protection of the balcony above him.  Extending his hand towards the other ship,  Flames begin to flicker around his hands, then coalesce into jets of fire that he sends streaming across the space between the two ships.  He attempts to sweep the flames across the decks, like a flamethrower, to separate the freelance agents from the attacking monsters.


18:47, Today: Phoenix rolled 64 using 1d100+16.  Intuition+d100 for Initiative.

18:46, Today: Phoenix rolled 72 using 1d100.  Fire Generation-Excellent Agility. Green.

Sam extracted himself from the torn bulkheads and turned about. He carefully made his way back through rather than charging this time. Rather than risking further damage to the vessel he'd have to engage the creatures more directly. With their elusiveness he had a lower percentage of success but he couldn't risk the structural integrity of the ship in the event there were still survivors aboard.

"Allow me to engage with the current threat. Proceed to eliminate the source of the disturbance," he said, his tone even and matter-of-factly.

With his words out he engaged the nearest creature and brought his fists to bare. He squared up against it like a boxer and simply jabbed at it rather simply. This time, with a much more close quarters approach, his attack met with more success. Putting his not inconsiderable strength behind it should put enough weight to the blow to make the creature think twice about it's assault.

OOC: green result blunt attack for IN strength, 51 initiative next round.

19:48, Today: Geo rolled 68 using 1d100.  Blunt attack - EX fighting.
19:46, Today: Geo rolled 51 using 1d100+6.  initiative roll.

Up on the bridge of the Neustria, a tall, thin, pale man with dark haunted eyes was standing in front of a terrified crewman, with one of the horrid creatures approaching. Nate was used to horrid creatures, his delving into the arcane arts has brought him into contact with a wide variety of horrible things. But somehow, here on this ship, it seemed all the worse.

"Stay behind me," he called out. His voice was deep and rich.

His fingers moved in complicated gestures and his hands were wrapped in a shimming black glow.

Bolts of thick black energy shot from his hands toward the creature.

00:11, Today: Nathaniel Roivas rolled 47 using 1d100+10 ((37)).
00:16, Today: Nathaniel Roivas rolled 1 using 1d100 ((1)).

Uh oh...

Sil scrambled up the rope like her life depended on it, and made it to Ace just in the nick of time.

"Are you okay?" she gasped, panting.

She surveyed the field, illumined now by Luminary's brightness. They needed to follow Art's advice, and she could buy them time.  "Guide me, " she said, putting a hand on his shoulder and slitting her eyes against the rain.

It took effort to concentrate, but soon, she remembered the dream, and brought the dream to life, and life and dream became one...

Suddenly, a dozen, beserk Roaches clambered up the side of the ship, roaring and closing in on the creatures.

They wouldn't know that these Roaches were mere illusions.

OOC:  RED Feat.
18:33, Today: Sil Silan rolled 91 using 1d100.  More Roaches?
18:51, Today: Sil Silan rolled 60 using 1d100+2.  Initiative.

This message was last edited by the player at 22:52, Sun 20 Sept 2020.

Angok: Continues to circle around the ship, witnessing the confrontation on the bridge between Nathaniel and one of the beasts inside...

Ace: Finds a well of strength and focus from within him burst forth as his attempt to utilize his power became an urgent need, having been so close to the dangerous creatures. His power wells up and outward, in a sudden pulse of power he surrounds his friends in a crackling ball of telekinetic force that, so long as he concentrated, could be shaped to his desire. Now that he felt the power, he wondered how it might be easy to project such force or perhaps apply higher kinetic force to a smaller target, create a projectile sling-shot or any number of other mental exercises.

OOC to Ace: So this was a good start for power stunts except you don't add the karma spent on the power stunt to the roll. You can spend additional karma for that, but the base cost of the power stunt is 50, just to perform. In this instance I just let it be applied it to the action I feel like you could already do with your powers at the moment. ^_^

Geo: From above the majority of the fray Geo took the attack of the creature quite well, it hardly hurt him. However the creature tenaciously attempted to rebound and kick at him as climbed out of the Neustria's interior. At one point he realizes he very narrowly missed the now quiet and empty stacks that lead to the boilers for the steam engines in the hold. He'd scraped it so now he could see into the stack. That was the furthest thing from his mind however as he attempted to box the creature and after a few seconds of dancing with the long limbed beast, he smashes a square jab through the creatures batting limbs into it's somehow squished looking face for full effect. It's face in the next instant looked swollen and green ichor dripped from the sagging face, teeth dislodged into the thing's mouth.

---

Phoenix: Attempting to be more effective James streams gouts of flame into the mass of creatures beginning to surround the team. The creatures begin to scatter as the fire screams at them with the boiling intensity of napalm. His range is limited however and so he can't actually set them alight, however it frightens them enough to drive them back from the crackling static of the force field that one of the team had raised surrounding the team. He'd read about the gifts of the team and this was definitely one of theirs. By now other crewmen had taken up positions on the main deck below him to fire at the beasts they could see.

 Behind James a feminine voice rings out sharply, "I'd say freeze, but that wouldn't apply to you would it?" she says in a distinctly British accent, "Don't move. Who exactly are you?"

---

Asar: Struggled with two of the long limbed monsters still within the field with all of them. The one that had managed to wrap him in it's grasp strained against his inhuman strength but seemed to hold against him gaining any leverage yet. So taking a different tact he separates himself from the situation as only one of his maturity might be able, and focuses his will on the creature's throat, the sounds of popping sinuous vertebrae was a faraway sound as he concentrated on extracting the beast from him by the neck. The creature wouldn't let go except now it's body was being peeled back from him and it fanatically clawed and scraped at the invisible force which Asar produced on him, at least it couldn't attack him.

 The second one had no such compunctions however and continued to harry him so far...

Roach: With a snarl he snaps at the creature's diminutive head. Wrath rising within him as he plumbs the depths of his very being for the chaos which enveloped him. The creature ironically seemed guffawed by his attempt and still recovering from stunning itself on the railing, it attempts to find it's footing again rather than blindly lashing out as it had been...

Sil: As Sil concentrates on bringing her images to life she envisions it. Opening her squinting eyes she sees her mirages of Roach manifest climbing over the railing surrounding them with snarls and roars of anger. The remaining three creatures within the bubble of the force field that Ace has produced hiss their appraisal of the situation and begin a hesitant retreat, except for the one holding onto Asar, which seems to be hell bent on taking down the giant...

Remaining creatures inside the field(#1): The creature hanging onto Asar goes limp and not just limp but almost transforms into a pile of sticky clammy skin. With a cold rush of air it seems to deflate and a smoky substance escapes, and the rest comes off easily.

Remaining creatures inside the field(#2): The second creature who had been harrying Asar, turns it's attentions to the surrounding multitudes of Roaches and the team. Ceasing it's gnawing and slicing at Asar and begins to run at a full long-legged sprint...directly into Ace's field, at which point it falls, stunning itself.

Remaining creatures inside the field(#3): The creature Roach was fighting against seems to panic as other illusory Roaches clamber aboard. It sneers and begins to back away slowly until it's cornered within the field. It moves erratically as if anticipating attack...

Remaining creature vs Geo(#4): The creature was barely hanging on and it's movements seemed sluggish by comparison to Geo's, nevertheless it was driven to attack him again using a richochet attack rebounding off of the destroyed wall of the top decking. It manages a weak smash into Geo with little damage.

Remaining creature vs Nathaniel(#5): The creature seems a sneering laugh as it flows swiftly by Nathaniel's magical attempt and grabs the young man with him. It lifts the skinny boy easily and starts for the broken door to the bridge, cackling with delight. One arm seems to held around the man like a rubber tentacle, and tight enough to prevent the man from wriggling free.

Luminary: His words ring out as the intensity of the light brightens the surroundings incredibly. The ambient light seems to jump in brightness and causing the entire area to glow with unnatural light. The last shot from the Mauretania rings out and there is near silence with only illusory Roaches and Roach himself as well as the couple remaining moaning and hissing beasts inside the force field. Except somewhere the sounds of battle still ring out on the top deck...

Nathaniel Roivas: The magician looks worse for wear but his powers are an ever present source of strength for him and he blasts out a wave of dark force energy at the slinky creature, who only half turns as the blast misses it's mark, as if to warn him of the precious cargo he carried, and to dare him into trying to blast him again while he held the crewman captive.

Next Round of Initiative(#3)
1.Roach        5.Asar           9.Ace
2.Phoenix      6.Geo           10.Angok
3.Ms.S         7.Luminary      11.Enemies(3 creatures, +1 biggie)
4.Sil          8.Nathaniel

This message was last edited by the GM at 00:26, Mon 21 Sept 2020.

With his compatriot's seemingly faring relatively well aboard the ship, Angok decides to investigate the massive creature that seems to have latched onto the ship. He dips his head and dives straight down, his form changing to that of a massive shark just as his head touches the water. Quickly he circles the ship, trying to see exactly how large this giant starfish is and if there might be a weak point he could attack.


Shifting to Great White Shark: Green result
Reason to look for a weak spot on the starfish: Green result
Initiative for next round: 79

23:56, Today: Angok rolled 79 using 1d100+16.  Initiative.
23:54, Today: Angok rolled 60 using 1d100+20.  Animal-Transformation-Self+20 Karma.
00:00, Today: Angok rolled 67 using 1d100.  Reason (Ty) Looking for weak point.

While the utter chaos had driven Roach into his current situation, letting his instincts take over lent him an uncanny focus. He heard and vaguely recognized what happened around him, the tooth and claw things fighting the man-things he came with. They in turn did all sorts of things, flashy things, noisy things. Roach did not care. His prey was in front of him, and it would not escape.
Once more he waited for the moment it showed the smallest sign of nervousness, and jumped at it when it stepped back, teeth aimed at it's throat.

OOC: Roach tries to bite the monster again. He does not heed the warnings and yells of the others.

21:03, Today: Roach rolled 79 using 1d100.  Bite (Edged attack).
Damage from (Incredible) bite would be 37, then. and since the hit was 79, that's a stun too.

21:04, Today: Roach rolled 39 using 1d100+8.  Initiative.

Only slightly surprised by the sudden intrusion, Phoenix concentrates upon his fire, working to make it stronger.  Since he is able to alter the intensity of other flames, he feels he should be able to do that with his own more easily.
I believe you have me at a disadvantage.  Unless I turn around.  In which case the disadvantage would be upon you.  And my stateroom.  My ID is in my jacket on the chair.
The suit jacket hanging upon the chair is a bit stiff, like it has been overly starched.  The interior pocket has only a pen and a Bureau ID card.
And, unfortunately, splitting his attention like that has done nothing to help his attempt.

Attempting power stunt-increase heat of fire from Ex-16 to Ex-24.
 -50 Karma.  Need a Red success.
20:43, Today: Phoenix rolled 9 using 1d100.  Control Feat Roll-Gd08.  No Go.

This message was last edited by the player at 00:47, Tue 22 Sept 2020.

Asar, freed from being grappled by multiple beasts in his effort to block for Luminary and Ace, sees another of their number he doesn't know in trouble. He doesn't know the mans name yet, but he intends to find out by not letting him die. Focusing his will again he imagines a noose wrapping around the beast's neck. He yanks that noose towards the ocean and away from Nathaniel and away from all of the boats.

"Agreed, but we must not allow them in behind us."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:00, Tue 22 Sept 2020.

Sil directs the false Roaches for now, grateful for Ace's steadying shoulder, buying time for her companions. The game will soon be up. If Ace begins to move inward, she follows.

20:38, Yesterday: Sil Silan rolled 81 using 1d100+2.  Initiative.

“Thanks for the save, by the way.” Ace said to Sylvia. “It seems everyone is a bit wrapped up in what they are doing. So I am going to keep concentrating on the force field, but I am slowly going to move to make my way down to the lower levels. If everyone can follow me, the field should cover them. If not, they should be able to carefully slide out as it moves.”


OOC : 06:47, Today: Agent Ace rolled 101 using 1d100+20.  Initiative roll using 1d100 + intuition score.

His body weak and trembling, wasted away with thirst and hunger, Nathaniel was barely conscious. His attempt to strike the creature failed and then the cabin boy was captive.

And then a gigantic person burst into the room and seemingly moved the creature with his mind.

Nathaniel swept a wave of Darkforce along the floor and solidified it around the cabin boy's feet, so the young one didn't get pulled away too.

OOC:
Darkforce Generation - 4 (Uh-oh)
Energy Solidification - 27 (Uh-oh)

Roach: In his fury Roach lunges at the beast. Roach tears at it, his bite sinking into the fetid creature. It seems alive yet but now at his mercy, confused and disoriented for the moment.
OOC: Beast rolled green barely. Stunned for this round only, Roach deals full damage.

Phoenix with Ms.S: The Agent Ms.Sanderson, one of the team, had found him. He knew that she worked for British Intelligence, and after that she was a black box, nothing known and nothing admitted to. He was told by the General that she had quite a wit, but that was about as much as was known about her personal life. She'd been with British Intelligence for fifteen of her twenty three years of age. The General had heard that she was a lady martial artist. Fancy that. She had the sound of one who'd been in a back alley or two in the streets of London, "I see you have good taste in fine craftsmanship, and apparently specialties as well. Be a good lad, James, is it?, how long have you been watching us, pray tell. Just curious, because I thought I knew everyone on the ship by their voice by now and I can't be too careful, yeah?"

Sil: Sil manages to concentrate on the many separate Roach illusions and it continues to dissuade the beasts from attacking the main portion of the team further. She could keep it up provided someone dealt with the remaining creatures inside of Ace's field as they began to move.

Asar: Asar speeds to the top of the ship and in an instant he's there and seeing the dire situation with Nathaniel, he rips the thing in the doorway to the bridge away from the ship. However he had failed to notice the poor cabin boy wrapped in the creature's tentacles and the two fly off into the night at extreme speeds as if catapulted...

Geo: Finally he was free of the interior even after being repeatedly smashed into by the creature following him. Now out on the deck he could hear the sounds of the battle below and see that things had for the moment become somewhat less crazy aside from his own  creature's relentlessness.

Luminary: Nic's bright lights seemed to shed light on the situation as the group began to move towards the next deck below...

Nathaniel: Nathaniel stood dumbfounded and weakened as he attempted to grab the boy from the creature mid-flight but his reactions were slowed and he was tired...the last survivor, gone.

Ace: He kept the team moving towards the hold and as he began to move they would undoubtedly finish off any that tried to follow them. Ace's quick thinking had saved the main group so far and he lead the way, Luminary's light and the illusory Roaches trailed behind Sil. Presumably the others would begin to follow as well soon enough.

Angok: Angok swims around the vessel quite fast, and as he does so he tries to focus on the giant starfish that's latched onto the side of the Neustria. He finds it to be quite rough like the coral reefs he saw as a fish and with a nearly equal amount of life clinging to it. You think to yourself that the thing must be ancient to be so large and so thoroughly covered by symbiotic life. That's when you hear a sound, a very strange sound to your shark enhanced senses, extra sensitive to sound waves in the waters and find the creature to be making some sort of ultra low frequency sound. It didn't hurt but it definitely would travel far, very far. This was how he would someday hunt a whale...

 The giant fish also moved very little, though Angok-as-shark could see moving sucker-tendrils common to starfish that allowed them to walk across surfaces, though these tendrils were proportionately larger, one could probably grab him if he got too close. It's mouth would most likely be on the underside of the creature he reasoned because he saw no sign of an opening. Though he did see a great red armored spot directly in the center of the five pointed starfish on this side. If there was a way to attack it, he couldn't be certain what it was, besides that mouth. It's possible that attacking the suckers would eventually lead to the thing falling off the boat perhaps though...

Enemy, stunned creature: One creature inside the field began to stir as it gets back up after fleeing Asar.

Enemy, stunned creature near Roach: Down for another few seconds...

Enemy nearest Geo: The creature near Sam began to whine as he limped towards Geo until it had finally made a popping sound and began to deflate into a pile of disgusting skin; a thick smoky substance escaped it's body as it did so.

Next Round of Initiative(#4)
1.Luminary   5.Enemies      9.Roach
2.Ace        6.Ms.S        10.Nathaniel
3.Sil        7.Phoenix     11.Geo
4.Angok      8.Asar        

This message was last edited by the GM at 22:53, Thu 24 Sept 2020.

James smiles.  Well, Ms Sanderson, I am a bit if a quiet fellow sometimes.  I haven't many reasons to speak to anyone since I saw you all board.  He glances slightly over his shoulder for a moment, while still trying to interpose flames between the monsters and the team.  By yhe way, it is rather unfair that you call me by my first name, yet I don't know yours.  That leaves one of us a bit more familiar than the other.
Is that a bit of Cockney I hear in your voice?
He continues streaming flame at the monsters going after the team on the other ship.  Should we join them?


18:33, Today: Phoenix rolled 106 using 1d100+16.  Initiative 1d100+Ex16 Intuition.

18:32, Today: Phoenix rolled 63 using 1d100.  Ex-16 flamethrower, Gd-08 damage.

This message was last edited by the player at 22:34, Tue 22 Sept 2020.

Asar gapes in near horror as the boy in the beasts arms become apparent once the thing is flung into the air. He hadn't even realized that he had used that much force on the thing as he tried to save a man he had never met, but was obviously on his side. His mind raced as the two went up, but he thought he knew what to do. It was like netting a fish out of the water, but just in the air. He was lamenting that he would have to catch the creature as well when the two of them looked to be separating.

He once again called up his will and projected force in the shape of a big bouncy net below the boy. Once it had caught him the net was moved over to the Mauretania were it dissipated and left the boy on the deck closest to the Neustria.


20:17, Today: Asar Uludu rolled 49 using 1d100+16.  Insh.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:17, Wed 23 Sept 2020.

"Just a little longer, " Sil says to Art, letting go of his shoulder while still following.  She holds on to the Roaches a little longer -- it's really not hard keeping them moving, once they are alive.  They feel very real to her now, and she can simulate them perfectly, just as she can simulate full-scale, working machines in her mind. What's hard is keeping them from doing Roach things, like taking a swing at a foe or biting into someone. That would ruin the illusion, but the illusory Roaches really want to jump at things, and she's feeling pressure and anger and heat build up inside her mind trying to keep them back.

She has never channeled a Roach into existence before.

If Art looks, Sil's eyes might just appear a little bloodshot.  Or do they?


Initiative:  25.
Actions:  Move, maintain illusions.

Nic tried his best to ignore what was going on around on the deck. His focus was solely, or at least mainly, on the stairs to the decks below. And what might be down there. What might await them. He knew it was important. He could FEEL the pull of....something. He could walk there with his eyes closed almost.

He didn't stop shining as he went down below. And he kept a little concentration on keeping the lighting 'on' for the top deck as long as he could.

22:30, Today: Luminary rolled 70 using 1d100+26.  Initiative.

Angok had been a hunter since he was a very small child, and had hunted solo since the age of 10, so there was no fear that gripped him as he studied the massive starfish; rather more of a clinical examination as he attempted to ascertain the best way to attack it. And he had decided he would attack it; it seemed obvious to him the this creature was a threat to the ship on all onboard, and he was the only one currently aware of the danger it posed.

Not seeing a particularly weak point to attack, he went for the next best target, one of the suckers in hopes that it would cause the creature to detach itself from the ship.

Yes!

So that would be a Red Result on the Edged Attacks Chart (Kill); Strength is Incredible (40) (note, I'm using the stats for Shark in the Judge's Book, pg 59, and adding +1CS as a Great White as the text states).

Initiative: 88

17:32, Today: Angok rolled 97 using 1d100.  Edged Attack Fighting (Ex) + Sharp Weapons
17:38, Today: Angok rolled 88 using 1d100+16.  Initiative.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:39, Wed 23 Sept 2020.

Sam watched as the creature limped towards him and then sort of just gave out and deflated before him. It was strange and he couldn't process how to explain it. It was clearly no longer a threat, however. He also couldn't detect any more such creatures posing a continued threat that weren't within the direct scope of the team. There was no further reason for him to remain behind to deal with any threat then.

Sam hovered out and then down to the same deck with the team to join them. As before, as soon as he was over the deck his hovering ceased and he plummeted the last couple of feet, landing on the deck near the team with a resounding thud as if someone had dropped a ton of bricks on it. He approached carefully to try and appear non-threatening, in the event they had not heard his earlier words when he first joined the fray. He wasn't certain they had as no one had acknowledged his pledge of assistance.

"The external threat of the creatures, beyond those two," he motioned to the one inside the field and the one battling Roach, "has abated. I will provide assistance in neutralizing the source of the disturbance aboard this vessel."

OOC:

04:15, Today: Geo rolled 77 using 1d100+6.  initiative roll.

Lagging behind Nic as far as possible to allow Sylvia to maintain her illusions, Ace noticed that her eyes seem bloodshot, but only for a moment. A trick of the light or was the concentration needed for her ability taking a toll on her bordering on the physical?

Not wanting to lose the light provided though, Ace parked himself at the threshold of Nic’s luminescence. This being  the top of the stairwell. Once the light began to diminish, Art took one step forward to the first step in the flight. He concentrated on his force field, trying to keep it as malleable as needed for the others. As Nic moved further along, so did Ace. He was eager to see what may have caused this little infestation problem on the ship.

OOC : 04:28, Today: Agent Ace rolled 24 using 1d100+20.  Initiative roll using 1d100 + intuition score.

Nathaniel was filled with a slow, simmering rage. These horrid things had killed every innocent life on this ship, leaving only him, who perhaps should have been the first to go.

He would not stand for it. Even though he was tired, and almost unconscious, and half-mad with thirst and hunger, he made ready for battle.

OOC: Using Energy Solidification to make myself a suit of armour made of Darkforce.

Initiative: 31

Roach was momentarily confused when he noticed a bunch of people who looked just like him appear. but since they seemed to have no intention to bother him, he ignored them, focusing once more on his wounded prey.
One more good bite should put it out of it's misery. So that's what intended to give it, lunging forward mouth open.

OOC:
Roach once again bites at his enemy.
18:27, Today: Roach rolled 7 using 1d100.  Bite (Edged attack).

And fails pretty damn miserably :P

RND #4

Phoenix & Ms.S: Ms.S gives an abrupt curtsy to Phoenix and looks him squarely in the eye, "Pleased to meetcha Gov'na," she chided, "you can call me Shirley if it pleases you, now if you please, we can be on that ship quite shortly if you have a mind to follow. I for one wouldn't mind kicking the knickers off some of them beasties."
 With that she leads the way to the tiny boat moored and abandon by the First mate and his men.
OOC: 2 rounds to make it over.

Meanwhile aboard the Neustria...

Luminary, Ace and Sil: Beginning the descent into the steerage level, Nic finds his senses are extended and he feels hyper-aware, to the point he can feel his pulse in his eardrums and the high pitched sounds in his head. He was sure a piece of the meteor was in the hold. When he gets down to the next lower level he sees a disturbing sight.

 Around him are several of the skins that the creatures had cast off, like when they fizzled on the deck above them. A murky slime covers much of the deck and footing seems unstable and slippery. However his light shines brightly in here and he's able to see corridors that go off in other directions, similarly adorn but a path of the skins seems to lead from corridor to the left side of the ship that showed scorch marks and signs of battle. Ahead in that direction you can see the movement of four of the creatures who seem intent on breaking a door. They seem so intent that they ignore Nic and the others as they move down the stairs and might be content to leave it that way.

 However behind them there appears to be a gaping hole in the ship's outer hull from some accident where something had burst inward, and a monstrous looking tube worm-like appendage has pushed through sealing the hole with the outside portion of it's body but not moving besides twitching ever so slightly. The team could tell that this hole would sink the vessel if the creature wasn't there...

 Ace and Sil were busy maintaining their powers and have become quite quiet in the process of concentrating. Sil finds that she can no longer maintain her illusions constantly or she risked getting tired from the strain on her mind. Though she is presently also interested in the signs around them and could choose to drop it now as the Roaches did not seem to be necessary quite as much now. As it seemed she had quite thoroughly scared off the creatures, for now at least.

 Ace also was aware of the pop sound of the real Roach and the two creatures sliding out of the range of his shield.

 Further ten feet in front of the team is another flight of stairs heading down to the main hold.

Angok: The Angok-as-Shark made a b-line for the starfish creature's tubular feet ramming into it with several rows of serrated teeth and grabs onto the skin of it. He tears away a chunk of it and wishes he hadn't for it's distinctly rubbery texture. A wash of bodily fluids began to seep out.Immediately a wave of color rushes across the thing's exterior and he's greeted by three large jawed eel fish looking like they'd been spawned from lion fish and eel parentage. These things seem to swim out of the symbiotic growth on the giant star fish. He only had time to notice them before they were upon him.

Enemy Eels: The first two of the eels brush past him and he can feel a mild shock through the water, but it had no effect on him besides distraction. The third however latches onto his fin with a spurt of blood and begins to drag him away from the starfish.

Gigantic Starfish: The giant begins to stir ever so slightly and raises a monstrous appendage as if in warning or perhaps like waving away an annoying fly, to expose it's wriggling tentacle feet to him.

The Creature near Roach: The beast wriggles under his snapping jaws after being stunned. The thing's senses begin to return to it as it makes a play for escaping his clutches, now that they were no longer in Ace's field. Roach knew if he didn't kill it quickly his lust for it's blood wouldn't be satiated...

Other creature on deck: The other creature turns towards one of the illusionary Roaches and begins to attempt to attack it, obviously unsuccessfully...Though it stops and begins to investigate it experimentally.

Creatures In Steerage: The group of four creatures paused in their attack on the door they were crawling around and even hanging from the ceiling there, as they began to become aware that they were not alone.

Asar: Asar's last ditch gambit proves successful as he reaches out like a fisherman to net the boy before he hits the water and he swings the young man back to the ship and Nathaniel. Seeing the boy safe gave Asar a relief he didn't know he needed. He didn't mean to put the boy in danger and the boy seemed undeterred in his sobbing thankfulness. The young crewman was seriously traumatized and it showed, just like Nathaniel.

Nathaniel: The magician was feeling incredibly angry at what had been done to the ship and the cause for it's demise. He couldn't be certain but he knew he had to tell someone about what he knew. With the strength he could draw from magic he draws forth armor from the darkforce dimension, thus summoned it began to take shape over his body and crystallized into chitinous black armor. In a moment, the huge man and the cabin boy are back with him. The young crewman sobbing at their feet.

Geo: Geo lowers down to the deck without much hassle, he saw that the group had already begun to descend into the hold, with Roach the last remaining on deck. Except for the commotion above him with Nathaniel and Asar, and their ward. He manages to see Asar grab a boy from out of the air and bring him to the bridge where it looks like the three had come to rest. With light beginning to fail on the deck, he knew he had to follow the other trio or wait for Roach and Asar.

 Though another creature looked as though it was free of the field now but was preoccupied with an illusion of Roach...He was able to make the simple guess it was not real because of it's reactions to the creature. Knowing that to be part of Sil's repertoire he decided the creature could either be left to it's own devices or dealt with.

OOC: After this I will split the scene between those below deck and those above deck or outside the ship.

Next Round of Initiative(#5)
1.Enemies(Ext)   5.Geo        9.Roach
2.Phoenix        6.Ms.S       10.Nathaniel
3.Angok          7.Luminary   11.Sil
4.Enemies(Int)   8.Asar        

Next turn update on Saturday shooting for Noon again! Don't forget to include your Initiative! Thanks, nice job so far everyone!
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:11, Sat 26 Sept 2020.

Actually, I could fly us over.  But it would be painful for you, and the landing would be shit, James responds.  He cuts off the flamethrower effects as the others go below decks.
He turns around, scooping up his hat and his trench coat.  Put that on backwards, there are gloves in the pockets, he says as he tosses the coat to her, and flip up the collar to protect your face, darlin'.  Placing the hat upon his head, he steps out onto the balcony.  You'll have to ride piggy-back.
It always seems odd to him how, once the flame is away from his body, even in rain, it still burns.  But, once he is wet, he can't produce fire.  Perhaps his asbestos fiber clothing will help keep him dry enough to use his powers.

17:23, Today: Phoenix rolled 19 using 1d100+16.  D100+Int=Initiative.

Asar takes in the scene and finds that there are Roaches and then there are Roaches, more than enough to take care of things up here. He heads back down to the deck and pauses for a moment and seems to take a deep breath and heads towards where the others went down.

Forgot Initiative: 08:55, Today: Asar Uludu rolled 114 using 1d100+16.  Initiative.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:58, Sat 26 Sept 2020.

Angok growled, or the shark equivalent, as the eel creature bites into his fin. But his pain was nothing compared to his frustration at his well-placed attack having apparently no effect on the massive star creature.

Unfortunately this frustration overwhelmed his thoughts, causing him to badly miss as he attempted to crane his neck around to bite the eel attached to him.

Awesome! Looks like I'm all about extremes. Rolled a 1!

00:26, Today: Angok rolled 1 using 1d100.  Edged Attack Fighting (Ex) + Sharp Weapons.
00:46, Today: Angok rolled 94 using 1d100+16.  Initiative.

This message was last edited by the player at 05:46, Sat 26 Sept 2020.

Looking around, the situation above deck seemed to be within hand. There were no civilian personnel in danger that remained unattended. All but one of the creatures he could see had either been destroyed or was being presently engaged by a member of the team. The sole remaining creature that wasn't was engaged with illusions supplied by a member of the team and there wasn't much else it could do at the moment otherwise. That left his decision simple.

Sam followed the other members of the team below into the steerage level of the vessel. His choice seemed to be a wise one as there were more creatures here seemingly poised to cause further damage and chaos. Without a thought he squared his shoulders again and set his feet. The team couldn't afford the delay of dispatching these monsters. They needed to resolve the source of the disturbance aboard this vessel.

"Proceed to the source of the disturbance. I will engage the creatures here," he announced.

Again he charged at the creatures. Again fate saw fit to thwart his efforts, assured though they had seemed when he set his course. Sam had not registered the excess of murky slime polluting the floors there in steerage. His footing gave way not halfway to his intended targets causing him to careen past them into an adjoining interior bulkhead.

OOC: SERIOUSLY?! I need a 31... THIRTY-ONE!!! or better out of 100! Why is it so hard for me to charge something successfully? I apologize if I just sunk the ship.

04:55, Today: Geo rolled 4 using 1d100.  Endurance-charging roll.
04:31, Today: Geo rolled 19 using 1d100+6.  initiative roll.

Roach found himself increasingly furious at the prey's repeated attempts at denyibg him his killing blow. There were more prey to Hunt, more scavengers Who were hunting the man-things around him. He wasn't presently hungry for man-things, and some small part of him still railed at the mere thought. But more importantly he was a predator, and these things were carrion feeders at Best. And much like the lion, Roach did not suffer hyenas getting in his way!
So with deadly focus and determination he decided that now was the time for the prey to die. So he lunged for the wounded creature's throat one more time, the last time if he had Any say.

And with his fangs striking true, Roach roared his Challenge to the world around him, daring the rest of the scavengers to ignore him at their own peril.

OOC: Roach goes for the kill again.
This time with a +37 karma boost, because this Thing needs to die now :p

19:21, Today: Roach rolled 108 using 1d100+37.  Bite (Edged attack +37 karma)

Eh, would hit without the boost, but at least this way I'm pretty sure it's a kill :D
As in, that's above 100, so it's a kill.

Oh, and initiative:
19:26, Today: Roach rolled 31 using 1d100+8.  Initiative

This message was last edited by the player at 17:27, Sat 26 Sept 2020.

Ignoring the biological muck and monsters around him, Ace continued to provide his shielding for those who desired it.  Still, his own pace was determined by that of Nic’s pace as it was he who was in the lead, and thankfully so given the light he was providing.

“There.” Ace pointed to the nearby stairwell. “Those will lead to the lowest deck and the source of our concerns here.”

OOC :
12:59, Today: Agent Ace rolled 120 using 1d100+20.  Initiative roll using 1d100 + intuition score.

This message was last edited by the player at 18:06, Sat 26 Sept 2020.

Nic stepped forward, once more appearing like he might be in a trance, only half-aware of his surroundings....until the lights and colors came even more in to focus than before, flooding his vision with sensory input.

"there's another piece of the meteor in the hold."

His steps slowed as he saw more....disturbing creatures. And some sort of giant worm. This ship was going to fuel his nightmares for years to come, but he tried to push that aside for now. He continued to walk towards the next flight of stairs going down, not wanting to engage in more battle belowdecks.

Round #5

Main Deck creatures(x2): The creatures did not waste time. The formerly stunned creature by Roach attempts to reverse the situation, and angrily snaps at Roach sinking it’s chompers into his resistant flesh. The one left to watch the illusionary Roaches sees a real Roach fighting with another creature and leaps onto Roach’s back where it begins to claw at his face.

Enemies with Angok: The Eels are more reserved in their attacks but each makes an attempt with only the last, again, to strike true at the great white shark. Then the Starfish attempts an entangling attack, but Roach and the eels are moving much too fast this time and it makes a crunching sound against the hull, and inside the ship everyone hears the stony sound of the starfish’s thump.

Phoenix: Disarmingly, James takes over the situation and offers to fly Ms.S over to the Neustria and so the pair quickly make the trip that would’ve taken them minutes more by boat. They land on the deck to find Roach engaged by two of the creatures, but Roach himself seems dangerously not himself...Ms.S climbs down from Phoenix’s back and begins a canny sprint towards the two on Roach. She calls back, “I’ll be right behind you!”

Angok: Outside, Angok feels the blood eeking from his fin wound and it’s stinging exposed fibrous musculature begin to stitch itself back together. The eels are a nuisance now but out here long enough even they might be able to take him down. If this thing had a heart, he had to find it soon or give up trying.(Regen +3 noted)

Enemies in Steerage: At this point the creatures in the hall haven’t yet noticed or were too dim to be aware of the team as they made their way onto the steerage deck. However they are clambered around a doorway to one of the cabins, even clinging from piping on the ceiling of the corridor, seemingly staking it out. Four of the creatures in total, seem impatiently attempting to get inside or provoking a response from within...

Geo: Geo sees the creatures grouped together and begins a charge at the beasts, essentially giving him the element of surprise. However the slimy flooring is giving him issues and in the charge he loses his footing but not his velocity. The result is that he hits a wall adjoining the door they were trying to get into and gouges a huge hole in the corridor. Luckily it wasn’t an outside bulkhead. The creatures cannily leap out of the way, it would be a moment before they recovered. Ahead however in the corridor, Geo sees a monstrous sea worm-like protrusion coming from a hole in the bulkhead, and though Geo is not of this world, even he could tell this was not normal for a sea creature. He hadn’t detected any sounds of a breaking hull however so it would have been here the whole time they’d seen the Neustria. At any rate it didn’t seem threatening at the moment.

 From behind Geo however in the cabin he’d destroyed the entrance to, a candlelight flickers in the aftermath and a moan escapes an emaciated, sobbing man rocking back and forth, a pistol in hand, looking perhaps too traumatized to use it.

Ms.S: After she calls back to Phoenix she makes haste to intercept the second creature that had jumped on Roach’s back. The thing was relentless but simple, which she took full advantage of. She leaped at the long limbed cretin’s center of mass and hit it squarely, sending it reeling off of him and to the deck railing. She nodded and gave Roach a sniff, “that’s one down.”

Luminary, Ace & Sil: As you move forward you see a shimmering come from the next flight of stairs down. A flickering of green and purple-ish lights is nearly all that prepares you for what’s ahead. As if some otherworldly aurora was being created deeper into the cargo hold. The trio can hear something also now apart from the noise of Geo's attack; it was the sound of voices, some otherworldly and some speaking in some form of tongues or chants perhaps?

Asar: With a grunt he descends to the deck without a word to Nathaniel or the crewman he saved. Quickly making his way after the others after pausing to brush his hands over the muck and mire area where Nicholas stood just a few short moments ago. Taking a deep breath and continuing onward.

Roach: Roach reels back at the creature that was still in his grasp after it took it’s shot at him, and he tears it a new neck-hole and pulls out grisly meat and a mouthful of green ichor. Anxiously he sees the other creature that had been on his back, slammed against the railing by Ms.S, who watched from a short distance away in the fading light, she made no further move to destroy it but instead watched Roach’s reactions…

Nathaniel: Nathaniel was abruptly left to take care of the young crewman, after donning his armor he saw something very strange out in the roiling waters of the Atlantic Ocean. He saw multitudes of lights, at first he thought it might be some trick of the stars reflecting on the ocean, but it looked as though they were moving and taking on shapes beneath the waves. Below them however things were starting to get quiet, and it appeared that more or less the group that had boarded were moving into the lower hold...

Ace: Arthur finds the area to be horrid, but continues on to allow Nicholas to find what it was he needed to find with his shield intact to protect him. So far it had appeared that his ability could keep them quite safe from most of the attackers, and this allowed him to ignore almost everything around them. Though what they saw and heard ahead was undeniably daunting.

Sil: Sil’s illusions were finally beginning to give out now that she was out of sight range and unable to properly coordinate them. They continued to perform the last thing she left them with and soon it was just holographic representation. She was peripherally aware however of the chanting the trio were hearing from the deck below...

Next Round of Initiative(#6)...
1.Ace 	  	5.Enemies(ext)   9.Phoenix      13.Crew & Unknown man
2.Asar	  	6.Luminary  	10.Geo
3.Enemies(Int) 	7.Roach 	11.Sil
4.Angok	  	8.Ms.S      	12.Nathaniel      

Next turn will be on TUESDAY at NOON Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions or anything else you want to ask or also, if I've missed anything.

Don't forget to put your Initiative in your post to avoid going last again!
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:11, Mon 28 Sept 2020.

He had donned his hat and turned up his shirt collar, the added his suit jacket and turned up that collar.  That's when his skin suddenly ignites and his stiff clothing balloons out a bit.  When Ms S climbs on his back, she notices the give between the clothing and his athletic form, as well as the increased heat.  What she does not see at first is that he is actually floating a bit off the ground.  Jets fo flame from around his shoes and from his hands provide the necessary thrust and steering for them to get across as well as acting as brakes for the landing.  A surprisingly good one.  He had expected more crashing.  Then there is the fact that he can hear the sizzle of rain upon his asbestos hat and clothing, as sound he is not particularly comfortable hearing.
As soon as she disembarks, he turns his attention to any of the creatures that may be around them by going flamethrower again, his hand pulled inside the sleeves of his shirt, and sweeping flames across the deck at them.

03:02, Today: Phoenix rolled 40 using 1d100+16.  d100+Intuition for Initiative.

03:01, Today: Phoenix rolled 38 using 1d100.  Ex16 Agility to hit for Ex16 Dmg. 

This message was last edited by the player at 23:54, Mon 28 Sept 2020.

Asar decided to not be side tracked on his way down to the hold, but he can't leave the hero who's name is Geo. Instead he grunts a bit and sends his mental energies to grab two of the creatures and slam them into the other two creatures and try and pin them against the wall. Thus to be easy pickings for Geo to deal with. It might even work as planned.....might.

However, he doesn't stick around to see what Geo ends up doing as he follows the others down the stairs.



18:39, Today: Asar Uludu rolled 21 using 1d100+16.  Inish.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:43, Mon 28 Sept 2020.

Nic - and he wasn't sure what cosmic entity kept referring to him as 'Luminary' except for that professor he'd been traveling with as a joke - moved slowly, ever slowly towards and then down the stairs. He glanced at the creatures trying to get in to a room that they were passing. That was interesting, and he idly wondered who or what was in there....but that wasn't important at the moment. Only down was imporant.

He frowned a bit, not from the brightness he was shedding, which had seemed to dim ever so slightly as he kept moving belowdeck. Instead, his face scrunched up a bit as he heard...something. Implausible. Strange. His head tilted a bit as he...listened, his blood running a bit cold for a moment.

He didn't speak for that would take effort and he was concentrating very intently - not because he wanted to, but because he felt...compelled to almost. He felt he could stop if he wanted, really he could but...he didn't want to. He felt something below, another piece of the meteor, another piece of the puzzle hopefully.

Then he heard...chanting? From the hold? And odd lights (not that he could cast stones). What the hell was going on? He spared a glance at Sil and Ace as he continued down the stairs, a confused look on his face for a moment before he faced downward once more.

22:11, Today: Luminary rolled 33 using 1d100+26.  Initiative.

The close quarters of the steerage deck worked to his disadvantage. Being at sea worked to his disadvantage for that matter. He didn't have material to work with. Not much of it anyway, and none within immediate reach. Now there was also a civilian imperiled by his actions because of the slick substance along the deck he hadn't noticed in his rush to provide assistance to the team. If only there was something close by he could use to combat these creatures beyond his own body. He ran the calculation as he checked his sensory range again. Had he missed anything.

In the meantime, he moved to place himself as a barrier in the opening between the creatures on the traumatized individual. At the very least he could serve that function. He was more durable than the cabin wall and far more durable than the door that had held the beasts at bay. He prepared to strike the first creature that made any attempt to pass him to get at the man.

"You will stay behind me. I will do my best to protect you," he said to the poor man.

OOC: move to stand in the hole I created to protect the guy. held an action to punch the first creature to come at us.

02:32, Today: Geo rolled 69 using 1d100+6.  Blunt attack - EX fighting.
02:05, Today: Geo rolled 50 using 1d100+6.  initiative roll.

In the depths of his thirst and hunger, Nathaniel sees the large man, and a few others, start down toward the hold.

"There's an artifact!" he calls out, as loud as he can, although in his weakened state it's more of a wheeze. "In a crate. And more creatures. So many more! We need to be careful!"

He figured he must be quite a site: a humanoid encased in black insectile armour, sounding like he just came out of the hospital.

OOC: 45 Initiative.

Catching Nic’s look, Ace was certain that the look on his own face was one of bewilderment. “Let’s be extremely cautious. We don’t know what may have come from the other side.” Memories of the creature that attacked Ace’s mind flooded back, and he tried not to shiver. Steeling himself, he prepared to go on the offensive at any second.

As he moved forward, Ace could hear someone calling after them from above deck. "There's an artifact! In a crate. And more creatures. So many more! We need to be careful!" Artifact, what type of artifact?


OOC :
09:10, Today: Agent Ace rolled 53 using 1d100+20.  Initiative roll using 1d100 + intuition score.

This message was last edited by the player at 14:18, Tue 29 Sept 2020.

Roach stared from the creature he killed to the other one, and then to the Woman-thing that had hit it. He paused briefly, considering whether the woman-thing was a threat. But it did seem non-threatening for now. The other creature, however...
With a roar, he jumped the second creature, determined to claim another throat.

OOC:
17:48, Today: Roach rolled 68 using 1d100.  Bite (Edged attack).
So potentially 37 damage and stun.

17:48, Today: Roach rolled 25 using 1d100+8.  Initiative.

Recognizing the futility of attacked the starfish at this time, Angok chooses the better part of valor and starts swimming away from the creature as quickly as possible, hoping the eel fish will not take pursuit.

13:20, Today: Angok rolled 27 using 1d100+16.  Initiative.

ROUND #6

Ace: Arthur finds the watching and waiting to be an exercise in patience. Ahead however he sees a bunch of interesting stuff. None of it seemed to him to account for what he was seeing and his mind began to swim with the possibilities. (see pic in thread)

Asar sends a wave of force against two of the creatures in the hall before the recovering Geo and his ward. He notices as he walks by, the creatures slam into the corridor wall and with a sneering hiss and screeching they are pinned for a time. Green ichor covers them now, bloody, lanky goblins, the lot of them.

 As he moves forward his mind suddenly feels a twinge of excitement perhaps? There is a sensation he’s felt before, present now quite thoroughly and feeling stronger as he heads towards the lower hold with the others. Regardless, it’s not a feeling he enjoys and even he might feel anxious as he approaches what feels like peril. Ahead he can hear myriad vocal sounds, and manages to catch a few words in an extinct language, but near enough to his own native tongue to make out a simple phrase, “...what is a goose?”

Enemies with Geo: Two of the creatures are pinned against the corridor wall cannot move as Asar was kind enough to lend a hand. Two of them however recover quite quickly and begin to advance on Geo and the man behind him, oblivious to the plight of their brethren. These mutated men leap at Geo and one attempts to get past him… The first strikes quickly attempting to slice at Geo’s chest and slashes through his clothing and into some more delicate components.  The second of them can’t complete it’s leap past Geo because the hole wasn’t wide enough to allow it passage while he was climbing to his feet. So even as Geo regains his feet, the beasts are upon him...

Angok: Outside the ship Angok is staying just out of the clutches of the eels. As he dodges the eels he can sense other forces moving nearby as he angles away from the starfish. Angok has time to see several lights appear in the depths from the south. At this distance he can’t yet tell what they are yet but there are five lights closing in on this side of the ship’s waters. That they are not boats is the only thing he is sure of.

Luminary: Nicholas reaches the next stairs and begins to descend. The glow is becoming brighter now and he can still hear something very odd coming from down in the main hold of the ship. It’s like a sizzling of electricity and the tuning of the sliver all at once. Suddenly, he begins to get chills when he sees a glowing shape flow by the bottom of the stairwell as if on a swift current of air. Cautiously, he continues and what he sees astounds him. (see pic in thread)

Roach: He doesn’t wait for an invitation, Roach leaps to the other creature and takes a gouge out of it’s throat with more ichor painting the deck. Coupled with the damage Ms.S had done and his own incredible power, the thing clumps dead at his feet a moment later. The smell of dead things permeates the air now and he can sense that most of the other quarry has retreated, perhaps watching from the shadows. Just the fire-man and the woman here except in the darkness he can hear the slapping of elongated arms and legs against the wood and metal of the decks.

Ms.S: She smiles at Roach as he takes another bite of beastie and doesn't try for her. She decided he wasn’t going to be dangerous for any of them, that at least so long as they weren’t confronting him. It might be a different story after the fight is done. Then she’d revisit the situation. She heads back towards Phoenix then, “Alright, what’s the plan?”

Phoenix: James sees creatures in the growing shadows now that Luminary has gone below deck along with most everyone else, slinking about. As he washes the deck with flame, he sees them driven back and one of them set to light! The creature flails about in unsung agony, and finally stumbles over the deck railing. Others hiss from the shadows but do not advance on the trio.

Geo: Sam reacts fast, as the first one already managed to get a claw in, while another is trying to wriggle over and past him. He winds up for a moment and then pulverizes the first creature into the deck, leaving a nice crater in the place he leaves it, it does not get up. Across the way, the two other creatures seem pinned against the wall from Asar’s TK wave. Behind him, the man moans shakily, “it’s my fault, it’s my fault, they are here to take me…”

Sil: Sil continues to hear the strange voices as well, other sounds also permeate the air as she follows Ace and Nic into the hold. The greenish haze that escaped the deflating creatures on deck she had witnessed earlier, seemed to be flowing down the stairs she noticed. (see pic in thread)

Nathaniel: Coming in behind Asar down the stairs he calls out to the team about the artifact and the creatures from down below. He can see a greenish haze surrounding them and flowing down into the hold. Nathaniel’s trained mind sees the mist and feels a tension in the air like, reality is being reshaped with magic further down...

Crewman Jonah(main deck): The cabin boy was suddenly left by himself, his savior follows the others. It’s ok, he tells himself, he can make it to the ship that appeared so suddenly, he only needs to get two decks down and make his way to the dingy. He clambers down the stairs to the main deck and finds a trio of three people on deck fending off the monsters with flame. He calls out weakly to them, “Aldez-moi!”

Scene from the lower hold

Next Round of Initiative(#7)...
1.Enemies(Int) 		5.Phoenix	 9.Roach
2.Ace	  		6.Ms.S 		10.Asar
3.Geo	 		7.Luminary	11.Sil
4.Nathaniel	  	8.Angok	        12. Crew & Normies   		

Next turn will be on THURSDAY at NOON Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions after you check out the pic linked above.

Also, anyone entering that room will need to make a Psyche roll and a separate Intuition roll to detect the dangers of the hold or to not be caught off guard.

Don't forget to put your Initiative in your post to avoid going last again!

As he keeps the man-things away with his flames, the Bureau agent hears someone call out in French.  He turns to see the cabin-boy.  I think, , the first thing should be to get the boy over there safely off the ship, he responds to the question asked of him.  I'm keepin' the bastards at bay, and Roach over there ain't in no shape ta help anybody.  So, it's gotta be you.  His Bronx-born accent is starting to come out.
He sweeps the jets of flame across the deck more to keep the monsters back than to actually hit them.
19:56, Today: Phoenix rolled 60 using 1d100+16.  Initiative + E16 Intuition.

19:55, Today: Phoenix rolled 25 using 1d100.  Ex16 Agility to hit for Ex16 Dmg. 

Nathaniel, still clad in his chitinous armour, follows the large man down the stairs. Every step increases his dread. Something bad was happening down there. Something magical-bad. Reality-warping bad.

"Please be careful, sir," he said to Asar, "There are things of a mystical nature happening here. I have some schooling in these things."

He tried to parse out the mystical strands, to see if he could figure out what to do about all this. How to help. How to stop it.

Even though a dark part of his mind was desperate to see what would happen.

OOC:
Psyche Roll: 89 (Yellow)
Intuition Roll: 33 (White)
Occult (Reason) check: 63 (Green)
Initiative: 16 (the dice roller does NOT like me)

Asar was sure that the statue was kind of representation of Tiamat and perhaps the Tablets of Destiny, but he was unsure of what was mystically happening. The man behind him had said something about artifacts, perhaps this is what he meant.

"I am Asar. Did you mean that statue of Tiamat is the artifact or the tablets it holds?"

He keeps moving forward along with the others.

"Pretty sure that the hovering guy needs to not keep doing magical things, yes?"





19:21, Today: Asar Uludu rolled 52 using 1d100+16.  Inish.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:14, Thu 01 Oct 2020.

Nic saw things he'd never seen before, things he'd never even imagined before! "I'll be cow-kicked." A...floating creature. That was also glowing. A statue? Green wispy spirits or colored smoke things. If he hadn't been 'witnessed' the meteor and seen what he'd seen since then, he'd have simply thought he was losing his mind. Hell, that would be simpler!

He glanced at Ace, hesitating. "...so...uh...should we...attack the green spirits? Or...stop the...whatever that thing's doing?"

22:19, Today: Luminary rolled 116 using 1d100+26.  Initiative.
22:19, Today: Luminary rolled 105 using 1d100+26.  Psyche Roll.
22:19, Today: Luminary rolled 73 using 1d100+26.  Intuition roll.

"I will not let them take you," Sam told the man, trying to sound reassuring.

His tone was... odd. Sam did not understand how to inflect emotions properly. He was learning but it was not an easy skill to come by for him. Especially in tense moments such as this where he was processing and calculating so much all at once. So, his tone was a strange mix of sympathy and encouragement. As if he were trying to cheer the man up instead of reassure him that Sam would do everything he could to protect him.

Sam did not have time to notice or reflect on how his words were received though. There were still immediate threats to the man's life. He moved and shifted to do his best to keep between the creatures and the unfortunate traumatized soul. Again he drew back a fist and slammed it with maximum force at the optimum trajectory to anticipate the creature's ability to evade the strike. Hopefully he could put it down as swiftly as the last and turn his attention to the two that the other man had somehow pinned against the wall.

OOC: phew.... dice rollers still with me for now.

04:10, Today: Geo rolled 64 using 1d100.  Blunt attack - EX fighting.
04:10, Today: Geo rolled 78 using 1d100+6.  initiative roll.

“Stardust!” For a moment, Ace stood wide eyed and transfixed at what was before him. It was the words of Asar that helped focus his mind.

“Pretty sure that the hovering guy needs to not keep doing magical things, yes?"

“What do I know about magic?” Ace tried to force some levity into his voice. “I fix bicycles and radios.” But this wasn’t something that they could just laugh off and doing something in a hurry seemed important. “But we better do something to interrupt this ritual or we might all be toast.” Acting almost on reflex, Ace reached out and tried to slam the reptilian creature with a wall of telekinesis.





OOC:
11:21, Today: Agent Ace rolled 22 using 1d100+20.  Initiative roll using 1d100 + intuition score.

11:29, Today: Agent Ace rolled 59 using 1d100.  Telekinesis . [Yellow feat]


This message was last edited by the player at 16:34, Thu 01 Oct 2020.

He was quickly getting outnumbered and had no interest in dealing with all of these threats by himself. And the addition of these new threats from below triggered a need to alert the others. He quickly started swimming to the surface trying to stay away from the eels. As he reached the surface, he breached and then transformed back into a falcon and hurried to the deck of the Neustria, turning back into his (naked) normal body and started searching for his comrades to warn them.

13:55, Today: Angok rolled 83 using 1d100.  Animal Transformation.
13:56, Today: Angok rolled 24 using 1d100+16.  Initiative.

With the two creature within reach dead at his Class, Roach turned to the woman-Thing  Who had helped him. With a low, throaty grwol he tried to gauge whether she was prey or predator, and if it would be worth the risk to unleash his barely restrained aggression on her. Crouched low and using his hands as much as his feet, he slowly padded closer to her, fangs bare.
Then he heard the sound of what had to be the other prey creature that had fled from the sounds and noise the man things had made before going below deck. With his appetite wetted, he immediately tensed his muscle, before dashing of in the direction of the other creature. He still had much rage that needed release.

OOC: Roach ignores Ms. S in favor of going in the general direction where the creature where scared of to, Esger to Hunt more of Them.

21:18, Today: Roach rolled 19 using 1d100+8.  Initiative.

Round #7

Enemies with Geo: The still wriggling creature on Geo tries in vain to get to the man behind Geo and so resorts to raking Geo with everything it’s got left and succeeds only in some minor scuffing and scrapes. Geo might need a new paint job after this.

Ace: Instinctively Arthur slams down on the fishman with immense telekinetic force. Slamming through the shimmering field that surrounded it. With a shower of sparks around the scene, the contained force from the ritual seems to flash outward and suddenly darken the hold to it’s natural night time state. Knocking over cargo containers and dislodging tools and equipment around the area. The practitioner falls to the ground in a daze and it looks around.

 Ace also detects numerous shadows moving in the deep hold and something large moving among the piles of black sooty coal piles deeper in the shadows of the hold, as if he’d awakened them from idleness. Psychically he felt something wash over him and around him but did not seem to penetrate his own innate defenses...

Geo: Tired of being scraped and scratched by the creature, he tosses it to the ground and pounds a fist into it ‘s soft body, this time hearing an audible pop as it seems to rupture and begin to disgorge a thick green mist like a blown engine and in the process deflate like one of the previous creature’s he’d fought.

Nathaniel: Even though the occultist was unable to ascertain the exact nature of the mystical strands that stretched away from the event that had been transpiring further down into the hold, he could see some interesting techniques by the practitioner as well, familiar in some ways but definitely different than the schools he’s witnessed. He did however see something that sparked his interest and must be on some level universal: this practitioner was attempting to break or dispel a curse!

Phoenix: Ms.S nods solemnly in response, while Phoenix sweeps the deck again with a gout of flame that sends the hiding creatures scurrying away from them again. He counted more now than when he first came up on deck; he wondered silently if they were attracting them or driving them back.(see Angok)

Ms.S: Sanderson ushers the boy towards the raft and begins to help him as James drives back the hissing man-things.

Luminary: As the sole source of light down here now, he felt extremely wary, like a target. He could hear the cackling spirits and saw as Ace disrupted the scene and plunged the hold into darkness. He strengthened his resolve and could still feel the pull of the other sliver and it’s strange whispering in his head. Ahead his light reached to the edge of the scene where the creature was last.

Angok: He made it quickly to the main deck as he flashed between shapes, leaving his opponents behind to splash out of the water after him but to no avail. First hitting falcon shape and then back to his Hollow Man form in a series of blinks. He can still see the lights getting closer to their position but they aren’t moving extremely fast from the looks of it. Angok dodges the sounds of the skittering creatures he’d seen and following the sounds of battle and the light of Phoenix fire and a bloody Roach…(see Roach)

Roach: Roach has time only to see a new figure appear before him, Angok. He’d seen Angok in his peaceful state, but now he appeared out of the darkness and perhaps too quietly and he surprised the hunting Roach and for a moment the two square off to decide if the other was friend or foe.(see Main deck enemies)

Main deck Enemies: With a concentration of targets now, the creatures have begun to become more brave as well and one jumps to attack each of the heroes on the main deck. One leaps towards the back of Angok, and slashes him with knife-like claws. Another leaps from the shadows of the saloon towards Roach and slips on the slickness. Phoenix likewise turns from the situation with only barely enough time to see one squeeze from a ventilation port on the deck about a meter away.

Asar: Asar couldn’t see the other creatures and it was simply too dark outside of Nicholas’s sphere of light to see much in the hold any more now that the fishman’s magic was disrupted. On top of it all he was terrified, more terrified than he’d been in recent memory. He was suddenly reeling into flashbacks of the war and he began to replay in his mind the moments leading to his enemy imprisoning him…(see personal thread tonight!)

Sil: Sil was the only one who could help in this moment but she was frozen in place, whether fear, indecision or something else gripped her. She had to do something but what?

Guard: The man behind Geo began to blubber, “The curse is my fault I’m sure of it. They’re all dead because of me!”

Next Round of Initiative(#8)...
1.Enemies(A) 		5.Ms.S		 9.Ace  	13. Normies
2.Luminary  		6.Asar 		10.Roach
3.Geo	 		7.Phoenix	11.Nathaniel
4.Enemies(Geo)  	8.Angok	        12.Sil  		

Next turn will be on SUNDAY at NOON Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions!

Don't forget to put your Initiative in your post to avoid going last again!

Nic frowned as the lights suddenly went out. He was starting to feel a little like a lantern, and it was getting annoying. He let out a little bit of a snarl and raised one hand up. As he did so, he pulled the very light he was glowing with off of him and blasted it outwards in a sudden wave of brightness, trying to lift the the lighting in the hold itself up to bright levels, almost painfully bright. The creatures in the shadows didn't seem to like the light - or maybe they just used darkness to their advantage. He wasn't sure, but knew he and his allies could use better lighting to be effective!

Then he began to move forward, seeking cover almost absently, as he tried to hone in on where the other piece of the meteor was more exactly so he could try to get to it.

OOC: Raise light level in cargo not to blinding levels, but bright. Dropping the light above deck, if not down already.
Move towards the broken crates area, towards G-6, if they can provide some potential cover.

00:26, Today: Luminary rolled 42 using 1d100+26.  Initiative.
00:27, Today: Luminary rolled 88 using 1d100+26.  Light Control (raise the light level in hold to bright).

Arthur wasn’t exactly sure what to do at this point. He was certain that putting a stop to the ritual being conducted by the fishman would put an end to any dark arcane activity. But feeling the presences that he now did, he was uncertain that he had made the right choice. There was no time to second guess himself now however. Reaching for his force fields, Arthur tried to strengthen them around himself and his companions in case there was another attack against them.


OOC:

10:04, Today: Agent Ace rolled 34 using 1d100.  Force Fields. [Green Feat]
10:03, Today: Agent Ace rolled 78 using 1d100+20.  Initiative roll using 1d100 + intuition score.



This message was last edited by the player at 15:12, Sun 04 Oct 2020.

"Please calm yourself," Sam tried to reassure the blubbering man.

Something about the man's demeanor and his proclamations of guilt shifted the focus of his calculations. The two free creatures in their vicinity had been dealt with. The other two weren't coming at them yet. The most immediate threat to the man at the moment now seemed like it might be the man himself. Suddenly his calculations indicated that the man's pistol might not be an instrument of self-defense but possibly self-destruction.

Sam turned towards the man and acted. He reached out and attempted to grab the pistol to remove it from the man's grip. The way he was talking it seemed just as if not more likely he might employ it against himself than the creatures he thought were trying to take him. Unfortunately, his hand was slick with goo from the creatures he had just dispatched in the man's defense. As he grabbed at the pistol it simply slipped off the weapon.

"Please surrender the firearm, sir. I fear for your safety," he implored.

OOC: the easier the task, the worse I seem to roll.

13:12, Today: Geo rolled 5 using 1d100.  Strength- grab.
15:27, Today: Geo rolled 80 using 1d100+6.  initiative roll.

This message was last edited by the player at 19:28, Sun 04 Oct 2020.

Roach was inches away from jumping the Thing that just lande on the deck, when the creatures came out of the shadow St Them both. Faced with things that he knew for certain were enemies, and what's more with the closest one of balance from slipping, the choice was simple. Yet another one would fall to his fangs. Through the haze of aggression, Roach vaguely felt elated at the prospect of this, weird Hunt throwing itself at him. His instincts, repressed for so long where finally allowed to Come Forth fully.

OOC: Roach attacks the ghoul-thing that tried to jump him.
20:18, Today: Roach rolled 22 using 1d100.  Bite (Edged attack).

20:18, Today: Roach rolled 31 using 1d100+8.  Initiative
 

Angok tries to reach around and punch that had leapt on his back, but can't seem to find it.

Awesome...

20:22, Today: Angok rolled 1 using 1d100.  Punch Bad Guy
20:22, Today: Angok rolled 97 using 1d100+16.  Initiative.

Phoenix, keeping his head on a swivel, sees the creatuer jump on Angok's back, the one going after Roach slip in a mixture of blood and water, then the one in the ventilation duct.  He aims his jet of flames at the ventilation beast, but misses badly.

23:51, Today: Phoenix rolled 115 using 1d100+16.  Initiative + E16 Intuition.

23:51, Today: Phoenix rolled 5 using 1d100.  Ex16 Agility to hit for Ex16 Dmg.

Round #8

Enemies on the Cargo Deck: From just before the still unscathed statue, came the sound of a gurgling voice echoing through the hold, a rhythmic nonsensical rhyming of some foreign words. Suddenly a series of flashes and a glowing circle of symbols appears on the deck surrounding the statue. A muddy sentence from a distinctly non-native English speaker, “Anun-naki savage, back stay! I break curse, let leave!”

Luminary: Luminary began to move towards the debris on the floor ahead and hunkered down by one of the half torn crates to see if he could see anything further. His light came with him and brightened the hold in all directions simultaneously. From this vantage, he could see the statue a couple yards away. As he focused on the sliver’s reverberations, He realized that it was coming from the statue. The statue itself carries a tablet on her lap, there are inscriptions in some form of hieroglyphs and marks. The fishman was gone. He realizes he’s outside of Ace’s reinforced field now and he noticed the movement from the shadows now increased, both to avoid the light to some degree and to leap from the shadows as floating green spirits began to seek out the living...

Geo: Sam tried to calm the disturbed man who appeared to be in his early thirties with brown hair and a faceful of stubble. He looked like he would’ve been rugged and tough if he weren’t so emaciated and worn down. The man seemed to respond to the words though, knitting his brow into an expression of reluctance. Geo could see he wore some cultural form of a good luck charm around his neck, it had blood on it. Regardless, he lets go of the gun.

Outside Enemies with Roach, Angok and Phoenix: Up on the main deck, the creatures attempted to regroup and attack once more. The first rolls towards Roach to attempt to make up for it’s folly and commits another, slipping back to his face with a roar. The second can’t seem to maintain it’s grip on Angok and falls off of him even as it dodged his punches. The third creature skitters aside just in time as Phoenix sears a red hot spot on the deck plating...

 Around them creatures began to take advantage of the distraction and start to venture out further.

Ms.S: Sanderson managed to get the weak young man into the boat and now to row over to the Maurentania.

Asar: The big man hasn’t shifted from his horrified position making Nathaniel go around him in order to get into the hold. He seems stunned...perhaps even paralyzed! His eyes seem to glow slightly and he doesn’t seem to respond to anything around him.

Ace: Mr.Adams has only a moment to feel uncertain before black tentacles begin to reach up from the coal deck, under and around the railings. Nic pushed back the darkness but much of the coal deck is still obscured as the cargo deck is about eight feet up. The walls seemed to come alive as the shapes flow out from the shadows now, each taking a vaguely humanoid shape and begin seeking out the living...

Nathaniel(NPC’d): Nathaniel has only time to get around Asar before he feels danger from the spirits seeking them out. He shapes a black ebony sword from the dark energies at his command and begins to head towards Nic to help defend him and get closer to the statue. After he hears the creature speak, he solemnly calls to his new friends, “he’s right, this place must be cursed by the statue…”

Sil(NPC’d): Sil steps forward with Ace, and calls to the fishman in some primitive sounding language and quickly translates for the team, “I told him to call off the attack or we’d retaliate.”

Next Round of Initiative(#9)...
1.Phoenix 		5.Angok	         9.Nathaniel  		13. Roach
2.Frogs n Geo 		6.Ms.S 		10.Deck Frogs		14.Hold Spirits
3.Fishman 		7.Geo		11.Nic			15.Asar
4.Sil		  	8.Nathaniel	12.Ace  		

Next turn will be on WEDNESDAY at NOON Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions!

Don't forget to put your Initiative in your post to avoid going last again!
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:25, Tue 06 Oct 2020.

The Phoenix rises, spreading his arms like wings to throw flames around his new companions in an attempt to create a circle of meant to keep the creatures away.  Something tells me that these creatures are the crew and passengers of this ship, he says, his voice sounding like it is passing through the blades of a fan.  Vapor can be seen rising from his stiff clothing as the water hitting it evaporates with a quiet sizzle.
Having some difficulty with his control, he slowly begins to spin to keep the twin jets of flame moving to cover the other two men.

02:20, Today: Phoenix rolled 45 using 1d100+16.  Initiative + Intuition.

02:18, Today: Phoenix rolled 21 using 1d100.  Gd8 control, create circle of fire.  Nope.

OOC: It has occurred to me that I probably should've been doing this all along! Sorry folks, these will come in order of the initiative, so if you come before it in intiative you can adjust your actions.


Enemies with Geo: The two remaining creatures were pinned against the wall and now seem to be recovering. The wall clam seemed to become more active, though it hasn't yet attacked anything, a band of red light seemed to come from around the hundred tentacled mouth of the creature as it blossomed and opened from a singular tube into a sea anemone shape. The now many thinner tentacles all wave menacingly and seem to track movement. For the moment they are intent on the creatures in the hallway still.

Fishman: From somewhere inside the hold a voice calls once more. "We no attack, if you aid self to break evil and allow self what Tiamat guards..."

Enemies on Deck with Phoenix, Roach and Angok: The trio tangled with three creatures as more began to file out, aware somehow of their own growing strength and the situation down below. The first three lashed out, the first at Phoenix, as it skittered aside, it suddenly darts forward to slash at him and is engulfed in the barrier of flame he was projecting. The second leaps at Roach once again, clawing at his chest in a flurry of it's own. The last inside the fire barrier, attempts to kick out Angok's footing, and it will connect solidly unless Angok can attempt some fancy footwork...

OOC: Both Angok and Roach have a choice now to take the damage or attempt to evade(fighting) or dodge(agility)

Spirit creatures in the hold: The black tentacles rising from the coal deck appear to made from the coal and you can hear it crunching and grinding against each grain and chunk of the black sooty stuff. Currently it's only around the railing heading down onto the coal deck.

 The hold itself begins to come to life as well, the shadowy shapes taking on greenish hued smoky humanoid forms. They swirl like a cyclone surrounding the circle before the statue, occasionally one swings out as if to catch anything in a wider perimeter in it's ghastly embrace. It comes periliously close to Nic's and Nathaniel's position.
This message was last updated by the GM at 20:35, Wed 07 Oct 2020.

Unconcerned with the creature's puny claws, and more than a little enraged at his failed attempt at killing it, Roach ignored dodging it's attack in favor of making his own. Confident that it Will break before he does, he goes for another lethal bite.

OOC: Roach uses bite
19:32, Today: Roach rolled 40 using 1d100+20.  Bite (Edged attack +20 karma).
It misses!

19:33, Today: Roach rolled 30 using 1d100+8.  Initiative

Things were changing fast. Nic eyed the potential threats in the hold, the whirling green spirit cyclone and the coal-made black tentacles. Neither seemed like anything he wanted to get involved with - or at least touched by.

He called out, "Who's 'we'? You and the green spirits? Those tentacles? The creatures up on deck?" There was a bit of sarcasm in his voice. He had a feeling that it was possible he and the fishman were after the same thing.

He quickly stepped back from where he'd gotten to, trying to move out of the range of the whirling spirits and around the area of broken crates to get a better vantage point on the statue (and get farther away from the tentacles).

He took aim and fired a laser at the statue, trying to cut it open.

OOC: Will move further to the side towards the Rear Cargo if needs be for the shot.

09:37, Today: Luminary rolled 101 using 1d100+26.  Initiative.

13:50, Today: Luminary rolled 92 using 1d100+26.  Lasering the statue, trying to cut it open.

Ace just couldn’t take the fishman’s word at face value. Yes, they might have misjudged what the creature was doing, and he might have been trying to stop all the troubles happening on this ship. But if that were true, he would have to prove it. “Nic is right. How do we know you are not the enemy? If you are a force for good, the help us defeat these shadow monsters!”



OOC :
16:11, Today: Agent Ace rolled 76 using 1d100+20.  Initiative roll using 1d100 + intuition score.

Angok jumps over the foot of the attacker trying to trip him, catching his opponent off-balance and more vulnerable to his next attack.


So I messed up a bit, didn't realize that when you Evade, you can't also attack. But I did roll the Evade first, so I'm going with that.

Action: Evade (Yellow) - Evasion +1CS next round
Initiative: 98

17:25, Today: Angok rolled 70 using 1d100.  Evade
17:26, Today: Angok rolled 98 using 1d100+16.  Initiative.

Round #9

Main Deck Battle - Phoenix, Roach, Angok, Ms.S, Frogmen

 On the main deck the team begins to collapse as creatures begin to swarm into the incomplete barrier. Soon there would be more inside the barrier. In the meantime Phoenix attempts to close the barrier he’d managed several times before but somehow couldn’t muster his control this time. Angok leaps over the lanky creature’s attempt at grabbing his legs after it’s fall, and as it was off kilter, he would soon be able to take advantage of it’s over extension. Roach wasn’t as lucky and as it easily sidestepped his attack and lunged for a raking attack across his already tattered shirt.

The Cargo Hold - Fishman, Sil, Nathaniel, Nicholas, Arthur, Asar, Enemies

The Fishman says his piece and Nic and Arthur question the being. Sil attempts a translation into something the Fishman might understand better like the language she heard him using earlier. He begins to respond as Nic becomes impatient.

From Nic’s eyes spring forth a blast of laser light that quickly focuses into a cutting tool that slices into the stone like a hot knife to butter. The stone statue begins to come apart on the line of his cut, Tiamat’s upper body begins to slide backwards and topples onto the floor with a clanging thud. From within however, a burnt flesh smell and a rising black smoke joins the cacophony of spirits swirling about the area like a ventilation fan.

Nathaniel and Arthur are only momentarily taken aback by the rigamarole, as they each duck a cackling spirit as it flies by seemingly passing through Arthur's shield as well!

Geo and Enemies

 Geo watched as the creatures clambered back up to their feet slowly. He had succeeded in taking the gun from the marginally sane man. To his chagrin as he watched in horror as the creatures began to look about. Suddenly a pulse and one of them pops like a balloon, spraying ichor over the area. The other begins to flee in confusion, it's broken mind unable to make sense of the situation, but Geo can tell, the tentacles had destroyed it with a pulse of energy.

The man beside him quivers in fear and begins to try to make himself small against the wall to avoid the insanity of the sea anemone creature that fires energy pulses...

Next Round of Initiative(#10)...
1.Luminary 		5.Nathaniel	 9.Frogs on Deck	13.Ms.Sanderson
2.Hold Spirits 		6.Ace 		10.Phoenix		14.Geo
3.Angok 		7.Frogs w/Geo	11.Sil			
4.Asar		  	8.Atlanteans	12.Roach  		

Next turn will be on FRIDAY at NOON Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions!

Don't forget to put your Initiative in your post to avoid going last again!


Round #10 creature declarations:

2. Hold Spirits - The hold spirits are attempting a wider sweep which will mostly likely hit both Nic, Nathaniel, Ace and Sil. Nearby, the coal tentacles seem to be rising and groping further afield from the railing now.

7. The Frog with Geo will attempt to escape. While the anemone thing will try to blow it up with it’s energy laden tentacles seeming to pull back into a striking posture.

8. The Fishman crawls from behind the cargo at F-2, and reaches forward in desperation, “No, do not destroy, only worse is made! Cannot destroy spirits of cursed men, curse feeds on, powers on these ghosts. Can only break curse to unlock what she guards! We is my people coming at my call...You choose outcome now! People of Deepness only want what inside for safe-keep.”

9. The Frogs on Main deck will attempt another attack, with two more joining to make four within the circumference of the barrier with Phoenix, Roach and Angok.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:05, Thu 08 Oct 2020.

Nathaniel was starting to think he was maybe out of his depth here. He was trained in the mystical arts, sure, but this was a far far cry from the weird books in his study.

He tried to capture the energy-spirits with the same magic that allowed him to crate his armour. As soon as they passed by, he attempted to solidify them into far less mobile chunks.

OOC:
-Solidify Energy Power Feat! 41! Green (just barely!)!
-Initiative! 34!

Phoenix continues to rotate in place, trying to form a ring, or dome, of fire to protect his companions.  Yet, even if that does not work, he attempts to angle his flames to connect with the monsters attacking them.

19:32, Today: Phoenix rolled 19 using 1d100.  Initiative 1d100+Ex16 Intuition.

19:31, Today: Phoenix rolled 53 using 1d100.  Ex16 Agility to hit for Ex16 Dmg.  Green feat roll.

19:30, Today: Phoenix rolled 22 using 1d100.  Energy Control-Fire Dome Gd08 White feat roll.

This message was last edited by the GM at 00:06, Fri 09 Oct 2020.

Nic stopped the laser cutting of the statue and frowned as the fishman yelled out once more. He let out a sigh. "There's...a sliver...in there that I..." He stopped just short of saying 'need'. He shook his head. "It's a piece of meteor." He stopped and shook his head. He didn't know if the fishman would understand that or any further so he dropped it.

"How do we unlock...whatever? And where?" He sighed. For the moment, he just got the hell out of the way of the spirits and stayed far away from the tentacles.

OOC: Step further away from the swirling spirits. Waiting for more from the fishman so just moving for now.

23:30, Today: Luminary rolled 97 using 1d100+26.  Initiative.

With the creatures dispensed, and a civilian still at hand, a new course presented itself to Sam. The man needed to be removed from this dangerous environment and delivered to a safer location. This ship was not safe. Perhaps he could get them back to the Mauretania and then swiftly return to provide aid to the team. Something had begun to happen on the deck below. He could detect the movement of the vessel's coal stores.

"I will escort you to safety," Sam said, simple and direct.

He motioned for the man to follow, keeping himself between the man and the sea creature protruded in the hull. It had destroyed one of the creatures so perhaps it was not an immediate threat. Attacking it without provocation from it first seemed a poor calculation. He would still keep a watchful eye on it's activity while in it's presence. In the meanwhile, hopefully the man would come with him of their own volition. If so, he would lead them back up to the deck where he could float them across to the Mauretania. If not, he might have to consider forcible removing the man from the room to carry them to safety.

OOC:
04:50, Today: Geo rolled 66 using 1d100+6.  initiative roll.

Roach growled at the creatures joining the fight, infuriated at their gall. Not only where they avoiding his attacks, they also took more than one bite to die when he got them!

He needed more power, more ferocity to assert his place at the top of the food chain. He would suffer no more resistance from these scavengers. Dimly, he remembered gaining incredible strength not long ago. Yes, when he willed it, he had gained the power of the grey long snouted giants... He could do so again, adding it to his already boiling rage.

With a grunt of effort, he prepared to will his body to become stronger. Bigger. The strongest.

OOC:
Roach tries to use his animal mimicry power to once more gain the strength of an elephant. If it works, his earlier result of Incredible strength, along with the bonus from Berserker, should give him a strength of Amazing. High enough to try a Shockwave action as described in the book on his next turn.

20:51, Today: Roach rolled 13 using 1d100.  Animal mimicry - elephant strength.

Alright, a failure. Guess I'll try again next round. Gonna keep trying to hulk out and Smash all these creeps straight of the ship.
Actually a success instead, since I've just been informed that  my rank is high enough to auto succeed. The plan carries on...

Oh, and initiative:
20:53, Today: Roach rolled 13 using 1d100+8.  Initiative.

Wow... The same result with an even lower roll. The dice are unkind today :P

This message was last edited by the player at 19:36, Fri 09 Oct 2020.

With his attacker off-balance, Angok takes a swing at the frogmen, barely connecting with the creature's stomach.

Barely hit with the +1CS from last round...

Punch Frogman: Green result; Rm (26) damage
Initiative: 83

18:01, Today: Angok rolled 27 using 1d100.  Punch bad guy.
18:04, Today: Angok rolled 83 using 1d100+16.

Round #10

Main Deck Battle - Phoenix, Roach, Angok, Ms.S, Frogmen

 The promenade deck seems to be ablaze as Phoenix tries to continue to stoke the flames into the creatures and protect his people. Angok seems to take a moment of control to strike back at his attacker on the ground, he can hear bones break inside the things bony body. Phoenix begins to make his barrier but rather ends up driving two off the side of the ship. Outside the partial barrier they can hear the sounds of melee fighting as Ms.S is seen kicking and stabbing frogs with her parasol cane. There are around ten on deck now, but only one more inside the barrier. They seem bent on getting and taking them all...

The Cargo Hold - Fishman, Sil, Nathaniel, Nicholas, Arthur, Asar, Enemies

With the ongoing conversation happening not everyone notices the spirits sweeping across the hold. The wave front sweeps through Arthur, then Sil, Nathaniel, but Nic sees it coming and sprints back to safety. They seemed to avoid Asar altogether. When the arm of spectral energy passes through them, they feel a deep and harsh cold that seemingly goes straight to their core, or rather, through their core. (-10 health Sil, Nathaniel and Arthur)

After Nathaniel takes the brunt of the ethereal attack, he calls forth a spell to solidify the ethereal energy of the ghosts and so a series of huge >kathunks!< sounds reverberate through the hold as the greenish ghosts are solidified into huge chunks of the emerald material and lands amongst the debris nearby. Suddenly the swirling ghosts and the whirlwind by the statue seem to lighten in intensity, it seemed like a correlation.

Meanwhile the situation continues to worsen as the tentacles make a surprise grab for the fishman, and it succeeds in grabbing him and begins to drag him towards the coal deck railing.

 Sil succeeds in translating Nic's words back, while doing some mental calculus with the words she'd heard earlier...

Geo and the Starfish

 Geo makes a run for it. Just as they were getting ready, they could already hear the last creature soggily padding away down the corridor fash, but suddenly a flash and splashing good across the corridor once more. Geo takes a chance and heads towards the stairs heading back up. He hears the sound of it powering up again with a humming purr sound.

 The man's muffled cried drown out by his mouth in his sleeve. He keeps moving ahead of Geo though not at the speed you'd wish for.

Next Round of Initiative(#11)...
1.Hold Spirits 		5.Ms.S		  9.Roach		13.Starfish tentacles
2.Luminary 		6.Geo 		 10.Nathaniel		14.Asar
3.Frogs on Deck	        7.Ace		 11.Fishman			
4.Angok	  	        8.Sil		 12.Phoenix  		

Next turn will be on SUNDAY at NOON Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions!

One full minute aboard the boat! Please place an Endurance roll into your next posts, except for Asar!

Enemy NPC declarations
1. Hold Spirits - The hold spirits will begin attacking directly now that their power is being threatened. Looks like it'll be Sil, Nathaniel, Ace and Nic. All of you have effective weapons against them.

3. The twelve Frogs on Main deck will attempt another attack, two inside the barrier with Phoenix, Roach and Angok.

11. Fishman is getting pulled into the coal deck, will attempt an escape.

13. The Starfish with Geo is powering up for another shot with it's pulse weapon.


This message was last edited by the GM at 02:29, Mon 12 Oct 2020.

“Mister, whatever you are doing to these spooks, keep doing it!” Arthur called out to Nathaniel. Next Arthur tried to grasp the two pieces of the statue of Tiamat and rip them apart. “However good the intentions of the people of the deep may be, I would feel better if the meteor remained in our custody!”

Arthur was having problems moving the statue pieces apart. Maybe Nic could cut it some more or perhaps Asar knew what to do. Meanwhile, Art would keep trying to get to the meteor and hoped that stopped the forces working against them.

OOC :

16:14, Today: Agent Ace rolled 89 using 1d100.  Endurance check. [Yellow Feat]
16:17, Today: Agent Ace rolled 50 using 1d100+20.  Initiative roll using 1d100 + intuition score.
16:18, Today: Agent Ace rolled 2 using 1d100.  Telekinesis . [White Feat]

This message was last edited by the player at 21:30, Sat 10 Oct 2020.

Nic saw what the spirits were doing, and knew either he'd need to leave or do something to stop them soon. They'd reach him very soon. But then he saw other man in the hold was doing....and that piqued his interest. He hadn't thought of trying something like that. It was a very fascinating idea...

...but the time for study and deeper thought would be later. Now was a time for action! He narrowed his eyes, and stretched his hands towards the whirling spirits. His forehead pulsed, though it was hard to tell since he was still glowing himself.

He tried to will the spirits to become solid and motionless, as the other man had done. The light the spirits were giving off seemed to...shift slightly, almost shake or blur a bit, and then be turned against them, solidifying around them.

10:57, Today: Luminary rolled 113 using 1d100+26.  Initiative.
10:49, Today: Luminary rolled 114 using 1d100+26.  Power Stunt (+40 Karma).

Realizing that the Lady has returned, Phoenix attempts to add her within his circle, well, now oval, to keep the other frogmen at bay.  Once heading below decks, it will be easier to keep the attacking creatures at bay because of more confined circumstances.

14:37, Today: Phoenix rolled 59 using 1d100+16.  Initiative 1d100+Ex16 Intuition.

14:36, Today: Phoenix rolled 57 using 1d100+20.  Good 08 control + 20 Karma.

Seeing the creatures swarming outside the circle of fire, Roach took his shot. Roaring in anger, he slammed both fists into the deck in front of him, willing All his Strength into one strike strong enough to blow the prey clean away. He had enough of these upstarts disrespecting his predatory superiority.

OOC: Roach uses the shockwave maneuver, hitting the grund so Hard a shockwave blasts out up to to areas away. everyone hits takes no damage, but counts as being hit by a charge attack from Roach.

Arbiter, on behalf of Roach, rolled 92 using 1d100. Groundstrike from Fighting, result on Universal Table force results.

23:30, Today: Roach rolled 26 using 1d100+8.  Initiative
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:17, Mon 12 Oct 2020.

Round #11 (A full minute of game time has passed!)

The Cargo Hold - Fishman, Sil, Nathaniel, Nicholas, Arthur, Asar, Spiritual Enemies

 The green spirits that float through the hold come at the heroes now with ferocious intensity. Each plunges an icy hand into their chests and each feels the clutch of a hand on their beating hearts as they squeeze. Nicholas is able to transform the spectral light of the creatures into a solid form with a triumphant cry and it seems that he has encased his attacker as Nathaniel did! He stumbles back clutching his chest in agony though, he begins to feel ice flowing through his veins and suddenly he knows what happened to the crewmen. His skin begins to feel tighter...

 The spiritual maelstrom before the statue noticeably lightens in it’s intensity as there seems to be less and less of the spiritual energies to utilize.

 Likewise Ace manages an attempt at telekinetically shredding the statue but it appears to have little effect with his current situation. The ghost’s hand twists and it shrieks in failure and pushes back from him to make another attempt.

 Sil and Nathaniel seem similarly locked in combat with the creatures, as Nathaniel strikes it again, but falls back, also protective of his chest and the invisible wound left by the spirit. Sil fairs only slightly better as she takes a hit to the chest and doubles over in pain.

 The Fishman struggles but is unable to break the hold the black tentacle had on his leg as it drew him closer to the coal deck. In the next few moments he’d be pulled in. He calls out again in a desperate broken dialect, “beg you, Atlantis will angry and long memory! Assist!”

Main Deck Battle - Phoenix, Roach, Angok, Ms.S, Frogmen

 The scene up top seems to be getting quite heated as the frogs begin their assault once more. Each a parody of life, monstrous men with stilt arms and legs, snapping and clawing at them with oversized jaws and sinuous muscles holding them together. Ms.S had begun snapping them like twigs, taking two out before Roach got to his feet and curled back with a roar. From that vantage he flexed his muscles forward to slam down hard onto the decking, and a ripple went forward through the steel of the ship in a moment of sheer fury. In it’s wake the deck burst into splinters and shards of metal flew outward from the focal point some meters away. Only one of the slimy mutated-men remained standing. The rest of them seemed unable to get up just yet, but he knew it would be temporary.

 Phoenix flares up and projects the flame over and around Ms.S as well, the barrier finally completed and encircling the team. It seemed they had a moment of reprieve from the creatures as only the single one was left standing yards away. It quickly scurries back into an adjacent doorway..

Geo and the Starfish

 Geo makes for the stairs ahead and sees Phoenix’s fire at the top of the stairway. Behind him he hears the creature seem to power down as you round the corner. It, like Geo himself, seemed only to care about the immediate threats before it. Behind him now he can hear yelling and terrible sounds in the hold. The man was in bad shape, but seemed to be holding it together enough to continue forward, but he was also extremely scared of what lay ahead. He knew nothing of Phoenix’s powers like Sam did.

Next Round of Initiative(#12)...Remember you get a move and an action!
1.Atlantean 		5.Ms.S		 9.Angok		13.Starfish
2.Luminary 		6.Ace 		10.Nathaniel		14.Asar
3.Hold Spirits    	7.Roach	        11.Frogmen on Deck			
4.Phoenix	  	8.Geo		12.Sil  		

Next turn will be on TUESDAY at NOON Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions!

Nathaniel, Sil and Luminary please place an Endurance roll into your next posts, except for Asar and Ace!

1. The Atlantean - Will attempt another escape, this time by waving his hands about.

3. Hold Spirits - The remaining hold spirits are trying to finalize their attacks and transform Nic, Nathaniel, Ace and Sil into more like the creatures above.

11. The Frogmen on Main deck will begin to pick themselves back up, it will take them at least one more full turn. Zero are within the circumference of the barrier with Phoenix, Roach, Angok and Ms.S.

13. The Starfish on deck two will sense for further threats.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:40, Tue 13 Oct 2020.

Sam could see the apprehension in the man's expression as the prepared to ascend the stairs up onto the deck. Seeing the light of the flames ahead the calculations spurred and he drew a few possible conclusions. It was a simple enough deduction. The man had no foreknowledge of what might produce those flames. To him, the most likely explanation was that in the chaos caused by the creatures some damage had resulted in setting the vessel on fire. Hopefully he could allay their fears enough to encourage them to continue letting him escort them to safety willingly.

"Do not be dismayed. Those flames are a positive development. It is an indication that specific additional assistance has arrived aboard this vessel in the form of an ally of mine. Please continue to allow me to escort you to safety," Sam pleaded with the man directly in a rather calm and even tone.

He motioned for them to continue up the stairs towards the deck. There was no sign of the last creature they had seen on this deck and the sea entity seemed to have disengaged as well. His calculations regarding it had thankfully been correct. Now he just needed to usher this man away from danger as swiftly as possible so he could return. The sounds from below were only getting worst. His calculations told him he was needed below in whatever battle was now unfolding but he couldn't. Not yet. One directive overwrote any other calculation. There was an innocent civilian in the radius of the danger and that took priority over anything else.

OOC: hopefully moving up to the deck with the traumatized guy in tow

04:55, Today: Geo rolled 10 using 1d100+6.  initiative roll.

Near the end of his endurance, starving and injured and exhausted, Nathaniel runs forward and attempts to seize the frogman. Whatever the consequences with Atlantis, whatever anger or memory, he would deal with later.

Stirring up more trouble then can be handled and then trying to dodge the fall-out is basically a sorceror's SOP anyway.

He surged forward and sent a barrage of black tendrils made of eldritch energy toward the fishman, trying to immobilize him.

OOC:
Endurance FEAT (which is Fe ATM): 26 (Uh Oh)
IN Prehensile Hair ("Darkforce Tendrils") gives me 3 Actions at +2 CS. So that's three Fighting FEATs, at Gd.
-30: Miss!
-9: Miss!
-82: Yellow! Partial Grapple!

Nic tried to keep moving, trying to keep his distance from the spirits, even as he raised a hand and attempted to do the same thing. But it didn't work. Perhaps he was too distracted. Perhaps whatever the spirits were attempting to do to him was interfering. He wasn't sure. He grimaced and tried to get out of their 'reach'.

12:37, Today: Luminary rolled 98 using 1d100+26.  Initiative.
12:37, Today: Luminary rolled 64 using 1d100.  Endurance.
12:38, Today: Luminary rolled 34 using 1d100.  Light Control - Energy Solidification again.

Art tried to focus all his concentration on his telekinesis. If he could get it working right, he could pull the Atlantean from the grips of the dark tentacles.


OOC :
14:17, Today: Agent Ace rolled 43 using 1d100.  Telekinesis . [Green Feat]

14:21, Today: Agent Ace rolled 49 using 1d100+20.  Initiative roll using 1d100 + intuition score.


This message was last edited by the player at 19:23, Tue 13 Oct 2020.

Knowing the others had gone below decks, and seeing only one portal open heading that way, he decides to expand his oval to produce a covered corridor of fire to the open way below.  Succeeding, he unknowingly provides a protected path for Geo and his charge to escape safely into the open.

18:03, Today: Phoenix rolled 67 using 1d100+16.  Initiative 1d100+Ex16 Intuition.

18:03, Today: Phoenix rolled 92 using 1d100.  Good 08 control-corridor.

With the prey now outside the flames, Roach turned his hungry gaze towards the two man_things near him. His instinct screamed at him to jump Them, to rend and tear while they where off guard. Some miniscule part whispered how they were not prey, and how more important things where at stake. This voice was squashed immediately. What made his decision was simple, however. The main prey, the disrespectful hyenas, where on the floor, disoriented and ripe for hunting. So it was with a collossal effort that he restrained himself, making eye Contacts with the two man-things and nodding meaningfully towards the opening down where the others had disappeared earlier. He then turned with a snarl, bunching his leg muscle and launching through the flames, catapulting his body towards the nearest creature.

OOC: Roach charges the nearest frogman. If it's too close for a charge, it's another bite attack instead. Endurance and Strength have the same rank right now anyway, so the roll's the same.

02:31, Today: Roach rolled 61 using 1d100+20.  Bite or charge, depending on distance. (+20 karma)

02:32, Today: Roach rolled 18 using 1d100+8.  Initiative

This message was last edited by the player at 00:33, Wed 14 Oct 2020.

Round #12

The Cargo Hold - Fishman, Sil, Nathaniel, Nicholas, Arthur, Asar, Spiritual Enemies

 The spirits are megalomaniacal in their behaviors, they seem relentless in their punishment. They slam into Nathaniel with a crack of green eldritch fire. The curse he realizes is transferred this way, and he knew then with every sense in his being that they needed to break the curse in order to survive this. Even then ice water seemed to flow into his veins and his skin began to moisten. Still, he held tight to the Fishman with his tendrils of darkforce, but he felt himself losing consciousness…he was simply too weakened to fight off the curse that ran through him.

 Nathaniel then was no more, in his place one of the ravening creatures from above. His arms and legs began to stretch taught his skin, even with plates of darkforce covering much of him it looked strange and awkward. His jaw began to elongate as he transformed into a monstrous looking black clad version of the frogmen, weilding a wicked looking ebony blade...

 Nic was only now overcoming the sensation, his skin was suddenly feeling flushed and clammy, and he felt like he’d been swimming all day, his skin wrinkling on his fingertips. The feeling was coming back into his fingertips now but it seemed like he’d been plunged into a pool of ice. The upside was that he was extraordinarily lucky to have dodged through the flying ethereal monsters in the last few seconds. An unconscious buzz from the direction of the statue revealed the shard hadn’t been destroyed after he’d tried to cut it in half.

 Ace was also engaged in saving the Atlantean, he realised that it might be the only link they had to solving this riddle. Luckily his grip manages to save the Atlantean from a mouth of coal ash that had wandered towards the morsel it had snagged with it’s black curling tentacles.

Sil could barely stand up, she could feel this curse infecting her and changing her in ways that she did not fully understand. She seemed to be transforming into something else at an elemental level. It was not something she was likely to forget either.

 The Fishman manages to flash power from his fingertips, and the rays of it sliced through the tendrils, but if not for the team, he would’ve been inside the things mouth by now! “Now, the stone!” he motioned as he rose to his feet and made for the statue, “must decode riddles. First answer: wisdom! Number two riddle is:

I am the great sparkling black sea,
So gaze up on me and wonder,
Watch as ships shoot across into quay,
Shining bright with their golden plunder,
In daytime I rest, settle and simmer,
Biding half my time hidden,
Ready to show you the glory and glimmer,
Of worlds and dreams passing by unbidden.”

“We almost complete of three!”

OOC:  Each of those who didn’t make their endurance check will be struggling to continue for the next round. Roll another endurance check or suffer a -1cs to all stats each turn as you slowly begin to turn into one of the cursed men. You may still act until you have no more endurance ranks. The curse can be broken and all stats renewed in that instance.

Round #13 Spirits declaration: The black tentacles will attempt to grab all those who haven’t been cursed yet. The amorphous black coal monster does not seem particularly bright or quick, so an evade or a dodge roll instead of a move roll will suffice if you want to try to do an action as well in this instance.

Frogman-Nathaniel declaration: Will begin looking for a target to grab and expose to the curse, Nic, Ace and Sil looks like the closest and most vulnerable. He looks ravening mad.

Main Deck Battle - Phoenix, Roach, Geo, Angok, Ms.S, Frogmen

 Phoenix’s control over his pyrotechnic powers becoming more comfortable as they continued to surmount obstacles seemed fortuitous for the team. As they begin to head down they are met by Geo and an emaciated survivor, who are moving towards the deck. Meanwhile Roach breaks through the wall of flame with a roar, after signaling for the fighting trio of Angok , Phoenix and Ms.S to head down to the hold to join the others. (As Geo passes there is time to exchange info if you like in the next turn...)

 Roach charges forward, destroying everything in his path. His feet shred the already unstable decking and he uses his hands to enhance his balance as he hurls himself at his intended prey 5 meters away. He barrels into the stick figure with such brute force that he shoulders it completely off the boat.

 Round #13 Frogs on Deck Declarations: There will be 2 rising now to attack Roach, one looks like it was hit by a bullet sometime earlier and the other looks as though he had been burned. The others are still attempting to gain their wits.

OOC: You can easily make it to the cargo deck in one round of saying you are running to the bottom deck.

Next Round of Initiative(#13)...Remember you get a move and an action!
1.Luminary 		5.Phoenix		 9.Frogs on Deck	13.Geo
2.Angok 		6.Hold Spirits		10.Ace			14.Starfish
3.Frogman-Nate    	7.Sil			11.Asar			
4.Ms.S	  		8.Atlantean		12.Roach  				

Next turn will be on THURSDAY at NOON Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions and let me know if I’ve missed anything!

Sil please place an Endurance roll into your next posts!
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:49, Wed 14 Oct 2020.

Angok rushes down to the cargo hold to join the others and see if he can help. If there is an immediate threat when he arrives, he swings widely at it.

Moving to Cargo Hold
Tried to punch something but just missed it

Initiative: 21

17:37, Today: Angok rolled 21 using 1d100+16.  Initiative.
17:35, Today: Angok rolled 29 using 1d100.  Punch Something!

At first it is a small movement of one hand, then an arm, and finally Asar swings around to face the coal monster. Concentrating for a moment he again uses the force of his mind and sends out force tendrils to engage all of the coal monster tendrils reaching out for his companions and allies. Many are engaged and pushed back, grabbed, or entwined. Asar seems to remain aware of his surroundings and gets out of the way of anything that comes at him.

He says, "Stone 2nd Riddle: Night Sky. What is next riddle?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:03, Fri 16 Oct 2020.

Roach smiled at the two prey rising to face him. They would see the error in that soon enough. Reaching out, he made to grab  the closest one on the shoulders so he could jump up and plant both his legs in a vicious kick into it's chest. The force of the kick would then launch him into a leap teeth first at the other one's throat.

OOC: Roach attempt to male two attack action this turn. So first a Fighting roll at remarkable intensity to Even get two attacks.

20:47, Today: Roach rolled 62 using 1d100+15.  Fighting check for multiple attacks (+15 karma).

Well dangit, that's 4 lower than the minimum roll needed.
So I'll only be making one attack, at -3 CS.

20:51, Today: Roach rolled 9 using 1d100.  Blunt attack (kick).

Aaand it misses. Horrendously. In fact, it's an uh-oh result. Wonderful. Guess I'm going over the side or getting swamped.

I'm having fun so far xD
20:53, Today: Roach rolled 33 using 1d100+8.  Initiative

The Bureau agent watches as the feral Roach leaps through his wall of fire to go after more frogmen, then he notices Geo come up with an emaciated figure.  With a shrug, he turns to Angok and Ms Sanderson.  Go down and help the others.  I'm going to be sure Geo can get his rescue out of here and back safely.  Then we'll be right behind you.
He takes a moment to fire off a sweeping flamethrower blast at the frogmen that Roach is not currently engaging.

14:59, Today: Phoenix rolled 69 using 1d100+16.  Initiative 1d100+Ex16 Intuition.

14:59, Today: Phoenix rolled 27 using 1d100.  Ex16 Agility to hit for Ex16 Dmg.  White feat.  Oh well.

The Atlantean had broken free, but the dark tentacles still grabbed out at everyone within reach and seemed to be moving closer and closer as well. While the others continued working in their own ways, Arthur focused his attention on the tentacles. Wrapping them in a force field of their own, Arthur tried to deny the tentacles access to anyone else,hoping his force field would act as a containing wall.

OOC :
14:12, Today: Agent Ace rolled 89 using 1d100.  Force Field. [Yellow Feat]
14:12, Today: Agent Ace rolled 81 using 1d100+20.  Initiative roll using 1d100 + intuition score.


This message was last edited by the player at 19:17, Thu 15 Oct 2020.

As they reached the deck, Sam turned to regard the traumatized man he'd been escorting to safety. They'd come as far as they could without him displaying an ability most humans would find unbelievable. There was no other option though to get him to the Mauretania and return here to join the fray and end whatever was happening below. The team needed assistance if the sounds were any indication.

"I will need you to wrap your arms tightly around my person and hold on tightly. I will deliver you to that vessel now where you will be safe," Sam said as he pointed at the Mauretania.

if the man complied, he returned the gesture. If not, Sam would have to attempt to grapple the man to carry them both aloft. Provided one of those two actions succeeded, he would lift them above the deck and float them across to the Mauretania. There he could set the man down safely before returning to assist the team.

OOC: fingers crossed the guy trusts me and complies cause I'm never gonna succeed on a yellow grapple check even with my strength.
15:36, Today: Geo rolled 37 using 1d100.  Strength-grapple.
15:34, Today: Geo rolled 79 using 1d100+6.  initiative roll.

Round #13

The Cargo Hold - Fishman, Sil, Nathaniel, Nicholas, Arthur, Asar, Angok, Ms.S Spiritual Enemies

 Nic watched in terror as some of the wriggling shadow from the coal hold wrapped around his leg from around the box he was using for cover.It suddenly tugged him into the air and began to pull him towards the now cold boiler. However he could see more of the black glittering tentacles slithering across the gap between his friends below him for just a moment as he shined light forward into the coal deck, he could see the unholy things, perhaps even the veins of the ship itself, writhing in the piles of unburnt coal and all meeting at the boiler like a mouth.

 Angok burst onto the scene running at full sprint. He sees the scene as has been described to the others, the fishman, the green ghosts, the black tentacles. He sees these last ones advancing on some of the team, in particular Silvia. He slams into the tentacle with his fist ,and it flies apart like a piece of ashen firewood. He looks back to see Sil in pain, and writhing on the ground. She seemed to be transforming into the cursed creatures of this vessel.

 Nathan shrieked and ran at Ace a bit further back, he is seemingly unable to conjure magic in his current state. The Nate-creature grabs his head at the last moment before running headlong into his force field, fighting the urge to allow the curse to dominate him and destroy him fully. Finally, he turns and calls forth his powers and destroys some more of the spirits by transforming them into chunks of amorphous material, that rang out like a gong on the metal deck plating. There appeared to be only a few low powered wisps of spirit energy around the statue now. They might yet win the day!
Arbiter, on behalf of Nathaniel Roivas, rolled 82 using 1d100.  psyche roll resist curse.

 Ms.Sanderson appears just after Angok and she appraises the situation coolly. Finally she takes action, seeing the center of attention under attack by a fishman. She takes a flying leap into a crescent kick, hiking up her skirts a bit in the process. The back of her heel slams into the Atlantean’s head with a whack that reverberates through the hold. He doesn’t move for a moment then begins to slowly regain a crouched position. She glances at Ace quickly, “do tell, what have you all been up to down here,” as she parries a few more tentacles weaving their way. “Well if you aim to do something with this, anyone, I suggest you do it sooner than later!”

 The Hold spirits were down but not gone and continuing to attack at random, the newcomers each will have a close encounter of the spiritual kind. Each of the spirits manages to break the normal defenses of the newcomers and plunge into their chests.One sign of their current weakness however is that they are not appearing as humanoids any longer, formless fast moving smoke trails, but moving with direction and with insight, like a snake might. Once they’d plunged into each person, they must resist or be cast into the shape of those awful creatures.
(Asar, Angok and Ms.S will have to make an Endurance check or begin to succumb to the effects of the transformation curse)

 Sil fought with the curse coursing inside of her, she was only barely able to keep on fighting it. She would succumb soon. She coughs and begins to feel heat reentering her cheeks, for now at least. She shouts to Ms.S through the haze of her ordeal, the breath coming out in ragged bursts, “Ah crapper, don’t kill him, he got the first riddle wrong though, it’s not wisdom, it's School!”

 The Atlantean managed a moaning gurgle as he managed to crawl the last few feet to the statue. It hisses in response to Sil and Asar, “correct World Walker,” it seems to say reluctantly, “and ‘night sky’ also perfect Anunnanki. The last is confusing to me, like goose was in first question:

I run, but never walk.
I roar, but have no mouth.
I sparkle, but am not a star.
I wash, and grow dirty.
I fall without being called.
I rise without being woken.
Without me all men perish.
Within me life and death.”

 The statue itself lay partially cut through and cracked, but not destroyed. Before the figure of Tiamat was a large tablet she appeared to be holding before her, covered with cuneiform inscriptions and pictographs. To those who venture towards it to look, figures are depicted fighting and some cataclysm happening between the two fighting forces. It appears to be a deluge of some kind.

 Ace switches to fend off the wave of black tentacles, what he finds startles him. When he envelopes some of the tentacles he actually severs them in the field and after those bits are trimmed back they fall harmlessly to the decking as ash. He continues to try to trap some of the reaching strands but they seem to begin to slowly regrow, but he is succeeding in holding them back for now. Saving Asar to bring more of them to heel as well.

 Asar throws out invisible lines of force to grapple the tentacles pushed back by Ace and suddenly they appear to be free to pursue their investigation. So long as they held onto what they’d accomplished they could keep the tentacles at bay indefinitely. What exactly was causing this curse and what’s the thing Nic says he feels so drawn to...

Round #14 Spirits declaration: The black coal has Nic currently and intends to eat him if Asar will let him. Asar or Ace  will have to let go of his attention on grappling the tentacles in order to save Nic. Nic can also attempt to free himself but he better wait a round or it will be a two story drop.

Frogman-Nathaniel: Will make another psyche roll to see if he can overcome the curse mental reprogramming. If he does he will put an end to the spirit menace. If he fails he’ll probably attack one of the nearest people at random.

Main Deck Battle - Phoenix, Roach, Geo, Frogmen

 Phoenix manages control over his inferno long enough to allow Geo to take off after the man clings to Sam like a long limbed child, his clothes ill-fitting in his emaciated state. He flashes out seeking to deal damage to some of the creature’s Roach was hell bent on, but comes up a bit short. He does however manage to drive some back from the entrance to the hold.

 The trip is a momentary reprieve for Geo as he heads towards the other boat. The storm continued but had lessened in it’s intensity. The man sobbing with relief manages to croak into your torn coat, “I’m Grant August, sir, you have my...thanks.”

 Roach rages at the two targets that had presented themselves, he leaps into them but can’t get the control he needs to deal his damage in the scant few moments since he’d leapt. Suddenly he was crushed into the middle of them as if he’d knocked sense into them, kicking and clawing, shedding their stunned demeanor, they hissed maliciously and began to swarm him. As he quickly scrambled out of the path of fanged faces, multiples came charging in, their collisions pushing him forward to crash through the railing and over the edge in a mass of tangled bodies.

 Round #13 Frogs on Deck Declarations: Phoenix and Geo see now only two of the long limbed menaces. They howled maddeningly and began to gallop and skitter towards the blaze in a b-line for Phoenix.

Next Round of Initiative(#14)...Remember you get a move and an action!
1.Luminary 		5.Ace		 9.Sil      	    13.Ms.S
2.starfish 		6.Geo		10.Frogs on Deck    14.Angok
3.Asar    	        7.Hold Spirits	11.Atlantean			
4.Nathaniel  		8.Phoenix	12.Roach  				

We will keep this initiative for the next round. Don't worry about rolling more initiatives for now!

Next turn will be on SUNDAY at EVENING (we’ll say 8PM) Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions and let me know if I’ve missed anything!

Sil, Asar, Angok, and Ms.S please place an Endurance roll into your next posts!
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:01, Mon 19 Oct 2020.

Nic felt the spirits reach him and for just a second he felt like something was trying to happen....but he shook it off. He grinned when the spirits stopped trying to grab him. But it was short-lived as he was startled by a tentacle grabbing him.

He was yanked off his feet and in a panic he tried to free himself, but when he tried to use a laser to sever it, the swaying and jangling caused his aim to be off and fire in to the ceiling harmlessly instead. "Damnit!" He almost yelled to be let go but then saw how high up he was and bit that off.

He was harried by the tentacle and the riddle. He let out a frustrated sound and then finally said, "Oh! It's water!" He called out later. "The riddle is water!"

17:31, Today: Luminary rolled 28 using 1d100.  Running a laser across as many tentacles as he can.

"Protect the Fishman so he can end the curse!"

He yells this while making sure that he doesn't get hit by any of the last of the green frog-ghost entities. The grappling everything wasn't working and things had to end soon. He imagined himself as a gladiator with a spear and a net with his mental weapons. The gladiator thrusts its spear into the heart of the tentacles. This should shock the coal monster entity for just a moment while the net is cast aloft to grab Nic and cushion his fall to the ground near Asar.



08:42, Today: Asar Uludu rolled 93 using 1d100+16.  Inish.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:15, Mon 19 Oct 2020.

Noticing the two creatures that have seemed to now take an interest in him, Phoenix turns his jets of flame on them.  He sweeps the flames across the deck as he attempts to burn them to a crisp.

05:08, Today: Phoenix rolled 18 using 1d100+16.  Initiative 1d100+Ex16 Intuition.

05:07, Today: Phoenix rolled 92 using 1d100.  Ex16 Agility to hit for Ex16 Dmg. 

This message was last edited by the GM at 21:08, Mon 19 Oct 2020.

With the mass of monsters pressing him towards the edge of the ship, Roach felt a smidgen of worry flash through his mind. While he was fully capable of surviving and fighting in water, it was by no means his favored environment.
With a sudden flash of insight, he decided to let them run into the waters on their own. If he could out of the way, their momentum might just tip them over the side without him.

So he attempted to simply jump over the mass and land on the other side, behind the prey. it was either that or try to brute force them to a halt.

OOC:
Not sure if it's possible, but if it is Roach is gonna try to make a Leap over the group of frogs, landing behind them. If it is possible, and within 4 areas, it's an auto success. if it's more than 4 areas but less than 8, or if there's penalties for the difficulty, it's a green FEAT that's needed.
If it's not possible at all, Roach tries to push back against the mob.
Either way, it all amounts to a Strength check.

20:30, Today: Roach rolled 8 using 1d100.  strength check to jump or stop the frog mob.

oooh, wow. I'm really hoping it was an auto success leap now, so this roll doesn't count :(

This message was last edited by the player at 18:31, Sun 18 Oct 2020.

Ace was thankful for the happy surprise that his force field could be used as a weapon against the dark tentacles. Not wasting any time, Art turned his force field on and off against the tentacles, cutting them away piece by piece and watching them turn to ash on the deck below. It wasn’t as powerful an attack as he hoped, but at least he was able to do something active that could put an end to this wickedness.


OOC :
18:38, Today: Agent Ace rolled 48 using 1d100. Force Field . [Green Feat]

This message was last edited by the player at 23:43, Sun 18 Oct 2020.

Struggling to maintain his identity in a sea of confusing images and urges and thoughts and memories, Nathanial clings to his sense of self and tries to pull himself out of the quagmire.

OOC:
Psyche Roll! 16 (uh oh)
Initiative: 80

Dice roller hates me. I'll go first, but fail.

Angok steels himself as the strange spirit plunges into him, resisting its influences. However the energy he exerts makes his attack against one of the tendrils miss completely.

Endurance Check: 103 (Red)
Fighting: 14 (White)

16:31, Today: Angok rolled 14 using 1d100.  Punch tendril.
16:30, Today: Angok rolled 103 using 1d100+20.  Endurance + 20 Karma.

Round #14

The Cargo Hold - Nicholas, Angok,Nathaniel, Ms.S, Spiritual Enemies, Sil, Fishman, Arthur, Asar,

 Nic tried to free himself with his powers but sees the answer to the riddle through the chaos, and calls it out, maybe he could free himself in another way…

 Angok continues to attempt to punch the tentacles that had somehow made it around Ace and Asar’s powers, slipping through the cracks to head towards the others, but he’s been shaken by the spiritual assault. He clears his head of the effects the spirits had attempted to compel his body to morph into and the curse’s mental side. The effort allows him to continue unhindered though except for the slightest headache.

 Frogman-Nathaniel Finally loses control, and fires a volley of black darkforce shrapnel at Ace. The shrapnel tears into Ace, nearly taking him down! Then he begins to practically gallop towards Arthur.

 Ms.S eyes the Atlantean cautiously, not willing to take any chances, though unsure of what to expect. She fires off several calculated cuts with her bladed parasol to end any chance of the black tentacles getting to the Atlantean.

Round #14 Cargo Hold Spirits: The black coal tentacles seem to attempt to strengthen their hold on Nicholas, as it pulls him towards it’s ‘mouth’, the thing seems to respond to Nic’s attempt to cut it with reinforcement.


 The Atlantean sways a little on his feet as he glances at Ms.S standing by warily, with a snarl showing rows of sharp teeth within. Then he begins to levitate in front of the statue once again and uses some complicated looking gestures to make the tablet glow slightly and the writing on it begins to reverberate on the stone itself, come to life almost. Meanwhile he begins to speak in ancient Babylonian, only Sil and Asar can understand it. “First of the Riddles of Tiamat’s Demise, School. The second Riddles of Tiamat’s Demise, Night Sky. Lastly, the third Riddle of Tiamat’s Demise is Water…”

 Suddenly, the statue becomes animated, and she cracks the tablet in half, casting the stones aside. A gale force wind suddenly erupts like a blast through the hold from the cracking stone and up the stairs leading to the upper decks.

 The black tendrils of coal seem to fall apart around the team across the hold. The spirit wisps seem to change color from greenish to bright white and begin to evaporate. Nathaniel seems to slump over, barely conscious.

 Finally, the statue opens it’s mouth like a dragon, the jaw swinging open very wide. Something glittered in the goddesses gullet  like silver. Where the stone tables had set upon her lap, her hands held a large bowl of water, that sparkled like the night sky….

 “Thank you, thank you! The curse is lifted!”

 Sil finds herself sitting up watching the action taking place all around her. Still shaken by her experience fighting the curse however has left her drained. She tries to make it to a standing position but fails to summon the strength from her legs this time.

 Ace feels the sting of Nathaniel’s attack keenly, trickles of blood flowing freely from his wounds. The shrapnel seemed to evaporate with the curse’s influence on Nathaniel. He had been continuing to cut back the tendrils as they rose wherever he could see them, and then suddenly getting struck like that was horribly jolting and had left a spider web of cuts across his body.

 Asar yells ring out and it is done, even before the entirety of the situation is handled. He finds his task slightly easier now that the coal seems to be falling like ash around them. Nic however seems to fall, and for that he sends out his net to lightly grab Luminary and pull him towards the stairway where Asar had planted himself. In a moment he is there and comes to a rest right side up and with his feet on the ground near Asar...

Main Deck Battle - Phoenix, Roach, Geo, Frogmen

 Geo finds upon his return that something is happening inside the Neustria again. Things had changed so quickly over the last few minutes, that he wasn’t surprised. A lot of yelling and distress, then suddenly a flash and a gale force wind swept out of the hold, he had to steady himself against being knocked over...

 Phoenix sweeps across the deck with a fiery vengeance, lighting up the edges of the mass that had turned on Roach. In a moment they all burst into puffs of smoke and deflated skin. Almost as if on cue, the rest of the howling creatures seemed to fall apart similarly. Like so much dry skin sloughed off. This all follows a flash of light from the stairway and a howling wind not unlike the screech of the creatures themselves.

 Roach finds himself hanging onto the edge of the ship, as creatures fell off of him all around. The beasts seemed to all deflate and turn into piles of wet skin. Possibly angered at how his victory was taken from him, he clambers back to the deck quite quickly and spots Geo and Phoenix as the only people standing now amid fiery debris and baked skins.

 For now, everything seems calm except for Roach...

Next Round of Initiative(#15)...Remember you get a move and an action!
1.Luminary 		5.Ace		10.Ms.S       	13.Angok	
2.starfish 		6.Geo		11.Atlantean		
3.Asar    	       	8.Phoenix	12.Roach		
4.Nathaniel  		9.Sil		

No need to roll more initiatives for this battle, we will take the above if necessary for some reason.

Next turn will be on TUESDAY in the EVENING (we’ll say 8PM) Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions and let me know if I’ve missed anything!

This message was last edited by the GM at 18:26, Tue 20 Oct 2020.

Seeing his prey fall apart around him, Roach's first reaction of relief was swiftly replaced by simmering anger. Someone had done something, ending the hunt before he could properly establish his dominance!

Turning his head, he looked at the two man-things left with him. One of them had thrown the bright pain... Fire... at the prey, and they had fallen apart. Yes. the man-things had ruined his hunt. They had just gone from potential prey, to potential competition. And no apex predator suffered competition.

With slow deliberate movements he turned, hunched down and legs bunched ready to leap at the first sign of weakness, he started stalking towards the new prey. His teeth were bared, and a low guttural snarl echoed from deep in his throat.

OOC: While he doesn't outright attack just yet, Roach is very clearly not in a talking mood right now...

As the frogmen vanish into excess skin and dust, Phoenix lowers himself to the deck slowly, the flames.coverimg his face flickering out, and his clothing seeming to deflate.  The others must have stopped whatever was going on below decks, he says to his companions.  However, he stops speak with his mouth agape as his gaze falls upon Roach.
Shit, he says as the flames ignite again.  Hey, Big Man.  We might have another problem right now.

Angok looks around, completely surprised. He had no idea what had happened; for that matter, he had no idea what had been happening before. For a moment he just stood there, dumbfounded. But then he remembered, "I don't know what is happening, but there is a giant...starfish under boat, holding onto it. Very big and powerful."

Arthur looked down at his wounds. Things could have definitely gone worse, but the deep scratches and shallow cuts crisscrossed all over the front of his body. They hurt. Not excruciatingly, but a bit like a sunburn. Not an enjoyable feeling, especially every time that Arthur moved.

So Arthur tried not to move. Instead he waited to see what the others would do. Would the piece of meteor be taken into custody by his companions or by the Atlanteans? Would their be a dispute over its ownership? Would more of the...supernatural be unleashed? Would they be required to continue to cleanup this ship or were they free to return to their own vessels? To many questions needing answers. So Arthur waited and watched.

Nic suddenly let out a loud breath of relief as the coal-made shadowy tentacle suddenly released him. He was..."caught" by something and pulled towards Asar, where he thumped to the ground gently. But he was ecstatic to be free and scrambled to his feet. He looked around wildly but there were no more spirits.

There was, however, something shiny that caught his eye, something he could see in the statue - the statue which sort of came to life or at least to some movement. Perhaps it was the silver he had felt? He moved quickly forward, a bit wary of the statue but wanting to get to the sliver before the fishman tried to claim it.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:49, Wed 21 Oct 2020.

Asar maintained his mental force and used it to reach inside the Statues gullet and retrieve the object that shone like silver from it. Given that it allows the grasping hand of force to take hold and move it, he brings it near himself, but does not touch it or allow it to be touched till he can identify it. He tries to remember if there was some lip service he should pay to Tiamat over the waters of the bowl or something else he should do to 'celebrate' the lifting of the curse.

"Let us see what this is, before we touch it to flesh. One never knows what further curses could be laid up..."

Round #15

OOC: Please read the entire portion of the update you are in at least.

The Cargo Hold - Nicholas, Angok,Nathaniel, Ms.S, Arthur, Asar,  The Statue, Sil, Fishman,

 The team in the hold found that the rest of the hold had gone eerily silent as the engine fires had gone out long ago now. Each of the team members had suffered some effects of the hard won victory, so this reprieve not only allowed them to properly think about the situation, but about regrouping as well. Slowing their pace. Getting the situation resolved seemed to be the overriding concern, now that seemed like it had been achieved.

 Nic cast all that aside and raced forward reaching into the statue’s throat and drew a glittering crystalline dagger from inside of ancient design with razor sharp wings on each side of the curved handle, it does not appear to have aged at all, but it is covered with dust and mildew but composed of some kind of metal he couldn’t readily recognize. He knew with sudden certainty, that this was what drew him here, this metal was of the same type in his head somehow. Within his mind there was resonance between the two pieces upon touching the weapon. The eye in the center flares to life with white lines of energy tracing around the etched inscriptions and pictographs. The white lines continue to travel through the weapon and into his hands, they press forward with combinations of zig zagging, and smooth lines, tracing the very nerve patterns within his arm onto his skin. To Arthur’s drifting gaze it looked like the schematics of electrical devices...Sil croaks out her squinting translation, “Imhulu, means: 'The evil wind'…”



 Everyone’s eyes drift from Nic to the Atlantean now except perhaps Asar, Angok and Sil who were more accustomed to other intelligent species out there. He seems to have an erudite aire about him and very aloof for the most part, if it was a him; in form, he seemed to be somewhat androgenous, well muscled but not large and completely naked with no visible gender organs. His hands and feet were webbed with long digits, while his face resembled a deep sea fish almost to the letter. Gills traced his jawline and large dark orbs in his eyes. For most of you, he will seem quite alien. The being steps back and mutters some quick incantation and performs a gesture not unlike monks used in eastern martial arts, then after seems suddenly relieved and seems to relax. “There magic here, but no cursed more.” Then he motioned to Angok with an intrigued double blink with nictitating membranes slipping over his big eyes for a second as he studied the Hollow man, “that my Guard Star, will take back to deepness.”

 He turns to looking to Asar and everyone else, nodding his consent and stepping back further, a look of perhaps regret on his face as he watches Nicholas pull the blade from it’s place. “Sorry for misjudge you, Anunnaki, Surfacers. Please allow take Imhulu back to Tiamat, final rest. Priest bless, seas calm.”

 Amid the remnants of the battle still was Arthur, who appeared to be near to unconscious in a growing pool of blood. Nathaniel drifting in and out of consciousness, while Sil also appeared to be only slowly regaining her composure. Ms.S had a few claw marks on her face and hands but like Nic had somehow escaped most of the battle relatively unscathed. Asar was still not quite with it either, at least on his own conscious level, at least part of the curse had been meant for someone exactly like him, there couldn’t be many other reasons for such an effect.

---

Main Deck - Phoenix, Roach, Geo,

 Up on the main deck things began to sound normal again, except for Roach’s guttural growl echoing back from the dark end of the boat. Geo and Phoenix were quickly getting the impression that Roach might not wait for them to leave before he continued on with scouring the ship for someone to attack next.

 Across the way, sailors aboard the Mauretania were calling out to them loudly and using spotlight lanterns to see if they could see anyone. Unsure if everyone was dead or what had occurred. Hopefully Roach wouldn’t think of them as targets too...

Next Round of Initiative(#16)...Remember you get a move and an action!
1.Luminary 		5.Ace		10.Ms.S       	14.Angok	
2.starfish 		6.Geo		11.Atlantean		
3.Asar    	       	8.Phoenix	12.Roach		
4.Nathaniel  		9.Sil		

No need to roll more initiatives for this battle, we will use the above if necessary for some reason.

Next turn will be on SUNDAY in the EVENING (we’ll say 8PM) Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions and let me know if I’ve missed anything!

Seeing Roach dangling over the side of the ship, and growling, Phoenix wonders if he should offer to help him up.  Or, if the other man would try to rip him to shreds.  He gives a chuckle, and a small smirk crosses his lips, unseen beneath the flames.
Walking over to rail where Roach dangles, he extinguishes his flames.  With a deep exhalation, he extends his hand towards Roach.  Need some help?

Roach had visibly tenses when the bright-hurting man-thing started towards him, but had relaxed ever so sligthly when the bright-hurt dissappeared.
Then the man-thing suddenly reached for him, making vaguely familiar noises, and all bets were off. Roach's pupils shrank to pin-prick size, and with all speed he could muster, he pulled himself forward, aiming to take a chunk of the offending limb.

OOC:
Sorry bout this Phoenix, but hopefully the dice will continue to betray me...

21:42, Today: Roach rolled 36 using 1d100.  Bite (Edged attack).

Oh, thank RNGesus, I missed.

"Friends, be wary for the moment of our companion Luminary as we know not what transpires."

He concentrates on what is happening to Luminary for a moment to ascertain if it is hurting him, taking him over, or something else.

Asar introduces himself to the Atlantean in the old tongue and inquires after his name. He then inquires, "הנשק של מרדוק נלקח על ידי אחד מחבריי.אנחנו במשימה לגלות מה זעזע את כדור הארץ לפני כמה חודשים."הרוח הרעה" עשויה לסייע לנו מאוד במשימה זו.כמו כן השותף שלי לא יכול להיות מוכן לוותר על זה כפי שהוא כבר מחפש את זה במשך זמן מה.האם זה יהיה אפשרי עבורו להישבע אמונים לי ולהמשיך להיות הממונה עד שהזמן שבו גורלנו יוכרע?אם כן, לאן נוכל להחזיר את הלהב כדי שהוא יתברך או שתוכל לברך אותו עבורנו?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:02, Mon 26 Oct 2020.

Nic reached out and took the object, slightly hesitantly since it was a weapon - which he wasn't expecting. He spoke but sounded slightly wooden or distracted. "No curse. That's good." He paused as he turned it over to look at the other side. “Imhulu? 'The evil wind' doesn't sound that good."

He shook his head. "I don't know. Taking this might be...undesirable." He slowly lifted the dagger up and to touch his forehead as he stared at it.

Round #16

The Cargo Hold - Nicholas, Angok,Nathaniel, Ms.S, Arthur, Asar,  The Statue, Sil, Fishman,

 Nic touches the blade to his forehead for a moment after examining it, and with a bit of surprise sees the lines wrapping his skin in energy. His eyes close involuntarily for a moment, and then when he opens them again he seems different.

 The Atlantean appears concerned but not upset as he spoke to Asar, relieved that he knew the old tongue. Much more comfortable with it he continues. “חברך מתקדם ללא שליטה או סבלנות, הנשק מחזיק בכוח רב, מסוכן בידיים הלא נכונות. אומרים שזה שוחט אלים, אתה צריך להיזהר,” he said with a thoughtful tone, then a bit more businesslike, “יש מסלול אפשרי שיפייס את כל הצדדים אני חושב. נוכל לסחור. נשק חזק לנשק חזק. יש לך דבר כזה? או אם לא מצליחים בכך, מחייבים שבועה לחזור לכאן בשנה אחת. למזער את הנזק האפשרי, נדרש אפקט אישי כלשהו ...”


“I cannit bless,” he says in his broken English, “I not priest. I Daka, sorcerer of royal house. Detect cursed vessel, seek to make right, protect seas. Uncover Imhulu, slayer of Matron of People in Deepness. Must return or Sea will angry.”

Everyone notices that the Atlantean’s blue skin seems to have shifting patterns of tattoos or markings on it. Aside from that only Nathaniel can feel anything strange in the hold any longer. Most of you feel like you are still recovering for about a minute as conversation breaks out. Between Ms. S and Sil, she bends down to check on Sil. There is a massive amount of cargo in here still, probably most of it’s good if it wasn’t perishable foodstuffs.

 A creak from the hull reminds everyone that there is a gigantic starfish on the ship that had probably caused the big hole with the squid arms on the steerage deck. This ship would sink one way or another but whether they were on it when that happened was another matter.

There also appeared to be the matter of the bowl of water...

---

Main Deck - Phoenix, Roach, Geo,

It almost appears that the battle would continue for those on deck! Roach viciously bites at Phoenix’s hand.

 Phoenix's reaction to Roach's attempt to bite is to "flame on", point at his nose, and say, "Bad!"  In a very firm voice.

Next Round of Initiative(#16)...Remember you get a move and an action!
1.Luminary 		5.Ace		10.Ms.S       	14.Angok	
2.starfish 		6.Geo		11.Atlantean		
3.Asar    	       	8.Phoenix	12.Roach		
4.Nathaniel  		9.Sil		

No need to roll more initiatives for this battle, we will use the above if necessary for some reason.

Next turn will be on TUESDAY in the EVENING (we’ll say 8PM) Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions and let me know if I’ve missed anything!

This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 04:51, Mon 26 Oct 2020.

Angok was watching the others, not to try and understand what was going on, he'd already given up on that, but rather to watch for a potential change in the dynamic that could result in danger. When the tattoos begin to swirl on the strangers body, Angok watched with mild interest until he actually recognized something. For a moment he stared, wondering if it was just some strange coincidence, and then came to the realization that was impossible.

Instinctively he took a step back, "We should let him have knife. If this was his quest, then we should help him complete it."

Asar looks to Luminary, He says that if you want to keep the weapon then you will be responsible for the vast destruction it can cause in the wrong hands. Also that you must give up some item of somewhat equal power or take an oath, which I assume he will bind with magic, to come back here in one year to return it to the sea.

Just so you know, that weapon used in the hands of a god was what took the life of the godness-titan of all salt water, Tiamat. It is not to be undertaken lightly. I am not sure even I would want to use it in battle, even though having it would be invaluable in the correct circumstances. If you do not take it, then I will take the oath myself."

To Nathaniel, "Do you feel anything from the bowl and the water. It is significant."

Asar wonders after the water and it's meaning and if he should drink of it to show his respect for Tiamat.

Roach was angry. Very angry. But he was also confused. He didn't quite understand the man-thing's gibberish, and the sudden return of the bright-hurt was aggravating. But he somehow also felt that it wasn't an attack. It felt more like... A show of dominance?

...
.... Unacceptable! With a Roar, Roach went for the bright-hurting hand, intent on removing it this time.

OOC:
I love the reaction to Roach's attack. So because of that, and because of the vague description of Berserker, I'm gonna make a psyche/Reason check to see if he's confused and/or rational enough to obey.

02:25, Today: Roach rolled 42 using 1d100.  Obeying Phoenix (Reason/Psyche. Both Are feeble, so meh.)

OK yeah, not Even green. Roach does not appreciate being ordered around.

02:27, Today: Roach rolled 89 using 1d100.  Bite (Edged attack).


This message was last edited by the player at 01:52, Wed 28 Oct 2020.

“Asar, you say that you will take the oath? So you believe that we should keep the enchanted blade rather than returning it.”
Ace was just trying to get his mind together after everything that had happened. To say that the events had been out of the fantastic would have been an understatement.

“Also, for everyone, if we can repair the damage to the hull and re-light the engine fires, this ship will be fully functional again. Is that something that we should undertake?”

Luckily for Phoenix, his hand is still within the protection of his asbestos sleeve, keeping the rain away from his skin.  Anticipating Roach's move, he attempts to place a jet of flame where his hand would normally be.

22:00, Today: Phoenix rolled 34 using 1d100+20.  Ex16 Dodge or Evade + Karma.
Well, seems that Roach gets a mouthful of asbestos and fiery hand.  I shouldn't have even bothered with using my Karma.

Round #17

Main Deck - Phoenix, Roach, Geo

 At the front of the ship, Phoenix and Roach attempt to vie for control. Roach suddenly recoils and launches himself at the fiery hand and latches on. Phoenix watches in horror as the creature attempts to rip his hand free. His instinct to create flame to combat peril was an almost immediate reaction. Flames jet out the sides of Roach's teeth, but to no avail, of his own volition he releases Phoenix. The animal tasted burning blood in it's mouth and could feel the incendiary pain of it all the way down to his belly.

 Phoenix instinctively cradles the deeply injured hand.

 Geo reacts with speed and smashes into Roach with a charging force that knocks the wind out of his sails and sends him stumbling back. Roach sees some glints of metal beneath the man's still face. "Calm yourself, Hiram."

The Cargo Hold - Nicholas, Angok,Nathaniel, Ms.S, Arthur, Asar,  The Statue, Sil, Fishman,

 In the hold, Nic examines the blade for a moment and sets it across the span of the bowl of water in Tiamat's stone lap. The lines across his body vanish. "I don't think I want this responsibility. At least not right now."

 The Atlantean smiles and nods, his body language suggesting that he thinks that Nic is giving the blade to him.

 Asar can see stars reflecting in the pool, and he realizes that it's an offer of lordship from Tiamat herself, pledging to her in service. Amid the chaos, he'd forgotten about the practice. In the desert you drink the waters of Apsu, whenever it's offered, and give thanks for the relief. Still, it's only an offer, and she can't harm much from wherever she is now?

Next Round of Initiative(#17)...Remember you get a move and an action!
1.Luminary 		5.Ace		10.Ms.S       	14.Angok	
2.starfish 		6.Geo		11.Atlantean		
3.Asar    	       	8.Phoenix	12.Roach		
4.Nathaniel  		9.Sil		

No need to roll more initiatives for this battle, we will use the above if necessary for some reason.

Next turn will be on THURSDAY in the EVENING (we’ll say 8PM) Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions and let me know if I’ve missed anything!

This message was last edited by the GM at 08:18, Wed 28 Oct 2020.

Catching his breath, and about ready to pass out from hunger, thirst, and shock, Nathaniel tried to concentrate on what Asar asked him. The bowl and the water, which became animated for as moment.

"Let me see. Perhaps I can puzzle out what's happening here."

He peers at the artefact, trying to see if he recognizes anything of the way it is constructed.

15:57, Today: Nathaniel Roivas rolled 96 using 1d100 ((96)). Reason FEAT, effective rank of Excellent. RED!

Phoenix gives a cry of pain as the hand is severed and disappears down Roach's gullet.  His blood, appearing as lava, splashes the deck, bursting into small flames, and he grips the stump with his right hand, feeling fibers of the torn asbestos poking into his superheated flesh.
He looks at Roach, anger evident in his eyes even through the flames covering his face, which seem to burn brighter, hotter, and opens his mouth.  A blast of fire shoots out towards the feral... whatever Hiram has become.

In his rage, his control is going to slip and attempt to cause his flames' intensity to increase.
17:35, Today: Phoenix rolled 97 using 1d100.  Ex16 Agility to hit for Ex16 Dmg. Red Feat, Kill.  Sorry....

17:34, Today: Phoenix rolled 130 using 1d100+50.  Gd8 Control + Karma.  Yellow Feat without, Red Feat with.

Unaware of the struggle above deck, and determined to allow the others to make their own decisions regarding the mystical blade, Arthur set about examining the area for material that could be successfully used to repair the ship’s hull. Should their expedition prove fruitful, the extra storage space that a second could provide might prove invaluable. Barring that, the vessel could always be sold to shore up their supplies as needed.

17:59, Today: Agent Ace rolled 79 using 1d100.  Reason. [Yellow Feat]

To the Atlantean, "חבר טוב מתחת לים האם לקיחת הצעתו של טיאמת תהווה להיות ראוי לקחת את Imhulu?האם אתה מציע כזה עבור אנונאקי, שנבגד על ידי מרדוק, אבל נלחם כל כך הרבה זמן נגדה?"

He goes over and takes up the weapon in one hand and the bowl in another. He looks to Nethaniel to see what he has to say and does not drink from the bowl, yet.

GMing Post Info
Round #18
OOC: At this point, everyone can be doing different things. Angok said he was basically guarding against the Atlantean, so I'm carrying that forward. Ace is cataloging the cargo. Even if you're not doing anything in particular, feel free to post up what kind of stance you want to take or set your guy on autopilot if you want to, just give me an OOC in your post explaining what you'd like to do with yourself for the next few rounds.

The Cargo Hold - Nicholas, Angok,Nathaniel, Ms.S, Arthur, Asar,  The Statue, Sil, Fishman,

 Nathaniel worked at examining the bowl of water on the lap of the Goddess in stone. In the water he could see sparkling stars, a magical effect for sure. As he examines the bowl he can see etchings on the inside of it, some around the rim and more under the water level inside. There couldn't be any more than a standard pint of water in it. The etchings have the appearance of a secondary magical protection spell. Under that, a simple illusionary hologram, a false bottom...

 The Atlantean looks at Asar, and furrows it's hairless brow sending wrinkles of annoyance across the previously smooth face. "ברור שלא מקובל. אתה אנאונאקי, היית העם שלה. אתה פשוט היית לוקח את זה מאנשי.אני מתעייף מהמשא ומתן הזה ..."


 Ace finds plenty of girders and iron plating that could be welded and improved upon later. Including a welder and black smithing tools. The stuff in here was on it's way to France to turn around and pick up more immigrants heading for USA, so there was all kinds of cargo available. So selling that cargo and the ship itself back to it's French owner would be an option, or the idea that everyone thinks the ship was lost at sea, made it quite another kind of valuable.

---

Main Deck - Phoenix, Roach, Geo,

 Geo watched helplessly as Phoenix bursted flames towards Roach's resting spot with his mangled end of his arm almost instinctively out of shock. With a surprisingly human yell, Hiram goes down in a powerful cloud of fire. When the light dies down somewhat, you can see Hiram's motionless body amid the wreckage of a deck table. He suddenly takes a shuddering breath. Alive, breathing and smoldering with steam rising from his face, but for now, totally unconscious.

OOC: Roach make me an endurance check to regain consciousness.

Next Round of Initiative(#19)...Remember you get a move and an action!
1.Luminary 		5.Ace		10.Ms.S       	14.Angok	
2.starfish 		6.Geo		11.Atlantean		
3.Asar    	       	8.Phoenix	12.Roach		
4.Nathaniel  		9.Sil		

No need to roll more initiatives for this battle, we will use the above if necessary for some reason.

Next turn will be on SUNDAY in the EVENING (we’ll say 8PM) Pacific Standard Time! Hit me up with clarifying questions and let me know if I’ve missed anything!

This message was last edited by the GM at 08:02, Fri 30 Oct 2020.

Seeing Roach hit the deck, dead or unconscious, Phoenix grips the part of his arm where his hand used to be attached.  The severing is pretty clean, having taken it off at the wrist, leaving his radius and ulna intact; they can be seen withing the jagged flesh.
He pulls up the skin with his now human, non-incendiary right hand, until the flesh puckers as it covers the bone.  Then, his hand bursts into flame again, sealing and cauterizing the wound.  The man gives a cry of agony before slumping to the deck, also unconscious, flames fading before he comes to a complete stop.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:14, Fri 30 Oct 2020.

Hiram came to with a shuddering breath, which he immediately regretted as binding pain wracked his entire body. His everything was in agony. But that was not the worst part. The worst part was desperately writing his body, looking around for Any sort of salvation. Looking, and seeing onyl the destruction he'd wrought. The remains of the creature's he'd torn apart. The deck he'd trampled into splinters. The man whose hand he'd literally eaten.
Hiram tried desperately to cry, but his tearducts where burnt to nothing. He tried to wail, but his vocal chord could manage no more than a frail whine. He remembered All of it. All that he'd done. And he lamented the fact that his body would not allow him to fall back into unconsciousness. In his agony, he cursed his so called Powers.

Nathaniel peers at the bowl. He'd never seen its like before, but there was an obscure Mage, Marcus the Mad, whose work he'd studied, and this was similar. Mad Marcus always claimed he'd been to Atlantis and come back with mystic secrets. Hadn't kept him from the poorhouse or the asylum, though.

But it appears he might have been telling the truth.

Nathanial held the bowl in one hand and made several complex flowing gestures with the other, muttering a few dense, staccato words that seem to echo loudly even though he's whispering.

"I think I got it," he says to Asar, "There's a simple illusion enchantment overlaid by a protection spell. I'm trying to unweave them both. And then we may see what's really in there."

Just then he feels a presence, like a fish-hook in his brain. He winces, shakes his head to clear it, and hands the bowl to Asar. "Here, I think you're okay to examine it. I need to.... check... something..."

And he walks toward the coal furnace where he can feel the otherworldy presence. He summons a roiling ball of Darkforce to hover behind him, just in case this goes as bad as it very easily could.

Asar hands the weapon the the Atlanean, "אם כך, משא ומתן. הייתי שומע איך זה הגיע להיות לכוד בפסל הזה ולא בין האנשים שלך ומבקש ממך לשמור על הסירה הזאת לצוף עד שהוא מתוקן מספיק כדי להישאר צף.אנחנו נעבוד על התיקונים באופן מיידי."

"I think we need to repair this ship and see if we can take it into port."

He hands the weapon to the Atlanean and offers a prayer to Tiamat taking up her offer of 'friendship'. Then he takes a drink to consummate the relationship.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:20, Fri 30 Oct 2020.

Arthur began gathering the components available to repair the hull. With the girders and iron plating as well as the welding equipment, it should have been an easy enough process, but Art found that he was having considerably more difficulty than he anticipated. Trying to gather his thoughts, Art began to separate the different components into sections. Once that task was completed, he would set about measuring individual pieces and try to conceive a proper framework. Once he had that in mind, he could begin the welding process.

OOC:
19:48, Today: Agent Ace rolled 12 using 1d100.  Mechanical Engineering. [White Feat]

Yet again there was the presentation of that internal conflict. He knew he had to get to the hold of the Neustria to provide aid to the team with whatever the cause of the disturbance was. Yet, there were people in imminent danger. This time people he was familiar with. A member of the team and his own handler no less, whom he'd been unable to intervene sufficiently to prevent from severely injuring each other in Hiram's loss of control. He needed to get to the hold but...

"I will escort both of you to safety," he said definitively. "You will allow me to without resistance!"

Sam moved towards the pair and quickly scooped his handler up as if the man were lighter than a feather and gently slipped the man over his shoulder. Next he offered his hand down to the distressed Hiram. He motioned to his empty shoulder, the clear indication being that he would heft Hiram over it as he had Phoenix over the other. His expression, as much as he could make of one, did not leave room for debate.

"I will fly you both back to the Mauretania where you both may receive medical attention," he insisted. "Then I will return to provide assistance to the remainder of your colleagues."

Hiram barely heard Geo's words, but offered no resistance as he clutched onto the man's shoulder. He was much too caught up in the Horror of what he'd done to offer any input, much less meaningful commentary.

Angok looked around at the others in the room, wondering if they were as confused as he was. After a moment he turned to Asar, "What did you say to him, what is happening here? What did you agree to?"

Round #19


The Cargo Hold - Nicholas, Angok,Nathaniel, Ms.S, Arthur, Asar,  The Statue, Sil, Fishman,

 Mr.Roivas succeeds in disarming whatever simple protection was on the bowl itself as he hands it off to Asar. Then like being drawn to a magnet, he feels the slightest presence. It's pretty weak, perhaps some remnant of the magic of the statue itself. As he got closer he realized that it was nothing like that at all. A small blob of black goo that had somehow escaped the cleansing of the curse. Down by the ashes of the furnace it sits, tiny sooty tendrils seem to reach for grains of coal like a weird little newborn amoeba...


 The Atlantean blinks as he watches everything happening around them and comes to rest on Asar when he asks his questions and hands over the weapon. "מרדוקה, רוצח האלה השאיר אותו באבן אני בטוח. מעולם לא רציתי שזה יפול למישהו שהוא לא הוא. היא הייתה יריבה אמיצה, ולכן הקוטל הזמין את הבנאי לבנות מחווה הולמת לפייס את חסידיה. היה זה עמי שהניח את עצמותיה למנוחה ביום הקרב, בעוד שמרדוקה התבונן מהילולתו בכלי נשקו. איך זה קרה אנונאקי, שלא היית שם כדי לדעת על זה?"

 "נישאר מספיק זמן כדי שתוכלו לעבוד, ואז עלינו לחזור למעמק."


 Asar drinks then from the bowl of water, the cool liquid sliding down his throat. As he tips it up to get the full measure, eight blue gemstones drop from their settings in the bottom of the bowl and gravity begins to draw them towards your mouth. Asar pauses momentarily in surprise before he swallows them.

 Ace wisely sets about creating a scaffolding to withstand the pressures of the sea, rather than slapping a quick patch. He tries but has a difficult time working without turning out the entire cargo looking for the proper specialty tools. He can't help but think about how wonderful it would be to have a massive floating workshop or money enough to completely stock one.

 Angok is starting to feel ignored...

OOC: Things will be more fun when you begin to talk to one another now too, so be sure to watch for people speaking to you! So you can at least write that you acknowledge them in some fashion, even if you're focused on something else. ^_^

---

Main Deck - Phoenix, Roach, Geo,

 Geo grabbed the unconscious Phoenix and weakened Roach. Then ferries them across to the Mauretania, where a ship's doctor began to ply his trade. He looked at the other two survivors who seemed shaken and cold, emaciated, but alive. Seeing them well taken care of he returns finally to join the others in the Hold...

Next Round of Initiative(#20)...Remember you get a move and an action!
1.Luminary 		5.Ace		10.Ms.S       	14.Angok	
2.starfish 		6.Geo		11.Atlantean		
3.Asar    	       	8.Phoenix	12.Roach		
4.Nathaniel  		9.Sil		

No need to roll more initiatives for this battle, we will use the above if necessary for some reason.

Next turn will be on THURSDAY in the EVENING (we’ll say 8PM) Pacific Standard Time! Let me know if I’ve missed anything!

</quote>

Nate's eyes narrow and his lips press into a line. Odd creatures from alternate dimensions is his particular obsession. It had brought him to some strange places and had nearly caused his death more than once.

However, his obsession did mean that he had some tools at his disposal.

He examined the little thing to see if he had ever seen, or heard tell, of such a thing before. And then he reached out and wove a modified summoning spell. He was good at summoning things. This was already here, of course, but the really important part of summoning was maintaining control over what you conjured up.

Which is what he did here.

OOC:
62 on a Reason FEAT to puzzle out what it is (Green).
20 on a 'Summoning Roll' to take control of it. (Uh oh)

Asar responds to the Atlantean, "קיבלתי חיון שמרדוק תכנן לבגוד במשרתו הנאמן, בעצמי, ובכל בני מיני.הוא הבין איך לספוג את כוחנו, אבל רק באמצעות מעשה המוות שלנו.אלה שהוא הרג, הוא לקח את שמם. כשהתעמתתי איתו, כבר היה לו את הנשק ואחד האחים שלי לכוד.כשניסיתי להציל את אחי, לאחר שהבנתי שהחלום נכון, נמשכתי אל העולם התחתון על ידי התורמים של מרדוק לאל המוות.במקום להיכנע ברחתי, ורצתי כל כך מהר שלא יכולתי להיתפס אפילו על ידי ידו של המוות.עם זאת, שברתי משהו במרקם המציאות ונלכדתי בזמן ובסלע.רק לאחרונה התעוררתי שוב לפני כשנה וחצי."

"We probably need to see that the survivors are transported over to the Mauretania before the vessel that has been following us catches up. It seems our new allies are still above and are likely taking care of that. Ace, I will help with the welding, as I can generate light to heat things up for welding. I just need the pieces, as it were. Also, I can hold up things in place if need be."

He heads off to help Ace.

It took no time to reach the Mauretania again. Carrying both men didn't slow him at all. The moment his feet touched the deck he set both of them down. He took extra special care in setting James down, settling his handler into a deck chair. Hiram was conscious so they were able to watch after themself as he set them down. Free of them he called it before turning to fly back to the Neustria.

"These men require medical assistance!" he then looked at Hiram. "You will comply with the crew here and refrain from engaging your abilities."

Somehow he trusted his words would be followed. It was perhaps completely unnecessary to iterate them to Hiram but thorough communication seemed appropriate. Sam didn't linger to ponder it or to see them take James into their care. He knew they would. Before they were close enough to see him clearly he was already off and floating through the air back to the Neustria.

This time, no more deterrents. No more distractions. No more personnel or civilians in imminent danger. Upon arriving he didn't even land his feet on the deck this time. He floated through the air straight into the halls and then down the stairs to where he'd sensed the disturbances before. Hopefully he would not arrive too late. Upon entering the hold he dropped to the deck the resounding metallic thud as if someone had dropped a ton of bricks upon it, he'd arrived in such haste.

"I am here to render assistance. Please direct me to the source of any remaining threats," he declared simply.

Round #20

Onboard the Mauretania - Phoenix and Roach

 James and Hiram are quickly taken into the saloon, with tables hastily brushed of glasses and mugs. The pair are laid out over two tables where gaslight continued to light the rooms. An older man with a thin mustache and spectacles takes off his hat and steps up to assess the two. The Captain steps in as well to watch the recovery and diagnosis. His eyes move across the men and he gasps, "sweet jesus! what's gone on over there? These men are beaten senseless and half burnt! Wait, this one's got some kind of...asbestos? Woven into the cloth of his coat and shirt?"

 He begins to work over the men, every so often pausing in his examination to shake his head. He looks at Hiram, "Can you speak, son?"

 Another woman emerges from the small crowd of people watching over the sick and injured, the young man Nathaniel had sheltered and the starved man. This new woman looked familiar to Phoenix, she was an agent of the Expeditionary Force he surmised between fading in and out of consciousness. She hid it well however but she was difficult to miss. She had dark curly and appeared to be middle-eastern, and she held herself like she had a clinical expert's bedside manner. She moved quickly next to the older doctor and they bandaged both men quickly. She lifted her hand to his chest and bent low like she was listening to his chest and whispered, "shaant raho aur jeevit raho, apane aap ko changa karo...I heard you were in trouble already."

The Cargo Hold - Nicholas, Angok, Nathaniel, Ms.S, Arthur, Asar, Geo,  The Statue, Sil, Fishman,

 Nathaniel bent low and peered at the creature, trying to ascertain what this thing was really. There were many possibilities of course, but this one could be either something that passed over from some thinning of the veil from such a powerful event as this ship has been or another possibility was that the creature might have been some side effect of the spell, perhaps this was the tentacled coal monster reduced to a mere wisp of lifeforce. Drawing on his occult bestiary knowledge he could deduce that the little thing was some kind of lesser demon, but he also knew that the modern conception of demons would encompass a number of groups foreign to this dimension rather than just a Judaeo-christian definition. If he wanted to know more he'd have to catch it somehow. His first control spell failed as he maybe got too excited...

 Geo finds Angok, Ms.Sanderson, Luminary and Sil still on the Cargo deck, with Nathaniel down in the Coal hold, as he passes by Agent Ace, Asar and an Atlantean heading to patch up the boat with equipment and materials. The place is a royal mess, but it looks as though whatever the event was had happened while he was saving lives, very efficiently as well given the chaotic and perilous nature of their encounter.

 The Atlantean walks with Asar and Ace up to the hole where the Atlantean starfish had punched into the hold. He waves a hand at it as they approach and the tentacles retract into the creature's "mouth". The Atlantean turns to face the two of you and holds the weapon up uneasily, "Thank well, the seas will be your friend!"

 With an abrupt bow, he walks towards the mouth of the starfish and it begins to open to him and finally apparently seated within, it begins to close. He gestures to the upper decks, "Please, forget now, nations of surface. אל תספר דבר על המפגש שלנו, העמוקים אינם מוכנים לפני השטח"


 Ms.S turns to Angok, "Seems the big one is too smart to tell us what they've been going on about, ne'v'theless, looks they've come to an understandin'."

 Nic shivers as if he's caught a fever as he approaches those remaining, and upon closer examination he looks a bit peaked and clammy. "I'm not feeling so good, but I swear I got my shots!"

 Sil begins to head to the upper deck with help from Ms.S and Nic. "I'll help 'em across and be back soon," the mysterious woman says. "Sounds like they plan to take the ship, don't let 'em leave without me."

Next Round of Initiative(#21)...Remember you get a move and an action!
1.Luminary 		5.Ace		10.Ms.S       	14.Angok	
2.starfish 		6.Geo		11.Atlantean		
3.Asar    	       	8.Phoenix	12.Roach		
4.Nathaniel  		9.Sil		

No need to roll more initiatives for this battle, we will use the above if necessary for some reason.

Next turn will be on SUNDAY in the EVENING (we’ll say 8PM) Pacific Standard Time! Let me know if I’ve missed anything!

This message was last edited by the GM at 23:22, Fri 06 Nov 2020.

Angok offers a somewhat disinterested shrug at Ms. Sanderson's retort. With the apparent situation dealt with and the others heading to the upper deck, Angok calls out, "I will help Asar," and then heads in the direction of the hole that needed mending.

Nathaniel utter a curse as his spell failed. Extra-dimensional beings didn't belong in this reality and there were lots of ways to go about bringing such a thing under some manner of control. But the one he'd just tried was the easiest and the most reliable. When it worked.

Sighing, he took a small silver knife from his boot. It was thin, made of silver, and writ with runes that luminesced slightly in the gloom. He closed his eyes, pricked his left index finger, and used a finger to smear some of the blood on the knife, and the pressed his finger to draw a large bead of blood from the small wound. Dropping the knife, he quickly picked up some coal dust and rubbed it into the blood to make a small, black, tacky round ball.

He held out his hand toward the little creature and made soft cooing noises.

This should work.

But it had the potential for more... complicated consequences.

Asar looks over to the 'new guy' that was offering help, "Hey, it would be a good idea if we could patch up the hull over here so the ship doesn't sink and we can take it in to harbor. I think most of the danger is over, although the dark armor guy over near the boiler mouth looks intent on something. Don't think he introduced himself, but I am Asar...."

He introduces the rest and expects the new guy to introduce himself.

"Have the survivors and wounded been evacuated to the other ship?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:33, Sat 07 Nov 2020.

At the sound of the man speaking to him, Hiram tried to focus on what was going on around him. His flitting back and forth, his gaze inevitably landed on Phoenix. Realiskng once more what he'd done, Hriam could do little to prevent the tears that started streaming down his cheeks.
"I'm sorry..." he croaked, before coughing painfully "knew this was a mistake... My fault. Always... Hurt People."
He quickly started losning himself in guilt and self loathing again.

"My field designation is Geo," he replied. "All civilian and crew of this vessel I have detected have been successfully evacuated to the Mauretania. As well as Hiram who has regained control, and my handler who was injured."

His stance relaxed somewhat at the confirmation that current apparent threats had passed. He looked around for where he might best contribute to the teams efforts to salvage the vessel before it sank. He noted one thing he could do easily and swiftly that was of some minor import. All of the scattered loose coal was an issue. It was a minor danger, but one to be addressed nonetheless.

"Please direct me how to assist," he said.

As he did so, he also raised his hands and his protocols executed a simple process. All of the loose coal began to float into the air seemingly in motion to the movement of his hands. In no time at all he had all of it moving swiftly back to their proper storage containments. It would be safely out of the way and wear it belonged, ready to be shoveled into the engines to fuel the ship. If they managed to save the vessel, anyway.

"I possess well beyond human strength. Do not concern yourselves about burdening me," he further offered.

The MAURETANIA - Phoenix and Roach

  The doctor continued to bandage Hiram and address the various scratches, cuts and burns that had accompanied the battle with the creatures and Phoenix, "My god, it looks like you were attacked by animals over there...you're lucky to be alive son. How did you get all these burns?"

 The woman hunched over Phoenix continued her work, whispering strange words like incantations seemed to help his blood loss and a different kind of burn began. The woman put linen bandages over his stump of a hand and continued to apply healing salves to his wounds. Her smile was warm, "Sleep and rest. You will heal," she whispered into his ear, "I am heading back shortly, you will not see me again until you return to headquarters."

 Ms.S joined them a short time later, Nic and Sil in tow. They both looked worse for wear currently, and soon they were resting along with the others. She filled in the doctors. She left an address in France in all the injured teammates' jackets so that if they got split up, they could meet back up shortly. Then she left almost as quickly as she'd arrived.

The NEUSTRIA - Angok, Nathaniel, Arthur, Asar, Geo

 Meanwhile Nathaniel was interested in the little beasty he'd found. The diminutive creature recoiled when the silver came out, and drew closer when he proffered a drop of blood. It began to hungrily curl it's tiny tendrils around the gooey ball of bloody coal and began to assimilate it into it's amoeba-like body. It formed a small bubble on it's surface and when it popped, a tiny hole appeared and cooing sounds began to emanate from it's softball sized jet black body.

 Geo began to gather all the coal from the cargo deck and direct it back to the coal holds below. Soon the area was clear of the dusty stuff. Geo did notice Nathaniel down by the main boiler of the ship and he was interested in something he'd found there among the coal piles gathered nearby that Geo hadn't yet moved among the wheel barrows that wheeled coal to the now cold furnace.

 The three A's began to make themselves useful in other ways by patching the hull over the spot where the starfish had punched into the hold and allowed it's passenger access. They began the process of cutting the shrapnel from the opening and bending what was left back into place. The starfish remained sealed against the hull for the time being, so they could work without being subjected to the elements outside, but they'd have to move quickly now to prevent it from rupturing immediately when the starfish disengaged. So they quickly assembled a scaffolding at Ace's direction and with Asar and Angok doing the heavy lifting and heating, they had it done fairly fast. Beyond that, welding it to the hull and sealing it well would take another few minutes.

1.Asar 		5.Phoenix    9. Nic
2.Nathaniel     6.Ms.S
3.Ace    	7.Roach
4.Geo  		8.Angok		

No need to roll more initiatives for this battle, we will use the above if necessary for some reason.

Next turn will be on TUESDAY in the EVENING (we’ll say 8PM) Pacific Standard Time! Let me know if I’ve missed anything!

This message was last edited by the GM at 23:37, Sun 15 Nov 2020.

Nathaniel watched partly in horror and partly in exultation as the little extradimensional entity latched on to his finger. This is going to end badly, he thought to himself as he gathered it up and stood up. It wouldn't stop him.

Holding the amorphous little ball of goo, he walked over toward the others. He held the creature in his hand like you would a baseball.

"Hello, everyone," he said, "I'm Nathaniel. Nathaniel Roivas." HIs vision blurred and he almost fell over, and remembered that he hadn't had anything to eat or drink for days. "Uh, anyone got any water? Maybe a biscuit?"

Some of what the oddly familiar woman says may get through to James' subconscious as he flutters in and out.  But, it is hard to tell since he seems unable to come back all the way.

With the others pitching in to help, Arthur easily figured out the process of restoring the hull. Working together, they quickly created the new replacement hull and Arthur worked on putting on the finishing touches and sat down to take a break.

“Hello, new faces. Feel free to call me Art or Ace. Thank you for your help with this highly unusual situation.”

Hearing Nathaniel ask about water and biscuits, Art offered up his own canteen and mess kit. There were a few food items in there that should help settle the man’s stomach.

“It seems that we have gained ourselves a rather large and expensive ship. Will we have enough crew to run her?”

The idea of such a spacious workshop/mobile headquarters left Art spinning in wonder. Oh, the possibilities.



OOC :

09:31, Today: Agent Ace rolled 58 using 1d100.  Mechanical Engineering . [Green Feat]

This message was last edited by the player at 16:46, Tue 10 Nov 2020.

With the immediate threat dealt with, Angok realized that he was still completely naked. While not overly self-conscious, he did realize that decorum was necessary, especially when they returned back to the Mauretania. As Arthur took a seat, Angok started to look around for some clothes to put on. "I am Angok," he said over his shoulder as he rummaged around.

OOC: At this point we want to accomplish a few things:

1. Are we re-boarding the Mauretania, leaving the Neustria in the hands of the French Navy and getting a fame boost in the process. (+10 Popularity for everyone permanent.)

2. If we are taking the Neustria, are we taking her back to Port. (+50 Resources for 2 resource rolls.)

3. Keeping the Neustria until you get to Russia. The benefits are numerous here as a mobile base, (hiring a crew to sail her around until you return from Siberia would allow you to keep her indefinitely and earn an income allowing a +1cs to Resources of the person that performs 3 successful resource rolls required to do that, to outfit and fuel her and hire that crew.)

Make your cases In-character either way. Those who show enough interest in one or the other will give us our next path democratically but In Character. Roach, Phoenix and Nic if he returns, can lead the charge in the OOC thread, you guys are all too out of it to return just yet IC, but your opinions matter for the outcome. ^_^

The Neustria:

 Ace, Angok and Asar make the final adjustments after taking the time to weld the patch into place properly. It's slow going even when they were using a welder and a laser, but finally they accomplish what needs to be done. That done, they hear a knocking from the other side and finally a >kthunk!< sounds out as the starfish detaches from the from the hull. That left only a few other tasks for them to do. Now it would be up to those left to get the furnace running again, feed in more coal as Geo had begun and for someone to take the helm. The force had recovered a lost ship!

 Nathaniel finds food with Ace's kit, what little he had not taken from his other belongings, which included some hardtack and a canteen of water. His mental fortitude had carried him thus far, but now it wanted to wane in favor of engorging himself on the simple rations. His tiny new companion seemed content to sit in a warm hand however and when Nathaniel tried to set him down, it climbed to his shoulder with surprising agility. The creature continued to coo except when Nathaniel began to eat, it watched a bit like a cat, dark bulbous eyes blinking occasionally and twitching to watch. It followed one bite to Nathaniel's mouth, a tiny tendril reaching out to paw at the air near it, interested in some of that hardtack.

OOC: Continue discussions as needed, we'll be wrapped up with this Chapter before SUNDAY at 8pm. I'll try to be available most of the week to reply to IC interations and any questions you need to help weigh your decisions.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:10, Thu 12 Nov 2020.

“A vessel this size, it is just too much responsibility.” Arthur shook his head. As much as he considered that keeping the ship entirely for themselves provided the most value as no matter what they were offered in return, it would only be a pittance of the ships actual monetary worth, not to mention the value they could get out of her as both vessel and workshop.

“Maintaining a crew for a ship this size, plus upkeep on the ship itself, and the cost of everything it takes to run her. That’s a small army, a small fortune, and a more than a small time commitment all in itself. Everyone had a hand in saving her and reclaiming her, so it is only fair that everyone have a say in what we do with her. Selling her is the easiest. But rather than selling her for cash, I suggest we offer to trade her for another ship of our own design. Something much smaller, but still large enough to encompass all our needs. Maybe equipped with new oil burning engines rather than coal. We come up with a design and have a shipyard build the new ship for us. Once the new ship is complete, we relinquish ownership of the Mauritania once we take ownership of the new vessel. Thoughts?”

Speeding back and forth Asar goes from one place holding a slab of metal here, welding another there, bending a piece of replacement to the right shape, and in general being very helpful. Once the ship is patched and underway the discussion of what to do with it comes up.

"Ambitions Ace, but can we use such a vessel right now? If we are ever in the Atlantic and need to get to the pacific we are talking about at least two months to get to the Suez and into the Indian Ocean, cross it, and then where ever. Otherwise we have to go down past South America and the cape to get to the Pacific and then back up again to where ever we are going. Having a mobile HQ sounds great, until you realize the amount of time it takes to get anywhere by sea. For our group, should we stay a group after this mission is over, it might be nice, but it is not efficient.

Selling this ship sounds like a good idea as well, if we need financing. However, we have the United States Government backing us at this point and our financing is secured in that respect.

Perhaps the best option is to return it to it's owners. They may offer a monetary reward, but I would suggest that we refuse it or have them use it to the benefit of the surviving crew. Those like us are just re-emerging into this world and there will be fear of the unknown among those that do not have powers. Fear among other governments. If we would alley that fear, we must become heroes. Heroes that protect and serve everyone, not just the United States Government. We must earn, in other words, good will.

If we return this vessel to the French or whatever company or government used to own it we will generate such good will. There will be news papers and photographs that will be spread wide and far concerning the event. If we handle it correctly we may be gifted the means to acquire or build a new vessel, perhaps one that rides in the air instead of upon the waves. One of the Zeppelins I think they are called. Surely we could get further faster in a vehicle of the air?

Do not worry, if you have a secret identity we can provide a mask or a hat to cover the top of your face."

Nate, with some trepidation, breaks off a little bit of hardtack and gives it to the little creature. He was curious as to what it would do with the offering. In his experience, extradimensional beings didn't consume such prosaic things as field rations. If this one did (as opposed to blood, or flesh, or the tears of children, or what-have-you) that was certainly more convenient, but much stranger.

Still holding the tiny thing in one hand, he walked back over to the group.

"Gentlemen," he said, "I am Nathanial Roivas, of Rhode Island. Thank you for your assistance here this day. Once we are safe, I would very much like to hear the tale of what brought such... exceptional... people to this ship at this time."

He looked around.

"As for the ship, let us tow it to port, and decide what to do with it then. There are many options."

After having found some work clothes in a locker Angok, now fully clothed, joined the conversation, "I don't understand all of the issues you bring up," he said to Asar, "but I think having such a ship as our own would be beneficial. As you say, the United States Government is providing us funding, but that also makes us slaves to the government's wishes, yes? Having something that is ours might be helpful, in case the government no longer finds us valuable."

"As I stated, my field designation is Geo. In more familiar and unofficial matters you may refer to me as Sam," he said very plainly as way of properly introducing himself when everyone gathered to discuss the fate of the wounded vessel.

"There are indeed many factors to consider when weighing how to proceed with dispensing with the Neustria's providence. As it was completely abandoned by it's crew and passengers in the course of the recent crisis the vessel does fall within the boundaries and guidelines of international salvage law. Therefor, we would be within legal boundaries to claim to vessels providence as salvage and thus take responsibility for it moving forward.

"However, as many of us are traveling in an official capacity associated with government agencies there are numerous complications that might arise in asserting that claim. Not the least of which is calling direct attention to our affiliations and our purpose for travel. Or the delay it would place upon the task some of you were assigned to. Then of course the risk of creating potential conflict with the previous owner of this vessel's providence who might look upon such claims of salvage with suspicion. Not undo suspicion given the rapid nature of the claim of salvage upon their vessel.

"I believe the prudent course of action is to transfer all personnel from the assignment to the Neustria and use this vessel to reach port. Then to relinquish it to it's proper owner's and proceed with all of our original assignments accordingly. This should hopefully draw the attention of the other vessel that has been shadowing the Mauretania away from unassociated civilians aboard that vessel, as well," Sam said as casual as could be.

   Over the next few hours the Neustria is restored to a serviceable state through the teams carefully planned execution. Ace knew these systems quite well and knew many of the mechanisms just from his careful studies of machinery back home, in fact it was one of the Doc's first subjects to teach Arthur. Angok found his strength useful and he had enjoyed the feeling of not having to hide himself on the other ship or cause a panic. Either way, the others also found similar camaraderie with one another, everyone's eyes on just what the next leg of their journey would hold.

   Sil Silan has taken extremely ill over the night and by morning she was feverish and unable to move under her own power. The ship's doctor told Ms.S, and via her the rest of the team, that she should stay aboard the Maurentania and rushed to Marseille's hospital when they arrive in port. She's unlike anyone he's ever seen before. Ms.S explains that the doctor gave her odds at 50/50.

   Nic is taken back to the Neustria as he had gained some of his constitution back but for now rested nearby. Roach and Phoenix were also escorted back to the Neustria, everyone feeling somewhat more themselves. Phoenix had to deal with his missing hand and instructions to change the dressing each evening. Though James can feel his wound already beginning to knit itself back to balance at least. Roach too begins to feel as though the cloud has been lifted, for daybreak appears.

  Nate's little friend had not grown but had taken a crusty appearance, as if it had been applying the crumbs of hardtack to it's skin, forming a weird patchy shell. You get the feeling after a while that it was a silly creature, yet probably not wholly harmless, it was not going to pose a threat in the immediate time frame, or it would have tried something already, at least that's what you're 90% sure on based on conflicting literature. On finding a few free minutes you find the room of the man you'd been following with the statue in steerage. You can search it if you like to see who it was meant to buy it or take possession of the statue for yourself. You can see the deeds on the table of his tiny room through the open door.

  The Neustria has one last guest before they were prepared to depart. It was the first mate of the Mauretania, the man had already thanked everyone several times and seemed embarrassed at being in the midst of more powerful beings than himself. Finally bidding farewell he asks, "What should I tell the Captain?"

OOC: Going with the first answer I get! ^_^

 Also extra karma to everyone who adds to a conversation that reviews what's happened so far in game.

This message was last edited by the GM at 07:52, Mon 16 Nov 2020.

Asar replies to the first mate, "We intend to sail this vessel into the same port as the Mauretania. There, despite possible legal salvage rights, we will remand it to the French authorities who will make sure that the vessel is remanded to it's previous owners. We have not gone through the ships records, if they survived, but we will before we make port. In fact, I would appreciate it if you would help us with that before we put you back aboard the Mauretania, just to make sure everything is in order."

Now that the emergency is over, Asar had been trying to get to know the others better. Once the First Mate is moved back to the Mauretania he engages the others in demonstrating and practicing their powers. There were some close calls previously, including one he caused, that a bit more practice or attention to detail might have overted. He also congratulates those that did inventive things like the illusions of Roach and the answers to the riddles.

So much had happened in such a little time. They had all met in the United States and been formed into an expeditionary force. They had defeated, without incident, some alien beast that could cause intense emotions...some kind of emotional vampire almost. There was a mystery on the boat that might have been solved as soon as he could talk to Pheonix. A demon infested boat which held a mystery from his own past just happened to sail towards the ship that was taking them towards their Siberian destination. They had made contact with a major subsea power and perhaps gained them as allies. It seemed that they had been sent back-up, without even being told they might have any.

He smiles, a big grin, as he has in short ordered regained two of the three abilities he was most known for in the distance past. There were still several more abilities that he desired and the last of the core was a possibility....again when he talked to Phoenix. This he heads off to go and do.

-->Goes to find Phoenix.

Not exactly pleased with having to move to the damaged ship, at least they have their choice of cabins, the ones left empty by people who had been corrupted by the power if the statue, for the rest of the voyage.  He is fairly certain the others may be happy with that, considering where they had been berthed before.
The first-class stateroom James had taken was actually more modest than the one the agency had provided for him on the Mauretania, having bunk beds, a couch in a sitting are, and a wall cabinet with a fold-up wash basin.  The belongings of the previous occupants had been gathered and taken by a crewman to the purser's office, after he had explained that some kind of pack of wild animals had somehow gotten aboard the ship and killed, and eaten, many of the crew and passengers, creatures they had killed using firearms, hand weapons, and a man-portable incendiary device used for controlled burning in agriculture.  He had stopped when he saw Hiram/Roach, and asked him to follow him to the stateroom provided.  If he joins him, the soldier sits on the couch, offering the otherwise homeless man to sit down as well.
I realize you weren't yerself, buddy, he says, letting his New York accent come out.  Now I know what not ta do when he comes out.  How're you feelin'?  Inside still feeling crispy?  I'm sorry abouddat.  I lost control, too.
I got two questions for ya.  One how's about we both try to avoid losin' control until absolutely necessary?  Two, d'ya want the top, or the bottom bunk?
This message was last edited by the player at 21:44, Mon 16 Nov 2020.

"I... I Will get better I always do." Hiram answered, a trace of bitter es in his voice at the observation. He had feared what would Come of the man asking him to follow, but his worst fears had been unfounded. He was relieved that Phoenix seemed remarkably calm about what had happened. He'd been attack ed like that and not only did he seem open to forgiveness, he Even apologised for his own completely reasonable counter attack. It was a relief, but at the same time it made Hiram feel Even worse for hurting such a kind soul.
And if anything, I should be thanking you, rather than getting Any sort of apology. I cannot apologise enough for what I did to you, but I must confess it calms me immensely to know that you have both the means and the Will to stop me if necessary. what happens during My... episodes is so frighteningly clear Even after, but it is as if only instinct remains. instinct and bloodlust."

Hiram glanced uncertainly at Phoenix, not quite ready to meget his eye yet. The shadow of a smile did appear on his face however. "I shall do everything in My power to keep control. or at least be far from those Who cannot stop me if it happens again... And I believe I would be most comfortable in the bottom bunk. I am used to sleeping on or near the grund, and not at All used to sleeping on a ship. Rocky motions and All that."

There is a knock on the chamber door. It is somewhat resounding, but not overly forceful. From the other side, "Excuse me, it is Asar, mind if I come in?"

Asar stands outside, waiting for some kind of response, not knowing who is inside.

Nic woke at one point, restless and feeling strange. He paced in his quarters for a short time, but then went walking. He didn't know why, but it felt like the movement, any movement, was helpful in clearing his mind. And currently it was filled to the brim with so much different and strange things.

So much had happened on the other boat. So many things had been revealed, and so many questions had gone unanswered. His dreams and nightmares would be haunted by both the good and bad things he'd seen and experienced there for years to come, maybe the rest of his life.

The sliver in his head twitched slightly, causing him to stumble for just a moment. He grimaced, one hand on the wall to steady himself, the other to his head. "you just have to make life harder, don't you?"

He let out a sigh and walked up on deck for some fresh air for a bit.

In reply to Roach (msg # 230):

James smiles  wanly at the puckered flesh of his cauterized stump, then looks back at Hiram.  Believe me, forgiveness ain't easy, buddy.  But, I'm a soldier, and we just fought together.  Sometimes bad or stupid shit happens, and all ya ken do is suck it up and drive on.
He looks back at Hiram, much of the Bronx disappearing from his voice.  This is not the first time I've been in combat.  Not the first time I've been hurt.  He waves his one hand between them to indicate both of them, followed by another, circular gesture to indicate everyone.  That makes us bonded as Brothers and Sisters.  And, since we are Siblings now, we are going to fight each other sometimes.  He shrugs.  It's what siblings do.
He holds up his stump.  By the way, I'm going to tease you about this from time-to-time.  And, you can take it personal if you want.  But, I will joke about it, because that's the healthiest way to deal with it.  Two, it will be me calling you out if I think you are getting out of hand.  That's another thing siblings do.  Call each other out if they think their Brother or Sister is about to be stupid.  Siblings also, eventually forgive, because family, whether your born into it, or create it from nothing, is what matters most.
At the knock, he falls silent, leaving Hiram to digest what he had just said.  Asar.  Yeah.  Come on in.  It's not locked.

Nathaniel felt much better after some food and some water. He tried to engage these other beings in conversation about who they were and how it is they happened to show up here like this, but they all seemed to have things to do and sort of scattered once the crisis was over.

He stowed his new little friend in the pocket of his jacket, after giving it another piece of hardtack. He didn't think it posed any real danger, but certainly it merited further investigation.

He took a moment and cast a spell that increased his body's healing abilities. It tended to make him extremely hungry and thirsty, so he made sure to fill up on water and rations first.

As he walked toward the statue, he felt his body heal itself. By the time he reached the room of the man he'd been following, he was mostly himself again.

He tried the door. If it didn't work he cast another spell and used the tendrils of Darkforce to open it by reaching through the crack and opening the lock from the inside.

Once inside, he searched the room, paying particular attention to the deeds he could see on the table.

OOC: 57 on a Reason FEAT. Green Result.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 13:05, Tue 17 Nov 2020.

He leans up against the door causally.

"Hello Roach and our new friend Phoenix. Your exploits above were impressive, both of you. However, I see that things might have gotten out of.....control shall we say. Is there anything that can be done about that Roach? Should I just grab you telekinetically and hold you away from everybody else till you calm down? Phoenix, I was wondering as to the nature of your powers and if you can create fire or just manipulate it?"

In reply to Nathaniel Roivas (msg # 234):

 You find the room to be a complete mess. The front of the doorway is completely destroyed. A result of the cursed assault no doubt. Claw marks surrounding the broken doorway though revealed that the creatures had been trying to get into the room for some time. Grant August was in fact a mercenary for hire, he'd have probably held out for quite some time. His employer whom you hadn't been able to identify yet, was quite good at keeping the operation compartmentalized. Stealing and selling a priceless statue such as this would require that. That was why you were interested in the first place.

 The deeds to the statue showed the statue selling for a modest price in actuality, only $500 dollars. You're own research on the statue up until now had put it in the range of a million. While you hadn't known of it's treasures in particular, it's archaeological and occult value however was enough for you. As you rifle though the few undisturbed papers in the room, you come across a piece of scrap paper with a Parisian address, a warehouse seemingly. Mostly likely this was to be the place where the statue was to be delivered for the sale.

 Now that you know what was inside the statue, it has made you all the more interested in this deal, especially in regards to the need for such secrecy.

"That could work." Hiram said after a moments hesitation. Sure, it wouldn't be comfortable or very dignified, but those were really far down the list of concerns in such a situation. "The other times I've gone out of control, it has usually taken about a minute or two after Any conflict is over before I came to naturally..."

While by no means a comfortable topic, Hiram was glad that it seemed more than one companion were ready and able to stop him. Perhaps joining had not been a complete mistake after All.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:49, Thu 19 Nov 2020.

In reply to Arbiter (msg # 236):

If there was one thing, above all, that motivated Nathaniel, it was a mysterious location. An address was the best thing he could have found (and also, perhaps, the worst). He took what papers he could and went off to the find the others.

Now he had some backup.

He'd never had backup before.

Looking up at Asar from his spit on the sofa, he gives a bit of a grin.  I am wholly self-contained, he says.  No outside spark or fuel needed.  I can even use my heat and flame to propel myself trough the air like a rocket.  It even provides a protective sheath of flame around me.  Though that leaves my clothing choices a little stiff.
He turns back to Hiram.  I think we can work out a way to calm you down.

Asar looks thoughtful for a few moments before saying, "I am interested in this spontaneous combustion process which you seem to so easily control. Does it change the inside of you, seeing as it is self-contained, as you say?"

Being able to fly would be marvelous. Flying across a night sky as a shiny object not so much if stealth were a requirement. However, Asar was much more interested in it as a means to produce his signature flaming sword.

He gives a shrug.  I've been poked and prodded by doctors and biologists at The Bureau.  They took skin samples, samples of body fluids.  They don't react any differently than normal.  Nobody can figure it out.
Standing up, he pulls back the sleeve from his stump, the skin puckered and blistered where he cauterized it.  He then steps to the bed to grab his fedora and put it on.
 When I want to... I guess... "flame on", I just will it.  My body temperature sky rockets, like I have some kind of super fever.  Then, I burst into flame, but I don't burn.
Suddenly, the temperature around him goes up drastically as he does exactly that.  He looks at his stump a moment, fascinated by the fact that there is a flame shaped like a hand extending from the puckered flesh.  As he stares at it, it moves, finger-like flames opening, spreading, and closing into a fist like the real thing.  Hunh.  Interesting.

"Well it would seem that your hand is very much taking after your call sign. Indeed a remarkable power to be sure. Could you control it enough to light somebody else's cigarette?"

Asar doesn't have a cigarette, but he found a pack of cigars and offers one to be lit.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:41, Mon 23 Nov 2020.

He watches as the hand of fire slowly fades away.  I did not know it would do that.  Interesting.
He stands, moving towards Asar,  and picks up the cutter from next to the cigar box.  Reaching up, he cuts the sealed end off of it.  Makes it easier to light, and it burns better.
He snaps his fingers, Flickum biccus, he says as a flame appears  at the tip of his thumb, which he brings up to the end of the cigar.  Not a habit I ever took up.  I smoke in a different way.  He gives a small gin.

Asar puffs on the cigar till it gets truly lit and gives Phoenix a smile.

"Still as impressive as the first time."

Somewhat odd, Asar doesn't know that one isn't suppose to inhale cigars. He is treating it like a giant cigarette.

"I was wondering, if you wanted to experiment with how powerful your flame thrower power actually is?"

If Phoenix is interested, then Asar will accompany him up on deck and conduct the experiment.

You puff on it, not inhale, Phoenix directs with a chuckle.   It's not a big cigarette.
He shakes his head.  Someone has been following the Mauretania.  They are probably following us now.  I want to go scout them out, but I have to do when the sun is up.

"Not a bad idea that, approaching from the sun so they can't get a good look at you and whatnot. Tipping them off that we know they are out there would probably be a bad thing though."

Asar seems to concentrate on the smoke from the cigar or something that is not there.

Well, unless you or Hiram have a better idea, he shrugs, and unless someone else can fly or swim, I'm the best bet for finding out anything.  My asbestos clothing protects other from my fire and will hide my burning glow a bit, so I should be difficult to see during the day, even if It's cloudy.

 The Mauretania was still in sight distance about a kilometre back, and they were just passing the Rock of Gibraltar to the North and heading into the Mediterranean Sea. There were a few other ships dotting the distance however and that would make it slightly more difficult, but Ms.S points the way when asked which way the ship was that had been following them.

 Phoenix makes ready for a his flight, the light was seeping over the horizon in a flood of warm light. The clouds were sparse today and the air felt dryer than the other night when they'd come across the Neustria.

He comes out to the deck in his suit, hat, and longcoat, ready to find a place where he can take off without much likelihood of being seen.  As one of the saviors of the remaining ship's crew and passengers, he is given access to the roof where the stacks protrude from the ship with little question.  He knows he should not do this alone, but one of the first things he had taught himself to do with his fire powers was to create a form of flare, particularly a fireball that would explode at the terminus of its range like a form of fireworks, as well as streaks of flame that would just fizzle out.  He also knows how to send them up in morse code.
He launches himself from a side of the stacks obscured from the view of the target vessel hoping to appear initially as just an ember thrown clear.  He then attempts to hide himself in the light of the rising sun as he streaks towards their chaser.

 As he casts out over the waves and heading for greater altitude to take advantage of the sun, he swings around to come from the east and lines up with sun at his best guess...

OOC: Phoenix we'll cast back to your thread for the next portion.

Asar goes over and stands where Phoenix was when he took off. His eyesight is very good, but not good enough to keep track of him once he is to far out. Meanwhile, he looks around the deck and area they are on.

"Good Luck and return soon my new friend."

Soon the small bay of Marseilles comes into view and Ace and the gang begin to steer into port...