Tylluan watches the fishing net slither over the surface of the mechanical creature, before finally finding purchase and entangling some of the legs. "Hah! How's THAT for improvisation?" he hoots derisively. Emboldened by his success, he pivots on a wingtip and swoops around behind the stricken machine, looking for other enemies that might be lurking. Now then, let's see where the other annoying priests are.

His sharp eyes pick out where Murleena and the other cat are engaged in combat but he lets them have their space. I'll stay out of their way, but there may be more of his allies who don't have my sense of fair play. Tylluan silently glides above the trees, looking for potential trouble.

Light Vessel 'battle chef's' himself over to the surface of the boiler.  Almost immediately he can feel the slickness of the coppery-surface of the boiler under him, and his hands and feel scramble for the netting and surface features.  Bag under-arm, he manages to hold on, and begins to search for the intake.  Rain streaks over the surface as his eyes search for the opening he was sure was here...

But it was Rosa who gets ahold of it.



Coming at it fresh and from a distance, she spots the pipe used for the water intake.  It looks like there's a 'shutoff' valve of some kind, and prying it open takes a moment.  Longer than a moment... getting the flour down into the pipe!

The boiler rocks beneath them.  Half its legs are tangled and cut, and its others seem partly pinned under its bulk.  Injured as it was, the dern thing still struggling!  The strength and weight of the thing made it dangerous... but it couldn't do much more than thrash!

----

Up on the wall, everyone can hear the townsfolk shout, and sacks of rock and sand flop heavily on the near side of the wall to Rosa and Light.  "What can we do down there?"  They can hear Moft hollaring, peering down from the wall.  "Need a wheelbarrow down there?"  Someone else shouts.

--

Savagery and snarls were the cats at play.  Blood flickers up as she manages to deliver two wounds on him, his response only a flick of a cut.

[OOC]She takes 2 stun after defenses.[/OOC]

Her shadow-strategy keeps him on edge, a constant manoeuvering that earned her several deep cuts!  Yowling, he curses... and launches away from her!

She can see him race for the walls of the city, over the flat expanse...

And heading for Rosa, Light, and the boiler!

--

Wheeling in the air, Tylluan catches the sight of the boiler, tangled, down, and still bonking around.  The big metal thing really put up a fight!  The cats were at it, flashing back and forth, well enough a warning for anyone who wanted to get close...

Peering around, he looked for anything else.  Nothing... except, he notes, a flash of light.  Fromn the shoreline?  There was someone there... a good mile or so out.  Faint flashes in a series... it's almost enough to distract him from the sight below.

Below, one of the cats breaks off, racing for Rosa and Light...

Tylluan clicks his beak thoughtfully as he circles overhead. Not seeing more priests, he banks into a turn and heads toward the flashing lights. Other than that cat priest and that monstrosity, I'm not seeing much in the way of attacking priests. Perhaps they're up to some other mischief over there. I wouldn't put it past them to have something else that's as dangerous as that thing. Best to find out now, before anything else occurs.

He flaps his wings to gain a little more altitude, making a small, pained sound in his throat. The captain and the others have a whole town of people with them. They'll be fine.

In reply to Tylluan (msg # 51):

Light smiles at Rosanhi's pitching in to help him find the intake earlier, then raises his eyebrow when she seems to spot someone headed their way at speed.

'Is that what the cat man looks like?' he asks idly as he does his best to keep the sack emptying its mix into the currently downed Boiler.

'Take his reservation or suggest he leave.' he says, staying put.

One hand goes to his head dial to switch to Eye-Lash just in case.

OOC: Light stays put, and keeps pouring. If Lynx Guy tries to attack/charge him then (if he's close enough) will consider using his Eye-Lash EB on him, as long as it looks like he won't harm anyone else doing it, but ONLY if it looks like the others are having a hard time fighting him.

If he runs out of dry mix he will Blink at Non-Combat 'speed' towards the next sack.

Murleena growls low and quickly launches after the Lynx-Priest in full burst of speed! "Get back here! I am not through with you!" Her goal was to stop him, tackle him and then continue to claw him until he surrendered.

[OOC: Murleena will chase the lynx-priest and if she gets close enough to him, tackle him to the ground.]

Rosa stands up straight on top of the rocking boiler and easily keeps her balance; just like she does on her ship in a storm. She spies the cat racing  towards them, swiftly followed by Murleena. She shrugs and says to Light, "I guess that's him. Right fast bugger, ain't he? Ok, you stay here and I'll go see what he wants."

She takes a few quick steps along the bucking boiler, then jumps and somersaults off the back off it. She stays down on one knee as she draws her pistol. She takes her time as she adjusts the dial on her dragon pistol. She then takes careful aim, takes her deep breath, bides her time for him to get into the ideal range, then she lets him have it with all 4 barrels. It's only afterwards that she thought about telling to stop. Oh well, it was only powder; it's not like there was any shrapnel in it.

---

Set and brace? Hey, why not?
+1 OCV, +2 OCV to offsets range mods, ½ DCV.
+1 overall skill levels on OCV,
+2 weapon skill levels on OCV...
10OCV, 3DCV
Full bore damage (4 charges) 10d6 normal

Rosanhi the Red rolled 9 using 3d6.  Attack. – 9
Rosanhi the Red rolled 32 using 10d6 with rolls of 5,4,4,1,2,3,3,3,1,6. – 32

Hit DCV 12
Damage 9 Body 32 Stun. normal damage.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:08, Mon 17 Apr 2023.

Tylluan maneuvers overhead, sweeping past the conflict below him.  Nervewracking scene aside, he was on the lookout for more trouble.  Shoving the battle below out of his mind, he wheels about and heads for the shore light...

--

With a dashing lynx closing in, Light readies himself to intercept.  Not to defend, but to try and interrupt the charge... a difficult feat, but an effective one!  But it was only a last resort for him - he was focused on disabling the boiler, pouring flour right in.

Rosa has the time.  Landing onto the steadier ground with flourish, she takes a moment to get careful aim...

While Murleena launches after the Lynx-Priest in pursuit!  The furfoot, seeing Rosa lowering her gun to aim... hurdles himself to the side, aborting his attempt to rush the boiler!  He dashes away from her and Murleena, now headed in a broad semi-circle.  A semi-circle that would take him at the town wall...

Even from behind him, Murleena can hear him cursing up a storm!  She launches at him as Rosanhi fires... and catches the evasive bastard in the side!  He spins, bleeding and stunned... and is hastily tackled!  He goes down with a yowl and a grunt.

--

Beneath Light, the boiler begins to rumble... then hiss.  It takes only a moment to realize the water is being absorbed... spiking up the heat!  Less water, means the water is boiling!  He can also smell burnt flour... but as much as a concern as steam begins to hiss louder!  Some begins to sneak back up through the pipe, threatening to scald the Eyeborg.  The thing rocks and moves beneath him... but it begins to slow.  Slow, slower...

------

Sweeping overhead, Tylluan finds the light finishes flashing.  But by then he already can tell what's out there - another priest, in a robe and carrying what looks to be a hand lamp of some kind.  Beyond it, across the water, is the distant priest ship.  It's mobile!  The ship flashes light back, briefly.

Whatever was afoot?  Tylluan approaches... and to his surprise, the priest ship begins to slowly turn away, heading westward.  Leaving the island, and Faqu, behind...

Murleena stays atop of the lynx priest, allowing her claws to sink in just enough for him to feel the pain and know that if he so much as moves she will claw the crap out of him. "Do not move. You have been beaten. Surrender."

Light feels the boiler begin to try and get up again, and sees his baking plan might be bearing fruit so to speak.

He switched his lens once again to Shut-Eye and aimed to have it attach/cover the intake as he hops off the machine.

OOC: Shut-Eye Force Wall Bubble wotsit, over the intake opening to try and keep it sealed. It doesn't have Life Support: Self Contained or anything, but maybe the rDEF can at least keep any boiling water/burning dough from spraying over Light.

19:05, Today: Light Vessel rolled 10 using 3d6 ((2,6,2)). (Hits DCV 5 or less)
Shut-Eye: Barrier 3 PD/3 ED, 0 BODY (up to 2m long, 2m tall, and 1/2m thick), Dismissable, Opaque Sight Group

Light will leave the metallic bubble shape there for now, and dodge if need be in his following phase.

Tylluan watches as the ship begins to make way, leaving the priest on the shore. Now this seems suspicious. If these annoying priests are leaving, shouldn't they all be aboard? I can't see them actually wanting to stay here unless they know their fellows will be returning for them.

Taking advantage of his silent flying abilities, he lands behind the priest on the shore. "I am curious. Where is that ship going and why aren't you on it, along with the rest of your annoying bretheren?"

Rosa stands up and brushes herself off. She looks over her shoulder to see what the state of the boiler is, then she reloads her pistol as she walks over to Murleena and the priest. "You better do as she says, Allister. Are you going to surrender, or are you dying here today?"

"Agh!"  Allister flinches as Murleena pushes her claws into him.  He tenses, but then slowly relaxes as he sees Rosa reloading and approaching him.  He gets quiet, his head drooping to rest against the ground.  She could tell he was guarded... but he was not going to attempt to move.  At least, not while she was literally getting watched in two different ways.

"I'll... I'll keep."  Allister says, his ear flicking at the noises the boiler was beginning to make.  But he was a fair distance away still, as was Murleena.

Light was more than on it - he hops clear easily enough, wrapping it in his lens - was it 'hardlight', or something weirder?  Even he didn't know.  He casually watches as it hisses, splashes, and steams... and smells of burnt flour.  The boiler stills... and the steam and sputtering ends quickly.

The dough was cooking, or rather probably cooked... bread was on the menu?

----

Tylluan silently slips down, landing easily.  As he arrived, the priest just shuffles on the shore, wrapping up the lantern.  He hears a sigh... then a sharp gasp at Tylluan's sudden words.  They spin around, raising their fists... and stops.  "MMmm?!!  ...Oh, you're... the Tytonian?"  They peek up at his face, and shakes their head.  "Oh.  Yeah.  I told them 'things done, go on'."  There was a bit of an awkward shuffling again.

"We fixed things enough.  It'll limp for a while, but they'll get on.  Allister and Allifet can squat on the shore for all they care."  ...Which doesn't actually answer Tylluan's question...

In reply to Atlas Blue GM (msg # 60):
After confirming that Allister is restrained by the ladies, and the Boiler is down for the count, Light dismisses the current active Shut-Eye globe, switches to Blink and goes back and forth gathering more sacks of dry mix to feed into the Boiler and something to help stir the dough, and once cooked, extract it, even if it means cutting the thing open (through an assortment of trial and error using his Battle Chef options).

While he has questions, he reckons they'll be what the Captain asks the Lynx Man while he sets about turning the Boiler into a Faqu Community Oven (at least temporarily).

Murleena flips the Lynx over, and ties his arms behind his back quite adeptly. "Murleena doesn't like those that prey on the weak." Then she stands him up. "Come on. Allister is going back to town." Then with Rose to watch her back she marches him back to town.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:38, Mon 24 Apr 2023.

As she waits for Murleena to finish tying up Allister, Rosa looks over her shoulder and sees that the Boiler seems to be hissing its last breath of steam. She chuckles as she sees Light pour more flour into it, shakes er head and leaves him She leaves him to it. She looks around the open field and out to the edge of the forest. She's half expecting enemy reinforcements to burst forth from the woods.

Once Allister is tied up and they're heading back to town, Rosa asks him, "Where's the rest of your crew? What was the plan here? A desperate dash to town to achieve... what?"

Tylluan tilts his head sideways, in an unsettling way, as he regards the priest with his golden eyes. "Does that mean they won't be returning? If so, why did you not join them?" He swivels his head upright and stares at the retreating vessel. Have we really resolved this predicament? It seems a bit... anticlimactic... considering the flurry of preparation and planning that went into responding to the threat.

He looks at the priest again. "Are there more of you remaining? If so, where are they?"

Murleena begins to tie Allister up.  She feels him tense, then relax... he's not nearly so experienced, and he lets out a surprised yowl as she pulls on the rope.  From there, she begins to really go to work.

While he's being bound up, Light Vessel tends to the boiler.  From the looks of it, the water is wholly being used up... and he has more work in keeping his bread from burning!  As rain hisses off the surface of the boiler, he gets to work... already, he thinks he's going to have a satisfying amount of breadroll out of this.

At Rosa's first question, he just scoffs a little bit.  But the rest of it seemed to be too much insult for him to bare in silence.

"To... retrieve the items you stole, and to obtain a secondary craft.  The artifacts in my bag were precious, and your thief took them during the attack on our vessel!"  He mentions nothing of the kidnappings, of course.  Go figure.

He was absolutely out of luck.  From the looks of things to Rosa, he was caught far too quickly than he was capable of expecting... great arrogance.  Which fit the pattern of kidnappings and, well... just about everything else.

-------------

The priest looks back at Tylluan.  "Returning?  Well, Allifet still thinks there'll be a ship for him once he's done.  There-"  A delicate cough.  "-must have been some confusion.  The ship is leaving because they were just told by Allister-!"  The priest stops sudden.  "Allister is using the Boiler Specter to make a run on the town!  He's going to try and seize the ship and force the crew.  You have to warn them he's on his way."

Tylluan slowly blinks at the priest as he digests this latest information. I know absolutely nothing about battles or combat, but even I know that is a terrible plan. These priests really are imbeciles.

"I'm afraid your clanking contraption has been dealt with, thanks in no small part to myself, I might add." he says, puffing up his breast. Tylluan leans forward until his formidable beak is only inches in front of his captive, while he spreads his impressive wings to overshadow him. "Now, you will accompany me back to the village. I will carry you in my claws, so as to not run into any of your brethern who may have been foolish enough to remain."

Light does his best to salvage as much of the dough from the Boiler as he can, careful to cover the thing's water intake so it can't revive once again what with all the rain.

'Get some people to guard it too, in case some of the High Light try to sneak in and reactivate it.' he suggests to Molf.

In the meantime, the Battle Chef Eye-Borg gets out the fry bread and starts cutting it into lengths to serve to the people of Faqu (after taste testing it for worthiness and flavor first, if it doesn't meet his expectations he dumps it and offers to start fresh with an actual cooking setup instead).

"Murleena knew their importance, figured they were why you were here, why you were taking people, why you were looking around the area. That's why she took them." Murleena said at Allister's words. "Murleena wants to know what it is Allister and his friends are looking for on Fa'qu besides what she took. Tell." She demanded as she hefted him up and led him back to town.

Rosa listens to the reason why Allister launched the attack, then just shakes her head and chuckles. "Oh, the irony. You stole people from us, and then we stole them back from you, plus a little extra for our troubles," she adds with a grin. "Don't you see that none of this would have happened if you just asked for help?" She starts getting angry. She pokes him the chest as she lectures him. "But no, instead you just came here and took, and now you're complaining about us taking things from you! Well, the islanders here might just take your life. What do you think of that!?"

She nods at Murleena's question. She's interested in the answer, but the smell of bread is distracting her. She looks around and tries to spot Moft. If she spots him, she has a word with him: "Where can we lock this guy up for a few days? And what's justice around here?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:10, Mon 01 May 2023.

The priest visibly relaxes a bit.  "Oh, that's good.  Allister's dangerous though.  An entitled and violent man.  Not exactly smart, either."  Their eyes go to the broad-winged motion, and nods.  They look warily at the claws though... he can almost see them wince a little.

------------

Allister scowls at Murleena as she starts hefting him up, but his attention turns to Rosa.  "We... borrowed two, but then- there were people near the dock."  He grouses.  He doesn't even seem to think anything wrong of 'borrowing'... and hasn't even acknowledged asking for help!

"I- kill me?"  He growls, and struggles at the bonds again.  "Surely you are joking.  The- the trouble it would cause, executing a high-ranking member of the builder fleet!" He growls at Rosa.

Moft, meanwhile, steps up slowly, a person from the island carrying an armful of netting alongside him.  "We got a strong cell.  Good manacles too.  Not the first time we've had to lock up pirates."  There was an irritated sniff from Allister.  "We'll send for contact nearby... but I doubt anyone will object to locking him up.  Keeping him locked.  Doghelm might take him in a few weeks or so.  It's a bit early in the year, but a ship comes by with the spring."

Moft was scratching his furry chin, eyeing Allister.

Who was flicking his ears and eyeing Murleena again.  "Bishop Allifet's the scholar.  But we often investigate underwater ruins..."

Light continues to cook.  Bread is becoming quite cooked!  He can also spot the form of Tylluan on the way, carrying someone...

Tylluan clicks his beak a couple of times. "Don't worry. If I can play my instruments with my claws, I can most certainly carry you without harm. As long as you don't struggle." He keeps his wings open and raised as he sidesteps around his captive until he's directly behind them. "Now, stand still and this will soon be over."

Tylluan gives his wings a strong downward flap that raises him into the air. He grasps the shoulders of the priest in his talons and continues flapping until he's above the trees, then directs his flight back toward the village. Why do I do these sorts of things? Carrying heavy priests; hauling fishing nets; pulling boats. It's all quite wearing. Tulluan clicks his beak again. Perhaps the villagers will be grateful enough to treat me to another feast. I'm already famished again and could do with something to eat and drink.

When he returns to the village, Tylluan will release his captive near the captain and the others. "Here you are, Captain; another priest. He's been fairly cooperative so far, so he should pose no threat."

"Ahh, Tylluan, excellent job, most excellent," says Rosa, full of praise for the proud bird. "And who do we have here?" she says addressing the new prisoner. She takes a guess; "Allifet?"

"Moft, can you send some people with Murleena and help her escort these two prisoners to your jail? Tylluan, would you awfully mind flying around in a circuit and see if there are any more of them out there? Then we can rest easy and continue with our feast – this time with extra bread!" She gives Light the thumbs up. "In the meantime, I'm off to make sure the ship, and the harbour, are fine."

She heads off at a jog to her ship. If everything is fine, she'll climb the crow's nest, take out her telescope, and scan the horizon.

"Oof.  Hm?  Allifet?  What?"  The priest asks, staring blankly at Rosa.  Even Allister glances over, but his ears just flick and he pulls idly at his ropes.  The new face just gives Allister a wary glance, watching the ropes move.  They barely glance at the boiler, but their eyes almost never leave the lynx-man.

Moft nods at what Rosa says, scurrying back and whistling towarsd the wall.  "Bring chains!  Manacles and everything!"  More people were moving behind the wall.

The new priest looks over at Rosa in surprise.  "There's a couple in the forest... we were trying to figure out what to do with the boiler, but Allister wanted it to... help him take a ship."  The priest shakes their head quick.  "Allifet's east of here still.  He's only interested in the ruin site.  But he thinks there's still a ship ready to take him back after Allister gets the relics back... he's going to be upset."  The priest pauses, looking up in thought.

There was a flick of Allister's ears, and he growls loudly.  Then yowls in surprise as Moft bonks him in the knee with the metal edge of his shield.  "Agh, you!"