Light sees Gen lean back slow, taking a long, quiet sip of a wooden bowl - leftovers of his own stew.  They had some sort of heavy earth vegetable, a mixture of other things from the looks of it.  While he drinks, he listens... smiling a little at the description of warm beaches and white sand.  "Sounds like a beautiful place.  I only really left Faqu once.  It was-"

--

The first noises were like thunder, distant and atmospheric.  Moft, at the wall by Rosa, tilts his head as the noise catches his attention... and after that, Rosa's.  It hits Tylluan's ears at the same time, noises of thunder and rumbling...

and then a shrill scream.

It cut through the night, loud and inhumane... like a howl.  Moft's ears lower, and a noise like a whine escapes his throat.  The lookouts by the wall all turn towards the woods.  The source of the noise.

"That... that was a lot closer.  A lot closer than the fire."  Moft said quietly.

Rosa could give a rough guess.  IF it was that thing, it was over halfway closer from the smoke a couple hours ago...

---

The night went quiet around Tylluan.  Gen glances over at Light again, his face paler at the sound.

Another shriek echoed through the night.  Following it, a constant, unfamiliar sound that was between a howl and a scream.  Light was reminded of the boiler... Rosa, surely, as well.  And the distant sounds of crashing.  Something was happening to the east.  And at most?  It was a handful miles away...

////////

Murleena had followed Allister into the woods.  He moved fast... irritatingly so.  She kept pace with him for a few minutes, finding him paused... then moving again.  He would sniff, flick his ears, and move through the woods.  Likely looking for something... a brook, a source of water, something.

He wasn't finding anything.

With a snarl, he rakes his claws against the bark of a tree.  He pauses, starting to return... when Murleena sees her opportunity.  Moving through the shadows, she gets to a nearby place, beneath the knot of a tree... here, she forms.  Her feet find ground, and she readies to lunge.

The ground slips underfoot.  She can lash out, but she spots his ears flick.

Except her ears flick too.  Something touched them.

And the first wave of rain hits.

////////

Faint drops of rain reach Rosa moments after the strange noise.  The edge of a spring storm was sneaking up on them.

Murleena bursts out of the edge of the woods beyond the wall - she looks ragged, cut up from a dash through the woods... and a fight.
This message was last updated by the GM at 03:32, Fri 03 Feb 2023.

Rosa's eyes go wide and a shiver runs down her spine when she hears the inhuman howl emanating from the forest. "By the Goddess’s tits! That's close!" A moment of panic seizes her, but she takes a short breath and starts giving orders. "Moft, quickly get together a dozen or so brave men and dress them in leather to protect them from fire. Arm them with heavy nets and ropes. Their job is to tangle up the boiler. Normal weapons are pretty much useless against the boiler, but make sure others are armed to deal with the priests!. If they want a fight then they'll get a fight!"

Rosa sees Murleena burst from the forest. She calls out, "Murleena! Over here! Are you all right? What happened? No wait, run with me. I have to get back to the ship and get out of this damn dress!" She hitches up her skirt and as she jogs off in the direction of the ship, she asks the ship's cat, "So what happened? How close are they?"

Murleena comes over to Rosa when she calls for her. "I just spent most of the last several hours running, and you want me to run more?" She said with a grumble. She jogs with her though, easily keeping up. "Murleena slowed Boiler down. It needed water. Lynx went hunting for water, Murleena went hunting for Lynx. We got in fight. Lynx stronger and bigger, Murleena faster more agile. Fight was a draw, but rain came so Murleena fled, since reason for slowing them down became moot with water coming from the sky." Then she considered Rosa's question a moment. "Many hours, that way I would say considering how much I delayed it. But it has water now do to the rain so it's likely moving now again, maybe even faster. So likely down to just a few hours, maybe even a couple."

Tylluan gets to his feet as he hears the scream of the metal monster. He fluffs his feathers indignantly and his eyes glow with anger. "Oh, this really IS the last straw. Those priests have annoyed and inconvenienced me since I first saw them and now they're disrupting a party in MY honor? I have had ENOUGH! They need to go back to whatever annoying place they came from and STAY there!"

He prepares for battle by using his beak to tug loose the dancing bells around his ankles and dropping them someplace where he can retrieve them later. Tylluan looks up at the rapidly-advancing storm and sighs as the deluge of water reaches them. "Perfect. Just... PERFECT. The gods of wind and sky must have something against my happiness. Are they conspiring with whatever god these idiot priests follow, just to make MY life miserable?"

Tylluan watches the captain and the cat running toward the ship, but since there's nothing he needs for the upcoming battle he struts over to where Light is. "Are you ready to deal with these pests, or do you need something from the ship as well?" He shakes the water from his feathers, for all the good it does, and sighs. "I really dislike flying in this sort of weather, but it's better than being stuck on the ground."

As Rosa jogs along next to Murleena she holds up her skirts, and since she doesn't have a maid at the moment, she avoids jumping in any puddles. She listens to the cat's reports, then says, "So they're heading this way? At night? In a storm? They're crazy!" Rosa suddenly lets out a loud laughs as she thinks she is like a raven calling a crow a black-arse. Didn't she attacked the priests at night when she was severely outnumbered?

"Well, the rain might just help us. It should cool the shell of that boiling beastie and dampen its flames somewhat. Still we need to dress for the heat."

She suddenly changes direction when she spots Tylluan and Light. She jogs over to them and tells them what she knows. "The priests and their infernal machine are on their way here. We've got a couple of hours, maybe more, before they arrive. I think the best place to confront them is at the walls over yonder. Moft and his men are assembling there. I told them to bring nets and ropes in order to slow the metal beastie down. There are logs there too, so maybe we could construct some sort of trap? We then need to blow a hole in its belly and drain it of watery-blood. Maybe we should arm some of the men with picks? Normal weapons are useless against the … um..." She tries to think up another phrase for it, "Copper contraption?"

Tylluan clicks his beak in annoyance. "Yes, yes. If you humans are able to hear that annoying... thing... I am obviously aware of it. Moreover, I am insulted and angry that it's disrupting my party." He half-unfolds his wings and shakes them experimentally, before looking down at his talons. "It's a pity I have no means of expressing my feelings upon it directly, but nonetheless I am willing to fight. Even a peaceful specimen of my people is capable of violence when necessary. THIS is necessary."

Moft was stunned speechless.  It was Rosa who jumped to action first.  At her words, Moft nodded quickly and gave a shout. "Get together!  Be ready with the clubs and spears if you got 'em!  I'm gathering a lot, we'll need leathers and nets!"  Poor Rosa continued to run, gathering her skirt and speaking up to Murleena.  This new duo raced through the town's streets, heading for Rosa's ship.

---

Tylluan and Light were at the party, which wasn't that far from the walls Moft and Rosa were at.  People were looking up in alarm at the scream.  Stunned into silence, Tylluan fills the vacuum with his temper.  On top of this, the edge of rain arriving was truly ruining an otherwise decent experience!  The priests seemed relentless...

Or maybe just foolish and insane.

Murleena could hear Moft still gathering people in the distance.  The pitter patter of rain was becoming more constant, and muffled hearing.  Tonight would be quite a storm... and quite a night for the exhausted cat.

In reply to Tylluan (msg # 4):
When Light hears the cat girl mention it needs water to move, something clicks in his head and his eyes brighten and his lips curl up into a bright smile.

He looks down at the half eaten bread roll in his hand, then at the cooking fires here at the party.

'Know what, Ty? I think I do have something I need to get from the ship that just might hit the right spot after all this talk of fighting and boiler monsters...'

'CAPTAIN! I HAVE A MAD IDEA!' he calls out, holding up the bread roll and pointing to it as if it explained everything.

'I just have to do some cooking prep aboard the ship! It might take a little while, but if it works, we can immobilize that boiler, possibly permanently, and everyone gets to eat afterwards!' he says as he starts trying to guesstimate what quantities he needs to work with, and how much redundancy he might need to work into the plan.

He begins dashing towards Rosa (and the ship if currently in the same direction).

'I need the rest of you to figure out how it drinks the water, and the best way for us to feed something else in the same way without getting killed. We can't necessarily take the water it already has out of it, so we'll do the next best thing, and turn that water into something Not Water, AND potentially have some oven cooked fresh bread at the end of it.'

..Hmmm... Flour, check, baking soda... check... salt... check, sugar... check...

The Eye-borg began looking about for any able looking volunteers who might want to help with the plan.

'If you want to help defeat this thing, and can carry a load, then follow me to the galley.' he says to anyone willing to pitch in.

Rosa listens to Light's plan with a straight face. She blinks a couple of times them burst out laughing. "That's so crazy it just might work! I was just going to open a hatch and drop a bomb into it. Why don't we try both and see which one works best?"

She stops for a moment and holds up a finger. "Hang on – isn't flour dust explosive, especially in a confined space? Oh yes it is!" She laughs again and shouts out, "Flour! We need more flour! Oh, and don't forget your oven-gloves, Light. That beastie is hot!"

She heads to the ship where she gets changed into as much flame-proof leather gear as she has. She holsters her guns and loads herself up with bombs of various sorts. She ties back her hair and dons one a broad-rimmed leather hat. She takes a quick look in the mirror, nods in satisfaction, then heads out again and makes her way to the wall.

In reply to Rosanhi the Red (msg # 9):

'See?' says Light to Gen,'The Captain gets it!' he says with another broad smile as he starts herding would be recruits towards the Darkmaiden's Dance or -if need be- off to gather more flour. He was reluctant to use the words 'Flour Bomb' near the Captain beforehand, just to see if she would make the connection herself, as he knew she would.

Merely fighting wasn't the crew's way. Not if they wanted to become legends... They had to do things with style and flair, and moreover passion... The belief that they could move mountains if they wanted it enough.

Today's mountain was the High Light and the first foothill in their way was The Boiler...

Tylluan tilts his head as he looks at Light and the captain. "Do you know how you are going to get this... flour bomb... to work? Between the wind and the rain, it might disperse too quickly, or settle to the ground." He spreads his wings slightly in his people's equivalent of a shrug. "But I am an entertainer, not a cook, nor an explosives expert."

He shakes the water off his wings and gives an experimental flap. "Perhaps I can do more scouting from the air to see how these priests are approaching. Maybe it will be possible to grab one if they are far enough away from the group. Most especially away from that... that cat priest." Suiting deed to the word, Tylluan slowly flaps into the air, laden with good food and drink, as well as damp feathers.

I should be somewhere warm and dry, with fine food and drink, instead of braving this storm. But if I want to continue my journey I can't just sit back and trust others to resolve this properly.

Rosa says to Tylluan, "We've got to empty the flour bags inside the big boiling beastie. I'm imagining it's like a kettle. There's water in the bottom but most of it is full of steam. We open it up, dump in the flour while dodging the steam... hrm.... Most of the flour will end up in the water and maybe clog it up, but enough will mix with the air and steam, and that will explode when I drop one of my bombs in .... Was that what you were thinking Light?"

"Ok, there's a couple of problems with that plan ... My preferred idea is to open up a hatch or a hole underneath it and just drain out all the water. That should stop it dead in it's tracks. The trick is getting under it to do it." Rosa ponders the problem for a moment, then says, "I could plant a cluster of bombs in the ground, then we just have to convince it to go over it.... I'll have to rig the bombs with a simple compression trigger rather than a fuse, but that's easy to do."

"If it runs on water though, wouldn't the flour become more doughie then dustie? It'd loose the effect you'd want, right?" Murleena reminds Rose regarding the Lynx looking for water to feed the beast with.

"Add to that, there are the other issue's you identified. Plus the Lynx. He'll likely be near it too. He's pretty strong." She also reminded her.

Rosa nods, "Yes, most of the flour will end up in the water and become doughy..." She turns to Light and adds, "Maybe we should add some yeast to it too to make it rise?" Chuckling, she says to Murleena, "Dough is fine. It will clog things up and slow it down. Maybe even stop it. However, there should be enough dust left over to amplify the explosion."

"Lynx is your problem," Rosa says to Murleena. "Light and me will concentrate on the Boiler, while you and Tylluan will focus on Lynx and the priests. Of course, if things get get too difficult for one group then we'll have to change plans, think on our feet, and help each other."

As rainfall fell around them, Tylluan flapped his wings.  Droplets scattered everywhere.  He had certainly had enough, and was ready to go.

But before he rises into the air, Rosa quickly gives him the gist of the plan.  Would it be a bomb?  Or just a lot of dough.  One thing was for sure - it wouldn't be easy to pull off... could it actually stop the thing for good?

As Tylluan takes off into the sky, Murleena shares her thoughts to Rosa.  Light can tell they are right on that much - it's more likely to form dough than it is to explode... but that was his plan to begin with, wasn't it?

Murleena, meanwhile has been given a big charge.  That lynx-priest?  Was now her problem.

He was not as sneaky as her, but he was stronger than her.  How was she going to handle that?

---

Light got to the ship.  The crew, having had a chance to rest after the raid, were up quickly at the sound of his call.  Apparently even they had heard some of the... thing's cry.  "Hey there!  What's going on?"  The crewmen were on alert, weapons at the ready... but there was no enemy to be seen.  "What's the racket out there?"

Rosa was coming up just behind him, and another crewmate speaks up.  "Capt'n?"  Weapons were out, but they were watching the sea... understandable, considering!  Rosa was a few hops and a jump (so to speak) from her chambers, and soon she's loading her pistols, her gear, and her hat.  It's just as she's finishing with her flair when another high, loud -shriek- fills the air.

The boiler.

---

Murleena didn't know where the lynx was, but there was only one direction he could be coming from.  She can reach the northern wall... but not as fast as Tylluan.  Rain was a bother, even to his vision, but the wind wasn't so bad that he felt scared to fly.  Below, the bumps of the buildings (and stone) laid out beneath him... but his eyes were on the route ahead.  The wall of the town seemed so small, wood and rock and sticks laid out in a long-standing barrier... with additional reinforcing it looks like.  They set up cris-crossing sticks or spears or something, movable wooden barriers of some kind.

Most of the defenses had probably already been there for some time - old walls for an old town.

The dark forest beyond them.

As his eyes begin to search, he hears the thing's piercing cry.  A moment later he spots a cherry red glow from between the trees, a good few miles away from the city... but quite a bit closer than he saw before.

Yup.  Tonight was going to be a headache.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:23, Tue 07 Feb 2023.

"Wait...what? Murleena has to what?" It was to late though. She realized there was no debating this with the human as she muttered to herself. "I'm a cat, not a BIG cat. I'm just fast and agile, not strong like lynx."

Murleena sighed and raced for the wall behind Tylluan, climbing up it to perch on the top like a cat on a fence. Looking for a good place full of shadows to ambush this lynx, as that would be the only place she'd have any sort of advantage. "If Murleena going to deal with Lynx, Murleena need to fight Lynx on Murleena turf."

In reply to Rosanhi the Red (msg # 12):

'Exploding it might turn it into a grenade and hurt others (i.e. Us), my plan was to mix in bread batter, to absorb as much water as I could to turn it into something else that it can't run off, and maybe in the process give us something good to eat in the aftermath.'

'Not sure that thing would have a conveniently placed bottom hatch per se, but I didn't build the thing. If it has anything like that for its water tank, I imagine it would be at the top rather than the bottom to avoid any accidental leaks.'

'Once it's immobile we should be able to just take it apart with tools or your bombs.'

In reply to Light Vessel (msg # 17):

'While we aren't certain how that thing senses, if it does have sight, we may be able to blind it, even temporarily with a tarpaulin or something after we figure out where the top water feed is and pour the flour in.

To get to that point, we need to bind it and restrict its ability to wriggle about too much so more gets in than spills about outside.

Hugh and Dolph! Can you guys help me with setting up potholes in its path. Just a foot or so deep? We won't necessarily have time to dig holes big enough for the whole thing to fall into, but big enough for a leg to unbalance it and delay it should help if we can lure it in the right direction.'

Light is already grabbing a wheelbarrow and going through the larder, loading bags of flour and other dry ingredients like leavening agent and such forth which he begins mixing together before pouring back into the sacks.

He looks about for a suitable funnel to bring with in case he needs a feeder to pour it into the Boiler easier, even if he has to just make do with some kind of strong parchment rolled up.

'Actually... If we dump a soaking wet tarp over it, that might prevent it from doing that dragon breath attack on anyone.' he says pausing to reflect on it before resuming mixing and refilling sacks.

Rosa says, "You can do it, Murleena, I have faith in you. He might be bigger than you, but you're better than him. Take the fight to somewhere where you have the advantage." She pauses for a moment, looks up and asks, "How good are you at climbing?"

Rosa rolls her eyes when Light starts worrying that people might get hurt by her little bombs. "They're not that powerful. At best they might put a small hole in it and blow off a valve or two." Actually, her new batch is a little bit more powerful than before, but Light doesn't need to know that just yet.

When Light tries to enlist Hugh & Dolph's aid, Rosa shakes her head and says, "One small hole will be enough - I'm going to create a much bigger one. Light, you just concentrate on getting your flour into the big beastie. I'm going to take care of its legs and hopefully blow a hole right up its arse. Hugh & Dolph, I want you to stay with the ship. Batten down the hatches and makes sure she is securely anchored. I don't like the looks of this storm. Also, keep an eye out for priests, just in case they try something sneaky. And if you have time, make sure the other ships in the harbour are secure too. We don't want any of them being blown into our ship."

Rosa leaves Light to ransack his larder and heads off to the wall and where hopefully Moft has rallied the villagers.

She eyes the terrain. What she wants to do is make the Boiler walk over a particular spot. She is going to stick a two-foot long stick in the ground. When the Boiler hits it with its belly or legs it will trigger the mine that she has buried in the ground.

She walks beyond the wall and down the road a bit then looks back. If she was a big lumbering beast, what would her obvious course be? Would she walk right through the gap in the wall,or is climbing over the wall just as easy?

Tylluan swings wide to circle around and approach from the enemies' rear. With that annoying cat on their side, it's possible he might see me, even in this weather and darkness. I'd rather not pit my talons against his claws. As the glowing, iron bulk of the creature, construct, whatever they call it comes into view through the trees he shakes his head. What possessed these imbeciles to create such a dangerous device? It seems to be as dangerous to them as it is to their enemies. I'll bet if the captain and the others hadn't pushed it off that ship, it would have burned their vessel to the waterline. He clicked his beak in annoyance. Serve them right if it had.

Once he's behind the advancing group of priests, Tylluan will assess the situation to see if there are any opportunities to exploit a weakness. I am not experienced in battle, but I know how to look for areas of potential mischief.

Light and Rosa prepare, talking back and forth as they grab supplies... and secure the means to get them all the way to the other side of town.  Fighting the metal thing was not easy, and they toss plenty back-and-forth, trying to figure out how to pull off a finish on the heavy thing.  Hugh and Dolph, caught between captain and cook, nod to Rosa after a glance at each other.

<Grey>"Ship'll be safe in our hands.  Good luck with that thing out there!"</Grey>  Dolph waves to them, Rosa with her satchel and Light with a wheelbarrow of flour.

--

Rosa was departing first, hitting the town as rain pitter-pattered on the dock.  Moving quick, she still feels her lungs burning by the time she reaches the wall.  It takes minutes for her to catch her breath, but she has the time.  As she struggles to breathe, she was searching for... something, a place she could use for a trap!

The town was built out until the end of the largest of these hill-mounds. There are a few shallow-looking ones, but nothing that could be effective concealment.  The treeline was a good stretch away (over a hundred meters), enough of a distance that someone trying to make a run for the walls would be out in the open for sure.

The rockiest areas are closer to the town's outer wall.  The only other 'ideal' place would be... inside the defenses.  If they could get the thing to crash the wall at a particular point, well... they'd know right where it was.

--

Light is bringing supplies back, running the wheelbarrow through the town - lagging behind due to load, build, and equipment.  As he passes through the market, he sees a few people poking their heads out.  Wearing leathers and holding clubs and spears, one raises a hand in greeting as he dashes past.

Ahead, he can hear Moft shouting.  Rallying the townsfolk?

He lumbers on, rain beginning to pitter patter harder.

------

Poor Murleena.  She reaches the wall well ahead of Orsa, feeling the rain coming down in a slow but steady fall.  Her ears pick up Moft in town, shouting to organize townsfolk and get people ready.  That trouble could arrive 'within the hour'... truth, it would probably be a couple hours yet.

Searching for shadows, she finds herself with two options.  There were plenty of options -inside- the walls... and that lynx could undoubtedly scamper right up and over.  He -could- get inside... and the torches, lights, and lamps helped cast plenty of other shadows.

There was also the forest wall.  It was a good ways away from the city.

That distance could be useful, protecting the people from the lynx.  But it was also so damn far from anyone else, and that lynx was quick as hell.

What was she going to do?

------

Well ahead (and well above!) of everyone, Tylluan was in the air.  First to flight, first to the wall, he flies swiftly through the rain and the stirring wind, looking down into the darkness below.

Sweeping over the trees, he spots the gleam of moonlight on metal, even obscured by clouds as it was.  It was not hard to find, the din of the thing well above the rain and wind.

People, though, were harder.  Straining his eyes and ears, he searched for these meddlesome priests.

There's enough movement in the trees that he can locate a pair of them trailing after the boiler.  As he wheels around toward them, he catches a glimmer of somethign red... a flash of light?  He can't tell, but it was bright... and gone as quick as it appeared.

"...promise..."

Tylluan can't really hear them over the rain, but the two split up.  One running off to the left... vaguely, towards the shore.  The other to the boiler.

Which has sped up.  The trees here aren't as thick, and it's actually pulling itself up and forwards on those legs.  It's moving faster now, faster than a person can run.

The lynx... and the other, last, priest... were nowhere to be found.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:06, Fri 03 Mar 2023.

Murleena gave a small sigh. "Yes, Murleena can climb. She's decent at it too." She gave a small nod to Rosa. "The shadows are Murleena's place though, the more of them that there are the better the advantage for Murleena. That mean Murleena must either lure Lynx into the city, or keep Lynx in the woods. Anywhere in the open and Lynx has the advantage."

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

Murleena stood on the top of the wall considering for several moments as she thought to herself, looking out towards the trees. <That's a lot of open ground for Murleena to cross if she get's into trouble.>

Then she turned her gaze back towards the town. <And that's a lot of innocents for him to place in danger if he gets in here.>

She lets out a feline yowl of discontentment at this choice, then finally leeps off the wall and starts at a run for the the boiler. The forest it was.

Tylluan blinks at the sudden flash of light, but since it was only for the briefest time he dismisses it. No time for idle curiosity. Putting a stop to these annoying priests is more important. Likewise, the single word, barely heard over the rushing wind, is ignored.

He watches as the two priests separate. Now this shows some promise. Perhaps I can capture one of them. Tylluan clicks his beak. You'd think after the experience of that cat-person, they'd know better than to separate. He banks into a turn and follows the one who is heading toward the beach. I should be able to handle this one. After all; what are the odds I'd grab the same cat twice?

Tylluan noses over into a dive. His wings locked into position and talons outstretched toward his prey. Under cover of the wind and rain... he strikes!

OOC:
-1 OCV for Grab
11:16, Today: Tylluan rolled 9 using 3d6 ((2,5,2)).