melodiesofeternity | Player Plot: It's Die Hard on a Ship

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Player Plot: It's Die Hard on a Ship

Who: Closed to those who (before this posting) signed up for the plot. Feel free to comment to the Job Interview thread even if you haven't!
When: On or around early-mid November.
Where: In the sky! On the Pravoka Interviews take place at Ashelia's apartment in Lavode.
What: It's Die Hard on a ship.
Warnings/Notes: Violence, cussing. Okay, all done! Tag in, y'all! Please reemeber to tag yourselves :) Yippie ki-yay, mofos!

Loading up the ship seems to be going smoothly enough, despite the harried look on Lady-Captain Ashelia’s face. She walks to and fro, Kupozencrantz struggling to stay by her side, as she refers once, twice, three, four, more times to her iMog slate. She makes a call - and after a short discussion, appears to acquiesce. Loading and boarding seems to proceed apace. The crew is signed in, inventory is checked and double checked, and the maiden voyage of the Pravoka under Lady-Captain Ashelia B’nargin Dalmasca is on her way.

The atmosphere on the ship is calm and easygoing; there’s a lot of cargo to guard, but a lot of people to guard it. The meals are generous, just on this side of lavish, the mattresses in the (albeit cramped) bunks are surprisingly soft and fluffy (is that memory foam? Does memory foam exist on Vaikuntha?) and the air circulation would put some spas to shame. It’s a more or less pleasant time. Until it isn’t.

Shortly before midnight, with the crew scattered about the ship, the lights are cut. Radar and monitoring equipment just shuts down. The ship shakes and groans and, depending on where you are, footsteps can be heard. Hushed voices. Then, you smell something. Or do you? Before you can react, everything goes black. Blacker. More black.

When you come to, you have no idea where you are for a good couple minutes. The room spins around you. You try to move, but find you can’t move your arms. They’re tied behind you, or to the arms of another one of your companions, or above you...are you in the brig? No, you realize as you feel yourself sinking into the plush mattress beneath you. Not the brig at all. Regardless, your next course of action is clear: get free, figure out who did this, and make them pay.

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Kuja sighs. "I can't cast like this. I am becoming extremely annoyed. Futaba, be a dear and untie us, won't you? I suspect this little job has gone south rather quickly, and in the absence of weaponry mages are going to be doing the bulk of the work, until we gain a better handle on the situation."

Whoever tied Johnny up was smart to keep him from getting to his hands. He might not have a knife, but he does have some pretty sharp teeth.

Hearing Reno was there made him clam down, but only slightly. He reduces his flailing to a fidgeting level.

"The guys who did this are gonna be sorry real goddamn fast. So where're they hidin' everyone else, huh?"

God. Futaba shoves the last of the ropes off herself and pushes herself to her feet. Ann wasn't here. Kanji wasn't here either. None of the really familiar faces she knew on this trip. The lack of any of her friends nearby sends a jolt of panic buzzing under her skin. Especially with at least one loud and angry adult nearby.

She staves it off for now. Focusing on the task at hand helps, slipping into a more Oracle-ish state of mind like she's slipping on a mask. Which technically she already has! So. Good there. It also means she isn't entirely defenseless, though it's probably not a good idea to summon here.

"Doooon't call me 'dear' like that," she mumbles, skirting the loud one that hit her who's tied to the bunk. Instead she... gets to work on Reno and the other mystery stranger's bindings. It's... not the easiest? But she's untangled a few earbuds in her day, and eventually they'll start to feel the ropes loosen, a bit at least. Progress increases a bit when she finally strips her gloves off and goes at it with a bit more nail involved.

"As you wish," Kuja shrugs, standing with some difficulty. Stuck in Black Mage, well, there've been worse things. "Thank you just the same. Now."
Kuja [Focus]es, looking around at the assembled group. "Let's take stock of things before we run out. The best weapon we have, currently, is that the parties responsible believe us to be tied up and, thus, defenseless. Who has what Asterisk?"

There are a lot of voices in the room.

Dylas has been doing a good job of ignoring them so far; when you're somewhat cold-blooded (it's weird), waking up is difficult. When he does finally stir, it takes him a long while to realize he's had his wrists tied to the post of a bunk with his torso resting on the cold, hard floor. Somehow, they've wedged his tail underneath the bunk, dragged it over the bunk, and then dragged it under the bunk again. Also, there's just a shit-ton of rope like they've tried to spider-web him in there as an extra precaution.

"What the hell is this?" He's a few steps behind. "I can't see anyone." With his arms raised above his head, he's not exactly loving his position. With a huff, he pouts, unseen given his position so low to the ground, tail flexing against his constraints. "Necromancer. Who the hell is here?"

Kuja sighs, and bends down to untie Dylas, before straightening and adjusting his clothes. "Myself, Futaba, Reno, you, and- I don't think I've met you," he says, directed at Johnny. "Regardless. We shouldn't be wasting time."

He taps his chin, staring at the door for a long moment. If there are guards, any attempt to open the door may prove disastrous and either raise an alert or scare them off, if they're mildly intelligent. Hmmmm. He glances at the cots along the wall, and begins conjuring, an orb of water beginning to form in his hands, growing by the second. "The pair of you, push the cots on that wall over. As loudly as you can manage, if you please. Reno, Futaba, do your best to affect shouts of pain, general irritation, and such." He sets the orb on the floor by the door, still maintaining cohesion. "Oh yes, and keep out of the water if you can."

Reno wriggled out and away once the ropes were loose enough. "Thanks, Futaba. As always, you're amazing." His next priority was freeing Johnny while Kuja got to work on Dylas.

"Ninja," he answered the first question, debating using a ninjutsu to free Johnny but deciding not to risk wounding him. "I am a weapon."

Whatever dumb-ass pirates dared to attack this ship of all ships, dared to bait a very touchy Turk, they were going to regret their decision very quickly. Once he'd freed Johnny's wrists enough for his lover to be able to help, he looked over his shoulder for what Kuja was talking about.

"General irritation, eh? Oh yeah, I got that in spades." Doing his best at being irritated wasn't even a matter of trying right now; it was his current setting. He took a deep breath, then let loose.

"YOU SONUVABITCH, I FUCKIN' SWEAR IF YOU TOUCH MY ASS AGAIN, I'M GONNA BITE YER FUCKIN' EAR OFF!"

"What the hell is your problem? Both of you?"

If it's not being woken up by a guy whose outfit looks more in place at a brothel, he's barely managed to untangle himself by the time he's being forced to listen to the loud one talk about having his ass groped.

He slithers open to the door and attempts to open it just to get away from both of these lewd losers. Lewdsers. If that doesn't work, he's going to cast Dark Savior on the other side of the door, whatever it hits be damned. Eat dark energy, captors.

"Why are you even talking about ass?!"

"Custom Job from home. Get me enough room to summon and I-"

Ooooor not. Kuja could have just not even waited for them all to check in and just. Decided a plan and started putting it into motion. Classy. And then Reno rolls with it which is fine, because she thinks she can see what Kuja's going for, at least. But then Dylas just. Goes off like a loose canon, attacking anybody who might be outside - which could even be nobody for goodness sake, and almost certainly blowing any element of surprise.

"Wow, this is already a disaster," she mutters in distinct annoyance, some of it fueled by anxiety, "Just give me a sec and I can at least get an idea who and what's around us."

Since Dylas seems to be taking over her shouting duties without even needing to be asked though. She's just going to ignore all the rest of the instructions for the moment and go to the center of the room. Not idea, but thankfully she'd managed to practice a little on working in tight spaces at the museum.

So she'll just. pull the mask off her face, it vanishing into blue flame as Necronomicon forms around her. As soon as she's settled she'll send it up as high as she can to give the others room to maneuver, the gargoyle on top scraping the ceiling.

It's not ideal but. If this group is going to be Like This, then she can't really afford to wait until she gets back to her slate to swap out for something more maneuverable.

"Johnny." That's all the introduction Kuja gets for now, but Johnny will feel better once Reno has him freed. Though, the room and all its occupants are pretty tense all around, so he doesn't exactly get a chance to relax.

He's about to pipe up something along with Reno and Dylas, something loud like Kuja asked for - until Futaba lets out Necronomicon.

"... The fuck is that?"

The door, Dylas will find, is not unlocked. Their attention already aroused by the shouting seconds before the door opens, the ranger and berserker on the other side of the door are at the ready Dylas is revealed to them.

They scream in surprise, the berserker bending down to grab the iMog slates, in a little pile by his chair, before running down the hall to the galley. The ranger fires a Venomous Shot at Dylas before turning tail and joining his companion in the galley.

Well, he never got to fire off his spell since the door was unlocked. That's good. The bad news? Is that he's been shot with a poisonous arrow. He hisses and pulls the arrow out, tossing it aside, but the poison has no effect thanks to his Iron Stomach modifier skill. It pays to have Gourmand on stand-by, apparently.

"Those bastards are going to pay for that! Did they really think they could poison a naga?!" Despite being a mage class, he slithers after them, forgetting that he's a mage-class. Someone. Might want to stop him, even though he's attempting to fling Chaotic Rune at the Ranger who fled last.

Kuja is not amused. He's out the door nearly after Dylas. "You incompetent- I had a plan, you absolute dolt! It was working! They were literally inches from the door and they'd both be dead if you'd only listened but nooooo, don't try to think this through, Kuja, let's just break down doors and start shouting at everything and throwing magic every which way!"

He's moving, now, towards the galley, a flung [Death] missing the Ranger by inches. "Well, fine! By all means!"
He pauses behind the door frame, before calling out to the pirates who've taken refuge.
Stupid godsdamned-

Reno sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. "Dammit, Dylas..." He should have known. Dylas was Dylas, in any form, from any world, and he never took things the way Reno hoped. Ever. And then Kuja was running after the naga and everything was a mess.

Not about to leave Johnny behind, and not about to run into more dangers unknown, Reno looked between his lover and Futaba. "Alright then. New plan?" She had said she could figure out who was around them from... whatever the hell she was doing in that weird-looking thing.

Oh god the tablets were right there. They were right outside the door. And now they're not because half this group likes to be loose cannons, apparently. She'd deck Dylas later if she were the type to actually deck people. Guess she'll just have to hope she never ends up in the same hostage group again. Or any impromptu group, really, remembering the Moogles of Light.

Ugh. Anyway. She can at least appreciate that neither of the pirates actually shot at her (considering her defense was crap and she was currently the biggest target in the room), as she punches a few buttons and a green light radiates outward from Necronomicon.

If it looks a lot like she's scanning something? Well. She is. Area Scan to be specific.

"If the others get too far ahead, they're on their own though," she said, irritation keeping her from sounding too worried at the idea, "I'm not able to do my full range yet."

"You, yes, all of you in that room. I'm in quite an extraordinarily foul mood at the moment, but in the interest of being charitable I have a one-time offer. Surrender the slates you've stolen, and quietly allow yourselves to be subdued, and who knows, most of you may make it through this evening alive! The offer expires shortly, so do make up your minds quickly before we have to come in there and make them up for you!"

Both the berserker and ranger make a clean getaway, slamming the door behind them.

After Kuja's tirade, if he leans in closely, he will overhear an argument.

"You aren't worried?"

"Why should we be? It's just four of 'em, and they can only come through 'ere. We'll take care of 'em."

"But I've heard the captain says she's a Hero of Light, and if she is, then doesn't it stand to reason that the others could be too?"

"Yeah, well I heard the Don's got 'her in 'is pocket, irregardless. And he been in 'ers ,if you know what I mean." There's laughing, but the agitated voice is not convinced. "Anyway, soon our little present will be delivered, and we can go home and forget about this whole thing."

"No. No, something's not right with this whole thing and I - I don't care. I'm going to find John. Turn me in for insubordination if you want."

"Oh come on now, Holly. Wait - Holly!"

"I am. Beyond done with this." Kuja [Focus]es his power, waiting for the others to catch up. "Dylas, was it? Since you've shown yourself to be so competent with doors, would you mind busting this one down? The entire damned airship knows we've escaped, so I'm sure a little more of a racket can't possibly hurt, at this point.

"I tried. I really did. I've tried being polite and now they're ignoring me and I am surrounded by morons and I swear to whatever powers that be I am going to feed that godsdamned archer to my-"

Edited 2018-11-26 04:15 (UTC)

Reno sighed, he and Johnny approaching to bring up the rear. "Well this is going to hell real quick."

He nodded to the door and looked at Dylas expectantly. "Well? You gonna break more shit, get to it. Or get out of the way. We're in this now, chargin' full speed ahead, can't change it now."

Johnny is more than ready to bust down the door, with or without Dylas.

"C'mon. We call kick at the same time. Knock this door and whoever's behind it down the hall. Time's wasting."

He'll line up and get ready to try, even if no one else does.

The door, unless there was an accompanying 'click' to that slam, should be unlocked. So Dylas glares at them and opens the door like a normal person?

"Have you tried this yet?"

"Oh my fuckin'..."

It's about intimidation, Dylas. Some surprise, some shock, strike fear into the hearts of the enemy!

Whatever. Reno kicked the door the rest of the way and burst in, using Transcience as he ran at the nearest pirate. He was a Turk. He fully intended to scare the shit out of them. "Stand down or burn!"

Results of Area Scan: in galley, 1 ranger, 1 berserker, 1 paladin, 1 gunslinger

As soon as Dylas opens the door to the galley, he'll find an arrow sprouting from his shoulder, care of the ranger.

Surprised, the berserker turns, brandishing his axe and lashing out at Reno's charge - however, due to the Turk's Transience, the attack misses.

The paladin charges forward, standing shoulder to shoulder with the berserker. He raises his shield, casting Rampart on his party.

The galley is quite large, with many tables and chairs strewn about. Opposite of the door the party is charging in from is the kitchen, barely visible in the dim light behind a waist-high wall. Above, the room is ringed with a metal walkway circling the perimeter of the room, the stairs up to which are located in a corner of the room, on the same wall as the kitchen. The gunslinger waits on this second level, barrel trained on the entrance from the bunks for the rest of the party to enter the room.

‘Stand down or burn’, it turns out, is good advice. Kuja summons as much power as he can, pumping everything he’s got into an [Area Firaga], bathing the entire room in Focus-empowered fire.

Reno twisted under the berserker's axe from Transcience, then countered the attack by slashing his dagger up against the berserker's chest. With a well-timed kick, he flipped back out of range just in time for Kuja's attack to sweep in.

As he landed, he Threw an extra dagger at the berserker through the flames. With any luck, the spell would hide the weapon until it was too late to dodge.

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sullenstallion - 2018-12-17 15:36 (UTC) - Expand

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Player Plot: It's Die Hard on a Ship

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will need feedback for her scan next npc tag!

Apparently part of my post got cut off or something? IDK

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