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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Matilda is making her move alongside Serge. Even without her mount and her armor, she's still moving into the front lines. She's used to not having much armor on her, anyway.

Still, support abilities may not be so dampened with all of her current disadvantages. Seeing Corrin ready herself for a direct confrontation with the others, the cavalier readies her magic to prepare a Virtuous Shield for her. It's the least she can do to keep her protected.

The ranger, blinded as he is, is unable to stop or dodge Baiken's Himawari. He is slammed to the floor, crying out in pain and confusion.

Dashing in from the opposite end of the overhang is the gunslinger who was reloading their weapon earlier. He stops himself just short of where the ranger had been standing and braces himself as he unleashes a Concentrated Flamethrower attack right at Corrin for heavy fire damage. It's a hit, though unfortunately Matilda's depowered Virtuous Shield reduces the damage by only about 7%. Every little bit helps!

Azusa's Malefic hits a table, blasting it back - but there's no one behind it. The two other overturned tables are hit by Papyrus' Bone Barrage; they're blasted back in similar fashion, but they reveal the other three sky pirates lying in wait.

It seems they were expecting this, though. A berserker bounds to his feet, headed straight for Serge and Matilda; a flanking attack, as they moved to the opposite side of the room under the overhang. The berserker swings his axe, hitting Serge on the right side of his abdomen.

A paladin surges forward, swinging his Holy Blade at Matilda, hitting her in her right abdomen area. The black mage that was lying in wait with the paladin extends his staff forward, sending a Focused Heavy Ice Spell towards Matilda as well; a hit.

She can't see everything that happens. Once everyone is out the door, she can only assume that it's safe for her and Papyrus to watch what unfolds. Corrin is hit hard. A hand immediately races up to her mouth, but that's not even the end of it. Three more enemies are revealed, and two of them rush over toward the blue fox girl.

What is she supposed to do? She's only one healer. She steps into the doorway, revealing herself now that all the enemies are in play, making room for Papyrus to do the same. Hopefully, her skeleton comrade is going to back her up as well.

She sets about casting Benefic on Matilda first, healing her with a medium recovery spell. It's the best she can do on this turn; casting Regen wouldn't do anyone any good, and she thinks those two hits did more damage than Corrin's one.

"Please, stay strong, Fox-chan!"

Baiken gave one hard hook to the Ranger's jaw, aiming to break it and knock him out, because at the moment, she had more important targets to worry about. Namely that the other pirates had ran past her...

Which really just made her angrier, flaring up around her in visible, violet and enraged ki.

"Never... turn your back on a killer!" Baiken picked the black mage out as her first target, rushing him down, attempting to Himawari him, as well.

Serge takes a pretty bad hit. He’d be lying, and badly, if he said it didn’t hurt. Okay. Bleeding. Bleeding really bad. Nooooot good. He steps back, away from the Berserker, one hand clutching at his side, the other raised protectively in front of him. Staff Master training. Redirect, never block. “That… all you got?”
If he gets the chance, he’s going to smash that big brute’s face in with his own axe.

[Corrin cries out in pain as the flames envelope her, even with Matilda's shield absorbing some of the damage, but she doesn't stop rushing forward.

[Then her cry of pain turns into a roar. It's almost instinctual, as she feels the change come on her, a survival mechanism baked into her being.]

I just hope I have this under control...

[It's Corrin who is hit by the flames, but this is what emerges, as she has activated her Dragonform Melody, lunging towards the Gunslinger with forelimbs that look disturbingly like human hands rather than claws, hooves, or paws. The face of the beast appears to be featureless...right up until it's lower half splits open revealing a maw of very unpleasant looking fangs.]

[For the moment, Corrin is in control enough to try and mimic Baiken, and knock the Gunslinger off the balcony with her increased draconic strength for Physical damage.]

Edited 2018-11-12 21:18 (UTC)

Oh dear. This is getting frantic rather fast! Papyrus glances all about, watching the many foes attack his comrades. Though when Corrin transforms, he can't help but gasp. That's quite the change! And a rather fierce and formidable one.

He'd normally express his excitement through words, but now's not the time. Shaking his head, he sets his sights on three of their opponents, launching yet another Bone Barrage.

It should at least hit them with a little damage now that they've been revealed, though sadly it seems only one will get stunned as a result. Such is the luck of the draw!

Then perhaps they're not just standard pirates...or are they able to channel abilities from others' iMogs? Matilda's not sure; all she knows is the holy blade and ice spell hit their marks and she's left stumbling and bleeding. Rather, she would be bleeding, if not for that healing spell keeping her going. She can take the hits, either way, and readies her stance after shaking her focus back on the attac--

--A dragon?! A shapeshifting one, at that?!

As welcome as that realization is, there are more pressing matters. Right now, she can't handle the paladin in a fair fight. Fortunately, this is why she's in the Pestilence stance: the disabling aspects. After the two heavy blows pushed her back somewhat, she readies her broom and makes what might've been her Last Charge if not for Azusa's healing spell. She's charging bristle side first and God knows what this thing has swept up.

Before the ranger can even begin to try and recover from being slammed into the floor from such a height, he's soundly knocked out by Baiken's fist.

"What the -?!" is all the gunslinger is able to get out before Corrin swipes him off the overhang. He lands roughly on the edge of a table, grunting in pain. After a moment, though, his head pokes up looks around, spotting Baiken finishing off the ranger and heading for the black mage. He brings his gun up with a wince of pain and fires, changing targets from the dragon to the woman charging towards the black mage. The bullet Ricochets off a wall, hitting Baiken in her left shoulder.

Hearing Baiken's exclamation, the black mage and paladin both turns around to see her charging the magician. The paladin runs forward, meaning to Cover the black mage, but is hit by Matilda's Last Charge - a glancing blow, though, as he'd already moved mostly out of the way - the the Bone Barrage. The poison does connect, the paladin taking the bristles of the broom in the face just before he pushes the black mage out of the way.

The black mage stumbles backwards, hit by the Bone Barrage, but once again extends his staff, casting a Medium-strength thunder spell on the Heroes on the first floor of the galley, hitting Baiken, Azusa, Papyrus and Matilda. The stumble jams his focus, dropping Serge from the list of targets.

The berserker is able to keep hold of his axe, brushing off Serge's attempt to wrest it from his hands. He winds up, aiming for a killing blow to the head - but is hit by the Bone Barrage and is stunned in place.

[Corrin's head is starting to get...cloudy. She can't do this much longer or she absolutely will lose control. Instead, after the Black Mage finishes shocking the floor and a chunk of the party, she rears up on her hind legs (which also terminate in rather unnerving-looking humanlike hands), and then proceeds top hop down from the balcony, but her attention is no longer focused on the gunslinger...but the Paladin, instead, and his sword.]

[It's no Shadow Yato, but it'll do in a pinch.]

[Corrin steps forward towards him, and once again her mouth opens and she unleashes her Dark Breath on him. Waves of smoky black energy pour out of her mouth, rolling over the Paladin and dealing Dark damage. Once she's finished, in a flash of light she suddenly reverts back to her human form, stumbling a little as she does so and her head begins to clear. She was lucky that time...]

My, my.

[That sure was a thunder spell. Fortunately for Azusa, magical defense is her highest stat, and she makes direct eye contact with the Black Mage as she adjusts her robes after the mildly distracting shock.]

Was that your first time casting a lightning spell? I think I almost felt that one...it was almost frightening.

[With a wave of her hands, it's Corrin's turn to get healed with Benefic.]

Baiken's left shoulder was screaming at her with pain. Blood was already running down her sleeve, and when she turned to face the gunslinger, a deep, murderous intent was in her eyes. She may have been armless then, but she still intended to kill that pirate.

Charging on him, the pain from the lightning spell only fueling her rage, she stopped just short, slamming her foot into the ground below with a roar, activating Tatami Gaeshi to launch up a summoned tatami mat, and kick it into the gunslinger.

Serge, not one to waste an opportunity when he sees it, rams his elbow into the stunned Berserker's face and tries to follow up with a knee to the groin. Things are getting pretty [Physical] in here, but then he's not the one who just tried to kill somebody with an axe. "Could really use a hand over here!"

Papyrus totters a bit from the sudden shock. Fortunately, his magic defense allows him to withstand the attack... decently, at any rate. Shaking himself off, he turns to Serge. Given his current struggle, he seems like a good target to focus on, but what to do?

Attack with more bones, or something more... experimental?

Rather than launch another barrage, Papyrus whops up a Concocterest, mixing and matching chemicals before hurling the concoction at Serge. And as luck would have it, this batch delivers a sudden boost of speed!

With only...average magic defense, Matilda's only saving grace is potentially weakening the spell to hit multiple targets like that. Hurt less than the direct ice spell earlier, for sure. All the same, Serge could use the help taking care of the big guy, so she's going to repeat her strategy from the paladin on him. Stunned berserker, meet dirty ass broom in the form of a Last Charge.

The gunslinger grunts, hit square in the face by the Tatami Gaeshi. He scrambles backwards, sputtering, but still able to hold his gun aloft. He braces it with both hands as he gets more than a little Trigger Happy at Baiken, firing off multiple quick shots resulting in a powerful finishing shot which, miraculously, misses.

The berserker is knocked to the floor at Serge's assault, and is poisoned by Matilda's Last Charge. No longer stunned, though, the ailment does nothing to stem the fervour with which he pursues his target. From his place on the ground, he sweeps a leg at Matilda's knees.

The paladin in enveloped in Corrin's Dark Breath, staggering to keep his feet; he manages, though, repositioning himself to better deliver a Shock Break combo for medium damage against both Corrin and Matilda.

The black mage, left alone for the moment, raises his staff once more, letting a Thundaga off at Papyrus for heavy damage.

That gunslinger better thank every single last one of his lucky stars and whatever god he prayed to that Baiken didn't have her sword. That miss would have written his obituary. Instead, he just gets Baiken's palm shoved in his face, ignoring the pain in her shoulder to thrust a burst of that violent ki right into his head, using the boost in strength to slam his head downwards.

A cracked skull and a concussion were bad. But he'd get to live. Probably.

[As Corrin feels Azusa's healing magic wash over her, refreshing her, she sees Baiken's attack. With her Dragonform expended for the time being, she's not got a lot of options; she's a swordfighter primarily, not a fistfighter...but watching Baiken does give her an idea.]

[As the Paladin slices into her, Corrin responds the only way she can think to; she leans back and then slams her head into his as hard as she can dealing probably [Physical] damage and maybe catching him off-guard enough long enough for one of her colleagues to finish the job.]

"OW GODS DAMN IT"

Edited 2018-11-14 23:49 (UTC)

This is... not going well. When Matilda gets knocked off her feet, he moves to put himself between her and the Berserker, ready to [Parry] the attack when it comes. "I'm still standing, big guy. You're not gonna touch her, understand?"

Oof. That... didn't go as well as he had hoped. Grimacing, he falls to his knees. Perhaps it's time for a change of strategy... and job. Sure, Chemist isn't the most offensive class, but at least his items could be of use in the battlefield. Especially with everyone at a disadvantage...

So, using his modifier skill, Papyrus seamlessly switches to Chemist. His first order of business? Creating an Unstable Reaction to throw at the mage, not only to deal damage, but hopefully cloud the area with enough smoke for him to get some distance. Regardless of how effective the concoction is, he's already moving- trying to find a place to lay low among the squabbling.

With Papyrus hiding, her main candidate for a heal is suddenly gone. Azusa steps further into the room, raising her hands and searching out Serge for a Benefic this time instead, hoping all the others can wait until her next spell is ready for their turn.

But what else can she do?

With all the other enemies preoccupied, she feels free to move. The mage is taking a potion bomb, and the Paladin and Berserker are occupied with the other three. She starts heading to the opposite door...or an opposite door...and puts her best idol performance on.

"Everyone! In here! We're in here! I'm so relieved to see all of you!"

She's bluffing, but maybe for a few seconds their opponents will fall for her acting and think reinforcements are coming. Hopefully, her allies will know she's bluffing, too. Her career isn't exactly a secret.

Edited 2018-11-15 14:05 (UTC)

Tilly isn't fast enough to block or evade the Shock Break and finds herself knocked onto the floor by that foot sweep. She's bleeding and trying to keep herself steady, her balance uneven despite being on all fours. This is bad. Really bad. She can't tell how well the fight is going when she's getting pummeled like this. She's thankful for Serge stepping in to protect her, but damn if she's okay with just lying here and waiting for this all to end.

That never worked before. Why would it work now?

Matilda's body stiffens as her hands clench into fists and a throaty growl escapes her. Her eyes glow a bright yellow and the melody of The Parting Word begin to take her. The flash of magic engulfs her, the sky blue fox replaced with a large dragon with shifting, blue stellar designs along its scales. The dragon roars out after her transformation, those glowing eyes looming over the floored berserker. It lunges forward, teeth bared, to rip into him for physical damage and to possibly throw him into the defending paladin.

The gunslinger scrambles to try and get away from Baiken, but his hand slips out from under him. He's unable to stop Baiken from slamming his head into the ground; he screams, "No!" and then there's there's a sickeningly loud crack, and he doesn't get up.

Before the berserker is even able to recover to give Serge a strike to Parry against, he's in the jaws of a dragon. There's the sickening sound of flesh tearing as he's thrown at the Paladin, who's reeling from Corrin's headbutt. They're both sent sprawling, landing in a tangle of tables and chairs. The berserker stays down, despite ever-weakening attempts to get up; the poison is taking its toll already, with his stomach open and spilling. He's unable to regain his feet, slipping on his own blood.

The paladin does regain his feet, though, his fallen comrades giving him strength. He launches himself back at Matilda, delivering a wobbly Stock Break combo.

The black mage coughs in the smoke, though an Aerora spell takes care of that. He tries to stay relatively close to the paladin.

Baiken's warpath is far from over. Rage is fueling her well beyond the point of feeling pain any longer, so it was probably fitting that when she stormed bast the Bersker's fallen form, she grabbed his ax.

But she wouldn't be holding it for long. With a shout of anger, she hurled it at the Black Mage. Which, between her arm being injured and the Aerora spell, that was probably a stupid thing to do, but she wasn't exactly thinking clearly.

Serge breathes a little easier now he's not bleeding out. Wow, that Benific feels good. Also:

"Why are all my friends secretly dragons holy crap!" He's turning on the Black Mage, running up to get all kinds of [Physical] with mister lightning-spam.

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