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

Entry tags:

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

Thought not quite in a state of rage Baiken is in, Matilda's eyes flicker and focus on both the Paladin and the Black Mage. They've been giving giving her a hell of a time since this fight started and with their allies starting to run thin, she can finally start dealing some of that torment back.

If there's one moral her father instilled in her, it's this: you can call it payback, justice, vengeance, whatever you want, but a black dragon always returns a slight in full.

However, she's not going to let that creed get Serge caught in the crossfire if she can avoid it. Her tail curls around the boy to quickly pluck him from the encounter after he finishes his attack, teeth dripping with the berserker's blood as she rears back and takes a deep breath. With the black mage and paladin in close proximity, she should have no issue dousing them both with her Acid Breath.

There's a lot happening at once. So many people fighting. Now Matilda's a dragon too?! But the sound of the crack makes Papyrus wince and promptly shout, "WAIT! WE DON'T HAVE TO KILL-"

But the attack's still going. And it is dangerous. Even he can't deny that. These enemies might not see reason. And yet, killing just feels so fundamentally wrong.

So he's not going to attack. Instead, he proceeds to Mix two potions to create an Ultra Potion. Perhaps he can at least heal the party.

Ah...it looks like they didn't need her bluff after all. That's a little reassuring. She'll apologize to the party after.

Oh, well.

She's going to have to do some healing once the battle's over. She looks at Papyrus, hoping to catch his eye, and nods an understanding at him before casting Malefic on the Paladin. It's her first time attacking in the battle so far, but the sooner they take them down, the sooner they can attempt some first aid, she hopes.

[Corrin judges the Paladin to be the bigger threat, and despite the fact that her head is ringing, and the fact that she's still weapon-less, Corrin quickly attempts to circle around him while the others keep him distracted, then lunges for him, and attempts to [Pin] him to keep him from attacking her friends. She is one hundred and ten percent done right now.

The black mage goes down hard, the ax lodging itself in his chest. He falls to the floor pushed by Serge's assault, grunting in pain as he claws at the ax. In a panic, he wrenches the ax from his chest, trying in vain to stop the blood - and then he's coated in Magtilda's Acid Breath, the corrosive cloud eating at his exposed insides. He falls over, twitching uncontrollably.

The paladin in taken down too, the combination of physical and magical spells too much for him to keep his feet. He stumbles momentarily, and is taken down by Corrin, barely conscious. From somewhere underneath his armor, the iMog slates fall out, clattering to the floor.

Baiken spat on the black mage's corpse, stomping over to grab her slate, trying not to snap it in half in her still boiling anger. She really needed to calm down...

The dragon snorts as the last of her enemies falls, glowing eyes looking down at the crumpled paladin and the iMogs he'd carried on his person. The melody ends and Matilda reverts to her fox form, bloodied and bruised. Once she retrieves her own slate, Matilda goes through the menus and calls upon her equipment, a touch of relief that she's properly armed and armored again.

"I suggest you start talking, paladin."

Corrin does likewise, grabbing her slate (as well as helping to hand out the slates to the others once they've determined who's is what), and then activating her equipment. She never thought she could appreciate the feeling of a sword in her hand as much as she does right now. She then silently takes up a position next to Matilda, so the Paladin can see that both of the dragon girls are in front of him, and neither looks pleased. She plants Shadow Yato in the ground, both hands resting on its pommel, watching the Paladin with a look of intense severity.

Serge digs his Slate out of the pile, and takes a certain pleasure in having his old oar in his hands. Sure, it's basically just a fancy stick, but it's his fancy stick.

He's not... super thrilled about all this carnage, but these people seem to have attacked the airship, and one of them did try to kill him.

"Papyrus-san, over here."

Azusa has already made her way to the Berserker. Her slate goes unclaimed, laying on the floor, as she casts Benefic over and over on the Berserker, watching his wounds heal right beneath her hands. She might need more than her magic at this rate, though; some potions might help stabilize him soon.

"Young man," she says to Serge, since he doesn't look bloodthirsty. "Can you bring me some of the ropes? We don't have to hurt these two any more."

She's not going to use the word kill, but she's also not looking at Mathilda or Baiken right now.

Gulping, Papyrus finally emerges from his hiding spot. He hesitates, though. This was all so... intense. And unlike most of the enemies he'd faced thus far, these weren't just feral creatures. Granted, even the ordinary monsters had brought their own share of discomfort at first, but...

These were people. He still couldn't look past that.

And so as he approached, a distinct frown remained carved into his skeletal face.

"AH. SO... WHAT NOW?" He reaches down, fishing out his slate before looking to the Berserker.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject