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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Corrin nods. "Serge is right, Baiken. A few moments to better prepare ourselves could make all the difference." She surveys the room...what a mess this was. "Once we're ready to go, however, we should head straight to the bridge. I'm willing to bet that's where Lady Ashelia's being kept, and if we could free ourselves armed only with a single broom and whatever physical and magical skills we could use without our slates, the others will most likely be successful too. We'll probably meet up with more of us there."

"Um..."

Azusa starts, but then she loses her words as quickly as she loses her sense of direction. Once she's finished healing all the open wounds on the man's body, depleting her magic power in the process, she continues.

"It's fine, really...you can keep going. I'll stay here and keep out of everyone's way, and I'll get in touch with Wendy so she can call the authorities."

She places her hands on her robes, bunching them in the fabric.

"It's fine, really...," she repeats more quietly, before moving over to heal the Paladin a little, but only after he's knocked out and tied up.

"We're in no position to split up." Her reply to Azusa is sharp, weighed down by her resolve to do better in the next fight. "And until this airship touches back down, guards like myself are the only authority we have. We'll need your healing magic." She can't afford to screw up like that again when this was only the first fight. With the paladin unconscious and without many answers, the fox lowers her stance.

"And I need to get my chocobo along the way. A cavalier isn't much without her mount."

"I STILL THINK IT'S WRONG TO JUST KILL THE CULPRIT." But he sighs as Baiken turns to leave. Something tells him there's no stopping her, but what do they do if there is another way? He looks down, fidgeting a little.

This is still so much to take in, but Matilda's right- they can't really. Afford to split up. "ANYWAY! I CAN MIX US UP AN ULTRA POTION TO HELP WITH AT LEAST SOEM OF OUR WOUNDS. THEN I SUPPOSE IT'S JUST A MATTER OF FINDING THAT AFOREMENTIONED MOUNT AND PRESSING ONWARD..."

He pauses again. "...THOUGH DO YOU THINK IT WILL ULTIMATELY COME DOWN TO MURDER AGAIN?"

"I don't know, Papyrus. But...probably, yes." Corrin admits regretfully. "It's not always possible to avoid killing in a fight." A lesson she had to learn all to well, and her expression makes it clear she understands Papyrus' anguish. "We can do our best to avoid unnecessary casualties," well except maybe Baiken, "but it most likely won't be possible to avoid them all, especially when our opponents will be fighting to kill. That's the harsh reality of battle." She's not unsympathetic to his pain, so she then proffers an alternative. "But if that makes you uncomfortable, you might find it easier to deal with if you stuck entirely to support." Now that they have their equipment, that would take some of the pressure off, especially if they manage to connect with another group of guards.

"And I have to agree with the others, Azusa; we need to stick together. It's safer for all of us that way."

Once the group is ready and sets off for the bridge, they find no more pirates between them and their goal. There is, however, someone waiting for them in the hallway leading directly to the bridge.

They'll find Ashelia waiting for them, tapping her foot impatiently and glancing towards the door to the bridge. She looks over as the party enters, relief washing over her features. "Father above, you made it. Quickly, we must storm the bridge. They've commandeered the ship."

Baiken had refused anything but the most basic healing, though she had agreed not to leave the rest of the group behind. Still, when she finally met up with Ashelia, she looked... not in great shape. But hey, not all of that blood was hers, particularly not the blood on her knuckles, now comfortable resting on sword.

"We're all geared up, though some of these kids seem to be debating the morality of killing, so no promises they'll be of much use if things get hairy," and Ashe didn't need to ask to know where Baiken stood on that. She'd made it absolutely clear.

Papyrus huffs. "I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I'M PERFECTLY CAPABLE! I JUST THINK IT'S BETTER TO INCAPACITATE THAN TO MURDER." Arms folded, he straightens his stance. Tries to keep a cool, confident demeanor.

But truth is, deep down, it's still a lot to soak in. The carnage. The violence. Sure, he loves a good brawl! But this was quite... intense. Especially given that these were people and not Moogle serial killers or vicious Medusas.

Regardless, he turns toward the door. There's no point in arguing, is there? They have work to do!

Serge frowns at Papyrus. Admittedly, Papyrus has a point, but at the same time it’s not like these were innocent people. Either way, he readies his staff. “What’s the situation? How many guys are we looking at?” More alarmingly, he remembers the pain of the axe. “Is anybody… dead?”

"Has nobody else made it here yet? We're the only ones to escape capture?" Corrin asks. "Maybe it would be a better idea if we went and rescued some of the others first. If we can have the numbers advantage, so much the better; we might be able to convince the bandits on the bridge to stand down if they realize they're out-numbered."

She's not adverse to fighting these bandits, but she would also happily accept their surrender if they could get it.

Then her brow furrows. "Wait, how did you escape, Lady Ashelia?"

Until the group has an opportunity to stop by the stables, Matilda makes the switch over to Gunslinger. The less she can repeat getting thrashed like that, the better.

She's...actually gonna keep silent for the time being; everyone else is doing a....a job...asking so many questions. She's still listening, however, and keeping a lookout in case any pirates try to walk in on them.

Ashelia's jaw clenches for a moment. They need to act now, there's no telling where they'll end up if they don't -

But they deserve to, at the very least, have their concerns assuaged. "You're all free to act to your own discretion, of course. I'll not force anyone to kill. However, by necessity, our assailants must at the very least be incapacitated until we are able to regain control of the entire ship."

She shakes her head as she heals Serge. "As far as how many of them there are...my conservative estimate is in the dozens. We've a long night ahead of us. Worry not - it is my understanding that we were all to be captured, not killed. Not immediately, in any case. 'Tis likely the others are all right. Generally speaking."

The young queen turns to Corrin as she extends a hand, healing Baiken. "You are the only group I was able to locate, and even then I had only enough time to untie one of you. As for going for the others...I should think we need to take control of the bridge first. There are only four of them in there, a Magitek knight, an illisionist, a templar and a hidden ninja. Once we have the ship back on course, and set the bridge up as a base of operations, I'll decide on the next course." She looks over at the door to the bridge, then back at Corrin. "The specifics of my own escape would take too long to go over at this juncture. After we are able to take back the bridge and get the ship back on course, I'll explain. Yes?"

She doesn't wait for a answer as she approaches the door to the bridge, crouching beside it. She motions for the others to follow her as she listens.

"Anything in there about the stash?" the templar asks.

The Magitek knight shakes his head. "Nothing so far. I've still got some promising files to go through."

"Well hurry up, Bikke's gift has already been delivered. Now we're the ones working against the clock." The illusionist sounds extremely agitated. "The packages have all been set. We're all waiting on this, on you."

"Don't blame me," the Magitek knight retorts angrily. "The Executive doesn't know where it is either. That's the only reason we're behind."

Ashelia lets out a breath that seems to have been held for quite a while, more relieved than surprised, before she turns to the others. "Ready?"

Honestly, no one should have been surprised when Baiken just... kicked the door open again. She didn't respond that she was ready or even wait for anyone else to do so. It wasn't so much that she wasn't a team player, but more that she carried with her enough confidence in her own ability that she didn't find herself balking at the current situation in the slightest.

The first thing she did was launch Kabari, aiming for the agitated Illusionist, knowing he would likely create problems for all of them if he was left alone. If the claw connected successfully, she'd pull him in for Rokkonsogi, which might have been a bit brutal but

she was still pretty damn angry, and these guys were about to be her stress balls.

Fortunately, Matilda expects this a little bit more than last time, so once Baiken rushes into the room and picks her target, she's going to assist her in taking down the illusionist. Whether or not the claw catches its target, there'll be a [physical] shot there to serve as a follow-up.

Corrin is right behind the others; there's no time for further discussion once Baiken gets to work. Seeing her and Matilda start in on the Illusionist, Corrin continues to charge past them towards what she decides to be the biggest threat...the Magitek Knight. She'll keep him busy and off the others. For the time being she opens with a tried and true [Delirium] combo to make sure she has his undivided attention.

"I'm sorry. I'm not quite ready yet..."

Azusa had stayed with the criminals until they were fully healed and immobile, but now she looks to Papyrus and casts Major Arcana with her deck of cards. She draws the Arrow, granting Papyrus two moves when he's ready to use them.

"I'll be right behind you. I think..."

She's not quite sure, but for now she's standing outside the room the fighting is taking place in.

Serge is quick to follow Baiken's lead this time, charging for the Illusionist and launching himself at the mage with a [Vaulting Strike], catapaulting himself forward. "Don't let 'em get away!"

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Player Plot: It's Die Hard on a Ship

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