Seaside 5: Kinda like One Piece without the anime

[bc56]

Lost Beach

"I, uh, don't know. Its chest was closed, I think."

It's not hard to go back up to the workshop and examine the automaton again. Its chest compartment can be opened up, revealing a socket the perfect size for the crystal heart in the center of its torso. All that remains is to put the heart in.
Is that a good idea? Only one way to find out.

[5a Violista]

[Lost Beach]

Of course it's a good idea. The developers wouldn't have made it an option if it weren't. (Well, maybe it just progresses the plot a little. But that's better than just leaving the plot hook hanging.)

As June looks between the hole and the heart, she says, "So I give it a 50% chance it wakes up and starts telling us about stuff like the history behind this place, a 20% it attacks us, and a 30% that it spits out some kind of key or map or data card that goes to somewhere else on this island."
Yeah.
She's played games like this before.
She knows what tends to happen next.
(Sure, putting all the gems in the statues didn't turn out how she expected, but that's only because she misread the genre of the world. She didn't think it'd be some sort of open-world multiplayer VR game.)

She puts the heart in the hole, and steps back.

[bc56]

Lost Beach

When the heart is placed into the socket, the machinery within the automaton comes alive. Metal bands spin out and lock the heart in place and the chest compartment closes itself once more. Then the machine's eyes begin to glow. "Greetings, Master Sydney. How may I be of service?" Its mouth doesn't move, but a metallic voice resonates from its head.

[5a Violista]

[Lost Beach]

June looks at Selekhael.
'It worked!' she mouths. Her eyes are wide at how cool this is.

She turns back to the robot.
"Um. Tell us where we are," she instructs the robot. Then, June quickly adds, "And who you are, too."

[bc56]

Lost Beach

"You are at your tower on the Island of Saint John. I am your version 12 mechanized personal assistant." Selekhael looks increasingly awkward. "Uh, we're not Master Sydney." "Apologies. What should I call you?"

[UncleWolf]

Operation Sea Slug

Will is not entirely sure what the plan is, but “get cover” is simple enough. He wishes he knew barrier spells right about now. He’s just going to have to assume the ancient magical skeleton does enough to protect herself. Will grabs Leo’s hand and ushers him toward a large tree that hasn’t withered to brittleness from the dragon breath.
”All right, bag of bones. You like beam-spam? I can do that, too.” Will lifts his arm as he brings his hand to the trigger, only to find his weapon folding down and clamping over his metal hand. Light leaks from his arm. It’s oddly soothing. Will squeezes the hidden trigger, sending a barrage of plasma shots at the monster. The normally arcing green plasma is instead glowing white-hot with magic.
His aim isn’t any better, though. He’d have barely any hope of hitting anything if his target wasn’t the size of a building.

Operation Sea Slug

The dragon seems to have completely tuned out the others for the moment, perhaps trusting that her aura of fear will keep them at bay for the time being.
Neither of them were running directly towards her after all.

But this assumption will cost her concentration as not Titania but Will's laser blasts at least scores two hits on the dragon and it roars in frustration. "DAMNABLE PESTS! I will-"

Then the falling tree slams into her and pins her against the ground for at least a moment. There is now violet magical energy gathering around the dragon which suggests that she might have enchanted herself at some point during the fight.

As for Lannereth there is still no trace and poor Leopold is just standing behind Will and shivers. This wasn't what he had planned at all.

Operation Sea Slug

With Lannereth seemingly vanished into thin air, and an enchantment on the skeletal body of the dragon seeming to protect it from the tree damaging it, there doesn't seem like there's too many options for Titania. Not if they wanted to escape for good. A tree might have surprised the dragon, but it wouldn't keep it pinned for long. That said, pride of Will was certainly springing up within her and she gives a cheerful thumbs up his way as she tries to find what to do next. All she was finding was trees and rocks around her...

Well, a rock would have to do. A heavy rock.

It wasn't going to be graceful or knightly or chivalric or at all particularly awesome to see or do, but Titania wrenches a small boulder out of the ground and runs. Her heavy strides take her up the fallen tree's trunk and at the very peak she'll leap off. After untold eons of evolution and technological progress, after being the pinnacle of AI development and further enhanced by a demonic core, Titania falls to the most basic of sapient instincts and decides to use a rock to try and bash in the dragon's skull. Even if it doesn't take one blow to get through that magic, she'll try to cling on and keep bludgeoning in the hopes that something breaks.

[Deathkeeper]

Operation Sea Slug

Will can't help but grin at Titania's caveman strategy. Hey, if it works, right?
Will's weapon unfolds off of his arm and returns to his hand. He's left feeling...tired. It's something he can't entirely explain, but he knows he can't keep blasting those enhanced bolts for a while.
"Chin up, Leo. Titania's got this." He draws his pistol and fires a few pointless shots at the dragon's head for good measure.
He looks around the forest desolated by the dragon's plagued breath.
"Come on, Lannereth. No one's falling for that disappearing act." he groans. He really wishes they'd get some more actual help. He's not sure TTN can actually kill that thing.

[5a Violista]

[Lost Beach]

"I'm June," she says, and then points her thumb at the angel. "And she's Selekhael."

June looks over at Selekhael, wondering if she has any questions. She's not entirely sure what she wanted to ask now and was kind-of hoping the robot would give some sort of quest or rumors or something like that.

She turns back to the robot, and asks, "Um...so, what else is on this island?" she asks. "Anything interesting?"

[bc56]

Lost Beach

"Greetings, Master June, Master Selekhael. I am your version 12 mechanized personal assistant." The machine starts to answer the questions. "Aside from this tower, the island hosts some ruins belonging to an unknown ancient civilization. Analysis of their iconography indicates they may have believed in a tripartite deity of earth, sea, and sky, represented by the fisher bats which roost on the island. Additionally, the observatory is constructed on a rock spire on the northern end of the island, where it has an excellent view of the movements of the stars. There is a ruined village in the center of the island, and a temple and a small quarry on the western side."

[5a Violista]

[Lost Beach]

"Oh, neat," June says. "I wonder what happened to them." Must've just...left the island or something.

She thinks back. Was it on the west side of the island she woke up? That would mean it was the temple that she was at. "I think I might've been in that temple," she tells Selekhael. "Had a statue with a bat, a fish, and water waves."
That might represent the fisher bats, maybe. "I'd like to check out that village ruins."

To the robot, she says, "Hey, Twelve. Can you move around?" She doesn't want to leave the robot just lying here, unable to do anything.

[bc56]

Lost Beach

"My motile functions are offline. Where is Master Sydney? He is capable of enacting repairs." Selekhael's face becomes very awkward indeed. Not only is the person the machine is looking for deceased, she destroyed the body. Oops.

[5a Violista]

[Lost Beach]

"Oh," June says, not nearly as awkward as Selekhael. "He died. Not sure how long ago."
Then, she adds, to assuage the fears of the robot, "Don't worry, we gave him a cremation already. If you'd like to say some words on his behalf, feel free. I'm sure his spirit will hear you."


She thinks.
Presumably the robot knows how to repair itself, right? It could tell them which parts it needs and where to put them. Plus, fixing robots is kinda fun anyway.
"If you know what you need, we're both pretty capable and could probably help fix you."

[Recaiden]

"Yeah, I probably could," Zophiel says. "I'll keep my eye out in case I find one," he then adds even though he's not really sure there'll really be enough time to actually learn from one.

But, keeping it on that topic, he asks, "You happen to know anyone like that?" Zophiel has finished eating the fried food he ordered.

"I don't really know anyone who does that sort of magic, no. But I mean, Magician must know some of it." Anchor of course, doesn't really know yet that there isn't time for a proper apprenticeship and study.
She's finished her own food, but is still giving bits of the meat to Briar.
"I learned from this book to begin with, but it's mostly all magic words and enchanting focus items, it doesn't really cover seals at all."
"So that's not a normal part of paladin magic?"

[Earl of Purple]

Forgotten Pirate Cove

"Aye, I agree. That stone do have some effect on the black powder, increasing the power. Or perhaps the cannon or balls we be using are enchanted, yet... I see no runes or markings upon them for such hexery." Not impossible, though; Frigate himself is undeniably magic, yet the magic that powers him does not involve runes or other carvings upon his external surface. Although he's not been made from a single piece of cast bronze, and the cannon has, so it's possible such symbols have been placed either under the metal exterior or on the other side of it.

It takes three more blasts from the cannon to collapse the archway, the tunnel beyond rumbling as dust spews from the now-blocked entrance.

[5a Violista]

Zophiel shakes his head.
"I don't really know how to make it integrate with any inherent magic I have," he says.

The main street is right there, so Zophiel stops just before going on to it. "Seems like all I can do with it is redirect ambient energy or alter internal energies," he says. "And it's not anything I've learned before. My...my old order had a whole secret library on the subject, but it's nothing that came naturally and it's nothing that I've ever been taught before."
So, while it may be a part of paladin magic, it's nothing Zophiel knew about until recently.

[Recaiden]

"Altering internal energies seems like it could be useful for a lot of people. I mean, you'll have to explain that more later."
Anchor pauses just behind Zophiel.
"See you out there. Remember the signals."
And then she walks out onto the main street and heads toward the gate.

[5a Violista]

It's nowhere near as useful as it sounds like it would be, Zophiel wants to say.
But...well, it's really helped him.
So, he doesn't say that, because it's just more situational than anything. Great when dealing with curses or energy imbalances or things like that. But if you use it when everything's fine then you risk having serious side-effects that aren't worth it.

"Good luck," Zophiel says, since he does remember the signals. After he watches for a moment to make sure this wasn't a trap to lure Anchor in or something, he turns around to find the next best way out of the city.


When Anchor goes to the city exit, the gate is currently closed for the night. There's two guards and a few other people around (namely, a tall and powerful one with dreadlocks and brass knuckles, a guy with long hair and dressed in all white (and if Anchor looks closely, he has a lot of knives hidden), an armored robot who is making the earth swirl beneath his finger, and a mime leaning against a really high-tech motorcycle and has a gun) who appear to just be sitting around, waiting. Including one of the guards, most everyone here all have that same pin on their clothes that Anchor was given. They're trying not to talk with each other, and hardly acknowledge each other's presence.

As the time passes, the guy with the brass knuckles stands up, walks towards the guards, flashes his pin, and he's let out.

[Recaiden]

Well, he could just say that. It probably wouldn't be as useful for almost anyone else as it is for someone in Zophiel's circumstances.

Anchor puts on that pin she was given, and strolls out to loiter with the rest of them. Very interesting crowd they've assembled here. Tough guy, knife guy, earth robot, motorcycle mime...and her.
She's very tempted to talk to them, but you know, 'no questions'. And they very obviously don't want to be talked to, themselves.
So she just waits around a little while. Not enough to be late, of course, just to see what the others do for a while.

[bc56]

Lost Beach

The machine doesn't show any signs of emotion at its last master's death. "My leg assemblies seem to be missing. Replacements would be ideal." "Uh, it would be quite an undertaking to cast all the parts for new legs, let alone, uh, understand how they're supposed to work." "Master Sydney stored the remains of earlier Mechanized Personal Assistant models in the observatory. Perhaps one of them has functional legs."

[Vahnavoi]

[Forgotten Pirate Cove]

"I wouldn't know about that" , the swordsman replies, wiping soot off his brow when the work is done. "My understanding of the subtle arts is little. I really only know two spells they hammered into my brain when I was young." He looks at the demolished archway, then to the sky. "I was down there for quite a while, wasn't I? We should get on our way. Show me what you want me to carry."

[Arkhosia]

Spoiler

Show

[Post Moonwell Explosion Hoedown]

The rest of the crew starts to fulfill Blanche's orders the best they can to turn the ship around, or at least try to as a lot of them seem unsure what they're supposed to do exactly. That's where Geneva comes in as it doesn't seem all the adventurers have been assigned specific tasks onboard the vessel so a lot of them either end up standing around doing nothing or is asking around what they're supposed to do.

Thus those little psychic nudges really helps out a lot to get the crew into action. Even if they don't know what to do they simply go out and help out someone who's already doing something which makes everything more effective.

They will probably have to work more on the discipline and defined roles in the future but as these are mostly adventurers the apparent lack of it shouldn't be too surprising.
However, one of the crew members, the short foxy fellow that spoke to Blanche earlier, is still standing by her side. "Hey, catto. We should try to capture that ship. It can turn invisible and we can figure out more about those creatures. I mean, if nothing else I know people we could sell it too."

The obelisk ship's flight path is unchanged and seems to be intending to slowly land on the mountain at its current pace. But it seems to be slowly speeding up again. Regardless to say, whatever speed its coming at it won't be able to land on that surface and will simply crash into it.

Bombmercials

She can see Azil give her the thumbs up all the way from the beach. "Great! But be careful and hold on as it accelerates. It gets especially bumpy before it can reach max speed, where it gets much smoother."

"Looking good, girl! Keep it up!" She can hear Anika exclaim all the way from the beach as the prop bomb moves starts to back up and then move forward again. Now both picking up in speed and vibrations. It will be difficult to even speak normally right now as her whole body is vibrating with the machine.

Post Moonwell Explosion Hoedown

Blanche thinks for a second before responding, "I'm not willing to risk all of our lives on trying to commandeer that thing, and our ship can't exactly grapple it. Let's focus on making sure that thing gets to ground, then we can focus on keeping it there and securing the crash site." She leans over to peer at the ship, and the muscles in her shoulders relax with a sigh of relief as she sees Anika and Co. emerge onto the exterior of the ship.

"Hold your fire until our team is out of the firing line, then lay suppressive fire to keep it from trying to climb."

Bombmercials

The catgirl's eyes widen as the prop she's straddling starts to accelerate, gripping what she can on the chassis as best she can as the vibrations rattle through her body. Gosh, Azil wasn't kidding.

It's a little hard to give Anika or the crew much of a sign here - Blanche isn't really willing to let go so she can give them a thumbs up or anything - so she makes do with an attempt at a reassuring smile back at them, even as a slight blush rises in her cheeks.

[Rebonack]

[Post Moonwell Explosion Hoedown]

Good.

Good, Geneva is helping.

She might not know a great deal about airships, but thankfully the crew does. A little psychic bolstering here and there appears to have improved the situation. Geneva is still feeling a bit off-balance from her double getting exploded but she's definitely doing much better now.

~I'll escort our friends back. The enemy ship might still have fliers to deploy,~ Geneva sends to Blanche before spinning in a little circle a few times and vanishing in a cloud of pixels.

*VIP!*

Only to pop back in near the VIGILANTES fleeing the ship.

~Is everyone alright?~ Geneva sends to the ghoul, the witch, and the druid. ~We weren't able to raise any of you on the communicators.~


[Cake-Quest]

This is all quite odd.

See, he was making a cheesecake. Making a cheesecake isn't odd. Making a cheesecake is a pretty normal thing, really. But he had realized, part was through, that he didn't have enough cream cheese. That isn't odd, either. He likes putting it on toasted bagels so he usually has some around. Some. But not enough. So he decided that, since it was a nice day, he would walk to the market about six blocks away and buy some cream cheese. That wasn't odd, either. He likes walking. It's pleasant and it affords an opportunity to think. But apparently he was thinking so hard that he quite totally lost track of where he was and ended up in...

A jungle?

That's the odd part.

There really isn't any reasonable way by which someone could become lost in a jungle while walking down the street. There are not any jungles nearby. And yet here he is. In a jungle.

Really, all he wanted was a cheesecake. Is that really so much to ask?

Okay. Okay, so. First thing? Find a way out of this jungle and then move forward from there. The jungle, being a dense overgrown mess of trees and underbrush, isn't helping in this regard. Pushing through the brush is a pain and he's already been scratched a few times. His shoes really aren't well equipped for the patches of sucking mud and his socks are already damp. The wool jacket he had been wearing for the walk was nice for a brisk autumn day but not so great for a steamy jungle trek. He's tied it around his waste with the sleeves just in case he needs it later.

Is he dreaming? It definitely doesn't FEEL like he's dreaming. If he were dreaming he probably wouldn't be trail-blazing through a jungle. He would... fly over it. Or something? Dreaming would be a reasonable explanation for all this nonsense, but reasonable explanations seem to be a bit illusive at the moment. Elusive like the end of this jungle.

[5a Violista]

[Lost Beach]

Poor robot, unable to feel emotions for someone dying.


The observatory, the observatory...
June turns to Selekhael. "I think one of the levers downstairs might have something to do with the observatory." Especially since she hasn't really seen it yet.
"...Probably. Haven't looked at it since I was last down there."


[Coast Crawling]

As time passes...not a whole lot changes.

Knife guy gets up and goes through the gate the same way, after flashing his pin. A little listening would reveal that him and tough guy apparently have some history because they waste no time in getting in a fight with each other.

The Earth Robot, after some time observing him, looks kind-of nervous and jumpy. It's literally his first time doing something like this, and he's not really sure whether he wants to be here or not.

One more person shows up: a confident woman in a lab coat (she has a pin, too) and a first aid kit. She goes straight to the gate and strides out.
The earth Robot guy doesn't want to be left behind, so he quickly and awkwardly stands up and follows out the gate, even though there's still thirty minutes left before departure time.

And then, finally, fifteen minutes before, the mime starts his motorcycle and a caravan of four horse-drawn covered wagons, headed by the sunglasses guy that Anchor met earlier tonight, show up. Recognizing Anchor, he smiles and waves at her, gestures for her to join him if she wants, and then leads them out the gate as well.

The carts are pretty large and heavy and have curtains drawn over them.

[Earl of Purple]

Forgotten Pirate Cove

"Not too much, matey. Most valuables are salvaged already, or else the merchants weren't very successful. Got a chest over there, an' a mirror. I'll take yon cannon, if'n the lubber's boat can hold it." Not a guarantee, however. The fishing boat isn't really designed to hold cannon, but Frigate knows the town's blacksmith would be very interested in possibly copying the design for the town's defence. Frigate rescued a barrel, but it turns out to be filled with seawater and rotting and decayed ship's biscuit. So he's leaving that behind. Frigate will deal with the remaining gunpowder, an example cannonball and the cannon itself, if the swordsman can deal with those.

The chest is locked, with a large and rather rusty padlock. Sturdy enough to be hard to smash off, but rusty enough it's fused into a single hunk of metal.

[Recaiden]

Hmm. Maybe they can just scare off the robot at some point, with just some words or surprises.

And there's something between those two outside, wonder how far they'll go with their disagreement, potentially.

Oh, they had enough guys already, and here comes a cute person is a lab coat too?

And finally it's time to get this thing on the road. Literally.
Anchor gives the new arrival a smile and a nod, but not quite a wave, and strolls along just behind him through the gate. She tries to stay close to the carts, perhaps hearing something useful, or noticing a gap in the curtains that her shadow could peek through.

[Vahnavoi]

[Forfotten Pirate Cove]

The swordsman isn't concerned with opening the chest right now - he figures he'll have all the time he needs to open it back at the village. Now he's anxious to just leave this place behind. So he hoists the whole thing on his shoulder.

The mirror's a bother, though. It's sort of awkard to carry with one hand, even though it isn't very heavy. He does his best to not break it as he wobbles to the shore. "Well if their boat can't hold a cannon, we'll just have to make a raft or something for it and come back some other day", the swordsman remarks. "We're not in a hurry anywhere, or are we?"

[Earl of Purple]

Forgotten Pirate Cove

"Aye, tis true. I be thinkin' there's more down there, too. Cannons, that is, an' culverins, deck guns, demi-cannon, mebbe even a howitzer." Unlikely to be a howitzer, however. They are more for indirect fire, and there's little purpose for such in naval warfare. "Nay, no hurry. Not for I, anyways."

The mirror is pretty stable, and also enchanted- looking into it, the swordsman won't find himself reflected. Indeed, the mirror reflects what looks to be a dusty and disused attic, with several other large and ornate items of furniture within it.

[5a Violista]

The motorcycle mime drives through the gate as well, and stops outside, and leaves his bike idling for the next while until the caravan is ready to go.

As Anchor goes out of the city, she'll see that the fighting is still going on, but it seems like it is winding down. The tough guy has several cuts, the knife guy has a broken arm and jaw.
The reason why it's winding down is because they are both getting too exhausted to continue, and so that has forced them both to have some space and calm down. Maybe later when they have both recovered, they'll start fighting again.

The other characters: the robot guy is alone again and sitting awkwardly. The labcoat lady is watching the fight with amusement.

So, as Anchor follows the carts, she could notice a couple things. Two of the carts have sloshing water in it and if she looks long enough, she could notice some of those large sea creature transport tanks. In the other wagons, there is no sloshing water but there are sounds of slow breathing and muffled snoring, as if all the people there are sleeping. Probably drugged or magically put to sleep.

Anyway,
The sunglasses guy stops the carts to wait until 2 even though likely everyone who is coming is already here.
Once the wagons are stopped, he turns to Anchor. "Glad you could make it! You excited?"

[bc56]

Lost Beach

"Really? You should go pull it." Selekhael replies.

If June does so, Selekhael will shout down from the workshop, "June, get up here! You should see this!"

[5a Violista]

[Lost Beach]

June does go down and makes a guess that the orrery lever is the right one.

She stays down there for a while, just in case.
Then, she hears the shouting. "Okay!" she shouts back.

From Selekhael's tone of voice, June kinda gets a little excited, anticipating it.
She runs and climbs up as fast as she can.