BZPRPG - Kentoku Archipelago

[Keeper of Kraata]

IC: Ahri - The Waikiru, North of Sado

A surge of water, thick with the jellyfish, hit Ahri square in the back, pushing him back onto the ship. Spike of pain rain through his body as the jellyfish stung him, before they splashed helplessly on deck. Ahri winced as he got to his feet; at this point, most of the dashi were, if possible, making their way to below deck; the very possible death by drowning outweighing getting caught in the fight. The saihoko were taking axes to the ropes connecting the rafts; a flicker of anger spread through his mind before he realized they were trying to spare them the madness, giving them a chance to escape. Spread out the boats, maybe someone would make it. The grim logic of a rahi laying eggs.

His attention was drawn back to the melee unfolding; he saw the rahkshi knock away Yuna, who took a spill over the railing just as Ahri had, and the more experienced Menti was not about to let the debt go unfulfilled. He reached out with Mindarm and arrested her fall, pulling her back onto the boat. He saw that the Raika had wounded the Rahkshi, but it was unfazed. It reached out, and its arm extended, grasping Raika by the throat, moving to pull them onto its readied staff. Ahri wasn't going to let that happen. He reached out again; it wasn't aerodynamic, but there was something satisfying about whipping a spinning steering wheel at high speed into the creature that had destroyed it in the first place. The rahkshi raised an arm to shield itself, but it had to pause in its effort to capitalize on Raika's stunned state.

"Menti, press the attack! Overwhelm it before it can distract us long enough for the other-" His shout ended in a wordless cry as dozens of needle-like stingers drove into the flesh around his armor. The titanic jellyfish's tentacles had wrapped his left arm, and as Ahri involuntarily turned in on himself, more encircled him. Every nerve screamed of pain, of fire. Slowly, he was pulled towards the edge of the boat, towards the water, towards the promise of a still, watery doom.

Across the boat, the rahkshi's form shifted, ejecting the knife as the wound changed places. Through a combination of its innate speed and ability to stretch its limbs, it reached the main mast in just two strides and swung its bladed staff, shattering the wooden log into splinters. It fell towards Raika and Yuna, and the Rahkshi turned its attention to the other crew of the Waikiru.

Ahri struggled against his own body; every muscle he had wished to give in, to crumple, to rest and make the pain stop, but that would bring death. He was better - was he? - and he had fought through worse. He knew this pain was nothing compared to... compared to...

"Kaetyo!" he screamed. Why had Orisu attacked him? She hadn't said a word. There was blood on his sword. Why? Was that his? His daughter's? She did this. His wife. He didn't know why, but she must have given the order.

"Kaetyo, you coward! What did you do to them!" Further in the tunnels were the other Menti, and the facets of their blades glittered in the dull light of the heatstones. Behind them, the dashi, holding hatchets, carving knives. Tools, not weapons, but all were ready to kill. "I didn't mean to," he pleaded. "She attacked me... I didn't see it was her! It's me, Ahri! I'm your father, your uncle, your castellan! Kaetyo's husband!" They did not relent. They were merciless, and his Hau could only hold out so long. Especially with the anger, white-hot rage filling him. He dropped the shield, and fought back. With sword and gauntlet, he despaired at each family member felled, each death fuelling that rage. By Zataka, he killed all of them.

Bloody and ragged, he made it to the central chamber, newly excavated. It was massive, and covered in chambers, each bearing a small, serpent-like idol. In the center she stood, alone. Toroshu Kaetyo, in the Mashtet Panoply. It was unlike the last time he had seen it, however; an ugly rot had crept into its illusory facade, reflecting the rust in Kaetyo's mask. She held her naginata planted on the ground, utterly at ease. She said something, but what she said and what he heard were two different things. Despite his rage, he simply limped up to her. His throat parched, he struggled to find the right words. His voice was hoarse when he finally spoke. "What have you done?"

The Toroshu gestured to the blood on his hands. "Me? What have you done? You've killed us. We were on the cusp of the future, the answers! What have you done, you short-sighted man? You're a mad dog, and you've brought fire and ruin back home. You really are worthless."

Ahri snarled, and reached out. This wasn't Kaetyo, but it was all too close. It was a monster wearing her mask. The Willhammer hit his mind, and his soul burned. Every nerve in his body burned through the anger, and a nail of cold reason sliced through his mind. It was painful, but cold. .:This is my last gift to you. May your bloody hands never work again.:

The Willhammer attack was slow, careful, and insidious, everything that Kaetyo did not need in that moment. Maybe it was as much of a gift as she could manage through her poisoned mind; Ahri reached out and squeezed her mask in his gauntlet. Her mask shattered like a falling glass from the heat and pressure, and what was left of her face was a smoking ruin. She fell like a stone, and Ahri stumbled back. He couldn't recall how he had reached the sea exit of the tunnels, but he met the sunset that poured into the small hole in the cliff by collapsing against the wall, welcoming the sea breeze. His anger had faded to exhaustion, and he gripped the smoking serpent in his gauntlet. He wanted to sleep. From the mouth of the tunnel, several pairs of eyes stared at him. Bells and chimes sounded as they moved. Ahri smiled; it had always been a rumor that Hanaloi played host to several Koshi spirits. He let their chiming lull him to sleep. He had done something terrible, but it was in the past now. It was easier to just... forget.

Mashtet Ahri's eye's shot open. The pain wasn't an illusion, but it was just pain. He had been through worse. In the caves of Hanaloi, when he fought against the Fursic, when he had fought a desperate honor duel for his old clan. He focused on his left hand, on the fiery pain, and externalized it. The translucent tendrils glowed red, before a Soulsword sliced them to ribbons. When his hand was free, he sliced off the other tendrils holding him, and their ends fell limply to the deck as the others retreated. His soulsword wasn't elegant; it was, in fact, rather ugly. An oversized, fiery red gauntlet that covered his arm up to the elbow, each finger ending in a talon. It wasn't a weapon of honor; it was a weapon of war. He had poured his dread, his anger, and his passion into the Gauntlet. His left arm under the spectral weapon was cool and numb, compared to the fire that burned everyone else from the venom.

"Don't you touch them," Ahri growled.

IC: Mashtet Askha, Sado Docks

The trip had been dour, but somehow, returning to her and her aunt Somei's bolthole alone was what had finally broken her. Askha had held back her tears for the entire trek back to Sado, leaving Hanaloi in flames. The next morning, empty, she had returned to the dock. As she had expected, the Dastana were none too pleased that the expedition had ended in such failure, and instead of bringing back valuable lumber, Askha had brought back only a handful of battle-ready Taajar, and many more wounded refugees. At least they had been allowed to dock, but many of their beasts were still cooped up; that meant that many of the Kuychar were also still there, with a few lost-looking Kaazi. Fortunately, the dock workers had been quick to put the idle hands to work, which none of them objected to. Some labor to distract her might be Askha needed to, to be honest.

Most of the dockworkers and guards were watching a sad-looking vessel a kio or so out. Askha squinted with her one unbandaged eye. "Hey, help a girl out, what's going on over there? I can't see."

A Dastana dock guard with a telescopic monoscope mounted on her mask stepped towards her, not taking her eyes off the altercation. "Looks like a beat-up fishing boat is fighting some of the serpents."

"What!?" Askha shaded her eye to see better. "Why haven't any of the naval ships been sent out?"

The Dastana grimaced; she wasn't dismissive, but she didn't like her answer any more than Askha did. "I think its outside the perimeter; anything with enough range isn't precise enough. Besides, they've done this before. Attack a ship mostly loaded with refugees, and hit a naval ship with a bigger force."

Ashka fumed. She couldn't watch this. Not when it was so close. She couldn't stand by and watch more innocents die. She hadn't even told Sydelia yet. "I'm going to get closer, see if I can spot anything." She slumped by a neglected pile of crates, barely settling down before her Iden activated. Her spirit flew towards the ship, and she took in the carnage. Dashi and saihoko refugees on makeshift rafts quickly paddled way from the main boat, where one several Dasaka were busy holding off tendrils of a giant jellyfish and a single rahkshi. She counted three, no, four Dasaka. One was getting her balance from nearly getting knocked off, one had fallen and was covering her face, a male was entangled by some of the tendrils, and the last was a blur desperately trying to wound the creature. In her spirit form, the most she could contribute was shouting at them on the mental plane; she flew up to the one on the ground, recognizing the workmanship of her armor as Vilda. Form over function, in her opinion, but that didn't matter now. She focused her voice so that it would come in as loud and clear ideatalk to the fallen menti.

"Hey! Vilda! I get to be your personal voice of reason today. Get up, you're not out of this yet!"

OOC: @Lady Takanuva @Click @The UltimoScorp @Mel

Edited August 21 by Keeper of Kraata

[The UltimoScorp]

IC Yuna Koizumi - Battle on the Waikiru:

I'd been ready to plunge into the water, but it seemed Ahri had returned my favor and I found myself on the deck once more. I didn't have much time to dwell on that however as more imminent matters were at hand. Namely, the mast was falling toward me and-

"Raika!" The name sprung from my mouth as I pulled her back and out of the way of the falling mast. It crashed down on the deck, between us and the monster which was nice, y'know? With everything descending into chaos I really needed the second that gave me to think. Raika had taken a hit, Ahri was doing.... menti stuff, and I couldn't see Mitsuri from my position. So just me for a second. I drew my sword fully, by which time the serpent had decided it had waited long enough, and all but walked through the fallen mast without ever touching it.  Suddenly the bit of crystal in my hands felt pretty useless. But here I was, so here I go. I let it make the first move, and let what little training I had guide me. It threw a stab at me with that awful bladed staff, and I let it come moving my blade to redirect the energy past me, but the blade still bit into my shoulder as it passed, and I winced, but re-angled my blade and it slid the length of the attacking weapon,  and traced a line across the creatures horrible face. My satisfaction was short lived as it grabbed my sword with its other clawed hand and wrenched it from my grasp, tossing it away like a discarded toy. I stepped backwards, without my sword I was basically defenseless.

[Lady Takanuva]

IC: Yamada Raika- Battle on the Waikiru

 

Air!

 

It came scouring through Raika's aching throat, making them gag and gasp. Bile and blood coming up fought air coming down. But they could breathe again!

 

Raika felt something sharp and sudden in their chest as they were dragged backward, then freezing cold flowed through their body. Raika gasped, tried to recoil from the pain...

 

It did not arrive.Oddly, the horrible stabbing they had expected was not present. They were shivering, the cold ocean air finally seeming to take its toll. But instead of foggy, their mind felt curiously sharp. Their fear felt far away, like something they were having to force themself to remember.

 

As the first blow was deflected, Raika was gone. Mask and powers together reducing them to less than a shade, just shifting wood and sea spray. The discarded blade that had dropped from the shapeshifting serpent vanished.

 

Unseen and unheard, two daggers longer than a forearm had their triggers fully depressed. Seawater sizzling and spitting as it turned to vapor before it could run off the imperceptible, arc-flash-bright weapons.

 

No hesitation this time, little Ghost. Careful now.

 

Yuna's katana skittered across the deck. But as the thing reared its head back to screech two unseen, white-hot spars of crystal plunged into its maw. Hot enough to melt protodermis, hot as the gauntlet wrapped around Ahri's hand.

 

There was little training behind what happened next. With the delicacy of a maul punching through mail, the force of a sledgehammer, two voices bellowed as one into the mind of the rahkshi. They slammed into whatever defenses its serpentine mind had like an avalanche. Words both attack and command layered with the force of fury:

.:Get AWAY FROM HER YOU SNAKE!!!:.

OOC: @The UltimoScorp, @Keeper of Kraata, @Click, @Mel

Edited August 21 by Lady Takanuva
Edit: misread Yuna's post, whoops! Also refined my description of Rai going into shock

[Click]

IC: Mitsuri - The Waikiru, North of Sado

Crumbling wood. Screaming Dashi. The world rocked around her as impacts tossed the little hut around. Wait... that didn't make any sense.

"Hey! Vilda! I get to be your personal voice of reason today. Get up, you're not out of this yet!"

"H-Heiya?" Mitsuri whimpered, just before something else heavy landed on the upper deck and tumbled off into the water, rocking the ship enough to send Mitsuri careening into a wall again. What was going on up there? Mitsuri closed her eye, and when she opened it again, she was looking down on the ship from a literal bird's eye view. Shinku was wheeling high above the ship after its perch on the mast had been disrupted. Only then did Mitsuri realize what deep slag they were in.

The mast was gone. The other rafts were drifting away. Yuna and Raika were struggling against one of the Serpents, the mere sight of which nearly sent Mitsuri into another spiral. Ahri was attacking a massive tendril and being swarmed by countless smaller Rahi. Shinku's eyes followed that tendril back to a colossal creature that dwarfed the size of the Waikiru, led by another serpent.

This... was bad. Mitsuri was no soldier, no survivor. She lived a cushy life away from the squabbles of the other clans. Her blades were ornamental more than anything. And the last time she faced one of these Serpents, she... she...

"Wh-what do you want me to do?" she whispered desperately to the voice. "I... I can't fight these, you know that..."

[Mel]

IC: [Sado, Docks (Hatchi/Semeraed/Ilykaed]

When the Kuychar returned, a welcoming party was there to meet them.

“Hatchi!” the caravan leader laughed as zi was pulled into a hug by Sedskar, but soon read the desperateness in their younger clan-mates embrace.  Zi locked eyes with Semeraed over his shoulder as zi rubbed comforting circles in his back.   Or rather, locked eye.   Hatchi read something in the bandage over Semeraed’s left eye and in Falki’s notable absence, a cold yawning truth that was yet too painful to speak. Releasing Sedskar, zi turned to the assembled zrupgar, who were likewise greating their soko.  Ilykaed accepted a nuzzle from Maki with a gentle hand, looking approvingly at her favored soko’s well-maintained state.
 
“It is good to see you are well, Hatchi,” she said in Vulgar Taa.

“Yourself as well, Lady Jahagir,” Hatchi replied.   Unlike with Imperials, there was no need for a bow.  Clan Kuychar had always held respectful words and the sharing of tea over such gestures.

Ilykaed looked at Hatchi for another few seconds more, just enough to give zir the urge to squirm.   Did she recognize the difference?

Then the jahagir was once more among the rest of the clan giving, orders, and Hatchi was left with the rest of the refugees.   Well, time to do what zi did best—there was a caravan to put together, of a sort.

[Keeper of Kraata]

IC: Mashtet Ahri and Askha - The Waikiru, North of Sado

Oh Zuto Nui, it was another Vilda noble. She thought they had all left in the exodus. "You're not some helpless princess, you have Vilda blood in you! Relisai may be crazy, but if crazy gets you to tomorrow, be crazy! If you can't win by force of arms, change the game. The reason you're not sliced to pieces and impaled on a staff right now is that one of these monsters busy controlling the water. Sounds like some Vilda I know. Just don't poke the demon directly, most of the other Willhammers that have done that have gone crazy."

Askha surveyed the rest of the boat; it was a grim sight. Jellyfish tentacles wrapped around the railings and reached out for anybody on the deck; the one male was still entangled, and at least one saihoko was dragged overboard, stiff as a board. Askha hoped she was already dead. The male didn't look to be doing so well either. Had she seen him before? She hadn't seen a gold Hau like that since-

The male Menti strained against the stingers wrapping him, and the glow of a soulsword sliced through the tentacles. She knew that gauntlet.

"Don't you touch them."

She hadn't heard his voice in so long, she barely recognized it compared to her inner version of the voice. It was all but impossible; loosed from her corporeal body, she had no tears or heartstone to ache. She drifted away from the battle aimlessly, watching him. "Dad?"

Raika's two voices struck as one. The kraata inside the Rahkshi was quickly overwhelmed, but Raika touched something darker. They barrelled through the mind of the worm and had come into an abyss, shadowy miasma. The abyss looked back at Raika. She looked back. In sane space, on the boat, Raika's knives did their job, flash-frying the Kraata in its armored shell. There was an elastic snap as the rahkshi returned to its normal shape and collapsed into a heap. The Waikiru was far from safe, however. While Raika and Yuna were distracted, the monster jellyfish had begun further ensnaring the ship. Hundreds of stinging tentacles reached out over the vessel, at everyone alive, and some even started creeping into the hold.

Ahri pulled Yuna's fallen katana to his open hand; not his favored style, but the heft felt better compared to the tiny wakizashi Raika had given him. He used the length of the sword to fend off another cluster of tentacles as he left a deep gauge in the boat with his soulsword gauntlet, severing a cluster crawling down into the hold. Eventually the jellyfish would run out, surely? But this couldn't be the endgame. The shapeshifter could have sunken the boat earlier. He saw one saihoko dragged overboard; remarkably, she wasn't drowned, but instead dragged along the water, towards the monstrosity. Its paralytic poison, he thinks. They want them alive, or at least intact enough to mentally scream. That's why they waited until they were in view of Sado. Where is the Navy?

Thinking fast, he ran for the edge and jumped overboard. "It wants us alive! I'm going for the other one, defend everyone here!" He jumped overboard, slashing at the tentacles holding the paralyzed saihoko. He caught her with Mindarm as he activated his Hau, splashing in the water. Small jellyfish swarmed, but impotently slid off the barrier; as carefully as he could, he lifted the unfortunate Saihoko back onto the deck before orienting his impromptu pod towards the magenta Rahkshi. He gave himself a push with Mindarm; his entire body burned. This was suicide, but it was something.

OOC: @Lady Takanuva @Click @The UltimoScorp 

[Geardirector]

IC: Ageru Tamachan and NPC (Sado, School of the Mind)

"It's good to see you're still so hard at work."

Ageru Neymin dispelled his translucent Yari and bowed to his sparring partner before turning to Tama. He reached over with a note of concern in his voice as he regarded her arm. Even with her pauldron refit, it was obvious she'd had a nasty bruise not so long ago.

"Still, I don't like how hard you're pushing yourself. I really can't bear to see our family get even smaller after all this, I really need you to be a little more careful."

"I know that, Father" she answered flatly, and changed the subject, "I hear you're being considered for Battlemaster"

"A great honor" Neymin answered, and looked both grave and quite pleased at the same time, "in times like these, it matters most of all what you're capable of. And besides, a lot of worthy prospects ahead of me in line for the honor are... well, no longer with us."

"I don't like that it took all of this for... us not to be a problem anymore"

"I don't either, of course not. I'm not going to let it go to waste, though, and neither should you" Neymin regarded his daughter with an expression somewhere between determined, and supreme, utter weariness. Like he was resigned to see through something that he in fact felt to be something of a dead end, or it was a path he had walked so many times before to reach the same end.

"Have you seen any signs of your mother?" he asked, Tama shook her head grimly, but met his gaze with defiance.

"I will keep looking until I find her. She has to be out there somewhere" she insisted, continuing to dare her father to contradict the statement with the look in her eye. He didn't say anything, but the weary resignation in his expression got if anything even more pronounced.

"I wish you luck"

"I really hope I won't need it, haven't had much so far"

[Geardirector]

OOC: Definitely been 12 hours lol

IC: Ageru Tamachan (Leaving Sado)

She had a lot on her mind as she crossed the bridge linking Sado with Odaiba. Her Father had indicated he would rejoin the battle soon, and she was to return to her own duties as well. Striding across on Sarala's back, Tama remained contemplative, fingering the tip of an arrow. She could vaugely spot the faintest silhoutte of Fort Kizuno, and knew she would be seeing it ahead of her for the rest of the day. It gave her time to think, something she was even less fond of these days.

Kiroshi, her mother... she had to be out there somewhere. She didn't let herself pursue that thought much further. She didn't know what she'd do next if she did...

[EmperorWhenua]

IC Inokio | Sado, an izakaya

"Yes," he said. "And... thank you."

The ronin finished his quail eggs and sipped his drink, then leaned back and folded his hands behind his head in an effort to be relaxed, or appear to be relaxed at any rate. .:It's tragic that the Fursic Clan is all but ashes,:. he continued. .:Truth be, they were one of the last bastions that maintained balance in the realm and kept a lookout for threats. Now that the Umbraline power is clattered like flax chaff to the wind and the Fursic spymasters are dead, the historical turf wars are, well, history, and now we're all fighting to stay alive instead. Power is now such a precarious thing, settled with all the surety of a domino on sangen strings. If played too hard, it'll fall... right... off:.

He sighed, relishing in the heaviness of his alcohol-tainted breath, then changed the subject, suddenly weary of hearing his own thoughts on politics and power plays. .:How many active healers are there on Sado?:. he asked.

@Keeper of Kraata

[Keeper of Kraata]

IC: Sydelia - Izakaya, Sado, 1 day ago

The healer smiled genuinely; it felt like, for the first time today, she had caught the merest glimpse of the true Inokio. Perhaps; it may have been another layer, but it was enough for her. For now. She moved on to his latest question. "We have several dozen working the tents, but only a few Dasaka that share my mask. Most are Ringti doctors; before this, there were maybe... two others that had seen actual battlefield injuries. Though all of us are learning new and horrible things about anatomy these last few months."

It was matter-of-fact; stating it directly was the only way to keep the memories at bay, and she didn't need the sensory overload of septic wounds and the jagged, curving wounds that Rahkshi staves left behind.

OOC: @EmperorWhenua