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Guest Madeline     Hunting pirates was actually pretty difficult! The seas were huge, after all, and by the time someone learned of an attack, the actual fleet couldn't deploy. Patrols helped, but apparently the pirates liked to travel in loose packs of their own, making single ships - especially the ones Madeline had in this area - rather vulnerable. Even though she had some highly-advanced vessels, the world at large didn't know this, and she liked it that way. So it was normal seafaring vessels that usually encountered the pirates, and she'd had some trouble pinning down any of them.

    However, Vance wasn't stupid. The Empress had quietly spread the word of a plump little freighter with some valuable cargo, so valuable it had a light escort. Sacrificial lambs, really, but with a means to signal when attacked. Obscured by a veil of mist thanks to her Sorcery, Madeline's detachment of her Third Fleet was nearby, including one of the nicer - but still 'normal' - cruisers and several support vessels, which are available to anyone who has no ship of their own to command as they feel fit.

    So when the call comes for help, the fleet is lurching forward at high speed. Two pirate ships - a four-masted and a three-masted - are within sight, with one of the two escorts already in flames and the other fighting off boarders. For the moment, the rolling mist is keeping the fleet obscured, but that won't last much longer at the speed they're moving.
Sanary Rondel      Sanary's never commanded a ship of her own before, but there's always a first time for anything! Besides, she needs to get some more experience at commanding troops, and what better way than to do it with people that already know what they're doing?

     "Get us close. Not too close, though, but... At your discretion." That'll have to do. Satisfied with herself, the healer stands at the front of the ship as she checks her gear over once more as the ship moves into position with the others. Gunaxe? Check. Charge Blade and corresponding shield? Also check. Fancy (but standard) grenade launcher? Very check.

     "Rondel in position to fire. Just say when, Madeline." Her grin is practically audible as she says that. She's looking forward to blowing something up tonight!
Duet Fortuna     Ostensibly, Mordred is the fighter of the pair of Duet and Mordred. This is fine, because Duet would rather not reveal what she can do anyway. She's prefectly fine with taking command of one of Madeline's ships, getting her name out there for the Syndicate. Naturally she's letting Mordred take any military command that the Servant wants, but in the meantime Duet is keeping an eye on the whole mess. It's after a bit of thought that she decides what to do.

    "Bring us about and cut across the western part," she orders. This actually keeps the ship out of easy cannon range, but it also makes it harder for her to participate in the battle. She is, as always, being a bit more cautious and feeling out the battle. This also means she'll be breaking away from the mist about the same time as the others. "Saber, if you wish, feel free to cut across the water and strike at your choice of targets. This is your area of expertise, not mine, so I leave the choice to you."
Lezard Valeth Lezard is standing on the foredeck of one of the ships. He isn't saying much, looking through the fog with his magical senses instead of his eyes. He hasn't bothered to actually take command of the ship, since his own magical ability will more than suffice once the orders to engage are given. The rest of the people on it can do whatever they want. He's basically artillery.
Sarracenia      Vance's fleet has some support today from another kingdom. As those sea-bound craft make their way toward the pirates and the escorts, another ship emerges from the mist. Except this one emerges by flying -above- the mist! Where sails should be, there are instead large propellers keeping the ship aloft. Plant creatures with large red tulip-like heads run around on the deck, attending to ship functions. On the bow of the ship stands a pretty princess in a lovely, flowing dress and holding a hammer as big as she is.

     The flying wooden ship flies the colors of the Sundew Kingdom...which probably means nothing to the pirates or those under attack. What might matter is the dozens of cannons that are pointing themselves toward the pirate ships. Princess Sarracenia grins as her ship flies toward the pirates. "Ready? Aim? Prepare to fire on Madeline's command!"
Flint Hawke     "Teleport us in," Flint says from his position on the bridge of the Black Sun. He keys in several coordinates for the helmsman to use (It's a school night, so Hayate is probably already in bed). He man nods his head and then keys in coordinates. Unfortunately, without math double-checked and triple-checked, something goes wrong.

    So the Black Sun does not arrive right away. Instead uh... deep, deep, DEEP under the water. About 1500 meters below, the ship sort of shimmers into existence from its warp, displacing the water that then immediately begins to collapse around it. On the bridge of the ship, alarms and klaxons begin going off.

    Men are running around, looking at instruments and taking measurements, "SIR! 1500 meters below sea level! We've got 150 atmospheres of pressure on the ship!" He calls out, the ship making some creaking and unsteady noises. Flint grumbles, "And how many atmospheres can it take?"

    Flint looks towards his First Mate's chair, where Mister Blade has picked up a bit of japanese culture. He seems to be reading the latest volume of 'DRRR!!' with a pair of glasses on, "Well sir, it's a space ship. So I'd assume anywhere between zero and one." He looks helpful.

    "SURFACE!"

    Back up on the surface, the water begins to roil, then move around, and then start to swell ominously. Eventually, a massive space battleship breaches the surface of the sea. On the way up, Flint's Pure had been modifying the ship to make it a bit more sea-worthy, so when it surfaces it looks more like something out of Arpeggio than a space show, crazy glowing lines and modifications all over it. It's also covered in seaweed, fish that have exploded from pressure change, and any ocean trash it dragged up on the way down.

    Up on the top deck, Flint walks out with a group of men, "Oi. This is comin' out of YOUR pay to clean up, helmsman."
Mordred     "Right-o!" Mordred says. While Duet might have found herself a seat on the deck, Mordred is manning the ship's wheel. Armored from neck to toe in red and silver, the Saber lacks her helmet, in favor of a red, feathered tricorn hat. She grins, magic pouring out of her and through the ship.

    Thick plates of red and silver steel cover the vessel, and the rear lets out a howl as the Servant's Prana Burst is used to rocket the ship ahead. 'Cutting across the water' is a very appropriate way to phrase that, since the front plates form an edge that could allow the ship to ram and cut another ship in two.

    "Say, do we have to return this ship when we're done with it?" That might be important to know and may adjust how much power she puts behind that ramming speed tactic.
Laer     Laer is on one of the support vessels, ostensibly commanding it but mostly just standing on the deck of it, letting the crew work as they will for the moment. She's instead working on something with a slightly different purpose.

    Namely, she's got an easel there, and she's painting. With the movement of the boat, her strokes are being thrown off, but this is also an area of art where the bard has no skill. It mostly just looks like a mess of brown. The crew is probably smart enough not to comment on this where the elf can hear, even as she peers out at the attack, seeming to be trying to capture it in her work even if it mostly looks like the sort of picture an elderly person would accidentally take of their thumb.
Guest Madeline     "Fire at will," Madeline announces to her allies... and her subordinates. The mist rolls back so as not to obscure the rest of the crew's view in the midst of all this. She herself is of course in the Radiant Empress, atop the cruiser, though no she doesn't have a giant wheel. She's letting someone else steer, for the time being, while she leaps out to land on the water, the Warstrider walking across the water alongside the fleet.

    Cannons open up on both sides of the engagement, already. Sanary charged in, so the three-master is firing upon hers right away, and one of the cannonballs hurtles very close, smashing through one of the arms of a mast and causing the sails to sag. Another hits the side, but it glances off. Unfortunately, it's going to be hard to get a good broadside while closing like this, but she's moving at enough speed that the turning ship is going to be very close, very soon... close enough for her to mess with. Madeline didn't expect her companions to know much about ships, so she gave them competent mates to do the actual running of the ship, including how to close without taking too much damage.

    Lezard's ship - and Madeline's as well - get some scattered fire, but it's mainly meant to slow them down. The two ships were not stupid, and rapidly realized that it was some kind of trap. They're abandoning their prey and trying to turn about, heading southeast. Curiously, though they don't fire upon Flint or Sarracenia, they don't appear to be too worried. Of course they're pretty confused by what Duet and Mordred are doing, though it does mean they're going to need to worry about that lone ship to escape.

    As for Laer's crew, well... they're falling behind, and one of them finally clears his throat. "Er... should we engage?"
Sarracenia      The pirates may soon regret not firing on the Princess's ship. The airship is quite fast, and as the pirates turn to fleet it closes on them rapidly. Sarracenia flies passed the pirates without firing on them, instead moving in to close off their escape route as best she can. Her ship turns its left side to face the pirates, then she grins and giggles. "Fire!"

     The entire side of her ship erupts in smoke as a dozen large cannons fire old-fashioned but still quite powerful cannonballs at the two pirate ships. Whatever they impact, be it ship or water, they explode violently. And with her elevated position, it is easier to catch the ships in the spread of the explosion.

     "Fire two!" Another round of shots, but this time from the deck. Bullets are large as a person fly upward, then turn themselves toward the ships. Bullet Bills! With menacing, shark-like faces and little white arms at their sides, the person-sized bullets fly at the speed of a sprinting runner on Sarracenia's world, but are able to guide themselves like advanced missiles. And like their cannonball counterparts, they will explode violently if they impact the pirate ships. If they miss, they turn to follow.
Flint Hawke     Flint makes a thoughtful noise as the battle begins. He adjusts his fancy hat and looks between the men on deck with him, "You, you, and you." He points to three, "Grab the mops. Damn ship smells like kelp and fish innards. I want this thing spotless by the time I get back." He points to six others, "You six. Start fishing. I want Hayate to make me some of that Su..."

    He furrows his brow, "Suh. Saaaa... Sow.... Suuuushi?" He looks at the others, "Did I say that right?" The other men just kind of shrug in confusion. Most of them won't remember the word anyway, and none of them speak Japanese besides knowing 'Ramen' thanks to Arf.

    "Tell the other men to... stay at battle stations, all hands at alert. No pirate flees without a fight unless..." He scowls a bit, "Fabian Strategy, from the old Terra, eh? Perhaps?" He looks over to Mister Blade, the only other educated person on the ship, and the man hmms, "Could be, Captain. Could be."

    Flint then takes out a radio and tries to communicate with one of the ships not firing on him as it approaches him, "Ahoy. I'm callin' parley. Why don't you sail over here 'n have a bit of a chat with us."
Sanary Rondel      In retrospect, Sanary probably should not have ordered the ship moved out as far as she did. It's too late to regret that now, however, and the only solution she can see is scaring the pirates off before the ship gets sunk! "Not bad, not bad... Okay! Try not to die, guys! I'll take it from here." A pause, and then she continues. "... Fire back if you can do it safely, too!"

     Brandishing that grenade launcher, it takes the cleric a moment just to steady her aim at one of the opposing ships. "Heads up, assholes!" She fires two grenades in rapid succession, watching them arc gracefully into the air and... Miss completely. They didn't even go anywhere near that ship! But with those two shots, Sanary's able to aim her third shot more accurately to try and actually land a grenade on the opposing watercraft properly.
Duet Fortuna     "I think we should try to keep it intact if we can," Duet points out, much to the relief of the CREW here. "Let's see what we can do without destroying it first." Well, she didn't explicitly say NO, just try.

    Hmm. Interesting. "Already running... well, I suppose we should give chase. Likely it's..." She frowns, then pulls out her pistol. If they're going to pursue, she may need to do some boarding actions of her own. "Mordred... do you have much naval warfare experience?"
Laer     "Can't you see that I'm busy?" Laer replies, snappishly. But she'll look back up and sigh. "I guess we should get closer. You're ruining my angle, though. Don't think I won't report that to your boss. Fire all weapons that can reach them! You might be surprised at their range."

    She'll kick the easel over, frustrated, but move from there into song, boosting the skill of those crew members around her. Of course, the elf is trying to do so without bothering to explain it to the crewmembers themselves, so she make just look like a madwoman.
Mordred     DO they even want to sink the other ships?
    Mordred hrms, and adjusts the amount of juice she's putting into the ship's front. Rather than a large razor blade, the frontal armor plates just form a huge spike, above water level. That should immobilize another ship without sinking it outright.

    It is with her huge, confident grin that she answers Duet though: "Nope! Never been at the helm of a ship before! Can't be much different from a horse though, can it? I've done this with a cavalry lance before, trust me." If that doesn't get the crew nervous, what possibly could. But it's the truth! She's just winging this.

    "Full speed ahead, we're going to pin one of the ships down!"

    With Prana Burst's boost, it isn't going to be a long time before the ship she's captaining reaches the FOUR-MASTED pirate vessel from the side. Predictably, to SLAM into it. Now, Mordred isn't reckless. On impact, her ship would halt completely. The idea is that the giant metal spike in front of hers is going to stop the other from going anywhere, at least for the few minutes the spike will continue existing once she leaves it.

    More importantly, it being above water should prevent sinking. And the reinforcements made to the ship with Prana Burst should prevent hers from suffering any significant damage from a ramming action, or even from taking a few cannonballs directly to the deck.
Lezard Valeth The scattered fire is a thing. And sometimes, someone even gets lucky, as Lezard looks up and a burning cannonball drops directly on his head.

It slams into a barrier around the mage, the munition slowing before it detonates around him, engulfing the Necromancer in flame and shrapnel.

As the fire dies, Lezard is still standing there, the barrier visibly cracked, his clothing smouldering, and his expression unamused as he bleeds from several nasty-looking shrapnel wounds. "Well then." He states, his tone disturbingly level for just having experienced the Legend of Exploding Dice in the face. "I suppose one could consider that a fairly impressive achievement. Enjoy it on your way to whatever hells await."

He steps forward, planting a foot on the prow as the Manus Catalyst manifests in one of his hands, coalescing from the darkness, even as the future-ship breaches the water semi-majestically.

That was unexpected. He watches the ship for a moment, considering whether it will attack, but when it seems inoffensive to their group, he turns his gaze back to the enemy, stretching the Catalyst forth. "FIRE STORM!" He calls, magical force surging about him in a wave...

And then in the distance, a plume of flame explodes up in the middle of one of the attacking ships. Because fire and ships always get along.
Guest Madeline     So everyone cuts loose! This is good for stopping the retreat, but maybe a bit TOO good. Flint's reply on the radio - revealing they HAVE a radio, which might be why they're so good at coordinating - is one of hurried apology, "A little too busy for that while under fire! Appreciate it! I don't suppose you can get them to stop firing?" Poor guy is just doing his job! Which includes raiding ships. Well, it's a living. Unfortunately they're under fire from Sarracenia at the moment, and the thunderous blasts are tearing the deck apart, and the sides a fair bit as well. The crew trying to keep things together have a little problem of a GRENADE blasting several of them down, and one falls into the water. The ship is already lurching.

    The other ship has its own problems. Laer's scattered fire manages to hit a few, and then the deck is awash in flames! So the crew is largely tending the wounded and trying to put out the fires when Mordred and Duet's ship slam into it, ripping into the hull and quickly pinning it into place, though not without a shudder and a splintered mast on the ship. Just the jib, fortunately, it's still QUITE seaworthy thanks to the armoring from Mordred. It looks like the two ships were handled a bit quickly...

    The OTHER two ships appear from almost nowhere. Lezard's magical senses, if he's still using them, will pick up the flare from the two blisters of water that pop open. The two ships revealed now make it clear just how the pirates were able to hit and run with so much devastating effectiveness. Rusty and pitted, covered with patches, they're nonetheless quite a bit more advanced than the wooden ships that were used by the other crews. Faster, too. More important is how they open up with thunderous blasts of energy weapons paired with more mundane cannons, aiming a good volley at both Sarracenia and at Lezard's ship, plus some for Madeline(who is at the moment staying largely out of the fight).

    The crew against Mordred is lining up, but they're pretty clearly aware they're out of their league and hoping for rescue from one of the more advanced ships. Sanary gets a little something more though. While she outmatches the crew she's against, one of the larger ones fires what looks to be a rifle back at her.

    It looks like the ships are trying to flee the crew toward the armored ships, but that blitz is making things... rough for them.
Sarracenia      Sarracenia grins delightedly as the two pirates ships take such heavy damage, but that grin disappears quickly when the two other ships burst up from beneath the water. "Wh-what?! Submersible ships?!" she exclaims just before impacts ring out against her own ship. Luckily at the lower angle they can pretty much only hit her ship's hull, but her ship is quickly revealed to be no more sturdy than the ships she was firing upon. Wooden beams are splintered all along the sides of the ship and poor pirahna plant crewmen are sent overboard. Each pops a parachute, apparently prepared for such an eventuality as being thrown off a flying ship.

     Sarracenia herself is almost toppled as her ship lurches and shudders from the shots, then yelps as fire erupts on her ship. "Put that out, quickly!" she calls out, as if it needed to be said. Then, she points at the closest of the advanced pirate ships. "Fire all weapons!"

     With one side battered badly, her ship fires the Bullet Bill guns again as it rotates to expose its other side. Then, that side fires its dozen cannons at the closest pirate ship. Explosions erupt all around and on it as the cannonballs impact, followed soon after by the Bullet Bills! "Do not let these dreadful pirates win!"
Flint Hawke     "Well, you put on a bit of a white flag from your mast, I'm sure they'll know to stop firing on you, yeah? Bit of a universal sign, I imagine, that crosses all barriers." Flint muses, hanging out on the newly-modified deck of his ship. Having a Pure to reconfigure it to suit his needs is fairly convenient these days.

    "Oh ho ho. You had some friends comin, yeah?" Flint says to the radio with a bit of an impressed tone. He looks over his shoulders, "Prepare the forced docking clamps. I want one of those new ships. Seems like it might have parts to use on ours," Flint decides, giving his men orders.

    Inside the control room, men begin to work on aiming and targetting vectors. Turrets on the surface of the ship swivel and aim, levelling on new targets and beginning to correct vectors and figure out angles. They have to do actual math and calibrations now, figuring out proper angles before two docking clamps attached to incredibly long and powerful cables fire out from the deck of the ship.

    They're aiming to slam into the side of one of the new ships, the ones with energy weapons, and try to reel it in nice and slow towards the Black Sun.
Sanary Rondel      Sanary's looking rather pleased when her third grenade actually lands on a ship and detonates, glancing back at the crew on the deck to make sure they're still alive. She's not about to steer that ship herself, after all, and her attention turns back to the rest of the ships that are actually still firing back.

     "Looks like we got 'em on the run! Just a little more and-" She's cut off by the ship firing upon her ship, and as luck would have it, the rifle hits its mark! The shot blows right through her arm and draws a howl of pain from the healer, sending her into a hunched over position as she grasps that gaping hole in her arm.

     Instead of just scowling forever, however, she starts grinning maliciously while getting back onto her feet and letting the healing magic coursing through her mend the wound rapidly. "You... You get points for effort. But that ain't gonna be enough!" She roars with anger before raising that grenade launcher, taking aim once more and...

     ... Nothing happens. She checks her pockets. She forgot to bring extra grenades. Not all of her adrenaline is gone, at least, as she still has the rest of her gear, including the gunaxe. Switching to that and the shield, she just start taking potshots at the opposing ship's crew, firing rapid blasts of icy magic right at them!
Laer     "Oh, huh. Did they just ambush our ambush?" Laer asks her crew as the two new pirate ships appear. "Well. Ambush their ambush of our ambush! And don't point out that they already know we're here and it doesn't count." She'll order. "Instead, let's try..."

    She'll trail off, eyeing the distance to those ships. "Can this thing move fast enough to get into position behind them? Try and keep them from escaping if things turn around?" Not that she's completely certain the ship she's on could just roll over those, but she's going to try to get into position to slow them down, anyway. And if she has to, she'll take a more personal hand.
Lezard Valeth The unpleasantness happening to the wooden ships brings a smile to Lezard's face. "HAHAHAHAHAH! BOW DOWN BEFORE ME!"

Lezard has a very odd definition of appreciation.

As he prepares to strike again, however, the Sorceror's magical senses ping. He stops, turning towards the emerging ships... And he growls. "... Underwater ships?!" His eyes narrow. "Very well. We shall see how they attend to their defenses..." A moment later, Lezard closes his eyes... And falls onto his back, dead.

Well, okay, dead is a misnomer. There is a gleaming spiritual form that looks exactly like him left standing where the body was, and he steps out of it fully as the energy blasts rain down on his craft. "Damned inconvenient, that." the Necromancer mutters, as he holds out his hand over the vacated homunculus. There is a gleam of light, and the body begins to fade as Lezard teleports the body out.

Some things are better handled in another way. He seems to have zero concern for the ship itself, as he turns to the craft, preparing another teleportation spell...
Guest Madeline     SARRACENIA: Firing all guns tears into the ship some more, which sort of prevents the white flag from going up. Sanary is also freezing the crew, resulting in many screams, splashes, and a lurch to the side as the ship begins to sink. That's one pirate ship down, and perfectly all right with Madeline, who finishes off the job with a few blasts from her own Warstrider's rifle.

    Laer's assault on the one being harpooned by the Black Sun means it's not going anywhere, and while a few abandon ship in a rapid boat, most are stuck there, and at Flint's suggestion, the white flag is being reeled up.

    The other old battleship is taking on some of the retreating survivors from the other ships, and making a break for it. Lezard will find that the ship is actually partly-warded, in some fashion... but it doesn't appear to be something they've intentionally done, and it's ridiculously easy to slip in. None of them appear to have any spirit-sensing ability, though that's mostly luck given the diverse powers of the world, but he's going to have a surprise awaiting as it chugs off toward the distance at a suprising clip.
Sanary Rondel      Sanary lets out a confident shout as the ship goes down, turning her attention back to the rifle shot wound. It's still bleeding quiet a bit, but it's not longer possible to see straight through her arm, and she steps off the front of the ship to move back to where the crew is handling the actual sailing of the ship.

     "Good work, everyone. I... Think we're good for now? Listen to Captain Vance, move with the other ships if we need to advance again. And if anyone's injured, get over here." She holds her hand up to let some of that healing magic out in a pale green light cloud, then withdraws it back into her arm to keep working at mending the bullet wound.

     "Speaking of... How's everyone else doing out there? Anyone injured that needs a hand?"
Sarracenia      Sarracenia laughs haughtily as the ship she fired upon goes still. She holds out her hammer, gesturing toward the ship. "Never challenge the Sundew Kingdom!" she calls out, even if the pirates can't hear her. Of course, her own ship is damaged heavily along one side. But, that's not important, right? The important thing is that she won!

     But, there's one more ship escaping! Sarracenia is about to pursue when she hears Lezard's plan. She brings her ship to a stop, then moves in low toward the three captured/sinking ships. "If any of you need to be evacuated, there is plenty of space in the brig!" she calls out, then the underside of her ship opens and a platform lowers down with a multitude of spear-wielding plant peole aboard, ready to take prisoners. Sarracenia waves happily to Sanary when she spots her.
Guest Madeline     LEZARD: So what does Lezard find? Lezard finds what the group was supposed to find by CHASING them! That being... the ship scoots toward rough seas... very rough. Seas that start sloping in odd directions, and Lezard's spirit form will feel some tugging at them. It won't take long to realize that the seas of the area are twisted about and reacting oddly due to bubbles of RAW CHAOS seeping through a crack in the world.

    The pirates are hiding out in an area of the seas that's twisted by the Wyld. It... may not be a good idea to hang around unprotected.
Flint Hawke     Flint won't take too much aggressive action. Instead, he just keeps reeling that surrending ship in, trying to pull it up alongside his own where he can and try to give them a chance to surrender to Sarracenia. He does, at least, chip in.

    "You can avoid prison, if that is your inclination, if you can prove your worth and come aboard my ship as a crewman~. Always need more skilled hands on any number of jobs, but the pay's shit to start with," He then looks around conspiratorially, "And I hear the Captain's a bit of a fop, too," He says with a twinkle in his eyes.

    "But 's better than prison or the bottom of an ocean, so think it over~," He croons, waving his hand a bit.
Laer     "...What's the white flag mean?" Laer will ask her crew members, idly, as she starts preparing a fireball. "Surrender? Really? Are we supposed to respect that?" She'll muse, before waving her hand and letting the fire disperse. "Fine, fine, but that's way less fun." She'll state, not noticing what Lezard might be running into at the moment, instead settling for annoying the hell out of her temporary subordinates.
Lezard Valeth Following the retrating ship in spirit form is a good idea right up until you start hitting the goddamn Wyld. What kind of idiot hides near the Wyld?

Idiots in magic submarines, apparently. Lezard feels the environment shift, and despite his skill, he has no intentions of hanging out unprotected in these areas. While he could probably cope, he didn't get this far by taking chances.

The Necromancer lets go of the craft, letting it continue to escape while he floats in the abyssal depths... Until he begins teleporting himself out and back to Madeline's ship. It's faster than ghosting. In the meantime, he relays his findings to the others.