Scene #5685: Lost in the Depths-2

Owner	Pose
Wandering Dog	It's barely been an hour since the first group of adventurers dove. Ship guided to the location of Luthe according to a native, Tomazri, other ships have started following, and by this time, another would have shown up, allowing reinforcements to arrive at the site for a small fee. As this is happening, Wandering Dog starts to return above the waves, climbing back onto the ship he arrived with to continue the next part of his plan. The others were doing fine down there, he could set up from up here. The second ship, possibly bringing new arrivals, would meet up with the first, allowing intermingling between both as well as association. If anyone needed a way to get underwater, Wandering Dog offered them the ability, willing to take them down with him. Luthe is massive. Several miles wide, the dome is connected to several large 'pods' in a ring around it. It spans what is probably forty decks, and is lit up, lights shining through the dark waters. Luthe has power, which is very rare for a city this isolated and dstant from the rest of society. There's three possible entrances. Guarded by several sharkmen, there's a large open hangar door that has to be a flight deck, which seems to be getting reinforcements. The guards are wielding what seem to be electric spears, and are highly on-guard, Something's happened inside. There's also what appears to be a sanitation vent, which could be snucked into and would likely lead into the sewage through pipes, as well as a carved part of the terrain that reveals a closed shut vehicle bay, made out of thick metal. Either of these are valid entrances, though the vehicle bay would need some work to open up.
Finna	The rumors and calls for assistance regarding this were enough to get Finna's attention. A sunken city ruled by fish-beastmen and an 'ancient whale god'? This matter has Lunar written all over it, and one Lunar is quite interested in the whole matter. Because a an underwater city is COOOOOOOL, and if a Lunar Elder is involved, she wants to see how things will play out. That's why, for some reason or another, a lone Dolphin has been hanging with the boat, periodically surfacing for breaths or swimming up to peer at people aboard. Not very sneakily, but it's a Dolphin! Dolphins are like this sometimes. What ISN'T so normal is that, once the others have entered the water and gone along with the Dragon-Blooded martial artist, the Dolphin decides to dive down into the depths lazily following along at a healthy distance, quite possibly on the assumption that they're up to some game! When the city's in sight though, it goes swimming around to get views from a few different angles, but never wanders beyond a thirty second swim to the others...
Wandering Dog	Currently, the prior group is split into three, who, for reference, are being labeled Team Diplomacy, Team Stealth, and Team Charitywork.
Wandering Dog	Currently, the prior group is split into three, who, for reference, are being labeled Team Diplomacy, Team Stealth, and Team Charitywork. TEAM STEALTH: Last time, A-39 had snuck into the sanitation area of DECK 14, a merchant deck, where several of the 'Traitorspawn' slaves had been working. She'd taken out the guards and learned her location, as well as retrieved a letter from a 'U' talking about a resistance movement inside that was likely attached to Tomazri Gavrane, the boy who had escaped. Finding a key on a guard, the leader of the 'slaves' there required A-39's assistance, as they'd be killed if they or the body were found. "They're going to kill us if they find us. Will you help us?" TEAM CHARITYWORK: Starbound Flotilla, Alexis Maaka, and Haguro are currently chatting with a poisonous tentacled squidman and his group of architects, surrounded by bodies both shark and squid in DECK 35. Thrlij-kth had offered his assistance to the group in guiding them in exchange for assistance escaping. The rest of the squidmen didn't seem as enthused, but Thrlij-kth had already mentioned how being involved here was probably going to get them killed, so atleast sticking with the Flotilla until things could die down seemed suitable. Thrlij-kth gestured to the vast stairs and began walking, allowing the others to catch up and take point. "We are the Deep Sages, descendants of the Sage of the Deep. The others were Shadow Swimmers, and this one here is a pelagothrope." Thrlij-kth gestures to the more humanlike one among the group. "Deep Sages are put in charge of the ancient devices, but that machine had suddenly stopped working during a prayer. Our boss blamed it on us, and brought in the guards to deal with us for our heresy. If anything, I'd say he was the heretic that caused it to stop working, seeing how you came so fast." To Moonfin, he gestures to the ship they were fighting over as he walks, and then to several tools used to work on a ship as such, as well as machine parts such as crystals and wires. "It's all valuable. This may be what you seek, however." Once at the stairs, Thrlij-kth stops, and speaks again, pointing upwards. "As you go upwards, you'll eventually reach Deck 1, which is the Command Center. Deck 5 has the template, the decks below it to Deck 16 have various residences and shops, with Deck 6 having the Council of Scions. However, the true power is in the temple, which is likely where you could get contact with the Sage of the Deep. The next two areas directly above us are sanitation and the engines. I wish you luck." And with that, Thrlij-kth's group split up - Thrlij-kth heads downwards, while the others leave in different paths and staircases, obviously not wanting to be involved with the group anymore. The only way to go is up.
All-Seeing Eye	Eye follows his escort without causing any trouble, his lips pulled into a wry smile. When he is finally taken before the Council of Scions, his anima banner has subsided. His cybernetics, however, are still visible, as is his inhuman skin tone and the gem embedded in his forehead. Placing a gloved hand upon his chest, the Alchemical gives a bow at the waist. "Greetings," he cheerfully offers as he rises. He stands at a sort of parade attention before them, upright but nonthreatening. "You must be the council I've heard so much about. I am All-Seeing Eye, Chosen of Autochthon, and I've come to discuss the matter of your slaves." He nods towards the outside, then levels his gaze back upon the council members. His tone is even and diplomatic, perhaps even a little condescending. "Namely, their unconditional emancipation." As he makes this demand, he raises up a hand to silence any rebuttal, so that his palm is already out by the time the ultimatum is given. His smile widens slightly, and he continues. "I /do/ understand this would, at first, negatively impact your economy, but any damage done could be repaired, /if/ you are willing to submit to certain organizational guidelines. You would be eligible to receive aid from nations far in advance of even yours, with access to elite, easily mobilized peacekeeping personnel able to outmatch all but a First Age army of Exalted." His outstretched palm is lowered, and he nods towards the council to invite whatever rebuttal they no doubt wish to give.
Haguro	With the squidmen sitatuion sorted out (more or less), Haguro's taken to following Thrlij-kth! Or taking point, rather, considering the difference in how well armed the squidmen are compared to the Elites. She keeps her revolver ready and raised to her side while her other hand remains ready to reach out in case a sudden pitfall or explosion appears suddenly. She has no realistic chance of stopping anyone should that happen, of course, but the intent is there, at least. "Your boss. Ah... Does he know what sort of work is needed to keep the machines working? If he wanted to have you dealt with, then... He should have some sort of backup plan, right?" The squidmen leaving get little attention from the cruiser as she keeps sweeping the area, still trying to parse out everything that's happened. She can't rule the possibility of posturing out, either, but she does have enough sense to wait until the other squidmen are gone before continuing. "Or... Was it all for show?"
Kyoko Takada	Alpha-39 pockets the key, though she's not yet sure what it's for. If a lock appears, she'll try it out. If no lock appears, then she didn't need a key, so it's possible-win/win. She looks toward the girl. "If you want to try your luck getting to the lowest deck, you'll find people able to get you out. I'm not going all the way down there, even if I didn't have to get there while protecting someone. If you want to follow after me, make yourself useful." She's not in this for the charity. "I'm going to the generators." She checks through her equipment. Yes, there's still plenty left for what she has in mind. "Either way, you won't want to stick around and wait." She starts moving as soon as her equipment check is done. She's cautious, but also sensitive to the risk of someone coming to check on her victims if she waits too long. "Will they attack you on sight, or just if they find you somewhere you shouldn't be?" If it's not the former, maybe she can use the appearance of this lot as a distraction to take out the next set of guards, unless the generator room is on the list of places they shouldn't be. If the slaves don't have anything useful they can do, she'll be mildly annoyed, but it doesn't change her plans. First, get to the generators. Second, rig them for remote detonation. There's little way this couldn't be a good and helpful plan for getting through the rest of the city with minimal bother. She, after all, can see in the dark.
Alexis Maaka	ALexis takes point along with Haguro, keeping her Tavor close by while she flanks the battleship. "Seems like he's pretty quick to get rid of people after this." She mentions idly. She'll probably keep an eye out for trouble, while others handle the talking. Gotta be on-guard for sharkmen, after all.
Starbound Flotilla	"So they were Sages OF the Deep, now they're Deep Sages..." "Don't try makin' sense of it, matey." "But wouldn't that just mean they were predicting children?" "How can Sssage predict child if unpredictable child isss why we're here?" "Exasperated. No, no, it can't... It doesn't work that way, I'm sure." "I must admit tremendous curiosity on this topic myself." "No. Don't be moronic." Albert averts the Flotilla from devolving into their usual absurd discussions while Moonfin focuses on the matter at hand. Other Flotilla-members get to work on recovering the ships; Biteblade seems particularly ravenous about the topic, and she's going to head elsewhere, to the drained decks, to deconstruct them and reconstruct an amphibious craft for the rest of the group to escape in later. While they excuse themselves from the bulk of what comes next, Moonfin moves on. "A pleasure to have your assistance." He says, bowing to the merchant. "It is no shortage of profit to do business with you, and we shall certainly endeavor to ensure you profit in turn from what we do next." He looks up, hopefully, then around for a passage up, or at least a path they'd be taking to find passage up! "Ascent seems now the proper course. Where should we?" And he'll be moving out! With his hand on his katana hilt, he's well prepared for where this will take them. Time to make a beeline through sanitation, the engines, and the temple, stealing everything they can on the way! And possibly running headfirst into A-39 when they do.
Wandering Dog	TEAM ARRIVALS: Up top, Wandering Dog glances briefly at the dolphin that's shown up, before moving to prepare himself. He's only dressed in a silk tunic, as he approaches the boy with seagreen hair and a brand reading 'TRAITOR' on his forehead, Tomazri Gavrane, and giving him what appears to be a knife. "You said you're good with throwing weapons, so I grabbed you this. We're going to dive down and take back your home. Are you ready?" Tomazri nods with a "Yes.", before following after Wandering Dog as the martial artist waits to see if there's others...and then moves to dive. His fellow Exalt dives in after him, and after a brief check on the radio, Wandering Dog's heading for sanitation. He leads Tomazri through a ventilation fan, dashing through the water and dragging the kid around as magical filtration blades nearly chop them up, before eventually getting launched out a pipe. Appearing in the filtration area, he waits there for the others, who'll be up shortly. TEAM DIPLOMACY: The Council of Scions consists of three of the sharkmen, three of the squidmen, and three pelagothropes. As All-Seeing Eye is brought before them on DECK 6, the council listens. One of the sharkmen seems like he's ready to snap at Eye, especially when he mentions releasing the slaves unconditionally. "What? How dare you, outsider! Walking into our sacred city, demanding we let those Traitorspawn free, on promises of technology and wealth that we don't even need! Why, I'm going to-" For a councilman, he's rather brutish, and definitely combat-trained, but he's stopped as one of the squidmen, in a refined robe, raises a hand. "Councilman Groth, please. Let us not lose our cool in front of the foreigner." All of the pelagothropes nod, as the councilman speaks. "I am Councilman Krj-Rll. I have never heard of an Autocthonia, but I have no reason to disbelieve you. However, your request is unacceptable, as I presume you speak of the Traitorspawn. They are such because their ancestors destroyed our ancestors' way of living, summoning the wrath of the Great Whale God. They will not be released from their punishment, for they made the world fall, and the Great Whale God would be very displeased." He's clearly trying to be diplomatic about it, because of the next thing he says. "However, we're not opposed to negotiations for trade or joining your Commonwealth through other means, if you're willing to discuss." One of the sharkmen snaps up, "Hey, what do you mean-" but Krj-Rll looks at the other squidmen with him, as well as the pelagothropes. From the way he's glanced at, he'll clearly have the votes, and the sharkman's not going to fight over it right now, despite clearly /wanting/ to. "What do you say, All-Seeing Eye?" TEAM STEALTH: "Ujeni." The girl identifies herself as, nodding and picking up one of the electrospears. She doesn't look trained in the usage of it, but the shock aspect would probably be useful for her. "You want me to be useful...? Alright, well, if you're heading to the generators, there's stories that there used to be an aide to the city, stored inside crystals. Perhaps that'll help you?" Ujeni moves for the sewer, slowly, not actually used to climbing up it. The rest are sort of slow, but the sewers were unsecure, so this should let them safely get to the sanitation area, where Wandering Dog is. TEAM CHARITYWORK: "Obviously, the Sage of the Deep would send someone to repair it, someone attuned to the workings of the Great Whale God. They are powered by his blessings, after all." Thrlij would respond to Haguro as he leaves the group. The rest of the expedition upwards for the group will reveal more ships, and also a patrol of guards at one point, moving through the shipbay. Same electrospears, though they haven't noticed the party, who can either slip by them or take them out, either way, eventually, they'll reach the sanitation deck around the same time as the others.
Wandering Dog	TEAM ARRIVALS+STEALTH+CHARITYWORK: As all three groups converge, the Dragon-blooded run up to Tomazri as they see him, moving to flock around an ally they know and can trust. Ujeni speaks to him, glad he's safe. "I'm glad you're back. I...had to cause another...execution, Kathal was going to rat us all out. I'm sorry." Tomazri steps forward, nodding at her sadly, before speaking up. urged on by Wandering Dog. "We can worry about that later. Now's the time to act. We're going to infiltrate the Command Center, travelling through the other decks. Me and him can get us through the flooded parts, and then we can march the rest of us through. Are you all willing to help us?" He clearly wants revolution, to lead his people to freedom. Wandering Dog steps forward. "We're freeing these people one way or another. That's non-negotiable. Kid's skilled at stealth and throwing things, so he's not going to be deadweight." No matter how they agree or how the plan is decided to go, the only way to go for both sides is up. Deck 25 is the first of note, as multiple massive crystals fill the deck, formed into some sort of array. They're dim with energy, and don't seem to be what's powering the city, but they're probably the crystals Ujeni mentioned to A-39. The actual generators start in the next deck and last for four more. From any examination, they're actually converters, turning the tidal movements into power, and they're absolutely thrumming with energy. There's several 'control panels' for them, though they're all locked. They should be able to give some information on the power status of the city, if someone could get through them.
Haguro	Haguro has no qualms about letting the Flotilla do their thing with whatever's not nailed down, and having Maaka around makes it easier for her to focus on one direction to ensure OPTIMAL SIGHT LINES. Thrlij's explanation makes a good amount of sense to the shipgirl, although... Whales. She's not quite sure what to really make of all that, but it doesn't bother her too much just yet. She opts for a more silent approach as the group encounters the patrol, moving in for a quick takedown only if necessary. Once the group reconvenes, she listens to Tomazri's plan next and casting quick glances towards Wandering Dog. It takes her all of a moment before nodding in agreement. "I'll help. I have plenty of firepower for whatever plan we use here."
Alexis Maaka	Maaka is careful to be STEALTHY as she jogs up the stairs, making sure to help cover Haguro's weaknesses. She seems pretty soft on the bote, as she looks after her back without hesitation. Once Wandering Dog shows up, kid in tow, the cyborg sizes up the kid. "Yo, kiddo." She kneels down in front of the kid, grinning as she offers him a flash grenade. "Pull the pin and throw this, just in case we run into trouble. Before it goes off, you wanna run your ass off and let us know ahead of time. Cool?" She'll hand that over, and then carry on. She heads for one of the generators, producing some tools in order to cut the locks out in order to get a look at the power status.
Starbound Flotilla	Moonfin, and the trailing Flotilla, meet up with the group. Moonfin himself is not going to hold back exactly on his approach here, since despite his whole pseudo-charity gimmick, he isn't exactly here for the betterment of anyone involved precisely. He's not going to hesitate to agree to the Tomazri's intentions, given how they line up. "I've certainly no objection to seeking out the source with both expedience and directness." He says. "You shall have our assistance in this matter." The Flotilla have no shortage of technical expertise, especially when it comes to something that's basically roughly analogous to a space station, and especially something that Moonfin knows more directly: An underwater facility! So when they reach more technical zones, and when A-39 requests that they scour the system for data about where to go, the Flotilla leaps into action and Moonfin particularly begins to examine all the details of the generators. Using their comprehensive understanding of these sorts of things, ideally they can find major points of power flow from here, for A-39 to take advantage of! It may be slightly slower because of making sure to try to loot things along the way.
Kyoko Takada	Alpha-39 gives a nod. "Aide in crystal. Got it." Could be a crystalline computer. Could be someone trapped in a rock. They head out, back through the filth. "Oh, it's you guys." Running into a group that size wasn't expected, but, "That's convenient. I have an engineering problem." She glances toward the Flotilla members. "And they need a way out. But I guess they're going to hold on that one. Engineering first." She doesn't really want to stand around and talk about it first, preferring they hurry on toward the next deck, and the one after it. The crystals, despite the hint, aren't something currently interesting her, largely because she has no particular way of interacting with them. Neither does the control panel interest her; hacking just isn't in her skill-set. Instead, she directs her query toward Moonfin. "Find me the major points of power flow from this generator block to the decks above." Assuming she gets help, this'll be far more effective, but she's going to make a best-guess effort either way. When it comes to breaking and/or blowing things up, at least, she has a fair amount of experience, more so than putting them back together. She retrieves the explosives from her pack, cutting away any protection at each point with her powered knives so she can use a minimum of boom to get the job done. It doesn't need to be a complete blackout, but rendering the flow well below what the cities need will still be a huge help, if she's figuring right. Each explosive is hooked up with a radio receiver, the trigger kept safely locked as she works, and still safe as she finishes and either follows everyone else (if they went ahead without her) or continues stalking up toward the upper decks. She doesn't pull that trigger just yet. That'll wait until it makes for either a good threat, distraction, or they run into powered defenses. She doesn't actually tell anyone what she's doing, but it's fairly obvious if you watch her.
Finna	Seeing that Wandering Dog is apparently in charge of this operation, Finna decides that she's best off tailing him! No longer super concerned about standing out, she makes a dive after him and his fellow through the ventilation fans! Which isn't easy. The dolphin bolts and weaves through the gaps at lightning speed, leaving a hellish torrent in its wake which the fans quickly disperse. As soon as the beast's free of the pipe its great mass melts and compresses in midair, spinning to shed water at great speeds but transitioning swiftly into a very different form... A mouse. Yeah. She's still working to stay out of people's ways and tag along.
All-Seeing Eye	Groth's outburst receives a curious frown in return, the Exalt tilting his head as if another angle might provide some answer he's missing. His brows are raised curiously, and this expression remains when Krj-Rll speaks up. The word 'unacceptable' transmutes his frown into a smirk. "Ah..." Eye chuckles, his upper body momentarily shaken by the expression of amusement. When Krj-Rll is finished speaking, he offers a rebuttal. "The subtleties of Old Realm do escape me, I'm afraid. One moment!~" He smiles brightly and gives another bow, this one smaller than his first. His right eye pops out of its socket and crawls on bundles of optic nerves into his outstretched hand. From the palm of the opposite hand comes a spike, which he calmly injects into the eye. There's a silent moment during which he's utterly concentrated on this task, and when he's finished, both devices return to their original places. Once finished, he flashes a grin towards the council members. "I must've misspoken," he says, "Because you seem to think that you have a choice with regards to the slaves." His irises retract, revealing dark metal nozzles pointed at the council. "Whatever you call them to aid in your sleep, that is what they are. And because you are blatant Solar apologists, I know that your punishment is inherently unjust. I speak to you now as Chosen of the Machine God, not as a Paladin, and I do so in my native tongue, so that there can be no misunderstanding." The dialect sounds somewhat like Old Realm. A bolt of purple lightning streams from the cannons in his eyes, bouncing off of a window and making a beeline for the three shark council members, threatening to pierce through all three if they don't move in time. "You will release the slaves and you will do it now, or I will bring the justice of the Great Maker upon you, and you will /pine/ for the safety and stability of the Usurpation."
Wandering Dog	TEAM DIPLOMACY: Eye's strange cybernetic work on his eye is unnerving, especially to the pelagothropes. It's doubly more unnerving as Eye refuses to negotiate, the guards suddenly moving as it gets heated...and then the three sharkmen councilmen are dead, trying to move out of the way and getting their heads blown open for the effort. The rest of the councilmen duck for cover as the guards sound an alarm. Pretty much every guard in the city is coming up this way now, as half a dozen swarm on All-Seeing Eye. "Guards, kill him!" Krl-Rll shouts, hiding behind a desk. The guards move to stab Eye with the shock-spears in a rage, though they're probably easy work, but more follow, and more. If he doesn't want to spend the whole thing fighting, he'll probably have to figure out what he wants to do next TEAM REBELS: As everyone agrees with the plan, Tomazri sighs, reassured. He takes the grenade cautiously, having no idea what it is, and holds it even more cautiously, but he obviously assumes it's a weapon from what Maaka tells him. The group follows behind the rest, with Wandering Dog maintaining the very back. Maaka's able to open up one of the generator panels, finding that the entire thing is above necessary capacity, as well as controls to theoretically overload it, though there's safety restrictions on them, while A-39 sets up explosives on another. Moonfin and the Flotilla would be able to find that they're grouped into blocks, and find the ones focused above on the residential, temple, and command areas, and are all also extremely full. In fact, if they were critically damaged, it'd probably chain-react and blow up the entire city. As they finish up, though, alarms start blaring. They're not just on one deck, but several, indicating that this isn't because of what's going on down here. The security below is suddenly starting to come up towards their deck, and so, if/when they choose to continue upwards, they'll notice that a lot of security is moving up through the decks. As they reach Deck 19, it's flooded, requiring them to continue onwards through a hydroponics area underwater (where Wandering Dog and Tomazri allow people to breathe under the water if they need, including Ujeni's group) . It's when they reach the crowded merchant deck of 16, as people are moving into their shops and hiding, that the group's noticed. With all the alarms, the guards turn on the clear foreigners, and several squads of sharkmen have their electrospears pointed at them, moving to lunge in, while others fire off the electricity like a gun. They don't notice Finna, however, due to her being disguised as a mouse. The guards aren't too difficult to fight, but they're all throughout the decks above, and getting to the temple on Deck 5 will require some fighting if they still want to.
All-Seeing Eye	Krl-Rll's panicked command appears to be music to Eye's ears. As the guards charge in, they're met with a gleeful grin. Two steel cables slip free of his sleeves, and he beckons his head backwards in an invitation. The guards are given one 'free' attack, which is blocked with playful ease--the shock spear pierces his arm, and he sucks in a breath to manage the pain. Eye giggles. ((Theme Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE4bIrQP8-8 ) Turning around, the razor edge of his whip slices gracefully through the air, crackling with purple electricity. "Ready or not, here I come," he sings above the din of battle. His vision pierces the council's desk, revealing their huddled, crouching bodies. "Gonna find you!~" One by one, bolts of lightning from his Essence Cannons simply pass through the desk, rematerializing right before striking the council members. The Exalt toys with the council members in this way, until all of them have been killed, or until one dares to run--even if this means fighting off waves of guards. Perhaps even especially if he has to fight off waves of guards.
Kyoko Takada	Once they're moving up again, Alpha-39 taps Ujeni on the back. "Hey. Hang back when it starts. You're going to be outclassed up there." If this seems contradictory to her earlier stance, she certainly doesn't care. A-39 then drops her mask back into place and takes the first opportunity to get back into stealth, not minding if this puts her ahead of or (more likely) behind the group. If possible, she'll even let all the flashier people handle the guards entirely, only moving in to slit the throat (or slice through the upper vertebrae) of hostiles that are definitely in her way. She proceeds forward, potentially getting further ahead of the group if they take any time dealing with the guards, themselves, and making for... what was next, the temple district? They still haven't run into anything arrayed to actually stop them, so she only brushes a finger over the shielded trigger. Maybe there won't even be a need. But wouldn't that be a waste?
Alexis Maaka	Maaka hopes to -God- Tomazri knows how to handle a grenade, but he seems to be careful enough. As she goes to working, she notices controls to overload the generators. She's seen similar things blown to pieces by strike operators before. THe last thing she wants to do is echo that for an -underwater city-. So she leaves that alone, fusing the plating back shut as she keeps up with Alpha and the others. She proceeds through stealthily, sometimes stabbing guards or popping them with her suppressed pistol, but otherwise remains low-profile. Good thing she dressed for the occasion.
Haguro	Lacking much in the way of more elegant lockpicking/removing tools like Maaka or demolition tools like Alpha-39, Haguro once again does what she does best: Make a lot of noise and shoot people. "I'll keep you all covered. Just.. Um. Say something if we're falling back or getting ready to leave!" With that request given and the group starting to head towards Deck 5, Haguro takes a deep breath before uttering something vaguely resembling a WAR SHOUT to try and draw the attention of the oncoming guards! It's not really much of a shout and more like an uncomfortable yell, but it's certainly loud. After that, she glances over at Tomazri and Ujeni to make sure they're still in one piece before bringing up her revolver. There's quite a few sharkmen there, and... She's gotten some practice in with her gun. Haguro starts firing rapidly at the sharkmen, aiming mostly for legs and chests while taking particular care to be as out in the open and as visible of a target as she can be. She flinches at those blasts of electricity, but she continues advancing like a wall of gunfire. There isn't even downtime when she's reloading, either, as Haguro switches to her shoulder turret's anti-air flak to continue laying down the suppressing fire.
Finna	Finna's presence seems useless! Up until... up until the little mouse zips down into the battle lines and starts BITING INTO ANKLES with teeth that are just WAY too damned sharp! The critter is a real nuisance, zipping like lightning from exposed spot to exposed spot and CHOMPING hard. A moment's distraction is DEADLY in battle, and she's hoping to stealthily buy several of them before zipping off ahead!
Starbound Flotilla	Moonfin leads the charge for the Flotilla members on this, being the one most suited to straight head-on melee combat. Electrical spears would conduct along a standard katana blade, but what he's got is POWER KATANAS! Instead, it transmits into shield shock, brutal straining of his arms that accumulates into gradual fatigue, a painful loss of endurance accentuated by burns, sparking breaches, and tearing in his armor. But this is not to say it's a one-way street, as he imparts tremendous damage into each foe as they approach. His focus is on the melee fighters, and it shows as he works hard to eviscerate each foe as they come. "Forth Sea Hylotl Style: Unceasing Current!" He occupies attention with flashy moves, granting A-39 and Maaka the opportunity to strike out in far more convenient moments than she'd naturally find. He works in perfect tandem with Haguro, going back-to-back with her when it's sensible, and working as a sort of melee tank for her when it isn't. He can't do his usual bullet-deflecting on /lightning/, but he can at least lend some of his own endurance to her the way she's helping keep the ranged fighters away from him! The beeline is straight towards the command center, though the Flotilla as a whole, despite suffering the damage of this sharkman resistance, is quite enticed by the chance to loot some of the floors between them and their primary target, and will certainly stop if they find any valuables around, say, the temple.
Wandering Dog	TEAM DIPLOMACY(?): All-Seeing Eye manages to tear through the guards, slicing through them with his whips. Shots pierce through the desks one-by-one, sending dead councilmen backwards. As waves of the guards are ripped through, some deciding to fire lightning out of the spears instead and others continuing to swarm him with the spears, before several pull back, Krj-Rll takes a lull in the fight as a chance to try and dash through the doors behind guards, trying to escape. "Guards, protect me!" A squad attempts to flee with Krj-Rll, as the others try to hold off All-Seeing Eye (who can easily oppose them). TEAM REBELS: Ujeni and the others hold back as the others fight, trying to sneak their way through the chaos as their enemies fall, while Wandering Dog and Tomazri join in the fighting, Tomazri throwing that knife and carving through the sharkmen, while Wandering Dog breaks into them with his fists. Those sneaking find it pretty easy with all the chaos to slip through stalls, up the stairs. Several are patrolling through on magical bicycle-like devices and have armored jackets, but the group can easily pierce through them. Getting up to DECK 6 is easy, but that's the one full of the most guards, plus All-Seeing Eye's fight. Getting up to the temple on the next floor should be easy. DECK 5: Everyone who ends up at Deck 5 will find what appears to be a massive temple structure, with a very large statue of a massive whale taking up much of the center. The statue is centered as a shrine, and a very large fish has been ritually dismembered, being presented as a sacrifice. A man who looks like the squidmen stands over it, kicking it aside briefly, before turning. He's not exactly the same. He's taller, and has a full set of tentacle on his body, poisonous things. His arms are long, and his eyes are old and wisened, as he speaks, his voice more sibilant than any of the Deep Sages they had seen before. "I don't know who you are. But you have threatened enough for me to act. Therefore, this will be an acceptable risk." His claws on his long fingers are immensely sharp, as he raises his hand. "Crush them." Through one of the windows facing the sea, it's first shown as a shadow that starts to bleed through the window. But then, there's the shattering as the window is blown open by a monstrous creature about fifteen feet tall. An amphibious creature reminiscient of a fishman, bipedal with heavy bulk on the upper side, massive claws and jaws that span practically the entire width of the thing, it moves to slam at any in reach, trying to carve into them with claws and then bite down on them with those jaws, which extend much higher than should be physically possible, and are painfully sharp and bone-crushing if they get a hold of anyone. The tentacled man takes up a combat stance, meanwhile, reminiscient of martial arts. Additionally, Deck 5 is starting to flood. It's going to entirely get filled with ocean water (as are other decks) if a solution isn't found quickly!
Wandering Dog	Additionally, as the group heads upwards, more of the guards follow, taking to the water easily as the top starts flooding. They're still going to be a threat, though not as major as one.
All-Seeing Eye	"You can't run away~" The Exalt charges the approaching guards head-on, swatting away the bolts shot by the guards with a flick of his whip and a crack of his own lightning. He dips forward into a handspring, then pushes off of the ground and propels himself over his attackers. A blast from his cannon bounces off a wall, then ricochets between the guards behind him. His attention is on the fleeing councilman, however, and his retinue of guards. With a tranquil smile on his face, Eye keeps running down the hallway, bouncing off of one foot as if the urge to skip suddenly overtook him. His long black hair bounces up and over a shoulder, and he kicks out the opposite foot as he lands. Another whip flies from his ankle, traveling low in an effort to ensnare and trip Krj-Rll. Should any of the councilman's retinue make a move to stop him, the Exalt is quick to answer their attacks with a volley of crossbow bolts flying towards vitals at improbable angles. A current of electricity travels down the whip, treating the councilman to a painful, captive experience if he wasn't able to escape. "Now, darling, you know I just can't have you running off like that! I might be gentler, if you'd care to reconsider your stance on the slaves?"
Kyoko Takada	"More flooding. Defense mechanism?" Alpha-39 isn't speaking loudly, but it's enough for her radio to pick it up. She eyes that monster, and the guards running up, and the defending squidman who knows kung fu. "Lights off." She flicks off the trigger shield, and squeezes, sending the simple signal back down below to begin the ignition sequence. It didn't take much, and there probably won't be any new holes in the walls, but you don't need to apply a lot of force to stop things from working when you know exactly what lines to cut. The charges go off almost all at the same time, wrecking the connections that transfer power up from the generators to the decks above, with the lines most likely to feed straight for the temple and command center being the first to go. The generators will probably all still survive and keep running, but as far as everyone in earshot is concerned, they may as well be gone. At the least, A-39 expects all the lights to fail. A back-up generator is possible, particularly one near the command area, if the designers built for military needs, but good lighting is a luxury, in the minds of those who don't plan on being in melee when their lights fail. Even the red eyes of her mask fade into darkness, when she finds it. Blades drawn, the child soldier advances at an angle, keeping an eye on the other combatants, and particularly on how her enemies react to the distant explosions and any aftereffects. In an ideal world, someone like Wandering Dog would charge straight for the dangerous squidman even under these circumstances. That would make the perfect opportunity, but if another comes to lever her knives into the monster-man's back and slice out chunks of flesh, she'll take either one.
Alexis Maaka	The lights go out, and Maaka promptly goes dark. She switches to night-vision as she begins to evade fire from the guards, mostly putting bullets in with pinpoint accuracy from her X95. The windows burst open, and she sees the room flood more and more. "Oh that's not good." she mutters under her breath, before throwing out a grapple line to get above the water. From up high, she'll lay down cover fire, mostly aiming at the massive fishman that just showed up to crash the party.
Starbound Flotilla	"We are nothing short of a threat worthy of just such an effort." Moonfin says, speaking with drama dripping from his voice once they have reached Deck 5. He draws his blade anew -- this one's a fresh one, the other one got really badly damaged -- and points it at his foe. "You will know who I am though. I am Haruto, Moonfin of the Hylotl, First of the Starbound Captains, Hand of the Concord. Ready your weapon; we shall petition fate!" He remains standing even as the area floods, resisting at least that much with his amhibious biology and the weight of his armor. The incoming fishbeast puts Moonfin in a defensive stance, and his armor lights up cyan! "First Sea Hylotl Style: Unbroken Shores!" He calls out, and with a stylish, clean movement, takes a two-handed grip of his blade -- one at the hilt, one palm pressed against the end of the blade -- to blunt the impact of the heavy slam into a jarring, painful, bruising, but nonlethal impact. Then with a straining, stylish twist, powered by the microthrusters in his armor, he slides around the beast, deftly dodging under Maaka's gunfire to catch the creature off-guard as best he can. With that done, he closes in hard on the wizened summoner himself, blade at the ready. "Sixth Sea Hylotl Style: Funeral at Sea!" He calls, moving for a heavily offensive assault, prioritizing Moonfin's own momentum and speed, trying to get the pair into a rush where Moonfin tries to keep him from being able to mount a counterattack simply through sheer overwhelming number and intensity of strikes... And he times it perfectly, of course; his armor gleams as the lights go out, activating built-in lights to make it easier for him to see... And to make him blinding to look at head on! The show of honor is actually authentic; it's likely he'll lose a little efficacy just from the fact that this isn't a straight-up honorable duel, and his flow's a bit broken. What combat efficacy he loses, though, A-39 ought to be able to more than make up for herself with the damage coming out of that backstab!
Haguro	That's quite a large creature. Even with so many Elites fighting the guards earlier, the sudden escalation in who and what they're fighting has Haguro caught off guard momentarily! That's all the time the creature needs to catch the shipgirl in its jaws, drawing blood/oil and a scream of pain. Even with her turrets capable of firing into it point blank, there's no guarantee she'd be able to escape with all her limbs in such a situation! So instead of shooting it wildly, she takes a more measured approach. Turrets twist and turn, and shots start firing at the creature's mouth and face. Eyes and fangs are all fair game as she lets loose with explosives and shredding flak alike, apparently trying to get herself free by making it too dangerous to keep her in its mouth!
Finna	The little mouse SQUEAKS OUT IN ALARM when the huge creature bursts through, flooding the decks! But it doesn't seem to bother the little mouse too much. She skims across the water as it floods the chamber and ZIPS up atop of the great amphibian. THIS time twin silvery glints flash in the creature's mouth as it aims to sink snake-like fangs into the beast and pump in paralytic poisons. With a hiss of protest it will leap away as soon as possible!
Wandering Dog	ALL-SEEING EYE: The whip trips up Krj-Rll, as the defensive attacks from his guards lead to their death. Krj-Rll panics, the pain being excruciating, as he tries to writhe out of the whip. "What makes you think /I/ can do anything? The priesthood contains all the real power! Let me go!" Even through the pain, he clings hard to his faith, refusing to just renounce the slavery. But there's not much else he can do. ALL: The lights suddenly go out. Both Eye on Deck 6 and those on Deck 5 are in near black, only the lights of the rest of Luthe outside the window providing any ambient. DECK 5: The guards are thrown off by the lack of light. They need to rely on smell, and there's far too many bodies to do that. They light up their spears to give them some light, and begin trying to fire, but their shots miss much of the time, and are easily dodgeable by any who can still see. The monster is under the same situation. Unlike the guards, however, it doesn't care about 'too many bodies'. As the bullets slam into it, especially from Haguro's turrets, it roars, spitting her out. During this time, it's attacked by the poisonous mouse, the poison making its jaw unable to move, unable to use that devastating bite attack. So instead, its claws gleam as it moves to rip into Haguro, hitting into several of the guards during the process and ripping them apart, and then throw her upwards at Maaka, as it starts to swim along with the rising water. It strikes out to try and hit the mouse if it can, but it's small enough that it's not a sure hit. Meanwhile, the squidman actually replies. "I am the Sage of the Depths. Steward of Creation, and your demise." Unlike the other two, however, the Sage of the Depths is more suited to combat under the dark seas. As Moonfin comes in with that blinding armor and that sword slash, he's not actually the Sage's biggest concern. Right as the knife is about to slam into his back, those tentacles suddenly move to grab A-39's arm, trying to block the blade from planting firm into his back, cutting through it but not getting as much leverage. There's a loud grimace of pain as the tentacles start elongating, covered in the Sage's blood, right as Moonfin's slash impacts into his chest. The Sage is knocked off his feet, but quickly regains balance by using those tentacles to support him, which lunge out at both Moonfin and A-39, attempting to cut through their armor and inject damaging poison through them, as others start flurrying forward to slam into them and simply hit them with blow after blow.
Alexis Maaka	Maaka effortlessly dodges the enemy blasts, beyond a few hits here and there. Her suit provides light armor protection, but still gets burnt and melted in places, with painful sizzling noises coming from the wounds. Maaka grits her teeth, as she holds onto her grapple line and keeps firing on the guards. Of course, she has a problem in the form of a flying bote hurled her way. "Shit!" She's knocked from her perch by the impact, and she falls to the water. She can at least swim, but guns and water don't always mix well. The cyborg attempts to remain above the water, firing at the fish monster with short bursts when she can see it.
Haguro	Haguro pumps as many shells and blasts of metal shrapnel into the monster as she can, fighting the ever-present urge to just let unconsciousness take her. Feeling the monster's grip around her loosening, however, the cruiser is reinvigorated! ... Just in time to get spat out and caught by its claws instead. She angles herself just in time to avoid getting cleaved in half, at least, instead taking the brunt of the blow on an armored spot and getting flung at Maaka. "Ggh... S-sorry! At least we're a little further away, so...!" Haguro picks herself up just enough so she can stay afloat, slowly clambering up to her feet and skating in place unsteadily on the water's surface. "This thing is... Is it even under the Sage's control?" She doesn't pause to wait for an answer, of course, instead switching her turrets to their heaviest ordinance and blasting away at the creature once again. Instead of the explosives and flak combination from before, this one is all explosives!
Kyoko Takada	Alpha-39 gives a grunt of pain and disappointment as her arm is grabbed. Against a humanoid opponent, she'd have immediate options, but tentacles are too flexible to leverage against. She's not wearing much in the way of armor, nor does she have a superhuman source of endurance, and so a sage martial artist is likely to be able to seriously injure her just by squeezing, given the chance. With one blade stopped, she tries to at least get a knife jammed in, drawn quickly with her left hand, taking that as the better chance than slicing through the limb grasping her, but it's really Moonfin's strike that saves her. She leaves the knife. Freed by the Steward of Creation getting knocked down, A-39 backpedals, swapping her long blade to her left hand and swinging her SMG around on its shoulder sling and into her grip. Her chest is armored with ballistic plates, and can at least take some slam-damage, but an attack intended to pierce armor does, poison getting into her system even as she brings the weapon to bear. There's a tense moment of decision-making, and in that split-second she determines that curing will have to wait. The opponent is too quick to give her a chance for even emergency measures. She opens fire, rapid flashes of light and sound heralding the appearance of dozens of piercing rounds of her own, steel jackets over softer, heavier cores. If there's no more than a normal animal's resistance, the rounds will punch straight through, but there's no guarantee of that, and no time to swtich ammunition to something more lethal than "dozens of small holes," should she be so lucky. She has to work quickly. Depending on the poison, her built-up resistance won't do more than slow it to a minor degree, and she needs this thing down before she can set about treatment.
Finna	Finna, upon spotting another Lunar moving to the fight, PROMPTLY leaps away and into the waters. There'll probably be no further help from her against the Sage and his minion! Instead she zips up, over, and onto the big Whale idol for a good view of the situation. Still as a tiny, nearly-unnoticeable mouse.
All-Seeing Eye	The last thing that Krj-Rll sees before the lights go out is All-Seeing Eye, standing over him with a placid smile. "As you wish," he says sweetly. In the darkness, the councilman feels the whip loosen, only for a sudden, stinging pain to blaze across his neck. In time, even the memory of that pain is gone, and the hallway is as quiet as it is dark. "Ah, there you are, Councilor. Take my hand," says the Exalt with none of his venemous sweetness. He waits patiently for the councilman to take his hand, helping Krj-Rll up. "It would seem you were mistaken about the so-called Traitorspawn," he says. "I know you don't have the power to affect change directly, but you and I both know the just course of action. I'll move to secure the rest of the city. Find someplace safe and wait until the excitement dies down, hm?" With that, the Exalt uses his enhanced hearing to follow the sounds of combat, hearing out the structures in the hall and stepping around them where necessary. When his footsteps begin to splash, he frowns, lifting his boot and listening to the water droplets splashing into the pool below. The sounds of battle up ahead lead him into the chamber, and he rolls his neck. Eye enters the fray, the splashing serving to preserve his vision just as well as ample lighting would. As he rounds the corner into the room, the Sage will see a tall, svelte figure enter with two arms raised and pointed towards him.
Starbound Flotilla	Moonfin recoils in pain as the poison sinks into him through ripped-out gaps in his armor. Medical systems flood his body with treatments, shocking him with pain as his blood becomes a chemical battleground between unfamiliar poisons and painful, draining detoxification mechanisms. He'll likely need A-39's help soon. He pulls back with a shout of pain, and then... Vanishes! Until he appears, flickering into a teleportation, quite suddenly, between A-39's SMG bursts! Then again he disappears as she unloads. Again and again he tries this flickering teleportation tactic, to dodge in and out and work in perfect harmony with A-39's attacks. Now that it's clearer that he's aware of her, this no longer constitutes an act of dishonor in combat, and so Moonfin's awful debuff fades in short order! Now he can deftly slip around more of those lashing tentacles, hopefully averting some of the damage as they can't manage to get just as many thorns in him. Rushing, dashing, flickering slashes keep his angle dynamic, hopefully giving plenty of room for the sudden arrival of All-Seeing Eye to strike out!
Wandering Dog	ALL-SEEING EYE: Krj-Rll knows what happened. They saved him. The Traitorspawn and All-Seeing Eye saved him. As he rises, he nods to the Alchemical. "You're...you're right. To save their own tormentors despite the chance...maybe I need to rethink my stance. Thank you. I owe you my life." The squidman runs off, absolutely sure of something that didn't actually happen. DECK 5:The fishmonster is riddled with more bullets by Maaka, as explosives slam into its body, staggering it back and tearing through its flesh. It opens its mouth, and starts...singing? It sounds sort of like a whalesong, but there's actual words in there, barely audible. "I, Guillar..." slips out, as it seems to be some sort of prayer. Guillar, as is the creature's name, roars again, before lunging forward to slash into Haguro and Maaka, before noticing All-Seeing Eye arrive. It rushes at him, moving to try and smash him into a wall before he can show what he's capable of, trying to get the new threat straight ouf ot het way. One of the knives manages to plant into the Sage, causing a loud grimace of pain, as bullets also riddle into him, dangerous in concert with Moonfin's slashes, which draw quite a bit of blood from the sorceror. The tentacles eat most of the bullets, but the Sage is definitely on the ropes, as he rips the knife out and throws it to the ground. At this time, Wandering Dog comes in to distract him for the others to cure their poison, punching the Sage square in the gut. The Sage staggers back, and then raises his hands. "Enough of this farce! Wherever you come from, wish you had never left! You have sabotaged us enough, all for those outcastes, so I'll tear you apart!" Wth a quick incantation of something magical, the floor begins to shake. The water is already flooding enough to force people to either swim up or stay underwater, but the Sage isn't bothered by it, as several icy tentacles jut out of the ground, moving to slam into EVERYONE involved in the battle. Wandering Dog is sent flying backwards, as Tomazri protects Ujeni and the others. The frozen tentacles are moving to bash, slam, and strangle anyone they can, and destroying them and likely the Sage is the only way to end this!
Alexis Maaka	Maaka's about to return fire once more, maybe even fire her Spikejack, before suddenly the icy tendrils knock her off-course. She's send flying, and grabs her knife as she tries to cut her way free with the High-Frequency blade, grunting and struggling all she can. "FRIGGIN' TENTACLES, I draw the line at this shit!" She calls out, freeing her arm as she pulls her sidearm and takes aim at the brutish fishman. A few shots might distract him just enough for the pretty boy she assumes to be that voice on the radio, All-Seeing Eye, to land the knockout blow.
Kyoko Takada	One way or another, Alpha-39 gets her chance, pulling combat vials from her pouches--probably only made cleaner for the flooding, after where she's been--and slamming the sharp applicators home into her arm, raised above the water. Without the nano-oxy-something layer from before, she'd be in trouble now, and she returns the favor by getting up to Moonfin, grabbing and stabbing him with antivenom. Her home has enough demon squids that she's reasonably confident her concoctions will work adequately here, too. That's as much as she can do about that. Actually fighting underwater is hellishly difficult for her. Just getting out of the way of the water-capable tentacles is hard enough, and she barely manages to grab the dropped knife, which she gives a hard toss back toward the Sage. It's not going to hit with enough force to really do anything. What it will do, if her aim isn't off, is land right under him, with its flip switched to on and the power cell superheating the blade, forcing a flash steam explosion right on the squid-man's position before it fries itself.
All-Seeing Eye	Guillar is big, but faster than Eye expects him to be. When the demon slams into him, he's taken all the way to the wall, slammed into it with enough force to crack both the structure and a few of the Exalt's ribs. Following the injury is a breath sucked in through gritted teeth and a grunt of pain. Sliding to the ground, Eye relaxes. The water is slowly disturbed as he rises back to his feet, and a strange, chemical smell drifts over what passes for Guillar's olfactory sense. In the darkness, the Exalt's artificial lifeblod stains one of the icy tentacles as it swings him through the air, slamming him into walls and exacerbating his wound. The darkness is broken by bright streaks of purple lightning, originating from the Alchemical's eyes. Those bolts bounce between the tentacles in an effort to shatter all of them and free the trapped Elites--himself included.
Starbound Flotilla	Moonfin dives back, flickering away long enough to land at A-39's side and wincing as she jabs him with the injector. His automatic medical systems can calm now, letting him go on without a flood of aggressive nanotech keeping his body working. Then, he pulls his blade in close to his body in a defensive stance. "Second Sea Hylotl Style: Wave-Splitting Gale!" He calls out, and the water-tentacle heading towards both him and A-39 is hit by a massive slash with force enough that it might split it... Though the force of the impact is enough to shatter the blade, slamming Moonfin himself back with a heavy, sickening crack noise that sounds equal parts crushing durasteel and twisting flesh, and he cries out in pain. Trying to catch his breath, he discards the damaged blade and pulls a third, yanking a heavy, shimmering katana from his Matter Manipulator. "You'll not be the first to make me regret the loss of my home, Anathema, but nor shall you be the last. I have seen the state of your home before us with my own eyes, and we shall make it /greater/! Suffering, decay, worst of all inelegance, I shall purge it all from Luthe with my own hands! If you've enough of this farce, then we shall end it!" Moonfin calls out, before his visor flashes in a three-part gleam and he pulls the blade in against his body, pointed directly at the dangerous fishman. "Fifth Sea Hylotl Style: Storms Upon Seas!" And then he charges in, intending to follow up right on that rapid steam detonation. The heat and pressure of the blast is so fresh that Moonfin's own armor peels and sparks from the intensity of it as he passes through to strike at the most vulnerable moment possible, attempting to do one final dramatic, strike, a heavy thrust meant to impale the man right through the chest. An arrogant strike that leaves him open to counterattack... If there is any life left in his foe to strike back.
Finna	And those frozen tentacles is exactly why Finna picked the spot she did to hang out on! Because chances are the Sage wouldn't DARE to mar the shrine to Leviathan! So she hopes, anyways. The little mouse nervously twitches her whiskers, unsure if the would-be revolutioniaries can pull through this... but hoping they can!
Wandering Dog	The group focuses primarily on the Sage of Depths and his frozen tentacles. All-Seeing Eye fires lightning bolts that shatter the tentacles, allowing the group to fight unconstrained. A-39 throws her blade which explodes into a flash steam cloud, frying him. And then, Moonfin slams forward, moving to impale his blade into the Sage's chest. The Sage barely squirms, before the light leaves his eyes. As this happens, Guillar glances to the shrine, and then suddenly ducks to leave outside the window it came. It doesn't need to protect a master who is dead, not in a battle where it's already wounded. As this happens, the floor is still flooding...and there's bigger fish to fry, as something flashes in the background. Metallic tattoos are shined upon, as a massive whale, far larger than the sea monster, far longer than any whale could POSSIBLY be, is coming this way. They have maybe a few minutes to prepare before it arrives, a few minutes to rush to the Command Center if they so chose. Either way, it's obvious. Leviathan is coming.