Porcelain Child/SessionThirtySeven

[09:13] <onine> Archons - the lawbringing assitants to the great Magistrates of the realm, respected as their masters are respected, feared as their masters are feared, loved as their masters are loved - sit in a small park and wait for their ship. A general picnic has ensued with the foods bought in the markets. [09:14] <onine> Magpie runs around entertaining herself with trees, bugs and anything else she can find - and after a few glares this list of items does not include archons or fragile equipment. Diamandus sits and works on his records - wondering idly if he should find a scribe again.

[09:15] <onine> There is the scent of heavy rain in the air and the sun is all but hidden under a carpet of dull grey.

[09:16] * Yengo eats quietly, pondering what they'll find in the Imperial City. It's been years...

[09:16] * Epheri strolls back into the park after about an hour, seeming to be in a much better mood than when she left. [09:17] <Yengo> "Meeting with your father went well, I take it?" [09:18] * Epheri seats herself on the rug "Yes, it's almost always pleasant to see family."

[09:19] <Yengo> "Well, with Anona to worry about, I can't imagine he complains about you much." Yengo says this with a kind of bland honesty, well aware Anona is listening and probably proud of the fact. [09:25] <onine> The Magistrate tsks. [09:25] * Epheri grins a little at that, "Well, unlike some poeple, I do try to keep myself out of trouble." She lies out on the rug, getting out a sketchbook and turns over to fresh sheet, getting out some charcoal and starting to sketch. [09:27] <Yengo> "Yeah, it's a good policy. Next to impossible with this crowd, though." He lays back and looks up at the sky. [09:27] <onine> A droplet of water lands on your nose, signalling the light start to the possible torrential showers that were to come. [09:28] <onine> "Trouble unfortunately seems to be our business - our our travelling companion." Tara says. [09:29] * Epheri sighs as a droplet lands on her sketchbook, wiping it off and returning the book to her bag. "True enough. No reason to stop trying." [09:30] <Yengo> "I guess I didn't get into this job to avoid it." He blows out a puff of air, wondering again just why he DID get into this job. "Guess we're making a difference..." Not always the best kind in Nishimo's case. [09:31] <onine> The quest has been one of strange heights and strange pitfalls. In Glie there was a clear enemy, a clear right and wrong - but Nishimo was very different, there were two equally merited sides to the story. [09:35] <Yengo> "Well, we've all come through all right so far, anyway." He places a hand on Tara's briefly before standing up and moving off to his gear. "As long as we keep it up, we should all be fine." [09:40] <onine> "We have been indeed blessed with a healthy dose of good fortune I think." The magistrate adds. "Though it is not without a tremendous reservoir of skill and talant that we have survived as well." [09:44] <Yengo> "Doesn't matter which to me as long as it lasts." [09:44] * Epheri nods to that. [09:45] * Anona speaks up. "We've done great so far!" [09:49] <onine> "I suppose we have." Diamandus nods, "But we still have much to do. [09:49] <onine> " [09:53] <Anona> "What's next on the agenda, anyway?" [09:54] <Epheri> "We're heading to the imperial city, to find out about the previous owner of the breastplate you're now wearing." [09:54] <onine> "By my count, we have about an hour before we should be due on our transport. Then we head to the Imperial City - Seems all of our leads point there." [09:56] <onine> "This strange political alliance between Juno, Krennell, Llestal and others intrigues me also. They are a group that do not usually get along well. I smell a rat." [09:59] *** Magpie has joined #oninegame [10:00] <Anona> "It bothers me, too.... but going by what little we know, there must be something BIG at stake." [10:01] <onine> "We would do well to find out just *what* lands were in these dealings." The magistrate nods. [10:08] <Yengo> "The last bit we saw didn't look so special." [10:09] <Anona> "Yes. And I could understand the deal with the house, given the papers... if that's something they wanted, anyway." [10:10] <Epheri> "Then there are those strange constructions..." [10:12] <Anona> "Hm... yes..." [10:13] <Yengo> "I guess theorizing doesn't do much good." He's got a feeling they'll find out more than they want to know anyway. "It'll be strange to see the City again..." [10:13] <onine> "Are you looking forward to going home Magpie?" Tara asks. [10:15] * Magpie looks up from where she tormented a beatle, and then looks back down again. She shrugs, and says with an overly-bright, rallying smile, "The Imperial City is the best place in the whole world." [10:16] <onine> "And on that note..." The magistrate says, standing slowly. "We had best get to the docks." [10:17] <Anona> "Let's go!" Anona's eager to get to the Imperial City; she's been there only occasionally. [10:18] * Epheri sits up slowly, picking her bag up. [10:18] * Magpie looks uncertainly at them for a moment, and then grabs Tara's hand. [10:19] <Yengo> "You must have fonder memories of that place than I do, Magpie." Yengo grins to take the bite out of his words. "But even I sort of want to see it again." [10:20] <Magpie> "Yeah," Magpie says quietly. [10:22] <Magpie> She brushes the dirt from her knees, and suceeds in transferring most of the muck to her hands. "I guess...it's time to go." [10:23] <onine> It begins to rain slowly as you walk to the docks, and opressive cold rain that causes sneezes, sniffles and turns the dirt on the side of the road to mud but doesnt wash it away. There is little wind, but the sea seem to churn as if tornmented as it always did in the rain, like a cat trying to stay dry but cannot escape the shower. [10:25] <onine> The Magistrate speaks a few words to the small merchant ship's captain and in short order you are below deck and out of the rain. You only have a single room for the trip and coupled with the sound of the rain and the way the swinging lantern plays light across the cabin - things are very claustrophobic. [10:26] <onine> This ship is travelling north past the Imperial City, but will be able to drop you to the southern shore of the Scarlet River at the outskirts of the Scarlet port and ferry terminal. [10:28] * Magpie perches on a water barrel in the corner of the room; the crow perches on her shoulder and nibbles at her hair, possibly looking worms or small insects in the snarled thicket. She looks around at the faces of the others, at the shadows playing across their faces, and sighs. [10:29] <onine> The wind is poor and the weather foul, so the simple 700 mile trip from Noble to the Imperial city take far -far- longer than it had to be. Everything seems to be against the Archons reaching the Imperial City. [10:31] <Anona> "BO-ring"... Anona's already sick of the boat, halfway through. [10:32] <Magpie> "Well," Magpie says encouragingly, "at least we aren't prisoners. And we can kill any Anathema we bump into. And there are hardly any bugs in the bread." [10:33] * Yengo grunts. Even talking seems to be an effort in the claustrophobic room. "Feels kind of like prison to me." [10:34] * Epheri is softly glowing with a white light, keeping the illumination on her sketchbook about even, despite the swinging lantern. "It could to be a little larger, yes." [10:36] <onine> "This reminds me of a legion tent." Tara says [10:37] <Magpie> There is a sudden jolt as the ship rocks almost to its side as it fights its way through the wind. Magpie is flung from her barrel, and crow momentarily takes to the air, and makes the small cabin seem that much smaller as he flutters in circles around the room. From a small pile of limbs and arms amongst the luggage, Magpie says, "Ow." [10:37] <Yengo> "I think it's more damp." Yengo says, a little too quickly. A *drip* from the ceiling underscores his point. [10:38] <Yengo> (er, just swap those two, I guess. hehe) [10:40] <Anona> "I'll take your word for it, never having been in one." [10:41] * Yengo leans back as the bird flies about. "Still in one piece, Magpie? We should be there soon." [10:42] <Epheri> "Dragons!" Epheri exclaims as the sudden jolt sends the charcoal scrawlling all over the page. She sighs. "We should have been there now.." [10:43] * Magpie grumbles as she sorts herself out, and retreats to huddle back in her corner. [10:44] <onine> "The weather is poor, the wind is not with us, we certainly have picked a poor time to travel north." The Magistrate grumbles. [10:59] <Anona> "Could be worse. No, wait, it probably couldn't." [11:00] <Magpie> "I could throw up," Magpie says ominously. Her arms are wrapped around her knees, and she's shuddering. [11:00] <onine> At long last, the ship arrives just outside the mouth of the Scarlet river and a launch is repaired. There is some sun in the west as it dips low towards the horizon. The heavy clouds still cover the sky and are painted red on the undersides by the sunset. In the east, the clouds darken to stormy blues and purples and flickers of lightning play across the storm. [11:01] * Yengo staggers onto deck. "If I never see a ship again, it'll be too soon." [11:02] <onine> "Just cant explain it." the captain says in bewilderment. "Havent had a run of luck like that in...well ever!" [11:02] * Magpie follows Yengo quietly to the deck and looks down the river. "Almost there..." [11:03] <onine> Crew empty buckets of bilge water over the side and put away rainwater barrels. "On the bright side, we have more fresh-water than we know what to do with." [11:03] <Yengo> "Just... our luck... I guess." He's feeling green about the gills himself. He turns and starts to pat Magpie reassuringly on the back, reconsiders due to her earlier warning. "Yep. Still excited?" [11:03] <onine> Most seem pretty glad to be on their way, since most of the wind has been from the west, and the ship will be travelling north east. There is a slight bounce in the crews' step as they sing a work song to keep spirits high. [11:05] <onine> "Frannei here will take you by launch to the Scarlet docks." The captain explains as a young female sailor lowers the boat quickly into the water and tosses a rope ladder over the side. [11:05] <onine> "All aboard!" She calls and wraps a bandana tighter around her hair. [11:07] * Epheri climbs down the ladder into the boat, taking a seat looking out over the water to the Imperial City [11:07] <onine> A few raindrops fall like people late for a party, eager to catch their comrades that joined the sea. The captain wishes you well and you climb one by one into the small launch. [11:09] <onine> The City itself looms in the distance a few miles from the Scarlet docks. A simple carriage ride through the estate provinces will place you in the very heart of the city. Golden sunlight glints off the sides of the buildings adding to the rich magesty of the enourmous city. The water glints like fire and the whole land is painted in royal reds and warm oranges. [11:09] <onine> "At last..." The magistrate breathes, looking over the water to the city he has not seen in years. His eye is lit with a proud flame as he looks upon his memory of the Realm. [11:10] * Yengo whistles approvingly. "There she is. The City." When you lived there, that was all you had to call it. [11:10] <Magpie> "We're...here," Magpie says, with a soft, surprised sound. [11:11] <onine> From a distance in the sunset, the glittering city with the Imperial mountain framed behind it looks like the greatest place in the world... [11:11] * Epheri looks at it with appreciation too, childhood memories of a visit here with her father returning.. [11:12] * Anona is somewhat awed herself; how can you not be? [11:12] <Yengo> "Gonna show us around, Magpie?" From out here, he could almost believe the Realm was everything he'd learned as a child. [11:12] <onine> "Jewel of the Isle. Dont see her as much as I like, though I'd prefer to sail than live in one city all my life." Frannei takes up the oars and begins to row you smoothly towards the Scarlet docks. [11:14] <Magpie> "I....I....." Magpie look panicked; trapped like a cornered animal. Her hands clench, and ope nagain. [11:15] * Yengo finally notices her discomfort. "Magpie... what-" The boat lists slightly. [11:15] <Anona> "What's wrong? Didn't you used to live here?" [11:16] <onine> The row is short and smooth and in no time Frannei has you deposited on a smaller jetty just outside the towering East marker, a large lighthouse powered purely by essence. It reaches up into the sky nearly seventy yards tall, a large purple globe clutched at its peak. If one were to look carefully one would see gods of safe sailing meandering about the warm purple light. [11:17] <onine> Frannei turns the launch around and you begin the slow walk along the stone docksides. You are around fifty yards outside the East marker. Crow takes to the air. [11:18] <Magpie> "I...yes. This is home. My home," Magpie whispers, as if reassuring herself. For a long moment she stares up at Yengo, at Tara; at the Magistrate and Anona and Epheri. Tears fill her eyes, and Yengo suddenly finds himself the subject of a desperate, strangling hug. [11:19] <onine> A surprisingly large ammount of gulls and small seabirds flutter in from the east and pass above you. [11:19] <onine> Tara walks a few steps away, looking out to the stormy eastern sky. "Hey..." [11:20] * Yengo stands shocked, unsure of how to react to Magpie's strange behavior. It had been his home once too, but he didn't- He turns to look at Tara. "What?" [11:20] <onine> "What's that?" She says quietly. [11:20] <Magpie> She mumbles something into his shoulder, and lets him go, dancing back a few steps, like a deer wary in the face of strangers. [11:21] * Epheri looks down at magpie, a little concerned, before turning to see what Tara is looking at [11:21] * Magpie , too, looks up to the East. [11:24] * Yengo shakes his head, puzzled by her behavior. But it wasn't the first time she'd acted strange. He gazes with the others. [11:25] <Magpie> "A skyship..." the girl whispers. She looks at the others for a moment, and feels something empty and cold settling at the pit of her stomach. [11:26] <Yengo> "Must be doing something important." Even in the City, you didn't see all that many. [11:26] * Epheri nods. A skyship... [11:27] <Anona> "It's unusual." [11:30] <onine> The ship starts to grow swiftly, its shape filling out as it approaches. It is an elegant ship, built like a sleek yacht. Three circular globes line its underside, one at the nose, and two side-by-side at the stern. Web-like sails on its rear sides catch the air like wings. [11:32] <onine> It grows low and close and you can make out a person at the nose of the ship. The person heaves something overboard - an anchor. [11:33] <onine> It splashes through the water and then hits the shore, digging massive chunks of earth and rock away like some great claw. Shrubs and grass soon follow as the ship starts to pass over the land towards you. [11:35] * Yengo characteristically wonders if that anchor isn't going to come awfully close... [11:35] <onine> Looks like. [11:36] <Yengo> "Move!" Snatching up Magpie in one arm, forcibly dragging Tara with the other, he starts doing just that. [11:37] <onine> The ship roars past with a whoosh of air, the anchor zipping past and covering the archons in a spray of dirt and grass. The ship roars past the East marker and the anchor skips off the sudden hardness of the cobblestone embankment. Soaring through the air the anchor lands neatly against the base of the East marker, splintering marble and imbedding itself neatly in the structure [11:37] * Anona throws herself prone. [11:37] <onine> You snatch up air. Magpie is nowhere in sight. [11:38] * Epheri picks herself up off the ground after the world seems to have quietened down. [11:39] * Yengo stands up, looking around worriedly. "Magpie?! What the hell's going on here?" Whoever's piloting that thing must be a maniac. [11:39] <onine> With the sudden anchoring, the skyship lurches into a spin around the marker, nearly falling sideways from inertia as its speed pulls it clockwise around the light-house twice before the great prow of the ship ploughs into the water. The man on the deck that threw the anchor is thrown off almost immediatly flailing and screaming as he falls a good thirty yards onto the grass. [11:40] * Yengo stares in astonishment. Definitely a maniac. [11:41] <onine> The ship throws up a torrent of spray as it submerges itself partly in the water before the essence engines fight gravity off and float it back into the air listing heavily on one side as the starbord engine fails and shuts down from an impact against a submerged rock. [11:41] <Anona> "If that was intentional, I really hope they have the insurance paid on that airship." [11:41] <onine> Side on the ship is enourmous, nearly 50 yards in length. Upon its side is the name 'Snapdragon.' [11:42] <Epheri> "..Because they won't need it if it were accidental?" [11:43] <onine> The East marker starts to lean a little, pulled out of its foundations some by the sudden wrenching of the skyship's anchor. [11:43] <Anona> "No, because I'm going to burn the damned thing down if they nearly killed us on PURPOSE." [11:43] * Yengo winces. It's like seeing something out of a fairytale smashed. He surveys the group, making sure everyone is okay. [11:43] <onine> The Magistrate heaves himself to his feat and drops his pack. "Yengo, see to that man!" [11:44] * Yengo hurries across the grass to the place where the man fell, one eye warily on the listing East marker. [11:46] <onine> The man looks pretty beat up, struggling in and out of conciousness. He has not only the severe breaks from a 30 yard fall but also massive wounding from battle as well. It's a wonder he survived long enough to throw the anchor let alone live through the fall - if one could call his condition 'living' [11:46] * Epheri studies the East marker with more than suspicious eye, trying to work out if and when it's going to fall. [11:46] <onine> The marker itself looks stable - for now. The Magistrate hefts the massive Goremaul. "Anona. Epheri. With me." [11:47] * Yengo kneels by the man, trying to help him as best he can. Keep him talking, he thinks, checking for broken bones. "Can you hear me?" [11:47] <onine> "Yengo, see to him, I want him alive or at least have his account of events when I get back!" [11:47] * Anona does what she's told... without a wiseassed reply for the once. [11:48] * Epheri nods and follows after the magistrate [11:48] <Yengo> "I... I'll do all I can... sir." He thinks of another Dragonblood asking for a report... but that was different, wasn't it? "Come on..." [11:48] <onine> The Magistrate runs to the side of the listing ship and takes hold of the anchor chain. He tests it and starts to climb... [11:50] * Epheri climbs up after him, carefully [11:50] <onine> He reaches the top quickly and heaves himself onto the now-sloping deck. [11:53] * Anona clambers up after. [11:53] * Epheri scrambles up onto the deck after him. [11:54] <onine> The deck hangs on its side, sloping dangerously to the starboard. There are no people on the deck. No living ones at least. The magistrate stands crouched and assesses the scene carefully, his Gormaul already drawn. Sailors and soldiers lie in various states of assembly and disassembly, blood splatters the deck, macking it slick and slippery. [11:54] <onine> In the red light of the sunset, it is difficult to tell where the blood ends and the deck resumes. [11:56] <Epheri> "..What happened here?" she asks quietly [11:57] <onine> "Multiple weapon types. I see arrows, spearwounds, heavy bludgeoning... and a great deal of slashing and stabbing weapons were used... at a glance at least. This cant have been one person - or if it was, he was carrying more weapons than a crew of soldiers." The magistrate murmers quietly. "I would need more time to get anything definitive and I dont know if we are in danger still. We need [11:57] <onine> to cover the entire ship." [11:59] <onine> He moves carefully across the sloping deck towards one of the doors into the rest of the ship. [12:00] * Yengo continues to work on the ground, calling for Tara to help him as he hurriedly unpacks splints and bandages. He continues to question the unconscious man gently. [12:00] * Anona picks her way through the gore to follow the Magistrate below decks. [12:02] * Epheri carefully follows after the magistrate and Anona, avoiding the bodies [12:03] <onine> "Epheri. Anona and I will go below and look in the quarters, hold and engine-room." The magistrate whispers, peering inside the door carefully. "I want you to go to the wheelhouse and try to get this ship on the water, shut her down." [12:04] * Epheri nods, and starts to pick her way back across the deck to the wheelhouse [12:04] <onine> -The wheelhouse. [12:06] <onine> The port door to the wheelhouse doesnt seem to budge, but the starboard does open. Lying impaled across the port door from the inside is a crewmemeber, supported by arrows with strange red petal-like fletching. Like the deck, the wheelhouse is a mass of bodies and red. Various first age control panels are bloodied. [12:08] <Epheri> "...Ugh." Epheri carefully pushes the door open further and steps inside the room, and over the bodies, trying to dechiper the controls and not think too much about the bodies around her. [12:08] <onine> You count about five bodies in the small space, the fifth wearing blue jade armour. His daiklave is half unsheathed, its grip grasped tightly in his hand. This dragonblood met his end before drawing his weapon fully. There is a door at the rear of the wheelhouse the leads to the rest of the ship, you can hear the groan of metal fatigue echoing from it. [12:09] <onine> The windows cast red shafts of light over the wheelhouse, adding to the surreal morbidity of the scene. [12:11] <onine> The controls are... amazingly complex, even as a Heptagram graduate it is confusing. It'll take time. [12:11] <onine> -The rest of the ship. [12:12] <onine> The Magistrate leads you down into the cramped confines of the skyship. [12:12] <onine> He straps the Gormaul to his back again and draws a fine straight sword. [12:14] * Anona keeps a hand on her sword, but declines to draw it just yet - she is, after all, her own best weapon. [12:16] <onine> The corridors are at the same time a dark charnel house of blood and a strong reminder of mortality. Many of the bulheads and mechanism coverings have been smashed off or beaten in, pipes and cables dangle down from open cieling grates and smashed covers. The ship groans as you pick your way through slowly, your progress hampered by the angle of the corridors. [12:17] <onine> Diamandus examines each of the bodies quickly and pronounces each as dead as the last. [12:19] <onine> "What happened here?" He asks the air. [12:19] <onine> -Down below... [12:19] <onine> You think you have the man stabilised at least now. It was ticky, and it took you and Tara pooling your luck and skill to keep him from slipping away. [12:20] * Yengo wipes his bloody hands on a clean rag, looking down at the man. "Are you with us? What happened up there?" [12:21] <Magpie> A child almost bumps into Yengo as she skids to a halt. "IT'S THE ANATHEMA!" Magpie takes in the wreckage in one panicked glance, makes a quick guess, and shouts, "RUN!" [12:22] <onine> The man comes to with a terrified and pained scream. [12:23] * Yengo looks up in astonishment. "Magpie? The Anathe.... the others are still on the ship!" He turns back at the man's cry. [12:24] * Magpie takes off running again. "Ill get them!" she shouts back, and climbs, monkey-able, up the side of the ship, tumbling onto its gore-strewn deck. [12:25] <Yengo> "Magpie, don't!" She climbs way too fast for him to catch, even if he wasn't busy with the mortally wounded man. [12:25] <onine> The wounded man struggles in agony, wailing wide eyed. "Hold him!" Tara cries. [12:26] * Yengo pins the man down by the shoulders, cursing in frustration. He has to hold himself back from shouting at the patient. "What happened?" he asks him again. [12:27] <onine> The man just screams and screams, staring unfocused at the sky... [12:27] <onine> Meanwhile on the ship, the controls just aren't getting any easier to understand. [12:28] <onine> The lighting is poor, the controls are covered in an easily generous ammount of red, and there is possibly a squad of killing maniacs on the loose somewhere in the ship. [12:29] * Epheri curses pasaip under her breath as she studies the incomprehesible array. She starts to wipe panels clean with her sleeve, hoping to unveil something that makes sense. She tries not think about the possibility the killer might be on here still. [12:29] <Anona> Meanwhile, Anona's smaller frame squeezes past the Magistrate to quickly search the remainder belowdecks. [12:29] <Magpie> "IT'S THE ANATHEMA!" Mapgie cries as she runs, heedless of the bloody corpses she trips over in her haste. [12:30] <onine> Epheri sees the girl run onto the deck like a maniac. [12:31] <Magpie> A maniac waving a single white feather. [12:31] <Epheri> "..Magpie?!" she looks out of the window to the girl [12:31] <Magpie> "It's the Anathema!" Magpie hops with impatience. "She's here, somewhere, she did this you have to GO!" [12:33] * Magpie pushes her way into the wheelhouse. "Where are Anona and the Magistrate?" she demands. "We have to find them, or she'll eat them too maybe." A curl of fear twists in her stomach. "Maybe she doesn't just eat babies." [12:34] <Epheri> "Ive near-- ...they're down below somewhere, I'm trying to stop this whole ship sinking into the river.." [12:36] <Magpie> "Who cares about the ship? Go, GO!" Magpie pushes Epheri toward the door with singleminded determination. "I'll go down below and find them." [12:36] <Magpie> Without waiting for a reply, Magpie slides down the blood-slicked deck to the hatchway. [12:38] <Magpie> She thumps down the stairs. "ANONA! DIAMANNNNNNNDUS! THERE'S AN ANATHEMA!" she shouts, her voice already hoarse. [12:38] <onine> Meanwhile, deep in the ship, the Magistrate and Anona continue the search through the bloody hallways. The cabins are largely abandoned, a few crewmembers have been killed in their sleep. [12:39] <onine> "This is taking far too long." Diamandus growls. "Can you handle yourself?" [12:39] * Epheri refuses to let the girls paniced shouting distract her, and concentrates on the control panel once more, taking a breath to enter herself and banish all thoughts of the anathema and concentrate on the panal of buttons [12:40] <Anona> "I'll be fine!" Anona says with almost as much confidence as she feels. [12:42] <onine> "Alright, the engine room is just through here. I'll head to the cargo bay. They are the only places a unit of troops could possibly hide now." He whispers. "If you see *anything* get yourself out. Don't try to chellenge them, if they managed to kill a boatload of house soldiers and sailors one lone dragonblood would still be in peril." [12:44] <Anona> "Sure..." Anona makes off to the engine room. [12:45] <onine> The engine room is fairly elaborate. You've never even *heard* the term engine room for a ship these days. [12:46] <onine> There is a large jade and steel egg supported by heavy struts ot steel that branch in from the walls. There is a little control panel situated just infront of it where the engineer would make adjustments to the engine's performance in flight. There are a few guards littered around the large apparatus, and a dead Earth Aspect engineer pinned to the far bulkhead by one of the soldiers' own swords. [12:47] <onine> There is an expression of surprise on her face. [12:48] <Anona> "... that's not good." [12:49] <onine> Her tan and brown clothing is stained by a river of blood that pools under her. [12:49] <onine> If you're in a lootin' mood she's got some shinies on her... [12:50] <Anona> (No, it's one thing to take the stuff from bandits, I'm no graverobber. Unless she has, like, the sword-hilt of a certain sword buried in her. :P ) [12:51] <onine> (no, no sword hilt) [12:52] * Anona scans around for signs of movement. [12:54] <onine> Apart from you, and the blood, it's pretty damn dull in here. Except for your breathing and the stead thrum of the engine, it's quiet. Now that you think about it, you could likely manipulate the engine controls from here. [12:56] <onine> You may have better luck than that veritable dunderhead of a cousin upstairs, after all, aren't YOU the talented one? [12:57] * Anona finds this idea strange and tempting, whatever the mysterious source. [12:57] <Anona> ... and analyzes the controls. [13:04] * Anona is able to figure out how to set the engine stablized and into shutdown mode without scatter pieces of it from here to the Threshold, and does so. [13:05] <onine> Epheri slaps her palm on the wheelhouse control panel in frustration and miraculously the ship begins to slowly right itself and lower into the water with a fading hum as the engines slowly go into something of a standby mode. [13:06] * Epheri blinks in suprise ... what button did she hit? That shouldn't have happened... [13:06] <Magpie> (heh!) [13:08] <onine> Meanwhile Magpie slips on a bloodpool and bounces hard down some stairs, landing neatly on her rump. [13:09] <onine> There is some movement down the corridor to the nose of the ship... [13:10] <Magpie> "Anona!" Magpie gasps in relief. "Anona, I found a white feather! You have to go! Or she'll eat you!" She scrambles to her feet, sliding a little in the blood, and steadies herself with a hand on the wall before charging down the corridor to fetch the Dragonblooded. [13:12] <onine> You barrel through the hatchway into the poorly lit hold. [13:12] <Magpie> "ANONA...." Magpie squints into the hold. "Diamandus? Where �are� you? You have to go." [13:13] * Epheri supposes she should go find the magistrate and anona, not that there is nothing to do here, and sets out after Magpie warily, the bodies starting to get to her nwo the control panel isn't distracting [13:13] * Anona , having saved the day YET AGAIN!, heads out of the engine room, starting for back to above decks. [13:13] <onine> Like the rest of the ship, there are bodies of murdered people everywhere. The magistrate leans over to a young woman sprawled on some food boxes like she was thrown into them with great force. "Strangled. Poor girl." He takes her pulse and looks up at Magpie. "Magpie, what the hell are you doing here!?" [13:16] * Magpie waves the white feather at him urgently. "There's an ANATHEMA! I told you! This is her feather! She probably killed everyone here, and she wants to kill you, I bet!" [13:17] <onine> "You shouldn't be on the ship, get out now." He takes a step over to you away from the boxes and the body he was obscuring. [13:17] <Magpie> She edges around the murdered girl's corpse, to tug futilely at his huge bicep. "We should GO." [13:17] <onine> You glance back at the boxes. She's gone. [13:18] <Magpie> "Uh....Diamandus....I think that was probably the Anathema." Magpie points to where the girl wasn't. [13:19] <Magpie> She tugs at him again. "Let's go, okay? There's LOTS of dead people to look at in the Imperial City," she adds cheerfully, in the tone of one offering a treat. She looks nervously about her at the shadows. [13:20] <onine> He takes a step back and looks. She's not on the boxes. She's standing right next to him in air that was empty an eyeblink ago. She tilts her head to the side and looks at the Magistrate strangely then lashes out in a savage backhand. [13:20] * Epheri continues down the steps, looking for any sign of the three. [13:21] <onine> The blow is so simple, and she is but so slight, but the blow smashes the magistrate like a ragdoll into one of the larger crates, smashing the wood and splintering supports. More crates topple down on the ruined mess. A small golden dragon snarls and curls around her fist before disappearing. [13:21] * Magpie 's eyes widen into twin saucers, and she takes in a deep breath. Then she screams ear-shatteringly. [13:22] <onine> She turns to Magpie with the sound. She is the same anathema that she met so long ago in Pangu. Her hair is shorter, cut for a fighter, and she now wears form fitting and high-range movement clothing of browns and tans. The small jacket is gone. [13:23] <onine> The scream echoes through the ship's corridors and accessways, a scream that echoes and distorts, a scream filled with terror. [13:23] * Epheri hears the scream and starts to run towards it. As she runs, little words "Anathema" running through her mind. Part of her is wondering why she is running in this direction. She draws her new sword [13:24] * Magpie runs to the Magistrate, pulling frantically at the shattered crates. "Don't be dead don't be dead don't be dead....You KILLED HIM!" She hurtles at the Anathema, tears running down her face. "You baby-eating WITCH!" [13:25] <onine> You are thrown back. "Magpie! RUN!" The Magistrate roars, exploding from the ruined boxes and swinging with the massive gormaul. The anathema bends impossibly backwards as the weapon sails like lightning over her. [13:26] * Anona runs towards the noise, drawing her weapon enroute. [13:26] <onine> A strange mace is in the anathema's hands, it flickers quicksilver and reshapes into a long chain of gold as she swings it over her head. She wraps the chain around the Magistrate and then pulls it back, spinning and slashing as it is raked across him. [13:28] * Magpie stands there gaping for a moment, heart beating in her chest like a drum. She breathes heavily, and backs away under a half-fallen support, making a sound that is half a sob and half a laugh. She fishes around in her pocket for a little knife. [13:29] <onine> The Magistrate recovers within an instant and swings the massive gormaul, crystals tinkle in its wake as it soars. You are only made aware of the Magistrates attack by the twin cracks as the anathema's weapon forms into a staff catching it in a twirl of red and gold, smashing the jade head into the deck. [13:35] <onine> Wicked barbs and a long blade shimmer and grow from the staff's tip, and a green tassle forms from the base of the newly created spearhead. She drops the spear's head into the groove that the Magistrate so effectively smashed with his gormaul and uses the weapon to launch herself with both feet into the dragonblood's chest. [13:38] <onine> Another gold dragon encircles the anathema's spear and arcs to her feet, exploding in a bright golden flash as her paired feet smash into the Magistrate's breastplate. [13:39] <onine> The dragonblood is thrown into the bulkhead, bending the metal, but bounces back to seady footing on a jet of white flame. [13:41] <Magpie> "You're going to lose. GO AWAY STUPID ANATHEMA!" Magpie hurtles her little knife, sending the blue-back weapon spinning at the demon-woman. [13:42] <onine> The knife sails neatly past the anathema as she twirls back and away from the Magistrate's feinted counterstrike. [13:49] <onine> The anathema swings a feint high then darts low, sliding with startling speed between the Magistrate's legs, her weapon shimering into a pair of golden Sai as she spins to her feet ramming them into the small of Diamandus' back [13:51] <onine> The Sai glance of the jade, sparking brightly as the magistrate turns, the massive gormaul sparking across the deck to crush the anathema's feet with one hand, the other hand draws the straight sword from its sheath and scissors it across in the opposite direction. [13:55] <onine> The anathema leaps backward her hands finding purchase either side of the gormaul as it sails beneath her and heeping her balance as the straight sword cuts the air above. The golden circle of her Wretched brand begins to burn on her forhead. [13:59] * Magpie concentrates, and feels her knife once again in her hand. She takes aim carefully, flips it twice, and sends it whistling back at the Anathema. "Go! Go! You aren't wanted!" She hollers. [14:02] <onine> The dagger misses easily and impacts in one of the wrecked crates in the darkened shadow filled hold. [14:04] <onine> The anathema leaps again to her feet, the Sai form together and elongate into a very large slashing sword of brilliant gold, the spears tassle returning in blue-purple from the sword's pommel. With a whoop the Anathema launches herself at the Magistrate in a torrent of swings with the large blade. [14:07] <onine> Wreathed in white flame the Magistrate moves deceptively fast, bending to the side, twirling and leaping arond the golden trails that follow the brilliant sword. White light begins to play around him and the crystals on his temples begin to glow like gems aflame. [14:09] <onine> The mark on the anathema's forhead begins to blaze like a small sun, its light fighting with the light of the Magistrate's anima as they fight through the bay. [14:10] <Magpie> Magpie gathers up a pile of rubble and begins flinging splinters of wood, a half-crushed tin of fruit, and someone's boot. Magpie doesn't look to closely at that boot. She's afraid someone foot might still be in it. She howls as she hurls the detrius of mortality into the fight. [14:12] <Magpie> The boot bounces harmlessly off the Anathema's shoulder. Magpie scowls. [14:16] <onine> The anathema pulls the sword back and holds it a moment, a golden dragon encircles the blade, its hiss barely conquoring the tornado of the Magistrate's fluctuating power. In an instant the sword is positioned at the end of a swing, the little dragon leaps out and strikes at the magistrate in the path the sword had to have traveled, the golden energy smashing into him sith concussive force. [14:18] <onine> The fins of the dragon lash past him, ripping at his cloak and scraping across his armour, but he escapes unhurt. [14:19] <onine> Her whole body begins to glow with an inner light, the evil gold radiats out from her, fighting against the magistrate's silver. [14:21] <Magpie> As the ship shudders with force of the battle between the Exalted, a broken clock roll across the deck to bump into Magpie's toe. Gears spring hapazardly from its back, and its hour and minute hands seem to be arranged in a frown. Magpie picks it up and adds it to the stream of items she tosses at the wretched woman. [14:22] <Magpie> The clock smashes into the wall behind the Anathema with a *sproing* noise. [14:25] <onine> Gripping both edges of the sword, the weapon turns molten again and begins to wrap around her palms and wrists, splitting in the middle the independand weapons elongate into khatars with three very very distinct claw patterns - Dragon's claws - the weapons of the elemental dragon of water. [14:26] <onine> Running low, the anathema darts, trailing golden watery essence like that of the sea at sunset, slashing at the Magistrate's chest, but never touching, mere sparks of essence leap between her weapons and his body. [14:28] <onine> The bright golden glow takes shape as a torrent of feathers and wings around her, the power bleeds out of her body like opened floodgates. [14:29] *** Kraken|NotHere has joined #oninegame [14:29] <onine> She rolls against the Magistrate's body stepping into his defenses and she spins around him and plants the tigerclaws against his back with deadly purpose. [14:29] *** Epheri has quit IRC (Quit: I'm just hesitant about the slippery slope; if, one by one, we ignore all the Sidereal limitations, we will reach a point where they are more powerful than God, and possibly even Solars.�) [14:33] <onine> Diamandus stumbles forward and clutches his chest, a small trickle of blood drips from the corner of his mouth. [14:34] <onine> He lashes out, but the Anathema cartwheels back away easily, now with the upper hand against the Realm lawman. He grips the Gormaul and coughs, more blood drips down his chin. "That trick will not work on me again Anathema." [14:35] <Magpie> "Diamandus...?" Fear penetrates the fog of anger surrounding Magpie, and she takes a step forward. [14:36] <onine> "It doesn't have to, because now my other tricks will." She flexes her fists around the straps of the golden Dragon Claws. "An interesting style, very cruel wouldn't you agree? I wonder how many Solars have suffered from it over your bloody reign?" [14:37] <onine> Strange fabric patterns float in the anathema's anima, they turn from fabric to doves and back again, licking silently against the bulkheads of the hold. [14:39] <Magpie> "Get away from him!" Magpie shouts, and runs to get between them. [14:39] <onine> She clicks the claws together than the weapons melt again, slowly this time, elongating in her hands and becoming flexible and jointed. The weapon solidifies into a red-wood and gold seven-section-staff. She swings it around her and holds it with one end like a coiled serpent. [14:40] <onine> "You?" The anathema frowns. [14:40] <onine> "Magpie don't!" [14:42] * Magpie stands between the Anathema and the Magistrate, hands balled into fists. "I won't let you hurt him! I won't!" she shouts defiantly, staring up into the demon-woman's eyes. [14:42] <Magpie> Her fists tremble. She pretends they don't. She pretends she has a way to stop the Anathema from doing anything she wished. [14:43] <Magpie> "You said you weren't a monster! Liar!" [14:43] * Magpie glares up at the monster, and silently refuses to move. She wasn't going to let someone leave her. Not �again�. [14:44] <onine> The demon merely quicks a brow and the staff shifts into the shape of a nocked and drawn long-bow which she releases as soon as the weapon finishes forming. The arrow sears past Magpie, taking a few locks of hair with it and impacting between the breast and shoulder plates of the Magistrate's armour. [14:45] <onine> "Magpie RUN!" The Magistrate roars throwing you aside and launching himself at the anathema, faithful Gormaul carving a glittering path through the air. [14:47] * Magpie tumbles through the air, landing lightly . She doesn't run. She watches, paralyzed with hope and dread, as the Magistrate begins his attack. [14:49] <onine> The Anathema dodges to the side, her shadow leaping and her body following. Within instants her weapon becomes paired hook-swords and she strikes twice, once against a tendon in the Magistrate's neck, and once against his sternum, flashes of gold in the points of the weapons. [14:52] <onine> The Magistrate grunts in agony as the anathema paralyses him partially from two pressure points, their anima's collide in a tornado of silver and gold, Dragons and Doves mirror the battle going on between Dragonblood and Anathema, a battle that is swiftly becoming one-sided. [14:55] <Magpie> Desperate, but knowing nothing else to do, Magpie calls her dagger back to her again, and sends it flickering forth. The light of the animas reflects oddly off the blades blue highlights. [14:57] <Magpie> She nearly screams with frustration and fear as the Anathema avoids the knife with an easy dip of the shoulder. [15:00] * Anona hears the sound of the fight speak as to how it is going well before actually arriving, and so she does NOT burst into the room, blade drawn, shouting battlecries. [15:01] <Anona> Rather, she stands at the door, attempting to keep a clear line of sight, and begins to draw power from her hearthstone and form it into a sorcerous pattern... [15:08] <onine> The Anathema steps back letting her weapon flow back into the shape of a simple gold mace and instead simply attacks the Magistrate barehanded. She darts forward punching twice and kicking low, sweeping a slender leg against the Magistrate's ankles. [15:11] <onine> The Magistrate blocks the two punches easily with his bracer and cartwheels with unbelievable grace over her leg, his burgundy cloak sweeping through the crystaline dragons that dance in his anima. [15:11] <onine> "What's the matter anathema, out of dark powers?" There is a bare hint of strain in his voice. [15:15] * Magpie rushes at the Anathema, hollering. [15:17] <Magpie> ...straight into the mess of crates the Anathema had once knocked the Magistrate into. [15:17] <onine> The Anathema backflips and lands on top of a crate neatly. [15:24] * Anona finishes her spell, and vines sprout on the Anathema's body, attempting to choke and restrain her. [15:25] <onine> The young woman looks around with sudden shock as the glowing green vines, begin to entwine her legs, little flowers bloom on the vines and leaves brush against her clothes. [15:28] <onine> She leaps upward again, and the vines grasp after her, tugging at her clothing and trying to pull her back. She latches her hands against the metal support beams of the hold's ceiling and monkeys her way across before dropping crouched on top of another crate. The green shackles start to wrap against the supports she held a moment before and pull tight now that they have grasped something. [15:28] <onine> The plating starts to creak and buckle... [15:32] <onine> The ship begins to rock as its slow descent finally places its hull into the ocean. Two great animas flare in the now claustrophobic hold of the ship as good and evil prepare to face-off. The anathema clearly startled starts to look more human and less like an evil-powered killing machine. She looks upwards at the cracks in the deck that now allow red sunlight in and she screams. [15:32] <onine> "Tavian!"