BoyBandsEpisode3
Episode Three: We Killed a Band in Coral Just to Watch Them Die
Okay. Here's everything I remember. Obviously, it's mostly from Joshi's point of view (though it's not told in character) so I'm missing stuff.
I had origially PMed the other players asking them to fill in the stuff I'm missing, but since it's been a week and they haven't added anything (*glare*) I thought I'd just post my bit and let them fill in the blanks here.
[My comments in brackets]
Without further ado...
As the episode opens, our boys are relaxing after both their victory over the dead in PYRE and their impromptu concert with Grandmother Bright in Chiaroscuro. The living appreciated the boys' music far more than the dead, and they left with good feelings and a truly enormous basket of Grandmother's special homemade cookies.
As the Airship of Love reaches open ocean it's back to work. The next contest will be against Black Jade, a band of pirates (literally and figuratively) hailing from the infamous Lintha family, taking place somewhere on the Coral Archipelago. [I can't remember the nature of the contest, was it just a straightforward show this time around?] Joshi expresses a bit of nervousness at the location. Technically, he still is owned by a fae who makes her home somewhere in the west. It's also revealed that Joshi and Embers attended the same Cynis training camp, though they were in different classes. Small Creation, huh?
After some discussion it's decided that the song this time around will be a classic sea chanty (sp?), lyrics praising the merits of the sea, whoring, drinking and fighting, not necessarily in that order. OOCly it was to be sung to the tune of "In the Navy" by the Village People. The costuming followed suit, to reflect that the sea brought together folk from all over creation. Embers is to be a dashing Delzahn Nomad in turban and veils; Asaimisu, a corrupt Cynis trading vessel captain; Joshi, a tribesman from the Wilds of the North, complete with furs and horned helmet, and Windsong, a Linowan shaman in body paint and feathers...and not much else.
Plan of action decided, Windsong and Embers leave for the deck to begin preparations for songwriting [Can't remember the exact nature of the stunts here. I know a bucket of seawater was involved. Help me out here? And didn't Asaimisu stunt the costume selection? Or was that episode 2?], and Asaimisu heads for the holds to fetch the costumes they'll need. Joshi is left alone with the indifferent object of his affections.
"So," he purrs. "It's just you and me now."
The Indifferent Crewmember beats a hasty retreat, but Joshi gives chase, playfully snatching off the mask.
The rest of the band is alerted that something's amiss when Joshi's scream echoes throughout the ship. They find him making a serious dent in the Airship's liquor supply, babbling something about the "metal thing" under the mask, and staying as far as possible from the Indifferent Musicians.
Once Joshi is sufficiently calmed down, they get down to the business of composing and rehearsing. Joshi's performance is noticeably suffering thanks to the mind-numbing power of the sweet, sweet whiskey, but they manage. The result is not quite as good as their last two songs, but still catchy enough to hopefully give the competition a run for their money. [I think. Don't remember how the exact rolls worked out. I know music and lyrics weren't as good, but can't remember coreography].
[Joshi is sobered up somewhere in here, but I can't remember exactly when or what the reason was. Also, we got Mr. Later's real name somwhere, but I forget where.].
And just in time, too.
They are fast approaching what appears to be a pirate ship in the water below. Even more disturbing, on closer examination, there appear to be four still-living prisoners tied to the prow of the boat like living figureheads, heavily wounded and bleeding into the water below. One of the figures has a familiar golden glow about him.
The sea vessel hails the Airship of Love, and after some banter with the apparent captain, a young man with tiger-striped skin, the pirate ship opens fire on our heroes' ship, giant harpoons chaining the two ships together. Enraged, the boys slide down the chains to engage the pirates, and the battle is on!
[Okay, I'm not gonna even try to do anyone else's part in the combat justice, so I'll just type out Joshi's bit.
There was lots and lots of cool stunting from everybody, and I really, really hope they can fill in the blanks with their part of the combat. It was really cool.]
Sober and none too pleased about it, Joshi runs down the chain, throwing a handful of guitar picks at the pirate operating the winch connecting the two ships. The razor-sharp jade makes short work of the unfortunate sailor. He lands on the deck and begins to strum, the moonsilver strings of his guitar coming to life with his song and ensnaring two more pirates, incapacitating one and wounding another.
The move leaves him unable to defend himself, however, and four more pirates move to strike. Luckily, their flailing leaves him with only minor wounds, and a renewed sense of caution. He activates Lightning speed, and begins to throw his picks with impossible speed toward the mast. Vaulting over the shoulder of the pirate swinging at him and using the thrown picks as a bridge (thanks to Graceful Crane Stance) he makes his way to the crosspiece of the main sail. A final pick severs the rigging holging the sail in place, and a well-placed kick sends the sail crashing down, trapping Joshi's opponents under the canvas.
[end combat]
With the pirates dealt with, the boys free the imprisoned youths and return to the ship. The glowing one in particular is extremely pretty, much to Asaimisu's dismay. The prisoners urge the boys to get off the ship as soon as possible, before it blows up. It's agreed that this is a good plan. Once everyone is back on deck the tiger-striped man, who disappeared below deck during the fight, reappears, along with several other equally inhuman officers.
They aim what appears to be a giant hand cannon at the airship [I think]. [Someone] calls for evasive maneuvers [I think], but an oddly calm Joshi assures them that there is no need, and begins to chant, his anima going iconic in short order.
And that's when the Magma Kraken shows up. Joshi keeps it's order's simple. "Kill them all." It does, and after watching the fun, Joshi calmly makes his way back to his cabin. "Oh yes, and whiskey."
It's about at this point that the rest of the group realizes that Joshi's not home anymore.
The Tour Manager appears on deck, extremely upset. It turns out that the ship belonged to Black Jade, and the fact that their opponents are now dead presents a slight problem. They adjourn to the dining room [or whatever that's called on a ship] to discover another slight problem.
Spread out over the conference table are bits of Indifferent Musician. One of the Musicians themselves serves as a centerpiece, it's robes removed to reveal a gleaming metallic automaton. The newly-dubbed Scary Joshi is hovering over it, elbows deep in its chest cavity, every so often examining some bit of clockwork or another. "Fascinating construct you have here," he remarks mildly, upsetting the Tour Manager even further.
It's in the middle of all this that the real Joshi wakes up, horrified to be covered in I.M. guts. "Oh no," he groans. "It happened again." Joshi's really not entirely sure what "it" is. All he knows is that he has blackouts waking up in strange places or with strange objects, usually next to a gigantic obsidian sculpture of waving tentacles. One of those is visible from the porthole right now, as a matter of fact. Joshi started drinking, he explained, to keep the blackouts from happening.
He's immediately offered enough whiskey to kill an auroch.
The boys, including a now very, very, VERY drunk Joshi go to check on the former prisoners. It turns out that three of them are another band competing in the contest, a group of Anathema calling themselves Age of Sorrows. A few friendly barbs are exchanged. The one who was glowing earlier is still unconscious, and AoS doesn't know who he is. The boys agree to drop them off in Coral, and what would be a better place for some well-deserved shore leave?
