Return of the Emblem Chapter Nine: Consolidating Forces

[Acacia Sgt]

... which was, of course, walking over to speak with Mandy. What, you thought it was searching the whole ship for Tali? Don't be ridiculous.

''Hi there,'' John said. ''What brings you here today?''

-----

''Of course,'' Sophia said. ''I haven't eaten yet either, so better to take care of that now too.''

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"The others? Well I dunno, I sort of buggered off on my own for security reasons," Gar shrugged. "Haven't seen hide nor tail of anyone since the last time I was on deck."

[Snowy_One]

"Excuse me sire, but it strikes me as odd that you suggest broad-side firing constantly. You are an independent vessel after all, but a LARGE vessel. Ammo, gunpowder, and extra cannon is expensive, heavy, and runs the risk of being struck and exploding. But you can easily afford extra hands for ship-to-ship boarding. Plus you gain the options to loot and have a lower need for accuracy, so do we ever board enemy ships? What do we, as cannoneers, do when we do get boarded? Just keep firing?"

[roymbrog]

Synthia led all three horses down into the hold and tied them up, the gelding next to the grey mare next to Phyllis. She had managed to remove Phyll's tack despite harassment from the mare next to her (she was trying to get the apples, silly horse). Phyllis wasn't very pleased. Those were her apples. Synthia ended up taking the whole sack with her to get the two to behave, and was just leaving when Gytha returned.

Why were they meeting Nanahm at sick bay? Well, apparently she'd find out soon. “Alright, I just need to go put my things in the cabin and I'll meet you there.” And that's just what she did.

-----

“Hmm...” Torin imitated Blakes second stance, trying to commit the move to memory. He was a little sad when the swordsman said he had to leave, he kind of liked the guy. Whatever feelings of melancholy he had vanished immediately, however, when Blake handed him the book. “Can I.. Can I really have this? You're sure?” Not waiting for an answer, he wrapped himself around the guy's middle. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!”

OoC: If the ship leaves before I post again, assume Torin left already

-----

After the others had left, Valter had leaned back in his cot for some much needed rest. At some point he woke up, startled by a loud thump somewhere in the room. Huh. Bert was awake. That was good.

The doctor answered Bert's immediate questions, and someone brought in food. For the doctor. Hey, what about the sick people?

Anyway, Bert eventually realized Valter was there and managed to turn himself over. The horseman waved. “I said I wasn't going to keel over and die. I haven't managed the second part yet,” he responded. The guy looked dizzy again, probably from the yelling. “Hey, calm down before you pass out.”

Edited August 11, 2012 by roymbrog

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

"Oh hello~" Mandy greeted as she turned to face John. "Well Tali's checking up on her new friend, and I was here to see if you guys wanted to finish up your testing before heading out, but it looks like you'll be leaving any minute now." she explained with a sad smile.

Not far away, the quarter master had emerged. The sailors seemed as though they had gone ahead and started readying the ship without him, and he seemed to have mixed feelings about that.

Gun Deck

"This isn't leisurely fighting where we can just throw our weight around. The rebels are onto us; I hope you know who they are .... Extra men won't mean squat against them. We can't risk trying to board a rebel ship under any of the normal circumstances. You people shoot, and you keep on shooting until your team gunner tells you to stop." the man replied.

The other continued by adding "The only way to survive against the rebels is to keep to a fair distance, shoot constantly, don't get surrounded, and pray they don't have any dragons with them. Expensive ammunition doesn't mean a whole lot when losing the battle means mockery, torture, more mockery, and death ... in that order."

Galley

It was a short trip to the galley and plenty of people were there. Breakfast seemed almost over, but the cooks had put out enough for everyone. There was still some left for Raquel, Sophia, and whoever else might have shown up within the next few minutes. Beyond that, it was uncertain. Raquel went over to grab a plate and then took an empty seat before getting some of the bacon. "There sure is a lot here ..." she noted.

Cabin

"It may be time to get a headcount and then send someone to gather up the rest. Is that wyvern rider in your group around? He might be best for the second job." Bogdan asked.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Sounds like despite last night's attacks, it overall did good for Tali huh,'' John noted. ''She certainly needed to experience less unpleasant circumstances. Hmm, testing... to be honest, it has never interested me, and now during these times even less so than ever. And yeah, we're kinda of in a hurry to leave port.''

-----

Sophia followed Raquel into the dinning hall, also getting an empty plate and sat next to Raquel.

''Well, unlike yesterday, they must've taken us into account too,'' she guessed. Indeed, last time Robin had volunteered in advance. But that had been just once, and as mentioned before, during yesterday.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Just got back myself, so I don't know if armor-guy's out and about," Gar shrugged. He was kinda just assuming that armor-guy the first was a wyvern rider at this point. "Guess I'll take on the first job though. Nothing better to do until we set out."

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

"Yeah, I'm happy there are more people out there who don't mind her tail." Mandy replied with a smile. "I guess if you guys are leaving soon, I should go get Tali. She could just fly back if your ship isn't too far from port, but that's a little reckless. It's a shame you guys are leaving so soon, though. A day later and Tali and I might have tried buying a ride on this same ship. She looks pirate proof~"

Galley

They had been considered, but it also seemed like the cooks picked the quickest thing they could cook and then made as much as they could to save time and effort. "I'm not sure if a breakfast consisting entirely of bacon is very healthy, but if it's just this once ..." Raquel commented. Well, at least it's delicious.

Cabin

"Alright. If I'm not here whenever you get back, speak to the quartermaster. We can spare a half hour if necessary, but I need to go and let Filat know that we'll be delayed or they'll leave without us." Bogdan explained. He then stepped out of his cabin and closed the door behind him, apparently ready to leave the ship himself.

Outer Sanctum

Once the captains had arrived, Fox met them in his ship's war room and laid out his plan. Most of the captains were on board with the plan, several were hesitant, and two were opposed. "What are we going to do if the patrol fleet decides to take us on in force? We'll be throwing several ships away for a handful of dragons-" "Nine ... nine dragons, captain. And don't forget Cornelius' final report. One of them is a shadow dragon. Candidly, the lot of them are far more valuable than this entire fleet." Fox interrupted with a more in depth explanation.

"Now I see ... now I see why you're willing to go so far to secure them. Nine more dragons in the empire's arsenal would be painful in a decade or so, but nine more in our arsenal would be ..."

"You can't even imagine it, can you?" Fox asked. "I know some of you have doubts about this, and to be honest, so do I. I don't like coming so far out into the frontier with our backs to the war zone, but if we stand by and do nothing, the empire wins yet again."

"And what if they escape? What then?!"

Fox raised an eyebrow. "... define 'escape'."

"What if they get out of the blockade and make it out to sea? You can't just send interceptors after them. They'll be destroyed."

"Heh," Fox shook his head. "If that happens I'll be more than happy to show you how an interceptor is properly used. Well then, I've heard your most valid concerns, so enough of this. Hearing feedback is a courtesy, nothing more, now return to your ships and ready your men. Do your jobs well, and most of you will return home alive. That is all."

Fox soon returned to the deck and spotted his two dragons flying around the fleet almost skirting the waves while making all new ones during their flybys. We don't usually receive a challenge from anyone but the empire ... so why is my heart pounding ...? "Grabacr! Ofnir!"

The two dragons began to slow down and approached the carrier. Once they were close, they began beating down their wings as hard as they could to stay just in front of Fox who was standing near the edge of the nose of the carrier. Fox pointed his finger toward the island ahead of them. "... disarm it." he instructed. The phrase told them everything they needed to know, and the wind dragon Ofnir used his wind magic to propel both dragons up high above the fleet. They disappeared into the clouds and began their approach to Tremere port from the clouds.

Prelude to Disaster

Volya and Claudia were still flying high above the port city and despite Volya's fatigue, they were still going. Volya's occasional complaints didn't seem to sway Claudia much, and they eventually stopped, altogether. Volya was just enduring it, now, aiming to fly around for as long as he could, and that had her feeling incredibly guilty. "Volya ...?"

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry ..."

"I already told you that you don't have to apologize for that." he replied sharply.

"No, it's not that. I just ... I just didn't know it would turn out like this ..." She loosened her grip around his neck slightly and rested her head against his. "It's almost as if ... it's almost as if your wings have become my wings. That's what it feels like ... me using you like this, I mean."

"I said I'd do it ..."

"And I thank you for that, but I still must apologize. I didn't realize just what kind of little monster I was being until just a moment ago." she explained with a bittersweet smile. Volya was genuinely surprised. "Thank you for lending me your wings, Volya. Thank you so much." She could barely manage that much more without choking up.

"... it wasn't so bad. You could be a little less pushy, but I ... guess it was worth it in the end. You got to fly around, and I got some exercise I probably wouldn't be getting otherwise. We both win." he replied in an unusually soft tone.

"Mhm."

"Wait ..." Volya flinched. "Claudia do you feel that?"

"I-I-I think it's above us!" Claudia quickly realized. Volya did a timely barrel roll while Claudia clung tightly to him, and they both narrowly avoided being clawed out of the sky by Ofnir as he dove past them. There was a lot of turbulence in his wake that Volya was almost unable to recover from. At first it looked like the wind dragon was going to fly down to the city, but it instead turned around to make another pass at them. "V-Volyaaaa ..."

"Don't worry, Claudia, you'll be alright ..." Volya assured her.

Meanwhile the alarms at the docks went off. There weren't any pirates to deal with, however. Instead they were being attacked by a fire dragon. In its very first pass it set almost every ballista ablaze. The soldiers resorted to grabbing firearms and tried to shoot it out of the air, but they didn't have enough time; the dragon would wipe out the defenses in one pass, and then move on to the next area avoiding the now prepared gunmen entirely. Some of them chased after it on foot, but the only potent weapons left after a couple of minutes were the cannons of the guard towers and the ships themselves, and none of them had the accuracy to bring the dragon down.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"I'll be sure to do that," Gar replied to Bogdan's orders. Of course because nothing could be easy, the glorious sound of alarm bells began echoing across the area. "Though something tells me that's now the most pressing business," Gar sighed as he spoke to himself Those bells were probably gonna drag everyone out to the deck anyway, so Gar just walked over near the gangway and looked out into the smoking sky. "Well, hope whatever got burned down wasn't where any others were at."

Edited August 28, 2015 by Script

[Acacia Sgt]

''Well, hopefully they're more varied in the next days,'' Sophia said. Truthfully she wasn't keen on just eating bacon for breakfast, but it seems that was the only thing they'd have. Well, better than eating nothing, but still...

And not did soon enough did that sound began.

''Huh, what's that?'' She spoke out loud. Did something had happened?

-----

''Well, it's not like we had to leave on this ship,'' John said. ''But Raquel decided to stay with them and...''

...then all hell broke loose.

<Looks like they're here already...> John thought the moment he saw the fire dragon going at it at the docks. All the noise woke Gil up and quickly stood up, not without a grunt but at that moment he too was looking at the dragon.

''Quick, we must tell the others.'' Not that soon did he said that he was already running for it to the inside.

Well, first priority was to find Raquel. Considering she went straight from the infirmary to the deck and then the time it took to meet them on the meat market meant she had skipped breakfast by accompanied Sophia, then the most logical conclusion was that she was now taking breakfast. Well too bad, since it would have to come to an unexpected halt.

So he headed there and kicked the door open and entered, and without wasting much...

''They're here, the port is under attack!''

And it was done.

Edited August 11, 2012 by Acacia Sgt

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Well uh, it probably would look nice on you," he said to Gabbie before something that sounded like alarm bells started going off. He decided to put a nearby helmet on his head to block out the noise. This sure is a loud port...

Veronika

"Well if we have to fight with cannons we'll fight with cannons," she said. Then there was a loud noise- like an alarm. "Is that something we should be concerned about?" she asked the gunmen.

Nadya

While tending to the animals below deck, Nadya heard a loud irritating noise. Either there's trouble or they have some weird festivals around here... she thought to herself with worry, going out onto to the main deck and accosting the first sailor she saw.

"What's that noise about!?" she asked him apprehensively.

Edited August 11, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[Mercakete]

"I've had my fill of passing out," he grumbled before, still irritated, but not to the point of actual anger, continuing to the horseman, "If you'd have kept safe, you wouldn't be in here. What if you had been killed? How close were you to dying, anyway? Why are you still here?" Then, to the doctor, he asked, "And how long as I out, anyway?" Then, back to Valter, "Do you know if anyone died? Did everyone make it out okay, or just some?"

He lowered himself a little. Partially because his arms were already getting pretty tired and partially because his head was beginning to spin a bit faster again. From there, he had to lie down completely -- his arms and head were having none of it. He started a little when some sort of loud noise coming from outside began blaring. The little jolt gave sent another wave of dizziness over him, but it left pretty quickly after he forced himself to relax his shoulders at least. "What is that?" he groaned, this new development only adding to his irritation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, things were going well. Nanahm and Synthia had their errands to run, but they were going to be meeting up with Raquel soon. So, Gytha went back up top and began heading over to sick bay, figuring she could drop off the maces while she waited. But then something unexpected happened. It was impossible to miss the dragon flying over the port and blasting it with fire. "Great Leviathan!" she exclaimed, proceeding to watch in surprise as the scene unfolded. And the alarm started up. Maybe I should see th' captain b'fore headin' t' sick bay. With that thought, the mariner headed towards the captain's cabin.

It seemed the captain was already out of his cabin. "Hoy, captain!" Gytha greeted in a sort of half-formality, "What should we do?"

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

"He just ran off ..." Mandy said, mostly to herself as John headed for the galley. "Tali's ... probably in there. Time to follow, then." With that, she ran off after John, passing Nadya on her way.

The sailor Nadya stopped to question looked as distraught as everyone else around. "A damn fire dragon just showed up! It's got tack and other crap on it which means it's a rebel dragon! They're here, and we've got to get the hell out of Tremere before they surround us! Get that staff of yours and be ready to heal any injuries!"

Dauntless

"Oh, I can pull off just about any look-" Gabbie paused at the very end of her statement as the alarms assailed them. Connor made for a helmet while she stood there waiting for any other signs of battle to show up. All she could hear were those alarms and sailors scurrying about. "This can't be a pirate raid if everyone's this uppity ... Connor, stay put, okay?!" she ordered as she began heading for the exit.

Gun Deck

As soon as the port alarms sounded, one of the cannoneers raised his head up looking at the ceiling, and then slowly lowered it to gaze at the floor and ended by shaking it a few times. "Well ... I'd say we've got about five more minutes before the ships get here and we all get shot to hell. Let's move onto some actual drills, shall we?" It was extremely difficult to tell if he was being serious or not.

A loud, or rather close by explosion outside had the other cannoneer raising an eyebrow. He wasn't sure what had just exploded of exactly how far away it was. "That wasn't a good sound. Oh right, you two might want to step a little closer to us. There's going to be a lot of through traffic in a minute ..."

Galley

The sailors shot up out of their seats and tried to rush out of the galley all at once. It was the most crowded and disorganized reaction Raquel had ever seen, but after a few moments, they began to funnel out without trying to test the limits of the door frame. "They? Do you mean Sardis or the rebels?"

"We're under attack?" Talitha asked as she stood up from her seat. "Who's attacking the port, and why? We're way too guarded for a pirate raid."

Cabin

Bogdan hadn't gotten as far as he would have liked before Gytha arrived and asked for some direction regarding the current situation. "Listen, make sure all of your companions are aboard when I get back, or we're leaving without them." He didn't wait for a reply before breaking into a jog and heading for the main deck. They got here so fast. I thought we had enough time to at least get to Yoshimo before they showed up if we left today .... They must have already been on the way ... but why?

Streets

Reign saw everything. That dragon had nearly killed both Volya and Claudia, and it almost got him as it came around for another pass. The force of the winds that it conjured up to propel itself back into the sky forced everyone in the area onto their knees, Reign included. He guarded his face until the gusts passed and then looked up to see what would become of the dark avian and his helpless passenger. "Come oooooon. Get her out of theeeeeere ..." he pleaded in a low voice while civilians ran around in a frenzy.

Skies

Ofnir was on his way back up to meet them, and Volya wasn't in the best position to fight back, not with Claudia present. So many factors were running through his head as he prepared to fight the dragon. There was so much he had to keep in mind during this fight, so that Claudia wouldn't get hurt. He wasn't even certain he could win even without her weighing him down which only made him more tense. "Claudia, hang on and do not let go no matter what. I need to get you to somewhere safe so I can take this collared beast."

"Alright!" There was nothing else for her to do but hide her face and brace for a rapid descent.

[Acacia Sgt]

It was a good thing to have gotten away from the door as the sudden mob of rushing sailors would've caught him in their path. <Well, their reaction time is good, I'll give them that,> John thought.

''It's the rebels,'' John answered Raquel, though it applied to her and Tali both regardless. ''It's because of this ship,'' he now told specifically to Tali. ''One of theirs was attacked and captured by us two days ago, they came all the way here to recover it and it's cargo.''

What? They're here already?! Sophia though, getting worried. This is bad, the whole port is now involved in this...

[Mercakete]

"Aye, aye!" Gytha replied before dashing off herself. A'right, Synthia n' Nanahm're here. Best t' check who else is around n' just take a tally o' who isn't n' get someone who can fly t' go look fer 'em. There's no time fer anathin' else! Her first stop was the infirmary to make sure everyone she thought was there was there. She didn't bother knocking since it was an emergency and instead just entered. At first glance, only the surgeon, Valter and Norbert were in there.

"Hey, what's going on?" Norbert demanded, having not gotten a reply from the other two yet.

Gytha didn't have time to be surprised, so she just answered. "Dragons're attackin' th' port. I need t' make sure everyone's on board -- we're leavin'," she hastily replied before tossing the maces into the infirmary and hurrying back out, shutting the door behind her.

"Dragons?! And hey! Those are my maces!" he wasn't entirely sure what to react to first. I still don't understand what's going on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next destination was fairly close-by: the galley. It was a bit impossible to get through, presently, though, what with all those hands rushing out. So, Gytha just waited that out, but she did intend to check in there for anyone in their group eventually. Maybe she could even get some help in making sure everyone was on board.

[-Cynthia-]

Main Deck

Dragons are attackin' the port? I'm gettin' the hell out of here! was Nadya's first reaction to the sailor, until she realized that leaving the Leverager would involve going back to Tremere- which was currently on fire apparently.[/i] "I better get a raise for this, I don't ever remember fightin' dragons to be part of the deal," she grumbled, going back to Luca and grabbing her staff and tome from his saddlebags.

Dauntless

"Be careful out there," Connor warned as he began to search the Dauntless for...something. I wonder if I could rig an explosive if we got attacked by another ship...I wonder if wouldn't blow up the Leverager too. he considered, sorting through the weaponry for something that might be useful.

Gun Deck

Maybe I should go up and gather everyone...but I'll get stuck by the people coming down here. I need to trust Raquel to get everyone in position... Veronika thought to herself with worry. "All right, show me how to shoot the damn thing," she said to the gunmen.

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

When Bogdan emerged, the sails were about ready to come down. The men were working fast. The only reason they hadn't pulled the loading ramp up, was because they still had missing people, and to make matters worse, the captain himself was about to head onto land. A small mob of his own men approached him as he stepped onto the ramp. "Captain! We've got to get going! The Utka's already pulled up her anchors!"

"Signal them. I need them to hold on just a little while longer. If we split up now, we won't be able to cover each other." Bogdan ordered.

"... aye aye ..." one replied gloomily.

Bogdan didn't let that slide and put a firm hand on the man's shoulder. "We'll make it." It wasn't much, but it got him out of his depression and he nodded to the captain before turning to the others and urging them to get back to work. No more time; Bogdan broke into a sprint and made it down the loading ramp before rushing down the docks.

Galley

"The Neviskotian rebels?" Talitha inquired further on reflex.

"What are we supposed to do ...?" Raquel asked next.

By then, the sailors had finally finished clearing out and there was no one left in the galley but the people from Raquel's group and Talitha. Mandy caught up and entered the galley at top speed, passing Gytha on the way and passing John after entering. She appeared at Talitha's side and took the girl by the wrist. "Tali, we've gotta go."

"But maybe we can help somehow ..."

"Tali, unless you want to get stuck on this ship which is going who knows where, we've gotta go."

Gun Deck

"... ah what the hell. We'll give ya a quick demonstration without actually wasting a shot and I'll explain what we're doing step by step, alright?" Next he turned to the small group of sailors just now standing up from their little get together to listen to the chaos outside and said "Oi! Tutorial time, gentlemen! I need some volunteers over here right now!"

He got his volunteers and everyone else went to fetch the tools they would need, though for another reason ... they might actually be needing them soon. When they got back, they assembled into a team of five for maximum speed and efficiency. "Now assuming she's already been used once, mister giant swab over here cleans out the inside of the gun so there aren't any embers left over to ignite the next shot as we're putting it in and blow somebody's arm off. This takes longer than you'd think, and if you get sloppy ... well, it's the loader's arm, I guess. Next up ..." he continued as the men switched to the next phase. "... you put in the powder, ram it in, and then do the same thing for the projectile." And so they pretended to do. "Next up, you and your crew would move the gun into position-barrel right outside the gunport-,line up your shot and prepare to fire, but the method of firing is different based on what kind of cannon you're using. Now the Leverager's got one modern day edge that these rebel bastards aren't gonna like. Over half of our cannons use gunlocks, which means you just yank on this rope here ... to fire." He gave it a quick demonstration tug, but of course nothing happened. "Aside from how to aim, any questions?"

Infirmary

"Welp ... it's looking to be a busy day for me .... Guess I'll finish my breakfast while I still can."

[Acacia Sgt]

''Yes, them,'' John told Tali. ''I came here as soon as I saw the dragon, so I don't know what the Captain has issued,'' he now told Raquel. At this point Mandy had catch up and tried to urge Tali to leave. ''But a good start as any for us would be seeing if everybody is on board,'' he continued.

''But what if they're not?'' Sophia asked. ''If the dragon is attacking the port it would make it difficult for any of them to head back.''

[Snowy_One]

Robin wasn't terribly sure if Lia would like the clothes or not. It was clear the girl was splurging, buying fancy things she had no access to before with little consideration as to their use. She wouldn't be surprised if the girl ended up buying a novelty door knocker or something equally useless but fancy. Oh well, best start looking for some more practical things for her. I used to hate it when mom got me socks and undergarb, but those are things Lia will need for sure. I hope she forgives me one day, if she ever starts speaking to me.

Thankfully for Lia, before Robin could start her search for the clothes an alarm went through the town as the echoes of some large beast entered the shop. What the hell? That can't be good.

"Lia, get behind Zack." said Robin as she unslung her bow and brought it down, dropping into a ready stance as she looked for the source of the call. "Zack, get behind me. I will see what is going on."

---

"Yes sir, a lot relating to various aspects that I would LOVE to ask you after we don't have a dragon trying to eat our behinds. For now, swab barrel, load charge, ram, load ball, ram, aim, and pull rope, right?"

[Eail]

Zach was just content to let Aneda and Robin argue among themselves over the clothes, it wasn't really something he felt he needed to be involved in. He liked what Lia had chosen, and while the girls were having their petty argument he went to the front of the store and paid the owner for the clothes Lia had picked out when an insanely loud roar pierced through the store. Seconds later alarms sounded through the city, Zach knew exactly what that meant due to living in Tremere for so long.

"We have to get back to the ship now! The city is under attack and I think that roar might have been a dragon!"

Edited August 13, 2012 by Eail

[Mercakete]

Gytha hurried into the galley in time to hear John suggest they look for people. "Hoy, good, there's more o' ye here. Captain Bogdan's told me t' make sure we're all aboard -- we're shippin' off real soon, so if anaone's not here when we set sail, they're separated from us. Synthia, Valter, Norbert n' Nanahm're all aboard. Anaone know who else is?" she hurriedly asked, not wasting any time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Norbert shot a glare at the doctor as best he could while lying flat on his back (which wound up begging redirected to the ceiling.) "Hey, you're the doctor, right? If you're going to be all that busy, then maybe you should keep as much space as you can for incoming patients. I still want to know how long I was out, but I could move to a corner or something in case someone about to die comes in who needs someplace to lie down. It sounds like there's going to be some heavy fighting out there. And give me my maces," Norbert partially asked, partially instructed.

Then, taking a deep breath, he tried pushing himself up. Though he did manage to sit up, it took more out of him than he liked and he couldn't see clearly. Blast it, I can't fight like this! I'm useless right now... "Blasted condition..." he grumbled to himself, his irritation only rising.

[roymbrog]

The ringing alarm bells were terribly noisy, and Synthia expected the worst as she ran out on deck. Turned out she hadn't thought of bad enough. “...Oh my god,” she breathed as the fire dragon flew around again, blasting the port with flame. What was the protocol for this?

-----

The horseman was a little peeved at Bert's questioning. The guy didn't know the circumstances of his injuries, so it wasn't his place to lecture him. “I'm fine. I'm only still here because I lost some blood,” Valter replied before the alarms started going off. What was that all about? He sat up, thinking it was the rebels and tried to stand when Gytha showed up and pretty much confirmed that it was. The dizziness returned. He leaned against the side of the cot until his head stopped spinning. “It's the Rebels,” he told Bert. “They're attacking Tremere because of us...”

The doctor seemed rather unaffected by the whole event, and Bert was busy being stubborn. Valter dumped the maces on the cot at the pegasus rider's behest and tried to think of a way to be useful. He didn't feel like fighting, much less walking around. He made for the door. “I'm going to find a healer to help out down here.”

[Acacia Sgt]

''That I know of, Gabbie is here,'' John said. ''And most likely Veronika too.''

''Wait, I just remembered,'' Sophia spoke up. ''A few others also had plans in town. They left long ago but I'm not sure if they've come back already.''

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"All right I think I have it down. How and where do you aim the cannon?" she asked. Better remember those steps if I have to repeat them for the others later...

[GoD]

Chelsea: Waking Up:

Pain..Pain... This is the word that went through her mind as the girl slept after the events of last night. She later woke up from her slumber, the pain having mitigated quite a bit after what happened. Looking at her shoulder, Chelsea smiled bitterly and said "Looking at it now, it's amazing. I'm still alive..."- the troubadour trailed off.

Alive. She was alive, that much was certain. She felt numb, but she was still one of the living. The troubadour sighed, then paused. She was certain everyone was alive as well. She wanted it to stay that way. Chelsea giggled as she climbed out of the hammock and put her clothes on. She wasn't sure what merited that giggle, and she honestly didn't care. She grabbed her tome and staff, exited her room and began to wander the ship.

She wandered, saw a few of her comrades talking, listened in on them as they talked. Robin's group, Raquel's group, Ucollas' group. She noticed everyone was doing well, and smiled tenderly. Was this how Mother Olivia felt, knowing that everyone at the church was safe? Chelsea could only guess, as she wasn't a mind reader. After eating breakfast in silence, she decided to head to the deck and just stand around doing nothing.

It wasn't long before a loud roar was heard and fire spread across Port Tremere. Chelsea's eyes widened in alarm as she saw the devastation the dragon was causing. "Why is that dragon causing so much damage.... What about the people... What about my friends?!"- Chelsea panicked as she saw the sea of flames expand... Where was everyone!?

Edited August 12, 2012 by GoD