They're On A Boat - Part Two: The Serpent

They're On A Boat - Part Two: The Serpent
Date of Scene:	03 December 2012
Location:	World of Ruin Ocean, between Costa Del Sol and Bevelle
Synopsis:	After Faris procured a ship, she transports Jasmine, Angantyr, Avira and Maira to Bevelle. At first the trip is pleasant, but a devastating storm rises, and something waits for them in the foggy 'calm', afterwards... (GMed by Jasmine; part one, which this is a direct continuation of, is at: They're On A Boat - Part One: The Storm )
Cast of Characters:	Angantyr Vespar, Avira, Faris Scherwiz, Jasmine, Maira

---

Jasmine has posed:
LIGHTS

It's a beautiful day to die; the sky and sea are united in their determination to be the most glorious blue possible.

Faris' brave and hearty crew has fought sea monsters before, but none quite so massive. The sea bubbles and churns around the giant snake's enormous circumference. Just below the surface, his -- there is a distinctly masculine quality to the serpent, separate from the superficial imagery -- tail, which has three razor-sharp, rudder-like fins to slice through water and steel with equal efficacy, swirls in place, supporting his balance. For he's reared up vertically in the air, his head hundreds of feet above water. Look out: it's a very long drop.

The ship struggles in the chaotic waters, but under the skilled hands of its sailors, manages to stabilize its orbit. Round and around it goes; they might be able to escape, but all in all, it looks like they don't /want/ to. The armaments of the boat may not be up to their standards, but they have cannons, they have ballistae, and they have ATTITUDE. Yarr!

CAMERA

The view from the crest of the serpent's nose is rather spectacular, and also deeply worrisome. Ocean, ocean, ocean, as far as the eye can see, in every direction. If they /were/ close to their destination of Bevelle, that definitely isn't true any longer.

His scales are like mighty plates, harder than adamant and blacker than night. Layered on top of each other, they flicker up and down independently, as though constantly adjusting to the winds, which at this height are not inconsiderable. Tiny glimmers of an eye-popping (and probably poisonous) electric blue skin peek out beneath what narrow gaps there are, revealed in a single moment, then reconcealed by more scales.

Angantyr, Avira and Faris have landed, conveniently, right in front of one of his gigantic eyes. If one can call it that; its cavernous void is more absence than presence, the convexity of the orb of pure Darkness the only clue that there's anything there at all. Further down the slope, there's the cliff of the tip of its nose, beyond which, one imagines, are elephantine fangs.

The footing is slippery when wet, but merely slick when dry, and it does seem to be dry at the moment -- the monster's head must have been above water for quite some time. It shifts constantly but slowly, inhalation and exhalation

Above them, on the crest of the serpent's head, are a towering pair of horns, any one of which could house a villainous lair with room for a swimming pool and tea garden. Suspended between their tips is Jasmine, transformed into alabaster; six black chains, Darkness incarnate, wrap her torso in a giant X, melting directly into the horns themselves in an impenetrable knot. Her arms are desperately outstretched towards the last thing she saw, the sight of her friends in hot pursuit -- her smile for them is almost blinding.

It's impossible to say whether she's still smiling inside, if she's aware or asleep, if her mind is as frozen as her flesh. It might be kinder if that were true, for total immobility is a waking nightmare.

But a sense of pressure is gradually building up there, as though, somehow, she's desperately fighting alongside them.

ACTION

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr looks right at the massive head of the snake right before him.

"This is the second worst position I have ever been in." He says Idly to Avira. He starts to move, mace already in hand as he starts to approach, carefully, the head of the serpent...well, the part where the brain meat would be at. Angantyr considers his actions. If the Serpent swung it's tail at the Ship, that might be the end of everything right here, rather they save Jasmine or not.

Anger still courses through the man, but right now it was tempered by a great respect for something mightier than he expected. It doesn't daunt his determination, but it makes him more clear headed, he can't afford to be careless now.

Angantyr then breaks into a run, right for the side of one of the horns, and moves to hand off of it, before kicking from it and trying to slide down the side of the sea serpent's head. The mace moves to swing at the thing's scales, the cruel mace aiming to dig into the scales and slowly stop his decent...

Before he sends a fist right into one of the eyes of the giant monster.

Avira has posed:
Avira's a little too shellshocked for friendly banter with Angantyr at this second.

So this is what bumped the boat that one moment before the attack. It was a moment Avira had forgotten during the foggy struggle that followed. Even if things hadn't turned the way they did during this moment, this monster would have surely attacked them in the aftermath.

She's a little too rattled to notice how far out at sea they seem to be or else she would be commenting to Faris that, yes, they really do seem to be off course.

Her calloused fingers unwind from the rope at her shoulder and her other hand reaches back, tearing the Spine free. This creature is easily the largest thing Avira has ever fought and given their position, the very real outcome of just being flung off the beast to crash into the ocean below is daunting. Triumphing over this seemed impossible. Of course, so did surviving the end of the world.

"Give her BACK!" Avira calls out, tiny voice defiant in spite of her sheer, unbridled terror. The Spine is gripped with both hands and swung upward-while it would be tempting to charge at the beast's eye, she elects to keep her distance, releasing a trio of the silvery, slightly-crescent-shaped bursts of energy. The first two will form an X, though the final one will be a vertical line bisecting its center.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
"Let's be honest, compared to releasing the guy that ruined my whole world, this is quite possibly one of the third or second-worst things I have ever done." Faris says this with a sigh.

That's a story for later, though - instead, for right now, she twirls her blade around, and then dives forward, slicing wherever she can - trying to do more DPS than outright damage.

Jasmine has posed:
At first, it's practically cause for celebration: despite the apparent absurd thickness and strength of its many scales, mace and Spine and Moonblade all seem able to dig into them for both purchase and damage. Black ichor gushes out of the wounds like geysers, whatever this thing has that passes for veins apparently very close to his surface. That's not that surprising, really -- serpents are cold-blooded.

But there's just so /much/ blood, and as it pours forth, it starts to thicken, congealing into many smaller (say, about the size and weight of the Spine, smaller as in 'insanely giant sea serpent', not smaller as in 'garden snake') snakes. Their fangs are as black as the rest of their bulk, making their thousand quick strikes very hard to discern, as they rise up around Faris and Avira.

The eye -- it's the right eye, for those keeping score -- takes two solid hits, or so it seems. Avira's energy star strikes first, Angantyr's fist not far behind, but the Dark Knight discovers first-hand what the VALKYRI might only suspect, from the way the silvery light doesn't so much splash against the orb as disappear within: it isn't solid.

Since he was using his mace for purchase, he doesn't fall completely inside, but there is a moment when the top half of his body is carried within by the force of his momentum. And so he is treated to a spectacular three-dimensional experience that the others only get in flatscreen, as crimson light dawns within the eye. It radiates out from the center in discrete bands of color, some ruby, some cardinal. They make the air feel heavy as a thousand feet of crushing ocean.

A hissing sound that up until now was unnoticable background noise, right on the edge of perception, resolves itself into three dangerous, intoxicating words. A phrase that demands obedience and promises reward for the worship he so obviously deserves.

"Trussssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst in me..."

Maira has posed:
When Maira recovers from her faint, she wakes up to be told by the crew that everyone else had taken off in pursuit of Jasmine, who had been taken by a...a...a...seamonster?

Eyes widening, Maira looks out over the ocean, chewing her lip as she tries to think of how she will possibly follow. What if they need her? Sure, they would probably be just fine without her, but the idea of being separated from them all almost sends her into a panic.

Looking out into the fog, Maira narrows her eyes slightly. "Uist ....Plot trajectory," she says, then begins to summon her magic to the forefront of her mind.

From above the leviathan's head, a flaming meteorite falls. As this object promptly crashes into the beast, it is revealed that it is actually Maira, fully aflame, and using herself as a weapon as she crashes onto the head nearby the others.

Just in time to be hit by the magical assault. Boo! Maira winces, reaching up toward her head as if in attempt to pull the voice out. Trust in a giant sea serpent? How about NO!

Avira has posed:
Doing this level of damage isn't quite as satisfying as it is disgusting to Avira. There was just something unsettling about gushing black blood flooding out of this creature as if it was an oil spill.

Her thoughts to stay away from the eyes were well founded as she sees Angantyr nearly go /through/ them when he makes his attack. "Careful!" she shouts out to him, though currently more worried about the bloodnsakes pooling around her feet. Rather than remain still and be bitten, Avira leaps upward, clearing the creatures.

At the back of her mind, she hears a hissing that gradually forms itself into words. Right away, she can tell that they're from the creature. As they threaten to bury themselves deep into her mind with that power of suggestion, Avira's willpower-her /light/-suddenly surges, resisting. It feels like the mental equivallent of being guided away, following the flawless execution of akido.

Calling forth her magic, the Spine glows brightly, sheets of ice coating the blade. Her attack comes with her descent, landing atop the ridge of the serpent's right eye, the Spine stabbed downward. A second, much stronger blast of magic follows afterwards, channeled directly into the oozing wound she tries to inflict.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris is not well-built to deal with magical willpower-y things. She's the physical princess - this is Lenna's shtick, more than hers. So she winces, rocking back in her boots at the hit, gritting her teeth.

"Well!" She declares, utterly displeased.

"Sorry, I don't do the trust thing well." Her eyes flicker up to Jasmine, and Faris winces - but then she starts casting a spell, green lights wrapping around her, Maira, and Angantyr, since they all got directly hit.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
There is a moment where he falls inside the eye...it was a horrible moment, filled with intense pain and suffering...and then...darkness. Another field of darkness...a force more powerful than he currently holds..but a connection. The two have a similar bond with darkness, and then...

There is a horrible scream from Angantyr, the man who has taken blows that would be mortal to most people, and shrugged passed them with little effort, is now screaming because something is creeping into the edge of his awareness...

He pulls himself up, out of the eye...but it wasn't with his mace. A clawed hand, moves to help him climb...trying to get away from the eye...trying to get /away/. The darkness is like a haze over him, threatening to consume anything that gets too close, as the rest of his body starts to...change.

That dark armor shatters over his form, transforming into the horrible inner darkness that hides in his heart...

And he HOWELS like a barely controled monster as he finally hunches over. Breathing deeply...his will trying to gain control of his actions. The light from Faris' spell is consumed by the horrible flowing darkness that now spills out of him.

Jasmine has posed:
The hiss persists quietly in the background, now, a constant dark pressure delicately caressing the back of one's mind, waiting for a moment of weakness. But the eye itself blinks, and when it reopens, it's black once again. The most miniscule crimson point remains in its depths, providing the direction of its gaze, which flicks hatefully to each threat in turn.

Maira's meteor crashes onto his head like, well, punching a snake right in the nose. It tears scales right off of it, as it skids to a stop. These plunge down towards the churning ocean; one just barely misses the ship below, which is firing everything it has at the serpent's midsection, without a great deal of success. Revealed beneath is that electric blue skin, and a layer of ichor which rises up into a hydra's worth of snakes, eleven of their necks on a single tail. It strikes at the fire mage from all directions, snapping and tearing.

Avira lands on the serpent's eyeridge, which is a rockety ride after she stabs it deeply, because it twists its brow to glare right at her. To the extent that its eye /has/ a surface, the gel-like energy shudders around attack, then surges forward, trying to envelop the Spine and its wielder in sticky, corrosive darkness.

Faris and Angantyr are both surrounded by those wound-snakes, who rise up and up, climbing on each other to build a complex, sinuous sphere. Then they contract, all poisoned fangs and deadly scales... AROUND the Dark Knight, directly towards the pirate.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
The Darkness pours off Angantyr is waves...the snakes curl around him, but do not strike, instead flying for Faris. Instead, Maria crashes infront of him...right in his line of vision. The sound that comes from Angantyr is...a combination of a howel and a screach, he struggles, as if trying to resist something...but then the mace swings, upwards, and then VICIOUSLY downwards towards Maria. He just keeps swinging, berserker like, trying to make sure that the thing infront of him stops existing.

He can't even talk, the darkness starts to settle inside of him, coaxing him...speaking to something deeper within his own heart. The willpower in all of the world seems to be unable to hold this back.

Avira has posed:
Thankfully, the Spine's serrated blade makes for a good grip inside the eyeridge of the snake. Avira grabs onto her weapon and holds fast as it shudders and twitches. Scrambling, she manages to keep her footing long enough before she notices the ichor that streams from the wound starting to move.

It creeps up, reaching up for her and wrapping around her weapon. A gasp escapes her and with a surge of energy, she barely pulls herself free just as the gel-like material makes a grab for her small self. She steps backwards on the serpent's head, holding her weapon, breathing hard.

Just as she looks up, she spots Angantyr...attacking Maira. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Avira calls out, suddenly realizing that she must not have been the only one to hear that voice of temptation. Her light may have been strong enough to drive it away but Angantyr didn't have that. He was filled with darkness-Avira has seen int.

Jumping down from the eyeridges, she runs after them. "Hang in there, Maira!" she calls out in an encouraging manner, "I'm coming! Focus on avoiding him! Don't let him hit you!!!"

Maira has posed:
Well, that was one way to do things, Uist thinks as he watches Maira use herself as a projectile. It seemed to be effective at least.

Maira continues to fight off the voice in her head, using her own light to fight off the darkness that tries to invade. Her Heart says 'uh uh, no way buddy'.

That said, Maira is pretty damn freaked out by the black ichor that suddenly forms into a mini hydra that is not nearly mini enough for her tastes. As it starts to strike out against her with its fangs, Maira flares her magic, the air forming a barrier as the fire strikes out in retaliation in tendrils. Sure, she can do that snake impression too, the tentacles of flame striking again and again at the creature.

Now, she turns to see that she has landed near Angantyr. She doesn't have the time to assess his mood. She smiles, happy to see him. She opens her mouth to say something too him---then she is flying backward, ribs cracking in her chest as the mace slams into her torso. She lands, clinging to a bit of scale on the giant snake's head, coughing up blood as she tries to figure out what in the name of Holy just happened. Angantyr....had attacked her.

This is a very, very disturbing trend.

Maira looks up to see Avira running toward her, and for a moment she is afraid. Just a split-second, she worries Avira is hear to finish off what Angantyr begun. No, no way. She's here to help. Maira sends another blast of wind to send her upward, gaining purchase on the snake's head once more. She's hurting, but the regen Faris applied and the helpful energy of the buff from Avira is keeping her on her feet.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
"Ang, DON'T!"

Faris shouts, but it is seconds too late, as Maira gets mauled. She swears, and runs her fingers across the length of her blade, the magic turning it blue.

She'll apologize for her language later.

"Come on..." She mutters, striking out with her water'd sword, doing a complex dance of attacks.

Jasmine has posed:
Maira /detonates/ that hydrasnake. Bits fly everywhere, smoking in beautiful curls of burnt vapor. Then the darker part of them seems to fade away, revealing still blackened but no longer Black flesh. Faris does her fair share as well, eviscerating the myriad snakes around her as though the space is more full of water and blade than air. She is the eye of a storm of battle, everywhere at once.

The hiss seems to modulate its tone into a gurgling chuckle as Angantyr succumbs to his inner darkness. His vision clouds, first with red miasma, then with the void, and he stands alone within the prison of his own heart. Sensation washes over him, filling him with the /feeling/ of striking towards his prey magnificent in its power and terrible in its total lack of control. And that voice rewards him with blinding euphoria, every syllable burying itself into the ends of his nerves.

"Yessssssss... thissssssssss is what you are... sssssssssssssso beautiful..."

Back outside of the Dark Knight's mind, the sea serpent is getting tired of the other three not being nearly as obedient. That spark of red light in its eye explodes into the entire orb, then a gigantic laserbeam that burns and crushes all within its path... destroying all that it gazes upon.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Within Angantyr's own mind the darkness would not leave. Here, he was standing in what could be described as a baron waste land...nothing for ages, but grey ground, and darkness that filled the sky. He shudders, alone, trying to brace himself against the serpent's will, but it's darkness was already too deeply mixed in with the font inside of him. He could feel the light fading, try as he might to cling to it, it was slipping through his fingers as dark tendrils started to wrap around his legs, pulling him down. "N-no! This is...MY body..." he screams in rage against the serpent...but he could feel something within in the font...something that called to the other serpent...

"Uargh..." he says, darkness starting to burn throughout him...

The Armored form of Angantyr on the outside turns viciously towards Avira who shields Maira. She was here before...in this same exact situation, almost. This time, however, there is nothing of Angantyr visible. He turns, swinging his blade repeatedly towards her. Tehre was no holding back, he was trying to kill her with any means necissarily...but she can hear something, a cross between a groan and growl...

"Avvvvvvvvvvvviiiiiiiiiii-"

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris is pissed.

She has a pretty good GUESS on what's going on here - she's no Heartless understander, but the way Angantyr is acting, and other things, well... Faris grits her teeth. Meanwhile, the crew continues shooting at the heartless with crossbows.

First off, however, she has to deal with the fact that she's getting tossed around. After landing against something with a painful WHUMPH, the Pirate Captain gets back to his feet.

She touches her mouth, grimacing.

Then she smiles - and attacks.

Avira has posed:
A sensation suddenly makes the hairs on the back of Avira's neck stand straight up. A brief glance over her shoulder confirms what she was suspecting might happen ever since she saw the great serpent's eye open in front of them: incoming big frikkin' laser.

She changes her trajectory suddenly, veering off to the side, striking out with her spine to allow it to dig into the snake's flesh as she rolls sideways, becoming dangerously close to falling off of the creature's snout. Only the spine prevents this.

Once the laser has passed, she wiggles her way back up, finding herself face to face with the berserk Angantyr.

She has seen this before. She barely lived through his rage. It took all of her willpower to stop him then. Though she lifts her Spine to defend, she cannot stop his blows, which completely brutalize her breastplate and tear it open. "Angantyr..! Stop! Stop! Please!" Picking herself up, she hurls herself at him, aiming to knock him to the ground and hold him there. Though it looks more like she's trying to hug him. Turns out she kind of is. The Spine has stuck itself into the snake's flesh nearby.

"Come on..." she pleads in his ear. Her very presence might as well be anethema to him right now, but to everyone else here, struggling against the snake, that willpower of hers can literally be felt. It's like getting a sudden taste of what drives Avira through every battle, in spite of lack of skill and experience.

Maira has posed:
Then, HORRIBLE LASER BEAM. Maira tries to protect herself again with that wall of magic, but it is nose use. The attack from the serpent is too strong, blasting right through her defenses. Indeed, it sends Maira reeling from the precarious location atop the creatures head and plunging toward the ocean below, unable to help Avira when Angantyr turns his blinded rage on her next.

The splash that is expected never comes.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Maira surges upward carried by a fiery, winged form shaped like a large man, with wings of fire. Those who had been with her in Baron may recognize it.

Maira lands once more, fully ignited and wreathed in flames. Her eyes are wide and panicked as she sees that Angantyr has turned his attention to Avira. Maira rushes forward. What has come over him!? Avira would know better, and it would seem that she is on top of the situation...but she feels like she needs to help. He's lost in the darkness. What he needs is a torch to lead him out.

Maira moves over toward him and Avira, reaching out with her flaming hand to lay it on Angantyr's chest. The flames turn a holy-infused white, a light injected straight to the heart and echoing outward to bring a sense of peace to Angantyr and Avira both.

Jasmine has posed:
Faris stands alone against the monstrous snake, now, her mithral blade going snicker-snack against everything it can find -- more scales fall in a deadly rain, until she's finally at the unprotected skin, and her blade pierces the sea snake in a mighty energized blow that sends crackles of energy a good quarter mile in every direction.

"Foolsssssssssssssss! Ssssssssssssssssssstand againssssssssssst me if you dare, but you cannot withsssssssssssstand the sssssssssssssea."

And, arching his spine, the serpent dives towards the ocean. The wind whistles, then howls, the acceleration going from 'crushing' to 'free-fall' in very little time. Better hang onto something, here comes that water, with all the force of a concrete wall.

Meanwhile, inside Angantyr's heart, he feels the overpowering presence of darkness disrupted, very slightly, by the presence of others. White light -- his own light, so oft forgotten -- shimmers and grows into the shapes of those closest to him, those reaching out to him, to bring him home. It will hurt, to go back to taking responsibility for his actions, to not let the monster within do the driving. To be himself, a font of darkness so often surrounded by untouchable light. But perhaps he can believe that he won't have to hurt alone. Words return to him from a recent memory that could have been a lifetime ago: "Trust is not foolishness, and compassion is not weakness..."

Whether or not he can believe in himself, perhaps he can take strength from his friends. As they draw strength from each other, Maira's flames suddenly exploding with power, Avira's will becoming palpable in the air, a shimmering, silvery Light. They are more than the sum of their parts, everyone bound together by something far stronger than malice can ever hope to imitate.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
The darkness threatening to swallow him...

It all started to fade away, being absorbed in darkness but then.

A feeling of pressure on his chest, someone grabbing him can be felt. But the vision he was locked to was keeping him from seeing, but it was familar.

On the outside, Angantyr freezes suddenly as Avira holding him, she wasn't able to force him down, but the act was enough to stop his assault for the moment, the darkness fighting for the light in his heart. Maira lends her aid to him, the inside of Angantyr's heart was not surrounded by the light, as another familar presence was pressed on his chest. Then a third, once more, a light brighter than he could fathom is pressed into him. The font, neutral to it, releases Angantyr, but the feeling of something below lurking? It watches them, either passive or amused.

Angantyr's free hand moves up, grabbing Avira by the shou-

AND THE TENDER MOMENT IS RUINED BY JACKASS SNAKE!

A wave of water flows, throwing the pair into the water, but Angantyr presists, aiming to hold onto Avira as he aims to help throw her back onto the thing's face.

Angantyr comes back, the armor still pressed on him...

"You SON OF A-" OCEAN SPRAY!

He booms, running right for the spot right between it's eyes...

Then Anantyr rear his mace back, dark energy courses through it, what wasn't dispelled by the light surges through the weapon. "IF YOU WANT THE DARKNESS SO BADLY, MONSTER, HAVE MINE!" he booms...and swings the massive mace down in a powerful arch. The mace's head exploding with a wave of power larger than should exist.

Maira has posed:
It worked. Maira can feel it working. She doesn't know how, but she knows that with their combined aid, Angantyr is fighting off the snake's influence. She begins to smile, pleased and hopeful...

Then, yeah. Jerk snake.

Maira is knocked away, finding herself falling once more toward the sea below. This is getting really annoying. Anger is rising. She knows she isn't suppose to just let her magic have its way, she is suppose to control it...Aerith's voice is there, telling her to tame the flames to her will instead of bending to theirs. But it is SO difficult.

Maira summons the wind again, slowing her descent toward the ocean, but unable to prevent touching completely. She goes under.

Beneath the waves, Maira is sinking. Strangely, she doesn't seem as concerned as she really should be, even though a trail of blood leaks from her, dispersed by the chaotic currents of the sea.

She's gathering for something. Her friends have been supporting her, and it is time to see that she does her part.

The water surges, the sky above growing dark with clouds that suddenly form. The air swirls, hot and moist, pulling the ocean upward into a giant water spout. With it, comes Maira, steam rising from her skin before she once more ignites. The mage steers the tempest into the serpent, followed by a spear of flame and a warriors cry, flying forward toward the snake. The voice is hers but not, a deeper tone carried with her as Uist manifests to lend his energy to her assault.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
"Oh, he--" Thankfully, FAris is kept from cursing further by uh, well, going face first into a mountain-wall of water. That /hurts/. She more tahn likely broke something, as well. She grits her teeth and eventually surfaces, swimming quite well, blade still in hand. "Right." She says. "Okay, let's see how you like this..."

She lets out a breath and then dives for the monster again. She does sea combat, she's perfectly capable of swimming and kicking butt.

Avira has posed:
When Avira was introduced to Angantyr's inner darkness, she was torn to pieces. It doesn't occur to her that it could happen again right now. She's no Princess of Heart. She's not pure.

She's also not even strong enough to knock the six foot five tall man over, which is kind of unsurprising. Not that it really matters right now anyway since what she ultimately wanted to do was "stall" him until he came to his senses. Avira feels him grab her shoulder and while she would love to believe that they were successful, her nearest hand unwinds from him to snatch the Spine up.

The snake speaks and terror wells up inside Avira anew. This would be the OTHER thing she had started to anticipate in fear once the snake rose so high above the water. At this height, the impact...

She hits the water. It might as well have been solid ground, only solid ground you don't sink into. Already she's struggling and clawing but while she does know how to swim, that's usually when she's not in clothing and carrying a weapon. She starts to sink until Angantyr grabs her by the back of her collar and throws her back up onto the snake's face. Gasping for air, she spits water out and staggers to her feet. Something else was pushing her now, a power Avira could tell wasn't coming from within her, but somewhere else. A brown-eyed gaze is turned towards the frozen princess. "Soon..."

Only seconds later, she collapses to her knees again. Even with this act of exhaustion, she tries to make it useful and drives the Spine as deep down into the serpent's skin as possible.

Jasmine has posed:
Surging water. COLD water. Air, in the many tiny bubbles created by the massive belly flop; they dance about the maelstrom in all directions, obscuring the surface and the floor, the difference between up and down. Salt; the ocean, the taste of blood in mouths from the sheer jarring impact.

Then, relief: the surface found, Faris' new ship already making fast tracks towards the action, unwilling to be left behind no matter what the risk. And the risk is enormous -- now that he's in the water, his native element, the serpent is surely far more dangerous than he was. Indeed, his immense fins are already sweeping back and forth, creating roaring waves and rushing currents, turning the terrain to his advantage.

It isn't enough.

Faris dives straight back into the action, blade held forth to pierce at that weak spot she's created yet again. More of that terrible black ichor pours from it and starts to form into ghastly shapes...

...only for Maira to tear that water into her tempest; it dissolves within the spout, which slams into the serpent in turn, the flaming spear /burning away any ocean between it and its target/ before impacting. The sea snake roars his rage, snapping back with his terrible fangs...

...but Avira is still there, she never even left, held fast by her clanmate, and the Spine plunges down through his snout, piercing straight between those two fangs to further fork its gigantic tongue. His roar becomes a scream of fury...

...dwarfed in decibel by the boom of Angantyr's mace, and all his strength behind it, the Darkness his strength now, not his weakness, wielded against Darkness with open eyes and heart.

There's a terrible cracking sound, and all the black plates on the mighty serpent suddenly shatter, revealing the -- actually rather lovely -- iridescent blue creature beneath. He's beautiful in a sleek and dangerous way, not the least bit anthropomorphic, but it seems he was only infected by the Heartless, perhaps possessed, yet not a creature of the Darkness the way through.

His eyes, which without the veil of darkness are a sharklike, hungry gray, fixate on each individual in turn. Some combination of annoyance and gratitude flash through them; then he turns, and with a final, dismissive sweep of his tail, disappears into the depths, a different realm of darkness, one where he is master, not slave.

The black chains binding Jasmine shattered as well; heavy as it is, the alabaster statue still goes flying back with the final wave, no longer attached to the serpent. It begins sinking rapidly.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
The good stolen ship starts making its' way towards the group as the freed monster takes to the seas, rescuing anyone who needs it, and also to prep to get Jasmine back on board.

Faris takes a deep breath as she crests the wave, before diving back into the ocean, straight towards the Jasmine-statue. She will kill herself to help rescue the princess - or at least make sure Ang's teleportation skills got her.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr stares into the eyes of the serpent for a very long time. The two possibly share a moment...at least, in the way that an intelligent and old animal and a dark knight can. However, this present a new problem. Angantyr hits the ocean, the only thing keeping him aflot is the fact that he is increadibly strong. Faris see's a problem, and goes to dive for Jasmine, but she's also a statue. He grabs for Faris, who grabs for Jasmine. He grabs for Avira, to help him out, who no doubt will probably grab for Maira who has some sort of magic thing.

Anganty pulls, holding his breath and a corridor would open up for them easily to cross...

And drop them all uncerimoniously onto the deck of the ship. Angantyr is face first near the bottom, coughing out sea water and groaning in pain.

Avira has posed:
'Where is Maira' it suddenly occurs to Avira, seconds before the young mage's spells strike the sea serpent. Relief washes over her and she remains holding on, driving the Spine down deeper until the creature calls out in deafening pain. From there, all Avira can do is hold on.

It's actually quite a surprise to find another creature underneath the darkness. Avira had been expecting it to disappear completely should they actually succeed against the beast. The short huntress stares back at the eyes, caught off guard, unsure what to think for a moment before she speaks, her words from the heart a final plea. "Set us down gently." she begs before the creature drops into the water. Right away, Avira is swimming for the statue with frantic energy. Faris dives down...

...Avira, as if knowing what's coming, grabs for Angantyr and Maira. Again through one of those corridors of darkness, but after all this, Avira can deal a little.

Maira has posed:
It would seem that the combined assault is a success. Even a beast as great at that one eventually broke beneath the pressure they all put upon it. Maira registers the defeat as she rides the tempest, tossed by the wind as the black scales dissolve and the beautiful, terrible creature beneath is revealed. "Ooh...." she says, Uist's assistance finally running out. He tells her to take a breath, because she's going to be under the water again quickly.

All she thinks as she falls is; "damn it Ivo, you didn't actually teach me to swim!" then she hits the water feet first.

BLUB!

Alright, she's under water. She could fling herself out again with an aero spell...but she'll just end up back in the water again. Well, here goes nothing.

Maira flings herself from the water and arcs in the general direction of the others, splashing down near Angantyr in order to be grabbed by him and tosses aboard the deck of the ship. It's not exactly gently, and Maira gasps with pain as her most certainly broken ribs scream once more.

Then she lays there, wheezing and gasping for breath while she waits for her mind to clear. What happened to statue-Jasmine? Someone was getting her, right? Maira is pretty sure she can fix the whole...being stone business. Once she's taken care of anyway.

Jasmine has posed:
Down, down, down.

Only a pirate queen could ever have pulled this off. Anyone else would have lost the statue to the unforgiving deeps.

Knives of pressure nearly asphyxiate Faris by the time her desperate dive reaches Jasmine; at that point she's as deep as she's ever dared go without extensive preparation. The statue's outstretched hands provide an easy thing to grab, and when one is touched, in fact, the alabaster seems to give, far more than it should. So gently as to be almost unnoticable, the hand squeezes back.

As Faris presumably starts trying to kick upwards, buying time for the rest of them to catch up, the statue deccelerates... and in a moment best explained by 'magic', Jasmine is simply pulled straight out of it, though the statue was never hollow, and though it continues to exist, without her. The horrific souvenir of this experience sinks out of sight in no time.

Then Angantyr is there, and Avira. The serpent glances over his shoulder at them, as he departs, but there's no subtle wink, no toothy grin -- just a long, piercing stare before he's gone. Was he not sentient enough to speak? Or did he simply not deign to?

Together the four of them make the journey through Darkness to the light of the ship, beacon that it is, alone at sea. Jasmine falls bonelessly to the deck, completely limp.

There's a long moment where she's as motionless as she was as a figurehead. Then a very tiny smile curves her lips as soft radiance pours from her, warmly embracing each and every person on othe ship. Wounds are mended, bones restored, spirits replenished, all in a breathless moment of exuberant gratitude.

The light fades back into her skin, and the princess shifts, then falls from unconsciousness into a true sleep.

Avira has posed:
Avira's clearly not a high enough level yet to communicate meaningfully with giant-ass sea serpents. Well, at least it wasn't still trying to eat them.

The girl flops wetly on the deck, struggling to sheath her sword. Her own strength is gone after that ordeal in its entirety, from the heartless on the ship, to the infected serpent, to facing Angantyr himself. Struggling, she pulls herself into a seated position and starts to unbuckle the remains of her breastplate, removing the mangled metal.

Her eyes remain upon the recovering princess, which Avira is happy to no longer see encased in stone, but concerned to not see her moving at all. If only she had been more attentive...

It was an unpleasant lesson to learn for a novice adventurer, but an important one nonetheless.

Though the light does erase the wounds incurred from the ordeal, Avira still looks weary and tired. She doesn't pass out, despite the urge, and remains sitting there in silent vigil.

Maira has posed:
Oh hey, breathing is good. As Jasmine, non-stone, projects her aura of healing out toward them, the wounds on Maira begin to heal, making breathing a good deal more possibly and comfortable.

She sits up then, looking around, wide-eyed and shocked from what just happened. "Thank you..." she tells the sleeping form of the princess, then looks to Avire, Angan and Faris. "Lets never do that again, k?"

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr's own wounds are both physical and deeper.

CRAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

Okay more seriously, the man once everyone is off of him slowly rises to his feet, shaking his own body as water falls down it. Light bathes him again, he's less exhausted, thankfully, and he gives a look at Jasmine who is now peacefully out like a light. He thinks similar thoughts to Avira, but has come to accept that sometimes things can't be helped. His own actions during the encounter are not so easily forgiven. Even as cheers go out, and he turns as the armor finally fades back into the normal dark knight's attire...which is just armor but more chain than the dark plate that comes from his own darkness.

Then a bottle of grog is handed to him, he doesn't have much time to actually react, taking the bottle and looking at it for a moment. He takes a drink, and passes the bottle to Avira, before starting to move below deck.

BROOD BROOD BROOD!

Avira has posed:
"We might not have a choice." Avira says distantly, "The next time it happens." Well, not true, there was always a choice. She couldn't make the decision to stand by idly though. "You're okay, right Maira?"

Angantyr passes by, giving her a bottle of grog. Avira watches him wordlessly as he goes. She starts to move, but for a brief moment, she sees him coming at her, mace held high. Unable to help herself, she shudders and takes a drink, failng to follow for now.

Maira has posed:
Maira watches Angantyr swig and walk off, frowning softly. Yes, he can't be feeling very good right now. She thinks of going after him, and if she'd been alone she would have. As it is though, she feels like maybe it would be an intrusion if she did while Avira was here and clearly knew him better.

The water-logged woman moves to sit beside Avira, leaning over to rest her head on her shoulder. "I'm okay...are you okay? Jasmine looks peaceful...I don't think Angantyr is okay though."

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris watches Jasmine fall back asleep, and she sighs. She'll see the woman to a comfortable bed, as Ang goes off to brood, but for the msot part, the partially bloody, mostly-waterlogged Pirate Queen goes to captain the ship. She made a promise to get them to their destination, and she'll be damned if she goes off-ways for Heartless.

Avira has posed:
Avira really should go after Angantyr right now too! But she's clearly reluctant. Maybe even a little afraid. It only makes her feel worse, in fact, and disappointed. Part of her really wouldn't mind a hug from him now that they weren't in the middle of a storm or a battle. For now, though, she'll settle with Maira leaning next to her.

Transferring the grog to one hand, she lets her other arm lift so she can drape it around Maira's shoulders. "Exhausted. I could be better. I don't think he's okay at all, not after losing control like that. He doesn't want to hurt us." At least that's what Avira really wants to believe, deep in her heart.

Maira has posed:
Maira sighs. She could use a hug too. Though, she is sort of getting one, so yay! "Yeah..." she replies, looking off in the direction he went. "Do you think...it would help if I talked to him? It isn't...quite the same, but I know what its like losing control," she says, frowning gently. While she's never quite gone berserk, her fire magic has gone out of control too many times. It is almost a constant effort for her to keep it under control.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Below decks, the Dark Knight slips into one of the rooms that were given to them. He pulls off the helmet and sets it down, same with the mace. The armor is peeled off, and he lays down on the bed in short order. Those arms rest behind his head. He growls...closing his eyes, and those images of what he has done do not leave. He'll have to live with it...Garland would punish him for his weakness tonight...but right now, his tender mercies did not compare to Angantyr's own subconcious.

Avira has posed:
Even willpower can be exhausted. Right now, Avira is all out, else she might actually be going after Angantyr, "Somebody should talk to him. Maybe you should. You're on his good side, I can tell." For as much of a 'good side' there was. "And you're right, you do know about losing control."

Avira does not. Not in the 'overwhelming powers' sense. Control of her own course in life, maybe, but that was from a past she had buried. "Go on." she nudges Maira before taking another long drink of grog.

Maira has posed:
Maira places her arm around Avira in turn, giving her friend a gentle squeeze. "Alright Avira. I'll try. He doesn't really know me well or anything....but yeah, someone should," she agrees. "I'll be back! Don't drink too much of that stuff..." she says, eying the grog.

Maira gets to her feet and moves below deck, following Angantyr's likely trail of wet boot prints along the floor. She peeks her head in the door, finds that he is decent, and lets herself on in. She sits on the floor next to the bed and looks up at him with wide amber eyes. "So. That sucked, huh?" she says by way of conversation starter. She wants to tell him that he sure does have a mean swing with that mace, but that would be counter-productive.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr looks up after a moment, and looks at Maira.

He stares at her.

The camera pans back at Maira.

Then back to Angantyr. Then back at Maira.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OmPW3mamSE this plays.

"Yes."

Maira has posed:
Well, this is going well!

Maira breathes. You know, purposefully. She always breathes but she's /thinking/ about breathing, which is really strange but kind of akin to-- "You know, I have to be really on guard of my magic. I have to sort of...constantly be aware of it so I can suppress it. Otherwise, it runs away with my emotions....I've burned down buildings before. I have nightmares and I just wake up and the whole bed is on fire, and the room around me. Sometimes...sometimes people have gotten hurt."

Story time with Maira.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr continues to stare at her.

The music keeps playing.

"Yes. I can imagine." he says, in a way that infers that he is trying to be neutral.

Maira has posed:
What is that weird music? That's really unsettling!

Maira blinks. Huh. Maybe she sucks at this.

.....

"So um...don't feel too bad about what happened, okay? I won't hold it against you and I know Avira won't either. Everyone is alright. And um...yeeeaah..." she says, getting to her feet and starting to back toward the door again.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
The music continues.

"Maira." he says, slowly, "Thank you for trying." he says finally.

Maira has posed:
Trying. Not succeeding. She sighs, nodding. Nothing much else to say. The girl turns and leaves, finding her way back to Avira, likely, to report the spectacularly awkward failure.

Then Sleep.

Jasmine has posed:
The little ship, all broken
Went sailing on the sea
With sailors proud
And sometimes loud
They rode forth bravely

When night arrived in haste
The many stars shone bright
To guide their way
To shelter's bay
Bevelle, that promised light.