brave_kreyu | OOM All Skate Skellig Dream Magic Weirdness -Part Nine

It takes him a few steps to get his 'land legs' back beneath him but he adjusts fairly quickly, watches at the young man goes beneath the deck to gather up the slaves.

"They are nervous," Skellig says, folding his arms across his chest and puffing up his feathers, doing his best to look 'fearsome' without coming across as overly threatening (that is not the look he intends for the slaves, though he knows he needs to play the part) at the same time. "Below the decks."

A glance at the crew still on board. "Some of them are also worried, but more about their gold, based on the looks of this dock," he snorts, smirking a little.

"Hopefully, those below won't have reason to be nervous long."

The slaves are plainly TERRIFIED at the sight of Kreyu, but they are herded onto land whether they want to go or not!

Kreyu's heart hurts at their fear, their distress. She's trying to subtly adjust her position to put herself between these poor people and the sailors.

Taking more of a 'lead', Skellig also works to partition off the captives as they reach the end of the dock and step onto solid ground, directing them to line up and stand in some form of order - so that Kreyu, who is behind him at this point, can see them from where she remains perched, her talons gripping the wood planks.

"My love," he calls back over his shoulder, as he points. "Which of these men would you like to see move about? We will need several strong enough to break the soil, and I would dare say fell some of these trees, work to build our barns?"

He motions for the women and the few children to stand further back, nodding at the young sailor to have them stand off to the side, out of the way of the men. Their time for examination will come. And then he steps closer to the men, flaring his wings slightly. (In reality, he is protecting them, should anything come flying this direction...)

She is glad that he is taking the lead, here. "Might as well see all of them, love."

The sailors are starting to relax a little, less tense. Kreyu eyes the open space, sees a large rock outcropping that will come in handy in a moment.

She scratches a sign on the deck, a calling, sends energy into it. Skellig might feel the shift in energy, but it will be a minute or two before anything is visible to the eye.

The water around the boat starts to take on shapes vaguely like horses with fish tails as the hippocampi start to congregate around the boat.

The shift in the energy is noted, and Skellig also notices the...is that the water, changing shapes? He manages to keep his glances nonchalant, as he motions for each of the men to step forward in order, bend their knees, flex their arms.

"This one here is missing a finger," he points out idly, before making eye contact with the man, who clearly has seen his share of laboring. "It would not effect your ability to work a plow, though. You may speak."

"No, it would not," he man says quickly, with a firm shake of his head. "I am fully able to work."

"Good," Skellig nods, then calls back to Kreyu. "He would be fine. Next, come here..." as he works his way down the line.

Most of the sailors have gone ashore at their Captain's orders, which makes this easier. Once enough Hippocampi have gathered, Kreyu soars skyward, shrieks a word of command.

The ship SURGES up into the air, born aloft on a column of water to land near the rock outcrop. The wood groans, the ship leans, and it thunks against the stone, mostly upright.

Kreyu lands again on solid ground, but she conjures a tiny ball of fire in front of her beak. "I believe it is time we renegotiate terms, Captain."

The slaves all cower in fear - the women shriek in terror, some grabbing the children protectively as they cry out in fright; a few men break from their positions in the line and go to shelter the women instinctly.

Even Skellig yells in surprise, as he was not expecting that to happen, wings flaring rapidly as he moves away from the sudden upthrust of seawater and an entire ship before it comes to rest upon the rocks.

His heartbeat is now racing, and the expression on his face has to be briefly priceless, before he works to bring it under control. A few of the sailors who have the forethought to protect the captain draw small knives, but not all of them do so.

"Your trade in human lives is an abomination, but I am going to offer you a chance to make better choices," Kreyu tells them.

"These people will be free, and all of you will swear to never again engage in such work. Or you can die here, if you would prefer."

The Captain snarls, goes for the sword at his hip. Some of the others make similar moves, but most don't seem terribly keen to fight.

Under his breath, but loud enough that the captives at his back (and the young sailor who has also moved on instinct with the rest of the men to stand in a sort of half-circle in front of the women and children, protecting them from harm) can hear him, he mutters: "Stand steady and no harm will come to you."

There are another few sailors that are between Skellig and Kreyu (and the Captain) that are a bit conflicted, as their 'honor' would tell them to draw their swords, fight against these beasts, protect the cargo from thievery!

But at the same time...they do not wish to die here, upon this rocky shoreline.

Skellig flexes his hand (feeling for his talons, hidden as they are yet still ready if needed) and his wings, carefully observing the body language of all of the men. He will strike if needed, step in if she seems to struggle...but he suspects she may be able to handle herself.

The Captain snarls and points his blade at her. "I'm going to mount your HEAD on the bow of my ship you feathered whore! Then I'm going to put that beast fucker in chains and sell him with the rest of the cargo."

He's trying to make her so angry that she acts without tactics, leaves an opening that he can exploit. It works, in a manner of speaking. The sound that comes out of Kreyu's throat is a roar of monstrous rage and her form BLURS as she lunges forward into an amalgam of her eagle and draconic forms. Scales, feathers, teeth, talons, wings, smoke and gold intermingled as she tries to tear the Captain asunder.

Only two of the other sailors are brave enough to try and attack the creature ripping their Captain apart and they don't seem to be having much of an effect.

His initial instinct is to lunge forward and do the same thing to the Captain that Kreyu is currently in the midst of - tear him limb from limb, shred his skin from his muscles, pull muscle from bone, reduce him into a finely ground pile of viscera on the shoreline for the birds to pick at later. But she is doing a very fine job of that herself, and he also knows that while she would not harm him intentionally, there might be a chance off-hand that her attacks could go astray and land on him by mistake.

So instead, he launches himself off of his feet and dives at one of the two who have chosen to attempt to attack Kreyu; he hits the first one square in the side of the ribcage (a half-second too late to completely block the strike of his club against Kreyu's shoulder, a glancing blow that causes her to growl in frustration - or perhaps that is just another sound she is making as she works on the Captain) and drives his talons between the ribs, reaching to pierce lungs, arteries, heart, anything he can hit during this tackle as they land on the dirt.

Edited 2024-08-23 23:20 (UTC)

Kreyu is too preoccupied finishing off the Captain to notice the blow much, she finally stops tearing at the body, casts her gaze on the fighter on her right who hastily backs away.

Skellig's talons dig deep, he could rip the man's heart out if he was inclined to! (Though that would be excessive and spectacularly messy.)

Briefly, a flash of Dark energy surges up within his chest and he is oh so tempted to make a bloody spectacle of this sailor, a messy statement that leaves absolutely no doubt as to his level of seriousness - but just as suddenly as it courses through his body, it is replaced with something else. An opposing surge, Light and mercy and everything that he KNOWS he stands for.

So rather than ripping out the sailor's heart, he simply severs the organ in two, followed by the spinal cord (no pain is felt, death is instant) as he draws his talons back, eases the man's body to the ground beneath him.

(He does not simply drop him to the dirt.)

With one hand (not the one that was just buried in the chest) he reaches up and closes the sailor's eyes; he is listening to Kreyu with his ears, doesn't need to turn to look at her to see that she is fine.

Mercy, after the first Dark flush of rage is passed. Yes, there should be mercy, even for these.

"Retrieve your personal belongings from the ship, then get you gone," she tells them. "Make better choices, for we did not HAVE to show you mercy today."

Some sailors do not even bother trying to retrieve their belongings, they simply run down the dirt road toward the village. The rest move hastily toward the ship, keen to get their things and get OUT of here as quickly as possible.

"I didn't give you my name," the young man says into silence. "Xenophon. I am, I am Xenophon."

"Xenophon," Skellig bows his head (not out of reverence, simply in greeting) but does not introduce himself - not yet. "Well met."

(He will let Kreyu introduce herself first, if they are to do so - he isn't completely sure if that is the best idea in this instance or situation.)

"I spoke to my wife of your plight, and that of your sister. We think we may have an idea of sorts, to settle your situation...we would discuss it with you. Do you have things to gather, from the ship? Supplies, for those who were captive?"

(The slaves are all still huddled in a group, terrified of everything that is going on right now. These are the...people...that have paid for them? Stolen them? What is their status, other than to obey those with wings?)

"I had planned to strip the ship, once the rest of the crew was gone," Kreyu pipes up. "We can distribute them among those here who might need them."

She turns to face the slaves, forces herself back to just the eagle shape of her soul. Her voice is as gentle as she can make it when she speaks to them. "You are all free people, may do as you will. Though I hope you will stay to receive a portion of the ship's supplies, I would not send you off to your new lives with nothing."

"I have a few belongings on the ship, but not many," Xenophon replies. "I will fetch them when we are stripping the ship of supplies."

"Your assistance will be appreciated," Skellig says. "There are areas that she cannot fit, and you likely know where the most useful things have been stored." As he suspects that Xenophon was often tasked with fetching those things and bringing them to be used when needed.

Several of the (former) slaves are clearly in shock, some overcome with relief and similar emotions, ripples of surprise and disbelief at their suddenly granted freedom. A few of the younger, fit men also volunteer to help with gathering supplies.

Once the remainder of the crew has left the vessel, the men set out to traverse the short distance on the outcropping; Skellig takes the shortcut and launches himself 'skyward', though it is only to the deck itself, to find a prybar or some sort - he wants to get into some of these crates, see what is useful.

(Also, there COULD be treasures on board, to add to their own hoard at home. Though those might be located below deck, perhaps in the Captain's private quarters...)

Kreyu also takes flight onto the deck, quite willing to pry open crates with her talons.

Xenophon leads Skellig to a portion of the cargo hold he was never allowed in. "There might be something good in here."

The first few crates Skellig finds are the ancient equivalent of hardtack. Useful on long voyages for staying fed, but not something one would likely choose to eat in other circumstances. There are amphora of olive oil, sacks of dried fruit and dried meat. This must be where the ship's food supplies were stored. The most precious commodity here is a small wooden casket that holds some salt!

Xenophon huffs. "Don't know why they wouldn't let me anywhere near these supplies, what did they think I was going to do, eat it all?"

"Maybe they considered you might offer it up to the slaves as you may have been most likely to take pity on them," he shrugs (as much as he can in this hold, with his wings folded as they are) and glances through the crates. "This will be a good start. I am not certain how long the journey is to the village - I assume not far, else my wife would not have chosen this spot to aim the ship to dock."

The sacks of dried fruit and meat are taken to the entrance to the upper deck, then carried out by others. The salt might be valuable and worth a fair bit in trade, so Skellig sets that aside for now...

But there must be other things within the cargo hold that are worth gathering! The exploration continues. (Skellig would be lying if he did not get a small thrill from this - Kreyu might be rubbing off on him.)

"Maybe," Xenophon shrugs. "I know what's in most of the rest in this section, supplies and tools for repairing the ship. Should be easy enough to sell in the village if they can't use them outright. Rope, planks, tar, and sailcloth have plenty of uses."

"Never got the chance to poke around at those crates and amphora near the cages though."

THESE crates seem to be a better bet, trade goods! Linen cloth, bars of bronze, fine leather, painted pottery urns, a few carved statuettes. The greatest mysteries are some small, tightly sealed copper boxes. When shaken, there is a sound of many small things inside of them.

"I am not sure what those are," Skellig reaches for one of the small copper boxes, shakes it gently and cocks his head curiously - it is an interesting rattle. He sniffs the air and then sniffs the box itself - while the seal is tight, it is not perfect (not for his nose) and even though smell is not his strongest sense, he is hit with the aromatic smell of herbal resins.

"I believe this to be for use as incense," he says. "If I remember from when we were in Amikaya last, the scent is familiar."

Some other ones are different - spices, those he is familiar with, Kreyu has cooked with some of them and they bring back memories of dishes she has prepared. But the frankincense - that is a lovely scent. And there is a fair amount of it, as well, several boxes. "This fetched a fine price in the markets when I saw it. Here," he hands one over to Xenophon. "Use it as you would, sell or trade."

Xenophon takes the box automatically. "I, you're sure?" he asks.

"I think the most valuable items must be in the Captain's quarters," Xenophon tells Skellig as he picks up the small bag that holds all his worldly possessions.

"One of the sailors tried to break into them near the start of the voyage, the Captain beat him so badly with a whip he couldn't get out of bed for days."

Edited 2024-08-24 01:54 (UTC)

Among the things that they're 'browsing' through, Skellig finds a bigger bag than the tiny one he brought with him originally; the copper tins go into it, as well as some of the fine leather. (He has ideas for something to make with that, which he will contemplate in greater detail the next time they are back at the Lair with free time on their hands that is not being spent in bed.) He frowns slightly at the telling of the Captain whipping the other sailor, though he is not surprised.

"Even if it is not the brightest idea to try to thieve while you are stuck upon a ship at sea...that is still not right."

The door is locked; there is obviously no key to be found, but that does not matter when you have tricks up your sleeve. Skellig easily bypasses the mechanism with a few utterances, and then pushes the door open, stepping inside.

"No," Xenophon agrees. "I, I was afraid he was going to die," he admits. "He left when we next made port, can't say I blame him."

Xenophon is surprised at the magic. "Oh, I, I suppose I should have guessed. With the wings." He flushes.

The cabin is far more luxurious than the rest of the ship, though it is still far below their Lair in terms of quality. The wooden walls are covered in fabric decorated with colorful patterns or scenes. A figurine of some unknown sea god sits in a small altar in one corner, the offering bowl full of fresh grapes.

The biggest draw is likely the two large chests, heavy wood with bronze fittings.

"I imagine I am probably one of the first born-winged men you have come across," he offers with another faint shrug. "A guess would have been valid, but it could have gone either way, as far as the abilities go."

Skellig studies the charts on the desk, papers, a logbook sits open. There are some basic 'tools of the trade', though in one corner of the room sits a bucket which contains a few...implements, previously mentioned whip included. He notes it, but pays it little heed; his focus is on the chests.

"Unless we can find a key - perhaps within the desk," he suggests. "These may take a slight bit more effort..." He kneels before one, places a hand on the top of the wood, lightly drums his fingertips against the surface, listening closely.

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