Flight of Fancy: IC (Mature) {Currently Closed}

[Kafzeil]

Kafzeil chortled, adjusting his glasses. "Not at all, Aisha. Several of my family have connections among Adventurers and the like."

*He placed his hands in his coat pockets as he walked alongside Aisha."Actually, I'm surprised one of my brothers isn't one. He's a militia Captain, but he certainly acts like an Adventurer."

Once inside the room, Kaf listened to the moose. Any smile he once had quickly vanished.

"These are some heavy accusations you're dropping."The angel said, walking towards the moose. "I won't say I don't believe you. I would like to see if you have evidence to back up your claims on you."

He closes his eyes, sighing heavily. "Madam, what's your take on this?"
*******
Eden had stumbled into the casino. An playground for adults. Adults with too much money in their pockets, or crippling lack of understanding about statistics, probability, and the somehow unaware the house was likely to swindle them, or both.

But she found Poker was good way to get to know people. Provided the stakes where low enough. Then it turned into a bloodbath when it turned out someone had stuffed a Jack of Clubs in his sleeve.

Exchanging some coinage for chips, she found a table, sat down, and grinned at the wolf sitting across from.

of course, she spent most of her waking hours with a stupid grin on her face but he didn't know that.

"Room for one more player?" She said, playing her chips on the table.

[Tipod]

"Well, I, uh--" Terry hemmed and hawed. It wasn't long before those eyes of his slanted ever-so-slightly. Whoever this person was, he was awfully chummy. If Terry had learned anything with his brief time as a golem, it was that nobody got chummy with him.

"I'm afraid I'm rather incapable of drinking," he said. Truth be told, he wasn't all that capable of drinking back when he was flesh and bone, either. "Sorry, but I don't believe I caught your name, Mister...?" He idly placed his bet, both eyes still upon the rabbit.

[Lisky]

Baseel idly tried a few of the blades, testing the heft and feel.  He selected a broadsword then plucked a training dagger as well.  He did have a preference for having some type of defense, and the lack of proper shields led him to grab the offhand blade.  "Sabers are brutal and straightforward.  Very little flash, compared to many a styles of fighting.  I usually prefer a large round-shield with either an axe or a long sword.  Something with enough heft to double as a bludgeoning weapon... though we can't really have that without some real danger to it... so... a dagger will just have to do, with a slight adjustment to my primary to better match."


With a smirk, the demon canine set his off-hand blade forwards, in an underhand stance, while his broadsword was held loose and light.  He idly spun the blade to make sure he didn't tighten up too much.  An overly tight grip is only useful for losing your blade and the fight.  "Engarde , Herr Captain."

* * * * * * * * * *

(OOC Note: It was agreed upon ahead of time that, for the fight, I'd be doing the writing between Jakob and Aleyna)

Aleyna had taken a few moments to change as well.  Her simple dress had been replaced with an outfit significantly more practical for a fight.  Her top was almost a tank-top.  A single strap held the weight over and behind her neck, while starting under her wings the soft cloth hugged her form closely.  Her dress had been replaced with canvas shorts that hugged her form, but still left a little room for her to move.  Her feet and hands were loosely wrapped to just below the knees and ankles, respectively.   

Taking her position across from Jakob, she snapped her feet together and gave a polite bow, her wings twitching slightly as she rose.  A mischievous smirk parted the demoness's lips.  Her feet slid around,  and she her shift in position suddenly presented Jakob with a considerably smaller target as her body opened him mostly her forward turned shoulder.

Jakob, on the other hand, positioned himself lower, wider and in a much more protective stance.  His wings were gone, and his entire body-language put him on the defensive.  He had a deadpan stare as he used his morphed wings to strength his own body and protection as best he could.  It certainly wouldn't be quite up to par with a pureblooded demon or angel, but it would probably turn broken bones into uncomfortable bruises.

Wasting no time with pleasantries, Aleyna's foot seemed to flicker out  of existence for a moment as she delivered a quick snap-kick towards Jakob's jaw.  He managed to drop a forearm into her shin and deflect most of the energy to the side, only to find a powerful follow-up left hook.  He moved into the hammer-blow, though was a little slow as his shoulder took the powerful punch, Staggering the incubus.  His feet adjusted, and his guard arm slashed across his body, catching the follow-up roundhouse kick a few inches before his ribs.

The demoness smirked as quick-stepped back to prepare for her next assault, "Not bad form, but your weak-side is sloppy.  A little slow, too.  Rather amateur too, I take it that hand to hand isn't your forte?"

She used the question to make him hesitate and think.  Before he had a chance to reply, she came at him low and hard, driving an uppercut towards his gut.  Jakob's hand flaring forwards and deflecting  her attack to the side, suddenly felt a sudden rush of air and a sharp pain across his extended extremity as his blocking arm was suddenly chopped by a wing-edge.  She was using the momentum to pivot, as she hooked her ankle over his shoulder.  Her hook dragged down and threw him into a shoulder roll, sending him tumbling off his feet for a moment. 

She didn't give him any respite, taking a quick step, into a wind-up.  Jakob rolled just wide as the tips of her toes passed across his arm's fur.  He rolled again, then, with a twist of his hips, he caught one foot on the ground, and threw himself to into a low crouch another few feet away.  Aleyna's follow-up was an axe kick, she was dropping the high blow just as the incubus had managed to recover.  Damn, She's fast, faster than I'd expected.    Locking his arms in an 'x', stepped into the kick, catching the her foot at the ankle and lifting. Well, at least I got one good.. shit   Train of thought shattered as he felt her subtle shift in weight.  She'd used the trapped angle as a fulcrum and hurled her body into another rotating kick.  Jakob watched the heel slowly arch across his field of vision, all he was able to do was drop her trapped ankle, and make an effort to stop the follow up.

The wolf stepped back and held his guard high while the demoness flared her wings and slowed her landing enough to catch herself on hands and feet.  She launched almost as soon as she'd landed, eyes transfixed as she brought a brutal right-hook just too fast for Jakob to catch.  Her fist slamming into his ribs sent Jakob sprawling to the floor, huffing hard while fighting to catch his breath.  Tapping the floor to signal his surrender, the incubus half-coughed "You win."

As soon as he gave his surrender, Aleyna's expression turned almost apologetic as she proffered a hand and helped the wolf to his feet.  "Hope i didn't hurt you too bad.  I wasn't being overly vicious... i just wasn't holding back."

[Tapewolf]

Jakob tried not to lean too heavily on Lady Aleyna - it would make him look even weaker than his premature exit had.

"Not my best," he grunted shakily.  "I'd have done a lot better without the damping, but I dare say, so would you.  Still, I hope it gave you some satisfaction."  He bowed to her again.  Whether or not she had guessed what he was, Jakob didn't think it would be appropriate to morph his wings back in her presence.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Eden had stumbled into the casino. An playground for adults. Adults with too much money in their pockets, or crippling lack of understanding about statistics, probability, and the somehow unaware the house was likely to swindle them, or both.

But she found Poker was good way to get to know people. Provided the stakes where low enough. Then it turned into a bloodbath when it turned out someone had stuffed a Jack of Clubs in his sleeve.

Exchanging some coinage for chips, she found a table, sat down, and grinned at the wolf sitting across from.

of course, she spent most of her waking hours with a stupid grin on her face but he didn't know that.

"Room for one more player?" She said, playing her chips on the table.

The brown/black furred Wolf looked up as the Demoness placed her chips on the table and grinned in response to her question as he answered verbally, "Aye Lass there's plenty of room...But be prepared for a boring game, none of us have really bet big or gotten a decent hand...And so just a pair for me" He said as he placed his cards face up revealing a pair of Sevens to the other players, neither of which had anything higher, and so he collected his winnings.

"What brings ye to to this over-sized hot-air balloon?"

[justacritic]

Hobbies checked the equipment behind the ship's theater stage. The crew knew about him and so let the incubus through with the minimal amount of fuss. There was cameras, microphones, sound equipment and connections to some of the screens that allowed for those who were not as lucky in the seating department to have another view of the stage. It was more than Hobbies expected, especially with nearly none of the magic dampening on the stage. This was promising as now the fennec was able to perform the pieces that did require a heavy amount of magic, not to mention costume changing would be a snap. The incubus raised his hand to his chin and thought about the seating arrangement for the shows. With a planned seating chart in front of him, he marked down reserved seats and any other notes that crossed his mind, making sure that the ushers would have as little trouble as possible. Now after that was finished he headed towards his cabin, he needed to prepare the puppets for the show and he had now a general idea of what to perform this time.

[Aisha deCabre]

As they walked along, Aisha made it a habit to memorize their path.  The ship was certainly as impressive inside as it had looked from the outside, perhaps even more so.  She also nodded to Kafzeil, somewhat relieved that the Angel wasn't put off by her choice of profession.  She had to chuckle; it reminded her of when she first heard that the Mistress herself had been an adventurer in her early years.  A traveling paladin, really, but with not much less bloodshed.

Once the door closed behind them to the meditation room, she became her tense and alert self, standing with her left foot in front of her right so that she could immediately reach down for her concealed dagger if necessary.  It was a habit to be careful, even when she had every intention of listening to what the distinguished ungulate had to say.  By his actions, he looked rather urgent indeed, and it was a relief to know that they wouldn't be heard if it were so important.

When he was finished, her eyes widened slightly.  Trafficking people?  And he's tracked missing ones to here?  Huh...and the people that pointed me here...what if Jake was... The very possibility made her blood heat up.  Calm yourself.  You don't even know if it's true.

Aisha glanced between the angel and the moose, crossing her arms.  "You've pretty much said what I would have, Kafzeil."  She settled her gaze onto Thorialtor.  "I too would like to know what proof you do have of your claims, señor.  You say you suspect that this rather prestigious ship is transporting...people, for some reason...like slaves?"  Her eyes narrowed.  "Well, to me it would be a worthy cause to expose such a scheme.  Slavery is a condition that I would not wish on anyone...even my enemies.  But only if what you say is true...mind, if it is, I will not turn my nose up at innocents in need.

"And suppose that is true...why would they, that demonic captain and his affiliates, want to?" she added, humming with thought.

[VAE]

The demon didn't particularly bother to respond, by the looks of it being rather eager to prove his strength against his own kin.
Not like Vladim would be the one to complain about such a thing, mind you. He followed the pair into the gymnasium, and rested himself on one of the walls.
A few moments later, they were followed in by the demoness, and the emissary, who didn't bother with picking arms, and went straight at it, claw, fist and leg, while the captain and Baseel picked their weapons. He swapped sight between the fighting pairs, and the weapon rack. If any of them insisted on a spar... that quarterstaff looked like a pretty good option, giving him some added defense and freeing up more tentacles for attack.
Hell, is she quick...
She was clearly the winner there, forcing the wolf to do little but block her punches and kicks. After his counterattack failed he bought an unpleasant fist into the ribcage, causing him to drop and surrender. Vladim turned to the giraffe, though continuing to watch the other match.
"Say, suppose she broke his ribs, how would you go about fixing it without magic?"

[SquirrelWizard]

Evan's search had been fruitful thought taking longer than he had expected thanks to some unexpected detours. I mean seriously, if you and your lady are looking for a place for some private time and you have a room, use it; not some random access corridor.

But still it was an interesting walk never the less.

He stepped into the gymnasium and surveyed the damage at hand. It seemed the demon and an angel, or maybe its an incubus, had playfully tried to remove each other's heads. Looking around the room, he tried to spot his mysterious benefactor, or is it contact? At this point he wasn't entirely sure, though based on the two letters he had recieved (one prior to the boarding of the ship, one after) he was beginning to suspect they suffered from bipolar disorder. Finding a nice wall out of the way to lean on, he tried to keep his eye out for anybody who seemed too interested in him. If anything it would give him a heads up should he need to run.

[Angel]

Receiving no reply from the young man or the blue jay, Kenyan sighed and finished his meal. It was time to begin his assigned task anyway. He moved closer to the wall, stepping nimbly over other slaves. He pressed his ear to the left wall of their room and breathed in deeply, trying to filter out the other smells in favor of food, or possibly rat fur.

[Kafzeil]

Eden chuckled, waiting for the deck to be passed to another player and shuffled."Meh, I'm not a big High Roller like some of these Creatures. Closest thing I usually get to a casino is a card, or dice game with my men."

She scooted her chair closer to the table, wings folded behind her as she answered the wolf's question."Pleasure, mostly. Always wanted to rid an airship. Meet new people, see the sights."She leaned on the table."Maybe see if these things can haul cargo down the line."

Eden placed a hand on her cheek."And you sir? What are you doing thousands of feet in the air?"

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

The Gymnasium



Hrolhgah snapped a smart salute with his practice weapon, eyes darting over Baseel's stance and choice of armament. Stepping forward with his right leg, he swung a sudden slash at Baseel's upper chest, and when the taller demon blocked, he tried to slide his blade down to Baseel's arm. The latter cursed and retreated a step, slashing with his longer weapon, and holding the offhand knife in close to the chest.

Hrolhgah circled to the left deflecting a swing of Baseel's upward with an outside parry, trying to close to negate the reach advantage, but unable to get a good rush through. Baseel used the second failed attempt, and the resulting awkwardness of stance to charge in, to execute an inside beat to the saber and to push in, chest to chest. The wooden knife pushed in, and Hrolghah's attempts to bring his arm down to trap it were slowing the progress, but not halting it.

Snarling, the captain kicked at Baseel's shin, far harder than such a short arc should be capable of producing, and headbutted the taller demon in the chin. The distraction afforded him the opportunity to step back to his preferred distance, and the training saber came alive in his hands, an extension of malice reflected in dark eyes. Baseel parried and fell back, beads of sweat quickly forming on his brow, as he tried to deflect the unbelievably quick blade that was always probing, always darting, and always just about to slip past his defenses.

Baseel fell into a spiral retreat, always back and to the right, trying to bring his reach advantage into play, but the older demon was too quick and strong, and kept pressing. Mind casting for an escape, he stepped suddenly to his left, bringing his larger blade up and across, splaying Hrolhgah's weapon far to the side. Before the older demon could bring it back in line, Baseel brought his right foot forward and across his own left, turning his hips inward and lowering his shoulder, bringing his wing and all the force it could bear straight into the Hrohlgagh's upper torso.

The impact was incredibly forceful, but had little pressure, and Hrolhgah was knocked backwards and to his knees. Baseel rushed in, planting a knee to the snout as Hrolgah tried to rise, but the older demon laughed at the pain, and as Baseel thrust his dagger in, he dropped his lathe weapon and gripped the youngster's arms, his right on the wrist that held the dagger, and his left just above the elbow,claws digging in at the nerve close to the surface.

Baseel snarled himself, and although they were too close to stab at his foe with his horns, and he tried to back away, since he was the only one that now held weapons; but Hrolhgah's grip was too strong, despite foot stamping of his own that Baseel tried to distract him with. With a twist and a wrench of his left hand, Hrolhgah put more pressure on the ulnar nerve, and Baseel's numb fingers dropped the weapon.

Grinning savagely, Hrolhgah let go with his left hand, slamming a heavy fist into the taller demon's belly, right in front of the  kidney. He received a punch across the snout for his pains, but answered with a short, openhanded strike to Baseel's trachea. He then shifted his weight to his right, and wrenched the knife out of the younger demon's breathless hand, stabbing upward just under the sternum with a solid thud.


He stepped back, and smiled at his handiwork. "Good fight boy, you've got a lot of potential, once you're properly seasoned. Another hundred years and you'll probably pass me."

He then turned to address the lynx, smiling slightly as he caught his breath. "I believe it is your turn next"



Rob darted over to the fallen Incubus, politely but firmly probing his face and chest for any fractures, before smiling. "You'll have some bruises, but I don't think anything worse. Still, if you have anything more than stiffness and soreness next morning, come see me, or I can call upon your room if you give me your number." Half turning towards the lynx, he added. "Well, you can't create new-standing magical effects, but pre-existing structures are in place. I have a few enchanted salves and bandages, as well as the ubiquitous yellow potion. I suppose we could be in trouble if my stock ran out, but I've yet to have that happen, we travel pretty well provisioned. But don't worry, I doubt the captain will go as far as to break anything."

The Slavehold
The iron doors slam open once again, and a dark hand throws a figure in. He's short, a coati, in what looks like a bartender's uniform that has a few tears in it now. There's a bit of blood around his mouth and his left eye is swollen. Despite that, when the door closes a moment later, he picks himself up, and looking around at the hold, starts chuckling to himself, progressing from there to a full throated laugh.

The Casino
Smiling, the rabbit hands a marker to the waiter, asking for his usual , and glancing about the table. "Sorry about the drink there, but I'm Morden. Most folks don't call me mister though, doubling down on the Ms would just sound odd, don't you think? And if you don't drink, then." He interrupts to receive his order, something fizzy and effervescent, and take a small sip. "Now, where was I? Oh yes, if you don't drink, and this isn't your usual sort of haunt. "

He paused again, his attention on the cards that were being dealt out. The dealer had a 9 showing, Morden had a pair of sevens, and Terry received a  Queen and a Two. "Think I should split against him? It's a bad hand for me either way."

The meditation room

The moose grimaces, pacing around the room, adjusting his monocle. "Unfortunately my best proof is already out of reach. I sent one of my people into the hold, with a few smuggled weapons for the slaves to help in an uprising. Or he will be in the hold pretty soon. Apart from that, the only proof I can offer is this..." He rummages around in his clothes, and produces a small diary, foolscap bound in some kind of ratty frame, which he hands to Kafzeil. "It's a diary of one of the new Phrantilar storm-troopers. He talks about how his abduction and the 'flight in the sealed room', and how the memories are almost fading, that he's part of the elect, et cetera. Everything else would be locked up in our dear captain's cabin, or perhaps on his bridge."

He looks at Aisha and Kafzeil, glancing back and forth between them. "So, are you with me, or not?"



OOC: Switched the newest slave from ferrit to Coati, to match who said what at the bar earlier. My apologies for the mistake.

[VAE]

"I see... " Vladim nodded to the medic in acknowledgement, and turned towards the captain. "Then we're of the same belief.  Allow me just.."
He unpinned the brass fastener on his chest, took off the green cape, and carefully laid it on one of the benches. The back of his robe had a long slit from about two inches below the neck line to the waist, and whatever poked through looked nothing like fur. 
So it has to be...Hell... are you screwed... that Captain Scarface will hand you your arse in a bucket with the raspberries.... he's quicker, and definitely a lot stronger... hell.. though...  he had range trouble even against the other demon who's just.. what, a foot taller? If I don't let him close up... Just attack after attack, and focus on keeping out of harm's way... This could just about work.

The lynx proceeded to the weapons rack, and without that much more meditation, went through the few staves, picking up one that seemed best length- and balance-wise. 
"The simplest of weapons...and one that tends to be overlooked. Granted, in actual combat, a glaive will kill just so much quicker while needing just about the same skills.. but then, we don't intend to. And as you have noticed... I do have an extra hand, or four."

As he spoke, four dull, grey tentacles about two inches across extended from somewhere in his back, promptly taking position at his sides - two extended near his waist,  while two others placed themselves at about knee level.
The feline bowed, then turned somewhat sideways, gripping the staff a the end and at about a quarter of its length.
"Where words of power are mute, steel will have its word. Or wood, in our case. On guard, captain!"

[Inumo]

Xyrtia jumped at the coatimundi getting thrown into the slavehold, and was planning on dismissing it and returning to blank contemplation of her talons until he started laughing maniacally. Slightly shaken, she stood and slowly approached the man, asking, again in her broken merchant's tongue, "Everything alright?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Jake never thought that he'd miss the humble but plentiful extravagance of the food from the Monastery, as he munched on his meager portions of free-for-all slave rations.  He hummed briefly while biting into a piece of bread that was at least still mostly soft.  If I get any thinner, I'll look like the switch I used to get whipped with, the Gryphon snorted a short chuckle.  Memories of home, even the less-than-pleasant ones, were still good enough to keep him from his brief fits of hopelessness.

He then watched over the various conversations going on among the others, and his eyes settled on Kenyan as his ear pressed to the wall.  I hope that idea works...it's the best one we've got so far.

Sure enough, once the lion could hear well enough, there indeed seemed to be a short fit of scrabbling about in a small storage chamber on the other side.  But soon, those sounds would be drowned out by those of the newest development in the slave hold.

All eyes had turned to witness the spectacle of the iron doors slamming open, their echoes accentuated with the grunting and struggling of a coati, dressed unlike the rest of them, falling onto the floor among the leftovers.  He looked roughed-up, somewhat beaten to a pulp.  Jake's eyebrows raised.  They were already in the air...where would they get new slaves from?  Their own workers?  What is this place?

But yet, faced with a life of servitude and a possible death on the battlefield, the bartender didn't react with panic or blind fear.  He laughed.

Soon enough, standing in front of the newcomer with a nonplussed look on his hard and serious face, arms crossed, was Wallard.

"Whassis then, another victim fer th' pit?  From th' help, no less."  He lightly poked the coati with his leonine foot, eyes narrowed.  "What's so funny, boy?"

Jake stood up, but hung back, curious.  I wonder if he has anything to do with the note.

*     *     *

Aisha continued to listen to the moose's story, her attitude neutral and guarded.  Her eyes followed the journal as it was handed to Kafzeil.  It was hard to decide what to do right then; a luxury cruise and an opportunity to find a lost friend seemed to swiftly be turning into a very risky rescue mission.

She couldn't help but grin just a little.  A possibly dangerous game that would hopefully guarantee the freedom of some individuals who never deserved such treatment...it would be fun.  Keeping her nose out of other peoples' businesses wasn't always her strong suit either anyway, depending on what the business was.

"Say that we do agree to this...or at least I do, for I try not to speak for others," she started with a glance toward Kafzeil, "What would our parts be in this, then?"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel took a discrete step back from the table. This was both to get away from Itangast's prying questions and because the frog was grinning at her. He wasn't going to do anything incriminating while she was watching.

Casting her eyes around the room she came across the odd sight of a clockwork man and a rabbit being all cozy at another table. Why would a clockwork be gambling? She tried not to stare at the odd couple as she attempted to decide if it was so weird that it couldn't possibly be suspicious or just weird enough to be possible. How easy would it be to make a mechanical cheating machine instead of trying to interfere with the magical wards?

She took a seat at the bar to think about if this was probable or not.

[justacritic]

Hobbies went straight to his cabin with little to no trouble on the way. He went over to the collection of performance puppets and his suitcase. From the suitcase, he took out a bundle of scrolls. The fennec then turned to the puppets and slid a certain number of scrolls into hidden slots and secret compartments. The scrolls were an interesting bit of theater magic, in that certain positions, combinations and in extreme cases activation by magic allowed them to create voices speaking different lines of dialogue. Hobbies quickly finished his preparations and stored the puppets into his sleeves though he to expend more energy to start up the necessary spells. However the encounter with the demon couple did little to calm his nerves about this trip. So for extra security Hobbies took with him "Mr. Mud". However there was still so much time to kill until he had to start setting up. Hobbies thought that maybe he could take a look at what rich people gambled like. He left his room to go to the casino and made sure to lock the door behind him.     

[Lisky]

Positively leering at the incubus, Aleyna patted his shoulder and let the medic check him over, "It was a good little stretching to be sure.  I'd say you're probably someone who prefers range given how you blocked and moved.  If you're interested in a spar where the dampener isn't in effect... well... i'm sure we'll have plenty of time to discuss that later.  Enjoy your cruise, while i watch this fight.  Baseel seems to be holding his own fairly well against the captain..."

She stepped back to watch the fight unfold, as Baseel and Hrolhgah.  The larger demon was surprisingly quick to roll to his feet, despite the nasty thump he'd just taken to the gut.  Bowing in reply, he smirked to the captain, "It was indeed a good fight!  Haven't had that kind of a challenge in years.  Most of the adventurers i've come across as of late are bigoted, easily goaded and terribly outclassed."

Returning his weapons to their appropriate racks, the larger demon waved off the medic as he dabbed the bruises and scrapes with a soft towel.  Little blood, but nothing worth calling home over. He stretched and smiled at Aleyna, "Impressive, no?"

"Well, you -did- loose"

"Oh be fair, he's got at least two centuries on me"

"and you have close to foot of reach on him."

"Sush... lets watch how your being friend handles him.  I suspect it may be quite an entertaining show."  

She gave a mirth-filled smile in reply, "I'll give you an entertaining show!"

He smirked and replied, "I'm sure you will... but that's indecent.  Better to wait until we're alone in the room for that type of thing"

Aleyna flicked Baseel's ear, "Must your mind always be in the gutter?"

"Oh please, you know that was just too easy a setup.  Besides, we both know it's true."

Rolling her eyes, Aleyna smirked, "Enjoy your show, loverboy.  I'll catch you in the casino."


Baseel waited for the fight between the captain and Vlad, while Aleyna returned to her room in a considerably better mood.  

Changing into into another revealing dress, the demoness headed out to watch the card games.  She watched and waited, carousing the various games rather than risking any real money for the time being.

[Tapewolf]

Jakob bowed politely, and once checked over, took his leave of the gym.  Changing back into his previous dress, he made his way back to the bar.  And frowned slightly.

"What happened to the other guy?" he asked the new bartender casually.  He can't have changed shifts yet, surely? he thought to himself.

[Aisha deCabre]

At the bar, the white ferret from a while ago was his usual speedy self while taking drink orders and fishing them out...thankfully, as it was nearing the afternoon to evening hours, more people would be taking tables for food instead of drinks, which left him a little more of a break.

Though it didn't help that earlier, the guards had "relieved" his new partner from his duties and carted him off between them.  Hope they don't treat the guy too badly.  He's new, didn't know what he was saying.

Soon enough though, they had put another tender behind the long table, a young armadillo lady.  It was she who was there now, blinking at the gray wolf's question.  "Afraid I'm not sure, stranger," she shrugged while cleaning off a fancy glass.  "They just called me down here, told me I was needed."

"Ah," the ferret kicked in, thankfully noting that he sounded more winded than nervous about the true ordeal.  "Jefton wasn't feeling well, said he had to skip off early.  Hope it's nothing serious, last thing the ship needs is an epidemic."

"Indeed," the armadillo hummed; at least she knew the drill to keep quiet and continue on with her work.  "Now, what can I get ya, sir?"

[Paladin Sheppard]

Eden chuckled, waiting for the deck to be passed to another player and shuffled."Meh, I'm not a big High Roller like some of these Creatures. Closest thing I usually get to a casino is a card, or dice game with my men."

She scooted her chair closer to the table, wings folded behind her as she answered the wolf's question."Pleasure, mostly. Always wanted to rid an airship. Meet new people, see the sights."She leaned on the table."Maybe see if these things can haul cargo down the line."

Eden placed a hand on her cheek."And you sir? What are you doing thousands of feet in the air?"

"A well earned break from work Lass!" The Brown/black Wolf said with a grin as he placed the entry chips on the table and received his cards, making a unsatisfied grunt. "Its been a hard few years with no rest, but then again they say there is to rest for the wicked." Paladin said with a wink.


**************************************

Ephrael grinned at the Ferret bartender as he set up her shots, swiveling around on the stool she was on while she watched him pour the line.

Putting a small stack of gold on the bar as a tab The Diminutive Redhead started on her drinks. "Oh. It's. Quite. Pretty. They. Look. Rather. Soft. And comfy." Eph punctuated every word with a shot.

"Say how often do these things crash? And can I get some more? That raspberry one was nice" She asked pointing to her now empty line of glasses.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Not having any luck staring at the various gaming tables Mel made her way across the room to the bar.  From that vantage point she would hopefully be able to watch for any magical fluctuations over the whole of the casino. She had a better chance of noticing ripples in the suppression field than actually catching anyone in the act of tampering with a single device.

Distracted by her seemingly impossible task Mel absentmindedly ordered a Pink Panda Huggle. It was only when the armadillo handed her the drink with a look of suppressed panic on her face and looking as if she was trying to hold her breath that Mel realized what she had done. The drink was pretty reliably toxic to everyone except fae, dragons, and 17 species of mythos. Well, it wasn't like she was trying very hard to hide her race. It was just with so many prying eyes around discretion was always smart. Hopefully no one realized what she had in her hand. Maybe she could convince people she was one of those shape shifting mythos that looked like slime mold in their natural habitat.

[Kafzeil]

Kafzeil took the book and opened it, taking a few minutes to quickly scan the book, finding a few of the entries the moose was talking about.

Chilling stuff. The book could have been a forgery, but why? And such practices weren't uncommon, or at least unrecorded. Grab some slaves, wipe their memories, instant army of meatsheilds.

The angel's lip pulled back a bit, briefly flashing a few white, sharp teeth. Simply disgusting, that people would do such a thing!

The pieces did fit to an extent. Nobody would suspect a luxury crew, after all, of carrying a cargo of war slaves.

A shred of anger in his voice, and Kafzeil handed the journal to Aisha.They had nothing concrete, nothing damning. And yet, the sheer possibility that below his feet, that the Captain was carrying a cargo of slaves was enough for him. He'd at least investigate this.

"Yes, what is your plan?"He tried calming himself down, breathing deeply. "If what you say is true, then it must be stopped."
*******
Eden nodded, grabbing her cards.

"I quite understand myself, actually. So what do you do for work, Sir?"

[Tapewolf]

"Lemonade will be fine," Jakob said.  "And here's hoping he's back soon."

I'm not sure they're being honest with me, he thought but let it go.

Just then he was struck by another thought.  How badly is this magic suppressor going to interfere with my ability to feed?  He wondered.  Will it interfere with my mental processes?  Will I need to sleep?  I could ask, but so far everyone seems to think I'm an Angel and this would blow it.  Maybe I can ask that Hobbes guy...

"Okay," he said, "I should probably order some food too.  What's today's special?"

[justacritic]

Really what's the fun and excitement in throwing bundles and bundles of money out the window? I'll never understand the extremely rich Hobbies watched bids thrown, hands folded, slots spinning and Roulette wheels rotating. What's more all the high emotion, none of it clean gave the incubus a headache even through the magic dampener. It was explained to him that mind reading magic was utterly blocked by the magic dampener, the cruise crew was rather vague on the effects relating to emotion feeding though with the utter amount of disappointment, contained fury, snotty pride, and various other emotions being driven to a fever high pitch with all the gambling going on, Hobbies wasn't surprised if some emotional energy leaked through the dampener.
      Hobbies spotted the demoness from earlier stalking the poker, blackjack, and various other card games in a dress. It was considered a dress even though most dresses do not show that much skin. Still seeing her around made Hobbies nervous again. Ugh I hope she doesn't see me. He turned right around and headed to the bar, he needed some tea, perhaps some chamomile to calm his nerves. He gritted his teeth, not a good way to start the voyage so far.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

The Gymnasium


The captain pulled his lathe blade from the floor and turned to face Vladim, raising the blade in salute before dropping into an almost fencing stance , trying to present a narrow a target as possible to the longer ranged extremities arrayed against him.  He darted around, looking for an opening in the moving wall of wood and tentacle, but none were immediately available, and he was reduced to making exploratory taps against where he thought a tentacle might dart or the staff might stand.

Vladim, sensing weakness, advanced, staff pushing forward down the middle, and his elongating hydraulic tentacles whirring around the sides, attempting to grip and tear away the captain's weapon, or to simply pound into his shoulders or chest. The captain parried the incoming tendrils, his wooden weapon a blur in his hands, but the number of incoming threats forced him into a slow, grudging retreat.

Perhaps it was the giddy thought of being on the offensive against an old Demon, but Vladim pushed his advantage a bit too hard,  thrusting with the end of his staff toward the demon's abdomen. Quick as a serpent's tongue, the captain sidestepped and brought his lathe blade in a downward beat, and then sprung forward, taking hits with the tentacles to his shoulders and wings, but only growling in irritation at the impacts.

Eyes blazing, the captain stomped forward with his left foot, pinning Vladim's boot down, and while the pseudotentacles flail across his shoulders and back, he thrusted his practice blade up and to the sternum with an audible *thud*. Smiling  apologetically as he withdrew, he  brought his muscled arms together for a trio of staccato claps. "I've no doubt that'd be a mortal wound if I used steel, but no doubt if you were going full force with your tendrils I'd be left with some scars at the least; and perhaps you'd have incapacitated me before I was able to finish.  I'm impressed."

He heads to the weapon rack, snapping a smart salute again to Vladim before he drops it off.

The First Deck Bar

The ferret grinned back at Ephrael, taking the shot glasses and cleaning them with a soft cloth, although more out of a sense of image than that they truly needed them. He filled it up with dark red liquid, and smiled to himself "We never crash. This ship is the largest thing in the sky, and it's got a ton of defenses around the bag in case someone tried to shoot us down for some insane reason." He dropped the glass in front of the Tazmanian devil, "Here's one more, but be careful, you're a little lass and you've already had quite a bit. I'm afraid I will have to cut you off if you have trouble talking or walking. Sure I can't get you anything merely aqueous, to space it out?"


The Meditation room.

The moose darts a glance around, and sure that there are no eavesdroppers, he continues, although worry or secrecy makes him lower his voice until it's difficult to hear clearly.

"Well, like I said, I've got a man on the inside, and he's got a few smuggled weapons, but I'm sure they have some kind of system for remotely incapacitating resistance in the hold, should things get out of hand. Some kind of gas weapon would be my bet. The bridge would be the logical area for such a mechanism, secure against wandering prying eyes.

Now I have a means...... which I cannot divulge just yet, but I have a means of communicating with my confederate. We need an opening, and a time to strike. We don't need to occupy the bridge indefinitely, just long enough for the slaves to make it into the passenger deck and be seen. That shouldn't take more than a few minutes. But we'll need a way to get most of the crew away from the bridge and approach it in secret. I do have one person I think I can call upon for help with a degree of certainty in the passenger rolls, but other than that, I'm afraid it will be just the four of us, unless either of you have any other allies we can enlist?"

He looks at the pair of you hopefully.

The Slavehold

The Coatimundi stops laughing and turns to Xyrtia, bowing low to her and then again to the rest of the slaves.

"Did you get the note? We couldn't be sure when I'd be able to get in here, but I was lucky, an opportunity came quickly. Worth a few bruises and a bit of blood. We're here to rescue you all, to uncover the corruption in the system and blow this stinking den of iniquity wide open. But I don't just have promises."

He reaches into his mouth, pulls something, and twists out a tooth, or a very good facsimile of one. Fiddling with it for a second, he pops out a small capsule. "Poison puff. Crush it, throw the powder in someone's face, and they'll be choking. Very useful, and I've got a hidden knife and a small charge wand, although I'm not sure if that'll work in the damper. And they're stupid, they let me keep my clothes. A bit of work and the steel toes in the boots can be made into something weaponized, I'm sure. The laces might have some small use. But we're going to get you out of here, you'll all be free."


He's positively beaming, and it looks like a bit of encouragement would send him jumping up and down in excitement. "So, you guys will work to tear down the corruption in our major power balancing system when you're out, right? The Phrantlarian-Helfrinian conflict doesn't serve anyone's interest other than a few elites who grow fat off of all the skullduggery, on the backs of people like you. Think of the effect you could have on the masses!"

[Angel]

The squeaking and scuffling he heard was a relief, but Kenyan's success was put quite sharply out of his thoughts by the arrival of the coatimundi to the slave hold. With a sigh, the lion walked over to listen with the other slaves. As the arrested ship staff went from laughing maniacally to speaking enthusiastically about his mission, Kenyan stood still and listened. He didn't understand some of what the coati said, but he understood enough to know he didn't like the last part. He turned over what few words he had comprehended carefully in his head - words like "tear down", "power balancing", and "masses" - and found the reason. Beings were better at subtext than animals, but even in the talk of causes he didn't know about, it was obvious what the young man wanted. Childish territory battles were the most basic of conflicts to figure out. Anger burned behind Kenyan's orange eyes, but he looked at Willard before speaking to their would-be salvation.

"Excuse me," he said when the young man had ended. "Forgive me if what I say is strange; I have trouble speaking. I am glad to hear that someone cares if we live or die on this horrid ship, and grateful to you and your friends for working to help us. I know that many of us here thank you for that. What the others tell you they will do is their choice, but before I choose, I would like to ask you something."

He was only able to partially quell the fire in his eyes as he asked.

"Are you saying that the only reason you are saving us from men who will force us to fight and die for their cause, is so that we can fight and die for yours?"

[Inumo]

All those words. So many words, so many that she didn't understand. Xyrtia quickly backed out of the developing discussion and went looking for Mateo in the growing mass of slaves. It was the only face she really recognized. "Mateo," she said in her awkward, yet deliberate merchant's tongue when she found him. "I don't understand. What is happening?"

[Tezkat]

Mateo blinked, trying to take in the sudden revelation. He couldn't even begin to understand all the complicated political issues Kenyan was worried about. He grasped the important part, though: They were going to get out of this horrible place.

"I... I don't know, Xyrtia. I think he's saying he's going to rescue us."

He turned to the strange new arrival. "Is it true? Can you get us out of here?"

It was almost too much to hope for. How were they supposed to get past an army of guards and spellcasters armed with just a knife and a dose of choking powder? But the man was so infectiously confident...

Mateo looked down at his manacled wrists and sighed. Maybe these big fighter types would be able to do something, but the slavers had subdued him pretty easily even with his magic. He didn't much fancy his chances without it.

[Tapewolf]

At the bar, Jakob was starting to get a little bored, though he tried hard not to show it outwardly.  Given how much my Lord paid for this flight, he thought, You'd think the service would be a little faster...

As he waited, he glanced around the bar again, trying to spot some kind of menu for food.