Seaside 3: A load of carp

[Deathkeeper]

Island Bunker

Sam smiles. Everything's operational, and she's looking pretty awesome. He'll make sure she gets somewhere she can be useful, but until then having a sweet android bodyguard sounds pretty epic.
"Glad you're all up and running, TTN. You should show me around the place so we can gather all the useable supplies before we leave this place behind. Uh, is TTN what you like to be called? Once we get out of there you probably shouldn't use my real name. I pissed off a mob by not killing a guy once and it's probably best that they never find out where I went." he says, half-truthing his way past that one.

[Shadowcaller]

Near a Waterfall

Faithel drops her gear into a pile on the ground and starts strapping it on. "A mu'tant? Then what do you call those toe-things?" She gestures at them. "Or those, ah, round eers? I heard that humans are offspring of giants up dere in northrend. Doesn't that make you a mutant?" She has been able to put on pants now at least, so progress.

[Shadowcaller]

[Bayside Seas]

The strike comes from below, a single individual in powered armor with thruster systems installed boosting upward towards Old Glory like a speeding missile out of the water, a heavy gauntlet crackling with devastating energy encasing the right hand, and a heavy beam cannon held in the left, prodigious augmented and power-armored strength allowing this utter disregard for weight. The advanced thrusters on the back flare with bright white energy as the over-augmented and equipped Vice Commander rockets towards her destination, raising her power-wreathed fist to slam into the hull with a crushing impact from strength, speed, and deadly armor-shattering burning energy.

All the while, something is suddenly off about the air in the area. The wind stops and goes still before picking up again, differently, but if anyone's paying attention they'll soon realize the air's begun to rotate.

Centered on the flagship.

[Bayside Seas]

"By mother seas ********* tits!" Juliano screams as the ship suddenly rocks back and fourth, nearly throwing him off it. He holds onto the figurehead for his dear life, trying to get a look at his enemy, but the skies were still clear. What was going on?!
As the ship stops shaking for a moment, he looks up at the figurehead and notice that tears are falling down her wooden face, Old Glory was weeping. "They have blown a huge hole in my hull, captain. Many crewmen are dead and the is a fire spreading the the lower decks. I don't think I can take another hit like that, I'm dying." She declared in a shrill voice that made Juliano's heart sink. Was this some kind of nightmare? Was his faithful ship actually being destroyed by a enemy they couldn't even see?
"I can also feel the winds changing." She continued, dutifully, despite her injuries. "I think our enemy might be controlling it somehow."

"Err... I'll fix it, Glory! I'll swear I'll get you out of this one as well!" Whatever it took. He couldn't see her in tears like this.

Juliano mustered all his strength and swung around the figurehead, landing on the deck where he pointed at the nearest panicked crewman. "Ragh, white flag, NOW!"

For a moment the orc started at him like was mad, and perhaps he was at the moment, but he found no reason to protest a direct order. After a frantic search after the damn thing, the white flag raises from Old Glory for the first time in her long life.

Underneath the ship, the devastation of the blast is all too evident, the only thing that had saved from being blown out of the sky in one single blast had been its magically reinforced hull. Yet the bodies of dozens of crewmen now lay motionless on the floor, if not thrown overboard immediately by the blast, and fires rises as the blast made several gunpowder kegs explode.

[Darkcomet]

[Bayside Seas]

Well that's a remarkable stroke of luck. At the size of that explosion, the Vice Commander sees the damage and how much damage there seemed to be, and elects to float up to the deck properly. Between the power fist itself and her armor and augmentations, she was in better shape than most would be after punching something something like that which promptly exploded. Still, one would expect that to cause problems - it's not clear, though.

What is clear is that someone with the previously mentioned equipment floats up to the deck and lands, noting the white flag, beam cannon held aloft in one hand as she goes over those present and how likely it is that she'll have problems. All in all, she sounds almost disappointed when she speaks up.

"...I feel like I over-prepared for this."

The wind distortion seems to stop, but could easily pick up again.

[Shadowcaller]

[Bayside Seas]

Julliano stands at deck, scanning the seas for his invisible enemy. Would they at least reveal themselves now? They had gotten a lucky hit, that much was clear. The few reports he had gotten in was that they had managed to strike the gunpowder storage. Since of ******* course they had. How had lady luck turned against him this quickly?

Then his foe suddenly makes a appearance, a metal clad, human (he would assume), figure. As he takes a step back, he sees his crew aiming their guns in the direction of the newcomer, but just confidentially raise his hand. "Easy there, lads. Let me talk."
After getting a good look at his foe, he started to understand the situation, they were being hit by a technologically advanced foe, probably more this human was a part of a group, and equipped with stealth tech. However, there were no humans around with such advanced tech, not in Seaside anyway, so either they were nexus newcomers or from the mainland.

"Who are you? I am Captain Juliano and this is my ship, and fleet, that are you are attacking." The goblin dares to demand. While he had risen the white flag, this was still his ship and he could demand whatever he wanted.
His eyes narrow. "Are you from Inside?" He guesses, gears turning in his head.

[Darkcomet]

[Bayside Seas]

"Oh, yes, and I'm sure you can see the issue once that enters the picture. UDN charter, someone deciding they might want to join up for protection, and there just happen to be these pirates in the region. It was inevitable. Personally, I prefer to be a bit more diplomatic, but I am afraid the end decision doesn't come from me." She's awfully casual about it, like this is just some regular old business. "So I ended up in the position where I was going to punch through the hull, board, and not survive until a storm blew in and smashed anyone that didn't retreat. Absolute minimum risk for us, and once that's over, we can move in with only tattered remnants of resistance. And what is the population going to care if we do it so cleanly? They suffer pirates lording over them, if we were to establish a presence, no one would especially care, and we get a new headquarters with less dedication to chaos."

The Vice Commander shrugs. "So you can retreat to better waters, or not. I'm not some bloodshed-crazed maniac about to demand that you stand and fight. But even if you repelled me, your chances would be extremely poor, especially in this region. After all, the wind is with me." A gust of wind brushes past the pirate captain to punctuate that. The implications of the power she talks about are horribly bleak if it's as powerful as it looks. The Sea of Storms would only make it worse, since any force with her could operate there freely.

"In other words, take your fleet, surrender, retreat, it doesn't matter so long as you and yours never trouble us in the future. If you refuse, I can simply survive until the storm claims the fleet instead. I'd prefer to keep it relatively clean, but there you have it."

[Shadowcaller]

[Bayside Seas]

The way she was saying 'pirates' told Juliano all he needed to know about this humans intentions and allegiances. "Last time I checked, the unions jurisdiction ended in Inside." He replies with barely contained resentment as he stares up at the vice-commander. "If you are planning to extend it all over seaside, you're not going to get a warm welcome, and seaside is way too big for you to enforce, there are entire nations around here, lady."

[Darkcomet]

[Bayside Seas]

"We're not planning anything that ambitious. This was simply convenient - eliminate an existing problem, avoid all future concerns about defending shipping, and get an easier base to operate from at the same time," she explains, all very matter-of-fact. "Of course, how cleanly it goes is up to you now. What will it be?"

[Murkus]

[Crab Party]

Fetty hesitates for a second before running after Anchor...

And Zhareen's crabby conductor is tackled off his scuttling tide by a spry young woman! They land together in the sand, the creature's texture gross and glistening beneath her fingers... Then, beneath her teeth! It tastes rubbery and bland, but is overall only about as tough as regular crab meat.

"What... is the meaning of this!" gibbers the creature, thrashing!

Fetty, for his part, stops at the edge of the tide of crabs, which is currently surging and churning on it's own. He sticks his blue tongue out, then aims his eyes up at Zhareen. "Uh... jump?" He says. Can she jump? Or something like it? "I'll catch you?" Sure, that. Catch the upper half of her, maybe. "I'll save the prettiest parts of you, at least!"

[Recaiden]

Hmm. Not very flavorful. That's okay though. After those sweet fruity drinks, bland is good.

"You're carrying Zhareen away on a wave of tiny crab demons!"
"That makes you a bad guy!"
"Bad guys get eaten!"
It's all very self-evident.

Anchor wrestles with the slippery thing, trying to keep it on the ground. She's not very coordinated at the moment, but she is willing to take another bite out of it.

[Shadowcaller]

[Bayside Seas]

So that was he was to them, a 'existing problem', hmph.
He had no illusions of actually fighting them though, while he could list all kinds of good characteristics for his fleet, 'loyalty' was not one of them. There was no way these scoundrels would fight to the death for him, even if these Union-people somehow trapped them in the bay, they would mix with the civilians in the city and this would be anything but clean. Better retreat back and observe, there were other cities and with his fleet still intact, even if he expect some people leaving simply since ha had given up the city without a fight, he would still provide them with plunder, at least as soon as he had acquired a new place to maintain his airships and airplanes. That would likely be the most difficult part of this departure.

"I have some arrangements to take care of first, old alliances and such, give me two days and the city will be yours without a single shoot fired." Is Juliano's offer. "And you still haven't told me who you are."

[Darkcomet]

[Bayside Seas]

"Very well, if you insist. If you wish to contact me in the future, you can pass your objections to Office of the Vice Commander. But more importantly, your two days begin now. Goodbye." Should it not be blocked, the Vice Commander proceeds to vanish in a column of shimmering green light.

Juliano is probably pretty sure the UDN doesn't regularly use teleporters, but he has other things to worry about after that.

[Shadowcaller]

[Bayside Seas]

"Hmph, we'll see about that." Juliano replies before the Vice Commander disappears.
He then turns to his crew. "What are you waiting for?! Start preparing for departure!"

The pirate crew immediately gets to work as Juliano retreated back to his cabin, he had a lot of call to make. He had to warn his allies of this impending Union invasion.

[Shadowcaller]

[Bayside

In two days time, the fleet will for the first time in ages completely leave Bayside behind. The citizens are confused by the sudden departure, the pirates had left without as much as a explanation, only leaving a skeleton crew of town guards and a number of deserters behind.

Now the town was nearly completely exposed though, just waiting for the next fleet of invaders to claim it...

[Crab Party]

"Umm..." This was a very odd man! He really though he could catch her, huh?
Well, she had to get out either way to make sure they didn't kill the demon for her. She needed it to find the staff!
So she attempts to wiggle out of the crabs grip so she can land on... Fetty, she guesses. Poor guy, Zhareen weights a lot.

[Deathkeeper]

Island Bunker

"It is tradition for a Bolo's commander to give it a nickname based off of its letter designation." TTN explains as she looks down at her arms and begins to move them in a carefully selected array of motions to make sure she is operating at peak performance. "A-T-R for Arthur or G-R-G for George for example. As for your name, what do you wish for me to call you?" She asks.

Island Bunker

Sam tries to think about that but nothing really springs to mind.
"Uh, are you sure? You're your own person. I....tee? Tye-t? I don't really know a name with two T's. As for me uh, something short, maybe? I'm really bad with names, okay? You're free to make suggestions. "
he says, wishing he could actually be a little more helpful.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Temple of the False Dog?]

Jazirian arrives here, following the directions given to MERC by the client. Though he had flown most of the way across the ocean in his natural form, he had opted to dive low for the final approach and lands on the beach, shifting into a more subtle form. A small blonde human is much less noticeable than a gold dragon, one would assume. He looks around, trying to get his bearings.

[Shadowcaller]

[Rockarull Seadistrict]

'Temple' wouldn't be the right thing to call this place, as according to the adventurers guide of seaside, the island was, during the imperial days, used for quote, unquote, 'entertainment purposes'. Back in the days, there was apparently a huge illusion of a couple of lightly dressed gnolls floating above the island, but it was later dispelled by a bunch of goblin adventurers for being "disgusting".
After that, the island have had little value for adventurers as it has been completely ransacked, stripping every building completely bare of anything of value (for adventurers).

Of course, Jazarian probably doesn't know any of this, which is just as well as the new owners of it has quite a few changes. For one, there is now signs warning in all sorts of languages warning intruders from, well, intruding. But to really get the point across, there are also patrols of gnolls and huge black golems patrolling the beaches.
Jazarian will be able to see such a patrol coming towards him in the distance, they don't appear to have noticed him yet, likely since every gnoll in the group are carrying parasols and wearing sunglasses to protect themselves from the sun.
There is little possibility to hide on the beach, if he desires that, but the jungle before him might offer more cover.

[UncleWolf]

Near a Waterfall

Faithel drops her gear into a pile on the ground and starts strapping it on. "A mu'tant? Then what do you call those toe-things?" She gestures at them. "Or those, ah, round eers? I heard that humans are offspring of giants up dere in northrend. Doesn't that make you a mutant?" She has been able to put on pants now at least, so progress.

Near a Waterfall

"I do not know what you have heard about humans, but my kind are not descended from giants of any kind. Ogryns are a variant of sub-humans, but that is all I know of." Sorrow explains as she pulls her jump pack on and straps Sorrowsong onto her waist. "As far as being a mutant, I am genetically pure. That is what matters to me." She adds before pulling her helm on and hiding her face once more.

Island Bunker

Sam smiles. Everything's operational, and she's looking pretty awesome. He'll make sure she gets somewhere she can be useful, but until then having a sweet android bodyguard sounds pretty epic.
"Glad you're all up and running, TTN. You should show me around the place so we can gather all the useable supplies before we leave this place behind. Uh, is TTN what you like to be called? Once we get out of there you probably shouldn't use my real name. I pissed off a mob by not killing a guy once and it's probably best that they never find out where I went." he says, half-truthing his way past that one.

Island Bunker

The massive robot seems to consider the question for a bit, as if surprised that she was being asked about what she preferred to be called. "I do not mind being called TTN, but if it is inconvenient for you then call me Titania, after a character from an old play. If you are being hunted down however, I would be obliged to end such threats with extreme prejudice." She explains as she begins walking to the crates near the entrance of the hanger. "If you do not have a preferred moniker, then perhaps William will do." She suggests as one hand rips apart a crate without any concern for its structure, showing a large weapon's case inside. If the size of the case is any indication, then it is likely whatever lay within was for her and not for anyone human sized.

[Deathkeeper]

Island Bunker

'Will' blinks at the case. "Uh, yeah, Will works. Uh, whatcha got there?" he asks, awed at the sheer size of the thing. That thing...that thing can't be a gun could it?

[Murkus]

[Crab Party]

"E-enough!" Cries the demon, seeming increasingly disquieted. Perhaps by the thorough logic, perhaps by the biting. It whips one of it's fleshy hands meaningfully over Anchor's back, and a surge of telekinetically controlled crabs tries to knock her off the strange pink creature!

"I gotcha, I gotcha-- mmph!" Fetty, meanwhile, is buried by a whole lot of Zhareen. He certainly doesn't catch her, but he will break the lady's fall at least! He's pasted into the sand underneath her large form. He seems... perhaps just a little disoriented.

[Recaiden]

Crab's aren't supposed to move that way!
"Hey! No fair!"
Anchor is swept away by the surge of crustaceans, and now just struggling to get them off and away. There are so many!

[Shadowcaller]

Near a Waterfall

"I do not know what you have heard about humans, but my kind are not descended from giants of any kind. Ogryns are a variant of sub-humans, but that is all I know of." Sorrow explains as she pulls her jump pack on and straps Sorrowsong onto her waist. "As far as being a mutant, I am genetically pure. That is what matters to me." She adds before pulling her helm on and hiding her face once more.

[Crab Party]

"E-enough!" Cries the demon, seeming increasingly disquieted. Perhaps by the thorough logic, perhaps by the biting. It whips one of it's fleshy hands meaningfully over Anchor's back, and a surge of telekinetically controlled crabs tries to knock her off the strange pink creature!

"I gotcha, I gotcha-- mmph!" Fetty, meanwhile, is buried by a whole lot of Zhareen. He certainly doesn't catch her, but he will break the lady's fall at least! He's pasted into the sand underneath her large form. He seems... perhaps just a little disoriented.

Near a Waterfall

"Gene-pure? Is that a good or a bad thing?" Faithel muses, sounding like she isn't really taking Sorrow seriously. Strapping on her gear rather haphazardly. "Does that mean you're corruption free? Is that the same thing?" She knew what corruption was at least.

[Crab Party]

Poor Fetty will get a whole lot of merfolk landing on top then. "Oh dear! Oh dear! I'm so sorry! I thought you would catch me!" Then again, Fetty was awfully tiny... she attempts to move off him and help him up. Hopefully he wasn't that badly hurt.

[UncleWolf]

Near A Waterfall

"It is a good thing, yes, though it is not the same as being free of corruption." Sorrow says, her voice turning...sorrowful. "To be gene-pure means to lack mutation or psykana. To be free of corruption means your soul has not been touched by The Warp or the Dark Gods. I still serve my God-Emperor, but I am not so naive as to believe that I am still pure of soul." She admits, actually managing to sound truly saddened by the fact.

Island Bunker

"According to the bunker manifests, it should be a Mark Twelve Triplex-Pattern Man-Portable Heavy Plasma Rifle." Titania explains as she opens the case to reveal a remarkably large rifle and a pair of thick power cables. The triple barreled rifle seems to come with three large drum magazines and the BOLO takes a moment to pick it up and inspect it before attaching the power cables to a pair of nodes on her right arm before plugging them into the gun. It gives a high pitched whir as it powers up. "It can fire twelve rounds per second but standard procedure is to fire no more than three as the heat will warp the barrels and cause the entire system to explode if one is not careful. Each drum carries thirty-six rounds, but I do not believe I have manufacturing capabilities to make more so I will have to conserve them." She explains before lifting up the bottom of the case to reveal a second weapon too.

"The case also contains a close-combat blade. Single-edged and weighing twenty kilos, it is titanium with a tungsten vibro-blade edge. I believe both weapons were made with my stature in mind." She remarks as she pulls out the massive blade and looks it over before putting it in a scabbard on her back. "Are you ready, William?" She asks, looking down at him.

[Deathkeeper]

Island Bunker

"Uh....huh." Will chokes out at the sight of the massive gun. She's not a tank but she could probably smash open a small fort with that thing.
"My case just has clothes in it, mostly. Uh, I think you know the place better than I do, so you can lead out from here. I'll uh, pick up anything or push any buttons if the halls are too small for you." he suggests.

[Murkus]

[Crab Party]

"Perish!" Demands the flibbidy flobbidy, as his demon hordes pour over Anchor with a snicker-snack of their wicked claws! Yes, there's quite a lot of them. Though they're still only as strong as... well, crabs.

Fetty moans. "Ooooh..." The neon boy slaps a hand to his head and moves stiffly. "Y-you're heavy... and I'm stupid..." Fetty declares, as he's hauled upwards. He doesn't seem to have broken anything, at least.

[UncleWolf]

Island Bunker

"The servos for the hanger doors have been destroyed over time, so we will have to leave through the front." TTN explains as she leads the way. On the way out she'll stop by a store room and open a few crates. Inside, she'll pack a military bag with an advanced rifle and pistol, with plenty of ammunition for both, as well as a knife and some spectacularly old and iffy looking ration packs just in case. The weapons are for someone William's size so are more than likely meant for him but she doesn't remark as she packs it all away. She grabs a few brick sized blocks wrapped in foil as well but doesn't explain what they are even when asked. William might notice they had skulls and warnings printed all over the foil though.

When they get to the entrance, she opens the door, revealing a crude tunnel on the other side. There's enough room for both of them to stand up, though if there's any fighting there might be issues with it being a bit tight. "Remember where this place is, Will. It will last for the rest of your life time if need be. Should something happen, remember the code I gave you and that will unlock the front door, got it?" She asks. No matter his answer, she's clearly ready to venture forth and will do so.

[Recaiden]

"Ow!"
Anchor gets back to her feet, brushing crabs off. Yes, they're pinchy, but...

"I'm not that easy to kill." she insist to the flobbity-floop. "But these?" She stomps on one of the little crabs, just to show how weak they are. Then she speaks a magic word, too sharp and strange even to be properly written down, with the intended effect of overloading the demon crabs with all the pain and suffering their tiny crab minds can hold.

[Deathkeeper]

Island Bunker

Will nods, happy that TTN is looking out for him, though he does stop to fumble through his pockets and save the door code onto a little PDA he had. With that, he'll keep carrying his suitcase and let the android carry the heavier pack as they head out the door.

[Morty]

[Island Bunker]

When the pair exit the tunnel, they will find some things on the other side of the hatch that they perhaps weren't expecting. It appears to have been crossed with a pair of planks, and several signs are posted. The planks are easily broken if they so choose, and the signs are covered in a strange, asymmetric script. There are also various fairly universal pictograms that denote danger and bar entry, though. There are circular signs with a picture of a long-eared person crossed with a red bar, for one thing.

It seems someone found the hatch and decided they'd rather not find out what's on the other side.

[UncleWolf]

Island Bunker

TTN simply breaks the boards, but she does take note of the scrawl and pictures, storing them for later within her memory banks. "It seems there is civilization here after all." She speaks before kneeling down and placing a hand on the ground. Her sight flickers through several different filters, trying to see if there are any visible signs of tracks, trails, or the like. She also raises a small antennae on her head, trying to register if there are any signs of radio traffic or other electrical signals near by.