Golden Hunter: A divinely bloodied eye.
In the distance, gleaming as if starlight and moonlight were not impeded by beast and cloud, on a simple raft amid the churning waters, a golden figure can just be seen.
Dirk is yelling out orders to his crew and starts to move forward to the bow. he takes his arm and bites it.
A furrow creases Maggie's brow as her concentration is divided and sort of compartmentalized. One section sees to the wind in their sails for they dare not slow down. Another sends flickers of fire to ignight amid the feathers of the host above. Another... She spots the Solar Flare rise off to one side, spin in that slowly graceful pirouette and fall back into the sea. Her eyes widen and she whispers, 'no'... then cries out, "Kerf!" Little good it will do, that call, for he cannot hear her and she cannot stop what she is doing. It is a sound filled with anguish, likely lost to the tummult of hunting and dying birds around them. The gleam of the hunter on his raft is spotted and filled with an urge to end the monster, Maggie angles the wind such that the catamaran is sent zooming and skipping along the water toward their foe.
Liya concentrates with all her all, fighting to get things away, her attention turning to Maggie at her call, and then swiftly turning to the sea critters, with all her empathic experience and strength. She'll have a headache to beat all headaches, but she right now does her best to keep the critters away from the Solar Flare.
Harper's expression twists into a snarl as birds flit and zoom and whirl around the ship. She fires as she can, aiming through one or two to get to a third. Skewered bird-kabobs fall into the sea to feed the Hunt below. The Solar Flare's plight is spotted and she blinks. Sadly, the distraction costs her as a gull swoops in close and tries to take off her ear. The scales that protect bark-like skin have the gull's beak skittering across her face toward her eye as the Ranger lifts an arm to knock the bird aside. A whirl and she brings an arrow up to pierce the bird with the tip. Blood, both hers and the bird's splashes along her arm, across her chest and down to the deck.
Ruby smears a palm against the slashes upon her flesh, her calloused flesh like a squeegee and letting her get a quick gander on whether it's shallow enough to ignore the gore. She applies her hand to her thigh to rid herself of slickness and ducks to the side as an avian nearly scores another wound. She gets the bow back into position and stops mucking about so much. She nearly takes two arrows in her effort to catch up and starts trying to build a rythmn like the other archers who kept their heads. She nearly breaks the bowstring when she sends off a particularly hard shot into the swooping and diving masses.
It's at least clear now why Quinlan took a position on the mast; the lightning he creates comes *from him*, from where he stands, and being above the deck lets him lance the bolts into the water all around the ship. Which he's doing, his face a flat mask of concentration, keeping the sea creatures that get too near the Coconut stunned and easy marks for their mates in the Hunt.
And the golden figure grows closer...and bigger. It's clear now, he's not human-sized.
Dirk keeps watching the hunter with a smile on his face, "what now?"
For now, the Coconut is not the Hunter's concern, it seems. His course is set for Amber; as the ship skims and skips its way over the water to its target, those aboard who can spare a moment from survival can see a golden trident in one hand, pointed ahead on a route that will take that little raft to Amber. Those who can sense living animal minds, can tell the raft is carried by living beings. It is not the waves the Hunter commands, but the creatures within them.
Dirk gives orders for a change of direction and a speedy hauling of ass.
Dirk yells "get us close to the raft and prepare for boarding!"
As the great tower of displaced water geysers into the air, marine denizens of all species and zones are spewed along with it, left to drop while flolloping madly. Some of them are speared by arrows, others by great fisher beaks. The SF herself plunges rapidly below the surface, her occupants likely tossed up against several walls and dozens of odd instruments. Who knows what manner of deadly functions have been activated; how many things that go bing! are now going bing! a whole lot faster? While the ballasts ensure that the submersible will come to its senses right-side up, the big bony fish and cephalopods hurl themselves upon the hull, shaking and jerking the Opalwood hull like a tilt-a-whirl ride at the carnival. Abruptly, the bullying lessens to a dull rocking, as Liyandra's efforts take effect, and Merrisol crawls and pulls himself back to the periscope to see what the others are up to.
Harper ducking through the mayhem at the bow of the ship, Harper leans her shoulder up to rub at a trickle of blood that wends its way through the crevaces of her skin. Reaching down to a sheath at her belt, she draws what appears to be a long hunting knife. "Dirk. Give it back when you finish with it, please. It was a gift." The woman flips the knife to offer it to Dirk hilt first and the metal glints and gleams dully in the light of fires and lightning.
Dirk takes the knife and nods" sure thing jelly bean.!"
Maggie flickers another glance toward the sea where the Solar Flare went back beneath the waves. Worry! But, she does spot Lyiandra leaning over to offer the sea creatures reason to leave the sub alone. The woman is given a hugely grateful look, then Maggie turns back to the job of skimming the ship closer and closer to the remarkably large golden figure. She nods to Dirk, focusing more on speed than the hunt. Might have been a poor choice as birds circle her position, shrieking their intent to disembowel her loudly enough that even she; without the aid of bird-speach, can understand them. Fire. Everything burns...
Miriam's attention has been wholly on the wind and current and the predators attacking them, her expression dark and increasingly aggressive. Each winged creature that is flung against the deck or hard into the water causes her to smile a little and just causes the next wind strike to be all the more fierce. Fortunately, she is so far able to keep her focus on their attackers, though those strikes are getting a little close to some of the others.
Ruby follows on after Harper. After catching her insane skill at using her bow, if she's on the move, it must be important to follow. And ahead is the actual Golden Hunter. "Oh my Bog..." Eyes wide and shivering with adrenaline, she catches up in time to watch Harper hand over her own knife and her thoughts congeal. She jerks her head towards the distant raft, back to Dirk, and then back to the raft. She starts bouncing on the balls of her feet. Psyching herself up, eyes wide and lips pressed so hard together they're turning a different colour. "Roight!" She drops the bow in her hand and yanks the storm pistol up from her back hard enough to almost jersey herself. Like she was trying to dress a potentially difficult sibling, she drapes the holster like a bandoleer crosswise over Dirk's torso. "Prolly need both fookin 'ands!" she yells above the screeching and cawing cacophony, her own voice adding to the din. She leans and looms trying to peer into Dirk's eyes. "Evah wanted tah know 'ow cannonbawwls feel?!" she shows her teeth.
Spotting through the froth of bloodied waves and the whizzing clouds of raptors and fishers, the GC veering on an intercept attempt with a rudimentary craft and its huge gleaming occupant, Merrisol chews his lip in dazed thought, then nods decisively. "To your stations," he barks to the equally-battered navigator and comm officer. Soon the groaning submarine tilts into a sharp descent, out of the teeming morass of predators. Her rails and rudders trail enough fish gore to fill shiphold full with chum, so she continues to attract the wrath of the Hunt as she circles the area under the catamaran. In Operations, Merrisol tests the external amps, then thumbs a couple of switches on the periscope column. The huge crystal spheres set on the equine figurehead begin to emit sparks of light from their depths... And he resumes his laborious commune with the riotous host of devourers while he waits to see what those on board the Coconut are going to do to re-introduce Dirk to the God of the Hunt.
Dirk says, "Ruby remind me to kiss you and propose marriage!"
Dirk smooches Ruby! cause he's gonna die!
Liya is seriously busy, though it looks like she's not doing a thing. But then, silent empathic BACK OFF messages - those aren't visible. The mental effort results in her hands fisting at her side, as she works at it. And of course, since she's concentrating on the beasties in the water, that means that a bird or two comes flying at her. Automatically, she ducks, just at the very last minute and those glass shears, at her waist are pulled, in hand, and used against the inclose enemies, sending bird bits skittering off into the water.
Harper looks up as Ruby comes closer. She lifts her bow to fire an arrow over the other woman's shoulder to end a swooping albatros or... whatever it is. Stepping out of the way while Ruby slings the storm pistol bandalliero around Dirk's shoulder. A half smile begins, for that? Is a weapon. Moving back toward the front of the boat, she starts off slower, but picks up the pace. It is time to clear an avenue for Dirk. Ruby's question to the Ranger and his kissing her is caught sort of out of the corner of her eye in a there and gone again sort of glance.
As others are concentrating on the Hunt, Maggie's fires taper off. She offers Ruby a grin, then a thumbs up as Dirk kisses the forgemistress. Lifting her hands a bit, she gathers more wind into her control, funneling it into the sails, for this next bit may be trickier than before. Now, she will need to finesse their approach, skim in front of the god of the Hunt, then swoop around to pick up the tossee. Funny. A hint of worry flits over her brow. Did... anyone plan for Dirk-retrieval?
Miriam's focus goes more to air than sea, one hand sweeping the wind to disorient and toss the birds nearby and the other making more of a fierce strike of air. That strike is certainly not invisible, the shimmer of air slamming into her targets as she again glows with the light of the moon. It seems to be taking up all of her attention so that she can't really see what the others are doing. And still, the birds don't really seem to be targeting her. As the ship near the Hunter though, her teeth grit and she seems to be having trouble staying on task. She finally squeezes her eyes shut, and actually growls between clenched teeth as her hands become tight fists.
Dirk sings at the top of his lungs" I want to be an airborne ranger, I want to live a life of danger!"
The ebony-skinned woman grins in an unbalanced manner, and reaches forward to grab at Dirk just above the waistline and just below the collar. Ruby looks on the verge of laughing at a coming punchline. Maybe it's the Hunter's song or maybe just being this close to Dirk's person is having an effect. "Dun't worry...Yer Pappy showed me 'ow tah...*!!!" Within Dirk's personal space, she's suddenly both sorta proposed to and also kissed full on her wide lips. She goes a tad cock-eyed. In the next heartbeat, the seal is broken along with a gooey strand of short-lived saliva and Dirk is held up like a toddler in preparations for a zerbert. She turns her stricken face towards the far off Golden Hunter and starts to spin with Dirk in a strong grip. One...Line up with that far off bugger. Two...Gotta make it high and hard. Three...Did I just kiss my brother? With a huge throat-tearing howl she lets go of Dirk at the apex of a massive throw.
Justin wide-eyed watches Ruby cause he's a friar and he can lust.
Dirk screams happily as he gets thrown towards the golden hunter.
There it is.. Dirk is twirling in a lofting rotation, in and out of view over the Coconut's fore rail, and Merrisol can even guess who is doing the wind-up. He tightens his grip on the hydraulics bars and puts every muscle to work steering the great head in a targeting arc that will follow Dirk's flight path once he achieves lift-off. Precisely. "Lockwood, NOW!" he declares to his fluid dynamics engineer through the open intercom. "Jettison forward ballasts!" The submersible judders as she loses her ballast and the re-distribution of weight causes the vessel to rear as she rises once more to the surface. Merri cranks both dials at the base of the grips until those twin spots of light sizzle and glow and seconds later there appears a dedicated stream of sun-bright /light/, from the sea horse's bulging eyes to lambast Lord Captain Dirk in a glorious glow just as the man's tether is loosed. One can almost /hear/ the ~HAAAALLELUJAH!~ chorus as the spotlit man cruises through the air, stunning birds in his path along the way.
The Golden Coconut had not, to date, registered on the impassive, statue-like visage of the Hunter. But, as it turns out, there is something universally fundamental about having a Dirk thrown at your face that...well, gets your attention. The Hunter raises its other hand, the one holding a net of golden strands. But the net's great power is against *magic* thrown at it. Not people. Net and all, Dirk's forward momentum does not slow.
Justin happens to be near Miriam and he whispers a few prayers to the unicorn on behalf of her soul, and Dirk's.
Maggie brings one hand up, fingers curling into a fist. She extends that hand forward to keep the wind in her control aimed properly. Watching Ruby wind Dirk up and up and then fling him out toward the Hunter, she concentrates. The ship speeds along a slightly different trajectory than the Captain. Lifting her voice, she calls, "Gonna try to catch him on the other side!" The light that surrounds her cousin draws her attention and Maggie looks with relief over toward the sub. The sight of it's googly-wide eyes is cheering. She redoubles her efforts with an eye to zipping cross-ways in front of the Hunter to be in position to have someone snatch a Dirk from the sky before he hits the water. With luck.
Dirk lands right on the nose of the h hunter and starts climbing to the hunter's eye. When he gets there, Harper's gift is drawn and stabbed in the right eyeball. "take that you monkey fucket!" is yelled right out loud in Dirk's outside voice.
As Dirk becomes an airborne Ranger, illuminated and speeding toward the Hunter, Harper turns to offer Ruby a probably disturbing grin. Looking back that way, she spots Miriam. She knows the clenched fists and the gritting teeth. Notching another arrow, she holds the bow with the arrow aimed downward and stalks toward the glowing Moon-maiden. As she nears, Harper growls, "Snap out of it. The Hunter is nothing but a bastard out on a killing spree. He thinks he is better than you or me just because he can hunt and kill beings of great power. He does not give those who follow him a choice. That choice is what makes us better than he is. Better than his Hunt. Snap out of it or I'll have to..." Give in to the call of the hunt and... And she does it. Reaching out, she clouts Miriam upside the head. Bam.
RPG: Dirk declares that he has the Lucky (STY-LK) gift. Use '+gift STY-LK' to view the gift description. Last edit: 63 months ago.
RPG: Dirk used the following +declare targets: Golden Coconut
RPG: Dirk declares that he owns this token:
-------------------------------------------------------------------[ e30 ]----
Author: Harold Held By: Dirk
Date: Sat Mar 8 10:15:06 2014 Focus: 3
Title: Lang Seax
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Created via Magic-Hardened Blade (REC-MB): power-token rechargeable special token-3 type-magic
Gift description:
This weapon has been treated to make it harder and stronger than natural, and it can be used to combat magic. This must be a melee weapon of some sort.
Without expending the token this weapon it is stronger than natural, impossible to break under normal conditions.
By expending the token, the blade may be used for the duration of the scene to parry and block energy and magic attacks as if they were physical.
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Secondary gift used: Smith (CRF-SM): token-0
Gift description:
The character is able to forge metalwork of extraordinary quality. These creations can be represented by 0-point tokens created by this gift, and although they have no magical properties, they are mundanely superior to anything created without a gift, and they may possess minor effects, such as being harder or sharper than they should be.
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Token Description
A hunters long knife, this weapon is too long to be properly called a dagger, and too short to be a sword, at twenty four inches in length, this very functional weapon seems similar to a Kite Lang Saex. The handle seems wrapped in some exotic leather, scaled, perhaps from a serpent? The blade comes to a clipped point, the bottom edge straight and longer then the top. The weapon seems razor keen and suitable for hacking as well as thrusting.
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RPG: Dirk used the following +declare targets: Golden Coconut
Ruby does a little half-turn and then swerves back to get an eyefull of Dirk, illuminated, on his way towards the Golden Hunter. She's about to move forward and grip the rail when she catches sight of Harper with her strange expression. Ruby swallows and licks at the corner of her mouth, resuming her efforts to get a grip on something. And from her vantage, she can lay her eyes upon the exotic figurehead at the bow of the Solar Flare. And the gigantic lighted eyes shining their beams on Dirk's figure. Ruby gives a shout when he connects with the target and does his thing.
It is both a song for the ages, and so very typical of adventures around Dirk. Covered in golden net - essentially, at least to the physical, empty air outlined in golden thread - Dirk crashes into the then-ten-foot-tall golden figure of the Hunter, and that dagger, treated to ignore magic, pierces whatever protection there might be around the ancient god's so-tender eyeball. The first true wounding any of those nearby have ever seen. And more than enough to get the Hunter's sudden shocked, enraged attention. The cry of rage ripples through the air in visible waves, sending the Hunt rolling away (momentarily) as the golden figure topples backward, clawing at Dirk, at the blade - at empty air.
There are no handholds on a small raft. The Hunter falls into the sea - and may take Dirk *and* the blade with him.
Miriam's eyes stay closed while Dirk is playing fastball special, as she tries to cope. It's hard to tell whether Harper's words are even registering with the Tir Princess, whose fists tighten until a hint of red can be seen in her palms. Then the Hunter is struck by that dagger and suddenly her eyes open as he roars, enraged. Those milky eyes are somehow very dark. She looks around herself, and her eyes focus on the nearest obvious drylander - Justin. She raises her hands... and gets clouted upside the head by Harper. It makes her trip forward, and land on her knees. She blinks, briefly disoriented.
Liya's hands on the rail might be the only thing that keeps her balance for a change, as she rocks with the emotional turmoil of all the critters she can feel. "Unicorn's wispy tail," she murmurs, pain perhaps obvious in her voice. Her gaze goes to the hunter, and the moment is imprinted on her brain - Dirk all illuminated, hunter going - Liya stares, long enough she might be able to write an epic about this whole thing. Sing a song even.
Justin has been staring bug-eyed at Dirk and completely misses Miriam's hulk out, must be his luck. As far as he's concerned she's still a dainty pretty moon-thing.
Frowning, Maggie watches Dirk sail across to the Hunter. She guides the ship by turning the wind to catch the sails just so. When Dirk lands and begins to crawl up the Hunter's face, Maggie stifles a cheer. Instead, she motions for the crew to hop to it. "Bring her about. We'll need to be able to get to your Captain." Lifting her voice, she calls, "Quinlan! Can you fly over and pull him from the Hunter's face?" She does dart a glance over toward Miriam when the princess goes down, but does not really see the cause of it. "Miriam? Are you okay?"
Harper completely misses Dirk's landing on the Hunter as her attention is focused fully on Miriam. She holds her bow in one hand with the arrow clasped between her fingers. The other hand extends downward in an offer to help the moon princess back to her feet, "Concentrate. We have a lot to do." Glancing up and forward, Harper frowns as the Hunter begins to topple backwards. If they lose Dirk to the sea, Moxon might kill her. "I wonder if Dirk can swim. I hope he is wearing shark repellent."
Dirk holds onto the weapon of eyeball piercing like he was a true scion of Amber. He puts his feet on the hunter and back flip off of it to Iand hopefully on the raft.
Mab watched as the mad plan was put into effect, a slow smile spreading across her face as the insanity bore it's fruits. Occasionally she offhandedly points here and there, freezing the life out of some creature trying to interfere with the task.
Miriam doesn't look great, but at least she doesn't look about to do something unfortunate. She looks around her briefly, then at Maggie, then Harper. "What?" she asks, then frowns. "Oh." Her frown deepens, then she accepts Harper's hand up. "Thank you. What's happening?" She still looks like she's having trouble focusing, but for now she seems snapped out of whatever had her.
The intensity of the sunbeam only brightens as it narrows and tightens, finding the Hunter's own face as Dirk half-blinds the god. Staring through the periscope at the duo teetering around on the shark-borne raft, Merrisol sees the squirting blood and thinks of Ruby and Justin for a heartbeat. How they would love even a thimble-full of that divine aqueous.. "Bring us level.." he orders, and the seawater starts cycling out of the aft ballasts to achieve horizontal equilibrium. The SF rocks and teeters as a rolling wave coming from the raft sends both the sub and the Host rushing outwards in a growing sphere of force. "Bloodyblazes, take us back in!" Merrisol orders, and with a thrum, the powerful rear propellor engages once more, sending the Flare hurtling forward as the Hunter, at leat, goes into the drink. Racing ahead of the returning flock, just in case Dirk requires a close rescue from the waves, Merrisol sweeps the eyebeams under the waves, and locates the sinking god. Must weigh a solid ton. He adjusts magnification on the periscope view, focusing on the bleeding face, and mutters a bitter expletive. Okay then. Now he's going to go look for Dirk, get under his position, raise him up on the sub's deck if need be.
Dirk is riding thecwave and looking serioys.my worried.
Ruby hollars again as she sees the struggling going on upon the raft. And the god falling off the raft. "Fffff!" She feels like tearing off a part of the rail and waving it about like a maniac. "Tha knoife! Bring back tha blood!" Ruby hears Maggie's voice and then directs her attention to Quinlan. She screams in frustration and gestures towards the raft and the wake or disturbance the Solar Flare is making. "'urry 'urry!"
Quinlan nods. "I'm still keeping the boat clear," he calls. And the lighntings are still hitting the surface of the water reasonably regularly, though he's eased up just a bit so he didn't fry Dirk as well.
Working with Dirk's crew, Maggie directs the wind and the ship blazes past the Hunter's raft. Cutting across the leading edge of the waves the hunter, the ship bounces and skips, sending flickering water droplettes up onto deck to mingle messily with blood, feathers and fish carcasses. Nodding, Maggie looks grim, "right." Turning, she spots Miriam rising with Harper's help, "Can you keep the ship moving in a circle around the Hunter? I'm putting a shore boat into the water to go get Dirk." Striding forward, she heads for one of the smaller boats. A rope? That's the easy way.
Mab says, "Harper, shoot a rope over with your bow."
Harper braces as the Hunter sends his Hunt out and away. She nods to Miriam, "Had a bit of a moment there, miss. You were looking a bit like you might join yon Golden Anchor." A wink is offered, though she looks up as Maggie shouts over to her charge. Then, she looks at Mab and nods, "Alright." Ruby's cry to get the knife wins the smith a smile and a nod. She would rather not lose it. It is a fine blade. Moving toward the bow, she finds a coil of rope tied to the railing. It will take her a moment or two to get the rope attached to an arrow, but she sets to it with a will.
It's a good thing Harper works fast. Because while the Hunt Above seems to have momentarily gotten confused, there's a churning to the water that suggests beneath the surface all is far from peaceful.
Miriam finally gets a grasp of what's going on around her. Her eyes go to Maggie, then she nods and again forces herself to focus on the air and sea. As she guides the ship via the current, she also guides it via the wind in its sails.
Liya's eyes go from one to the next, muttering under her breath as she composes, even while she knocks a bird flying stubbornly away. Confused thing was just reeling, but Liya's help sends it up, up and away, at least temporarily. Maybe it will win free. Maybe.
While Bug -eyed justin has been fighting the birds and such, every so often one gets disintigrated but mostly he bonks them on the head with his staff.
Dirk is doing his best to not fall in.
Carp.. where is that devil with the nine lives.. Merrisol pushes the figurehead periscope arching out of the turbulence to scan around for some lonely doomed figure. There. "Ten degrees to starboard, and bring us up easy!" With the eyebeams still a-glow, the SF is easy to spot in the night waters, cruising beneath the dilapidated raft and starting to plane up to the surface to carry the raft up on its deck, sluicing water and stunned squids over the rails.
"Captain.." calls the comm officer, studying a scrolling paper readout. "I've lost the target 's rate of descent. Now it... it's just a huge mass - and I think it's all coming back up!"
Merrisol, just about on his way out to the stairwell to open up the hatch to break his imposed 'No Dirks Allowed In Sub Full Of Underlabeled Switches' policy and let the fellow in.... pivots right back around and grabs for the periscope mic.
The horsehead's external sound kicks in: "The Hunter and Host are coming back, and we have to MOVE NOW!" Accordingly, the submarine, with the raft and Dirk still on top, lurches forward to haul ass outta there. "Dirk, open the hatch and get yourself inside now!"
Dirk gets with the program and gets in.
Quinlan takes a deep breath, like the penny's dropped and now, in a bizarre way, he can get on with the tightly controlled terror. He does, however, take a moment to liberate a bit of rope to tie himself to the mast. Not tightly, just enough to keep him from falling to the deck in the event of attention deficit gravity restoral. "Soon's they're back under I'll get the lightning back to full power and we can book it for the desert, right?"
Liya looks over at Maggie. "Getting out of here might be the best advice I've heard all - uhm - month." Because well, Amberites. Still, the Sukhoti is a little bit urgent about it, letting that sound in her voice.
Ruby runs along the side of the decking as the ship carves through the waves and amongst the nightmare thrashings going on below the surface. Ruby winces at the voice emanating from the Solar Flare's figurehead and feels distinctly vulnerable upon a vessel of wood once more. Nobody else on deck probably needs a repeat, but Ruby does it anyways, turning and flapping her arms. "We gots tah goo! Loife fer tha runnahs!"
Justin looks at everyone running this way and that, he's never seen so many things happening at once except in books. It's thrilling but he's also looking a bit confused and scattered. Did what happen really just happen? He makes the sign of the unicorn. "Goo... Oh blood!" Ding! "Hey I know just what we can do with that!"
Hearing Mab, Maggie nods and stops her forward stalking toward the shoreboats, "Oh. A rope. Good thought." Mab is given a grin, though she does sort of eye the odd Ranger for a moment. Catching the rising of the Flare, she fist-pumps as though a cheer might be released. It dies a sad and tired death as the grim reality of their situation is delivered not once, but three times. Straight to the gut. Whirling, she nods to Miriam and concentrates once more. The ship, already zipping along under Miriam's direction, is suddenly dancing forward, "A hop, skip and friggin' enormous jump to Alhambra." Then? "Ruby and the Ranger. If you would please be ready to shoot anything trying to sneak up on us? Quinlan and Ruby, we'll be jumping Shadows with the Solar Flare in tow. Ready?" As if it is her show...
Dirk is safe and sound .
Harper looks up as the Flare lifts up beneath the raft and Dirk. She lifts a hand to wave to Dirk as he goes below. Her smile is brief, however. Ducking, she returns the rope to its place. Turning, she nods to Maggie and gathers her wagon of quivers and extra bows. Leading this, she heads back as the ship races forward. Her tunic flutters a bit in the wind and the nictitating membranes that keep her eyes from drying out flicker closed and open. Light flickers over her bald, scaled pate as she stations herself aft.
Miriam remains focused on guiding the ship, having found something to hang onto. When Maggie's winds join hers, she nods back to her friend and helps to get them moving forward, fast.
The warning seems valid; the still waters at the heart, where the Hunter's cry of pain caused the Hunt to part, are beginning to churn again. Life under the surface is getting back to...well, its own idea of normal. Which is to say, very angry and very hungry.
Ruby gnashes her teeth and lopes for her discarded bow, feet thumping across the deck. "Roight!" she answers as smartly as she can, feeling a twinge of relief that there is a plan and crafty sly people are rolling them out. Shadow travel doesn't sound quite so bad with doom rising from the depths. She grabs at a fistful of arrows or a handy quiver as she goes to acquire some higher vantage she can spot incoming trouble from. She does a quick peek about her immediate area, checking to see if the crew is still the original compliment. She starts muttering curses to drowned gods.
The submersible does plane its rudders and descend, to escape the creatures of the air that might peck the solar energy-gathering panels built into the deck. With a missing ballast tank and countless clogs in the works, she limps along at about twenty feet depth until it is safe to ascend again alongside the swift Catamaran. Since the top hatch must be sealed in order for the airlock hatch to open, barring override, there's no chance of flooding due to a Dirk oversight. Still.. once they are moving, Merrisol is off the bridge and locating Dirk to get Harper's hunting knife squared away in a sterile container from the lab. Oh, and also to be nice to Dirk and offer him some rum.