15[20:04] <VoxPVoxD> Daana'd's Defiance has been at sea for a week. The winds have been fair, the seas and skies untroubled - thanks, in no small part, to the work of the sorceress Caxi, who can be found most mornings at the ship's prow, singing to the sky. The Cathak twins, after an early struggle with seasickness, have settled into the sailor's life with gusto, working riggings by day and singing 
15[20:04] <VoxPVoxD> shanties by night. How fares the rest of the hearth?
[20:08] <trenchfoot> 6Tepet Zhangyu has been assisting all around the ship - despite his house and his aspect, he's spent plenty of time on ships, and can keep it running smoothly. Further, he has no apprehensions with any task, no matter how small, though he does avoid the Cathaks out of a sense of preservation. Whether self- or otherwise is left as an exercise to the reader. The only task he dare not assist with is cook; he's always been horrible at 
[20:08] <trenchfoot> it. Even when he's tried.
[20:10] <mattbaby> 7Gunnery practice - Dryas oversees the crew load the ballistae, take aim, then unload several times. Port and starboard compete for time and precision. Once so far, the crew lashed a few empty provision-barrels together, set them adrift and smashed them to pieces with a few rusty bolts. Dryas also hit one of the barrels with an arrow from her shortbow - not particularly difficult, except the shot was at ballistae-range.
[20:10] <Crion> 4V'neef Piu has been up to her usual tricks. Perhaps spending too much time with the chief petty officer, perhaps not spending enough time getting right with religion -- represented on the ship by Mnemon Salim. She'll contribute to the sailing when asked, but spends most of her time exercising, going through forms, and otherwise stretching out on the decks.
15[20:10] <VoxPVoxD> The Commodore seems fine with that.
[20:11] <Crion> 4Mmmmm.
[20:13] <cbass> 10Daizo feels unmoored. Oh, he's been on short sea voyages before, but this? In one of his later mathematics courses, the guest lecturer bade them to imagine what it would be like to live on the surface of a sphere. Eventually the edges of the world would just... roll-off, and that's kind of how he feels now on the deep blue sea. So he's trying to stay connected with the rest of the ship, pestering the navigator and attending the
[20:13] <cbass> 10 services Piu doesn't.
[20:13] <mattbaby> 7The rest of the time so far, Dryas has kept extensively to her quarters - an unimagineable luxurious degree of privacy on such a small vessel - busying herself with hashish and who knows what else.
[20:15] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu is happy to spend his free time with his cousin, with Piu, with Dryas, and with Caxi, in approximately that order, but feels strongly that without him the ship would fall apart, so his free time is... limited.
[20:16] <Crion> 4Piu hasn't quite gotten up the nerve to ask Zhangyu to spar...or told him much of anything about her fandom, really.
[20:16] <Crion> 4Given what she DOES have the nerve to do, that might seem a bit odd, but this is different, somehow.
15[20:16] <VoxPVoxD> Dryas notices it first, from in her quarters. It's the smell, cutting through the hash and whatever else. She spent time among the vast plains in the south where the black blood of the earth bubbles up like tar. She knows how it smells when it burns.
15[20:17] <VoxPVoxD> Piu, from her stretches on deck, sees it. A long, thin trail of ink-black smoke, coiling up into the sky some distance ahead.
[20:17] <cbass> 10There's also the uncomfortable knowledge that this is almost certainly some kind of a setup, but he doesn't expect the other shoe to drop until they reach Abalone. After his initial blow-up at the Cathak twins, he's trying to make amends. Although they do need soma manners. And Zhangyu, well. Some people speak best with their fists.
[20:17] <Crion> 14She stands immediately.
[20:18] <Crion> 14She has bandages on her wrist; she reaches up and pulls The Chain from her neck and wraps it up in them. Just in case she needs it.
[20:18] <mattbaby> 7Clenching her pipe in her teeth, she puts on her enormous Chiaroscuro-glass spectacles and bursts from her cabin to see what's going on.
[20:19] <Crion> "Blooded a-deck!" 14shouts Piu, no trace of giggliness in her voice. "Inbound!"
[20:20] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu drops the barrel - gently, he hasn't been paying attention to contents - and rushes abovedecks.
15[20:20] <VoxPVoxD> All of them heed Piu's call - Dryas first, then Zhangyu and Daizo, then the twins, then finally Ratel and Caxi who emerge from inside. "Report," says the Commodore.
[20:21] <Crion> 4Piu looks to Dryas. She's the expert here.
[20:22] <mattbaby> 7Dryas: "From the smell? The earth afire, like the mountains in the South. Volcano?"
[20:22] <Crion> 4Piu: "I didn't know we were on course for a volcano..."
[20:24] <mattbaby> 7Dryas: "There's volcanoes in Abalone, but that isn't Abalone."
15[20:25] <VoxPVoxD> In the distance, beneath the smoke, a shape resolves. A long, thin, heavy slat of iron, the size of a city street, floats just above the tossing surface. It's split down the middle, sheared and torn, revealing darkness within from which that thick and acrid smoke emerges.
[20:25] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "Orders?" 6Terse, hiding anxiety. That's the way.
[20:25] <trenchfoot> 6Never let them see you sweat. Except for literal sweat. Look, it's complicated.
15[20:25] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel reaches to her hip and comes up with a telescoping spyglass that she whips to its full extension before looking out. "Dragon's breath, is that..."
[20:25] <cbass> 10Daizo: "That's no volcano."
[20:28] <Crion> 4Piu: "A moving...volcano...?"
[20:28] <Crion> 14Dammit, volcanoes don't move. That was too much.
[20:29] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "No." 6Let it never be said it requires intellect to win a fight. Take that, Grandmaster. "A ship. And - an old one."
[20:29] <Crion> 4Piu: "Ohhh."
15[20:30] <VoxPVoxD> Mnemon Salim has belatedly joined the rest of the Dynasts abovedecks. "A dark omen," he warns.
[20:30] <cbass> 10Daizo: "It is wholly man-made, lady Piu. A vessel of sorcerous artifice."
[20:31] <mattbaby> 7Dryas simply scowls.
[20:34] <Crion> 4Piu: "Are we gonna run or are we gonna hunt it?"
15[20:35] <VoxPVoxD> "No need to hunt it," says Ratel, still looking through the spyglass. "It's not moving. Dead in the water."
[20:35] <mattbaby> 7Dryas: "No need for something that big to play dead."
15[20:36] <VoxPVoxD> "We're on track to pass within two hundred yalms. We'll get close, but the Navy needs to know about a find like this. Prepare yourselves to board."
[20:36] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "Understood."
[20:37] <mattbaby> 7A find like this could make every one of us wealthy...
[20:37] <Crion> 14Surprises.
[20:37] <Crion> 14Professionals hate surprises.
[20:37] <Crion> 4Piu: "Aye aye!"
15[20:37] <VoxPVoxD> Mnemon Salim: "Commodore, I must strenously suggest that this course of action is unwise. An object of such perverse power, ridden by undead, sorcerers, Anathema, or worse... it imperils us. It imperils our mission."
[20:37] <cbass> 10Daizo: "Be wary. There is like to be at least one sorcerer aboard. Unless their death is what caused the vessel to be in this state."
15[20:38] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "Prepare for demons, then."
15[20:38] <VoxPVoxD> "A sorcerer's death would have set every one of her bound demons loose. They'll be all but feral."
[20:38] <Crion> 14Well played, Cynis Caxi.
15[20:39] <VoxPVoxD> Ito Jun: "What makes you so sure there'll be demons."
15[20:39] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "You're right, I'm sure the pirate sorceress was paying scale to the Merchant Fleet."
15[20:39] <VoxPVoxD> Ito Pan snickers.
[20:40] <mattbaby> 7Dryas: "We can't ignore a chance for a prize like this..."
15[20:40] <VoxPVoxD> Salim: "Commodore, if we could speak privately. I'm sure neither of us wants my next report to Mother to contain news you endangered the mission."
[20:41] <Crion> 14Something will have to be done about this man.
15[20:41] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel rounds on the monk. "Mission or no mission, I am an officer of the Navy and a daughter of the Realm. We don't leave things like this lying around. And if Mnemon wants to sail my ship she can fly out here and do it in person. Prepare to board."
[20:41] <trenchfoot> 6Ito Pan, the better twin. Who would have thought he would have opinions about them.
[20:41] <Crion> 4Piu has walked over to the rail, eagerly looking out at the smoke off the wreck, while listening.
15[20:41] <VoxPVoxD> Salim: "...as you say, Commodre."
[20:43] <mattbaby> 7Dryas offers the man a toke.
15[20:43] <VoxPVoxD> Salim frowns heavily and does not partake.
[20:43] <mattbaby> "Suit yourself," 7She will, with relish.
[20:43] <trenchfoot> 6Has the Commodore indicated who leads the boarding team? Zhangyu assumes he will be a part of it, but...
[20:44] <cbass> 10Daizo: "With due respect, Brother Salim, if there are demons loose on the seas, do we not owe it to our fellow citizens to see them returned to their proper place?"
[20:45] <trenchfoot> 6Well spoken, cousin. Not that Zhangyu will say as much out loud.
15[20:47] <VoxPVoxD> As the Defiance draws closer, the size and the shape of the thing becomes apparent. The ironclad is far larger, slightly wider starboard to yarboard and far longer. The surface is wrought in pictograms which are difficult to read as the waves thrash over and around it. The sense of heat from the heart of the thing is palpable, though there are no flames.
[20:48] <Crion> 4No worries for the Fire Aspects, then!
[20:49] <trenchfoot> 6Hrm.
15[20:50] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "Right. Zhangyu, take Piu, Daizo, Dryas, and Caxi aboard. Ito Pan, Ito Jun, and Salim, stay on board to help us salvage this thing."
[20:51] <Crion> 14Hhhhh. Good, in that there's no chance of her being left alone with Salim before being able to evaluate him in combat. Bad, in that she'll have no chance to evaluate him in combat.
[20:51] <Crion> 4Piu: "Yes ma'am!"
[20:51] <trenchfoot> 6The relief specifically does not show on his face. "Aye."
15[20:52] <VoxPVoxD> Ito Pan: "Why are we stuck on the shit detail?"
15[20:52] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "Because you haven't learned to stop asking that question."
15[20:52] <VoxPVoxD> "Get to work."
[20:52] <Crion> 4Piu's already grinning and crouching on the foredeck rail, ready to leap over.
[20:53] <trenchfoot> 6Roll the shoulders, square the feet.
15[20:53] <VoxPVoxD> The ships draw closer and closer together. Boarding planks are laid.
[20:54] <trenchfoot> 6Look before you march up. Anything alarming, or is this truly a ghost ship?
[20:55] <cbass> 10While they were making their approach, Daizo went belowdecks and requested a couple of the crew to assist him. 
[20:55] <cbass> 10When he emerges, he's clad in black jade armor with a massive white jade club, shaped like a tetsubo with delusions of grandeur.If you look closely, the studs up and down the sides of the thing are carefully carved fists.
[20:56] <Crion> 4Oooooh.
15[20:56] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi looks Daizo up and down. "Mmmmm."
15[20:57] <VoxPVoxD> Zhangyu and Dryas can see movement within the dark recesses of the ship. Large, lumbering movements, away from the light.
[20:57] <cbass> 10Daizo grins and turns, giving the ladies a good look from all sides. "If there are demons aboard, they will wish they had returned to Hell of their own accord."
[20:58] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "Keep caution. This ship isn't abandoned."
[20:58] <Crion> 4Piu: "Oooooooh."
[20:58] <Crion> 14Good. The gentle giant came loaded for bear.
[20:59] <trenchfoot> 6He's not quite in combat stance, but he could be in a moment. "Stick close. I saw movement, but not what it was."
[20:59] <mattbaby> 7Dryas notches an arrow on her shortbow and grins, poshly. "Something for the mantlepiece, then," 7she murmurs.
15[21:00] <VoxPVoxD> Zhangyu's leading the team. What's his approach?
[21:00] <Crion> 14There's enough smoke...will she be able to get away with stealth without seeming too skilled?
[21:02] <trenchfoot> 6Top down, clear each room, stay as quiet as possible, but also keep himself at the front of any possible conflict. That's the theory, anyway. Is this ship big enough to require multiple teams to sweep it? A 3 and 2 split is not out of the question...
15[21:04] <VoxPVoxD> It's big enough, but the layout is such that splitting up wouldn't really make the trip any more efficient. The ship's internal structure is one long, elliptoid spiral, like the inside of a distended nautilus.
15[21:04] <VoxPVoxD> This is not a normal way to design a ship.
[21:05] <trenchfoot> 6Keep it together, then. He runs through a few shorthand symbols for the squad. Forward, backward, quiet, go, stop, flee.
[21:06] <trenchfoot> 6So. Top down. Let's roll.
[21:07] <cbass> 10If Zhangyu's taking point, does he want Daizo guarding the rear, or right behind him? 
[21:08] <trenchfoot> 6Hrm. Rearguard, he knows more about Daizo than he does about Piu, and that means preventing ambushes from the back goes to him. Piu second, Dryas third, Caxi fourth.
[21:09] <Crion> 14Not what she'd pick, but it gives her room to freelance somewhat. So, acceptable.
[21:10] <cbass> 10Good thinking. You can communicate surprisingly well using nothing but Tepet squad signing.
15[21:11] <VoxPVoxD> The four of them advance down the corridor, the smell of burning earth joined to the smell of death. Bodies in various stages of decomposition - some fresh and oozing, some dessicated - scatter the dimly glowing iron hallways as they twist and wind around.
[21:11] <mattbaby> 7Dryas lurks towards the back, keeping an eye out for good perches. Let the hounds do their job.
[21:16] <Crion> 14Slave crew. Hrm.
[21:16] <mattbaby> 7Dryas peers down, disgusted, at one of the fresher corpses. She turns a clenched hand and accompanying wrist - coming to a ragged end at the forearm - over with her boot, revealing a tattoo. "Some slaves, likely from the Wu Jian market. Torn to shreds by something big."
[21:17] <cbass> 10Hrnh. The whole place stinks. Sorcery is at least written into the laws of Creation. Necromancy goes beyond. 
[21:18] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu makes the symbol for quiet. Then, hushed: "Age?" 6How long's this sucker been floating out here?
[21:21] <Crion> 14Flat-voiced: "Kids."
[21:21] <trenchfoot> 6He holds back a cuss. "Yesterday."
15[21:23] <VoxPVoxD> The sound of noisy chewing becomes increasingly audible down the way.
[21:23] <cbass> 10Daizo can speak pretty softly when he needs to. "Disgusting. Mark on the wall, blood and ash? Necromancy. This whole ship is unclean."
[21:23] <trenchfoot> 6Hand motions. Get ready for a fight. Granted, that's a pretty easy one - he balls his hand into a fist, points forward with the other, and punches in the direction of said noise.
[21:24] <Crion> 14No way to use The Chain here. Time to just be4 Piu.
[21:25] <Crion> 4She nods with determination.
[21:25] <mattbaby> 7Dryas' head swivels slowly to look down the spine of the ship as she slowly raises the tinted spectacles up her face to rest amidst her hair.
[21:25] <trenchfoot> 6Then: march. Staying quiet, if they can, given their... obvious ineptitude at it, including Zhangyu's - his missions were more open battlefields than infiltration...
15[21:26] <VoxPVoxD> The four of them come upon a hulking, simian figure from behind. It's doubled over, noisily eating something. Huge bony spikes protrude from its shoulders and spine.
[21:29] <cbass> 10Daizo tenses. 10On your mark.
[21:29] <Crion> 4Piu motions that she can take it...
[21:40] <Crion> 4And she does. Bursting into flame as she strikes, fiery kicks hook the great ape demon's leg and a falling axe kick drives sizzling down into its belly when it falls, hooting and screeching to the ground. The fire flickers around her...and explodes into steam.
[21:41] <Crion> "Tepet Zhangyu!!!"
[21:50] <trenchfoot> 6He immediately leaps towards the blood ape and wrenches one between his legs, and the other between his hands -- he's perched along its back, but doesn't seem to be doing any lasting harm, but if he can just, find, purchase...!
15[21:51] <VoxPVoxD> Zhangyu forces the blood ape to drop the corpse it was eating.
[21:51] <mattbaby> 7Dryas' lip curls contemptuously as she scans the room again.
15[21:51] <VoxPVoxD> Fresh blood smears the floor.
[21:51] <trenchfoot> 6Small victories.
[21:51] <trenchfoot> 6Also, disgusting.
[21:51] <trenchfoot> 6Also, it seems that I forgot the word "arm." He wrenches one ARM between his legs.
[21:51] <trenchfoot> 6Et cetera.
[21:52] <cbass> 10Daizo adopts a defensive posture. Piu and Zhangyu have this demon well in hand, but where there's one, there will be others.
[21:53] <mattbaby> 7Dryas: "Repulsive. Does it have a master? A mate?"
[21:54] <mattbaby> 7She cocks her head. "Something else, deeper."
[21:55] <cbass> 10Daizo: "Blood-apes aren't known for their conversation skills."
[21:59] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu, hanging from its arms: "Slay it!"
[22:00] <Crion> 4Piu does.
[22:01] <Crion> 4She starts with five kicks to the chest, breaking every rib. Then a jutting heel snaps both knees out, and she pushes off the creature's collapsing pelvis to flip into the air and drive an elbow down--
[22:01] <Crion> 4--and through--
[22:01] <Crion> 4--the beast's throat.
[22:02] <Crion> 4Piu stands, and kicks the head aside.
15[22:02] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi watches with lidded eyes.
[22:02] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu's back on his feet. "Piu, rearguard. Daizo, with me." 6The Five Day Fight does take skill, after all.
[22:03] <Crion> 14Piu, wreathed in steam: "Aye."
[22:07] <trenchfoot> 6Other than the blood ape that has apparently been eating corpses, what's around here?
15[22:07] <VoxPVoxD> Zhangyu leads the four of them who aren't him onward. The banging Dryas heard has stopped, but she's able to guide them towards it. Deep in the ship the corridor unravels into a huge central chamber lit by a ghostly white glowing core. Piping, spinning prayer wheels, and conduits of Essence are illuminated. A huge, jagged crack runs almost the length of the core, and that awful black 
15[22:07] <VoxPVoxD> smoke billows out. It's almost too hot to breathe in here. The floor is thick with bodies. Some days dead, some weeks or months. Some are bones. There are large cages all around the outer wall, thick with the stenches of death. One of them is still shut, sealed with a lock of what appears to be jade.
[22:10] <Crion> 14Hrrrrh.
[22:11] <Crion> 14Piu holds the rear, but she cares little about the heat or the stench or the smoke. The fire burns.
[22:11] <mattbaby> 7Dryas approaches the cage while examining the scene around it.
[22:11] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "Caxi. Any ideas?" 6She's the lone sorceress, right?
[22:12] <Crion> 4Caxi and Dryas moving forward means Piu moves forward too.
15[22:12] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "There's a demon in that cage. Neomah, I'd guess."
[22:12] <trenchfoot> 6Good. Follows orders. Though... the social part is definitely an act.
[22:13] <trenchfoot> 6Party girls don't win the Five Day Fight or follow orders this well. Smarter than she looks.
[22:13] <Crion> 14She can already guess Caxi's take on a neomah. It'll be interesting to see the others'.
15[22:13] <VoxPVoxD> "She's not the prize here. The prize is whatever he got the neomah for." Caxi points at a body at the base of the core. A man, dressed in black silk silver-trimmed robes, face frozen in a horrifically twisted, cataracted eternal scream.
15[22:19] <VoxPVoxD> Dryas inspects the body. No more than three days' dead, yet completely stiff and dry, as if exanguinated. The key that matches the lock is easily found on the corpse's belt.
[22:19] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "The rest of the cages - same thing?" 6He's not looking at the original sorcerer just yet. Lacks the expertise.
15[22:19] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "No."
15[22:19] <VoxPVoxD> "No, those were for people."
15[22:19] <VoxPVoxD> "Likely the children we saw on the way in."
[22:19] <trenchfoot> 6Flatly: "I see."
[22:19] <cbass> 10Daizo's mixed expression of disgust and contempt says more than words.
[22:20] <mattbaby> 7Dryas presents a key. "Less than three days, but not a drop of blood. Stiff and dry."
15[22:20] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi, to Zhangyu: "Did you notice things were missing from the bodies? The children's bodies."
[22:20] <Crion> 4Arms. Legs.
15[22:21] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "Ears. Teeth. Tongues."
15[22:21] <VoxPVoxD> "Not eaten. Removed."
15[22:21] <VoxPVoxD> "I bet the neomah will know more."
[22:21] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "I saw. I wanted to believe they were... wounds."
[22:22] <trenchfoot> "Behind me. I'll open the cage. The key?" 6He holds a hand out to Dryas.
[22:22] <mattbaby> 7She passes it over.
[22:22] <trenchfoot> 6He opens it.
[22:23] <Crion> 4Piu moves into a defensive posture towards the door they just entered through. Any other way out?
[22:23] <cbass> 10Daizo: "Lady Caxi—do you have a way to command—" 
[22:23] <cbass> "Guess we'll use force."
[22:23] <trenchfoot> 6The universal language.
15[22:23] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "It's just a neomah. It's more scared of you than you are of it."
15[22:23] <VoxPVoxD> "Big jade brute that you are."
[22:23] <Crion> 4Piu: "Guys...? There might be more apes out there..."
[22:24] <Crion> "I don't think those demons really fight alot? They mostly do the other thing."
[22:24] <Crion> 4She's referring to neomah, here.
[22:24] <Crion> 4Not the apes.
15[22:24] <VoxPVoxD> There are doors around an upper level accessible by ladders, which is to say stairs, at various points around the core chamber. Whether they're rooms or corridors is not clear.
[22:25] <trenchfoot> 6Idiot sorcerers summoning more demons than they can control. Zhangyu would fight them if they weren't already dead.
[22:25] <cbass> 10Daizo: "They're known to breathe fire." 10He thinks. "You watch the neomah, then, and I'll watch the door."
15[22:28] <VoxPVoxD> The creature that crawls slowly from the cage is hairless, violet-skinned and unspeakably beautiful. They stand slowly, stretching to their full height, arms raised in obeisance and submission.
15[22:30] <VoxPVoxD> <I am masterless,> they say in the tongue of gods and demons. <Who may I serve?>
[22:30] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "I don't know what that means."
[22:30] <trenchfoot> "Anyone?"
[22:31] <cbass> 10Daizo turns. "They seek a new master."
15[22:31] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "She wants off the ship."
[22:32] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "Her and all of us. Why is she here?"
[22:32] <cbass> 10Daizo: <Have you a name? And who brought you hence?>
15[22:34] <VoxPVoxD> The neomah: <Formless. Blameless. Nameless. Brought and bound by the great Mushan.> She gestures at the ruined corpse.
15[22:34] <VoxPVoxD> They. Caxi's got me doing it now too.
[22:36] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu corrects himself, before that response. Even if the neomah doesn't speak the language, there's no need to be rude.
[22:37] <cbass> 10Daizo: <I see. And what laid Mushan-ya low?>
15[22:37] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: <Where is his child?>
15[22:38] <VoxPVoxD> The neomah opens their mouth to answer Daizo but turns to face Caxi when she speaks, seeing her for the first time. Their eyes widen and they take a step backwards.
[22:38] <cbass> 10A much more pertinent question, and one Daizo feels foolish for not having asked.
[22:38] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu steps in between the two.
15[22:40] <VoxPVoxD> Neomah, the Maker of Flesh, Demon of the First Circle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkj_ov_0LA4 - She always had that little drop of poison...
15[22:41] <VoxPVoxD> The neomah seems reticent to answer either question.
[22:42] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "They seemed to know you." 6That's to Caxi. He's not getting, like, any of this conversation. Should've studied Old Realm.
15[22:43] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "She doesn't know me."
[22:43] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "They seemed to fear you."
15[22:43] <VoxPVoxD> "That's more like it."
[22:43] <trenchfoot> "Still concerning."
15[22:44] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi steps forward. <One thing stands between you and returning to Hell one piece at a time. Cooperation.>
[22:44] <cbass> 10Daizo: "My apologies, Cousin. This one was summoned by a Mushan, the one who lies dead before us."
[22:46] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "...it's you, specifically. Not sorceresses in general." 6He files away the information Daizo gave him for later.
[22:46] <Crion> 4Piu: "Guys...how long are we gonna stand here talking?"
[22:47] <mattbaby> 7Dryas: "She's right. We have a responsibility to salvage this vessel for parts."
[22:47] <cbass> 10Daizo: "Lady Caxi is attempting to negotiate." 10This is putting it very politely.
[22:47] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "We clear the rest of it once this issue is settled."
[22:47] <mattbaby> 7Dryas: "...Or destroy it."
[22:48] <trenchfoot> 6'Issue' is a fun way of referring to an unbound demon.
[22:48] <mattbaby> 7A neomah is a bit of a specialist in issue of all sorts. Have a tissue.
15[22:48] <VoxPVoxD> The neomah: <His daughter was ill. Her flesh rotted away by the hour. She kept rejecting the new grafts. More and more energy was needed to sustain her. When she died, he took it very poorly.>
15[22:49] <VoxPVoxD> They raise a violet hand to point in the core. <She lives now, in there.>
15[22:49] <VoxPVoxD> There's that pounding again.
15[22:50] <VoxPVoxD> The crack on the core gets a few ilms longer.
[22:51] <mattbaby> 7Dryas shakes her head. "Not for long, I think. Brother Daizo, can you send this tortured thing to Lethe?"
[22:51] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "How do we stop that, and is the neomah required?"
15[22:51] <VoxPVoxD> The neomah: <The erymanthoi fed her. Then she ate them. Only a few survived. On the corpses.>
[22:51] <trenchfoot> 6Angrily: "DON'T banish it until we know what happens, given that we are on the ship."
15[22:52] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "The prize of the ship is in that chamber." She points at the core.
15[22:52] <VoxPVoxD> "A prisoner. An experimental subject. The sorcerer's daughter."
15[22:52] <VoxPVoxD> "All this blasphemous effort. For one girl."
15[22:53] <VoxPVoxD> She turns to Zhangyu: "We break her out or we leave her to die as the ship goes down."
[22:54] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "Anyone who wishes can leave. I'm going to see what they did."
[22:54] <cbass> 10Daizo: "It is a monstrosity, and this whole ship should go to the bottom of the sea that Danaa'd herself may cleanse it." 
[22:55] <mattbaby> 7Dryas: "Crack it open, break her out. Then we can decide."
15[22:57] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi nods approvingly
15[22:57] <VoxPVoxD> .
[22:58] <cbass> 10Daizo hefts the tetsubo. "However, Cousin Zhangyu is in command of this expedition. Shall I crack the shell, then?"
[22:59] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "Do it." 6Piu had her chance to speak out.
[23:00] <Crion> 4Whatever we're gonna do, gotta do it soon...
[23:00] <cbass> 10Daizo nods, and brings the great club down.
15[23:00] <VoxPVoxD> The glass shatters. A thousand tormented spirits scream free, followed by a wave of indescribable heat, a bitter chill, and a rush of icy water.
15[23:02] <VoxPVoxD> Something crawls from the wreckage. Thin white arms, pull themselves up from the bottom of the chamber. A head rises, totally obscured by long, hanging, dripping wet black hair. The figure - a girl of about 14, the five would guess - is wearing a white funeral gown that clings to her body from the water.
15[23:03] <VoxPVoxD> She crawls toward them, hair almost dragging along the floor.
15[23:03] <VoxPVoxD> "Saaa."
15[23:04] <VoxPVoxD> "Saaaaadaaaako."
[23:04] <Crion> 4This was a bad idea.
15[23:05] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi walks toward the girl, kneeling down.
15[23:05] <VoxPVoxD> "Fascinating..."
[23:05] <trenchfoot> 6Well. Zhangyu wanted to know. And now he does. He doesn't stop Caxi.
[23:06] <cbass> 10Daizo is poised to strike again. This is… repulsive. It looks like a child, but…
15[23:07] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi brushes the hair away from the girl's face, revealing pale, flat features, blue eyes and a bottomless black mouth that opens wider and wider--
15[23:07] <VoxPVoxD> The moment passes like a sudden chill. She's just a pale girl, soaking wet, shivering.
[23:07] <Crion> 14If we didn't need to leave before, breaking the demon-girl out is going to seal it.
15[23:08] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi cradles her in her arms. "Carry her back to the ship. It won't stay afloat much longer."
[23:08] <trenchfoot> 6...This ship's going down. Zhangyu knows this. Do they leave her - it - her... behind?
[23:08] <Crion> 4Piu's probably best on carry duty.
[23:08] <Crion> 4Piu's probably best on carry duty.
[23:08] <cbass> 10Daizo says, flatly, "Are you certain of this."
[23:08] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "To the deck. Let the captain decide whether she comes on board."
[23:09] <trenchfoot> "Rest of this place is demons, but we have a survivor. Such as she is."
15[23:09] <VoxPVoxD> The ship groans beneath them. They don't have long.
[23:09] <Crion> 4Piu moves over to the girl. "Let's go."
15[23:10] <VoxPVoxD> The girl clings to Piu like she's her mother.
15[23:10] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCVe_S1Ip4M - Chasing the beast inside me, he pushes and shoves...
[23:11] <trenchfoot> 6Piu gets moved back to #2 - we can't have her and our... new arrival holding up the rear.
[23:11] <Crion> 14Unsettling.
[23:11] <Crion> 4Piu's ready to run outta here, though.
[23:12] <trenchfoot> 6Yeah, Zhangyu is ready to write the rest of the ship off.
[23:12] <cbass> 10Daizo: "And the neomah?"
15[23:12] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "The neomah is mine."
[23:12] <trenchfoot> 6They investigated what they could, and this thing is going down. "Banish it, bring it with, I'm no sorcerer."
[23:13] <cbass> "As you wish."
[23:13] <trenchfoot> 6Expected. "We can talk when we're on the ship."
15[23:13] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi grabs the neomah, who doesn't recoil fast enough, and kisses them. Black veins run out from the demons lips over her face and vanish after a moment. The neomah falls in line quietly behind their new master.
[23:14] <Crion> 14Time enough to deal with that later.
[23:15] <Crion> 4Piu cradles the girl, and powers through the flames.
[23:15] <Crion> 4They are, after all, her own.
[23:17] <cbass> 10Daizo barrels ahead, smashing obstacles in his way. The unstable footing doesn't faze him at all.]
15[23:17] <VoxPVoxD> The rupture of the core sounded the cursed ship's death knell, and the seven of them surface on a deck wrought with turbulence and the sounds of battle. Seems Piu was right, there *were* more demons to worry about... but they made to escape the ship, where they came face to face with Ratel, Pan, Jun, and Salim. The deck is littered with burned and shredded demon corpses.
15[23:18] <VoxPVoxD> By the time it's safe for Piu to climb back up, the bodies are cleared and Ratel's been briefed.
15[23:18] <VoxPVoxD> "And we don't know anything about this girl?" Ratel asks again.
15[23:19] <VoxPVoxD> As the Defiance sets sail, the cursed ironclad sinks beneath the waves for the last time.
[23:19] <Crion> 4Piu: "Whew!"
[23:19] <Crion> 4She handed off the kid and took a dip until she was less...on fire.
[23:20] <Crion> 4Not less hot, of course.
[23:20] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "Ask the neomah. They know more than I do."
[23:21] <trenchfoot> 6Not bitter. Not going to immediately throw himself into studying Old Realm."
15[23:21] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel regards the neomah with visible distaste. "Well?"
[23:22] <trenchfoot> 6He does level a glare at them -- even if they don't share a language, he can do that.
15[23:23] <VoxPVoxD> The neomah: <Mushan's daughter, Sadako, was terribly ill. I was retained to keep her supplied with fresh grafts of flesh, but eventually she exhausted my supplies. Mushan began retaining slaves to use as stock for grafts. And to feed the erymanthoi.>
15[23:23] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: <Mushan was a necromancer?>
15[23:24] <VoxPVoxD> Neomah: <No. The ship raised the dead itself.>
15[23:24] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi grimaces and looks back out at where the ship sank.
[23:24] <Crion> 14While she was down there, she unwrapped The Chain. It's back around her neck now.
[23:24] <mattbaby> 7Dryas calls for Moke, who appears on deck - skeptical - and leans over to him. "Get the girl something decent to wear, something hot to eat, and a stiff draught."
[23:24] <trenchfoot> 6Babbling. Zhangyu surveys the twins and Salim. Are they getting any of this?
[23:24] <Crion> 14Is Caedus on deck?
[23:25] <Crion> 14How much is she going to have to brief on?
[23:25] <cbass> 10Daizo's translating.
15[23:25] <VoxPVoxD> The twins are already down in the mess. Salim watches, eyes narrowed.
[23:25] <trenchfoot> 6Good work, cousin. However-- "Raised the dead itself?"
15[23:26] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus came up when the demons started to board.
15[23:26] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "A true ghost ship..."
15[23:26] <VoxPVoxD> "What a prize that would have been."
[23:26] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "For the time we were aboard."
15[23:27] <VoxPVoxD> To Zhangyu: "The entire vessel was perverted by necromancy. The power at its core created a sort of floating shadowland within which the dead rose of their own accord. Victims of the sorcerer and his demons."
[23:27] <cbass> 10Daizo: "Some prizes aren't worth winning. Necromancy is the domain of the Anathema."
15[23:28] <VoxPVoxD> Salim: "Wisely put, Brother Daizo."
[23:28] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "Agreed, cousin."
15[23:28] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "The dilemma solved itself. The question is, what do we do with this..."
15[23:28] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "...Sadako."
[23:28] <cbass> "You flatter me, I am no brother yet." 10He's still smiling.
15[23:29] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "Do you speak the tongue of the Realm?"
[23:29] <mattbaby> 7Dryas: "He didn't have moonsilver tattoos." 7She holds a cigar in Piu's direction and makes a plaintive face.
15[23:29] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako stares behind dark hair.
[23:29] <Crion> 4Oh hell yah.
[23:29] <Crion> 4Piu will take a hit.
[23:29] <mattbaby> 7She'll have to light it first,
[23:30] <trenchfoot> 6How will a fire aspect light a cigar. Impossible.
[23:31] <Crion> 4She chomps down and snaps her fingers in front of it, breathing in. Ahhhhhh...
[23:31] <Crion> 4When it's happily chugging out smoke, she hands it back.
15[23:32] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel cycles through the languages she knows. Blank stares on High Realm, Low Realm, Old Realm, Riverspeak, Skytongue, and Seatongue.
[23:32] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "Sadako." 6He points to the guest. "Zhangyu." 6He points to himself.
[23:32] <mattbaby> 7Dryas: "Thank you, darling. Now then."
15[23:33] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "...Zhangyu."
[23:33] <Crion> 4Piu points both thumbs at herself, smiling. "Piu!"
15[23:34] <VoxPVoxD> In halting High Realm: "Where is the Mother?"
[23:34] <cbass> 10Daizo crosses his arms. He's not going to introduce himself to this ghost girl.
[23:34] <mattbaby> 7Dryas puffs on it once or twice. "A ship like that, a week's sail away from the Blessed Isle?"
[23:35] <Crion> 4Ohhhh, she is not equipped to answer that question.
[23:35] <trenchfoot> 6Whoops, relinquished command to the commodore, not his job.
15[23:35] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "Who is your mother?"
[23:36] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "Not her mother. The Mother." 6He clears his throat. "Different."
15[23:36] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako grabs the back of her own head and makes herself as small as she possibly can - which is very small. The girl rivals Piu for flexibility. "Motherrrrrrrrrrr--"
15[23:37] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel, mildly, to Salim: "One of yours?"
15[23:37] <VoxPVoxD> Salim scoffs.
[23:38] <Crion> 14Normally it would be a mistake to show weakness here and comfort the girl.
[23:39] <Crion> 4But, it could help her cover. So Piu kind of haltingly approaches, not doing a great job of trying to soothe her.
[23:39] <Crion> 4Not on purpose, just...Piu has no real experience with this, at all.
[23:39] <mattbaby> 7Dryas puffs again. "Where's that damn - ah, here he is. Excellent." 7Pake Moke has a huge, poofy robe - quite oversize but warm and absorbtive - along with a steaming bowl of some stew from the mess and a wooden mug of wine.
15[23:42] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako will take the robe and eat greedily. Just the meat, though.
[23:42] <mattbaby> 7She glances at the others. "She's not contagious, is she? Tell you what, keep the robe."
[23:43] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "This is the most she's said or done since the ship."
[23:52] <cbass> 10Daizo ponders who or what the Mother could possibly be. But it just feels like he's going in circles. 
[23:53] <cbass> 10He sighs. "I'm probably overthinking this. Commodore, with your permission, may I lay a ward outside the girl's quarters? Until we can properly ascertain just who or what she is."
[23:53] <mattbaby> 7Dryas shrugs and offers Sadako the rest of the cigar. "She's totally confused, poor child."
15[23:54] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "Good thinking, Daizo."
15[23:55] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako will take the cigar and take a long drag. A long, long drag. She finishes the entire thing in one pull.
15[23:55] <VoxPVoxD> No smoke comes back out.
[23:55] <Crion> 4Oh!
[23:55] <Crion> 4That's...
[23:56] <Crion> 14...complicated.
[23:56] <cbass> 10Daizo: "All right. I'll ask the cook for some salt." 10Oh, that ain't right. That ain't right at all.
[23:56] <trenchfoot> 6Uh.
15[23:56] <VoxPVoxD> Caxi: "I like her."
[23:56] <Crion> 4But Piu wraps her arms around the girl anyway and pulls her close. She's still warm, after all, even after that dip in the sea, and she makes happy, soothing sounds in her ear as she kicks the ashes away.
15[23:57] <VoxPVoxD> Salim: "An abomination on the ship is your responsibility, Commodore. Any ill consequences that emerge from its presence fall on your head and yours alone."
15[23:57] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "Oh, go jiggle the stick in your ass. Honestly."
[23:57] <Crion> 14Piu looks up at him. "Good to know."
[23:57] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu: "She is my responsibility. I brought her here."
15[23:58] <VoxPVoxD> Ratel: "And you're my responsibility. Transitive property."
[23:59] <trenchfoot> 6He stiffens. "Understood, Commodore."
[23:59] <trenchfoot> 6He'll have to thank her later, when he's... not directly post-mission.
15[00:05] <VoxPVoxD> The ship sails on, the mystery settled as much as it can be for one day. Ahead is the night. Ahead is Abalone.
[00:07] <cbass> 10Daizo heads belowdecks to shuck his armor and prepare the warding. He'll be up long into the night writing in his journal. 
[00:08] <trenchfoot> 6Zhangyu's off to journal his adventure, and describe Sadako. Maybe draw her. The captain agrees with him, and hasn't thrown either of them overboard, so...
15[00:12] <VoxPVoxD> Does Piu debrief in Caedus's room or her own?
[00:14] <Crion> 14Her's.
[00:14] <Crion> 14Caxi is going to be too busy with her new...distraction...anyway.
[00:15] <Crion> 14So they should have some modicum of privacy.
15[00:15] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus closes and locks the door behind him.
[00:16] <Crion> 14Piu is leaning against the far wall. "Bidh sinn fhathast a ’faighinn criutha. <We continue to gain crewmates.>"
15[00:18] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "Tha an nighean a ’cur dragh orm." <The girl concerns me.>
15[00:18] <VoxPVoxD> "What's your read?"
[00:19] <Crion> 14Piu grimaces. "She's some kind of abomination. She's also a child. She's both, not just the former pretending to be the latter. Her father was a sorcerer who enslaved a neomah and used necromancy to bring her back to life. Or something."
[00:19] <Crion> "File under innocent but dangerous."
[00:19] <Crion> "Moldable, if you're willing to risk the molding."
[00:20] <Crion> "Caxi has significant interest, and now possesses the neomah."
15[00:21] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "Bound or bargained?"
[00:21] <Crion> 14Piu: "Phòg agus chaidh a mharbhadh. <Kissed and killed.>"
[00:21] <Crion> "Bound."
15[00:24] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus crosses his arms, walking into the middle of the room. "Another point of tension between the monk and the Commodore. He was at her throat the entire time you were down there."
15[00:25] <VoxPVoxD> "Now a demon and an abomination aboard? It risks everything. Ma tha a ’Bhana-bhuidseach Gheal a’ coimhead ro fhaisg..." <If the White Witch watches too closely...>
[00:28] <Crion> 14Piu: Chan eil sinn a ’faighinn dad le bhith a’ marbhadh duine ach am manach. <We gain nothing by killing anyone except the monk.>"
[00:28] <Crion> *"
[00:29] <Crion> "Ratel and Caxi are now useful."
15[00:30] <VoxPVoxD> "Elaborate."
[00:34] <Crion> "I've done so at length on Caxi previously. All of those arguments have increased now that she has one demon on direct retainer and the girl in play. Her relative influence has increased. Ratel is not only more pliable than the monk and disposed to side with me due to my previous work in that sector, she has forcefully sided against him. A disappearance and a death for the interloper 
[00:34] <Crion> from House Mnemon can be laid, by insinuation, on her name."
[00:35] <Crion> "The monk is a Black Lotus assassin who genuinely hates demons. Cha bhith e a ’dèanamh dad ach a’ creachadh ar poitean is ar pònaichean. <He does nothing but rattle our pots and pans.>"
15[00:36] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "What you say makes sense. But the political implications... we'll have to consult with my master in Abalone."
15[00:37] <VoxPVoxD> "Unless you think he cannot be allowed to deliver his reports..."
[00:38] <Crion> 14Piu: "We will have to permit that."
[00:38] <Crion> "Bidh a mharbhadh air an t-soitheach, eadhon ged a chuireas sinn a ’choire air Ratel, a’ cur dragh air ar misean. <Killing him on the ship, even if we blame Ratel, disrupts our mission.>"
[00:39] <Crion> "Is fheàrr an t-òrd sin tuiteam mìosan bho seo. <Better that hammer fall months from now.>"
15[00:41] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus nods. "We'll have to expect him to become more and more intrusive."
[00:42] <Crion> 14Piu: "If it has to be done here, it has to be done here."
[00:43] <Crion> "And we have the advantage."
[00:43] <Crion> "Dithis againn; fear dha. <Two of us; one of him.>"
15[00:44] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "Plus, the Commodore could always just shoot him in the head herself. She looked like she was considering it."
[00:45] <Crion> 14Piu: "We're more likely to find Ratel dead in her quarters than we are to have her solve this problem herself."
[00:45] <Crion> "And I respect Ratel."
[00:46] <Crion> "Ma thachras sin, gheibh am manach bàs air an latha sin. <If that happens, the monk dies that day.>"
[00:46] <Crion> "We should have a plan ready."
15[00:46] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus nods. "We'll take the day to think about it. Hopefully the rest of the voyage is quiet."
[00:48] <Crion> "Hopefully."
[00:49] <Crion> 14She shrugs out of her robe. "I'm going to bed. I'm tired...but I didn't get my evening stretches in."
15[00:50] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus takes her in his arms. "Good work today."
[00:50] <Crion> 14She leans into his chest. "Mmmmmm."
15[00:51] <VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: The Feathered One