15[20:11] Once, there was a maiden... 15[20:11] ...falling forever in the water. She reached for purchase, but found nothing; her arms swung through the sea. 15[20:11] The water did not slow her, not the chill, 15[20:11] but she could not breathe. 15[20:11] Each time she gasped and found no breath, a human child died; and thus, she lived. 15[20:11] "Survival is acceptance," she said. 15[20:17] Daana'd's Defiance launched for its maiden voyage in RY 751 from the Bittern Imperial Shipyards; it was the last to be commissioned for the Merchant Fleet by the Admiralty Board, and the first to sail under the banner of newborn House V'neef when it was invested first with Great House status and then with control of the Merchant Fleet. 15[20:20] What remains of it now, in the fullness of summer almost 20 years later, is generously split into two halves, comprising about a third from the bow back and a third from the stern forward, each sinking faster beneath the churning waves second by second after the middle third of the ship explodes into splinters and sailors when it's graced by the barest touch of an old and terrible 15[20:20] spirit. [20:21] 14Chan eil mi bàs an so. [20:23] 07She can't! She did? She's mad! 15[20:24] Everything not cast at once into the sea begins to pitch wildly into the widening Gyre as the high is brought low and the horizontal made vertical. People cling to the rain-slicked decks (for the storm blows rapidly into the ship's exposed guts even as it sinks) and fall into the tossing gray-white froth below; the sea instantly claiming bodies and treasures that, for the moment, go 15[20:24] uncounted; those who would mark their passing must first contend with the potential of their own. [20:24] 14Garnet. The jar. [20:25] 14If her body's working, Piu's headed belowdecks. Possibly through-decks. [20:26] 6Zhangyu needs to find Sadako and Garnet's jar. Somehow. Some way. [20:27] 10Daizo realizes Akavadra's intent a moment before the thunderous hooves touch the decks—a moment far, far too late to do anything about it. As the comforting solidity of the deck is proved to be nothing but a passing fancy, Daizo's reminded that for all their bluster and bluff, mankind has never truly 10ruled10 the sea.  [20:27] 10All that passes in a flash, and he's shouting for Seiri—and for Current, the bound elemental. [20:50] 14As the ship comes apart, yells at Caedus that she's going for the jar and then heads aft across what's quickly becoming wreckage. She no longer needs a hatch to drop into the officer's corridors. 15[20:52] The Fangs have to make their way down by leaping or climbing from one exposed beam of the ship's skeleton to successively lower ones; Piu can stop in what remains of the officers' quarters; the door to Garnet's cabin is open, and so is Ratel's. Garnet clings to the latter's doorway as the ship inclines ever-more-steeply, reaching out past the crush of furniture into the darkened chamber 15[20:52] beyond where a young woman is screaming. [20:53] 14Ah shit. The princess. [20:54] 14Garnet's still visible, which means the jar is still close enough. Maybe she can get everyone. She can hear the boys coming in behind her; surely all three of them should be enough. 15[20:54] Daizo and Zhangyu keep going, beams cracking or breaking apart under their weight as they bound down to find their charges; Seiri and Sadako are stacked like cordwood on a free-floating bulkhead, flat and slick like otters against the storm. Sadako's got Seiri pinned in place, but her own grip is less certain, and she's seconds from falling in. If she does, nothing will be holding the 15[20:54] unmoving Seiri down. [20:55] 10Daizo: "You get your student and I'll get mine—" [20:56] 14Piu jumps-runs-leverages herself up next to Garnet. "Worst case scenario. We're going to have to swim. If I get the jar, can you get the girl?" [20:57] 6Zhangyu: "She isn't-- yes." 15[20:58] Dryas follows to the point that she realizes what she's looking for isn't here, and casts her eyes across the tempest-tossed wreckage to see the shattered remnants of the hold exposed to a starless sky. A huge animal flails about, kicking chunks of wood and unconscious sailors overboard with every thrash: Diamond Weapon. She can't see her new majordomo, fresh from Brightwork... but 15[20:58] she's sure her loyal steed is all but standing on that big pink beret, so she must be over there too. 15[20:59] Garnet has to shout to be heard. "I CAN SWIM! GET THE JAR!" [21:00] 14Not what Piu-- fine. It has to be in Ratel's quarters just based on the local geography, right? [21:01] 07Dryas has heard tales of riders who can train their horses to ride along the seafloor and escape danger. Those tales concern holy secrets of the Water aspect, though, and not her. What use is a horse in a shipwreck? Perhaps she will discover something new. Or perhaps they will all die. She mantles her way towards the panicked animal! 15[21:02] Piu finds the jar in Garnet's cabin, where in a stroke of good fortune the list of the broken ship seems to have wedged it firmly in a corner of the room rather than allowed it to tumble into open ocean. [21:03] 14Fine. Not going to be easy moving around with it, but smart girls never skip leg day. [21:03] 14Is Garnet able to retrieve Mox Lapis or is she still clinging to the door and letting her squel? [21:03] 14squeal 15[21:05] Once Piu's got the jar, Garnet smashes the barricade of the sliding bed and bureaus with her daiklave and forces her way in, skidding out of the sinking deck with Lapis over her shoulder a few seconds later. [21:06]  [21:07] 14Piu: "I'm on your hip! Head for something stable! We're betting on Daizo's Current!" 15[21:08] The Tepet scions peel their wards apart, with Sadako resisting almost violently enough to capsize the bulkhead and throw them all into the water, but she's able to relax enough to be manageable when she realizes who has her, and whose arms the unmoving Seiri is being taken into. [21:11] 10Daizo makes a quick assessment of Seiri's condition. Breathing? Heartbeat? Is she just unconscious, or visibly injured again in some way? 15[21:11] Dryas, meanwhile, has to leap from one piece of floating wreckage to the next, bounding between barrels and bulkheads that can support her weight for just a second, swinging from snapped masts that tumble into the water as she releases, to land with a roll in the hold on the far side. Sailors scramble for safety all around her, some injured, some trapped beneath those already dead, 15[21:11] some struggling to bear the injured or lost to some kind of stability. Diamond Weapon is tearing the hold apart, kicking through crates and inner walls and coming very close to bounding straight into the water. 15[21:12] Tataru, hatless, is hurriedly lashing reeds together inside of a half-empty crate of dried beans. 15[21:14] Looks like Seiri hit her head; Daizo's hand comes away bloody if he touches her hair, and Sadako's face is smeared the same way. But she's breathing. 15[21:14] First priorities are in order; the Four Fangs have sunk into their prey, in order to safely guide them... where? [21:15] 07Dryas lays a calming hand on the beast before it can do any more damage. "Taru!" 07is all Dryas has breath for. [21:15] 14Well, Daizo, you and Caxi are up. 15[21:16] Both halves of the ship are steadily coming apart in the storm, joining the wreckage and flotsam of the rapidly expanding debris field. Above, the storm still churns, though (perhaps mercifully) it sounds like the great trampling demon is quite far away. [21:39] 10Daizo: "Right. Sadako, stay here and keep watch on Seiri. We'll have something for you to do soon enough. First order of business is to get off this ship and I can't fit all of you on my back." [21:43] 6I mean, maybe. "Everyone will be safe." [21:46] 10Daizo: "Let's be real, Cousin, we're still pretty seriously fucked. But we're not going to go down that easily." 10And he's off to the remains of the hold to spit into the ocean's face. [21:51] 14She puts the jar down next to Garnet on the raft that's forming -- maybe presses it into the Mox girl's arms once she's secure -- and then it's back in the water, headed for the hold. The water is rarely cold around her, with her anima lighting the way. 15[21:57] Dryas, Tataru clinging to her back, leaps forward on Diamond Weapon as Daizo begins to lash lifeboats and flotsam together. As long as she stays on her horse's back, it doesn't need soothing, and her canny navigation and loud, clear voice gather every living sailor she can find to safety. [21:58] 10It turns out that Daizo has a pretty good intuitive grasp of what'll sink and what'll float, and how to fit a bunch of disparate pieces into a single whole. With Dryas and Zhangyu's assistance they've got a respectably-sized work crew before long.  15[22:02] Piu, meanwhile, leaps from cabins to hold, looking for her target... finding nothing but wreckage and bodies. It's all sailors she knows, though; no strange men or mice. She dives back into the water, the ghost-light of her anima revealing more wreckage and dead sailors pinned in underwater debris... she sees movement a little deeper, and dives down, only for the shape in the water to 15[22:02] rush up to meet her, something big and heavy and fast catching her in the torso. 15[22:02] It's smooth and rubbery to the touch and it's pushing her back up to the surface. [22:03] 14Whuf [22:03] 6Hey: these guys suck. Zhangyu will still direct them as appropriate. 15[22:05] When it breaches the surface, it's revealed to be some kind of sea creature, perhaps an enormous fish, longer than a man is tall, oblong and high-finned in the dark, with a long bottle-shaped snout and dark eyes. It swims urgently towards the raft, with Piu clinging on or keeping pace, until it can flop its weird long face on the periphery of Daizo's construction and disgorge, with a 15[22:05] violent chuff, a sopping wet, bedraggled gray cat. [22:05] 07Dryas barks orders from horseback as though she was standing on dry land and seawater wasn't lapping over Diamond Weapon's hooves. She keeps scanning the water for anyone who might have escaped. "Keep an eye out for the Red Miles," 07she suggests to the others when she has enough time to take a spare breath. 15[22:06] It chuffs again, knocking loose a matted lump of matching hair, before it clicks and chirps and turns back into the water. Piu's eyes meet one of the creature's, which closes and opens slowly and deliberately — a wink? [22:07] 14Piu gives it a little wave-salute. [22:07] 14And gathers up the likely-terrified mouser. 15[22:10] The creature's eyes, like the mouse's, like the drawing's, are matte black, without any reflective capacity or colored irises; instead the whites cut from periphery to core, as if a clean wedge had been cut from his pupils. [22:11] 14Piu files that one away. [22:12] 10Daizo, hammering away furiously: "You don't have to remind me—it's in a black iron strongbox, should be in whatever's left of my quarters—" [22:17] 10A pause. "Did a fish just throw up on my raft?" 15[22:17] The other senior staff begin to converge on the lifeboat flotilla, carrying survivors. The Cathak twins are surfing the tossing waves, sailors at their feet. Sailors rappel down from the bow as it finishes sinking; Caedus and the Commodore, in that order, are the last to touch off before the bow and the cabins and all the Blooded's possessions sink beneath the water. [22:17] 6Zhangyu: "Best not to think about it." [22:19] 14Piu: "Yes. Fafhrd lives to mouse another day." 15[22:19] Then something impenetrably dark and fast explodes up from the churning surface in a spray of foam and debris, fully ballistic as it arcs through the air to land at the heart of the raft. [22:20] 14Piu kips up, still holding the cat. 15[22:21] Some of the debris comes with it; crates and bags are snared and speared by tendrils or pseudopods writhing out from the pitch-black figure, soaking up all the peripheral light and throwing none back, a human figure — a featureless feminine silhouette — dimly visible between the tendrils and treasures. [22:22] 10Oh shit. Now what? [22:23] 14Now Piu hands poor shivering Fafhrd off to a sailor. 15[22:24] The hearth sees, among the things in the creature's possession, the locked chest that contains the vessel of Carmine Road. [22:25] 10Daizo tries an Old Realm greeting. [22:26] 07Dryas sizes up this new arrival. She wonders if it would be better to have her lance in hand. "Avast!" 15[22:31] The tendrils set down their payload and then impel the figure forward. They have feet, but the hang an ilm or six above the deck as it crawls sinuously toward Daizo. A slender human-shaped hand reaches out for him and the surface of its skin(?) begins to ripple, bubble, and rupture, coming apart like overheated film, revealing pale and sweat-drenched skin beneath. 15[22:32] But some spasm or hesitation stops the entity from making physical contact, and instead it doubles back, and then forward, before sloughing off in droves and leaving Caxi collapsing at his feet. [22:33] 10!!! [22:33] 10Daizo catches her before she hits the deck. [22:34] 14Well. That's inconvenient. [22:35] 14To Daizo: "See to her, I'll calm the crew." [22:35] "We are as sitting ducks here if the Admiral decides to come back around for us," 07Dryas observes warily. 15[22:36] Furia's fleet, though it weathers the storm, is not fully prepared to pursue or engage with the flotilla, having been just as blindsided by Furia's attack as the Defiance was. There are a few volleys of arrows — truer and more dangerous than any attacks should be in weather this bad, but still well short of their targets. But for how long? [22:37] 14Can we make oars from whatever's leftover of the raft crafting? [22:37] 14Might help Current and also keep the crew focused. 15[22:38] Ratel, eyes wide, shoulders tense, brings her big spinning flame piece up, barrel flaring white, and shoots long, spinning polyhedral stone slugs into the dark, in the direction of the Holy Mountain. Her mouth is hanging open but she's too hoarse to keep screaming. [22:39] 14Alright, first she'll calm the Commodore. Once the gun's expended it's time to bring her in for a talk. [22:40] 10Daizo gently lowers Caxi to the deck and folds up a piece of sackcloth as a rough pillow, wipes her brow with another. "I knew something was off when I didn't see you… I thought maybe you'd called up a twister, flown ahead to scout. But you…" [22:46] 10Daizo: "…thank you. But warn me—I mean, warn us before you try to pull off a damnfool stunt like that again." [22:47] 14She elbows the cannon down and away but not out of Ratel's hands, then steps up around it, between Ratel and it, and takes the Commodore's face in her hands. "Hey. Look at me. It can't end here, and it won't. I meant what I said in your room and I meant what I said on the deck she destroyed and while she might be gone now, while we might have to deal with what it means that she's [22:47] gone now, we're not. You didn't go down with the ship. We didn't go down with the ship. Now it's time to figure out what that means, Commodore." [22:50] 14The glow falls off her as she speaks. 15[22:52] Ratel fixes Piu with her wild, relentless glare — looking more like Furia than Piu's ever seen — and for just a moment you have to wonder if any of it's *meant* for Piu as opposed to her just standing in the path of it. But Piu holds her face and for a couple of seconds nothing passes between them but wind and rain. Finally the Commodore says, "Yeah. Yeah." [22:52] 14Piu will respectfully step back. [22:55] 14Where's Caedus? 15[22:55] With the crew making oars. [22:55] 07Dryas calls out to the men: "Sailors, we have sailed far, and we are now here to live or die together. Let's get out of here alive the only way we can - together." [22:55] 14Piu will join him. 15[23:01] The Commodore walks to the center of the raft, pausing to spare a pained glance at the unconscious Caxi, before she calls out. "Every body fit enough to work an oar picks one up. We go west," and here she points, "as far and fast as we can. Hold firm and work 'till you can't. It's not just our lives we're fighting for." 15[23:02] There's no cheer or salute. The sailors and officers in good health toil with grim focus, fighting the waves with every stroke. 15[23:03] Panic spikes among the conscious when lightning flashes above, but the trampling beast of Hell is somewhere far away now, its screams arriving with the thunder, two seconds after the flash. [23:04] 14Piu throws herself into the work. 15[23:07] The crew rows through the night, to the point of exhaustion and beyond it. Sailors begin to drop off in exhaustion as the hour nears dawn. The lightening sky is overcast, and the wind is rough, but the storm itself has broken. [23:08] 14Can Current get us fresh water from salt? [23:09] 10Good question. Daizo will relay it, when he's taking a break from the rowing.  [23:09] 07Dryas will settle Diamond Weapon down wherever practicable and set to an oar herself. She'll even get a song going, perhaps. "You need the evening action / a place to dine, a glass of wine / a little late romance..." [23:09] 14... [23:09] 14Possibly silly enough to work. [23:10] 07It's got a beat. Very steady. You can hit 30 strokes a minute on this one. 15[23:10] Current can't pull salt out of solution, it doesn't possess the delicacy or subtlety required for that kind of earth manipulation. [23:11] 14Then you're up, Daizo. [23:11] 10Hmmm. [23:16] 10There's definitely some challenges to be faced here.  15[23:16] Daizo knows that the simplest way to strip the salt out of water is simple evaporation. Heat water, the vapor rises and the salt stays behind, fire pulling water into air from earth. You'll need something to catch the vapor, vessels it can deposit clean water into, and ideally means of rapidly heating and cooling the water to accelerate the process. [23:19] 10Yeah. Trivial if you have a reasonably equipped alchemy lab. Daizo had some equipment in his possessions, but there hasn't been much chance to take stock of what Caxi was able to bring up.  [23:20] 14Piu can provide fire. [23:24] 10He'll go rummaging through and see what he can turn up. Even a little bit of distillation could go a long way to keeping the mortals going. 15[23:26] Daizo finds, not all of his stuff, but the stuff that must've looked most important or valuable from Caxi's point of view. There's the Miles, there's the flower, there's Daizo's work chest and whatever was in that. Most of his clothes, books, personal effects are gone, however. 15[23:26] He also sees Caxi's medicine bag and the wooden box he knows has a book and a dagger on velvet. 15[23:28] Caxi herself is still unconscious, among the sailors either sleeping or comatose themselves. She's on her side, back-to-back with Seiri, who is facing the opposite direction. Sadako sits between them, staring at folded hands in her lap. [23:32] 10Yeah, RIP all those books. But there is a simple ceramic retort in his work chest, and a couple of large copper pans. It's better than nothing. 15[23:32] The other commotion comes as day breaks and there's light enough for the crew to see each other by, starting with the sailors rowing and singing shoulder to shoulder with Garnet, whose veil was lost in the commotion. [23:34] 10Yeah, good luck with that, Piu. Daizo's setting up a thoroughly inadequate still. But maybe it'll rain…  15[23:34] Maybe Furia could make it rain, if you just turned around. [23:35] 10How about no. 15[23:35] Suit yourselves. [23:37] "We are all committed now," 07Dryas comments after daybreak now that Garnet's identity is no longer a secret. [23:38] 14Let Garnet handle it as she pleases, and intervene if someone wants to start shit. [23:38] 14That's Piu's approach to the matter. [23:38] 14If Piu knows her she'll be on the oars anyway. 15[23:42] She is on the oars, and she just meets every stare and incredulous start-of-a-question with a silent, stony glare of her own. It works; whether they're cowed, impressed, or just too damn tired — that's the end of it. For now. [23:43] 14Every man who survives this is either going to be loyal for life or a liability. [23:43] 14But they're going to have to prepare for word getting out either way. 15[23:43] Pray for the man who ends up both. [23:44] "The West isn't that different from the South," 07Dryas observes to herself at one point. [23:45] 10Fuel might eventually become an issue, but if they have to rely on this jury-rigged setup for long enough, that'll be the least of their problems. When the first droplets hit the copper pan, Daizo tastes one to confirm that it's fresh—and then corrals Samperson into managing water rationing. [23:45] 14From nearby: "Oh fuck off, babe." 15[23:45] Dryas can feel bad weather coming. Nothing like the storm they just lived through, but high winds and choppy waters await. 15[23:47] At some point, Ratel confers with the senior staff. There's no pretense of privacy on this thing, so the crew can hear everything they say. "We can't stay out here more than a few more days. We have real injured, and the water ration won't hold us for long." 15[23:47] "But we've been on open ocean since Brightwork. Rowing at this rate it's weeks back to the archipelago. Suggestions?" [23:48] 14Piu: "There's that casino." [23:48] "That big golden piece of shit." 15[23:49] Ratel: "Pardon?" 15[23:49] She just managed to miss the sighting of that. [23:50] "We saw a big golden disc floating in the water just after the sea monster. Or before?" [23:50] 10Daizo: "Oh, I thought we told you in the daily report. It was just before that sponge-thing attacked us." [23:52] 10Daizo: "I may be able to send a message, requesting aid." 15[23:52] Ratel: "Motherfucker." 15[23:52] Dryly: "What luck." 15[23:52] "Where? How far out?" [23:52] 07Dryas: "Are you familiar with it?" 15[23:53] Ratel: "In passing." [23:53] 10Daizo: "It's not exactly appealing to me, either. I had hoped Caxi would have woken up by now…" 15[23:54] Ratel: "...she's going to be a day or two." [23:55] 14Piu: "Do we have better options from what we remember off the charts?" [23:55] 07Dryas: "Can we rig a sail? I can't sing the winds up like Caxi could, but I might be able to do something to speed us up and give ourselves a rest." [23:55] 10Daizo: "Nothing I'm aware of. It's the Gyre, after all. No one sane comes out here. Hah." 15[23:56] Ratel: "Yeah, that's our play. Adjust course." 15[23:56] Samperson: "We can rig a sail. What we can't rig is a *mast*." [23:57] 14Piu: "Do any of our more unique staff members have a way of forming a great solid column?" [23:57] 4Asking for a girl I know. [23:58] 10Daizo: "Is this really the time?" 15[23:59] Samperson: "I don't think a stone mast would take us in the direction we want to go. Conjuring wood like that needs fertile earth to pull it from." [23:59] 14Piu: "They call it getting the boys to full mast for a reason." [23:59] 14Piu: "Then we row, and those of us with the stamina for it get on the oars." 15[23:59] The good news is, even if they can't go any faster, the food and water will hold out... as long as nothing else goes wrong. 15[00:00] Another thing that helps is when Sadako finally peels away from Caxi and Seiri to man an oar. She doesn't seem to... get... tired...? [00:01] 07Dryas: "The weather won't hold forever, either. Higher seas and winds will come soon." [00:01] 14Good kid. [00:02] 10Nice. Even Daizo needs to take breaks between shifts on the oars and glaring daggers at the still to make it go faster.  [00:10] 10During one such break, Daizo composes a message and concentrates, calling forth a small cherub from thin air. This one retains its shape just fine. "To the Chosen of Plentimon, God of Chance. My sincerest apologies for intruding upon you in this manner… … … the crew formerly of the Danaa'd's Defiance, an Imperial Navy vessel …… shipwrecked and are requesting aid and succor from your own vessel … … at our [00:10] current heading and speed, we believe we should be within sighting range within the next two days. We would be forever grateful for your assistance and look forward to meeting you soon. Yours, Tepet Daizo." [00:10] 10The spirit flies up, up, up—and is gone. 15[00:14] The sea gets rough, as Dryas predicted, but she's able to hold the raft's course while Piu keeps everyone baseline fed. Caxi wakes up with the dawning of the following day, at which point the lip of the distant Gold Saucer comes into view dimly in the liminal haze separating sky and sea. Curiously, as they get closer, the image of the saucer breaks apart — and reveals itself to be 15[00:14] much closer. Its great distance must have been some sort of curious optical illusion or mirage. 15[00:15] Now it's close enough to see the dozens of ships docked, from triremes to caravels to Northern longboats to curious half-sunk brass vessels to — is that a turtle with a castle on it?? 15[00:15] But the sea is calm and the way is straight and short and unimpeded. There's a dock wide enough to accomodate the raft straight ahead. 15[00:15] What luck! [00:16] 14Piu's face is stony. Hell of a place to end up without a ship. [00:16] 10Sure, but think of the possibilities. [00:17] 14The House always is. [00:17] 10If it comes to it, Daizo has a treasure that he's prepared to offer as an ante.  [00:18] 07Dryas: "Well, Doctor Hrolfus may have gotten us to the door. But I don't think I've ever heard of a dice-house that operated on charity..." [00:19] 14Piu: "Technically we only have to survive until the Leaf can turn around and come get us." 15[00:19] As the raft gets closer, people start to come out. Very fit young men and women in skintight suits, who either have or are wearing long, perky rabbit ears. They've got blankets. A couple of them are wearing white rather than black leotards, and wear a white hat perched between their upper ears. (They all have normal human ears as well). [00:19] 14Piu sighs. "But that'll be days." [00:19] 10Messed up. [00:20] "Among these." [00:21] 10Daizo shrugs. "Could it really be any worse than that drafty castle full of walking corpses?" [00:21] 07Dryas: "Did I tell you I promised him I'd hunt the Beast of Highland? Have you heard of him?" 15[00:21] The man behind them doesn't, though. What he does have is a huge, bare, rippling blond chest and a high, stiff, immaculate snow-white coiffure. He only looks anything like what his age must be from the neck up; the giant is quite an old man, belied both by his phenomenal physical condition and the enormous grin spreading his neat white goatee open. [00:21] 14Piu: "Yes, and what?" 15[00:22] *bronzed chest [00:23] 14Who the fuck is that? 15[00:23] Ratel mutters, "Fuck." as he comes into view and his booming, airy voice can be heard. [00:23] 10I do believe we have found our proprietor. 15[00:26] "GOOD COUSINS! BE AT EASE! REST, RESPITE, AND RECREATION AWAIT! HAVE CHEER! HAVE FORTITUDE! WHILE THE LAST DAY IS LOST, TODAY YOU HAVE ALREADY WON!" 15[00:26] NEXT TIME: As true gamers dare