A study in the eldritch (Lunaraia;Pervy;MortalitasBorealis)

[Lunaraia]

Aya were still grumbling about what had transpired when she heard Kuroi's off hand comment about it being a simple trip now and the look she gave her would alone be enough to inform her she was dead wrong ”The sailing part has been taken care of the same goes with food and water for our passage across the sea, that does not mean it's a straight shot to the library, like it or not we still need to make a stop in Celephaïs , not only will we need food for when we make our landing on Leng, which the table cannot provide as it creates finished dishes of food that vaporize if taken too far from the table without being eaten, but unless you intend to calmly stroll across what would equate to winter time Antarctica in those clothes you will need some winter gear, Dreamer or not, if you die from hypothermia you will get shunted back to your real body and be out of it until the rest of us return thanks to the ward” there was an obvious IF we return there as well, but Aya left it unspoken.

She was about to say something else, this time concerning Fey's antics when there was a loud commotion down bellow, it almost sounded like an explosion, taking the lead Aya lead the group downstairs and opened the door marked simply with a sign showing waves, then Aya looked inside and closed the door again almost immediately as if trying desperately to deny what she had seen, though the noise from inside came again, and Fey would now be able to recognize it as her friendly Phoenix friend which had disappeared when they got spirited away to the Plane of Fire, the Phoenix for it's part seemed more than elated to see Fey, less so her “fire-pet”.

Aya slowly opened the door again, allowing the rest of the group to see what was inside this room, and in so doing clearly showed that this ship was decidedly larger on the inside than outside, as the room was what equated to a swimming pool, with an absolutely huge water slide and even a a diving tower, the water had a strange orange tint and would, just like the rest of the ship, feel perfectly warm to the one who touched it to allow for optimal relaxation ”That crazy spitfire, this is a serious mission we are on not some damned pleasure cruise... she left the room in disgust, leaving Fey to reunite with her phoenix alone as she did, before stopping and signalling the twins ”You two follow me, it's time to introduce you to your teacher, a word of warning though, remain civil, lest you fancy living out your days as little more than a small fuzzy critter”

Aya would lead the twins to her quarters where they would find Erfek waiting for them alongside a rather large mirror, the Zoog seemed uncomfortable, to say the least, though remained silent.

Aya for her part ignored ignored Erfek and instead walked over to the mirror and stated fiddling with several of the gems attached to it, causing them to light up, she then waved Kuroi and Shiroi over ”Look into the mirror, what do you see?” as the twins did as she asked they would at first see nothing but their own reflections... until their reflections smiled and waved at them, before the two melted together, the hair grew long and grey and the features of their fused form twisted and changed, slowly changing into the look of an old decrepit woman sitting on a strange cauldron decorated with runes and bones.

The woman looked at the two before speaking, her voice sounding almost like a creaking door, yet held a strength to it that demanded you pay attention no matter how much you wished otherwise ”So, these two are the unruly whippersnappers you want to saddle me with eh? You ungrateful brats better appreciate me taking my time to teach you two, you hear!” ”Granny... please, grandstanding in front of the quivering masses is fine, but these are my charges we are talking about, no need to put on airs” The old woman looked at Aya for a moment ”HMPH, looks like your time in the waking world hasn't done anything to teach you any manners either, just as unruly as when you were a small brat hardly out of your diapers! Speaking of, how is that daughter of mine holding up?” ”Mom were doing just fine last I met her, bit miffed about loosing control of her coven, but it's not like she won't bounce back from it, as you always say “Adversity makes you strong” and all that” the old woman seemed somewhat placated by Aya's words and she chuckled, a most disturbing sound, before she rose and walked towards the twins, then stepped out of the mirror and put her hands on their shoulders, sending chills down their spine.

”Well aren't you two just lovely, so young, yet brimming with near uncontainable power and potential, at least you weren't lying about that, Ayanthika, very well, I will aid you in their development as you cross the sea, and keep an eye on the little shard that even now are whispering dirty little lies into your mind” she patted Kuroi's shoulder and she could feel the Mask recoil within her, as if slapped by a heavy hand, ”Oh, but where are my manners, allow me to introduce myself, I am Baba Yaga, it's a pleasure to meet you two young 'uns” she smiled at the twins, revealing several razor sharp teeth that were clearly not human and a singular green slightly glowing eye looking at them, the other where milky white and clearly blind, though given how the Mask was clearly feeling nervous, if not ever so slightly scared of this gangly old hag, she probably had the skills needed to help Kuroi master it, or make sure she wouldn't be a threat to anyone should she fail, given Aya's earlier warning about critters.


While the twins were introduced to their teacher Korrie and Fey would be left to their own devices at the swimming pool, well almost to their own devices as the Phoenix was clearly not all to pleased about being replaced by Fey for a magical fire construct and it were looking at her with a VERY judgmental look and it would take a lot of work for her to finally convince the slighted bird to perch on her shoulder again, which would likely be a rather entertaining sight for Korrie. Aila for her part would actually walk over to the water and poke at it, seeing as it seemed almost magma like while still, yet once you put your hand in it it would feel and behave like water, before she looked at Korrie and Fey ”Seeing as we are already here, how about we give this a try?” she asked, before she unceremoniously jumped into the pool, surprisingly enough, despite her clearly metallic body it was clear that Aila were able to stay afloat, which meant it was likely magic was involved ”Common the water, or whatever this is that passes for water, is perfect!” she called out and dove under the surface and stayed there for quite a while, one of the benefits of not needing to breathe unless she planned to talk.

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

A comedic sweatdrop would go well with Kuroi’s sheepish expression as Aya explained that their troubles were far from over. “A-Ah, I should’ve expected as much…”

“Can’t you just draw some clothes that’d keep us warm?” Korrie asked the neko, but her sister shook her head.

“Technically yes, but better not. Ink doesn’t go well with water, or snow for that matter, we’d be far better off getting some real gear. That said, I don’t remember you saying anything about this ‘Celephaïs’, Aya. I assume it’s safer than Dylath-Leen, at least?” Shiroi asked their handler next, wanting to hear more of their next destination. It’s probably a safe location, but there’s no such thing as ‘just a normal port town’ in this realm of dreams, is there.

Some noise from below interrupted the conversation before it could go on much longer, and the three followed down to see what happened. The initial reaction from Aya was… concerning, but thankfully it wasn’t some kind of malfunction with the ship. “Ah, I was wondering why something felt missing about Fey.” “Did Chai leave it here or was that explosion it teleporting back just now?” “…This place has a miniature water park. I don’t even know what to say to that. …Is that actually water? I don’t think lava looks like that exactly, but…” Kuroi, Korrie and Shiroi remarked respectively, awed and amused by their discovery.

The twins had little time to explore this new feature themselves though, and Korrie remained behind while the two of them left with Aya, the wyvern girl giggling softly while she watched Fey try to console the slighted firebird. The golem girl got her attention though, and soon Korrie was at the poolside as well, gingerly dipping a finger into the ‘water’ just to test it. Obviously though, Chai wouldn’t put something dangerous on the ship (miniature sun powering it notwithstanding), and soon the wyvern girl submerged herself into the warm water as well, much more carefully than Aila, not wanting to make a big splash. “You’re right, this IS really comfy…” Korrie said with a smile, closing her eyes and relaxing to her heart’s content, treating it as more of a hot spring than a regular swimming pool.

Meanwhile, the twins followed Aya to their destination with equal parts anticipation and unease, their handler’s words promising a very temperamental and powerful teacher indeed. Waving hello to Erfek, the two sisters looked into the mirror curiously, at first confused by the perfectly ordinary reflection. Of course, it wasn’t actually ordinary, and Kuroi flinched when her own image greeted them before the two reflections fused together in a really weird manner. It was creepy, probably intentionally so, and the woman that finally stood before them was old and decrepit, yet her eyes were far, far from the typical sort one’d see on some grandma at a nursing home. There were centuries, perhaps even millenia’s worth of wisdom in there, and the power that entailed.

The two girls were in a bit of a shock while Aya and their new tutor bantered briefly. For one, they were expecting another Mask, though neither of them doubted the old witch’s qualifications for the task. They certainly didn’t expect to be meeting yet another family member of the succubus neither. They stepped back to give the old witch room to leave the mirror, feeling an involuntary shiver go down their spine at her touch. She was no fragment of an elder god, but she was perhaps no less powerful, and indubitably dangerous. Kuroi could actually feel the Mask’s influence suddenly recede, as if a spider on her back that she didn’t even notice just got slapped off. Was the Mask… afraid?

“Baba Yaga? THE Baba Yaga? Like, the one from human folklore?” Shiroi blinked incredulously. Aya’s grandma was THE Baba Yaga?! How’s that for a coincidence? “U-Uh, sorry, just a bit shocked, that’s all. My name is Shiroi, and this is my sister, Kuroi. It is an honor to meet you, ma’am.” The albino swiftly found her manners, feeling increasingly nervous alongside her awe. She’d bow in greeting, if the old witch wasn’t so close.

Kuroi too nodded in greeting, her slightly folded ears and stiff tail betraying the unease she shared with the being residing within her. “Yes, it is an honor to meet such a legendary figure as yourself!” She said with a ever so subtly wavering smile. Any sort of failure in her lessons is not going to be an option, is it? And those lessons are looking to be very demanding indeed. She almost regretted allowing themselves to get into this situation with the Mask, but she knew that if she could survive these lessons and master this power, it will all be more than worth it. …If she survives.

 

[Pervy]

"Before anyone asks, my firepowers don't keep you warm in a snowstorm. Infact, it's massively weaken me so I am only 90% Awesome. It's not that I can't do the fireblasting during cold weather but its already harder in reality, will be harder here.."
She cautioned.. Then again, perhaps her cold flames.. but those were cool!

"Oh hey there you are birdy! I was getting a bit worried!" She cheered upon the re-aquaintance, she cheered, hugging her bird, before grinning and eyeing the pool. "Swan dive!"
she declared, hesitating, and adding: "Phoenix dive, wooo!"
And, not a moment after, Fey had already hopped into the pool, flames whisking out and having her bathe naked (and raise the pools temperature just a little further)

"Wait, why are you pouting? More fire is better.. silly bird.."
She shook her head, before deciding it needed 'her' approach, which was a lot of praise and telling the bird how awesome and fiery it was.. until she peeped, curious about this eldritch teacher.. huh, didn't Kuroi and Shiroi remember Aya mentioning this being her mother or somesuch? Silly airheads didn't pay any attention. She looked at mirror granny, and nodded to Korrie. "Oh I know how this goes, I ask her about who the hottest of them all is and.. wait not a good idea?"
Fey grumped as Korrie, likely the voice of reason, pulled her back to the pool, where she pondered, staring at the robo-girl and pat-patting her Phoenix.

"... wait who's you again?"
She asked, staring at the golem girl, before deciding... "Time for Phoenix-Dive!"
She declared, climbing the diving tower, posing with a reignition of fiery wings coming from her, only to splash into the water. "Wooooh! Not having to be afraid of water is funsies."

 

[Lunaraia]

Of all the reactions the two twins had expected from their new teacher a mocking laugh was likely not the first on that list ”Honor, bwha, what do an old woman like myself care for honor, silly little girls” she commented as she patted the two on their heads like they were small children, and as she spoke they could now clearly pick up a rather thick east European accent to go with her creaky old voice, her lone good eye eyeing the two with a mix of predatory guile and mischievous eagerness, though it paused to look at Fey as she sneaked a peek with another highly interested gaze, for just the few moments it would take for Fey to make herself scarce, the witch had clearly taken an interest in her as well which might not be a good thing, all things considered.

”Well then, why don't you two show me around this little boat of yours eh, I want to see if there is any place we can practice safely, yes?” again she patted the two on their shoulders and gently, but undeniably started to push the twins ahead of her out the door, before she paused ”By the way, Ayanthika I want my hut back, if you don't mind, I let you borrow it because you said it would be a few days at most and it has almost been a week” Aya shrugged and rummaged through her bag and handed the old witch the house they had all used to walk through the highlands, though as the old witch reclaimed it, it's appearance changed drastically, now being smaller, having no porch and sporting two giant chicken legs rather than the 4 legs and much larger size it had been when they had all travelled in it, most likely the inside were quite different as well.

Having petted the hut rather lovingly before putting it in a pocket on her dress, which didn't seem to grow any larger with the addition of the baseball sized hut, she continued to usher the twins out of the room and into the hallway, right past the place Fey had been watching only a few moments earlier, the witch only paused for a mere moment to look into the pool room where she would see the trio bathe before shaking her head ”The innocence of youth, they are bathing and relaxing and have no idea of the horrors that are out there, not like you two girls, yes, especially the two of you I should say, not mand mortals can remain sane under the watchful eye of one such aquantance as you have and you have no less than three looking over you, hmm, wonder what makes you so special as to warrant such intrest” before she continued down the hall and stopped at a door that had decidedly not been there when the party boarded the boat, there were just the symbol of a Mortar and Pestle on it, which seemed to give the old witch pause, clearly curious she opened it and revealed yet another bedroom, this one had it's own fireplace with a happily burning, yet smokeless, fire and what could only be described as a horror show of jarred items on shelves that covvered every inch of open wall, anything from eyeballs to spiders, to bat wings and other less easily identifiable things that were likely part of witches brews, there were also a small straw bed and a place next to the bed that had a holder for what could only be the strange staff that the old witch had on her back. ”Where in the world did Ayanthika manage to find a ship with the ability to create such perfect accommodations, dis is beyond something that can be made with simple magic, it was made by a dreamer, and a powerful one at that, my now I am curious, why don't you young ones regale this old woman with the tale on how you got your hands on this while we find a training room, hmm?” despite being phrased as a question, there was an unmistakable undertone of a command in her voice, meaning that the twins would have to decide for themselves if this was something they should answer or not and more importantly whether it would be wise NOT to answer.

Meanwhile Aya returned to the swimming pool shortly after the twins and the old witch had taken off on their own, her grandmother wouldn't do anything horrible to them... she hoped, she had agreed to train them, but the old witch had always been unpredictable, even at the best of times, even so it was nothing she could do about it now, the die was cast and if the old witch decided to do something horrible to the twins there were nothing she could do to stop her, the old one had rightly earned her reputation as the most powerful witch in existence for a reason, and just like Aya and the girls the old Hag were a dreamer as well one that far outstripped the rest of them combined, she silently hoped she had not made a mistake involving her, as she arrived in time to see Fey toss herself into the pool once more and simply sat down in a chair next to it and looked at the tree silently without a word, just another point of worry to add to her growing list of complications.

Aila would resurface in time to catch Fey's question, barely and she would look at her for a few moments before realizing the two of them had actually never spoken, despite being in the same room multiple times, the same went with Korrie, slightly embarrassed she waited for Fey to resurface after her latest dive before answering ”I am Aila, I am a Golem... Technically I am owned by Shiroi and Kuroi, but frankly they are treating me more like a close friend... her voice trailed off as she spoke and she slowly sank under the water to hide her slight blush as she spoke about her liberators, though it was pretty obvious how she felt about them to anyone but the twins themselves, given the doe-eyed stare she was giving them when they weren't looking and how she was always slightly blushing and being nervous when speaking to them, the twins might mistake that for her just being shy, but with the twin gone she had shown none of that behaviour as she urged Korrie and Fey to join her in the pool.

With introductions done and once her embarrassment abated she would surface again and before long would challenge Korrie and Fey to a swimming race across the pool, though before anything could come from it there would be an almost impossible to notice tremor going through the ship that would give her pause and cause Aya to snap out of her brooding, the ship, now having been fully loaded and with those that were not supposed to join them on the voyage safely ashore, had started down the river on its own, without any prompt from either Aya or anyone else, Aya rose from her seat and motioned for the three to remain in the pool room, before heading up on deck to see what in the world was going on, in the unlikely event that Korrie or likely event that Fey would follow, they would find that the ship were already passing through the waterfront gate of Ulthar and making pretty nice pace down river, helped along by the current and the beautiful sails that now shimmered like a nebula in all the colors of the rainbow and beyond even in the morning sun. After taking a quick look around Aya would turn around and venture bellow deck again and start to collect together everyone on the ship on deck, allowing a great view of the countryside, with it's rural hedges and groves, as well as it's scattered cottages, farms and windmills among the grassy hillside, the ship were gliding almost soundlessly down the river, letting the group bask in the pristine and utter silence of the countryside at dawn, with only a few travellers on carts along the river and the fishermen barely getting in their boats, it was a very idyllic sight indeed.

”The reason I gathered you all here is to inform you about our current planned course of action, I decided it was better to do it now since the ship seems to have a mind of its own in regards to leaving and arriving, and so hopefully this clarification will have it pertain to the needs of the trip rather than making unintended stops because it doesn't know where we are headed, as well as remind those of you who are more... easily distracted”

She paused for a moment to look at Fey, who would likely have gotten distracted by this point, before continuing ”The original plan would have us travel down the river Skai, like we are now, with a river boat down to Dylath-Leen in order to get our hands on a proper ship and supplies, then from there make our way across the ocean, make a quick pit-stop in Celephais to get proper gear to brave the Plateau of Leng and the Library deep within it”

She looked along the ship from one side to the other ”As you can see things have changed as we now have a seaworthy vessel already, as such the new plan is now to get through Dylath-Leen as quickly and as inconspicuously as possible, as it is clearly not the place of my childhood anymore, and instead sail straight for Celephais, get the gear we need there then set out for Leng without delay, now with the ships current speed it will take us about 3 days to reach Dylath-Leen, maybe a bit shorter maybe a bit longer, depending on how crowded the river gets as we travel, from Dylath-Leen to Celephais, however, that is a distance I am less sure of, not only because of the strange nature of the Dreamlands, but also because I have never set foot in that City in my life, though hopefully it should not take more than a week, maybe two at most for us, that would be about half an hour in the waking world at the absolute most if my calculations hold, any questions?” Aya looked at the group expectantly, Baba Yaga herself seemed rather bored with the entire thing, and were currently eying a sparrow flitting on the river bank with a rather unnerving amount of focus, while Aila looked like she wanted to ask something, but were a bit to nervous with everyone else around to speak up.

 

[Pervy]

"Owned huh. Did you lose a round of smash bros? Hah.. get it? Because getting owned.. nevermind..
I got a firebird, they got a .. cyber friend. Hurmnnn." She mused. Also secretly half relieved this wasn't someone she'd been introduced to before but just forgotten about, what with her not being on fire.
Sadly following Aya yielded not fascinating secrets.. they were just setting sail.

When out of the pool and re-assembled together with shy-cute golem girl, Fey looked over the rural farmlands and mumbled: "I expected far more sheep. Y'know, dreamlands?"
"Wha? Who? oh yeah, easily distracted.. pay attention Korrie!"
Fey nodded, when startled by Aya adressing her after using lots of boring big words. She'd frankly tuned out after 'The reason I gathered you all here' but luckily, no one noticed that, right?

So they were traveling from one point to another and then they'd get the pancakes. Ugh. two weeks? that was like.. a lot of days! She emphatized with the clearly also bored looking witch-grandma and decided to trott over and chat her up instead. "'Sup Super-Grandma. I'm Fey! I'm here for when if stuff needs burning. Are you an ornithi
Ornithoil
orinoirologi..

... why watch that boring river bird when you can watch my awesome phoenix!"
She pointed out, presenting her phoenix a little encouragingly and feeding it a fire seed, while at it.

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

It was embarrassing for the twins to be treated like little children, but compared to The Baba Yaga, their grandparents would be as children before her too. “Sure, we just finished looking around ourselves.” Shiroi nodded, and the two watched as Aya returned the walking house they used before, which changed form as it exchanged hands. Kuroi just noted it as an interesting oddity, but Shiroi recalled something about really long legs in the legends of the old witch. So that’s where they came from.

The two soon led the way outside, expecting to backtrack their way through the ship uneventfully. An open space to practice… Other than the open air of the deck, not many appropriate locations came to mind. They passed by the pool, looking in to see the pets and Aila enjoying themselves without a care in the world. “It’s just circumstance, I’d say. I don’t think we were born very special, just with above average arcane potential.” Shiroi mused. The Mist, Lady Pale Moon, Christine’s patron deity, and now, in a sense, a piece of Nyarlathotep. They really have gotten themselves involved with a lot of gods without really noticing it, huh. It helps that two are on their side, and the Mist is relatively passive. Things could’ve been very different with any other god. …Like with Kuroi and the Mask.

These thoughts were interrupted when they stumbled upon a door that had definately not been there earlier. “Hmm? What’s this? Did we miss… No, this is new, I’m sure of it.” Kuroi noted with suspicion, staring at the incredibly ‘coincidental’ symbol on it. The twins peered in as well, and as expected from the mark, it was a room specifically designed for their newest guest. “Impossible… This means the ship has been generating these rooms spontaneously?” The neko muttered to herself while she looked in awe. She had thought it was weird that the fire elemental had not only prepared perfect rooms for Aya, Korrie and Fey, but also her and her sister, as well as Aila in such a short time. This explained a lot, yet also posed new questions, ones more precisely defined by the old crone.

But first, the twins need to do the answering. “We’re not the best people to ask that question to, but as far as we know, that wyvern and phoenix girl at the pool, Korrie and Fey, went on some kind of time loop earlier today where they were sent to the fire plane in the past and saved some nobles from a disaster. After coming back to the present, one of the nobles, Chai, insisted on rewarding them, and by extension us, with this ship. Apparently she knows Aya too.” Shiroi did her best to explain. “Dunno anything about dreamers involved though. You said this ship could only be made by a dreamer and not by ‘regular’ magic. How does that work? Aya told us about the power of dreamers before, how to an extent their belief in themselves can shape their own form and abilities in this realm, but… I mean, did the dreamer just believe they could make the boat, and then they did? Or is there more to it?” She continued to ask. She was a dreamer herself afterall, as was her sister, and the two pets. Knowing the true extent of their power here could pay dividends later on.

Meanwhile, Korrie was content to relax in the pool, greeting her handler as she returned. It was as Aila introduced herself that she remembered, despite knowing how she came to be in the Twins’ company, they had never formally introduced themselves to each other. “Yeah, Korrie thinks they’re not big on the ‘Mistress Servant’ stuff. Also it’s nice to meet you! Korrie is… Korrie. Korrie speaks in the third-person because Mistress thinks it’s cute.” The pet wyvern giggled to herself. She was rarely even self-aware of it nowadays. Speaking of awareness, the twins were completely oblivious to Aila’s true feelings for them weren’t they? If she wasn’t sure before she was now, the golem girl was adorably smitten with her saviors. It’s like a real life rom com…

Fey’s joke was… pretty terrible, but just as Korrie wondered if she should try to explain the joke (while agreeing to the swimming contest), a tremor from the ship interrupted her train of thought. Did she imagine that? No, Aya felt it too. She would’ve followed to investigate, but it was probably no big deal, and her handler motioned for her to stay, so she did. Of course Fey disregarded the gesture, and Korrie had no intention to stop her. Instead, Korrie just remained where she was, asking the cute golem girl what she thought just happened, and waited around until Aya returned and called them out of the pool, the lack of urgency in the succubus’ voice telling her there was nothing to worry about. It turned out to be the correct assessment, as the ship had merely set sail on its own. Of course it also came equipped with auto-pilot, why wouldn’t it?

While the twins and their tutor were called up to the deck as well, Korrie busied herself enjoying the view, the serene countryside scrolling by like watching some tourism ad for a European country, but better. The wyvern girl looked bemusedly at Fey for a moment, but soon focused on the briefing. The twins were a bit more distracted by the fantastically beautiful sight of the riverbanks and the shimmering sails, but they listened in enough to know what the plans were. “So, one to two weeks of travel to Celephais, then it’s the frigid north for who knows how long, got it. Didn’t even take account of timeflow differences honestly, I guess this whole journey won’t even last us a day in the waking world, huh?” Shiroi remarked, somewhat speechless at the knowledge of how little time had passed out there. “Any hazards we should know about? River monsters? Pirates?”

Kuroi meanwhile noticed her golem friend’s fidgeting. “Aila? Is something wrong?” She asked quietly.

Both the twins and Korrie glanced over as Fey approached the old witch as well, the wyvern girl giggling at the term ‘Super Grandma’, while having no idea what this ‘ornitho’ thing Fey tried to say was. The twins, knowing the actual power the old witch held, kept a subtle but healthy distance as they waited to see how their tutor would respond to the enthusiastic but random phoenix.

 

[Lunaraia]

Baba Yaga looked at Fey with a look halfway between amusement and disdain “Oh deary no, the only birds Baba Yaga are no Ornithologist in fact, the only birds I like is the ones that goes into the pie, though Phoenix are not one of those, too much ash and to little meat” She grinned as she petted Fey on the head akin to a grandmother lovingly patting a young granddaughter. “Little fire elementals are always amusing, it is always amusing to see what random ideas they have popping into their heads” she chuckled. Her smile disappeared quickly though as she resumed her usual serious expression, her good eye looking at Fey a bit more sternly. “However, young lady, where in the world did you get the idea what I was someone who enjoys looking at birds?” she seemed genuinely surprised at Fey’s sudden and out-of-the-blue assumption that she was an Ornithologist.

Baba Yaga tapped her chin with a finger for a bit, before she snapped her hand and with a poof the strange cauldron from before appeared, though when Baba Yaga tossed some herbs inside and used the but end of her weird staff to hammer down on them did it become clear that the cauldron was actually a mortar and that Babas staff doubled as a giant pestle, once the herbs were crushed Baba gestured and the powder flew out of the mortar and into one of the many pouches on Baba Yaga’s belt.

She then turned to the twins “Let’s resume our search for the training room, the ship is bound to have one somewhere, we just need to find it” she said as she led the twins back under deck while also dragging along before Aila could give a response to Kuroi’s question, leaving the Golem rather flabbergasted. Leaving Korrie and Fey alone with Aya and Erfek. The Zoog in particular did not seem to keen on being near the old hag “Was it really needed to call in the Elder Crone, I mean you are her family, so she probably won’t cause trouble but...” Aya interrupted the Zoog “We both know that she is the best option available to use given the situation, besides she gave her word she would help and Baba actually keep her word when she gives it, in difference from the other choices all of whom would have been risky, especially your main argument against” the Zoog seemed less than convinced but didn’t say anything.

With that out of the way Aya refocused on the two pets “Alright you two, I got a job for you, afraid it’s not a very fun job, but it’s an important one” she led the two over to the steering wheel, which seemed to steer itself, then she pointed down the river, where in front of them they could see a big bridge crossing it to the other side. “See that bridge crossing the river? Once we are underneath it, we will be hard-pressed to avoid hitting the support pillars given the ships size, I will need your help making sure we don’t crash into them because if we do we are likely to get the entire bridge in our heads and that would, if not outright damage our sails, at least force us to waste time mending them”

(Roll a Die and post the result with your post, this will somewhat determine the result of what happens during your attempt at keeping the ship off, I will point out that the same result on the die for both of you will likely yield very different results, for reasons )

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

“Don’t mind her, she’s a little random.” Shiroi whispered to the old crone after she got her first experience with the pet phoenix, observing curiously as Baba Yaga prepared some kind of powder. Something to be used as part of Kuroi’s training perhaps? Nodding, the twins followed the witch back down, surprised by their golem friend being brought along, to whom Kuroi offered a slightly awkward smile and a shrug. It was nice to have Aila with them, but whatever the old crone had in mind that required the golem girl’s assistance, it likely warranted concern. “By the way, Baba Yaga, have you trained anyone else possessed by a Mask or something of the sort before?” Shiroi asked along the way as they searched for the perfectly suited training room that they had no doubt was somewhere on the ship now that they knew how it worked. Not that being possessed by a fragment of an elder god was a regular occurrence, she presumed, but if anyone was old and wise enough to have had the experience it’d be the legendary witch. She was curious whatever happened to past examples… even if the tales were most likely morbid.

Back above deck, Korrie watched the others go before her attention was taken by Aya and Erfek’s conversation, then the task entrusted to her and Fey. With how otherwise ideal the vessel had been, the possibility of such a mundane yet serious hazard along their journey, and so soon at that, had completely slipped her mind. “Um, Korrie will do what she can to manually steer then. She doubts she can get through safely at this speed though… Is there some way we could slow the ship down?” She asked nervously, hurrying to the steering wheel nonetheless and looking out upon the bridge, trying to gauge how she’ll have to turn the ship to avoid the support pillars. She tried her hand at overriding the auto-pilot, gently turning the wheel left and right to get a feel of how responsive the ship is.

Then, whether or not they managed to decelerate or if Fey found some other way to help, the wyvern girl would do her best to maneuver the large vessel through, praying that she won’t screw it up somehow. She never was very good at driving games…

((Rolled 1d6, got a 2 o3o oh dear...))

 

[Pervy]

"Just saying, you were watching that bird or did I imagine that? Also don't you pie my phoenix!"
She tipped her chin, before patting her firebird soothingly. She liked the phoenix, it was like a normal bird but 250% more awesome because it was on fire.

She harumphfed a little, looking, and then scuttling over to Korrie. "Hrmpfh. Super Grandma is ignoring me just to cook some soup. Grandmas.."

She tilted her head when Aya lead her to the steering wheel, before grinning and saluting. "Melting the bridge? Got it."
She enthused, making a sleeve-pulling-up motion, which, considering all her clothes were mentally controlled flames, looked more comically than anything. with a flick of her hands small fireballs appeared in each palm. Then, when others gave her the inavoidable look she nodded. "Oh yeah. You're right.. we'll need some bigger flames for this one.."
She mused, more flames cascading down her arms.

(also a 2!)

 

[Lunaraia]

Baba Yaga seemed quite content with the explanation offered by Shiroi as she led the trio back under deck, she seemed to muse a bit at the question that was posed next “No, Can’t say I have dearies, still teaching is not hard, after all people tend to pay apt attention to what I have to say, given their lives depend on it” she gave a cackling laugh as she looked around.
“Now where on this vessel would there be a place for a room suited to train?” as if on cue a door just appeared out of nowhere a bit further down the hall, with a sign wit the silhouette of a person sitting cross-legged above it. Grinning Baba led the trio inside, the room itself was quite small, only about the size of a small bedroom.

Once inside Baba nodded even more “Good, good, this is perfect, you two, sit down over there, you little golem girly, you stand over here, good god, now before Baba will let you even use the power of that Mask for your own you need to master your own mind, if you do not, then the Mask will just have it’s way with you, you white girl, you will undergo this training too, it will help you hone your power as well”

She had the twins sit down in meditative poses, then turned to Aila and had her start to make a tapping noise every second as if she was a metronome, which she did with mechanically perfect precision.

Baba then took out the powder she had made earlier and started mixing it with several others in her giant mortar, while mumbling strange arcane words under her breath. “Now you girls just close your eyes and focus on your powers, all of them at once, including the power you get from the mask black-haired girl, sense their power, sense their strength, let them slowly expand within you”

As she spoke she tossed the powdered mix into the air over the two girls and a strange pallid pink glow suffused the room, together with the scent of cooked apples, “Slowly increase their power within the limit of your control, let them increase slowly, let them fill you to the brim”

As she spoke her voice seemed more and more distant, until it became a murmur far, far away, as the voice died away the scent of apples, the rhythmic tapping noise Aila made and the strange pink light became stronger, until that was all that the two would consciously remember.

When the twins finally came too once more they would not remember what had happened, but they would be absolutely exhausted, as if they had run for several miles without rest.

The surrounding floor would be bathed in sweat and the remains of the powder Baba Yaga had used. Kuroi would also be able to hear the mask whimper distantly, as if it had been whipped or otherwise beaten.

“Good, good, you did very well, girls Baba is proud of you, let us go now dinner should be ready soon and you need to get something to drink I think, you lost a lot of fluid during practice” she cackled as she led the group outside once more, while Aila hurried to the twins side to help steady them should they need it.

______________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, on deck Aya nodded as Korrie took the wheel, course correction would likely require her strength, given the ship seemed to have a mind of its own on where it was best to go, which currently seemed to be towards one of the support pillars of the bridge.

The bridge itself seemed to be made of some kind of stone and arched high enough to allow the ship to sail under it just fine, giving the sails proper clearing, but there was no way the ship nor the bridge would stand of they hit one of the supports.

The moment Fay started sending fire down her arms, however, Aya rushed over and pulled her into a kiss, sending a nice pleasant fog into her mind fog into her mind as she did “No Fey, no burning bridges, people need them to cross the river” she tapped Fey on her nose as if she was an unruly child.

“Now be a good little pet and help me keep the boat clear from the bridge supports, without using fire and collapse the bridge onto us, OK?” that sounded so reasonable, right now didn’t it?

And everything was so pleasant and fuzzy for Fey as Aya put her Charm on her to ensure she didn’t attempt to incinerate the bridge, the last thing she needed was to deal with destruction of the only bridge across the river for until you passed well beyond Ulthar further up the river.

With Fey helping Aya as well as Korrie manning the wheel they managed to steer the boat clear of the supports, with very little in the way of clearance, at one point the boat actually scraped along the support for a while before Aya managed to push it off with a wooden pole she had found lying on deck.

The entire operation took better part of 15 minutes of hard and intense work, Korrie could feel the steering wheel fight her, but it was no match for her increased strength. She was, however, lucky that the steering wheel held together under her administrations, the practice with the eggs clearly coming in handy.

With the ordeal over Aya snapped Fey out of her charm and handed her a pepper “Good work, Fey, here you are, a reward for a job well done” it was a bribe, and an obvious one, but then Fey probably wouldn’t mind.

After that was done Aya led the two back bellow deck “There are no more bridges or anything we should need to worry about until we get closer to Dylath-Leen, as such you are free to wander the ship and do what you want. Just don’t destroy anything and do not disturb Baba Yaga as she trains the twins. If she decides to turn you into a squirrel or something for disturbing her you are stuck that way, I am not strong enough to counter her spells, and she seldom if ever turn someone back herself.”

She patted both girls one more time, then went back to the dining room in order to get something more to eat, she had not had much time to eat at all so far due to constant interruptions or other necessities.

 

[Pervy]

"Gmnnn? But I like burning bridgemnnnn..." Fey protested briefly, distracted by the witch-smooching. "But I like using fire.."
She was more pouty than confrontinga bout this, and of limited aid in the bridge-distancing measures, although Aya was half to blame for this, considering Fey seemed somewhat.. high during her task.

She did however make sure to flip off the scratchy bridge before giving a half-enthusiastic pole-thrust alongside Aya.

"Wait what did I do?" Fey questioned, nomming on her pepper, but shrugging after a while. "Yeah I'm pretty good ain't I! First Mate Fey!"
"Being a squirrel could be kinda neat though.."
Fey mused at Aya's instructions. "Oh wait, forever? Well thats no fun.."
She sulked and crossed her arms.

"I'ma got to the ships engine, get myself some tan, never could do that. I wonder if there's any sunscreen here.."
She pondered, and shrugged, but nonetheless moved to execute her plan. She seemed quite comfortable at the engine-room, stealing herself a pillow from somewhere, before watching said pillow go off in flames, grump a bit, then roll herself out on the ground before the miniature sun like some particularly heat-tolerant feline.

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

This time they didn’t even have to really look for the training room, the door literally popped into existence before their eyes. By this point though it just got some raised eyebrows and that’s it, as the twins followed their new trainer into the small, utilitarian room.

At the old witch’s instruction, the siblings sat down cross-legged beside each other, Shiroi pitying their golem friend a little bit for being brought here just to act as a living metronome, but the golem girl probably didn’t mind menial tasks like this unlike regular humans.

“Alright, I’ll try my best.” Kuroi nodded, as did her sister, and after sharing another glance, the two sisters closed their eyes and tried to shift their senses inward, trying to visualize their power, to reach out and feel it. It wasn’t a difficult task for Shiroi, but as someone who normally used her power through a medium, the neko was less familiar with directly manipulating the raw energy that flowed within her and trying to suffuse herself with it. She could feel the Mask somewhere inside her as well, and with a little hesitation she reached for it as well without truly tapping into it, envisioning a cloud of energy around the core that gradually filled her. She focused on the things it could do, the manipulation over time and space, while staying ever wary of the consciousness from which that power trickled, making sure it wasn’t reaching out its tendrils.

Meanwhile, faint blue-green wisps gradually started to appear around Shiroi, like a barely visible curtain of northern lights, with two condensed patches from which her wings would normally sprout. She was used to channeling her power, and it was the same deal as usual, just a matter of containing it rather than letting it loose. The task grew slightly harder to maintain after a while though, as the energy began to brim over if she didn’t keep a firm hold of it. And she was supposed to keep summoning up more? …It started to remind her of the time before, when she was suffused with the Mist’s power and unable to get rid of it, slowly being poisoned from within… Well, if she survived years in that state, she could last a couple hours.

After a while, neither of them could tell how much time had passed. There was a pink light seeping through their eyelids, and the enticing smell of apple pies, and the rythmatic tapping, but everything else was vague, nothing they could spare the extra brainpower to be aware of while focusing on their task. It almost felt like they’d dozed off at some point, but there was no lethargy normally associated with it.

At some point, the twins noticed that the pink light had gone away, the sweet aroma had faded, and Aila had finally been relieved of her monotonous duty. They took it as their cue to stop, letting the power return to its natural state and opening their eyes. How long had it been, half an hour? A full ho- holy FUCK. Shiroi nearly collapsed as the exhaustion suddenly hit her like a truck, and Kuroi found herself panting for breath, feeling hot and wet and not in the kinky way. She was positively drenched in sweat, as was her sister, it looked like someone had spilled a large cup of water around them, and she felt like she’d just run a marathon. She could almost hear a whimper from somewhere, and she wasn’t sure if that was the Mask or herself.

“Well, I’m glad we did well… Wait, dinner??” Shiroi blinked in surprise, watching the old crone head out first, and gladly accepting the golem’s aid in getting to her feet, her footing unsteady and her legs numb. “Hey, Aila… How many hours has it been, and… were we really just sitting there spontaneously boiling or were we doing something else…?” The albino asked while Aila helped her equally spent sister to her feet, “Ugh, I see why people usually do this under a waterfall now…” She continued to complain, panting raggedly. The thirst was real, and not the kinky kind, as both eagerly headed for the dining room and its magical food source for some desperately needed fluid replenishment.

---

“W-Wait, Fey, don’t! No burning!” Korrie frantically shook her head and flailed her arms in a ‘NO NO NO NO’ gesture, wanting to run over to stop the phoenix yet having no time as she needed to man the wheel. Thankfully Aya had the problem dealt with, and breathing a sigh of relief, the wyvern girl could focus on her own mission. Her own nervousness was to everyone’s benefit this time around, as she quickly remembered her drastically increased strength after wrestling with the wheel a bit. If she had gone in with total conviction she might’ve snapped something off…

As they reached the bridge, Korrie carefully maneuvered the vessel between the support beams, her strength allowing her to keep a firm grip on the steering without losing control. Still, her own control wasn’t perfect, and the wyvern girl winced as the ship scraped against one of the beams, fortunately to little damage to either the bridge nor the ship. It was a slow and tense process, but the ship eventually managed to clear the bridge no worse for wear, and the local infrastructure was neither collapsed nor incinerated, a good day for everyone. The pet wyvern let go of the breath she didn’t know she was holding and allowed the ship to do its own thing once more.

The wyvern girl pouted quietly while Fey got a treat, but she wasn’t sure what kind of reward she would’ve wanted anyway. A headpat would’ve been enough, but oh well. “R-right, no disturbing grandma…” Korrie gulped, but her nerves were swiftly relaxed by a headpat. Well, it looks like she’s free to do whatever for now. Normally she’d just go play video games at this point, but… “Korrie’s gonna check something in her room.” She remarked, going her own way while Fey went to do some miniature-sunbathing. The wyvern girl soon arrived at her room, admired the decor again, and tried to will a functioning computer into existence on the table, with internet and her favorite video games pre-installed. She wasn’t sure if she was stretching the limits of the ship’s wish-granting power but it doesn’t hurt to experiment.

 

[Lunaraia]

Fey would find that sleeping in the engine room was pleasant. The heat seemed to wash over her like a warm wind on a scorching summer day. The warmth caressed her all over and making her feel like she was lying down in front of a warm fireplace after being outside on a chilly winter day. The warmth would slowly lull her into a nice comfortable sleep, with pleasant dreams involving flames in some fashion.
The Phoenix would eagerly Snuggle up to her before it to fell asleep, feeling safe and at ease next to Fey.
Fey would dream though, in that dream she was with Christine, in her mansion. They were next to a nice fireplace that was burning happily. Her phoenix was on a roost next to her, and she had a bowl that never ran out of peppers. Christine was slowly patting and caressing the Phoenix Girl. Complimenting her on a job well done rescuing her. Christine would slowly feed her a pepper, as she did so, while shadowy tentacles would slowly caress the Phoenix girl, patting and stroking her all over.


Christine would continue this reward for a while, before leaning down and planting a loving kiss on Fey’s mouth, her soft lips leaving behind a familiar feeling of tingling pleasure as Christine smiled gently down at her “You are such a good pet, Fey.” Her hand caressed Fey’s cheek as she spoke. “Such a good pet, indeed.” Christine picked up another pepper and fed it to Fey. “This is nice, is it not?” She asked as she reached for another pepper and offered it to Fey. Before Fey could finish a proper response, however, she would wake up. Though something had been different about that dream, Fey would feel certain about it.


______________________________________________________________________________


It would disappoint Korrie to learn that while she could make a perfectly functioning computer, the effect on how it ran seemed surreal. It was as if the games ran off of her memory of them, rather than how it was like. This included but was not limited to weirdness with both monsters and NPC’s. Not to mention the “Players” she encountered in multiplayer games all seemed to know her, somehow. It quickly became apparent that it dredged the computer and all its functions from Korrie’s memories. This was most likely because the ship did not understand what a computer actually was.


So while Korrie could play the games, the moment she encountered new content she did not know of things got… weird, as the ship tried to fill in the gaps to the best of its ability, usually causing rather nonsensical scenarios to occur. This would probably produce some entertainment, provided this sort of thing amused Korrie.


______________________________________________________________________________


Aila would happily help steady the exhausted twins on their walk through the hallway and into the dining as she answered their questions “You have been at this for nearly 5 hours without pause, so I am not surprised if you are tired. As for your second question. You began sweating after the first 10 minutes and never stopped, so I am not surprised you built up more perspiration, I wanted to get some water to cool you off, but Baba said it would ruin the training.” She seemed to be sorry she couldn’t be of any more help, even as the table happily produced the beverages that the sisters craved the most, letting the twins refresh themselves and regain some much-needed fluids.

______________________________________________________________________________

The trip down river would mostly be uneventful after this, though the training would not become any easier for the twins, though the effort was also starting to show, by the third day the duo could get through with far less effort and on the 4th they would hardly break a sweat at all.
Aya would summon Korrie and Fey into her bedroom to help transfer energy to Christine like before every other night, which would become a pleasurable, if exhausting endeavor, though they would have all day to recharge once more in any fashion they saw fit.

On the morning of the 5th day, however, Aya called everyone onto the deck. On the horizon rose spires of basalt. “There it is, Dylath-Leen, here’s hoping that we can get in and out with no problems.” Aya seemed nervous, and even Baba Yaga seemed to tense up a bit. “Well, we will deal with that if it comes to it, just be ready in case of trouble.” As the boat got closer, it would dominate the skyline more and more by the black spires of the city. Until the boat entered the shadow of the nearest spires, there was no sun on the streets or waterways at all, all of it was in the gloom of the shadows as the boat approached the city perimeter.

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

To Korrie’s initial delight, the computer manifested as she desired it, a carbon copy of the one she owned, and even seemed to operate perfectly as well. She started off by booting up a singleplayer game, and it was after a bit that she began to notice something… off. The dialogue took a significant turn from how the game was up to that point, only to slightly adjust itself after she took notice of the discrepancy in story direction. The next stage also looked like a mishmash of what came before, and the more Korrie experimented, the more she finally realized that the game was running off her imagination and memories rather than actually being the game. Testing on a ‘multiplayer’ game yielded similar results, as her favorite MMO was now populated either by what were essentially stock NPCs or familiar people and characters, and she could change aspects of the game however she desired. It wasn’t what she was aiming for when she first began this test, but she had to admit, the power to create her own video game with her thoughts alone? That held a whole different potential for entertainment on this voyage.

And it was what she did for the days to come, either weaving content as she saw fit, or allowing the new content generation to run on auto-pilot. There was a charm to it sometimes, kind of like having a powerful AI write stories with minimal manual input and seeing what nonsense comes out, as well as the odd randomly generated gem. Monkeys, typewriters and Shakespeare and all that. Other times she’d go up on deck to enjoy the view, occasionally spying otherworldly sights far on the horizon; and of course, there were the energy transference sessions that the horny wyvern always looked forward to. How normal such lewdness has become in her daily routine.

In the meantime, the twins spent their days much more productively, even if they spent half of them in a pseudo-coma as part of their training. It was a relatively effortless, if still exhausting training that got gradually less tiring. Not very exciting perhaps, but as long as it’s helpful, and it’s not like they had much else to do, having not thought up an idea like Korrie’s to pass the time. Any time they didn’t spend meditating were mostly spent at the pool or actually sleeping, keeping company with Aila whenever they got some time together.

It was on the fifth day that the peaceful routine was disturbed, as their original first stop loomed in the horizon. “So that’s Dylath-Leen… Did it always look so spooky or did new management do some redecorating?” Shiroi remarked, the sight of the dark towers and completely sunless city enough to spook both the twins and the wyvern girl. They tried to peer into the city regardless, hoping to catch sight of some form of life, some semblance of normalcy one could expect from a port city despite the darkness. Anything was better than a complete ghost town.

 

[Pervy]

The Phoenix purred a little in the miniature suns heat, rolling about and resolving to find highly fire-resistant pillows for increased comfort later.

Fey was always weirded out by the concept of being able to dream while already dreaming, what, did she go to SUPER dream world? Still, she smiled in her dreams, munched peppers, and grinned to her nice mistress pampering her. "Hmnyeaah.. is nice.. huh.."
She blinked and looked around and shrugged, and scratched the back of her head. It'd been a nice dream, but enough dawdling.. she'd always been the one to push most to recover Christine, so this dream just filled her with renewed vigor and had her get up, phoenix resting a bit more on her shoulder, and wander the place, flame-dress reestablishing herself a little after her hot arousal from the dream had dissipated.

If she had a chance to notice it she'd approve of Korrie video-gaming with Fey-casters in her party, clearly, these fiery explodey folks knew what was up!

The Phoenix tried to transfer as much of her quickly regrowing life-energy as she could, worriedly snuggling up to her every time.
"Gloomy place."
Fey commented at the encroaching, that's what it felt like anyway, city. "Lemme guess, it's made from nightmare stuff?"
She tilted her head, wandering to put an arm around Shiroi, as her wyvern-sister seemed to handle the sights decent enough. "Dont'cha worry, anything troubling you I'll just fire... plus I'm sure I can control my nighmares.. ah ah ah.. if you see any giant disembodied teeth flopping around blow 'em up for me."
She grinned and lied.

 

[Lunaraia]

As the boat sailed past the entrance checkpoint, without being stopped. Once they entered the city proper, the view that met them were canals filled with gondolas branching off from the river itself. The shadowed streets were busy, however, as people moved about with their daily lives. But whereas Ulthar had been loud and lively, there was an oppressive and tense atmosphere here. There was no laughter among the playing children, no conversation among the pedestrians or any street musicians playing music for coin. Even the bazaar they sailed past was mostly quiet as none of the merchants were hawking their wares, but waited silently for people to approach.

“Most of the city is basalt, the few buildings that are not, use other dark types of stone, to not create too much difference.” Aya responded to Fey’s pondering. She was silently surprised that the fire obsessed woman hadn’t recognized the volcanic stone, but decided to not comment on it. she then looked at the city with a looked wistful expression.

“It used to be more lively, but otherwise looks mostly the same, despite the ever present shadows on the street. People used to be livelier than this, however, and it’s not hard to see why.” She glanced over to a group of large cloaked individuals that was exiting a large black ship that was moored to a pier along the river. Baba gave a rather disgusted grimace at the sight of them.

“Moonbeasts, you would think they would stay on that wretched moon of theirs, rather than go and conquer an entire city like this, yes?” She gave a shudder before she went back below deck, though just before she left she called out to the twins. “Don’t be late for practice later, girls, you are making progress but are still far from having a handle on that power of yours.” she said before she closed the door behind her.

The ship continued down the river, the smaller vessels wisely chose to move out of the way for the ship. The only thing that could measure up to it in size was the black ships of the Moonbeasts, and even then the groups seemed more sturdy than those. “I am going below deck, this place is giving me the creeps.” Aila left as well, nearly dragging the twins with her as she did, but opted against it, barely.

Aya however seemed to agree with Aila. “We should be going below deck as well, the less we show ourselves above deck, the less the chance anyone will pay us any attention.” She looked at the girls and gestured towards the door. Aya would be the last one to go inside and as she did Korrie and Fey would be able to hear her mumble to herself “Hopefully we can get through here without anyone noticing” She sounded, worried.

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

As the party drew closer, they could see regular citizens conducting their business, but there was an oppressive, unnatural air as the people clearly lived in fear, a stark contrast from the bustling Ulthar. It was a little surprising that the city has always had such ominous architecture, but the twins and the wyvern’s attention were swiftly drawn to the cloaked figures, their size hinting their inhuman nature.

“Alright, we’ll be there as usual.” Shiroi nodded as their teacher went below deck, curious what these ‘moonbeasts’ looked like under the hood. The tense air was clearly getting to everyone, as even the stoic golem girl made her retreat, gently tugging at the twins to follow her in concern. Aya agreed with Aila’s preferred course of action as well, and her point was sound, but a certain neko had other ideas.

“Wait. I think it’d be best if someone stayed up here to keep watch, just in case. Don’t worry, I have an idea.” Kuroi said, using her quill to scribble something on her arm. With a whispered ‘Execute’, the prompt activated, and the ravenette disappeared from view with a shimmer, though her voice could still be heard. “There, now they can’t see me. I’ll be down later for the lesson if nothing happens, but just in case.”

“Why can’t you two just do as you’re told…” Korrie grumbled, but the willful kitten did have a point, so she may as well help make her more useful. Using her experience with manifesting a computer, the wyvern girl created two handheld radios, handing them over to the twins who looked at the items in surprise. “Here, use these to report in faster if any moonbeasts look like they want to give us trouble, and don’t get in any yourself, you hear?” Korrie said before heading back below deck to take her mind off the tense air with some games.

The two sisters quickly gave the walkie-talkies a test to make sure they were operational. “Alright, looks like they work afterall. Huh, wish I knew we could just spawn stuff like that on board. Anyway I’ll go keep Aila company, you stay safe up here, alright?”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Kuroi gave her sister a reassuring smile before remembering no one could see her right now, and waved while the others returned below deck, leaving her alone to observe the city. Truth be told, plain old curiosity was a big part of why she made the decision, but she also just didn’t feel safe ignoring the outside world and just hoping nothing bad happens. Maybe she’ll see something interesting to tell Shiroi later.

 

[Pervy]

"Uuh so this is were Venice people dream.. I don't like it, too much water." She informed. Water was like .. super low on the fun burnable things list.
"Oh.. so its like a funeral city."
Fey nodded, solemnly. Basalt was like the death of Lava. Obsidian was much cooler!

"Should I burn those mean moonbeasts?"
Fey suggested towards the creepy cloaks, not a fan of those (unless they had tentacle master designs a newer addition decided), raising a hand and preparing a fireball.. before indubitably being hushed and hustled down by Aya with a pouty expression.
"I'll never get the hang of this whole 'don't burn the problems' attitude ya'll have. uuuh radio.."
Fey snatched Korries creation

"This is Superbird ready to fire, do you copy!"
She enthused
"Do you copy? We got fire in the hole, on the shoulders, fire everywhere, just tell us where to aim.. uuuh does this thing have like torpedos.. no wait, dumb water.."
She seemed to be pondering methods to sink moonbeast ships.

 

[Lunaraia]

While the girls continued their antics, the ship continued further into the city. The smaller boats in the area gave the larger vessel a clear way, recognizing that it would not have the maneuverability to get out of their way. The Moonbeasts seemed content in ignoring the vessel, for now. They were busy going about their own daily routine. As the Ship passed a large square, the girls could see some of what that daily routine comprised.

One of the cloaked Moonbeasts were leading a procession of collared and gained people into their huge black ship. The expression of silent despair on the faces, and every person close to the procession blatantly ignoring it, made it clear this was all too common a sight. One of the chained people stumbled, and the Moonbeast behind her lashed out immediately with a clawed hand. The woman’s screams was easy enough to hear on the ship given the oppressive silence.

Again, everyone ignored the woman’s plight, even as the Moonbeast dragged the woman back to her feet and forced to move along into the ship. “This is far too common a sight these days, I fear. Those wretched beasts are using this city as little more than a breeding ground for slaves and food these days.” Erfek apparently hadn’t left for below decks with Aya, but had elected to stay on deck to monitor things.

“Those monsters don’t really differentiate between the two either, that woman probably won’t live to see the sunrise now that the Moonbeast have smelled blood.” The Zoog looked over the city from its perch on the railing. “Fey, if the Moonbeasts board, wait until they are below decks before you incinerate them. The tighter confines will be more easily able to focus your flames, and it’s less likely anyone will notice. Far too many are desperate to curry favor with those monstrosities, to care for anyone else who might suffer in their place.”

The Zoog looked over at Kuroi. “Same with you, keep a demur and friendly demeanor until any Moonbeast is out of sight before any would-be heroics. We might have an advantage against them, but we can’t fight an entire city.” Erfek resumed looking out over the city, its tentacles twitching in a manner that suggested agitation. It did not like being here any more than Aya did.

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

Korrie flinched as one of the radios were snatched up by the curious firebird, rolled her eyes and just conjured up another one, and then an extra for herself, might as well at this point. “Don’t play around with that too much, alright? If Kuroi’s staying up here then she needs to stay quiet.” The wyvern girl warned, and was about to follow the others downstairs, but the delay was long enough for something interesting, and horrifying, to come into view.

The twins and the pet wyvern looked out at the procession of slaves with horror, pity, and silent seething, made even worse by Erfek’s further exposition. “Oh, and they literally eat people. Great.” Shiroi grumbled, glaring daggers at the hooded figures’ direction. She wished she could just fly in and incinerate the monsters in cosmic flame, but she understood that no matter how powerful she thought herself in the human world, here she’s barely above average. Nothing less than an elder god could hope to wage war here. …It was aggravating, feeling so powerless.

Still, they were given the all clear to exterminate the abominations, if any actually decided to engage the vessel, as long as they did so discretely. So far the Moonbeasts seemed satisfied plundering their fill from the city, and of course it was better if the party could sail by undisturbed, but Shiroi for one half-wished for a small boarding party to try their luck, just so she could do the world a little good. She could still assassinate a few given the chance, this she was confident in.

But that was neither here nor there right now. With a heavy heart, Korrie and Shiroi returned below deck, leaving the invisible Kuroi to stay above, the catgirl now somewhat regretting her decision if these were the things she would witness, but deciding that if the beasts were this dangerous, then it was all the more reason they needed the extra surveillance. A thought did occur though, and Kuroi turned to look at Erfek, provided the critter hadn’t retreated below deck neither. “Say, Erfek… Do the Moonbeasts have any kind of weaknesses? Like, being vulnerable to certain substances like vampires to sunlight and garlic. Considering the nature of the ship, we could conjure up some specific defenses, if they decide to come bother us.” She asked, information that would be especially helpful with her reality-bending writing. “Also… how likely is it that another elder god might try to retake the city? Is there some kind of pact forbidding such direct conquest? You’d think every city would’ve been taken over by one god or another if there wasn’t some kind of rule…”