SEPTEMBER EVENT: SKULLY'S ANGELS

[sailmods]

[around 10:30PM, after Friday has returned from bringing all the other guests back to the ship, she parks the tender just off the shore, idling. she sticks her head out of the door.]

Good luck! Just come get me if you need anything! [beat] But, only if it’s something I can do without stepping outside! [beat] Have fun!

[she then pops back inside. they’re on their own, for now.

the salamander villagers have returned to their homes for the night, it seems… all but one, a smaller one, bedecked in leather armor and carrying a spear. they watch the group as they leave the beach, eyes fixed… and then, slowly but distinctly, they toss their head in the direction of inland, and turn away from them to begin a sort of watch.

perhaps that was salamander for good luck. you’ll need it.]

Comments

[light_mischief]

[Skulduggery turns his head and lifts his free arm to gesture at the others -- aaaaand the fire goes out, smothered under the blanket. There's no hiding their interference at this point, but the lack of light will make it easier for them to avoid detection.

He snaps his fingers, lighting a candle flame of fire between them, and carries that light as he quickly approaches the others. His voice is only a hiss,] Someone is coming. [And then he points the opposite direction of where he felt the disturbance. The order is clear as he extinguishes the flame: HIDE.]

[ninetoes]

[Ah shit. And here Izzy was trying to not fucking die by scouting around the opposite side from Skulduggery. Which means he’s either directly in the line of whatever is fucking coming or perfectly positioned to hide.

So much for not fucking touching anything. He presses up against the nearest tree. Tree? Here’s hoping.]

1/3

[sailmods]

[a dark shape - human, tall but within normal parameters, hunched under some sort of burden - exits the treeline.]

Dark as shit... If those little fairy fuckers put it out with their damn soup again... Ah, forget it. Let's just...

[the air around them crackles.]

2/3

[stormpirate]

[a bolt of lightning strikes the ground before Izzy, so if he manages to not become blind, he gets his first glimpse of their host: a tall woman, carrying a bloodied hunting knife and the corpse of a boar, her expression impassive as she looks directly at him.

the darkness returns.]

3/3

[stormpirate]

-- What the FUCK?

[hello izzy bet you wish you could see shit as you get linebacker tackled into the fucking ground.]

[ninetoes]

[HE SURE FUCKING DOES WISH THAT YEAH. But no he can’t see fuck all as he’s taken down like a sack of flailing, snarling potatoes.

His sword jabs awkwardly into the ground sending the pommel towards Jenny’s ribs but there’s no way he can draw it. Best he can do if his arms aren’t pinned is wriggle like the hog she just killed.]

GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME, FUCKING-

[Does it work? We just need on hand free.]

[decohere]

[okay she's meant to be hiding but gives a little (weird crackly) cheer yeah get him!]

[stormpirate]

OFF YOU? THE FUCKING SICARIO? I WILL GUT YOU LIKE A LITTLE PIG!

[she is mainly using her greater height and weight to pin him at the neck, one arm pressed to his throat and the other holding her machete above her.]

[ninetoes]

Get- [A what? Wheeze- Hands to her arm against his windpipe. Slowly, slowly, fuck his vision is crackling-]

-off!

[WHEEZE! But it’s also the only opportunity he has to do fucking anything. And where diplomacy would be smart, he hasn’t got the fucking air or time to fucking think. All he can do is grab the bone shiv he’d resettled from his waistband to the inside of his waistcoat on the walk in. He makes it and, seeing as we’re fucking blind down here getting clobbered, stabs it as hard as he fucking can into anything he fucking can.]

[stormpirate]

[well, that sure is. some kind of bladed weapon in her shoulder. man, that would suck if she had human organs, huh.

honestly, at this point, it's just ticked her off.]

-- Mine's bigger, niñito.

[IT'S SURE TOO BAD THERE'S NO ONE ELSE IN THESE WOODS TO STOP HER FROM PLUNGING THIS MACHETE INTO HIS FOREHEAD...]

[decohere]

[god she's so hot...

just happy enough to let this happen because Izzy called her a dog.]

[ninetoes]

[ANGRY FLAILING PIRATE NOISES, FUCK ALL OF YOU, GOD!!!]

[decohere]

GET HIM, JENNY! BASH HIS HEAD IN!

[just going to pretend this was a distraction tactic if questioned]

[stormpirate]

Who-- [oh whoops there she goes, knocked onto her side as she hisses, raising the blade and trying to fight off... air? it's air. she was knocked over by air.

great. he sent wizards.

she scrambles onto her feet, holding the knife in both hands in front of her, eyes squinting at the darkness.]

Cute trick! Why don't you all come out of hiding, little mice? I'd like to count the corpses before I bring them to the villagers...

[fonomena]

[Alright, so. This sure is an Absolute Disaster, but okay.

It's a blur of a sequence of events, from the moment that bolt of lightning had struck. Izzy Hands is highly unfortunately attacked upon being caught right next to the new arrival in question--and the new arrival just so happens to be...well. Even if they're only afforded a glimpse of her face in lightning before the return of the gloom, the voice that follows it rings quite familiar enough. The last time Jade had heard it, it'd been raised in rage at the bridge of the Serena Eterna, accompanied by an entire howling storm--

Izzy's struggling and might have already struck her, Ava's yelling something, and there's also a gust of sudden wind sending Jenny sideways, all in rapid succession. Familiar, the wind--Skulduggery having a go for it, Jade can assume--and it's looking to be as good an opening as any, now is it? Right. Then...]

Well, if you'd allow us to get in a word or two before we become too corpse-like...

[Regardless of how anyone else is responding about now, Jade's moving to step out from his cover of foliage promptly. Tone even, movement controlled; he steps past the spot near the fire pit where Ava and Max are approximately standing, but draws to a halt about halfway between said pit and the edge of perimeter where Jenny's now standing. Even now, Jade's hands are still empty at his sides. ...And it's occurring to him, too, that Jenny will likely assume it was he who sent the wind...but no matter. Peering intently into the gloom, Jade eventually raises a hand to draw upon fifth fonons and ignite a very small ball of flame in a palm. No move made to throw it, necessarily, but held in such a way that it might illuminate both his own face and Jenny's vicinity as well.]

You're Pirate Jenny, are you not? It's been some amount of time, since we last talked! I believe you were throwing wine bottles at a wall. [A considering pause.] Quite the surprise, to find you here. ...Were you drawn by that ritual on the beach, after all?

[Pointedly avoiding any mention of Izzy's life whatsoever about now? Maybe, yes. Look, if it's a matter of maybe staggering her anger just enough, with some questions...no need to immediately remind her of the source?

Jade has seen what this one is capable of. A storm goddess--practically an aggregate sentience in her own right--she'd quite nearly torn the Serena Eterna apart and cast it into the ocean, once before. He doesn't much care for their chances in a fight against her, so he's hoping to mitigate any further violence if it all possible here--]

[saltwaterlungs]

[ Shit hits the fan with an alarming rapidity- one minute they're lying in wait and the next- lightning and Izzy hitting the deck and Ava calling for his blood (??? something to bring up later) and Darcy all at once regrets her hiding spot. She's far away from the action and it's too dark to properly see anything that's happening; definitely too dark for her to go in metaphorical guns blazing.

Jade steps out trying a diplomatic route, illuminating the scene, and Darcy finally takes her cue. She drops down from the tree as quietly as she can, invisibly circling behind Jenny in a wide, slow arc to get into a good position. Judging by the sounds of earlier, stabbing her isn't going to work. At least not the way Izzy did it.

But Jenny has eyes, and Darcy has a knife made for going through them, and if things go further south, it's another element of surprise in their arsenal. A moment of confusion the others might be able to use.

Presuming that Jenny can't detect her. Presuming an awful lot of things actually. This is probably a terrible idea, but it's what she's going with for now. ]

[light_mischief]

[Izzy dying isn't ideal, even if the act would give Jenny some false security about being alone in the jungle. The point is for all of them to get back in one piece, and so --

Skulduggery throws his hands out, pushing the air in front of him forward in an attempt to bowl Jenny over before she can bury her machete in Izzy's face. It probably feels a lot like someone is trying to tackle her. In the dark, it might be an easy mistake to make...]

[decohere]

[well that bit is easier than the don't touch things order, grabs Max's arm and poof they're invisible]

[makesomedeals]

[ Max has his leather hit man bag across his back, full of potential rope and pipes and useful items they might need. But the assault rifle is in his hands at all times.

That glock goes in his belt for later, after he checks it it has ammo and loaded?

But now he's invisible with Ava and that's a weird feeling. Hn. He'll have words about this later.]

[decohere]

[whispers happily to him:] That's Jenny!

[makesomedeals]

Ah. Since you're acquainted how angry will she be if I shoot her?

[decohere]

... Twenty feet angry. [idk how large Jenny got when she stormed the ship, just big.]

[makesomedeals]

Unfortunate. I'm going to do so if this progresses though, we need him for actual traps in the future. Not this.

[saltwaterlungs]

[ Shit- Darcy withdraws her knife and holds it between her teeth as she scrambles up the nearest tree, vanishing from sight. It's already dark, but she's not taking chances. ]

[fonomena]

[Really, talk about almost serendipitous timing, as precisely as Skulduggery's hissed warning syncs with the snuffing of the fire--

As the aura of investigation across the small camp frosts over in an instant--Skulduggery and Izzy ducking into opposite ends of the perimeter, Ava reaching for Maximilien about the both of them vanishing, Darcy scaling a tree and passing from sight as well--Jade's promptly stepping away from the fire pit too, a single sharp glance cast in the direction Skulduggery had pointed before he's taking several wide strides for the nearest large-leafed bit of foliage at the edge of the camp. Tropical plants at this size lend pretty decent cover, at least...

The urge to summon his spear is immediate, but Jade suppresses it. Not yet. ...Let's try seeing what they're dealing with first, here...]