Chapter 41
One by one the party have dropped away... snatched into the strange glass bottle that contains that beautiful replica of the Lunar Whale! Now for each individual there is a sensation of rushing, of falling.. wind rushes around them... there is motion, lights whirling and flickering past on either side. A planet suddenly looms into view... a star field whirls to the left and then all around, a scattering of bright light illuminates a series of tumbling asteroids and then the vast bulk of the Lunar Whale is before them! Getting larger and larger.... it is dark.. beyond the starlight reflecting off the hull all the little windows are dead and dull and then! DARKNESS! It wraps about each person, their feet land witha thump on metal flooring that rings gently, a moment of disorientation... then well the darkness is complete and it takes but a moment to discover that they are alone.. shouting, calling... none of it produce any response in the darkness from the other party members... they are all... alone.
Vazkor remains wide eyed as he rushes through space, watching each sight zip past him with a thoughtless sense of both fear and wonder, not having the time to think even as his body is hurled right towards that ship... But then his feet suddenly hit solid ground, the man instinctively landing in a crouch, frozen like that for a brief moment as he feels the disorientation, and his eyes are unable to penetrate the darkness around him... But then he suddenly springs up, a hand quick to draw his Katana with the crackling of electricity, and standing guard like that as he tries to figure out where he might be, a quiet, Rozarrian curse escaping him involuntarily.
Penny squeals a bit as she flies among a scenery she can't quite fully understand, the mouse closing her eyes during the bit with the asteroids, clutching her poleaxe tightly the whole way! And then, it's over, and she lands on metal, immediately sinking to her knees and spending a moment to calm her breathing, muttering to herself, "It's over. It's over." After a moment, she opens her eyes only to see utter darkness, blinking and rubbing at her eyes. She clears her throat, calling softly, "Um... H-helloooo...?" With no response, she closes her eyes again, muttering under her breath and focusing, casting a small cantrip that causes the quartz orb mounted in the head of her poleaxe to glow softly, casting a bit of light before the mouse opens her eyes again to see what the light reveals.
As the Quartz on the tip of Penny's staff begins to glow it reveals a long empty metal corridor, there are strtange metallic doorways set in recesses along the wall and as the light glows brighter and it begins to reflect back off the metal a section of the roof seems to hinge back and something peers down at the Knight. It is avery large blue eye.....
Being plunged into pure darkness like this, Kier reaches into his pack, long practice helping him dig out the Fire Crystal and it's lamp-like housing. It takes a couple tries to get everything secured into place, and then he pours a little mana into the gem, causing to ignite light and soft fire as his free hand then reaches up to scritch under Dust's chin and nose. He doesn't say anything at the moment, just looking around...
As soon a that fire-crystal comes to light a strange voice echoes around the room Kier and Dust are in. it is a large room that for a moment reflects beautful white tiles in the lantern light and then something hits the lantern and it goes out witha glimpf noise and darkness return....
Raziel wings stay in tight to his person as he falls through the darkness, hsi eyes flicking left then right as the marvels flicker past. Throughout it all he remains silent, his teeth gritted as he awaits for some sort of impact. As the Lunar Whale grows larger before him his eyes widen and for a moment he tries to spread his wings and slow his descent only to retract that step as the darkness starts wrapping about him and he goes limp, waiting for the impact and hoping he can roll it off. Thanks to that it's actually not a graceful position he ends up in when his feet touch down. The aegyl staggers, his wings going askew before he starts to straighten up and he looks around and exhales. There's a shout, a general 'Hello?!' before he waits and upon receiving no answer the man exhales and whispers, "trapped.." Suddenly his hand goes to the pack he carries and he looks within to see if the evil mongoose, calling up a magelight to float over his head so that he can see, is alright while he's still taking stock of the situation.
As the light flickers into apperance above Raziel's hand there is a mechanical, grating sound... almost like a voice speaking badly... muffled and disjointed and as it finishes speaking a nozzel in the ceiling opens and before Raziel can react his mage light and his body are quite thoroughly doused in some sort of sticky white foam that extinguises the light and plunges the now very damp aegyl back into darkness....
With wide eyes, the male Viera hurtles through... time and space. His eyes bulge at the sight of the planet, and the nearby starfield, and just as realization begins to dawn upon him... BAMF. Darkness. Landing in a crouch, the Viera stays motionless, only the beating of his heart and ragged drawing of breath to give away his position. Deprived of sight, his ears work overtime, facing a direction and listening for a time before moving on. After several long minutes, Talen slowly stands, stretching and flexing different muscle groups as he does so. Whispering a quiet word of magic, a small flame poofs into existence in one of his hands, lifted and moved about to get a sense of the area he's in.
Talen like Raziel gets foamed! He has a moment to see gun-metal grey walls, strange doors and then a nozzle in the ceiling opens and the viera is completly coated, buried under a sudden wave of foam! The flame goes out and that mechanical voice echoes on the air as the poor lad is buried....
Vazkor continues to stand like that for a while, even as his attention is drawn to that sound... But as nothing else happens, he soon lets out a quiet sigh, and decides to start and move... Slowly stepping forward, using his ever so faintly glowing sword to try and see the floor infront of him, as he inches on... Slowly reaching out his other, free hand to feel for possible obstacles, or hopefully, a wall he can follow in some direction.
As Vazkor moves forward the faint light from his Katana catches soemthing smooth and white.. it reflects the light back to him ... glowing gently in the darkness. It's a rather large crystal, about 10 feet tall and held in place to the floor and ceiling by beautuflly worked metal clamps. There is a short platform in front of it, a dais almost that someone can stand on to reach the crystal and in the exact centre is a small bored hole... as if part of the crystal has been carefully extracted.
Penny looks around as the light from her poleaxe's quartz grows, before the hatch in the ceiling opens and a large eye looks down at her. When she notices it, she lets out a startled *eep!* and scrambles back away, startled, and quite a bit freaked out for a moment, by it. After a moment or two, when nothing else happens, she takes a slow, deep breath to calm her nerves a bit, climbing to her feet, still peering uncertainly at the eye above, uncomfortable with it... But it seems harmless... She guesses, anyway... After a moment more, she takes another look up and down the corridor, stepping to the nearest door to investigate it, and attempt to open it if there is an obvious means to do so.
The door remains firmly shut, none of the knights attempts to open it suceed, at least not from pushing or pulling. There aren't any door-handles for starters!
When the light is put out, Kier reaches up to touch the goop on his lantern, and then with a frown on his face he locks that onto his waist and then moves to stand up and looks around... at least as much as he can, and then looks up towards the ceiling. Moving slowly, with one hand out, he begins to work his way to the closest, and starts to walk along the edge where he can, looking for interruptions or changes in it. All the while he keeps Dust close, and then asks softly, "Did you see a light?" Just in case Dust was more perceptive than he was!
It takes a few minutes, Kier's explorations of the room just reveal smooth slick surfaces but then Dust meows from one side and a bit of searching turns up a square that depresses and then... low level light comes on. It is very faint, a soft greenish blue. It appears to be coming from the wall tiles themselves and with this faint light Kier can make out a large square block of machinery in the middle of the room...
Raziel's eyes close and his head bows for a moment as his hands quickly snap the sack closed so that IF the mongoose is in there and ok it isn't covered with the fire retardent. The man reaches up then and he starts to whipe his fade off while muttering, "no open flames. I get it." Theres a growl and he shakes his wings out before whiping off his hand as best he can and feeling inside the pack, "don't bite me.." However the other hand is reaching out into the darkness and he starts forward, trying to feel for walls and looking for anything that feels like a door.. or handle..
About three feet after moving forward Raziel's hand encounters a railing of some sort... well his hand misses it and then his stomach bumps into it. From the way the air changes in front of him there is some big open void on the other side of this railing.....
"..." The Viera lets out an exasperated noise, shaking off whatever the heck the liquid was. "Really, was that necessary? Ugh. Fine. If you're going to put out my fire, could you at least turn on the lights, please?" Bleeeeeh. Talen moves away from the spot he had been standing, heading towards where he is certain he saw doors. Slowly, with a hand out in front of him. "And maybe you could open the doors too, please?", he asks, sounding hopeful.
As Talen speaks there is a moment of horrible dissonance! The poor Viera's head seems to vibrate and for a moment his head echoes with every word he knows in every language and then a rather polite yet deep toned voice speaks into the corridor. "Lexicon updated.. welcome... please identify yourself...." and the soft blue/green lights start to illuminate Talen's corridor.
Vazkor blinks at the large crystal infront of him, pausing a moment to study it... But as his gaze falls on that small hole at the center of it, he doesn't need long to think. The man quickly climbing onto that dais, even as a hand slips into his pocket to retrieve that small chunk of crystal again, that he was given by the Spirits and he guessed must be a key... The man taking a deep breath then, and steeling himself even as he monentarily twirls the 'key' between his fingers... And then just reaches forward to press it in the 'keyhole', silently hoping something useful and non-lethal will happen...
As Vazkor slides that piece of crystal into the slot in front of him there is a moment of silence then a bright flash of light fills the entire crystal. and for a moment something slams through Vazkor! It's like being hit by a truck, and then... it passes and the man is stood exactly where he was, Katana in one hand but now the crystal is glowing with a soft radiance and all around the chamber panels and light features are coming to life and then a voice speaks in a deep, rolling baritone. "Greetings Captain... welcome aboard... I am the Lunar Whale... i detect seven life-forms on board as well as yourself. Are these part of your party my Captain?"
Vazkor winces at that shockwave passing through him! Only to blink afterwards as he finds himself standing exactly where he was, instead of having been hurled back, like it felt like should have happened... The man slowly relaxing his tensed muscles again afterwards as he looks around, watching his surroundings come to life... And looking up in surprise then as the voice speaks to him, startling him enough for him to raise that Katana a bit, "... Captain?" He mutters in confusion as what the voice is saying manages to get through to him after a few moments, before he carefully adds, "... Um, yes? They are with me." Doing a quick mental count of his companions, and figuring they would be the 'lifeforms' the voice mentions.
Indeed, you returned my Key, for this time you are my Captain... I shall inform your crew that you have taken command and begin to prepare my systems for our journey. I assume you are here for the Stellazio?" Meanwhile throughout the ship the pale light that some people have and the darkness that has consumed others is slowly over-powered by a brightening of white light a the ship begins to hum and throb with energy. Those who can sense magic can feel immense waves of the stuff suddenly coming to life and poor Raziel has a shock as the lights clank on beyond the railing he is standing by to show him a gigantic engine room! It is huge and the devices down there are beyond comprehension as they slowly start to come back to life and a voice speaks in its deep, dulcet tones to everyone. "Good day, your Captain has assumed Command, welcome aboard, I am the Lunar Whale."
Penny hmph's as the door yields no results, stepping away from it and looking up and down the corridor again, trying to decide which way to start walking. She even pulls out a coin, ready to flip for it, when lights start coming on, and the ship's voice startles her into dropping the coin, causing her to go scrambling after it! Catching the coin again, she looks up at the 'eye', pocketing the coin again and canceling the cantrip that lights the quartz orb of her poleaxe, speaking tentatively up at the eye, "Ummm... H-hello?"
Good Day... Dame Penny, welcome aboard, may I direct you to a destination? you are currently on J deck, central starboard section near the Bistro and Crew Quarters."
Kier looks up and around suddenly at the sound of the voice in the air, and the lights playing off of everything. Then his eyes go back towards the machine in the center of the room. Despite his better judgement, he draws his knife out and moves to approach the device... not poking at it directly, but then moves around it to examine it with as much of an eye as he can... but then just sighs, and moves to lean against a wall, waiting patiently... Good-day Master Kier," the voice speaks softly, "I do apologise for the inconvinience cause, you are currently in Matter Fabrication chamber three, can I provide you with any item you may require by way of an appology for this journey putting you out so?"
Raziel blinks and backs up a step, his hand going to the railing as his eyes adjust. For a moment he stares down into the engine and then the mage sighs, "glad there was a railing." He steps back and doesn't look at himself, but does reach into the bag to pull out his mongoose companion to assure that she is alright through everything that's happened. While he does that though he also takes a couple glances around trying to find the exit before answering the voice from earlier, "A strange welcome.. but can you direct me to where the, uh, Captain is? And are all the rest of my companions alright?"
"I apologise for the welcome Lord Raziel, I was in deep Hibernation and have been so since the catastrophe that scattered the Stellazio. The Captain has reinitiated my power-up sequence and taken command. He is currently on the bridge, you are on Engineering Oversight platform Alpha. If you wish to travese to the bridge please use the teleportation pad behind you."
Talen hisses and holds his ears and head as the first the echos and then the loud voice assault his ears and senses. Giving his head a shake, he sighs. Then the voice speaks again, and his ears perk. "Lunar Whale, I am Talen. Who is Captain, then? And can you show me how to get to where the Captain is? I am assuming my companions have made it aboard as well?" He blinks as the lights brighten the area, and he looks around curiously.
"Welcome abord Summoner Talen, you are currently in the Port side research complex on B deck. Please proceed to the end of the corridor for ascension to the bridge." An arrow appears on the wall directing Talen onward toward a doorway....
Thaylorn's hands go up to cover his eyes as he's plunged into light...ness. That's nothing compared to the echoing voice that manifests itself, though, penetrating the quiet he had become use to. "Captain, what captain?" The Burmecian begins as he takes note of the hallway he has been standing in. "And where are the others?!" He calls back at the unseen voice.
"The Captain is the Captain, he is on the Bridge, you are Sir Thaylorn, Knight and Champion of the Eternal Ocean. You are currently aboard the Lunar Whale which is myself on the C deck forward section, primary Shield array and the fiesta deck. If you wish to travere to the bridge and join your companions I can direct you there or if you would care to make use of the Fiesta Deck I can reccomend a playlist of Burmecian music for entertainment."
Vazkor still seems confused for a bit... No one has called him 'Captain' in almost 5 years or something. But at the voice's question, he nods slowly, and answers, "Yes, we are here for the Stellazio..." Before he looks around a moment, and then adds, "Can I speak to my 'crew'? I assume you have a sort of announcement system?" The man studying the area he's in, which he figures might be the bridge.
"Certainly Captain, the PA system is now online, systems are at 27% and rising toward full operational status in one hour and forty seven minutes.. please speak" All acros the ship there is a genltle "Bing Bong" sound followed by silence, at least until Vazkor starts speaking.
Vazkor nods some, and then clears his throat a moment... Before letting his voice ring out, speaking loudly and clearly, his Rozarrian accent a dead giveaway as to his identity, "This is your Captain speaking... Apparently. If everyone could make their way to me, wherever that is, it'd be much appreciated. We have some things to figure out, it seems... Captain out." Shrugging then as he finishes, and right after starting to look for somewhere to sit...
At the offer of making something for him, Kier seems to balk a bit, and then looks at the machine a bit more before he then scratches under Dust's chin and then says, "My... partner has always wanted a device to allow him to store his clothes and weapons when he changes forms. He is a were-kin... changing from form to form. Can your... Matter... Fabrication... device make such a thing?"
"Working... working.... applying H-Space principals.... tapping into Mana-Reserves... working, template stage at 15%, requested item will be ready in fifty-seven minutes. I shall have it delivered when it is ready." One side of the wall hisses open, "Please proceed to the bridge and follow the yellow lines"
Kier looks down as the yellow lines come to life, and he looks back at the machine, and then says, "Thank you. It is nice to be in the presence of a polite host." And after that he begins to follow along towards where these odd glowing yellow lines lead!
"You are most welcome, I again appologise for the method of your arrival but I have been waiting here for a long time and had switched myself off... welcome aboard!" And throughout the ship people are taken by a variety of routes up toward the bridge. Elevators are utilised, strange glowing pads that when stepped upon transport you to another part of the ship until after about thirty minute everyone has finally gathered on the bridge. One thing is clear... this ship is huge and as they arrive on the bridge they can see what Vazkor has had the use of for the past half an hour, massive, wall mounted schematics of the entire vessel.. it is very, very big."
Raziel, having come from the massive engine room, was able to get some scope of the ship's size.. but once on the bridge he checks on Vazkor and the rest of the group before stopping before the schematic of the vessel and at the same time occasionally whiping off a little foam which he missed before. "Well then.. that was an unusual arrival, but I'm glad we're all safe and sound." He looks at Vazkor, "and you are the new captain of the Lunar Whale.." He smirks and shakes his head a little before lifting his voice, "uh Lunar Whale, if that's how you prefer to be addressed, how can we obtain the stellazio that you are protecting?"
Talen grins at Vazkor as the Viera steps onto the Bridge. "You're here only a few minutes and you've made yourself Captain, Vaz? Nicely done, nicely done. By the way, we're no where near the world we call home, just so you know, but I would hope you had guessed that already." The Viera moves over to stare at the schematics of the ship. "I certainly hope there are no other vessels of this size running about."
"This is quite the interesting place we've found ourselves in." Thaylorn murmurs as he finally makes his way to the bridge "They offered to play me Burmecian music, too, so hospitable at least." He chuckles softly as he takes in the bridge about him, eyes going wide in particular at the huge schematics that are there.
Captain Vazkor is only the captain until such time as I deposit you at home... please turn your attention toward the forward portal..." A large screen flickers into life just past the large crystal that fills the centre of the room. "The Stellazio are stored on a world-let. The Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius are waiting for you to receive them. My systems are currently coming back online and before we begin our journey the captain will need to take some time to grow acquanted with how I am piloted and... I should probably tell you all of the great... incident that set this all in motion. It is after all part of Lord Raziel's history and the redemption of his people is tied into it
Penny arrives on the bridge at a jog, then jogs in place for a moment, turning in a circle, before bouncing over to Talen, peering up at him, wide-eyes, "It knows my name. How does it know my name? *Why* does it know my name?! It's a ship. Spirits knowing my name, that I can understand, but it's a ship. Ships shouldn't know things. Ships don't *talk*. I don't understand, not at all." With that out of her system, she actually seems to calm down a good deal, no longer bouncing in place with nervous energy, and taking deep breaths. Even so, after a moment, she shudders a little, concluding with a final comment, "Creepy." Then, one final breath, and she's back to relative normal, and she looks around the bridge, "Ok, so, ummmm... What now?"
Captain Vazkor is only the captain until such time as I deposit you at home... please turn your attention toward the forward portal..." A large screen flickers into life just past the large crystal that fills the centre of the room. "The Stellazio are stored on a world-let. The Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius are waiting for you to receive them. My systems are currently coming back online and before we begin our journey the captain will need to take some time to grow acquanted with how I am piloted and..." it pauses as Penny jogs onto the Bridge and speaks, "Dame Penny, I am a Spirit, I may be a magnificent ship from a begone era of grace and civility but i still exist as a ship becaue I am infact a spirit. Now then I should probably tell you all of the great... incident that set this all in motion. It is after all part of Lord Raziel's history and the redemption of his people is tied into it."
Vazkor is sitting in a nice, comfortable chair when everyone finally shows up... The man first facing those schematics, but promptly swiveling around to face everyone, one leg crossed over the other, and his fingers steepled... And he grins then, pleasantly, as he states, "Ah, welcome. My ship, isn't she magnificent?" ... The man pausing a moment afterwards, before he chuckles and suddenly hops to his feet, adding, "Sorry, I couldn't resist." As he walks over towards them, and answers, "That crystal I got, apparently it was the key to our rather polite host." And shrugging then as he falls silent, letting the ship talk...
Penny blinks as the Lunar Whale answers her, and oh's softly, smiling sheepishly, "Ah, my apologies, then, um, Lunar Whale... I meant no disrespect." After that, she goes silent, holding her poleaxe upright (or as upright as ceiling clearance will safely allow) at her side, listening attentively to the ship, and to Vazkor.
Thankfully for Penny the ceiling is about 15 feet away and all curved and pretty looking as it turns opaque and allows the stars to shine on down upon them!
Next to come in, Kier is following a series of yellow lights that seem to be pointing him in the right direction. Instead of jogging, he walks with a sense of purpose, and looks completely out of place in the middle of this high tech marvel... dressed in his plain leathers and hunting gear. He stops and looks around, before saying, "The ship is not your own, Vazkor... you are merely the captain." Deflating the ego a bit as he then moves slowly around the bridge, adding, "I came from an interesting place... it makes things. It did not explain how, but it says it will be ready soon."
Raziel tilts his head and mouths the word 'world-let' silently to himself, looking pondering before he looks at Vazkor quietly. His eyes turn towards Penny as she's addressed and then back towards where the voice seems to come from (basically a random location) as the ship continues and the aegyl's eyes grow darker. He inhales for a moment, exhales and then looks to the side, away from the group while silently waiting to listen to the tale with one hand slid into the pack to quietly pet the mongoose still hiding out within.
Talen giggles at Penny as she rambles on, and places his hand on her shoulder. The ship answers before he does though, and he nods to her. "If you remember, echos and voices and what sounded like every word you knew in every language? That was the ship reading your mind. At least, that is what I experienced. I spoke to it, it recognized a sentient was speaking to it, and then... learned everything it could about me. And you. And the others." His ears perk as Kier walks in, and he chuckles, "What did you ask for it to make?" The Viera turns and looks over at Vazkor. "So uhm... lay in a course then, Captain, and we'll set sail across the starry seas, yeah?"
The ship chuckles warmly and chair start to morph and flow out of the floor,metal then leather and comfortable looking. Shortly following it are a table... then tablecloth.. tea-surface... all seeming to ooze out of the metal then food begins to appear and steam curls out of the tea-pot. "Please all be seated, this story may be long and I shall employ visuals. The captain shall have to wait until I am ready to fly so you may as well all be seated. Thankfully the Mass Fabricator is one of the first things to be restored to full functionality."
Vazkor glances over at the quiet Raziel a moment, and moves to stand near him... But then he can't help but roll his eyes upward a moment at Kier's comment, answering right after, "Yes, I know. But it's not every day one gets called Captain of the Lunar Whale... It was pertinent I enjoy it while it lasts." The man briefly smiling then, before he looks over at that table as it morphs out of the ground, his brow raising... Followed by a shrug as he starts to head over to sit down, only pausing to hold out a chair for Penny, her being a lady and all, and meanwhile commenting towards Talen, "It seems we will have to listen to its tale first, and then I have some learning to do..."
Penny blinks as furniture kinda flows up from the deck's floor, still uncertain about all the strangeness, like being technically *inside* a Spirit that happens to also be a very large vessel and such, but she doesn't let it bother her much since she got the initial WTF out of her system just moments ago. Leaning her poleaxe against the nearest wall, she heads for a chair, only to find one pulled out for her most politely by Vazkor, the armored mouse smiling and miming a curtsy to him before taking the offered seat.
In the face of courtesy, as usual, Kier doesn't sit. He does however pour cups of tea for everyone, and then takes the last for himself as he moves to lean against a wall, holding the little cup and saucer. Looking at his drink, he pauses a moment, and then looks up before looking at it a second time before saying, "Thank you for this blessed gift, great one. And Thank you for carrying us on this leg of the journey." Holding up his cup in salute before he takes a sip.
Raziel gives Vazkor a look and there's actually a slight smile there before he lets it fade. Exhaling then he nods and watches as table and chairs 'grow' from the floor. After a moment's study he murmurs off, "thank you," quietly and then he takes a seat in a backless chair. Once he settles in EM crawls out of the bag and up to his shoulder to give a brief nuzzle before she settles stretched out acrossed his shoulders. As Kier pours him the cup he looks at the man and then nods quietly before looking around the table, "I have heard this story, but not with as much detail as we are likely to be told. Before the Lunar Whale begins let me begin by saying this, "my people betrayed me when I was a child. No solace was given by anyone when I endured the abuses of the woman who should have treasured me. I owe nothing to them, but I make right what once they made wrong."
Talen nods to Vazkor with a chuckle. "Captain of the Lunar Whale, that sounds like it will go nicely on your resume. And so we are looking at redeeming the Aegyl here? If what we do here helps me find Exodus as well... then it'll be two races we save from the brink, yeah?" The Viera sits heavily and whistles, "Heady stuff." He nods to Kier as a drink is poured, and he offers up his glass in toast. Looking then to Raziel, he smiles lightly. "They may have betrayed you, but you are righting wrongs by doing this, and what you do here will affect everyone. You have gained much respect in my eyes."
Thaylorn eyes the table as it materializes out of the center of the room, doubt, would be the primary feature upon his face "Did that stuff just come out of nowhere?" He squints briefly and points to it for a moment as the others take seats. He's not such what a mass fabricator is, for sure. To be a sport though, he moves to settle into a seat at the table as well while falling quiet. He does tilt his head slightly at Raziel's statement, curious. "Indeed, I extruded it from the floor Master Thaylorn, now then whilst I finish preparing for flight let us all partake of tea and I shall tell you a story... a story most ancient and long forgotten."
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