Trip to Slant Rock Isle [Past]

[Magikeeper]

Kage

Kaia tugged on Kage's suit, choosing to cry out into his mind rather than risk speaking aloud. Kage! Shouldn't we be going back down ourselves? The fairy's thoughtspeak was soaked with concern. Why did we make sure Dalton wasn't planning to use us as fodder?! Did we just want to surprise him?! I'm ser-

BOOM

The explosion must have been well over a thousand feet away, but the dust it kicked up could be seen from where Kage stood.

The peg leg pirate shouted "Do you think that killed it?" as she went over the cliff.

"NO!" shouted all of the others.

The peg leg pirate noticed the rope as she fell, stepping on the air with a bit of magic before getting a good grip on it near the top of the cliff.

The axe-laden pirate let himself fall a bit farther, slamming one of his axes into a small cliff opening to stop his fall. about halfway down the cliff.

Bandana, rolling off the edge, shaped one of his arms into into a sturdy climbing hook of living shadow and gets a hold onto yet another section of the cliff. This left him him between the other two, albeit on the other side of the rope.

The forgettable fellows tried to catch themselves. It was a reasonable attempt, but sadly an unsuccessful one. A pair of sickening *CRACK*s rang out as they hit the rocks below, both of them landing in a way that left them very dead yet not too much of a mess. A bit of blood dripped from their bodies into the waters below.

Lilith

The ball strikes the water near the swanodile drake, prompting it to momentarily cease its forward motion. The swanodile briefly looks at Lilith before slithering deeper into the water between the rocks.

It disappeared from sight, at least for the time being.

Castor & Darby

Dalton had somehow ended up with his drake foe - a more long-necked swanodile - in a choke-hold. The drake was currently countering by swinging it's long feathered tail around Dalton's neck to make it a mutual hold.

Darby took a stab at the metaphorical Drasil one might represent their problems as. Which in this case meant slamming the butt of his dagger into the swanodile's head in an attempt to knock it out without letting the scent of its blood fill the waters. The drake isn't quite taken out but it's clearly close.

[Kage]

Kage let his words be lost in the wind as the explosion and their jumping left the rest most likely unheard. To Kaia 'Fodder or not, I feel much safer here than down there. Sounds like quite the ruckus. With that he set down a shaded eye to watch behind him as he walked to the cliff to examine what was happening. He looked to the jumpers and spoke to them. "Well, now that you're between death and exploded death, care to be a bit more helpful?"

[Castor Phecda]

Castor looked up sharply at the sound of a distant explosion. Seconds later, bodies tumbled over the cliff, some catching themselves and others... not. He watched the two fall down to the rocks but looked away just before they hit.

He inhaled and sighed mournfully as he looked back. Three were still hanging from the cliff. He looked for the drake he had encountered but it seemed to have disappeared. He looked again to Dalton and Darby who seemed to be in more of a situation than previously. He ran over and mimicked Darby’s attack by slamming the drake in the head with the hilt of his sword and did so repeatedly until it wasn’t moving.

[Lilly Mato]

Lillith's face slipped fluidly from panic to glee as she got a handle on how much was going on around her. Falling into the water while she climbed a rope would have been bad. Instead she was at the center of a whirling mess of draconic activity, fleeing strangers and possibly canon fire?

Lillith redoubled her efforts to climb the rope up the cliff; she had to see what made that boom.

[Magikeeper]

Kage & Lilith

Bandana ignored the question, a smile Kage couldn't see (but Lilith can) spreading across the man's face as he realized there's a boat. "Hey! Fish flop hop 0-1." The other pirates quickly glanced toward the boat as well, the sight adding just a little bit of hope on top of their undercurrent of extreme desperation. A second wind filled their lungs as they redoubled their efforts to descend the cliff.

Peg leg pirate is the fastest of the three, reaching the bottom of the rope with a surprising amount of grace. "That explosion was probably Johnny's last stand. He always did love explosions." Having answered the crazy cat man's question, the woman returns her focus to the boat ahead.

"Gonna miss Johnny." remarked axes as he finally reached the rope himself. His descent is not graceful at all.

Lilith is now only a few feet from peg leg.

Daltan & Darby & Castor (Oh My!)

*Thunk* goes the hilt.
*Thud* goes the beast!

[Lilly Mato]

Lilly summoned to her hand a ball of black fire which she tossed from hand to hand.

"Hey boys, what's all the fuss?" Lilly's ball of fire spun as it bounced from hand to hand, the borzalom let out a small burst of lust, just enough to hopefully throw off their current train of thought.

[Magikeeper]

Peg leg did, indeed, look like someone that just got splashed with a bucket of cold water. "Okay, no, just -"

*A much larger THUD than the one coming from the boat echos in the distance. Sounds kinda like... a tree fell over...*

aaaand the panic is back. "Kendal woke up the dragon and we're all going to die please move."

Kage. We! Have! To! Go! implores Kaia as she tugs on his clothes.

Bandana and Axes continue their descent, but have definitely taken note of Lilith. Axes in particular seems to approve.

[Lilly Mato]

Lilith tossed the fireball carelessly over her shoulder with a grin.

"Alright, you can go. This I gotta see." she said, waving the pirate along as she made to scramble towards the top of the cliff.

[Castor Phecda]

He checked the drake’s head for blood where they had been hitting it. He wanted to make sure the beast didn’t slink back into the water to attract more if it was bleeding. 

He then looked again up to the cliff. Another boom hit his ears. This one was deeper. Not an explosion, but something hitting the ground. Something big. It seemed obvious to Castor what everything meant. The sounds. The men running from the sounds. It was what he had feared from the start. 

They needed to leave. Two of their party were moving toward the sounds, however. And now three more we’re heading to the boat. 

Castor had almost forgotten the mission. More than the mission, he had nearly forgotten why he had personally joined this party. These men were the Pirates they had come to find. This was his first opportunity in years to interact with the men responsible for his wife’s disappearance. Dragon or not, he wouldn’t let this opportunity slip away. 

They were pirates though. They would not care who owned the ship, who was currently on it or who they would be leaving behind by taking the ship for themselves. And they were surely desperate.

They needed to take care. Castor kept his sword out and cast another shield in front of him. The shield would be invisible and his relaxed stance would be welcoming enough. He would let Dalton do the talking.

[Kage]

Kage had indeed seen enough. We have indeed reached the end of the welcome part of the expedition. Let's cause some havoc shall we? And with that he resummoned and dropped a shaded eye to watch for the dragon, started a dash towards the cliff and rope. Seeing Lilly, he took a guess based on only her going this way. Trying to meet her eyes as he spoke. "I'll show you the scene you seek later, let's secure our boat as it appears we have been boarded by pirates. And I don't want to swim back to town." If he held her gaze, he would share the view he had of when the explosion happened, so she knew he could show her what he saw up there.

With that he unhooked the B.O.S.S. sword, activated the vortexes, extended the chain, hooked it over the rope as he slid back down to the ship. If any were in his way, well they could distract the other problems they had. He hoped the vortexes might make it hard for others to properly maintain hold or regrab the rope for a few moments because of the blur. He landed still spinning the dagger on the chain. "Keep making demands on our ship and your death will continue to approach."