[KQ] a sky full of stars

we rise and we fall and we break

They've fired the cannons and she looks up to survey the damage done - or not done, actually. The cry from the starwhale doesn't go unnoticed and Aurelia lifts her arms and yells to "Hold fire!"

Damn it, that's not the right whale.

There's nothing they can do short of going suicidal and jumping into the water... The least they can do is stop firing cannons at it. Anyway, those whales are on it and there's not much need for a booming show of self-defense - except in terms of the one whale that's attacking the ship.

She helps reload the cannons. This time, she has no intention of firing them in the direction of the starwhale - or the small fishing boat that appears on the waves. No, she'll order one of the crewmates to keep an eye out for the whale that's assaulting the Ark.

She glances around, gaze swiveling over where Jack is, wondering what it is he intends to do - or wants them to do. She's not sure how else to help at this point other than readying the cannons for another go.

---

Aurelia orders to hold fire and helps ready the cannons a second time.

She tells one of the crew to watch the water below & to signal if the attacking whale comes in firing range - or vice versa.

If there's a shot to take, the order to fire right at it will be given. Otherwise, cannon no go boom :(

and we make our mistakes

Aurelia

i want to taste you again

Lol, oops. Well, it would be oops if Jack had been the one to decide to fire the cannons in the first place, which he definitely had not. So when Aurelia orders the crew to hold fire, he's absolutely on board with it. Before he can second this, though, a ghost whale bumps against the Ark, and well - now it's war. "Keep those held!" he shouts about the cannons, unable to do much about the Attuned soaring above them or the... boat...? running alongside.

But he can try to deflect attention from the ship while the starwhale takes the brunt of the damage. (He has no idea, of course, about the net, the positions of the whales, and all that jazz). "We go dark!" he commands, and abruptly all the wind relaxes from the Ark's sails. Jack leaves his position to go and put out any lights or lanterns, leaving only starlight to sail by.

"If anyone has any bright ideas or can hear that fuckin' bird, speak now or fuck off."

---

Jack commands the Ark to put out all of its lights and go dead in the water to give them time to organise themselves.

like a secret or a sin

JACK

Neos

Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum

Neos was pissed at himself. When he heard the mournful cry, he had assumed he accidentally hit the starwhale anyway despite trying not to. He almost didn't hear the other Attuned speaking, but he became glad he had been forced to pay attention when he was.

Wait, Attuned are telepathic?

It would seem limited, but---

Two ghost whales are trying to pull the starwhale down. The other one is, as you may have noticed, beneath you. Don't hit the starwhale!

As soon as the other Attuned's voice became heard in his head, the other presence immediately receded for now in surprise. Neos was surprised as well, but he managed to kick himself into high gear. There was no time to screw around.

"One's below the ship and the other two's pulling down the starwhale," Neos suddenly shouted for as many to hear him as possible before running towards the mast to try to get up to whatever the equal to the crow's nest was on top. He had noticed that it felt like he was at the edge of range, so this was to try to close the range gap a bit more.

"Try to focus on projecting visually what you're seeing to avoid missing details if you can," he called out to the allied avian-shift (Arialla), not aware of the fact that he may be helping someone else on the ship (Jack) by doing exactly that.

He didn't know if such visual projections would be possible, but it was worth a shot.

---

While moving to get up the mast to the crow's nest of the ship, Neos shouts to alert the others on the ship of the locations of the three ghostwhales (one under the ship and two pulling down the starwhale) and for Arialla to try to project what she sees visually instead.

Excluding his hat and slightly-glowing necklace, he has on hand...
A spear
A round shield
Plenty of rope
A small bag of jerky to possibly use as bait in an emergency
And he has his lion shift

I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies

This is me

Gideon

the priest

Give your heart and soul to charity
'Cause the rest of you

As his boat came in closer, Gideon had a chance to look over the crew on the ship opposite, the silhouettes of people running about - he didn't recognise any of them from this distance, and it didn't matter anyway; they didn't seem to be doing anything helpful. As usual, he was going to have to handle this his way.

In this instance though, he couldn't see a way for his own power to be sufficient - so, he'd have to call on the Gods. The whale trapped before them, bedecked in stars and belonging to the sky, would seem to be under Safrin's domain. He assumed she would want to help the creature; hopefully he was not wasting her time.

Closing his eyes, still gripping onto the railing, he prayed fervently. Safrin, Goddess, please come to help this creature, or give me the power to do so, if you think it a worthy task.

--
Not at all being a team player over on his boat, Gideon channels Safrin using his accepted ability.

The best of you, Honey, belongs to me

The world around the Ark is midnight dark, and the water is a blazing starlit turquoise. It's a shock to the senses, but not only that, from the position of those on the Ark, it's just a soup of galactic colours. Only the eagle above from her vantage point and with her keen eyes has any hope of discerning the shapes below.

The Ark goes dark, not that it really matters. The ghostwhales are clever enough to know precisely where she is, especially when she's near the garish glow cast by the floundering Starwhale. As evidence of this, the Ark will be rocked from side to side as she endures another slam to the bottom of her hull.

Flying above as she is, it will be almost impossible for Arialla to hear Neos instructions. It will be properly impossible for her to transmit images back, even if she does hear him.

Gideon will feel the tickle of a caress against the back of his neck as a coalescence of starlight appears. Drifting toward the Starwhale, this galactic mist will spread out, draping over the creature. Light pulses from where it touches the strange membrane which has bound the creature. (At the end of 2 rounds, the Starwhale will be freed of the membrane).

Below, the two ghostwhales continue to antagonize and slam their heads against the Starwhale. Though Gideon's channeling is seeming to do something, it's unclear whether there will be enough time.

---

Your randomly assigned order is: Arialla, Aurelia, Jack, Neos, Gideon
You have 48 hours to post! So that nothing is missed, please include a quick summary at the bottom of your post of all actions and the descriptions of magic/magic items used.

REMEMBER: KQs are rewarding, but dangerous. They may cause death and/or permanent changes to your characters - join at your own risk!

Arialla HP: 48/48
Aurelia HP: 30/30
Jack HP: 42/42
Neos HP: 11/11
Gideon HP: 45/45

Starwhale HP: 13%
Ark HP: 88%

---

Unable to hear Neos' instructions, Arialla could do little more than continue to describe what she saw. Something came from the other boat onto the starwhale, but I don't know what it's doing, and ... I don't think the starwhale will live long enough for it to help, unless we distract the two ghost whales trying to drown it.

She'd better investigate the other boat, she decided. It would leave the Ark bereft of their eyes in the sky for a bit, but she wasn't sure if anyone on the Ark could hear her anyway -- she might have to do the rounds of the two boats to convey information.

So she landed on Gideon's boat and took her human form again, addressing her words to Gideon, since he seemed to be in charge. "What did you do? There's a ghost whale attacking the other ship and two more trying to pull down the starwhale -- I don't think the starwhale will make it unless we intervene somehow, get the ghost whales off it."

---

Arialla sends a summary of what she sees to the Ark, then lands on Gideon's boat and changes back into human form to talk to him.

Arialla

Freedom. Flight. Grace. Keen-sight.

"Golden Eagle - Mongolia" by carfull...from Wyoming is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

we rise and we fall and we break

Okay, so no one can really see what's going on beneath the dark and simultaneously light ocean. Fair enough. The situation just seems to get worse. Jack's exclaiming they need to go dark - and that's a fine plan for all of two seconds.

Aurelia's feet splay and her hands reach out for balance as the ship gets its shit literally rocked. Alright, this whale's starting to get irritating. Who the fuck pissed in its chum? Jack, probably.

So she hovers near the captain, heart beating fast, racking her brain. She's actively looking for nets, ropes, anything they can use to try to entangle the thing.

A defensive plan seems to be a safer choice than firing into the dark. "Can't see shit in this water, Jack. We could put nets down around the ship, weigh them down with something, try to back off. That's all I got."

She looks at him for instruction, ready to set any kind of plan - whether it's good or not - in motion. Because doing something is better than doing nothing.

---

Aurelia looks for ropes/nets and offers a plan, should Jack want her input. She's at the ready so if he gives her orders, she'll get started on them.

and we make our mistakes

Aurelia

i want to taste you again

Well this is a crock of shit, isn't it? Blue eyes flash to the stowaway - an Attuned, apparently - and the likelihood of Neos being thrown overboard lessens somewhat. He absorbs the information given - the position of the ghost whales (especially the one under them, lol thanx), the suggestion from Aurelia, the situation unfolding. Gears turn, and the captain's mind slips into action.

"Do it," he says to Aurelia. "Weigh our nets down with cannon shot and drop 'em over the side. Make sure they ain't attached to us, or the ship'll get dragged down as well. We fire at the other two, and we back off."

So saying, he directs the crew to split and do just that. In the meantime, the sails of the Ark fill again, so they might get some speed behind them. It's true that Jack and the Ark come before all else, but legends abound of the creatures that sail the stars. It can't hurt to help.

Can it?

---

Jack gives orders:

Aurelia and half of the grew to drop weighted nets over the side of the Ark, to try and tangle up the ghost whale coming after them.

The other half of the crew to fire on the ghost whales dragging down the starwhale, to try and scare them off.

He fills the sails and keeps the Ark moving with his air manipulation (mastered).

like a secret or a sin

JACK

Gideon

the priest

Give your heart and soul to charity
'Cause the rest of you

There was a euphoria in Gideon as he felt the tickle on the back of his neck, saw the starlight mist pour before him; it had worked. Safrin had listened to his prayer and channelled into him her light, an honour he would not forget. He watched carefully as the power began to envelop the whale, concentrating as hard as he could on the motions, not wanting to do anything to break the spell.

Of course, Arialla had to come up and try to talk to him. His free hand grasping hard onto the railing, he flicked his eyes over to her for a second. "I am seeking help from Safrin. Don't question." That was all she'd get out of him, Gideon fully confident that his Goddesses' magic would work the way it was meant to, whatever that was.


---
It's been 48 hours since Jack's post, so I'm posting Gideon.

Gideon continues to focus on channelling Safrins magic to help the Starwhale, and is quite rude to Arialla (sorry!).

The best of you, Honey, belongs to me

Are we having fun yet?

Arialla and Gideon are getting along swimmingly of course; she with full faith in what her eyes have seen, and he with similar confidence in Safrin.

Jack's orders get the crew moving, filling the nets with weighted shot (and a few chairs for good measure, idiots that they are). Under Auriela's guidance, these nets are thrown over the sides, and slowly descend down. Now, the key to this plan would likely have been staying still. It was only the area directly beneath the Ark that had these weighted traps, but as Jack blows the Ark into waters free of such obstacles, the ghostwhale hunting the ship is unencumbered by Aurelia's rather clever trick.

Oh well. You live and learn, right? Or...well no, because you might not live.

And so the Ark is hit again. Jack who knows the ship better than his own dick at this point, will instinctively feel the damage to her, knowing that she's now slower and harder to turn thanks to the hits she's taken.

The canon fire toward the starwhale is dangerous, and part of its tail is struck by one of the balls. Whether or not one of the whales below is similarly struck is impossible to tell. However thanks to the light from the spirit summoned by Gideon, the starwhale is completely visible as his body is nearly entirely pulled beneath the surface of the water now. It will take another round for Safrin's magic to free the creature, but at this rate, it's doubtful the creature will last that long.

Is finding out worth your lives? (To be clear, though none of you are injured, Jack's ship is taking a hell of a beating. It's him who poses the greatest threat to you, if not now, but when you get back to port).

---

Your randomly assigned order is: Arialla, Aurelia, Jack, Neos, Gideon
You have 48 hours to post! So that nothing is missed, please include a quick summary at the bottom of your post of all actions and the descriptions of magic/magic items used.

REMEMBER: KQs are rewarding, but dangerous. They may cause death and/or permanent changes to your characters - join at your own risk!

Arialla HP: 48/48
Aurelia HP: 30/30
Jack HP: 42/42
Neos HP: 11/11
Gideon HP: 45/45

Starwhale HP: 7%
Ark HP: 78%

---

"Safrin wants to help it?" Arialla said, more to herself than Gideon, since he clearly seemed uninterested in such a conversation. But looking at the starwhale, she knew that Safrin's help would be for naught if they didn't somehow distract or deter the ghost whales.

She could only think of one way to do that: if she got in the water with her dolphin shift, the ghost whales might chase her instead of continuing to attack the starwhale. The problem was that this fun idea resulted in ... Arialla being chased by ghost whales. She'd seen what they could do, had heard tales of their formidable malevolence. Getting in the water with them would almost certainly kill her.

So that left Arialla with a question: did she care enough about this starwhale to sacrifice her life for it? A few seconds ago she would have said no. But if Safrin considered this a worthy cause ... Arialla imagined having to tell Safrin that she'd had the chance to save it and done nothing. Then she imagined dying. Then she imagined the quite likely scenario in which she died and the starwhale didn't survive anyway. There were three ghost whales, after all; one could chase Arialla and one harry the ship while the third finished off the starwhale.

Safrin might want the starwhale to live, but would she want Arialla to die for it? Beyond that -- did Arialla really have the courage to make herself jump into the water, knowing it would mean her death?

"I can't," she whispered. She'd be willing to risk her life for her goddess if the need arose, but this -- this wasn't the time. Not with such a low chance of success. She couldn't serve Safrin from a ghost whale's belly. "There's nothing I can do."

Feeling a horrible mixture of guilt and relief, Arialla became an eagle and took to the sky again, circling over the starwhale. She might not be able to save the starwhale, but she couldn't help feeling that she owed it to the creature to watch its last moments.

---

Arialla has a bit of an emotional and religious crisis, but her action for this turn is to return to eagle form and circle over the starwhale, watching for whatever happens next.

Arialla

Freedom. Flight. Grace. Keen-sight.

"Golden Eagle - Mongolia" by carfull...from Wyoming is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

we rise and we fall and we break

Cannonfire doesn't work, going dark doesn't work, the nets don't work, nothing really works. Not for whatever they're out here trying to accomplish. Seems like they're in deep waters. (buahahah.. sorry)

Aurelia's helped with the netting but, unfortunately, it doesn't deter the whale hot on their heels. For half a second, she wonders if it might've worked if the ship had stayed still. Maybe she can argue with Jack about that later, if they ever make it out of this.

They've got more nets to work with. It's a ship. There's nets everywhere, right? Barrels of provisions. Likely they won't run out of something so simple and necessary. So Aurelia makes use of them the only way she thinks might help everyone. She doesn't know jack shit about Safrin's intention or the weird light or what starwhales can do, so the only thing driving her to do this is her own sense of self-preservation.

She guides the crew to cast more weighted nets over the water around the starwhale, since the Ark is getting about as close as it probably ever will. No, not directly onto the starwhale - or at least, that's not the intention! But perhaps it will deter the ghost whales attempting to eat it... and buy it some time... and maybe keep them from coming after the Ark afterwards? One can dream, right?

Once the nets are down, she briefly looks out across the water to see if it worked.

---

Aurelia's making one last effort with the weighted nets, but this time they're thrown towards the water near/around the star whale, to bog down the other ghost whales. She's watching to see what happens.

and we make our mistakes

Aurelia

i want to taste you again

Oh now this is just getting stupid. Jack's curse is loud enough to echo across the deck as the Ark is hit again, and the captain barks orders at his crew not to throw any more of their fucking equipment into the nets. Just the cannon shot, of which there should be plenty. Fucking idiots.

There's still that little sailboat bobbing around in the starlight, and there's still some bird either in the sky or not in the sky, and the starwhale which, frankly, has done absolutely nothing to try to save itself since this whole sorry affair began. We can all see where this is going.

"You throw those nets and then we are out of here," he calls to Aurelia, readying the sails to do just that.

---

Jack curses the crew, and tells Aurelia that once her nets are thrown, they're sailing back for shore.

like a secret or a sin

JACK

Neos

Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum

Neos flinched a bit at the flinging of curses from the apparent captain, even as he had been trying to figure out what in Distortion was happening with the starwhale. He also became glad that he didn't go down and try doing something that crossed his mind. His luck, his shot would have been the one that killed the poor thing.

He had been focusing on whatever seemed wrapped around the starwhale, preventing it from moving and possibly doing anything to free itself.

"...I know I ain't native to this world, but if any of you above can hear me...there has to be a way for any of us to directly help it from a distance, if possible, without killing it..." Accepting the fact that he likely wasn't going to be listened to by anyone, he scrambled down from the crow's nest, mad at himself for being so helpless.

It may be worth trying to capture the starwhale itself.

Don't think we have the time for that, and I don't think the captain will agree with it after that spray.

Once down and he saw that people were trying to throw weighted nets, he decided to help out with that task, mimicking those around him to do so.

Calling this now, the starwhale will die...

---

Neos moves down from the crow's nest before helping out with the weighted nets by mimicking the actions of Aurelia and the crewmates helping her with it.

Excluding his hat and slightly-glowing necklace, he has on hand...
A spear
A round shield
Plenty of rope
A small bag of jerky to possibly use as bait in an emergency
And he has his lion shift

I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies

This is me