Pirate Age: The Golden Era

[Capt. Blu]

The palace was no less impressive as they furthered into it, however the deeper they got the more she could feel some wave of tension. Not from her, but from the air around them. Every now and then she glanced back at her crew, almost to make sure they were still close by. But they were and they could only keep going.

And that's when she saw it.

In front of the crew, sitting right on the throne was what she could only assume was the Drowned King itself. Though the longer she stared the more she pictured this it as a 'him'. Maybe it was a trick of the light or something. Runali squinted her eye a bit, examining what couldn't be anything other than a corpse decorated in seaweed and coral- albeit a rather large one. She was on Kadi's left side, so out the corner of her eye she saw him bow, however she didn't move as the soldiers shifted around them.

Only when she heard Kadi start to speak did she break her gaze from the soulless husk in front of them to glance down at the navigator. She had the brief idea to follow suit and be polite, bowing before a king, but that was ruined when the King yelled causing a strong gust to start. Instead, she steadied her stance to keep her footing. "So much for not mentioning it." She mumbled to Kadi. The captain listened to her crew, taking care to pay attention to their reactions- the ones she could see, but ultimately raised a hand to silence them and hold their weapons. Runali eyed the soldiers before raising her other hand in symbol of a 'surrender' or peaceful gesture.

When the soldiers began to surround them, Ray moved his hand to the hilt of his sword, only to slowly cross his arms as the captain ordered them to stay put. It didn't put him any less on edge than he already was about being in the Undersea, or in this palace of Corpses and Coral. He still couldn't help the feeling that something was a little off, but at the moment, they were facing off with death and needed to be focused. The moment Davy Jones was mentioned, he refrained from tensing too much, but his gaze snapped to the captain, wondering what she was about to say.

"Runali Lev. Captain of this Stardusk crew." She started, meeting the King's gaze before slowly putting her hands behind her back. "There are only four of us, including myself, that are fully aware of what you speak of." She gave a short nod. "We did have an encounter with Jones but, we are far from spies. If anything, we are more of some sort of... pardon. Hopefully not pawns." Runali held a thoughtful gaze for a moment, wondering what Davy Jones would need spies for. "His reasons for letting us go free, save for passing tests that were put in place, had no purpose. Especially nothing that dealt with you." Runali spoke slow and loud enough to be heard. She held the tone of a captain wise beyond her years, more serious than she normally was among her crew.

"There's no reason for an 'extraction', as there is nothing to be extracted out of us. I don't know anything of your...dislike of Davy Jones, nor did he mention you when we...stumbled across him. But our business is much different and very much unrelated." She glanced over at Arcadius before once more looking the Drowned King in the eyes. "He can explain that part better than I."

 

[Mizos]

Luro stared up at the castle a wide smile finding its way onto his face, his eyes sparkling as he stared at the palace made from the fallen creature. He thought the name was just someone's way of being fancy but it really was shellfish, the creativity of this person was beyond understanding. He almost ran into the place unable to hold himself back from seeing the inside but leaving the others behind seemed like a bad idea, the Captain would probably get upset if he got himself lost here, especially with all the corpses around, he might get blamed for a few of them, that would be bad.

"Wow," Luro said as they approached the palace, a childlike gleam in his eyes. "Imagine the fight to slay this guy, it had to great."
Luro followed everyone moving his arms behind his head as he looked around at the wondrous sight around them, he couldn't help feeling excited now that they were really close to the Drowned King, he was good with monarchs so he knew he'd leave a good first impression, just like the princess at Yula Fei, maybe he could even ask for a throne. Catching the Captain's comment on rules however Luro chuckled and gave a small nod
"Yep always have ru-"
He cut himself off as Ray answered the question, he blinked a few times at this and scratched his cheek, opening his notebook he flipped to a page before bring a hand to his chin.
"Hmmm...I thought that was a minor rule," Luro said writing something in the notebook. "Anyway the surprise is the best part Captain."

Luro put his book back in his sleeve with a grin making sure to keep up with everyone, he wasn't sure why Jack was interested in the chess set, that was how fancy people solved problems and played games, with pirates it was usually whoever was still conscious at the end was right. He did noticed Z glance in the direction of the game though, he wondered if she knew how to play, but the moment passed quickly as he wondered if the rum was different here. His hand was inches away from a sharp part of the castle in mid thought as he caught Kadi's comment, he slowly pulled his hand away and glancing behind him made sure not to fall behind.

"Why is the throne room past this things poop deck?" Luro questioned.
He was curious why the king decided to put it this way instead of the other way, especially after he saw the chamber the Drowned King was in, it was very shiny so why did he choose to have it past this creatures butt, he wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that. When his eyes landed on the King his head tilted to the side slightly, he wasn't sure what to really call the King, and he was a little disappointed seeing him. With a small sigh he started to approach to ask a question when Kadi knelt down, he wondered if he should do the same when the King yelled. The moment they were surrounded Luro grinned and moved his hand to his gun.
"Oh we're getting into a brawl already, I like it here. Never killed a dead person before this'll be fun," Luro said starting to pull his rifle from his back.
However at the Captain's silent order he pouted a little his eyes moving to the guards before he hung his head and removed his hand from his gun.
"That's not fair Captain, they're already dead...the rule still applies here too," Luro said moving his hand into his sleeves.
The Captain seemed to handle the situation explaining Davy Jones and how they were involved, Luro messed with one of the corpses with his foot while waiting for her to finish explaining. He liked the smell of this place it reminded him of a few villages he had visited long ago, the corpse stench at least, he smiled a little at the memory before noticing the Captain had finished explaining.
"You're really fat," Luro said staring at the king. "I wish Kadi had something I would have brought some food for you as a gift."
He looked over at the Captain at this and motioned towards the King.
"We bring gifts to nobles right, that way they aren't upset at pirates visiting. I remember hearing that."
He was pretty sure he was correct in his guess and grinned at the king moving his hands back behind his head.
"It's nice to meet you Drowned King! I noticed your fancy room is past a butt. Two of my friends like butts too so I won't judge you, I'm more a personality guy myself than anything else but I can appreciate a good rear. Kadi has the fourth best one."

Zilia walked into the castle with her head in her hands, not out of fear or nervousness but merely because of the situation, this place was pretty horrid, the stench was horrid, the sights were horrid, the feel of this place was horrid, each sense in her body felt assaulted by the sheer existence of this realm. That wasn't enough to break Zilia though, no what made her turn away from the world for a moment, the thing that made her have to take a moment of introspection was Stardusk itself.
"How?!" Zilia thought head still in her hands. "How do you go from nice to...to this! There was no middle! We were at a wonderful place, filled with smiles, exotic animals and wares as far as they eye can see, and now we're in a place filled with dead bodies. How do you jump from one to the other! It wasn't nice, okay then bad no it was right to bad at the end of it all! Is this a pattern! Are all our adventures going to be like this! We go to a nice place, than a horrible place, than a nice place again the cycle repeating itself endlessly!"
Zilia raised her head from her hands pulling herself back together, she lost it for a moment there after Jack's comment causing her to think if this was all meaningless, her train of thought did the rest of the work.

She had to admit for being inside a giant sea creature this place was very beautiful, and seeing the chess seat she couldn't deny her curiosity. It had been a long since she had sat down for a game, but after Kadi's explanation of it her attention was lost on the object, of course there would be a catch to the game. For a moment she relaxed being inside the palace, it was still inside a giant creature and the...pleasures of the undersea still infiltrated her nostrils and spread throughout her very being, but being in here was a little better than being out there, she supposed that was any place where nobility held court though. She chose to write however instead of taking in the sights too much, she was in charge of their history after all, even though this was an unbelievable situation it wasn't an excuse not to make note of it. Upon entering the court her eyes twitched a bit at the stench and noticing the bodies nearby she found one of the sources. Her attention was more on the creature that called itself the Downed King, she started to follow Kadi's example and bow not wanting to upset him, but it was far too late for that.

"...so this is what it feels like to be a Stardusk," Zilia thought glancing around at the guards. "This kind of misfortune is rare I'm a little impressed."
Zilia started to get into a proper stance when she noticed Runali's signal, giving a small nod she relaxed her body and straightened herself, she was impressed at Runali's quick response to the situation, she saw why Luro spoke so highly of her. She could name a few captain's who would have panicked in this moment, she wondered if Kadi's old captain was one of them. She put the thought aside and pulled her hood up over her head choosing to stand next to Sara in silence. She couldn't provide a voice to the discussion and approaching the throne with a note sounded like a bad idea so she chose to let everyone else do the talking. She regretted adding Luro to that list when he spoke. She shook her head deciding to go ahead and pull out her notebook, if he questioned them it'd be best she responded quickly anyway.

 

[Arcadius]

Collab between Arc and Captn. Blu


Location: Undersea, Shellfish Palace: Meeting with the King

The King would not bother with words while addressing Luro's answer. Like a human swatting away something so below him as a mere fly, the King's hand had left the armrest of the Seastone Throne, and flicked his fingers towards the two mirror-like pools on the court's sides. Split second later, the perfectly reflective surfaces were destroyed by eruptions by eruptions of water, small shellfish creatures and mud, fed into the pools from somewhere below. Jets of the liquid simply engulfed Luro, coming too fast fast for any mortal being to dodge or jump away. The rifleman was lifted by the stream, and roughly slapped towards a wall of the throne room, as simply as if he was a rag doll. His limbs were pressed against the wall composed of sharp gemstones and chitinous shell of the giant starfish. Luro would feel how the gemstones pierced the back of his hands, and how his warm blood mixed with the dead cold salt water. His head was slammed onto a large, oddly flat and smooth stone. When the back of his skull connected with the stone, he'd find out there were actually worse things than having his hands pierced with the world's most expensive nails. The stone, same as everything else in the throne room, vibrated with the anthem of the Drowned ones. When Luro's bone touched the stone, even through the layer of his skin on the back of his head, his skull started to reverberate the song just as the stone did. The hymn was coming from everywhere in his head, so loud it pushed out all of his thoughts away, impossible to ignore, bypassing the need for ears.

The Navigator did not move a bit while the situation around them started showing signs of going south. His hair and half of his face was covered in salty mud and tiny sea creatures, scampering away to hide in his pockets or under his collar, Luro was impaled on a wall and the King seemed displeased that agents of Davy Jones simply waltzed into his House. While he planned for this to not happen, he assumed it could potentially happen, that there was some mark on their souls, a black smudge, a torn edge, a soft stamp made at the border office of afterlife. However, this preoccupation with fear of things supernatural made him overlook more simple, natural kinks in his planning, like Luro. "Revenge," he muttered to himself. [/i]"There will be revenge."[/i] He looked up, again gently smiling, slowly raising his hands in gesture of peace. "Your Highness! You are, of course, absolutely correct! These souls have met Davy Jones, and not only that, they also won over that pestilence of all the seas you reign over!" He started to slowly rise, standing on one leg, then the second, then fully upright, as if he was handling a very delicate delicacy, or a noxious, volatile alchemical concoction. The corpse King slowly turned his head and looked around, as if he had issues sensing who exactly was speaking. As if he could not see Arcadius. "Continue," the King said.

"We are not here as your enemy, in fact, we share the animosity towards the Scourge of the High Seas. Ours, of course, pales in the size and brightness of your hate towards that usurper. We have come to offer our services, in fact, to help you in your struggle to reign in Davy Jones!" He spoke slowly, focusing his mind fully on each vowel and word. The words were pronounced clearly, and loud just enough to echo elegantly against the gemstones in the ceiling, just enough to give his words power, but not enough to demand sovereignty over the room. The King stopped trying to find the speaker, and instead listened, and remained silent, the sound of which filled the room completely after Arcadius finished his speech. There was enough tension in the air to rip a cow in half.

"Service…" the King answered. "Price?" he asked. "Crew of the Karalean, released from your service, including the ship. I'll provide what is necessary for the process." The King seemed like he finally managed to focus on Arcadius, and let out a long bubbly, gurgling sound that could, with some poetic licence, could be identified as laughter. "I hate chess," the Navigator ominously muttered to the Captain, who was still standing next to him.

"Skull. First… Prophet…Find him… hiding from death… Inbetween and dreams…"

Runali had planned to answer Luro, maybe even tell him that gifts were for 'next time', just to appease the carpenter. But what she didn't expect was to be faced with him being attacked- and attacked so suddenly. Runali acted on instinct. Her instinct told her to help Luro and while that could have meant rushing to Luro's aid for most, to Runali that meant disarming one of undead guards, and point the sword at it. The movement was quick and near fluid, as she had practised with Alicia and Ray times before.

She was going to fight them and go straight for the King….

At least that was her intentions until she heard Kadi's voice. The fire in her eyes died as quickly as it came and she frowned. The sword she had pointed at the guard's throat slowly lowered and reluctantly she tossed it back to him… or it. Runali wondered what Kadi was attempting to accomplish with sounding so....chipper but she could only assume it was the King's "good graces" or something like that. Another odd thing she noticed was the King's roaming gaze when Kadi spoke, but her attention was on her crew at the moment. She realized starting a fight in a place like this with someone who was already dead and probably had an immense amount of power was not the best move to make no matter the circumstance. They had to stay calm and not further piss off King Corpse. "Let him go…" She raised her hand once more to her crew, signalling to stand down. "Please."

"My carpenter lost his sanity years ago, he doesn't know how to... behave properly." Runali withheld the sigh she was holding and ran fingers through her hair. She wanted to look back at Zilia and give her a knowing look to check on him, but she also didn't want the doctor to move, in fear that she would get hurt if she did. So she waited.

Looking back for a quick moment, she could see Luro was still breathing and moving so she faced the king again. The tension grew while the room silenced. She tilted her head a bit, listening to the conversation between Kadi and the King. For one, she knew she didn't really like it. Not because of the insult to Davy Jones- she didn't really care about that. No it was mostly Runali thinking of the conversations prior and the thoughts of these 'prices' being detrimental to her crew.

She also was trying to make sure she caught everything they were saying. Not just in words but in what they didn't say as well. Unfortunately, Runali wasn't the best at reading body language and subliminal messages so instead she glanced over at Kadi. With what seemed like an oversimplified response to the cryptic message, she replied, "Well then, don't play." It was stated in a way, not to downplay the situation, but more to express...a simpler solution to a complicated problem. It probably wasn't the best advice.

King's words were no less cryptic when he gave them some sort of deal? "We're looking for someone… hiding from death… in this place?" She looked on for clarification. "I mean, we have no reason to refuse," She could actually point out several reasons to refuse, one being she didn't trust the King. Two being he had just attacked one of her crew. Three- well, Runali realized bringing any of them up would get them nowhere. She just hoped the rest of her crew would trust her enough to follow suit.

By this point, it was clear how difficult normal conversation was made by the fact one was a dead, rotting bloated body, but being King has its perks. Luro's shaken consciousness would find something changing in the vibrations scrambling his brain. The monotone drone of the hymn was gone, the music replaced by something new. It would prove rather difficult to explain such abstraction in mere words later on, but the vibrations of the stone made concepts and image appear inside his mind, somehow transferring knowledge directly, without use of inferior human senses.

He was shown thin, gangly man, so malnourished he gave impression of a skeleton with human skin draped over. The man had ten fingers on every hand, and was dressed in robes sewn from small multicoloured patches of fabric. The man was lying in bier, and was carried to a tomb, but he was not yet dead. The tomb was closed, and time started to pass, years, decades, centuries. The tomb finally collapsed, and the man was shown to be finally dying, his soul leaving the final resting place of the body.

A new scene was shown to Luro. The location had a feel to it like it was squeezed in between two realms, but not belonging to either of those. The soul was shown arriving into this place, its form identical to the corporeal body, but starting to fall apart the moment it appeared in this world. A sense of incredible strength of will surrounded the Prophet, and the process of quickened decomposition stopped, leaving him with his left arm missing. More souls were shown to appear around him, some falling apart and vanishing, but some clearly starting to worship him, wanting to not vanish away.

Time started to pass again, and the Prophet's congregation of souls that refused to move on grew. Soon, they started building a new tomb for him, out of rotten flesh and leftover bones. When the task was done, the Prophet let himself be entombed again, and ordered his believers to build a great fortress around his final resting place, and guard him, so he could dream eternally.

The scene changed once more. He was shown a realm bordering that of Inbetween. This new realm was that of dreams and abstraction, where mind could safely shed shackles of feeble mortality and wander freely. He was shown waterfalls made out of the smell of cheese, creatures composed of bad music and plants constructed from seismic tremors of cotton candy tectonic plates. Luro got explained to him this world was connection between the waking world, and the world where souls shed the forms of the physical bodies and left for whatever awaited them next. The mirror pools in the King's court, the same ones that were source of his current torturous predicament, could one lull into deep, lucid dreaming state.

They'd have to enter the dream world and seek the dreams of the Prophet, pass through them and enter the Inbetween. Once there, they were to seek the Prophet, kill him and grab his skull, before the illusion of life he projected would collapse, and propel their dream-states back to their corporeal bodies. With this, the visions ended, and Luro was dropped on the floor of the throne room, leaving behind a bloody streak on the gemstone-studded wall, his hands and back a cut-up mess.[/CENTER]

 

[Mizos]

Luro stared at the King waiting for a response, instead he felt his feet leave the ground and his body fly through the air. He blinked a few times as the liquid surrounded him his body flying through the air. He laughed and spread his arms not accustomed to actually floating in the air, before he could enjoy it too much however his ride was cut short by his body being slammed into the wall. He felt something pierce his skin and his body shivered a bit at the sensation, he glanced over to see red staining his white top and arched a brow noticing that there were some sharp stuff causing him to bleed, and tearing his clothes on top of that. He felt a tad dazed as well causing him to hear singing in his head, though after a moment he realized it was that nice song from earlier going through his head, he still didn't her any words to it though, it was surprisingly loud as well, it was a good thing he wasn't thinking he probably would have forgot what was on his mind, he always forgot stuff when he sang one of Ray's shanties...though he wondered if he really was thinking about something.
"Aw man! I just patched these sleeves. Now I gotta steal more cloth from Alicia's room!" Luro exclaimed clearly not aware of how loud he was being. "She's gonna get mad if I do it too much!"

Luro closed his eyes and sighed a little, though he opened his eyes to look down at his fellow cremates, he could see them talking but with the song going through his head it was hard to really concentrate on what was being said.
"Hey guys! Guys look I'm a wall! Can you hear me! I got that nice song going through my head so I don't know if you can hear me! I'll yell just in case! Oh wait no no I'm the thing on the front of the ship! I'm that! Captain can you see it?!"
Luro laughed at the thought wondering if the Captain would be okay with him doing some work on the ship so he was the figurehead, though thinking about the Captain made a lot more sense.
"It's really high up here! It's like being in the crows nest but with more blood! I think the King likes me! Masu let this be a lesson! The fellowship of behinds is the best way to make friends! You too Jack and Z, believe in the power of booty both kinds! Hey you guys can hear me right! Guys!"

Luro started to yell again but stopped as something appeared in the front of his mind, he wasn't sure what it was but it was surprisingly clear in his head, like an old memory brought forth by a random circumstance, or after sobering up slightly whichever one fit the situation, since he was pretty sure he wasn't sobering up he wondered if it was the former. This wasn't the first time he had been pinned to a wall after all. He closed his eyes trying to focus on the memory, he didn't recognize the person in it and wondered if it was someone he had forgotten. The more played in his head though, the more he started to wonder if he knew this guy at all. He wasn't sure how but he somehow seemed to understand what was happening, not enough to explain but something was clearly explaining what this place was, he really hoped it wasn't that know it all Banana Luro, he wasn't in the mood to talk to him right now this memory was fun.
"Whoa there's so much cheese! What's that pink stuff? It looks like clouds but not as delicious."

He didn't have a lot of time to take in the strange world before he felt himself fall, he flipped through the air intending to land on his feet but failed that by spinning too much and hit the ground face first. He laid there for a moment before climbing to his feet and brushing off his front, reaching up he grabbed his nose a small snap coming from it before he sniffed and rotated his shoulders making his way back over to everyone.
"Hahaha that was so much fun and the King and I are already friends, I gotta ask him about that song later. Anyway I saw this really nice looking like a dreamworld or something, while I was up there. Oh speaking of which Alicia this is completely unrelated to a moment ago but when will you not be in your room later?"

​

Zilia slowly put away her notebook as Luro was flung into the air, she wasn't sure what triggered it but she didn't want to share the fate of being flung into the air by this man. Seeing Luro crash against the wall she flinched slightly and swallowed something down seeing the red stain his clothes, she wanted to move over to him but she wasn't sure how to get him down firstly, and seeing the Captain who had moved long before she could lower her blade reminded her of the situation they were in. Her attention moved over to Kadi trying not to focus too much on his appearance and voice as he spoke to the king, speaking for all of them in the process. She wasn't sure what he was up too but he was clearly trying to do something and she had more knowledge of this world than they did. She closed her hands into her fists and decided to just let him speak to the king and conclude their business, she seemed to relax a little as Runali requested Luro's release.

This whole situation didn't seem the tiniest bit in their favor and she didn't like that the Drowned King was doing something akin to laughter at Kadi's request. It felt like they were going into a bad situation well aware they were on the unfortunate side of things. Doing all of this to reunite families with one another, she could see the good in it, but staring up at Luro on the wall who was happily chattering away she wondered if it was worth the sacrifice of another, didn't that defeat the point of it? She shook her head to push those thoughts away, now wasn't the time for doubts she willingly came along and walked into this place, there was no sense second guessing such things at this point, but that didn't stop the nauseating feeling in her stomach.
When Luro fell Zilia started to walk over to him but stopped when he walked over to them raising a hand, he went on about something or another bringing up some dreamworld, she started to wonder if he was a tad delirious from the blood loss and started to check on him.

"Hm? What's wrong Z?" Luro asked.
Zilia motioned to his blood soaked clothes causing Luro to hold up his arms showing his somewhat tattered sleeves
"Oh yeah my clothes got torn, I have to fix that."
Zilia waved her arms and repeatedly pointed at the red splotches on his clothes, not realizing he was getting it she handed him a note, Luro looked over it before looking up at her and down at himself again.
"I'm fine Z, not the first time I've been impaled, beside trying to inflict bodily harm on one another is a sign of friendship. Look at Masu and Alicia they're really close now."
"You know Runali's comment makes a whole lot of sense right now...."
"Besides we all have blood, I got blood, Jack's got blood, Captain's got blood. Z you're a doctor you should know that already."
"That's not the point!"
Zilia continued to wave her arms trying to explain the circumstance to Luro who only stared at her clearly confused at her explanation.

 

[Eastwood]

Sara could only watch in mute terror as the crew's fragile grasp of the situation broke the moment Luro opened his mouth. In hindsight, said a tiny voice in the back of her mind, she really should have seen this one coming. Everybody was forced back, and Sara stood by, ready with her gladius and shield. Not even a signal from her captain was able to calm her down, only lowering her shield ever so slightly. She didn't understand what just happened, or why Luro was babbling about a prophet and booty. It was all simply too much.

 

[Arcadius]

Collab between Arc and Captn. Blu

Location: Undersea, Shellfish Palace: Meeting with the King

Instead of giving an actual answer, there was silence, up until Luro began to yell. For a moment, Runali tensed, about to tell Luro to quiet down this time.However his usual ramble of thoughts became a little less coherent than normal. As he talked about seeing dreamworlds and the likes, she turned fully and headed that towards him. Fortunately Zilia was doing the same. She gestured for her crew to stay close before she knelt down in front of Luro- which in hindsight was unnecessary. Hearing him complain about not needing to be helped made the captain thump his head. "Stop arguing with the doctor and let her do her job."

She glanced back at the King for a split second before piecing things together. "Oh this is gonna be…. A bad idea." As if anything up to this point was a good one. She gestured Kadi over, still looking over at Luro. "Alright Luro. I need you to focus for me and really focus. I need you to tell me everything you- I guess saw about this 'dream world' and whatever else you saw." Then, she pointed at Kadi. "And I need you to translate." Runali stood to her feet and turned her attention to the Drowned King. "In hindsight, it would have been much easier to give these 'visions' or whatever you want to call them, to the navigator here. Would have made things a lot easier." Looking at the rest of her crew, while they were understandably uncomfortable- or just scared, they were all okay.

The King focused his watery, cloudy eyes on Runali. The folds of skin on his face, succulent with pus, rot and water, rearranged into something that could have been a smile, in some distant, ancient place. Or possibly a frown. Or deep state of constipation, it was nigh impossible to discern the reason for the grimace. "Made… point… now…" He raised his arm once more, and the small water critters and crustaceans around them started to scurry into a shallow pool, a very disturbing fact. First, some of these were still hidden in crew's hairs, pockets and whatever other crevices their bodies and clothes offered, secondarily because the small organism started to pile up, and form into something that quickly took up on a shape of something that very possibly could be a person. The figure slowly spread its arms, shellfish dropping from his arms as if he was dressed in a robe or shroud.

"Blessed ones!" he started as if he was reading occult invocation. "My name is Voduch. I am a humble acolyte to the Drowned King, and he has chosen me to help you on your path, as he deems you worthy of his service and has given you his blessing to enter and leave his realm!"

Arcadius watched his for a moment, studying the imperfectly reshaped facial features, reminding him of something or someone from his past. Perhaps… nevermind. His sleep has been spotty at best as the lifeline got thinner and thinner, and his thoughts haven't been the epitome of cohesiveness sometimes. Must have been a phantoma his tired faux mind conjured. "Voduch, I understand this means a pack has been sealed. Now, if you would be so kind and explain to us what has happened to Luro, aside from being punished for his impertinence?"

"Ah!" the thing chanted out. "The Deep One has decided to show him truth! He has shown him a most hated enemy, so that the faithful may go and slay him for his glory!" His hands pointed towards the two deep pools in the feet of the starfish. The movement flicked away tiny crabs and shrimps around. The tiny creatures quickly scurried back to rejoin Voduch body. "The Last Prophet hides on the border between life and death, where our master cannot reach, for he claims not the soul of the drowned, but the body. You are not bound by such obstacles. The blessed water can allow you to sleep, deeply but lucidly, and let your soul wander in the Dreamworld. There, you have to find the dreams the Prophet dreams, his visions of past and future. Through them, you will invade the Inbetween, and claim his skull, from where he rests forever with his followers, guardians and acolytes. Fear not delivering the skull, for it will find its own way back, once it is severed from the soul that keeps it unrighteously in the world of living! Do this, bring back the weapon The King will use to finally defeat the dreaded Davy Jones, and he will bestow his blessing upon you, and grant you your wish!"

Arcadius sighed, showing everyone how damned tired his corporeal presence was. Without soul, body simply… stopped giving a damn, day by day, until it didn't even bother to live anymore. This whole thing was his mess, and now, without a soul to part with his body and go the the Dreamworld, he was useless and possibly sending his friends away without being much of a help. "Right, well… I guess we'll do best to split up, then. I can't follow you there, if you actually are willing to do this. So I'll be going to Zirakzigil, to get the other half of our plan."

The captain stood in thought about the new information. "We've gotta go to both these places. The Inbetween and the… Zig.. Zig-whatever. We have to cover ground fast so we should split into teams. Zil, Ray, Sara and I suppose Kadi can go to the… place."

The navigator nodded. "I'd advise only those who are not afraid to face whatever could hide in their dreams should go on the Skull expedition. Or those with a soul, but… that's kinda self-explanatory. Anyway, I guess it will be a slog. Things that are stuck between life and death are probably not the sort of thing that will be interested in compromise, or giving up whatever little they have left. I reckon' Luro will see that as challenge, as for the rest of you… I would ask this of Alicia and Jack. At least two brains per three people, so to say."

"On the other hand, Zirakzigil… the city is something to see, yes. From distance."

 

[Eastwood]

​

Sara shrieked in terror, almost jumping out of her skin, when a particularly large crab that made her hair its home jumped and skittered towards the rest of its kin. Thankfully, a rushed pat-down of her body revealed that to be the only stowaway. Sara was never a particular fan of sea-food but after this trip, she doubted if she would ever eat crab or lobster again. Come to think it, if there ever was an 'after-this-trip', she made a mental note to stay as far away from the ocean as possible. Then again, Sara reasoned, she ultimately didn't have a say in the matter.


Sara stared, open-mouthed, to see someone or something strange appear. Despite the bizarre appearance, she could not prevent herself to be utterly fascinated. She had never seen anything like this on Tilea, a sort of collective consciousness acting as one. But what was more interesting was this 'dream world' and how it would be necessary in their journey. Sara, of course, would not have believed in the existence of such a place but so far today, her expectations on the impossible have been skewed ever so slightly. There was an interesting dilemma brewing within her, her fear of the unknown weighed against her curiosity. After a few brief moments, Sara came to her decision.


When there was a quiet moment, she gently tapped the shoulder of her boss and said, rather quietly.


"... Hey, boss?" Sara paused for a moment, before adding flatly. "Please assign me to the skull-expedition."


When the sudden 'infestation' appeared out of hair and clothes, Runali tensed and refrained from yelling in surprise. It was slightly out of fear that one wrong move would cause something bad to happen. And as gross as it was, she could only imagine there were things a lot worse that could and unfortunately would happen. "I'm going to need several showers after this…" She muttered to no one in particular.


The creature that formed in front of them didn't seem all too hostile- in fact, quite the opposite. But Runali was still a bit weary. Who could blame her? The unfamiliar territory with unfamiliar creatures was all still very unsettling but they were low on options at this point. Speaking of unsettling, the sudden tap on her shoulder made a chill go down her spine, only for her to realize it was Sara.


Runali could see the unease in Sara's expression and frowned a little. Of course this wasn't something she wanted to do. They were miles under the ocean. That was already a huge leap for Sara and the captain didn't want Sara being pushed to the point of disfunction.


Without a word to Sara, the captain turned back. "Scratch that. Kadi, Zil, Ray, and Jack will go to the Zigil place. I'll go with Luro, Alicia, and Sara to the Dreamland place."


Sara couldn't help but blink in stunned surprise. Given how on edge she openly was, she was very surprised that she didn't have to argue with her. So, not wanting to blow this opportunity, she wisely stepped back. She stared at the water, her fear and curiosity in equal measure, but for how long?

​

 

[Mizos]

Zilia gave a small nod to Runali in thanks for reprimanding Luro who seemed intent on moving forward as he was, which she wasn't about to allow. Zilia got right to work as Runali questioned Luro about what he saw, and though she didn't want to admit it she was curious what had gone through his head. She made Luro sit down so she could properly reach certain spots, though he declined removing his shirt going on about being shirtless in front of the lasses was rude. She was surprised he still had a sense of decency in a place where the dead was literally inches away. He seemed more than happy to remove his pants though which caused Zilia to put aside her earlier thought of his decency and informed him it wasn't necessary.
A creature climbed out of her hood and over her head before dropping down onto the ground causing Zilia to shiver slightly, she ran her hand over parts of her outfit just to ensure nothing else was there before continuing, she would have felt movement anywhere else, how smart of that creature.

"Got ya Captain, leave it to me...oh hold on a sec," Luro said.
Luro reached into his pants which caused Zilia to take a small step back before pulling out one of the creatures, he smiled at the creature as it snapped at him before setting it down watching it scurry away. He reached back into his pants pulling out a few more before tossing them inside.
"Were those crabs?" Luro asked with a small tilt of his head. "Seems like they got lost in my pants...I get lost in there too so I can't blame them."
"A hundred things to say and I don't wish to say one of them," Zilia thought grabbing Luro's arm.
Luro looked at his Captain before explaining everything he saw in his weird dream, though he was a tad excitable as he explained it and Zilia felt like he was spewing pure nonsense but Luro was very accurate about what he saw and finished explaining with a small chuckle.
"It was really nice there Captain, I don't remember going but if it's in my head I was probably there at some point," Luro said grinning. "You done yet Z?"

Zilia started to write something down to confirm he was fine when the loud creature made its appearance, she glanced over at it eyes narrowing slightly as it called them blessed ones. She wasn't entirely sure what that was about but it didn't take long to receive an answer to the reason for their strange new title. Zilia wasn't concerned over what their task was more focused on the ability to leave this realm. She found comfort that was an option expecting the worse, though this was from a thing called Voduch that worked for the king who flung one of her crewmates onto a wall so she didn't allow herself to get to excited.
"Hey Z what's pertinence mean?" Luro asked.
Zilia handed Luro a piece of paper which he read, seeing his confused expression she handed him another note which he read before looking up at Kadi.
"Well that's mean, I was being really polite," Luro said. "Is Kadi not good with nobles I was a gentleperson."
"I would explain it but I feel like it would be a waste, I'll just remain silen-I'll just leave it alone."
Zilia was more concerned over Sara who seemed a tad jumpy in this place, not that she couldn't understand, she was surprised she was keeping her own calm in this situation. Keeping her focus on everyone's health was helping to keep her sanity, she'd probably be huddling in the corner if she had ventured here alone.

Luro folded his hands behind his head when everyone was divided into two teams, it seemed he'd be going to that really fun place which he smiled at the Captain at the opportunity. He really wanted to head to that place, it was going to be really interesting to see the pink stuff, it seemed the King also wanted them to kill some guy there so that was a nice little extra.
"You have fun at Zirakzigil guys, we'll kill that guy at the fun place and be back in no time," Luro said waving to his comrades. "You can depend on Team Manly Bottom."
"Really happy I'm not on that team."
"I'm not sure what this dream world is but there's going to be strong things there right, I'm glad Masu's coming with us, a little extra muscle is always good. I mean we got Alicia's bulging biceps but it's always nice to have more."
Zilia looked over at Alicia for a moment then over at Sara, the latter clearly had more muscle what manner of observation was this?
Zilia walked over and handed Jack a letter meant for everyone before turning and making her way to the group, she was wholly content not facing her dreams, though she hoped this other area was less dangerous.
"Make sure to be careful everyone, don't come back bloodied or I'm going to be mad."
Luro rested his arm on Jack's shoulder peering at the note, he grinned.
"I'm already bloody though."
A rock hit Luro in the head causing him to lean back slightly, he rubbed his forehead and looked in the direction of the thrower to see Zilia glaring at him, she pointed at him and slammed her fist into her hand before turning and returning to the others
"...I don't get it does Z want me to get hurt more? I mean I can do that I guess."

 

[SilentxChaos]

Jack never showed it but he was afraid. Afraid of this corpse-like King, afraid for Luro, afraid of the giant white-eye lingering in the back of his mind like a betraying thought that refused to leave. When they entered the audience chamber, he stood in a meticulous position with hands folded at his back, feet shoulder-width apart, head straight, muscles tensed, eyes flickering at the slightest movement, and his mouth set in a resting half-smile. Every occurrence of danger found him coiled like taut rigging. But Jack remained as he was, only twitching for a knife when the captain faced the Drowned King's guards. This is how he dealt with things he didn't know how to do deal with.

That was until the crabs appeared.

The cook was as surprised as the rest of the crew when small crustaceans suddenly muzzled their way out his dreadlocks and cuffs and trousers. He cursed and shook them off, breaking his careful composure. After checking there were no more hidden creatures, Jack folded his arms, shivering, and listened as their next step unfolded.

Oh dear god, Jack thought when he was assigned to the Inbetween. While he didn't have much to fear in his dreams, they were not something he wanted manifesting into a state of reality, whatever that may be. Still, he had yet the chance to fight alongside Alicia, and there was a balance to both groups' chemistry. He glanced at Luro and wondered briefly what dreams the giant experienced.

Then, to his immense relief, Runali switched him with Sara. Oh thank god. His shoulders sagged a little as he trotted over to Kadi and the group heading to Zirakzigil.

"My apologies but, what is the point of going to this city?" Jack asked their navigator as Zilia approached him.

He took the note, and then staggered as Luro suddenly leaned on his shoulder. Despite his ordeal, their carpenter was unfazed, unchanged. Jack made a genuine, if small, grin at him. "Do me a favor big guy. Never change."

After that, he read the note to the crew. He gave a nod towards Zilia and surveyed their two groups. He couldn't help noticing their more brawny members heading for the Inbetween, a place where physical strength may not matter much, while his own group may not fare well against a frontal force. Well, I'm sure between Ray's ice powers, my haki, and Zilia's...kicks, we'll manage. And if Kadi's lasted this long with Stardusk, surely he can hold his own. Jack glanced over at Arcadius, realizing he never saw the navigator fight yet, and noticed his dragging sighs. That is, if he can maintain the will to fight.

 

[Arcadius]

Collab between Arc and Captn. Blu

Location: Undersea, Shellfish Palace: The Path of Oblivion and The Path of Folly

ACT 2: Decisions, decisions

"Well, I suppose the alea have been cast, then. We'll waste no time, we need to grab Bob and Lou before they decide to set sail again. I don't want to sail Lady to Zizarzagoza. It… might catch attention of people and things we have ne business being associated with."

He bowed to the Captain. "Well, sir… I suppose best of luck and good hunting. It's weird when captain goes where navigator cannot follow. Bit unbecoming, but we have little choice in the manner. I hope I'll get to see you all at once more at least. Would be rude to expire without a proper farewells." With that, he turned around, mud and salt water droplets gently flung from the tip of his longcoat, and made his way outside, through the narrow tunnel and the chess room. He glanced at the irrigo set, for a moment letting his eyes be filled with the colour, before walking outside of the palace. The mouth of the beast let him pass freely. On the coral jetty, two figures were waiting for him.

~~~===~~~​

Before the crew could separate, Runali thought over the situation again. There was a slight confusion with who was on what team so she clarified a little better. At least a slight confusion on her part about which group was going where. "Wait. Luro, you're going to be on the Skull team. 'Claiming skulls' sounds like something you're good at." She looked over at Ray. "And I trust you can keep Kadi out of trouble as much as Luro can cause it." The musician gave a silent nod before walking to stand near Zil and Jack. When Arcadius spoke up, Runali nodded in response. "Good luck of course, but there's no need for farewells. We'll see you guys again." She seemed so sure of herself, despite not knowing the situation ahead. The others began to follow Kadi and Runali looked at the remaining of her crew. "Alright. Alicia, Sara, Luro. We're on skull duty. And I guess, crabby here is going to lead the way?" The captain stretched out her shoulder. "Never thought I'd grave rob but hey, it's probably not the worst thing we've done."

"I shall!" Voduch agreed to Captain with excitement, showing no signs of agitation towards her insulting nickname. "And fear not of your loosening morals. For it to be grave robbing, would the person in question not have to be already dead? What awaits you is glorious battle and slaughter on your crusade in the name of the King! Not some skulking under the cover of the night like lowborn thieves, nay!" Voduch finished his philosophical thesis, and glided over to the mirror pools. Just as when they entered, the pools were perfectly flat reflective surfaces, as if filled with molten silver or room temperature mercury, with no sign of the previous agitation showing. As they approached, they would feel strange need to find their reflections. Should someone give into that calling, they would find the silvery doppelgangers so perfect, it would start feel confusing after a while, as if they were not sure if they were still standing in the throne room and looking at the pools' reflections, or in the pools and looking into the throne room.

"Please," Voduch said, turning towards them. "Fear nothing. Your earthly carcasses will be perfectly safe under His care. Until your soul loses all its rights to the corporeal, the King has no claim on you."

~~~===~~~​

The steamship was once again phlegmatically puffing out the thick, acrid black smoke, into the thick, cold blackness outside. The Shellfish palace's lights were quickly swallowed in the darkness behind the ship, and once more, the glim of the ship's running lights was the only island of sanity in the subterranean ocean of madness. The Navigator vanished into the pilot's cabin to discuss something with Bob and Lou, leaving Zilla, Ray and Jack alone with the Benefactors on the ship's prow.

The woman, who called herself Francesca von Macropulos, was small in posture, detail which was exacerbated by the amount of expensive furs she was wrapped into, as defence from the all permeating damp cold. What could be seen of her face behind the boa betrayed a woman past her best years, but before the autumn of her life still. Saturnine, her manservant, was quite the opposite. The man radiated indifferent stubborn calmness, like a marble statue given life, and his aquiline face has, so far, shown appropriate amounts of expressions, which was exactly one unwavering unamused scowl.

They met Arcadius on the jetty, and before the rest of the crew could close up, said something short to the Navigator, upon which they all boarded the steamer together. "Not many amass suckch moral kredit with their kompatriots during their laaf, for them to be willing to follow such lenghs. This plase has brooken many," lady Macropulos said. Her accent was thick and foreign, sharing similarities with the pronunciation and accent placement of words Kadi like to yell when he was angry, irritated or just stubbed his toe. "Has he toold you about Zakorzenaz yet? The Freicity? You kan almust see the light from here already, no?" She placed her hand flat above her eyes, shielding them from nonexistant sunlight, in attempt of spotting a faint, distant light on the horizon. Those with exceptionally sharp sight could indeed see something glimmering far, far in the distance. "We vill arrive by the evening, suckch as it is here. I have taken the libertyy of booking suitable ackchomodations for us."

~~~===~~~​

The process was not painful. Or was it? Trying to remember the moment was like trying to remember the moment you fell asleep last night. You were sure it happened, it must have happened, since you woke up today. However, even the absolute empirical certainty was no help in trying to diving the moment in your memory. For all the crew knew, the crabs ripped their bodies apart and ate them as a method for entering the Dreamworld. Suffice to say, they arrived to this familiar but easily forgotten place, but instead of hazy memories from last night, they stood on the greener pasture with absolute, crystal clear lucidity.

When Runali woke, or at least came to, she sat in confusion trying to find the pieces of a now broken memory. Realizing she couldn't, the captain contented herself with checking on her crew, helping them to their feet. They all looked fine and had their heads on straight, so that was a start. It was when she was helping Sara to her feet did she realize the oddity of their new surroundings. At first glance, it was just an endless field, with nothing more than the sky to accompany it. That by itself was odd considering they were underwater, but with closer examination it seemed as if parts of the world faded in and out of existence like a glitch in some sort of system. At one point, even the ground under them disappeared and reappeared.

For it to be a place Runali had never been, nor a place that could actually exist, she couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity. "I don't remember...dying. And you all are here too…" She began to puzzle piece the information together. "Dream lands. Right... I don't know what I expected, but I suppose it wasn't something," Runali gestured in front of her, "like this." She crossed her arms. "I'd say move forward, but I don't know where that is, so Voduch, was it?" Her gaze went around the field again, almost as if she was trying to find a pattern to the sudden 'glitches'. "Where to next?"

The question was short lived, as the glitches and inconsistencies around them increased

In volume and violence. It was obvious that what was sustaining Captain's dream was too small to survive the onslaught of whatever was out there, beyond the boundaries of Captain's imagination. In one moment of glorious caustic explosion, the dream fell apart and shown the desolate marshland dreamscape that truly surrounded them. All things dreamed, and the definition of 'dreamy' was open to interpretation.

Out from a nearby thicket, a man emerged. His clothes were ragged and covered in mud, and he too seemed like he was roughing it for far too long out here. In one hand, he held what seemed to be a bayonet sabre, and on his back was slung a double barrelled shotgun with revolver magazine. With maddened emerald green eyes, he looked up at the crew. His mouth moved in janky animation, as he tried to remember how to speak.

"SNEKS!" he bellowed as he sprinted towards the crew, trying to outpace the vanishing of the lush green grass as it was being replaced by muddy ground. "BODY STEALING SNAKES!" The situation, just as his voice, seemed oddly familiar to the crew. Behind him, the muddy pools and slow rivers started to boil as the legion of reptiles emerged. Short, long, big, small, dull, rainbow coloured, venomous, constrictors. "DON'T THINK JUST SHOOT!"

 

[Capt. Blu]

Location: Dream Land
Luro, Alicia, Sara

Before they could get too familiar with the territory and before the captain could find some sort of pattern, the world around them shifted. The patches of the world faded out and this time stayed gone. As it was a dream, the sense of vertigo only came to those who didn't have a good grasp that it was a dream. Unfortunately for the captain, the sudden changes startled her enough for her to stumble backwards to keep her footing on the ground that was disappearing- only for her feet to return to solid ground. Or at least, what could be considered solid ground. The marshes they were in were still...quiet and still empty, but there was still an air of whimsicalness about it. Something about the marshland that made it clear that it was all just a dream. Maybe the air was cleaner or the grass was greener or even-

-Or maybe it was the sudden emergence of a man that made it a dream. The weapons he carried made Runali weary, and as he ran toward them she tensed for battle… only to look a little bewildered as he yelled out at them. "Snakes?" True to the stranger's greeting, sure enough snakes of all colors and sizes began to emerge from the mud under them. And true to Runali's nature, as one particular one neared Alicia, she leapt forward and attacked with her armament haki.

Or so she thought.

When she looked back the large crimson snake had been knocked backwards however when she looked down at her hands, like the dream before, began to seemingly glitch into shadows. "W-What?!" Runali stumbled back, dodging a snake lunging at her. Was this the snake's doing?! She didn't feel anything wrong. In fact, despite the odd 'glitching' that happened to her- now whole body, she felt the same. However, the more she fought, the more this 'change' started to take place.

In this dream world, the physical aspects and appearance of a person mattered little, as the soul was what allowed them to exist in this reality. And in this reality, the things hidden and suppressed were allowed to expose themselves as a 'physical form' or not at all. It appeared that the longer the crew had been in there, the more their souls started to realize such.

Even if it wasn't the best time to do so.

For Runali in particular, it seemed as though the world couldn't figure out what her aspects they would create 'physical' in turn, when she wasn't focused, she became something similar to a shadowy creature, free to change shape and form. Runali's hands could become claws or her entire arm could disappear so she learned in the matter of seconds. For the most part, it was just her limbs and parts of her torso that lost its 'human nature'- so far at least. Nonetheless, the sudden change had broken the captain's concentration and she had been knocked backwards by a stray tail lashing back and forth.

"This is definitely the weirdest thing I've dealt with." Black smoke escaped Runali's mouth and she immediately covered it in surprise. A shadow casted over her and the sound of hissing wasn't too far off behind. Normally, she would have dodged it but she got a little distracted, as she wasn't the only one who… 'changed'.

"Now I know I'm dreaming…"

 

[Winter]

Alicia had remained mostly silent since they arrived, merely watching and reacting as her eyes made detailed observations of her environment. Honestly despite all the strange stuff that was happening she didn't seem that much effected by it, then again they had survived death and met with Davy Jones. Also after having spent so much time with the Stardusk she couldn't help but expect this kind of thing now. It was only when Luro mentioned stealing cloth from her room that her brow furrowed and she gave him a disapproving glare, "Take anything from my room and I'll start throwing your rum overboard... followed by a ban of rum on board the ship" she added. Sure she could have punched him, but she'd have a sore hand and he'd learn nothing because he was Luro, and Luro never seemed to learn. But she knew rum was his alkalies heel, the one thing she knew he wouldn't mess with.

Once the plan was in place Alicia inclined her head towards the captain as she gave the orders for who would be taking part in which part of the plan, eventually stepping into one of the pools. She didn't like any of this and the further through this rabbit hole they went the more it felt like a bad idea. Perhaps it was the nature of what they were doing that had her so on edge, making her more quiet than usual, perhaps it was something else entirely. All the swordswoman knew was the sooner they completed the task the sooner they could put the place behind them. She tried to relax herself as she settled into the pool, feeling her vision fade as the strange feeling overtook her body, her mind feeling as if it'd been temporarily pulled from her mortal core and set upon an independent journey of it's own. When she awoke she found herself with the others, but everything around them had changed.

Of course she assumed this must be the dream world, but that didn't make it any less strange or confusing as she tried to adjust to it. After dealing with the first round of snakes, which made Alicia question why on earth snakes would be in a dream world, she keeled over onto her knees. Something was wrong, something... unusual was happening that was quickly overwhelming her. Was it this place? was she dying? it sure felt like it. Alicia gasped, breathing heavily before her body suddenly erupted violently in a burst of light and dark. Her back arched as both dark and light poured from her being, enveloping the immediate space around her before settling into a strange aura that manifested itself around the swordswoman, circulating her form in perfectly equal amounts. Alicia took a moment to recapture her breath before getting to her feet.

The light and dark were representative of her soul, the catalyst of her power with the dark and light held within. Her right eye burned with a bright white that trailed and fed into the light part of her aura, while her left eyes burned a dull black, trailing to feed into the dark part of her aura. It didn't take a genius to work out what had happened or what was being shown, especially given what she'd explained about what'd happened with the bounty hunters. "That was... unpleasant" she commented as she observed herself for a moment, noticing that her sword had also changed, no longer Shusui but now some kind of ethereal blade, likely an extension of her soul additionally to the visual representation of power.

 

[Eastwood]

Sara stared apprehensively at the pool, but did not hesitate in stepping into it, she made a promise after all, if not to her captain but to herself. She was expecting the water to be ice-cold, but it really wasn't, it was actually somewhat comfortable. Settling in, Sara closed her eyes...

Location: The Portum Insula Arena - Thorn's room.

Sara woke up with a gasp, kicking away her bed-sheets in surprise and confusion. Whirling around, she struggled to remember where she was. This was her room, there was no doubt about it. So, was everything with Stardusk... just a dream? Rolling up her shirt, she palmed her belly, trying to find the scar that wasn't there. Yes, it must be just a dream, she reasoned, she was back home in Portum Insula. Blinking the last few remnants of sleep away, she looked around her room. She had a wooden table and chair, with a vase filled with flowers, honey-dews, alongside a note and her sword next to it. In the corner, she could see her spear leaning against the wall. Realizing that, in fact, it was a dream, Runali, Alicia, the whole Stardusk Crew, Sara leaned back, her hand resting behind her head, staring up at the ceiling and let out a very deep sigh.

A knock at the door interrupted her melancholic thoughts. "Yo, Sara!" She heard the voice of Lucius, the arena master, call out from the other side. "You're up in five!" Without even waiting for an answer, she heard his footsteps gradually disappear. No rest for the wicked, she thought to herself, standing up and making her way to the table. Taking the sword, she glanced down at the note. At first, much like the flowers, she thought it was a gift from a fan, she usually got plenty of those. Instead, however, it written in her own handwriting and it simply said;

'Wake up'

She stared at it, confused. Sara had no memory of ever writing this note, but this was undoubtedly her own handwriting, so why did it exist? And why would she ever ask herself to wake up? It was... unnerving to say the least, but, as she decided, ultimately unimportant for now. She'll solve this mystery later, for now she had a fight to win. Pausing only to grab her spear and shield, she stepped through the door. At one moment, she was standing her own room, but the very next moment, she found herself in a place she had never seen before. It was an abyss, darker than the darkest night, a vast void of complete and utter nothingness. She blinked in surprise, this wasn't the corridor that led to the arena. Turning around, she saw that the door she once stepped through had disappeared, leaving nothing in it's wake.

"H-hello? Lucius?" Sara called out loudly, her voice being swallowed by infinity, with silence being her only answer. In the limitless expanse, Sara couldn't help but feel very very small. With the first few notes of panic rising in her mind, she closed her eyes, not that it made much difference, and tried to force herself to take deep controlled breaths. In times like this, she thought of the mantra that the first Caesar used. Taking another very deep breath, she started to chant to herself loudly, as if trying to fight back against the abyss itself.

"I have no fear, for fear is the little death that kills me over and over. Without fear, I die but once."

Emboldened by these words, and with her eyes still shut, she started to walk, if only to do something, whilst repeating the litany over and over, getting louder and louder the more she said it.

"I have no fear, for fear is the little death that kills me over and over. Without fear, I die but once."

"I have no fear! For fear is the little death that kills me over and over! Without fear, I die but once!"

"I HAVE NO FEAR! FOR FEAR IS THE LITTLE DEATH THAT KILLS ME OVER AND OVER! WITHOUT FEAR, I DIE BUT ONCE!"

With a Herculean effort, she forced her eyes open, and found herself standing next to Alicia and Runali. From their perspective, it looked like she was mumbling something to herself in Tilean, before she snapped out of it and rejoined them in the world. Sara blinked and looked around, deep down very glad to see that they were, in fact, real. As she adjusted her step, she noticed that she was wearing something completely different than what she expected. Looking down at herself, she saw armor, thick shining Tilean plate armor designed for a woman, with a blue cloth trim and lion heraldry. If she had to guess, she estimated that this style was about six-hundred years old. She stared at her armored hands, in awe, knocking against her breast-plate, as if making sure it was 'real', whatever that meant.

This was how she saw herself, her ego made manifest, a great and terrible beauty. Sara couldn't help but grin to herself. It didn't matter how strait the gate was, she was still the master of her soul and she was ready for whatever came next.

 

[Mizos]

Zilia stood next to Jack her hood over her head as she wrote down the past few events in her book, she had to admit she was impressed slightly at the demeanor of everyone. They were holding it together well given the situation, at least as well as one could in this situation. It was clear that this place was taking a toll on everyone however, even Jack lost it for a moment back in the throne room. They recovered quickly however which she considered very impressive, she was doing her utmost not to show how worried she really was and admittedly it was taking quite the toll on her. She did agree with Jack though, seeing Luro's grin as he was told not to change brought a bit of life back into her, it was hard to be overly worried with a bundle of energy treating the situation casually. Though thinking more on it she did want him to change a little, less harm to his body would be a good start. She at the very least knew she could take a cue from Alicia, Luro seemed to calm a bit at the mention of his rum being pulled into the situation. She made a note to be cautious however as he hid his rum in many places on the ship, he might change the locations if he felt threatened like a cornered animal.

Putting aside the interactions she instead focused on writing everything that had occurred recently, and the more she wrote the more it seemed like they were in some manner of fairytale. This felt less like chronicle and more like a fictional story with really developed characters. Just writing 'Drowned King' alone made it hard to take this seriously, but she had stared the thing in the face and watched it fling her crewmate around like a ragdoll, it was very real and even writing everything down she found it hard to believe still.

"What do we know about this place? Perhaps I was a tad distracted by all that happened in the throne room and missed something...but since we're heading in that direction I'm starting to worry. Do either of you have an idea what we're expecting."
Zilia wrote a note and handed it to Jack before pointing at Ray to indicate he needed to read it as well. She had no desire to go to any manner of dream realm, even with an escort. Her dreams tended to be weird and embarrassing and she personally prefered keeping them in her skull. She did worry what dreams the others might have, she wasn't sure what to expect from the normality in the group but she was positive Luro's would be dangerous, maybe the Captain's she was a tad eccentric.
Zilia was pulled from her ponderings as a woman spoke to them, she did her utmost not to stare at the furs that decorated most of her body and nodded as she spoke though she didn't understand every word coming from her, even if it did sound slightly familiar. She preferred to focus on the woman and not the stone wall that stood nearby, locking eyes with a scowling person when one was unable to speak generally ended badly.
Zilia wrote on her paper and held it towards the Franseca.
"If I'm understanding you correctly thank you for getting us settled, and no we don't know anything about the Island, I don't think we would mind being enlightened."

Once upon a time there was a young King who rose to the throne in the strangest way, in a kingdom that no remembers.
He sat upon the throne of his ancestors out of an obligation he didn't understand in a world he knew nothing about.
His advisors who had served the old king did most of the work as the youth knew little of political affairs. They ruled the country the young King watching in silence trying to understand the burden he had been given. The dreams of his people were heavy and there were many who didn't believe he deserved the throne. His life was threatened more than once, assassin's in the night, warriors in the day. Though the King had guards the monarch himself took up his weapon and killed any who challenged his throne, showing a skill for fighting that was surprising to all who believed they knew him.
He could endure blows that would kill normal men and stand back up from the heaviest falls, no matter who came to steal his throne they were downed and slain by the King without hesitation. He did not understand the duties of a king but he was well aware of the heaviness it placed upon a person and he intended to shoulder what he could.

Eventually the young King grew tired of being attacked in the dark, of challengers approaching his door seeking his throne.
The young King called his advisors and made them pass a law in the kingdom. Whoever could slay him a formal duel would be named King or Queen so long as they were willing to sacrifice their own life. His advisors did not like his decision but at the King's behest had little option but to proclaim his new law. People came from far and wide to see the "King of Fools' challenging him to a duel only to fall each time. Each opponent he slayed he would have buried under his castle in his crypt, and he repeated this until no challengers remained. The young King sat upon his throne until his relatively short reign came to an end. Few remember the young King and how his Kingdom ended, and those who once lived in the Kingdom are either gone or no longer wish to remember, but the people's words still resonate in some, of their opinion towards their Foolish King.
No matter what legacy you may leave behind...what good you bring to those around you...
"You choose to sit disgracefully upon the bodies of the fallen..."

Luro muttered the words to himself as his consciousness slowly returned, he felt something heavy on his body and held his arm out only to see he was wearing a brown hooded cloak of some sort. His body seemed to be trying to wake up from something, his senses coming back one by one as he tried to recall where he was and what he was doing. He remembered staring into a pool then everything going black. He was pretty sure he was near the Captain but as he focused a bit he realized he wasn't near the Captain anymore or anyone for that matter. He could see flickers of red around him, dancing wildly in the slight breeze, a strange smell hit his nose as he tried to take care of his blurred vision. The smell was strangely familiar yet it was a horrid smell, one that choked the throat, that had a lowly taste to it that could linger in one's mouth for days, it seemed like food but at the same time his mind told him it clearly wasn't. It wasn't a pleasant smell and it was one Luro recognized and strangely one he liked, it was comforting like smelling a slightly wet flowerbed. It brought back fond memories. Taking a moment he realized he was surprisingly hot as well, almost like he was standing next to Jack cooking over an open flame. Luro turned his head and as his vision cleared he noticed he was surrounded by growing flames, fire reaching out towards him but unable to fully come in contact. He was in a burning village, and everything was being consumed by the flames.
"...wait."
Luro shuffled a bit realizing he was sitting and looking down realized what the smell was, he was seated upon a mountain of burnt corpses, faces contorted in horror and agony from top to bottom and bodies as twisted as their expressions. Luro looked at the faces, he knew most of them, they didn't die easy death's, that one especially fought back, he must have had someone to go home too. Luro looked at his hands which were decorated red from front to back, parts of it splattered on his brown cloak. His eyes moved over to ground noticing the red streaks leading to the pile, it took him a moment to remember he had dragged them here.
"Luro!"
Luro raised his head his gaze resting on the face of a young woman with blonde hair, she stared up at him dressed in brown pants and a black vest, bits of red decorated her clothes as well but paled in comparison to his own. She opened her mouth to speak further but something made her hold back, the look in her eyes was a mix of fear and concern, Luro knew he had upset her, he remembered this. He raised his foot placing it on the back of a villager's head and grinned at the woman staring up at him. He remembered this moment too, this had happened before right? He was sure of it, he figured if he was dreaming he may as well make sure it ended the same as well. Putting on the brightest smile he could muster he raised a hand to his friend.
"Hey Nura! Look I killed everyone! Do I look like a king all the way up here?"

Location: Dream Land

Luro's eyes opened and he blinked a few times his attention taking in his surroundings before moving over to the others, seeing the Captain or at least what he believed was the Captain he relaxed a bit. Nothing was on fire around him so he figured that must have been a strange dream. Luro went to scratch his cheek only to realize his hands were hidden by long sleeves. Looking down at himself he noticed he was in a large brown cloak that hid his entire body and face, thankfully it was clean compared to the other one. He pat himself a few times and noticing his rifle was still on his back he sighed a bit in relief.
"Eh why am I in this, why is Masu in armor, why is Alicia...wait is that Alicia...this is so weird!" Luro exclaimed laughing. "...why are there dead snakes...here let me take this off first."
Luro tried to remove his hood only for another hood to be right under it, Luro blinked a few times though it wasn't possible to see due to the darkness hiding his face. He tried again and again only for another hood to be under each one.
"Huh?! Gah I'll just take this whole thing off."
Luro grabbed the back of the cloak and tried to pull it off only for another to be under it, Luro stared at the cloak in his hand and the one one his body before scratching the top of his head. He dropped the cloak and tried to take it off again only for the same thing to happened. It seemed whatever was under the cloak the world didn't want anyone to see, that or there was nothing there both were possibilities.
"I can't take this thing off..." Luro said next to a pile of cloaks.
"I know right it's so annoying."
A voice spoke before a shot rang out shooting the snake that approached Runali, the gun the shot had been fired from however was poking out of Luro's side. After a moment a figure walked out of Luro brushing themselves off as they returned the gun to the holster on their side. A Luro dressed similar to regular Luro grinned at the three and raised his hand with a bright grin, his hair was noticeably shorter than Luro's stopping at the nape of his neck.
"Hiiii! We're ready to do stuff! I'm going to give it everything I got!" The short haired Luro yelled laughing with an almost overly bright demeanor.
"I wanna bust some heads in myself."
Another Luro walked out of the short haired Luro similar to the other two save his hair was long like Luro's but was blue instead of red, he slammed his fist into his hand a small smirk on his face.
"Let's get to killin' right, what's the word Cap?"
"Gentleman let us not rush headlong into danger without proper understanding of what we're dealing with."
Another Luro walked out of Blue Luro more finely dressed than the others, he adjusted his black vest and polished one of the buttons on his shirt with a handkerchief before returning it to his fine black pants. He pushed a pair of silver rimmed glasses up with a small sigh and motioned in the directions of the snakes.
"We must be cautious these snakes clearly-"
"Boring!" The three Luro's said. "More killing less strategy smartie."
Luro stared at the three Luro's before realizing that there was only supposed to be one of him.
"Wait...you guys are here! How?!"
Blue Luro and Short Hair Luro looked at one another before shrugging, Glasses Luro brought a hand to his chin and eyed his compatriots with a careful gaze.
"I am not certain but it would appear in this realm we are able to manifest due to the lack of physical constraints. Perhaps that is the cause of Miss Tashigi's change and Miss Masuma's armor shift...I am uncertain about Captain Runali."
"Who?" The three Luro's said.
Glasses Luro squeezed the bridge of his nose and with a very heavy sigh pointed at Runali.
"...the Captain."
"Ah...yeah so why can you guys appear," Luro said. "Is Cloaky here?"
"I just explained-" Glasses Luro said only to stop as someone else spoke up.
"Yeah he's over there being all sulky," Blue said pointing in the distance.
A Luro dressed in a black cloak stood a fair distance away in the shadows staring at the four Luro's or at the very least it seemed as such since only his mouth was showing.
"That aside gentleman we need to focus," Glasses said making his way over to Runali.
Staring at the Luro's Captain, he reached over and adjusted her eyepatch slightly.
"I have wanted to do that for so long, my apologies," Glasses said with a small nod. "Now we must band together and aid in the destruction of these snakes, with our combined might we should be able too-"
"I'm going to touch the pink stuff," Short said.
"I'm going to punch something," Blue said.
The other two Luro's ran off in random directions Glasses holding his hand out to each only to bring a hand to his face, the original Luro walked up and pat him on the back.
"Just like old times right?"
"Your savagery is beyond understanding, I will attend to those two and make sure they do not get into trouble. Be a proper gentleman to the ladies before you and aid in this undertaking befitting of a Makachi," Glasses said patting Luro.
"Kill it till it's dead," Luro said grabbing his gun. "Then kill it again."
"Indeed simplicity at it's finest. I will return with the two momentarily. Please excuse the rudeness of my compatriots madams and good luck with your venture."
Glasses ran off to retrieve the other two Luro turning back in the direction the snakes had come from, Cloak Luro seemed content standing far away from the scene watching the group of four with his arms crossed.
"Ignore him he's the problem child no one likes him," Luro said pointing at cloak Luro. "I'm with you guys! Let's kill snakes...uh again!"

 

[Arcadius]

Collab between Arc and Captn. Blu

Location: Undersea, Shellfish Palace: The Path of Oblivion and The Path of Folly

Captaincat, Armored Sara, Glowing Alicia, Luro, Luro, Luro, Luro and Luro

The unnamed man wasted no time as he approached the group, snakes in short pursuit behind him. Without missing a pace or losing speed, his arm holding the bayonet reached out, and threw the blade with impressive precision to skewer two small rainbow coloured snakes jumping at the back of Sara's head from behind, impaling the reptilians to the ground. His arms now free, he reached into his green tattered longcoat and revealed a small gas-lighter and a large cigarillo, which he promptly lit and drawn from. He then dropped into his knees; the combination of his speed and the wet, soft marshy grass underneath him allowed for a quite elegant slide. He used the motion to withdraw a stick of unknown purpose, with bit of fuze coming from one end of it. He pressed the fuze against his cigarillo, and with another draw, lit the fuze. He then turned on his side, still sliding towards the pirate group, and threw the fizzling stick towards a gathering of the snakes behind him. "GET DOWN!" he yelled again as he finally arrived to the group, turning onto his belly and covering his head with his hands.

The explosion literally minced the reptilians, showering those closer to the epicentre with bits of snake meat, snake bones, snake blood and thoughts stolen by the now-eviscerated snakes.

Without pause, the man rolled back onto his knees, and unslung the shotgun. He aimed the gun at another place where the animals swarmed thick, and pulled the trigger. Fire blossomed from the end of the barrel, and threw out a single large flechétte. The arrow split into six after leaving the barrel, and then those six into six again, and then once more, until the geometrically-rising number of fragments turned into a cloud of razor-sharp tiny metal fragments. The snakes were sliced and diced into fine mist once more, though this time without the booming fanfare of dynamite explosion.

It seemed the sudden massacre in their ranks routed the snakes momentarily. The frontal ranks scuttered back, and decided to wait for more of their kin to emerge from the swamp before renewing the attack. This gave the group a moment to talk. "Why the kchell are you heere?" the man spoke in thick, though oddly familiar, accent. "The nekst supply run wasn't planned for neerly a good month from now!" he explained as he stood up and leaned against his shotgun. "More importanatly, why hafe you landed in the middle of the goddamn swamp? Don't tell me she sent sumone over for a safari! Thouu let me tell you, you lookch like a safari yourself enough!"

The shot above made the captain flinch and snap back to reality, or whatever the dream world could be called. The hard 'thud' behind her was a clear indication that she could have been nearly eaten, but her eyes hadn't left her crew. Runali saved herself the time of looking back at a dead snake. Instead, her attention rested on her crew. Like herself, none of them seemed too dazed or hindered by the sudden 'transformations'.

Alicia was now some ethereal being of light and darkness, though the darkness was nothing like her own shadowy form. There was something different, something that the half and half mixture reminded her of that she couldn't figure out. However in a pit of snakes, there wasn't much time to try. Not too far away, Sara was in a suit of armor similar to the ones described in stories about knights and gladiators. Well, Sara was definitely a gladiator, of course it suited her. Admittedly, it also just looked pretty cool.

Her one eyed gaze turned when she heard Luro talking to himself. That was kind of normal- Well, it was until she heard him responding as well. "Oh boy there's more than one." She hadn't moved until the Luro with glasses fixed her eyepatch. "And they're real- whaaaaaat?" She didn't believe she could get any more surprised at this point. Runali quickly shook her head and looked back at Sara and Alicia as three of the five Luros ran off. "Okay. So. Hm." Runali put her hands together, not noticing them fade out for a few moments. "Yeah. Alright. This is happening... I've got nothing-"

The stranger reminded the group that he was still around and very much capable of handling the snakes on his own. She gestured for her crew to do as he said and then watched as the snakes began to scatter for reinforcements. "I am almost sure dreams aren't suppose to be this realistic." When they finally had a moment to breathe, it was then explanations were needed. Once more, Runali's hands pressed together as she stood in thought, trying to wrap her own head around the situation.

"Uh huh… Let's see. Where to start… I'm Runali Lev, captain of the Stardusk. Behind me, my crew obviously. Well, half of them." Her voice held a hint of confusion and a lot of thoughtfulness as she tried clarifying the situation they were just tossed into. "The king, formal name probably being the Drowned King… He showed Luro- one of them. All of them? Well, he showed some vision about us needing a prophet's skull." Runali's gaze wandered as she figured out how to continue. "And then we landed here in some snake pit." She quickly gestured to their physical forms and Luro's...several. "I cannot give you the slightest explanation about this however. We were normal humans at one point- Luro's always questionable though." When she was sure there was nothing else she could add, she pointed towards the stranger. "And who exactly are you? And also can you direct us out of this snake pit?"

The man sidestepped as Three of Five Luros cannoned past him, looking for trouble. "Darn, gal. Well, sure you are humans, what els would you bee? You can spot a dreamink kat from dreamink human with issues pretty easily in heare! Though that guy…" he glanced at the remaining Luro's. "His issues have issues. Never seen anytink like that!" He looked around, his eyes scanning the still swarming nearby brook. The snakes seemed to be regrouping and almost ready for another onslaught, their numbers once more beyond counting. His head snapped back to Runali when he heard what was their point of entry. "Drownie?! Are you insane? So you are saying she didn't sent you, and you aare not my supply drop? Ah, damn it all, what a day!" He spat out and pumped the shotgun's action, loading another flechétte into the chamber. "Anyway, we kan talk later, the slimy bastards are coming for another serving! Damned, thrajs damned fools, you! Landing in the middle of the Swamps of not-snakes! We need to keep them from koming through the hole you made, so they don't steeal your bodies, they don't have any of thyir own. And keep your names for yourselves, they have powe' heere! Pray none of the slimy basterds didn't heer you!"

The swarm over by the brook reached critical mass once more, this time magnitudes larger than last time. The murmur of thousands of reptile bodies, slithering one over other approached as a vanguard in front of the snakes frontline, the sound growing in strength as the mass approached, the dim low frequency of it deafening on the ears like quick hits by heavy pillows over the sides of one's head.

"As for myself, kall me Pathfinder!"

Arc, Zillia, Ray and Jack

Francesca von Macropulos looked down at the note Zilla handed her, slowly reading. The man behind her showed no sign of even noticing Zillia's presence, sans for a hint of eye movement, remaining in his gargoyle-esque demeanour. She gave Zillia a beaming smile through her wall of furs. "That guud for nothing sak of bacteria and dekaying flesh did not explain weere we are going? Tsk." She looked up to the horizon, where a hint of dim light started to show more and more. The diffusion and width pointed that it was not in fact a singular source, but many, many thousands, lit all at once.

"Zilbtstein, of kourse. The City with no Father, Free City, Lawless City!" She chuckled at the last name. "That last one, is, of kourse, bullshit. Police forces are, at the end of the day, simply strongest gank in town. But that you already now, I tink. Now, I have been told you are seeking a particular item, a yar of primordial eart." She lightly coughed to clear her throat. "Pardon me. Zeeair does not do me good. Now, the city. It is a place of trade and freedom. Laws, kings and gods do not see so deep underwater as heere. There, you can trade anythink for anything, and hide from anythink too, and do anything as well. Do not ask how it works, it just… does. Sometimes, I think the place is alive by itself. Something huge, masquing as a city, with roots that go so deep, it would be impossible to uproot tham." She zoned out for a moment, staring at the faintly lit horizon. "Suffice to say, be prepareed to say 'no' many times. And 'on't tell anyone your names. And… don't sell your sols. Not worth it."

The steamer entered a harbour of the city. A huge wall, build from random assembly of bricks, taller than the tallest building in the settlement, was build on the side that faced the distant red and white lightning storm, covering everything from being able to see the distant storm, sans one strangely open port. Docked there was a ship unlike any of them has ever see, a huge craft with no sails, bristling with guns, build completely of metal that seemed to radiate golden sunlight from every atom of the vessel. They could see sailors in WG's livery moving around the ship. "Do looke away from the South, dears." Francesca told the crew onboard the steamer. For reasons unknown, on the battlecruiser, every of the sailors faced South at the same time, looking directly at the lightning instead of away. "To see too much of the Red Light is… bad. Unhealthy," she explained.

With this incident passed, the steamer docked in the city's port proper. To their right, another Brass Cap steamer was pointed, of identical construction to their own. In fact, Dreadnought looked like a sister ship to theirs, but this sister seemed to marry into a rich family with good, long pedigree, while theirs, well, did not. To their left was a squat, fat, low sitting single masted trader ship. "Did…" Arcadius asked, but Francesca did not let him finish. "Mine, yes. I'd suggest we head to our lodgings. I've had a long day of huntink you down."

The seemed to be build in historical layers, but it was not entirely sure which history that was. The core of the harbour had two story brick-and-wood houses with manse roofs, but the further you got, the more chaotic the style was. The harbour itself was protected by a gothic castle looming at an outcrop, but the castle itself was half the height of the wall itself, the tallest of its turret towers still standing in its dark shadow. Hidden in dark alleys and small gardens between the houses were shrines with marble pillars to ancient, forgotten gods. Further into the city, they would see wooden longhouses, houses with tall windows and walls painted with colourful plaster, and building made from huge slabs of volcanic concrete. Eventually, they would arrive onto a small plaza that seemed like stolen from Brass Cap. Macropulos led them in front of a small café. The signboard of wrought iten proclaimed its name as "De Brogglio". "Well, here ve are!" Macropulos said. "Your rooms are in the manse. Don't voryy about the bill, Arcadius payid for it in… advance, shall ve say. I'll come tomorrow morning to discuss our further plans. I bit you all a good night!"

 

[Arcadius]

Location: Café "De Brogglio", Plaza of Stone Snakes

"Well... here we are, I suppose," the Navigator exhaled when the woman and her manservant left, leaving them alone on the plaza, in front of the café. "Don't know about you, but I feel like having a dinner. It was a long and shitty day, and the sooner it will become history, the better. Not that I expect tomorrow will be an improvement, but still... I'll get us a table."

The café was open-spaced to the street, with small tables made from wrought iron with marble tops, and comfortable wicker chair with small pillows to sit on. Arcadius occupied a corner table, feeling that having at least two walls to his back would be a comfortable change of pace. The wicker chair creaked in protest when his behind fell onto the pillow, and the weight of the man spread over the chair's back and armrests. He ordered an aperitif for all four of them, and asked for the tonight's menu.

The waiter returned few whiles later, placing an ornate, tall flute glass filled with what proved to be plum distillate of surprisingly mild temperament in front of each of the crewmembers. The man apologized that, due to their late arrival, there was little selection in meals for tonight. The navigator waved him off, noting that as long as it was warm, it would be just as warmly accepted by the group. They started with bowl of relatively thin, zesty vegetable-and-fish soup served with a smaller plate of cubes of fried stale bread. This was followed by the entrée, large mushroom head, fried in beer batter, served with boiled over butter and golden fried chopped onions. And for a dessert, they were given small sweet cakes, baked from coiled seaweed, glazed in caramelised sugar. Along with all of this, they were presented with large pitcher of ice-cold water, sweetened by dash of spicy red honey.

The Navigator was silent through the work on the dinner, but when the pile of seaweed cakes was gone, he leaned back into the chair with expression of post-prandial satisfaction. "I'm afraid that while our... benefactor is quite wealthy and generous, he's not that generous to pay for real meat meals. Meat is... delicacy down here. Expensive, and oft of questionable source. Be careful about pies in Zabornzumdum." He paned his eyes over his three compatriots. "Now then... I suppose we can talk, before food fatigue will send us to expedition towards our rooms... how are all of you holding up?"

 

[Mizos]

​

Though still a tad nervous Zilia still returned a small smile to the woman, it was hard to be nervous in front of such a smile though she was still a tad on edge as she explained the place that they were heading too. She turned to look as the woman did her eyes lowering slightly as she noticed the light in the distance. It was a tad hard to translate her manner of speech at first but she found it was getting easier and easier to understand her as she continued, especially the comment of the Lawless city. She fiddled with one of her bangs as it was a place full of gangs with a powerful law enforcement, in short it was a dangerous place for criminal and law abider alike, Stardusk falling in that line somewhere. She was pulled from her thoughts as she was told of the purpose of their visit here, her eyes twitched a bit and she brought a hand to her chin.
"If I heard her right she said a jar of dirt right...we're here for a jar of dirt! Why?! What good is that going to do us. Are we going to just show it to Drowned King with a bit of flair informing him we have the jar of dirt! What is something important to Davy Jones in there that he desires?!"
Zilia brought a hand to her face trembling slightly in rage at the item they had been sent to retrieve, though she seemed to calm down after a moment figuring at the very least it was something simple. She supposed a jar of dirt was better than having to bring back a skull.
"Positive thoughts Zilia, at least it's simple."
That was a lie, things were never simple but she needed a lie right now.

Zilia had reached out to pat the woman on the back when she coughed only to quickly withdraw her hand remembering her guard nearby and brought her hands back to her sides immediately. It seemed the place they were going to was ancient and special in a way. Zilia didn't really talk so she felt no fear at having to share her name and at the mention of selling her soul she glanced at Kadi for a moment. They already had an example of why that was a bad thing, though in his case it wasn't his choice, she felt for the navigator...even if he was leading them to get a jar of dirt.
Zilia listened to the woman's warning turning her gaze from the light remembering Kadi's words from earlier, a light that was unhealthy, this place seemed to get stranger by the second. When they got closer Zilia stared up at the castle with a curious expression her eyelids lowering slightly as she study its intricate designs for a moment. Pulling out her notebook she quickly drew the place on a page, surprisingly skilled at recreating the castle on paper before closing it and putting it away once more. The place reminded her of something, though she doubted they could just visit it.
"Thank you for the lodgings and information," Zilia handed the furred woman the note and bowed slightly to her before following the others inside.
She nodded to Kadi as well for covering their bill though she couldn't help being concerned what he gave up. Her thoughts wandering over to the others knowing she probably wouldn't get an answer to an inquiry. They would be in that dream world for a whole day it seemed, she couldn't help feeling a bit worried for them.

Zilia found it hard to enjoy her food stuck on the pause at the mention of their benefactor. This was a place that sold secrets, she didn't want to be in debt to a person where money wasn't a suitable object. Though she couldn't deny that the food itself was good up until that point, she enjoyed the soup especially to a point she almost raised the bowl to her mouth and downed it. That would have been unladylike however so she avoided the temptation. Zilia reached up and lowered her hood since they were finished eating and they were practically the only people around, reaching forward she poured herself a glass of the water before she started speaking.
"Full but worried. This item we are retrieving concerns me and I can't help but be concerned for the others. We're going towards a place with physical dangers...they're in a dream world...have you ever had to sit and listen to Luro's musings...nothing in his head should be made real. Aside from that...I'm content merely wishing to resolve this matter as quickly and safely as possible...but what about you? You've given up a lot already and it seems even more may have been taken recently..how are you doing Kadi?"
Zilia's note was rather long but she slid it onto the center of the table nonetheless.

x 5​

Luro stared in awe as the man started fighting back against the strange snakes, he clapped his hands with a bit of glee at the explosion and watched as the man fired from his strange gun quickly scribbling something onto a piece of paper. His gun was like a blunderbuss but way better! He wondered if he could recreate that with the right objects, maybe if he made some adjustments to the shape of the barrel and made a few minor adjustments to the mechanisms. Luro was so caught up in his musings he paid little attention to the snakes approaching. A single gunshot rang out piercing two of the snake's heads as they leapt towards him, Luro's attenion moved over to Cloaky who lowered a smoke pistol. He looked over at the dead snakes before shaking his head.
"Silly Cloaky no one ask for your help, stand over there and be boring like you're supposed to," Luro said pointing at him.

When the snakes were taken care of Luro opened his rifle and started reloading it with a content sigh, the man had taken care of a majority of them which let him save bullets. He smiled a bit as the others Luro's returned with Glasses holding them by the back of their shirts.
"That gun was really great strange person, if you die can I have it?" Luro asked holding up a hand.
A smack onto the back of his skull by Glasses caused him to lean forward and rub the spot as Glasses stepped forward bringing a hand to his chin as the Captain spoke with him getting an explanation at what was going on.
"What a strange place...still there seem to be some manner of laws here...we should find out what they are and use them to our advantang-"
"Oooh oooh question!" Short said holding up his hand.
"Ah you're being productive, good job Lu-"
"Which one of us is the Luroest Luro!"
"...what?" Glasses questioned looking over at Short and Blue. "This is hardly the time the man is trying to explain-"
"Well clearly I'm the Luroest Luro," Blue said
"Gentleman Luroest is not a word and these snakes are clearly-"
"Nuh-uh I'm the Luroest Luro!" Short said. "Just look at this face!"
Short motioned to his face putting on a smile that could light up the darkest harbor.
"It's more about the face stupid, it's all about the power." Blue said flexing his arm. "Last one standing is the Luroest Luro, that's the only fair way."
"Gentleman! This is hardly the time for-"
"You're on Blue," Short said drawing his gun.
"Hold on guys," Luro said walking up to the two. "If you guy are the Luroest Luro...whose the Makachiest Makachi."
The two froze in place at this and lowering their guns crossed their arms, they seemed perplexed by this new development which Glasses was thankful for his gaze moving back to the original. He wasn't sure if he was being serious or had just saved them from another gun fight.

"Why did you want to know it anyway?" Luro asked completely ignoring the strangers explanation.
Cloak Luro had made his way over to the group as the man spoke, he walked with slow steps taking his time to approach and though they were clearly surrounded by light he was constantly hidden in shadow, as if a cloud permanently loomed over head casting him in darkness. He stood next to Luro who took a casual step away from him realizing how close he was.
"I mean we can't all be called Luro, it'll confuse everyone so I was thinking whoever is the Luroest Luro should be called Luro." Short said. "That's boring though right, we should just make up names for ourselves. I'm going to be Maka Makachi!"
Blue gave a small nod at this and with a grin pat his chest with a heavy thump puffing it out slightly.
"I'll be Lo Makachi then, sounds manly right like Alicia's?"
Glasses removed the frames from his head and sighed, he was the only one really paying attention to the man's words, and he would have to be the one to explain this to the confused Luro's later, something he wasn't really looking forward too.
"I will be Lai Makachi then," Glasses said. "It seems the most fitting."
Cloaky raised his hand causing the three manifestations to look at him.
"Shut up Cloaky you don't matter," Lo and Maka said simultaneously. "Yeah no fakes allowed only real Makachi's can have names."
"Well said Gentleman, we need no imitations amongst our ranks," Lai said.

Lai had moved over to Sara and was holding onto the blue cloth of her armor moving his fingers through it with a curious expression. He wondered what manner of cloth this was, and touching the armor it was hard but had a certain...finesse to it he couldn't judge by fingers alone.
"Uh...Lai why are you touching Sara's back?" Lo said. "...you're not uh...you're not enjoying that a bit too much are ya?"
Lai sighed his fingers moving to the lion heraldry as he looked over at a concerned Lo and a giggling Maka.
"Is it so wrong to be entranced by finery and metallurgy," Lai said releasing Sara's cloth trim. "Now if you'll excuse me I must feel her breast-plate."
Luro thankfully grabbed Lai from under his arms and dragged him away before he could have the opportunity to do so.
"Okay Lai that's enough, you're curiosity is gonna get us in trouble," Luro said grinning at the man.
"W-wait I wasn't finished," Lai said reaching towards Sara. "I need to know how it protects! I've done precise measurements of her bosom I need this Luro, does the armor have padding on the inside to help absorb blows, is it absent! It's for educational purposes!"
"Not happening Lai."

Lo stood next to Alicia's and shook his head as Luro held back Lai who continued to babble about needing exact measurements. He knew when the man got like this he didn't quit, he enjoyed knowledge just a tad too much in his opinion, the armor looked good and did it's job why did the specifics matter anyway?
"That guy right?" Lo said to Alicia motioning towards Lai. "Good thing you don't see him all the time right Alicia. Now Maka and I we're the best ones, we respect you guys, even if your underwear is different."
Cloak Luro looked over at the group his mouth moving as he moved his hands into his sleeves, Lo's jaw dropped as Cloaky spoke though by all means no words came out of his mouth, at least none that normal ears could register.
"How dare you," Lo said turning to him.
"What...what did he say," Maka said running over to his companion. "I was staring at the Captain's eyepatch again."
"He said something completely sensible and understanding about the three ladies beside us, calling attention to characteristics that would be difficult to ascertain without properly paying attention to their mannerisms," Lo said throwing his hands up.
Maka gasped bringing a hand to his mouth and quickly looked at Cloaky.
"How unsightly," he said shaking his head thoroughly.
Lo and Maka looked at the three woman Lo placing a hand on Alicia's shoulder and Maka's on Runali's, Lai managed to get one on Sara's before Luro pulled him away again.
"We're terribly sorry about that. Don't worry we'll notice your personal traits and quirks but will ignore them completely."
"Yeah cause we're polite like that," Maka said with a small fist pump.
"Yeah go us," Lo said before the two clapped their hands together.

Once the man had finished explaining Lai seemed to have calmed down and stood next to the Captain a cup of tea resting on the saucer in his left hand. Luro tilted his head before noticing the other two also had tea cups in their hands though they were pouring rum into the small cups, for some reason the cup's didn't spill over as they did so however.
"If I'm understanding you correctly the snakes seek our bodies so they may have some of our own, thus letting them through would be a bad thing," Lai said. "I have no intention of giving up my-"
The other Luro's cleared their throats and Lai held a hand up as an apology, the saucer and tea cup hovered in the air as he did so before he grabbed both once more before continuing.
"Our body with a snake, let us aid in their destruction."
"Yeah we're taking out the not-snakes," Maka said.
"No they are snakes, look at them," Lo said.
"Nuh-uh that guy said they weren't snakes," Maka said.
"They are snakes stupid."
"No they aren't snakes stupider."
The two released their teacups of rum and pushed them to the side before stepping closer getting into each other's face as they stared each other down their hands resting on the pistols as their side.
"Gentleman for the love of all that is merciful...they are clearly reptiles," Lai said walking over to the two leaving his tea floating next to the Captain.
"Yeah which are snakes," Maka said.
"Not all reptiles are snakes!" Lo exclaimed pushing Maka.
The three started arguing on what the creatures were and Cloaky sighed before drawing his rifle and moving next to Luro, raising his gun he fired at the creatures deciding to assist in keeping them from the real world, Luro pat his rifle on his shoulder and laughed as he looked at the others.
"That brings back memories. I don't really wanna fight with Cloaky but I like my body, can't let those snakes have them. That and if a snake takes over Sara's body it'll be hard to explain to Ray," Luro said.
"The Pathminder said they weren't snakes!" Maka yelled.
"It's Pathbinder and they are snakes!" Lo responded just as loud.

 

[Eastwood]

'What an idiot', Sara thought as she witnessed the spectacle before her, not even moving an inch. Doesn't he know that the bayonet goes on the end of a gun? When she saw the blade shoot towards her, she instinctively ducked, turning around to see two snakes impaled. Well, she had to admit as she stood back up on her feet, her shining armor noticeably less shiny, he was pretty good at using them. Sara leaned back as the man introduced himself, saying nothing and observing all. If this was the dream world, then their new forms must be how they see themselves. If that was the case, then how was Alicia and Runali's state more transitory whereas Luro and her one were more tangible? Sara theorized that there might be a relationship between core ideals and their state of being within the 'dream-world'. For example, she herself was the type of person who put her faith in material things, she trusted her arms and armor. From what she knew of Runali's homeland and Alicia herself, she could guess that they were more spiritually inclined and thus their self-representations within the realm would match.

But what would that make Luro? Sara turned her attention to focus on all five of them. If they represented Luro, what would their fragmentary state mean? She noticed that regular Luro manifested himself perfectly fine, so that would imply that he was the dominant personality out of all them. But would all five put together a relatively normal person, thus further implying that they were all fragments of an original ego, or would that be impossible, therefore implying that they were separate personalities created by Luro-Luro. But Sara didn't know the details, nor did she know why she even cared, odds are that Luro was just crazy. Still though...

Her train of thought was suddenly and violently derailed when glasses-Luro, now known as Lai, started feeling her armor. She recoiled in surprise, raising a fist and lowering it when he was dragged away. "Wait." She said, hearing their conversation. "Have you been through my underwear too?!" Sara waited for his answer, the cloth on her armor slowly turning blue to red and the lion on her chest suddenly bared it's fangs, it's metal face frozen into a snarl.

 

[Arcadius]

Collab between Arc and Captn. Blu

Location: Undersea, Shellfish Palace: The Path of Oblivion and The Path of Folly
Shadow Captain, Armored Sara, Glowing Alicia, Luro^5

"That… didn't help at all." Runali spoke more to herself after Pathfinder spoke. Once more, her attention seemed to fall on the five Luro's as they argued with each other. They gave themselves names, but the moment they were given she had already forgotten who's went to who. She'd figure it out later. In fact, Runali had several questions that would probably be better asked later.

For a brief moment she was distracted by the blue-haired one that was staring at her before he scampered off into an argument with the others. Then it was the sudden teacup. "Dreamworld...right." When she touched it, the cup vanished. "How peculiar-" The yelling grew louder and she realized now Sara was involved so with a sigh, she whistled, gaining all their attention.

"Alright, listen up! Five of you or not, I'm still your captain. Those are dream snakes. You're both right. They are...and they aren't. It makes perfect sense. All five of you- including you Cloak- silence and all- need to cooperate so we can get away from the snakes and grave rob some Prophet." Runali looked over her shoulder seeing the snakes nearing them. Her form flickered into shadows for a brief moment. "Sara, Alicia, we need to help Path here find an escape. Luro." She stared at each one before rubbing her temple. "What was it again? Luro, Lai, Maka, Lo, and Cloak- yeah! Keep the snakes at bay. Don't get eaten- none of you. I don't know what happens to regular Luro if one of you gets hurt. That's already a headache to think about…" Before the captain's train of thought could derail in the upside down world they were in she looked at Pathfinder and gave a nod.

"Jah, you don't really vant one of fese to walk around in your body. Not really a good vay of koming back from that too. Not getting stuk heere forvr' is the more positiv outkome!" the Pathfinder added his two dubloons into the discussion.

The snakes, perhaps guided by some overwatching collective intelligence or perhaps simply learning from their previous costly failed assault have kept themselves more spread this time. Pathfinder had some easy victories with his explosives and shredderbuss. Instead of trying to come in one tight stream, the mass of writhing bodies flowed towards around the low hill where the crew and the man made their stand, attempting to encircle their position. Already, some of the larger ones were angry and brave enough to try jumping after Cloak Luro.

"Riight… not gud. At all. We steey here, they will kome at us from all sayds," the Pathfinder quite frankly evaluated their situation. He bent over and pulled his bayonet blade from the two impaled dead snakes at his feet. "Tad afraid ve are seriously out of alternative options. The hangoo'er from tommorof will be something fiers." The blade was dripping wet with multicoloured blood of the reptiles it killed. The man stuck out his tongue, licked a small amount down, and swallowed. He let out a sigh that was halfway between pleasured and positively disgusted, the second notion reinforced by a repulsed shiver that ran through his body. "No taame to explain nov. I'll find us a way ouut. I'll blast us a vay to the escape point, and it fill scare them for a moment, but you mustn't wait too long, or they will overrun you." From his green longcoat he fished out three more sticks of dynamite, and made a long pull on his cigarillo to get the end properly hot again. "I had my share of figting these things, and the moment they smell easy gate, they won't let go. Ever. Just follow in my steps, and I'll get you to safety, where ve can talk in peace," he re-explained from over trying to light the three blasting sticks on fire. The ends of the fuzes shimmered with fire and sparks, and all of them could smell a faint hint of burning sulphur.

Not wasting time, the Pathfinder threw each of the sticks in quick succession into the swarm under their last stand. The dynamite landed in a straight line, in order to form a path seemingly into where the snakes numbered the most. The more perceptive of them could see his fingers open and close on the stock of the strange shotgun, as he counted seconds left on the fuzes to burn.

Three.
The snakes realized something was up. As one, the whole mass turned their heads towards them, and stopped moving. The silence was broken only by the hiss of the burning fuzes.

Two.
As one, the whole mass of bodies formed into several larger writhing structures resembling animals, or rather, the stolen memories, thoughts and dreams of them. Some were easily recognizable. A rhinoceros, an elephant, a tiger, but for each of those, there were three mangled, half formed things with hundred caterpillar-like legs, or three heads, or dozen eyes. In some places, things that did not bother with conventional appendages, shapes or dimensions stood. The Pathfinder shuddered to imagine where or what from were those memories stolen. He was glad some of these would be blasted by the explosions, and the memories laid to rest.

Thr- BOOM
The explosion nearly ripped apart their eardrums and made their eyes ache and heads ring. The path was clear, for a few seconds before the numerous conglomerate creatures would try to fill up the hole in their ranks.

The Pathfinder jumped into a sprint, dodging the larger bloody chunks. Halfway down the hill, past the point where the furthest dynamite exploded, he jumped and vanished into thin air.

~~~===~~~​

Arc, Zillia, Ray and Jack

Location: Café "De Brogglio", Plaza of Boreal Glow

Ray remained quiet and vigilant for bulk of the trip. He'd confess to say that the idea of splitting up set off red flags for him but then again, the entire trip did just that. When they finally reached the city- a city he couldn't quite place a name for, he relaxed a little more in familiarity. The idea of being in a town rather than an undead palace eased his discomfort a little more.

"I suppose there's a comfort, for lack of better words, in knowing that we're still alive and well enough to eat. And this isn't all some fever dream. Although, maybe a fever sounds like a better deal." His attention fell on the note that was pushed into the middle of the table. Like Zilia, he had his own worries about the unknown, but he refrained from voicing them. "Listening to Luro's 'musings' is… normal." He cracked a small smile. "I'm sure they can handle it." Zilia's question did pique Ray's interest. After all that had happened and probably all that was going to happen, this was probably a toll on their navigator.

The Navigator smiled at Ray. "Well, how do you know your whole life is not some feverish dream of someone else, who will one day wake up, forget everything he dreamed about and move with his life? How often do you remember dreams in full detail, Ray?" He took a sip of the leftover aperitif, to make a dramatic pause. There was something familiar about the conversation that soothed him, like as if it was something that scared him for a long time, and now it was finally getting over with."We do know about the Dreamworld. Alicia, Luro, Sara and Runali are there right now, facing… well, we all know what, I suppose. We all partially form that place. Each of us tethers that world to the one we are currently residing in. We know there is floor under us, and that we are holding it from coming loose and floating off to… elsewhere. How many such floors are, however, above us? Are we too someone else's tethers to this world? What if they will wake up, and later that day, all of what we are will start again, with a blank slate?" He chuckled. "A poor choice of conversation topic, especially here, in this place so… loosely hinged to reality."

"And as for your note, Zillia… who are we to judge what has right to manifest in the Dreamworld, and what is not? Perhaps we are simply walking with worlds inside our heads, where our thoughts and dreams live. What we see and hear forms them, and through our actions, they are given corporeal form. Question is, of course, how do we decide which of them has now the right to control our hands and legs, where to take us and what to grab. Some of us are worlds of mellow warm beaches with crystal clear blue waters, where every day is Saturday. Some are places of desolation who had potential to become lush gardens, but comets and meteorites of outside's actions ruined them beyond saving. Luro is a planet spinning at relativistic speed around black hole, populated solely by white tigers with bipolar personalities and venomous fangs. And the whole constellation is heading for another, slightly larger, black hole."

He downed the rest of the alcohol in his glass, with audible gulp. "And as for me…" He let out a tired sigh. "I feel like someone who is feeling like shit, and also has to steal a jar of magical dirt that can be used to sculpt souls." He leaned back into the wicker chair, and let his head fall back, into the shadow cast by the faint blue glow of the gaslamp nearby. "Lady von Macropulos will come tomorrow after breakfast for a war council. There's an ancient auction house here in Zaborzikos. Some say the first secret was sold here, for the first human soul. The city around you was then born of this first sold soul, and since then, it has a life of its own. Suffice to say, the item we are searching for is coming up for auction. So…"

The man sat up straight, and placed his hands on the table. His eyes were glowing as if he was looking at naked Belen, smothered in olive oil and salad dressing. "We're planning a heist."

 

[Mizos]

Zilia wasn't sure what to think about Ray's comment of normality when it came to Luro but she couldn't deny feeling a bit of comfort at how easily he took things. That was one trait she actually appreciated about the others, she knew she tended to worry about things, on occasion a bit too much. Having people nearby with calm demeanors helped to remind her of that, though it was also infuriating when there was clearly danger ahead, but that was a topic for another time. For the time being she was more focused on Kadi's response, the more he spoke the lower her eyelids seemed to get before she brought a hand to her face. She regretted bringing it up at all as he spoke in strange musings once more. A simple straight answer like Ray's would have sufficed, instead she set him off on a tangent and the only person she had to blame was herself for caring.
That wasn't to say what he was talking about wasn't fascinating, in a weird way it was an inquisitive thought worth taking a moment to consider...it just didn't seem like now was the moment to do that.

Zilia lowered her hand from her face and folded her hands in front of her closing her eyes for a moment, she knew she was just worried and that feeling made it hard for her to truly relax. She would take the time to speak with Kadi on other matters, outside of this realm of course, if they should survive this encounter. At the moment though she was tired of musings and riddles, they were in the unknown, and their lives along with their friends were on the line, she wanted answers not fascinating theories. Tempting as it was to share this thought process of hers she had chosen of her volition to come and play along, so she'd do so until the end, but she couldn't stop herself from thinking such things, much as she'd like to.

Zilia opened her eyes as Kadi did give one straightforward response mainly how he was feeling at the moment. Admittedly she relaxed a bit hearing that. She actually felt a little guilty for her earlier thoughts, though she didn't like being left in the dark this journey was taking a toll on everyone and Kadi was taking the brunt of it. She started to write some words of encouragement only to stop as he spoke of what tomorrow would bring. She listened intently up until the heist mention, the moment that came out of his mouth Zilia's head fell to the table with a loud thunk her hands moving to her head.
"I knew it! I knew there was a catch! I knew we'd be committing some kind of crime..."
Zilia raised her head and seemed to take a moment to compose herself before sliding a note to the center of the table.
"We're...stealing a jar of magical dirt. I just want to make sure I understand that before the actual heist. The four of us...are going to this auction...and stealing a jar of magical dirt..."
Zilia stared at the note before quickly scribbling something down and sliding it out again.
"Actually never mind...I don't want to understand, I have a feeling the answer won't be an answer anyway. If we're doing this it's important that's good enough. How are we going to steal dirt at an auction won't it be out in the open? I'm not experienced with heists but most of the time it involves stealing and not being caught afterwards right? That seems difficult in this situation....or is that something for tomorrow."

x6​

Luro looked over at Sara and noticing the change in her appearance especially the bared fang of her fancy chest he scratched his cheek a small laugh escaping from him. He was glad these guys didn't talk all the time he'd constantly be in trouble, though he didn't want her to start swinging at him so he figured it would be a good idea to explain things.
He looked over at the others as they continued to argue namely Lai who had brought it up in the first place, rubbing the back of his head he held a hand up to Sara.
"I haven't gone through your stuff Masu, at least not yet," Luro said bringing a hand to his chin. "It's rude to go through a lady's things without asking, says so right here."
Luro opened his book and flipping to a page ran his finger down it before resting it on one of the lines, he read silently to himself before nodding and putting it away confirming that it was indeed rude to go through a lady's things without her permission.
"I wouldn't do that to you guys, you're new that would be rude."
Cloak Luro's mouth moved causing Luro to turn to him and shrug his shoulders.
"Well the others don't count we've known each other for a long time, I can't go through Masu's and Jack stuff for three more months that's the rule."
Cloaky spoke further and Luro looked over at Sara then back at him.
"Well yeah but I doubt she cares about that."
Cloaky looked over at Sara and said something in her direction though due to his strange limitation his words didn't reach her.
"Oi Cloaky stop telling Masu stuff, next thing you know you'll be trying to tell the Captain and Alicia stuff too. I already told them I did that."
Cloaky looked over at him and Luro crossed his arms as Cloaky spoke at length with him ignoring the approaching snakes with the other Luro's as he pointed at the three women then back at Luro who moved his hands to his hips, he head listed to the side for a moment.
"Hm? I could have sworn I told them...they'd be mad if I said something now though...are you sure I didn't tell them?"
Luro watched Cloaky for a moment before looking back at Sara then right back at Cloaky before clearing his throat and focusing back on the snakes.
"Eh it's not a big deal I'll just tell them later, make sure I don't forget....what do you mean that's impossible?"

The Captain's orders seemed to rouse the Luro's who all stood at attention at the same time turning to their Captain, the five stared at her and all five looking at the snakes raised their hands each giving a two finger salute to the Captain.
Lo leaned his neck to the side a small crack coming from his neck as he rotated his shoulders and stood next to Cloaky. Maka adding a bit of spin to his movement took position right next to Lo with a small chuckle. Lai adjusted his glasses and pulling out a pistol took position next to Luro, all five in position facing the gathering snakes ready to follow the Captain's orders. It seemed the one thing each one seemed to agree on was that the Captain was the Captain.
"Hey Hey the Captain said our names," Maka said pulling on Lo's shirt. "She remembered us. That means we can't mess up."
"Damn right we gotta do our best for the Captain."
"Indeed it would improper to disappoint the Captain, let us work hard gentleman."
"Yeah! Let's kill everything for the Captain," Luro said throwing a fist in the air.
Cloaky seemed to add his two cents as well before six hands pumped into the air.
"Yeah let's do it friends!"
The five Luro's lowered their hands at the additional voice as something yellow crossed their field of vision, the four Luro's stared at the newcomer Cloaky stepping away from the others as they eyed the newcomer, he was dressed similar to the original Luro's though unlike the others his distinguishing feature stood out a bit more. A large bright yellow banana was in place of his head and on that banana were two eyes which stared at the others and a mouth curled into a smirk. He raised his hand giving the other four a victorious fist pump.
"Banana!" Luro exclaimed.
Banana Luro chuckled and reaching back grabbed a large banana off his back before clicking an invisible button which unlocked it.
"Oh no I'm not fighting with Banana Luro," Lo said. "Not after what he did to my mother."
"That's in the past Lo, let it go," Banana said shaking his large head.
"You dishonored my family you dastardly villain," Lai said narrowing his gaze at him. "I'll never forgive you."
"An accident," Banana said shrugging his shoulders. "You have to move past such things Lai."
"You called me Luro!" Maka said shaking his fist at him.
"...you are Luro Maka."
"Quiet villain!" Maka responded pointing at him.
"Guys...it's the Captain's orders," Luro said. "We gotta work together...I don't like Banana either but we gotta fight the snakes. Pathdinder said it's bad if they get us and the Captain said we can't get hurt. Protect Banana."
"Thank you Luro," Banana said nodding to him.
Luro looked over at Banana and tapped his rifle on his shoulder as the fruit based Luro arched his brows at Luro, it seemed even through the darkness he could see the expression of his comrade.
"We can settle our affairs later Banana, you're my friend but you're really low on the list cause of what you've done. Now get ready to fight."
Banana Luro turned towards one of the snakes and pointing the large banana he pulled a 'trigger' the end of the banana opening before a gunshot rang out, a moment later a snake fell to the ground a bullet hole in it's skull and the faint scent of burnt banana lingering in the air. Banana nodded as smoke wafted out of his weapon and he looked over at Luro loading another shot.
"I was born ready."
"Okay look I know it's the Captain's orders but I can't-" Lo cut himself off as the snakes jumped Cloaky. "Ah Cloaky's going to die! Let's watch and laugh as it happens!"

Cloaky glanced at the incoming snakes as they approached, he raised his head slightly a single eye poking out of the darkness as they approached before the snakes neared his form. The moment they reached him however they seemed to phase through him as gunshots rang out before they hit the ground holes in the sides of their heads. Cloaky reappeared behind them holding a pair of smoking flintlock pistols and dropped them on the ground as more approached. He ran sideways making the snakes chase him his cloak flowing with his movements as he drew two more pistols and fired into them killing two more. He leapt and rolled as another rushed at him, and pushing off his hand pulled off his rifle off his back as propelled himself away from the snakes firing a shot through it's head. He hit the ground rolling loading another shot into his rifle as he noticed the others and muttering something sprinted at them lowering his body as he approached. He dodged to the side as a snake left at him coming a bit too close to his skull. He twisted the butt of his gun the rifle folding in on itself before a silver blade burst out of the bun, the intricate mechanism moving down to the hilt of the sword. An ornage design decorated the blade, a silver streak running up it's side.
"Idea #394...I never thought I'd see it come to fruition," Luro said clearly in awe.
Cloak brought the sword back as the snakes all leapt at him, his footing shifted slightly and trails of silver filled the air as his body seemed to move in eight directions at once, eight images of himself seeming to form in one spot before settling into a single form as he raised his body. The snakes fell to pieces rainbow colored blood splashing onto his cloak as he spun the sword and cleaned it on the insie of his arm. Twisting the handle the blade returned to a rifle and he raised his head as he eyed the remaining snakes.
"...he's uh...he's really showing off," Lo said.
"Y-yeah," Maka said.
The two Luro's watched as Cloaky spun upside down in the air firing at the snakes below killing any that were unfortunate enough to be in his line of sight.
A glare had formed on Lai's glasses as he watched the scene and Luro rubbed the back of his head as Cloaky fell to the ground tossing the pistols to the ground and turning towards the others. Banana Luro whistled at the almost piles of dead snakes left in Cloaky's wake. His face moved in the direction of the others and he said something before before returning his rifle to his back again.
"What do you mean the rest of them are ours!" Maka said.
"Grrr I'm not being showed up by Cloaky of all people! Let's do this!" Lo exclaimed.
"Yeah!" the other Luro's yelled before sprinting after the snakes.
Luro glanced over at Cloaky who went back to shooting the snakes like any normal Luro and shook his head a little, Cloaky knew just how to rile up the others, that was one of the things that bothered him about that guy.

The snakes seemed almost endless as the Luro's fought to try and help with escaping, the group worked surprisingly well together once they actually decided to help one another. They fired in bursts each Luro firing at a few snakes and the other's stepping forward to replace them as the others stepped back to reload. Due to their combined might their gunfire was almost constantly flying at the snakes, Cloaky stepping in if they got too close. Luro took a step back as Maka stepped forward laughing as he fired into the snakes.
"Wish I had dream ammo," Luro said loading more shots into his rifle. "I'm going to have half my ammo if we kill all these snakes. I left the rest on the ship."
"Well yeah but we don't normally miss so it doesn't matter," Lo said from next to him.
"I mean I got plenty just you guys have unlimited ammo, I'm a little jealous."
"Well it's not unlimited," Lai said taking a step back. "If my predictions are correct we have as much as you believe you do."
"So yeah unlimited," Maka said,
"Yeah unlimited like I just said," Luro said.
"Man for a smarty you're really dumb Lai," Lo said shaking his head.
"Equally demoralizing comment Lai," Banana said.
"Hate you...hate all of you," Lai said taking Maka's place.

When Pathfinder created an opening with explosives, something Lo and Maka clapped at the Luro's wasted no time taking advantage of the brief respite, four of them ran forward after Pathfinder, Luro and Cloaky staying behind firing shots at the snakes nearest to their fellow crewmates to help them get through. Cloaky mouth's moved and Luro nodded.
"Yeah we gotta make sure they get through too, no friends left behind except those four times we don't talk about."
Cloaky moved his mouth and Luro stopped firing for a moment his hidden gaze looking at the ground for a moment before he raised it and kept firing moving to get through the opening with everyone.
"Oh yeah eight times, I forgot the ones that died."