To go with your crew...

[highseasmods]

Who: Everyone who is fighting in the battle to kill the witch.
Where: The Black Fortress in the East
When: Jan 24th-25th
What: The grand battle to get back what you have lost, get revenge for what was taken, and avert disaster.
Warnings: Language. Death. Victory. Defeat. True love. Miracles.
Style: Text or prose
Status: Open to all



The black fortress ripples with shimmering iridescent energy, the piles of black coral heaped on roped together barges around it, bobbing in the waves. On the largest barge stands a slender man with a copper belt, wearing a face mask, orange red hair flecked with black from ash or dust. As the dawn slowly folds over the ocean, he'll look up, as if hearing some hidden voice.

At the top of the fortress, a figure climbs into vision, a woman, dressed in gray, features obscured by a hood with impenetrable darkness behind it. She staggers a moment as if she is weary, then straightens to her full height. As she speaks, her voice comes out of the journals, echoing over the water, low but clear.

"This is no small task ye do. She that rots within'll do anythin' ta stop ye. Don't hesitate to kill what ye find. If they were human once, they hain't no more. Watch out for her golems, too, or they'll drain ye dry quicker'n a wink. But if ye can get rid of 'em, it'll weaken her." She hesitates, cants her head to the side. "And if ye lot aren't as much of a bunch'a idiots as usual, ye might come out alive through this."

That said, she raises her hands. After a moment so does the man on the barge. For a moment, nothing seems to happen and then iridescent light shimmers over the coral, seeming to match that which surrounds the fortress. It crackles and dances like a fire, and then without warning bursts into a furious life, slamming against the energy of the fortress. There is the sound like thunder and light snaps and crackles, zipping with energy. Then with a woosh the light flies upward, taking the figure with it. The man on the barge lets out a cry like a seagull and dives into the water as if intending to swim after her.

For the boats that remain, a part of the fortress will crumble away into the sea, revealing a small harbor and an open doorway. Enter all ye who dare.


[If things become too crowded, feel free to make another thread outside of these. Just put where you are in the header.]

Comments

[thatched]

[The Sun tucks in neatly behind to the Moon, somewhat to the side for easy escape if they need it. His voice is cold as he stares up at the fortress]

Go to it lads. Let's bring this bitch down.

[hiken]

[Before he planned to return to the Fortress to go for Selphie, Logan and Sora, Ace walked to the Moon's port railing to look over the Sun. She was damaged, he could tell, and none of it was his own doing. A somber look took him over for a moment, until he spotted Thatch on the deck.

He raised one hand to wave, grinning to the brim.]

[thatched]

[don't look at him with that sunny face, you moron. Thatch doesn't really deserve it. He'll smirk and salute, though, because he's good at it and that's what's expected, watching to see what his crew does and who needs help before he leaves the ship himself. The twin swords are at his back but...does he really need them?]

[hiken]

[At that point, Ace had the irresistible urge to jump over and manhandle Thatch with and apologetic hug, but they were already short on time. So, he raised his voice just enough for Thatch to hear with his Observation.]

Thatch! Sora, Selphie and Logan are still inside! We need to widen the doorway so we're not dealin' with those moving corpses too much!

Do what you gotta!

[thatched]

[no problem with that. Chandra seems to be doing a good job of it. But he knew he could count on her. There were more holes to make, though and if Ace wanted them, he would have them. Thatch nodded at the order and then pushed away every other thought but the mission at hand]

Dark Snake.

[he twists himself up in a column of blackness, remembering who he is, keeping himself together, forming the image in his mind. The swords that had phased into the darkness phase out again as twin fangs, slamming into the side of the fortress with haki pushing behind it. The mouth closed and he felt the rock against his edges. He could spit it out or... He pulled it into himself. Crushed it as much as he could and let it fall into the ocean below until forming his feet back again, remembering what he looked like. This particular hole was full of blinking undead like termites in a nest]

Sorry to ruin the party, boys.

[and he got to work]

[hiken]

[In the end, Ace realized Thatch and Chandra's project was nearly done moments after it was started--but, he wanted those two at the entrance. Chandra could burn as quickly as he could and Thatch could get rid of unsightly corpses that people would trip on. Though Ace only had tiny, brief memories of encountering Thatch with the Yami Yami no Mi, he still knew what it was capable of and if Thatch had any practice after their fight, he knew it would naturally fall to him to understand its functionality as soon as possible.

So, he relied on the two immediately. Leading to the outside, Ace would rely on a few more, but he wanted Namur alongside him for quick, controlled demolition. Anything too noisy on the inside, he thought, would make rescues near impossible.]

Huff. To think, I wanted to pick the delicate role. [He complained aloud, rushing to jump back onto the stone platforms past the ships.]

[thatched]

[he'll do all that he can as Ace wants but there are other things that worry him, too. He spots Ace jumping down and calls down to him]

Don't forget to look out for the little ones.

[since he didn't know what life was like on the Moon but Roxas and Kairi? Natsuno? They still needed a lot of help in this kind of situation]

[hiken]

Naturally! That's why I'm putting away my fire for now.

[Ace breathed out a happy little chuckle and dive in, alongside Namur.]

Fuck you, doing prose!

[theartofboom]

"Right. Then let's do it."

As she leaped off the ship and and onto the harbor, Chandra's transformation was nearly instantaneous. She went from a tall, lanky redhead to a walking inferno in the blink of an eye, her hair twisting and writhing like a flaming snakes. With a shriek of pure elation, she took her first step towards the fortress, leaving a molten footprint behind. The pent up mana she'd set aside at Thatch's request practically bubbled out of her, creating a corona of pure heat that increased with each step.

And then she started her spellcasting, her hands flying in circular motions. The first thing to go was the entrance, a sudden explosion rocking the fortress and simply melting the stone around the door. Then some of the wall around it simply vanished in a second salvo, torn apart by the pyromantic surge.

Without missing a beat, she kept on heading towards the suddenly wider entrance, pouring her will into the conjuring Thatch had tasked her with. Five golems simply tore their way out of some rubble and stomped forward to act as guardians for anyone joining the Spades on this crazy train.

Chandra herself took a moment, scanning the exterior for archers, cannons, or anything that might hinder an escape. The heat around her diminished visibly with the summoning as well, a vast quantity of mana put into the spell.

"I need something to destroy," she barked out to nobody in particular. "What's next on the list?"

[hiken]

"Hmmm," Ace stepped along the deck of the Moon shortly after landing on it, watching the trail of flames and golems leading to the fortress as Chandra made short work of the front landing area. His arms were clad in haki, staining them black, but he kept them crossed as he looked over the battlefield. Only a fraction of it had been touched given the immense size of the fortress, but with Chandra blowing apart the structure, it was clearly good headway.

"Well, now. I was thinking of putting a stop to our recruiting for a bit, but it looks like we've got another skilled one in our ranks," He whistled, drawing in a great deal of excess fire into is body, so he could better see what Chandra had cleared.

"I've got somethin' you could do for me."

[theartofboom]

She turned to regard him, and gave him a mocking little grin. The mana in her body still had her in a mood, every emotion exaggerated, including pride. Not that she wasn't overconfident about nearly everything to begin with.

"Skilled doesn't begin to describe me, Captain. I'm a fucking volcano! Just point me at whatever you want gone, and consider it slag."

[hiken]

"Eh? We're finally recruitin' cheeky people, now?" Ace laughed at the thought, advancing a few steps. The undead crawled up from the burning rubble and Ace ignored them as they took bites out of him. Each one fell away, burning as they tried to devour his flesh turned to fire. Leaving crispy corpses behind, Ace drew his right hand back and then slammed it straight into the next lining of wall--taking it down so the main entrance way was fully exposed.

Ace gestured with two blackened fingers towards the halls.

"A river of fire. Make a moat around this spot--but, until we're ready to pull everybody out, I don't want any of the crew's magic to go past that line."

[theartofboom]

A few of the ghouls rushed Chandra as she moved along beside him, not content to just leave Ace as their sole target. Without so much as a blink, the air around the young Planeswalker simply superheats, turning her attackers to ash and melting some of the stone she hadn't already blown apart.

"River of fire? Can do." She knelt and traced a ring in the ground and unleashed more will. Stone moved aside, forming a trench where he'd indicated as the earth magic unmade the structure.

"You want this to be a secure point, don't you?" she asked simply, before waving a hand and conjuring a wall of flame in the furrow she'd created.

[hiken]

Ace watched as Chandra did this--as he admittedly made the order specific just so he could see how she'd carry it out. She didn't do things like Korra or Ikki. Somehow, he expected her to just stomp a hole in the ground like he would rather than use a gesture like that. Still, Ace had no understanding of those things despite his curiosity and asking her how she did it would be best suited for a calmer moment.

Instead, Ace breathed in and began to listen to the 'voices' inside the fortress once more, still looking at Chandra.

"As secure as it can be. We've got three people in there that I've lost. They might still be collared and missin' their abilities, so I'm gonna have to be gentle in finding 'em. After that, we're all gonna break this place so nobody can ever use it again."

[theartofboom]

Being looked at like that, she was fairly used to it by now. Most people had never seen her particular brand of magic, and a lot of the motions she'd learned from someone with a much gentler hand. Fire was natural to her, but Earth and Lightning and every other kind of magic she'd had to work at. And that meant being taught, and being taught meant picking up other people's habits. The Kephalian mages she'd learned how to manipulate the earth from were obsessed with circles, so that had found it's way into her magic, and provided endless amusement for Chandra by defying expectations.

She nods sharply, light in her eyes. A captain that went looking and took care of his own was a captain she could work with.

"That's what the golems are there for. They'll obey you, they're just extensions of my will. The wall won't let anything dead pass, and it'll keep on burning even if I'm gone, so don't worry about that. I'll start clearing the halls to make the search go easier. As for the fortress, just tell me when you want it gone and I'll finish it. Those golems'll be a real bang when I tell them to."

[hiken]

He was still going to have to ask plenty of questions the next time they were in a raid like that. 'Not understanding magic' seemed to be a natural thing for him, while understanding the reliability of his crew had been the easier thing for him. Still, he had one thing to ask, which he wanted to know if only to sate his curiosity. Ace turned back to look at Chandra, even as the ghouls tried to assail him and ended up curling on the ground aflame. It was an odd way to end a 'hello', really.

"I'll trust you to that. And--who was the one who recruited you?"

[theartofboom]

That's an easy enough question to answer, and it comes immediately, as she steps forward to unleash a burst of flame at a ghoul. This wasn't all that unusual, given how she'd met most of her friends throughout the Multiverse. And Ace seemed like her kind of person, he'd probably get it.

"Yuuki. The little vampire. Had nothing but glowing things to say about you. And I guess Namur invited me as well. And apparently it was all okayed by Thatch and Marco. Hopefully you don't need an interview after all this."

[hiken]

That surprised Ace. The fact that Natsuno had actually acquired a crewmate who could rival Ace in being destructive, malicious and fiery all in one go. Either Natsuno had developed his own sort of stride in conversations or it was blind luck. Either way, he felt like he respected the young man a bit more.

"Nah, it looks like they picked up somebody who's my type," Ace grinned, shrugging. "In the long run, I trust their judgement. A Captain should consider themselves lucky to have such a thoughtful crew!"

[theartofboom]

Chandra laughs and gives Ace a pat on the shoulder as she steps through the ring of fire, completely unscathed.

"When this is over, you'll have to tell me more about your type. For now, let's wreck up the place. It's been a while since I got to turn something into a crater."

[hiken]

"Then, enjoy it," Ace reached up to pull his hat string from his neck and fix his hat on his head. In the next moment, he was jumping up and looking back to Chandra. As he came down, he laughed and punched a hole into the bottom floor, which he dropped into.

"Do it in my name!"

[heartismyown]

[Roxas is the kind of person that's easy to overlook. He hasn't been given a set plan, or directives, however taking the witch down seems to be good enough. It's not like he's always had detailed missions, so some vagueness works just fine.

Maybe no one's noticed him jumping over the side of the ship, or maybe they have. He lands on solid ground easily enough and summons both Oathkeeper and Oblivion. There's no friendly smile now, now he's serious. He's annoyed, very annoyed and it won't take long to get to anger, but at least at this point in time it's properly directed.

He takes a short moment to look around and get his bearings, and to make sure he knows what he's going to be doing before charging in blind.]

Anyone is welcome to try to chase him

[uccellodifuoco]

[Ikki had given up hope even before it was born. Logic told him to do so and so did experience, there was no way she could be alive. If the one who resurrected them was Davy Jones, why would he resurrect a woman who had fell prey to someone supposed to be his enemy? He wouldn't have resurrected her had he been in Davy Jones' place, so he had no reason to believe otherwise, no matter what the rest said.

In his mind, soul and heart, there was no doubt that Selphie was gone forever.

And that's why, the moment the barrier crashes and he can finally sense what is inside of it, the moment his Cosmo zeroes in the familiar energies and he realizes that she's there... That she's alive. Something finally snaps inside of him. Completely.

There's a scream, a sound almost inhuman that only speaks of pure anger and hate, but he's not aware of it or of the fact that it comes from him. The limits he had put on himself to keep his Cosmo controled break and an explosion of pure energy surrounds him, the flames burst in a raging and violent fire. And for the first time since he arrived here, there's no care in what they burn or push away. The Sun is damaged in the unintentional onslaught and whoever was around him will have probably found themselves being pushed back or even thrown back by the explosion of energy. In a matter of seconds, though, before any lasting damage can be done, Ikki jumps from the ship and charges into the fortress, the voracious flames chasing after him, destroying anything on his path. He doesn't even bother with doors or turns, he makes his own path through the stone walls of the fortress and through whatever unfortunate zombie crosses his path. But Ikki doesn't notice it. He notices nothing except how far he is from her.]

[kingkilvas]

[Naesala's perched on the mast, watching everyone scatter to do battle. He has no intention of entering the fortress, or the fray for that matter. If these gung-ho overpowered what-have-yous want to charge in and defeat some magical being, that's on them. He's got no emotional investment, and he's certainly not made of fire like some of these weirdos appear to be.

...But if any of the crew members are incapacitated while he looks on, that wouldn't end well later on with both him and Leanne still on the ship and "part of the crew". It's probably not a good idea to do nothing.

So he's shifted into raven form and is circling the harbor. Out of danger from groundfolk and close enough for an easy getaway. If anyone looks like they're in trouble outside...he'll probably swoop in.]