high_seas | To go with your crew...

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sasuke's mouth tightened, unhappy with the idea of leaving something that sapped powers in a way nobody had figured out yet. For all they knew, the collar could function in the same way Itachi's former -- future? eventual? -- partner in Akatsuki's sword did, digesting chakra for use in whatever its operator wanted. What was a technology that supposedly belonged to the Navy doing in the bowels of the witch's fortress, anyway?

All questions he would have to answer another time, as the others were beginning to move on already.

"If it shows any sign of hurting you or draining you further, I'm taking it off," he said, tone short again, and turned to the rest of the room. An armoury. Trust Itachi to find the a useful place to be, even if it was oddly decorated for a place to store weapons. There was even a portrait above the holder bolted to the wall where Sasuke chose a long sword for himself, something oddly compelling about the two figures.

To that, Itachi merely nodded. Sasuke should be able to handle him if he became possessed again anyway, so he felt better about removing it with his brother around. The problem would be if the other ninja was the one to be possessed instead, but if he hadn't been taken before hopefully the chances were low that he would be taken now. That the possessed had been brought to the fortress in the first place might be a sign that the witch couldn't maintain her spell any longer.

There were any number of explanations, though, and right now was not the time to be dwelling on them. He watched Sasuke as he went to look through the other weapons. He was abruptly reminded of the stone he'd found earlier. Though he could wait to show it to the captain once they were out, it couldn't hurt to show it to his brother now in the event that it might prove useful here. Then again, it could be nothing more than a glorified glow-stick given where he'd found it.

He waited until Sasuke seemed to have found something suitable before holding it out, letter included. "I found this in a closet." The language on the letter was nothing the natural translators of this place seemed to help with and it was frankly the more interesting of the two items. "It may not be anything special, but I figured it was worth showing to the captain."

Itachi had been rifling through closets on his way through a prison break? Sasuke turned with something of a raised eyebrow, slightly perplexed at his brother's priorities, but his expression shifted into one of surprise at what Itachi was holding. He'd seen rocks covered in bioluminescence before, but this one seemed to be glowing entirely of its own power. Weird.

"We can put the rock in the hallway for night time, if nothing else," he said, shoving the sword through his belt and turning more fully to take both the stone and paper from Itachi. The writing on it was no language he recognized, Sasuke turning it a few times in his hands before deciding it definitely wasn't resolving into a cipher he could work out on the move, either.

"You could take it to Marvelous, I suppose." What Marvelous might do with it was in question, unless Itachi thought it was in a language the man could read for some reason. "Who do you think left it?"

They had been out of their cells for some time before they'd actually been able to get very far in the fortress. Searching around the rooms they could get to had seemed to be the best choice. His desire to give the items to the captain was born simply from the fact that... he was the captain. It was nothing Itachi felt the need to keep hidden, and the more people who had a chance to try and identify the writing, the better. Failing that, he would at least know of its existence in the event that it turned out to be more than it seemed.

He shook his head at the question. "Who can say? There had to have been more than simply the witch and the undead here at some point. There's very little need for some of the rooms here otherwise." And though one can never say for certain, the book he'd found in that same closet didn't seem like something she would have kept for herself.

Edited 2014-01-29 08:55 (UTC)

"Rooms and prisons," Sasuke agreed, handing the paper back to Itachi. "Maybe that kid who's helping Dog can translate it. He seems like the kind of person who'd know something like that."

Not that Sasuke had much knowledge of what that Meep person was like, but something about the way he'd babbled had given off the impression that he was someone who gathered information, even if the person calling herself Dog seemed to want to ration what she knew. If they could corner that one on his own, maybe ... there was a thought to keep in mind for another time.

"Keep hold of it for now, then. We should catch up with the others."

Itachi nodded. He hadn't intended to dawdle any longer than necessary, but he'd wanted to at least point that out before they moved on. If the rest of the crew was here, they'd need to meet back up with them before taking the witch on. It was sure to be a mess, what with more than just their crew here, but they might be able to overwhelm her with sheer numbers.

He folded the paper neatly and stuck it back in his pocket along with the rock, then nodded again to his brother to let the other know that he was ready to go. It would be good to finally get out of the same halls he'd been stuck roaming the past few days.

Edited 2014-01-30 20:15 (UTC)

To go with your crew...

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i laughed too hard you actually have an icon of him holding a paper

it's a good icon to have, okay