The Source Of Red Lyrium - Island Plot - Closed

[judgemewhole]

WHO: James Norrington, Inessa Serra, Kain Ventfort, Christine Delacroix, Genevieve de la Fontaine, and Beleth Ashara
WHAT: Per the OOC post, James has tracked down the source of the red lyrium. Time to do something about it.
WHEN: During the Island plot
WHERE: Wrecked Antivan ship along the coast
NOTES:

Some light 'Great Makers' and other curses considering the crew that James is traveling with.



James had never really considered himself much of a scout, all things considered. Oh, he was an excellent tracker, but usually he was tracking people and not magical sources gone corrupt. He also wasn't exactly a shadow in the silence, considering how much armor he usually wore.

Today, however, he was dressed simply in chainmail, sword strapped at his hip, shield on his back, Interceptor sniffing the ground ahead of him as he carefully followed the tell-tale signs of red lyrium along the shore, then up the side of a hill, as a cliff took up a great deal of this side of the island. Red spikes of red lyrium were becoming more and more frequent, and when he walked out to the edge of the cliff, he could see it. A lone fjord, jutting out to the sea, and there was the shipwreck. Antivan, by the look of it, red lyrium spikes jutting out of the ship itself in every direction.

He frowned down at the fjord, then at the cliffs, before looking over at Interceptor.

"...Well unless you have a rope and some climbing skills you have been holding out on me?"

Interceptor chuffed at him, giving him a 'Come On Buddy' sort of look.

"Right." He sighed. "Back to camp we go."

(Starters coming up!)

Comments

[judgemewhole]

James was making sure all his weapons and his shield were properly secured into place, and himself was keeping one eye on the water, and another on the ship.

"It should be an easy climb up. I am not looking forward to what is inside, though."

And well should none of them - for even though the entrance that Evie and Beleth swim for is mostly clear of red lyrium, once they board the ship itself, it is everywhere else. There are narrow paths where the lyrium seems to have not ... trickled, but sharp spikes of the stuff are all along the deck, although there is one open space along the side where the others might climb.

[arlathvhen]

No horrible monsters appear, no Creators-forsaken constructs of nightmares attempt to pull her down into the murky depths. It should be a relief, but it just puts her nerves on edge. Or maybe it's just all the red lyrium everywhere? Beleth has never been so close to so much of it before, and she gives it a wary look as she passes through.

Part of her job is to assess if tying a rope to the mast won't cause the whole ship to flip over, so Beleth starts pacing around the ship, stomping occasionally, and putting her weight against the railings.

"What do you think?" Beleth asks Evie, as she pulls the rope out, heading for the main mast. "It seems like it'll hold to me, as long as everyone doesn't pile in at the same time."

[bouclier]

Despite her willingness to jump in the water, Evie is relieved when they don't encounter any danger during their swim. She frowns as they make their way carefully through the ship, avoiding the growths.

She paces Beleth, adding her weight to the elf's so that they have a better feeling of how much the boat lists from a little added weight.

"It should be fine," she agrees, before moving over to the rail and cupping a hand to her mouth. "Would someone mind bringing up my sword and shield?" She wouldn't ask for her armor too, though if someone grabbed it she wasn't going to complain.

[in_death_sacrifice]

Fortunately enough, Kain is pretty strong, and willing to bring the equipment along. "I've got them!" he calls back, going to pick up her sword, shield and armor. He figures he may as well. Then, he looks to the others. "Looks like it's ready."

He moves over to the rope to begin the climb. It's not so bad, at least by Kain's standards, although even he has a moment or two where he's not so sure it's completely going to hold. Still, it's nothing like that earlier climb was. He breathes a sigh of relief once almost across, getting toward the ship, and... that feeling is short lived. He narrows his eyes. The lyrium is everywhere, but he does notice the open path there, anyway, along the side. He takes it slow, not wanting to end up touching the lyrium.

[circleprodigy]

Inessa waits until it's her turn to be pulled up and along, glad she's not going to have to put her swimming skills to the test. She doesn't speak a word until she's across, visibly relaxing afterward...at least until she gets a better look at the red lyrium. Recoiling from the sharp spikes, she reaches for the staff strapped to her back, itching to destroy them now but reminding herself they still have to investigate.

[aceso]

Christine too is silent and focused as she's lifted up onto the ship, doing her best to not make the task any more difficult for James than it has to be. Once aboard, the persistent buzz of the red lyrium is impossible to ignore and she grits her teeth, steeling herself in case it starts to reach out to her and sings.

"It is clear it does not need soil to spread. That is valuable information for the future."

[judgemewhole]

James is the last up, making sure that he has Beleth's gear since Kain has kindly grabbed Evie's. He pulls himself up and over easily enough, catching the tailend of Christine's statement as he sits for a moment on the railing.

"Yes, now we just have to find the source on the - " And the rest of that sentence was for naught, because the ship itself groaned, shifted, and tilted back towards the ocean, making everyone's footing more difficult.

Except for James, who had no footing whatsoever, and went flying off the railing, directly towards a giant spike of red lyrium, where when he hit it would be a bloody and disturbing end for his companions, for he was going to hit it head on. He barely had time for a gasp, much less a yell, and everything flashed before his eyes as they said it always would.

Life is too short ... was the thought that flitted through, one heartbeat away from striking the corrupted spike through his eye.

[arlathvhen]

Beleth does what she can to help everyone onto the boat, hauling people in quietly. Christine's comment elicits a pause, however, and Beleth eyeballs some of the spikes sticking up. "It grows more like a barnacle than a plant," She observes--it might not be the best comparison, but considering how it clung to to ship, she found it apt.

And last comes James, holding onto her gear. She hadn't even thought to ask someone to bring it over. She makes her way over to him, a hand already out to receive to her gear. "James, thank y--" But her gratitude is cut off when the ship lurches, and her stomach does a summersault. It's not easy, but she remains standing even as the wood beneath her feet shifts and sways--only for her stomach to do an encore performance when she sees James fly off, right towards some very nasty spikes.

Beleth doesn't have time or thought to shout, or try to come up with an alternative solution. She does the first thing that comes to mind, which is racing for the side of the ship he fell off of, vaulting over the railing, and shoving into him with as much force as a small elf can get. It's not going to save him from getting dunked, but hopefully it'll avoid him becoming a Templar shish-ka-bob.

[bouclier]

Evie was accepting her gear from Kain with a smile and thanks when the ship lurched, and while she was again somehow standing on a wet patch and lost her footing, at least she only landed on her backside this time, and didn't hit any of the spikes of lyrium.

By the time she's able to react to the situation with James and Beleth they're already overboard. She scrambles to her feet and rushes to the side of the boat to see if she can help, or if she's going to be awkwardly reporting at least one death.

[in_death_sacrifice]

Things had been going too well for a while there, hadn't they? Kain hadn't let his guard drop too much, but for the moment he'd at least felt confident enough that things were under control. Big mistake there. As the ship lurches, his first instinct is to reach out for Inessa. He manages to keep his own footing fairly well enough, but still stumbles a bit... He gasps in shock as he watches James fall overboard. Kain is too far away from his position to do anything, but it seems Beleth has got that covered.

He ensures Inessa is all right, first and foremost, but then heads over to join Evie. "James? Beleth?" He calls down, wanting to know what sort of aid they're going to need.

[circleprodigy]

When the ship lurches, it's a good thing Kain's reaching out since Inessa would have tumbled back for certain. She clings to her fellow Warden as tightly as she can, eyes widening when James goes flying and Beleth goes after him. Only when she's more confident of keeping her footing does her grip loosen, and she raises her voice while accompanying Kain.

"Speak to us! Are you hurt?" She raises a hand, prepared to cast a Heal spell. At least she can hope it isn't too late....

[judgemewhole]

The air is almost knocked out of James when Beleth hits him in the water, and instinctively he moves to cover his head and face. Which deserves him well, as he bounces off the ocean floor once, taking a considerable bruising to an already bruised chest on the hard rocky surface of the shore. He makes sure to let himself go flat, then letting himself float back to the surface.

He comes up gasping, clutching one hand on his side, as he looks desperately around for - "Beleth! Beleth! Did she come up?"

He himself is still panting for air, legs paddling but one arm around his chest.

[arlathvhen]

It wasn't by skill that Beleth avoided hitting the bottom like Norrington had. In fact, it was mostly Norrington that let her avoid it--she hit into him, but he wasn't quite as unforgiving to smack into as the rocks, and Beleth managed to disentangle herself, swimming away from him so they could both surface.

But after a few moments of struggling against the instinctive panic bubbling up, she puzzles out which way is up and kicks to the surface.

Her reintroduction to air is met with a couple of wheezing coughs, and then sputtering, as her attempts to tread water wrestle with her trying to cough. She relaxes a little when she sees that Norrington has popped up as well, and manages to cough out a "Oh good, you're not dead."