World Tree MUSH

    We begin in medias res aboard a small ship named the Periwinkle. The captain, amenable to money more than to stopping the slaughter of the whales of this world has agreed to take Leviathan and her companions out to sea, following in the wake of a rather large whaling expedition that set out to recapture the old whale and find the rest of her pod.
    "You'll probably want to know..." Leviathan asides to Matsu as the ship putters along the ocean waters.
    "She washed up on shore on an island no one bothers to visit. It was peaceful."
    It's a few more hours before the Perwinkle catches sight of the whaling boat. It's a big one, definitely made for catching and dragging large sea life by chain and hook and harpoon back to land, and the Periwinkle slows.
    "Alright." The captain, a grizzled old sea dog of a man speaks up. "This is as far as I take you." He says before motioning to one of the ship's longboats. "From here on out you go on in that." 
    It is as he points out the longboat that something emerges from the watery depths. With a keening cry and a spout of water into the air, a young whale has risen from the icy chill to cluelessly take in some air.
    As the whaling boat begins to turn.
    Theres a SPLASH immediately after. As Leviathan leaps off the edge of the Periwinkle into the freezing waters below.

    Scavenger frowns at the whaling ship. If looks could kill, that ship would be nothing but driftwood right now. As it stands, she's just glowering hatefully.

    Ears flick as the captain of the Periwinkle tells the group they're going to have to use the launch, and she shoulders her sword and drops into the longboat. Once the others are aboard, she pushes off, and takes up an oar to start rowing.

    As the ship sails out, Matsu is quiet, watching (just barely) over the rails as the whaling expedition sails on in the distance. When Leviathan speaks to the young Phoenix Maiden, she inclines her head faintly. "I see." Her expression is unreadable - but perhaps just a bit less tense.

    Eventually, they come to the end of the proverbial line, and the young miko inclines her head to the captain. "Thank you for your assistance." Despite her small size, she's at least able to clamber herself into the longboat. But there's not more she can do just yet, aside from watch the whaling boat start to turn with a frown. She can at least start prepping talismans, however.

Benedicta's not jumping in after her, wet cold fur is something she would prefer to avoid if possible. She could always just fly to the island if it's close but it's probably best not to split the group up. Her horn glows yellow and several tentacles sprout from her back before wrapping around the other oar to paddle. They were stronger than her own arms after all.

     Martin catches Leviathan's words to Matsu, his ears and whiskers twitching as he silently contemplates them. Surely it was better than what was going to happen had they not saved the beast, and yet he can't help but feel that if they'd been sooner on this journey, perhaps he could have avoided adding another tally to the lives he could have saved but didn't.

None of this goes mentioned.

Instead, as the whaling vessel comes into view, the mouse warrior has a sharp intake of breath as a vague, cloudy memory from his early seasons flits through his mind, half-remembered. A gigantic slaving ship, red from its sails down to the bottom of its hull, an enormous rusty iron spike protruding from the foreward bow to puncture other ships and send them to the briny deep. Shouting, clashing of swords, his mother....

He climbs into the longboat with practiced ease, grabbing an oar and paddling with the others. "What I wouldn't give for an otter or two in a situation like this. Skipper Warthorn would've been right at home." he mutters, shaking his head sadly at the thought of friends he'll likely never see again.

    Well, that's it then. The boat ride's over and she rolls her eyes. She keeps her mild annoyance to herself, though; she doesn't feel particularly at risk though any sunlight, is making her just a might cranky. The wet suit she probably stole from offworld keeps light off of her skin and as she eyes the long boat she frowns openly. "Yo, you want us to do the- Aight. Hey, if anyone drowns I'm bringing them back so you can apologize to their bloated corpse." Beat. "Just kidding, thanks for the lift dude."

    She swoops from the deck and into the long boat, eyeing the ship in the distance over her sunglasses. "Y'know. If we're feeling it I can go get tangled up in their shiz. Get them real interested in not dying or something while you steer mini Monstro somewhere safer." That said, she kicks up her feet and pulls her hat down over her face, content to wait until 'go time'. Of course, it doesn't even cross her mind to take up oars and start rowing. What? Other people are doing fine!

    Seriously though, overcast or not the sun really does hamper her a bit. Attitude and all.

    With the team aboard the longboat, it starts to cut through the waters as people take up oars and begin rowing... Until something THUNKs underneath...
    And then the boat RAPIDLY picks up speed, Leviathan's powerful tail-fin visible at the rear, swishing through the wake and...

     o/` ~"I'll sing you a song, it's a song of the sea,
    Row, me bully boys, row!
    Oh, I'll sing you a song if you'll sing it with me~
    And it's row, me bully boys, row!

    And it's row, me bully boys, we're in a hurry, boys,
    We got a long way to go!
    And we'll sing and we'll dance and bid farewell to France,
    And it's row, me bully boys, row!" ~ o/`

    She sings again. Though she doesn't exert her siren power just yet, anyone with a sense of timing might figure out that they can row in tune with her singing to pick up the pace even faster as the longboat cuts through the water.
    That's when harpoons start to fly. The first volley misses as the men aboard the whaling boat use their initial shots to gauge aim and distance to their precious target, either paying no mind to the boat or not seeing it as Leviathan sidles it up to the whaling ship, where people can start climbing aboard.

    THUNK.

    Scavenger stops rowing, then the singing kicks up and she feels the rhythm. Resuming rowing to pick up the pace, her yellow eyes follow the harpoons.

    When the longboat gets up against the ship, she tosses her oar into the boat and leaps up to grasp onto the side of the ship and haul her way up. The Zalak didn't bring her heavy cleaver with her. So instead as she mantles over the side of the ship onto the deck, she draws a pair of katana blades. One with a teal grip and ebony black carbonfibre blade, the other a mundane looking metallic one with a black grip. She charges for where the harpoons are being fired from, aiming to disrupt the firing and give the whale some time to escape.

    When the longboat lurches, Matsu nearly loses her balance. She probably falls against Scavenger briefly, before straightening up, looking extremely embarrassed, and pretending nothing happened. And then, as they're heading in, she's quickly setting talismans here and there, organizing them into piles, and infusing them with magic. Muttered chants, flutters of fire, she can prep some things in advance.

    Like a shielding talisman.

    It's a very oddball use of the thing - but she's confident in making it work. The talisman is thrown, up towards the side of the boat, where it will erupt into a barrier... a barrier that will prevent them from firing harpoons or throwing spears across a wide swath of the whaling boat's side.

    Marceline does as little as possible as long as possible! Even leaving others to do the work of rowing, even if she does have the ability to make the boat slightly lighter, thereby making it more buoyant she absolutely doesn't think to do so. Nope, just reclining as long as she can get away with it! Really, even if she's called out she might even pretend to be asleep! Sun time is normally sleep time anyhow, right? So.

    She peeks, though, every once in a while just checking on their progress as Leviathan's tow makes them go faster than she would have thought! Eventually, "Welp. We're here. Gonna go get myself hooked. Byeeee!" She hops out of the boat and slips into the water with a small splash! She appears to sink like a stone.

    Leviathan may see her sliding through the water toward where the ranging harpoon shots landed, grabbing onto one as it's towed back in. Then, where there was a girl with a trailing mass of hair behind her, an inky black horror now exists, seemingly impaled on the harpoon. To cover for the other's entrance, the mass of tentacles and fanged maws rears up and screams with several voices at once. A tentacle enwraps at least two lines, pulling all the slack out as many more tentacles quest toward the ship.

    The whalers are going to need a bigger boat.

     Martin is surprised at first, both by the sudden shift in speed and by the singing. Still, it provides a measure of comfort- even if he doesn't know what a "France" is- as it reminds him of those comrades he once traveled alongside. Singing is a common woodlander pastime, especially on long journeys, and even more beloved by those creatures who called the water their home as much as the land. Skipper's otters, the Guosim shrews, even the mice of his childhood home often sang such ditties.

That's why, once he's sure he's got the melody and words down, he joins in for another round as they make their approach, rowing along to the rhythm. It ends all too soon, of course, but with a sigh he tucks that song away in his memory for future use.

Casting Marceline a perplexed glance, the mouse digs in his satchel for a moment to produce a rope with several hooks on the end. Checking to make sure he's clear, he whirls it above his head and tosses it up to the deck of the ship, letting it catch on the side railing. Once he's certain it's secure, he quickly climbs upward and hops aboard.

And then he understands what Marceline is doing, and watches for a moment in awe at her shape changing before turning to the others. Seems they've got things covered on their ends. Drawing his blade, he slips quietly toward the hatch to the lower decks.

Benedicta's not the only who can grow tentacles it seems. She can't turn herself into an eldritch horror though. She can't help but to look an uneasy for a moment as she's reminded of her her darker half for a moment. "Hey, don't sink the boat! I don't want have to do lifeguard duty here." She tosses the oar aside and grabs one of the harpoons with her own tentacles, she can't help but to be a bit envious of Marceline's power though.

    The second volley comes! Harpoon guns are loaded, and the call of the clueless sailor above signal that they're about to unload again.
    "Fire!" A man calls from above, and the harpoon guns go off...
    Only for their spears to pink ineffectually against a barrier that wasn't there a moment before.
    There are murmurs of confusion and bewilderment, before one of the returning harpoons has...
    "SEA MONSTER!" A man yells at the sight of Marceline as she tugs on the lines. Men move to cut the cables but that's when Scavenger makes it aboard, with her blades drawn.
    "The hell!?" Men cry as they scatter.
    "We've been boarded! To arms!" The mate calls.
    The ship erupts into chaos, which means Martin going into the hatch to the deck below? Goes completely unnoticed as the men draw blades and guns.
    This is when Leviathan pokes her head out of the water.
    "We should check on the whale while they're... Distracted." She suggests to Matsu and Benedicta.

    Scavenger snarls wordlessly, charging those that draw steel and clashing blade to blade. The carbonfibre blade cleaves handily through the steel of these privateers, the other blade clashing and notching their weapons as she uses her enhanced strength to overpower those who dare to face against her.

    The gun-armed ones are a problem she doesn't have a proper answer to, and without her cleaver to make impromptu cover she has to improvise.

    Sheathing the metallic blade, she grabs one of the melee fighters, using his body as a shield.

    Quiet, stern approval rests on Matsu's face as her talisman does its trick. However, it won't last forever; she picks up a pair of others and throws them as well, just so that the first one has some backing. Then, she turns to Leviathan, and gives the mer-girl a faint nod. "Agreed." A pause. "Is it... is it him? The son?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea..." She rather not fight them, if possible. She knows they're likely doing this to try and get by then actual malice. Still she's not ready to let the whales go extinct if she can do anything to stop it. The almir'aj moves to join Levithan and Natsu. The others seem to already seem to have the whalers distracted already.

     Martin uses his small size and the chaos to his advantage, stealthily maneuvering through the ship's innards as he searches for the storage. Most likely on the bottom deck, though a ship this size makes it a bit of a trek to get there even without having to evade the crew running about. All he needs is one good barrel of spare pitch, and that'll be the end of this vessel's whaling days...

    It's working! Marceline saves the smug for later, instead hamming up the act a little. She yanks and pulls on the cables, nominally to drag the boat closer or herself within range of feasting on the flesh of sailors. Really, she's either trying to snap lines herself or rip harpoon launchers from their mounts. A tentacle brushes by the longboat, flashing something that looks almost like a thumbs up with the claw-tipped appendage before it slides back into the water and grips at the hull of the whaling vessel.

    "Who dares quiet the song of my sea?!" Her voice booms, distorted by her many mouths. She's not much of an actor, though, so she's kind of falling back on this demonic legacy thing as much as possible without. Y'know. Murdering everyone. Or accidentally harming any of her peeps.

    The ship is in an uproar as Scavenger merciless cuts down whalers left and right, using a man as a human shield when they open fire on her. That should distract much of the crew.
    Betweem Scavenger and the monstrosity making demands about the 'song of the sea', the men are in a panic and their morale falters. The boat actually starts to turn away from the whale-- and Marceline. Mostly to get away from Marceline.
    Martin... Martin makes it to the lower decks. And finds the armory. There are barrels of gunpowder, whale oil, AND pitch to be found and do with as he pleases.
    "There's only one way to find out..." Leviathan says as she turns the longboat about and starts paddling it towards the whale, which has not left yet. At least until the longboat draws near... Then it sinks back down.
    But after a moment, a hand reaches up from the water, and a young man, ruggedly handsome, in hardy travel clothe climbs aboard to sit on the edge of the boat.
    "Huh. What's this now" He asks. "I came up for a breath of air and have visitors now."

    As Leviathan guides the two of them out, Matsu briefly glances at Benedicta, then back out over the water. Her thoughts are probably running along different lines; more in the neighborhood of concerns about the balance of nature, and cruelty to such magnificent spirits. This is far out of proportion with the kind of hunting she knows, the kind that gives reverence to the natural order and takes only what is needed.

    But it's as the whale sinks down under the water that her attention is pulled back... and then they're joined by someone who most assuredly was not there before. However, the Phoenix Maiden takes it in stride, arching an eyebrow. "You have hunters now, as well. We need to get you to safety. My... allies, can keep the ship distracted for a while, but all the same."

"Wait, is that him?" Benedicta's a bit confused about that. She figures he would have wounds from the harpoons at least. "Can you transform at will or is it random?" She can't help but to wonder about that as she climbs back onto the longboat. Of course she has more questions but one thing at a time.

     Martin doesn't even have to see it to know it. His keen mousey nose picks up the stench before he even enters the room, and as he undoes the lid of one of the barrels, it only confirms what he's found. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he reaches into his satchel and takes out a small stick with cloth wrapped around one end- a little half-torch.

Dipping the clothed end into the pitch barrel, he uses it to wipe a trail back toward the way he came in. A nice, thick path, making several return trips to make sure he has a perfect "wick" leading back to the barrels. Laying the torch down at the end, he takes a piece of flint from his bag and strikes it against his blade a few times, casting sparks onto the begrimed cloth. And the moment it catches, he /darts/ back topside.

"BAIL!" the mouse warrior shouts at the top of his lungs the moment he's on the main deck again, hurtling toward the edge of the boat as if he'd discovered a den of adders down there. Gripping tightly to his now-sheathed sword, he flings himself over the top of the railing and into the water, taking only the barest of moments to orient himself before swimming toward the longboat as quickly as his limbs can carry him.

    Scavenger's human shield works, and she drops the body once the others start breaking and the ship turns away from its prize. She pulls a set of small throwing knives, and uses them to disarm any gun-users who try to maintain engagement. "Leave. The Whales. Alone. Or you'll have to deal with me. And trust this: Between me, and my friend out there, you don't want to piss us off."

    And then, Martin comes running out from the under-decks and shouts to bail.

    Scavenger nods, sheathing Scalpel and runs to the gunwale, hopping up onto it and dropping off backwards into the water.

    Pulllll-creak-snap! Bang! One cable simply breaks as Marceline hauls on it while the ship turns to flee, another harpoon gun simply breaks loose of it's mounting and tumbles into the water. The one tentacle she managed to lay on the hull rakes a nasty series of furrows as the ship pulls away, then she simply releases.

    Good enough, she reckons, bobbing in the water. She has no real desire to do harm to people today, so she simply sinks into the water and makes her way back to the longboat- Wait, where-? She's distracted by the rat pack plunking into the water and, well. She extends tentacles to offer an easier trek through the water back to the longboat. Of course, she's oblivious of what's going on in the belly of the whaling ship.

    Sooooooooooo... About the whaling ship.
    Martin yells to bail, and when he and Scavenger go overboard the crew get the hint.
    "ABANDON SHIP!" Someone yells as the smell of burning becomes very prevalent. Men rush for the boats and start offloading into the water as fast as they can. Thankfully Marcy is in the water to retrieve the Rat Pack when they splash down, and can bring them to the longboat.
    "It's him. Leviathan says. "No doubt about it." To answer Benedicta as the young man frowns.
    "Ah... The hunters. The same ones that took my mother." He mutters.
    "I don't think it's a transformation. It's more like... His spirit?" Levi considers though, which earns a nod from the youth.
    "I'll take my leave then. I know a nice little island around these waters. We can meet up there, sometime soon." He decides before climbing out of the boat and back into the water. Though his head remains above water for a moment if anyone has any parting words, after that he sinks back to the depths.
    Just in time too. There's a big explosion aboard the boat. Though most of the crew has already evacuated. But this still likely won't solve the larger problem...

    Matsu glances briefly between Benedicta and the man, listening curiously to the answer. It's interesting, something to file away. But as he floats there in the water, she leans over the edge slightly.

    "I met your mother, briefly, when they brought her in. She left me with parting words for you, that I would humbly relay."

    Crimson eyes close, and the girl murmurs a simple, "'There's a wider world out there than the waters here.'"

    Rats are powerful swimmers, for land animals, and this Zalak is no different. Marceline's offer of assistance is, while not accepted, appreciated. She swims rapidly just under the surface and clambers aboard the longboat, dripping wet and scowling faintly. "We can't track down every single ship and just sink them one by one... we need to find the source of these ships, the impetus behind them and cut it out." she states, in probably the longest she's ever spoken to anyone here ever.

     As Martin scrambles aboard the longboat, with some help from Marceline and accompanied by one or two others, he spots the new guy and gives him a somewhat awkward wave. "Er, hello. Are you-" he starts to say, but the explosion cuts him off as he quickly covers his ears from the noise. Once the ringing stops, he sees the strange man has left.

With a sigh, the mouse nods to Scavenger. "Aye. No easy task, I'm sure, but we have the means. We need only the time."

"I see, so I guess we can meet there to plan...hopefully no beats us there." It seems like they have another rescue on their hands down the line. "Well, I don't think they're going to welcome us. Maybe sneak a tracking device on one of their boats and follow it? Then again I doubt they have GPS here." This place seems pretty low tech after all.

 Benedicta covers her ears upon hearing the loud explosion and nearly hops out of the boat, "I hope everyone got off okay...how much gunpowder did you guys use anyway?" She can smell the smoke all the way over here.

    The shock of the explosion makes Marceline flinch. Being so massive has a downside and being mostly submerged also doesn't help. She rips clear of the water, now human-looking again and looking haggard and unhappy. "Yo what-" She stops, coughs a bit of water out of her lungs and wipes her hair out of her face as she plunks down into the boat. Her eyes are bloodshot and her face is pinched in discomfort. "If you gotta blow stuff up at least, like- ugh. I wanted to see if they had anything I could use to charge up with." She swipes up her hat and pulls it down onto her soaking wet head, trying to shut out the ringing in her pointy ears.

    "I'd go on one of their boats but I'm not sure how long I'd make it before I started eating those fools." 

    Wait, but she's on /this/ boat now!