Bermuda Holiday Session 12

Princess Guard - The New Era 2017/16/03 	 Charm Titan Pulsar Wolf 35

Unknown Territory
The background noise is increasing as more passengers come out asking each other what that terrible wenching senation was. And getting no answers of course. Those few close enough to the bow to see are aghast at the sight of a dozen dead gray elves laying on the deck. The temperature remains a fierce heat in a definitely unexpected dense fog and close to 100% humidity. Pushing through the gathering crowd of onlookers - a crew officer with handset radio looks away from the sight of multiple bodies and calls out, "Captain's compliments. He wishes to speak to you heroes on the bridge.

Charm stares into the fog, looking for any hint of a nearby inter dimensional path.

Charm shakes her head. "There is a way to another world, but it is sealed, ages since, from the other side. I fear there is no path home that way."

Titan turns off his disguise entirely. After all, his presence as a hero might be more of a comfort to the passengers. "Perhaps Palanir here can help us with that. We should bring him along, I think."

Palanir looks at Charm again, shaking his head slightly in puzzlement. "Who are you, Ablewoman? I feel I should know you, or at least your house."

Charm says, "I am Araaina of house Talloth, Master Warleader. Like most of that family, of your former duchy. But not of a notable branch of the family: there is no reason you should know me."

Palanir nods to Charm. "You have been raised well, Ablewoman. You are a credit to the House of Talloth." Then he turns to Titan. "Let us settle the terms of my assistance. I will do that I can to assist the return of the humans to your world. In return you will allow me to go freely when that has been accomplished. In addition, you will allow me to take the food and medical supplies aboard this vessel to the gray brothers and sisters of the Lost Realm."

Pulsar merely hovers above the deck, his toes pointed straight down and his arms crossed above him. He keeps pace with the movement of the ship so it appears he's locked into place above the deck.

He watches the crewman head towards them, and he listens intently as the others speak. He's happy to be backup and not a citizen facing member of the team.

To help with the ghastly view, he floats to the center of the mayhem and rediverts the light from bouncing off the corpses of the dead elves to hide them from view from the growing crowd.

Titan raises a brow, "I can't speak for all of the food here. But...I suspect some might be able to be given for them to have. That will be up to the Captain, though. First, though, I need to know what you intended here, Palanir. Was it your intention to bring the ship here as a bunch of hostages?"

Palanir shakes his head. "Not at all, Ableman Johnathan. If not for the unfortunate effect of a lingering way-trap we whould have taken the ship through to the Lost Realm. All the passengers and crew would have been returned to your Earth. The supplies on this single ship would have lasted the settlement I am allied with for a year or more."

Pulsar is surprised at just how forthright Palanir is about all this - and that his intentions sound relatively noble. He has no idea who he's dealing with though, so he sticks to looking strong, tough & hiding corpses.

Charm sends, .oO(Surely he knows that a request for aid would have been heard. Piracy was not necessary - there must be more to it. Even if just making the settlement beholden to him..)

Titan sighs. "There are other ways to get food and water. You didn't think to just...ask. Because you've convinced the grey elves that they would be refused. I've seen their current lot. If they asked, I would help speak for them."

Palanir looks Titan right in the eye, "Maybe asking would have helped. Maybe not. The gray brothers attempted to assassinate you of the Princesses' Team with no prompting from me. The King of Undermoon is not of a forgiving nature. However, even if aid would have been given, that would not have served to consolidate my influence in their ranks. One kingdom has been taken from me. There is another."

.oO(Do the Grey Elves and ...) Pulsar pauses as he tries to find a fitting word. .oO('Regular' Elves not get along or something?)

Being the new guy is always tough, but beingt he new guy on a team that has to deal with inter-species relations is clearly a lot tougher.

.oO(Consolidate his influence? Geez - here I was almost beleiving this guy was trying to do what was right. That's a Mega-Baddie phrase right there.) The others might note, Pulsar's Mid-western accent is quite abite heavier over their mental line.

Titan smirks, "At least you're honest about your ambitions, I guess. Unlike whoever messed with my mind at the wedding." He says over the link, .oO( The grey elves are an offshoot of those of Undermoon. They were cut off in other realms that were sealed off to contain the magic-eating dragons. And it was assumed they perished. But they didn't. And the grey elves harbor a fair amount of resentment for it.)

Charm says, .oO(Or rather, we are an offshoot of them, for they hail from the ancient homelands.)

The crew officer coughs to get your attention. "The captain is waiting..." he reminds you all.

.oO(Well who could blame 'em. No one likes being left behind.) Pulsar says as he tries to get a better grip on the situation.

After the crewmember reminds the team they have other places to be at this very moment he adds, .oO(I'll stay here and keep the bodies from sight until you guys call. Hopefully the passengers will get bored of staring at me when you guys head to the bridge. If someone could just relay whatever happens up there so I can be kept in the loop.)

Titan nods, "Sorry, sir." He looks over to Palanir, "Come along, too." He heads off to go speak to the Captain.

Charm follows along. She's staying quiet, showing deference to the supposedly higher-ranking Palanir.

Wolf follows along with Ceci, back in-harness and attentive to her movements.

The bridge crew are on alert. The Captain comes straight over to you when you enter the bridge. "Have you any idea what is happening?" he asks. "We're lost all radio contact with everyone. The only signal is a weak AM transmission. Radar paints what I assume is a landmass fifty miles away at a bearing of 137 degrees. Nothing else except eight aerial contacts twenty miles away at 1500 feet altitude heading our way at seventy miles an hour."

Palanir follows Titan.

Titan nods to the Captain, "We have a good idea what happened. This man here..." He motions to Palanir, "...and his fellows attempted to pull the ship into another dimension, for piracy. The plan was to bring the ship someplace, take the foodstuffs on ship, and then return the people and vessel. That plan didn't work as intended. The mages with him died in the transition to another dimension, and we've ended up someplace else. We don't know what dimension we're in."

Titan says, "He has agreed to try to help us return the ship to its rightful dimension, along with the people. In exchange for letting him go and letting him have the food and drink on board."

The captain gives Palanir a look of utter hatred. "We have a brig." he tells Titan.

Charm has a sudden thought. "Those aerial contacts - of what size are they? Are they of metal?"

Titan nods. "If we can get the ship back to where it needs to be, that's the most important thing, Captain. Believe me, I'd love to just put this - expletive spoken in Greek - away."

Palanir smiles smugly, "Just the humans. The vessel would have been kept. You probably think a vessel of science such as this ship would be of no use on the Lost Realm. You forget the lack of mana. The vessel would have been usable."

Titan glances toward Palanir, "You're not helping."

Palanir shrugs, "I have given my word to assist you in returning humans... and this vessel... to your Earth. A change of plan forced upon me."

Titan echoes Charm's concern, "We have incoming fliers? Can you tell how big they are?"

The radar operator answers Charm. "Estimate size as about a single seat fighter. Impossible to tell if the contacts are stealthed metal or animals, and this blasted fog makes visual inspection impossible.

Charm explains her question to the captain. "The matter may be of some urgency. If this was one of the worlds abandoned to the dragons, as is likely, then it may be dragons yet survive.:

Palanir shakes his head, "Be at ease from that fear, Ablewoman. I have been on worlds where dragons survive. This is not one such, else there would be no mana here."

Titan contacts Pulsar, .oO( Mind going to check out what is coming out way? I think you're fast enough to get back here before they reach us. )

Charm nods. "Certainly dragons ordinarily would drink the world dry of mana. But in all the worlds is it not possible that there are exceptions?"

Palanir shakes his head again. He sighs in seeming genuine regret, "I have walked all the lost worlds, Ablewoman. None has more than a vestige of mana left."

editor's note: Palanir has been on Earth for over a year setting up this hi-jacking. He doesn't know how things have changed on the lost worlds.

Charm is actually shocked into a certain respect for Palanir. "All of them? Truly, Warmaster, the Grand Master Worldwalker himself cannot have matched that feat!"

Charm can't help but wonder if he walked all those worlds in search of her grandmother - and whether such effort indicates that, at the start at least, he had real love for her.

Titan says, "I suppose we'll need to see what is here so we can find another gateway back. Captain, you said there was land not too far away?"

Palanir says, "Then that is where we must go. This world is the destination of a way-trap. Exit from it will be blocked. And even if unblocked the way-trap will be triggered again. We must find the source of the trap and the blocking enchantment. No doubt trapped themselves. When that is done I will return to the Lost Realm and bring back sufficient worldwalkers to return this craft to your Earth."

Charm remarks, .oO(Alas, I see no other way but his plan. Though I can step between worlds I have not learned to find the hidden ways from one path to the next. Even if this world were unsealed I could not take us home.)

Titan says over the link, .oO( Alright, sounds like we have to go with it. The particulars can be worked out. ) He nods to Palanir, "It sounds like that's our only real option to get back, unfortunately."

Upon hearing the murmurings of an incoming contingent of fliers, Pulsar joins the conversation - though only in the audio-processing parts of the Princess Guard member's minds.

.oO(I'm actually pretty good with navigating - fog or not... on Earth at least. I'm going to go check those positive radar signatures out. If we've got fighters inbound we could be in for a world of trouble.)

He turns away from the dwindling crowd, knowing once heleaves the bodies will be back in full view. He hopes the most curious and the most sensitive alike have already wandered away as he takes off in the direction indicated by the Captain.

Being one of the faster beings present, he covers the distance relatively quickly. Its always relative when you're moving at near-luminal speeds.

As he spots the objects in the distance, he says over comms .oO(I've got contact. 8 objects... getting oh man... no way...) He thinks as he lowers the density of his photonic matrix to ambient levels. He plans on getting a much closer look - but it won't do any good if they can hit him.

A second later he's on them and what he thought he saw was absolutely on target. .oO(You guys aren't going to believe this... well maybe you guys might. But this is a first for me.) He seems very excited over the comms.

Palanir nods, "If there is another option you ahould seek to find it. The source of the way-trap will definitely be itself trapped. I have the best chance by far to detect those traps of Fae construction. So you need to think of another option in case I am killed by one of the traps."

Wolf settles back on his haunches, considering this, his nose and whiskers twitching as he simultaneously tracks Pulsar's progress over the comm-link.

Titan says over the link, .oO( What is it that you see? We won't believe what? )

Pulsar loops around the whole pack one time before he continues. Sort of like a near-luminal doubletake.

.oO(Sorry - its... a whole pack of pterosaurs! Like straight from the triassic.) He makes no attempt to hide from the great beasts - he's compeltely holographic. He doubts very seriously the Pterosauria can harm him like this.

.oO(They're amazing!) He sounds entirely too excited about all this.

Titan says over the link, .oO( Huh. Are they flying on their own, or are there riders? )

Wolf's eyes widen very slightly to hear that they are about to be attacked by flying dinosaurs. Part of his brain can't help but wonder if pterosaurs taste like chicken. The rest of his brain tsktsktsks in mild disapproval of such gaucheries.