After a relaxing night with Mave, Alptraum gets up before dawn to prepare for the upcoming journey. This involves 'topping off' from the Light of Nala before Tulani heads for Mr. Rephath to meet the airship, and hoping the tingling sensation in his tongue wears off soon (after Mave warned him not to lick the blue fur coloring, he of course had to lick it). It's still dark when he arrives at the Mages Tower in Babel, with just a bit of pink in the East hinting at the coming dawn.
The mooring rig is set up to receive the airship once it arrives, and there are a lot of guards on the landing, mainly Eeee and Khatta, although the coming dawn is likely to make night-vision as unreliable as it is during twilight.
Alptraum lands upon the platform and looks into the distance. He ponders if he should wait for the ship before dealing with the mage ... or sealing the mage now so that he's ready by the time they get here. Ultimately, he decides to go deal with the mage now just in case more time ends up being needed.
The door guards salute Alptraum, with the Eeee one doing the first-over-heart of Babel and the Jupani doing the hand-to-forehead one typical of Rephidim (and apparently Caroban).
Alptraum just sort of waves, the universal sign of a lazy bum. "I'm going down to prepare the primary cargo. When the ship arrives, send word," he requests.
"Will do!" the Eeee offers. "Five pings."
"That will work fine, thank you," Alptraum says. A short bow, and he heads through the door and into the tower.
The reception area is unmanned. Maybe because mages like to sleep in, or because non-essential staff is being kept out of the way in case of an attack. Alptraum doesn't smell anything from the cafeteria either.
Alptraum figures it's just early and anyone sane is still asleep. He wishes he was still asleep! Still, no rest for the wicked and all that, and he's pretty evil. Well, mostly evil. Kinda evil? The vanilla of evil?
Passing the infirmary produces a call from within, however: "Alptraum, you wicked man!" It's the familiar, somewhat shrill voice of Mage Trilby.
"What did I do now?" Alptraum calls back.
"You didn't tell me if it's going to be cold or not," the mouse-mage counters. "All I've got for my patients are trousers, so will they need coats as well?"
"I have no idea if it will be cold or not. Just bring a coat just in case!" Alptraum calls back.
"I was going to do that anyway!" Trilby declares. "Will see you outside then!"
"Then why are you mad?" Alptraum calls back and rolls his eyes.
"I'm not mad!" the mouse yells. "Are you calling me a mad doctor?"
"If the boot fits!" Alptraum quips.
"If it fits I wouldn't have anything to throw!" the mouse claims.
"Hah! Just make sure to bring plenty of air sickness medicine," Alptraum calls, and continues on.
Into the bowels of tower does Alptraum descend. There are extra guards at the door to the cell, and one at the door to observation room. Rostre is also there, past the guards in the main corridor.
Alptraum waves to them in kind as he passes through and heads towards the observation door. "Well, it's time to seal up that bastard for transport," he says, "And get him out of here."
"We'll all sleep better for that," the door guard says, and opens it for Alptraum. Cyprian and Gusty are both inside, with at least the Air Mage looking rested.
"Sleeping is good, yes," Alptraum agrees as he passes through the doorway and into the next room. "Well, shall we get this going so we can get him out of here and onto transit for spell dismantling?"
Cyprian nods. There are several empty mugs stacked around the room, and the air is thick with the scent of mateh. "He should still be unconscious. Once the door is opened the oxygen level will go back up, but he shouldn't wake up immediately from that."
"I'll work as fast as I can with him. This is uncharted territory for me and I'm no expert on magic," Alptraum admits, "Doesn't that just make you feel all safe and warm?" He sighs and sticks out his tongue for a moment on that. "And yes, before anyone asks, I'm nervous. Scared, really."
Amelia says, "Rostre has a spirit spell ready to stun Pancrazio if he stirs," Cyprian says, and then takes a deep breath. "I don't which of the Sisters to pray to in this circumstance.""
That gives Alptraum pause too. "I don't either," he admits. "It's a tossup between Sunala, or Zakaro given the domains I'll be touching. Maybe Gorphat, if you consider wanting someone in, well, a coma."
"I'll pray to Gorphat then, for any punishment to fall on Caradoc if something goes wrong," Cyprian says.
"Well, wish me luck, then. I'm ready as i will ever be," Alptraum claims.
Outside, the cell guards get ready. While one of them undoes the locks and seals on the cell door, the other two draw their weapons, even if they wouldn't be of much use. "I'm ready to open it," the third guard announces.
Alptraum rubs his face and takes several deep breaths. "I'm ready here as well," Alptraum claims, sounding more ready than he really feels.
The guard opens the door with an effort, and there's a rush of air as the pressure equalizes. "All yours!" he announces, and reaches for his own weapon.
And with that, Alptraum walks into the room to face off with the mage beyond it. There's no delay in his step or movement. He's going in and trying to make physical contact as quickly as possible so that he can start encasing the mage, as well as 'shutting' the mage's body down as far as he can without killing him.
The Eeee is restrained to his chair, and his head completely sealed off in a thistlebark box covered in runes and magic circles. One of the guards hurries in as well, and starts removing the restraints as quickly as he can.
Alptraum places his hands upon the mage and closes his eyes to concentrate on feel and not get distracted by sight. And then it's 'shadow' time, flowing things out and quickly encasing the mage with it, starting with the parts that are unrestrained first so that as one restrain is gone, the new shadow one is quickly replacing it. For the moment, just insuring immobility; going deeper to turn things 'off' will follow later.
The chair restraints are removed one at a time, the guard figuring out what Alptraum's doing and waiting for the previous limb to be engulfed before starting the next one. Once the shadow is up to the mage's neck, he starts to unfasten the box over the man's head. This is a bit trickier, as there are the enchantments to deactivate first, but that's accomplished by removing special seals before unlatching the box itself, which he does quickly and gets it out of the way.
As soon as the box comes away, Alptraum surges the shadow to swallow the mage's head within seconds, trying to give him zero time to react or recover before being engulfed in darkness again! If he manages that, it's pausing there to just take 'stock' of the mage's body as it is and work out how to slow everything down into hibernation...
There was an ear twitch just before the shadow finished engulfing the mage. The next part isn't exactly kenning, which probably wouldn't be a good idea given all of the stuff embedded in the man, but feeling a heartbeat is a lot easier when you cover the entire surface area. It's much, much slower now than it was initially.
Shutting down things works best from the outside in. So, starting at the extremities, he's working backwards and turning 'off' nerves in the man's muscles and the like to halt their movements and thus nutritional needs. In turn this should reduce the need for blood, and thus slow the heart down more. It's slow and tedious, but Alptraum doesn't want to dare risk a mistake now of all times. So, it's check, then double-check, before moving on.
The man appears to be unconscious, and there's no attempts to move limbs that Alptraum detects while disabling nerves and muscles. The implants are unknowns, but at least some of them tingle a bit. They may have thistlebark in them, or even some iron, but nothing that affects life magic (which is the primary component of the shadow-suspension technique) or shadow magic.
Alptraum has moved to the man's core, where slowing down any lung function is next, then ever inward towards the heart to still it as much as possible; only a beat when absolutely necessary.
His lungs were already affected by the low pressure, and may even be slightly inflamed. After days being kept on the edge of a coma, the body overall is in a weakened state. Alptraum can feel the small bits of grafted tissue as well throughout the mage's body.
Satisfied with where things are, it's onto his head, to try and quiet any noise going on within his brain; a dreamless sleep is the goal. This is all uncharted territory for him, so he's just guessing at how to do this by stilling any activity he encounters. And if he somehow manages that it's then trying to get the shadow to remember this as a 'state', and continually try to reapply it back to the mage to hold him in this static sort of existence.
Putting someone into a dream-state isn't that unfamiliar. Alptraum knows his way around dreams, after all. Cyprian didn't report dreaming when he was in stasis, so pure unconsciousness is possible.
Almost, almost, right there. Alptraum thinks he has it in a locked 'state', with the shadow replaying the physical state the body is in back to it over and over, production a sort of stillness in time to hold the mage in that pseudo-stasis. It's then that he finally breathes out and almost drops to his knees. He kept holding his own breath he was so nervous and now feels shaky himself!
Rostre slithers into the chamber. "I wasss going to carry him," she says to Alptraum. "Do you need assssisstance asss well?"
Alptraum waves the snake off. "I'll be fine, I just need a moment," he claims as he catches his breath.
"Gusssty can help with that," Rostre claims.
"Funny," Alptraum comments dryly. A few more deep breaths and he's able to stand up without shaking at least.
The Naga is already picking up the encased mage, frozen in a seated position.
Alptraum walks out of he room now too. "Right, so ... that's that. No turning back now," he tells Cyprian. "Time to board and get going. You don't have to go, you know. You look beat down pretty badly."
"I'll manage," Cyprian says, just before Gusty covers the Eeee's muzzle with his hand and says something. There's a blue flash of light, and Cyprian suddenly looks very alert.
"What in Dagh's name was that?" Alptraum hisses and grabs Gusty's throat! With claws!
"Erp?" the Air Mage yelps. "Oxygen burst," he wheezes.
"It doesn't last long though," Cyprian notes. "Started as an attempt at a hangover cure. It'll get me to the airship. You don't need to hold his throat like that.."
Alptraum slowly lets go. "Warn me before doing stuff like that. I might have pulled your throat out," he tells Gusty.
The Jupani rubs his throat. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt Cyprian," he says. "I had the spell ready at his request. He hasn't slept in I don't know how long, and he couldn't just keep drinking mateh to compensate."
Rostre just lets her tongue out in a slow 'sniff' at it all.
"You could be mind controlled for all I know," Alptraum points out. "Just ... warn me next time. I'm on high alert here."
"Do you need a pop as well, you look exhausted?" Gusty asks, even as he tries to usher the two Eeee up the stairs.
"I'm fine," Alptraum claims as he starts heading upward at the insistence. "Keep it up, though, and you're sharing a bunk with me," he threatens.
"I won't be sleeping on this trip," the Air Mage claims. Rostre follows behind with the shadow-encased criminal.
"We'll all be sleeping in shifts. We cannot have any of us getting too tired," Alptraum claims.
Trilby is waiting in the reception area. She has a large pack with her, carried by the larger of the two Cervani: Albrecht, and his son Adalric, formerly Mr. Sprocket and Mr. Velvet. The latter looks worried. Both of them are wearing heavy looking coats, while Trilby has her robes and a hooded cloak. "Did you all survive?" Trilby asks as the group arrives.
"Nope, we're all dead and just too stupid to notice," Alptraum remarks rather dryly.
"Well, try not to stink as you decay then," Trilby counters, not looking up to see the horrified expressions of the Cervani. There are then five sonar pings that come from outside.
"Ship is here. So, looks like we're all ready to go," Alptraum announces.
The airship is actually still in the process of mooring, but Alptraum can already see the Yodhrephath on deck, and Tulani rushing about. There appear to only be two other crew visible, and both of them are working on get attached to the mooring rig. The two Cervani stay close to the center line of the landing. It doesn't have guardrails after all.
The gangplank is eventually lowered, and Tulani waves for people to board. "Everyone's down in the hold. Where does the Mr. Evil go?" she asks.
Alptraum looks to Cyprian. "Where would you feel most comfortable stowing him? Ship center, below deck?" Alptraum asks.
"Not next to the victims," Cyprian says. "Someplace with a lockable door."
"You heard the man," Alptraum tells Tulani. "So, perhaps Captain's Quarters, then?"
"You're both going to be staying with him then, right?" Tulani asks, getting Trilby and the Cervani on first.
"I will be. I have to be, really," Alptraum concedes.
"I'll be there too," Cyprian notes.
"I'll be up on whatever is highest and has some room for my circle," Gusty says, coming up ahead of Rostre. "I've got a held ritual to get us going, but after that I'll need to work."
"You're welcome to find other quarters. I promise not to be too weird, though," Alptraum promises.
"I'll get Mage Floof settled then," Tulani says. "The quarters are past the chart room, I'm sure the three of you can squeeze in together. There's a chair for your prisoner."
"Lead me," Rostre says to Alptraum. "I need to drop the mage off and return to the tower."
"All right, so, onward to our doom, I guess," Alptraum remarks and waves for the others to follow him towards where the quarters area ought to be.
Rostre deposits Caradoc in the available chair, and reverses her way out. "Don't forget to tie him down," she says before slithering out. Then there's a whistle, which probably means something to airship crews. Likely that they're going to unmoor soon.
"I didn't bring any rope," Cyprian says. "I barely brought myself. Mind if I take a nap?"
"Take a nap. You're going to need it. I'm awake for now, so that should be good enough for the time being," Alptraum agrees. He finds a second chair and sits down on it to stare at the encased mage (and monitor his aura/state).
The aura is barely there, which is appropriate. This close to the linked men, Alptraum can see the connecting threads with Barsunala sight. It makes the encased mage look a bit like a spider at the center of a web though. A blobby spider.
"So far, he's inert, though I can see all the threads now branching out. Did i ever mention I hate spiders?" Alptraum comments randomly.
There's a lurch, and the airship sways a bit. They're gaining altitude, something Eeee can easily sense. A moment later and they're moving at speed. "What about Grabbits?" Cyprian asks, eyes closed as he lies on the cot.
"I don't like them, either," Alptraum admits. "Ever since I stole that man's pants and he turned into a huge spider monster, I tend to avoid them."
"Why did you still a man's pants?" Cyprian asks.
"He was in the way to getting into the pub," Alptraum explains. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
"Hmmm, perhaps a sign to avoid pubs then," Cyprian says.
"You haven't lived until you steal someone's pants," Alptraum claims. "Also, I'm probably not doing much good to the dignity of my station."
"Pubs and taverns are essential to getting quests," a tiny voice pipes up, as a tiny Kaira appears on Alptraum's shoulder. "Or should I do a pirate-parrot accent? Do you even have parrots here? I'm here to help watch too, if you need a rest."
"What's a parrot?" Alptraum has to ask. "Also, are you spying on me?"
"It's not spying if you're a Guardian Angel," the little dragon claims, puffing out her wings. "I'm here to spy on everyone else."
"This guy here," Alptraum explains, "Is sort of like this world's Vorgulremik-like person. Lived a very long time and has lived off of so many others."
"Yes, and you need to keep him alive to be interrogated," Kaira notes. "About all the magical tools his group has and where they might be, right?"
"If possible. The main thing, though, is to disable his spell linking him to the others. Their lives are paramount. If he survives, that's a bonus," Alptraum says. "I won't risk them to save him."
"And you're going to douse him oil just in case though, aren't you?" the dragon suggests. "That way he'll be extra flammable if he tries anything after you sever the links."
"Something like that," Alptraum admits. "It's likely he intends to become a lich, the supreme undead ... thing. And I'd rather not have one of those around. They make my butt itch."
"You've dealt with one before?" Cyprian asks, still not quite asleep.
"I've dealt with things close enough," Alptraum claims.
"So... I guess eating the guy is out of the question?" Kaira asks. "After breaking the curse or whatever on the others, I mean."
"I've told you this before, I don't eat people. I won't go down that path," Alptraum remarks. "I won't even risk the possibility of how that could affect me."
"What about chewing him up and spitting him out though?" Kaira asks. "Not eating if you don't swallow."
"He's too big for my mouth," Alptraum claims and flicks ane ye over to look at Kaira. "Unless you're suggesting I take on a Steel Dragon body...?"
"Nooo," the dragon overacts. "We'll sack that castle when we come to it. You need him sane then too, technically."
"The sanity ship sailed without him a long, long time ago," Alptraum remarks. "He's thousands of years old."
"All of him or just bits?" Kaira asks. "Or is he like the Sabaoth, transferring his mind to a new host every so often?"
"The latter, mostly, along with being a patchwork mess of other people's bits," Alptraum explains. "As best I understand it."
"Sure there isn't a demon involved?" Kaira asks, hopping over to perch on the stasis-shelled mage. "Dr. Twig and the others must have known about this, or else decided it wasn't a useful path to follow."
"Or knew it was too close to necromancy and avoided it," Alptraum adds. "I really have no idea what's involved in it, and I've never really wanted to know."
"Amenlichtli had Black Hearts and a Shadow Dragon," Kaira notes. "So are the Royal Mage techniques likewise from her own research? Or is it just something specifically Babelite do you think?"
"Probably tangentially related, since I think the whole Sabbaoth process was learned from her in the first place as part of her weaving her control into the city," Alptraum admits.
"So something we've never dealt with before," Kaira concludes. "I'll go check on the others," she offers, then fades out, except for her grin which lingers for a few seconds.
"I'm pretty sure they're all panicking right about now. They have no reason to believe we're not just taking them to die. And it's not like the city has a good reputation," Alptraum comments now to the air instead. He sighs a bit and rubs over his face.
Things are quiet for awhile, and Cyprian finally dozes off. Kaira eventually reappears on Alptraum's shoulder. "I checked around," she reports. "The nearly-naked men in the hold are being made uncomfortable by the mouse doctor examining them, and the bunny and mouse among them are too intimidated to flirt with her. Also, the big deer dudes are very confused, since everyone else seems to know them but they don't remember any of them. There's a flying snake pacing us, and no pursuers have appeared yet. Tulani says we have a bit more ground to cover before.. there isn't any more ground cover to hide people. The airship doesn't fly as fast as a dragon, so it should be another full day of flight at the speed the Air Mage is able to manage."
"Also, since we're flying into the sun it will make us hard to spot, at least until it rises more."
"About what I expected it to be," Alptraum admits and shrugs some. "If we're lucky, we won't get attacked and we'll be able to work on this ritual in relative peace by tomorrow. But, so far, nothing unexpected or worrisome yet."
"This close to the city, the Yodhrephath are probably still watching," Kaira says. "I listened to some of them talking on the deck. They figure there are spotters along the route keeping an eye on things. Until the ship reaches the wasteland anyway. If the enemy tries anything, that will be the place.. assuming they know where you're going and have time to get out ahead without alerting the watchers."
"Which is hopefully unlikely, unless they have spies in the Yodhrephath tower or the mage's tower and knew of the plan," Alptraum points out and lets out a long breath. "So, that's in our favor too. Are any of them complaining I'm not out there helping?"
"I'm not sure the men would complain with the doctor down there with them," the dragon notes. "The Yodhrephath all seem focused on their duties. Tulani is with the Air Mage and helping to pilot, since there's no navigator. I didn't peep on the airship crew that much."
"Well, I hope they do know I'm not just in here lazing about, I'm keeping an eye on this bastard here. Not Cyprian, the other bastard," Alptraum jokes.
"The ones down below don't know he's here," Kaira claims. "At least from what I've overheard. The Cervani and Trilby know, but haven't actually said anything. It's still possible that one or more of them can be tracked or magically eavesdropped on now that they're out of the anti-magic dungeon."
"Right. I'm not sure they know I'm here anyway. They didn't see me board, after all," Alptraum points out. "Only the Cervani did, and they won't be talking either."
"I think they're mostly focused on the Cervani down there," Kaira notes. "They're the recovered ones after all, and the others are thinking about what it means. They can get the lives back, but they don't know anything about those lives, only that who they are now will be gone. It seems like they're testing the personalities of the bucks."
"They're worried who they were may be worse than who they are. It's understandable, honestly. I'm not sure how I would react in that situation, either," Alptraum concedes. "Though to be fair, I'm also not quite sure how I could be any worse, heh."
"You could start remembering past Barsunala incarnations," Kaira warns.
"Yeah, that would probably be worse," Alptraum concedes, "I mean, when I was raised babelite."
"Maybe you were a rat, or a unicorn, or something," Kaira adds, smirking. "How weird would that be?"
"Plenty weird," Alptraum says and glares at Kaira, then thumbs towards Cyprian in case he's listening!
There's a knock on the door, and Tulani asks, "Everything alright in there? No issues with the Air Magic?"
"Everything is fine. I'm just talking to Kaira while keeping an eye on the pudding-cicle on the chair. Is everything okay on deck? No one annoyed I'm not out helping?" Alptraum asks.
"Helping with what?" Tulani asks. "None of the passengers have asked to come up on deck yet. I suspect Mr. Stitch will be the first to do so though. Not sure how safe that would be though, since he's a Vartan."
"Trim his wing feathers, problem solved," Alptraum points out. "No flying off.
"And tie him up too?" Tulani replies through the door. "He's stronger than the rest of us. I'd let him up just to keep him away from the others. If anyone is going to go on a killing spree or try to kill himself to trigger things, my money is on that bird. Mainly because I don't trust his 'brother', who was willingly working with the Doctor."
"I could overpower him," Alptraum points out. "And frankly, so could you; dragon." His brow goes up.
"I don't want to bring out the dragon again if I can help it," Tulani notes. "When I checked below, they have the big Rhian keeping close to him. Mr. Straw? And I imagine Trilby probably has sedatives with her, but not sure. She was making them tea."
"I like you as the dragon," Alptraum remarks and shrugs. "I wish you wouldn't be so scared of it. And yes, I highly suspect trilby is slipping them mild sedatives to keep them all calm."
"Do you think anything will come out of that old city?" Tulani asks. "If anyone other than you can enter it, it may be this old mage."
"I really doubt it, honestly. I don't think anything in there can survive outside of the old city now," Alptraum says as he shifts a bit to stretch some joints.
"Don't forget to open a window if you the bat-funk in there gets too thick," Tulani then teases, trying to sound chipper again. "I'll be up on lookout in the Korv's Nest. Send your pet lizard if you need anything."
"You have a pet lizard?" Kaira asks Alptraum.
"You, lizard breath," Alptraum clarifies and rolls his eyes. He also smacks Tulani hard on the butt while she tries to escape. "Catbutt," he counter-teases.
"Hah!" Tulani says, and closes the door behind her. Did Cyprian sleep through all of that?
Alptraum suspects not. Cyprian is annoying like that.
The Mage looks completely out of it though. He may difficult to wake up at this point. "Probably dreaming of caffeine or work," Kaira says. "Are you going to sleep when he does wake up?"
"If I'm tired, probably. It's not like I can do much else right now," Alptraum points out shrugs some. "I have at least gotten some sleep lately, unlike them."
"Well, I can regale you with stories if you like, to pass the time," Kaira offers. "Or games!"
"No games like 'What do I sound like?' please," Alptraum pleads. "And at least none of the Goddesses are along for the ride, either. They're hard to ever keep placated."
"Nah, I have something simple and amusing," the dragon says, and produces a little booklet and a pencil. She opens it to a page at random, and says, "Alright, let's start. Give me a proper name, then a type of plant.."
Alptraum rolls his eyes and sighs. "Radhagast, and fern," he offers as his responses.
Dragons have weird senses of humor, as if Alptraum didn't already know. After the seemingly random questions, Kaira reads out a little story that makes use of them. It sounds ridiculous, but at least it's not 'what do I sound like?' It does seem like something Hexen would find hilarious though.
And Alptraum does end up laughing a bit himself. "Fine, fine, we'll do another then. We've got some hours to kill after all," he concedes after that.
The travel games lasted for a few hours more, to be interrupted by a flare of alarm in some of the auras, with Tulani's being the one Alptraum is most familiar with. Something must be happening outside.
"Problem on deck," Alptraum says as he sits up quickly, then is on his feet moments later. "Can you keep an eye on him? I'll go see what is going on," he asks of Cyprian.
"I'll keep my whole brain on him," Cyprian promises.
"Just not in him, eh?" Alptraum requests, then he's out the door in a hurry, wilgs pulled in tight so he can run through with less worry about snagging.
Tulani is already coming down through the canopy, where she'd been up in the Korv's next. "Alptraum!" she calls, as soon as the two see each other. "Unknown airship, Spinner's off to intercept," she quickly reports. "How charged up are you?"
Alptraum pauses to consider. "About Seventy five percent? Something around there? I sunk a chunk in the shell holding the mage after the last recharge," he calls back. "I think I can manage. Do you want me to somehow shroud the ship or something?"
"That's exactly what I was going to ask you for!" Tulani says with a grin. "Because the other ship did that as soon we spotted them. But.. we know they're there, and they know we're here, but I'm hoping your cloak is better."
"I can try," Alptraum calls back, then louder in hopes that everyone onboard can hear. "Listen up, I'm going to envelop everything to try and mask us more. Please, I ask you don't panic. I won't hard any of you, though it might be a bit disconcerting; it'll seem like we'll be floating in nothingness."
"I don't suppose you could tell if it was a Shadow Mage on the other airship or an artifact effect?" Kaira asks Tulani. "They were a few miles out, and it looked like it vanished into a heat shimmer, like a mirage," Tulani replies.
Koth gets next to Alptraum, and Rag goes to Gusty, bows at the ready and sweeping their gaze around in case anything else suddenly appears.
Alptraum crouches down and places his right hand on the deck. "I'm going to count to ten, then shroud. Again, it is perfectly safe for all of you. Please do not panic," he repeats.
"I think Trilby has everyone in the hold on sedatives," Tulani says.
And count Alptraum does; relying on those around him to watch since he has to focus elsewhere. When he hits one, he breathes out. As his breath flows, show does a billowing wave of shadow from him. Outward, across the ship, rippling further and further, swallowing everything in its dark embrace. Once people find themselves inside it, it's like their 'world' is floating in nothing. What light they have from candles is it. Well, except on-deck where Alptraum himself is alight. Part of him, anyway. He's mostly indistinct, save for his right hand which ripples and pulsates like some alien living thing. Strands of pulsing light flow out from it, like a spidering of blood vessels in a pool of oil. He looks like he's incomplete, or partially skinned down to the bare bits of himself.
"Rephath's tits I want to know how to do that," Ardeth says, since her attention is focused on Alptraum. She then checks to see if she looks flayed as well.
Alas, everyone else looks normal to themselves.
"If they've got a real Shadow Mage, then they may waste their time trying to dispel Alptraum's cloak if they get close enough," Pith suggests. "If they shoot at Spinner though, she'll try to splash them."
"I don't think there's any question that they are enemies," Tulani says. "And I'd prefer they go down before they get close enough anyway. My concern is that they may not be the only ones. If there's a cloaked ship that we didn't see first we'd have a hard time spotting it."
"How're you holding up?" Kaira whispers into Alptraum's ear.
"I'll try to see if i can use my shadow sphere as a magnification of my own senses. Maybe I could feel them if so. Long shot, but ..." Alptraum says. His eyes are closed, his focus on the ship. "So far, so good," he tells Kaira, "But I wouldn't want to do this for hours, I can feel my reserves ... ticking." Then he's quiet again as he's now listening, or trying to listen, from the sphere itself and feel for everything around them.
It's a bit like Barsunala-vision, but with an airship-sized eyeball. The sky is rendered black, the ground silver. But the enemy airship is silver splotch to port, with the silhouette of a Ptera heading towards it. There are a few points in the distance behind them, but Alptraum can't tell if they're moving or if they're in the mountains.
"I only see the one ship, but there are vague points behind it in the distance. I can't tell what they are; could be anything," Alptraum calls out.
"I can't see out of the cloak very clearly," Tulani says. "We haven't changed course though. Can you see Spinner?" she asks.
"She's heading towards them still, I can make her out fine," Alptraum claims.
For the next portion of an hour, it's a bit of a waiting game. Ardeth says she thinks they're using an artifact, since cloaking an entire airship for that long should be more than a single Shadow Mage could handle (unless their are multiple ones of course). Spinner is criss-crossing the area trying to find them. Maintaining the cloak is hard on Alptraum, but he can be recharged if he needs the break. "They weren't cloaked from the start, so whatever they're using has a time limit," Ardeth says. "They should be using that to put more distance between us."
From what Alptraum can tell, the other ship is just moving erratically but not moving away from them. Their cloak has been start to fluctuate in intensity though.
Alptraum feels his own levels 'ticking'. He's not at risk yet, but he's not sure how long he'll last, either; he things he's below fifty percent of what is 'full' to him, but it's a vague guess; he doesn't run to limit often enough to really gauge it well. "They're erratic to what I feel. I feel their bubble ... rippling a lot now. They might be running out of time. I'm okay for the moment, but I'd rather not hold this another couple of hours."
"They should be running then if they're running out of time," Tulani says, biting her lip. "What is Spinner armed with?"
"Bolt of Vengeance is her specialty," Ardeth notes. "Longer range than Babelite footbows, but if they have magical attacks or defenses it could change things. They haven't attacked, despite have the stealth advantage, which means they either can't target through their cloak or only have one shot. Spinny's bolt always hits, unless she's too close."
"Royal Mages are always dual-sphere," Cyprian notes, emerging from the cabin to check on things. "They won't be out to bring us down. They have an Air Mage or they wouldn't be able to keep up. You don't dual-sphere outside your arc, so an Air Mage would have another elemental Sphere. Shadow would likely have Dream or Spirit as a second."
"Why wouldn't they try to bring us down?" Tulani asks. "Isn't killing the linked men the goal?"
"Alright, if that is the goal for triggering a transformation in Caradoc, then yes they could try to bring us down," Cyprian admits. "If it's meant to cause something else though, and doing it outside of the city serves no purpose, then they will try to rescue him."
The cloak on the enemy ship is definitely starting to fade now.
"The ritual he has may take a lot of life magic to trigger and work. Just his victims may not be enough. They may just be a catalyst, something to spart an 'out of control' fire of consuming life, so to speak," Alptraum offers as the explanation. His ears perk out of instinct, not from hearing something. "Their cloak is failing, but be careful. It could be a ruse too, to lure us."
"Keep an eye on Spinner," Tulani asks, as she paces.
"Focusing on her. Spinner, be safe. We're family on this ship," Alptraum mutters.
The other ship's cloak vanishes. Spinner spots it immediately and turns towards it, but doesn't try to close in immediately. Eventually there's a flare of magic from the Ptera rider, and another from the airship.. and that's it. No explosion. The Ptera immediately falls back, and just follows from a longer distance.
"No explosion from whatever Spinner did. Does that mean they canceled her out?" Alptraum asks. "She's backing off from the ship now..."
"They were buying time to get a dispel ready," Cyprian says. "That's why they didn't run. That means they have a Spirit Mage and a Fire Mage, it would take both dispels to work against a Yodhrephath attack miracle."
"They were supposed to have decimated our escort flyers in the shipping lane attacks," Ardeth says. "They weren't prepared to face one."
"You can probably drop our cloak then, Alptraum," Tulani says.
"Shadow and Spirit, those are two of the keys to undoing Caradoc's stasis," Cyprian notes.
"Good," Alptraum breathes out. The sphere of darkness ripples around them, then pulls back in. Light slowly returns around the ship and The haunting 'blood vessel' look Alptraum had also goes with it. He's left kneeling on the deck and shaking out his right hand.
"Darn," Kaira squeaks. "I can't sneak onto their ship if they have a Spirit Mage. I can probably get a message to Spinner though."
"I'm going to need a recharge if we want to do that again," Alptraum calls up to Tulani. "And Kaira, no getting yourself erased. Then I'm stuck with you know who, and he's not a good dinner date."
"Pff, I'm just a shadow-spirit projection," the little dragon notes. "And I'm small and sneaky. Don't recharge near the prisoner, just in case. And figure out what instructions you want to give Spinner."
"She won't be able to summon another bolt today," Ardeth says.
"Do we have something simpler? A strong ballista-like bow, some alcohol, and some rags? Or heck, a bow and some alcohol soaked rags. Those would not be friendly to a gas bag. And it would give the fire mage a workout," Alptraum suggests. "And I'm coming up to join you, Tulani."
"Korv's nest it is then," Tulani says.
"Good thinking, overpowering the Mage's ability to dispel is a viable tactic, but small fires aren't going to do it," Cyprian says. "We'll work something out though."
"If we had tar on board, you could do strafing and spray coat the hull with the tar, then light that," Alptraum offers as he's heading up to the crow's nest. "We used tar a lot back in Sylvania to set up camp defenses against undead."
"Wouldn't you have been inside the fire then?" Tulani asks as they climb. Then they're past the canopy to Korv's nest, amid all the outer rigging.
"Yes, we were. We set up an impenetrable perimeter," Alptraum answers as they climb. At least when you can fly, heights don't usually bother you.
It does seem windier up here though. "Wouldn't it be better to set the fire inside one of the gasbags?" Kaira asks once Alptraum is settled in the rather small basket.
"That would require being inside the bag," Alptraum points out.
"Yes, so nobody would be expecting it!" the mini-dragon claims.
"We can't get into the bag," Alptraum points out the obvious.
Tulani draws out the Light for a few inches. "Time to Light-Up," she says.
Alptraum holds his hand close by to absorb. "Here's hoping we don't signal everyone for miles, eh?" he notes grimly.
"I'm only concerned about the guy down below," Tulani says. "No other Life Mages have noticed it being drawn in Babel, and we're pretty far out from the other ship. Although they probably have a Life Mage too."
"Well, with me here actively 'eating' it, it may not even go very far," Alptraum notes.
"So, what do want to tell Spinner?" Tulani asks while Alptraum feeds. "I don't know how long she can stay out like that, despite her claim to be able to go for days."
"I don't want her to try and show off. I want her safe," Alptraum remarks as he peers into the distance after her. "I'd rather that she tag the ship with some sort of a beacon, then return," he admits. Looking down, he calls, "Can Spinner mark a target? Or is the arrow the only miracle she knows?"
Ardeth actually comes halfway up the ladderway to reply. "What do you mean by mark? With Ptera poop?" she asks.
"Something we could sense at a distance, so we could track them easier, without needing to be able to see them," Alptraum answers.
"Nothing like that," Ardeth says. "It's always been explode or not-explode."
"Pity," Alptraum calls back. "What are her full range of miracles?"
"Well.. I know she can do the bolt, but I'm not sure if she's ever managed others, actually," Ardeth admits. "I go ask the others if they know."
As Ardeth descends, Tulani asks Alptraum, "Can you do any Sunala miracles?"
"Well, if they don't have a spirit mage on board, I could probably spirit-tag the ship," Alptraum concedes, "But I'd need to be closer myself to do it. I don't think I could do it at this range."
"How big of a spirit does it need to be?" Kaira asks.
"If it's something I made, not very at all. I should be able to always sort of tell where it is, roughly, at least distance wise," Alptraum says.
"I can bring it then, probably," Kaira says. "I'm technically a spirit creation of yours."
"It should be stuck somewhere they wouldn't know it was there, either. So under the hull or atop the bag," Alptraum says. "But yeah, they probably have a spirit mage. But if I mix it with shadow ... they might not be able to know what to do with it."
"It would probably need to be soon then, before they've recovered from dealing with Spinner's attack," Tulani says. "They can't know what else she can do, so they should be busy preparing more dispels to hold."
"Tight, give me a moment, then," Alptraum says and closes his eyes to concentrate on it. Small, simple, and him. The shadow-mix swirls in his palm, taking on the shape of the Sunala + Eye that got attributed to him by the people of Babel. One side is smooth, the other are little short hooks, dozens of them. "Stick this on the hull if you can?" he asks when his eyes opens and he's holding the small bit of hardened 'shadow'. "I based this on the same way I encapsulated the jerk below, so I think it should last."
Kaira takes it, and goes invisible. The tag still remains visible though. Ardeth comes back up the tube, stopping midway again. "She's supposed to be good with Roar of Rephath and Fear of Rephath, but nobody's actually seen her do either of them."
"I don't think either of those would help here," Alptraum admits down to Ardeth. "I'm trying a mark of my own. I hope it'll work."
"I think either of the miracles would disrupt spellcasting though," Ardeth offers. "But she can't do more than one, like a Mage can. Otherwise either used before launching a Bolt of Vengeance would probably work."
"She won't have the necessary energy collected for more than one. I'm lucky in that I have a builtin reserve of a sort. I'd like her back to the ship to recover then. If my mark works, I'll be able to track the ship myself and allow her time to collect her energies by communing with Rephath," Alptraum calls down.
"I'll tell her to turn back then, plant the tag, and just dematerialize," Kaira says. "Anything else?"
"That's it for now. I can reach you if anything else is needed. Please be careful. Fly low, arc up from underneath, try and stay out of sight and range," Alptraum instructs.
"I'm invisible to reserve power," Kaira says. And then the tag bobs off into the sky.
"How long do you think it will take her to fly a few miles?" Tulani asks Alptraum.
"At that size? Those wings? The wind? Fifteen minutes, minimum," Alptraum admits. "I'm trying to keep my senses on her; since she is formed from part of me, I think I should be able to.
"I don't like her doing it, I'd rather do it myself. But, I have to be realistic, she's less obvious than I am," he sighs. "I don't like risking any of you."
Tulani is quite for a few minutes, watching the other airship intently. Kaira isn't heading for it, but for Spinner first. She seems to move at a constant speed, unaffected by the wind at least. "They aren't coming any closer," Tulani reports. "Not sure they know where we're going."
"They don't need to, they just have to tail us," Alptraum points out.
"Air Mages have to sleep at some point," Tulani notes. "They'd have been really pushing theirs to catch up to us, unless they left at the exact same time we did. But they could be tracking something or someone. This was their ship at one time, after all."
"There is probably a tracker embedded in one of the prisoners. It's what I would have done," Alptraum admits. "We've planned as best we can here, so now we deal with what comes. No bravado, no heroics, I want us all coming home safe, okay?"
"I'm going to check on Gusty," Tulani says. "I should be back before Spinner gets the message. Does.. does she know you have a dragon 'familiar'?"
"She knows I'm weird as well, and Kaira isn't anything babelite. I doubt she'd not believe it," Alptraum points out.
"Well, here's hoping then, but we should probably come up with some pass phrases when she gets back," Tulani says, and heads down below.
Alptraum keeps watching in the distance, not descending yet. He's not so much looking, as trying to feel where Kaira is, Spinner, and the mark.
The mark is the easiest to the sense, which is probably good. Since Spinner isn't using any magic at the moment, she's harder to keep track of (and she keeps moving). But the marker is about three quarters of the way to her by now.
Alptraum breathes out. It'll be a bit still. So, he descends now and lands on the deck. "Any update on the main prisoner?" he asks.
"And no, no explosions. Just ... waiting, which makes me itch," Alptraum remarks to Pith on the deck.
Cyprian isn't on deck, so presumably is back with the prisoner, and Tulani is at the tiller with Gusty. Pith nods, but the archers still seem on alert, on either side of the deck.
"What's going on," a squeaky voice asks from lower deck gangway.
"Enemy ship in the distance, at least two mages. Their 'cloak' is down, and they're not getting any closer. I'm trying to mark them to keep an eye on them, and we've been discussing how to deal more directly with them," Alptraum calls back.
"Are we going transparent again?" Trilby asks. "I've got Gusty's go-potion if he needs it."
"We're visible now. I don't plan to cloak again unless we need to. Especially not until Spinner gets back," Alptraum answers. "I think Gusty's okay, but..." He whistles up to the tiller to try and get his attention. "You okay?"
"Me?" Tulani calls back. Gusty is apparently in the middle of chanting.
"The other you up there!" Alptraum answers. "Does he need his juice?"
"His juice?" Tulani calls back.
"It started as a hangover cure and went from there," Trilby notes. "It's the magical equivalent of a liter of Mateh administered intravenously."
"Does it come with a diaper?" Tulani calls. "He doesn't seem worn out yet."
"Tulani says he's fine, but he'll need ... a diaper for it?" Alptraum calls back. He hopes that was a joke...
"It isn't really like drinking a lot of Mateh," Trilby claims. "He doesn't need a diaper. I'll just keep it ready then in case we get into a race, or close-up combat."
"Sounds good," Alptraum calls back. "Everyone okay below deck?"
"Maybe some hallucinations," Trilby says. "Actually I just suggested they were hallucinating."
"Because of the shadow wave?" Alptraum asks.
"And because they were already a bit loopy," Trilby says.
"Fair enough," Alptraum has to concede. He looks back towards where Kaira was going and tries to 'ping' her location again.
The tag is certainly out there. But since Kaira hasn't reappeared it probably hasn't been attached yet. "Spinner is a very skeptical girl," Alptraum hears. "She will head back shortly. She wants to wait until a bit after I've attached the tracker."
"Not surprised, we didn't warn her I might send you. I never even thought of it," Alptraum admits in thought. "What does the ship look like up close?"
"I'm looking at the butt of it, trying to get under and to the front. If Spinner has been behind them, they'll probably check the butt, but not the front. Those are the right terms, aren't they? Why has it go so many pokey bits sticking out anyway?" the dragon-ghost replies.
"Bow is the front," Alptraum thinks. "And the bits are because, well, Babelite. My mark should hide nicely in that, though. As should you."
"So the spikes aren't for impaling giant airship-eating insects?" Kaira asks. "I've found a little pit or crotch in the bow. I'm sticking it inside. Do you prefer pit or crotch as a term? Bow-crotch sounds better to me than bow-pit."
"I don't care what you call it, you weird pervert," Alptraum thinks as his ears flush hot from all the bizarre images that come to mind. He's been screwed by insects as Nicora, so that's what tends to come to mind. "Place it carefully, then get back. Carefully!"
"I'm carefully cramming it into the crotch," Kaira claims. "It won't come loose. Heading back to Spinner now. I haven't gone high enough to see what might be on deck, so unless they're looking for invisible things they shouldn't have spotted me."
"Now I'm going to think of you as public lice. Thanks for that," Alptraum grouses and rubs his face, repeatedly. "Mark placed, she's coming back," he manages to call over to Tulani. "Spinner will be soon, too."
"Why are you making those odd expressions," Pith asks. She's been staring at Alptraum for a bit now.
"Are their airship lice, like.. flying barnacles?" Kaira asks. "You should have brought some horribs along."
"Because my servent is describing placing the tracking mark as 'Stuffing it into the bow crotch'," Alptraum explains and sticks out his tongue. "The horribs obey Nicora, not me." he reminds.
"The bow crotch is often overlooked," Pith claims.
"A minor detail," Kaira claims. "I'm back at Spinner. She didn't know about the bow crotch. Maybe there is a more technical term."
Tulani is looking towards the enemy airship now, using her better vision. "Spinner is doing some sort of maneuver," she calls out.
"Of course there is! I can't believe you called it that!" he mentally shouts. "Now she's going to ask me!"
"I don't make up weird names for front and back," Kaira counters. "Spinner is 'going to mess with them a bit' and then come back. Do you need to me to wait for her?"
"Keep an eye on her. If anything bad happens, tell me. I promised we'd all come home together, and I'm not going to let her kill herself. It's my duty to protect them. They're my people. If there has to be a suicide run to end this, I'll take that. They're going home," Alptraum thinks.
"Dagh take it, Spinner wants to mess with them a bit more before returning," Alptraum calls out to Tulani. "I'm keeping Kaira on her to watch."
"She's sort of dancing the Ptera around," Tulani reports. "Ah.. there's smoke and some sort of bright sparky thing."
Alptraum senses bursts of magic coming from the enemy ship again.. but nothing from Spinner. "She's coming back now," Kaira reports.
"No idea what that is," Alptraum admits and worriedly moves to the bow to quint and try to see; his eyes are nothing like Tulani's though.
"That was a smoke marker," Pith says of the description. "She bluffed them."
Once Spinner has moved far enough away from the enemy airship, Kaira reappears on Alptraum's shoulder. "I think she tricked them into wasting two of their dispels," she reports.
"The smoke can be used ahead of an airship as well," Pith explains. "It can distract any Air Mage, or just blind the crew."
"Ah, well, okay, I won't yell at her as much," Alptraum concedes and crosses his arms. "I just ... I don't like her going rogue. We need to work together. I'm not air combat expert, though. I should trust in all of you more, sorry."
"I'm not sure of why she ended up on the problem list," Pith admits.
"She broke something she wasn't supposed to, I think," Alptraum says. "So, doesn't always obey orders."
"I hope the shadow cloaking wasn't too unnerving for you?" Alptraum asks Pith.
"I've never been through anything like that before," Pith notes. "It was pretty exciting though! Would be great to use on the escorts. Because once a few of them were seen to use it, nobody would know if they were there or not for any given route or convoy."
"Well, it was just a taste. I can actually be scary," Alptraum admits. "Horrifying, really. I've turned people into goo, and made them feel all of it, before."
"Well.. that also sounds interesting," Pith notes. "And you can carry people off to Hell, right?"
"Yes, I've done that. You do not want to see it. Ever. Trust me," Alptraum says gravely.
"As soon as Spinner is back we need to make a course change," Tulani reports. "Gusty had detected a current higher up, so we're going to catch it and put some distance between us and our stalkers."
"Sounds good. "Anything I can help with regarding that?" Alptraum asks. "Bear in mind I don't even know what the shop parts are called, other than a bow and a few others."
"Like the crotch," Kaira adds.
"That," Alptraum says and covers his face.
"Keep us informed of the distance to the other ship," Tulani says. "We can't cloak for this, the crew needs to see the rigging."
"Okay, I can do that," Alptraum says and nods. "I'll go sit in the nest so I can focus easier; less distractions.
"It'll get cold up there, be ready," Tulani says, and goes to talk to the few crew Eeee. Spinner's Ptera is visible coming in for a landing on the swing-out perch.
"I can cloak myself for warmth. Or drag one of you up there for warmth," Alptraum says and waggles his brow.
"Take Rag for that," Pith suggests. The Ptera grabs on to the perch with its tail, and a moment later Spinner is on deck. "How dare they block Rephath's judgment!" she complains.
"Happens. Plan better for it," Alptraum offers, and grins a little. "Also, yes, the little dragon is my pet."
"Dragon?" Spinner asks, and notices Kaira. "That's what it looks like? A mutant Creen?"
"Yes. Though this is the small version. Her real form is almost the size of this entire ship," Alptraum explains with a shrug.
"I'm not that big!" Kaira counters. "I'm very petite."
"I thought she was just the little black thing," Spinner claims. "When do I get to blow up that ship?"
"I could show you monsters that would make you wet your robes," Alptraum tells Spinner. "I'm really not joking on that. Anyway, not right now. You need to cover. And now we know we need to hit them with things to make them burn dispels before we hit hard again."
"What.. like throw dragons at them?" Spinner asks.
"They're more likely to react to a second Ptera," Kaira suggests.
"I know dragons large enough to swallow that ship i one bite, Spinner," Alptraum says, "But no, I could not nmanifest them, and two, I would not. They're more evil than the man in our hold."
"Just need to fake them out into using up their defenses," Kaira notes. "But, we don't know how many they can hold."
"I'd feed them to Vorgulremik if I could," Alptraum admits to Kaira. But you know how that would go."
"I can look like Spinner and her Ptera, I think, from a distance," Kaira says. "I'd register as spirit magic, but that's what the Bolt of Vengeance being ready should register as too."
"Well, but then they could dispell you. Wouldn't tkat kill you? Or would it just 'send you home'?" Alptraum asks,
"Well.. it would send me home, I suppose," Kaira says. "Or do nothing. Either way, it's a dispel used up. I'm not a conjured spirit, after all."
"Yes, but you're also a friend and I do not want to risk your existance on an unknown," Alptraum points out.
"I live inside the dagger, so I can't really be hurt by spirit magic," Kaira claims.
"You don't know that for sure," Alptraum points out. "We'd need to test it with an actual spirit mage"
"Well, we'd still need to be able to get them to burn through at least four dispels before the real attack," Kaira claims.
"Well, I might be able to create some things for them to burn them on, then. It would probably deplete me bad, and hurt like hell, but it's ... hm. I need to plan that out," Alptraum says.
"Just need to get their Air Mage," Spinner claims.
"I wonder how large a spirit dragon I could manifest, no mind, under my control. Or things from mythology," Alptraum ponders and starts pacing.
"Disrupt them, and get an archer in close," Pith suggests. "Or outright attack them by getting our ship close enough."
"They might ignore things that look too fantastic," Tulani offers.
"We don't have the crew to handle a direct attack," Alptraum points out.
"It would need to be something like ... " Alptraum ponders, then grins. "Spinner...."
"Well, we're going to try to outrun them first," Tulani says, "So get ready for ascension. Which means it will get colder quickly."
"Yes, I terrify airships," Spinner agrees.
Alptraum points, "I'm going to copy YOU. I could make multiple spirit versions of you. And if they allmimics your bolt; it wouldn't be real, but if they thought it was ... they'd burn a dispel."
"You can duplicate me?" Spinner asks, eyes wide. "And Fluffy?"
"Probably," Alptraum admits. "A weak replica of you anyway. No soul or real existence."
"You wouldn't want to go through the process, though," Alptraum says.
"So, it isn't stealing from my future life or anything?" Spinner asks. "What's the process?"
"Nope. It's horrible, though. It feels like you're having the most mindblowing sex imaginable," Alptraum explains. "So, yeah, count that one out."
"Is it the same if I've never had sex?" Spinner asks.
"It might kill you," Alptraum claims.
"Have you killed people with it before?" Spinner asks.
"He hasn't," Tulani claims.
"Not yet, no," Alptraum agrees.
"Well.. why suggest it then?" Spinner asks, crossing her arms. "I need to be alive to fire off the Bolt of Vengeance."
"Because I am messing with you. I could do it and it wouldn't kill you," Alptraum says and sighs. "Someone removed your humor."
"I'm very humorous," Spinner claims. "People just don't get it."
"Then you're not," Alptraum points out. "Also, don't take unnecessary risks, please. I want everyone coming home, alive. If i have to escort you to the sea, you will not like it."
"I didn't take any risks," Spinner claims.
"You also didn't obey the order to return," Alptraum points out.
"I thought having a distraction would be more effective," Spinner claims. "I did not shoot from above. But if I had they wouldn't have been able to counter it I bet, not without flying out. You didn't say I was to return immediately after all."
"Please understand this. You are all my people. I take it seriously to protect you. You are here because of me," Alptraum explains. "Some might consider you expendable, but I do not. Every life on this ship, save the one prisoner, are sacred to me."
"Yes but if we die serving you we get better treatment afterwards don't we?" Spinner asks.
"Yes, but that shouldn't be your goal. I'd rather you live long happy lives, then get that reward too," Alptraum points out. "I know what it feels like for anyone to die. I've seen many lives through a person's eyes. Their families, love, loss, and unfairness that the world brings. Don't be so ready to throw yours away easily."
"We still get to kill people though, right?" Spinner asks, for clarification.
"Well, yes," Alptraum says.
"Well, that's the important bit," Spinner claims. "I'll be as careful as I can while I'm blowing them up then." She smiles widely after that.
"I know I sound like some giant wuss, but really, don't always be so eager to kill without a good reason," Alptraum says and sighs. "Everyone has parents, family, friends, people they love. Try to understand how they might feel too. Now, with this ship we shouldn't hold back if we can take them out. I just mean in general."
"I only kill pirates," Spinner claims. "Mostly."
"I'm going to ... sometime show you through someone else's eyes what dying is like," Alptraum promises. "You will feel everything they do. Not jus physical pain, but the regrets."
"They're out to kill people to take what they're transporting," Spinner says. "I don't care what they feel."
"Not pirates. I just want you to broaden your perspective," Alptraum explains. "I've killed plenty, but I've also saved plenty."
"Killing pirates saves lots of people too," Spinner claims.
"And I know this isn't your way. I apologize," Alptraum says and sighs some. "I just have a different perspective, I guess. With Kaira here, I've seen worlds die. I've seen the costs firsthand. Things I could not undo, no matter how much I wanted to."
"If you could undo death, it wouldn't be much of a deterrent," Spinner supposes.
"There are more than one kind of death," Alptraum says, sadly.
"But they all stop the person from doing something though, don't they?" Spinner asks.
"Try to imagine this. An entire civilization that will never reach their afterlife. Instead, they serve as fuel feeding a madman's power, forced to live their last moments, over and over for eternity," Alptraum explains.
"That's.. a bit beyond anything I'd be capable of though," Spinner says after a moment.
Alptraum holds up his right hand. "I carry that madman here, and all the worlds he destroyed," he explains. "I've been with them, I've felt their pain, their moments. Some were horrible people too, others not. My 'pet' Kaira, is actually his jailer."
"Are you.. teasing me again?" Spinner asks in confusion.
"No, I'm serious," Alptraum says. "I literally hold worlds in my hand."
"So, if I seem weird, well," Alptraum says, and shrugs.
"I can't.. get my head around that," Spinner concedes. "I shoot pirate ships."
Alptraum also pokes Spinner's nose. "I may also fix this weirdness of you not having sex," he teases.
Spinner rubs her nose, and says, "That's not weird."
Alptraum looks at Tulani. "Not having sex. Weird, or no?" he asks.
"For a Yodh? Or for a sailor?" Tulani asks.
"Sailor," Alptraum answers.
"I know lots of virgin sailors," Tulani says.
"You lie," Alptraum insists.
"Most only get paid enough to get drunk," Tulani claims.
"Well, then you should help them!" Alptraum says with a grin.
"I never had sex with a crewmate," Tulani also claims.
"You've been with me," Alptraum counters.
"You aren't a sailor," Tulani points out.
Alptraum says, "But I have been a crewmate," Alptraum counter-points."
"Not technically," Tulani says. "Because you aren't a sailor."
Alptraum rolls his eyes.
"What am I, then?" Alptraum asks.
"The Barsunala, of course," the Sphynx notes with a smile.
"And now you're provoking me," Alptraum says with a sigh. He throws his arms up. "I'm going back to watch the prisoner."
"I'm going to pray then," Spinner says.
A bell sounds to warn about the ascension, and then the airship rises up quickly.
"I'll ruin other men for you later," Alptraum promises as he walks off.