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[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ByEk1wI.jpg?1[/img]
[sub][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whtz44p9oII]♪[/url][/sub][/center][hr][center][b]Lorentine Queen | Nighttime[/b]
Carmillia[@Animus] | Zarra[@BreathOfTheWoof] | Dory[@Jasbraq] | Manfred[@Force and Fury] | Leon[@Jumbus] | Seung Eun-Ji[/center]

She dances. Moonlight sparkles against the slow, muddy waters of the Lorentz, turning them into something better for a flicker of time. Carmillia takes Leon’s proffered hard and the two of them sway in a brief, slow waltz to music that exists mostly in their heads. Pressed close against each other in the confined space of the rear verandah, the two are clearly in conversation, though anyone listening from without would be hard pressed to pick out the precise words exchanged.

Zarra, meanwhile, has led Dorothea into the hold, both out of a concern for her safety and his own fidgety need to not be idle. Then, they uncover it: the lyre or… rather, [i]a[/i] lyre. The craftsmanship is breathtaking: smooth, lacquered wood in a sweeping avian design and tasteful gold leaf accents. The Perrenchman picks the instrument up and is able to play a handful of notes on it. They reverberate through the cluttered space with the most beautiful sound, but there doesn’t appear to be any magical effect. He and Dory glance at each other, a similar thought perhaps coming to both simultaneously: [i]What does a holy lyre actually look like? What does it actually do?[/i]

However, while some are dancing, swept up in an idyllic Malabash summer of revelry, and others’ eyes sparkle with the thrill of discovery, the majority of the ship’s passengers are fighting for their very lives. The anger that the Traveler’s agents stoked was co-opted by the six students, or at least some among them, and then used effectively but selfishly to buy them time to complete one part of their mission. What exists now is nothing short of a riot. People are fighting and many don’t know why. Some simply attack those who attacked them. Others expected a Leon Solaire appearance and instead found a group of angry political agitators trying to shove them out of the way. Alcohol and anger are a potent mix. There are those who are genuinely revolutionary, and others who are simply taking the opportunity to pilfer. Whatever their motivations, perhaps the saddest part is that no nobles - or almost no nobles - have been harmed in the making of this revolt. Aside from the captain, an officer or two, and the ship’s engine room arcanists, the only nobility on board are some of the students. Common people are beating and killing common people so that six youths from a school for elite magic users can sneak away with an item of cargo from the ship.

The violence spills across all decks of the technological marvel that is the Lorentine Queen. An officer, trying in vain to calm down a group of six rioters, fires his pistol into the crowd and gets rushed and torn to shreds. A second, seeking some sort of… his motivations are unclear, unleashes his kinetic magic into the mob. Human bodies are ragdolled into tables, walls, and support beams. A table leg is launched into the wall with such force that it punctures the wooden hall and cold, muddy water starts to pour in. An entire plank peels loose with a crackling groan and the water pours in faster! The smell of smoke fills the air ever thicker as oil lamps crash to the carpet and the wooden deck. Panic, increasing shouts and screams as people grow frightened with those not rioting attempting to flee the destruction wrought by others. A holy man hurrying along as he makes the sign of the pentad, [color=Tan]"Oraff keep us, enlighten us Shune, Dami guide us so we don't greet you soon!"[/color]. Whilst some of the fires are put out by the nascent flooding, others travel upwards, licking at wood and wallpaper and growing, billowing out with waves of heat. At this rate, the ship is going to sink.



It is finally enough to interrupt Carmillia and Leon, who had been dancing as the world burnt around them. The severity of the situation can no longer be missed or misinterpreted by Zarra, Dory, or any of the others except by willful ignorance. Indeed, Eun-Ji, frustrated with the near-complete lack of attention to teamwork and mission objectives, has used her magic to send water clones out and retrieve the team’s various members. Manfred proves momentarily preoccupied. As a couple of rioters swing at him, he is forced to defend himself, using the butt of his rifle and his skills as a Kastang practitioner. Zarra, when he emerges, will be a likely target as well with his staff uniform. In any event, they all find Eun-Ji - or rather magic that looks like her - appearing in front of them, urging them to collective action of a sort. 

It was not at all an easy feat for Eun-Ji to create multiple water clones and then control their movements with precision. Still, she had to try. Liquid manipulation was her specialty after all and with the ship taking in water, there was no better time to use it. She used some of the water that leaked into the boat to sculpt them, two human-shaped bodies of water around the same size as herself. Applying the final touch in the form of illusion, she sent them; one to the cargo hold and one in search of Leon and Carmillia. Meanwhile, the real Eun-Ji attempted to hold back the flow of water that had poured into where she, Manfred, and the six commoners were located. It took everything she had to perform all these simultaneously, and she most definitely cannot keep it up indefinitely.

The clone that went to the cargo hold arrived first, stopping from ‘her’ run in front of Zarra and Dory. [color=87CEEB]”We need you both”[/color] the clone seemingly said to them as the image of Eun-Ji moved its mouth. Her words and tone were polite as ever despite the frustration she hid in herself. [color=87CEEB]”It was a smart decision to go here to seek safety, but we need you both. Everything is going very out of control and this ship might really end up sinking, taking countless lives with it. We need [b]everyone[/b] if we are to deal with this crisis. As soon as Ms. Hohnstein is well enough to act, please join me and Manfred outside. It is time to coordinate and actually start working together.”[/color] Eun-Ji’s image over the humanoid body of water disappeared then, followed by the water itself losing cohesion and splashing down into the ground.

Finding Leon and Carmillia took slightly more time, although it wasn’t particularly difficult to surmise where Leon would go after his boombastic performance. The clone found the two just as they finished their dance in the covered verandah. [color=87CEEB]”Mr. Solaire, Ms. Carbonneau, you are both needed. It is quite likely now that this ship is going to sink if we do not act. There are holes on the ship that need to be patched up, fires have broken out and are threatening to spread wildly. But most importantly, this chaos needs to be controlled. Otherwise, countless lives will likely be lost. Please, do whatever it is that you think can help. All of us need to work together if we are to manage this situation.”[/color] With her message spoken, this clone too dispersed, returning back to only water that flowed back to the river. All the while, just as the clone of Eun-Ji had spoken, the chaos continued to spread.

It is amidst this chaos that a lyre flies through the air. It is a pretty instrument, though some simply seek to destroy it. One among them, however, seems to recognize illusion for what it is. A tall man with a beard and a bandanna, he plucks it gracefully from the air. This was not the revolution that he came here for. This has been corrupted and co-opted by bad faith actors, and he scowls. Nonetheless, he feels some small sense of solace that he has succeeded in procuring the Lyre of Ipte-Zept for those who wish to change this world for the better. 

[color=lightcoral]“Help! Eshiran spare us!”[/color] a woman shouts, and he turns. She is sheltering against the gunwale with two small children, shielding them with her body as a pair of enraged labourers brawl with a member of staff. What the hell are [i]children[/i] doing in a floating casino? One of the labourers - a huge man - is pushed off balance and starts to stumble into the trio. The Traveler’s agent acts, pushing him to the side with a rudimentary kinetic shove. It isn’t a school that he’s good with. He is and always has been an arcanist, like his fellow agent of change: Seer. He nods at the woman and she nods back, but the situation is critical. He staggers away, looking for a secluded place where he can speak the signal words and he and his partner can be extracted. Yet, his conscience burns. Some violence is necessary. Some death is inevitable, and he has never shirked from that, but hundreds of common people, spurred to violence, their motives used and twisted, are going to die here if he and Seer do nothing. He begins drawing from the fires, quenching them, and expelling the energy as he can to prevent people from harming each other. There needs to be a more concrete solution, though: a more permanent one. Perhaps his arcane abilities can be put to better use.

Manfred has dealt with his immediate threats and he, too, has started to think of uttering the words of extraction that he and Eun-Ji were entrusted with. Yet… can he really just leave hundreds to perish? Slipping out of the rear gambling area, ravaged as it is, he asks her for an update on where the others are and if she’s found them. His eyes scan the river and the shore. If they could just get the ship moving again, they could beach or maybe even dock it. Manfred lacks the skill to run the engines, though, and not only are they damaged, but two of the arcanists are down for the count, one as a result of his action.

It is then that he comes face to face with a tall, bearded man with a frighteningly intense gaze. A bandanna is tied around his head. There is a second, shorter man in his shadow and his bandanna covers his eyes: a powergazer. Manfred prepares to fight but, first, he opens his mouth to speak, another - albeit crazy - idea hitting him.

[hider=Action Opportunities]1) The Lorentine Queen is still salvageable, but people will need to act immediately, this cycle, in a coordinated fashion, to prevent the sinking.

2) There are three separate holes in the ship at this point, of varying degrees of severity. These need to be managed to prevent out-of-control flooding.

3) There are many small fires that need to be put out. In particular, wallpaper burns [i]very[/i] well and the fire cannot be allowed to consume it en masse.

4) Ultimately, this ship needs to be brought to shore. Two of the ship’s arcanists remain, somewhere out there, as well as two arcane-specced Traveler’s agents, as well as Dory and Leon, who have some abilities with Arcane. Leon, however, is nearly out of juice.

5) There are a few rowboats, but ships in this place and time do not come equipped with a full complement of liferafts. 

6) If the Lorentine Queen can be moved, there is an opportunity to beach it or even dock it. However, the violence on the ship may spill out onto shore, meeting up with the violence there and becoming a problem for House Rednitz, masters of this area.

7) Any sort of illusion or internal chemical magic to have a calming effect would be of great value in this situation: both on the rioters, those not rioting but terrified, and on the three factions (arcanists/crew, students, and Traveler’s agents) who have the power to prevent disaster.[/hider]