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Home > Story > Event 9 > Page 55
A WATERY GRAVE▼
A WATERY GRAVE
[Thalassophobia Ambience]
As the islands rose over the horizon, Captain Naut and his crew stood in shock.
Captain Naut
"Fires?......What is going on? One of you, get the telescope! Tell me what you see!"
Goldtongue
2024-10-22 18:25:50
Goldtongue Profile
Posted by ID #31
Last edit: 2024-10-22 18:27:04
Goldtongue, with haste, grips the telescope with her tail and lifts it to her eye, observing the state of the islands.
Goldtongue
"..." She grimaces, sparing a glance toward Eliza before looking to her captain.

"Massacre. Drakken banners, bodies, if that paints the picture well enough."
Eliza Elzenstein
"...What did you just say?"
Goldtongue
She passes the telescope to Eliza.

"See it yourself."
Captain Naut
"Drakken attacking the resort? Of all things high and mighty, this is what fate comes to this land?"
Alger
"A Massacre..." Alger's mallon sniffs the air, the fire's smoke wafts towards them.
Eliza Elzenstein
"C-come on, we're a little too backwater to get raided like this, yeah? Bet you they're some other house here to buy real estate or something."

Eliza Elzenstein
"..."
Eliza Elzenstein
Eliza snatches the telescope out of Goldtongue's tail, with an expression seemingly unbeffitingly serious of her.
Eliza Elzenstein
"Black Nichtendrakke. Red field."
Eliza Elzenstein
"Everyone on that coast is either dead or prisioner."
Captain Naut
2024-10-22 18:37:02
Captain Naut Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:07:46
Naut is prepared to begin a counterattack, to push back on the Drakkens. Vampwelfs often did not have guns, and while a single ship with cannons was not optimal, it could be of some help. Offer the visitors time, but then he heard it. "Dead or prisoners." They had been sailing for hours, and couldn't know how long it was since the attack started. What vampwelfs lacked in technology, they made up for in sudden quick ambushes. Just an hour and a town of ill prepared townspeople could find themselves massacred.
Pinpin
"Good thing they're only people, right Captain?"
Captain Naut
"More than just people, Pip. Reflections of this disgusting universe. The fact that they are allowed to live shows why we stay away from everyone else. A REAL government worth its status would have wiped them out! No good blood suckers!" The captain shouts as he bangs his fist into the railing.
Alger
2024-10-22 18:34:42
Alger Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:08:20
"And how well does that bode for us? Matter of time before they catch wind of us as well."
Seraphiel
2024-10-22 18:41:17
Seraphiel Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:09:10
"…I hope… The animals there are alright…" Seraphiel shook like a leaf viewing the fires afar, knowing that somewhere… A poor creature may be mourning its lost master - free yet grieving…
Eliza Elzenstein
2024-10-22 18:43:54
Eliza Elzenstein Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:09:24
Beneath Eliza's stone-faced facade, her heartbeat slowly accelerates with every passing second she stares at the pyre in the distance.

"....No good blood suckers indeed."
Captain Naut
2024-10-22 18:43:56
Captain Naut Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:09:46
Electricity sparks out of the captain as he processes the situation. In this universe, there were only two things he loved. The sea, and his crew - the only group of people he could see as good in this terrible domain. "We must escape."
Captain Naut
"Haha......aaaaah, but as you know lads, I'm too big to be making a run for it."
Captain Naut
"Good thing the ole captain here made sure there's an escape vessel just for his crew and the animals!"
Pinpin
"Captain?" Pin turns away from the carnage solely to face Naut.
Pinpin
"You're not sending us away are you? Back out there?"
Captain Naut
Captain Naut places a hand on his loyal crew member. "Pin. I wish I didn't have to. I wish we could continue sailing the seas. We had gotten so close to our goals. I know that universe is terrible, but I think you could find another ocean, untouched by the monsters of that society out there. You must be strong. There will be ways to escape."
Alger
...Alger holds his tongue, but he looks wearily to the rest of the crew. Idly petting the top of his nervous mallon's head.
Seraphiel
"…You aren't exiting with us captain?… The shaky illusorii becomes shakier- Woe! Grief impending! He in the place of the creature! Again!
Goldtongue
2024-10-22 18:46:10
Goldtongue Profile
Posted by ID #31
Last edit: 2024-10-22 18:51:24
The smell of blood just gets thicker, provoking the putley to sniff the air tentatively. Anxious thumps against the floor of the ship as her tail thwips.

"...what will happen once we go? To you?"
Captain Naut
Naut leans over the railing to stare at the endless abyss below. "I will not be captured by the animals of this universe. I will dive down........"
Captain Naut
"And that will be my grave."
Eliza Elzenstein
"..."
Goldtongue
2024-10-22 18:56:01
Goldtongue Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:10:57
"…I hope something better than the filth that rests above the sealine awaits you once you make your plunge, captain."
Captain Naut
Captain Naut laughs. "Ah, don't worry. Until my power dies. Until my hull rots. I will be there, with the beings I care about the most."
Captain Naut
2024-10-22 18:55:49
Captain Naut Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:11:18
"Maybe I will get lucky lads, and the currents will push me into the artifact somehow! Or maybe the fish will have pity on me and raise me up to it......."
Captain Naut
"I wish I could control my own body by myself. Freedom is so close, all I need is one person to stay, to help me touch the artifact, but despite the fact that it is what I want the most....."
Captain Naut
"...ha.....I could never kill one of my own crew out of such greed. Your body would be crushed if I were to transform."
Eliza Elzenstein
Eliza thinks about the possibility. She thinks about staying. Sacrificing herself.

...But she didn't run away only to die. She was never a hero. Noble sacrifices are a thing best left to those who aren't hypocrites and blood suckers.
Eliza Elzenstein
"...There's a ship incoming. We need to get on the escape vessel, now."
Goldtongue
2024-10-22 19:04:08
Goldtongue Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:12:21
"Aye." She nods to the vampwelf of the crew, looking frantic as she scoops up a single journal or two from her room as she prepares to head to the vessel.

She can't die and make the captain sicker with grief than he already is for how close they all got. She has to make sure what they did gets Kept in text, and Saved where others like the captain might get a glimpse of hope.
Seraphiel
His tentacles whipped around as he stifled the loud wail he wished to make- Mouth chomping at his puppet.
"…Kind– ever too kind of you captain… I hope… Your kindness will be repaid… Farewell- Captain… You were more of a father to me t-than my own-"
He hesitates to move, wanting to maybe hug the captain - But alas- The animals and others need his assistance.
Alger
"...It's been an honor, My Captain." Alger gently nudges the mallon to get him moving. "I'll gather up what I can. Would you like for one of us to take Pierre?"
Captain Naut
"Please, take Pierre. Take all the animals who deserved to be born in a better universe." There's a small beep from the ship, as all the animal pens are opened and the escape vessel is prepared.
Captain Naut
"Pierre! Come here Pierre!" Naut calls as the crew herd the animals.
Pierre
"F....F...Food?" Pierre holds his hands out to Naut.
Captain Naut
"Sorry, not right now, son! Got something more important to do!"
Pierre
2024-10-22 19:07:23
Pierre Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:12:59
Pierre gnaws on Naut's hand. "Son....Son.....Food....."
Captain Naut
"Be a good man for Alger and the rest of the crew, you understand? You'll be in that ship for a little bit, got it? We won't see each other again, but don't worry son, I promise these folks will take care of you!"
Pierre
Pierre fumbles with his fingers in thought as he stares at the dark place the other animals are being herded. "No food......No food."
Pierre
"Food! Food!" Pierre barks before climbing the railing and leaping overboard.
Captain Naut
"P-Pierre! Ah......"
Alger
".........."
Captain Naut
Naut clenches the railing as he watches Pierre dive down to find his own meal.
Captain Naut
"Haha!.....Always been a little wild...ah....." Naut sighs.
Captain Naut
"Maybe it is for the best he returns to the sea. I think you folks should take after Pierre's actions and leave this ole captain to drown."
Pinpin
Pin stares down at the deck of the ship, scratching at it with his claw in shocked silence.
Alger
Alger winces a bit, but continues to usher in the animals. "Alas captain. Perhaps he wishes to stay behind with you?" ...Alger had a feeling, an itch in the back of his mind that it was a pipe dream at best. A somewhat pleasant thought.
Captain Naut
"Could be, dear Alger. Maybe Pierre will keep me company under the sea! A tad tragic, but my boy does love me so."
Captain Naut
"Make that your last memory of me lads. Me, under the sea, and Pierre at my side! Now get going!"
Captain Naut
"I would never forgive myself if you all died for a broken down object such as me."
Pinpin
"Captain you... You said things would be different."
Captain Naut
"I did say it would be Pip.....That you'd all find freedom here."
Captain Naut
"But this damn universe has made a liar out of me. I'm sorry."
Pinpin
"Liar."
Pinpin
"Liar. Liar! No good liar!"
Pinpin
2024-10-22 19:23:40
Pinpin Profile
Posted by ID #107
Last edit: 2024-10-22 19:24:16
Indignantly he stamps his talons against the ground, like a child throwing a tantrum. He wasn't prepared to die for some liar, so Pin runs away in despair, finding refuge in the escape vessel, sending them back into the cage of the universe.
Goldtongue
2024-10-22 19:25:04
Goldtongue Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:14:21
Goldtongue gives a flick toward the escape vessel with her tail as she lobs in a few final journals and finishes guiding a beast toward a free spot as she buckles it in, settling herself near the craft's steering mechanism and waiting for the rest to follow, seeing Pin run in.

She pats a spot with her tail for him to settle into as she finishes securing items.
Alger
...Alger still had another hundred or so years left in him, at least until the decay catches up with him and his limbs and extremities no longer reattach at the joint. And the captain, he'd be too far under the ocean to ever look towards the stars and grasp at something to pull him up. Alger however, still had time.

The crawler, assisted by his mallon, enters the vessel after Pin.
Eliza Elzenstein
Eliza wordlessly enters the vessel.
Seraphiel
2024-10-22 19:28:04
Seraphiel Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:15:14
CRUEL… Abhorrently cruel this universe is. Seraphiel goes in with the animals and curls up on the floor of the escape vessel. Once again the universe tears him away from the rare kind souls it has… Only to fuel the despair it so loves. It makes his flesh boil.
Captain Naut
Captain Naut stands there, expressionless, watching as the escape vessel leaves the place the crew had considered their only place of safety for so long. He cannot blame PinPin for voicing his complaints. Calling him a liar. Naut is sure that the thought was inside the minds of many of the crew.
Cazkade
Cazkade leans over the railing next to Naut. "Sucks to see them all go."
Captain Naut
"...................Sailor! What are you doing?! Go! Leave! You were suppose to be on that boat!" The captain yelled at Cazkade.....but something was wrong.
Captain Naut didn't know how to put it ...but there was no soul in Cazkade's eyes.
Cazkade
"Mmm. I've only been "awake" for a few weeks and I gotta be honest with you, captain."
Cazkade
"I don't like this universe, or the people in it."
Captain Naut
"Go find something to live for, lad! You got options!"
Cazkade
Cazkade stretches their limbs with a yawn. "Nah."
Cazkade
They put their hands behind their head and begin to walk away. "If you think about it, I was dead before I woke up. Maybe if I die again I'll wake up to a better place than this dump. You need someone to drive you into the artifact right?"
Cazkade
"Well I'm your guy."
The ex-crew watched as their beloved vessel and captain dove down into the sea for the final time.
[Thunderstorm At Sea Sounds]
Eliza Elzenstein
Eliza watches as what was once something they could call a home vanishes into the dark, deep waters. It'd be terribly quiet if not for the sound of waves lapping against the vessel.
Eliza Elzenstein
...Or rather, it should be.
Eliza Elzenstein
A war horn blares in the distance, to remind the crew of why this was all happening in the first place.

"...They're catching up."
Eliza Elzenstein
2024-10-22 19:44:58
Eliza Elzenstein Profile
Posted by ID #27
Last edit: 2024-10-22 19:46:40
"Alger, this vessel can't move any faster, can it?"
Alger
"It goes as fast as it goes!" Eliza on the verge of having an episode was not helping the already low crew morale.
Pinpin
"He never cared for us, he never cared! We were just... Puppets!"
Goldtongue
"We'll have time to cry and reconcile our shattered hopes once we make it the blue hell out of dodge."
Alger
Alger rubs his temples. His mallon trots over to Pin, sniffing at him as to attempt to comfort or calm.
Pinpin
2024-10-22 19:50:08
Pinpin Profile
Posted by ID #107
Last edit: 2024-10-22 19:52:04
"No, Gold! They're going to catch up! He hid perhaps the one place those fiends couldn't follow and left us all topside!"
Pinpin
He bows his head to look at the mallon. He can't feel it too well through his shell, but he lifts a talon to gently pet it along its back, falling silent.
Alger
2024-10-22 19:54:11
Alger Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:17:04
Alger had run the possibility of something like this happening before. Not Drakkens specifically, but the dream crashing down before it could be realized. Storms on the horizon. He felt for the swollow, he felt for the others caught in the crossfire.

The mallon rests his head against Pinpin. Alger sighs. "As long as we're steady, we'll make it out at even pace. Keep your eyes forward."
Eliza Elzenstein
Eliza grips as hard as she can without realizing. Her mind races. They're catching up. The words "Near and dear to blood." cycle in her head like a mantra. They're getting closer. Her vision unfocuses for a second. They won't be able to escape. The others keep talking, and it's so loud, and she can't think.
Eliza Elzenstein
Near and dear to blood.

"..."
Eliza Elzenstein
"I'm sorry."
Eliza Elzenstein
"Good luck."
Eliza Elzenstein
Eliza remembers she's a vampwelf and can fly. Because she's not an idiot.

Eliza abandons ship, desperate to get away. The boat full of people is juicier prey, this is her only chance.
Alger
There's a slight sway when the vampwelf leaps and takes flight, causing Alger to twist around to watch her off.

"ELIZA!" It was too late, however. The boat and the former crew member parted ways. "..Fool! Foolish girl.."
Goldtongue
Goldtongue stares, for a second in disbelief, and in the next, a frustrated tension as she flexes her wings.

If she were a year or two younger, maybe her own wings would still work well enough to propel her, and she might have considered abandoning ship a second time too. She understands why Eliza does what she's doing.

Doesn't sting less though.
Pinpin
He glares up at Eliza as she flies away. How he wishes he could be free like that. Never again.
Nichtendrakk
2024-10-22 20:02:30
Nichtendrakk Profile
Posted by ID #2
Last edit: 2024-10-22 20:03:17
Eliza couldn't have seen it coming. Diving down from the darkness above, one of Boris' best nichtendrakks grabs the poor girl out of the sky. It has originally aimed to dive down onto the boat, fight the crew as ordered, but easy prey was so much tastier. It swings upwards into the air, disappearing back into the darkness.
Eliza Elzenstein
Eliza gasps for air as she's ambushed. She desperately tries to pull the claws apart, to escape, to survive. She's afraid, though, and the last thing one should do when facing dragons is fear.

She disappears into the darkness above.
Boris Drakken
Boris held up a hand. The ship slowed to a halt as it awaited the landing of the nichtendrakk and its prey. The other people on the boat were worthless compared to her. "Now, now. What house are you from, girl?" Boris wasted no time spitting out as Eliza was pinned to the deck under the talons of the nichtendrakk.
Eliza Elzenstein
2024-10-22 20:10:25
Eliza Elzenstein Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:18:26
The talons of the nichtendrakk dig into her back. She struggles to breathe. She struggles to think. Her heart beats a mile a minute. Near and dear to blood.

She thinks about lying. If she claims she's von Blehken she won't have any worth to them. Maybe they'll throw her into a dungeon, maybe she'll get to survive, as a maid.

...Maybe they'll kill her. Maybe they'll gut her. To pass the time.

So in desperation, she tells the truth. The worst thing she could have done in this situation.
Eliza Elzenstein
"....E-Elzenstein."
Eliza Elzenstein
"My... My name is Eliza von Elzenstein."
Edger Drakken
Edger's ears perk up. "Eliza von Elzenstein? That Eliza? The maid of wealth?"
Eliza Elzenstein
Eliza wasn't sure whether to be happy or not that someone recognized her name. Now that she had longer than just a couple seconds to think about it, death would have been preferable. Fuck. Fuck. She ran away, she had to, she couldn't stand being in the midst of plots and conspiracies any longer, and yet, she was now going to be thrust even deeper. Complicate everything further.
Eliza Elzenstein
"...And what of it?"
Edger Drakken
2024-10-22 20:17:45
Edger Drakken Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:19:12
"Boris, if I may interject here for a moment, as this is such a matter a castellan should handle for once. My dear Lady Lucetta of house Elzenstein has told me in detail of the girl before you. She has much wealth attached to her, once a maid, adopted by a viscount! If we give her back to the Elzensteins they will reward us handsomely, and our stressed relations shall mend just that bit more."
Eliza Elzenstein
"...I'll die. They'll kill me. I didn't vant that blasted inheritance it WAS FORCED ON ME!"
Eliza Elzenstein
"What was I supposed to do,"
Eliza Elzenstein
"just stand there and wait until the guillotine dropped?"
Eliza Elzenstein
Eliza punches the ground.
"FUCK."
Boris Drakken
Boris hits Eliza across the face with his cane. "Shut it, girl! I care not for Elzenstein worries!"
Boris Drakken
"You know where the artifact of sin is? How about I offer you a simple thing. I marry you to a Drakken, I don't hand you to the Elzensteins, and you tell me where the artifact is."
Eliza Elzenstein
Near and dear to blood.

She shouldn't. Naut may have went on a journey with no return, but he was still her captain.

Near and dear to blood.

She was loyal. She spent years with him.

Near and dear to blood.

...But this was a Drakken they were talking to. Furthermore it was BORIS of all Drakken.

Near and dear to blood.
Near and dear to blood.
Near and dear to blood.

There's no such thing as torture worse than Drakken torture.
Eliza Elzenstein
"...I'll tell you where it is."
Eliza Elzenstein
Eliza wishes she wasn't near and dear to blood. She wishes the vampwelf didn't reek of iron. She wishes her fangs were shorter. She wishes she had just died, back then.
Boris Drakken
"That's a good girl." Boris turns to Edger with a laugh. "The giant has been asking me to give him a wife that isn't one of his cousins, and the Mad Knight always talks about getting married. Which one do you think would be funnier to offer this dirty blooded maid?"
Eliza Elzenstein
2024-10-22 20:38:16
Eliza Elzenstein Profile
Posted by ID #27
Last edit: 2024-10-22 20:41:33
Funnier. Funnier. Funnier.

It was as if that word would follow her her entire life. It rings like a nichtendrakk's screech.
Edger Drakken
2024-10-22 20:38:27
Edger Drakken Profile
Posted by ID #2
Last edit: 2024-10-23 03:32:11
Edger's mouth feels intensely dry. "Ah.....mmm well. Both of those options are quite funny Boris....... How about we wait till after we get the artifact of sin to pick?"
Boris Drakken
"Agreed. I want to get off this dirty little alien planet as soon as possible. Plus, it would be more entertaining to possibly offer her to one, then take her away and give her to the other. Might be fun to see those two fight."
Boris Drakken
"MEN! GRAB THE BOMBS! We were informed that many terrible anomalous creatures guard the artifact."
Boris Drakken
"So there is only one way to handle that."
2024-10-22 20:46:15
Profile
Posted by ID #118
Last edit: 2025-07-19 06:20:36

Captain Naut had put his life and soul into the protection of the sea creatures. When they saw the bombs dropped, they did not flee, but approached with curiosity. Many visitors had fed them, and they had learned that things that fell from ships above were often edible.

But these were not the kindly sailors they knew.
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