The Forgotten Isle

The ship gave a violent lurch seemingly out of nowhere. Everyone inside the cabin was thrown from their seats. Luckily for Percy and Lohrian, Orridai was a very solid daemon and he simply bumped against the table before staying in place. He acted as an anchor for the two lighter leyrs, throwing open a wing to keep Lohrian in his seat.

Vesper was thrown from his seat as well, book going flying across the cabin. The councilman ended up landing on top of the bulky ptheran, Balamel, who had also been evicted from his cozy dark spot in the back of the cabin.

The only one inside of the cabin who seemed unfazed was Ryko, who had seen the waves coming and had managed to brace himself with his wings before they hit the side of the ship.

Above deck... the situation was dire. The lurch had sent everyone flying. Umbra crashed into the main mast, saved only by his shirt getting tangled around one of the wooden tie downs.

Ruin had been flung from the ship entirely. The taur crashing into the violent black waves. The ocean beat and battered him, seeming like some sort of malevolent force working to keep him below the surface.

Behind the Wayfarer, Roan had managed to see the wave before it hit the ship in front of him. With some quick foot work, he managed to steer his ship to the side before it would have collided with the Wayfarer. Though, in the process he nearly ran over poor Ruin who had just come to the surface.

Percy barely had any time to react, letting out a startled squeak of a scream as he was nearly thrown out of his seat. He clung to Orridai's head as the daemon held him down. His heart was pounding in his chest, eyes wide with fear. He immediately reached out and grabbed on to Lohrian the first moment he could. That boy was not going to nearly drown again, not on his watch.

"That was a rough one." Ryko commented as he turned his gaze away from the window and back towards the others in the cabin. He checked to make sure that the three he was here to look after were doing okay before he turned his attention to the deck of the ship... and noticed 2 missing shipmates. "Shiiiit..." He huffed, turning and heading outside immediately.

The deck was slick with sea water and the rain stung his skin but he pushed against it. "Anyone overboard out here??" He yelled above the crashing of the waves and the rumbling of the thunder overhead.

Balam snarled as the ship almost seemed to come out from under him, a weight hitting his back a moment later. Wings flared upward as he shifted to push himself to his feet, glancing toward the rough weather outside past Ryko's wings. He didn't pay much attention to whoever had ended up on top of him, simply standing and moving for the door and leaving the strangers in the cabin where they were.

With a deft spin of the wheel, Roan avoided a ship-to-ship collision. Some shape fell from the side of the Wayfarer, and Roan craned his neck to track it as well as he could without actually leaving his post at the wheel.

"The hell was that?" He shouted over the crashing of the waves, "Was that a person?"

Rheloran shuddered when he saw the size of the wave hitting the Wayfarer, his magisensitive eyes straining to pick out a shape amidst the fysa-stained waters.

'I think so... It's hard to see anything with the storm.'

It happened so fast, it was hard to understand what happened before Ruin found himself plunged into the stinging ocean.

Pain wracked his body as fysa overloaded his system, and almost instantly his form began to change, to shift and grow, long...longer still, until his massive beast form cuts through the waves with a shrieking roar, many limbs flailing in the water as he thrashes in pain, his long tail grazing the ship as he struggled to remain near the surface.

Blind rage gripped him, as darkness shrouded his lucid mind.

Roan looked between the ship's wheel and the massive creature that sprung from the water beside them. He was torn between trying to sail away from the thing and dealing with it outright, and after a tense few seconds, he chose. The rrex plucked the daemon from his shoulders and plopped it onto the wheel.

"You drive!" He barked. How exactly Rheloran would manage that was his problem to figure out.

Roan dashed over to the edge of the ship where the beast was, axe in hand. He doesn't actually strike for the thing yet, but swings his axe about threateningly to try and intimidate it away.

Umbra practically felt the wind get knocked out of him as he slammed right up against the mast. That wasn't going to be fun. Making a pained gasp for air as he unwound his shirt from the wooden knob, he sputtered both seawater and rain water out of his mouth.

When Umbra didn't see the taur that had previously been on deck with him, he felt his stomach drop. Scrambling to his feet across the slippery deck, he thrust himself over to the railing attempting to scour for any sight of where he might have gotten thrown off to.

Lohrian felt his stomach threaten to lurch out of his throat as he was thrown forwards. He managed to keep ahold of himself, getting tossed back into his seat thanks to Percy's loyal Daemon. Confused and still a little dazed, he had no complaints when he felt Percy latch onto him. He moved his arms to hold the colorful Leyr as well, pulling Percy closer to him.

"Hopefully... that was the only big wave." Percy whispered, though the tone in his voice suggested that he thought otherwise.

Vesper squawked indignantly as he was thrust onto the giant Ptheran, and then subsequently dumped onto the ground as Balam got up and left him there.

"Ah! Wh-Hey! Oof-" He scrambled as the ship settled itself, getting shakily to his feet, claws scratching the wood as he glared toward where the two ptheran stood at the threshold.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" He snapped, glaring at everyone, his hair slightly disheveled and draped in front of his eyes.

Leto had spent much of her time onboard the ship resting; as soon as they had left port, in fact, which was rather uncharacteristic for the usually restless leyr. Tucked away in a secure spot in the cabin, she had yet to even stir. Arms across her chest as she slept, she was dressed in some unusual, dark scale armor that gleamed with an iridescent sheen. She almost resembled a mercenary, rather than a librarian. Her face was practically buried in her own neck fluff and gray scarf. She looked rather unusually pale, all color drained from her features, bags under her eyes dark and heavy as if she were sickly.

The violent jolt of the ship sent Leto practically careening from her position, the Leyr bristling like a startled cat after being thrown across the cabin. Her eyes blazed and she reached for her knife on instinct. She seemed to think better of it though, and instead reached out a hand to brace herself against the side of the cabin. She tried to speak, but all that came out was a groan, which prompted her to mutter something incomprehensible underneath her breath. With her spare hand, she grabbed a flask at her hip and chugged something from it, her pained expression softening after a moment.

"What happened? What'd I miss?"

Ryko watched as Umbra took off across the deck. Though, he was quickly distracted by the shrieking roar that tore through the air. He could see the shape of something huge out in the water. The Dread Pthmat perhaps? It was hard to tell in such dark lighting. Regardless of what that monster was, staying outside above deck was not an option.

"C'mon man, we gotta get out of this storm!" Ryko grunted as he grabbed Umbra. He lifted the smaller human up and deposited him on his shoulder, walking across the wildly rocking ship with the help of his wings.

The waves continued to wildly rock the boats and batter Ruin. Roan's ship drifted dangerously close to the Wayfarer once again, the hulls nearly touching. Thunder roared over head as lightning lit up the sky. Ahead of the ships, anyone who cared to look would see a massive wall of ominous storm clouds seemingly approaching the ship.

Rheloran squealed as he was picked up, at first thinking someone else had grabbed him -- then yelped as he was plopped unceremoniously onto the ship's wheel, trying desperately to get control of the rudder. The ship came a hair's breadth from colliding with the other vessel before he got enough leverage to haul the wheel in the other direction and change course.

...now what?

The large beast struggled towards the larger ship, barely noticing Roans axe waving as he let's out another unearthly roar.

Claws gain purchase on the ship in his frantic and feral state, and the massive serpentine monster works to drag itself heaving onto the deck, panting heavily as black ocean water drips from his glowing maw.

His many glowing cyan eyes burn with hatred as his head whips around, short bark like sounds coming from the thing with an eerie dual toned echo to them.

For the moment, it seems not to notice anyone else near or on deck.

The Fysa rain battered him as soon as he made it onto the deck -- that and the chaos that greeted him prompted a near-immediate shift to his beast form. He snarled as Ruin's serpentine form started to drag itself onto the deck, spurs and claws growing out as he turned and bellowed, the sound echoing in his metal jaws.

Umbra was not a fan of suddenly being scooped up and hoisted up onto someone's shoulder. Squirming back and forth, he did his best to try and get Ryko to release him. "You're just gonna leave someone out in the ocean? In this?!" Umbra opened his mouth to protest more, but was cut off by the subsequent roaring match between the two beast forms. Balamel he recognized right off the bat, but the other...

It took some squinting before the coloration in his head clicked. Luckily he had just been speaking to Ruin so the vibrant purple of his taur half was still fresh in his mind. "Hey--HEY!" He yelled, doing more to wiggle free. "It's Ruin! Don't just fuckin' eat 'im!" The yell was focused more towards Balam, but Ryko didnt need any ideas on snacking either. "Get 'im out of it somehow!"

Lohrian didn't want to worry Percy, but ultimately they were better indoors than whatever was going on up top. He knew he likely wouldn't be able to pry Percy off of him, and truthfully, he didn't want to.

The roars from above deck echoing down into the cabin answered before Lohrian could, prompting him to grimace anxiously. "Well.. Either something's boarding and our Ptheran friends arent too happy about it, or the storm's planning on ripping us apart. Maybe both, but i'd rather not think of it like that..."

Roan nearly swings for the great purple beast before it backs off, towards the larger ship. He can feel his own transformation prickling under his skin, but he pushes back against it. There was no need for it, not yet.

"C'mere, you--" He growled as he moved to take control from the wheel back from Rheloran. Hiding wasn't really feasible anymore, it was all he could do to help navigate the waves. He just had to hope no one on the Wayfarer looked back.

"I asked if anyone went overboard," Ryko yelled back at Umbra over the roar of the waves. "You didn't exactly say 'Yeah, Ryko dude, there's a fucker down there in the water!', now did ya?"

The sudden appearance of the massive monster from the ocean clawing its way up on to the deck was enough to make Ryko take a step back. That certainly wasn't the Dread Pthmat, that was for sure. "Bloody fuckin' hell.." The ptheran curses under his breath. He continues to back away from the monster as it finally climbs up on the deck only to bump into something furry. He turns his head around only to find himself staring up at yet another strange creature. He would have considered it a vexmyth if not for the fact that it was so fucking big and had four legs.

Ryko did his best to hold on to Umbra but the human eventually popped free of his arms.

Percy screwed his eyes shut as the roars shook the cabin. He had been well aware of the fysa capabilities of everyone on board but he hadn't expected to have to deal with this while still on the ship. "Gods... this is a mess." He whispered, silently praying that the storm would calm and so would the two beasts out on deck.

The Wayfarer rocked violently to one side as a wave crashed against the starboard side, nearly capsizing her. The waves around them were growing in size, some nearly three to four times the size of the Wayfarer herself.

Roan's little ship wasn't faring well either. Trying to take control of the ship seemed impossible. No matter how hard he yanked on the wheel it felt like he was being pulled in. Like the storm had caught both ships in a net and was slowly dragging them in.

Balam didn't even see the wave with how focused he'd been on Ruin -- it hit the ship and then the deck seemed to come out from under his paws. For a brief few seconds he thought to take flight, but as soon as his wings spread out the winds caught them and forced them back to his sides, shoving him away from the cabin door and towards the dark waters off the port side. He managed to catch a railing with his claws, but his weight simply cracked them and he continued to fall.

Something smacked into his side just before he hit the water, trying to keep his head up long enough to take a breath before he dove down. Maybe the waters would be calmer if he wasn't right at the surface...?

Umbra didn't have enough time to get his bearings. From being dropped from the height of a Ptheran's shoulders onto the deck to immediately getting slammed with the hardest wave he had ever felt in his life, Umbra hardly knew which way was up. He felt his entire body lift from the ship and go flying overboard. A newfound wave of pain hit his body as he was thrown into another object -- or... creature? He didn't know.

Grabbing a breath of air while he could still sense that there was some to be gotten, he grabbed onto the creature, balling his hands into fists as tight as he could manage into the incredibly dense fur. When the world around him suddenly grew quiet and wetter, Umbra opened his eyes despite the burning sting of ocean water to try and get an idea of what had happened, where he had gone, and what he had grasped onto.

The alien looking beast barely has time to register the threats who stare at him.

'Destroy ' the thought, saccharine in his mind, pulses through his core, his mouth unzipping further as he snarls....

And lunges at the empty space near Ryko. Confusion pricks at his awareness as his head whips around, searching for the bigger threat, only to find it washed overboard.

He runs to the edge of the ship, screeching and snarling threats as his tail lashes, threatening to batter the remaining ptheran. It seems for the moment, the beast has not set his sights on ryko just yet.

Vesper was about to make a snide remark to Lohrian, before the ship rocked again savagely, nearly toppling him again. Luckily he was able to brace himself this time, but his form rippled for a moment as his composure wavered.

"I can't stay down here if this ship is going to capsize.... I dont think I'll fit a few moments longer..." he said cryptically, not wanting to reveal the ace up his sleeve that was his beast form. Very few knew of it

As the ship gave another threatening lurch, Leto somehow managed to keep herself steady. She shot a vaguely dangerous look back at the councilman, pupils narrowed into catlike slits despite the dim lighting. Though somehow she managed to look positively impassive otherwise, as if nothing about the situation particularly bothered or amused her, for that matter.

She gestured to the exit with the enthusiasm and drive of a mossy boulder, and much like one, made no moves herself for it. "Good luck then, councilman." Her tone was so lifeless that it was hard to tell if she was being sarcastic or genuine. "I really don't want to be a part of whatever is going on out there. So, I'm just going to take my chances here for now and hope for the best."

"Hold on, lil bastard, this is gonna be rough."

The wind and the waves buffeted Roan's little ship around like a toy, but the rrex knew what to do. He'd been in more storms than he could count, with his line of work. He knew how to angle the boat just right to go with the flow of the water, rather than smashing himself against it. The boat angled dangerously, water sloshing onto the deck, but they managed to stay afloat, now alongside the Wayfarer.

Roan spotted something else fall into the water, a worryingly large shape, but in the chaos of the storm, he couldn't tell what it was.

Rheloran did, in fact, hang on -- to the wheel, in fact. Though that debatably made it easier to throw around with the daemon's weight also hauling against it, at times. He was clinging for dear life, every eye closed, markings glowing like a beacon from the storm.

Percy was thrown from the booth alongside Orridai as the ship was sideswiped by a massive wave. He ended up on the wall behind the booth, his large daemon landing on top of him.

When the ship righted itself Orridai hit the booth first, followed by Percy.

"Ough.." The leyr groaned, reaching up to cradle his throbbing head between his hands. He had bonked himself on the wall hard enough to make his ears ring.

Ryko quickly grabs ahold of the nearest thing he can get his hands on, which just so happens to be the railing on the side of the ship. He turns his head away from the massive wave as it comes crashing down on the deck.

When he opens his eyes, the deck was much emptier than it was before. The scratches now gouged into the wood of the deck told him exactly where one of the two people, now missing, had gone.

Ryko barely had time to react as the giant monster, who the human guy had claimed was someone named 'Ruin', lunged at the spot next to him. He wasted no time rolling out of the way.

Now that the entrance to the cabin was no longer blocked, he was heading back inside.

Ryko burst through the door to the cabin and immediately slammed it shut behind himself, bringing in a small flood of sea water as he did so. The ptheran pressed his back against the door, blinking at everyone else in the cabin. "We uh.. yeah, you're not gonna wanna go out there right now. S'pretty bad."

Getting thrown around back and forth wasn't exactly ideal, nor was it to see everyone else literally go airborne. By some stroke of luck, Lohrian had managed to root himself down to the seat, nearly falling off of it himself. "Maybe its just waves getting rougher and it'll even out?" He suggested hopefully to the room, though he wasn't fully convinced of it otherwise.

Lohrian reached over and placed a hand over Percy's forehead when he landed back next to him, hoping that the gesture would help somewhat. "At least staying down here means you wont potentially go overboard." He offered to Vesper, noticing how stressed the human was.

Balam continued to dive, wings stretching out to propel him and his current passenger through the calmer waters below the surface. He glanced up to the dark shapes of the ships above, outlined by a flash of lightning, and tried to continue following its original heading. If nothing else, he could put some distance between himself and the craft before surfacing again and avoid getting a ship's hull to the face for his troubles.

Another glance behind showed it was Umbra currently clinging to his side. He kept an eye on the human in case his grip faltered, unsure how good his lungs were.

Iphae would hate it if he died, and all that.

Seeing nothing rise above the waves, ruin let out a triumphant snarl, before turning to catch the tail end of Ryko fleeing.

The movement caught his attention, and with claws sliding on the rain slicked ship deck, he scrabbled hastily toward the door moments after it closed, slamming his face into it with a frustrated roar.

Vesper glared at Lohrian and let out a derisive snort and side eyed Leto, before looking up at Ryko's entrance, blinking and scowling at the statement the ptheran made.

"Why? What happened?" He hissed, tail clicking and rattling with agitation. Umbra hadn't come back down yet, and if things were dire up top, he hated the insinuation....

Hes probably fine..right? He had to be. He wasn't allowed to die. It wasn't in his contract.

Umbra wasn't exactly looking for a trip down to the bottom of the ocean, so the further down Balam swam, the more concerned he started to grow. He could hold his breath for a bit, sure, but nowhere in comparison to what Balam could potentially do. The sudden appearance of two big red eyes staring at him through the ocean wasn't a fun thing to be met with either. Considering he wasn't immediately snapped up in the metal jaws, he had to assume that Balam wasn't immediately starving. Which hey, good for him.

That being the case, Umbra could feel his lungs burning, and eventually did have to release Balam's fur and attempt to return to the surface.

Red eyes followed Umbra's progress toward the surface, the dark shape eventually circling back in the water to move up underneath the human. It wasn't exactly the most graceful of maneuvers, but the cold metal of the ptheran's skull thudded against Umbra's back and pushed him further up, slowing enough to keep from outright tossing him once they broke the surface. Balam snorted once they reached open air, the wind picking up the resulting spray and blowing it around with the rest of the rain. It was definitely more difficult to tread water, up here, but not impossible -- the length of his neck was a blessing and a curse in that moment. He searched for any sign of the Wayfarer while Umbra caught his breath, paws and wings fighting the current below.

Umbra let out a gasp of air once he felt himself breach the surface. Shifting around on the Ptheran, Umbra sat up ontop of the snoot, hooking a hand under the mouth ridge. Didn't want to stab into a tooth, but he needed to hold on with more than just his legs wrapping around. Blinking and coughing sea and rain water wasn't ideal.

When Umbra managed to see again, he too attempted to look for where the Wayfarer had been rocked off to. Privately, he was appreciative that Balam hadnt yote him into the air like a prey animal. His bones were thankful for that.