Deep Sea Spellunking - RPLOG
Participants
Date
Saturday February 9, 2019=Log=
"Of all the bloody days to rain, NOW it decides to do so! Ah well, not like we ain't gonna get wet today, right?" Magnus would be heard speaking, seemingly to himself. He'd be huddled up under an improvised tent, formed from some cloth and four support struts raised and formed by a quartette of wooden poles. It's as basic a basic shelter can be, but it served its purpose. Why, keeping the fennec nice and fluffy ofcourse! What else?
"Yes, yes, I know. Aren't you curious though?!" the fox would exclaim, a wide smile tugging at his lips as he seems to be speaking to no one. "Who knows what could be causing those disturbances! We have to find out! All the better if we do manage to salvage that wreck, but for now just let me indulge in my curiosity." He'd pause and roll his eyes, then sigh softly. "Well, it's a good thing I'm not a cat, isn't it? Now shut your pretty face before I shut it for you when we meet up again."
He'd pause once more and snicker into one hand "Oh, you know exactly what I'll shove in there, but let's not discuss that, the scavvies are coming." He'd then poke the side of head and tuck his hands behind his back, watching the arrivals with a vibrant gaze and a welcoming smile. There would be a small table under his shelter, covered with basic swimming equipment if anyone needed it.
The rain was rather light, but goodness gracious, was the wind a different story all together! Behind the rest of the scavengers, a certain catfish the fox knew judging by that overhead halo could be seen ecstatically running amok in the graces of the cloud tears, dancing and rolling on the ground in the moist nature of the afternoon. In spite of his calm demeanor during missions, the spaz clearly enjoyed rainy days, eventually coming to a halt with an over-relaxed expression. "Okay, I'm done being me," Borneo says with a delighted purr in his voice.
Arris approaches Magnus' tent, scuba gear rested over her shoulder by her arm, and a cooler full of assorted drinks (mostly beer) held by the other. "Hmmmn. I don't think I've ever came here during the winter." She snerks lightly as she sets down the cooler, pulling her goggles over her eyes as she starts putting on the scuba gear. "'Fun in the sun' sounds more like 'pain in the rain' right about now. Hopefully, today's expedition won't be so bad." She was dressed in her usual swimsuit and a jacket, resting the latter on top of the cooler.
Zophah has come as a squid girl today to facilitate underwater work, wearing her flame-patterned bikini with webbed gloves and small flippers. She aproaches the tent quickly soon after Arris, carrying what looks like a nanite-crafted toolkit modified for use under water. "The weather won't matter as much once we're in the ocean, but it will get really dark, especially as time goes on. I brought a few extra waterproofed flashlights if anyone needs them." Zophah then gives her mate Arris a hug and stands beside.
The wind was blowing, yes, and it was in fact raining but it'd take more than that to even slow down Ebreus. Defiant of the weather the grand Hellhound flew on his bat-like wings toward the meeting place... it was only once the 'hound came in for his landing and a particularly strong gust of wind caught his wings that nature explained to him just how displeased it was with his defiance. Pulling his wings in close well above the ground the 'hound, weighing as much as a small car, impacted the ground with a noteworthy thud and plume of sand around him... which immediately begun to cling to the wet... everything.
Rising from his crouched landing position with a light groan he says, "I
Walking along the beach from the direction of the path leading from the city, an approximately feline form approaches across the damp sand. Getting closer, it resolves into a snow leopard wearing a thick padded coat and either some kind of scaled leggings or a reptilian lower half. Spotting the group at the makeshift tent she changes direction towards them, approaching with a friendly wave. Heading in under the cover she shakes off some rain, running a hand across her glistening latex head to dry herself off and thinking she never used to dislike rain this much before she became a cat. Seeing a couple of familiar faces around the table she greets Magnus and Borneo. "Hey guys, neighbour" she says with a nod to Borneo before introducing herself to the squid girl. "Hi there, I'm Kamryn. Don't think we've met before, unless I'm just not recognizing your form today"
The wind was blowing, yes, and it was in fact raining but it'd take more than that to even slow down Ebreus. Defiant of the weather the grand Hellhound flew on his bat-like wings toward the meeting place... it was only once the 'hound came in for his landing and a particularly strong gust of wind caught his wings that nature explained to him just how displeased it was with his defiance. Pulling his wings in close well above the ground the 'hound, weighing as much as a small car, impacted the ground with a noteworthy thud and plume of sand around him... which immediately begun to cling to the wet... everything.
Rising from his crouched landing position with a light groan he says, "I'm alright." as he brushes off what sand he can. Making his way to the small tent as he unpacks his scuba gear from his bag he says, "So a bit of winter diving. Sounds fun... wonder how much the water will fuck with thermal vision if it gets dark." he says with a light hum.
"Hey uncle." Magnus snickers quietly and moves in to give Borneo a quick hug. "You be you, it's worked out fine so far. Hope you're ready. We're going in deep." His fist would impact the other's shoulder lightly, before he would turn his attention towards Arris and her keg. "Oh, so you brought booze to warm us up, then! How lovely." he'd tease and move in to give her a quick kiss on the nose. "You look as voluptuous as ever, I need not worry about your swimming ability, then. You're practically always ready to dive, always in the wetsuit every time I see you... well, until it comes off." he'd cast her a wink and turn slowly towards the next arrival. As he turns, she might notice his fluffy tail was gone, replaced instead by a familiar looking fish tail. Seems the fox had taken some notes, eh?
Zophah was nigh impossible to place in that form. Her voice was what gave her away more than anything, and she'd soon find two fennec arms wrapped around her back, the rest of the fox at her front ofcourse. "Thank you. I was hoping someone would bring these. I didn't have spares." Standing on his tiptoes, he'd give the squid girl a lick on the cheek, then part from her with a smile. Once Kamryn arrives, he hands her one of the waterproof flashlights Zophah so generously provided, then casts a soft wink her way. "Welcome to the squad. Happy to have another spellunker. We'll depart in a bit." Upon Ebreus' arrival, Magnus snickers and greets with a nod. "You tell me, I ain't got a frickin' clue! My eyeballs are those of yon' regular measly moral. ANYWHO!" his hands clasp together and his foot *THUD* impacts the ground, sharply forcing a small slab up a foot from the ground to elevate him a little.
"You know how I feel about dawdling! Here's what's up! The cost of materials! What's going down! Us, down due 225 degrees southwest of here!" he'd snap his fingers, bringing up a visual manifestation of a rough topgrapical preview of the area. "There's a powerful current running across here." the curve representing it lights up in red "We're gonna dive down and merge with it, see?" Six small dots appear on the map, representing the six of them, gradually making their way to the nearest piece of the curve, before being swept away by it "Aaaaall the way down seven and a half nautical miles along its length, we'll..." *POP* he makes a loud noise with his lips "...flop out of the current and be but a measly two hundred or so meters from our target!"
Upon the map, the vague location of their goal is highlighted in red "Seven hundred and thirty four meters under the surface, a sunken vessel with a reinforced hull, picked clean for electronics already no doubt but the plating will do just fine for our good folks at big Z's R&D! SO! Grab what you need!" the illusion vanishes into a cloud of mist and the fox pulls out a face-concealing mask from the pack on his back, attaching it to his muzzle. He'd take out his comm unit and tap it before speaking through the mask "Keep your comms locked and stay together, it's gonna get dark down there! That's about it!" With everything said, Magnus would be the first to make a running leap towards the ocean, bounding into the air and rolling twice before making a *SPLASH* and diving under the water.
"Going in deep is my specialty," Borneo giggles softly, waving a paw at Kamryn and Ebreus as a greeting to the two while regarding the others with a simple smile. Listening closely to the fox's instructions with confirming nods to what has to be done for the mission, his expression becomes somewhat nervous at the mention of staying together since he didn't know how well anyone else here could swim much less how fast, but snickers as he sees the fox dive in first. "Hey, wait for me," he cheerfully calls out to Magnus before literally cartwheeling his way into the waters, following behind but barely able to contain his excitement at being in an underwater mission for once.
Arris smiles when the hug is recieved, holding Zophah close as she plants a kiss on her forehead. "I suppose I wouldn't mind a flashlight, hun." The light teasing elicits another snicker from her, as Magnus feels his tail getting bumped against by Arris'.
"Hey! Wait up!" She takes a few steps towards the ocean as Magnus jumps in before stopping. "...well, here, Zophah, have this, since I won't be able to kiss you for a while." Stepping close, the gator presses her lips against Zophah's in a deep, passionate kiss, savoring it for a while before pulling away, fitting the breather over her maw, and gracefully diving into the ocean.
Zophah rumages through her tool box before getting a face full of affectionate and romatic kissing, then returns to pulling out a full face mask. She dashes after the rest of the crew, slipping the mask on and checking the comm system. "That seems awefuly far, are you sure the nanite signal will reach?" She clips her waterproof light to her mask and double checks her kit before closing it up and slinging it over her shoulder.
"Thanks" Kamryn says as Magnus hands her a flashlight. She unzips her coat to slot it into a free slot on her toolbelt, revealling her partially armoured wetsuit beneath. "I brought my own, but a spare's always handy". She drops her bag beside the table, shrugging off her coat and slipping out of her boots before fishing some scuba gear out of her bag, slipping into the harness and securing the straps around her body. Slinging her rifle back over her shoulder along with the now empty bag, she sucks on the mouthpiece of her respirator experimentally, checking it working properly. Looking around at the others, she smiles a little to herself, amused by the displays of affection but feeling a little like the outsider of the group.
Tapping her comm to check the link to the others and her gear, she flicks the small floodlights on the shoulders of her diving equipment a couple of times, then does the same with the smaller flashlight strapped to her wrist. "Wait up guys" she calls after those already in the water, starting to move after them. "Just needed to check all my stuff's working. I don't want to get caught out by faulty equipment on my first deep dive". With that, she strides out into the water, divig in as soon as it's deep enough.
Ebreus nods as the smol fox explains their mission, "Shipwreck... sound fun. I do hope you've brought salvaging balloons though. Hiking across the ocean floor with large chunks of metal would be... well an easy target for Water Dragons." he says. As everyone darts off the hound leaps into the air and with the beating of his wings flies over the water as he puts on his mask. Holding it in place, and once he's certain the water below him is substantially deep, he again pulls his wings, this time to drive into the salty depths. As the water slows his descent the winged hound opens his bright crimson, glowing, eyes and looks out into the infra-red of the sea looking for his companions while scanning for threats.
Under the water, Magnus flashes his flashlight at the others to let them know where he was. He wasn't the best swimmer, rather he did just okay when compared to those more experienced, but with a sway in his motions and a toned acrobat's body, one could seldom go wrong in most situations, no? The fox waits for the others to catch up, and pulls out his comm unit. He'd tap the screen to show them all that they were due to head in a very specific direction, then takes point, keeping his eyes on the unit in his hands. It doesn't take long for the light above them to start dimming, and all they would have is the flashlights in their hands. Thank you Zophah!
Eventually, they'd reach the steep slope that was the ocean floor, and Magnus would sink down to start hopping across its surface, using his buoyancy as a means to pretend he was in low gravity. He'd stride widely and do a few flips along the way, flashing his light to and fro as they went along. Seaweed riddled the bottom here, long strands of green surrounding them from every which way, clams and other common things visible here and there, an anomony here, a starfish there... it was astounding how alive this place was given the situation on the surface.
Then, just as the fox was making a scene of forming a beard of tentacles out of sweaweed as they swam towards their goal, his flashlight briefly strikes the cold reflective surface of a scaly sea creature's body. They were not alone down here... the question was, were they being followed, or hunted? He'd flash his light at the others to draw their eyes and gesture with two fingers in all directions, a sign to look around.
Taking into account that he wasn't wearing gear like most of the others, or at least wasn't equipped with flashlights, Borneo stayed close to Magnus with ease as it become almost painfully obvious he was the best swimmer among the group, easily mistakable for one of the local wildlife from a distance when in motion. He did take precautions noticing that he may've been hard to keep track of without said gear, manifesting a something of a quest marker in light humour over his head in the shape of a stylized letter 'B', while doing the same for the camouflaged creatures in the form of a red X to signal danger. A good thing he had gills underneath the neck mane or he'd have more to worry about than just being able to move down here!
Arris skillfully swims forward, the gator having spent most of her free time swimming in the river east of Fairhaven. Gracefully, Magnus can spot her butterfly stroking ahead, tailfins bobbing with a consistent tempo as she moves. She does periodically stop to adore the wildlife, but for the most part, stays within eyesight of Magnus, eyeing her comm every now and then to make sure she was on track.
Zophah quickly remembers to 'tag' Magnus, Arris, and Kamryn with her biomonitoring sight nanomagic to keep track of them, Keeping a visual eye on Borneo and letting the badass Ebreus take care of himself. She chuckles in her mask every few times Arris looks at the scenery, and either through comm warnings or telepathic nanomagic Zophah makes sure that everyone remains safe.
With even her feline eyes having difficulty seeing in the low light as the group near the ocean floor, she taps her comm to switch her lights on, creating a pool of almost blueish white light for a few metres in front of her from her shoulder lamps and a harsher beam that reaches a little further from the one on her forearm. She glances around curiously at the glowing symbols appearing over some of the wildlife before recognising them as illusory nanomagic based projections. She chuckles to herself in her mask, tagging several of the blips on her comm's mapper with the corresponding new floating symbols. Looking up again, she spots the fennec's warning gestures and starts scanning the surroundings, switching her comm to broadcast mode and saying "Something out there guys? I can't see anything yet", thinking she should have checked if the others would be able to hear her before they dived.
With the aid of Magnus' light it wouldn't take long for the 'hound to find his friends... now for the interesting part: can the hound cheat and use his wings to 'fly' through the water? Only one way to find out and Ebreus was going to try it, he spread his wings into the salty depths and he would flap his wings... quite obviously slower and with substantially greater strain in the over eight hundred times more dense fluid. After a few flaps he shakes his head and begins actual swimming, heat-sources such as warm bodies being pointed out to him doubly so between Borneo's illusory Heads Up Display and his own thermal vision. Though he did his best to stick with the group the hound was first to the ocean floor, by attribute of his density, though as he contacts the floor he springs off of it and resumes swimming until another launch is necessary. As Magnus signals to him with the flashlight and indicates a direction he scans the area pointed in the infra-red spectrum looking for anything to move. *Scanning now... just a moment.* the hound would respond, via telepathy, to Kamryn, and the rest of the party his voice broadcasting in their heads.
Oh hey, a seal. What is it doing out this far? Magnus in his general state of infantile glee would move right in and start to bellyrub the friendly creature. Thankfully it wasn't seeing the group as predatory, nor as food up for grabs. Some ferals were nice like this, and seeing how the thing's flippers were wiggling from the thorough scritches it was recieving, seems it was only here to say hello and check things out. Two more would be timidly circling the group, while in the distance, more wildlife was approaching. Parting from the seal, Magnus gives it a quick rub to the head, before swimming back on course. In the distance, the telltale disturbance in the water was made clear, a torrent quite wild, a current quite rapid, the one they would hop onto to reach their destination. It wouldn't be long now!
Borneo couldn't help but giggle at Magnus's moment of peace, staying close by and creating a marker resembling a clock overhead to at least give an idea that Magnus was busy with something. Following after him after he had finished the bit of indulgement, he changed his marker back to a 'B', wearing a look of excitement at the torrent as it reminded him of the rapids in the river east of Fairhaven; nothing he couldn't handle, but one he felt eager to explore as he had never traveled through one in the ocean before. He continued to play around with his markers, pinpointing their 'ride' with a symbol resembling a whirlpool from above as he gave off a delighted purr moreso in at least seeing shipwreck that wasn't near Feesh's castle for once.
The others would hear through their comms, spoken in Arris' voice: "Is that giant whirlpool-looking thing the place we need to go to?" The gator treads water in place, giving the seal a headpat as well as it passes by her. "Well, if the forces that be wanted to make their important location look important and daunting, they certainly succeeded." If given the OK, she would resume swimming, starting to approach the whirlpool.
Zophah readies herself for the ocean current, still keeping watch over everyone and ready for problems. She conserves her energy for the most part, as her understanding of ocean swimming is that it will take a lot of work to get to the wreckage.
"Picking up a couple of blips on sonar, quite big" Kamryn broadcasts rather urgently to the group, unslinging her rifle as she turns. "One to the north, one to the south, both heading this way". She glances round to try and see which of the others heard her, switching off her shoulder lights for the moment. "They're moving slowly though, not sure if they know we're here yet". Peering into the darkness along her rifle sights with just the illumination from their flashlights, she adds "If that whirlpool is where we're going, it might be a good idea to head there quickly"
Continuing to leap, swim, land and repeat the large Hellhound would use his time swimming to survey the environment until spying something... unfortunately thermal didn't work quite so well in the depths as it does on land but whatever it was he had found was big. Unable to make out a clear silhouette or spy any identifying markings Ebreus would resort to telepathy *Something big over here.* he'd say, *Take a look* he would add and in show his view of the creature to everyone... though with the limitations of nanomagic this would be done one at a time. Starting with Zophah, then Borneo, then in order of proximity to himself. *Borneo's helping keep us on track, don't worry about the images.* he'd reply to Arris as he admires the playfuless of the seals for a few moments while passing them by. With Kamryn saying their is a second one he'd reply *Two? We should be careful.* he says
Alas, even with all this forewarning, too few flashlights go out. Before the group could reach the rapids, from the north and the south two heads pop up amidst the darkness. Water Dragons! They looked... not that threatening, really. Down under the water they were like big floaty blubber butts. They kept their paws turcked in for the most part, swimming using those long dexterous tails of theirs as much as their webbed fingers and toes to paddle gently through the water. One was standing in their way though, and moving to block their path regardless of any attempts to swim around it. The other noses Borneo's back with its snoot, a curious glimmer in its eyes evident. It lets off a soft trill and tries to nibble on his tail. Now, how to handle this...
Borneo's ears twitch at the image presented, looking back to see Ebreus then at the creature shown before marking both, the hellhound with a red symbol resembling fire and the creature with a blatant question mark, sighing to himself quietly about how much he needs to keep track of. He let his attention wane and was caught off-guard by the water dragon, turning his head curiously as he lets the water dragon nibble at his tail, blinking slowly then reaching over to rub at the chubby sea dragon's snout with one paw and attempting to scritch under its chin hile giving off a pleasant yet weird purr. Seeing both creatures were water dragons, he marks the both of them with white exclamation marks, though he looks rather confused at how to proceed past them without straight up shifting himself to a larger size then carrying them off elsewhere.
Arris spots the exclamation marks, turning around to drift over towards the sea dragon. Once close enough, she reaches a hand out, stroking at the head of the feral as she notes the plushy rump it sported with a light snerk. "Hah, these ones are pretty cute looking, don't you think?"
Though they don't pose much of a threat at the moment, the dragons are delaying the expedition. So Zophah uses her telepathic nanomagic to inform everyone "I'm going to make an illusion, don't follow it no matter how good it looks." She then shuts off her other nanomagic for now while creating 'the most tastiest treat' with her suggestive illusion nanomagic, sending it off in full view of the dragons and then darting off into the wide ocean.
Kamryn lowers her rifle as the situation turns out to be somewhat less tense than she'd expected. Keeping it ready just in case but pointed down to appear unaggressive, she slowly approaches the water dragon nibbling on Borneo, reactivating her shoulder lamps to get a better look. Watching as the other dragon follows Zophah's distraction away from the group, she feels quite hungry herself, shaking her head to regain her focus. "You know, this guy could be quite handy if we can keep it friendly. I bet it could lift a fair amount of hull plating for us if anyone has any suggestions on how to tame it"
Ebreus hums as the two show themselves to be water dragons. He swims alongside the one nipping at Borneo looking it over and taking notes on its form to help him identify water dragons more easily next time. Though as the mental communication comes from the scientist fox... now turned squid that there'd be illusory bait he averts his eyes being fully aware of how good an illusion could be made. Instead he makes his way closer to the front of the group. He hums as Kamryn suggests brining the big guy along, *Sounds like a plan, could certainly get more salvage with the big guy... I tend to TKO feralls and haul 'em back when workin' with the Prommies... anyone have a gentler touch?*
Magnus extends one hand towards the illusion, his eyes sparkling and his ears flitting down as he regards "Mother of all cookies..." he whispers in his mask, unsure if anyone could even catch that. Once the illusion fades into the distance however, he shakes his head and rubs his eyes. "Oof~" he'd grunt. Glancing back towards the dragon nibbling Borneo, the fox shrugs deeply and flashes his light at the others. He'd raise two fingers and tap his wrist with them, time to move on! No dawdling. If they're doing something, it better be now.
To save some time, the fox then reaches into his pack and pulls out a sturdy looking synthetic rope. He would hand a part of it to each and every one of his party members, then hook a thumb towards the rushing current they'd be riding. It should be pretty obvious the reasons for this, they didn't want to be separated in there, after all. He'd then motion for them to secure the rope wherever was most comfortable, for him being around his waist. He was a small fox, after all.
Borneo listens to the chatter going on, then nods to Magnus when he quickly gets the point, wrapping the rope around the base of his tail. Looking at the water dragon, he takes a moment to cease his illusions with a telepathic [Sorry] to his squadmates, instead focusing on toying with the near-entirety of the dragon's senses. Pulling his tail away from the other, he makes it seem that he left behind an effective clone of himself swimming away from the dragon towards the illusory treat that Zophah had manifest only to practically become one with it as he would appar to be what the aquatic dragon would want, while the real Borneo quickly heads in the opposing direction, ending his own illusory playtime once he was far away enough to not be spotted by the nibbler. [Go, go, go, go,] he telepathizes while clearly in a hurry to avoid being seen entirely, hoping his trick had worked but not checking to make sure; there just wasn't enough time for that!
With a nod, Arris takes the rope and ties it around her waist. "Ready whenever you guys are." She gives it a tug, before passing it down towards Zophah and motioning for her to tie herself as well. "Hah, you'd better put your good 'rope skills' to use, Zoph." She lets off a snicker.
Zophah pulls a smaller cargo belt from her toolbox and wraps it around her waist. It won't be comfortable, but it will be more secure. "You would know, honey." She replies to Arris, in a manner that sounds like she's teasing with her tounge sticking out. Zophah then hooks Magnus's rope to the belt and double checks all of her other gear is secure before confirming everyone else is ready as well.
Kamryn puts her rifle back over her shoulder as she takes the rope offered by Magnus. With a nod, she ties it around her waist, also knotting a couple of extra loops just along from her to use as handholds in case the main loop slips as they ride the currents. She works quickly on hearing Borneo's telepathic message, then glances curiously between the gator and squid, wondering if the remark about her rope skills was what she was thinking it was and making a mental note for a less precarious occasion. "Ready here, let's get moving before either of them come back again" she says, a little dissappointed they aren't taking the water dragon with them, but knowing her idea would have been a longshot at best.
Ebreus would take the cord as it's passed to him and tie it around his waist before passing it on to the next person. As the dragon moves off he shakes his head, *Oh well... easy come easy go.* he telepathizes *Still we're perfectly able to succeed without needing a water dragon. Ready* he adds as everyone sounds off.
Floating at the edge of the rapidly flowing tunnel, it was like a worm in the deep ocean, rapid flowing and carrying in it a great deal of sealife and debris. Using this would be a dangerous thing, most certainly among the more pearilous venture to experience under the waters. Magnus reaches out and grabs the nearest hands he could reach, that of Kamryn and Borneo. He'd let go for a moment to mime "On three... One, two, three!" he'd then grab hold again, and pull the others into the rapid stream!
It was like leaping into a twister, the sudden acceleration so jarring it drew the air out of Magnus' lungs. The group is tugged and twisted, battered with debris and smacked by all sorts of sealife as they twist and flail in the rushing stream. All but Borneo manage to sustain at least some blunt injuries. Thankfully nothing proved large or heavy enough to result in knockouts, but the better part of a fifteen minute rush of water later, Magnus pulls everyone out of the stream with a great deal of effort, and a lot of waistline pain to show for it.
Once they're in the quiet waters once more, he runs a hand over his rebreather and sighs into it, the frontal guard cracked, having barely managed to save the tubing behind it. Had he been smacked just once more by something, the device would have failed, and he'd have been in quite the shituation. Looking around the group, he would flash his light at them with one hand, the other rubbing his bruised arm.
Arris attempts to dodge out of the way of most of the debris, but ends up being hit regardless - letting out a groan as she rubs at her bruised abdomen. Once the group is out of the stream, she lets out a sigh, feeling at least a little dazed with the rapid acceleration from the rapids. "Guh... please, tell me there's no more." Her flashlight shines around through the waters, the gator looking around at her surroundings.
Borneo makes use of his illusions again to highlight everyone's positions by means of using the rope before they're taken into the stream, in which he treats the rush of speed as nothing more than an exciting rollercoaster ride - not that he's ever been one on in this day and age, mind you!
The catfish makes a game of the situation for himself, dodging to and fro out of the way out the debris, only getting bapped along the tip of his tail by a bit of debris by the time everyone's out. "I wanna do that again," he purrs heavily. "I'll have to start visiting the deeper parts of the ocean from now on...~" Looking towards the others, he visibly winces at Magnus's situation with the cracked rebreather, waving a paw over to everyone else with a nervous laughter. "...Without folks tied to me, haha..."
Zophah reorientates herself and double checks her gear before checking every one else. Using telepathy nanomagic she says 'If we loose any gear I've got one spare breathing mask and in emergency I can use nanites to go without breathing. I've also got the gear to cover one major injury, but I'd prefer not to use up any supplies.' She draws on her repair nanomagic and mends Magnus's rebreather first. She then draws on her phoenix dedication to produce fiery feathers, which despite being under water still burn like flares. She uses these feathers to heal what minor injuries are sustained.
Tumbling out of the undersea current in a tangle of rope, Kamryn struggles to regain her bearings as Magnus pulls the group into calmer waters. Falling back against the sandy ocean floor, she lies still for a few moments, getting her breathing back under control as her head swims from enduring the chaotic tumbling along their journey. After a few moments as Magnus's flashlight passes over her, she sits up groggily. "Mnggh... well, that was something" she says, adding "Everyone OK?" as she looks around, wincing. Noticing one of her shoulder lamps is out and the other is flickering she taps the inactive one a few times then reseats it in the mounting, eventually coaxing it back to life and stabilising the other one in the process. Under the increased light, she sees Magnus nearby and the damage to his rebreather. She unties the rope around her waist and crawls over to him, not willing to try standing up just yet. With a look of concern, she gently rubs a finger over the crack, assessing how bad it is. About to reach for a tube of nanite based sealant gel in her toolbelt, it becomes unnecessary as Zophah's nanomagic creates a pleasing warmth in her various bruises and Magnus's equipment repairs itself before her eyes. She nods to Magnus, making eye contact to be sure he's OK, then rolls onto her back with a sigh to give Zophah a thumbs up.
Ebreus would pull his wings in close to avoid them catching any debris as he is pulled into the slipstream... the hound had lucked out, swimming with a strong current wasn't that different than flying with a strong wind and so the hound, in spite of his size, dodged well enough back and forth with the current until it came time to exit... seeing the group begin to duck out of the current he'd swim out as quickly as he could before accidentally dragging anyone back in with him. *That was fun.* he'd agree with Borneo, *But right now we've got a job to do* Setting foot on the sea floor again he scans the surroundings looking for the wreck... they were here to find a large ship and strip it right? How hard could finding one of those be?
Not hard at all, as the vessel was in plain sight for everyone just a short swim away. The down ship was a military recon vessel, small but armored just enough that it can withstand gunfire without suffering holes in its hull. With a nod and a thumbs up, Magnus gives Zophah and Kamryn aquick hug, before swimming towards the wreck. Seems the only patch of workable hull left was on the starboard side, everything else long since having decayed away under the salt water and decay brought about by the various sea life. It wouldn't be easy to remove the plaiting, however. Magnus reaches into his pack and places a small charge on the surface, one easily notable as an air baloon charge to float their patch of salvage up quickly once it's dislodged, but first it would have to be removed from the vessel somehow...
Borneo watches Zophah handle the repairs to Magnus's rebreather, shamefully remembering he has the same power until he notices that his playful use of illusions have gone away, swimming over to stay close to Ebreus as he still recalls the hound has Regulation to make use of as the lot head to the vessel. He tilts his own head as he watches Magnus, then raises a finger as he asks, "Is this a job for Sculpting or a job for Ebreus to be our resident blowtorch?"
Arris begins to float around the hull of the ship, stroking the water with her tailfins to move around. "Hm. So, where do we start...?" She takes a glance at Magnus. "...oh, you have some balloon thingies? Not enough to lift the whole boat, I take it." She swims around the boat, looking for a hatch or a door or something to get inside of it.
Zophah pulls out the last and largest toll of her kit: a compact oxy-fuel cutting torch. She swims over to the shipwreck and starts drawing on her sculpting nanomagic to weaken the welds between the metal plates and the ship, then takes a minute to ignite the oxy torch. "This will take a bit, go ahead and get started."
Recovering enough to stand, Kamryn gets up and glances around the group again before looking over at the sunken vessel. She follows Zophah over to the wreck, assessing the best place to start work as the squid lights her cutting torch. "Well, hopefully the corrosion will have weakened the superstructure too" she says, "That should make detaching bits of the hull easier". Finding handholds amongst the cracks in the hull, she climbs up towards a larger hole. "I'll start from up here. Got plenty of tools if anyone needs anything" she calls over the comm, fishing some items out of her toolbelt as she heads inside to work on the plating.
Ebreus looks over the hull, "Nanomagic probably isn't going to do much to this, even if I were to make a bubble." he says, "We just need to detach this piece though... who knows maybe we'll luck out and the ship's old enough that it was riveted together instead of welded." he says with a light chuckle as he hops atop the piece. Looking around the large wreck he ads, "Just focus on where it's directly connected to other parts and this shouldn't take too long." he says as he finds one such part and begins testing the connection, "Here
Ebreus looks over the hull, "Nanomagic probably isn't going to do much to this, even if I were to make a bubble." he says, "We just need to detach this piece though... who knows maybe we'll luck out and the ship's old enough that it was riveted together instead of welded." he says with a light chuckle as he hops atop the piece. Looking around the large wreck he ads, "Just focus on where it's directly connected to other parts and this shouldn't take too long." he says as he finds one such part and begins testing the connection, "Here's one." he says and once someone's on that point he moves to the next point and calls it out drawing attention to every connection he can't break without a welding torch.
It takes a little effort, but within the span of a half hour if not less, the salvageable materials are extracted and sent on their way up towards the surface. Many would argue that a swim back so long would take days, if not weeks to accomplish, however let's just say that the prospect of high-value salvage attracts those willing to offer their services for a slice of the pie. Their transport was assured, and the team returns home victorious from thier underwater escapades.
