May 31, 2016:
Mera accepts an invitation to meet Rowan and Ulani and lends a hand on a front
Pacific Ocean
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
Mood Music: None.
Fade In…
It had only been a few weeks ago that Ulani had contacted Mera, and yet she has reached out again. She had agreed, promised almost, to keep Altantis' Queen apprised of things.
She and Rowan are out again, visiting the various tribes and waterfolk that have amassed to aid The Blue in their battle against The Lord of the Deep. This time, it's a smaller encampment consisting of Lemurian and Wildings near to the Front that's a little closer to home. The Sea Queen should be able to meet them there.
"The meeting area is not far ahead…" Ulani glances to Rowan as they swim through the encampment "I thought it would do morale good to see that Atlantis has some interest in this." As she speaks, a power armoured dolphin comes zipping up to them … so fast it seems like it's going to collide with them, before it swerves and starts circles around them. "Dragon! Ulani!" it speaks in a clicky voice, it's vocabulary may be limited, but it knows those names it seems.
"Hello Leaper…" Ulani laughs. "Did you miss us?"
Mera arrives a safe distance outside the encampment with her entourage of Tide and swims in from there. And yes, she's attracting a lot of attention. She really wishes she wasn't, but if wishes were seahorses, she'd have a decent snack on hand. She tries to not her exhaustion show, having shouldered nearly an equal share of Arthur's rule for the past several weeks to give him a chance to rest.
Rowan is just arriving back. Even as a dragon he doesn't attract as much attention as the Sea Queen possibly because they've seen more of him and possibly because Mera is terrifying. There's that, after all. The dragon blue chuckles at the greeting from the enhanced and armored dolphin, the sound deep and resonant before he notes something in the water. It's… ah…
"Your Majesty… glad you could come out."
"There she is…" Ulani murmurs, reaching out a hand to try and settle the Dolphin. They may be enhanced and wearing power armour, but they are still playful creatures - just dangerous, playful creatures now. The dolphin clicks and squees as it draws closer, nosing her hand so she will scratch it. "Good fighting, Ulani. You miss." it clicks again, causing the Blue Envoy to smile slightly.
"I don't think we missed the fighting, Leaper. Just fought, elsewhere. Where is your beastmaster?"
"Beastmaster coming…" so, very, helpful.
"Welcome, Your Majesty." she greets Mera, taking in her appearance and nodding slightly. Mera's hiding the exhaustion well, but there are slight telltale signs. "Thank you for coming. We thought you might like a bit of a tour and an update." At least they can talk where being overheard won't be such a problem. "This is Leaper. How are things back in Atlantis?"
Mera nods a hello to both Rowan and Ulani, her eyes drawn to the armor-wearing cetacean. Something she's not seen often if at all. "Things are unchanged." And by the undertone of her words, 'unchanged' is not a good thing at all.
Leaper is not unique. The Lemurian beast masters use dolphins like this by the thousands, albeit split up into pods of 20-40. Sometimes less. Ulani's sort of… permanently borrowed this one. The dragon Blue isn't sure she's going to give him back.
Rowan changes back and glances in the direction he just came from. "There's only going to be time for an hour or so of rest. The Lord of the Deep's forces are trying to reform near a seamount about twenty miles from here. We'll break them up before they can." The 'front lines' are a circle now that's slowly compressing as the Blue, the Lemurians, the Black and the Wild Tribes kill and contain every seamonster they can find and drive the armies of their opponent ever back toward the trench and the slowly weakening barrier there. "Have you come to join us your Majesty?"
The dolphin noses Ulani's hand again and she glances down at the creature. "Say hello to Her Majesty, Leaper." It's not clear to Ulani whether she's permanently borrowed this one, or if the dolphin's borrowed her - it really is quite intelligent. As to whether she'll 'give it back'… well, she'll wait to see what her orders after the war are.
Leaper swims a bit and does a loop before coming to a stop infront of Mera "Hello Your Majesty…" It's kind of fearsome looking, the power armour encasing the body, in this case, is fitted with weapon turrets on the underbelly and the sides. The dorsal fin is covered in sleek, bladed, armour. You probably don't want to get in the way of this creatures 'fun'.
The news that things in Atlantis remain unchanged is met with a slight grimace "I had hoped … " the Blue Envoy shakes her head before continuing "As Rowan says, Your Majesty. We've a hiatus and there'll be another 'push' starting soon. With the assistance of the Wildings, Lemurians, Attumas forces and our Surface Allies we are slowly wearing away at them." It's no wonder the pair look tired, and aren't trying to hide it "We just have to keep at them till the final push comes. Of course, The Wildings like the continued action."
As they speak a well muscled Lemurian, a Beast Master, approaches and just … stops … as he sees who Ulani and Rowan are speaking with "Excuse the intrusion, Blue Envoy. We've news that the assault is being bought forward…"
Mera studies the dolphin as it greets her, then nods. "Hello." And then the Lemuarian arrives and looks from him to the others "I cannot promise how long I can stay, but if I may be of assistance…"
Rowan glances over and sighs. "Break time's over, it seems. If you can come, we'd welcome you. This group of creatures is in the tens of thousands, a small bit of a larger army that has retreated in disorder. We need to prevent them from reorganizing and becoming a threat."
He's already moving, changing to grow a tail that will help him move faster. Lacking his own kind's water bending ability that's really his best way to get around. Around him others are moving as well.
"Thank you, Akamu." Ulani looks to Leaper as the Beast Master calls the dolphin to him.
"Tides be with you, Ulani, Rowan, Queen Mera." The Lemurian gives Rowan a glance as he changes but doesn't dally, he's got preparations to make.
"Even if Atlantis is unchanged, Your Majesty, your presence does much to raise morale and engender confidence." She's already moving after Rowan, they have their orders to follow.
Twenty miles isn't very far to travel and they soon reach the marshalling point. As they approach the 'front', the Lemuarians and Wildings separate. They fight in their own cohesive groups. It's not long before they get their first targets.
A wave of creatures 'swarms' towards the seamount, mutates of all shapes and sizes. Mera might recognise some that were Atlantean once, Ulani certainly recognises Blue but that's not all there is.
The Wildings engage from the left flank, whilst the Lemurians, with their Dolphins engage from the right, leaving the two Blues and the Atlantean with a force of Wildings behind them, to take the frontal assault. That's when Mera feels it, a psychic pressure trying to bend the combined armies to its will.
Mera follows the others and when they get to the front, she looks around at the combined armies before nodding to Ulani. And then the psychic pressure starts up and she grimaces. She's not nearly strong enough to fight psionic attacks with psionic attacks, so she's force to simply close off her mind to the pressure. Of course, having to do so makes her … irritable. And she takes that out on the swarm of mutates charging toward them.
They come in waves. In droves. Mera's seen these things fight on Atlantean borders. They're smart. They fight like soldiers. When commanded they're easily the equal of any trained army under the waves. Their command structure must be absent or in tatters though because now they're fighting like animals. They charge. They swarm. They rush right into the teeth of their pursuers with no thought for a greater plan or their own lives.
Rowan bellows, waves of sound breaking up the first rush, though it still comes. The second isn't far behind, washing over them like a tide as the sea becomes alive with the sound of battle.
The waters around them boil with action. That psychic pressure Mera is feeling appears to be weaker than when she experienced it before. Strange, they're closer to The Lords dominion here - shouldn't it be stronger? Maybe that's another reason why the mutates are in such disorder.
Mera's irritation should serve her well as a group of mutates swarm her position. Trying to rend and rip at the Sea Queen with long sharp claws and bite with vicious rows of teeth.
The Wildings and Lemurians are doing an admirable job of cleaning up those that try to flank them. The dolphins swim into fray, cannons firing, tearing the mutates to pieces as they do.
As Rowan bellows, Ulani raises a small hand cannon that emits a beam of energy. Anything that beam hits is knocked back, with a hole torn through it.
That second wave though seems to realise that the first isn't fairing well, their approach is slightly more measured - though not by much.
Mera didn't really do much during the first wave of attackers, though her trio of guards certainly made up for that. As the second wave approaches, she's ready. And their more measured approach doesn't really stand them in good stead. With an almost audible snarl, she reaches her hands forward with her fingers arched in a claw-like manner, and razor-sharp spikes of solidified start shredding through the mutates that get within her line of sight.
There's blood in the water now, quite literally. Or, well, ichor. In front of Mera in particular the waters look like they were attended by a particularly enthusiastic chummer. The violence is such that she holds a good section of the line on her own, the very sea turned against the armies of the Lord of the Deep. Rowan is fighting at a distance at the moment, unleashing sonic blasts on anything that starts to look even vaguely organized.
Meanwhile on both flanks the fighting intensifies as the creatures respond to some force that drives them forward rather than permitting them to retreat. Pods of armored dolphins slice through them in flowing, organic lines while the wildlings fight blade and spear and shield against claw and fang. That psychic pressure builds but it can't last. Whatever will is driving them is weak and distant. Their instinct can only be overriden so much. At some point - some point soon - they'll break and scatter.
At some point they might break and scatter but the Wildings, moreso than the Lemurians, aren't keen to let them get far. That's been a slight challenge for The Blue Elites that have been put to work with them (ahem, lead them) - getting them to break off attacks and not follow. Apparently there's no glory in that.
The pyschic pressure is still there but it's not strong and Mera was to test it, not that she should, she might find that it feels a little distracted. Like it's spread thin.
Ulani herself is covered in gore as she fights her way out from a scrum of mutates. There's not a left of the creatures by the time she emerges, water blade in one hand and energy weapon in another. "Hold the line…" she calls the Wildings with her who have gathered to work beside the Sea Queen.
All of the gore in the water makes it difficult to see, even to breathe, so Mera deals with that next. The solidified water blades become a wall that shoves chum and mutates alike, forcing them all back tens of meters and forcing them to have to muster up the wherewithal to charge forward again. And, it gives the Blue, Wildings, and Lemurians a chance to breathe clean water for a moment before everything gets disgusting again.
It's an almost tactile 'snap' to Mera, even with her mind closed. The will driving them just 'breaks'. Cuts off. The creatures revert to immensely more animalistic behavior. The back half begins to scatter but the front half in a frenzy and with all the blood in the water charges forward in a disorganized mess. The wildlings on the wing shout and swing in to meet them. Defense is not a concept they… well they understand it. They just don't like it. Rowan darts off toward them to keep a break from opening in the line, taking several lemurians and dolphin pods with him. That leaves Mera and Ulani to hold this last and largest rush.
Ulani casts a fierce smile at Mera as the water clears and then she turns to face onslaught again, this time weaving water to keep the writhing mutates in a corral. It becomes a bit of a killing ground for the Wildings and Lemurians that have stayed with her and Sea Queen. "Hold…" Not that the encouragement is needed as Dolphins cut through part of the group and the other waterfolk bring fang, claw and spear to bear.
Still, Ulani's water shaping can only pen some of them, the rest of the horde rush Mera in a mindless charge.
Well, since they're rushing at her, Mera gives the hordes something to run into. The solidifed water wall is back, though this time it's a wall made of spears and blades. And the ones in front will get pushed further into the killing wall by the ones behind.
There's an audible impact from the charge's sudden halt. Surfacer experts will probably be puzzled later. It's like a riddle. What, miles under the sea, sounds like someone dropping a thousand balls on a wet tennis court? No one is likely to guess the answer.
That last bit of heroics breaks the rush. Holding back the wildlings is going to be a full time job and it's not going to completely work. The urge to pursue is too strong. What's left of this group will flee and fall back to some other invisible rally point, but the threat is ended for now and the march forward goes on.
With the rush broken, Ulani drops her water wall and lets what's left depart. The Wildings are rather dogged in their chase even as she barks out orders to cease. She's not really sure she can blame though and as long as they don't get ambushed, they'll return … soon.
The Lemurians are slightly more ordered and subside as the remaining mutates depart, they and the Wildings that did actually stay, gather near Mera, clearly impressed. There's a few murmurs from some near the back "Atlantis stood with us …"
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Ulani returns to the Sea Queen's side, still covered in gore and glancing back looking for Rowan. "Your assistance was appreciated. Come, let us return to the outpost, we can discuss our plans before you return. I know you've limited time with us."