Hellborne Cargo[Rin Mizutani and Davy Jones]

[Augustine]

Jones and his crewmate listened as Rin figured out how to improvise a tune to so old a song.  His guitar was definitely an instrument that Jones had only heard recently, and that alone lent an unusual quality to the song as Jones kept singing.  He'd go through the entire song even, every verse, which was very clearly a fairly baudy and lewd song when one parsed what 'Watkins Ale' was meant to be.  Once the song was done though, lasting a good six or so minutes, Jones would step out of the pilothouse with a chuckle.

"That is a fine instrument to be sure, are there any songs you're fond of lad?  I won't be able to keep singing myself, time I got dressed up.  I should be able to hear ya just fine from belowdecks lad."  Galiane had gotten up, taking the map with her.  She was going to step into the pilothouse and start adjusting the ship's course.  She was clearly the navigator on this ship, not to say Jones couldn't do that, but it was clearly her main job.  Jones though was taking the hatch belowdecks to get 'dressed up' as he put it.  Something that would take a little over ten minutes to get done.  He could still talk or comment, his voice carrying well enough.

When he came back up though, well the casual outfit, the simple shirt and breeches, they had been replaced by an entire ensemble.  Red leather, blackened metal embellished with gold, a heavy coat, with spikes on the breastplate rising up behind Jones' head.  A truly impressive pistol hung at his left hip, the thing almost as long as one of Jones' own arms, and opposite it was slung a handaxe, weathered but well made, the spike opposite the blade stylized like a fin or wing.  A keen eye could see countless smaller pistols hidden across coat and armor as Jones sighed, hands on the belt he now sported.  Now he looked far more the imposing, dread devil's pirate. 

[avidelmv2]

Rin cracked a smile. It was always a good day to hear someone's appreciation for his playing, and his instrument even more. "Yamata is my prized possession. I had it made when I first became a devil hunter. The body is rigged with all of my tone components and magical amplifiers but it was the paint job that broke my bank." Rin sighed heavy, a release of tension in affectionate remembrance. "It's hard to find paint demons can't scuff." Davy's question brought him back and made him think for a moment. He sat back straight. "I have a few, since you're asking. This one has some of my favorite basslines." Rin kneaded his fingers into each other, then produced an obol that he put against Yamata's strings. He started to play a dark and heavy tune, alternating between his 12-string and base. Occasionally he tweaked the sound on the modulators, creating more or less distortion in the riff. His comfort with the song was clear in the unbroken sound. He was always playing something, even if he had to tweak the tone.

Rin played a long introduction, improvising on the bass between drumlines, then started to sing. His singing voice lacked a particular charm, much like Davy's, coming across like soulful spoken word. The charm he couldn't deliver lyrically was injected by the guitar, their voices working in tandem. He played for the entirety of the Davy's wardrobe change and then some, the song peaking one last time at their entrance. "This sound would have been better with drums," he said while carefully picking the last few notes, squeezing out the last of the songs glamour through them. "The guitar and the drums just make this one." He set Yamata down in his lap, looking Davy up and down one good time. "At least, it made your entrance very cool." He realizes at that moment that he left his own armor on the ship but doesn't say anything. Hopefully it won't come back to bite him. "Does that mean we're already close to the ship?"

Rin turned, taking in as much of the horizon as his eyes could. If he could see the barge from here, it would be a sweet bonus to an already cherry sight. The open ocean with the blue sky and clouds meeting in the middle distance. Even the clouds darkening the sight on one side of his vision had a place in the beauty.

[Augustine]

"Ooooh, magic man eh? What kind of things you cast with that guitar?" The woman studying the maps asked as he talked about Yamata. She seemed at least somewhat interested, her flippant tone of voice might be a bit off putting there, but they were all members of Charon, and they were a pretty friendly group with each other.

Once he started playing though she'd listen from the pilothouse, Jones presumably listening below decks before he came back up. "Haaaah, close to it? Well we might be." He walked up to the pilothouse, where Galiane handed him a spyglass. With a word of thanks he snapped the thing out to full length before bringing it up to his one eye, looking out over the ocean waves. After a minute of looking, "Ahah! I'd reckon we're...twenty out at this distance. Care to take a look lad?" Jones offered, moving to hand Rin the spyglass if he was interested.

If he did, well it'd be pretty hard to spot the barge, it was barely a dot on the endless horizon of the ocean. It took an experienced eye, used to spotting distant ships to really get a grip on it, or just a little luck and keen eyesight. "Aha, you're actually pretty close captain, getting used to these new ships well eh?"

"Hahahahaha! But of course. What kind of captain can't properly account for their own ship's speed?"

[avidelmv2]

If Rin was annoyed by Galiane's tone, he didn't show it. He got rather animated instead by her question, speaking with a full smile in his voice "I practice Psychic magic. Yamata amplifies sound and magic and makes it come out as one. It's like the feeling you get in your stomach from being next to a subwoofer cranked up to max, only a hundred times more intense. Psychic magic comes easy to me, but it's not a popular school with Orochi or the Descendants. So everything I know is self-taught." He finished with a noticeable gloom, the disappointment of potential without opportunity. His magic was just as important to him as his music, a literal and figurative extension of himself. Right now, it wasn't worth much as anything other than a stick to bludgeon his enemies over the head with.

Davy's offer of the spyglass was taken with a silent bow of the head by Rin. He wasn't lucky, and his eyesight was no better than the next persons, but he had practice from sighting and tracking during sea raids with his own crew and spotted the barge within a few moments of searching. He kept the spyglass unless it was asked for, watching the waters and skies around the ship for hazards. If demons were attacking ships at sea, they came from one or the other. Maybe these demons were more intelligent and had vessels of their own to sail on. Or maybe in some strange twist of fate, the barge had sailed towards a hole in the Veil. "Did you find out what demons took that ship from your tip?"

[Augustine]

Jones would hold his hand back out for the spyglass once Rin was satisfied with his look and go back to observing the ship on the horizon. "Mmmm, didn't get told what type, but they're feral. Apparently the folks that did the discovering didn't know what they were, 'like monkeys' apparently. Best guess is that for some reason they were either already on the ship in one of the cargo containers, or someone for some reason on the ship conjured them aboard. Doesn't sound like the ship hit a rift, and damned if I can think of many places where a big metal brute like your human cargo ships could sail where 'monkeys' could climb aboard."

Monkeys? What a strange thing, but it was just monkey like, but what kind of monkeys even? Did the person who reported even understand the difference between monkeys and apes? A lot of different questions like that had run through Jones' mind as they approached, the barge slowly coming into view on the horizon, without the spyglass. Still just a dark dot over the waters, but slowly growing more prominent, still in the water save for how the tides pushed the metal behemoth.

[avidelmv2]

Rin wore his confusion on his brow, letting it sink lower and lower. "Could there be some kind of mage on the ship then?" The thought alone made Rin grimace, a slight frown that made the furthest corners of his lips curl down into a pout. If that were the case, this was already more complicated than it had seemed right away. "That's something we should consider while we're there." Rin wore his concern for a moment longer, then wiped the expression away with his hand. He didn't have it in him to come up with a contingency plan for the scenario, just readied himself for the possibility of a long fight. Besides that, it just didn't seem cool to bite his nails down to the bed over this. He could handle himself, and he wouldn't have accepted the job if he didn't think Davy couldn't do the same, so together they had this in the bag. Rin kept telling himself that while the ship continued to close the distance, sitting to play some more distorted funky noise.

[Augustine]

"Heh, a mage? Could be, but I doubt it." Jones replied as their trawler continued on ahead. "If it were you'd expect more control, the ship to be moving somewhere, not adrift. A'course I suppose they could have conjured something they couldn't control, might still be alive in that case, might just be dead. No way to find out without climbin' aboard ourselves."

With that it was just time to settle in and continue onwards. Jones didn't seem to mind the music, and Galiane didn't seem to care either. The cargo ship would get bigger and bigger, until it was looming overhead. A great metal ship, towering over their trawler. Jones shook his head as he chuckled, Galiane turning the Cattail up to slow to a stop alongside the great ship. "And here we are...still don't know how you folks made ships this big without magic." Jones was picking up something, a hook on a rope, very simple that, not hard to figure out his intention. "So plan's simple, Galiane'll stay with the ship, make sure no one climbs aboard while we're gone, we give her the signal once we're sure the ship's secure, then we start lootin'. The two of us stick together and sweep the place, draw out any devils and give 'em the ol' what for."

As Jones spoke he was spinning the hook around on a short length of the rope, looking upwards. Then he'd release it, his strength clearly evident as it went hurtling up into the air and past the railing of the cargo ship, before he pulled, and it clung fast to the rails. He gave it a few tugs to make sure it was secure before turning his attention to Rin. "Any questions?"

[avidelmv2]

Rin chuckled at Davy's comment, his lips curling just enough to call his expression a smile. But he awed in silence with the pirate as he looked up the barge's side. They had sailed right into the ships shadow, partially separating themselves from the sun and leaving a nice, cool draft to enjoy. Rin did just that while he listened to Davy's plan. "I've asked all mine." He fastened Yamata against his chest  to keep it from swinging and reached out a hand for the rope. "I'll go up first. If I get shoved off, at least you're know they were expecting us." With the rope in hand, Rin swung over to the barge and started his hand-over-hand ascent, feet pressed against its hull.

He stopped short of clearing the railing to look through any gaps in it to search for hidden threats, obvious or otherwise. Rin only pulled himself up and over when the deck seemed safe. He wasn't lying when he said he'd be okay with falling from the ship, but he didn't want to put himself in a situation where he was.

[Augustine]

"Hahahaha, you sure? Alright then lad, get up there." Jones said letting him take the rope and head up. The devil pirate watched him climb up, hands on his hips and waiting. Despite what that usually meant he didn't seem impatient, merely waiting. It wouldn't be smart to put too much weight on the rope or the railing at once, and his armor was pretty heavy. So he was going to let Rin head to the top first.

Typical of cargo ships everything was as compact as it could possibly be in order to fit as much cargo as possible. The cargo containers towered over the actual deck, covering every inch of the surface of the ship save for where the bridge divided off a third of the containers strapped to the deck. It was only a little taller than the stacks of metal containers, and there was still a cargo hold too. The deck they were climbing up to, was very narrow, painted red, and with a metal overhang, making an enclosed corridor with only the wall out to sea missing and replaced with railing.

Getting up there Rin would see no signs of combat or bodies or any demons, but this was just one small section of a pretty big ship. "You good up there lad?" Jones asked, grabbing the rope and beginning to clamber up himself. Clearly despite being a captain he knew his way around ropes and rigging, probably more than modern sailors actually, given that sails and rigging were no longer nearly as present a thing in the modern age. He climbed rather well even with his heavy armor on. As he neared the railing though, he stopped hearing the sound of metal shifting and...one of the cargo crates went hurtling off the side from up top!

Jones turned his head down and, "Galiane, watch out, right above us!" The long rectangular crate was thankfully not going to hit the Cattail but smash into the water near it, creating a large wave that had the Cattail collide with the ship, before shifting back away from it.

"I'm fine captain! What the hell was that?!" Galiane's voice came from below, while Jones looked up and, with his eye widening, abruptly pulled himself up and onto the deck immediately.

"Brace yourself lad we got incoming!" As soon as Jones got up onto the deck he was moving, and a tremendous mass of flesh and fur would suddenly come down. It didn't land in the deck, but massive, tree trunk arms latched onto the thick metal supports that kept the overhang of the deck separate from the floor. It was monkey-esque, but with two small eyes below large ones, its head shaped like a dark, orange baboon's, and a massive mane of black fur.

The devil bellowed, moving one arm to try and grab at Rin and Jones as it hung off the side of the deck, too big to actually fit into their space, offering only slight relief. That wouldn't help them if either of them got grabbed!

[avidelmv2]

Rin loosened Yamata's straps to let it hang from his chest again. He watched the deck while Davy climbed, dubbing it comfortably empty for his sense of safety. That didn't track with the imagined scenario he had of a lonely barge being positively swarmed by primates, but Rin focused his thoughts back on the present. They could be on a lower deck or could have even gone back from where they'd come in the first place, but speculation was all too distracting. Sounds of metal scraping on metal sent him right back into a panic, looking all around until the shadow of a cargo crate washed over him and disappeared just as quickly. He followed it to the railing, looking down as it splashed dangerously close next to Davy's trawler. The Cattail road the resulting wave right into the barge but Galiene called back to her captain without any delay so Rin was satisfied. 

He backed away as Davy climbed the last few feet up to the railing, any opportunity to suggest caution stolen away by their own panicked warning. Rin followed their gaze up to the overhang. The great ape that revealed itself was another massive shadow cast against the backdrop of cargo crates. With its hand stretching out for them, Rin grabbed Yamata by its throat and played a stretched out howl. The air shook and shattered in front of him, a blast of concussive sound hurtling into the ape demon's hand. Rin stood his ground, hoping to break the demons fingers or slow its hand at the very least. Barring that, maybe he could handle whatever this thing was dishing out... but he SERIOUSLY doubted it.

[Augustine]

The sound of Yamata split the air, a powerful, shrieking howl that accompanied an impressive display of magical force. The beast's hand was blasted back and it let out a kind of yowl, a bellow, before staring at Rin and properly roaring, its hand coming back but now clenched into a fist.

Then came another powerful, air-shattering roar. Not the wail of a guitar, but the sound of black powder shooting off. The sound the impressive miniature cannon in Jones' hand was formidable, and his aim was true. It struck the beast directly in the head, with enough force for its head to cock to the side and completely stop it from trying to slam a fist into Rin. It shrieked, fist now moving for Jones who leapt back as the fist slammed hard into the metal of the deck wall, denting it inwards considerably. Then he stepped back in, that hatchet at his side now in his other hand and coming down to slam into the big, meaty arm of the beast. Another shrieking bellow came with the axe biting deep into flesh and its arm swept out, throwing Jones back, his metal breastplate scraping across the deck as he shouted.

"Lad, blast the arm it's usin' ta hold onta the deck!" Its other hand was gripping the roof of the deck, but the arm was clearly visible and targetable. If Yamata could hit it hard enough maybe they could knock this thing off the deck!

[avidelmv2]

Rin stowed his relief at the sight of the apes hand crushed under the weight of his magic. It was already recovering to launch a counter attack, leaning all its weight into the blow. This wasn't a blow he could deflect. The ape had learned his lesson and was fully commiting to crushing him. Rin shifted his weight to dodge when the crack and boom of black powder sounded out beside him. A cannon sized payload struck the demon's face, but just like with his attack, the impact only seemed to anger it.

It switched targets and intentions again, aiming for Davy Jones being him with a fist. Rin turned his attention back to the demon, bracing against the impact of its fist against the deck and preparing another blow from his instrument. "Already on it," he called on, focusing his gaze on the demons hand. Another squeal from his guitar and the air parted between him and his target, the sound carrying into the overhang and the apes arm. He started to strafe to Davy's side, bracing again for the potential of the monkeys collapse on the deck. "Let's get clear of these cargo containers, it will be bad for us if they're knocked over."

[Augustine]

The powerful blast of noise struck the ape's hand, and it let out a bellowing screech, hand dislodged from the support connecting deck to the roof above them. It's body swayed backwards before they slung forward to seize the deck floor, fingers digging in, denting the metal. Jones from his position on the floor took aim with his Handcannon once again, and again the terrific, ear splitting crack of powder sent a round into the beast's face. Another bellow and the thing leaped its way up, past the roof of the deck and out of sight. Although they could hear it moving around up there.

"Hah, you see how much of the ship is covered in those blasted crates? If anything we're probably in a safer place." Jones reached up to rap the roof of the deck with his axe, solid metal that. "Still you're right, the beast can't fit in here with us, but we're like fish in a barrel. Only place taller than the boxes is the bridge, so come on, let's find a way inside and get to the bridge. We can confront the beast there! Hahaha, assuming there's only it at least!"

Jones would take the lead traveling down the narrow metal deck. If nothing else, with the beast unable to squeeze between the metal roof and the deck it didn't seem interested in harassing them further, at least not right now. It gave them a moment to breathe as they searched for a door into the ship itself.

[avidelmv2]

Rin cocked his head away from the sound of Davy's hand cannon. The pirate may be used to such a sound, or just too deaf to care anymore, but he couldn't stop himself from flinching like a child in a thunderstorm. He kept his weapon turned out to the ape as it ascended to the roof, only letting his fingers rest against Yamata's glossed surface then. He split his attentions between listening for the demon in one ear and hearing out Davy's plan in the other, occasionally nodding his agreement.  "Sounds good," was Rin's near quiet response. "I'll take the front again. It'll be easier to use my magic that way." And he did just that, leading the way forward with his instrument turned out again and a suitable amount of distance between he and Davy.


His style of fighting wasn't compatible with fighting in such tight spaces, let alone with a partner who had a axe and hand-held flak gun to throw around. So Rin took pains to make sure either could fight unimpeded by their closeness, while that could be maintained. He searched for paths along the railings and through the maze of cargo containers, tuning Yamata to a more manageable sound for their claustrophobic surroundings. Every shadow around seemed like something for a rogue element to leap from or into. Rin kept that in mind while they cleared the deck.

[Augustine]

"As ya say lad, once you rip that first chord though try to throw yourself against the wall, otherwise I'd have ta blast over your shoulder and I doubt that's good for the hearing." Jones advised before falling into step behind Rin. With his axe resting up on his shoulder in an almost casual pose, and his handcannon held up across his chest, lightly tapping on his breastplate.

The cargo crates were packed tightly together, this ship wasn't as full as it could be, but full enough that the spaces were narrow. On the bright side, that giant ape couldn't reach them in here without tearing all the crates down, although that didn't make it feel any less tense. Up above them they'd hear the best rambling about on top of the cargo containers. Sometimes its shadow fell over them as they moved, but it couldn't reach them if it was aware that they were down there at all.

After several minutes of this tense not quite quiet, Rin would see it ahead. A hatch down below decks, it was swung open already, and the deck lights were still on below. An encouraging sight, were it not for the obvious, clear trail of smeared blood leading into it and down it.

[avidelmv2]

Rin kept his cone of vision panoramic as they traveled under the apes constantly moving shadow. It was a nerve-wracking experience, the image of the crates toppling onto them because of its tantrum a fear that took up residence in the near corners of his mind. But he continued forward until their aimless walk paid off. "Blood." Rin pointed out the streaks on the hatches top just for confirmations sake as he slinked into a wide stance crouch. Yamata, extended out in front of him by its necks, had its heavy glass body rapped against the hatches surface in hopes of coaxing out anything that was hiding just on the other side. What would he do if they came out before he could draw his guitar back, though? Well, he hoped Davy had that covered while he experienced this reminder of just how heavy his instrument was. His brow was already starting to moisten and the exertion pressed his lips into a thin line.

When, or if their path forward proved safe, Rin stood to his feet with Yamata back against his chest and walked forward. He waved Davy on after a quick peer down before stepping forward and dropping down to the next floor. 

[Augustine]

"Well, not an encouraging sight. Suppose it was a bit of a faint hope to think that that great beast was the only threat aboard this ship eh?" He'd step carefully around the smear of blood to peer down, before stepping off and dropping down directly. The impact was heavy, but nothing broke or bent on his landing as they arrived in one of the ship corridors. Jones had his pistol pointed as he swept both sides of the corridor. It was...well there was more blood, including a trail of it leading one way down the corridor. Unfortunately that path was also the way towards the bridge, their goal.

"Nothing for it, gonna have to wipe these buggers out regardless, aye?" Indeed, nothing for it but to continue onwards, towards an open door, the metal frame obviously jutting out, and the blood trail leading into it. The corridor kept going onwards, they'd have to walk past the door anyways, creeping forwards. It was silent but as they approached the door they'd start to hear something, the sounds of shuffling, heavy, animalistic breathing, definitely not a human, before something would shuffle past that swung open door and into the hall.

It bore a small resemblance to the great beast rampaging above decks, but there were a number of key differences. It was monkey-like, but its eyes were a shining red, unnaturally illuminated, and the entire body a deep nearly black purple, with a strange shadowy aura around it, almost like wreathed in smoke or fur shimmering out of view, and it had tremendous white teeth jutting from its jaws, with wicked claws on hands and feet. Shuffling out it would see the both of them and let out a screech, slamming its claws into the metal floor, and from the room it had emerged from would come a series of answering shrieks!

[avidelmv2]

Davy found Rin at the bottom of the drop with Yamata held horizontally in his hands, measuring the distance of it's endpoints from the wall. These spaces were getting tighter and tighter... While Davy offered observations and direction, Rin begrudgingly accepted it could probably get more uncomfortable, nodded his agreements, and took the lead. Their direction was obvious, even if he didn't orient himself based on the wall markers - follow the bloodstains. Funny how these things worked out for people in this line of work. He walked forward with Yamata's main necks turned out as always, creeping through the trawlers bowels until they came upon a door. A door, which emenated the only noise they'd heard for several dozen paces. A door that quicklybecame occupied by a lesser version of the demon they'd been accosted by up above. 

The demon reacted violently to their arrival, but Rin was quicker and more decisive in what he wanted to do. He met the apes entrance with the force of several bursts of Shred from Yamata. Then he threw himself to the side, crouched, and hoped Davy was ready enough to fire and the demon too staggered to move away. Ah, he wish he'd known to bring earplugs... He could already feel his headache resurfacing, so the less Davy had to shoot that thing, the better. "Aim well! You might be able to notch more than one in your belt right here."

[Augustine]

The guitar blared out loudly and the ape was sent stumbling back from the attack, seemingly struggling to do anything but be blown about helplessly by the attack. At the same time, Jones took a step forward, aiming that tremendous hand cannon of his directly at the ape. One hard pull of the trigger that had that boom slamming into the walls, and a bullet slamming straight into the beast. At the same time he walked forward directly past the open door to peer in towards the source of the things only for another to leap at him from the doorway!

Jones was quick though, and that hatchet resting on his shoulder lashed out, driving into the beast and slamming it into the side of the doorway. "Looks like the engine rooms to me lad!" His gun pointed into the doorway and Rin would hear another boom. "I bet this is the majority of them in here, so I say we take this opportunity to clear the bastards out!" With that he was stepping into that other room! "Follow along, or take this door to make sure none of 'em can try and flee, up to you laddie!"

Inside the door was the engine room, much more spacious than this corridor. A great deal of space was taken by the engines, great mechanical things that dominated several points of the long rectangular room. Tall enough that there were even stairs and platforms up and down the chamber, with multiple of those shrieking ape-like devils taking offense to Davy Jones' sudden intrusion!

[avidelmv2]

The smell of spent gunpowder burnt in Rin's throat as the black powder cloud dusted his head. Coughing, he stepped behind Davy into the engine room. A strange place to make roost, but Davy seemed confident this was most of their number, so Rin was hoping the same. They had to handle most of the grunts here, or the inevitable confrontation with the King Kong-esque beast topside would be all the more difficult. Rin cocked Yamata by one of its throat and put his obol to its strings before pausing to take in his surroundings. This room was, graciously, more spacious than the rest of the regions of the ship they'd passed through, but also full of sensitive equipment. Not the fragile type, but not the type he wanted to be slinging concussive magic around either. It would be an issue if a stray bolt of sound started a fire or some other naval disaster.

Though it wasn't long, that moment of thought was enough for an ape to throw itself into Rin's side and knock him against a support strut. He braced his arm against the things throat before it sunk its teeth onto his own and caught its arm with his other, but still ended up being battered in the side and face with their free arm. Despite the dire appearance of his situation, Rin kept a calm expression, the only sound he made being a guttural war cry right before pulling the simian into a headbutt. Its head cracked back with the stomach churning sound of crunching bone, but it was the demon reeling back while Rin strided forward to follow up with a flying knee to the face that took the demon off its feet. It slid to rest at the feet of another group of Msira gathering to join the fight, their attention snapping from it to Rin thereafter. They bounded up to him as a tide of teeth and fists, but the Devil Hunter didn't flinch or stutter. He turned Yamata around to rest on his back and cracked his fist, welcoming their advance by taking a boxers stance.

"Let's clean up here and look for survivors."