The last roleplay of the mission sees Aleena going for her ship, which has been trapped under the waters of the Loathing Kingdom since her arrival.

Cyber Sunset and Sebastian Dash are with her, but of course, there's some complications to deal with first!

 
Far to the south of Seaside Town, where the water meets the land, an old former fisherman sits and waits for the arrival of the prophesied hero. Our story unfolds far to the south of him.

"Tie down that rigging!" came a female shout. Waves splashed over the deck as the angry skies pelted the ship with winds and rain. The storm had appeared out of nowhere, brewed over their heads by an unseen force, and if the crew could not secure the lines, the sails would be shorn from the masts. Dash held the tiller, fighting to keep the specialized ship under control and Cyber Sunset, with grenades supplied by Kadlin strapped to his belt, lashed himself to the bow.

Aleena found herself having to shout to make herself heard over the roaring winds. She stood beside Dash, her suit affording her better footing on the deck than any of her companions and crew. "I've never seen anything like this, Sebastian!"

Dash nodded. "Nasty storm, hm? It's weird. You don't usually get storms in this area of the Kingdom."

Cyber Sunset took a step back from the bow, as far as the security of the ropes would allow. "Do you normally get those?" he shouted, pointing out into the water. From below the waves, a massive nest of sargasso and tentacles began to arise, lashing about madly. After a few moments, what looked almost like a cross between an oyster and a skull rose at the center of all the numerous legs of the beast. It was easily twice the size of the ship, and it seemed hungry.

"Yeah, that's gonna be a problem," Dash admitted.

Aleena made her way to the bow as the crew armed themselves with spears. "Cyber! Destroy it!"

Dash nodded.

Cyber Sunset grabbed as many of the explosives as he could get his hands on and vanished in a flash of green light with a noise almost muted entirely by the roar of the storm. A moment later the creature appeared to hesitate in its wild undulations, as if confused by anticipated yet premature sensory input. The next instant it exploded in a cascade of fire as Cyber Sunset blindly teleported under the water near the boat.

Aleena caught the tell-tale teleportation energy signature. Without hesitation, she dove into the ocean to help Cyber Sunset. Sensing danger underneath, Dash dove in after her, though he was forced to leave his broadsword behind in favor of a simpler utility knife.

Unaware of the two divers, Cyber Sunset materialized in the boat a few moments later, looking around for the others. "Hello? ...hello?!" Fearing the worst in the rocking waves, he looked over the side, trying to find any sign of the other two. Under the water's murky surface, he could see a battle going on. The creature seemed to be dragging someone down! Fortunately, whoever it was - Dash, from the larger shape of the body- sliced at the creature with expert efficiency, causing the tentacle to be yanked back by the creature. Dash's body quickly twisted as he swum towards and quickly broke the surface of the water, near Aleena.

"Mind tossing us a rope, Sunset?" Dash asked, fully aware of the irony of the request, given that they'd dove in to help out the teleporting hero. Once back aboard the ship, Dash explained he'd taken an obsidian blade, since the small weapon was infused with the properties of the main elements of the Loathing Kingdom.

Dash then threw himself back into the job at hand; it was clear he was quite distracted. Soon after, Aleena noticed him standing at the edge of the ship, leaning on the rails. His eyes were firmly on the land they'd left behind. Aleena had a pretty good idea of what he was looking at and joined him.

The elf put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him close, tilting her head to rest on him. With the defeat of the monster, the storm it had brewed was rapidly wearing itself out. "Worried about the outpost, Dash?"

Dash nodded. There was a deep frown in his face, though he cheered up at her presence. "I should be there. The things Catrina told me about the slavers is the material of nightmares. I feel like I'm abandoning Konall."

Dash paused, looking at her. "Don't misunderstand. I'm glad I'm able to help you retrieve your ship. I just hope Konall's new army doesn't pay the price for my distraction."

Aleena pressed a kiss to the man's cheek. "Sebastian, you are a hero... but there is only one of you. I am very sorry with what happened with Konall, but I think you made the right choice. No-one I know is a better seaman than you."

"Thank you, Aleena," Dash said, allowing himself a smile for a few seconds. "I'm glad you think so, though there's others with much more experience than myself." Such as Knoall, Dash thought. It silently reminded him of the reason for his worries. "I might need you to take me down there, if your ship's functional. The threat of the Penguins and slavers are certainly cause for concern, but I'd also like to know where Konall's group is going to stand politically." He looked her directly in her eyes to emphasize the seriousness of his concerns. "As much as I admire Konall, if he's forming his own.. they called it a faction, but call it what it is, an army.. we need to be sure he still ends up an ally."

"I'll get you there. No worries. My ship is right under us... it seems to have attracted the kraken. I'll need to take the harness down to the ship, then we can haul it up and see what's broken. For this, I'm going solo. You would not survive the pressure."

Dash nodded. "You might be right. Given time, I'm sure I could track down a mage of the appropriate skills to let me survive undewater long enough, but I'm not sure how much good I would do. Since you can reform your suit to suit whatever problems you encounter, you'd be infinitely more adaptable than even the most versatile of mages. I never thought of it this way, but I guess you would need something like that to survive in space, wouldn't you?"

Aleena smiled as her helmet reformed over her head. "Yes, and much more. The hazards of space are infinite."

She nodded and dove from the ship, dragging the rope harness and four lines, each secured to winches on the port and starboard of the ship, deep into the ocean. It took many hours, but finally, Dash heard Aleena's faint, distant voice in his mind. "Winch me up, Sebastian!"

Consciously, Sebastian knew it was due to the naites which had remained in his head when she had revived him from the brink of death several weeks ago during the fateful trip to Honorburg. Dash, however, had no real basis for comparison for such futuristic technology. To Dash, it was simply telepathy, no more and no less, even though he knew it wasn't.

Dash ordered the crew into action. Along with Dash and Sunset, they had enough crew to send a pair of workers to each of the four winches. Though Dash would have preferred to help, he and Sunset were charged with guarding the ship against unexpected attacks.

Aleena had just finished securing the rope harness to her ship and she signalled Dash. The hatch to her ship was open, as it had been left when it hit the ocean. The internal compartment was filled with water and through the pitch black, Aleena navigated her way inside. She did not need light to work on her ship.

Fortunately there were no further complications. Oh, the sea monster reared its ugly head, but a torpedo to the face fixed that. With Aleena's space ship suspended beneath the sailing ship, Dash set a course back to shore. The evening turned to night and the anchor was dropped. As dawn broke, teams of prepared oxen began to haul the space elf's sleek black vessel onto the shore. Dash seemed quite relieved when they finally hit land.

"Dash, Sunset. Are you guys ready for the ride of your lives?" Aleena asked. Her helmet receded, showing her gleaming eyes and happy grin.

"I am," Dash said. "Though honestly, it's the destination I'm most interested in." Dash leaned over, kissing her on the cheek. "I'm glad you got your flying ship back, though."

Aleena looked to Cyber Sunset. "I also promised you a ride back to Honorburg, if you want it."

"Ah don’t think I’m in quite a rush, ma'am," he said. "Y’also promised me a few tech upgrades, and I plan on seein’ those through. Can’t resist a new piece o’ hardware...but for the ride of my life, we’ll have to see if it lives up to that."

Dash admitted, "I don't quite understand how this ship is designed to stay airborn, though."

"Think of it as magic," Aleena said. "Come, the water is cleared from the cabin. We'll visit the Outpost first."

"Don’t think of it as magic," Cyber Sunset said. "Plenty o' non-magical ways to make it work. I’m bettin’ it uses somethin’ like Cavorite to make it work, that’s what those dang tripods seem to power their ships with. An’ that’s not even countin' any of Doc Barbicane's ideas."

"Well," Dash replied. "Those could be magic as well."

Cyber Sunset narrowed his eyes. "Doubtful. Mage's can’t make 'em work with their normal stuff. An' I say if you can repeat it, measure it, reproduce it, and extrapolate from it, it isn’t magic."

If Dash had any comments on Sunset's reply, he kept them to himself. The heroes boarded the elven ship and it silently slipped into the sky. The work crews would have to return to the kingdom under more conventional means.

When the ship took off, Cyber Sunset snorted. "This is a fancy ride, and a smooth one too, Aleena," he said. "But getting to th’ Moon with Barbicane’s help still beats it."

Yup, Aleena got her ship back! Fun little piece here. Next, it’s time to wrap the story up with a single part mission finale!