Gilded History (Nu, Quinn) (Double XP)

Quinn tilts her head to one side as the fish man doesn't leave. "Okay, but I will have to make it quick." She lifts the girl's head so she can slide out from under it, putting it back slowly before turning to face the fish man, who had gotten close enough to swing it's blade down at her. Nobody could track her movement, one second she was just watching the blade get closer to her, the next it was in her hand, the fish man now swinging nothing. His eyes bug out, confused at what happened as Quinn looks over his blade before looking back up at him, deciding that it was completely useless.

"So, shall we play?" Quinn giggles again, before making another motion and shoving the stolen blade into the fish man's leg. Two more knifes, made out of steel, appear in her hands, her smile never going away. "I wonder how many..." Quinn pauses and looks back at the two girls, actually thinking of someone else for once and sighs, then drops her knives, going back to where she was sitting before and once again giving the poor girl a lap pillow. It was only after she settled back into her spot that the fish man drops, having been killed the moment she turned away from him.

"It will be okay, I will not let anyone hurt you." Quinn continues to pet her mermaids with a smile on her face, not even worried about the dead body not even ten feet from them.

For those keeping score, that's two dead mermen and two unconscious out of six. This left only two warriors able, though reluctant, to fight. One chose to literally turn tail and flee, discarding his spear and sweeping his tail.

The other snarled after. In his nonsensical logic, to flee or seek aid was the highest dishonor and he would not have this coward dishonor him. Instead, pulling back his arm, he hurled his spear. The wiser merman was impaled by the harpoon and died instantly. The fool then turned back to Nu, rushing recklessly with the dagger he had drawn. One more.

Jardin had just returned from his survey of the cargo hold. A hole in the hull had let a significant amount of treasure spill out but there were still five locked chests, too heavy for the thief to move. So he watched and waited. Nu was better suited to heavy lifting than he was. And only now did he realize how peculiar their working relationship was.

Meanwhile, aboard the boat meant to take them all back to land, Francisco had the presence of mind to discard the dead fishman. If this Dorian Wolfe bastard hadn't promissed him a small fortune, he'd have left right then and there. Okay, the deadly teen was partial incentive not to pull anything. Okay, it was all the teen.

Nu grew angry at the sight of one of the mermen killing his comrade. While the one had, had enough sense to leave, the other fell prey to his pride and began to act irrationally. Bull rushing the mute was a mistake he would soon learn. As he swung his stone blade wildly, each swing was parried and deflected by the little psion. Small sparks of telekinetic energy arched off of Nu’s spade-shaped blade as it made contact with the primal tool of her would be assailant.

It was clear that no matter how many swings the vile creature took, he was not going to break through the young woman’s defenses. The warrior brought down his blade in a powerful overhead swing, only for his motion to come to a complete stand still. Nu wanted to punish the merman for his betrayal to his comrade, by beating him in combat, but her anger got the better of her. It wasn’t enough to unleash the dark secret that the girl herself was unaware of, but it was definitely the angriest she had been in her life.

With her arm outstretched she held the merman suspended in open water and frozen mid attack. The creature’s eyes darted from side to side as he attempted to find reason in how he was being held against his will. The thought wouldn’t last long however as Nu began to close her hand slowly, compressing the space around the merman and violently crushing him into a small congealed mass of disfigured flesh and bone.

Nu’s grip loosened on the dead warrior and the remaining lump sank to the sea floor. Nu propelled herself to the surface for air. Using her telekinesis, she launched herself out of the water and into the air slightly. It was just enough height for her to form a new barrier around herself filled with fresh air, before sinking back into the murky depths in search of her friend Jardin.

Quinn heard the sound of someone else surfacing and decided to go check it out before they managed to get inside the ship, so that her two fishies weren't scared again. They were much more calm around Quinn, understanding that she is far more deadly than the fish men and for some reason just wanted to pet them. Moving up onto the deck Quinn waves as Nu catches her breath before diving back under the sea.

"Ah man, I think I missed all the fun stuff. Hopefully we can leave soon, it seems like it will get boring now." Quinn complains to herself some before skipping back to her fishies, ready to pet them some more.

Jardin decided he would not comment on what he had seen.  If Nu wanted to talk about it, that was up to her.  Instead, the thief went to his tank, finally taking a breath.  That eased the burning in his lungs.

He looked up to see he Psion coming back down as he refitted his tank.  He gave a nod.  Then, using hand signals, he tried to explain what he thought needed to happen.  He pointed to the husk, then held out five fingers and tapped his chest with all five fingers.  Pointing at Nu, he formed the 'claw' once more.  Translation: "The ship has five chests. Can you lift them?"

With all threats neutralized, they could handle most things at leasure but the greed driven thief wanted to know if the trip was worth it sooner rather than later...

Nu drifted closer and closer to Jardin, her bright pink safety bubble illuminating the wreck below them.  The young mutes mind took a moment to process Jardin’s gesturing, but she eventually put two and two together and realized he wanted Nu to try and use her powers again, only this time she would only have to lift the chests of treasure and not the entire ship itself. This plan was much simpler and more manageable for Nu, but a bit of sadness sank in as she realized they’d have to leave the ship.

As the two dispersed into the cargo hold, they began dragging all the bountiful chests into one big pile. Before she would take the chests to the surface she turned to Jardin pointed at him them pointed upwards before then pointing to herself and moving her figure in a circle. It was her best attempt at telling Jardin it was ago to go top side and that she was going to case over the decrepit ship one last time.

Nu then wobbled through the rest of this ship keeping an eye out for any nautical paraphernalia from the bygone age of piracy. Nu began to amass a small collection of things ranging from a few flintlock pistols and rifles, swords, spyglasses, and a few other trinkets before she made her way to the back of the ship. Using her power, the little mute ripped the nameplate off the ship and returned to the chests of gold. Her little excursion took a few minutes but eventually Nu would come hovering slowly out of the sea, all her collectables floated around her. With a deep thud Nu dropped the treasure onto the boat they had charted, placed neatly across the top was the nameplate from the ship. She landed softly on the boat and lowered her treasures in a small pile before shooting everyone aboard a large grin, filled a sense of pride in their accomplishment.

Quinn perked up at the thud from above deck, patting the girl that was on her lap so that she calms down from the sudden noise, once again making a sign to tell them to stay where they were. "I will be right back!" With that being said, she skips back above deck and sees the multitude of items that Nu had lifted up for them. She instantly zooms in on the locked chests, almost giggling with excitement. "Hey, do you think the chests are cursed?"

Quinn fires off a question that she doesn't really expect an answer to, but still prances over to the chests, a crowbar appearing in her hand as she gets down to work opening them up. After a minute or two of working at the locks, Quinn's smile had turned to a frown, since clearly it wasn't opening like she wanted it to. Quinn kicks at the chest in annoyance, only for the lock to break off right then and the chest to somehow open itself. Quinn stares at the chest, then at the crowbar that did nothing at all before tossing it away and checking out what was inside.

The chest of filled with different kinds of jewelry and other expensive items. Quinn claps in excitement before she grabs two necklaces and skips away, going back below deck to put them on her two fishies, since they were look good at them, not even caring how expensive all of the items were.

Jardin had followed Nu's advice and surfaced before the psion. By the time the chests were up, he had stripped his air tank and monofin. Before he could say anything to Quinn though, she had already gotten into prizing open on of the chest.

He decided not to stop her as she brought a pair of ornate neclaces to her mermaid friends. "She stole my idea," he muttered, smiling. He turned to Nu, joking, "I think we've all had enough adventure for one day."

He gave Francisco the order to return to shore. Twice, since the man seemed mesmerized by the treasure. After a moment they were headed back. Finding the right broker to sell the treasure was Jardin's roll in everything, and he was good enough at it. He would handle the boring business back on land...once he pried his desperate hands from the stern.

Why god hast thou forsaken me?

[END SCENE]