The Journey to The Center of Magiclessness! (Private)

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Kaseki and Silvaetus climbed the rope ladder and in no time found themselves aboard. The ship was barren, but seemed to be much larger than what was imagined from below. A pirate waved to them as they climbed aboard. "Aye, Kaseki, our shipment has arrived!" said the pirate. His skin appeared to be gone and his clothing seemed to be tattered and either sizes too big or sizes too small. "Thank you Ravage. May I ask which shipment?" Kaseki requested of the animated skeleton. "Aye! It be, erm... Ye drinks from me island, and ye... Weapons of the destruction. It be... the ironbark yous requested of me." replied the man. "Very well." Kaseki turned to Silvaetus, and pointed him out to the boat master, "This is Silvaetus, he will be accompanying us to our warehouse in the Neutral Grounds. Silver, this is Ravage, Ravage Bones."

The skeleton gave out a pirate's roar and laugh as he extended his hand to the guest of the Dragon Boat. "I am Ravage, son of the great treasure hunter Indiana Bones. My father was the one who stole from temples. A fool really, the real treasure is in our seas...."

And so the trip began.

Silvaetus shook what he thought to be a rather poor excuse for a hand. The ship was truly a large vessel, far beyond what he had expected from the ground. “I will make an educated observation here and you tell me if I am right. This ship is, by all means and appearances, a ghost ship manned by an undead crew. And it seems to be a…plain ship at that.” He looked at the floor of the poor excuse for a vessel. “Personally speaking I’d rather construct you a different ship. One that wouldn’t fall apart at the slightest hint of damage. One with a crew that…well…doesn’t do this” the mage pulled the skeleton to him and rammed it with its shoulder. The thing fell apart into several pieces, scattering over the deck. Where most would think that criticizing their host’s proud possessions was rude, Silvaetus felt an urge to say his mind. How could an organization be successful with this heap of driftwood backing it? It was absolutely unfathomable!
The mage shook his head “Honestly…I’d almost join your organization just to update its arsenal! But you are the leader of this operation. All I can do now is give you advice…”

Kaseki began to laugh as Ravage picked up his pieces. The old pirate began to chuckle as well. "Aye, this one's intelligen'!" said the skeleton as it walked away.

Kaseki turned to his friend, "You're partially right. This entire ship is crafted from my.. skin. It's all Iron Bark. It was once a rare material... but I have grown it in secret locations that only Dragon Fang knows of." He pointed at the skeleton. "This ship is pilotedby that man alone. This thing is his sanity. This is no ghost ship, this is 'The Dragon's Boat'." Kaseki watched as the boat seemed to echo his voice. "And damage? You couldn't take down this thing if you tried. Heh." The skeleton began to open random barrels around the ship revealing odd weapons. "Aye, Spirit Reaper, yee shipment is in. It's everywher'. It be at the base as well, Master."

Kaseki smiled at Silvaetus, "Now, we can stay on deck, or we can go to one of the lower rooms and 'vivasect' an ironbark creature? You didn't think I had forgotten have you?"

The mage’s eyes widened with excitement. Not only was the ship made of a material that intrigued him, but Kaseki told him that there was more…more creatures like him. “This must be one of the most thoughtful things anyone has ever done to me…” A sliver of humanity shimmered in in his soul…but only a sliver. “You have no idea what this means scientifically. A biological metal! This opens up whole new chapters in my research. A whole new gene pool! A new form of weapons!” The rather unusual weapons the skeleton had revealed also peaked his interest, but Silvaetus decided to take a look at them later. The ship, in its simplicity, did not seem too shabby anymore. His mind went through thousands of possibilities of what he could do.
“Name your terms! I do not care for the cost, just let me study this, this…” fascination raging out of control the mage pressed himself against the wood of the deck “This marvelous material. Allow me to conduct my research without restriction and I will create anything you desire. Now take me! Take me down below!”

Kaseki laughed as the doors to a far off room opened. The ship seemed possessed, but after all... it was made from something like Kaseki. Kaseki ran into the room, hoping that Silvaetus would be close behind. They would venture into the depths of the ship, the nightmare deck.

The halls seemed to turn from wood to metal as it slowly transformed from a hallway to a cave. It was a marvelous sight to behold. Kaseki pointed out the material, and a single creature arose. "That is the pest, you capture it, you may experiment as you wish."

"Kill it, and I shall give you entrance to Dragon Fang. Learn from it, just as anything else. These creatures are parasites, abominations of the IronBark, these things shouldn't be enchanted, they should be dead... The only one that should live... is Lily." he said. It was as if it bothered him to see other creatures like him... but that wasn't truly the case...

The creature before him was truly amazing. Nothing like he had ever seen (apart from Kaseki). Without any further hesitation Silvaetus reached behind him, materializing an operation table. On it were mounted 17 robotic arms, each one with a unique tool. In one fluid motion, a single movement so elegant and precise that most would not expect from Silvaetus, he slammed the creature onto the table. Immediately metallic restraints clutched the creatures limbs as it squealed in horror. Silvaetus took a cable from the side of the table and connect it to his mechanical spine - the 17 arms twitched simultaneously before moving independently. "Subject 001. Commencing procedure." The next two hours were filled with hollow screeches both from the creature and the machines that were taking it apart...layer by layer, piece by piece.

"This...this is beyond any of my expectations. This so called Iron Bark is not just a simple resource" the mage was gathering a few small containers holding small bits and pieces of the creature "Whatever this thing is or was, you did not lie. It was dead. The tissue is necrotic, most internal organs were not present. There was barely any nervous system to speak of. And it possesses no blood to speak of." The table with the mutilated creature stood there in the room...a monument of what was to come. "This material...it is alive. The parasitic properties you spoke of were not fully developed in this example. With some time I will be able to create new life with it. Creations far more advanced than what you have presented me." A metal box materialized in front of the scientist. As it opened cold wisps of white smoke arose from it - a refrigerator in which he placed the numerous containers. "I believe now that we can - no, we MUST do business together!"

"Kekekeke" Kaseki laughed. In fact, it was such a laugh, that if you did not hear it before, YOU would laugh. It was a dying laugh, like a clown that was a senior and died on his last show... laughing. It was that kind of laugh. "Ironbark is a single word, my friend. It comes from my host world, I call it the Spirit Wilds."

Kaseki watched as the machines picked apart the creature. Even though the thing was the most anatomically similar thing to him, he still found it entertaining. Secretly, he wanted to tear that thing apart. And deep inside of him.. he wanted to know what he was like on the inside... but if he were to open up... Kodai would be released...

"I have harnessed the material for the sake of Dragon Fang. Join my ranks and you may have endless access to this... 'metal' if you will." Kaseki cool feel the magic being sucked away from him. "Finish up, my friend, we are nearly there."

He glanced once more at the cut-up abomination of life. It was a shame that he could not continue his work here…but then again he was about to see the entire operation that produced this ‘metal’. Silvaetus picked up his box and walked back the way they had come “I have done all I can here. But just tell me one thing…” his mind was now cleared and his desires satisfied for the time “If we are headed for a place where magic does not have affect, how does this ship stay afloat?” A wave of weakness coursed through him as he too felt the adverse effects of the Neutral Zone. “You know what…just tell me when you give me a tour of your facilities.” And with that he left the lower deck awaiting arrival.

The ship gracefully landed in a vertical path as a rope was cast down. Kaseki grabbed hold of it as he slid down it much like a pole. He smiled as he looked at his new member, "Technology, my friend, lots of anti-gravity technology..."

Kaseki looked at the horrid landscape, the barren buildings, the run down factories. "Ah, my other home." he thought. But what was really home to Kaseki was Dragon Fang, with whomever, wherever, if was in his group.

"You must have a tracking device of sorts to find our man, no?"

„I will have to take a look at your propulsion systems some time. There might be some work I could do on them. You know…a few little upgrades…” The mage slowly storde towards the ladder at the side of the ship “And as for ‘our man’ you are correct. It is quite astounding that he didn’t notice being of feral origin.” He touched the display on his left arm a few times and a red dot appeare in the upper left corner “Pheromone trackers are quite easily overlooked. All we have to do now is follow the red dot.” Without another word the mage walked down the ladder into the run down city.
[Exit Thread]

The end! Lol