Ember awoke in a tangled mat of brown, slimy, and not pleasant to smell seaweed. It clung around and to him, in a mockery of the mermaid costume he had conjured up for his "Maiden voyage" send off.

Now, "Sent Off".

Groaning, and with aches in places he had no clue one could even ache in, he staggered to his knees, and reeled against the beating sun, as the waves lapped at his legs and feet. His skin was raw, and his pajamas were soaked, stained, and torn.

Feeling about himself, he found he still had his wand, though it too was completely enmeshed in the brown ball of gooey plantlife he found himself bound up in-- as if the ocean had heaved back, and coughed up a giant festering ball of snot, with him inside it.

He was still clutching the foot locker, but one would never have been able to tell. The weedy growth had nucleated around it, which is how he himself had become so entangled. Traces of the ice raft melted under the gentle lapping of the surf, as it swished the slimy mass this way and that around him.

Disgustedly, he retched, and heaved up a stomach of swallowed sea water.

He felt well and truly miserable.

Casting a dour expression out at the sea, he raised a fist at the now sublime and calm blue-green ocean, and raged at it.

"Blast you, you fickle, deep-trenched watery tart! Go and cough *ME* up in this ball of filth from your nethers, and not a single one of my babies! I'd tell you to go suck a whale, but you do it every day, you filthy whore! You've dragged more men down there than--"

He cut off, as he heard a strained, gurgling coughing sound coming from further up the beach.

"--DONT think I'm finished with you, you soggy strumpet! I'll have my vengeance yet!" he spat, then struggled to his feet, then up the shore, pausing only momentarily to summon the (still completely ensnared in seaweed) foot locker to follow behind him, illiciting an image of a demented seamonster slithering behind him, rather than a levitating trunk.

Wandering toward the coughing, ember lurched and staggered in the sand, with the undulating mass following in his wake.

Someone ascending from the water onto the shore. It is Nanashi who is carrying freshly caught edible sea fishes and octopuses. He also got some seaweeds too. He then proceed from one spot to a preparation to cook it for everyone.

He is willing to accept anyone who want to help him for the preparation.

The young elf girl's head was still spinning. The world was a blur, crashing waves, splintering wood, the salty embrace of the ocean, the grit of the sand. She lay there for some time, in a world between awareness and the void. At some point she received assistance from someone else, perhaps the woman she had offered residence in her cabin. Sonia. Where had she gone?

Finally, Viviana blinked, clearing all manner of fog. She was on a beach, soaked, parched, hungry, and far from where she was meant to be. Looking around she saw a gathering a short distance away, the likes of Sonia and Wheelo among them. Close by she also saw that other man she knew, Nanashi. There was one other person she felt the need to seek out, and after not too long she spotted him.

"E-Ember?" She croaked out, her throat betraying her attempt to call out to the one person she felt could offer guidance. After a fit of coughing she tried again, "What… where are we? What do I do?"

@Grade @Remuri @Pakde

Ezekiel had a shocked look on his face as he saw the wheelchair bound man start walking. He felt kind of stupid for helping him. But the feeling of fatigue from before helped with his theory, that he could only move if he stole enough energy from other people. He would have to be careful of this man, he seemed more dangerous than he looked. However, he could be of use if he or any of the others died. They would make for good zombies, but that would be a last resort if he is the last one alive. Being more than disappointed that the demoness was not from Carcosa, if she was he was going to ask her if she knew if Heyl’r was here. But searching for this place could be more successful than asking others where it could be. “My name is Ezekiel Jarret, and we are pleased to meet you.” Being sadden that he could not make pleasantries with the interesting demoness, but there were more important things than making friends.

Walking towards the man with the bundle of fish and octopus. “We would be more than happy to assist you in cooking this aquatic fauna.” Despite being a necromancer he was a good cook, or so he thought. He had never had anyone taste his cooking before, so he hoped they would like the meal. But perhaps he could assist in cooking, so that no one blames him if they get sick. Looking around quickly figuring out that he was not going to find any edible spices on the island. “First we should find some dry wood, leaves, and flint or rocks. Would someone please assist us in finding supplies to start a fire?” He looked around at the group. Finding similar interest from Sonia towards the snake woman. Being reminded of the Nazamines from the deserts of Ka’ta. He wondered if she was related to them.

Sonia had returned to check on the elf girl, who seemed to have awakened in panic. The demoness decided to not interfere immediately, and wait until the girl could partially grasp the situation.

"E-Ember?" She croaked out, her throat betraying her attempt to call out to the one person she felt could offer guidance. After a fit of coughing she tried again, "What… where are we? What do I do?"

"Where indeed, I wonder?" Sonia sat next to Vivian, handing her the opened coconut when she was sure the elven girl had calmed down."Looks like we have deviated far from our route. The sea water is warm, and the sun is burning. We don't have anything like this near the continent." She glanced at the horizon, wind fluttering her red hair. Despite acknowledging the bad news, she realized the local climate might have contributed greatly to their chance of survival. This coconut, for example, you might find them growing in coastal regions, but never in this abundance, and immediately having something to combat dehydration was a godsend.

"But please, take heart, Miss Vivian, the rescuer could be on their way. There were important figures boarded on our ship, and given enough time, their disappearance couldn't be any less noticeable.

Sonia pointed at the skinny man dragging something that looked like a very weedy container. "And I believe Master Ember is over there. Want to catch up with him? Go ahead, I will be with you in a moment."

Still sitting there, Sonia recalled her training. This wasn't the first time she was stranded in a wilderness, and will not likely be the last. Same situation, same rules, different place, and the first thing she needed to do was to assess the situation as much as she could, then plan ahead and study the terrain.

Some other survivors had made an initiative to prepare food using various fish catches. Not the first thing she would do in this situation, but okay. Couldn't expect people to do anything with an empty stomach anyway, but time was running, and soon there would be a time when food became the third or fourth priority.

This black-haired man who's not on a wheelchair and is instead using a raw greenish cane of wood, slowly paced around the beach looking for his wheelchair. It's futile to use his eyesight on this, it seems every meter there's a piece of wood sticking out of the sand. It's almost prescient that he reinforced his wheelchair with several bars of iron, so he could detect it with this... strange, innate metal sense that he has, instead.

Nothing's come up with this however, and it's come to a point where he reaches Ember's immediate location, with this strange seaweed-covered chest crawling behind her. Ember herself, with this disheveled, sodden, seaweed-covered look. He pointed with his left hand, "You have a leaf on your shoulder."

He looks at the sky, in a combination of perhaps trying to find a celestial body, like a moon, and mainly trying not to even chuckle at Ember's situation. "Hey... How possible do you think it is that we're in a different planet?"

Ember made a scowl at the foul man's cheeky attempt at humor at his expense, and sent a sticky glob of the seaweed clinging to him in the man's direction with a forceful extension of his wand, while continuing his struggle to get further up the beach.

"Really, I hadn't noticed." he snarked, before continuing. "And thinking of such extreme, outlandish prospects is foolish. If it WERE another planet, I very much doubt it would look like anything we are used to."

and with that, he mentally tuned the man out. Seeing Vivian and her former bunkmate up ahead, his heart lifted. At least there would be some INTELLIGENT company to while away the time with. The memory that her companion was a professional huntress flicked in his mind, and it gave him a momentary bit of relief. He knew full well he had no clue how to rough it out here. ...

...Wherever "here" was...

He turned back at the stiff gaited man, now removing seaweed from the back of his head. Ember was positive this was NOT "another planet."

"Vivian, dahling--- I'm SOOO happy to see you--- And you too dear--- Sonia was it?"

Vivian was sipping water from a halved coconut,and he was immediately jealous. His mouth was parched, and his insides literally ached from having been full of seawater earlier.

"You don't have another of those do you dahling?"

Nanashi help the necromancer to sort things to cook, the only need is fire. He noticed the two mages that already present on the resting shelter. He decided to speak with them.

"Need fire.“ He talked to Ember pointing the cooking spot."We shall fill up first before we proceed inside the forest. Where may be there is a flat terrain for the. settlement camp. There is no good here to make camp here. High tides will flood the shore. Then we can discuss how to get out" He continued.

Head counting the survivors. He noticed the small figure with skull headwear is not present in the area.

"I haven't seen. The snake woman in a while. With her unique prowess. She can take the lead for venturing. Same thing as. Scanning something that are aware from us." He said.

"You don't have another of those do you dahling?"

"Ah of course!" Sonia expeditiously grabbed a green coconut and slice the lower part of the fruit like peeling a potato. It was effortless, courtesy of her above-average arm strength, and her trusty dagger; manufactured by Alhazen.co, Urstad.

That small surge of information brought up a brief sense of deja vu in her.

"Here you go... si- madam?" She offered almost like whispering at the end of her sentence. What to call him now, she wasn't so sure. The slender mage was very different now without all of his makeup and flamboyant getups, so Sonia tried to play safe by not being so obvious with her choice of pronoun.

Somebody was approaching. A strange fisherman, not sure why Sonia would refer to him as such, likely because she saw him go fishing in the very first minutes of their awakening. A vagrant, or adventurer? His general attire suggested so. Not that there was a stark diffrence between the two anyway.

"Need fire.“ He talked to Ember pointing the cooking spot.

The man asked rather crudely, and it didn't improve her opinion of him a bit. Without waiting for anyone to answer, he continued

"We shall fill up first before we proceed inside the forest. Where may be there is a flat terrain for the. settlement camp. There is no good here to make camp here. High tides will flood the shore. Then we can discuss how to get out"

For the first half of it, Sonia had no comment, everyone might do whatever they wanted at this point. However, the second half of his opinion made her feel a bit restive.

"Appreciate your concern, but the gentleman need not worry about the high tide here, for this area is far from the waters and sufficiently elevated." Sonia sheathed and strapped her dagger to her waist. Averting her gaze from the man, skipping her usual introductry but still trying to remain thoughtful with her words.

"As for the urgency to move to the forest," she turned to the green unknown behind them and shook her head. "I think we should remain here for a while. We don't know where, or how far we are from the rescue. And I believe everyone would prefer to stay in a place where the rescuer could easily see them."

Now sitting on a nearby boulder, Sonia swept the remained sand from her scraped knee and then gave the man one of her less-than-genuine smiles.

"Of course, I am not completely dismissing the notion to explore the interior of this... place, but we need to lay out a plan before making any decision. And first thing first, to gather everyone and discuss that plan. Means we all need to find a common ground first, savvy?"

@Remuri

"I see. My apologies on my rudeness... Qi from those sailors and others seems out of my range right now. It felt like we got split from getting drove to the shore. They are probably drowned or maybe drove on other side. We regroup here to wait for the rescuer." He said stil standing nearby the demoness turning his eyes on the far ocean.

Ember's kind words reassured her and fully brought her to the present situation. Looking down into the coconut she noticed a reasonable amount remained, enough at least to grant the older wizard some measure of relief.

"You can have the rest of this, I am fine for now," She offered the fruit with a hint of a smile, her dried lips barely resisting a crack.

She turned to the 'fisherman'. "Oh, hello Nanashi, thank you for getting food. I can help you cook that," She intensely focused on the palm of her right hand, eventually sparking a meager flame. She let out a small sigh, mildly dissapointed with what she had been able to produce. Her thoughts went to her foot locker, her collection of notebooks was lost somewhere beneath the waves. All her notes on hand movements and incantations were lost. She was on her own, magically speaking. At the very least the one person who seemed to be able to teach her in spite of such a loss was also on the island.

The black-haired man with a greenish walking stick, chuckled as he picked the seaweed off his head. Yeah, he deserved that.

More to the point, he slowly walked out towards the sea again. Something he just noticed a while ago, the remote link to his actual human body has been severed. Granted, he's very much mentally tuned it out (much like what Ember's doing to him) as he's only ever received a constant stream of heartbeat sounds, joint pain, and bed sores. The Greenes have his actual body on lock so it should be safe anyway.

He spotted a familiar handle and pulled it out of the sand and sat on the emergent chair. Back to the point, he could only imagine a few reasons why this remote link has been severed. His real body could be dead, but the timing of that just seemed statistically unlikely, as that would also require the death or betrayal of the Greenes. There's also no distance on the planet that this link would be severed, as he'd roamed around it for a century.

A different planet? But Ember is right, this whole beach scenery does not look otherwordly in the slightest. Although, there doesn't seem to be any landmass across the sea no matter which direction he looked, which doesn't seem right. It was a mere short 5-day trip, there's no way they would get beached this far away.
An anti-magic barrier may be surrounding this whole island, and it'd sever his remote link for sure, but irregardless of this existing or not, maybe a grimmer truth has befallen them. This place could be an alternate dimension.

Wait. He glanced at this thing he sat on. Checked on the side. Wheels confirmed. Oh. This is his wheelchair. He could sense no damage from it either. He would smile if he could. It really is paying off that he stole those iron ingots. After a magic shiver to get rid of all the sand, he began to drive back towards Ember and the rest, but in his haste and in giving the wheels too much torque, it only stuck him in place as the wheels shoveled the sand away. He shook his head, how dumb of him. After pulling his chair out of this sand crevasse, he drove off towards Ember's group again but slowly.

As the survivors reoriented themselves to the unfamiliar locale, more continued to wash ashore. Several crew mates were beginning to awaken, coughing up seawater and cursing in sailor tongues. There was no sign of the captain however; only the quartermaster and a good ten or so members from the ship's crew, as they glanced about with troubled looks, ambling towards where the rest of the group had gathered.

The page Luca could be seen near a downed Lord Gaensburg, trying to shake him a wake. With a retch of seawater the nobleman jerked awake, blinking about with utter perplexity. Not far away, another nobleperson had also washed ashore, however there were no signs of life with this one. The unmoving body of Lady DeVespe was lying face down in the watery sand, her servants and bodyguards nowhere yet to be seen. It seemed not everyone had survived the shipwreck.

Meanwhile, the sound of a woman's worried calls sounded across the beach. It was the mother of the family of three, her hand tightly clutched to her daughter's as they scoured the beach. It seemed the husband was missing, as repeated calls of "Hilbert!" went and continued to go unanswered. That did not deter the woman however, whose efforts only increased in both tenacity and anxiety. There was a good part of the group missing, and it seemed her husband was one of them, along with the captain, the first mate, about half the ship's crew, and a few other passengers.

The aged gentleman in the meantime looked to be well and good, brushing sand off his trousers in a sturdy fashion. He scanned around at the environment and then the other survivors, expression stern yet thoughtful as he joined in with the others wordlessly. Another one of the passengers - a younger fellow dressed in dark leathers - was looking about, groaning at his drenched attire, as he fetched his wide-brimmed hat from the sand, brushing off a large piece of kelp. All in all, it didn't seem like anybody's day for getting stranded on an unknown island.

In the span of ten minutes Verdant had circled back to a less populated part of the shore, took a dip to find some acceptable fabric from the shipwreck, noted the absurd amount of fabric floating randomly in the shallows, caught a particularly plump red snapper, and returned back to the beach to rejoin the larger group.

She approached from a bend in the shoreline, out of sight from the group of survivors. She wore what once was a baggy waist-high pants for someone much taller than her, torn here and there and tied with some makeshift laces to create something akin to a sackcloth. The color was a wild mismatch, but she didn't care much about it. In one hand was a vaguely ovoid bundle, and in the other hand was a half-eaten snapper she took a bite off from now and then - still raw and scaly.

She'll judge if the other survivors were worth sticking with or not.

Ember held back the impulsive urge to rip the coconut from the girl's grasp and down it in one shot like a sorority girl at a drinking party, instead accepting it gracefully, then sipping it slowly, feeling the tepid liquid go down, and set to work on the burning of his insides.

He trembled a moment as it took effect, before looking obviously relieved.

"Thank you dahling..." he breathed, before setting the empty shell of the fruit down. "I must look like a ghastly sea-hag, dressed in this... .this...." he shuddered, and sighed, before turning behind him, flicking his wand at the encrusted trunk, which sent the kelp splattering to the sides and behind, as it flung open. Carefully, he appraised the insides, pleased to see that they were unharmed from their turbulent encounter with that salty slut of an ocean, and her temper tantrum. He extracted the hand mirror, opened it, then let out a mortified, almost shrilly inaudible shriek.

"Oh gawd.... It's worse than I thought!... Just LOOK what that bitch did to my hair!.... " Involuntarily, he pulled his fingers through the matted, frizzled, and completely soiled red locks, now devoid of any volume, bounce, or shine, as it clung wet and limp to his head and body in small streaks.

Seemingly invigorated by the small draught of coconut water he had consumed, the erudite mage gripped his wand with a stern faced intensity that just screamed "Fuck around and find out", then set to work transfiguring the mound of filth that still surrounded his foot locker.

Orange hued flares erupted from the sizzling wet kelp, amid puffs of steam, and angry hissing, as strips of the kelp were transfigured into thin strands of fiber that clung and fluttered gently in the light ocean breeze while he worked.

In a matter of minutes, the miraculous transformation of a good portion of the kelp into an undyed broad wrap and sunveil, with light fabric high boots was complete, but the mage seemed dissatisfied.

"Not my finest work..." he muttered. "Needs some color..Too plain..."

He cast an eye down at the sand of the beach, scooped up a handful of it, and rubbed it between his fingers.

"Well, let's see what we have to work with. Beggars aren't choosers, dahling....." he muttered to himself, before pointing his wand downward into the outstretched palm of his hand, where the wet ball of yellowish sand lay, sending it floating into the air. Moments later, he was holding his wand with two hands, focused intensely on the sandy ball, as it heated, fumed, hissed, and became encrusted in a white rind of molten calcerous mineral. He made a disgusted frowning expression. "Deplorable. I can get better from my back yard." he cursed under his breath, before giving the wand a flick, sending the hot, white rind of the orange-hot molten glob to the ground where it hit with a hiss. A small orb of molten 'something' still hung in the air, which he expertly twitched his wand at with subtle movements, causing it to deform, split in two, then reshape into ornate shapes, before cooling into an almost black shade of green glass, which he expertly wove onto the otherwise colorless gown as a pair of dark contrasting buckles for the cloth boots.

Fatigue suddenly made his hands begin to falter and tremble, and he abruptly sat down, sending the levitating clothing objects to the ground with a 'floof'.

"Curse this place..." he muttered.

After a moment of pouting, he leaned up, then set about helping vivian with fire tending, looking longingly at the new clothes from time to time, with a pained, saddened expression.

He desperately wanted to get out of these filthy rags, but dirty and brine soaked as he was, it would only serve to soil the new garments. He needed a bath, and was too tired to set about it at the moment.

Sonia was not so sure how she was supposed to react. Glittering magic in front of her looked unfittingly surreal compared to the depressing scene unfolding on the very same beach they were at. Several wounded sailors could be seen in the distance, and some other, passengers, laid unmoving on the sands. Dead.

Among them was a woman, running back and forth, calling for a name, presumably her husband's. Her daughter was with her, struggling to keep up with the mother's erratic pace. Despite being overwhelmed by all manners of daze and confusion, exhaustion had not overcome the mother yet, but the same couldn't be said for the daughter, who was on the brink of collapsing anytime now.

Sonia made her way toward the panicking woman and assured her that they could find her husband easier if she stop panicking and willing to sit it out for a moment. Initially, her words didn't go through her until Sonia pointed out how dangerous it was for the daughter to be dragged around in a such state.

"At least let your little girl rest." she pleaded, "Can't you see she is not in a condition to follow you around like this?"

Sonia had no idea why would she have to raise her voice like this, and such impudency confounded her.

@spiral origin@Pakde

Slow-moving as he was, the black-haired man on a wheelchair, while turned around, could 'see' this event befall, this... horned redhead scolding a distraught, possibly freshly widowed woman, for forgetting the well-being of her daughter.

The thing is, this horned redhead's in the right. Few things strike anger within him in this world, one of them being the mistreatment of children. Suddenly, the widow's hand was knocked off of her child's with an invisible force, and she was subsequently knocked off her feet, made to fall on her bottom. At the same time, the child was enveloped with a force quite wind-like, keeping her from collapsing yet gently guiding her down to sit on the subsequently rapidly cooling sand.

Beyond this, he felt no more obligation. He shrugged and resumed rolling towards where Ember and Viviana were, intent to preserve his limited energy.

@Pakde @Grade

The middle-aged woman, disheveled and still tattered in kelp, eyed Sonia with equal parts suspicion and vexation, immediately pulling her daughter closer as if to shield her from the influence of the worrisome outsider. This was not a woman who easily placed trust in others, especially demonic-looking others, on even the best of her days. And this day was far from one.

"What do you want from us!? You want to steal away my daughter - is that it!? Don't even dream of it, you will never pry her away you wicked--"

Before she could finish her accusatory diatribe, the woman was suddenly knocked away from her child by some magical force, falling to the sandy ground with a puffy thud. The child in the meantime was gently placed on the sand by the same windy force. Mother looked aghast, while daughter looked confused but curious, though not without a concerned look towards mother, whose vicious eyes immediately turned on Sonia.

"W-WITCH! SHE'S A WITCH! SHE'S TRYING TO TAKE MY DAUGHTER!" she yelled loudly, finger pointed furiously at Sonia, before scurrying back towards her child and wrapping her arms around her. "Are you alright!? Did she hurt you!?" she anxiously comforted her child, checking for injuries, before turning her fiery gaze back on the demoness.

"Y-you stay away, witch!" she menaced, feeling about her own neck for a pendant which featured some obscure idol of a God, posturing it defensively towards Sonia as if beckoning its protection. "The holiness of God will protect us from your malice, demon! Begone, else you shall incur His wrath!" the distraught woman continued, saying desperate prayers under her breath as she held the pendant stiffly towards her supposed transgressor.

Ember's face contorted at the hysterical outbursts of the woman. He had not made her acquaintance, but her behavior rubbed him raw, and his nerves were shot to begin with. This woman being a rabid contrarian out of wild, uncontrolled fear and doubt would imperil all of them, not just herself or her child. He hated the idea of stealing Sonia's thunder; robbing her of the chance to take charge of this situation, as was required for there to be any hope of their living long enough to be rescued-- but permitting this transgression was not something to be entertained, no matter his foibles. He would formally apologize later, in private. Perhaps in public too, if it was necessitated. People could be dumb cattle some times.

He waited a moment, sucking in an angry breath, to see how Sonia would handle this, then gripped his wand and stood up...

Well, ain't this just lovely. These people cant be awake for more than an hour and they started fighting already. Verdant's inner scale tilted toward abandoning the group, but since she's already here might as well stick around for a bit longer.

"Fuck's going on here?" She asked the nearest person, having crept close enough to converse while everyone's attention was on the commotion. One would've expected the offensively bright orange of her makeshift sackcloth to attract more attention on the approach, but everyone's probably too exhausted or something.

The snake took another bite of her fish. As human as she looked on the outside, she still shared some overlap to the serpentine ancestry - among other things, her digestion was way less fussy than a human could ever be.

Tasted like crap though. Tastebuds can be such a disadvantage at times, but beggar cant be chooser.