Legacy of the Titans [IC] [CLOSED]

[Finland SSR]

Raven

Lyra Kriophora, sword of the Hellenes!

---

Raven did not relent - having moved back after touching her wounded shoulder before, he stepped forth once again, this time to defeat her lingering fear. It was not her who was lucky, he assured - all of them were. And not for being here, or for getting anywhere far - for having her with them. And from the Hecate child's voice, it sounded like he meant it.

Lyra's eyes continued to stare off to the side at first, but she eventually turned to face him directly. For the briefest time, her face flashed a smile.

"You're too kind."

She returned to her stoic attitude as soon as Raven stepped back and began to mumble with embarrassment, explaining that he'd love to have something to eat, and offering the two of them to head to the kitchen together. The girl immediately put two and two together.

"You didn't have breakfast today." she stated as a simple matter of fact and nodded. "I don't blame you, I barely found the time to make myself sandwiches this morning, much less anything more healthy. So it wouldn't go amiss."

Choosing to lead the way, Lyra descended down from the deck to the corridors and made her way to the kitchen, at which point they'd realize that maybe everyone else forgot to have breakfast too... The entire demigod party was stuffed in the kitchen, conversing and making food for themselves - Jack and Dani were working on pastries, for example, while Troy and Anders were having a some sort of argument over the refrigerator.

They arrived just in time to hear Rebecca's question to the rest of the demigods. If they're going to be stuck on a ship together for Zeus knows how long, they might as well get to know what each of them like doing in their free time.

"I suppose I won't exactly be able to restart my literature club with only six people... but that's what I used to spend my free time on before I ended up here." Lyra explained.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

Much like her blue-haired companion, Raven had arrived to the kitchen just in time to hear the red-haired daughter of Ares, Rebecca, pose an interesting question to the demigods assembled there. It was an interesting one, a question about what the other demigods did on their free time, when not studying or training. He noted that she promptly answered her own question, stating that she was a passionate soccer player - she certainly seemed the type, with her athletic physique, not to mention the fact that children of the god of war favored physical activities, such as sports.

The only other person to answer the question so far was Lyra, mentioning the literature club that the two of them ran after school hours. He smiled briefly at the thought of how far they had come since founding it, but before he could get caught up in reminiscence, his stomach grumbled again and demanded food, more violently now that he was close enough to smell it. Fortunately Lyra was still speaking and covered up the sound, so the young man discreetly made his way to the pantry, where his eyes soon fell over a bag of salted peanuts.

This will do while I find something more filling. The young man thought as he opened it and popped a peanut into his mouth. With that crisis solved, he turned his attention back to the conversation. It seemed no one else was biting, so he figured he could go next.

"I'm in the same literature club as Lyra here, so you could count that as my hobby as well, though it's more of a job when it comes to the screenplay I'm working on." He commented, recalling that the current journey would likely take a lot of time away from that project. "I also enjoy hiking and photography, and I occasionally play the piano." He stated, before noticing that, during his comings and goings, he hadn't seen any on the Argo. The thought of not being able to play at all for the duration of the mission made his friendly smile waver somewhat. "I hope there's one around here."

[Absolon-7]

Anders Thomson

---

"Oh yeah, I think I see some in there," responded Anders quickly getting his own drink after Troy, "I'm not sure if I'm aright. Never had to actively put myself in danger before, eh. Well not voluntarily at least."

As more people moved into the kitchen Rebecca's question prompted a conversation about their hobbies which he supposed was all fine and dandy. Rebecca had her soccer, Lyra and Raven who had just come in had literature club and the latter had enough hobbies that you'd need both hands to count. Anders thought to what he did in his own time but he was coming up with blanks. He really preferred taking the path of least resistance when it came to enjoying himself and a lot of hobbies just had too big of a learning or effort curb for him. Although, there was that one thing that he wasn't sure was his genuine interest or just something he picked up from his father.

"I don't know if this is too weird, eh, but I fancy horseback ridin' myself," said Anders, "Haven't done it in a while, eh."

[New Finnish Republic]

Troy

---

"It's fine, y-you didn't spook me that bad," Troy replied to Anders, doing his best to keep his cool. Before he could continue, several other individuals began to assemble around the kitchen area, striking up conversation as they did. Troy was quick to notice that Raven and Lyra came in together, raising a small eyebrow at the black haired boy in suspicion for a brief moment before shaking off the thoughts. Like I'd care anyways, he thought to himself as he was about to speak up. However before he could, a familiar voice rang out behind him.

"I see you're all rather nonchalant about the journey you're about to embark on. I hope it's a matter of confidence in your own abilities, and not a lack of intelligence to understand the situation you're in."

Glancing behind him, Troy's eyes widened as he saw the holographic image of Jason projected on the countertop next to them, shrunk down to accommodate the size of the space he was located in. His mocking tone of voice was matched with the annoyed expression on his face as he rolled his eyes slightly before continuing. "Regardless, I'm here to inform you all that I've completed all of the preparations for takeoff, and will subsequently be taking off. So it may be advisable to grab a hold of something," Jason paused for a brief moment, a small mischievous grin appearing on the AI's face as he glanced over those assembled around him, "or someone here."

As soon as he finished speaking, a sudden jolt rocked the ship as it slowly began to hover above the ground, its retractable landing gear folding up into the belly of the ship while the magically enhanced engines roared to life. As this happened, Troy was quick to reach out towards the nearest thing he could grab a hold of, grasping on tightly to the edge of a countertop as the floor below him rumbled for a few moments before eventually calming itself down. Once it had, Troy looked back towards Jason, a large scowl on his face as he stared down at the AI.

"A little more warning next time?"

Feigning a look of confusion, Jason rubbed at the beard around his face with one hand as he furrowed his eyebrows. "I do believe I warned you all, did I not?"

Troy let out an annoyed grunt as he rolled his eyes. "You really are an asshole, you know that right?"

His response seemed to only amuse the AI, as Jason gave him a small grin in return. "I am merely doing my duties as programmed by my creators. If you have a problem with this, take it up with them." After giving an infuriated looking Troy a smug wink, he turned towards the others, crossing his arms across his chest as he did. "Our flight should be relatively smooth from here on out, minus the small amount of turbulence. Please, do take care as to not make too much of a mess of my home."

And with that, the holographic image disappeared, leaving the members of the group to their own devices. Glancing over at the others, Troy shook his head as he let go of his grip from the countertop and hesitantly began to walk forwards, expecting some form of this "Small" turbulence to occur as he did. However, Jason's promise of a smooth flight seemed to have been upheld, as everything had returned to the stable state it had been in prior to takeoff.

"Well, I'm going to go unpack my things in my room. I'll see you guys...around I guess?" Troy said to the others, the realization that there really wouldn't be much in terms of privacy from now on as they were all essentially trapped together for the duration of this quest. Giving a small wave of his hand as he left, he left the kitchen area and headed back towards the dormitory areas. Once he arrived in his room, he immediately dove towards his bed, landing face first into the pillow before letting out a muffled groan.

"What have I got myself into..."

---

Later...

Glancing over towards the time on his phone, Troy allowed a small sigh out as he realized he had cooped himself in his room for far too long. So far, their flight had been relatively uneventful, with the ship having already crossed over several state lines by the time nightfall had arrived. While far slower than any traditional jet aircraft, Troy couldn't help but feel impressed at the speed the ship could travel at. If things kept up like they were, he figured it would hardly be long until they reached Greece.

Like it'll probably be that easy, he thought to himself with a small frown as he got up out of his bed. Letting out a small yawn as he stretched out his body, he began to make his way out of his room towards the stairway towards the top deck of the ship. Along the way, he noted that it appeared many of the others seemed to be settled in well enough, as the sight of freshly washed dishes being placed to dry over by the kitchen caught his eyes. Elsewhere in the ship the sound of music quietly hummed through the corridors, providing a small sense of soothing background noise in the otherwise vacant area.

Reaching the top of the stair well and opening up the doorway, Troy was immediately met with the sight of a starlit nighttime sky, marred only by the occasional cloud that floated around them. A few lights remained scattered over the open area, providing just enough light to be able to git a good enough view of the area. It was a good thing too, as while the railing around the ship prevented one from outright walking off the sides, Troy was fairly sure there wouldn't be much in terms of what could be done should someone manage to fall off.

"Out for a stroll, Mr. Weaver?"

Glancing in the direction of the voice, Troy's gaze narrowed as he watched the holographic image of Jason appear next to him. For a brief moment, the child of Apollo thought of simply walking away from the annoying AI, but he decided he'd humor him for at least the time being.

"Needed some fresh air. I was hoping for some peace and quiet, but now that you're here I suppose I can forget about that," he replied, a heavy dose of annoyance in his voice that caused a small smirk to appear on the corner of Jason's lips.

"Ah, a shame indeed," he replied sarcastically, causing Troy to roll his eyes. "But for as much as it annoys me, I did decide to check up on you here and make sure you didn't tumble overboard. I am your caretaker, after all."

Troy let out a small amused scoff at Jason's response, shaking his head in a small amount of disbelief. "Oh, and you do so well. Ever think about becoming a robotic nanny after this? I'm sure you're great with children."

Jason let out a small scoff in response, crossing his arms across his chest as walked around the deck of the ship. "Oh, but why would I ever need to do that, when I have such immature individuals like yourself under my care already?"

Troy's gaze narrowed at Jason, watching as the AI continued to slowly stroll around him. "If I may ask, why are you such an ass? I get that you've been roped up into this thing just as much as we have, but what the hell have we done to you?"

Jason stopped in his steps, glaring at Troy for a few moments before letting out a small sigh. "There are many, many, reasons as to why I feel the way I do. To put it as simply as possible, however, all I'll say is that you can fault the people who designed me. Placing me onto this ship, turning it from a mighty war vessel into that of a floating college dormitory, telling me to watch over all of you like a glorified babysitter, and everything else about this situation is rather infuriating." Jason halted for a few moments, almost as if he were recalling something in the back of his mind, which for an AI was an odd sight for Troy to see. "After all, this ship was-"

Before he could finish, the small orange glow that had thus far been the color of Jason's projection suddenly flared into a bright red, interrupting whatever it was he was about to say as his gaze immediately snapped over in the direction of a cloud formation nearby that shone dimly in the moonlight above. A split second later, the previously dimly lit deck of the ship becoming dowsed in lights, revealing a collection of automated weapon systems to appear from the deck boards below.

"Jason, what the hell are you-"

"Get below deck, Mr. Weaver, and collect the others. Our conversation will have to wait until another time. We have unwanted guests."

Before Troy could question this, the projectiles flying through the air all around him rang out in a loud chorus, as the half dozen or so mounted ballistae that had appeared around him began to fire off in synch towards the air above. A split second later, the sound of a loud thud rang out beside him as something the size of a large dog landed on the deck with one of the Greek Bronze tipped bolts skewered through its center. Upon further glance, Troy looked on with wide eyes as he saw it was a massive bird with razor sharp claws and a dagger like beak that shone with a metallic like gleam. Looking back up towards the sky, Troy saw as a massive swarm of the same type of creature was circling around the ship, with some occasional dropping out of the skies as the automated weapon systems shot them down.

"What in the-"

Troy's question was soon cut off, as a small metallic glint of something approaching him at breakneck speed caught his attention. His reflexes managed to kick in just in the nick of time as he rolled forwards, a sharp sting racing up and down his back as he did. Letting out a string of curses, he looked back to see several arrow-like feathers stuck into the wooden deck boards, one of which held a notable red stain along its sides.

"MR. WEAVER, GO NOW!"

Jason's commanding voice rang out as the hologram of the AI disappeared, likely as a means of conserving its energy as it focused solely on the defense of the ship. While the automated weapon systems certainly did well enough to shoot dozens of the creatures out of the sky, the sheer numbers they possessed were too much for them to handle, as several of the creatures dived down and ripped through the metal ballistae, rendering them inoperable in the process.

Letting out another string of curses, Troy rushed downwards towards the stairwell, dodging the volleys of feathers that whistled past him and embedded themselves all around him. As he made his way towards the dormitories, he saw that the dimly lit hallways of before had been replaced with flashing red lights as a horn blared out in warning. Already, some of the other demigods had been awakened or roused from whatever else they had been doing, as Troy met them in the hallway covered in sweat.

"We're under attack! Jason's holding them off for now, but there's too many of the damn things!" he shouted as he ran past them, rushing into his room as he reached for his gear. Grabbing a hold of the satchel that rested on the small desk, he turned it into its actual form of his bow and quiver, tossing the leather strap and bow string over his shoulders as he likewise reached for the hoodie hung up nearby. It too transformed into the light armor he wore, a simple breastplate and a pair of archery gauntlets that gleamed with Greek Bronze over the leatherwork.

Their first battle had officially begun.

[Finland SSR]

Lyra Kriophora, sword of the Hellenes!

---

Troy's frantic call to action ringed across the halls, but Lyra was not among those who heard it. Instead, around the same time, one of the doors leading to the upper deck slid open, and a fully armed and equipped Lyra jumped out, immediately covering herself up with a shield to block the ever increasing flurry of bronze arrows and running towards cover.

The blaring horn, flashing red lights and the horde of Stynphalian Birds visible through the ship's windows all served as a dead giveaway that they're in trouble - and the girl needed no time to prepare for battle. Her Argeiphontes Armor was always on her, just generally shapeshifted into casual clothing, and equipping everything else was a routine drilled into her head by now.

The cover Lyra found for herself was a broken down metal ballista, one of several which the flood of creatures destroyed in the heated first moments of the battle. The ones which were still operating did their best to stave off the tide, but there were too few of them and their fire rate was not rapid enough to keep everyone safe. The blue-haired demigoddess placed her shield onto the chassis of the ballista for additional cover, pulled out a javelin from her quiver, held it onto her shoulder, and waited.

The creatures were moving too quickly for her to get an easy bead on them, even if some of them were close enough to target. Were this fight take place anywhere else, Lyra would not aim to be this dead-on - but they were on a flying ship, thousands of feet above the surface, while her ammunition of javelins was as limited as always. Every javelin tossed is lost forever, so they have to count. The girl closed her left eye and focused, waiting.

And then threw.

The adamantine spear pierced through one bird, then another, and finally a third, all three of them falling from the horde.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Jolting awake at Troys warning, Talia grabbed the bracelet on her nightstand throwing in on her wrist before grabbing her sword next to the hallway. Tapping the owl symbol at the center of it as she entered the hallway, Talia felt the bracelet grow and transform into a shield as she raced through the halls. A line of metallic feather imbedded themselves on the deck in front of her just as she was stepping out onto it, causing her to recoil back below deck.

Stynphalian Birds She thought to herself.Just great. Talia knew she wasn't going to be much help as she was seeing as archery, and throwing weapon in general wasn't her strong suite. Running back down into the ships machine shop, she began scrounging for spare screws and nails. "Jason" She called out. "I know this is going to sound stupid and dangerous... but what's the most flammable liquid on the ship, and where can I find it?"

[The Templar High Council]

Bird attack!

Jack Mercier
Argos

After their cupcake escapade, bonding with their new friends, and finally getting a normal introduction to everyone without someone *way* older than them organizing it, Jack and Dani eventually split off from the group and climbed up to the ship's deck to hang out. They made their home on the bow of the ship, leaning on the rail and catching up with each other over the view of the country passing by. Eventually, the calm of the night was interrupted by an annoying cawing. Jack decided to ignore it, thinking that some flock of mundane birds was flying beside the ship. His next sentence was cut off by a stray arrow embedding itself in the railing next to him.

Except... the arrow was a feather.

The sirens and call to battle shattered whatever remained of the peaceful night, as JASON's defenses whirred to life and started shooting into the swarming Stymphalian birds. Jack assessed the situation as quick as he could, before turning his gaze back to Dani. "I guess the catching up will have to continue later. Time to clock in at our new job of pest control." He reached behind him and whipped out his dagger, twirling it over his hand before catching it in reverse. "Want to see who can kill the most?"

[Tomia]

Rebecca
Rebecca had been resting a bit in her room after hanging out in the kitchen when suddenly alarms started blaring. She jumped up from the bed, and with a tap of her fingers her shield and spear came to life around her. She wasn't wearing armor, but there wasn't time. We just started and we're already under attack? So it's going to be this kind of quest... She thought grimly as she ran from her room. She didn't know where the fighting was or even what they were fighting, but she wasn't going to wait around until she had answers.

She heard Troy's yelling and followed after him into his room. They hadn't talked much, but she had gotten the vibe that he was somewhat of the budding leader of the group. She knew if she could get him working on a plan of attack others would likely follow. "Troy, what's the plan here? Where is the attack coming from? We need to fight this battle together if we want to stand a chance." She told him as he gathered his bow and arrows. "If you can shoot them down, I can use my spear and shield to protect you. Does that sound like a plan?"

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

The conversation at the kitchen, much like the previous conversation at the war room, didn't seem to last very long, and as everyone went their own separate ways, Raven decided to head back to his room with his bag of salted peanuts in tow. Once there, he finally set about unpacking and arranging his belongings in a manner he enjoyed, as he knew he would be spending a few weeks on this journey at the very least. He went about this task for a good while, but before too long had passed, his body began feeling heavy, and his eyelids as well. He recalled how late he had stayed up the previous night, and how little he had rested during the few hours of sleep he did get. Was it surprising, then, that he decided to take a nap under those circumstances? Surely no one would blame him for trying to recharge some energy while they did... whatever it is they were doing. It's not like they were on a mission or anything of the sort right now, and Jason was taking care of everything as far as piloting went.

That was his reasoning, and that was exactly what he went on to do. He finished his salted peanuts first though, because of course.

Since he hadn't had a good night's sleep by any means and was very tired though, his short nap ended up turning into a multi-hour slumber that only came to a close as a blaring alarm and red lights violently roused him from his sleep. It was extremely startling to say the least, especially considering his dreams hadn't exactly been peaceful - he had dreamed about the same void, the same darkness, the same voices screaming at him from the grave.

Troy's shouting told him what he needed to know: they were under attack. That explained the red lights, the alarms, the sudden rocking of the ship and the foreboding sensation that came over him as he jumped out of bed and looked out the window at the stormy night.

There was no time to lose.

Raven reached into his pocket for his trusty Meisterstück, which promptly transformed into his adamantine-tipped spear in his hand. His jacket was on his desk chair and he promptly put it on before grabbing his hat from the desk and donning it - the two then immediately transformed into his adamantine cuirass and helmet as well. Thus equipped, the young man made his way to the deck.

Standing on the door that separated the deck from below was when he saw them, massive birds with beaks and feathers that had a metallic sheen to them, launching their feathers like darts at his teammates and using their beaks to tear apart the Argo's defenses. And now he was here. A drowsy, hungry, pissed off young adult majoring in film against an army of Stymphalian Birds.

He liked his odds.

Suddenly a dark cloud began rolling across the deck, headed straight towards one of the few ballistae on deck that still functioned. Five of the birds were closing in on the weapon - a greek bronze-tipped dart flew out and pierced one of them through the neck, leaving only four of them, four more than what the weapon could take care of as it began its slow reloading process automatically. Two of them dived straight towards the ballista, but one of them received a cut on the wing before being pushed away by an unseen force and tumbling towards the darkness below, while the other was promptly pierced through the chest and was left to bleed out on the wooden floor of the deck. The two remaining birds were more careful, circling around the weapon and hurling feathers at it, but their fate was no more fortunate. As soon as they wandered too close, one promptly had its chest sliced open while the other was stabbed and hurled off the ship.

The darkness dissipated, and Raven stood there, spear covered in blood. Most feathers had bounced off his cuirass, though some had grazed his arm.

"Protect the ballistae! They're our best bet for fighting off this ambush!" He shouted at his teammates before moving to his next target.

[Absolon-7]

Anders Thomson

---

Anders stumbled onto the deck of the ship in a groggy state alarmed by the sudden chaos on their journey and seeing a giant flock of Stynphalian Birds flying around the top of their ship shooting their arrow-like feathers at the defense ballista and the so called crew made of themselves was enough for him to do a double take and take a step back as his equipment transformed into their weaponized states. What could he even do against them? As soon as he could swing his sword they'd just swoop away and that's being generous assuming they even get that close to him. He heard Raven exclaim about protecting the ballistae and he gulped at the daunting task forming in his head.

"I'm on it, Raven," said Anders urgently asmuttered , "At least I hope, eh."

Anders rand to the back of one ballistaa that in the middle of reloading itself as two of the birds swooped down to tear it apart with their vicious beaks and talons. Anders closed his eyes and huffed out a breath of ice that encrusted the birds wings with a layer of frost. Without thinking he stepped forward and hacked at the birds now fallen on the ground with his sword. The ballista finally finished loading itself before throwing bolt upon bolt at the flock bringing down many of the birds with several flying down to a tailspin onto the deck.

[Finland SSR]

Lyra Kriophora, sword of the Hellenes!

---

Lyra drew out a new javelin from her quiver at the same time as the rest of her allies began bursting into the deck - Raven was first, followed by Anders, and both of them put their powers into play to take down several birds at once. She could only assume that the rest were either still getting ready down below, or not yet out of their rooms. Whatever the case, they'd better come here quick, the three of us won't hold them off for long.

Raven employed his darkness powers to tear through a handful of the creatures in a seemingly intangible state and returned back to safety - Anders, on the other hand, ran across the deck like a madman, with nothing in the way of cover, straight at two birds which were harassing one of the ballistae. He came out unscathed, froze both of them and hacked through them with his blade, but the recklessness nevertheless got Lyra to rise from her cover and run towards her teammate. The ballista was lashing out at the swarm, but its barrage and Anders's charge drew the attention of several creatures who swooped down from the horde.

She stopped before Anders and raised her shield to block a flurry of feathers, then slammed it down on the first of the birds which dared to come close - the edge of the shield pinned it down, but the creature only got to flail about for a second before its neck got severed by a fierce spear strike. Lyra did not stop, taking down an another bird with a simpler spear slash across the throat, and a third one with a heavy, blunt shield smash to slide it off-board.

"If you have little in the way of defense, make sure to use cover," the girl spoke, glancing at Anders over her shoulder while maintaining her fighting stance. "Someone equipped with only a sword standing in an open area is running a severe disadvantage against them, no matter how many powers they have."

[Galnius]

Dani
One Would think that, soon after departing, one would be fine to just chill on the deck with friends while sunbathing. This is especially after a decently calming baking session. Needless to say, Dani's previous excitement had dwindled down to serenity.

Luckily, this was not allowed to last. They were soon attacked by mythological birds or for blood. Dani had brought her sword hoping to challenge jack to spar once he was calm enough to listen, but this would do just as well, and Jack seemed to agree.

"Really Jackie boy, are you challenging me to slaying monsters? You know that you're a son of Hermes, right? Oh well...you're loss."

The fire that had ignited in her eyes blazed at the challenge, and she quickly charged in. Using a burst of speed, she flashed closer and used the increased momentum to leap into the air, a skill she had been dying to try. Catching one by the wing, she brought her sword up into its clavicle, and piloted the falling beast down to the others.

"I heard someone ask for a lower target. Mind helping me whoop Jack's ass in a challenge, Rebecca? If I can get to Troy boy i can leech his aim and bring down plenty."

[Tomia]

Rebecca
Rebecca was waiting for Troy to respond when she saw Dani approaching. Her fellow quest mate asked asked her to help her beat Jack in some kind of challenge. "You know as much as I love competition, this isn't really a game." Rebecca commented to Dani. "But sure I suppose as long as we kill these things I'll help you. What do you want me to do exactly?" Rebecca asked as one of the winged beast came flying towards her just as she asked the question. Rebecca raised her shield, blocking the attack and shifting her weight forward as she stabbed with her spear. Her bronze weapon pierced the creature in the stomach and it howled in pain before Rebecca slammed it to the ground and finished it off with a fierce strike of her shield. Then the beast dissolved into dust at the daughter of Ares' feet. Rebecca turned back to Dani.

"So, what's your plan again?"

[New Finnish Republic]

Troy paused for a brief moment, his mind currently scrambled from the onset of battle to immediately give Rebecca a response. His slight pause caused the girl to move past him to join in with the battle, causing Troy to shake his head for a moment to clear his minds. Relax, Troy. Think of what these things are, he thought to himself as he let out a noise that was a mixture of a war cry and a dismayed groan as he followed behind the girl back onto the deck. At this point, the entire crew of the Argos was in the midst of fighting off the birds, which while clearly having been diminished in numbers still formed a massive swarm around the flying vessel.

It was clear that even with the immediate response to the attack, the ship was clearly bearing a heavy cost from the attacks, with many areas above deck scarred with deep gouges from the sharp claws of the birds that seemed intent on destroying everything within sight. A small scowl appeared on Troy's face as he reached for his quiver, quickly letting loose a barrage of arrows that resulted in several of the large birds to drop from the sky above. We need a plan or else we're going to get overwhelmed, Troy thought to himself as he reached for another handful of arrows.

Glancing over towards the demigod nearest him, he spotted Lyra, using her javelins to take out several at a time. At the current moment, Troy couldn't have been more glad to have someone else on the ship who was proficient in ranged combat, as for the remainder of the crew they were forced to simply wait for the creatures to swoop down in order to defend themselves. Next to her was Anders, who seemed to be holding his own for the moment, but was clearly out of his element.

Rushing forwards and sliding across the deck on his knees, Troy let loose several more arrows he directed at another group of oncoming birds before grabbing ahold of one end of his bow and using it like a baseball bat to swat away the remaining one which had dived towards him in anger. Reaching where the two others were, he grabbed onto more arrows, his quiver already beginning to feel light.

"We can't keep this up, there's just too many of the damn things. We've got to get them to scatter. Any ideas?" he asked, his focus momentarily drawing away from the others as he used the cover of Lyra's shield to avoid another barrage of arrow-like feathers before letting loose a counter barrage.

Meanwhile next to Talia, the holographic figure of Jason appeared. However, instead of his usual robed garments, the man now wore a suit of hoplite armor with a horse-tailed decoration on his helmet as the AI had switched into its combat role. This was seen in his expression, as a daunted look of concentration rested on his face. "In normal circumstances I'd want to ask why, but given that I'm a bit tied up at the moment, I'll humor you. In the armory rests a few improvised grenades filled with Greek Fire. There's not many there, but it would only take one to set this entire ship ablaze. While for most of your compatriots, I'd be hard pressed to readily hand over such dangerous weapons..." The AI paused for a few moments, before giving her a small nod. "...I believe I can trust you. Now if you excuse me, I have some pests to deal with."

Upon saying this, Jason's projection disappeared, the AI likely no longer seeing the need in diverting its attention as the onslaught of attacks continued.

[Finland SSR]

Lyra Kriophora, sword of the Hellenes!

---

More and more of their fellow demigods filtered in to the upper deck, taking on the Stynphalian Birds each with their own means. Out of them, Troy drew Lyra's attention in particular - the archer leapt across the battlefield, let loose several arrows and then stopped behind the blue-haired huntress's shield, using it as cover while providing more ranged fire.

Lyra gritted her teeth, standing her ground to keep the cover, and using her shield to blow several of the more aggressive birds away. Slamming them down, pinning them down with the edge of the shield, and putting them down with swift spear stabs, the girl took down several, and yet it seemingly had no dent on the numbers of the horde.

Out of the duo, Troy was the first to start to panic, stating that they couldn't keep this up and asking for ideas.

"Raven said that we need to keep the ballistas running, and I'm inclined to agree," Lyra responded, calmly, then spun the javelin in her hands, aimed, closed one of her eyes and sent the weapon forward. The javelin cut through the wings of one of the birds in the midst of a large pack - the creature fell and slammed into several others, all of them splattering into the hull of the ship soon thereafter.

"We need to keep our damage output as large as we can, that's why. If any of you have anything explosive, to take a bunch of them at once and scare the others, now's the time!"

[The Templar High Council]

Jack Mercier
Argos

Jack grinned as Dani started towards the flock of Stymphalian birds; his comment was more to rile the daughter of Nike up and get her into the fight, rather than genuinely challenge her to a competition. Ideally he'd be able to retreat, knowing that he'd done his part in the ship's defense... but that didn't feel satisfying at all. Instead, Jack ran after Dani towards the fight. He followed her leap into combat, grabbing hold of one of the birds by its clawed foot and used it to slow his descent. After touching the ground, Jack hurled the beast to the deck and stabbed it through with his knife, before tearing through and out leaving the bird dead on the floor.

He looked around at the myriad of plans his companions were calling out, from protecting the turrets to getting more gear from the armory, and he decided that all of these plans needed a little more time to coalesce. Time he was willing to buy, as he gestured with his dagger towards the swarm as a rush of wind could be heard. Jack disappeared from view and reappeared hanging onto another bird's talons, intent on repeating his previous success by dragging them down to earth one at a time. Talking during the effort would only waste his energy and divert his attention, and Jack was going to need every ounce of both as he twisted and swung his way around, dodging errant claws and feathers by mere inches at times.

[New Finnish Republic]

Letting loose a few more arrows, Troy returned his attention back over towards Lyra, pausing for a brief moment as he thought of what to do with her idea. "I remember seeing a few containers that looked like they were holding explosive devices back in the armory," he responded, taking a small moment in between in words to take down another oncoming swarm of the birds. "They'd be too dangerous to use them too close to the ship, but if we can get them high enough in the air in the center of the flock of birds, I can detonate them with one of my flaming arrows."

Spotting a trio of birds coming their direction once more, Troy reached back towards his quiver, only to come to the horrifying realization that it was nearly empty at this point. The child of Apollo let out a small string of curses as he grabbed a single arrow, waiting for the right opportunity to fire. Once it presented itself, he let loose the arrow, placing a small amount of his power into it to give the arrow extra force in its launch. Flames spurted out from the feathered end of the wooden shaft as it raced through the air. The Stymphalian which first was impacted burst into flames, as did the other two next to it from the subsequent eruption of fire, sending the remaining two hurtling through the sky like downed aircraft.

"I'm almost out of arrows here. If you guys can hold on long enough, I'll see if I can get something that'll cook these damn birds," Troy said, eyeing the entrance towards the lower half of the ship anxiously as he waited for a response.