Crossover Escape: Gotta be more than Lucky to survive

2.28 On the AirShip

A clap of thunder sounded and then rain poured from the sky. Luca considered the large amount of water being consumed and the fact that there were still six more people that they needed to sneak water to.

“Shade is the rain safe to drink?” it wasn’t something he’d thought as hard about before because they’d had some and then been more concerned about exposure than thirst.

“Yes? If you can catch it.” Shade responded with a raised brow. Luca nodded and then looked around the area. It was some sort of repair bay. The only access to it coming from the maintenance shafts which were all dwarf sized. Meaning that he could move in them in a crouch but anything bigger wasn’t fitting. Luca set his little shovel aside and started looking at the various junk in the room. While it might be possible to just use their canteens and bottles to catch the rain it wouldn’t be terrible efficient, they needed a sort of funnel or gutter to direct it.

Luca found some thin metal angle and considered it. “The Harpies won’t go outside while its raining?” Luca checked. Shade shook his head. Satisfied Luca found a circle of metal plate and then waved Ghost and Räv over. They listened and nodded. Ghost started hauling the tube and sheet into the tunnel while Räv looked around for the tools she needed. Luca glanced at Tails, and he waved to the Gnomes and Dwarfs indicating he’d work with them. Shade looked confused but shrugged before he grabbed some of the metal and headed after Ghost.

“Come on Declan lets go find Lady.” Declan blinked twice and then nodded. Räv had sent a butterfly with Lady but Luca wanted to map the ship. So he slid into a different shaft to the one they’d entered from and pulled out the mapper as he headed out into the rest of the ship. Luca paused at the first turn and then stopped in place.

[Lucky: Holly, can you bring me the cuff.]   

[Holly: No.]

[Lucky: Why not?]

[Holly: That was a severed hand you realise not a piece of jewellery.]

[Räv: Wait don’t tell me because you got a bit squeamish.]

[Tails: That you tossed the key to our friends’ freedom.]

[Holly: It was a severed hand.]

[Ghost: could have been a severed head.]

[Lucky: Ghost not helpful. Holly if you didn’t want to carry the had you should have given it to someone else. Otherwise you essentially just left five people with a bomb around their necks while you tossed the safe code.] Luca kept his tone flat before he shook his head.

[Holly: I’ll… I’ll just get another one.]

[Lucky: Räv what was the count on Harpies on the ship?]

[Räv: Twenty.]

[Lucky: did anyone notice a cuff on anyone but the leader.] A chorus of negative followed and Luca sighed.

[Lucky: Holly focus on mapping the ship. We’ll deal with the cuff later.]

“I don’t like how that conversation went.” Declan commented as Luca started moving

“Not great news, though it might suggest a more normal personality trait, that he didn’t want to carry the hand around.” Luca pressed the mapper at the next intersection and looked in either direction. The butterfly’s signal was directly ahead so there was no direction was better than another.

“Was that ever in question?” Declan asked as Luca turned right.

“I think us having normal mental states after this mess is actually more questionable.” Luca turned left and the next junction and then slid down the staircase.

“You have a good point. On another note the construction and size of this things is impressive.” Declan tapped the walls and shook his head clearly amazed. Luca nodded in agreement and then raised a hand to indicate quiet. In the central area Luca hadn’t been worried about sound traveling but according to the mapper they were closer to some of the exit areas.

Declan paused then raised a hand and gestured around them. There was a shift and a chill to the air. Luca looked at Declan in confusion. “I was thinking about better sound reduction spells while we waited by the camp. If I prevent the sound from reaching warmer pockets it doesn’t travel. Past the sound of the rain no one should here us.”

Luca nodded slightly at the explanation it kinda made sense. Though he rather had to wonder what the original spell had been used for. Luca filed that into the question he wanted to ask about magic when they got home. He’d made a little promise to himself when Declan had started with the magic that he wouldn’t ask anything that wasn’t directly helpful or hindering to their chances of going home. Luca paused a couple of metres from the entrance that should lead to Lady and the others.

[Lucky: Hey Räv, sorry if I’m interrupting, but can you activate the butterfly and give me a visual around Lady?]

[Räv: Sure, just let me get this bar off my shoulder.] A grunt sounded over the line followed by Ghost muttering.

[Tails: So bit left of field, but did you know there is a fully function practically modern bathroom in this area. Water isn’t drinkable but –]

[Lucky: If you suddenly have a desire to be bait letting the fresh scent of soap leading everyone to you feel free.]

[Tails: I was just joking.]

[Räv: It is not funny to wave the temptation of clean before a person at the moment. Butterfly is up and coming to your display.] Luca flinched at the sudden visual change. Just as well the others weren’t there to see they’d have laughed at him for flinching after getting what he’d asked for.

Luca carefully directed the butterfly to take off from where Lady held it on her palm. After a slow circle of the room Luca set it back down in front of lady who also looked carefully around the room before she nodded. Luca shifted from his crouch but paused to gesture Declan to stay up for the moment just in case. The view had indicated that the maintenance shaft exit was actually quite high off the ground. Who knows what prompted that design, since from what Luca had observed the Dwarfs and Gnomes hadn’t seemed particularly athletic.

Still it was a design that worked well for them since its position right by the ceiling would make it awkward to monitor for the Harpies. If they’d been normal birds, they might have been fine, but a winged human shape was different. The extension of the wings above the head meant that the had to have room to fly flat and if they tried to hover it would be a distance from the roof otherwise, they’d hit their wings on the ceiling.

Still the height did make Luca worry that Declan, given his reaction to the tent roofs, might take a bit more time than they might have to get back into the shaft. The fact that Declan glanced past Luca into the room and offered no complaint added credence to Luca’s guess. In any case Luca wanted Declan to have a good vantage point if he needed to try and defend Luca while he retreated.