>>18410792
What's the floor made of again? Wood or steel? How many decks down are we?

"Greetings comrades; interesting time to be residing within smoke, wouldn't you say?"

Ready a burst of air to knock away any would-be attackers and the mist.

"More than enough, wouldn't you say?" You hear a human voice ring out from the mist. A dark-haired figure appears in their midst, and you hear his knuckles pop as he makes his way forwards. "I just keep making them. But no one minds if they die." He laughs, a hollow, dull sound.

You hear a sharp crack as a bullet bursts through the center of his mass, and he disappears into a puff of black smoke.

Van Skewer lowers the smoking barrel of his pistol. "I do apologize, but I can't take much more of you assassins inanely dribbling on about your problems." His sharp teeth glint in the fading starlight. "If you're to introduce yourself, it should be sharp, clear, and simple!"

"Very well." The voice answers, and you see the doppelgangers of the crew walking more steadily out of the mist.

"Gee, thanks." You say sarcastically to Van Skewer.

"Would you rather he prattled on like that Ringo bloke?" Van Skewer unexpectedly snaps back.

>>18411647

Derp, sorry about that.

You're on the top deck, as far as you can tell. The floor is wood, and despite your urgings, none of the kobolds around you seem to respond.

>>18411840
>>18412027
"Prattling is good; easier to distract."

Well, if things get too dicey, we can at least blow out one floor.

"Skewer, you handle the left; I'll handle the right."

With that, roll up a sleeve and start casting a spell. "Two assassins in two days; both of which look like some wannabe bard."

>>18412125

"Prattling is good; easier to distract." You say, spreading your hands as you feel your magical energy rising up through your bones. "Skewer, you handle the left; I'll handle the right."

Van Skewer reloads his gun with a flick of his wrist. "Alright. Just yell if you see that long-haired git pop back up again."

You respond as you begin to shape a spell. "Two assassins in two days; both of which look like some wannabe bard."

"Or some other horrible artist." Van Skewer sneers. "Both Alkari. Did whoever wants to kill you hire from a guild or something?"

"We'll have to find that out." You say, letting loose a crackling wave of lightning from your palms. The dopplebolds evaporate into more of the black mist. Van Skewer's shots ring out as he fires round after round into the horde.

You clear through a decent number of them with a few blasts of lightning, but then, you hear a shot ring out as a bullet impacts the deck next to your foot. You look for the shooter, seeing Tayn atop the aft deck, holding Van Skewer's gun.

"MY GUN!" The screech of anger that erupts next to your head lets you know that he saw it too.

>>18412521
"If you're real, I'm sorry." With that, pull him down to the deck floor with a forceful tug and see if that dissipates him. If he tries getting back up, pull the gun from his grasp.

Yell to the assassin. "I'm tired to whisking through shadows; reveal yourself!"

>>18412573

"If you're real, I'm sorry." You say, generating a telekinetic tug on Tayn. You pull him down at first, and then he quickly disappears in a puff of smoke. You use the force to pull the weapon spinning through the air, back over to Van Skewer.

He lets out a defiant cackle as his clawed fingers wrap around the stock, lowering the barrel in one smooth motion as he braces his gun with the hand already holding a pistol. "Now, let's spice things up a bit, Amelia." He croons. You see the sides of the barrel illuminate with a pair of blue lines, blinking along to give the image of movement. He fires the gun once, but every figure in the mist on his side disappears. You also see a large number of bullet holes in the deck at the edge of the mist.

You clear the remaining ones on your side with a blast of cold, ice tearing through the mist with unbridled fury. "I'm tired of whisking through shadows; Reveal yourself!" You shout to your attacker.

"I already have. Do you really expect someone with my abilities to come out of hiding just because you asked?" The man's voice rings out from the mist.

"That's ventriloquism." Van Skewer whispers over to you. "Not the party trick, but the spell. He has to be within sight of it, and its point of origin is above the deck."

You look around, examining the surroundings. You can see only a few places he'd be able to see from while hiding from you. One is a spot atop the foredeck, a few crates sitting between the stairs that block your view. Atop the aft deck, near where the doppel-Tayn was, there are plenty of barrels to conceal even a human-sized observer, as well as a tall railing. Finally, there's the crow's nest, a strange place on the ship used for viewing things far off.

>>18412851
Motion for Skewer to examine the crates. We'll take the crow's nest; even if he's not up there, we can at least get a good look at the deck.

>>18413004

You motion towards the crates while looking to Van Skewer. He nods, leveling his gun at the fore deck as he stows his handgun in his jacket. You levitate upwards, invisible, towards the crow's nest. Within it, you can see the dark-haired man, wearing a simple brown suit and tie, laying down and holding his breath. He does not seem to notice you.

>>18413358
Slide up next to him.

"...nice night for a view, isn't it?"

If he moves, disable him. Since he's so fond of smoke and mirrors, give him a good paralysis spell in smoke form.

>>18413382

You fly upside down, your head swinging down next to his. "...Nice night for a view, isn't it?" His eyes widen as your next words come, bringing a cerulean mist that engulfs his body, and he is stuck, paralyzed in his prone position. You grin. Sometimes one spell is enough. Delivered while affected by a handful of others, of course, but only one.

"Got him." You say, down to Van Skewer.

"What about his stand?" Van Skewer shouts back.

>>18413763
Evasive maneuvers!

You groan. That floating man from last time. Of course this one has one too. You look down, towards the top of the ship, and you see a black figure with a thick rubbery body floating upside down relative to your vision. It meets your gaze with empty white eyes. You feel a sudden wave of dizziness overcome you, and you almost dip your head into your paralytic fog. Its hands stretch open wide to reveal a blackish blister in one palm. The blister swells, becoming shinier and shinier as it stretches the creature's skin thinner and thinner, until it bursts, revealing a kobold's head, one with tattoos similar to yours. You squint for a moment as you realize that they are, in fact, yours. The head surges out of the creature's palm, followed by a body wearing your robes, with an arm like yours, every detail exactly the same. It hovers above you, looking down menacingly.

You fly under the crow's nest, avoiding the creature's gaze. Van Skewer fires a shot at it from behind the crates on the fore deck, but by his expression you can tell nothing good has come of his efforts.

>>18413855
Is he still paralyzed above us? If so, jump out and give our good friend a shock. Let's experiment to see how affecting the caster affects the stand.

>>18413921

You pop around and give the man in the crow's nest a quick jolt. He lets out a muffled yelp of pain. You watch the stand, still in its prior location, as it continues to stare at Van Skewer without even flinching as his shots bounce off of its hide.

>>18414383
"Of course it doesn't work; why would it?"

Give the man an arcane mark, then jump down to the deck and find some cover. Fighting that in the open might not be the best scenario, especially with eye-contact related abilities.

Anyway, heading to bed, OP.

>>18414427

"Of course it doesn't work; why would it?" You say aloud in irritation as you avert your eyes from the creature, flinging a lightning bolt into it as you retreat. An arcane mark visible to you rests on the man's forehead, and you catch one last sight of him as you peel away past the mast of the ship.

"Not bad, but, he seems to have, erm, ignored it." Van Skewer shouts, firing off a few shots of his own. "Don't worry, old boy! You're faring no better than I!"

You sail behind the sail, thinking for a moment as you head towards one side. True, the man was paralyzed, but his mind was still active. Perhaps, then, he could still be giving it orders. However, you'd truly like to get some more information out of him than speak with dead provides. You are so caught up in thought you scarcely notice your double flying around from your destination. He reachs out and grabs you around the ankle with his armored right arm as you pivot too late to avoid him. Despite appearances, the creature's grip is rubbery, and its flesh stretches as its fingers wrap tightly around your leg.

Somehow, you get the feeling this one is not like the others.