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 Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 9:25 pm
Privateer Vessel Stonefish
Open Sea
2 days' sail from Levee
The spray from the bow and the creak of the timbers was all that broke the silence.
It wasn't a long silence; it was born of tension, and tension rarely lasts long. Forces must resolve themselves one way or another. The second law of thermodynamics holds true, even in relationships. But it was a silence all the same, and made more palpable by that spray and creak: these were things not normally noticed after long, long days at sea, and anything which could bring them to the fore of the mind once again was momentous indeed.
The "prisoners" - an unbound but unarmed clump of folks which included a few pirate captives and a handful of merchants and other easily-ransomed folk who themselves had been captives of the pirates - were clustered at the sterncastle's windows, watching, feeling the silent tension beat in them like a thick-skinned kettledrum. Their immediate future was staked firmly on the events unfolding before them.
The Stonefish's crew, for their part, were quite at ease. By all appearances. This was an artifact of one of the first lessons learned at sea: You're most likely to survive an impact if you're loose. Most folks learn this lesson when they hit the grog a little hard, climb the rigging, and fall flat on their faces. The guys climbing the rigging come away with barely a bruise if they slip; the sober fools following in an attempt to coax them down are as likely to break bones as not should they fall. Thus the relaxed attitudes, the half-lidded, dazed expressions, the occasional laconic spit off to one side. Easy does it.
They stood in three groups. Captain Dmietr Ayn stood at the fo'c'stle door, with two men and two women flanking her in an echelon formation. They were faced by Mate Nell Rquin at the mast, who herself had two women and one man. And the three men remaining stood on the sterndeck - aptly known as the "poop" deck, which is what was happening in their pants at that moment. Or would be happening in their pants, were they not so concerned with appearing relaxed and easy.
Finally, the four-second silence was broken.
"An' you heard me back there, aye?" called out Nell, face full on to the Captain but words carrying back to the three undecideds. "A thousand gil to the man who stands with me, and that's for each." A thousand gil - almost a full year's share, at least on a small-time operation like the Stonefish.
Captain Ayn had made sure to wait on Nell to crack first. The silence had given her time to think, and now that Nell had spoken, Ayn could respond and make it seem off-the-cuff snappy. She tossed her grey hair in the wind. It was clumped, salt-rimned. Like a mainland kid visiting the beach.
"Bah on that, and bah on you," she said evenly. The wind was in her face, of course, her being at the fore of the tub, but she had been blessed with captain's pipes, that if she so chose, her slightest whisper could be heard against the prevailing breeze. "And bah on the man who stands with you," and here she grinned, and her shark's teeth - rumored by some among the crew to have been filed down - they showed. "As for your gil, I only offer a third part of what you bring. I'll be giving that thousand gil to only one man, and that's the man who brings me the head of Mate Nell Rquin of the pinace Stonefish."
As the captain spoke, one of the captured pirates turned and moved for the ladder down belowdecks. Other than this, not a word was spoken for another four seconds.
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:54 pm
Crow's Nest
Privateer Vessel Stonefish
Open Sea; 2 days' sail from Levee
Morgan was up in the crow's nest, taking her turn on watch duty, when the ruckas broke out down below. She peered over the wooden planks curiously; growing up at sea had rid her long ago of any queasiness she might have had from the rocking motion that pitched her to and fro over the decks.
"An' whadya suppose they're fussin' 'bout now lad?" she murmured aloud. Her "lad", a small brown ferret, poked his head up from where he was clinging to her back, chittered a bit in her ear, and slipped down into her pouch to find something more interesting to do. "Aye, ye may be right... perhaps t'would be best to leave well enough alone, us being so far apart from it an' all. Wait to see who wins this little tussle, then side wiv 'er." Morgan smiled grimly to herself. "I wanna be rich, na dead."
At this the rough woman cast her eyes back to the horizon, but in spite of herself the challenge on deck was far more interesting than the empty ocean, and her eyes kept wandering back down below.
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:28 pm
On Captain Ayn's right flank, and a little in front, one of the women who had chosen to repel the mutiny snorted. Now, there are plenty of snorts to choose from when deciding upon the perfect snort for the occasion, and this was an unusual choice. There are four main categories: derision, amusement, anger, and incredulity, this latter being the choice made by the woman. Any of these broad applications would have been appropriate in this situation, but she had further modified it with a stillborn chuckle, of the sort that says "WTF, am I the only one who doesn't get this situation? Am I the only one here who thinks this is kinda off-balance?"
Nell glowered at the woman. "Somethin' to say, then, Sao Kolo?"
The redhead raised her hands in an I-don't-know gesture, then dropped them to her sides. And again.
Finally: "Well - I mean, for the love of Tritoch, this is stupid, right? You realize this?"
Nell's nostrils flared; she made a rude gesture. "All's that'll need happen is that one of us takes out two of you, right? As it stands now, that is, and I've a feeling our captain won't be inspiring bravado and balls in her remaining undecided crewmen."
Sao sighed, still affecting bewilderment. "You're a moron, Nell Rquin." She kept her eyes forward, but spoke aside toward the captain. "How about instead of that thousand gil, you give me five hundred for every brain cell I find in that addled head of hers?" She drew her epee and gestured broadly; small arcs of energy began running up and down the blade. "I imagine it'll work out the same in the end. Hell, you might come out ahead on the deal, Captain."
That was enough for Nell. She drew her greatsword as she charged, grating out a shriek of frustration. Her cohorts fumbled for a moment before following. Of course, the captain's side wasn't totally prepared - only Sao had even laid a hand on her weapon - but they recovered in time to meet the press. Sao was grateful overall that Nell had been so easily provoked; it was less likely that she would use her Sleep spell in close quarters, which would have evened the odds decisively.
Sao was set to meet Nell's charge, dashing in to score a sharp gash along Nell's arm (the wound sizzled from the electrical discharge of the sword) - but Nell's huge swing, despite the fact that she'd telegraphed it from halfway across the ship, was near-impossible to dodge, and Saoszuc took it full in the side. Blunt blade met tough armor, and while the blow might as well have come from a baseball bat as a sword, it winded the younger woman.
-----
At the first sign of combat, the pirate who had begun making for belowdecks broke into a run for the ladder, rasping out an entreaty for assistance from a fellow pirate captive. Both men scrambled down the ladder.
Now what could they be after? Perhaps they'd squirreled away some weapons by the brig. Maybe they were hoping to hide beneath the gigantic catapult equipment just below the cargo bay doors. Or it might have been that they merely had a sudden urge to look at the two caged Bombs which patiently awaited their turn to be launched onto an unlucky ship. Who could tell with mangy pirates, anyway?
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Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 1:29 pm
With her lip between her teeth and a frown on her face, Sahlana watched the altercation, which was now no longer limited to words. She knew she was in no condition to do much of anything, and she thought longingly of her belongings stored away somewhere in the ship's hold. She held no affection for either the captain or the first mate, and so she wasn't particularly interested in jumping into the fray, but matters might change at any moment and she would have liked to have more options than jumping in with her fists flying.
For the past little while she had been scared pissless and trying to steel herself for death. Sahlana knew she had asked to be with pirates, so for all practical purposes she was a pirate - at least for the time being. She knew that the privateers wouldn't accept any stories about why she was on the ship - their job was to get her into the city and let the judges sort it out. And anyway, the pirates were sort of her comrade-at-arms at the moment. She had a duty to them, too. The situation wasn't so bad that she'd abandon them.
Though, it increasingly looked at if it might get that way.
She decided that when the winner resolved herself, she'd offer her services as a healer. In the meantime, she was just going to keep quiet and keep her head down; hopefully that way it'd stay out of the path of any quickly-moving sabers.
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Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:22 am
Crow's Nest
Privateer Vessel Stonefish
Open Sea; 2 days' sail from Levee
Up above in the crow's nest, Morgan tapped her fingers on the wooden walls impatiently. The fight down on the decks looked exciting. Far more exciting than the horizon did anyway. "Look thar now, Jewel. Ye made me miss out on most o' tha excitement!" she groused to her ferret, who looked up at her absolutely nonplussed, then ignored her, continuing in his own private affairs.
From her aerial vantage point it was hard to tell who was winning and who was losing. It wasn't like the two sides were wearing seperate uniforms or anything. No, it looked far more like a bar room brawl, though a bit more deadly. Eventually what was obviously Captain Ayn's forces had Nell and what was left of her compatriots backed against the starboard side of the ship. Nell herself was locked in a grim-faced duel with Sao. With Sao's bright crimson hair it wasn't exactly difficult to tell which was her.
Suddenly a spot on the horizon caught her attention. Grabbing the spyglass next to her, she focused in on the spot until a ship focused into view. The standards the ship was flying looked very familiar, as did the look and shape of the ship itself. And apparantly it was coming straight for them...
Morgan rang the warning bell above her as hard as she could, then shouted down to the captain below, where the ruckas had temporarily paused due to her little interruption. "Pirates, Cap'n! They're at twelve o' the clock and barrelin' straight for us. It's tha Nautica!
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Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:44 pm
Below deck and away from the commotion above, Locke Karn was on his knees, scrubbing the floor outside a few of the privateer's rooms. He paused from his work for a second to wipe the sweat off his forehead with his slightly damp forearm, which was uncovered due to his sleeves being rolled up to the elbow. He didn't want to dirty his clothes while cleaning; he had enough work to do. Not to mention he didn't exactly have much more than what he had on in his possession.
"All this work...I suppose it's better than what I had to do on the pirate ship," Locke said as he gave a slight shudder. He paused quickly and looked about, making sure nobody heard that comment. "I have to be more careful what I say about them...who knows what they might do to me if they heard me say bad things about them..." he thought to himself.
Having rested long enough, and feeling the need to avoid another scolding from the captain or her first mate, Locke picked back up his washrag and began to scrub the floor. As he did so, he felt something nibble at his ankle. Looking back, he noticed a small, fluffy bird pecking at him.
"Oh you. I promise I'll play with you later...I have to work now!" He was used to this sort of thing coming from the bird; everyone knows babies need lots of attention. Birds are no different. He could still remember the day he found it, peeping up a storm on the pirate ship. One of the mates would have surely killed it had he not scooped it up and brought it to his quarters.
As he bent down to scoop up the bird to set it aside, he heard a warning bell sound outside. Slightly afraid, he got up and looked about to see what was the matter. Only a few people ran by him to get to the upper deck. "Where is everyone else...?" He said to himself. "Come to think of it, it's been rather quiet down here all day. In fact, I haven't seen a soul since Nell came through here with a few of her pals talking about some 'meeting with Captain Ayn'."
"Uh oh. This could be trouble," Locke said to his small friend as he stuck it in his pocket. "I better go see what all the commotion is about..."
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Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 4:43 am
Nell nearly whooped in relief when the warning bell rang. She hadn't expected the fight to go so poorly. The moment the captain was distracted, Nell flung her hand outward and barked out an arcane phrase in a guttural rush. Captain Ayn, blindsided by Nell's sleep spell, crashed to the deck. At the same time, one of the captain's compatriots went down from a dagger to the solar plexus. Sorbet, the mutineer who'd made the kill, stepped in to cover the captain with his dagger, daring anyone to approach.
Sao could do little for the captain at this point, however; her way was blocked by ally and enemy alike. So she took advantage of Nell's own distraction, bull-rushing her in an attempt to topple her over the railing. She connected, but Nell managed to drop her center of gravity before she could be sent overboard. The resulting sandwich between Sao and the railing crushed one or two of Nell's ribs, but considering that Nell couldn't swim, it was the more preferable of the two options. She struggled to shove Sao off, and they ended up in a grapple, the flat of Sao's blade slapping ineffectively against the mate's back.
A scrabbling pair had halted at the warning bell and stood uneasily facing each other; finally, seeing the captain covered and Nell down for the moment, the mutineer raised her arms in a "no more" gesture. "Are we continuing this little dig, then, or shall we worry about the Nautica? I doubt it's a courtesy they'll be paying us."
Her opponent nodded and lowered her own weapon. The others were still too caught up in their own feuds to pay much attention to the bell.
---
Heavy boots clumped down the ladder-stairs to the lower deck. The two pirates dodged the stragglers who rushed abovedecks at the warning bell; they had other duties to worry about, and the bell would not dissuade them.
"'Ey," one of them hissed to the other, pointing avast. "'Ee want tae have a bit of sport wi' the li'ckle one, mate?"
His companion shoved him roughly. "Enough with the fake accent already. Gods, I tire of you." However, he indulged in a sneer as he stared toward Locke. Raising his voice, he said, "I say, boy, it seems you continue your industry above and beyond the call of duty, eh? Bell sounded for break time half a mo' ago." Both pirates snickered. "Now if you want to be sleepin' alone tonight, I've a suggestion for you. How's about helping us handle a couple of recalcitrant flamin' balloons, what?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 6:40 am
Yet another ship? Sahlana reasoned this must mean they were traveling in waters which were usually heavy with merchant vessels. This pirate vessel might not be the only other encounter before their travels were done.
This fight, and the possible later ones, probably wouldn't go so well, either. The attempted mutiny had already lost them several possible fighters, either as deaths or severe injuries. In other words, if Sahlana was going to get her equipment back, now would be the time.
She attempted to step over next to Geilen - one of the younger members of the pirate crew, and one of those she felt the least uncomfortable speaking with - without drawing attention to herself. Tugging slightly on his sleeve to get his attention, she whispered, "Say we go belowdecks to try to find the gear?"
He nodded, then made a motion with his hand to tell Sahlana to stay put. Silently signaling another captive, Bei, to follow him, he began to move towards the door headed belowdecks.
Sahlana waited until he had almost reached the door, then followed after with a purposeful stride.
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Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 5:56 pm
Locke stopped dead in his tracks when he came around a corner to stand face-to-face with two of the pirates on board. He did his best not to make any notion of his extreme fear, especially at the mention of "sleeping alone". His stomach churned on the inside from memories of his previous captivity.
"Me? Why would you want my help?" Locke said with a nervous sort of laugh. "I don't know that I'd be any good to you."
"I told ya already, boy. You're either going to give us a hand now, or you'll be real good to us this evening, if you get my drift."
Locke felt himself shudder, and closed his eyes as he gave a nod to the pirate. Despite the knowledge that he could do no good in helping them, he had no other choice.
"Good," said the other. "Let's be off, then."
The two pirates led the way deeper into the hull of the ship. Locke following behind, head lowered.
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Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 11:22 pm
Crow's Nest -> Decks
Privateer Vessel Stonefish
Open Sea; 2 days' sail from Levee
Morgan swore under her breath. Other than the Captain, Nell, and Sao, the fools weren't paying any attention. "I swear, I really need ta jest mind me own business..." she muttered to herself, ruefully, as she jumped over the basket of the crow's nest, clasped a gloved hand to the rigging, and spider-climbed her way down to the decks of the ship.
Before her feet touched the planks of the deck, she had already drawn one of her throwing knives. Aiming it carefully, she threw it at the nearest mutineer. The knife buried into the man's chest and he dropped to the ground, gasping for breath.
"Are ye all daft?!" she screamed at them, finally getting the attention of just about everybody, at least the ones nearest to her. "If'n ya keep this up Cap'n Cairn's men'll all make shark bait out o' ye and THEY'LL sail the Stonefish!"
Morgan stood guarded, glaring at every last mate who dared meet her eyes.
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 12:27 pm
Belowdecks
The Stonefish
Once Sahlana reached the door into the hold, she caught up quickly to the two pirate captives and began to follow closely behind them. Bei suddenly stopped and held up her hand; when Geilen and Sahlana followed the directive to halt and be quiet, Bei pointed to her ear and then to the wide door at the other end of the hold.
Sahlana paused and tried to listen. There it was! Sure enough, there were voices coming from behind the wood.
Geilen laughed. "Wait, I recognize those voices." He began to move down the corridor once more, and on reaching the door he threw it open wide. "What are you three doing down here?" he asked jovially.
As he and Bei entered the room, Sahlana peeked in behind him. She recognized its occupants - three of the other pirates. The large room apparently housed the ship's catapult, and the three were standing by a heavy metal container with numerous warnings written on it.
For use with Ifrinis Brand Catapults
Danger
Do not open
Contents under psychological pressure
This means you
Sahlana could be wrong, but it looked as if the other captives had been preparing to open the container.
Without saying anything, she backed out of the room and went to keep searching the hold's other areas. As interesting as the situation in there seemed, she still needed her things.
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 8:05 pm
The pirates sniggered to themselves behind Locke. Neither one had any true prurient interest in the fresh-faced captive, but having been bullies all their lives, they were experts at pushing the buttons of those they perceived to be weaker. Each of them imagined Locke sleeping with his back to the wall and an eye and a half open, and they sniggered again.
(Isn't "snigger" such a disgusting word? Makes you want to kill these guys already, huh?)
Then Gellen walked in on them, and Bel too. The two with Locke - Ennis and Jack - quickly spun, hands on rapiers, before relaxing. "You two," Ennis, the better-spoken of the two sighed. "You'll be wanting to get back abovedecks, sooth, an' we're after these Bombs. Nell's given us quite a bag of clink to unleash a little torment above once the fightin's started, savvy."
"Yer bluidy idjit, the drekkin' things'll blow!" was Bel's flustered reply.
Jack snorted. "Your words, Bahamut's ears; for that be our aim. 'Twill be another stack of gil should the cap'n be ta'en up in flame!"
Gellen was always up for mayhem, and getting a piece of this gil action sounded lovely, but he was a practical man above all eles. He merely shrugged, spun on his heel, and went after Sahlana. "Find it?" he called.
--------
The fighting lulled uneasily at Morgan's intervention.
"Bloody hell," Krill, the only remaining mutineer, spat. She backed away from her opponent, repeated her compatriot's "no more" gesture, and sheathed her weapon. Looking around quickly to ensure that she wouldn't get a knife in her own throat, she dashed over to Sorbet, the downed man, and began the ugly process of removing the dagger and attempting to Cure the wound.
Sao and Nell continued to struggle for a bit longer, jaws set and eyes sparking (well, it seemed that way, what with Sao's epee showering electicity over them both). Finally, Nell got a boot into Sao's chest and shoved her sprawling back a couple meters. "This'll be settled soon enough, then," the mate snarled.
For her own part, Sao coughed vigorously. Cracked ribs, definitely, and Nell hadn't been nice enough to put Cure spells on her boot heels, either. Sao didn't dare spit like she wanted to, for fear she'd see blood. She knew her wounds weren't mortal by any means, but if she saw blood, she'd worry. She planned on wrapping up her arm... but in a minute, once she could breathe again.
"Cap'n's out, then, and I wager we won't be answering to Nell," snapped off Chuckwilleran (who refused any and all nicknames, usually with threats of violence), who had been Krill's opponent. "Who's takin' over, then?"
"Not it," muttered Ananda and Slynne, the captain's girl and mutineer, respectively.
And now the Nautica could be seen by anyone with a fair eye, lumbering ever closer. Its colors were up, and a farsighted man might be able to tell their dark hue without a scope.
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 10:51 pm
On Deck
Privateer Vessel Stonefish
Open Sea; 2 days' sail from Levee
"Well since no one 'ere seems to have a decent sense of the danger we're in, I'll take temporary command." Morgan snapped back at the question, cutting through the sudden relative silence. Retrieving her bloodied dagger from where Krill had tossed it aside, she wiped the blood off on the leg of her pants, leaving them stained. Tucking the blade back into its place, she glared at everyone present.
"You lot," she indicated the group to her left, "see to our defenses. Ready the cannons and see that the Bombs are ready to be tossed. We're pulling no punches.
"An' you," she pointed to Garn, the cook and herbalist, "help Krill see to it that the injured are quickly cared for. An' get the cap'n patched up, quick-like!"
"You three there go to the captives and see if'n there's any battle-worthy among 'em could help us. Careful 'gainst arm'n the pirates, though! Just their captives, s'all."
"An the rest o' ye, see to yer stations. If'n ye arn't knowin it already, we don't beat Cap'n Cairn's crew, he'll be murderin' us all. An' afore he does ye'll wish ye'd already died."
"Now MOVE!" she barked.
----------------------------------------------
Abord the Nautica, Wilhelm Cairn was standing at the bow, spyglass pressed to his eye. After a moment he turned to the man to his right. "They've sighted us, Thrain. Looks like they've had some fighting abord already, though. There's a few of them already injured. Should be pretty easy pickings. Ready the crew for battle immediately. The less time we give them to prepare, the smoother this will go."
"Yes, captain!" the weasly man replied, his black eyes glittering with cruel excitement. He quickly strode off, shouting orders at the crew, most of whom were at least twice his size; none of whom, however, even looked for a moment as if they hesitated following his direction.
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Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 1:48 pm
Locke had never really noticed the room the two pirates had lead him into; it was a little bit off the beaten path, and had no importance to him, anyways. He was quite suprised to find that it contained the catapult, and a few containers that held bombs, according to Ennis and Jack (nice names, eh?).
Just as he was pondering these things, and the others were attempting to mess with the containers, three more people walked into the room. He recognized Sahlana at once, being one of the few on board who had been kind to him. Bei and Geillen were figures he recognized, but could not recall if he had ever conversed with them. Chances are, the more he thought about it, that he probably would have avoided them in the past.
Ennis confronted the three, and some words were exchanged. He mentioned something about Nell, the first mate, giving them money to release the bombs. "Why would she want them released on board?" he thought. "Aren't they dangerous?" When the mention of the Captain in flames came only seconds later, Locke realized enough to put the pieces together. "So that's what the fighting's all about..." Locke had seen quite a few mutinies in the past, not one of which had been particularly pretty.
Coming back from his thoughts, Locke noticed that Sahlana had left. And Geilen followed her soon after. This left Jack and Ennis in the midst of a shouting match with Bei. If her goal was to stop them from opening the containers, she had succeeded greatly; Jack and Ennis were the type to easily anger and could go on for hours bickering. Locke backed away just a bit to lean against the wall, deciding that there was not much a point for him to get into this.
Suddenly, however, he heard movement abovedeck. Lots of it. Come to think of it, it had been silent for some time before now. He could even hear footsteps on the ladders, descending into the deck. Before any sort of reaction could occur on his part, the door burst open again, and two of the privateers entered. They seemed rather suprised to find four people in the room, especially since they thought everyone to be above deck.
"You, what're ya doin' down here?" the first asked in a rather annoyed tone. "Have ye already begun preparin' the cannon?"
"What's with the surpise on your faces, mates?" said the other. "Don't you know that the Nautica is comin' our way? It's orders to get the bombs ready to blow. Gotta protect our ship."
Jack and Ennis looked rather uneasily at this turn of events. They had no idea whether Nell was in charge now, or if the mutiny had been overthrown. Bei seemed almost indifferent, but she had a talent at covering up her emotions when necessary. Locke tried his best to stay out of focus, since he knew his suprise was obvious; if any had been standing near him, they would have also heard his heart beating through his chest. "Pirates, again?" he thought. "What a day this has turned out to be..."
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 8:41 pm
OOC: FWIW, I'm only going to put in location tags when Sahlana's location changes. So if I seem inconsistent, that's why. 3nodding
IC:
Sahlana was in a dark corner of the hold, bent over the side of a deep chest, butt wiggling in the air as she furiously searched, when she heard Geilen call out after her. "Maybe," she replied, still working at carefully pushing aside various swords, rapiers, and armor to search deeper and deeper into the chest.
Finally, she spotted a familiar object. She grabbed her staff with one hand, then pushed herself out, and shouted out, "Ah-ha!" just as her rising head smacked into the edge of the open lid.
Her eyes welled and she tried not to cry. Ugh, how embarassing.
"Nasty knock, eh?" Geilen said with some slight sympathy as he pushed past her to reach into the chest. With one hand pressed to the sore spot on her skull, Sahlana watched him take item after item out of the chest and secure it to himself or add it to a carefully growing pile on the floor. He didn't seem to be sparing more than a passing glance at what he grabbed, and Sahlana assumed he was getting weapons for the other pirates, as well.
"Ah, that's mine," Sahlana interjected as she saw him pull out a familiar dagger. He handed it over without more than a raised eyebrow and a wry grin.
She let him to his task and returned to the catapult room. She stopped in the doorway; two of the ship's crew had apparently joined the discussion. Hoping the crewmen wouldn't notice the gesture, she tried to signal Bei, Locke, Ennis, and Jack - she pointed to her dagger, then pointed again in the direction of the large chest that contained their items.
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