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 Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:41 am
The party was kicking into high gear as Ethani stepped out of the women's powder room, and dancing was the order of the moment. Coquettish young women stood off to the side, waiting for the gentlemen to accost them for a dance. A small orchestra of strings played an upbeat waltz over the sounds of chatter and laughter.
Alicia Smythe, the subject of the party, accepted her husband's hand and the dance floor cleared to give them enough space for her birthday dance. The women applauded her beautiful, wine-colored velvet gown as she curtseyed gracefully to her husband, the man a full thirty-six years her senior. He creakily bowed back, and they began to dance.
So entranced by the proceedings were everyone, that no one noticed the window on the north side of the ballroom. It was a beautiful stained-glass affair, very expensive and imported from Persia, but in the darkness of night, its beauty was hidden. No eyes noticed cracks starting to trail upward from the design, a dazzling sunburst that seemed to come alive when lit. The cracks traveled faster and faster, until suddenly -
*Crash!*
The ballroom filled with screams as people ran away from shattered stained glass raining down on them. It was now that heads swiveled, almost in unison to look up at the jagged remains of the stained glass window.
A woman pointed up and shrieked.
"THE BLACK WOLF!"
Standing in the windowsill was the figure that had been drawn on wanted posters all over the province. He stood over them, oily black hair standing nearly on end, a red mask tied over his eyes, a large, dazzling smile plastered on his face. He was dressed plainly, save for a bright red sash around his waist that matched the color of his mask. He had on workman's clothing, otherwise. A satchel was belted across him, and one hand reached casually into it as Smythe grimaced and brushed glass off his shoulders.
"What are you blaggards standing around staring at him for? ARREST HIM!" At Smythe's bellowing, Counstable Idle unsheathed his sword and directed his men to swarm towards the window. It was nearly twenty feet in the air, causing the policemen to scramble to find furniture they could stack to climb up, their hands snapping at the Black Wolf's ankles.
"So rude..." The Black Wolf growled. "And here I've only just arrived to deliver my present to the happy couple." He withdrew his hand from his satchel, revealing a rope with a clawed hook on the end. In one fluid motion, he shot it out, wrapping it around a beam in the roof and swung away from the pile of policemen. As he swung over head, a parcel of letters dropped into Smythe's lap.
The Black Wolf let go of his rope and dropped down to the ground, in the middle of the now-emptied dance floor. He grabbed the nearest woman, a stunning blonde in a slightly damp dress and spun her around a few times. The billowing of her skirt held off a couple of men trying to grab the Wolf. In another second, they had to stop, as the glint of a blade at her neck warned them off.
"Uh uh uh..." The Black Wolf warned, one hand at Ethani's throat and the other pinning her arms behind her. "Let's not be rude. Do open your presents, Captain."
"Stop! Do what he says!" Constable Idle waved his hands in the air, unwilling to sacrifice a young lass's life. Smythe glared...but unbundled the scarlet ribbon around the packet of letters the Wolf had dropped in his lap.
"A lovely gift of love letters...written by the comely Mrs. Smythe to...oh? Thomas Tucker? I believe that's the name of the local pig merchant, isn't it?"
Mrs. Smythe turned as red as her dress as her husband's hands shook. The Wolf backed up again, his smile as wide as ever.
"Don't worry, there are letters from you too, Captain Smythe. Except that yours are addressed to Constable Idle's daugther!" The crowd roared with laughter as Smythe tore the letters to shreds in his hands. Constable Idle fumed.
"WHAT? My Mary? John, is this true? She's only thirteen!" Idle turned his sword towards Smythe. In the momentary distraction, the Wolf released Ethani and defended himself from the swords of the charging policemen.
"No need to thank me!" He cried out as he saw the crowd swarming over the torn letters, each person desperate to grab a little piece of the scandal. "I've already taken my party favors from your upstairs vault." The Wolf patted his satchel as he parried the police away and jumped up on the buffet table. He kicked a cream pie at the face of the police constable and made a great leap, grabbing the rope he'd left attached to the ceiling. Swinging again back to the broken window, the Wolf jumped out on the roof, leaving chaos below him.
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Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:09 pm
"Holly Mother of God. It's him." Ethani whispered at the sight of him. While others moved away from the masked figure she was moving towards him. Pushing through the opposed current like an ocean of people. It was an unstoppable magnetic force, she couldn't stay away.
Looking right at him, unable to speak. But wait! Too close! She was in his possession now! Spinning, twirling! He can dance?
There was a flood of conflicting emotions and sensations rolling deeply with in Ethani, joy, fear, pain! "OW!" She hissed when he grabbed her. He'd best not leave a mark! Anger, passion, and excitement. All surrounded by the one thought. She found him!
Or rather, he'd found her. The scoundrel!
He'd come to cause another scandal. To Ethani, the lovers quarrel meant nothing. In her profession she'd seen worse, and done worse. It was a daily occurrence. She rolled her eyes as everyone was in a frenzy over it all. She could do nothing else as Black Wolf's grip was surprisingly strong.
And a entertainer and comedian at that, the guest laughed at their host's private shame and public embarrassment. After that was done, so was the Black Wolf. Gone! as quickly as he'd arrived.
As soon as he'd let her go, there was a frenzy of people after her. bombarding her with questions, asking if she was alright. Too much! He's getting away! NO! Time to move fast!
"I- Oh-! I feel so faint!" Ethani fiend dizzyness, putting a hand to forehead and dropping to the ground.
"Oh Please! It's all just too much..." She whispered "I--I need air!" She grabbed at her neck as if she was choking on the air around her. This caused the mass of people to step back all for one.
"Get back people, I'm Doctor Michelson. you heard the lady she need air!" He said shove throug and kneeling to her.
"Fresh air will do you good, miss." The handsome young doctor, helped her up to her feet then cradled her in his arms, like a husband would a bride and walked her outside. Laying her down on a bench outside.
"Are you feeling alright. miss? You'd gone through an ordeal."
"Lady Ethani, and yes Thank you." She whispered to him, what a lovely young man. How was it she didn't know him? She'd certainly would like to now. But first the Black Wold must be delt with!
"I could use some water please." She said hoarsely tapping her throat, this quickly sent the Good Doctor away. As soon as he left, like a cobra snake Ethani was up and running.
To the stables!! She quickly grabbed the swiftness and youngest horse, a beautiful white Arabian, and soon the two where off, like lighting into the woods!
After all, didn't wolves live in forests? She would soon find out.
"Black Wolf!! Black Wolf! Come out!!" She yelled at the trees, once she was in steady pace looking all over for him. Hoping she hadn't lost him.
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Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 7:26 pm
Cap'n? How are we going to stop the ghost ship?
Sean approached Captain McPowell as he stared out across the docks. The rest of the walk back to The Purple Lady had been uneventful. Upon returning to the ship, the Captain made sure the ship would be ready to fly in the morning before retiring to the poop deck to smoke.
Let's deal with our flesh and blood target before contemplating the phantasmal one.
Fan...what?
We have to catch the Red before dealing with chasing ghost stories.
Aye, aye, Cap'n! And how do we do that?
First, we see the Professor. Until the morning, Sean.
McPowell headed to his quarters while Sean groaned. Not the Professor!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Disputed Border....
The American frigate Liberty had spent all night chasing a pirate into the Disputed Borderlands. The bastards had raided a small settlement and left it a smoking crater. The American captain vowed revenge and chased the fleeing ship into the Borderlands and a massive fog bank.
We'll have them soon lads!
Cap'n! Sails and steam ahead!
We have her, boys, get ready to open fire!
The HMS Resolve had also chased a pirate ship into the borderlands. The raiders had boarded a merchantman and stripped it bare. The British captain had chased his quarry into the same fog bank,
Sails and steam ahead, Captain!
Battle positions, men! We'll send them to an earthly grave!
The two ships, each mistaking each other for the pirates they were chasing, fired on each other. Cannonballs ripped through wood and screams of men ripped through the air. Shouts went up from both ships.
It's Redcoats, Cap'n! An ambush!
It's the bloody rebels, sir! They've declared war!
Neither ship was ready to fight to the death because they both had been given a more important mission. Their enemy had fired upon them and it was their duty to report to their superiors about the "ambush" they encountered. The Second War of American Independence had begun.
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Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 7:40 pm
Cassie the Red and her men were about to leave Lucifer's
" Capt'n What do yah make of dis revolution?"
" Bah! Do they really think they can beat Britain? A foolish notion. We best not get involved."
" But didn't we work for da crown..?"
" Back when pirating was legal and the crown wanted us to attack Spanish ships. But they haven't recently .... Calling us outlaws?! The audacity!"
" And they colonist?"
" Doubt they'll pay us... they'll probably hang us first."
The young blonde pirate captain paused in thought as she went back upon her ship The Red Robin, still uncertain of what the war meant for the pirates. Cassie's eyes grew narrow....
" We should go to north, steal any weapons we can find... we may be able to sell them back to the highest bidder."
" Won't they just shoot us once they have more weapons..."
" If they have no ammo they can't"
The pirates soon took to the skies headed towards New England.
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Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 10:01 pm
Cho was giddy with excitement to be on this particular ship. If the rumors were true he had was on the ship of Cassie the Red. Being as famous as she was he figured her ship had to be top notch. Cho was trying his hardest not show his excitement though. He wasn't exactly part of the crew. He had sneaked on and was trying to blend in.
He had learned the best way to blend in was to look like you belonged, and in a sense he did, at least in the particular room. He had made his way to the heart of the ship and what he saw horrified him. The engine was, as with most pirate ships, now a mixture of both British and Rebel parts. In a way he found it beautiful. A symbol of what two very different ideals could do if they worked together. In many more ways he found if abhorrent.
Cho picked a spare wrench off the floor and began lightly tapping the monstrosity. "What have they done to you?" he asked. He began tapping again drawing the attention of the crew in the room. "That did not sound good. I should really take a look at that." He turned around to grab another tool when he notice the entire room was staring at him.
"Who are you?" asked one of the crew members.
Cho looked at the man and then at his wrench. He raised it as if to strike but instead dropped it causing a loud clang and fled the room. Several men followed. He was not doing too well with blending in as he had thought.
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Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 2:56 pm
From below the decks Cassie heard noise about her crew. Something was going on and she ran below to see what it was to see her crew going after a man whom she didn't recognize as being one of her own...
"Sabotage?!"
She wasn't sure but this stranger was going to regret the day he ever messed with Cassie the Bloody Red. Cassie quickly grabbed her lasso and aimed it towards the intruder, hoping that she might catch him and hold him responsible.
" STOP!"
She then looked at her men and started giving out orders
" You four, check the engines and everything else on the ship... make sure we are running okay... You six to the left of me search the ship... Make sure that there are no other intruders, The rest of you stay with me... I need some goddamn answers!"
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Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 5:35 pm
The lasso tightened around Cho's arms and waist dragging him to the ground. ""Sabotage? No you got it all wrong. I don't need to do to make this ship any worse. It's...how do I say this delicately? It's pretty much a flying piece of junk. I'm surprised its flying as well as it is."
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Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 2:41 pm
The very same morning that Cassie the Red was catching a young man stowing away on her vessel, Baron McPowell's own ship was making it's way from New London to New Amsterdam. The Purple Lady had cast off at dawn and expected to make port in about three and half hours. New Amsterdam was sixty-eight nautical miles as the ship flies and The Purple Lady's top speed was 20 knots and that was without a favorable wind.
Do we have to see the Professor, Cap'n?
Aye, Sean. If we're going to take down Cassie the Red, we'll need any new tricks he's come up with.
Sean sighed. The Professor was a genius. Unfortunately, most people thought he was insane as well. He lived in a warehouse on the docks of New Amsterdam and provided the Royal Air Fleet with new technology for their airships.
His last invention was particularly gruesome. The Professor found a way to connect a cannon to the steam engine on an airship via a long flexible tube. When fired, the cannon shot scalding streams of steam at enemy ship. Useful in close combat only, the steam cannon boiled men to death before anyone would have to board an enemy vessel. A lot of captains refused to use the weapons, finding them too horrific to use no matter what. McPowell was in this group.
Don't worry, lad. I'm sure the Professor has something better cooked up for us than the steam cannon.
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Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:27 pm
Smythe's estate was in disarray the next morning, and it wasn't just the intrusion of the Black Wolf on the previous night's festivities that had caused it. Equally distressing was the news that the Purple Lady was on its way to New Amsterdam, with no formal forewarning whatsoever.
It was an ill omen on top of everything else.
"HEYYY!!!! HELLOOOOO?!!!" Two servants dashing about the upper level of Smythe's home went to investigate a shaking, pounding door. Upon the turning of the key, a severely disheveled Quentaine popped out.
"Blimey - bugger - WANKERS!" Quentaine spit out, clutching at his head. "Who locked me in there? I'll have your job! Ooooh. My country for a cup of coffee!"
Staggering around, the red-haired drunkard who'd been completely forgotten in the excitement after he'd been locked up became quite the sensation as the gossip-mongers amongst the servants smugly filled him in on Lord Smythe's wife leaving the home with no intention of coming back, the rumors of Smythe's impending arrest for Imprudence, and last but not least, the coming arrival of the Purple Lady.
Chugging down a cup of coffee, Quentaine listened with a raised eyebrow.
"The big wigs are coming into town, eh? Couldn't have happened at a worse time. A manhunt for the Black Wolf, scandal in Lord Smythe's household, and now this." He grinned at a couple of the servants and then excused himself. "I'd best head to the constabulary and see if they need the help of another able-bodied man."
After leaving the chaotic climate of the Smythe home, though, Quentaine merely puckered up his lips and began to whistle. The Purple Lady in town, eh? Quite the distraction!
Quentaine began to think about where he would head to get information about who was on the Purple Lady these days....if it would be anyone on the Black Wolf's list.
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Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:17 pm
After spending countless hours in the woods, Lady Ethani, finally found her way back to the Smythe Manor, returning the hoarse she borrowed, she instructed the stable boy to clean her new night time companion well. It was a tiring and disappointing in not finding her target, usually men don't run away form her. However, it was also exciting and she finally got to experience the freedom she longed for. It was those few hours she didn't have to wear her mask. Now however her mask returned.
"Best night I've had all month, and such a gentleman... Although it would have been better if a certain Wolf was involved but that's not your fault." She patted the horse's head and sent him off while making her own way back inside to a washroom.
As her own dress was ruined she couldn't very well be seen in such a way? What would her clients think? Since the Lady of house was also away she was sure she didn't mind if she borrowed a dress from her. Cleaned up she quickly made her way down stairs hurrying out the door to catch a ship the servants were talking about. She didn't catch the name of the ship, something she later would regret.
There! Another guest was leaving! And screaming about Coffee? Ugh, the drunkard from last night with the spilled drink... she'd avoided him for the better half of the night but now needed him....Oh Perfect! Cringing inside but smiling outwardly she spoke dramatically and quickly, hoping to get a rise of sympathy form him
"Oh! Excuse me!" Strange he seemed to be in a good mood, when the effects of his drunkenness should have had a far more negative affect on him. He couldn't even find his way home! Then again neither did she, and with some people liquor has little to no affect. Too much alcohol always left Ethani is a sour mood the next day.
She quickly ran to catch up with the whistling fellow.
"You have to help me!" She feigned a plead. "I'll need an escort, as mine has left me behind...most likely worried sick that the dreaded Black Wolf had taken me, and went off to catch that crook. I've been though a horrid ordeal just here last night."
She pouted and gave him the puppy eyes. She knew this would work on most men, but perhaps she wasn't putting on her best act? She got the feeling he wasn't buying it. Was he too far gone to notice a damsel in distress? She needed to find the Black Wolf and there were certain social obstacles in her way. She didn't have time to seduce this fool, this would be a business transaction.
"Perhaps you've heard a ship is on it's way here? If you help me get on it I'll get you the largest coffee they sell. How do you take it? Black?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 3:49 pm
Cassie the Red stared at the stranger angrily " Just who are you anyways?! What do you want here?! And how dare you call my ship junk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She had half a mind the clobber him into next Tuesday for that comment but she wanted to know just who this guy was first. For all she knew he might be working for that blood Baron McPowell who always seemed to cause her trouble of one sort or another. The blonde woman clearly didn't like her ship being insulted in such a way, it was her baby, her pride and joy. How dare this stranger insult it in such a ways?!
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Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:43 pm
"The name's Cho," he said wiggling around in the lasso. "And I stand by what I said about your ship. It is a very nice looking piece of junk though I would know. I helped design it, at least part of it, the British part. And junk isn't all bad. Junk Has potential." He flashed a big smile. "I do see a lot of potential in this ship and I can help you achieve it I can make it..." He paused and started doing calculations in his head until he realized his captors were waiting for him to finish his sentence. "Maybe twenty, thirty percent more efficient. I'll even give you a good price. Just let me join your crew."
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Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 8:36 am
Cassie laughed loudly towards the young man. It seemed as though he would be an engineer and she had to admit that having an engineer would be beneficial. But why in the world would an engineer who use to work for the British want to become a pirate? It wasn't as though Cassie the Red had any connection to the British government... not since they outlawed privateering anyways, she didn't have connection to any government. Pirates obeyed the laws of the skies where they had a direct democracy and listened only to those who earned their respect. Even Cassie the Red was elected to captain by her crew because she had proven herself capable in battle.
" Why would a British engineer want to join with us? You know I can't promise you the comfort and stability of your previous position. Though the pay's definitely a plus."
She lifted up an eyebrow looking towards the young man, he intrigued her as he didn't exactly seem like a pirate, though he could prove her wrong.
" The battles we go straight into I promise you are nothing like that of your previous employers... So tell me why?"
Of course Cassie herself could've had a cushy position once, as MacKent's bride. But she rather preferred being married to no one save the skies. Cassie the Red was never one to shy away from danger, the main reason she became a pirate was because she found it incredibly fun.
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Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 4:44 pm
"Ex-British," he corrected. "Ex-Rebel too. And I think you just listed the reason yourself. Lack of comfort, stability and battles like no other. Sounds like an adventure to me. I was tired of designing ships and staying at home. I'm not a spy or whatever you may be thinking. Cross my heart, or at least I would if I weren't tied up."
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