Pirates of the Sorcerean II

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"O.k. That'll have to do fer now I guess." Percival scratched his beard thoughtfully. "I'm a bit worried but we'll proceed in good faith. Are ye a decent shot with a musket?"

 

"Them scattershot things? I know which is the business end an' how t' pull the trigger, but they's too messy fer me, an' ye have t' get closer t' yer foe than I like. Da taught me some other tricks - keep me supplied wi' stones fer me sling an' I'll hold me own in a fight."

 

"O.k. The reason I be askin' is that we'll be in fer a fight tomorrow. I dont want ye getting hurt and all, so I was hoping ye'd take the crows nest fer the fight. Either shoot at the enemy, or sling 'em, yer choice. But ye should be safe there."

With that Pecival let Matty escape. And pondered his next course of action.

Getting up he asked Eldon to join him fer a chat.

 

Percival led Eldon to a small room below deck, it was getting late in the afternoon, breaking into evening. Percival pulled a bottle from his jacket, the rum he had benn promising. The smiles couldn't help but crack.

Eldon sat down, with a hardened grimace forming on his face. "I hate long waits"

He looked to the port hole out at the open sea. It was calm now, with a thin mist covering the cold early evening waters. Eldon looked back away and fixated on his glass of rum.

"I was captured" he grumbled, almost embarrassed.

Percival's eyebrows raised slightly shocked still, even though he had suspected as much since he was on top deck a few hours earlier.

"How long ago?" Percival replied eagerly

"A year and a half ago, our ship was ambushed by the Navy. The majority of the time we were transporting spices, arms, that sort of stuff, but this time it was stolen booty. Not even ours either."

Percival found this hard to believe. "So who's was it?"

"My captain, Captain Mervin de Gisors be his name, ran the ocean going ship called the Lady Marie"

"The story of the battle, although interesting and fresh in my mind as if it had happened yesterday" he said excusingly "but I think the brief details would be more suitable"

"Our captain was transporting booty taken from an Balnord Island Governor's mansion. It included fine wines, silverware, jewels, and most importantly, land deeds." Eldon smirked, witholding something back.

"They never found the land deeds, I never put them on the ship"

Percival looked at Eldon curiousley "An where would yer kep such documents hidden?"

"We'll come to that later" Eldon whispered.

"For now just know that we were paid to acquire these land deeds and the rest of the booty would be ours"

"On top of that, we were to get a big pay off for the deeds from a then unknown benefactor"

"The job was easy, a small group including myself infiltrated the mansion, and took the Governer hostage and dispatched all the guards."

Eldon looked dissapointed with himself. " I should have known something was wrong from the start. We all should have. We were given instructions not to harm the Governer, not a finger. This was ok with us, we didn't like all out slaughter anyway, but the stress our employer was in to ensure we did not harm his master should have given it away."

"His master?" Percival enquired

"Yes, it was a set up" Eldon took a swig of his rum. "We had recently set up shop on his island, Balnord. Our company had a network of shops throughout the islands . We sold goods from mere bread and cloth to exotic spices and hides...the riches were pouring in, but the old pirate in de Gisors was to great to dispel. Every now and then we would take a risky and illegal venture with quick gains and it worked. He was never suspected because he would pay off all surviving crews and even employed some of them. It was win win."

Percival poured himself and Eldon another glass of rum.

"Governer Amstere seems to have had his own operation in progress when we came with our untimely arrival. Balnord is the hub of the west islands, being a centre of trade and commerce for its five surrounding islands. Our territory was the East islands and had holdings in every single port in this region. Moving into the West was risky but very profitable."

"So this Amstere set you up and toppled a major trading ring to keep you out of his territory? He could have just asked..." Persival laughed.

"The Captain would never turn tail and run, everybody knew that." Eldon looked back to the port hole, the sun was setting bringing the sea mist to a brilliant red glow.

"When on the job I noticed a strange emblem on the wall in the Governers study, it was a coiled serpent with a sword through it shaping it like a spin top. The messenger had the same symbol tatooed under his shirt."

"I only noticed it because I tailed him to see where he was to lead. Maybe his elusive master. In anycase he just returned to a lone room in a tavern called the Wavey Dolphin."

"I watched his room all night and I eventually caught sight of the symbol."

"When I saw the symbol in the mansion, I knew we had been set up, that we were to be branded outlaws, criminals, pirates!"

"I kep't my calm though, I always kep't my calm. I said nothing to the others for I knew they would over react and blow all chances of getting out of the situation."

"My plan was simple, acquire the land deeds and hide them onshore and replace them with fakes. This became quite easy since the Governer intended to give us fakes anyway. After searching the house again I spotted that a doorway had been concealed. It was the real study, hidden behind a bookshelf. I quickly pulled the shelving aside and proceeded into the study. The documents I sought were not to difficult to find.... they were carelessly strewn about the desk, presumably because they were recently used to forge the ones we were supposed to take." Eldon began laughing to himself. "You think he could have locked them away somehwere".

"My next move was to place the real documents in a floorboard of a nearby Inn. The Inn was called the Seabirds Song. I hid them under floor of the sixth room"

"Why have yer no got them back boy!?" exclaimed Percival excitidly.

"They're gone" said Eldon matter-of-factly as he downed the rest of his second rum.

"Gone!" Percival gasped

"Aye, gone. But I'm sure the Governer never got them back."

"How are you so sure" replied Percival

"Because I killed him"

"And there is only one more I have to kill to avenge the captain, and thats the messenger. And he's on that ship"

"He was promoted to first officer after the success of there mission against my company, but also punished for losing the real documents and so was placed on the prison ship. That prison ship to be exact." Eldon's glare was one of focus now.

"May i never cross you lad" joked Percival, somewhat disturbed by the cold way in which Eldon had described the murder of a Governer.

"By the way, how did you escape the Prison ship?"

"I didn't, I was released. The deeds were of great importance they declare ownership of the West Islands to be in the hands of a Mr. D Hallagen"

"Who the hell is he?" inquired Percival.

"I have no idea, but these documents are very dangerous. They could upset the whole balance of power in the region. The current powers-that-be are not the true rulers of these waters."

 

"That be a grand tale indeed, and I can see your hardened demeanor fer it. Even so, yer still a little taught, especially 'round that cabin boy. Remind ye of anyone?" Percival chuckles, but knows there is no humour attached.

"I'm glad ye spilled yer tale, I worried about what happened to ye after I last saw ye, and always felt like I failed ye. I'm glad ye found someone like that Cap'n, but not fer the untimely end of his. As fer around here, I'm mighty glad I have someone I trust completely. I was wondering what sort of position ye wanted to take in fact. A Bosun fer sure, but in charge of the gun decks? or navigator? yer choice. I'll also make sure yer on the boarding parties."

Percival knocks back his rum, chuckling at the thought of the fate that messenger will recieve.

"Dont worry lad, I'll see ye get yer revenge. I promise ye that."

 

The sun was almost set now, it could be a night mission. Eldon smiled at the thought but would prefer the first officer to be able to see him clearly in day.

"Aye my friend twas a long tale but at least you know now. I never did say what happened to the Captain did I?"

"He was killed by a stray bullet, nothing grand, nothing heroic. A dissappointing end to a great man. That is why revenge for him is so important. And I'm almost there."

"After that his empire was taken over by the goverment. Under direct control of Mattias Melindi, Grandmaster of the Treasury. Another consolodation of their power."

"Eldon moved toward the door. As far as a position let me think about it, I haven't considered a position for some time."

"Pehaps one day we can look for the missing documents and maybe even this Mr D. Hallagen."

With that closing comment, Eldon made his way up on deck to think on his future. The stars always seemed to hold an aura of mystry that helped him put things in perspective. All he had thought about was avenging his Captain, now what would he do, if he finally achieved that?

 

In the city panic spreaded like a flashfire as the visit card of the Jackal was blowing holes in the prison construct after nightfall. The remaining of the dousin still in town had managed to send a horsecart loaded with gunpowder barrels and lit fuse down toward the prison.
Blowing up several cells and sending one of the walls flying, prisoners ran out into the streets seeking refuge in the shadows and towards the city gates creating a chaos as that of kicking an ant hill. William's men, having Wild Cat in charge, fled to the city walls using the shadows and dark alley ways as their get-away route. Once at the walls, they noted the guards were more than busy with rallying up prisoners to notice them and slipped over the wall with their grappling hooks and rope.

Sliding down the outer wall, a guard patrol on the wall noticed their escape and hollered, "Halt in the name of the Guvenor! Stay where you are or we'll open fire!"

Not having the slightest intense to stop and be captured, the pirates opened fire towards the elevated position, which the guards were quick to return, luckily hitting Draco in the shoulder and Wild Cat in the leg.
Fleeing into the dark, cursing and wounded, the little pirate group found the three horses they had tied up there. Using only a few minutes to fix up their wounds with aching bandages to stop the bleeding the best they could, they rode two on each horse as fast as the horses could bring them towards their ship. After a hard ride, they finally had the bay in sight, and they felt relief flush their bodies as they saw the Crimson Dagger still there. Leaving the horses behind, they ran as fast as they could into the remaining longboat and sailed to the beautiful Sloop that was laying in the waterbed as a mermaid on the shore.

 

Walking back onto deck Percival McSween surveyed the darkened ship. This night was proving peaceful, but the morn' would not be far off. All of a sudden, a distant booming came from the direction of the port thay had left behind.

Gripping the rail, and worried how the Charlaine might react, Percival scanned the horizon for any change in pattern.

Slowly but surely, the escort was shifting postition. To his delight, however, the ship was moving closer to his position, but not coming to check them out.

If his thinking was correct, they should be reaching Raven's cove just before dawn. That was when Percival decided to attack. He'd close on the escort hoping to make it break toward him. If all went well, and William Archer was as sharp a pirate as Matty said, he'll have a ship anchored there. By making the escort turn it's back on the cove, Archer should be able to get behind it.

 

Eldon approached Percival upon hearing the thundering explosion.

"I suppose that is our associates" balked Eldon in a dissapproving tone.

"No doubt a diversion or some-such" he continued.

"What is our plan?"

 

"Plan? It's risky. But why be a pirate if'n ye dont take risks eh?" Percival chuckled, hoping his easy demeanor will hide his biting uncertainty.

"In a couple of hours, it'll be close to dawn, also we'll be approaching Raven's cove. It's the only bay on this coast line that can anchor a vessel. If Archer has a vessel, that's where it be. I'll bet he'll be sailing on the dawn, so we might get some back up."

"I'm hoping that by advancing on them agressively, the escort will peel off to engage us. It has to. She just outguns us, but I'll match this vessel with her any day. If'n we're right, when Archer leaves the cove, that escort will have her back to him. It'll give him a great opportunity to catch her flat footed, but we'll take some damage."

"After that, it's on to the Prison vessel. Where do ye want to be?"

 

Eldon noticed the old sea dog's worries. He was having them too. But there was something about unfavourable odds that excited Eldon. Especially when posible death is involved. A half smaile appeared on his face as he turned to Percival.

"We'll worry about positions later, after this mission in fact."

"I want to be on the boarding party, if that is Ok with you. Your the best man for the gun deck on board but I know you have to be there on the boarding party but who will you leave incharge of the ship."

"In the bazaar earlier I bought a new pistol, 50 shot and a bag of gun powder. Its loaded and ready to fire but I have never felt comfortable them. Could you take this off my hands until after our mission. It may come in handy for you anyway. Perhaps you could give me some instruction" he grinned at the closing comment.

Eldon looked over to the cabin boy who had scolded earlier. "I didn't want to see another child 'killer'. They are too young for this."

He walked over to the lad..."Whats yer name boy?" he asked calmly. Percival was watching, probably getting de'ja vous Eldon thought.

The young boy replied quietly but loud enough for Percival to hear... "Fredo, sir"

Another half smile appeared on Eldon's face.

"Well Fredo, my names Eldon and I have a job for you."

The boys eyes brightened up in anticipation.

"Do you see this sword?" Eldon unstrapped his sword from his back. "Its very important to me and so this job is very imortant to me, understand?"

The boy nodded his head.

"If I die I want you to throw this sword overboard." a shocked look came over both Percival's and the Fredo's face. "This sword can only be past on to people willingly, who have earned it."

"What will you use in battle?" asked Percival.

As Fredo ran below deck with the oriental blade, Eldon pulled out a highly decorated sabre, not unlike a cutlass though immensly decorated in gems and lacking a depth to the blade common in a cutless.

"This blade will bury at least one mans body by my hand"

Engraved on the hilt was the name Gisors

[ July 07, 2004, 23:52: Message edited by: Malovae ]

 

"I know just the man. I convinced him to sign on with us the day I went recruiting."

Striding down to the crew's quarters, Percival came across Louen.

"We're slowly sorting out positions on this here ship, and we need a good master gunner. I heard from the talk that ye know yer way a round a powder keg. Interested?"

Slowly eyeing Percival up and down, Louen gratefully acknowledged. "I've spent a few years around cannon, so I'll be pleased to take command of the Gun deck"

"When we board the other vessel, I'll need ye here watching the ship too. Can ye handle that?"

"Not a problem, Mr.McSween. I've had experience with this sort of thing."

With a grin, Percival went back upstairs. Turning to Eldon he remarked, "watch that cabinboy Eldon, his future is ours to shape. Best give him time to settle in, before he has to bloody his hands. I'll let you look out for him. A pet project, as it were."

 

Smiles were coming more and more often to Eldon now. His old friend managed to instill some life in him.

"So I'll be using your blade this coming day, Cap'n?"

Eldon looked up to the stars "I can finally lay it all to rest. He is the last one."

Louen looked at Eldon with a sense of distrust. He understood that he and the quartermaster knew each other and that Percival trusted him.

But he hasn't even met the Cap'n, who is he?

Eldon dismissed Louen's stare out of hand. Indeed, he was more anxious to commence the mission, to exercise his sword arm.

Eldon sat against the inner ship wall watching the stars scroll by once more. Waiting for the time to act, the time to fight.

 

Crow's nest. A fine place to be in battle, at least until something catches fire. Even though that was far more likely to happen than the mast being shot out from under her, Zillah put the thought out of her mind as she entered the crew's quarters. She exchanged a few nods with the other crewmen as she walked to the hammock she had chosen. It was as secluded as a berth in the rack room could be, partially hidden by a jutting bulkhead. Pulling her fiddle case from the tiny cubby below the hammock she sank cross-legged to the floor and began to tune the instrument.

"Call me Matty," she said, answering the grins that spread among the crew at the prospect of some music. "But call me late fer dinner an' ye can ferget about hearin' yer favorite songs." Everyone laughed at that, and Zillah spent quite some time playing the tunes that the men called for. When she paused, one man came forward with a trumpet in his hand.

"'Ere ye go, lad. Summan musta been in quite a hurry t' git offa dis ship, t' leave this behin'. Have it if'n ye like - it's o' no use t' me."

Zillah laid aside the fiddle and accepted the horn. It didn't take her long to figure out how to get some sounds out of it, and only a few minutes longer before she could play a few notes.

"'Twill make for a fine fanfare t' greet the morn, an' our quarry," she said, looking up with a smile. "There be naught like a trumpet t' announce yer presence proper like."

 

Pierre sat in the longboat, rowing idly, mumbling under his breath about a "stealth" attack.

Something suddenly hit him. Despite being a pirate and swashbuckler, he has actually never blown up the town just to cause a distraction. Nor has he killed any Marspadian soldiers over his long career.

His head started to hurt as he was reminded of why he left the navy and turned to pirating in the first place. The memories swirled back, biting him like a bunch of piranhas biting a naked man as he falls into a river.

"Eh, row damn you!" a voice brought him back to reality. Wild Willy has spoke, and Pierre nodded absent-mindedly and muttered a sorry and continued rowing.

 

[ July 15, 2004, 16:37: Message edited by: NaeVa ]

 

As the crew of the last longboat was on deck, they hauled up the boat and William was walking among his crew, of which Pierre gave up counting a specific number, but somewhere from thirty-forty would be his guess.

"On deck! Prepare the sail! We'll attack just before dawn! Round up the oars!"
William walked on deck, hollering out the commands to his crew that started buzzing around to fulfull his command. Raising his head as if to face the sky, William took a deep breath and smiled, "My, my, Triton must be in a mighty mood.. lets hope he'll enjoy the spectacle," he muttered to himself in a low voice.

Seeing the injured, William called out for Chan, an elderly chap of the same foreign look as Wild Cat. He was rushing to the wounded with a strange sort of box, in which there was a lot of strange herbs and vials. As he passed Pierre, he could smell the contents that reminded him of a shipment of various spices.
Seemingly drugging them with some strange white powder, he performed a gastly kind of ritual with an oddlooking instrument that looked sorta like a pair of scissors. The agonizing cry of Wild Cat could be heard throughout the bay, though after a few seconds Chan had the bullet in the instrument. Quickly pouring some spirits over the wound, he then put some gunpowder into and set it aflame. Another cry could be heard as her wound turned to flame, and Chan quickly patched it up with a new bandage.
Turning around to look at William, he beamed a victorious smile, "She'll be aching for a few days, but she'll be just fine."

William nodded and let out a sigh of relief, "Praise the powers that be.."
..and foreign cultures that have so much more offer except for the excitement at sea..

Chan turned around to start treating the twin whom seemed slightly nervous after having watched the treatment of Wild Cat. A few of the pirates took them downstairs, and William now focused completely on running the ship as he walked to the bridge, "Weigh anchor! Prepare the cannons!" and within few minutes the pirates had the ship ready to set sail, coming onto the ship as an assassin's dagger coming from the hidden sleeve.

 

Percival strode across the deck. He could see the outline of the coast running up to Raven's cove now. Nodding to himeslf he realised it was getting close to dawn.

Making his mind up, and offering a silent prayer to the powers that be, he readied the ship for action.

Bellowing orders he got the crew rushing about.

"Hoist the sails to full! Cut her into the wind! Prepare the cannon!" And with a last bellow, "All hands to general quarters!"

The ship became a rush of acivity as all sailors manned their positions.

With a last prayer to himself, the Black Wind came about and started to rush headlong towards the Charlaine.

[ July 08, 2004, 14:34: Message edited by: Takara ]

 

"Really, William, is this what you call a stealthy approach?" Pierre said with a smile on his lips, while downing a flask of wine he fished from his coat and chucking the flask away. "Regardless. Hm. Nice ship you have here - would hate to see it damaged..."

The Jackal merely smiled, and Pierre started to, for the last time, check his weaponary.

And so it begins.

 

From the above deck, Abell had heard some various loudly shouted things, such as: "The Back Wind's commin up on us, sir!" though she couldn't see it herself, her hole in the hull facing towards the land.

They went lumbering towards Raven Cove, though Abell wasn't sure what they hoped to gain there. She wondered where the escort ship was now.

A shrill shout came from high above, one of fear. "Capt'n, it's the Crimson Dagger. It's The Jackal!"

Abell's eyes opened wide, recognising the famous name. And she smiled, then sung quietly. "A pirate's life is a life for me..."