“Alright, pirate, now I’ve got a few options for-” Athastar started before being cut off by the sound of splintering wood from his boat. This time it was not caused by Zib, but rather by a dwarf woman below deck who had just burst from her expertly crafted intentionally fragile box and was on her way to the upper deck. Athastar didn’t let this stop him for long, though.
“Alright, pirate, now I’ve got a few options for you. You can give us your ship and everything on it and we’ll drop you off at the next port without alerting the authorities, you can give us your ship and join us as our crew, or you can-”
“Okay, everybody, I’m here!” Doc exclaimed as she climbed from below deck with her hammer. She was covered in wood chips and her hair was starting to come out of its giant braid.
“Sorry, Doc, looks like the fighting’s over,” Burk said apologetically.
“Is it?” Doc asked, confused by the fact that everybody still had their weapons out and Zib was still chasing around an olive-skinned woman with a lumber axe.
“Is it?” Athastar asked the pirate captain with a smug smile.
The woman scowled and tossed down her weapon. “It is, but you let me retain my title and you let any of my crew go that want to go.”
“Deal,” Athastar said, sheathing his blade before calling down, “Yeah, Doc, it’s over.”
“Awwwwwww,” the short woman groaned dejectedly.
“So, who among you wishes to stay?” Athastar shouted over the sounds of dripping water coming from the two people Nessa had fished from the sea. The captain and five others raised their hands. “Alright, that makes twelve people between two ships, we may need to pick up some more crew when we drop the rest of you off,” the new Admiral thought aloud. “Welcome aboard the Dragon of the Waves.”
“It’s called the Lost Brooch,” the captain murmured.
Athastar looked her in the eye, taking one more step towards her, putting their bodies about a foot and a half apart. His eyes narrowed. “What’s your name, First Captain?”
“Lucy,” she spat back, lifting her eyepatch to reveal her other violet eye. She smirked at his surprise.
“Well Captain Lucy, until we find a more pride-worthy secondary ship, you’ll have to take the little fishing boat, and you can call that one whatever you want. However, The Dragon of the Waves is our new Flagship, on which I will reside.” He reached up and flipped her patch back down. He took a step back and turned to his crew. “Alright, adventurers, we’ve got everything ironed out. Lucy here will be the captain of the smaller boat, and five of the other lovely ladies will also be joining us. Who wants to stay with Lucy?”
After a long period of silence, Tom stepped forward, brandishing his shield, and said, “I’ll stay with her, captain.”
“Good on you, lad, but it’s Admiral, now,” Athastar replied with a proud grin.
“I’ll stay here, too,” Zib added. There was a small blood stain on his ragged clothing and the blade of his axe. He didn’t want Tom alone with that madwoman and he didn’t want one of the religious nuts indoctrinating him.
“Alright, excellent. All the rest of you pirates and crewmates get up here, we need all hands on deck until we’ve cleared our ships of anybody who might be… less than reputable.”
And with that, the team of seven adventurers became a crew of thirteen sailors with seven prisoners and two ships. Late that afternoon, they held a sailor’s funeral for skinny, and the larger, shorter woman, whose name was Biggs, asked to be locked up for fear of slipping into a murderous rampage and tearing Burk limb from limb in his sleep. All in all, the quest went better than Athastar had expected. He was worried he’d have to burry Tom or Nessa when they got back to Loukusa. Those two weren’t really meant for this sort of adventure.
Doc descended to the lower deck of the elegant suhar alongside the prisoners in order to patch them up and keep them in check while she rummaged around in the supply crates to find any fabric or sewing supplies she could in order to make a new flag to fly that didn’t have the piratical nature of the current flag that flapped overhead. Burk and Nessa ran inventory of the storage deck and marveled over the oddities these pirates had snatched.
Carl learned what he could of running the ship from the five new crewmembers, whose names he decided he would learn later as none of them responded much when he introduced himself. He admired their beauty, but heard a whisper from the Ancient One reminding him to focus on his studies, starting with discovering what all these ropes were for and why they needed two whole sails.
Athastar, after peeking into his new Admiral’s quarters beneath the quarter deck, stood at the foremost point of the ship and looked out over the sea while holding onto one of the ropes he didn’t know the purpose of. He reached into the neck of his chain shirt and held the large, carved pearl in his hand. He kissed the carving of the wave and whispered, “It will work this time. I swear.”
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