Let Them Eat Chow

[Wilhelm Bosche]

The Looking Glass made its way alongside the smaller Red Wake as Weiss completed his preparations. Both crews were lined up on deck and the pirates outnumbered the captain's men almost three to one. The pirate's ship had a line of cannon jutting out its sub-deck but all the cannoneers had abandoned them, unwilling to damage their prize. The Looking Glass itself was a captured ship and several unwise decisions during its seizure had lead to the sad condition it appeared in then.

"Surrender your vessel or have it taken by force," a tall man at the back of the pirate ranks shouted over the slosh of sea and the whipping of the wind. "You're no match for my crew."

Wil listened from an opened porthole in the lower decks, waiting for a cue to head up. The man, presumably their captain, had surprisingly good diction for a lawless swashbuckler. The Eudaemonian could not catch sight of him from where he was, but his voice called to mind a burly sort of man and for some reason a mustache.

Back on deck, the baseless guess was quite correct as the captain came to the fore of his lines. He had long black hair that curled beneath his shoulders and a well trimmed mustache above a scowling mouth. His right hand held a rapier and his left a dagger. He seemed intent on joining his men in the battle that was to come, a sign of supreme confidence. His crew were already beginning to twirl ropes with grappling hooks, ready to bring the two ships together and begin boarding.

"Well? What is your reply?" the pirate leader glared at Weiss, who had turned his back to the onslaught of invaders.

As he spun around, the answer came from the muzzle of a smoothbore pistol. The pan flashed and the charge thundered and a ball of lead buried itself in the crewman to the pirate captain's right. His aim had been for the captain's own chest, but the effect was the same. The grappling hooks flew and the two ships were brought together with a groan of wood.

Wil heard the shot and felt the vessel shake. He charged his blade with electricity and scrambled upstairs to find the battle already joined. Each crewman of the Red Wake was already surrounded by two pirates, though they fought valiantly. There were still more on the other ship making their way across swinging on ropes or jumping the small gap between the decks.

Will looked at one of the men swinging and arced a bolt from his sword toward him. The discharge snapped in the air and the man feel briefly limp, loosing his grip and faceplanting onto the deck. There he remained, rendered more permanently limp by a severe concussion. Wil smiled briefly before realizing there were already two more swinging across to replace him.

[Laureolus]

Laureola, being back in the aft, didn’t hear the pirate captain’s demands. What she did hear was the crack of Weiss’s pistol, starting at the sound of it. The only comparable sound she knew of was the firing of an onager, but that was barely comparable.

The shouting of men and clashing of weapons, however, was a familiar sound. Peeking out of the cabin she confirmed that Weiss’s small crew was indeed outnumbered, badly at that. A straight out attack probably wouldn’t win this battle; some kind of distraction would be needed to at least let her link up with the rest of the crew. Looking back at her glowing companion, it was time to see how superstitious simple sailors really were.

Outside, painted in flickering shadows by the hanging lanterns, the Red Wake’s crew was indeed in dire straits despite Weiss’s earlier attempts at some organization. The men form The Looking Glass were taking advantage of their numbers to herd Weiss’s men together for the slaughter. That is until an aft cabin burst open with a crash and a soft streak of light flew out with a weak screech. That’s what the men from the Red Wake saw at least.

The pirates weren’t as lucky, to them the crash and screech was enough to make look aft ward. The bolting bundle of noon glare took to the sky and dived at them, causing a decent number of the more easily frightened pirates to cover their eyes against the comparatively bright eagle in the dim night sky.

The eagle proved distraction enough for Weiss’s men to regroup and start to fight back. For Laureola, it was almost enough to sneak out and rejoin Weiss and his men if not for the two pirates on the way. Two of the pirates that were less dazed by the sight above them, and they attacked with the advantage of numbers, pushing Laureola on the defensive and away from the group.

[Wilhelm Bosche]

Apologies for the delay

As steel clashed and the pirates began to hem in Weiss' men, Wilhelm stood back, carefully arcing bolts of energy at stragglers. Most were merely inconvenienced, though one in particularly weighty mail armor felt the discharge sizzle through his chest, lost his footing and fell unto the black sloshing water below. The victory cheered Wilhelm, proud of his growing arcane prowess, but soon it became apparent that his efforts were having little effect on the tide of the battle.

Every group of Red Wake crewman was encircled by at least twice as many pirates, steadily wearing down the resolve and reflexes of the men. The crew was constantly on the defensive, parrying blows without delivering any, tiring as the pirates took turns slashing at them. The jaunty pirate captain had finally joined the naval siege and edged in with two of his men toward Weiss, who had holstered his inaccurate firearm in favor of a pair of short swords. The enemy captain seemed to stand back, rapier ready to strike, as his lackeys forced Weiss to dodge and weave.

Suddenly a streak of light from the far side of the craft seemed to dazzle the attackers. Wil resolved to take advantage of the opening and aid the captain. Weiss evidently had a similar plan to break out on his own as he buried one of his swords up to the hilt in a briefly distracted pirate's chest and readied himself to strike at the other. Wil caught a glint in the pirate leader's eye. He was not phased in the least by the burst of light and he readied to lunge toward Weiss, leaving his other man as a sacrificial lamb to bring out an opening.

Calling upon the energies of his own plane rather than the magical powers of Altahnas, Wil reached out toward the space around the pirate captain. The glint in the man's eye was replaced by a dilated pupil as the world around him seemed to twist and whirl. No sea-legs were sufficient preparation for the nausea-inducing effects of the sensory distortion. The opening he waited for presented itself as Wiess cleaved into the second pirate. The captain was only able to steady himself, and then it was closed again, Weiss focusing solely on him with his two bloody blades.

Wil ran up to join him, realizing that his parlor tricks were not going to turn the tide alone and that the force of steel would have to be brought to bear.