Incident on the high seas

[Destrudo]

The day was a good one for sailing, the wind was just right, and the tide was high. Perfect for what he had in mind.

He was Rahegalhoff Mesquchoku, once a farmer, now a knight. Once, when he was a farmer, he had the loveliest wife and the greatest son any man could want. He was happy in his life, and only desired to bring in a good crop each year. Perhaps it was because his world didn’t extend beyond his acres that he didn’t know about the rumors of the knight in black armor, a fearful sinister man that took what he wanted, and seemed to be above the law, as the forty dead lawmen who once chased him proved. Thus when Rahegalhoff turned down his request for lodging, neither having the room nor the trust to let the knight and his twelve cronies stay, he was knocked out, and woke to find his farm burned down to the ground, and his wife and son killed, impaled on a spear standing before his very eyes.

Currently he was on a peasant boat, The Phoenix, and sailed on open waters towards Istraloth, an island nation where he heard tell of an order of monks who could send the living to The Anti-firmament, and draw them back again. It was this order he sought, it was to find the departed souls of his wife and son that he wanted to find this order, to lay to rest his wounded and scarred broken heart, and perhaps find out what the knight looked like to seek vengeance for the crimes done to him.

He walked over to the captain of The Phoenix, a man well aged and well versed in the arts of sailing. He had white hair, that occasionally matched Rahegalhoffs, when Rahegalhoff’s turned white for mysterious and largely unknown reasons. The Captains name was Captain Semath.

“How long do you think it’s going to take to get there?” Rahegalhoff asked.
“Well, it depends, if you help the crew with the rigors of sailing, then perhaps a few days if we’re lucky, if you lollygag below decks where the fish are stored, a weak at least, a fortnight at most.” Captain Semath said, takig a puff of a corn cob pipe he was smoking.
“Are, are we going to run into Pirates?” Rahegalhoff asked.
“Pirates? Goodness I hope not, but if we do, this old scow can out run them all.” The captain said confidently.
“Captain, we need an extra hand with the nets.” A deckhand said stepping up to the wheel where the captain was currently standing.
“You heard the man.” The captain said.
Rahegalhoff nodded and went with the man.
Rahegalhoff didn’t have a lot of money, but got free passage provided he helped the captain with a fishing run. After the run, he was going to take Rahegalhoff and the crew over to Istraloth for some rest and relaxation. The destination Rahegalhoff was inquiring of was Radasanth, where he was sailing from.

But Rahegalhoff wasn’t the only one with passage on the fishing ship, infact, he bumped into the other passenger on his way to the nets.
“HEY!” Rahegalhoff yelled as they collided, “watch where you’re walking, if your not busy, give us a hand with these nets.”

OOC: I apologise for using the wrong account, the remaining posts for Rahegalhoff will be under the correct account.

[He'll Scream]

There are many forms of sorrow that plague man. Some men have been robbed of something valuable, or of something close to their heart. For this reason, these men, who would normally remain steadfast, shedding no tears, break down their emotional walls and weep. Some men are filled with pity. These men look upon the world around them, and they see only sorrow. These men empathize with other beings. They feel the sorrow of the world around, and for this reason they weep. And then of course, there are men filled with guilt. They are regretful of their past, and the mistakes they've made. Perhaps they had hurt someone, or neglected someone, or even killed someone. For this reason, these men weep. Huey was the latter.

The smell of the salty sea and the rocking of the ship around him brought Huey out of his slumber. As was normal, he awoke with tears resting on his cheeks. He hastily wiped them away and stretched his achy muscles. Sleeping on hard wood was something he would try to avoid in the future.

It took a moment for it to click in Huey's mind that the ship he had stowed away on was in fact at sea. He had crept aboard only to find shelter from the evening rain of the night before. He had no intentions of going to sea. He liked the land. He liked being able to stand on his own two feet without having to balance himself. That, and he was easily sea sick.

Huey could feel the bile rising from within his gut, bubbling up his throat, threatening to spill its way onto the floor around him. Quickly, he stumbled up the dark, oak stairway and onto the deck above. He rushed to the starboard side and spilled his stomach juice overboard. After he was done calling Earl, Huey wiped his face clean and stood, hunched over, holding his gut with a grimace. He looked out to the vast ocean around him. The water was black, and light gray clouds concealed the sun. The wind blew with vigor, but lacked fury.

Huey seemed to be in quite a predicament. He hoped that the crew were not the type to be aggressive towards stowaways. Not only that, but he had no idea where they were heading. Though, perhaps it was not such a terrible thing. He had no home as it was. What did it matter where he ended up? He would have no more or less than he had when they left.

The golden-haired young man decided to speak with the Captain, to at least appologize for his presence on the ship. As Huey made his way to the stern however, his body collided rather violently with that of a heavier man. This was evident in that Huey nearly lost his footing and surely would have fallen to his face had the rocking of the ship not forced him in the other direction. A bit frightened, Huey turned to face the man he had traded weights with.

The man was not very tall, just as tall as Huey in fact, but he was much more fit than Huey was. Seemingly every inch of the man was sculpted with a chisel. The man spoke loudly with a powerful tone. He asked Huey for help with the nets. Still a bit overcome with suprise, Huey glanced back and forth between the man and the nets he held. Huey reached out with a shaky hand and grasped the cold, slimy net with flimsy fingers. He looked at it inquisitively, and turned back to the robed man. Huey spoke, but not with his true voice. He whispered loud as he could, careful not to use his vocal chords in any way.

" Um, what am I supposed to do? "

All bunnying pre approved.

[Mithra Reborn]

Darcy sighed as she saw the ship on the horizon. "Any idea if its a good ship or not?" she called up to Tristan, her eyes and ears at sea.

"Well, she floats well enough cap'n," He called back. "I'd say a trader's ship, gotta have something worth taking on her. probably fresh fruit if she's a foods vessel, but she looks like she would have more than that on her."

"Finally," Deilio sighed in relief, leaning his slim figure against the rail. "Its been a week since we stole from a ship that was actually worth it." Darcy clicked her tongue. "Well, we can't assume she's got good stuff on board, but it wouldn't kill to at least check her over. She's too burdened to outrun us, you can tell even from here. If they dumped some cargo, they have a chance, but our dear old Shadowmast was built for this." Darcy turned her head to the hull, where the bulk of the crew was waiting. She yelled to them, "bring out the sails! Run out the oars, chase speed!" She walked over to help bring out the extra sails to catch the wind that was favoring them. For a small boat designed for speed, she had small oars, and not many, though the men that rowed them were forged by oars and could make them move faster than a true battle ship.

"You sure we should be hitting this one? I have a bad feeling..." Deilio warned her. She snorted, her long black hair blowing out of her face as they gained speed towards the ship. "You, Mother Hen, have a bad feeling about everything! You know we need to get more plunder, else we can't keep ourselves from scurvy, and last time that happened..."

"...we lost half the crew, I know, I know," He finished for her. She gave him a small shove, a smile on her face. "So then just stop worrying! We'll be fine Mother Hen, we're pirates, not porcelain dolls!" He sighed and shook his head with an 'I don't believe you, but I'll agree so you don't tan my hide' look on his face and said, "As the cap'n commands."

She grabbed his loose sleeve. "No," She corrected him. "As a good friend counsels you."

Either way, the ship was getting closer, and Darcy had to drop the play and get to work. Well lady luck, may I be honored with your favor today? She thought to herself hopefully.

[Rahegalhoff]

Rahegalhoff turned to the nets to grab the ropes and haul it in, opening his mouth to tell Huey that all he had to do was pull the nets up, and dump the fis in it in the large trap door in the middle of the deck into the cargo hold. That's the nature of what he was going to say, but it wasn't what he said.

"That ship appears to be chasing us down." he said lazily as though it were an average every dy event, he stared hard at the approaching ship, and his eyes widened as he realised what he just said.

"Bloody hell, that ship IS chasing us!" Rahegalhoff said, he dashed off to the prow where the wheel was.
"PIRATES!" Rahegalhoff yelled not more than a foot away from the captain.
"Calm down lad, I'm not hard of hearing, yet. It might just be some navy ship with a nice friendly warning." the captain said, though one could hear a note of worry in his voice.

He went port side and looked in the direction of the rapidly approaching ship.

"ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS, PIRATE SHIP APPROACHING!" The captain yelled.
He rushed back to the wheel, on The Phoenix, battle stations meant geting the ship to top speed, not being equipped to take on any pirates in an actual battle.

The Phoenix was able to pick up a fair amount of speed, not being completly laden down with fish yet. Rahegalhoff dashed off to quaters to get his sword and shield, satisfied he checked his leather armor, and rushed back up on deck.

The Phoenix was indeed a fast ship, but what cargo it had slowed it down too much. Though she lead a merry chase, she would be overtaken soon enough, and as she was, Rahegalhoff drew his sword, ready to defend the ship.

He snatched a glance at the sky as battle approached, the wind picked up considerably, later on in the day, a storm would let loose, the black clouds on the horizon promised that much. At least for now, rain would not be a concern.

[Mithra Reborn]

Darcy heard the shouts as they approached. "They're looking for a fight, are they?" She sighed, chest heaving over the black leather cinch. "Men, we're going to take her easy, so I need one off of each oar to fire out a grappling to their boat and pull us towards her! No, every man pull in the oars and focus on grapplings!"

The Shadowmast was abreast of the Pheonix as Darcy yelled the words. The wind would keep their pace, she noted. The men placed within the cannons large intimidating looking hooks with multiple prongs that came from different directions of the head with a twine of thick rope that stretched many cords inside. In one swift command, five grapplings launched from the cannon in a smooth arc. Two just blew right threw the rail while the other three missed the rail, but the grappling came down and latched too fast for any men to get their hands on it. Some rope was still in each barrel.

Darcy did not even need to yell at the men to pull on them - the command was tacit as it had been for many years. She grabbed the center rope, and shouted up to Raeth at the wheel to steer them Starbird to aid in pulling the ship closer. It was a matter of time and endurance, but they would be aboard soon, she knew.

[He'll Scream]

"That ship appears to be chasing us down."

Huey was busy fumbling with the nets and the words of his new aquaintance took a moment to register. It seemed they didn't hit home in the mind of the man who spoke them either, as he said it with almost no emotion at all. However, when the fit man came to realize what he just said, Huey also became immediately aware of the situation.

Huey's eyes grew wide as they locked onto the approaching vessel. He began to tremble almost immediately. He didn't want to hurt anyone. Surely they would want to fight, but he didn't want to fight them. He didn't want to kill anymore people.

Consumed by fear, Huey tried his best to run below deck and hide. Surely if they could not find them he would not have to fight them. But the sound of cannon and the crash of iron against the ship knocked the wild-haired young man off his feet.

Huey tried his hardest to orient himself as splinters of wood rained down around him. He shielded his eyes with his left arm, preventing any small particles from resting on his eyes.

Just as suddenly as they had been attacked, the ship was pulled hard towards the pirates. The sudden change in direction made it even more difficult for Huey to get to his feet. This was bad. At this rate, he would have to fight them, or he would surely die.

[Mithra Reborn]

Darcy boarded the Pheonix as soon as the gap was bridged between the two ships. Her scimitar was drawn, the eye that wasn't covered by the eye patch glancing around her. One crew man ran towards her screaming with a sword. Sighing and shaking her head, the two steel strips kissed but four times before she disarmed him and threw him to the side of this ship, where he lost balance and fell in the water. She didn't even so much as glance towards the event.

"Open your cargo holds, and allow us to take whatever there is on the ship, and we leave you with enough to get to the nearest port," She told the captain, to whom was held at sword point by Deilio. "But try to resist, not only will we take it all, but before leaving we'll punch some holes in this ship of yours. Are we clear now, captain?" Darcy then turned to the crew. "If any of you decide to get in the way of our looting, you can join your friend!" There were no longer bubbles rising where the man had fallen into the water. As she was going below deck, she grimaced at the crew, but just shook her head to go to the cargo hold.

[Rahegalhoff]

Rahegalhoff came charging over to defend the captain, but was stopped by the captain.

"Fine, you want our cargo, then it's all yours." The captain said, throwing open the hold to reveal all the fish they caught, swimming around in water that was purposly leaked into the hold to keep them fresh, and alive.

"Catch 'em your own self, there be plenty more in the sea to get after your gone." The captain said with a smirk.

Rahegalhoff continued to stand there.

"I shall not stand for this outrage upon our vessal! Thievery, even on the high seas is unacceptable!" Rahegalhoff said drawing his longsword. He blocked the way to the cargohold, and was quite ready to foolishly take on the entirety of the pirate crew single-handedly.

"The only way to the hold lies through me." he said with a dangerous edge in his voice.

He was joined by some of the braver crew members. The captain, experienced in these matters simply sighed and walked off to his quaters.

"Whatever, it's not like it's worth their time and trouble to steal a bunch of fish anyway. By the looks of their crew scurvy should be setting in soon enough." The captain said as he went into his private cabin.

Rahegalhoff looked a little less sure of himself at this point, but held his position all the same.
"Whatever." he muttered moments later.

[Mithra Reborn]

This...knight, if he could be called one, was irritating to Darcy. "Look lad, I'm just trying to feed my crew. Those fish have the right stuff to keep my men from scurvy long enough for us to dock and barter what's left. So put the sword down now, and we leave enough for you all to get back home without starving."

It's not like this would be a particularly hard fight, she could see. Those that weren't ogling at her looked as if they hadn't seen skilled swordsmanship if it plopped on the deck and did a little dance. When one came at her, she sidestepped him, and brought the butt of the blade on his head knocking him unconscious. Darcy felt her crew close in around her, warding off other sailors with ease. Soon Darcy was left circling closer and closer to Rahegalhoff, her sword still up in guard position. She stopped about a yard from him, her green eye staring down the brown pair, almost challenging him to draw his blade.

These young knights are all the same...all they want is glory and songs, but when it comes down to action, they're no better than their wives, Darcy thought irritably. Her left heel was spread behind her right, tapping in an almost impatient pace.