Fantasy On Strange Tides

[Grey]

It's a bright and beautiful day; endless blue skies over gentle green waters. The sea is shallow here, and it takes a skilled helmswoman to navigate without incident. The wind is less cooperative - but that works for you.


There's a ship flying paleman colours, of paleman make, becalmed under the blazing sun.


The day is apt to be less beautiful for everyone concerned in the next hour.

 

[The Fuzz]

Lintha


The Gunwale





Peering over the edge, across the water, Lintha narrows her eyes. Is it a fat fish? Is it a slow fish?


Is it good eating?

 

[Cirno]

Captain Ufiya


Hands at the wheel and lips pressed into a bored line, Ufiya's eyes slide past the stranded ship on the horizon as she turns towards Lintha instead. "Well," she drawls, grip tightening on the wheel spokes. "How's our catch looking?"

 

[Unyielding]

Xer Adisa


Xer punched the wall in his quarters, careful not to actually damage the wood (not that he could). He had not been apart of the crew long, but he knew he hated it here. The food was crap, the people were all loony, everything was wet and salty, and worst of all he had to do all his work his self. He back in the slums he had an nice group of followers but since that event... things changed. It was only a matter of time before they found him, he could not hid forever. His human resources where already thin and the added threat of death was hard enough to misdirect. He wanted to scream so badly but bit his tongue for he still had a part to play. If he could not earn the crews trust, if he so much as shows a sign of being on the deep end, his foundation would be lost. He took a deep breath and looked into his cracked mirror. He comb his hair forward and smiled. "One day Xer, one day you will be on top again," he said to his reflection while holding over halve of his face.


He opened his hatch and proceed to walk up to the deck. The sky was clear and the water was green, translation: another boring day. 2 people caught his eye, the old hag of a captain driving the ship, and the creepy priest who looked as if she came out of a nightmare. Despite his smile and calm demeanor, he was itching to blow up and break some hearts and insult them both. He walked up to the edge of the railing, a few feet to the right of Lintha. She still creep him out and he knew she was not some gentle soul under that... unique exterior. He turned to the left to see what she was looking at. He looked out to the ocean in an attempt to follow the direction she was facing, but he really did not see much. Giving the fact that he was not trying, and he could not... well that a lie... he refuse to look into her eyes, thinking she might take away his soul or something. Still like a moth to a fire he could not divert his interest away from her. She was a treasure chest guarded by a moat with horrors. He knew that he he could just get through, he could feast on the prize but at what cost. He removed his masked from the side of his hip and looked into it, hoping it would take his mind of the creature to his left. It always brought him comfort to wear it but again... it was pretty creepy to just wear the mask given the crew knew what his face looked like. With a sigh he put it back.

 

[Dusky]

Amani Jengo


It's been a morning of hauling foodstuffs and (literally) learning the ropes. He's been working on the ship for some time now, but he still doesn't feel like he has a grasp on all of the knots; needless to say, he's looking forward to a moment to breathe. He scrambles up the nearly vertical steps and pokes his head up abovedeck.


Three others are present, leaning against the rail. He studiously avoids their eyes and climbs the rest of the way out - then promptly goes sprawling on the floor with a loud thump and an oof. Face burning, he leaps to his feet. Lately all these limbs of his do is get in the way... Attempting to appear nonchalant, he sticks his hands in his pockets and peers at the horizon.


It is with trepidation that he observes the paleman ship they are headed towards. Maybe if he hides now, he'll be forgotten and manage to pretend nothing's happening. Then again, he wants to be useful.


So instead he stands, paralyzed by indecision.

 

[Grey]

Spoiler

Oh yes. Too fat to run without a good tailwind. You can practically smell the tension from here - they know in whose waters they are becalmed.

 

[The Fuzz]

Lintha





She speaks, the rasp of her voice carrying over the constant wasshh of the waves.


"Succulent, and slow. We may need to strip the scales off of the meat, of course."


She turns to Ufiya.


"Violence of hand, or of tongue, captain? Blood in the water, or simply fear in the air? Do you think they'll cave if we kill a few?"


She spares a smile for Jengo, and offers a little attention to Xer as well.


"Boys must fight, or at least appear ready to do so. No?"

 

[Cirno]

Ufiya


After hearing the wooden thump, she sees the jungle kit sprawled at the stairs out of the corner of her eye. There's a muffled guffaw from below deck, but the kid springs up with limbs intact. His footfalls fade, leaving only the sound of water lapping against the hull until the priestess speaks.


Ufiya nods in return. "Tell the pale fishes how it'll go. Show a few, if they can't strip 'emselves."


She sizes the boys up. Grunts. "Half pikes." Like would take a mate's eye out if they swung, but it would do for appearances.


Ufiya's gaze narrows on Xer, him being closest to the bell. "You, Split-Face," she booms. "Get all hands on deck."


Her arm muscles cord and there's the creak of wood and ropes. The ship noses towards the paleman, a shark gliding towards the scent of blood.

 

[Unyielding]

Xer Adisa


(rp glitched and did not post the rest of my post... Xer does not wish to do work captain lol


@Cirno ... we need a translator for your post... your rping skills are too good... i dont have enough pirate speech skill points to understand lol)


lowering his head off the side of the ship he kept his poor gaze with the water. Watching the small waves bounce off the ship and leave a foamy path. Then the creature started to speak. It was creepy, she describe some object in the water. Common sense would deem it to be a fish, because there is nothing else in the water but fish and well fish. Then she released a dark riddle to the captain. Xer rolled his eyes thinking about how the nobles in the black market would speak. If people would speak normal, then the world would be just that much more easier to deal with. His train of though was cracked by the next raspy riddle she threw at him and the kid from behind them.


He shifted his head to the creature only to catch a glimpse of her smiling. "Boys must fight, or at least appear ready to do so..." Was she calling him weak. True he was not the strongest person on the ship, but he knew the true value of what made people strong. Still he was not about to let such a comment slip by. He opened his mouth arming his sharp tongue when the words "Split-Face" ringed through his ears.


Raising his head as the salty hag called him out and ordering him to call attention to the crew. He chuckled as he moved off the railing of the ship and walked towards the bell, "Aye Aye Skipper" With his back towards the crew and since nobody could see his face, he clenched his teeth. Under his breath in a low whisper he proceeded to rant "Salty old hag... with her salty old ship... and her salty old orders... telling me what to do," he reached the bell and proceeded to ring it, "ALL HANDS ON DECK, ALL HANDS ON DECK". Hopefully that was all he needed to do because he was about ready to head back to his quarters and let vent out some more steam... maybe tie a knot or 2 for the ships and giggles.

 

[Grey]

The boarding crew rumble up from belowdecks and ready themselves at Ufiya's back.


It's possible to make out the palemen moving on the deck, in the rigging. Those big sails are no use to them now.


They've definitely recognized you're coming closer, and they haven't started loosing arrows yet, if they have them. Maybe they're hoping for rescue.

 

[Cirno]

Ufiya


"Archers 'midship, pikes aport. You sing when she says, else you stow it," she thunders over the commotion. Aside to Lintha, "Choir's all yours, Priest." She growls down at the unarmed Jengo amid the forming contingent, "Kit, look alive!" but gave no direction. He's Lintha's problem now.


Her gaze snaps to the latecomers assembling at her back. "You lot, blades 'n' bows. We're taking a row." She sees one of the men smearing on a mixture of grease and ash under his eyes. She prods him in the shoulder and he tosses over the jar before taking over the wheel. Releasing the spokes, she swipes on the eye black with the side of her thumb, passing the jar down before she grabs a weapon, passing on her decorated staff for a boarding axe.


"And where d'ya think you're going, Split-Face?" Ufiya jerks her chin over to the group about to sneak on to the Paleman, ordering Xer over.

 

[Unyielding]

Xer Adisa


Xer stood behind the crew members as they spitted off into there groups. Being just a normal cabin boy with no reported skills (cause he was not dumb enough to brag about how he fights...) he figured he would just continue doing his meaningful of swabbing the deck. For he really did not wish to fight and risk his life. This was why he joined this ship. He wanted to avoid the conflict of the nobles finding him. He tried to walk away without anyone noticing, the captain mouth started to release hot firya. Xer took a deep breath to hide his true feelings and then ran over to the old hag. "To clean the deck Captain, do you have another job for me?"

 

[The Fuzz]

Lintha





"The Captain says 'Sing!', but right now, I ask for silence."


Lintha treads softly among her assault crew, looking each man in the eye, meeting each woman's gaze.


Her voice is a rasping whisper, carrying over the air, demanding attention.


"Launch the boats from the far side, and bring them around. Follow my lead. Loop gently, that the fish may not see your strike coming. When the moment comes, you will know it. The first thrust of your spear is a prayer. Death on the water is pleasing to the Black Heron."


She pauses just in front of Jengo, and gently thrusts a weapon into his hands.


"Pretty boy, don't be afraid. The shadow of my wings offers not safety, but rather, a footing from which to attack. Bear this harpoon, and strike when you are hungry."


Should Jengo reply, she'll have time to listen....before slipping over the railing and descending to the water. The next the crew see of her will be a dark figure stalking over the surface of the waves, moving with a strangely stilted grace, harpoon held steady.


[Lintha will emulate the heron. Her wings offer shadow, to lull the fish into security....in other words, she's standing out on the water and deploying Gossamer to two effects: One, she's literally stalking on the top of the water like a wading bird, and two, she's sheltering the raid crew, making it so that the palemen sailors won't see them coming, or won't pay attention to them.]

 

[Dusky]

Amani Jengo


"Boys must fight, or at least appear ready to do so. No?"


Unthinkingly, Jengo starts to shake his head, but catching himself, he manages to turn it into a nod. The slip-up is not likely missed, and the Captain's barking rouse mostly just succeeds in making him jump about a foot into the air.


And then the nice one is putting a weapon in his hands and he stares down at it and his throat is dry and he can feel the land screaming at it, he can feel the protesting hum of the metal in this form just as he can feel the ways it bends and bows, an instinctive awareness of every inch of it. The difference is, part of that is in his head and part of that is the reason he isn't safe at home right now. Instinct tells him to drop the pointy thing.


He holds it tightly, instead, and bristles a little at being called a pretty boy but is soon distracted by the rest of Lintha's words. "That doesn't even make sense," he blurts out. "Hungry?"


He's sure she heard him, listened closely, but then she's gone, overboard. He gasps and leans over the railing, catching a glimpse of her steady procession before being swept up in the rush to the boats.


His spindly limbs tremble as he mumbles to himself, "Why me?"

 

[Cirno]

Ufiya


"Won't earn your cut swabbing decks, boy," she says flatly. One of the sailors passes a polearm half the standard length to Xer. Ufiya turns away to hear Lintha's plan, unconcerned with whether he fell in line. If he didn't, only meant his share was split amongst the rest of the lot.


She ushers the raiding crew over the side of the ship, down to the boats.

 

[Unyielding]

Xer caught the polearm and sighed. He was never on the front lines of anything and now here he was risking his life for some group of pirates. He knew shouldn't push against the captains orders or else he risked losing the trust of the crew and being kicked off. He jumped onto one of the boats, following the group that was not lead by the creepy priest. He knew whatever she was about to do would bring some effect that he would probably not want to be up close for.

 

[Grey]

The boarding party drift behind Lintha - behind her wings. Like a heat-shimmer on the water, subtly black, they extend from her back and draw the eye.


It's a slow process. Halfway to the prey, the arrows begin to fly.

 

[The Fuzz]

Lintha





No. This, I do not like so much.





Lintha keeps her position, but lowers herself into the water a little, taking some cover in the waves....but keeping her wings in place. She bobs a little, not caring how wet she gets. The water is her ally in this. She'll get the boats right up to the hull of the paleman ship, and then she'll vanish under the water, go under their hull and emerge on the far side, to rip some of their defenders off the railings.

 

[Cirno]

Ufiya


She watches as the arrows zip towards Lintha and her shimmer-black wings. One thunks into the hull on the approach. Ufiya does not bend down to check.


They wash into the shadow of the paleman.