Hélène: Fortune is fickle

We had barely assessed the damage to our reconquered vessel, and spent some time aiding and interrogating our new prisoners, when we saw the ominous silhouette of a ship approaching the bay. It was the Kieran frigate we had encountered earlier, and they had followed either us or the coastline, to haunt us at quite an inopportune time.

Our ship had its deck still soaked in blood and debris from the battle, and with the skiff still tied alongside, we were unlikely to outrun the frigate this time around, especially since leaving Shark Bay and our crew behind was not an option to us.

The frigate signalled us to stop and await boarding. After a short but intense discussion, and hopelessly outgunned, we decided to comply for the time being, and thus we watched as the ship went alongside and a gangplank was lowered. While an older man clad in the attire of a wind mage watched from the frigate, a contingent of a dozen marines boarded our ship, led by a well-dressed, black-haired woman, presumably a local.

And thus we got to know Captain Serena of the frigate Dauntless, of the Kieran Privateer fleet, who exchanged introductions with our Captain Cortés. She informed us that she had been informed of an act of piracy involving a Kieran silk trader, and intended to apprehend our vessel and arrest us. Most of us, at any rate, for she acted particularly leniently towards Carlton. They clearly shared a mutual past, although she appeared to remember it more clearly than Carlton did, and one could suspect that she was quite smitten with our friend. However, Carlton honestly confessed membership in our crew, and he and the captains provided several outlandish suggestions how to proceed.

The fate of our missing crew was still pending, and it was suggested that while the rest of us stayed here as a collateral, Carlton would go ashore alone, find and liberate our friends and request them to go into captivity as well, as the nice Kieran privateer captain would very much enjoy having the complete collection.

Barraged by this nonsense, our resolve fell, one by one, and while I had vocally opposed the act of piracy and felt there was justice in having to deal with the consequences, the others found it worthwhile to attempt an assault on our captors. A short but brutal combat ensued, and while the other wind mage correctly singled out Master Krastus as the most dangerous target, he failed to subdue him in time, and a violent blast of wind and debris rushed across deck, wreaking havoc on the hapless marines. After mere seconds, Captain Serena found herself alone, surrounded and cut off from the gangplank, and the Kierans surrendered.

The frigate was ours, and while the Kierans would not endanger their captain, they remained loyal to their cause, and refused to join our crew wholesale. The captain herself, however, found that the prospect of joining Carlton was more appealing than facing the consequences of a defeat, and decided to join our crew.

Fortunately, it was agreed to be lenient towards the Kierans, and the Captain decided that we transfer command to the Dauntless, and leave our old sloop, stripped of valuables, to them. We realised how fortunate we had been, against all odds, as we supervised the Kierans carrying our crates of fruit onto the frigate. A short while later, we bade our trusty sloop farewell. As the frigate slowly drifted back towards Shark Bay, towing our borrowed boarding skiff, we found that we would need to enlarge our merry band even further in order to efficiently operate the larger vessel. The others considered a possible renaming of the ship and suggested all sorts of moronic simianisms, but in the end, luckily, no consensus was reached.

When we had docked in Shark Bay, a younger fellow introduced himself as the new harbourmaster, thanked us profusely for having retired the previous jobholder, and offered us a discount rate for all the paperwork. He professed to be too smart to deceive us, lest he share the fate of his predecessor, and would not make us any trouble during our stay. In return, we entrusted the borrowed skiff into his care, whose previous owner, the charmingly named Clawfoot Pete, as we were informed, had expired earlier when the local sea life had taken a liking to his limp, floating body.

To find out where our fellows had been taken, we resolved to go ashore and make contact with the local slavers. We found the the market was dominated by three traders. Two of these, a half-ugak and a retired pirate lady, dealt mainly in household and plantation slaves, while the third one, a visitor aptly named Lafleur, specialised in "pleasure slaves", and had about half a dozen girls and young women presented in a degrading manner. What a heinous thing to do, and a disgrace to my homeland! In private, I discussed with Mistress Saran how to rectify this.

Alas, neither of the traders had our crew, and Carlton suggested that we collect further information in that grog tavern. We spent some time and money there, conversing with the wench and several patrons, who suggested that one of the Ugak tribes from the nearby mountains regularly procured human prisoners from Shark Bay, for use in their vile rituals. We had witnessed such a thing before, and were alarmed at the possibility.

Mistress Saran went looking for someone who would know more, and we met a middle-aged, rather unkempt woman named Thallia, who had a speech impediment and a visible history of dental problems. We offered her a large salary to guide us to the dwellings of said tribe, and a sizable bonus if we would reach our destination in time. The trip might lead us into the mountainside, for which we were rather ill-prepared. I, for one, prepared for a life at sea and coast, owned neither suitable attire nor footwear. Time was of the essence, though. As the tribe would sacrifice regularly, according to the phases of the moon, we estimated we had seven days at best. We rushed to purchase at least a basic amount of blankets, rope and other tools for mountaineering.

The evening came quickly, and Mistress Saran and I decided to further investigate into Lafleur's business. We found that his slaves were taken from his stall at the market, to his villa on the outskirts of town, where they were imprisoned for the night in wooden shacks, guarded by about ten armed mercenaries. Clearly, his vile business was quite profitable, and we would hold off our plans until later.

The next morning, we left town for the inland, guided by that Thallia woman, and after a long, exhausting but uneventful march across the rocky countryside, we reached a small recess where we wearily set up our makeshift camp. I was not among the watches scheduled by Cortés, and could sleep undisturbed until morning. Nothing eventful had happened during the night, and we packed up to proceed. In the afternoon, we reached our goal, surprisingly early, and were treated to a sight both horrifying and familiar. Through the undergrowth, we spotted some ugak, a shaman among them, preparing another of these vile pools for a ritual, while several cages containing prisoners, including our Scurillian friend, sat nearby.

Gravitating towards swift action, the Captain decided that I accompany him and the Mage in a stealthy approach on the right flank, while our markspeople prepared to cover us with musket fire if we were spotted. Alas, this plan quickly went awry, when we were detected not only by those ugak we could see, but also by several others hidden amongst the vegetation. Master Krastus valiantly charged ahead, yet his magic was no big help to an onslaught from multiple sides, and he was quickly surrounded. Captain Cortés, trying to cover our temporary retreat, was ambushed and succumbed to our foes. Meanwhile, several of the ugaks had assembled at the pool, and petitioning their vile gods for aid, summoned forth a humongous serpent, far larger than the ape monster we had previously fought, that raised menacingly from the pool.  Had our luck finally turned?

Frigate ahoy

This was very much what one might call a mixed day. On the plus side, we gained a new much bigger ship - far more suited to a mage and carpenter of my standing - on the downside we had to watch Carlton kiss some crazy love struck woman. Humans. So weird.

A frigate pulled up against us and tried to arrest us after we retook the Wild Monkey. Kieran. Worrying. After some blundering, and when they finally moved in, the Captain decided to fight. And so finally I was let free. I used the wind to lay low a few of the marines, the others fired and fought and eventually they surrendered to my...I mean our...clear superiority.

A frigate. An attractive little thing. It will do well.

We took it into port and managed to find a guide to take us to our crewmen. Who are in mountains. With red people. The women seemed concerned over some small pink ones being held by one slaver, but no time to waste - we need to rescue Scurllions! And also our other crew. If we keep losing them, no-one will sign on.

Our Days On The March:

We slogged through the jungle for days. It was fairly uneventful, I thankfully was not called on to take watch - despite my superior crabby eyes. I'm quite glad. Rest is more fun.

Our guide was quite useful, and she has put us close to the red men. We have to go and get closer now. I will come back with tales of my great success soon.

Sira Saran: This is a BIG ship!

There we were, fighting to get our trusty ship back and then a big frigate shows up and the Kieran navy boards us.

Their captain seems to take an interest in Carlton. Despite trying to talk our way out of this conflict, the whole boarding action resulted in a nasty short fight.

After loosing to much men in the fight, the kieran navy surrendered. Instead of plundering we switched ship.

The frigate "Dauntless"? is a really nice ship with a lot of guns.

The remaining kieran navy sailors were ordered to bring all our cargo on board the frigate and use The Wild Monkey to get back to a friendly port.

I'm not sure, maybe that was a real error to capture a kieran navy frigate. It's like painting a huge targetcross on our hull. The former captain Serena seems to value her lovely Carlton more then her navy career. Getting from navy to pirate may not be a wise choice, but who am I to say.

Getting our crew back from slavery was our next goal. That involves getting inland and a pathfinder.

Also one of the slavers caught the attention of Helene and myself, regarding our mission from Azy, but our crew first, time is running out there.

We hired an old woman as a guide into the mountains and got going with a lot of equipment to carry.

The mountains were a really disturbing place... to much rocks and climbing involved there.

We found the snake tribe! These wild men are looking like the ones praying to the monkey god only that they are praying to a huge snake! And i hate snakes! Especially ones bigger then a pace.

Carlton Grey and the Lady in Red and also on a Frigate

Now that we had our ship back, we wanted to go and rescue our crew as quickly as possible, but we could not, because the Kieran ship we saw earlier found us. We thought about running away again to the safety of the sharks, but they had a wind mage too, so we could not.
They approached us, and demanded, that we give them our ship because we are pirates. I always thought, that it was supposed to go the other way, although I am not a very experienced pirate yet.

Their captain was a very pretty lady named Serrene, who was quite friendly to me, but seemed to have some sort of grudge against Cortes. Maybe she tought that he was the reason of our pirating ways, with his missing eye and wounded hand. We were lucky he did not have a parrot, because that would had made him even more guilty-looking. The nice lady also said, that she was waiting for me her whole life. She should have sent some letters or something about it, because I had no idea about this.

I tried to talk to her about letting us go, or at least letting us save our crew before she arrests us, but I could not, so we had to fight again, which was starting to get really boring.
Things got confusing quickly. Sira shot some marine with her pistol, the enemy mage shot Krastus with lightning, I shot the enemy mage with Grandpa and then Krastus shot the marines and the nice Lady with his wind magic. I was afraid he would kill her, so I went to her and asked her to stop fighting and she did. Serrene really is a nice lady.

After we were friends again, Heléne healed her wounds and we decided, that we would trade ships with the kierans. I did not know why, I mean we just got our ship back, but maybe it was because Sira still did not trust the mast. She was right about it before, so I thought it was best not to question the decision.
Anyway, the others handled the stuff required for the ship change, while we explored the new ship a bit with Serrene. I had a lot of questions for her, but every time I opened my mouth she put her tongue in there, which was even better than talking, so I stopped trying to.

The next day we went to town again to see the slave pits, but we could not find our friends. It turns out, no one wanted to buy them so they gave them to some monkey-people. At least they have experience with that, so it won’t be confusing for them. I was sort of excited about seeing giant animal things again, but it was a bit disappointing, that Serrene had to stay with the ship, so I could not share the experience.

We hired some tracker-lady, who helped us find the monkeymen, and our crew. It turns out these guys were more into snakes, and there was quite a lot of them. We tried to fight, but we were getting kind of overwhelmed. At least we got to see their giant snake-thing, so it was not all bad. I don’t know how we will get out of trouble this time tough, maybe we will need Serrene to save us all.

Cortez - Out of the Frying Pan

So we had the Wild Monkey back... and then got waylaid by a Kieran Frigate. Pirate hunter it seemed. We might have been able to outrun them, but we were doing poorly and the wind was against us. The captain, some woman, took a liking to Carlton... but she was not willing to let us go. And what's worse? She was going to get all our crew killed, as well. I couldn't let the men just go, so I had Krastus do what he always does... kill.

We wound up capturing their frigate. That's an upgrade. But then it was back to Shark Bay to try to find our crew. Red men. Again. We've dealt with their kind before, though. So we've hired a guide to take us to their sacrificing camp and... well. We'll do what we always do.

My next entry will be after we've gotten back from the Red Men.

Sira Saran: History repeating

Not only did we get new provisions at Azy Cay, We sold a hold full of silk and met the leader of Azy Cay.

She invited Helene and myself to dinner and offered us a job.

With the new knowledge and a mission we made it onto the other side of the island to shark bay!

And then came the part where I should say: "I told you so!"
Some very strange guy welcomed us to Shark Bay, wanted a lot of money as docking feee and offered us a drink in a tavern near by.
We woke the next morning with a big headache and saw our ship just leave harbor.
I was so angry! So we ran to the dock and some unfortunate pirates in their small boat did stand between us and winning our ship back.
After kicking these pirates into the bay, we made haste to follow our ship.
A really strange feeling, boarding your own ship and fighting your way onto deck. It was a nasty fight, but we won!

Hélène: Piracy and Counter-piracy

We decided to treat us to a small pause in Azy Cay, a small town on a small isle, off the northeastern coast of our current destination, the island of Perck. Reputedly, this was a pirate haven founded by the captain and crew of a ship that had run aground here.

The coastline of this secluded tropical paradise drifted by, with sunlight glistening on rippled
azure, calmly flowing up and down the radiantly beige sands. Further inland the lush vegetation formed an abundant, natural orchard. I could well comprehend why someone would elect to stay,
or how one would inadvertently beach their ship while enchanted by the aspect. We, of course, had business to do here and elsewhere, so when the small settlement came into view, we resorted to the usual rites of approaching, docking and mooring.

After a bit, we found that the founder and ruler of this settlement, Captain Angsley, would welcome us personally, while admonishing us to behave civilly. Apparently, during our detour, word of the incidents in Brigandy Bay had travelled here. The Captain herself appeared as a nimble, athletic and quite attractive woman, measuring hardly more than thirty years. Pleasantly, she then invited Mistress Saran and me to dinner at her residence, which we emphatically accepted.

We spent the rest of the day trading with the locals, under the laid-back supervision of two guardswomen, sold the silk we had acquired in our act of piracy earlier, restocked our provisions and, reluctant to sail with empty holds, purchased a cargo of locally-grown tropical fruit, expecting to fetch a much better price on the mainland.

In the evening, Mistress Saran and I headed to the Captain's residence, recognisably the beached ship itself, which had over the years been turned into a house of sorts. We were welcomed by a friendly maid and led into the dining room, where the Captain welcomed us. Amid a splendid meal of
fruit and fresh seafood, we could get to know Azy Angsley quite a bit better.  With her physique, acumen and aplomb aplenty, in a way, she was someone to aspire to.

As she been a pirate captain earlier, we consulted her experience to assess our situation. We had gotten off the hook in Brigandy Bay rather easily, all things considered, and should be more careful in the future. In the end, she made a request of us. She envisioned the Cay to serve as a refuge for prosecuted or maltreated women of all sorts, and if we would meet a woman in need, bringing her
to safety here would always be an option, and we would be compensated in kind.

After dinner, we returned to our ship, and after a night's rest, left port again, for once without further incident. After a couple of days of travel, we passed the southeastern tip of the island of Perck. From afar we could see several standing stones, a historical site of the Arcane of sorts, but none of us knew any further detail. The next day, we spotted a frigate flying the Kieran flag, which we decided to outrun, and we could reach Shark Bay without incident.

The bay was true to its name, and on more than one occasion we could see some ominous dorsal fin drifting by menacingly. The town itself was a marked contrast to Azy Cay, a ramshackle collection of huts. As we docked, a rather plump, bespectacled man with a clipboard in hand, approached our ship and declared that as the harbourmaster, he was entitled to a daily berthing charge. We were a bit
suspicious, but also reluctant to cause a commotion, and so we complied and paid him for five days in advance. After that he stated that it was customary for new arrivals to be welcomed in the community by having a drink in a local establishment called "The Great White Grog", and it would be a grave insult if we rejected his invitation.

I stopped to ask him if we would get any official papers on docking here. He appeared taken aback by the question, but then assured me that he would perform the more time-consuming deeds later. So, we followed him to the establishment, got seated and treated to a sample of the eponymous drink, which, if I recall correctly, was quite flavourful and pleasant, but also somewhat inebriant, and whatever transpired in the following hours, remains consigned to the mists of time.

Eventually, I found myself prostrate on the warm beach, lacking my purse and several of my belongings, and taunted by the sight of the Wild Monkey sailing off without me. Several of my fellow crewmen, likewise dispossessed, lay nearby, and in a desperate effort to get our ship back, I rallied them towards the docks.

There, several crews were busy touching up their vessels, and I approached a small, apparently seaworthy skiff. I told the foreman that I had been subjected to the local rites, and while I generally considered myself a good sport, I would very much like to be back on my ship now. They refused to sail us out, however, or lend us their vessel, and while I was preparing a different diplomatic approach, Mistress Saran boldly stepped forward and kicked the man overboard. This instigated a brawl, which became a bit lopsided once the crewmembers grabbed tools to use as improvised weapons, and quite a bit lopsided when Master Krastus summoned up the Four Winds to retaliate
in kind.

Again, this dispute had turned more violent than desired, but we could not stay and make amends without losing our ship, and so we set off and, arming ourselves with whatever weapons they could find on board, pursued the Wild Monkey. When we quickly gained on them, we were subjected by a barrage of musket fire, and as the rest of us dove for cover, Carlton, enraged by the theft and
misuse of his beloved gun, shot back defiantly.

Eventually, we went alongside and hastened to climb aboard the Wild Monkey, where several cutlass-wielding ruffians were preparing for our assault. Sira and Krastus took the point, pushing the defenders back with cutlass, pincers and magic, and while Carlton covered us with gunfire, I
held the left flank, finding myself engaged by two of the armed scoundrels. Outnumbered, I could only try to stand my ground and buy some time. Luckily, by the time the opposition succumbed to our onslaught, nothing serious had yet happened to me. Soon, the only foe left was the one standing
at the helm, a certain plump would-be harbourmaster, who found himself the target of righteous fury, and got ended by Carlton's unerring shot just before Master Krastus' pincers would reach him.

Tending to our wounds and taking stock, we found that most of our missing belongings were aboard, and the ship was largely intact. We also recovered a certain clipboard, the top sheet adorned with squiggly lines pointing out its owner's illiteracy just as much as our naïveté. However, our crew was missing, and as we interrogated one of our three surviving opponents, an unkempt lout presumably named Pete, he claimed that they had captured our fellows, and sold them to a slave-trader in
Shark Bay. This was something we would have to immediately rectify.

Apparently killing is good now?

Humans are such odd creatures. This is foremost the lesson I have learnt in my time with them.

Also not to trust a bally one of them.

The girls had their dinner with the pirate queen lady in Azy Cay - it seemed to be a nice time. We loaded up with food and we set sail - finally - for Shark Bay. We did spot a sail en-route but it seems that the rest of the crew is in two minds about how 'piratey' we are. After a long debate, we put up the Spanish Guild flag and I got the wind going so we could sail into Shark Bay.

We were greeted by a pleasant person - small and officious looking. We paid him our dock fees and were invited out for drinks. Everyone was keen to drink, and so we went. That...is where things began to go somewhat unfortunately. We woke up quite rested, but without a few key items. Namely all of the items. As in everything. Like my hammer.

Apparently now the rules of 'Don't hurt people' went out the window and we went and stole a tiny tiny boat to try to catch ours. Which was at this time sailing out of the bay. The crew were less than helpful and tried to bash us, we bashed them instead - the loud one is adorable without a gun, though Sira is still as deadly. Still, we were superior. We then sailed off after our boat and managed to close in with my help.

I decided we needed the captain intact so shielded him with my body - desperate times and such like - and Carlton managed to take one of them out. We finally caught it, we boarded it and prepared to deal with the interlopers - well, the captain had to stay below as he is a cripple and Carlton wanted to play at sniping men. Still. The rest of us boarded her.

It was the officious man from the dock who had taken the ship, it seems, and we got into a fight. I naturally stormed through their ranks and began to run at this fellow when Carlton shot him dead. Quite unsporting of him really. But still, we have our boat back. And can finally make our way to the treasure map location.

Carlton Grey and the Den of the Dreadful Grandfather Thieves

Azy Cay is a nice little city. Everyone was really friendly, and there were many types of tasty fruit to try. The girls enjoyed themselves with the governor-lady, and we bought some exotic foods to replace the silk we sold. No one tried to arrest us, or eat us, and even Krastus didn’t kill anyone. I hope we can visit again.

Our next stop was supposed to be Shark Bay. I was really excited to see a city ran by sharks. The others said that there won’t be any actual sharks there, but I remained hopeful.
Our journey was mostly uneventful, although we did see a great stone circle on the coast. Heléne said, that those were wizards, who wanted to show everyone who they were for some reason. I think, if they were really wizards, they could have used something more fitting, like a giant hat with rabbits inside it. We also spotted some Kieran ship. There was some discussion about what we should do about them, but in the end we just left them behind and they did not follow us to Shark Bay. I think they were afraid of the sharks. It might be because they still thought, their emperor is a whale, and they were afraid the sharks might eat him.

Anyway Shark Bay was full of sharks, so I was delighted. The people seemed really friendly too, we met some harbor master, who invited us for drinks. Sira was a bit afraid, that the mast would walk off, but we convinced her not to be. I mean it is much more likely, that people would steal it, than it deciding to run for freedom.
We went for drinks, and had a good time, but in the meantime the friendly-looking harbor master and his pals stole our ship. That would have been kind of bad on its own, but I discovered, that they also stole Grandpa, and my lucky monkey foot, which was much worse! I could not imagine any man being capable of such heinous crimes! Maybe Sira was right, and it was the mast was behind the whole thing, being a criminal mastermind.

We had to run to town, and find a new ship, then fight for it, and then chase the old one. It was all very hectic, but at least I managed to free Grandpa. When we finally caught up with our ship we still had to fight for it with the thieves. The mast did not attack us, so maybe it was an innocent victim after all, or it realized our strength, and tried to act like nothing happened. The others beat up the enemy crew, and I shot their captain, who was the harbor master so in the end we got our ship back.
Then we found out, that our crew was sold as slaves by these people, and now we have to go and get them back. We also need to watch the mast closely, so it won’t play another nasty trick on us. At least I have my lucky monkey foot again, so our chances have improved.

Cortez - Remembering my Brother

A couple weeks ago I shared the story of my brother's death with the crew. I hadn't actually brought it up in many years, but our recent adventures reminded me of him. And Brigandy Bay reminded me again. Our life is a difficult one, and before he died he was the greatest of allies.

We used to get into drinking competitions. I'm not sure if they were races or endurance tests, or maybe a little bit of both. Either way, he was as good a friend as I could find, and I most regret having lost him and not being able to help him. It's something I want to avoid with my current crew, I suppose it's a defining moment. I've kept a lot of them alive so far. But I worry that we will run into trouble that will be too much for us.

It eventually happened with my brother. But before that, the biggest trouble we had was being caught in a mudslide. Or causing a mudslide. It's hard to remember exactly. The local magistrate tried to blame us, but we were already on our horses and so that made escape easy. And it's not like anyone died. We just managed to damage the blacksmith shop. Of course, that was Earth. I doubt I'll be back there again.

Hélène: Not making any friends

The aspect of the town of Brigandy Bay's lighthouse greeted us as we sailed into the eponymous bay, and readied ourself for berthing. The harbour was rather small, and not overly crowded, with only two other ships docked here; a massive galleon lay on the quay wall, and alongside our vessel, across the pier, a frigate, its all-too-merry crew laughing and jeering at us and our minute sloop, and shouting some unpleasantly lewd remarks our way.

Mustering our dignity, we finished docking, and as there was no harbourmaster to greet us, we were left to our own devices for now. The Captain decided to grant the crew shore leave at this very instant, and authorised me to disburse their pay for the month, from our ship's coffers. While the other crewmen scurried off into town, our resident crab lady decided to stay aboard, suggesting that we visit the bar "Black Queen", within the harbour premises, to get settled in.

After a short walk, we reached the establishment, which was rather crowded, with only a single, conspicuously vacant table in the centre of the room. With the barkeep's approval, we sat down, ordered drinks from his rather paltry selection, and while I struggled to acclimatise to the taste of "grog",  the others related tales of our exploits to the barkeep and other listeners.

All this went its rather uneventful course, until the moment a band of about a dozen people came in, obviously sailors, and their spokesman declared that they were the crew of the "Dawn Raider", the frigate neighbouring our ship, and they were regulars here whose table we had unjustly occupied. As to me, our stay had not been particularly pleasurable from the outset, I was prepared to acquiesce and
leave. Captain Cortés, however, insisted that we had a right to stay here, and would want to exercise that. The argument swiftly became a heated one, and turned into a brawl quicker than I could cope with, when in an instant, a particularly unsightly ruffian jumped over a perfectly uninvolved table
and tore me to the ground rather violently. Before he could follow through with whatever obscenity he had planned, however, Mistress Saran had rushed to my side and covered me.

Unpleasant as it was, up to this instant we faced merely a bar brawl, but Master Krastus decided to change that in an instant. In retaliation for an attempt to grab one of his eyestalks, he summoned forth the powerful forces of the gale, unleashing pandemonium inside the small bar room. We were deafened by the horrible noise of the rushing wind, admixed with the shattering of items, and men screaming in pain and terror. When the gale subsided, the lot of his opposition had been smashed to the back wall, and the more unfortunate ones had been pelted with items of furniture or cutlery. Several lay motionless, profusely bleeding. The room fell silent, and the leader of the other crew glared at us vengefully.

Captain Cortés surmised we were no longer welcome here, and as the others collected their injured and dead, we quickly took our leave, all abject with guilt and shame. All but Master Krastus, who went on to utter his general contempt for the human race, tried to justify the excessive brutality
committed, and even had the gall to remark that this time, his spell had succeeded "exceptionally well". We would have nothing of that, and expecting further trouble to arise from the incident, we hastened to get our business in town done.

There was a small market in town, and while the others went to restock our provisions, I looked for a trader who would buy the sundry wares we had recovered from the ruin. Eventually, a hawker with a pronounced accent agreed to purchase them for a fair price, and also offered items from his remarkable collection to us, including a monkey's foot, which fascinated Master Grey just as a piece of thread would do to a cat.

He also offered a leather tube to us, claiming that inside we'd find a map, leading to a treasure of the infamous pirate l'Ollonais, a somewhat familiar name even in the history books of my homeland, and apparently around these parts as well. The map was supposedly spirited away by a disgruntled crewman, who could not finance an expedition by himself. The treasure was said to contain the
personal sword of a feared conquistador, a namesake of our Captain.

The others decided to find another tavern near the marketplace, but word had spread and they refused any of us in as long as our Mage was still with us. So, Master Krastus and I returned to the ship, in order to have a first examination of the purchased map. While on the pier, we spotted suspicious persons hiding aboard the "Wild Monkey", though not wearing the colours of the "Dawn Raider". Behind us, an armed band approached the pier, and once we were cornered, we met their leader, the
Captain of the galleon "Nightmare Ascendant", going by the name of "La Sanguine". I was requested to turn over Master Krastus, who by his actions had violated the Pirates' Code of Conduct.

I remarked that as a fellow crewmember, I had no authority over Master Krastus, who then once more gave hollow justifications for his brutality. In the end, he made the convincing point that in such cases, a captain would need to be offered the opportunity to negotiate for an offending crewman, and we awaited the return of a rather exasperated Captain Cortés. After a bout of haggling, the parties agreed that Master Krastus would not be maimed as a punishment, but we would forfeit our cargo of iron, as well as the Captain's newly found enchanted blade. We returned to our ship to spend the night, and spirits were low at this point.

The next morning, our ship was ready to leave harbour, and I got to know a new crewmember, who had been enticed by the others during their tavern visit, an Englishman called William Potter, who
shared Master Grey's love for games of chance. Our first examination of the map indicated the island of Perck as a likely destination, so we plotted a southwesterly course. Winds were fickle on the first
day, but in the end we were well underway, and after another day, spotted the sails of a Kieran merchantman on the horizon. Captain Cortés ordered to hoist the quaint monkey flag, which Master Grey had stitched together in his spare time, and pursue the ship, much to my dismay. As we caught up to the ship by late afternoon, we had chased them atop a shallow reef, and their vessel was crippled.

Master Cortés demanded they forfeit their cargo, and while they were initially defiant, they complied when the hopelessness of their situation became obvious. A portion of their cargo, precious silk from
Deiking, was hauled into holds of our ship, and two members of their crew were convinced to join us, a Dutchman called Wim Klokje, and a Doreen sailor whose name was incomprehensible to me. All things considered, we obviously were a pirate vessel now, a perspective that profoundly failed to elate me.

Unfortunate Magic

We finally made it to the....I guess one could call it fine. It was certainly a place. Fine place? Yes. That will do. We finally made it to the fine place of Brigandy Bay - after a long trip it is nice to be back on the western side of Caribdus, well away from the Kierans and any form of organised pink people.

Unfortunately our first visit was to a tavern. Horrible places at the best of time - the press of so many people together is very unnerving - but on this occasion some fellow pirates decided they wished to start a fight by bopping my eye stalks. In reaction I just wanted them gone, and wlel - the magic got a little away from me. And shredded the unfortunates. This is regrettable, not that I am growing soft for the pink ones, but because it was not my in tent. I am unsure why it happened - perhaps some kind of magical eddy in the area - but what was meant to bruise and batter them killed them. Still one cannot let the crew know that, after all it would not fill them with confidence if the wind mage at times summoned far too much. Especially when I have to handle the rigging. I think I covered it well however - and well, they did strike at my eyestalks first. Anyway. We went about our affairs, sorted things out, bought a treasure map. Lots of fun.

While the Captain went off to get some new crew, myself and the blue one went back to the ship. Some chap who claimed to be French - le Sanguine - wished to talk to me about the death of the unfortunates. Tricky. As he didn't want to talk, and his people were annoyingly well spread across two directions - I managed to convince him to wait to parley with Cortes. Assuming Cortes was not at this point on the floor bleeding, as he had been out of sight for at least 2 minutes. Thankfully Cortes returned and hammered things out - it cost him his sword from the zombie that I got for him, and our iron. I regret the loss of the iron a great deal - as I always do profit - but I shall have to help find Cortes something nice.

We sailed on, now intent on finding this treasure which could save our little progress. I suggested we stopped on the way to buy food at a nice tropical pirate island that we could sell around near the treasure site, the captain agreed - naturally - and we headed that way. We initiated our first piracy on the way - and to make things up I made sure our magic was keeping our ship close, the captain having managed to maneuver unfortunately on a bit of a slack wind. We chased, and thankfully they wrecked their ship. We took what we could carry, some silk, and went back south to the island where we made a little profit. Profit is easy when you pay nothing. Loading up on fruit, we headed off to make our fortune. And maybe I could find somewhere quietly to practice my magic - it would be useful to study the reasons why it is more powerful at times. And harness that to work for us. Well, for me.

Sira Saran: Trouble in Paradise

We have arrived in Brigandy Bay. This seems to be a nice hideout for pirates from all over Caribdus.
We decided on a drink in a nice tavern. And the best house in these parts seems to be "The Black Queen", sounds nice!
After we arrived and secured a table there was a group of sailors that, as everybody would expect, tried to convince us that this was their table. Yeah sure. That smelled like a nice tavernbrawl with a lot of furniture flying around.
The brawl was under way when out of nothing Krastus did cast a spell... in a brawl... that is like spitting in the gods chalice and then point to the seahags... that was not going to happen. It was, and it had devastating effects. Half the brawlers where shred to pieces by a tornado of woodsplinters and tableware pieces.
That is not how you do a nice tavernbrawl, that is how you do war!
All of the participant were disgusted for sure, including myself, about this horrifying breach of tavernbrawl etiquette!
I should have shot the crab on the spot for this! Helene was totally shocked and out of herself about the desaster.
Surely that ended our stay at the tavern immediately. We turned to getting our business done, Carlton was buying a monkefoot and Capt'n came up with a treasuremap. Helene and Krastus went back to the ship while the rest just wanted a drink in another tavern up the town. There we got word that Krastus was cornered at our ship by some french guy "Lasagne" or so.
Ok now it's getting really complicated. We hurried back and there he was Krastus cornered on the dock by 13 or more heavily armed sailors with a fancy guy that did speak a ridiculous accent i have never heard before. I did bite my lip not to laugh at every single word he was throwing at us.
So he wanted our cargo and Krastus right pincer as compensation. Pincer OK! Cargo NO! was my thinking and then everyone tried to discuss the terms of this desaster. Capt'n gave up his magical sword and our cargo for the crab? By the seahags! That crab will never learn his lesson when everybody tries to save him whenever he does something stupid!
We will run out of items to compensate people before he get's the hint.
And we had to leave the nice town before we even had the chance of getting drunk here!
On the seas again, fresh air and the wind in the sails. Making good way southwest towards Azy Cay.
Near our destination we spotted a fat merchanter under sails that took flight when he saw the awesome monkeyflag Carlton came up with. We got into pursuit and got him when he grounded himself on a reef. We took a lot of silk and a very nice pistol from the ship and then left them. I need to see that one day and check the mechanics of that pistol. It looked really pretty.

We got on course again and reached the little harbor a day later. There we got a nice welcome by the lokals with a warning that, should anything happen, the crab would pay dearly for any damage done and a dinner invitation that smells fishy to me.
We will see how that works out...

Carlton Grey and the Curse Lifting Lucky Monkey Foot

We arrived at Brigandy Bay after our long and tiresome journey. It is a cozy little city, and we immediately went to a nice little tavern recommended to us by our navigator. Just after we ordered, a bunch of pirates came, and said, that we have taken their table. It was an honest mistake, since we thought, that it belonged to the pub, but they wanted a fight. I was getting ready for a bar brawl, but Krastus overreacted, and killed four of them with his magic. All those pent up emotions from disappointing his girlfriend must have gotten to his head.
Anyway, the pirates got pretty angry, and swore revenge, and we were thrown out of the pub too, before we had a single drop of beer. I think we might have contracted some sort of curse that will never allow us to have a nice time at cities.

We went to the market, to buy stuff quickly, before they run away from our crab. Finally there was some fun to be had, as we browsed through the wares. First I had to help the other with finding places to buy boring things like food, but after that we got to the important stuff.
We purchased a bunch of flags, so our ship won’t get dull, and I found a lucky monkey foot, which I immediately bought for a bargain price of 50 pieces of eight. That will definitely help us to get rid of our pesky curse! The others got really excited about some stupid treasure map, so we had to buy that too. I am sure we will find nothing but jewels and gold and again.

Quite angry at Krastus, the Captain sent him home with Heléne, before we visited another pub. Here we met a nice lady, who was also the barkeep, and a bunch of people playing dice, and drinking beer. We even met someone, who might join our crew, but then the curse struck again.  A guy came in, and said, that Krastus and Heléne got into trouble with some Frenchman. Again we had to leave our pints, and go to the docks, where we found the crab surrounded by angry pirates. Their leader was quite angry, and wanted to take our iron. He wanted Krastuses pincer too for some reason. He must not have been very bright, since he also could not tell our ship from a sanitarium. That must be quite a disadvantage when you are a pirate.
Anyway, the Captain convinced him to take his magic sword instead of the pincer, so all was well. The others seemed a bit disappointed, which I found strange. I mean we wanted to get rid of the iron we brought, and now it wasn’t there anymore. It’s a shame that we had to give up the glowing sword as well, but we have lanterns, torches and regular swords, I am sure we can manage.
I think the lucky monkey foot started working, because we could finally go back to the tavern and have some good old fashioned uninterrupted fun. I would have liked to stay for a few days, but the others wanted to go and find the stupid treasure as soon as possible.

While we were on the ocean, I had time to create a flag for our ship, with a monkey on it. It turned out really good, so finally our ship could be true to its name.
Otherwise it was an uneventful sail, until we met some Kieran merchant-people. The Captain decided that we should become pirates. I should have seen it coming. I mean he already only has one eye, and he just hurt his hand too, maybe he thinks it’s the only way to gain acceptance for his disabilities. We need to show him some positive role models, like a one armed juggler, or something like that.
While I was thinking about these important things, the traders tried to run away, but they were pretty bad at it, so we caught them. Maybe it was their first time of running away from pirates, like it was our first time of being pirates.
I did not like the idea of shooting innocent people, but the captain said, they will surrender once they see how strong we are, and he was right, although we needed Sira to shoot through their sails first. We took some of their silk, and told them some things about us, then left.

Following our treasure map, we docked at Azy Cay, where we were greeted by a very beautiful lady. She was the leader of the island, and wanted to make sure, that Krastus would not slaughter her people, or destroy the town. It turns out, that she is also called Azy Cay, which must be an unlucky coincidence.
I wanted to ask her, whether she was sometimes harassed by people wanting to moor their ships to her by mistake, but I could not, because she took the women from our ship and left. She must have been planning some sort of “girls’ night” with the usual girlish activities, like braiding each other’s hair, and metallurgy.
Anyway, we were left to explore the little town, and now we can sell some of the silk we got from the merchants, and also taste the different exotic foods he place has to offer. I hope Krastus doesn’t kill anyone, till at least we had some opportunity to enjoy ourselves here. I am taking the lucky monkey foot with me, just in case.