Torrent505

Anne already rather dislikes men right now, she had a rough break up being harsh to a women like that didn't sit well with her so it's good Blake intervened first she was about to shoot the bottle off your leg... Also maybe not entirely missing the leg...

There was only the gentlest fluttering of silken bandages as Romeo Richards moved through the castles great halls towards the kings chambers. The bandages covered his entire body, they were not because he was wounded or hiding burns and scars. No, it was to protect others, at least those he judged as innocent, the slightest touch of his bare skin meant death. He was once an assassin so skilled his kills remain only speculation and rumor, but when the moment came he chose justice over killing only for wealth and became the Executioner of Illia killing for the highest courts and at the word of the King. All in the Kingdom feared his punishment, they whispered hushed names for him in the night like he was some boogeyman, commit crimes and The Ragged Man would come for you. However more recently he had become the Kings personal advisor, for some reason his presence eased the King's pain instead of causing suffer like his powers usually would and that had lead the two of them to become close. He didn't even hesitate as he pushed his way through the chambers doors. "Armaund, my king I am here for the nightly treatment of your illness. I apologize for my early arrival but I come from an emergency meeting of the council, I bring urgent news." He had started speaking as he entered the room, he was a blunt mean preferring to get straight to the point, "The Andalasian Princess's caravan has been destroyed, most are dead but there has been no body found to match the Princess and several others. One of their Crown's personal guard was killed as were all their soldiers. The Andalasia Royal family is in an uproar and consumed by grief, they have assumed this was some sort of trick to kill or capture their heiress and the King's message to us even threatens war." He snorted knowing the Andalasian would never do such a thing, nothing could withstand the Illian Army, but the message conveyed the grief and rage griping the other nation. "Our spymasters have no news of the Princess and are frantically looking for answers. I know nothing else of this matter at the moment, but my concern for our plans in monumental, we must find the girl to save you my lord. I pray she is still alive."

So what if Clarke has two equally strong desires that are very conflicting? Serafinno's greatest desire is rather irrational but it would be for Whisper to be a dragon; that way silly human things wouldn't get in the way of them playing and he could show her all the fun dragon stuff they could do together.

Anne drank the rum, one cup then another and another; she then took a full plate of the salted pork and a large helping of the still fresh vegetables. She devoured it all well the others talked, she was short on time but still wanted to enjoy this meals. Although the belch she gave was so loud it even surprised her and she actually blushed rather hard. She looked to the eyes on her, "Excuse me... What? It is the first meal at open sea, why do you think we have a feast? Food's all down hill from here." She took another helping of the vegetables. "Well bar fights are all good and fun, and nothing gets me excited like hearing a heroic last stands but something's bugging me." She looked over the crew and let her eyes stop on London, she drank deep from her rum, "You all want a story? I used to be on the Captains old ship, the Needle, before I struck out on my own. It was the best sailing of my life. There's lots of stories from back then. One time when I was just a little cabin girl younger than Delano ever, we were sailing close to investigate this island with this towering cliff wall. Suddenly these things started taking wing off high on the cliffs, human like but wings for arms and big taloned feet, covered in feathers and jutting razor beak for a mouth. They descend on us trying to drop on crew or to sweep by to grab and fly off with them. So the crew's shooting at them and slashing with swords drawn and there's Captain London with her whip catching creatures on the neck to slam into the mast or by the foot to slam two of them together and at the same time she's messing with the ships deck cannons." She took another mouthful chewing slowly and deliberately, "I run to her, I mean it was my job to assist the Captain, so I run to see if I can help and one of the things swoops down and picks me up by my left arm. Suddenly I'm rising up as it spins in circles to get altitude and carry me off. Back then all I had was a tiny knife, so I'm jabbing it and jabbing it." She stabbed the pork on the table a couple of times for emphasis. "Finally it stops flapping and we're tumbling down, boom, land right on the ships edge and I'm tumbling over the side but something stops me. Captain London holding me by a boot strap, she hoists me up and asks if I'm okay, her face a picture of concern, right in the middle of the fight!" Anne chuckled before continuing, "I could only nod cause above us the sky was now filled with these things,there must have been a hundred or more. We were giving them hell and hadn't lost anyone yet but there was no way we could fight them all. At least that's what I thought and what was written across the faces of the entire crew; not the Captain though, she just grinned and mussed my hair before saying one of the many things I'd never forget her saying." She paused for dramatic effect, her eyes distant and watching the memory over in her mind, "she said, 'Way to keep them distracted for me kid, that one's yours and I'll take the rest.' I couldn't believe it, I thought she had snapped but when I opened my mouth she put a finger to it to silence me and said, 'Marry-Anne just you watch.' With that she turned away and turned two of our barrels of the freshest fish overboard. The fish were barely alive from there time in the barrels and just spasmed and thrashes on the surface, churning the ocean. Those carrion feeder all massed on that side of the ship and went for the easier prey. It wouldn't last long but every single one had abandoned us. Meanwhile London lit a long match then casually walked lighting the fuses to all the deck cannons." Anne pounded the table several times in a row, "the cannons go off and it only kills a handful of them and none of the monsters even flinch, still completely focused on the fish. My heart sinks thinking it didn't work, the captain leans up agains the ship rail grips it tightly and yells 'Hold on!' The cannon shots hit the cliff and the whole cliff face shatters all the way up. A giant piece that had to be the cliff edge from above lands feet away from the ship. Smack!" She slammed her hand open palmed on the table. She leaned back in her chair as the story was coming to an end, "The ship rocked back almost tipping us from the wave, we're all soaked in sea water and covered in guts, but everyone is still there and the flock of whatever they were was gone. Every last one of them. Crew's completely silent in shock, Captain London turn to me and says, 'well what did you think of that?' I don't know what possessed me but after a seconds though all I could say was, 'I think we're going to have to pull double shifts fishing...' London started to laugh and I started to laugh, the whole crew just broke out laughing." Anne let the story sink in for a moment and took the time to let the memory fade while she became serious, and then continued. Refocusing her gaze on Captain London, "I've got a hundred stories like that captain, that's what's bugging me now. The Needle and her crew are gone, there's rumors you were the only survivor, whispers that you're cursed, you have a tremendous debit to the Merchant Militia... What happened? Do we get to hear that story?" She hesitated, "I don't mean to spoil the mood or pry captain. If you don't wish to share that's your choice. It just weighs heavy on me and my memories."

The fall into the princess's lap jolted Clarke back awake for moment, he stared blurry eyed and confused up at her. Some small part of his mind screamed at him to get up but it was a small part and her voice soothed even that. He did manage to mumble, "I just need more coffee to wake, Tinkerer's only need four hours and caffeine." He didn't struggle to rise though instead he closed his eyes his mind returning to that old child's tale before he's been sent away to join the order. It was a good memory when he still had a home. He's voice was just a whispered mumble about the story, "but in it he asked the princess to join him by the fire and home was most important." It made him melancholy, and he shifted a little an eyes cracking open to stare at the aptly name dragon, thinking of what it had done so far maybe that beastie was a bit smarter than it seemed.

@Alex Kennedy @RunsWithSquirlz @Shadow Dancer @Sanctified Absence @Flying Ace @Dji ROLE CALL!!! So let's get this thing going again, my trip caused a lull that we need to fix, my apologies. So everybody let's have our characters get back to camp grab some grub and slip into some shut eye. We can get back on the road lickity split and keep this RP rolling! We've still got a long way to the coast and this is only the end of our second day! Thank god for quick traveling time skips to keep us sane but we've got lots of fun planned for the stops. I promise.

Aye, Aye Captain! I'll be going down with this ship!

Clarke was surprised how tired he felt so early in the night, he realized heard missed his evening coffee in all the excitement and the fact he hadn't slept the night before. 'Damn he thought to himself 'I paid for that Inn room'. His eyelids felt so heavy now, he hadn't had a sudden crash like this since his Tinker Training as a child. The sudden grogginess gave him a dopey grin, "Serafinno? I remember that story from when I was a child." He rubbed an eye leaving it black with soot as he looked between Dresden and Whisp, "Just you watch. I already know what I'm going to build to get that stick out. It'll blow that damn stick away too." He gave a small chuckle. His head started to nod as sleep was stealing his mind away, he didn't even realize he was leaning against the princess. ********************** Inside the fire Finn started to snore, this turned one unfortunate side of the fire into a sudden bursting flamethrower, luckily no one was in the way.

Clarke let the touch of a smile pull at the corners of his mouth, "no need to apologize Miss Whisp, I don't think you had much choice in the matter. Your blood cleans up pretty quick and really it gave me an excuse to work on my cart." He thought for a moment maybe that was why she had come over here; she felt guilty and so he put her at ease. But then she asked for him to come back to the fire with her, to sit with her and the others. He stared into her eyes curious about what she was thinking, what did she want from him? He was about to open his mouth to ask her 'why' when Dresden called out to them and Clarke snapped back to reality. Of course, fitting in, acting merry and raising moral that made sense, it must have been the difference in his status and hers that threw him off. He could do all that, and would enjoy it; one could enjoy his work right? These people were going to make him rich might as well treat them right. He nodded, "yes, of course I'd bee happy to join you by the fire. Just promise the dragon won't get too ornery because of it." He grabbed his bedroll and started towards the fire. Spreading it out, he almost laid down himself before hesitating to look back at Whisper, he had just walked away from her sure he was doing what she had suggested but something felt wrong. He realized what it was and gestured for her to sit on the bedding next to him. He realized he'd never sat on his bedroll before, it was comfortable. He looked at Dresden, "there I'm by the fire, but that device for Adrass might take a few days." He smirked at the literal thought of such a device.

Anne scanned horizon and sighed; there was nothing on she could see to justify dodging out of dinner with the crew, at least nothing that London would allow her to use as an acceptable excuse to skip the first meal with a new crew and the first meal of them reuniting. The captain could be very persuasive and stubborn if she wanted to be and fighting with her would only waste time. Anne tied off the helm to keep their current course and slid down the rail to deck level kicking her feet over and hopping to speed her way into the galley. She practically knocked over the blind man and didn't apologize for it as she plopped into a chair. She swiped her cup from the table and was disappointed to find it still empty, Anne held it out towards Delano for the girl to fill it while her other hand pulled an hour glass from the same pocket that held her spyglass. She flipped it onto the table so the sand would being to run, "Sorry Captain I know this is a big moment but I hate to be away from the helm; this ship would be happy to see us dead, so that's all the time I can spare."

Clarke actually jumped when the princess's voice came from behind him, he hadn't heard her approach and hadn't expected anyone to come over and talk with him while he worked. He wiped a bit of sweat from his brow and took off his goggles because they had darkened against the light of his work and the cart, still he felt somewhat vulnerable without them on. It didn't help that her comments and actions had caught him off guard as well. "Oh," was all he managed to said rather dumbly as he took the cup back. He stared at it for a moment, it was clean... nobles weren't supposed to wash their own dishes and definitely not someone else's cup, that irregularity nagged at him and made him stumble on what to say. "Thank you?... I mean you're welcome and thank you for cleaning it princ-Miss Whisp." He caught himself before calling her royalty, if this band wanted to survive they needed to start living their cover, but still curiosity got the better of him, "had, had you never had something like it before? I was certain you would have found it of a lesser quality than well you might have had... Where you come from." This was awkward, he felt awkward, he didn't know how to make it any less awkward, he wanted to put his goggles back on and go back to work but he couldn't he worked for her now, also she was nobility that demanded some respect and finally he had to admit he found something about her curious he didn't know what and that bugged him most of all. *********************** Finn liked the warmth the fire offered, he felt much colder than he normally did and the burning air soothed his aching throat; half asleep he crawled fully into the fire and curled up to sleep for the night.

Anne was surveying the ship from her higher position at the helm, she took in all the crews action without really focusing on it; instead she kept her attention on the open ocean ahead of her and the different billowing flags along the ship. The main sail had been raised the Thread was resistant and sluggish at first but once it seemed to realize Anne was too experienced to let it choose its own course the ship's behavior changed; suddenly it was completely compliant rushing them along faster than any non-Mage supplemented ship she had been on. The Thread's hate was still there, clearly it had decided if it couldn't steer them to their death it would speed them to die wherever its foolish new masters dared to venture. As the sun was setting and the crew would be readying the evening meal and preparing for staggered sleeping shifts Anne estimated they might have already made it a fourth of the way to the targeted deserted shipping lane to meet the pirates.

Clarke frowned of course he received no thanks from the princess, trying to organize and help in his little ways would get no attention from the others, no praise or grateful words. It was fine he was used to being overlooked, accept when others wanted something from him. It just proved what he had already known, none of these people would mean anything more to him than anyone else in his life, just passing through. He walked back to his cart; away from the camp. Pulling a lever the machine started to chug and churn again, a small light above it lit the area and he once again picked up a hosed tool in each hand to start working again. He only paused to open a cabinet and nibble on some of his jerky supply. Eventually when he was satisfied with his work he pulled out a bed roll and prepared to sleep next to the comforting presence of his machine. ************* Serafinno gave a gurgling croak, his throat hurt something fierce and he felt far heavier than he had ever felt before. Opening his eyes he whimpered as he couldn't see anything the world was only a grey smudge but he smelled Whisper and knew it was her holding him, her heartbeat was strong and steady being able to hear it assured him that everything would be alright. He nuzzled into her embrace.

So I'm back home now, sorry I was gone; my best friend got married yesterday and the things revolving around took up my whole weekend and the last two days. I'm reading to catch up now.

Anne snorted, "you really want to get yourself alone onto a pirate ship full of fiends and murders? You don't look like a fighter, princess, but okay I can get you there," She glared at the gunner, "I do have some ideas, my concern isn't for my health only the Thread staying together. If you really want to try it we could sacrifice our only lifeboat beat it up and throw miss fire in it. She acts like a scared pathetic survivor," Anne licked her lips looking back to her, "should be easy enough for you; they pick you up, you tell them a sob story of sirens attacking the ship and of course of our secret priceless cargo; that will draw them in close and put them at ease that it's crewless." She took a swig of her coffee, "if they don't kill you out right you can start the demonic fire show when they pull close. I'll stay underwater under the lifeboat and slip into their lower decks to stop the gunning crew from firing when the show starts. Then maybe the rest of the plan has a chance." She spun the revolver on her finger and suddenly it was the dagger again. She pointed it and snarled at Duncan, "me in the ship killing gunners like you while you hide in the crows nest killing like a coward. Ever question my 'guts' again and I'll show you your own intestines." She sheathed the dagger. She glanced at Captain London, still tense about these two insulting her. This crew would learn some respect for her or there would be blood, the dagger was whispering to her again, Orpheus and his honeyed words of violence. She squeezed her eyes shut and ignored the weapon. She spoke through clenched teeth, "Yes captain." She stalked back to the helm, yelling to the crew, "Raise the boom sail, no need for the main until we leave clear the docks."

Just wanted to point out that I do really like this plan, but Anne is supposed to be a stick in the mud and a pain in the ass so she'll point out any flaws she thinks of and be real negative most of the time.

Anne had final had enough, "your plan is stupid." she said bluntly, she wouldn't lie and indulge this foolish idea any longer. She pulled out the tooth and flesh dagger twirling it in rapidly around her index finger, it seemed to crackle with ruby colored lightning and blur its shape, "you're not thinking of two important things: first if a sailor sees a flaming ship in the ocean they do not approach it, so you'll need to lure them close before your show starts or they'll simply run; second they will shoot at us when this starts, no crew would not ready guns on the unknown even on a ghost ship. Fear is a powerful weapon, but you must have never traveled long at sea; fear does not make a sailor abandon ship or try to hide, they fight because defending the ship and escape is the only thing that can save them." She stopped the spinning weapon in her hand, it was now a revolver that looked more like it was made of the chitinous shell of a smashed bug. "If you want to your plan to work like you IMAGINE then you'd need the explosions and smoke from our ship but the fire demon to come from inside their ship and also something on their ship to stop them from fear firing at us. If we could get some crew on their ship first it might work, but that's not going to happen so the plan is delusional. Whether the flames are possible or not."

Clarke shook his head muttering to himself, Adrass and the light mage hadn't come back yet, he hope they weren't out murdering each other, Indicus and Helena were caring for the lost cause of a dragon, the groups healer was catatonic and being babied by a bard who might as well be playing dress up, Dresden and Tulla were a mess with the later still unconscious. It seemed to him like the bloody chimera was the only one in the party that he could trust to be worth a damn. He actually went as far as to pat the creature on the back and say encouragingly, "keep an eye on it Tugg and you sense anyone or anything wrong you start roaring." He sat down next to Tulla opening up his carts emergency medical kit, it had some good stuff in it considering it was prepared incase he had an accident with Tinkering equipment. "Everyone is welcome to any aide they need, don't say I'm not kind to my allies." He then set to work on the small wound in Tulla's chest, he didn't shy away from working on the nude woman his was to busy trying to remember what little knowledge of first aide he had, the treated it like working on any machine: Clean the workspace, sanitary wipe and absorbent gauze; prep work, sanitizing the wound with alcohol and hydrogen peroxide good thing she was unconscious; work, in this case packing wound with gauze maybe stitches later; seal the site, he covered the packing gauze with a sticky adhesive patch. He gave a sigh organic material was so mess and uncertain, he hope he had done a proper job. He turned to look at Dresden next, "well water Mage need help with your arms? I'll do the best I can."

Yup I didn't mention it again cause I didn't see a problem with it not affecting her by a scratch, but a GM should never forget the little things lol

@Shadow Dancer Tulla got hit full on yes, but Helena had a dart cut her cheek. Maybe not enough poison to effect her at all but Clarke doesn't know that. Just him noticing details. I imagine him being pretty funny looking rushing around in his goggles barking orders like a general. He just can't stand all the chaos going on

Clarke rose from Tulla satisfied that she seemed to be stabilizing, maybe the assassin had counted on his shot and the magic neutralizer to kill the princess; the poison didn't seem too swift on it's own in a low dose. He huffed at Dresden's response, "if you can't work your magic find something you can do, tear up cloth for bandages, throw rocks at that one damn raven left, help the former cripple drag the dragon out of the water, her and Indicus are seemed to be poisoned who knows how long they have before collapsing! No one is useless, unless they refuse to try something!" He was beginning to worry that about the odds of this group making it through the Ashcreek forest let alone Coppershine and to the capital. If they were going to make it he was certain of at least one thing, they would need the princess's power and she would need to be strong. He sighed as he looked at her it didn't seem likely to happen without support, how he despised nobles. He made his way back to his cart at a jog, he'd give the princess a little jump start, a bit of warmth and caffeine would certainly help... He stopped before pulling the lever to make black coffee, the 'princess' would likely gag on something so bitter. He hated himself as he started another similar drink, powdered chocolate with a touch of java; his own personal stash of a comfort drink for when deals or projects went badly and worth as much as ground gold. Tinkerer's thermos, a warmed blanket and case of emergency medical materials in hand, he returned to the princess. "Miss Whisp I must insist you drink some of this," he pushed the cup into her hands draping the heated blanket over her shoulders. He looked that the bard and threw him back his shirt "now is not the time for formalities, if she can't dress then dress her yourself." Returning his gaze to the girl, "the hair looks good Miss Whisp but you need to be stronger, you're acting like a scared little princess, not the world hardened gypsy you are." He left the two of them at that to tend to the others. He stopped in front of Indicus, "you better not be thinking of giving that to the beastie. If that's enough for one dragon, it's enough for two humans. Split it with Helena, damn dragon would just drowned in it anyways. If the princess isn't strong enough to save her pet she doesn't deserve it and believe me she won't save you before it."