NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC Thread here:
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=549053

23rd May, 1700,
Caribbean Sea


"All Batteries fire on my mark!" Patrick Reynolds ordered from the foredeck of his ship. His vessel, the fifth-rate Frigate known as the United Irishman was closing fast on the struggling Merchant Ship, although many times bigger than his vessel, his ship was packing a lot more firepower as the sweating crews below him proved. The Jolly Roger of Patrick Reynolds fluttered in the breeze as his ship drew closer and closer.

"Ready!" He called in his thick Irish accent as the pirate vessel slowly started to overtake the merchant ship. He could see her crew rushing about like headless chickens trying to prepare a defense. Not that he was going to give them the chance.

"FIRE!" He bellowed. Almost instantly, a sound not unlike thunder boomed across the flat water as cannon after cannon belched white smoke and hurled a cannonball into the merchant ship. 24 pounds of lead smashed through the wooden walls, creating vast holes in the side of his victim.

Although Reynolds knew, the Merchant vessel was not gonna put up anymore of a fight he still thought it prudent enough to gave the cry
"All hands, Prepare to board!" At that command, his cannon crews grabbed their sabres, pistols, axes and muskets as well as grappling irons for assaulting the vessel.

"Cap'n! They've struck their colours!" Teddy O'Donnell, the First Mate, called out. The Pirate crew cheered and clambered aboard to loot to their heart's content.

"Well?" Patrick asked sometime later, "How have we done?"

"As well as expected, Cap'n, the ship had a powder magazine big enough to keep our guns firing for a month. They also had a small amount of other materials, sugar mostly"

"Very well, give them their ship back and put our swag in the hold. Secure it and make sure the rats don't get to it"

"Aye Cap'n"

Patrick smiled as his crew hauled the cargo from the Merchant and stored it safely away in his own ship. Paddy Reynolds had just made his second 'kill' of the month, barely a fortnight old. The other ship, an East Indiaman had supplied his ship with a company payroll as well as British Cannonballs, a rare commodity in these waters.

Patrick was enjoying himself, he was enjoying the golden age of Piracy.

"Ato shippu on sono ugen kiwa, kyaputen."
Pirate Captain Kitsunekaji Ro-zu sighed to himself. "Please," he said in his Japanese accented English, "speak English, First Mate. It will not be much use jabbering at them in Japanese if they do not understand us."
The First Mate lowered his eyeglass. "Aye Captain."
"As to the ship, what of the colors?"
"Spanish, Captain."
"Armed?"
"Yes. Five broadside guns."
"Is that all?"
"Yes Captain."
"Destroy the masts and helmsman wheel from range while the grappling ship gets close. I know these Spanish ships. Their guns are powerful, but if attacked from range they are helpless."
"All right you two-headed sons of dogs, get our starboard cannons ready! Run up the colors!"
Ro-zu smiled to himself. His First Mate had learned something. All across the Kouro his pirate crew were scrambling for the guns. The flag (http://james-b-roger.deviantart.com/art/Nameless-Roger-02-62112841) rose into the sky, flapping sinisterly in the tropical breeze. It was simple enough to interpret: Spears equal weapons, bleeding heart equals death, hourglass equals running out of time, skull equals pirates. The flag was a simple message in itself: We are pirates. Surrender now, because we are nearly upon you, or you will die.

The Governer General of Porte au Prince looked out of his wide bay window and sighed heavily. How he both loved and hated his splendid and squalid charge. He'd been sent here so long ago with such high hopes, for a well done job here would see him one day comfortably ensconsed at court. That proved to be a most elusive dream and his desires, as time went by became far more modest. To have a loving wife, some fine sons and a pretty daughter or two. Those dreams went into the ash heap of history and he became content to merely to be known for setting a fine table and offering the finest rum the Caribbe had to offer..

He winced as the sound of voices from the not that distant Crows Nest, the largest tavern cum whore house, cum gambling establishment - in short where all the freebooters and ruffians that made Porte au Prince home came to meet, make merry, recruit more to their devils cause....

He couldn't stop them. He had less than a five dozen men and ten officers to command them. No, the best he could manage was to keep them from killing one another in the streets, or seizing any woman that caught their eyes and debauching them. With those modest goals he had to be content.

But one of the worst was in port tonight. Captain Black Morgan, Morgainne ap' Vargskol. Morgainne the wolf's head. A reaver, a pirate most viscious, though she - yes she, a female, a woman, oh even more scandalous! - claimed that the tattered papers, salt stained to illegibility were proper Letters of Marque. Though the Governer General hade never heard of the country that issued them. He thought perhaps Neuvo Nihongo was one of the tiny island nations off the Barbary coast. "Be damned upstart native primerate with delusions of importance" The Governer General grumbled to the empty room he stood in, his secretary, a spindly young man the son of one of the local merchants, having gone home to dinner with his ageing parents. He turned away as one of his foot men came into light the lamps and tell him that the butler wished him infomed that his own solitary dinner had been laid.

Blocks away in the bright gilt and scarlet finery of the Crows Nest- by candle light the establishment was the most opulent one could find in the whole of the bustling city - though more than a bit tattered if seen in the unforgiving light of day, the crew of the Lovers Bite made merry and spent the gold and silver plunder of their latest voyage. Sucessfull they had been, though they had suffered losses and needed replacement crew to bring their numbers back up. They trusted Captain Black Morgan to do that in proper fashion. She had an eye for good men, and the Captain never failed to recruit as many as were needed, and often more than they could ship. The laggards come too late to fill a slot bemoaned their slowness when the Lovers Bite returned to Port Au Prince her holds bulging with booty.

Captain Black Morgan was tall for a woman in her red heeled boots of spanish fashion she stood fully six foot tall, an amazon of a woman, and built like a warrioor maide as well. No fainting lass was this dark heaired beauty.. Her name might have been Welch, or perhaps HNorse, but her looks were pure Black Irish, jet black hair, wicked storm blue eyes and fair skin that never burned but only bronzed lightly.

"Who'll make his mark?." The captain cried. "To the Devil drink a toast." Morgan raised a beaten gold goblet adorned with emeralds and splendid pearls of Spanish workmanship, and drank it down in oine long draught. "We'll glut the hold with cups of gold and we'll feed the sea with ghosts. I see your hunger for a fortune, could be better served beneath my flag." Her flag was legendary, black as sin with a white wiolf's head against a crimson moon over a pair of silver sabgers crossed.

"If you've the stomach for a broadside, come aboard my pretty boys. I will take you and make you, everything you've ever dreamed." Captain Black Morgan laughed as a pair of half undresssed doxies flung themselves on to the shoulder of the tallest of the men she was addressing. The half drunk lout ingnored them and their well displayed charms and stared burningly at the Pirate Queen. It would do him no good. She took no lovers from among her crew, and any that tried to force the issued died...and there were stories about their dieing.

At that point the door to the Crowe's Nest was flung open and there stood none other than Patrick Reynolds himself. A legend of the caribbean. A respectful hush filled the tavern as the 6'2 Irishman entered the tavern, followed by his crew, fierce both by reputation and appearance. The rumour was that Captain Reynolds had trained them up to the standard of any British crew.

Reynolds had just sold his cargo to one of the local merchants. One of many who hung around the port to snap up the loot from returning pirates. This they could then sell to it's former owner for double the price. However, three weeks into his voyage, Reynolds had run afoul of a French Frigate Although it was them that had been forced to retreat, many of his crew had been killed or wounded in the battle. He needed a few good men and also a place he could repair the damage to his ship in peace. Although Port au Prince was not safe, it was the safest a pirate ship could get to being repaired without running into a Ship of the Line.

He smiled at Captain Morgan as his own crew spread out into the bar. They were not looking for a fight anymore than the rest of the Tavern's inhabitants were. They just wanted to spend it on rum and any other expensive drink they could get their hands on. They would buy drinks for their friends and, before daybreak, there would be a riot to contend with. Not that Reynolds cared, slap a piece of silver in the Constables hand and any men in the cells would be realized without another word. The payment would come from their wages on the next trip obviously but, for the moment, life was sweet.

Smiling, Patrick Reynolds approached Morgan's table
"Captain Morgan" he took of his hat and, revealing his smooth black hair that stretched down to his shoulders, gave her low bow, "I hope this fine weather is serving you well?" He remarked in his thick Irish accent.

OOC:A Must See Part I (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQEqb70yW8A) - It's been my song for over thirty years!

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Morgan finished letting the lads make their marks on the heavy vellum paper of the Journal that they used to record such, and let her quatermaster take the large hard bound tome away. Tossing her new crew a hand full of coin she gave they Irishman a cheech grin.

I hope this fine weather is serving you well?"

"Aye, tis. Sit and have a cup on me." She rasied a cry "Landlord, wine! Make it the finest. Make it a cup for a seadog's thirst" She knew well how the long weeks at sea could leave a man with a thirt. Morgan smiled to herself, she'd gotten in first and gotten the first pick of potential crew. Not a ship made land that didn't need at least one or two new crew, and they weren't all that easy to fine...at least not those that met her standards. She prefered to polish them up herself, and she ws a demanding captain when asea.

"Did the winds and Dame Fortune favor ya? Or did you exchange pounds for shillings?" Morgan would trade information of shipping and the predations of various navies if he would. She felt that all of the Brethern - and yes the Sisters too - needed to hang togather on this or they'd all wind up on seperate gibbets, swining in the sea breeze. And that she had no intention of doing.

When the tavers wench had brought the huge mug filled with moderately decent wine and set it before Reynolds she sat back to listen to the tale of his doings.

"The wind is as fine as ever" He laughed and accepted her offer of a drink, if Pirates couldn't trust one another then who could they trust? "And I see you already plucked Port au Prince's finest for your own vessel! It matters not. I will be in port for a few weeks patching up my ship"

He took a long swing from his drink and let the heavy mug fall to the table. He knew what she was looking for and he knew he was going to give it

"The wind blows as always from the south," He began in his report-like way, "That's bringing the Spanish and Dutch merchants not far from this island. Their vessels are fast but not particularly well armed. They're armed with the spoils of the Americas. Sugar, Gold, Tobacco all for the taking!. It's the West Indiamen you need to be watching out for this weather." He took another drink and sighed

"On a less profitable note, both the King's Navy and the Navy of the Republic are strengthening their patrols in these waters. I counted no less than twelve naval sails on my four week journey. They're bringing in big buggers as well. First Rate ships of the line, a hundred guns or more! Then the frigates are being increasing well led and well handled. That French whore that holed my ship," He gestured outside, "It is the best handling I have seen from a Frenchman in many years. They almost had us, but we turned the tide! If you are heading out, stay clear of French or British waters for the time being. The Spanish are as fair game as always, I reckon"
He finished his report and finished his drink, he swiftly ordered another and smiled at her
"When do ye plan on setting sail then?" He asked.

Part Two (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6N6JGZ1hTQ) Yes it's a LONG song!
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She'd listened to his report carefully, making firm mental notes, nodding her head here and there at the keenness of his observations. He had a good eye and a sound mind. He was one of the few that had lasted more than a few years and bad cess withstanding, would last more than a few more.

"When do ye plan on setting sail then?"

"Come the daybreak, we embark...On the flood of the morning tide, once more the oceans wide." She grinned at him, noting that though he'd downed the cup in a breath it was but wine - if she did in her next, she drinking rum, would be a touch more to the winds than he would, and that was never to the good. She called for cider and dinner, a roast chicken with vegtables, it woudl feed them both, and she was inclinded to be hospitable tonight.

"Give me the French doxies name and should I run across her I'll bring ye her bell as a trinket. But avoid them I will. I have no interest in crossing swords with any save the Spanish." Indeed her hatred of all persons and ships Spanish was as legendary as her flag. There was no quarter to be found when she dealt with them.

The chicken, plump perfectly roasted came quickly and bowls heaped with potatoes, carrots, and peas all dripping with butter, and a large platter with cheese and fresh baked bread. Oh they'd charge her ruinously for such a feast but she didn't care

"Oh Father in Heaven!" Morgan groaned as she looked over the feast. "I dream of good food when I'm at sea. Bedplay can rot, but fresh food? Never! Dig in Reynolds, or I'll be in here before ye as well!"

OOC: Class set of songs
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Reynolds laughed as the food was brought forward
"Four weeks of ship's biscuits and salted pork, you do me a great justice, Madame" He laughed again as he ate, then his smile dropped a little as he spoke

"The Spanish are starting their treasure runs soon. It'll be that time of year again. All those galleons virtually sinking with gold from the Americas! All due to line the pocket of the Spanish King. If I can't get in there first" He laughed again as his own pint of rum was brought to him,

"Though the buggers are starting to learn. They're starting to sail in small groups with escort to avoid being picked off. They learned it from the British" He said with disgust. Captain Reynolds despised the British entirely and it was said he had executed entire crews if they were British and sent their ships drifting into port with the heads hanging off the cannon.

"My ship will be ready within three weeks, the peak of the gold season. When that time comes, it may require a bit of...'collective teamwork'...to drive the Spanish rats from their formation. What do you think?" He took a deep drink and laughed even louder, "Can the crew of the famous Black Morgan keep up with the mighty United Irishman?"

Admiral Nelson was proud of himself he been promoted to Vice admiral of the blue the Sixth highest rank in his majesty navy. He also the commander of the Mediterranean forces but he decide to take a trip to the caribbean after hearing stories of horrible pirates. He brought three ships with him the HMS Pegasus, HMS Alexandria, and the HMS Jane.

"Lieutenant Dobson look its one of those dreaded pirate ship" said Admiral Nelson

"Yes sir i count 40 guns" said Lieutenant Dobson

"Same here" said Admiral Nelson

"yes" said Lieutenant Dobson

"Pull alongside and form a line of battle and prepare to fire on my mark" said Admiral Nelson.

The ships formed the line of battle with the Pegasus leading followed by the Alexandria and then the Jane. Admiral Nelson figured this would be a short, relative easy battle. he faced more Formidable opponents such as the French and Spanish Navies. The Pegasus pulled alongside and Admiral Nelson gave the order "All guns fire" said Admiral Nelson the guns ripped thorough the ship stopping the ship completely in the water. Admiral Nelson gathered the Royal Marines and he prepared to board the ship. After a quick gunbattle he had everything under control.

"Can the crew of the famous Black Morgan keep up with the mighty United Irishman?"

Morgan threw back her head and laughed. "Mon, it's can your worm infested ship keep up with the Lovers Bite? I've the fastest ship to sail not only the hot blue " The old name of the brazen azure blue wanters of the Carribe "and the 'cold 'n old' the bottomless grey from the colonies though the Pillars of Herculese into the Bosphor straights and back again."

She took a bite of chicken and chewed it daintily. Her maners at times, oddly seemed to the manor born, as if ingrained in youth. But none knew, for she kept her past a mystery.

"But with Spanish gold" She barely kept from growling "comes the great storms. We'll need to be canny, not let ourselves be trapped in the shoals off the tip of the Floridas." She spoke seriously of the most dangerous area about, where more ships had been lost than not.

"O'll work wi' ye. Though I have one thing to state. Often the ships carry passengera. We hold those for ransom, not kill for pleasure. I don' know what the Jack Tar's did to ya, but should we take any, no unnecessary killing and no rapine. Or I'll shorten him, or her'n that done it, by a head"

And he would know she meant it. Her justice was swift and terrible, and she was damgerous beyond belief with the pair of swords she wore with unconsicous ease and grace. And she was no mean shot with a pistole either.

Half of the mast now lay at the bottom of the ocean, and the other half was in splinter-sized peices all along the deck. After the pounding the Spanish vessal had received, the crew had not been in any position to fight when the grappling ship pulled up beside it and unleashed the boarding party. Spanish sailors and marines lay about the deck, dead and dying, from shrapnel and musket shot and sword slice. The upper decks were in ruin, and most of the crew was dead or too wounded to do anything more than sit there and feel themselves die. Kitsunekaji Ro-zu looked upon this. There had been no casualties. Now to find out what the ship had been carrying. He was about to head below decks when one of his crew came up to meet him. "Kyaputen!" the man bowed respectfully. Most of the crew was Asian, Japanese or Chinese, and all had quickly learned to respect the Captain. Bad things happened to those who didn't.
"Repo-to."
"There are gold, silver, tobacco and suger in the hold. Most of the crews are dead, and we have the captain."
"Very good. Lead me to him."
"Aye."
Down into the lower decks, one deck below actually. Men were busy carrying up loads of treasure and cash crop. They would be fetching quite a pretty penny in port. Ro-zu was led to the captain's quarters, where a nervous looking Spanish was standing, disarmed and under guard by two pirates.
"Ah, Captain. How are you?"
The Spaniard looked angry, but afraid at the same time. "I, am, er, getting along...well." He finished lamly.
"Good. Now perhaps we can come to an agreement-"
He stopped. "What," he asked, perfectly calm, "is that?"
"What is what?"
"In the corner."
"Oh, that is my slave girl-"
There was the sound of metal scraping, a meaty slapping noise, a splattering sound, and the thud of something hitting the deck. Ro-zu inspected his sword critically and began to clean it with a blue bloodcloth. Without looking at the barely-clad slave girl, Indian in origin, fresh from the Amercias, he spoke in Spanish. She answered back. He said something else. She responded. He posed a question. She answered with one. He nodded, satisfied, and turned to the guards. "Get a cutless, a pistol and a spare set of clothes. You are to give them to the women, and she is to be treated as a part of the crew. If I hear of any ungentlemenly like conduct with her, I will make the man responsible eat his genitals. Am I understood?"
"Yes Kyaputen."
"Aye Kyaputen."
Ro-zu was not famous for his hatred of slavers. He just hadn't been around long enough to build one. However, he had zero tolerance for it in any form. To the amazement of his own crew, he once attacked a slaver ship, killed the crew, took the slaves, and did not sell them. Rather he took them on as crew members, and most were only too grateful to do so. Anyone on the ship who was not Asian was black. "We set sail," Ro-zu annonced on the deck, "for Tortuga. There we will sell our cargo, and a bit of shore leave, aye?" His crew cheered. They had their own little base, but there were no women at the base, although plently of rum and supplies.

It was like a big shock as the small, thin but agile figure of a 1.64 meters tall woman did not simply enter through the door of Crow's Nest, more exactly, she rushed through it like if running away from some significant, and powerful enemies. A flint, a quantity of gunpowder and of lead balls were visible strapped to her brown pants by a brown belt which also holstered a flintlock pistol that her hands never backed off from, like if at any moment someone would arrive and that woman would shoot at. And a very thin rapier also tumbled with her belt. She was quite beautiful, having a tanned skin, a long brown and wavy hair which was carefully trimmed, and amber eyes only reflected a sense of rage as her eyebrows were very slightly turned upwards on their edges. The relatively short woman, compared to the people of that tavern, then leaned to the right of the door and reached her hand even closer to the grip of the already loaded pistol and gestured for the crowd to not look at her and ignore her presence.

Someone was after her for sure, and this woman seemed to be a fast shot from the precision and quickness of her movements, but it was obvious one of the patrons would intervene regarding her actions which were anything but discrete.

"O'll work wi' ye. Though I have one thing to state. Often the ships carry passengera. We hold those for ransom, not kill for pleasure. I don' know what the Jack Tar's did to ya, but should we take any, no unnecessary killing and no rapine. Or I'll shorten him, or her'n that done it, by a head"

"Speed alone will not get you the prize at the end of the hunt. Only sailsmanship and courage can win you that prize" Reynolds lectured although he knew she already knew that. He laughed again as the rum started to get around his system and another pint was brought to him

"Very well! Prisoners shall be taken. We will give them quarter if we have to" He conceded then sighed, "You must prepare for your voyage tomorrow and I must prepare for a trek through the forests to find some timber for my vessel. I don't trust the scum of this port, I'll make my own repairs" He sighed

"Stay clear of British Waters and beware of British Sails" He warned as he drained his mug and left the bar, taking his rifle as he went. It was a strange weapon from the British Army. No one was sure how he had gained it and he wasn't about to tell them. The rest of his story was obvious enough though.

He had noticed the girl entering the room and now he approached her
"Ma'am, how does the day find you?" He asked politely.

Aboard the Hunter, a gallows was raised, an unusaly sight onm any ship, let alone a pirate one. The reason wasthe english navy, who had recently stormed the ship and were now in the proces of hanging her crew.

So intent were they on the deaths, they did not notice the small child hiding in the cargohold wo quietly, almost tohimself sang into a pice of eight.
"..Yo ho, all hands. Hoist the colours high. heave ho, haul together. Never shall we die" he murmerd in a strong chinese acent, then fell deathly quiet as a single crack sounded behind him. Turning he saw a red coat with a pistol aimed at his forhead who, without a second thaught, promptly fired.

From behind an island near the Hunter a sip began to emerge, as she crew closer her flag became clealy visable, a skull and cross bones on a red background with a sword on either side, signifing its aligance to shao dong.

Soon she was in fireing range and one of the crew finaly spotted her (her hull is black and this is a night) and the ship began to turn to bring the guns to bear. Shao dong lowerd his llokin glass and ordered "give em a taste of the triple guns!"
"Aye sir, load up the triples, fire at will MR Feng"
At the front of the ship two hatches lowere dand a tri barreled cannon moved forward out of each.

First one then the other fired and rotated, each shot aimed with precision at a crew man. Soon most of the read coats were dead and the ship had taken little damage. Satisfyed, Shoa dung gave the order to board.

With a roar the crew charged aboard, pistols blazing and cutlasses swing in a frenzy of flashing steel, clearing all the redcoats from the ship after 30 minutes of fighting.

"Throw the dead to the sea, Calipso can have them" ordered Shao then, to the bosen said " Mr Poung, want hunter to towed back to port, see to it wont you"
"Aye sir!" was tghe response "COME ON LADS GET TO IT!!" the bosen roared and headed with some others to fetch the hauling lines.

Captain Daniel O'reily was a very curious man. He was much loved and respected by his crew, and hated and hunted by the british. This was largely due the the acts of piracy he commited against the crown, and of course, being an irishman didnt help his reputation with england. He had plundered many vessels during his career, and has managed to elude even the most skilled privateers. And now he was in the prime of his career, plundering at his hearts content, and his story brings us into the heart of the carribean.


The formidable captain, who at 6 foot 6 towered above his crewman, stood beside his first mate.

"Casualties?" he said in a short and abrupt manner.

"Aye sir, 3 men wounded and 5 dead" said the first mate, a man of about 30 named Patrick "Shaky" Fitzimmons.

"And what of the limey bastards? what loot did they posess this time, it had better not be a shipment of potatoes again"

"The men ought to be bringing that across to the ship now cap'n, though i doubt itd be potatoes sir, they put up to good a fight for it to be potatoes" replied Fitzimmons"

"Aye, they put up a half decent fight these limey bastards, not like them to stand and fight" remarked O'reily in a concerned tone.

"Aye sir, it is unlike em, well see more stubborness in em id wager" Replied fitzimmons in an equally concerned tone.

The captain stood on the deck of his ship, the Legionaire and watched his men bring the plunder across from the enemy brig theyd just captured. Turns out the english were carrying an assortment of weaponry, from sabers to muskets, all of fine quality.

"Now this makes me troubles worthwhile now dont it lad? We can finally get rid of the rusty old blunderbusses we been using. Stow these below deck, and give the pommy bastards there ship back......after leavin em with no cannons o' course. After everythings been squared away set a course for St. Kitts, well need some repairs and a few new crew members."

After these last words the captain went to his cabain, and for the first time in 3 days....He slept.

It had been nearly a week since their last bout of employment and boredom was creeping its way into the skull of Captain Antonio Silva. His crew was still content with their leave, bringing women and various liquors onto the ship, yet he hungered to be underway once more. He walked to his chest and withdrew his guitar, a weathered old koa wood classical, and began to play. As he crescendoed into a furious swell of finger strumming, a deckhand drunkenly opened his cabin door and stumbled in.
"Sir, I've been finkin wesh should be getting shomfin of a larger share of teh rewards" he said drunkenly, oblivious to the innapropriate nature of his intrusion.
"A larger share?" mused Silva "Hmmm, I think a bit of sharing is indeed in order."
The crewman placed his hand palm up on the captain's desk, expecting a handful of coin, but instead recieved one of Silva's daggers buried hilt deep into his flesh.
"I am going to share with you some advice, you fool." Said Silva, twisting the knife, "Never let me lay eyes upon you again, on my ship or otherwise, lest I repeat this little lesson on a more vital body part." He grinned at the agonized crewman as if nothing had happened, removed the knife, and sent the man on his way.
"FIRST MATE!" called Silva.
"Yes, sir, what can I do for you?" replied the first mate, Nathan Reynolds, obsequieously.
"Replace that man, and post our advertisment on the wharf. I'm getting a little antsy waiting here."

Aboard the Brig of War Vainglorious
Nassau Harbor

Captain Christopher "Kitt" Gunasontree stood at attention and flicked an eye over towards the side railing. He saw a tricorn hat appear above the edge of the deck, and he flicked his eyes straight ahead and filled his lungs to bellow. "Hands! Stand by to render honors!"

Beside Gunasontree, in his navy blue officer's uniform, was a man in the respledent red of a Royal Marine who was atleast a hand taller than Kitt's own five and two thirds feet. The Marine's deep blue eyes had also been watching for the hat appearing about the deck. When Kitt bellow his orders, the Marine hissed to bosun's mates with their bosun's pipes to blow.

The high-pitched whistling heralded the man that wore the tricorn hat onto the deck of the Vainglorious. He was stout man dressed in a finer suit of clothes best attributed to a nobleman. He slowly turned his gaze around the Vainglorious's crew and the ship herself with the evaluating eye of a veteran sailor.

Kitt sucked in air again and bellow, "Hands! Salute!"

The entire crew brought their knuckles to their forehead. Kitt swore he heard a few of the louts actually knock themselves soundly enough to transmit sound. The Marine beside him and a few crewmen that he had been badgered into becoming makeshift Marines presented their muskets for inspection. The few officers made a crisper hand salute to the brim of their hats.

The stout noble nodded in agreement with what he saw, theatrically big enough for the entire crew to see. He walked up to Kitt and returned the man's salute. Kitt put himself at rest, and the Marine seeing this bellowed out to the crew to stand at ease, which wasn't as crisp and impressive as Kitt had hoped. It was mostly varying degrees of slouching.

The noble's grim, determining face lit with a smile after a few moments. "You have a fine crew, Captain Gunasontree, and a fine ship!"

"Thank you, Governor Smallbridge. We are honored by your patronage and your visit to the Vainglorious" Kitt answered dutifully.

"A pleasure, a pleasure, Captain. Now might we talk in private? We have much to say." He raised his voice for the benefit of the crew. "Not in the least is about your Letter of Marque and how you might best render confusion to those Dago upstarts to the south and wipe clean the ilk of piracy that plagues the oceans of his Britannic Majesty!"

The Marine could easily see that the Governor's wording was taking a little while to filter into the illiterate mass on the foredeck. However, some of the more clever hands were translating the King's English into the pidgin talk used below decks: Gold, plunder, women, more plunder! The translation was agreeable and being voiced in discordant grumbles amongst the lot. Can't have that, the Marine decided, it's only proper that such agreements be voiced loudly and in unison like proper English seaman. "Let's here it for the Governor and a chance for action! Hip hip!"

"Huzzah!" The crew cried.

"Hip hip!"

"Huzzah!"

The Governor smiled broadly. Oh how he missed the adoration of a good crew and a deck beneath his feet, but that was the price of advancement in the world, he supposed. Kitt glanced back at the Marine. "Mister Quigley, you may dismiss the men below!"

The Marine turned to his captain. "Aye-aye, sir! You heard him, you lot! DissssMISSED!" He bellowed. Again, the crew's less than impressive reaction to orders left something to be desired, and Kitt frowned as he conducted Governor Smallbridge below decks to his cramped cabin. Barthalomew Quigley noted the conduct of the hands and made a note to drill them until they were at least less embarrassing then his pretend Marines. He turned and followed his captain below decks.

In the close quarters and low cieling of his cabin, Kitt offered Governor Smallbridge the only chair, his chair. The Governor accepted graciously and sat. He drew from his coat a roll of parchement and offered it to Kitt with a proud smile.

Kitt unfurled it and read aloud to Quigley. "The King to all and singular Admirals &c., Greeting.

Know ye that we have granted and given to our well-beloved Christopher Gunasontree, master of the Brig of War Vainglorious, liberty to equip in the port of the town of Nassau, at his own charge, the aforesaid ship with as many mariners and marines as shall be necessary for their navigation and defence at sea against our enemies, whosoever they may be, and for subduing, capturing, and destroying the same; and liberty to set forth with the same ship, so equipped, upon the sea for the purpose aforesaid. And we will that whatsoever he, Christopher Gunasontree, succeed in winning, gaining, and having by capture from our enemies aforesaid, he may have and keep for his own proper use, without claim or hindrance by or from us, or our heirs or ministers, or the ministers of any our heirs whatsoever. Provided always that under colour of this licence he, Christopher, his mariners and marines aforesaid, neither do nor permit to be done any violence, hindrance, or hurt to any who are in friendship with us.

Witness the King at Westminster on the 4th day of February."

Kitt stopped and looked over to Quigley before looking back in awe to the Governor, who was chest was puffed up so proudly that he might pop a few buttons off his waist coat. "I said I would get it, my boy. Your old admiral has not fallen so low from his laurels that he cannot add meaning to his words."

"I never meant to imply..." Kitt sputtered.

"I know, my boy, I know." He waved away Kitt's apology. "It was not as difficult as one might thing with all the predation that has been occur in the Caribbean Sea this past monthes." The Governor shook his head, taking off his hat. Kitt belatedly remembered to take off his. Quigley had taken his off when they'd gone below decks. Smallbridge looked up at Kitt. "Word has reached us from agents in which we have the greatest confidence that a flotilla of pirate rabble is coalescing like a sludge in Port Au-Prince. The frogs haven't the spine to run them out, but they are using that wretched hive of scum and villiany as a base."

Kitt nodded in understanding. He could figure out what would have to be done, but there were proprieties to consider. "What would you have me do, milord?"

Lord Smallbridge, as was his title a paltry one at that, grew serious. "Follow that Letter to the letter, Captain." He said pointing to the Letter of Marque in Kitt's hands. "Our commerce depends on it. The East India Company in particularly furious about their tea cargoes being pilfered whenever they appear in Carribean waters."

He sighed. "This is a great chance for you, my boy, and the only one I have to give. With peace officially declared, there's no way I can have you out of half-pay and back aboard the deck of one of His Majesty's ships. I've used my monies to fund this venture because England needs more hulls out against the pirates and Spaniards, but also because I believe in you, Christopher."

Christopher looked away as the man became more tender. "Yes, sir...I do appreciate every opportunity you've afforded me, sir." Smallbridge had been the nearest thing to a father Kitt had from his young life as a literal son of a gun and then ward of the Crown in a Plymouth orphanage. Kitt had gone to sea as a power monkey aboard a ship of the line, and moved up quickly to be recognized as an able gunlayer after taking the position after a particularly blood cannon duel with a French frigate.

But it'd been years later that Smallbridge had noticed a new gunner's mate transferred to his frigate that showed more promise than a normal hand. The young Captain Oxnard, as Smallbridge was known before his peerage, had inquired about the young Gunasontree and convinced himself of the lad's worth. He'd raised young Kitt from the gun deck to the ranks of midshipmen and tutored him in mathematics and other learning the youth was woefully lacking. But all that work seemed worthwhile to Oxnard because saw in young Kitt the ability to command and the cool manner required of a captain admist the exploding, splintering hell of a ship of war in a fleet engagement.

Now, Admiral Smallbridge was Governor Smallbridge and was outside the chain of command. He had little influence over the Admiralty back in London, so the last full measure he could give his furlowed, half-pay protege was to fund a privateer's venture and secure a letter of marque. It worked like God himself had swept away the trials and tribulations that should have been set before him. That seemed like omen enough for Kitt's good fortunes. Governor Smallbridge stood, slowly as to avoid rapping his head on the beam above his head. "Captain, set sail at once for the isle of Hispanola and teach those that lift the black flag against England that they can be hanged from its tattered remains!"

An hour after the redcoats had been driven of the Man-o-war set sail to Port-Au-Prince and the Legacy, there the hunter would be recrewed and repaird, else it would face serus damage from the some 80 guns still capable of hiting the port.

In his cabin, shao sat pawing over his uncles charts that, despite being less acurate than modern charts, lead to many places the charts of the day cannot lead to.
There was a knock on the door
"Enter" he called in chinese and 4 men walked in, dragging one more between each of them
"We found these welps in the hold, looks like they was after our powder kegs" one of the men said, also in chinese.
"hmmmm, and im sure thatthey managed to get past the 30 men left aboard by themselves" Shao said, his face remaing perfectly composed, he steped up to one of the men " But! i could not help but notice, mr lao, that during the rescue of the Hunter, that you helped two red coats get aboard my flagship. With barely a barely dicernable movement he fliped a knife out from up his sleve and stabed Mr lao in the back of the neck. "Take them above, and you, dispose of his body.

Once they were on the deck Shao made an anouncement in english with a heavy chinese acent. "Mr Lao has helped these law abidin welps get on this ship, caring not who would die when the suceeded in destroying our powder kegs. I have dealt with Lao, but i ask you, what should we do with these dogs? Shoot them? Stab them? Howbout drown them?" to this there was a murmor of agreement, the crew tended to like drowning captured enimys "Yes? then let us do so, Bosen, have two cannonballs braught up if you please. The cannon balls were quickly braught up and each one had a man straped to it and then they were rolled off the side of the ship.

"Give my regards to davy jones" Shao called after the unfortunate men, turned and shouted "AS YOU WERE MEN" and returned to his quaters.

At the crows nest, the door opened slowly and a group, mostly chinese, of people entered, many in strong but flexable armor, dulled in splender by years of ware-and-ter at sea.

Most of them disperced thrugh the establish ment, making no attempt to hide thier large swords and other weapons. Three aproached Reynold and, in a reasonably clear acent , thier leader said "Excuse me sir, madam. Would i be right in thinking one of you is the renowned and feared Captain Reynolds?"

Morgan ignored the Spanaird, having decided some time ago that Spanish women were marginally better than Spanish men, and therefore, as long as they did not intrude on her life, she would refrain from intruding on theirs.
But should they make the mistake of bothering her, that decission would be quickly reversed.

So her eyes barely flicked over the small woman who all but tumbled into the Crow's Nest. She went back to enjoying her meal. Reynolds may have gulped his down, but she savored hers, taking the time to enjoy every bite.

The roasted chicken reduced to mere skeleton, and the vegtables naught but memory, Morgan sat back to finish off her cider with cheese carved from the slab the serving wench had brought.

Her curiosity was caught by the odd lot orientals that filtered into the tavern. She'd heard there were some of those strange fish about, far from thier normal haunts round the Horn or Cape. She wondered what brought them here

The attack ship Kouro and the grappling ship Binshou regrouped at the base. The little jungle island was entirely unremarkable, and thus perfect for hiding pirates. The island was in the shape of a "U" but with a rocky, treacherous enterence to the little bay. Inside the bay was the massive Shikyo, the largest ship (so far as the pirates knew) to sail the Caribbean. A Chinese junk pressed into service as a pirate ship, the Shikyo rarely left the island. It's crew and a small garrison of pirates kept up watch for national ships, merchant prey and enemy pirates, well hidden by the jungle and well protected by a variety of natural and man-made defenses. The only occurance had been a pirate ship trying to make a landing on the island as a temporary base...they hadn't expected the massive junk to be waiting for them like a deadly monster from the deep. The pirate ship, along with it's crew, now lay at the bottom on the bay. Kitsunekaji Ro-zu looked approvingly at his island as the Kouro floated though the enterence. Well hidden and well protected, if it came to that. The two ships docked next to the Shikyo, looking puny and insignificant next to the bulk of the junk. Ro-zu waved his hand at his current First Mate. "Unload some of the tobacco and suger for our personal use, but keep the rest loaded. There are merchants in Tortuga who will pay well for such. The gold and silver is to go into the storage, except for what we bring with us. Only the Kouro will be going to Tortuga, we are not hunting at the moment. Gods know it's been too long since I've been ashore. Make haste, so we may be underway and in Tortuga before nightfall tommorow."

Captain Luc Tibou Livinion stood on the deck of his ship, the Amerique. She was not a large ship, not a bateau de la ligne, but she was a frigate much larger than the boats most pirates commandeered. And, for this reason, she had been sent to Port-au-Prince to canvass the outlaws there. French Naval Command knew that one mere frigate had no chance against the many pirate ships there, but Livinion's mission was not to make war with the criminals, but to see which ones were dangerous to the interests of the Royaume. He would then lure the "problem" vessels out of port, where they would be smashed to pieces by the thirty-six eighteen pound guns of his command.

Having been immersed in deep though, Luc was startled when his First Officer yelled something to the equivalent of "Land Ahoy." With this, the Captain ordered the fleur-de-lis to be hauled down from the mast. A single naval frigate would be immediately targeted by all the pirates there, and France certainly did not want to lose its finest frigate to a bunch of barbarians. No, this mission was one of secrecy. Perhaps it could even result in the recruiting of privateers against the English and Spanish shipping in the Caribbean, or at least an "alliance" of sorts with those pirates who would agree to not harm French merchant fleets in return for protection and free pickings from rival European fleets. It was with this intent that the Amerique sailed into the harbor of Port-au-Prince on the night of May 24th, 1700...

at a small fishing village a number of poeple were standing at the dock looking out to sea at three Unkown Black ships of the line that had drop their Anchors just off shore

"would you look that have you seen a flag like that before"asked one man
"no who are they"said another
"they could be Spanish ,French or British pirates who knows" said a old man

Port-au-Prince...

Mallory Laurent made her way through the streets of Port-au-Prince, life in the caribbean was much different than that of life in the dirty, over crowded cities of Europe. Mallory was glad to be away from her father and all the drama that came with his dutys to France as an army officer. Stars were scattered across the night sky, no moon was visible, it was a perfect night for a walk along the waterfront.

Port-au-Prince had been a home to Pirates and other thieves for decades, it wasn't usually safe for a lone woman to walk about by herself at this time of night on the waterfront but anyone who might try somthing hadn't met Miss Laurent as of yet. Mallory had been trying to get on as help either on board a ship or in a tavern or shop of some kind, she had skills but none of which that could be put together.

She walked out on a vacant jetty gazing out over the rolling waves, the silhouette of a ship on the ocean heading for port came into veiw.... a warm breeze blew Mallorys hair in the wind, sence she arrived on the island she had spoken to no one unless applying to a job....she was slightly lonely at times but didn't miss company that much.

As the ship in the distance got a little closer it looked like a military vessel, Mallory had seen French warships her whole life and that was definatly close if it wasn't.

http://is3.okcupid.com/users/108/554/10955456165571747308/mt1160688040.jpg

The Amerique now allowed herself to be blown by the slight breeze into a vacant space at the docks. The crew was, for the most part, asleep by now, and they would not be allowed to roam the city freely until daybreak, when they were less likely to get into trouble. Presently, however, Captain Luc Tibou Livinion himself stepped out, alone, onto the wooden docks. A beautiful night, he thought. He stood, taking a deep breath of the warm, fresh, night air, before proceeding onto dry, solid land. However, he was not able to enjoy himself for long. His gaze soon shifted to a woman on a jetty, who had apparently been watching the entire docking procedure of his ship. Concerned for his mission's secrecy, he made his way up to where she was located.

Mallory watched the ship move alongside the jetty, it was a French naval vessal for sure. A single man disembarked from the ship by means of a wooden gang flank, he was an officer, from here she could not determine his rank. The man looked relaxed as he strolled along and reached dry land, he seemed to be relieved taking a deep breath of air.... he suddenly turned his attention to her and moved forward as if he wanted to speak with her...

Maybe he knows who i am....what if he has seen me with my father? oh my....what if my father has sent a search party for me?

She awaited him calmly, it was clear he was comming over...

Port-au-Prince five days later

showing signs of Battle the thre black ships of the line sail into to port and drop Anchor a yards from the dock

those who were watching the ships would see Marines in gray standing watch as the sailors went about the ships

Any good pirate kept a scurvy lad or two on watch along the bay for any thing 'official' to show an interest in what lay in port, and Morgan was a very good pirate indeed. Multiple look outs earned their pence when they flew into the Crow's Nest s fast as their bare feet could carry them.

She didn't recognise the flag they described, or the colors the ships were painted, but no naval capatin worth his salt would just sail directly into harbor. Madmen she didn't want to deal with, and fortuantely she NEVER tied up to a pier.

She stood and gave a sharp whistle that silenced the whole of the Crow's Nest "Ladies and gentlemen, our time is up, the Merry Widow has arrived, and I am in no mood to waltz. Out and to the jolly boats quiet like, do you understand"

Her seasoned crew knew exactly what she meant and they gathered of the fresh swabbies and hustled them, grumglin under their breaths.

Bringing in ships that big to the docks was a potentially lethal flaw, for they would need the tide to carry them out, the winds would not be suffecient, as the port area was too narrow, and the Ile de la Gonave formed a natural pivot for the winds. No, no ship's Captain of any skill - and the desire to sail when they chose- tied up at dock - the tide turned only twice a day...

The Lovers Bite lay out past the Tise Zone, where in short order sher sails could belle with the winds and be out of there with only one tack, and that depending is she wated to go northeast rather than southwesterly.

As the United Irishman set sail from Port-au-Prince, bound for the Pirate stronghold of Tortuga, Patrick noticed a French Frigate sitting in the bay and growled. It was not the same one that had engaged him but she was of the same make. His own vessel was as well armed and, he suspected, better crewed, but he did not want to risk battle with his vessel damaged.

"Teddy!" Patrick called from the foredeck. Amongst the sun drenched crewman, a large Irishman appeared, his First Mate

"Cap'n?" He asked, wiping the grime from his forehead

"The Frogs are starting to stick their noses into Port-au-Prince and We don't have the stomach for a fight today. Raise all canvas! We make full speed to Tortuga"

"Aye Cap'n! Look lively you scum! Come on, Mister Jones, wake up! Just because you spent a night in the cells doesn't mean you're excused from duty! I want men up those masts!"

Patrick watched, internally delighted as the fresh breeze gently blew over his face and the sun reflected of the clear bue sea. Life as a pirate was good. He watched the canvas of his sails fall as the crew started to raise them for sailing. He was flying a British flag to avoid suspicsion and, all things going well, they would be in Tortuga by nightfall.

A short way from port-au-prince a call came from the crows nest of the Man-o-war " Naval forces at port, Frence by the look o it."
"Orders cap'n?"
"Abandon 'Unter, scuttle 'er, can always ge' 'nother one" Said Tai
"Perhaps" Shao responded "HOW MANY SHIPS?"
"3-4 by my count sir!"
"hmmmm, we cant fight that many, even if we had the Hunter in a fit state of battle. Hunter slows us down and we must get to a port with haste. Is she still able to sail by er own wind?"
"She is sir"
"Then we will cut her loose with a skeleton crew, you will lead er back to port Mr Feng, and tell gun'shi to take the legacy out of port posing as a merchant from the far east. as soon as shes out of the way of those ships shes to head to tortuga."
"Yes sir"

In the tavern, the oriental group was slightly bemused by the captins ignoring them, turning to the woman the man said "I assume you also are one o' our kin?" brandishing a pice of eight to emphasis his meaning and calling over his shoulder "OUT SIDE YA RATS, BACK TO THE LEGACY" in chinese.

Captain Luc Tibou Livinion was now in plain sight of Mallory as he stepped onto the jetty. His facial features were soft and not the least bit menacing. He was an inch shorter than she was, but his hat gave the impression that he was slightly taller. They were of similiar build, both around one hundred pounds. Approaching the lady, Luc took off his hat and bowed slightly. "Bonne nuit, madamoiselle. What is a fine lady such as yourself doing out at such an hour?"

On her way out the back door, well before any off of the ships of the line came in the front...Morgan pressed a gold doubloon into the barmans hand - he'd been loyal before and should stay bought...Tell the Brethern to meet me at the Isle. The Spainyards need a trimmin' and I want to lead it" Her voice ww low, the man had to strain to hear, but he'd remember and pass it along.

Île de la Tortue lay nearly 200 sailing miles north northwest through the northwest passage - that open stretch of water between Haiti and Cuba - though as the albatross flew it was but a hundred and twenty maybe a handfull more- but ships could not fly...

And it was not called the Windward Passage for naught...The winds blew from north east to southest, good if you were going west, but made for slow going with much tacking if going east...but now was one of the few times of the year they weren't...but then again thats what made this the storm season too...

The Lovers Bite had ridden the great hurricans out before and would again...

"but Davey keep them far from us for the nonce!" Morgan muttered under her breath as the lights of Port Au Prince receeded in the distance.

"Tell me my boys... Who is the greatest captain in the Caribbean?"

"Robert Stonewall!" His crew cheered.

"Don't ye forget it! Now back to work ye ol' scallywags!" Stonewall waltzed around the deck and pulled out his looking glass. "I see land. Get closer and drop anchor we will row our way to shore from there."

Robert and his crew were ready to spend their hard earned cash. They had just finished capturing a French Merchant Ship that was loaded with gold, and sugars. Robert made it ashore and sent his crew away to do as the please.

"What in the bloody... French Navy!" Robert exclaimed. "I hope they don't know who I am..."

((First attempt of a pirate RP. :) )) :sniper:

OOC: Sorry guys came a bit late, anything important I missed?

IC:

"Good moring to ya Cap'n."

"Good moring to ye too Richard. How's the ol' brute?"

"Ah she be working like a charm, yes she is."

"Good the women I hold near and dear." while Captian Hemming said this he petted the side of his 12 year old schooner, reluctantly named the Floating Mary.

"That'd be the ony women ye hold near and dear being that the only time you have a women with ya is for a few hours happy."

"I reckin that be true. Any whose, you'd got me those sailors I asked for, can't keep The Floating Mary afloat without em?"

"Aye, i be true to me word 42 fine, well fought, skinny drunks of all races, mostly fellow Brits, a few Irishmen, a fair share of Carribianers, a couple of Frenchmen, and one or two Indian bloaks mixed in their as well."

"No Asians though? I hate those damned bastards."

"Nay sir, I hate em too. Why don't ye climb aboard. Here come in."

Jacob climbed aboard his dear ship and looked around him. Empty bottles of rum rolled back and forth upon the deck, moving with the water. Abled bodies moved around thoring ropes and guns and all of that sort around. All of the sailors looked well enough, they were perfect for his crew, they were all drunken perverts who do not envy people with money, they just kill them.

"Some very nice cannons you hauled aboard here." said Captian Jacob Hemming rubbing the dust off one of the cannons.

"Aye they cost meh some though."

"Too bad mate. Weapon count?"

"Ah, here ye go Cap'n."

Richard handed Jacob a piece of torn paper and Jacob read it out loud.

"12 cannons, 43 cutlasses, 43 rifles, 63 pistols, and other instruments of death. Very nice their, time to set sail, aye."

"Aye." said Richard and he set off to order the crew around.

"Wait one thing be missing."

Jacob flicked his cigarette over board and placed his canteene filled with rum into his pants then walked over to the flag pole. He pulled a red flag out of his pants, unfolded it then raised the ships flag. After doing that he rose the Jolly Roger and a torn black flag with marks on it for all of the ships they had sunk. There was 23 marks on it already and more were sure to appear after their trip through the Carribian.

Captain Luc Tibou Livinion was now in plain sight of Mallory as he stepped onto the jetty. His facial features were soft and not the least bit menacing. He was an inch shorter than she was, but his hat gave the impression that he was slightly taller. They were of similiar build, both around one hundred pounds. Approaching the lady, Luc took off his hat and bowed slightly. "Bonne nuit, madamoiselle. What is a fine lady such as yourself doing out at such an hour?"

Mallory smiled showing her perfect white teeth, she would have curtsied when he removed his hat had she been wearing a dress. He was a handsome man, shorter than herself by about an inch, he looked fit overall,

"Bonjour monsieur', i was just strolling along the waterfront gazing out at the sea, it looks beautiful at night...the cool evening breeze is relief from the days hot sun,don't you agree Captian?"

She batted her beautiful eyes at him. Mallory addressed him by rank once she seen the correct decorations on his uniform but then she realized thinking to herself...

Damn it, i called him by his rank...no common person would know this, i hope he don't pick up on it...

Miss Laraunt stood there continuing to smile hoping to charm any suspisious thoughts he may have at this time in case he was sent by her father.

Shao was glad to be heading back to tortuga, he had a few scores to settle and an old frikend to meet with, this was most important for his ffriend could provide vital information to the where abouts of one of the pirate lords, Shao knew if he killed a lord he could take his place in the bretherin court, then he would be feared by all in these waters.

Gun'shi was diapointed by how he had been ignored by the other pirates, he had been told to offer pirate captains a place with a lucrative venture in the chinese seas. The hunter eventualy limped to the port and weighed acnchor next to the Legacy.

Quickly make shift briges were set up and a few men passed aboared the junk.

Tai told him of the orders from shao and made to leave.
"I take it you will not be joining us?"
"No, i am to ensure that Hunter is repaired and recrewed proper this time."
"Pitty, i fancy well be the target for a few of our own brethren in these waters."
"Well, im goin', sooner I get that tub lookin' like a ship again, sooner ill be at Tortuga with ye."
"Take whjat ya can!"
"Give nothin' back!"

And with that Tai departed. Later he was found dead, as was the entier crew of thee hunter as the were all picked off by one an asasin. 3 survieved but were later hanged for piracy.

Thye jung set sail after tai departed and Gun'shi said to his first mate, in barely a wisper "We'er to be headin' to Tortuga, all haste. I dont care if you have to break out oars we are to get there in a day else we all be goin' to the locker."
"Aye sir" the first mate wispered back then turned and began to bellow orders.

Mallory smiled showing her perfect white teeth, she would have curtsied when he removed his hat had she been wearing a dress. He was a handsome man, shorter than herself by about an inch, he looked fit overall,

"Bonjour monsieur', i was just strolling along the waterfront gazing out at the sea, it looks beautiful at night...the cool evening breeze is relief from the days hot sun,don't you agree Captian?"

She batted her beautiful eyes at him. Mallory addressed him by rank once she seen the correct decorations on his uniform but then she realized thinking to herself...

Damn it, i called him by his rank...no common person would know this, i hope he don't pick up on it...

Miss Laraunt stood there continuing to smile hoping to charm any suspisious thoughts he may have at this time in case he was sent by her father.

It was only here, standing a few feet in front of her, that the Captain Luc Tibou Livinion could truly appreciate the beauty of the woman he was talking to. Having not seen a proper lady in years, it was quite a sight. However, it was not enough to make him lose sight of his mission, or for him to overlook her obvious knowledge of French Naval Uniforms. Nevertheless, he grinned and began his response. "Ah, it is indeed wonderful, mademoiselle, but being out late at night in this city is not safe for either one of us. You are a lady, and, no matter how strong a resolve you may have, that wouldn't stop a gang of pirates from attacking you. Of course, I'm sure you know quite well why this city is not safe for my kind." Pausing for a moment to again take a deep breath of the refreshing night air, Livinion continued, "Where have you learned your knowledge of French Naval Ranks, mademoiselle?"

"And your mother was uh...uh, wossname, uh...twince-headed girl...canine." The pirate blinked blurrily at the First Mate. "Shames be ya, drun' in front of a...superin...super...supper...hi'er offecer," said the Mate, swaying where he stood. "I don'sa take none of...of, uh, wossname, of..." he trailed off. "Any chances, ya?" volunteered the other pirate. "Nah, nah, none of...it, yea, none of that, it. I don-" He swayed wildly and crashed to the deck, drunk as hell. The other pirate gave a loud laugh, tried to kick his fallen comrade, missed, and ended up on the deck beside him. "Yeah, ya think ya tough..." he stabbed the deck with his knife before falling asleep.

Kitsunekaji Ro-zu shook his head as he ordered the quartermaster to remove them from the deck. This is what he had to sail the seas with, this crew? Granted they were all damn loyal and right, and could shoot and stab, but well, when it came down to it, they were a bunch of unruly pirates. He needed some quality, some style, some class. The Indian women he had rescued, technically speaking, came up beside him. Ro-zu admired her curves and form, as he was a great partaker in the art of the female figure. But she was quite young, barely out of her teenage years, a girl.
Ro-zu considered himself somewhat strange when it came to mates, and he just wouldn't feel comfortable with this girl in his bed. While she had proved herself a hard worker, likely born from being a slave, she had yet to make any impression on her fighting skills. True she knew what the flintlock pistol and cutless was, and could use them, but only if the pistol was loaded properly first and she could only really stab and flail ineffectually about with the sword. Ro-zu made a mental note to teach her a little about sword fighting. In truth, he felt uncomfortable with her on board, and felt that if he gave her some useful skills, she might be able to find work in Tortuga. The swordsmanship was not actually a skill she would need for work, but rather to fend off any males come to take advantage of her. The Japanese Captain still didn't know why he had made her a member of his crew, but he did know that he couldn't bear to leave her amongst the dead and dying crew on that doomed, sinking ship. Once in Tortuga, he thought, I will see if any pirates need a translator in Spanish. Perhaps this Captain Black Morgan...I do not trust any other pirates to treat the girl well, and I know she would...if the good captain would take her on. If she is even in port. I will have to see.

"Finally! The sweet, putrid air of Tortuga! Run up our colours, Mister O'Donnell! We're coming home!"

The crew of the United Irishman cheered as the green skull and crossbones of Paddy Reynolds were run up and the Pirate Frigate limped into the calm waters of Tortuga Bay. Already, Reynolds was scanning for friendly vessels and, more importantly, a shallow beach where he could leave his ship for repairs. There was no shortage of lumber merchants in Tortuga, they were as vicious as any of the Pirates that made this port their home. He was returning with four more trophies but a few holes on the side of his ship as payment.

Then he saw a small, shallow cove just a few miles away from the main dock at Tortuga
"Mister Murphy!" He called at the Helmsmen "Hard a Port! We'll beach her over there!"

"Aye Captain!" Murphy called in his Belfast accent as he twisted the wheel in his hands. The ship seemed to glide elegantly away and soon, she was scrapping the bottom of the smooth beach, ready for the low tide.

The crew leapt off excitedly, looking to spend more of their wealth on booze and women. Reynolds was more practical and turned to Cillian McNeill, the formidable Bosun who would be guarding the ship,
"Let no one onboard and let nothing off the vessel. I'll be back within two days with timber and the crew. As soon as this baby's patched up, the sooner we can get back to huntin'"

"Aye, Cap'n" The big man replied dully and turned back to the ship with his Halbadier. They were only a stretch away from the main town and so Reynolds decided to stretch his legs and walk to the nearest tavern for a refreshing drink before he started work.

Captian Hemming was sitting with his back against the wall trying to teach himself how to tie his shoes, an acheivment he had forgotten how to do after 12 years of heavy drinking. He was making a third loop when he began to sniff. He lifted his head up and sniffed, sniffing in fumes of the nostalgic smell. The first word that came to mind was... Rum. Then... Hookers. Then it came to him. Tortuga.

Jacob stood up and stood above the deck and yelled, "Aye men, get this thing to a move a bit faster and there'd be rum in it for ya!"

That was enough of an encourging speech to get them to go fast they hauled ass and then Captian Hemming and his crew found themselves making port in the putrid smelling town of Tortuga.

"Good ol' memories. Oh, hookers!"

Jacob jumped off of the boat not even wating for the gangway to be let down and landed onto the gravel and sidewalk of Tortuga. He ran to the street and met up with two lovely ladies walking down the road.

Jacob leaned his head back and said to himself but so the women could hear, "Oh how I am going to love tonight."

The pirate in the crow's nest shouted something akin to "Land ho!" and the Kouro docked inside the pirate port. "Alright men, go enjoy yourselves for a while! You, you, you, you, you, and you, guard the ship. We'll trade off. For now you're stuck back here." The Captain strode down the gangplank after his crew, his katana stuck to his side, two flintlocks at his waist and a number of concealed daggers and poisons about his person. First off he had to see if the Lady was in port. Secondly see about these so-called "Pirate Lords." Thirdly see about recruiting some new crew. Fourthly, get roaring drunk and a women in-between the sheets. Business before pleasure, however. The Japanese man spied an Irishman with two women at his side...and another Irishman walking the same path as he. Where do these people come from? he wondered silently. Then, Ah, right. I forgot. It's Tortuga.

"Ah, it is indeed wonderful, mademoiselle, but being out late at night in this city is not safe for either one of us. You are a lady, and, no matter how strong a resolve you may have, that wouldn't stop a gang of pirates from attacking you. Of course, I'm sure you know quite well why this city is not safe for my kind."

The man said in a low voice to Miss Laurent,

"Monsieur captian, that is why there are gentleman such as yourself..to protect ladys like me from all the evil rabble that exists in places such as these"

Once he asked how she had known his rank she replied quickly,

"My brother is in the navy! but im afraid he has returned to France, he will be due back soon aboard the ship Jupiter, Téméraire class ship of the line...i am knowlagable of our ships, more than you may think Monsieur! my father was in the navy aswell but died at sea of a fever when i was young..i have traveled to many naval bases with my brother growing up..on account my mother left us aswell"

She thought to herself...

He has no idea who i am...and nor is he looking for me...what a terrible life story i have..

She looked saddened suddenly to play the story better but smiled inside waiting for a reaction from the Captian.

Reynolds noticed the Japanese Pirate and indicated for his First Mate and escorting Crewman that they should break off and head off for their own engagements. He smiled as he approached the Pirate

"Captain Ro-zu, I do not believe we have had the pleasure of meeting before" He offered his hand, "Captain Patrick 'Paddy' Reynolds of the United Irishman and Pirate Lord of the North Sea"

"That little devil!" said Richard to himself as Jacob ran off over for some pleasures.

"He always leaves the boat for me to handle! Okay ye little bastards, I am going off to get drunk at e pub then have some fun with a couple gals. Ye, you, you, you, and aye ye too, guard her, Jacob will be mighty angry if this boat gets tampered with while he is off on business. The rest of yer dogs go get laid or drunk, no women on this here boat though! Ye hear?!"

Unlike Jacob Richard waited for the gangway to be let down then he ran off to the pub accompanied by much of the crew. Other members of the crew saw some women they like and parted that way. Others got slapped by the women they were eyeballing then went to the pub, but in end they all ended up at the bar, with a mate or not.

Reynolds noticed the Japanese Pirate and indicated for his First Mate and escorting Crewman that they should break off and head off for their own engagements. He smiled as he approached the Pirate

"Captain Ro-zu, I do not believe we have had the pleasure of meeting before" He offered his hand, "Captain Patrick 'Paddy' Reynolds of the United Irishman and Pirate Lord of the North Sea"
"Well met, Kyaputen. Kitsunekaji Ro-zu, Captain of the Kouro, Pirate Lord of the South China sea. I have found rich pickings in these waters, what with the gold and silver and suger and tobacco coming from the New World." he said in his Japanese accent. It had been essential for him to learn English to communicate with most of those who sailed these seas, and he was the only one of his crew who spoke it well. He also knew a smattering of Spanish, French and Dutch, as well as his native language, Japanese.

"Well met, Kyaputen. Kitsunekaji Ro-zu, Captain of the Kouro, Pirate Lord of the South China sea. I have found rich pickings in these waters, what with the gold and silver and suger and tobacco coming from the New World." he said in his Japanese accent. It had been essential for him to learn English to communicate with most of those who sailed these seas, and he was the only one of his crew who spoke it well. He also knew a smattering of Spanish, French and Dutch, as well as his native language, Japanese.

"I am glad to hear it. Pickings in our own Sea has never been reach, the British, French and Dutch patrol their home waters too vigorously for a good hunt" He growled, "So I spend most of my time in the more profitable Caribbean here." He smiled then growled again, "But it seems the Navies are tightening their hold on this sea as well. We need to convene a meeting of the Pirate Lords to decide on a course of action against the threat of the navies"
He said this with a bit more enthusiasm than he intended, then he regained control of himself
"I am surprised you know English, Captain Ro-zu, not many Japanese Pirates I have met bother with it"

"It isn't needed. I only need it to communicate with my prisoners, and other pirates such as yourself, Captain. It is only a matter of time until an Armada is here from one of the colonizing nations to wipe out the pirates. These days there seems to be as many national patrol boats as there is merchant vessals." Kitsunekaji Ro-zu gave a cold smile that didn't reach his eyes.

The man said in a low voice to Miss Laurent,

"Monsieur captian, that is why there are gentleman such as yourself..to protect ladys like me from all the evil rabble that exists in places such as these"

Once he asked how she had known his rank she replied quickly,

"My brother is in the navy! but im afraid he has returned to France, he will be due back soon aboard the ship Jupiter, Téméraire class ship of the line...i am knowlagable of our ships, more than you may think Monsieur! my father was in the navy aswell but died at sea of a fever when i was young..i have traveled to many naval bases with my brother growing up..on account my mother left us aswell"

She thought to herself...

He has no idea who i am...and nor is he looking for me...what a terrible life story i have..

She looked saddened suddenly to play the story better but smiled inside waiting for a reaction from the Captian.

Captain Luc Tibou Livinion smiled back at Mallory and replied. "Oui, mademoiselle, but it would be difficult for even an officer such as me to protect a fine lady such as yourself here in Port-au-Prince. I am sorry that your mother left you, and I would like to offer much belated condolences in regard to the passing of your late father. I may not have personally known him, but anyone who serves the glorious nation of France attracts my respect and admiration. Regardless, it perplexes me that your brother would leave here, in this pirate-infested port. Is it perhaps possible that you have left your home, looking for the life of adventure that your brother must certainly enjoy?"

Jacob fell head over heels. The door bursted open as he fell out of it and then fell upon his back while pulling pants up. It was hard for him to do so because he had a bottle of rum in his right hand and a pistol in his left. he quikly gathered his footing and ran from the little house he was just in.

Looking behind him bottles were being thrown at the ground and him. A glass plate just missed his head but a shoe didn't and ended up hitting the back of his head with a big thud. He looked back again and one of the women he had met and hour and half before was running out of the house. She still hadn't been able to throw on a shirt so her top was visible. Cursing and screaming she threw stuff at Jacob.

Cursing his name while running back inside her friend came out with a pistol in hand. She fired three shots inbetween each yelling, "DAMN YOU HEMMING!" Each bullet missed him luckily and he was able to turn a corner and find himself in front of a pub.

Jacob stepped through the doorway, buckled his belt, and looked around him. Music was playing and people were drinking or past out on the floor. In one corner his first mate was making out with a young women. Jacob saluted his friend then walked on. He came up to the counter and reluctantly finished off his little bottle of rum. He threw the bottle behind his back then ordered another four bottles for himself.

A few minutes later he had his hands on the neck of a bottle, the tip off the bottle to his lips. The liquod inside the bottle depleted quikly, and after it was gone Jacob turned his head to see a Japanese Pirate. Jacob, hating every last Asian there was walked over to him.

"Ah, a Chinamen."

Jacob stuck his hand out to shake the man's hand as he said this.

Richard looked up to see Jacob in front of an Asian and took the time away from kissing the girl to say, "Dammit!"

Lieutenant Dobson whats the damage to the pirate ship said Admiral Nelson

its in fair shape it can still sail said Lieutenant Dobson


Alright take the clothes of pirates me and you and several others are sailing to tortuga as pirates. said Admiral Nelson

Sir are you........ what are you doing said Lieutenant Dobson

Always want to see what Tortuga is like and plus we might be able to hire some pirates. To attack French and Spanish ships im offering 150,000 bounty to whatever pirate can bring us the Largest ship said Admiral Nelson


Yes sir said Lieutenant Dobson misarably

Later that Night Lieutenant and Admiral along with 40 others not including the 10 Royal marines. Took off under the darkness of night in the pirate ship they eventually arrived in Tortuga.

Well this is what Tortuga looks like it reminds me of Port royal said Admiral Nelson to himself

He heard three gunshots over by the pub but figured it was normal.

"Ah, a Chinamen."
"Ara, ato honoka ningen of sono touzainanboku. Are otaku korede dzuki supureddo guretsu o sonchou dzuki kyousou?"
This translated loosly to "Ah, a stupid Westerner. Are you here to spread foolishness about your inability to discern race?", although not in so many words and certainly not as polite. Merely the fact that it was said in Japanese would tip him off, but then again, Japanese and Chinese sounded the same to many of these idiotic Europeans. Kitsunekaji Ro-zu gave a polite smile.

"It isn't needed. I only need it to communicate with my prisoners, and other pirates such as yourself, Captain. It is only a matter of time until an Armada is here from one of the colonizing nations to wipe out the pirates. These days there seems to be as many national patrol boats as there is merchant vessals." Kitsunekaji Ro-zu gave a cold smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Reynolds just shook his head sadly at Jacob, he had sailed with enough Japanese and Chinese to know the difference and to know how much they despised one another. Nevertheless, he tried to remain positive
"Tortuga has been here for a century without capture by any of the Powers! If her garrison remain true to their cause she will never fall" However his eyes, did not match the enthusiasm of his voice.

Robert turned away from looking at the French Officer and ran off towards the tavern.

"Boys! Follow me quickly!" Robert shouted and ran back to the row boats. "Grab your weapons, I want this French ship and I want it now!"

Robert had about 70 men with him while the rest were on the ship. He guessed that most of the French soldiers would be sleeping on the ship at the moment.

"Nick! Head back to the ship and bring more of our men. The fight will probably be going on still when you get back!"

His crew approached the French office and the lady and spoke in a low tone.

"Good Evening, Officer... Fine ship you have there."

Captain Luc Tibou Livinion smiled back at Mallory and replied. "Oui, mademoiselle, but it would be difficult for even an officer such as me to protect a fine lady such as yourself here in Port-au-Prince. I am sorry that your mother left you, and I would like to offer much belated condolences in regard to the passing of your late father. I may not have personally known him, but anyone who serves the glorious nation of France attracts my respect and admiration. Regardless, it perplexes me that your brother would leave here, in this pirate-infested port. Is it perhaps possible that you have left your home, looking for the life of adventure that your brother must certainly enjoy?"

She replied,

"Thank your respects and compliments Captian, you are a gentleman"

Mallory looked out at the sea and spoke,

"I used to live in martinique, when my brother left i came here...to Port-au- Prince where i have stayed thus far, i was tired of it there even though the island was one of the most beautiful places i have ever seen"

She started to walk down the dock,

"I have heard some wonderful storys about the sea, treasure, island natives, sea monsters...pirates..."

Mallory turned to him and smiled, the very thought of all these things made her heart race, she could not wait to begin her journey. One of the things she would follow up on was the pirate city of Ile de tortue, a small island above Hati where all the buccaneers, scoundrels, theives in the caribbean stopped at some point.

"Ah thank you, I am stupid and I am from the Western portion of the world as are you. I am not here to piss off Asians, if that is what you asked me. i am here to kill me some people, get me self a fair share of gold, drink my heart out and have some good ol times with these her women. I reckon I am heres to piss of Asianmen. They do be bastard in my book. Nice smile there."

Jacob said this smiling himself then in a flash of a second threw his arm up and punched the man in the face.

"As I sayed before, Asians be bloody bastards!"

"Ah thank you, I am stupid and I am from the Western portion of the world as are you. I am not here to piss off Asians, if that is what you asked me. i am here to kill me some people, get me self a fair share of gold, drink my heart out and have some good ol times with these her women. I reckon I am heres to piss of Asianmen. They do be bastard in my book. Nice smile there."

Jacob said this smiling himself then in a flash of a second threw his arm up and punched the man in the face.

"As I sayed before, Asians be bloody bastards!"

OOC: You talking to me?

OOC: You talking to me?

OOC: No I am not, Ro-zu I think his name is, the Japanese character, in my intro post I even stated that he hates Asians, your fellow is an Irishmen if I recall correctly.

"Ah, mademoiselle, I'm afraid I'm not much of a gentlemen compoared to the royalty and nobles of the courts and palaces of France, but thanks nonetheless. I must say, no woman of weak mind or body would last long here, so I have no doubts that you could survive out there, if you wish. The sea isn't as great as it is made out to be, but, as is the case with your father, brother, and me, it is worth making a living out of. I personally am currently on a mission of finding pirate 'allies' if you will. Any who agree not to raid French shipping will be 'directed' towards English, Spanish, and Dutch merchant fleets and allowed a safe haven in French ports. Thus, I will not be here long, as my job will soon take me to Ile de Tortue, an even larger pirate base than here. "

"Excusez-moi, mademoiselle," said Livinion, before turning to the newcomer. "And may I ask, monsieur, who are you?"

"Gentlemen, enough" Patrick stated sharply, "We have enough enemies hovering outside the walls of this port without having more enemies within as well. We will need to co-operate to defeat this menace and gain as much profit from the Spanish Gold Running season as possible. Can you work together, if not for all pirates, then for the gold at the end of the horizon?"

The good Captain found his fist caught in the grasp of Ro-zu's hand a few inchs away from his face. "If I were you, Captain, which I thank the heavens that I am not, I would watch out in the future as to who you call what. You may refer to me as a "bloody bastard." You may not refer to me as a Chinaman. Otherwise I will kill you over a long period of time. Am I understood?" The little speech was puntucated by the increasing pressure on the captive fist, crushing the skin and grinding bones together.


"You are not a Chinamen?" said Jacob sympathetically.

"Then you are not a bloody bastard. Now can ye let meh hand go, you have a mighty fine grasp you got there. It's the Chinamen I hate, and I don't suppose that is what ye be. What be ya then? Japanese?"

"Ah thank you, I am stupid and I am from the Western portion of the world as are you. I am not here to piss off Asians, if that is what you asked me. i am here to kill me some people, get me self a fair share of gold, drink my heart out and have some good ol times with these her women. I reckon I am heres to piss of Asianmen. They do be bastard in my book. Nice smile there."

Jacob said this smiling himself then in a flash of a second threw his arm up and punched the man in the face.

"As I sayed before, Asians be bloody bastards!"
The good Captain found his fist caught in the grasp of Ro-zu's hand a few inchs away from his face. "If I were you, Captain, which I thank the heavens that I am not, I would watch out in the future as to who you call what. You may refer to me as a "bloody bastard." You may not refer to me as a Chinaman. Otherwise I will kill you over a long period of time. Am I understood?" The little speech was puntucated by the increasing pressure on the captive fist, crushing the skin and grinding bones together.

OOC: the Italic writting was her thoughts, about tortuga...

IC:

She listened to him interested, things the Captian said could possibly help her later on,

"It sounds like such a heroic cause monsieur, i think they have picked the right man for the job"

Mallory smiled. Miss Laurent often used her charm to make the men she was speaking to think, only of her thus clouding their thoughts and when nessesary re-route them of their whole purpose, trickery.

OOC: Mallory is cute and quiet right now, but once she hits the high seas she's gonna change :P

OOC: the Italic writting was her thoughts, about tortuga...

IC:

She listened to him interested, things the Captian said could possibly help her later on,

"It sounds like such a heroic cause monsieur, i think they have picked the right man for the job"

Mallory smiled. Miss Laurent often used her charm to make the men she was speaking to think, only of her thus clouding their thoughts and when nessesary re-route them of their whole purpose, trickery.

OOC: Mallory is cute and quiet right now, but once she hits the high seas she's gonna change :P

(I know, but Livinion was ordered to find pirates, so he'd be going there anyway.)

"Oh, yes, but I am not a hero, mademoiselle, simply a servant of France," he almost laughed at this, as it was unusual for him to speak so modestly of himself. It must be the fact that this was the first woman he had spoken to for years.

"I have a few questions for you... First one; what in the bloody hell are you doing here... What are you planning and would that ship look good under my flag?" Robert pointed to the Frenchman’s ship.

"I have a few questions for you... First one; what in the bloody hell are you doing here... What are you planning and would that ship look good under my flag?" Robert pointed to the Frenchman’s ship.

OOC: Are you talking to Corbourne?

((Yes...))

OOC: Ok

"Oh, yes, but I am not a hero, mademoiselle, simply a servant of France,"

She knew all French officers were arrogant just as her father is, Mallory knew this Captian was being modest when speaking about himself. She turned her attention to the man who just walked up speaking to the French officer, he appeared to be babbling on like a drunk but she could be mistaken..

"Err..hmm, monsieur? i must head back to where i am staying..."

She was interested in speaking to the man but given her circumstances, miss Laurent was slightly eagar to take her leave given this oppertunity....

"My name is Marie Antoinette, it has been a pleasure speaking with you this night..perhalps we shall meet again"

Mallory Laurent
Port-au-Prince

"Of course, of course, Mademoiselle Antoinette. I understand why you feel the need to leave, and I look forward to a meeting with you in the future," said Livinion, directing his eyes toward the madman next to him. "My name is Luc Tibou Livinion, and if you will allow me," he continued, holding out his hand as if to take hers and kiss it.

(Amboss, my next post will be directed towards you.)

She smiled, outreached her hand while he kissed it..

"It's been a pleasure Captian Livinion, we will meet again"

Mallory stepped back, waved and strolled off into the night quickly. Mr. Livinion was a very decent gentleman, kind and polite, but..he was a military man, she figured any woman who married one of them would be treated like they were on the ship under their husbands command, she grinned at the thought..of course they couldn't all be like that.

Miss Laurent would find a way to Tortuga by tomorrow, she knew someone had to be heading in that direction. Mallory awoke early in the room she had rented at an Inn near the docks, she cheaked out then left in a hurry looking for a ship bound for the island. On her front she had her two custom made flintlock pistols tucked in a belt going around her thin waist, on her side a ivory handled pistol dagger, these weapons she had stolen from her father who got them somewhere in the world...too bad, he would probably miss them more than the money she had stolen.

Mallory finally found a ship heading for Tortuga, it was loaded with wiskey, rum and wine, she had to pay five pounds to get on the ship...extremely expencive, the captian just didn't want to be responcible if somthing happened to her on his ship.

By the afternoon, the small ship Actif was well underweigh. If all went well, the next stop was Tortuga, Mallory watched Port-Au-Prince get smaller as the strong breeze carried them out to sea.

Captain Gabriel Denton was having a bad week. He sat in a Tortuga pub, drinking rum. He adjusted his pistol, rapier, and dirk, as he reflected on his recent spate of bad luck. The week had started off well, really, with the Mystery overtaking, boarding, and capturing a French treasure galleon. Of course, the Mystery had taken damage, but all in all, the loot gathered from the Cavalier Blanc would cover the repairs to both ships.

The next day, Denton awoke to incoming cannon fire. The Cavalier Blanc's escort frigate, the Fierté, had finally caught up with the Blanc. As it turns out, they had been struck by lightning in a storm, and had been forced affect repairs to their main mast at sea. Evidently the Blanc had opted to continue ahead without the Fierté, being the slower vessel they'd eventually link up later along the route.

The battle was short, the Mystery being the more powerful ship by far, and its gunners being more accurate. The Fierté sank to the Mystery's fire, but not before they were able to scuttle the Cavalier Blanc. That left the Mystery's crew without pay, and Denton without money to pay for the repairs to the Mystery. Denton would have to pay his men and repairs with his own money. Worse, Denton's first mate, Adrian Trent, had been killed in the battle, carried off the ship after being impaled by a beam. It was tough to tell whether he bled to death or drowned. Didn't really matter, honestly. Dead was dead.

Now, the problem was a real lack of skilled officers. He'd replaced his first mate by promoting his quartermaster, but that obviously left him without a quartermaster. He'd have to find a replacement, here, in Tortuga, before setting out to sea again. (OOC: You interested, Osteia?)

Better start reviewing candidates.

After 3 days of sailing the Legionaire made port in St.Kitts. The crew had been eagerly waiting to come ashore to sell the goods plundered from variuos british trading vessels. One such crewman, Johnathon smith, decided he deserved more than what he recieved, and so decided to try and steal from the captains own share. He was in the process of doing so when the captain walked in.......

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF JESUS MOTHER OF MARY ARE YOU DOING IN MY CABIN!" bellowed captain O"Reily.

"I...i..ju..just wan...wanted...t...t...to see you for a m...oment sir" stammered the stunned smith.

"Aye and i be the pope himself.......GUARDS!!!!" yelled O"Reily.

"Aye sir?" came the reply from outside the cabin.

"Take this son of a no good pommy whore and throw him off me ship...NOW!" ordered O"reily.

"Aye sir, right away!" the guards then dragged the would be theif and threw him onto the warf.

"Ye be lucky i didnt cut off yer balls and make ye eat em, now get on out of here before i change me mind, ye stinkin bilge rat!" O'reily yelled after the newly unemployed sailor.

O'Reily then allowed the crew to go ashore, but not before giving them a stern warning that if they got into any sort of mischef, he'd be far less ammicable than he was just now.

After the crew had departed, O'reily himself went ashore to seek out an old friend.

An old pirate friend...

Silently Man-o-war glided into the walls of tortuga and weighed anchor.
As usual Shao checked the port from afar with his looking glass, to his suprisse he saw the one man he hated more than any other.

Ro-zu claimed to be lord of the south china sea, Shao felt that it was his right to rule that teritory, no that of some Jap who rarely set foot in a chinese port! Turning to Sao fengII he said "Gather every one you can who is loyal to me, send them to port and kill that jap, the false lord of chinas waters." he said pointing to the group of pirats were he had seen Ro-zu "Tere will be much rum and 3 chests o gold for who ever gets him, if i dont first. We leave in 3 minutes" Calling to one of the crew nearby he said in chinese "Keep an eye on that jap, if you loose him you loose your life" and went into his quaters to don armor and get thwe full extent of his weaponry.

[Captain Kitsunekaji Ro-zu, Captain Patrick 'Paddy' Reynolds, Captain Jacob]
[Tortuga, Street]
"What be ya then? Japanese?"
"Aye, I'm Japanese," Ro-zu let the man's fist go, unclenching his hand. Damn his palm smarted. "I do not beleive we have been formally introduced. I am Captain Kitsunekaji Ro-zu, Captain of the Kouro, Pirate Lord of the South China Sea."
"Gentlemen, enough" Patrick stated sharply, "We have enough enemies hovering outside the walls of this port without having more enemies within as well. We will need to co-operate to defeat this menace and gain as much profit from the Spanish Gold Running season as possible. Can you work together, if not for all pirates, then for the gold at the end of the horizon?"
"Speaking of enemies," Ro-zu cast a glance over his shoulder. "Damn. Shao. Captain Reynolds, remember what you said about cooperation? And Captain, what you said about hating Chinamen? Well this man won't be able to cooperate with me, and he's a Chinaman. He beleives himself to be the Pirate Lord of the South China Sea, and in my absence grew arrogant and cocky. He will try to kill me here. In the interest of forming a union of pirates to defend ourselves, will the both of you help me kill this mangy sea dog?"

Patrick frowned, killing fellow Pirates was not something he often did. Nevertheless, there could only be one Pirate Lord of the South China and if he had to slit the throat of a competitor, so be it. He nodded grimly
"What did you have in mind?" He asked in his think accent.

[Captain Kitsunekaji Ro-zu, Captain Patrick 'Paddy' Reynolds, Captain Jacob]
[Tortuga, Street]"What did you have in mind?"
"It may not be needed for him to actually die, although I would perfer it. There can only be one Pirate Lord of the South China sea, and that is I. Better yet, if we can sink his vessal and strand him here, he will certainly back down. He's been hunting me for a long, long time. Interestingly, we've never actually met, but he's made his intentions clear."

There would be storm before the morrow, given the winds that had sped her to Tortugs, and that made Morgan even less willing to berth in Cayona, the islands only true town- built about the best port the island had, ...

Morgan glanced over her notes in the rutter once again, for like the best Captains she wasa also her own pilot, her own navigator and none but she ever saw these carfully kep and constantly amneded notes...

Tortuga be north of the great and renowned island of Hispaniola ), about three leagues from the coast. The island is small; some sixteen leagues in circumference and was given its name by the first sailors...Ile de la Tortue, “Turtle Island” because its shape is that of a turtle. Indeed, I have viiewed it me'sel from the coast of Hispaniola, it resembles a monster sea turtle floating upon the roughy waves.

Seeminly naught for soil but the hardest of rock, it is covered with monsterously large trees that grow where no soil can be seen, their roots lying naked on the rocks. The north side of the island is uninhabited and most inhospitable, having neither beaches nor harbour, apart from a few gaps between the crags. People live only on the south side and there is but one harbour which ships can enter.


Morgan grinned fiercely there, aye all crag and cliff save in certain hidden places where no sane minded person would venture, and not accomodating of any ship bigger than about one hundred and thiry feet...and you had to know the slip was there and be at a certain place, at a certain time upon the sea to see it and have the tide to aid you...

The Low Land be the most important of the four lands due the sole port at Cayone. The port be reasonably good and unimpeded by any reef . There be two channels to sail in according to the winds. Ships of up to 70 guns can enter and the harbour has a clear and sandy bottom. However above it sits Le Vasseur's impregnable fortress, Oregon...

It rises from the relatively flat top of the hill which is crowned by steep rock some 30 feet high. Le Vasseur has shapped terraces into the hillside that can hold hundreds of men. On top of the rock, he has placed his own palace, several cannon and a storehouse for ammunition. A carved stairway reaches halfway up the rock and visitors must climb the rest of the way by ladder, which is raised or lowered, from the top. It is supplied by water gushing forth from a natural spring. Le Vasseur has constructed an impregnable fortress. He has over seventy cannon, and it is said enough powder to hold all the words navies at bay for a year or more. Having seen the stor house I well believe that.

Three miles north along the coast lies the hamlet, Basse-Terre, where the noteables make their estates...The Middle Plantation is a region of cultivation and very rich in tobacco, as is the district called La Ringot; both these places lie to the west of the island. The Mountain is the region where the first plantations were made.


Morgan stepped from her cabin and checked the anchors, for amid these off shore rocks the bottom was good, but deep and the currents treacherous to any swimmer...but the rocks broke up the silhouette of a ship on the ocean, made her a ghostly mirage as the sun set behind the island that lay just two hundred yards to the west.

Her first mate called himself Baron Samedi (http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/9139/pp2up2.jpg), and he was as good with a thowing knife as she was with a sword. He was tall, nearly seven foot tall and mahogony hued, bald and often painted his face and skull. He wore crossed bandoliers of thowing knives, as his only torso covering and more were sheathed on a wiide belt, and tucked into his boots.

He bowed elaborately to his Captain, and handed her her favorite hat (http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9845/pp1rg5.jpg) with a grin. He got to see his favorite mistress tonight and that made him a happy killer. All of her men were happy, save for those who had to cover the watch tonight, but they'd get double time in town later for their 'suffering.'

THey rowed briskly into the slip that led to the cave, that led to the dense jungle, and the now well worn path that lead through it - though it did take over an hour to reach the small and not abandoned as it seemed plantation house here horses awaited.

And from there it was hard riding- most of her crew detested horses, but the Baron and Morgan were excellent riders - he out of necessity to keep up with her and Morgan just because she was Morgan...

And so the Lover's Bite's crew descended on the port, thundering recklessly into the town, scattering all before them as they came.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Not all men seek rest and peace, some are born with the spirit of the storm in their blood, restless harbingers of violence and bloodshed, knowing no other path."

OOC: Osteia when will Miss Laurent be arriving at Tortuga?

IC:

"Aye, that sounds pleasent. We does he happen to be about this time? The please be'd my if I'd get to kill me a Chinamen. I have pistol especially or dat occasion!"

"The smart warrier will fight from affar and slay his foe before they can react.
BOSEN! READY THE TRIPPLES" Shao shouted, to the assembled men readyed in the boats he repeted the offer he had mentioned earlyer and climbed into one of the boats that then began to head to shore at a remarkably fast pace considering it was being propeled almost exclusivly by oars.

Before he was out of earshot of the ship he called up "FIRE WHEN READY!" and grabed the handle of a pistol tucked into his belt with one hand and a long , thin sword in the other.

"The smart warrier will fight from affar and slay his foe before they can react.
BOSEN! READY THE TRIPPLES" Shao shouted, to the assembled men readyed in the boats he repeted the offer he had mentioned earlyer and climbed into one of the boats that then began to head to shore at a remarkably fast pace considering it was being propeled almost exclusivly by oars.

Before he was out of earshot of the ship he called up "FIRE WHEN READY!" and grabed the handle of a pistol tucked into his belt with one hand and a long , thin sword in the other.

OOC: So you are going to come in and raid the bar?

OOC: Right now.

It had been a scenic journey to Tortuga from Port-Au-Prince. The crew aboard the Actif never gave her no trouble during the voyage, the only person on board the spoke to was the Captian, he was a pretty good head.

.................................

Mallory Laurent stepped off the ship after wishing the Captian good luck and thanking him for the ride. It was nightfall in Tortuga, the worst possible time to be out, this was not Port -Au- Prince and nor could one get it confused for even a moment..that would result in death, even worse for a woman, alone after dark.

Shots echoed, music floated through the air. Mallory reached the end of the dock and looked around, drunks, prostitutes and..what looked to be..PIRATES, REAL PIRATES. Mall reached down pulling back the hammers on both her pistols contining on towards the first pub she seen, upon arriving at the door it flung open, a man stumbled out holding a sabre..

**KA-POW**

A shot was fired from inside the bar, the man standing beside Mallory was hit in the chest crumpling to the ground dead, she put her hand over her mouth..

"Ohh...my.."

She quickly looked away and walked into the pub. A man had just been murdered outside and no cared at all? everyone continued drinking and eating, the women kept whoring themselves to the men, Mall went and sat down near the back of the pub by a stained glass window, it must have been the only delicate thing left on the island.

A waiter came up and she ordered a beer, when it arrived Miss Laurent glanced at all the faces in the pub being sure not to make eye contact with anyone. She picked up her pint and took a drink, Mallory had never drank beer before but liked the taste of the alcohol...it quenched her thirst way better than water and was not bitter like wine was. The noise of the pub seemed never ending, this was also the first time the young lady was in an enviroment such as this with these sort of people.....

This was already unfolding to be an adventure.

"Ah wait a minute me dear sir." said Jacob to Ro-zu while putting his finger up as if to stop him from talking for a second. Jacob walked away from his conversation for a minute, he hadn't yet heard the words "money" or "rum" so it began to become boring. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw a well made women, skinny, tall and blonde. She looked like a fighter but you could never be to sure.

Jacob walked over, stumbling every once in a while, the rum was getting to him. He especially like this women as she had the looks of that of a fare person but was drinking a drink for pirates not the putrid wine that Jacob hated. He arrived at the table, obviously he wasn't the only person who liked what he saw. But the fact he was the Pirate Lord for this area, the drunks and slobs got out of the way so he could sit down. He took a seat in fron of her and said, "Ah hello, I'd be wondering, ma'am what be yer reasoning fer comin' ere? Ye look well dressed, a fare women that be true, but ya don have the looks of a hooker. I reckin' ye be from France aye? Ye be a pirate lady?"

Patrick watched Jacob saunter off to converse with the new arrival. He shook his head in despair. It was men like Jacob who gave Irishmen a bad name across the world. He decided to follow him into the tavern after giving Ro-zu a small message
"Meet me on the United Irishman in two days. She is beached not far from here"

He went into the Tavern and, seeing O'Donnell there, know he would have help in case Jacob decided to embarrass his countrymen anymore. The reputation of his countrymen was important to Patrick.

Mallory seen a man comming towards her, he staggered here and there on his way. It almost looked to her as if the crowd moved to the side to let him pass, but that seemed almost impossible, judging from what she had seen the people here were very ill mannered.

Another drunken sailor...this one came up instead of STARING at me from a distance... She thought...

"Ah hello, I'd be wondering, ma'am what be yer reasoning fer comin' ere? Ye look well dressed, a fare women that be true, but ya don have the looks of a hooker. I reckin' ye be from France aye? Ye be a pirate lady?"

He was rough looking but had some handsome features to him. At first Mallory did not know what to say but quickly stuttered out a responce..

"Hello sir, i... am ... not a prostitute thank you! for your comments...that is, uhh, i am French..but not a pirate"

She managed a smile then continued,

"If you have came over here to offer me a drink, i must ...."

Mallory was about to decline but changed her mind,

"Accept, and credit you sir..for you are the first gentleman..err..man..in here that has got the decency to come over and attempt a conversation, all everyone else does is stare...at me.."

She smiled then took a drink of her pint..

What are you doing Mallory...why did you say that!!" She thought to herself, seconds past and she still couldn't figure it out...

And he's Irish...you don't like Irishmen!

"Well that is quite obvious, good, I have had enough of the hookers ere. Now I've gots a few questions for ye. Number one, ma'am, if ye aint a fighter why do you have those two flintocks ere? Number two, do you think I am Irish? You are surely mistaken ere fer sure, I'd be a brit. I knowed me fellow Irishmen in me day, but I assure yer, I amn't one of em. Now ye stil aven't answered me question there ma'am, what be yer business here?"

Aboard the Brig Vainglorious
Sailing along the southern coast of Tortuga.

"That's quite a lot of'em, sir." Bart Quigley said as he lay strecthed out, taking in the crowding harbor of Cayona. He rolled over slightly onto his side to face his captain.

"Yes...indeed there are, Mister Quigley." Captain Gunasontree said off-hand as he finished sketching another pirate flag. He took a moment and lifted his telescope to observe another masthead for its flag. He took a few seconds to memorize and began sketching the symbols down in the log on his lap.

"Aye, sir, more than enough black cloth flying to clothe all our widows, sir."

"We need not worry, Mister Quigley. "

Kitt quit his sketching for a moment and looked down from the mainmast's fighting top in which they were using to observe Cayona. The looked shabby than when it had left Nassau. It had been Kitt's realization as they pasted a few private merchantmen that not all ships were as, well, shipshape as a naval ship. He'd had the crew remove the ship's paint in places to make her look less impressive and more workaday. Kitt had also made sure to drill the hands in remembering not to do anything that might give away that they were still marginally in the employ of the English Crown.As such, Kitt reflected, even he and Quigley had abandoned the uniforms they were most comfortable in for clothes that more piratical members of the crew thought advisable.

He shook his head as he looked up towards his mast head and his flag. There flew his Black Ensign, but he'd had one alteration made to it. He had Bart's two younger brothers Sam and Chris, surprisingly accomplished with a needle and thread, put a reef in it. Thus his flag flew slightly furled so the brilliant white and red cross of Saint George of England was hidden from sight. Only the black field and white heart above crossed swords was visible. "No, Mister Quigley, we need not worry because neither of us is married."

Kitt went back to sketching the flags into his logs. He planned to show them about to the members his crew with more piratical origins and see if they couldn't identify a few. It was a clever plan and might prevent the need for him to carry on to other plans, namely actually sailing into Cayona. "Thus no widow to concern ourselves with clothing in black cloth. Though if your brothers can make dresses as well as they reef flags or mend sails, perhaps they'd be so kind as to make a few for the pirate's widowed...hmm...do trollops mourn the passage of their clients, Mister Quigley?"

Quigley rolled back onto his stomach and thought his captain a drab more daft than usual for an officer. "Not that I've known, sir. Have known'em to celebrate their passages by stealing their valuables though..."

"Well that is quite obvious, good, I have had enough of the hookers ere. Now I've gots a few questions for ye. Number one, ma'am, if ye aint a fighter why do you have those two flintocks ere? Number two, do you think I am Irish? You are surely mistaken ere fer sure, I'd be a brit. I knowed me fellow Irishmen in me day, but I assure yer, I amn't one of em. Now ye stil aven't answered me question there ma'am, what be yer business here?"

Mallory replied to the man,

"Never said i wasn't a fighter did i monsieur? as for your nationality i had made a guess you had been Irish...your accent reminded me of an Englishmen but resembles more of an Irish one, thats my opinion anways...what it means matters not"

Persistant... she thought..

"I am currently looking for employment aboard a ship, not just any ship either...no dirty discusting rotted old thing...a nice ship, with good wages for my services...which do not include prostitution...i can cook, shoot, i am also skilled in swordsmenship..been practicing my whole life, sence i could hold a sword that is"

Mall sipped her beer setting it down once again,

"I am looking for an adventure, i know it might sound silly to you..but i want to see more than i have in my life, distant forgin places, i want to mingle with the people there..."

She spoke so passionately on the subject but suddenly stopped,

"But i don't want to bore you with my dreams, besides what do you care to be honest...?"

She was shocked by her choice of words, she had never spoken to anyone like that in her life, it felt good.

"I have a few questions for you... First one; what in the bloody hell are you doing here... What are you planning and would that ship look good under my flag?" Robert pointed to the Frenchman’s ship.

Robert Stonewall
Port-au-Prince

With Mademoiselle Laurent now gone, Captain Luc Tibou Livinion turned his full attention to the mentally handicapped man next to him. While he had previously been smiling, his lips now made a downturn into some kind of a sinister frown. His voice was steely and calm, "Well, monsieur, to answer your first question with one of my own, what are you doing here? In response to your second question, I'm certainly not going to give any of my plans to you, and, lastly, monsieur, I have not seen your flag, so it would be hard for me to judge what the appearance of my ship would look like with it." Most men would have shot Robert right there, but Luc was a man of honor, and instead of aiming his unholstered pistol at Stonewall, he aimed it up into the starry night sky. He pulled the trigger, and the following report shattered the stillness of the silent night air. As he was standing not far from his ship, the Amerique, it would most certainly have awaken his crew. Livinion now began to walk back down to his ship, keeping his eye on the pirate.

(By the way, Amboss, the whole 'mentally handicapped' thing is what Livinion thinks of your character, not what I think of you. :p)

"Oh, but that does make ye a pirate, what kinda adventure ye be looking ma'am? Killing merchants? Making money? That be my cause ere on dis ere earth. I can take yer aboard, we need a cook, the one I ave ight now is quite a crap cook, and it would always be good to ave 'nother fighter 'nboard."

Jacob then stood up and pulled a small sack filled with coins from all around the world in it. He pulled out three guines out of the bag then threw it to the table.

"That be 'nough madam? Be it not I've much much more in here."

He tapped the bag and lete out a smile as he said this.

"I don't be looking for prostitution ere, I 'appen to be lookin for a adventure too. Hell, ye says yes ya can be meh first mate!"

She became excited but did not let it surface, Miss Laurent remained calm listening to the man. When he had finished she spoke,

"A pirate, me?"

She laughed but in her head she put it together, he was right...that was exactly what he was going for this whole time..it sounded so wonderful. She looked at the money on the table, he spoke as if there were lots more where that came from....

"Well i had never considered killing someone, but i seen it happen on my way in here...im sure if i was crossed i would act accordingly of course. If i am to be first mate monsieur, what is to become of your previous one should i accept the job?"

"I grew up a military child, and if i took the position it would mean a demotion...for another?"

"Oh he? Robert'd be a good ol' fellow and play along, he knows for sure dat the on'y reason hes has the job be because we goods friends. it 'ouldn't be a demotion for him he'd just not have the title but wood still act 'ike un."

Jacob smiled, he was glad, most of his current crew members were only good with guns, not many had skills in swords.

"So ye take it?"

It was now that Patrick decided to join in the conversation
"Greetings ma'am" He gave a low bow to the lady and took of his cap as a sign of politeness, "I hope me countryman is behaving to the fine standard I expect of Irishmen?" He gave her a smile, "My name is Patrick Reynolds, Captain of the United Irishman, and Pirate Lord of the North Sea. It's a pleasure to meet you"

Tortuga
The Legacy, The Man-o-war and Shao dung

A resounding boom echoed across the bay as the tripples fiered with unering acurasy at the port that the so called "Lord of the south china sea" was situated at. With a crashing noise a cannonball riped into the front of the port, blowing away a large hunk of materials and a few sacks of food flying.

Out in the mouth of Tortuga the Legacy drifted into view.
"Cannon fire in the bay cap'n" one of the crew said "Tripple guns by the sound o it"
"Run out the guns, MAKE READY FOR BATTLE. hoist the standerd flag, wate 'till we know whos shootin' who before we hoist the colours of Shao dong." the captain ordered.
The ship exploded with activity as weaons were graber, guns loaded and cannons readyed.

In the b oats Shao and his me lt the fuses on bombs and began to hurl them over the edge of the dok befor charging up, guns blazing.

Morgan reined her mount in furiously, cursing it roundky as cannon fire hit the town... The Lord of Tortuga, he who commanded the fortress on the heitghs above it would not let such blasphemy go on much longer - not with him having cannons that would reach the impertenet ship with ease.



OOC: Alversia, might i have permission to play he who holds the fortress, and blow that scury nave out of the water?

The Low Land be the most important of the four lands due the sole port at Cayone. The port be reasonably good and unimpeded by any reef . There be two channels to sail in according to the winds. Ships of up to 70 guns can enter and the harbour has a clear and sandy bottom. However above it sits Le Vasseur's impregnable fortress, Oregon...

It rises from the relatively flat top of the hill which is crowned by steep rock some 30 feet high. Le Vasseur has shapped terraces into the hillside that can hold hundreds of men. On top of the rock, he has placed his own palace, several cannon and a storehouse for ammunition. A carved stairway reaches halfway up the rock and visitors must climb the rest of the way by ladder, which is raised or lowered, from the top. It is supplied by water gushing forth from a natural spring. Le Vasseur has constructed an impregnable fortress. He has over seventy cannon, and it is said enough powder to hold all the words navies at bay for a year or more. Having seen the store house I well believe that.

OOC: Permission granted

As the cannon rounds impacted against the port of Tortuga, Patrick looked up from the lady and drew his pistol and sabre (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/MuseeMarine-sabreOfficer-p1000451.jpg). The sabre was a long, bright sharp Officer's weapon that had once belonged to the Captain of a certain British Frigate. That Captain was now at the bottom of the ocean and his long, elegant weapon was in the hands of his killer
"It appears we are under attack Ma'am. Do you have a ship to return to?" He asked politely, drawing the hammer back on his pistol as he did so.

"My dear friend O'Donnel, I don't know if you've 'ave noticed 'et but I'd be a Brit, I'mn't a Irishmen. So once again ma'am, you have ye answer?"

Jacob let out a smile and it remained there for a few seconds until a cannon ball crashed through the wall of his tavern.

"God dammit! This is my bloody land!" Jacob turned around and started cursing the boat that was floating into port, floating into his port. Being Pirate Lord of the Carribian Sea meant that he had to protect his Pirate owned towns such as the one he was at right now.

Jacob threw his bottle of rum to the floor and it shattered as it touched it spilling the precious rum on the floor. Rats and one poor drunk ran to the gaining puddle and started to lick some of it up. Every had a taste for rum in Tortuga.

Jacob was about to step through the hole in the wall then turned around and said to Miss Laurent, who he was begining to like more and more, "Ma'am if ye be joing meh crew, ya better get yerself out 'ere. 'Ere's about to be somes guns a touting!"

Jacob then plopped his hat back on and walked through the hole, seconds after being in the sun light he pulled out a Flintock Pistol and shot to rounds off into the distance where the enemy boat was approaching. After the records he looked closer, past the gun smoke and saw that the people on board the approaching ship where Chinamen.

"Fucking Chinamen! Coming to my town and my port killing my pirates!"

Jacob was cursing and growing into an angry rage at the Chinamen. One unlucky fellow with a rifle in his hand ran past him and Jacob threw out a hand and knocked the man head over heals and picked up his rifle. Then Jacob ran foward and shot at a row boat that was approaching the port.

Onboard the ship the crew selected to guard it had 6 of the cannons ready and they unanchored. They had their aim on the Chinamens' broadside and then.

*BOOM*

Six cannon balls were shot, one from each cannon, going one at a time. Seconds after they fired they set up and once again the six cannons shot at the Chinamen, they aimed at the masts so they could stop the ship from sailing away then capture and kill its crew.

Richard and twenty-six more men that went off the boat got back on and started firing their pistols and rifles at the Chinamen. Out of the thirty-five pirates of the crew that jumped off to go to Tortuga twenty-nine were firing their rifles and cannons.

Jacob then suddenly pissed off jumped upon a row boat along with Richard and four other men from his crew, Piere, Farder, Jack, and Miguel. They rowed foward so that they could meet up with the Chinamen in rowboats.

OOC: This took me half an hour to fine here is a picture of Jacob in his rage.

Pic (http://www.maximummovies.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/pirates.jpg)

Mallory replied,

"I was afraid you would...kill him or somthing...that is the impression i have of..pirates"

She laughed,

"Yes, i will take the job monsieur! it sounds like a good position, i am egar to learn how things work on the high seas...you will teach me? i learn fast?"

Another man approached giving his name and title, he was very polite.

"I hope me countryman is behaving to the fine standard I expect of Irishmen?"

"He is on his best behavior, i assure you" She returned the smile....

"My name is Patrick Reynolds, Captain of the United Irishman, and Pirate Lord of the North Sea. It's a pleasure to meet you"


"It is my pleasure Captian, i am Mallory Laurent....first mate aboard the?"

She laughed, Mallory had no idea what the ship was called she had just been hired for....

Suddenly explosions were heard outside, Mallory had heard these her whole life..

"Yes Captian? didn't catch your name i will take the job for sure!

**BOOOOOM** one of the projectiles crashed through the wall of the tavern...

The Captian who had just hired her jumped up in a rage, cursing the attacking ship, he swore throwing things around...

"It appears we are under attack Ma'am. Do you have a ship to return to?" said the man known as Patrick.

"Well..now i do but not before i help here!"

She drew her two musket pistols and watched Jacob dissapear through the hole in the building. Mallory had never been in a real fight before but she was more angry than scared, she had just landed a good job when someone came and tryed to screw that up, not this time. Mallory ran through the door forgetting about the hole in the wall breifly, she ran as fast as she could down to the shore where a fight was surely waiting....

Patrick watched as both Jacob and Mallory stormed from the room and he sighed. If they charged down to the beaches like idiots, there would be a bloodbath. Patrick had a better idea. He turned to face the mob in the tavern and fired his pistol in the air. If the noise of the weapon discharging wasn't enough to get their attention, the rolling smoke would. The rioting stopped as everyone turned to face the Pirate Lord

"Right! Listen up you Scum! I want everyone sober enough to hold a weapon armed and in front of this tavern in TWO minutes! If you are not there, I will chase you down and rip off your ball-sack myself. GET TO IT!!" He bellowed as the Pirates scrambled over each other and the tables to fetch their weapons and prepare for battle. It was then that Teddy O'Donnell, Patrick's first mate arrived at the scene.

"What's happening?" He asked Patrick

Patrick sighed, "It seems one of our own does not respect the Pirate Code all that well. He was relieved to see that his men had assembled behind Teddy. Each was armed with a musket or pistol and each had a sword, a dagger, a hatchet or a halbadier. He turned to face the mob that had gathered.

"Right lads! TO THE BEACHES!! DEFEND YOUR HONOUR, YOUR HOME, YOUR RUM!!" There was a roar and the Pirates flooded down towards the Port. Patrick followed behind with his own crew.

He could see the United Irishman, trapped a mile away by the retreating tide. Although she could not bring her broadside to bear, there was no doubt she was safe and Patrick could see two plumes of billowing smoke as the chase guns mounted on the rear of the vessel fired into the bay.

He finished reloading his pistol and prepared to join the action.

Jacob was still angered but while they started rowing and he saw the lady standing in front of them, pistols drawn ready to fight he gained a smile and something inside moved almost.

What a fine women.

"Oh, hello ma'am, I didn't catch yer name did I, I'd be Jacob Hemming, come aboard my humble rowboat."

Jacob started waving for her to come aboard. then he made a bigger smile and said, "Time fer meh to kill some Chinamen!"

As legacy entered port it was evident something was wrong as the Man-0-war was clearly under attack from another ship, thoe she was giving as good as she got, turining to bring her tipples to bear on her attacker and reduce her target size.

"We still got those fierworks in the hold?"
"Aye sir we do"
"Get um uptop, strap 3 together with a couple o' bombs on each, launch em at any agressers to the man-o-war or us."
"Aye sir. YOU 'ERD 'IM, GET TO IT"

The Man-o-war started to fire her broadsides at the attacker, coming around and loading grapeshots into her tripples she was starting towards the attacking ship, which apered to be aiming at the masts.
"BREAK OUT THE OARS, RAMMING SPEED!!" shouted the ranking 'officer' on deck as a shot went past his left ear and manned a small cannon mounted on the rail of the sip, fieing at the helm of his foe.

AT the docks Shao and his men began to rush to the Jap before being engaged by a group of pirats
"Stand aside, we have no quarel with your lord, only the lord of the south china seas" The men ignored him and so they were shot and rapidly cut down.
By then more men were arving ang the chinamen proed thier combat prowes (for shao dung preferd to hire skilled fighters, especialy those who knew martial arts), shao especialy, fireing his pistol into the head of one man, throwing it at another, knocking him off of the dock and drawing a second, almost identical sword and slicing many of his foes down in a flurry of flashing steal.

tripples

OOC: What are these Tripples?

Tortuga
The Legacy and Shao dung

And above the port the fortress stirred. The sergent of the Day called hi men to their posts and powder monkeys ran up ladders with flasks of powder in their hands. The cannoneers judged wind, elevation and spunn the long guns on their firing piles to take in the target, the large ship currently barraging the port!

Cannon were never kept primed, as it was just a waste as the damp sea air fouled and ruined the powder and even then it wasn't safe. But stacks of cannon balls lay neatly piled beside each of the cannon, and the ram swabbers were already running their drying rags down the bores. They ramed home the charge, carefully though so as to not set it off via friction...followed by the cannon ball, while the cannoneer whirled his match to set it more brightly alite...

Touch it to the bore hole, your mouth agape- to equalize the pressure and make sure your eardrums weren't burst...scream if you felt like it - and most did...and below cannon balls struck their target or misssed...and the vessel below was suddenly aware that 70 forty eight pounders were targeting him...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hold there nag, I'm salt not sod!" Morgan wrestled her frightened mount to a standstill as cannon shot smashed into the buidlings about them, and leapt free.

"Find out who is behind this attack, and cut them down!" She roared to her men, and seventy five angry pirates set out to do her bidding. They would have anyway - this was their home, as much as any pirate had one and they would find the attackers and slay them

Mallory stopped in front of the row boat,

"Oh, hello ma'am, I didn't catch yer name did I, I'd be Jacob Hemming, come aboard my humble rowboat."


"I am Mallory Laurent, and i would be happy to join you aboard your humble vessel"

She climbed in the dingy after removing a downed man's sword from his cold death grip, after sticking it in her belt she sat down and watched the display... muzzle flashes were seen one after another, cannon balls wizzed into the town of Tortuga,

"Baptism of fire Mr. Hemming!"

A large mob had appeared on the shore line to combat the enemy pirates armed to the teeth...

Patrick looked up to notice that the guns of Fort Le Vasseur had finally opened up on the attacker. There was a mass battle occurring at the sea front where it seemed that this pirate had assembled a rather good crew of Chinamen around himself. However, Patrick's crew were Irishmen trained to the elite standard of any Navy. They were a match for anyone on that harbour and now they poured in to help contain the attackers. Patrick stayed out if it for the moment to get a better look at the brawl in front of him. One pirate ran screaming towards him, brandishing a large wicked looking sword.

Patrick easily parried the blow and, as quickly as a decade of experience would allow, he twisted the sword in his hands and cut the man cleanly on the side. As he fell away, Patrick spotted Black Morgan nearby
"Not quite the co-operation I was hoping for!" He shouted over the crackle of muskets and clash of steel on steel.

Three men fell, then two more, some of the drunks and other people of Tortuga broke out their guns and fired at the Chinemen. Jacob's rowboat was staying the same place because the Chinamen were coming to him. He looked down and picked up a little bomb of his and a match. He lit the match then the bomb and threw the bomb into the nearest Chinamen's boat, leaving very little rope left to burn so they couldn't throw it back. Jacob turned around and saw the Chinamen charging his port, using their martial arts and guns to kill more and more of his men and civilians.

Six of his crew members fell already, but not to many more more would die. Jacob jumped onto the land, pulled out his rifle, and shot a Chinamen doing his martial arts on Richard. The man fell instantly then Jacob pulled out his special pistol and shot every Chinamen he saw while screaming, "FUCKING MONKIES!" of "Don't use yer Kung-Fu on me!" or other unoriginal curses like, "Damn you!" or "Fucking Chinamen!"

"Come ma'am you can have the pleaser of killing some Chinamen, the bastards if the sea!"

Jacob turned his head and saw Shao cutting down three more of his crew. Jacob mutterd, "You dead little bastard!" and raised his special pistol up and aimed it at Shao's head.

The Floating Mary

They continued firing their cannons, all twevle were ready and were being fired. They wanted to keep the pressure on them so the Chinamen couldn't shoot back. They were firing so many cannon balls at the Legacy that it was impossible for it not to sink.

A mini cannon then started to shoot at them, one man was shot off of the deck completely, another lost his life from a hole in his stomach. Then the old cook, Curtis Yerk, took up one of the cannons as the last sailor died from a rifle bullet to his head. Curtis stayed low, low and quiet to make it look like no one was controlling it. then he took careful aim.

*BOOM*

A cannonball whizzed through the air until it hit its target, the mast of the Legacy.

"Sorry Miss Laurent, Jacob gets a bit jumpy in a fight. He'll be back, from the looks of it he likes you very much." said Jack with a smile. he then pulled out another bomb and did the same thing as Jacob did earlier, only waiting even longer before throwing.

Miguel, Farder, and Piere started firing ruthlessly with their rifles and pistols at the enemy rowboats, laying waste to tons of people. Then Piere thought it was his turn to speak up. He said in his deep french accent, "Madamosiele, better leave this boat, you never know what might happen!"

"Sorry Miss Laurent, Jacob gets a bit jumpy in a fight. He'll be back, from the looks of it he likes you very much." said a man named jack

Pistols and rifles were being fired at the enemy,

"Madamosiele, better leave this boat, you never know what might happen!" yelled Pierre,

"I can't wait for what might happen!"

A musket ball went through the air right passed Mallorys head, she heard it whistle as it went by. Jacob had jumped out of the row boat after he thew a bomb into an on comming enemy boat, it exploded in flames, Mallory climbed out of the craft, several men around her were hit in the action...

How did you get yourself into this situation so quickly.. she thought looking around but there was no time to spare...

"Come ma'am you can have the pleaser of killing some Chinamen, the bastards if the sea!" Yelled jacob..

She quickly got herself together taking aim at a single chinamen running down the dock,

**KA-POW**

Through the smoke she seen him spin around and fall into the water with a crash, she looked to the side to see one who escaped Jacobs bomb getting out of the water...

Mallory fired her second shot into his chest, he stood there holding the wound, blood gushed from the hole as he dropped to his knees, she turned away quickly tucking his pistols in the belt.

Patrick and a group of others were being attacked by a group of enemy, Miss Laurent drew the sword she had and ran forward reaching the mob, with great skill she quickly blocked enemy blows on two sides, one of the men she was fighting ended up with with another leaving her one opponent to deal with for the moment..

He moved in delivering skilled slashes, she moved side to side waiting for a chance to shoot on him, then he swung too far out allowing her to move in close quickly driving her weapon in his side, blood squirted all over the shiney blade as she pulled it out moving on to the next enemy...

Jacob had stopped fighting for two quik seconds and reloaded his special pistol. He punched one Chinamen running towards him in the face, crushing the man's nose up into his skull. He finished loading it and pulled back the bar. While pulling the bar back he saw Miss Laurent fighting two different Chinamen at a time and slay them both.

Jacob knew what was happening now. He was in love with his new first mate. But he couldn't let that get in his way right now, he had Chinemen to kill! He shot a Chinamen coming towards Miss Laurent's back the he whipped out his own cutlass, one he had taken out of the cold grisp of a infamous Chinamen pirate four years ago.

A Chinemen was coming at him from his left, one coming towards him from his right too. The one coming fromthe left arrived first, the one from the right shortly after. Jacob impaled his sword through the first Chinamen's neck then when the Chinamen from the right came Jacob pulled the cutlass that the dead Chinamen was holding right before he hit the ground and stabbed the second Chinamen in the stomach. then just as quikly pulling it out and sliding it across the man's face. He hit right below the eye, blood started to gush out, then eye puss then seconds later so did his eye. It hung there, only the white and red of it was visible.

Jacob made a sound of disgust before cutting the man's head off and proceding to run to Miss Laurent, but not before grabbing his own cutlass and throwing the Chinamen's one into the lifeless body of another.

Tortuga
The Legacy and Shao dung
Three minutes later, a quick a time as they had ever done the fortresses cannon fired again, Seventy more cannon balls slashing at the ship, teraing sails and masts apart, others seeking to take out the rudder, to leave the ship helplessly adrift...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patrick & Morgan

Morgan found herself fighting next to Reynolds "Damn it Irishman, every where ye go chaos follows ye ! Who did ye piss off this time?"

She parried a swipe from a wicked looking sow of oriental styling, and her repost took the howling man across the face, an eyes lodged on its tip.

She blinked at that for a second as the man spun away screaming as one hand clawed at his mutlitated face.

"How biblical" She commented as she turned looking for other prey.

Patrick and Morgan

"This is nothing to do with me Ma'am!" Patrick shouted as he parried two successive attacks from Chinese sailors then cut each down with one elegant stroke, "This is something to do with the Lordship of the South China Sea. Or so I gather."

Another man lashed at him with a pike, Patrick sidestepped the attack and grabbed the man's arms. Before the surprised Pirate could fight back, Patrick's head had connected with the pirate's in a sickening thud. The Pirate wheeled away cross-eyed and stumbling.

"They don't teach that in the Orient!" He laughed as another Pirate approached him nervously.

During the fighting someone bumped into Mallorys back shoving her forward, he fell at her feet, she spun around to see Jacob in the distance his gun was smoking...

Good shot... she thought

Mallory watched him fighting on all sides, for a ruff looking pirate he could definitely fight like a mad dog, Miss Laurent stood there watching for a moment later dazed...an enemy pirate brought her back comming from behind, she spun around to have a strong blow knock her sword from her hand, next the man swung at her face...she stumbled backwards falling to the ground

In a last effort as he raised his weapon over his head she drew her dagger, he looked at it and laughed, then, she pulled the trigger

**KA-POW**

The smile and laughter ceased as he hit the ground with a thud beside her, she was in shock,

I was nearly killed...nearly..killed...he never saw that comming she stuttered while sitting there...

Killing was becomming easyier the more she did it, this was her first time ever taking a mans life today, but it was all in defence if her new life.

Holy shit!

Jacob ran over to Miss Laurent pulling her quikly then impaling his sword into the neck of a Chinamen nearby. He put his gun in his mouth so he could have both hands free then checked Miss Laurent's hand which was just slashed by some damned Chinamen.

Jacob ripped a peice of his shirt off and tied it around her wound, applying pressure to it. He did all of this as quikly as he could so that a Chinamen couldn't use it as a advantage and kill him or her. Seconds after tieing the cloth around her hand he took his cutlass out of the Chinamen's neck then handed it to Miss Laurent with a quik, "Here ye go."

He took he gun out of his mouth and shot a Chinamen in the back again. He dived over to the area where he saw Miss Laurent's sword fly and picked it up while he was on the ground. Two Chinamen thought that to be a perfect moment to kill him, while his back was turned and he was on the ground. They raised their swords up to bring it down upon his back but Jacob turned around and fired a shot each into one of the Chinamen with his special pistol and one of his regular pistols. He then jumped up, bended over to grab her sword and snapped back up the second it was in his hand so he could parry a blow.

Patrick hit one of the Chinamen across the face with his fist, knocking at least three of his teeth out into the open air amongst the scrapping pirates. The ground was now thick with bodies from all countries as the Pirates fought with their muskets, swords, even their teeth.

Patrick also noted that Mallory was fighting well and he was impressed. He also decided that she was the perfect point to establish a pillar of defense. He went back to back with her
"You watch my back Ma'am and I'll watch yours" He stated ran through another Chinamen with his sabre, the edge of which bright red.

He was killing with all the ease that he had gained over the years. The men were falling before him. He didn't care about the blood that had spilt onto his shirt or the carpet of men beneath his feet. He was doing what he loved best. In times of peace, he was a gentleman, in times of war, he was a monster.

Aboard the Brig Vainglorious
West of Cayona

The Vainglorious has sailed on to look for any more buccaneer's ships that might be enconsed in a hidden cove further down the coast. However, the cracks and booms of gunfire quickly brought the spyglasses of Barth Quigley and Kitt Gunassontree back on Cayona.

"Blimey, they're going at it they are....don't say it, sir, please?"

Kitt was undeterred by his quartermaster's plea. "Well it seems there is no honor amongst thieves." Quigley groaned as Kitt jumped to his feet and quickly began climbing over the side of the fighting stop and down on to the futtock shrouds.

Quigley picked up the captain's telescope and log which he had forgotten in his burst of excitement. He sighed and stuff them in his belt and moved to follow his captain. "What should we do, sir?"

Kitt was descending the ratlines down towards the deck with an immense smile on his face. "Make the best of this, Mister Quigley! My orders are to harrass, harry, and destroy any of enemy of King George, and I aim to do it, Bart!"

Quigley shook his head and descended from the fighting top. He'd be back up here in a minute or two, but he'd need his pretend Marines first. Kitt's boots thumped as he swung down the last five feet to the deck. He took a deep breath and bellowed out orders. "ALL HANDS! Beat to quarters!"

One of Quigley's Quasi-Marines woke from moment's stupor and began banging on his drum without any sort of skill. It wasn't the steady, insistent rattle of trained Marine drummer, but it was enough to rose the crew up from below deck. Kitt quickly strode towards the quarterdeck. "Stand by to go about!"

The unorganized mustering of the crew quickly found form as the order took affect and the hands put themselves to the lines and the helmsman put the rudder over hard to port. The Vainglorious thrust up over the waves as she yawed around to starboard, then clawing into them as wind drove her eastwards.

Sam, the smallest and youngest of Bart's brothers, was also acting as Kitt's steward. He raced on deck with Kitt's sword and a brace of pistols. Kitt took the crossbelt from the boy and threw it over his head. He situated his sword over his left hip and ensured the pair of pistols were secure in the belt's loops over his chest. He glanced down at Sam Quigley and thanked him. Sam, who blushed with the compliment, was smallish boy, rather scrawny. Come to think of it, Chris, Bart's other brother and the middle child, was a scrawny young man as well. Kitt supposed that all of the manily qualities in the family must have gone to the towering Barthalomew. He quickly dismissed that thought as he dismissed Sam below decks to his other duties as a powder monkey.

Kitt turned to the helmsman. Missing his left eye, left hand, and a portion of his left ear, Kitt had imagined the helsman to have some kind of devil-may-care nickname to highlight whatever courage had gotten him those injuries. The Captain had been disappointed to find the helmsman's name was simply Larry. "Mister Lawrence, rudder to midships."

The man spun the wheel until the Vainglorious ceased her turn. "Aye aye, capin', rudderrr ta midships."

Kitt leaned foward onto the railing between the quarterdeck and the gun deck. "Hands! Run out the port guns and make ready to fire!"

There was a quick huzzah as the mean opened the gunports and then hauled on the lines to force the cannons' muzzles out. Kitt glanced up and saw Mister Quigley haraunging his Quasi-Marines up the ratlines. He particularly was hounding after his brother, Chris, loudly asking him if he wanted the crew to think he climbed like a woman. Chris, whose voice must have broke from nerves, shrilly answered no and scurried his way up towards the fighting top. The elder Quigley snorted and followed up the ratlines after his men.

"What da yer do wit a drunken sailor,
What da yer do wit a drunken sailor,
What da yer do wit a drunken sailor,
Earl-eye in da mornin'!"

Kitt turned his head to see Larry belting out a sea shanty as they closed with they closed in on Cayona.

"What da yer do wit a drunken sailor,
What da yer do wit a drunken sailor,
What da yer do wit a drunken sailor,
Earl-eye in da mornin'!"

Kitt turned away to hear the roar from the cannons up in the fortress above the bay when a bit of his hearing returned. He was greeted with,

"What da yer do wit a drunken sailor,
What da yer do wit a drunken sailor,
What da yer do wit a drunken sailor,
Earl-eye in da mornin'!"

Kitt turned on his helmsman. "Mister Lawrence! While I do appreciate good spirits amongst the hands, you have been repeating the same verse for a good five minutes now! I order you to sing something you know the actual lyrics to!"

Larry looked taken aback. "Beggin' yer per-dan, capin'. Dident know me singin' 'ave dat eee-fect. If'n yer not wantin' me guts fer garters, capin', I da 'ave an'ver song in me re-pet-arrrrrrrrrr."

Kitt bit his lip for a moment. "Go ahead, Mister Lawrence."

"Thankee, capin'. Yer a king, sur, a right king." The much, mutiliated miscreant took a deep breath.

"Ecco l'altra palude, ecco il nocchiero
che trae gli spirti ignudi a l'altra sponda,
dov'ha Pluton de l'ombre il vasto impero.
Oltra quel nero stagno, oltra quel fiume,
in quei campi di pianto e di dolore,
destin crudele ogni tuo ben t'asconde.
Or d'uopo è d'un gran core e d'un bel canto:
io fin qui t'ho condotto, or più non lice
teco venir, ch'amara legge il vieta,
legge scritta co 'l ferro in duro sasso
de l'ima reggia in su l'orribil soglia,
che in queste note il fiero senso esprime:
«Lasciate ogni speranza o voi ch'entrate.»
Dunque, se stabilito hai pur nel core
di porre il piè ne la città dolente,
da te me n' fuggo e torno
a l'usato soggiorno."

Kitt blinked. "That...that was from a Monteverde opera..."

Larry cackled to himself. "Aye, capin'! Ol'Lar's full o'surprises! Be fittin' too, sur. 'Abandon all 'ope, ye who enter'! Yahar yahar yahar yahar yahar!"

Utterly dumbfounded and unsettled by his helmsman, Kitt welcomed a bit of cannon fire. Hopefully the smoke would dispel whatever foul devilry that had suddenly come over his helmsman.

"Aye Mallory, 'ere ye go!" Jacob jumped back to where he was when he was helping Mallory's hand and handed her her sword and took back his. Then Patrick jumped over and decided to make a deal with Mallory. Jacob pushed the man aside and said with a grim smile, "I do believe me and Miss Laurent made that pact already matey!"

Jacob then parried another blow from a Chinamen and with quick and agile skills he slit the man's throat, his blood thickening the dark red stains already on his cutlass.

Mallory was glad to see Jacob, she accepted his help holding out her hand to be wrapped up,

"It's not bad, im ok!" she said

She held his sword untill he retreived hers killing three men in the process, he continued to fight on...

"Thank you, lets get on with it shall we?"

She got up holding Jacobs sabre, Patrick approached...

"You watch my back Ma'am and I'll watch yours"

Mallory looked at Jacob and Patrick, she nodded twice and spun around staying close to his rear fending off more enemy attackers as they continued to come, suddenly she yelled out...

"Hold your ground!"

Through the thick smoke another silhouette of a ship was in the distance,

"More company! out there!"

She pointed with the blade of her sword.

"I already be doing that ma'am." said Jacob, still smiling. Battle made him happy, battle against Chinamen made him even happier, especially when they gathered in masses and called them selves pirates. Jacob started to chuckle as the Chinamen died at his feet, and at the tip of Patrick's sword and Mallory's sword. Less and less Chinamen attack the three, a pile that was up to Jacob's knees of bodies was around.

Out of no where after slashing a Chinamen's face off Jacob said to Mallory, "Ya know, I find ye to be very pretty."

Suddenly Jacob's smile wiped off of his face. They were having enough trouble with just the Chinamen, more to kill them was way too much, they didn't have that much men or power to hold another ship or fleet off. If worst came to worst Jacob would use his superiority over them and have them go back for safety.

Patrick groaned at the sight of the ship,
"Not another bloody ship! If this one of Shao's vessels then we have a proper little battle going on don't we!?!"
He run his blade neatly across the neck of one pirate, leaving him gurgling up his own blood, and coughing desperately.
"She's the Fort's problem for now!" He ducked in time to avoid a beheading swing from one big bastard and, in three quick moves, he had disarmed him and brought him to his knees. There was no mercy in Patrick's eyes as he slit the throat of the man.
"If they come ashore, they become our problem. Until then, let's leave it shall we? You fight good for someone who's never been in battle"
He demonstrated his own ability by parrying two attacks with one stroke of his own sabre. Another stroke and the two attackers were gasping on their backs.
"The tide comes out soon! Then I put my sails to the wind and leg it"
He ran his sword clean through a younger man who had run at him bearing an axe. The man looked surprised, then just tumbled backwards.

OOC: one of the more interesting versions.. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Zg_ZCPW5uUU)..but in reality it probably sounded more like this (http://youtube.com/watch?v=ARNtiiJlaUg)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Morgan just shook her head as Patrick deserted her for a nubile young wench who did seem to get able to hold her own. Not many men could take the competetion Morgan provided. Her grin was feral as she counterd a spinning back kick with a spin of her own that ended with the chinaman's thoat slit.

However her grandstanding allowed another to get close enough to patially blow the blow and keep the keep it shallow enough that the unfortuante might life to kill another day. Though he'd never speak again. She skipped back a couple of steps and pulled a dagger so she had a parrying weapon.

OOC: Okay, I know there's a reason for the OOC thread, but this needs to temporarily stop. I haven't been able to respond to the attack directed AT ME, and if this keeps up the attack will be over by the time I'm able to respond. I cannot post in detail right now, but I beg those of you RPing here to just stop for a couple of hours until I can replace this with a proper post. Rude of me, but I need to post.

OOC: Mallory is the type to play hard 'to ' get :-P

She replied while continuing to fight on,

"Alot of people do Mr. Hemmings! beauty is a curse, but thank you for your compliment!"

Shots continued to go off, joined by the sound of steel on steel....

"But we shall have to finish that drink sometime, i had never drank beer before!" Miss Laurent yelled...

She was replacing her nervousness with conversation, her hand was beginning to sting and become weak, the blood leaked through the cloth....

Patrick spoke to her,

You fight good for someone who's never been in battle"


"Ive had alot of training, im not the woman you think i am monsieur O'Donnell! i am a French army...brat! is the word, my father a distinguished officer for the king Louis!"

She glanced out at the sea, it was an English ship...but what was it doing. She figured if the English did choose to attack the pirates would band together and fight them off, hopefully that would be the case...but then there was the thought of what next?

"Damned landlubbers! Think 'ey own de sea, believe you me, they set foot 'ere in Tortuga, they gonna have a huge problem to deal with, meaning evy damned Pirate still in the Carribian will be hunting down any un under that damned flag. Same with people like ye!" said Jacob thrusting his body foward along with his cutlass, it slashing a Chinamen's eye out. He pulled back parryed a blow, ducked, and slashed. The Chinamen's guts started to roll out of his body onto the mismacthed pile of bodies and weapons already on the floor.

"Damned fool!" Jacob ripped his dagger out of know where and stabbed the man in the side of face, he quickly fell to the ground afterward.

OOC: Xis, don't worry, it's just turning into a mass maul at the moment not much going on otherwise :D...

"When I meant His Majesty's Navy I meant the fleet of the British Empire" Patrick clarified as he faced off with another Pirate, this one was armed with two Dirks and was spinning them menacingly in front of the Irishmen, "The best navy in the world. And don't think..." He was forced to divert his attention to the nimble little man in front who had launched an attack, Patrick was able to parry the blows, "...that because we sail in your waters that we are your navy. As soon as this is over, I put my sheets to the wind and will not be back for sometime. Got you, you little bastard!" This was to the Chinaman bleeding on the ground at his feet, "Not quick enough were ye?"
He didn't turn to look at Mallory but he heard her answer
"A Frenchwoman? Ho ho! What a group we make! Let's show them how Pirates fight shall we?"
The next man who approached Patrick was met with bare knuckles as they connected to his cheekbone. The blow was hard enough to knock the man back several inches. The next man came from over his shoulder and fell after an elbow in the face. Patrick was turning every part of his body into a weapon.

"A Frenchwoman? Ho ho! What a group we make! Let's show them how Pirates fight shall we?"
Said Patrick over the sound of the battle...

Mallory grinned for a moment, she was pleased he had refered to her as a pirate, it pleased her very much. During the fighting she had noticed another female fighting in the middle of this mess, she faught well, very skilled....her timing and movements were nearly perfect.

Mallorys arms were beginning to hurt from swinging the sword, she was becomming tired but never intended to give up. Driving her sword in the ground she quickly reloaded one of pistols, picked a target and fired..

**KA-POW**

The chinaman fell to the ground, she quickly tucked flintlock into her belt, retreived her sword and kept up the fight.

OOC: xis is right, i didn't actuly drag any of the other lords in to this, nor did i have the some hundered men thaty have already been slain or criticaly wounded, plese allow me an xis to settle the score mano-a -mano.

"Alot of people do Mr. Hemmings! beauty is a curse, but thank you for your compliment!"

"That'd be un curse I don't have then!"

Jacob had to speack loudly to be heard over all of the cannon fires, pistols and rifles being fired and the clanging of steel. More muskets rang off, the amount of noise would drive a normal lad mad, but not a battle hardened pirate or people involved with them.

"But we shall have to finish that drink sometime, i had never drank beer before!"

"That sounds nice, possibly when 'ese bastards 'ere are dead."

Patrick finally saw this fight for what it was and dropped the tip of his sword. the man whom he was facing looked at him in confusion and raised his own weapon to strike. However, Patrick simply shook his head and the man lowered his weapon and backed away.
"This isn't our fight" He stated. A little late perhaps but still true, "Our fight is with the vessel out in the bay there. This is Chinaman to Japanese man. I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I'm owed a drink by some dirtbag out there. He'd better have survived"

Reynolds, followed by his crew, turned and headed back for the taverns from whence they came. Gradually, the rest of the Pirates tucked away their filthy weapons and headed for the bars. They left a carpet of dismembered and bloodied corpses behind them by the side of the sea. Now just the men of the Japanese Pirate Lord and those of the one claiming his title were left

OOC1: You came into the port, shelling the town and throwing bombs at everyone, how else were they going to react?

OOC2: And I think in the confusion, Pirates tried to take the opportunity to settle old scores y'know. Patrick Reynolds has no shortage of enemies who would liked to have killed him there and then.

OOC: Lets discuss this OOC thread? on how we are going to fix this mess.

Mallory replied,

"Sounds good to me!"

"This isn't our fight" she heard Patrick call out to everyone in an earshot...

Our fight is with the vessel out in the bay there. This is Chinaman to Japanese man. I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I'm owed a drink by some dirtbag out there. He'd better have survived"


Mallory was confused, these pirates had honor indeed..they were not just ruthless mindless barbarians thirsty for blood, the liked alcohol more than they liked blood..that was clear.

OOC: sorry, you attacked a port in my ruling area, and Ro-zu hired Jacob (my guy) to kill your guy. So that keeps me Osteia and Xis in this battle until either Shao or Ro-zu die.

OOC: Actually he hired MY guy (Take it to the OOC Thread, that's what it's there for)

OOC: Xis don't worry, last post of mine until you post an IC response.

IC:

Jacob cut down two more Chinamen before he said this to Mallory, "Oh and Miss Laurent, don't play hard to get with meh. If ye didn't like me ye 'ouldn't 'ave sayed yes to the job offer now would ye?"

OOC: xis is right, i didn't actuly drag any of the other lords in to this, nor did i have the some hundered men thaty have already been slain or criticaly wounded, plese allow me an xis to settle the score mano-a -mano.

OOC: sorry, you attacked a port in my ruling area, and Ro-zu hired Jacob (my guy) to kill your guy. So that keeps me Osteia and Xis in this battle until either Shao or Ro-zu die.

OOC: Xis don't worry, last post of mine until you post an IC response.

IC:

Jacob cut down two more Chinamen before he said this to Mallory, "Oh and Miss Laurent, don't play hard to get with meh. If ye didn't like me ye 'ouldn't 'ave sayed yes to the job offer now would ye?"

Miss Laurent laughed slowly back away from the battle, patrick and his horde were leaving, headed back to the pub..

"I don't know what your talking about Mr.Hemmings!"

Mallory wasn't sure what to make of his words, it made her think...why did she accept the job, was it him? or ..somthing else...

"Im going back to the inn!, Patrick and mostly everyone else is disengaging!...im making a run for it"

She dashed off pushing her way through the crowd headed back to the pub, she walked through the hole and sat down at her previous seat out of breath, her hand stung from the wound.

OOC: I suggest we break off from our current situation and let them finish it. It's most fair, he's already damaged and has lost some men fighting us. Make an exception? pirate honor? see OOC...

OOC:
"rowboats, laying waste to tons of people What row boats? every one of thems already deployed thier troops

The Legacy hasn't shown her colours yet, dont you meen the Man-o-war?

IC: the legacy launched her fireworks at the fort, thease promptly exploded when they reched the fort and rained bombs down on the enimys.

Shao threw his sword behind him at the attacker and jumped up, drawing another from his back and fliping in mid air, slicing several men. He stabed another before setting his sieghts once more on the japanese false lord.

The man-o-war was almost hiting her attacker and the tripples opened up, the grapeshots riping thrugh her hull, rotated and fired again, chain shots loaded into the used cannon.

OOC:
What row boats? every one of thems already deployed thier troops

The Legacy hasn't shown her colours yet, dont you meen the Man-o-war?

IC: the legacy launched her fireworks at the fort, thease promptly exploded when they reched the fort and rained bombs down on the enimys.

Shao threw his sword behind him at the attacker and jumped up, drawing another from his back and fliping in mid air, slicing several men. He stabed another before setting his sieghts once more on the japanese false lord.

The man-o-war was almost hiting her attacker and the tripples opened up, the grapeshots riping thrugh her hull, rotated and fired again, chain shots loaded into the used cannon.

OOC: NO TRIPLE GUNS!!
And fireworks don't rain bombs on their enemies and they would be useless against a fort, they're AP Weapons (If you wanna argue about it, go to the OOC Thread)

Jacob laughed as well and ran off to follow Miss Laurent, but not before shooting two more Chinamen. He ran over to the pub and walked in through the hole in the wall. Mallory was sitting back down at the table they sat at earlier.

Every thing was normal again besides the big gaping hole in the wall. Jacob ordered two more beers and a bottle of rum. He grabbed them then sat back down in front of Mallory.

"Let meh see yer hand. Does it sting? Oh and here is six more guineas, you are a fine fighter better than my matey Richard, the un ye be replacing."

Jacob placed six more guineas on the table for Mallory to pick after he finished examining her hand.

"Oh and me ship's name be the Floating Mary."

"well, that was an interesting scrap eh lads?" Patrick approached Jacob and Mallory, "Allow me to buy you a drink, I have money to spare after my last voyage" He took out a thick heavy bag of Spanish coins, "What'll it be?" He asked, "The more you have, the more you can drink"

Shao stood amongs his men and felt that an honerable fight would be the only wayt o settle the dipute now.
"Return to the ship, i will fight him alone, such is the honerable way."
The men did so, carrying the dead and wounded with them, shao sat on the ports docks edge and waited for the japanese man to make the first move. Never did his hands come completly away from his blade.

"well, that was an interesting scrap eh lads?" Patrick approached Jacob and Mallory, "Allow me to buy you a drink, I have money to spare after my last voyage" He took out a thick heavy bag of Spanish coins, "What'll it be?" He asked, "The more you have, the more you can drink"

"I'd be a grown man me frien' I can me self me own drinks, but thank ye for the offer matey. Ye be a great fighter, it'd be a pleasure an' an honor to fight along side ye!"

Jacob tipped his hat and began to drink the rum he ordered himself.

OOC: I'm gonna have to leave... Everything goes by while I am not here! :(

"Aye mates, looks like the Chinamen 'ave taken the same route we 'ave, away from battle. It dat the Shao guy, god damned Chinamen. If Ro-zu doesn't kill 'em I sure as 'ell will! I'd hunt down every last mate on his ships and put a bullet in their head!"

"Thank ye, took meh a while to think up a name here you go."

Jacob poured some of the rum on Mallory's hand and applied gauze (more cloth from his shirt) on it then tied another cloth around her hand again. "Now I am going to go wacth that fight ov'r 'ere."

Jacob stood up and walked out of the pub, with his rum in his hand. He had to see this fight. He took a few steps then he had to make sure to watch where he stepped as every little space of ground was almost completely filled with dead Chinamen and other various people. He had already found two dead men from his crew and more were bound to be dead near the dock.

Jacob sat down upon a three man pile of Chinamen and sipped his rum as the Chinamen and the Jap were about to go at it. One would end up being the new Pirate Lord of the South China Sea, he just wondered who.

"Come on" Patrick insisted bring two glasses of rum, "If ye want to be a Pirate you'll need to learn one essential skill...how to hold your liquor! Never met a decent pirate that couldn't. You must try Ma'am if you to join our ranks. Think of it as a little test. And I'm not French I'm Irish and we DO like to drink a lot"

Two glasses of rum were set on the table and Patrick offered one to her
"This is what you'll have to live on at sea, unless you want to drink the salt water? Doesn't go very well with ship's biscuits I find, nor salted pork"

OOC:DAMN TIMEWARP! DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!

Mallory replied to Jacob,

"It stings yes, we should pour some of that rum over it to clean the wound..."

She looked at the money on the table and smiled, her face was covered with black residue from all the powder out there in the battle.

"Floating Mary is a beautiful name"

Patrick came into the pub and offered to buy drinks then produced a bag of gold coins setting it on the table,

"Ohh..no i really should not drink too much..this one time my father had company, when they all had left i went down and got into left over wine...luckily he never noticed it was missing, home we had an entire in our cellar stocked..."

She laughed,

"A pirates paradise? but as i was saying..i have only been drunk once, felt a little tingle many other times though..the french also like to drink, oui?"

OOC: Damn time warp!! GRRRRRRRRR

Jacob decided to call back to his two friends, "Mallory, Patrick, come un an' watch this 'ere fight with meh. It'll be quite the fight, better than the one we took part in!"

Ro-zu had watched the two Irishmen walk away, remembering the Captain Reynold's request for a meeting. He turned to walk away, and a cannon ball blew though the wall in front of him and smashed though the tavern. He merely raised his eyebrows. That was really unnessicary. It was Shao's style though, no grace or subtley at all. Next thing he knew there was a gang of Shao's pirates running up the street at him, yammering and drawing their weapons. Ro-zu put his hand on the hilt of his katana...
...and watched in amusment as the gang was slaughtered by what seemed to be three people, and one a woman nonetheless. They were soon joined by pirates loyal to both sides, and pirates with no alliagence just looking for someone to stab. Finally the resident pirates retreated, as did Shao's. Ro-zu could see the upstart down there, and went down, silent and stealthy.
The next thing Shao knew was Ro-zu standing before him, calmly studying the Chinaman. "That was pathetic, cowardly and dishonorable. Really, trying to kill me with cannon fire? You incurred the wrath of the locals, and now you've lost most of your crew with nothing to show for it. Come at me like the man you are not, and we shall see who is truly fit to be the Pirate Lord of the South China Sea."

Mallory stood up and walked out through the blast hole in the wall. She had never done it before and thought it to be comical, the owner was probably pissed.....

She walked outside sipping a pint of beer, she saw Jacob sitting on three corpses with a bottle of rum.

"Im afraid your wrong Mr.Hemmings, this won't be a better fight because we are not in it"

Mallory grinned dropping the empty glass to the ground, she took this time to reload his two pistols and her dagger pistol...

"Who do you think will win?"

"Ah ye be right there. Ro-zu ill surely win. He's quite a good fighter, and he's a Jap, so I don't hate im!" said Jacob with a smile.

Jacob then turned to see that Ro-zu and Shao were face to face talking trash to each other.

This will be great!

La Frégate Amérique
Port-au-Prince

The pirate having mysteriously disappeared from beside him, Capitaine Luc Tibou Livinion proceded back onto his frigate, the Amerique. Port-au-Prince's pirate activity had seemingly vanished. They are almost certainly at L'Île de la Tortue, Livinion thought. If I leave quickly enough, we may catch up to some of the ones who were just here. The gunshot having already awakened his crew, Luc simply gave the command to sail and it was followed. And thus, without spending as much as a night in Port-au-Prince, Tibou and his brave crew were heading out for L'Ile de Tortue.

"Ah ye be right there. Ro-zu ill surely win. He's quite a good fighter, and he's a Jap, so I don't hate im!" said Jacob with a smile.

Jacob then turned to see that Ro-zu and Shao were face to face talking trash to each other.

This will be great!

Mallory watched putting her weapons back in their correct places, even though she had only drank one beer she was starting to feel a little bit tipsy...

"I think im going to get another beer Captian, be right back"

She went back inside through the hole and ordered another beverage from the bar keep at the counter, there was a hole in the building and everyone acted as if nothing had happened at all.....

Patrick, having drained two full pints of rum, now came out to watch the fight with a third in his hand. Although beer was alright, he preferred rum for it's fiery taste or, when he could get it, arrack from the Far East, that was a powerful mix.
"Have I missed anything?" He asked as he settled down near one of the bodies, flies were starting to descend on some of the worse looking ones while others were being ripped open by stray dogs from the port.

"That was pathetic, cowardly and dishonorable. Really, trying to kill me with cannon fire? You incurred the wrath of the locals, and now you've lost most of your crew with nothing to show for it. Come at me like the man you are not, and we shall see who is truly fit to be the Pirate Lord of the South China Sea."

"A wise warrior will strike from afar and never have to get close, unfortunatly, the cannon ball mised" said shao who continued to sit calmly with his hands on the hilt of his swords. "There, now i am rested this fight is as fair as can be. Now we shall see who is worthy of the title." he said,fliping backwards and landing upright, swords held ready.

"You are as bad as the Western dogs who come to our country with guns and tarnish the honorable samuri way of life. Shooting at me proves you do not think yourself man enough to take me on alone, in a one-on-one fight. And now I will prove you self-doubt correct."
Ro-zu drew his sword and gave a little flourish, whipping the blade though the air with a satisfying hissing noise. He smiled and waited for the Chinaman to attack.

"Brave words, but you forget, the west has wronged China also. But, now, perhaps it is time to end this, it hasn't been nice knowing you." he said throwing a phile onto the ground and holding his breath, flurisbhing his swrord he struck.

Ro-zu parried easily and slashed low at the knees while kicking with his foot at the Chinaman's head. "Young upstart, you cannot defeat me."

Shao braught one sword up and dived to the side, stabing again with the second sword, still holding his breath as the smoke began to spread, breating as infrequently as posable because of its iritable proerties to the throaght.

The Legacy

The fortress fired one last salvo, angry at having to bestir itself, and put several rounds right though the CHinamans sip right at water level. And insult to the injury of ruined masts and sails, and fire smouldered on the deck in several places...The ships was slowly sinking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jacob, Mallory, Patrick & Morgan

Morgan took one last look over the minor injuries her men had sustained in the fighting and headed for the tavern. Once she had a mig of hard cider in hand she wnadered over to where Patrick and the others were watching the fight.

"So, Patrick, which of them do you favor. I say the Jappaner, his name's..Ro? Iffin I remember correct... will take 'im in three..."

She looked over at the lass, who she'd never seen before but had take the time to watch during the fight - not half skilled, nearly as good as herself... "You're not half bad with a sword. Looking for a good crew to sail with?"

Jacob she just shook her head at. Sitting on bodies just showed a lack of couth.

Patrick gave a nod
"I reckon Lord Ro-zu will have the upper-hand, he is experienced and highly skilled in combat. He will have the edge in this fight"
'If he doesn't, I may have to give it to him, myself'

The vessel that had just entered port looked no different than any of the others docked nearby, however, there was something suspicious about her. He didn't know what but his instinct was telling him to watch that one.

"And Morgan is right" He turned to Mallory, "You have a lot of skill with a sword. If you weren't already spoken for, I might've asked you to join my crew. You're not Irish, but you're not English either and that's the next best thing". He laughed and took a deep drink of rum.

Shao braught one sword up and dived to the side, stabing again with the second sword, still holding his breath as the poisen gass began to spread.
Ro-zu sidestepped and then backed out of the spreading cloud of poison. "I knew it. You cannot fight me fairly, can you? Cannons and mobs and poison gas...these are not tools an honorable man uses in a one-on-one fight. I have no choice now." He tied a bandana around his face, covering his nose and mouth, filtering the air somewhat, and strode back into the gas. He made three quick slashs, one to the head, one to the torso and one to the knees. He was not anxious to end it, he enjoyed playing with the man too much. But eventually Ro-zu would have to kill Shao.

Fliping back again shao threw a seriers of of swift and powerful strikes, slashes and stabs at Ro-zu saying "Well im a pirate, only not one o' the nice ones."

"You're not half bad with a sword. Looking for a good crew to sail with?"


"Sorry ma'am she'd be already spoken fer." said Jacob then he gulped down the last of one of his bottles of rum and pulled out another and began to chug that down.

"But I'd might add ye be a great handler o' the sword as well! I saw ye fighting out 'ere, better than I at a few times, but 'en again I'd be wearing old, can't do 'ese flips like ye and the Chinamen.

"It hasn't been nice knowing you." he said throwing a phile onto the ground.

Jacob took a nice whiff of the air, inhaling bird crap, rotting corpses, and the sea breeze. But there was one other different smell there. He looked closely at the fight and saw that a green smoke kind of thing started to rise around them.

"Dat cheating bastard!"

Jacob stood up out of his corpse chair to scream that sentence.

"Ro-zu, ye betta kill that bloody bastard! 'Ere meh friends cover yer nose."

Jacob threw a bandana to each of the people watching the fight with him; Patrick, Mallory, Morgan, and now his old first mate Richard.

"There are no nice pirates," said Ro-zu as he blocked and parried furiously, "only the evil and the merely bad. You fall into the catagory of the weak." He stepped out of the poisonious fog once again, bandana still covering the lower half of his face. I underestimated him. He is better than I originally anticipated. It is of no concern. He lifted his sword to point directly at his opponet and said "Shuntensatsu." Ro-zu's style of sword fighting was called Tenbu no Sai Niyoru Ken, roughly translating to Heavenly Sword. Shao seemed to have no style, simply flailing ineffectivly. Ro-zu's style enhanced his already considerable swordsmanship, lending him speed in movement, percision in strikes and strength in blows. Defensivly, he could fight and slay incoming foes for hours, expanding little energy, as long as he stayed centered. In an offensive battle, where he was actively trying to kill his opponet, his style used large amounts of stamina. However, the Chinaman was no match for the grace and elegance with which Ro-zu wielded his sword. Ro-zu gave a smile and he suddenly became a blurr of speed, in a fraction of a second he was at Shao. His blade tip was quivering at the Chinaman's throat and his right hand was wrapped over the hilt of Shao's sword, crushing his hand and pinning the sword to his side. "Does Shao Feng, upstart of the South China Sea, fear death?" murmered Ro-zu, his blade an inch from Shao's neck. He gazed into the man's eyes without pity or anger, just coldly mocking him. Shuntensatsu translated into "Instant Heaven Kill", and could be considered as Ro-zu's "special move." It was what he did when he wanted to quickly end a fight. The gas swirled about them silently and even the gulls seemed to hold their breath in anticipation.

La Frégate Amérique
Île de la Tortue

The winds had been good, and Livinion and his crew had made most of the journey while they had been asleep. Now entering the harbour of L'Ile de Tortue, Captain Luc again hauled down the Fleur-de-Lis of France. As usual, he was a naval vessel in the middle of a pirate port, so he would not have been welcome flying the standard of a powerful nation. It was a busy morning in the city, and Tibou would have no problem finding outlaws to speak with. However, before he could do so, he noticed a naval battle going on nearby. He ordered his crew to take the l'Amerique closer to the action to get a better feel for what was going on.

Patrick took offered bandage and wrapped it around his mouth and nose. There was something slightly comical about the big man covering his face with the cloth,
"Come on Lord! I want to speak with the Pirate Lord of the South China Sea and I can't if there are two"
To Morgan he simply sighed
"This is between two Pirates. Man to man. Wait until it's over then, if he wins, you can fight man to woman" He smiled behind the cloth.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a naval vessel enter the harbour. French, judging from her sails. But that was not suspicious, Patrick himself sailed a British Frigate, only the flag told otherwise. He had used the tactic of pretending to be a Naval Frigate before to get close to bigger, heavily armed Merchant Vessels. The only strange thing was the lack of a flag. Most Pirates ran up their colours upon entering Tortuga so they wouldn't be mistaken for Naval vessels being sneaky.

"Poison gas...that damn Spainyard in disguise!" She cursed furiously as she snatched the kertchef out of the air and wrapped it about her mouth and nose.

Moving off to the side and away from the gas, she drew her pistole and aimed it at Shao "Ro kill him or I will." Her weapon sat steady in her hand, and her target wsa less than twenty feet away. She'd not likely miss.

And if she did Baron Samedi strode up beside her, hands on hips, and none too far from his very lethal throwinhg knives. There was no one better with those than he, even if he couldn't shoot worh a damn and hated firearms.

Ro-zu, with his hand holding the hilt of his sword while it hovered centimeters away from Shao's throat, could then hear the little click noise of a bar being pulled back, loading a bullet into Jacob's pistol which was aimed at the side of his head.

"I dunt want to kill ye mate. And e knows I won't but ye gotta let the bastard go. Let him slither way inta 'is beat up ol' pile o' crap he calls a ship, and let 'im run, let 'im run way wit his life, which he will knows was nearly taken from him! He knows he's not gonna win dis fight 'eres no way in Hell he's can win!"

Aboard the Brig Vainglorious
At the mouth of Cayona's harbor.

Kitt traced the arc of the fire from the clifftop fort. He followed it down to the water. Gigantic splashes ringed the burning junk from the balls that did not hit. Kitt glanced back up to the fort and did some basic trajectory and range calculations in his head. Interrupting his helmsman's forays into Italian opera, Kitt turned his head to issue an order. "Mister Lawrence, a point to starboard, please."

Larry turned the wheel to starboard just a bit. "Keepin' us windward of da fur'est shot, cap'n?"

Kitt turned back to the the gun deck. "A bit more than just windward, Mister Lawrence. I hope to be out of the Fortress's range."

Larry glanced up at the Fort. "Yarr...'ard to be tellin', cap'n. La Vasewer made that fort da best in da worl' he did, cap'n."

Kitt turned around. "You've been here, Mister Lawrence?"

Larry nodded. "Aye, many be da time dat ol'Lar's breed da petrid aires of Tortuga. 'Er bucktoothed wenches, 'er kill devil rum, oh 'ow sweet dey be, cap'n."

Kitt blinked and turned back the bay. He decided that was a disturbingly poetic 'yes.' He looked at the ships in port. The whole lot anchored and as his mercy, it truly was temptation. He bit his lip and looked down at the gun deck and then back at the bay. He leaned over the railing. "Mister Willard! Mister Collier!"

The men in charge of the cannonades right in front of him looked up. "Aye, Captain?"

"Gentlemen, your guns will be of little use in this broadside. Mister Willard, I want you to take your section and man the bow chasers! Mister Collier, begin loading the starboard long guns."

Both men touched their knuckles to their foreheads. "Aye aye, sir!" They began hollering at their men and getting them moving to carry out their new orders.

Kitt drummed his fingers on the hilt of his sword and spared a glance at his flag. The reef was still holding, and he looked like any other pirate afloat. Kitt mused for a moment that if he really had wanted to fit in with pirates he probably should have made something more garish like a fanged skull or Death on a pale horse. He glanced down towards the bay again. Soon, soon, he would fire.

"Ro kill him or I will."
"I dunt want to kill ye mate. And e knows I won't but ye gotta let the bastard go. Let him slither way inta 'is beat up ol' pile o' crap he calls a ship, and let 'im run, let 'im run way wit his life, which he will knows was nearly taken from him! He knows he's not gonna win dis fight 'eres no way in Hell he's can win!"
Ro-zu considered. He had one telling him to kill him, and one telling him to let him go. One would kill Shao if he let him go, the other would kill him if he killed Shao. Taking the best course of action, he spoke out of the corner of his mouth, blade still hovering an inch from Shao's neck:
"Captains, this is not a matter for you to decide. This is simply between me and him. For far too long Shao has plauged me, like an annoying itch. Captain Jacob, I will spare his life for one thing: His ship sunk. Captain Morgan, if Captain Jacob does no object, you may kill Shao."
The whole time Ro-zu's eyes never moved from Shao's.

"No, captain, he has bested me fair and square, but i am always prepaired for the worst, if i can not become the lord of the south china sea, which has been my dream for much of my life, then i have naught to live for. But i shall prove to the victer that i am not so clumsy as he thinks, and dont let him deny that he does." shao said calmly, lifting his free hand to reveal a bomb with a dangerously low fuse that was getting ever lower. "For you see, this doesn't just contain gun powder, but also a lot of sharp objects, made it myself. Run if you want, but you wont escape unscathed, i found that out the hard way." he said with a slight hint of menace in his voice indicating the scars that criss-crossed one side of his head.

He threw the bomb in the air and twisted around on his pined arm, kicking the back of Ro-zus knee and hiting him in the face with his fist which now held the bomb again, he then droped the bomb and made to dive into the water, all with unering speed that, considering he had inhaled the gas a fair bit,wouldn't have been possable if he had not endured freezing water for 2 mkinutes befor running a few miles straight after.

Ro-zu dropped to his knees, his nose bloodied, but he still had the presence of mind to strike the bomb, making it fly into the water after the Chinaman. "Bloody bastard." he muttered as he stood.

"Captain Jacob, I will spare his life for one thing: His ship sunk. Captain Morgan, if Captain Jacob does no object, you may kill Shao."

"Can't do any by ye sir, done his ship will be sunked, but by no means will he go down to hell with his crew. He shall leave Tortuga alive, I dunnut care how many peices he be in but as long as he'd be alive it be fine with me matey."

His gun was still trained upon Ro-zu, he couldn't kill him, or else he'd loose and he liked him, there was only one way out of this. His right hand, which was farthest from Shao, was holding the pistol aimed at Ro-zu, and his left was free.

Jacob had to do some quick decision making. He whipped out his special pistol which was stashed in his first jacket and he fired a bullet straight into Shao's stomach.

"Ye stupid bastard! Shao if you survive dat 'ere I will take ye aboard me ship and sail ya over to Port au Prince where ye can build up e crew and buy ye self e new boat."

Jacob leaned back, both of the drawn pistol were still trained upon Ro-zu and Shao, and he screamed out to Robert, "Robert, take Miss Laurent and yerself and goes shoot dat damned Chinamen's ship downed to the ocean floor. Bet promise me tis, ye gotta pick up all the suvivors!"

Robert raised up his rifle in a hoorah type fashion and replied with, "Aye matey!" then he ran off and signalled Mallory to follow along with him.

Morgan, Jacob, Ro, Shao,

Morgan snorted, "well, if Jacob wants him to live," She gave a very expressive shrug. "Let him live, but as far as I as I am concerned YOU, Ro are Lord of the China Sea, and this damn Spainyard in yellow skin is noting but a bog trotting rotter with a ship slowly sinking under the great Gray."

Her laugh at the look on Shao's face as he relaizsed what had befallen his ship was loud and long.

"Run Shao, run far and don't come back." Morgan stuffed the pistole back into the wide sash knotted tight about her trim waist.

The petard that Shao tossed about had her diving for the dirt with no shame, she well knew what they could do. Then he was gone sprinting for the ocean, a bullet from Jacob in his belly.


Ro was the only one close enough to the little petard to deal with it and he did, obviously a pirate with propper presence of mind!

Morgan climbed to her feet, dusting herself off as her men did as well. "Quick thinking Ro, and aye he is a bloody bastard."

"Mark my words wentch, we shall meet again, when we do, you shall not laugh so easily. How ever, despite this humiliation, i profer this to ro-zo, he didn't claim my life, so he may claim these." he said, drawing fron under his armor the charts his uncle once owned, they were one of his few treasured posetions. "Not so acurate as the charts you may have, but they lead to far more places. Now then if you are taking me to port au prince then i may as well go now, i can make my own way there, despite how much people here hate me now, i still have a means of transport."

Ro-zu took the charts, wondering what possible value they could have. He watched Shao walk away, or rather run. "If you cross my path again I shall not be so kind, and Captain Jacob will not be there to stop me." He nodded, then frowned and turned to the other two. "I don't suppose you two have any other ways of sinking his other ship, too? I want him stranded here, not able to sail the seas for a good long time."

Ro-zu took the charts, wondering what possible value they could have. He watched Shao walk away, or rather run. "If you cross my path again I shall not be so kind, and Captain Jacob will not be there to stop me." He nodded, then frowned and turned to the other two. "I don't suppose you two have any other ways of sinking his other ship, too? I want him stranded here, not able to sail the seas for a good long time."

Patrick shook his head
"My ship is long out of range to do any damage to his ship. Besides, it would be better to get him out of Tortuga and as far away from our kind as possible"

Morgan, Shao, Ro, Patrick, Jacob and others about

The force of the bullet into his belly had stopped Shao from diving into the bilgy waters of the port and his comments about her laughter bothered her not one whit.

"I'll fight ye now or later it matters not to me. I do not hate ye, but ye are a poor sort of pirate to be doing such poxy tricks on those who may well guard your back one day. Remeber it thusly...all man's hands save those of the Brethern are agin us, and all we have are one another."

I want him stranded here, not able to sail the seas for a good long time."

Later Ro, later, I'll hunt with ye for him, but for now, lets get clear of the remins of that gass, it is a fouls a stench as I do not care to inhale further" Morgan waved a hand towards the battle damaged tavern "A meal and a talk among ourselvces is what we need. I want to hunt thr Black Fleet as she pliyes for Spain. And it will take more than just myself"

Ro-zu nodded. "Aye, fine, he leaves. And I did come into port with a meal and drinks in mind. Also I have a certain crew member in mind I want to discuss with you, Captain Morgan," He sheathed his sword and wiped the blood off his nose with his bandana, kicking the gas-spewing thing away, making it spin out into the water where the bomb had gone. "Underhanded tricks." one could hear him mutter as he did so.

La Frégate Amérique
Île de la Tortue

After docking, Luc's crew again went below deck. Livinion departed his beloved command, and stepped onto the soaked pier. Much like before, in Port-au-Prince, he took a deep breath. He surveyed his surroundings. He was looking for a person of interest, such as an obvious captain of pirates.

Shao simply turned and stalked away, climbing into the one remaining row boat he began to row alone towards the legacy, which was coming still into the port, she was damaged no doubt but she could get him a few men to help get to that french ship, perhapse he could make a deal with them.

Morgan, Ro, Patrick, Jacob, Mallory

Aye, fine, he leaves. And I did come into port with a meal and drinks in mind. Also I have a certain crew member in mind I want to discuss with you, Captain Morgan,

Morgan took her hat from the crewman who'd retrieved with an absend minded but real thanks - some times an interesting past shown though - and dusted it off before setting it on her sleek ebon locks.

"Since I'm calling the meeting, the food and drinks are one me, but ye buys yer own wenches" She stated as she hewaqded into the tavern and laid forcefull claim to the largest round table there.

"Food, the best ye've got and no laggardliness about it. Drink, what ever mine want." She tossed a purse, heavy with gold to the center of the table.

They knew her here and knew that she meant every word, and would pay generously for good service, food and drink.

Ro-zu murmered his thanks but before he could order anything one of his crew jumped though the hole in the tavern wall and skidded to a halt before him. "Kayptun!" he said, bowing. Ro-zu nodded. "Speak." The crewman spoke hurriedly, words tumbling out of his mouth like a waterfall. He spoke rapidly in Japanese. "A good sixth of the crew have been killed. Some fifty men, in that chaos surronding Shao. Struck down by Western devils," He was apparently ignoring the others at the table. "Go out and recruit more. Remember my policy on crew: Asians and Negros only. None from the West." The crewman bowed. "Aye, Kayptun. It shall be done." He turned and jumped back out the hole. Ro-zu turned back to the matters at hand. "I'm thinking the rum, and main course...hmmm, anyone have recommandations? It has been a long time since I visited Tortuga, and I have never visited this tavern."

La Frégate Amérique
Ile de Tortue

After docking, Luc's crew again went below deck. Livinion departed his beloved command, and stepped onto the soaked pier. Much like before, in Port-au-Prince, he took a deep breath. He surveyed his surroundings. He was looking for a person of interest, such as an obvious captain of pirates.

Patrick noticed the man and approached him from behind. He tapped him politely on the shoulder
"Y'know it's rude to enter a port without flying friendly colours? And much ruder to be flying no colours at all."
He walked around Livinion until he was facing him from the front,
"And you don't much look like a Pirate to me, mate" He concluded, his hand hovered near his scabbard but, for the moment, his sword remained where it was.

"No, captain, he has bested me fair and square, but i am always prepaired for the worst, if i can not become the lord of the south china sea, which has been my dream for much of my life, then i have naught to live for. But i shall prove to the victer that i am not so clumsy as he thinks, and dont let him deny that he does." shao said calmly, lifting his free hand to reveal a bomb with a dangerously low fuse that was getting ever lower. "For you see, this doesn't just contain gun powder, but also a lot of sharp objects, made it myself. Run if you want, but you wont escape unscathed, i found that out the hard way." he said with a slight hint of menace in his voice indicating the scars that criss-crossed one side of his head.

He threw the bomb in the air and twisted around on his pined arm, kicking the back of Ro-zus knee and hiting him in the face with his fist which now held the bomb again, he then droped the bomb and made to dive into the water, all with unering speed that, considering he had inhaled the gas a fair bit,wouldn't have been possable if he had not endured freezing water for 2 mkinutes befor running a few miles straight after.

OOC: Sorry was typing mine when that happened. Have my post happen before the bomb only he didn't shoot Shao. Is everyone okay with that?

IC:

Seconds after screaming to Robert he jumped into the water after Shao, just in time to catch his foot. A Chinamen couldn't better than he. He grabbed the foot and pulled back bringing Shao to him. He had his special pistol out in a second aimed at his face. Jacob then went under and pushed Shao under with him so the bomb would have minimul affect upon.

He could distincly hear the explosion while under the water and a few seconds after it blew up and came back up but did not do the same for the Chinamen. Shao struggled and tried to push out but Jacob wouldn't let go. He punched the Chinamen in the face a few time to lessen his struggle but he kept up with it.

"I PROMISED YE A NEW FUCKING LIFE! WHAT DO YE DO? YA TRY TO BLOW MEH UP! YOU STUPID BASTARD! I SHALL HANG YER FUCKING HEAD FROM ME MAST!"

OOC: Aw shit I didn't press post! I pressed post an hour after I wrote it, can we just go along with that please?

Patrick Reynolds(?)
Ile de Tortue

Captain Luc Tibou Livinion, who had been intent on searching for and finding his own pirates to converse with, was quite taken aback by the one approaching him from behind. Regaining his composure, he spoke in his usual, heavy French accent. "Ah, terribly sorry monsieur, but I'm afraid that if I had been flying my flag, I would be assaulted by all who reside here. My kind is not welcome, and I did not want to deceive by flying a false banner. I am not a pirate, monsieur, but it is a pirate captain I seek. Could you lead me to one, as you can see, I have no crew with me, so I couldn't harm anyone without being shot and killed myself?"

"Well, well, well, A Frenchie, if I'm not mistaken. You're right, your kind is not welcomed here and most will happily run you through with a cutlass before you can open your mouth."
His eyes flashed as he was looking at the Frenchman
"And suppose I could lead you to one of the many Captains housed in Tortuga what business would you have with them, monsieur? I cannot just go into a tavern and tell them that a French...captain, I presume?...is looking to speak with him"

Patrick Reynolds
Île de la Tortue

Captain Luc Tibou Livinion, who had been intent on searching for and finding his own pirates to converse with, was quite taken aback by the one approaching him from behind. Regaining his composure, he spoke in his usual, heavy French accent. "Ah, terribly sorry monsieur, but I'm afraid that if I had been flying my flag, I would be assaulted by all who reside here. My kind is not welcome, and I did not want to deceive by flying a false banner. I am not a pirate, monsieur, but it is a pirate captain I seek. Could you lead me to one, as you can see, I have no crew with me, so I couldn't harm anyone without being shot and killed myself?"

Ro-zu poked his head out the tavern door to see what had become of Reynolds. Upon seeing the Frenchman he strode up to them. "Ah, monsieur, you seek a pirate Captain?" he asked, his Japanese accent making the French word sound mocking and ridiculious.

Patrick Reynolds and Kitsunekaji Ro-zu
Ile de Tortue

"I am indeed a Captain, messieurs, and I have been instructed by my naval command to seek out pirate captains willing to agree not to strike French shipping. In return, any captain who agrees to this will be allowed a safe haven in any French port. You would also be provided with the locations of foreign merchant fleets, specifically the damned English, the braggart Spaniards, and the weak Dutch. Also," Livinion continued, a twinkle coming to his eye, "the French Navy would be willing to lend you assisstance against your pirate enemies."

Patrick Reynolds and Ro-Zu
Ile de Tortue

"I am indeed a Captain, messieurs, and I have been instructed by my naval command to seek out pirate captains willing to agree not to strike French shipping. In return, any captain who agrees to this will be allowed a safe haven in any French port. You would also be provided with the locations of foreign merchant fleets, specifically the damned English, the braggart Spaniards, and the weak Dutch. Also," Livinion continued, a twinkle coming to his eye, "the French Navy would be willing to lend you assisstance against your pirate enemies."

"Really now?" Patrick raised his eyebrows, "I don't think this is the time or place to be discussing this, Captain. If a Pirate sees you they will almost certainly kill you. You do not do a good job of blending in. My ship is beached a mile or two from here. It is safe from the prying eyes of Tortuga if you wish to discuss this proposition further."

"I agree with the Captain," said Ro-zu, "your offer is attractive but now is neither the time nor place. I will be going with the Captain on his generious offer to come to his ship made previously, and there perhaps we can discuss such in private?"

Patrick Reynolds and Kitsunekaji Ro-zu
Île de la Tortue

"Ah, so you are both captains then, I presume. Well, I must say, as a Captain of the French Navy, I'm not sure that I'll ever know how to fit in with the pirate lot. Nevertheless, I will be willing to accompany you to your ship."

Patrick's frigate lay at a 45 degree angle to the sea, her hull resting on the soft, golden beaches of Tortuga bay. The town itself was now just a small blur of sand coloured houses and trees, the ships nothing more than brown smudges with tan dots to represent sails.

The United Irishman, as they approached it, was a hive of work. Men from both the ship's company and men hired from the town were hammering, sawing and lifting thick wooden beams into small holes that had been punched into one side of the ship. Each hole was wide enough to fit a man's head and shoulder through and each man was now relentlessly sawing the wood so it would fit into the holes widened to make the job easier. Each man sweated hard in the unrelenting Caribbean heat.
"That" Patrick turned and pointed to one hole, "Was done by a French 24 pounder. From a vessel not dissimilar to that" he pointed to Livinion's frigate.

Teddy's sweaty face appeared from the deck, "Brought company Cap'n?" He shouted down, grinning, "Don't look like recruits to me!"

"I have some business to discuss with these Gentlemen, Teddy! Anyone in my Cabin?!"

"Only Mister Hawkins and he'll be shifted soon anyway!"

"Good, I'll be right up! Has the timber merchant been yet?!"

"Aye, Cap'n!"

"How much did he want!?"

"Two hundred Guineas and one of your new gold vases!"

"What did you give him?!"

"A hundred Guineas and a halbadier up the arse!"

Patrick laughed as he hauled himself up onto the deck and led his two guests to the cool dampness of his cabin,

"So," He said, settling down in his chair, "You were talking about a Privateer mission?" He asked Livinion.

Patrick Reynolds and Kitsunekaji Ro-zu
United Irishmen

"Yes, that is essentially what I am offering. The only real difference is the fact that you will not have to sign a lettre de marque, and the fact that I personally will assist you in any battle you may find difficult to win. Again, the only condition to this is that you limit your raiding to those ships that do not belong to the Royaume francais. Do you gentlemen have any questions in regard to this proposal?"

Disappointed that neither Patrick Reynolds or Kitsunekaji Ro-zu
had shown any interest in her proposition Morgan just shrugged. "A pox on them and their rudness. I'll take the Black Fleet on alone."

Finishing her dinner she sat bout planning how best she could do it.

OOC: Sorry Tan...didn't see that proposition in all the Pirate speak

Patrick Reynolds and Kitsunekaji Ro-zu
United Irishmen

"Yes, that is essentially what I am offering. The only real difference is the fact that you will not have to sign a lettre de marque, and the fact that I personally will assist you in any battle you may find difficult to win. Again, the only condition to this is that you limit your raiding to those ships that do not belong to the Royaume francais. Do you gentlemen have any questions in regard to this proposal?"

"Sounds like an interesting proposal indeed," Patrick put his feet up on the vast table in front of his desk, like all ships the room filled with the smell of rotting damp,
"What if I come running into one of your ports with one of his Majesty's Frigates up my arse? Am I going to be granted safe haven in your port or will I be tossed back to the wolves? French trade is very profitable at this time of year" He reminded the French Captain.

Crowe's Nest

A man entered and bowed to Morgan as he had been ordered
"I am to apolo...apologe...say sorry for Captain Reynolds only he be off to speak to a Frenchie that's all. He wants to know if you would still accept him after his disre...disresheckful?...bad manners earlier?"

Do you gentlemen have any questions in regard to this proposal?
"I am thinking I will accept on the terms. However, if any French vessal attacks me or any of my ships, I will conider the contact null and void. I don't usually prey on French shipping anyway, Dutch and Spanish are so much richer."
Crows Nest...
A crewmember walked in and approached Captain Morgan. "Captain Kitsunekaji Ro-zu wishes to apologize for his rude behavior but there was an urgent matter he and Captain Reynolds had to tend to. The Captain wishes to know if the Honorable Captain Morgan would meet him later tonight, on his ship the Kouro at the time of eight to discuss certain matters?"

Patrick Reynolds and Kitsunekaji Ro-zu
United Irishmen

"You will be granted safe haven, monsieur. There will mostly be either naval vessels or a fort at the port, and they will aid you, providing His Majesty's Frigate does not break off pursuit at the sight of them. French trade is indeed, profitable, monsieur, but, as your friend states, Spanish and Dutch shipping is much richer, providing they waste all their time gathering resources, without amply protecting them, or trying to establish a military presence in the Caribbean.

"Indeed, the Spanish Fleet makes fine pickings at this time of year" Patrick's mind wandered to the gold ships that would, even now be beginning the rush across the Caribbean, into the Atlantic and back to Spain. That was why he rushed to get his vessel repaired. He would be amongst those ships like a wolf amongst sheep.
He smiled again
"And what is there to stop you going back on your word when the mood takes you, Captain? You would not be first Naval man to throw a Pirate to the wolves when his usefulness has expired"

Patrick Reynolds
United Irishmen

"Well, I understand your concern, Captain, but, quite honestly, I don't see how your 'usefulness' could expire. As long as there is British, Spanish, and Dutch shipping out there, you will be 'useful.' Once they are gone, you won't need a safe haven anymore anyway. Besides, I am willing to offer you my word, and I do not go back on my word once I have given it, Monsieur. So, what say you?"

Patrick Reynolds
United Irishmen

"Well, I understand your concern, Captain, but, quite honestly, I don't see how your 'usefulness' could expire. As long as there is British, Spanish, and Dutch shipping out there, you will be 'useful.' Once they are gone, you won't need a safe haven anymore anyway. Besides, I am willing to offer you my word, and I do not go back on my word once I have given it, Monsieur. So, what say you?"

"I am a cautious man, Captain, that's why I'm still alive," Patrick replied gruffly, "I will accept your offer to avoid French traffic. I will keep 100% of the loot yes?" He asked curiously, "The money from one gold convoy alone could finance an entire 74, never mind what a convoy could afford."

Patrick Reynolds
United Irishmen

"Oh, I understand captain, I am a cautious man as well. Of course I'm sure you would debate that with the way I walked into Tortuga." Livinion let out a chuckle. Nodding his head, he continued, "Oui, oui, captain, all loot will be yours. We provide you the location, and you get all the treasure and luxuries you desire. If you request French Naval assistance, the split will be fifty-fifty between our two ships, as my enjoy their riches as well." Captain Luc again laughed a little. He quickly straightened up, however, and awaited a response from the two pirates in front of him.

Patrick also stood up
"I believe we have an accord, Captain" He smiled holding out his hand.

The deal had worked very nicely in his favour. He had been planning on attacking the Spanish galleons anyway for the coming months, the new fast French Frigates had soured his taste for French plunder, and now he had guaranteed naval assistance from the French as well as the use of their ports whenever he needed it. For Patrick Reynolds, life had suddenly become very sweet indeed.

Patrick Reynolds
United Irishmen

Captain Luc Tibou Livinion followed suit, grinning, standing up, and firmly shaking Reynolds' hand. "Magnifique, and what say you to this proposition, Captain," Livinion continued, turning toward Ro-zu.

(I'm off for the night.)

Captain Reynold's man, Kitsunekaji Ro-zu's man
Tavern

Morgan threw back her head and laughed..."Tell both your captains to meet me at the House of Blue Lights, two streets over though both should know where it is, at 8 - tis a neutral place an' I'll swear to their safety."

The House of Blue Lights was infamous. It was the only brothel in the whole Carribe that money alone could not get you into. It's madam was a exiled French Countessa, or so the story went, and her manners and quality of her ladies gave the story much basis in truth. She was also known for the size of her library and her utter discretion.

Patrick turned to Ro-zu as well, then he noticed one of his crew hanging from a rope in front of the vast windows at the back of his cabin
"Mister Collins." He stated like a teacher, "What, prey, are you doing?"

"Windy's, Cap'n," The young man held up a greasy cloth, "Scrubbin' 'em down for ye!"

"Well the 'windows' can wait for another time, continue on your way, Mister Collins"

"Aye, Cap'n" The man huffed and lowered himself until he could not be seen from the cabin windows. Patrick turned to consult a map spread across his table,

"My ship will be ready within a week. If we sail due west from here, we'll be in the Spanish shipping lanes. Their gold ships often plod along this part of the sea and, providing it takes three weeks into Tortuga and three weeks out to the shipping lanes, that leaves me a month on fresh food and two months on salted pork and biscuits. We'll make quite a kill this year. Mister Collins, another few inches, if you please."

This last statement was to the eyes that were stretched over the edge of the windows, peering into the cabin for a look. However, they darted out of the way at the statement and Patrick chuckled
"The Crew'll know before sundown about this. Not that it matters, I can take maybe 17 or 18 ships in that three months if I'm given peace. No Spanish ships and I garuntee I can close down those lanes for the gold season"

Crowe's Nest

"Right, Two Blue Lights, no hold on," The man had think for a few seconds before he understood. He even looked thick standing there,
"Yeah, Blue Lights and it's been an ho...hona?...nice to meet your aqui...aquit...to see you. All the best" He said as he bought a drink of rum, put his cap on and headed for the street.

"Tell both your captains to meet me at the House of Blue Lights, two streets over though both should know where it is, at 8."

"'N what be that fer matey?" said Jacob as he walked over to Morgan and the others. Water dripped from his long black hair, he had jumped into the water after the idiot who tried to blow him up. He missed him of course and he got away, but the man wouldn't be alive much longer, the second he regained his crew and set sail a man hunt would begin and everyone in Shao's crew would become subject for Jacob's men to kill.

"Ye be plannin' soming, 'nd fer what mate?"

Jacob put his hand over his mouth and shouted out, "Oh 'nd fer 'ny buccaneer sober 'nough to hold and pistol 'nd an sword come right 'ere and I can sign ye up, I be looking fer some crew members aft that damned Chinamen blew off the heads of some of me mateys!"

Jarvis picked a piece of flesh from his teeth as The Howling Shark came into port. His skin covered in tribal tattoos he wore a ripped and ragged uniform, stolen from the now dead merchant owner of the Howling Shark His crew were a scruffy bunch, criminals, Indians, and slaves on the run. They were desperate, and willing to do anything to survive.

And that's why they followed "the Scalphunter."

Jarvis smiled. Every now and then he was thankful his former master had beat him and his mother so viscously, for without him, he might still have a conscience. As the anchor was thrown down and everything prepared Jarvis instructed 5 of his toughest crewmembers: Fishbait Dixon, Dirty Ole' Keith Mccoy, Andy the Anchor, Gold Tooth Toby, and Sleeping Bear.

Several days before they had caught a dutch cargo ship, and after taking what they pleased, Jarvis had delighted in throwing them overboard to his beloved pets: the sharks. It was true, a whole pack of tiger sharks seemed to follow the ship everywhere, knowing well they would never go for want of scraps or captives. Jarvis smiled when he thought of the gold and trinkets his ship was laden with, a pregnant mother ready to bear wealth into the world.

"Well boys, 'ow about de touch of a women to ease da nerves?" His men nodded in agreement, and Jarvis headed straight for the House of Blue Lights. He had heard much, and it had been days since the scent of soft flesh had reached his nose.

The doors flew open, and they looked upon the gathered crowd. They sought an empty booth, and quietly filed in, motioning for a drink. After all asking for rum they pretended to talk amongst themselves. But they were listening, listening to the words of others, keeping in ear out for talk of treasure or big scores...

Kitt drummed his fingers waiting for his ship to enter range of his long guns. He bit his lip to try and distract from the urge to run down to the gun deck to direct fire. He was captain now, and he couldn't be doing that. He had trained gun captains. He had to trust them.

He glanced back at the Fort, hoping to guage the range from him to those guns. He grit his teeth. There was no telling what they could do. He had no idea what weight they had mounted up there. They could have cannons from some old French shore battery for he knew. Worse off, Kitt knew they were still warm. That meant they had better accuracy and range than a cold, fresh gun.

"Got yer nerves up, cap'n?"

Kitt nearly jumped when he turned to Larry. "No, Mister Lawrence...not nervous at all. Merely...excited for action." He turned away and squinted at the ships he was nearing. He couldn't quite make them out. He looked about where was his telescope?

"The fighting top...." Kitt glanced skyward and spotted Bart crouched on the fighting top. "Mister Quigley! I seem to have misplaced my spyglass! Could you pass it down if it is still in the fighting top?"

Quigley stood up and looked down in disbelief at his captain. They were minutes from combat, and he wanted his spyglass? "Pass it down, sir?" He looked down from the great height of the fighting top. He spotted one crewman whose bald head he recognized. "Benny!"

Benny the Bald, as he was imaginitively named, looked straight up. "Aye, Bart!"

"Catch the captain's things!" Bart pulled the spyglass from his belt and held it out in open air. Kitt saw this and started sputtering.

"Mister Quigley, I've changed my mind..."

Bart dropped the expensive piece of ocular equipment, and Kitt blanched. Fortunately for nought, as Benny, the Bald, snagged it from the air. He held it up triumphantly for the captain. Kitt released a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"Good eye, Mister Thorncroft! Now if you'll bring it here..." Benny started to move aft when something dropped from height and smote him on the head. He staggered to the left and stood straight for a moment. He smiled as his eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell over as spinelessly like a deboned cod. Another had picked up the spyglass and the object that had knocked out poor Benny Thorncroft.

Kitt took the spyglass and then the other object tentatively to discover that his logbook was the offending weapon. Kitt looked up to the top. Bart shrugged. "Sorry, sir. Thought you might want your log as well, sir."

The Captain sighed and tucked his log inside his shirt for the time being. He pulled out the telescope and brought it up to his eye. He focused in on the Junk which was starting to list and settle in the water. He shifted his eyepiece over and saw the ship that had been firing on it. It was the schooner he'd spotted with that horrible bastardization of the Union Jack...red field and blue bars with stars AND a skull! A disgrace to England to be sure. "Floating Mary, eh? Let's see if we can influence your captain to edit out the floating, shall we?"

Kitt lowered the telescope. He took a deep breath to bellow. "Mister Quigley! Take out the reef in our colours! We'll face these scum like Englishmen!"

He leaned forwards onto the railing. "Men! This is a goodly distance. Make sure to fire on the up roll for maximum elevation!"

He glanced up and watched as the wind caught hold of the flag and pulled it out taunt. The brilliant white field and red cross of Saint George appeared like the legendary Robin of Locksley out of the Forest of Sherwood. "Fire as your guns bear on the schooner! For England and SAINT GEORGE!"

There was a moment of quiet as the first gun captain stood over his gun waiting for the Floating Mary to appear directly in front of "Ol'Eliza" as they affectionately called the twelve pound long gun. As the schooner came into view, the gun captain stepped aside, opened his mouth, and touched his burning bit of slowmatch to the touch hole of Ol'Eliza. The cannon roared, bleched fire, and rumbled as the gun truck was flung backward.

Kitt opened his mouth with a smile as the guns went off one by one. This was good start to a good career. The Navy was missing out on him.

Jarvis smoked a large cigar and let his eyes dart across the room. The patrons were a raggedy bunch, men whose pirate years were long gone, whose only solace could be found at the bottom of a bottle. Sleeping Bear was sharpening his knife when his voice rose from the silence of the group.

"Captain, the time draws near." Jarvis raised an eyebrow first, but when Sleeping Bear flashed a secret hand symbol, he smiled acknowledgedly.

"Dis be true. De One Beneath shall soon be wantin' anoder sacrifice. But 'oo?" They looked for someone out of the way, someone who would not be missed. And they found him. A drunkard passed out in a puddle of vomit, slumped against the front door. Better still we wore a silver cross.

Jarvis had always hated Christianity, the religion his former master had done everything to convert him to. But his father knew the ways of The Old Ones, and told his sons of the Dreamer beneath the sea, who would one day rise and smite all who walked the land. After his father's hanging for witchcraft, it fell to Jarvis to continue the rite of his ancestors.

And continue he did.

They picked the man up and lead him outside, the other patrons thinking nothing of it. After loading the man onto the ship, Jarvis pulled The Howling Shark into open water, to hide his "practices" that might be deemed unfavorable by the populace.

Still, screams of pain and growls of things not quite human drifted into the port, sending chills through all that heard it.

The Madame of the House of Blue Lights was glad that the strangers who'd come in and left had left. They would not be allowed back in. Her door guards had been at dinner, and the scummy crew had drifted in catching her off guard.

Not the next time though - those of the Scalphunter. To prevent this she locked the door and only would admit those who passed her inspection.

Morgan was waiting in the library and enjoying herself immensely, she didn't often get a chance to read, when she heard the cannon fire commence. "What now!" She growled as she set down her book and went to a window to see what was going on, but nothing could be seen from there.

Cursing she told the madam to let her out, but she'd be back soon. Running down to the warves she blinked at the sight of the ship sailing in to the port and bombarding the ships moored there.

"Magnifique, and what say you to this proposition, Captain,"
"I accept, Captain. You have done a great service for the French people." Ro-zu bowed, shook the man's hand, and took a dingy back to port.
Running down to the warves she blinked at the sight of the ship sailing in to the port and bombarding the ships moored there.
Ro-zu was there also. "English. I don't know what the hell they think they're doing here, but they shall be slaughtered. If they're out of the fort's range, the regular pirates will get them."
In the dimness he smiled. "The Honorable Captain wished to discuss certain matters?" he said, as if a English ship in Tortuga port sinking ships was no big deal.

Patrick ran to the foredeck of his vessel and put an spyglass to his eye. He swore loudly as he looked at the vessel
"She's British anyway. Damn it!" He swore again. His men were already hauling the two stern mounted chase guns forward so they could be brought to bear on the attack. Reynolds shook his head
"Forget it. They're out of range of the 18 pounders and I'll be damned if I'm going to be caught beached in a battle. All hands will repair the ship with all haste! I'll be back shortly"

"Aye, Cap'n!" The crew shouted and rushed to complete the repairs. The United Irishmen was far enough out to be out of range of any bombardment on the main port. She was safe.

Blue Lights

"Right then, Ma'am Morgan, I presume my man got to you with my message?" He asked politely then turned to the bombarding ship, "what was this proposition you had in mind?"

Jacob had gathered a few more men for his crew which lost a good portion of men, over ten, in the battle with the Chinamen. Jacob was walking up and down deck dictating to Richard his to do list.

"Seems we've 'ave a crew in order. Check that of 'ere than. Hmmm."

Jacob stopped to think on what else to add to check off. He went to speak again but cannonball flew past his head and knocked another crew member off deck to add to the pile of floating bodies near and around his boat.

"Hmmm, add get another crew member."

"BUT CAP'N!"

"What be it ye need to say Richard splurt it out!"

"Shounn'd we be firing back at dese schoundrols!"

"Oh, well ye 'ave a point 'ere, put that above get another crew mate."

"Come un cap'n!" screamed Richard as he jumped to the deck floor as a cannonball whizzed though the area where he was just standing. Richard then jumped back up and fired one of the cannnons was already loaded.

"Cap'n ye betta duck!"

Richard grabbed jacob's foot and pulled him to the floor as another cannonball whizzed by. Six cannonballs were fired simutaniously at the ship. Rifles were aimed and fired as the cannons were loaded and fired once more. Jacob's warring state of mind came back and he started to scream out commands.

"Aim at 'ere mastes! Disable 'em so I can get ov'ar 'ere and puta bullet in 'ere commander's head!"

Jarvis laughed heartily. So the Old Ones were in his favor! They had left the port for sacrifice, and lo and behold, who should come by as soon as The Howling Shark is out of sight? The British. His crew was on edge, unsure if they had been spotted. Moored behind rocks, the ship was out of sight, the sharks playing all around.

He reached for his spectacle and peered outward. "Hmmm. Firin on de port, gonna try ta kill all de pirates, eh? Too bad we isn't pirates den! Pull down the flag!" His order was completed as soon as it left his lips. "I want a tarp thrown over de crows nest, and station a man up dere so we canna see what is goin on. De rest of you bring this ship away from dis accursed place!" Out of sight The Howling Shark silently drifted away, Jarvis listening to the distant explosions in the port.

"Dassa too bad for de rest of um. Perhaps afta de British leave we sweep through enda pick up de pieces, ja?"

"Youssa got it!"

la Fregate Amerique
Ile de la Tortue

Having already arrived back in the city, Captain Luc Tibou Livinion felt quite proud of himself. He had sucessfully negotiated with two pirates. For a gentleman from Paris, this was quite the unusual accomplishment. Well, I suppose it comes with the occupation of frigate captain, Livinion thought. Done thinking, Luc now noticed a naval battle going on in the harbour. It was between a pirate ship, and, to Tibou's surprise, a frigate of the Royal Navy. Figuring he'd be willing to scrap with either, Livinion reboarded his ship. Ordering his crew back above deck, they began to warp l'Amerique away from the wharf.

(Thanks, Tanaara.)

OOC: If you are tied up at a warf, it's called 'warping away from the warf"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Captain Reynold's , Kitsunekaji Ro-zu's


In the street...

Margan put her fists on her sips and half laughed half cursed at the sight of the second battle of the night "Dasmn it ye scurvy Lime chewer, I was just at the good part of Pygmallion!..Damned near daft as an Irishman, disturbing my reading!"


"English. I don't know what the hell they think they're doing here, but they shall be slaughtered. If they're out of the fort's range, the regular pirates will get them."

"He's canny, just out of the fortress's range. I daresay he's seen them in action Lord Captain Ro"

The Honorable Captain wished to discuss certain matters?"

"Yes. But not out here in the street, too many mangy strangers about of late, People I do not trust, nor like the looks of either, bad smell about them..."

She broke off as Patrick joined them "And no I'm not talking about you Irishman."

Morgan led Ro and Patrick back to the House of Blue Lights and the madam locked the door after them and placed a bar over it as well.

Once the three were settled up in the library with cheese, breead, and drinks of their choice Morgan laid a map out, unrolling it carefully.

Gentlemen I know howmuch the Spanish treasure fleet carries. I know when they sail..but what I don't know is which of the three possible routes they will be taking. And that means if we're going to gut the damn Spaniareds we need to work together."

Gentlemen I know howmuch the Spanish treasure fleet carries. I know when they sail..but what I don't know is which of the three possible routes they will be taking. And that means if we're going to gut the damn Spaniareds we need to work together.
Kitsunekaji Ro-zu took a peice of white bread and a hunk of soft yellow cheese, ripping the bread to peices and putting it in his mouth along with the cheese, chewing slowly to savour the taste. When his mouth was empty he spoke. "So, one of us on each route, is that the idea?"

Morgan, Captain Reynold's , Kitsunekaji Ro-zu's

House of Blue Ligthts, Library

So, one of us on each route, is that the idea?"

Morgan shook her head "No, they are sailing twenty five galleons laden to the brim with treasure, at best we could take but one acting independantly..."

Her finger traced the three routes, and she named off the dangers and benefits of each..."Their Captain General, Ferria, a devil in the guise of a man, he is bold and ruthless...But, if word get to him that two of the routes have seen much pirate activity, he will shun them I think. I propose we each pool funds to encourage some of our fellows to make the two least likely routes their hunting grounds for a week or two..." Morgan grinned malevolently.

Patrick looked at the routes
"There is only one he will take" He stated from memory, "Because of the three there is only one with an ounce of safety. He could go either up the coast of the New World, through the Caribbean Islands or dash across the sea itself,"

Patrick to a mouthful of drink before continuing

"If he goes along the coast of America, he risks British bases and British Patrols so he won't go that way. He'll also avoid the islands because they are French and we too hold a certain influence over that area as well," He grinned, "That leaves the open sea of the Caribbean. He'll try to run to Cuba and once he's there, turn east for Cadiz. The man knows what he's doing. 25 Galleons are not so easy to hide in the open waters of the Caribbean and he knows it. What I think he will try to do,"

Patrick grabbed a pen and starred to draw a long beside America,
",Is follow the coast for a few weeks, allow us to tail him of the British to track him. Then, one bad night, he will change heading and headed due east into the open sea. When morning breaks, we will have lost them and, in our knowledge, continue up the coast to try and regain contact. He is a clever man, Ferria and he knows these waters well. He knows the currants and breezes, he knows where a heavy galleon would take advantage over a Frigate."

He sighed and sat back down, taking another drink as he did so. He had given his opinion to the matter, it was up to the others to decide on what was done.

Ro-zu curled his lip. "I do not like the idea of working with other pirates. I can hardly say I trust either of you, but at least I know you. More than a few pirates would be needed to upset the Spanish shipping. The other nations of the New World have no love for the Spanish, and perhaps that can be used to our advantage, especially in light of my and Captain Reynold's new contract with the French," he paused, taking another bite of the food. "If we could work together with the French in these waters and drive the Spanish into their arms, they would be trapped between us and the French guns. An acceptable contract could be made splitting the treasure. You may not like the idea, but even all our combined forces would not be enough to take this fleet."

"Galleons are slow and poorly armed," Reynolds informed Ro-zu from his chair, "and in my knowledge, they're usually badly handled. If you can get a fast ship against them, you can rake them without becoming a target yourself. It usually works for me against them" He reasoned.

"Yes, but we are talking about an entire fleet of them. They may be slow and poorly armed, but there's a lot of them, and we'd have to keep moving. When they shoot at us, we'd have to be lucky every time. They'd only have to be lucky once. And even if we did manage to board one or two, I beleive the Spanish would rather sink their own ships than let their treasure fall into pirate hands."

"I find the Treasure fleet are a little like Buffalo," Patrick stated thoughtfully from his comfortable chair, "If you knock one out of the way, the rest will scatter like seeds in the wind. They do not have a lot of loyalty to each other, Master Ro-zu. If one is taken, the rest will just flee."

He moved a little in his chair then settled again
"As for sinking their own ship, the Captain may want to do, but I will bet that not one on that ship will be able to swim. Sounds ridiculous but the Spanish are not great men for looking after their crew. So it's simple. Rake them once, come alongside, board and accept the Captain's Surrender. I have done it so many times before and I think I could do it again," he went to light up a mahogany pipe he had pulled from his breast pocket.

"I admit I have little experience with fleets, I usually prey on lone ships, or ships in pairs. So, what you are saying is, all you would need to do is repeat this tactic until their numbers have dwindled to nothing? How, I ask, does one contain them? If each of us were to say, take a ship, then who is to stop the rest from escaping?" Ro-zu leaned forward. They were talking about a large operation here, but they were also talking about enough treasure to set him up for his entire life, and probably his children too, should he choose to have any.

"Simple. Tacking" Patrick took a deep puff on his pipe before continuing, "Take on ship, board it and capture it. The rest of the fleet will run in the opposite direction to the one you have come. It's like herding sheep. Try and drive them towards the Caribbean islands and their formation will splinter, I assure you. Then it's just a case of rounding up each ship one at a time."

"I admit I have little experience with fleets, I usually prey on lone ships, or ships in pairs. So, what you are saying is, all you would need to do is repeat this tactic until their numbers have dwindled to nothing? How, I ask, does one contain them? If each of us were to say, take a ship, then who is to stop the rest from escaping?" Ro-zu leaned forward. They were talking about a large operation here, but they were also talking about enough treasure to set him up for his entire life, and probably his children too, should he choose to have any.

It's like herding sheep. Try and drive them towards the Caribbean islands and their formation will splinter, I assure you. Then it's just a case of rounding up each ship one at a time."
"This seems like a promising plan. And, best of all, it will take relatively little effort, as we may round up the ships at our leisure. Captain Morgan will have her revenge," he nodded to her, "and we will have our treasure. When is the fleet scedualed to sail, and from where does it start?" Ro-zu nodded, almost to himself, and leaned back again in his chair. This could be the pinnicle of his pirate career.

"I think you are right about them crossing to Cuba,and we need to hit them before then. We can pin them in the Carribe easily enough with bluff. But if they get free into the grey grey, they can scatter like well struck pins on a bowling green." She agreed with Patricks assessment. Buit continued on, proposing a raddically new plan...

"I was thinking that we work together - our ships are twice as fast as those heavy laden scows, better manned, better built. I was thinking that if we bracketed first one, used broadsides to take down the masts, leave her reeling and wounded, then racing on to the next - they'll be sailing in sight of one another - while one of hangs back and grapples in for boarding. Be warped together just long enough to get the boarding party on, shove off for the next one thats been demasted, set a crew on her and move on. If I don't have to worry about firing my guns, I can carry more men for just a boarding action. You to cripple the galleons, I put men aboard. or we can alternate who does it. With our greater speed and ease of handling we can take them like ducks in a row."

"And of course if you are game enough, we can always attack at night." It was her signature move. Few pirates attcked at night, it was indeed reckless and highly dangerous, but somehow Morgan and her crew carried it off with seeming ease.

She sat back and shook her head "No gentlemen, I am not one much for trusting either, tis been stung too often I've been, but you are both known quantites, and there's never been a quarrel between us. None of us can do it alone. Not an take more than one or two before hunting the scattered ducks down is too big a risk."

struck pins on a what?
"We will need a great many loyal pirates for this endevor," said Ro-zu, "we can either cripple the Spanish ships or board them, I don't care which. I think attacking at night would be highly risky, but potentially less dangerious to us in regards of the Spanish fighting back. I have never actually attacked a ship at night, I have never needed to."

"The galleons will be poorly manned and handled but they will have Marines aboard" Patrick stated, "If we drop a few men at each one and move on there is a considerable chance that the Galleon's crew will be able to fight off the attack. We would have to be very methodical about the operation. And as for night..." He hesitated, "It would certainly cause confusion in the ranks but for as well. It only takes one fool with a light fuse to slip near a powder magazine and BOOM goodbye United Irishman. We could do it at night, but there would be considerable risks to those not trained for night fighting" he stated, blowing out a great plume of smoke as he did so.

Near Tortuga

Under its original French owners, the Alexandria would have been a magnificent sight as it came within sight of Tortuga. After several years under the command of Barbary Pirates, it was...significantly less impressive. A thin yet noticeable trail of smoke drifted out of several gaping holes in the rear of the ship. The sails were dirty and worn. The mainmast was a few feet shorter than it had been- indeed, it's flag had been literally shot off.

If the previous owners had recognized it, they would surely wonder why it was in the Caribbean, considering that had been boarded by Barbary Corsairs near Morocco. The truth was, it had been pursued by Spaniards, English, Dutch, and particularly French all the way to the Caribbean. It was now a touch of the Muslim world a long way from home...just the way it's captain liked it.

==============

"Land ho!"
Mahmoud Armanjani, Captain of the Alexandria, stumbled out of his cabin. In one hand, he held his dear Koran. In the other, he held an empty bottle of rum. He was an exceptionally large man, with a girth almost as long as his untrimmed beard. Adjusting his turban, he squinted up at the crewman sitting in the rats line. The crewman cheerfully shouted again,
"Land ho!" Mahmoud shook his head. Daft Aaqil. The only words the man knew in English were "Land ho!", yet the man felt an incessant need to practice his language skill every time they went into port.

Mahmoud made his way to the prow of the boat and gazed at the port ahead. Tortuga...maybe this was the Promised Land in the texts of the Jews and Christians. Overflowing with rum and prostitutes...

Mahmoud Armanjani, Captain of the Alexandria, stumbled out of his cabin. In one hand, he held his dear Koran. In the other, he held an empty bottle of rum.


(What a good Muslim, drinking alcohol. :D

I'll put up a post involving the French Captain Livinion welcoming you to Tortuga in a minute.)

(What a good Muslim, drinking alcohol. :D

I'll put up a post involving the French Captain Livinion welcoming you to Tortuga in a minute.)

The Koran is...more a collection of guidelines than rules to this man!

OOC: Ok...i had to go away for the weekend and i come back and im lost? where do i pick up?

OOC: If you want on the ship helping to figth back or at the bar watching the ships fight. Pat, Ro-zu, and Morgan are planning an attack upon a giant fleet and Jacob is fighting off a British ship that decided to attack. Oh and South Thasland is pulling in.

The Koran is...more a collection of guidelines than rules to this man!

(I can see that. :p)

La Fregate Alexandrie
Harbor of L'Ile de la Tortue

As Captain Luc Tibou Livinion's frigate, l'Amerique set out to sail into the harbor of Tortuga, the former could have sworn he saw another French frigate sailing into port. As it approached, however, Livinion saw the state of the ship, and figured it could not be a vessel of the French Navy. There was no flag, but there was no doubt that this was a frigate of French make. Livinion knew a French-constructed ship when he saw them. Once far enough out of port for the pirate's to see specifically anything on his ship, Livinion ordered his crew to raise the flag of France and prepare for battle as both ships moved closer to each other.

Aboard the Brig o'War Vainglorious
Just Inside Cayona Harbor

Kitt watched the line of splashes from the Floating Mary's first, hasty salvo as the balls fell short of his brig. Even as the splashes from the first salvos disappated, his gun crews were standing clear and touching slow match to touch holes. The eight long guns roared again. Not a minute later, smoke wreathed the Floating Mary again, and scant seconds later Kitt heard tearing and snapping above.

He raised his eyes aloft and saw several comically neat round holes in his main sail. He also saw one line dangling free. Damage to sail and rigging would slow him down but not disable him. Mostly it annoyed him.
"Mister Montegomery! Send a hand aloft to splice that line there!" Kitt yelled across the deck pointing and the dangling line.

Cursing under his breath he turned back the Mary. Behind the loud roars of the schooner's gun, he could swear he could hear the sharper cracks of musket fire. They were on the edge of cannon range. The Captain couldn't imagine why the pirates would waste powder in such a worthless gesture.

He shook his head and sighed looking out away from the schooner towards the other ships in the bay, his other targets. He frowned when he saw a ship warping away from the wharf. Then his eyes grow wide as he recognized her lines. "Blast my eyes! By her lines...she's french!"

"Thar ain't the worse scabarous fertunins upon, cap'n. Thar be anooter un' ta starboard." Larry reported as he was gazing out the new arrival.

Kitt crossed the quarterdeck and raised his telescope to his eye. The curses that had been under his breath now moved over his breath. "Damn, another Frog."

"Aye, 'er lines be plainer t'an dat of a French 'hore, cap'n." Larry observed solemnly.

Kitt took the scope down from his eyes and collapsed angrily between his palms. Two French naval ships operating out of Cayona which was full to its bulkheads with pirates? Kitt could only assume that the French government was in thick with these pirates. What form of barbarity were they planning. The Crown had to know.

Kitt turned to Larry. "Mister Lawrence, a point more to starboard. Bring us out of the harbor and put some more sea under our lee in case we need to run before the wind."

"Aye-aye, cap'n." Larry spun the wheel, and the Vainglorious turned a bit more to starboard, opening the distance even more between them and the schooner.

Kitt strode forward to the railing. "Hold your fire, men! We'll quickly be out of range of the schooner! The situation is getting to be a bit larger than the good ol'Vainglory can handle."

Kitt turned his attention back to the French ships. He had to get out of this harbor and get word the Crown. Something was definitely wrong here.

La Fregate Amerique
Harbor of L'Ile de la Tortue

As l'Amerique sailed closer to the stolen French ship, Livinion again noticed the British Frigate, the reason they had left port. Britain and France were not currently at war. However, Livinion was worried. If this Frigate's Captain brought word of a French Ship in Tortuga, it could persuade the Crown to declare war, resulting in a disastrous blockade of the French mainland. Changing his mind, the French Captain now ordered his ship's crew to unfurl all of the former's sails. Undoubtably, l'Amerique was about to chase the Beef Eaters out of the Caribbean.

(Sorry, won't be able to post again until tommorrow.)

"Aye, it is" Morgan chuckled "I remember the first few time me and mine tried a night attack...some day when I know ye well and have a mite of rum I may let ye laugh with me."

It only takes one fool with a light fuse to slip near a powder magazine and BOOM goodbye United Irishman.

Morgan blinked at that. "Ye bring lanterns in there?" Her voice aghast

The interior of a ship was as dark as death save on the levles that had something resembling portholes to let in some small light, and the powder magazine didn't even had a place to hang a lamp - it was too dangerous. The powsermonkeys leaned to work by feel while in there, and Morgan had long had a blind sailor, used to eternal dark and as cannier with his hands than any one sighted as her powder master.

"And as far as marines, no they'er replacing most of them this voyage with paying, and very well paying at that, passengers" Morgan shook her head.

"The Governers of both Colon, and Cartagena are both sailing for Spain, at Royal behest, and all their familes with them."

"Look I sail with a hunnert and a half men, and if I can devote all but say thirty to combat that's five ships I can take quick as the flick of a lambs tail. The Galleon's sailors won't fight, or not worth a tinkers damn. Recruit another ship and an equal number of men, and thats ten..."

She let them think on that for a bit...

"Fuh fuh fuh...all too easy, Captain Morgan. Slow, poorly armed ships, a weak crew, few Marines and plenty of civilians, cargo holds filled with treasure. If I wasn't still in Tortuga, I'd swear I'd died and gone to Pirate Heaven!" exclaimed Ro-zu. If he took this, if he did well, then he could raise enough funds to go anywhere he wanted, rich. He could go to the Americas, he could go to Europe, he could even go home, although there the risks probably outweighed the benifits. The men on his ship were all very good and well, but it had been ages since he'd seen a Asian women. Aloud he spoke. "Ah, yes, Captain Morgan, I have a certain member of my crew to discuss with you."

"No," Patrick corrected, "The fuses for the cannon, we keep lit flints nearby in case one of the matchlocks fails to spark, We can't lose a cannon, you understand." He stopped and thought for a moment,
"Instead of boarding each ship one at a time, how about laying alongside her, hit her mats with chain and barshot, then move on to the next ship? At best, we'll tear down her masts and force her to a halt and, at worst, she'll be slowed down by her shredded sail." He was still thinking of the proposal and smiled,
"If you think you can recuit another ship, then go ahead. A fine little fleet we'll be" he took another puff on his pipe and relaxed.

"Land ho! Land ho! Land ho!" Mahmoud glanced at Aaqil, the daft sap. What was he shouting at now- oh. Mahmoud spotted a French frigate starting towards them.
"Frenchies! Frenchies in the port! All hands, bring us to broadside and ready the guns!" he shouted in Arabic. Mahmoud glanced at the harbor again, and did a double take. He turned to his crew, sleeply stumbling out on deck.
"Frenchies and Limeys! We've got company! Ready the sails, we can't take both on at once!"
"Captian, sir! The Frenchie's turning to the Brit. Are they turning on each other?" Mahmoud turned again to gaze at the harbor. Every damn time he looked, the situation was different. Was the Frenchie going to go for the Brit? Making yet another change to his orders, Mahmoud kept his back to the crew, keeping an eye on the situation.
"Bring us to broadside, but keep us with the wind as much as possible. Run out all guns, and wait for my signal. If the Christians want to fight it out, then we'll let them. If the Frenchie wants us, he'll find a surprise!"

"Fucking Brit!"

Jacob threw one of his pistols to the wood deck and cursed again. He turned back to Richard and said, "'ow much dam'ge 'id 'ey cause?"

"Six more be dead bodies 'n 'eres un er two moore holes in the sail. We best go back to eh tavern 'n pick up some new mateys."

"Ow many we start out wit?"

"60 summing."

"Ow many we 'ave now?"

"Eh, me be 49?"

Jacob turned his head to see three ships, the one he just fought off, a french ship, and a pirate sailing towards each other in what would be a massive battle.

"Lets get out of 'ere fore the entire town get destroyed. W'ere we be go'in go?"

"We could go to Cartegena or Magarita."

"Their to fer way, I's says we go to San Juan, 'en move on to Tur Island, ste e night in Havana, 'en take a new crew up at St Augestine 'n attack merchants 'oming from Havana to St Augestine or Vera Cruz, even Belize if 'ey 'ome that fer. Four towns of merchants Rich, that get us rich af'er a month!"

(( If you're going to bandy about insulting slang, best call me by the right one, Thasland. :P Limey though more recent that the period we're in, or Jack Tar or the French "matelot" would be better than lobster which would only refer to British army or marines. ))

Aboard the Brig of War Vainglorious
Sailing southeast out of Cayona

Kitt strode to the taffrail of the ship. He didn't need a telescope to see the tall white sails of the two French frigates. The one that had warped out from Cayona was off his port stern. He glanced to starboard and saw the new French frigate that was sailing towards Cayona. Strangely, only one of the frigates was flying the fleur de lis of the French Crown. Was the other frigate actually French? Were they trying to lull him into a false sense of security?

Captain Gunasontree bit his lip and turned about to look at Tortuga again. He could see the other pirates anchored in the harbor, which was frustrating. What maddening was he could see one ship that was clearly beached and careening. Kitt was fit to be tied. The perfect opportunity to put a pirate frigate, formerly British by her lines, out of action, and the Frogs were forming up to chase him off. He snorted and glanced further down the coast. It was perhaps four or five miles to the eastern point of the island. The port Frog would have a hard time catching him being under Kitt's lee with the southerly wind. The other Frog was windward of him and could easily take a point or two port to close with the Vainglorious and still keep up a good clip.

Kitt shook his head. He had to know what was going on here. Frogs coming out like weevils from a shaken ship's biscuit, a plethora of pirates with larger ships than him, and at least one of them was flying Irish greens. This was truly bad. If he could make it around the point, he could out pace the frigates and turn north for Eluthera, the nearest British outpost of any authority.

He pounded his fist on the taffrail. He didn't want to go all the way back into the Bahamas with just a cursory glance into Tortuga's harbor. He had to know what plans were being concocted in the rum houses of Tortuga.

But first he had to make good his escape from the Frogs. He turned away from the taffrail and strode across the quarterdeck to the railing above the gun deck. "All hands! Secure the port guns and close the ports."

He gave them a minute or two to secure and lash down the port side long guns and lower the gun ports into place. When they were finished, he issued his next order. "Hands! Open the starboard gun ports and run out the starboard guns. Mister Willard! Secure the bowchasers, and move your section to the stand by the sternchasers!"

The gun captains complied and began going about readying the ship to defend against the new French frigate. Kitt hoped not to have to fight the new arrival, but the Frog had the best angle on them.

"Captain, the guns are ready! What ship shall we aim at?" Mahmoud considered the scene. The Limeys were going to make it out to open waters, the French had no hope of catching them. In any case, the English ship looked as if it was fresh from combat. The guns would already be armed- come to think of it, that was an interesting point. This was Tortuga, the most famous of all pirate ports. The pirates would not have let two ships from royal navies in without a fight.

So, we have a Brit and Frenchie. One's firing at the pirates, the other is not. So are the French accepted here? If I fire on the Frenchie, then I risk angering him and whatever allies he has here in Tortuga. The Brit, on the other hand, is friends with no one here...hmmm, when in Rome...

Mahmoud fingered the many pistols he had stashed in his outfit.
"Load up with chain and bar shot. Aim for the sails of the Brit, sailor," he said grinning. He took up his position at the wheel, and turned towards the Brit. Thank you Allah, for showing me what course of action to pursue...

The Brig of War Vainglorious
Harbor of Ile de la Tortue

Captain Luc Tibou Livinion ordered to take the Amerique as fast as she could go towards the Vainglorious. All sails were unfurled, and Luc hoped the pirate ship that was currently turning on the British Frigate would slow it down long enough for his own frigate to catch up to it.

(( Thasland, I don't know but I'm currently assuming you've raised no flag.

Corbournne...I didn't know you were on the Vainglorious too. :p))

Aboard the Brig of War Vainglorious
Exiting Cayona Harbor

Captain Kitt Gunasontree glanced to starboard. The French frigate without any colours was closing. He beat on the starboard rail, frustrated, before raising his telescope to his eye. His stomach knotted as he saw the frigate's gun crews begin tending to their guns.

Kitt strode quickly, yet calmly over to the port stern railing, attempting to conceal his nerves from the men. Libretto Larry, as Kitt was beginning to think of his helmsman, was not fooled at all. His single eye followed his captain across the deck, until his brown eye saw something off the port bow and fixed there.

The Captain, however, raised his spyglass to observe the flag flying Frog off his port stern quarter. The French captain was clearly setting all sails. That merely confirmed Kitt's suspicions that he had disturbed some French-piratical conference. He lowered his spyglass.

"Beggin' da cap'n's per-din, boot thar's white caps off the port bow, sur." Larry commented with an incredible amount of calm for what white caps meant, a rise in the sea floor just under the surface that caused waves to break and foam on them.

Kitt spun to his right and leaned on railing to get a better look at the white caps. Damn it all, Larry was right. How he saw them so well with one eye was a question but not an immediate concern. Those white caps most likely concealed a fatal fringing reef. He glanced up at the sails. He was on the edge of being irons, any more to starboard and his square-rigged main sails, topsails, and top gallant sails would begin to luff and lose their wind.

"Mister Lawrence, you have been in these waters before?"

Larry nodded as Kitt looked back at him. "Aye, sur."

"What do you recommend, Mister Lawrence? A half or full point to starboard to clear that reef head?" Kitt asked tentatively.

"Naw, cap'n. That thar reef is a murderin' son o'a wench, but Larr knows he's ways." With that Larry, spun the wheel to port, and the Vainglorious yawed towards the reef.

Kitt's eyes grew large. "Mister Lawrence!"

"Don'tcha werry yer saint'd hed, cap'n. We be skirtin' that reef by 'alf-pistol shot." Larry said confidently.

Kitt glanced back at the reef as it neared. He was questioning the sanity of accepting a judgement of safe distance from a man with no depth perception. He glanced back at Larry who was leaning away from the wheel to get a better view of the reef. He leaned back and nudged the wheel to port by an amount Kitt would neither feel nor estimate.

Kitt leaned over the railing to watch the white foam of the reef close with the brig. Quigley, still in the foretop, watched from his better vantage point, fearing the sanity of his captain was finally nonexistant. The former marine watched the reef close to within musket shot, the maximum range for a musket such as the one he carred, and then within pistol shot, the maximum range of a pistol such as Captain Gunasontree's. Quigley retreated from the edge of the fighting platform. He grabbed his sibling Chris's hand and pulled the other Quigley towards the foremast itself. "Hang'on, Chris."

Chris looked at elder Quigley's white. "Bart, what is..."

Bart just pushed Chris the mast and wrapped his arms about it. "Just hang on." The other quasi-marines were beginning to catch on and take measures to brace themselves.

As the whitecaps edged inside pistol shot, Kitt started to hear a grinding sound. It was a awful, spine-tingling sound, but strangely enough there was none of the violent jarring that usually accompanied running aground on a reef as the sharp coralheads gutted the bottom of the hull.

After a few breathless moments of grinding, Larry again spun the wheel to port, and the Vainglory leaped forward like a horse with its reigns released as it caught more wind. Still hearing the grinding but expierencing no other tell-tales of doom, Kitt turned his helmsman. Larry was quite proud of himself. He smiled, which was a frightening and unintended sneer of snaggled, gold, and missing teeth. "Cap'n if'n it suits yer fancy, ya cin belay the grin-din' of yer teef."

Kitt blinked and opened his mouth to reply, which stopped the ominious grinding sound completely. "Yes...thank you, Mister Lawrence." He glanced aft at the retreating reef. "..well done, Mister Lawrence..."

Larry positively beamed, an action that would have made any barber faint at attempting to correct the man's teeth and focus their duties mainly on the man's thinning hair. "Ain't goona be sed dat' ol'Larr twarn't da best hand at' da wheel. No sur-ee, cap'n. Larr'll not steer ya wrong." The demented yet able helmsmen glanced to starboard. "Aye..now we be beam reachin' to the wind...be able to hol' dat 'til the horn of Tortuga. If'n I not be so ferward to be makin' sue-gest-ans, cap'n?"

Kitt was following the man's gaze and trying to follow his thinking, not an easy task with a mysterious and odd man like Mister Lawrence. "Speak freely, Mister Lawrence. You have prove your worth thus far."

Larry chuckled. "Thankee fer de kind wards, cap'n. Be me thinkin' dat ya best run out da stuns'ls, cap'n, an' prepar fer a bit o'yer faver'd long gunnin' 'cuss dat der bald-top Frog's closin' at the quick."

Kitt quickly translated Larry's piratical gibberish into the King's English. He recommended putting out the studding sails, sails hung from spars extending beyond the end of the yard arms of the fore and main masts. They effectively increased the area of the Vainglorious's square rigged sails. That would allow them to squeeze a bit more speed from the southerly winds.

Kitt strode to the railing above the gun deck. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hands aloft to set the stuns'l!" The men straightened from their position over the guns and began to move to and climb the ratlines. Bosun's mates helped them along with taps from their knoted ends of rope and cries of "Step lively thar!" The hands quickly reached the yard arms and began to slide out along the footrope to the edge of the long wooden arms.

Kitt lowered his attention to the 'bald-topped frigate,' the flagless frigate off his starboard side. He didn't need to make much of a leap to know what Mister Larwrence meant with the second part of his suggestion. The first part of it was meant to increase the brig's speed. The second, however, dealt with firing on the frigate if the Vainglory didn't have the lead to outrun her.

"Captain, the bows are loaded!" Mahmoud nodded, keeping a tight grip on the wheel. If the brig's troubles ahead were any indicator, there were hidden reefs here that could prove the death of them.
"Captain, we arn't flying any colors, Shall we go in with something to sail under?" Mahmoud glanced up at the mainmast, where his flag had formerly flown before being lost. Mahmoud grinned, and glanced at the brig he was attacking.
"Do we have any...British flags?" A slow smile crept over the sailor's face.
"Yes, sir!"
"See if you can't get a few lads to affix it to our mast somehow. How are the cannon coming?"
"The bows are ready, and we've got a full broadside ready, given a target."
"It looks like we're just about in range for some chain shot. Once we run up the colors, we'll prove to that Limey that adding on more canvas only gives us a handier target!"

OOC: I could aswore I posted, but I guess not...my apologies to Alversia and Xiscapia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
House of Blue Lights Library Morgan, Ro, and Patrick

Morgan just grinned at Patricks comment about main amd move on - that is why she suggested a minimum of three- two to maim and move one and at least one to catch the cripple, dump some fighters aboard her, then move on to the next cripple...

"Ah, yes, Captain Morgan, I have a certain member of my crew to discuss with you."

"Certainly Ro, what can I help with this crewman?"

The sounds of firing had ceased for the moment, and Morgan wondered whom had sunk, or been chased away.

(Well, Al or someone posted that who you are interacting with should be top and then where below, and in the original post I was shooting at you, so, whatev. :p Sorry for the sucky post, got to go to bed.)

Aboard the Frigate Amerique
Harbor of Tortue

Captain Luc Tibou Livinion orders his crew to continue taking his frigate into firing range.

"Certainly Ro, what can I help with this crewman?"
"I seek employment for her. In my latest conquest of a Spanish treasure ship I discovered the Captain kept a Indian slave girl aboard. I folded her into my crew, and while her fighting skills are not spectacular, she knows several different languages, and could act as a translator. She shows promise as an actual fighter, but there's a long way to go. I have no need of her on my ship, and I am afraid she will be killed the next time we enter combat, or worse. I figured that you would be the only Captain who would take a women aboard as a part of the crew. So I am offering her to you as a gift, should you so choose to accept." Ro-zu nodded. He had formed a protective attatchment to her, and Ro-zu felt that she had no future in his fleet, and in most other places she would go straight back into slavery. A part of Captain Morgan's crew seemed fitting.

(( :D I know Al or perhaps the Pirate Queen suggested it, Corbournne. I, however, am a fickle-minded so-and-so. My version of it posted where my characters were, on my ship and where my ship was in the harbor. I'm too lazy to try typing out all the ships in the harbor. ))

Music to escape by... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DbXo2F8NKg&feature=related)

Aboard the Brig of War Vainglorious
Southeast of Cayona Harbor, Heading Due East

Captain Gunasontree glanced back at the French frigate. It was still making for them. His only comfort being that it would be close hauled until it could round that reef head. The Vainglorious had the advantage momentarily, which was a rather good thing because he didn't really want to fire on the Frenchman. The Admiralty would probably just hang him for their troubles, even if a war didn't start.

His immediate concern was the unknown frigate to starboard. He turned to face it again. Running this long towards two ships of separate nations without colours was highly suspicious. And worrying, Kitt had to admit. This frigate didn't seem all too concerned with either the Frog or the Vainglorious. Both a French naval officer and a British naval officer would have shown their colours having encountered a British ship runnin...tactically retreating before a French ship.

He turned and leaned over the quarter deck railing. "Mister Jingleheimerschimidt! Fire a shot across the bows of the frigate to starboard!"

The gun captain with the extremely long name put his knuckles to his forehead and yelled "Aye-aye." His gun crew, also Jingleheimerschmidts who muttered "Sure he was talking to John Jacob? His name is my name too (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQMjlGcreoQ&feature=related)," stepped aside as Johan Jingleheimerschmidt touched his bit of burning slowmatch to touchhole of the cannon "Jingleheimerschmidt," for his name was the cannon's as well...as was the gun crew's other cannon on the port side.

"Jingleheimerschimidt" roared out and launched a Jingleheimerschmidt round shot across the bows of the mysterious frigate, creating a Jingleheimerschmidt splash in the sea.

Morgan, Ro, and Patrick, in the Library of the House of Blue Lights Patrick with a pipe,

I figured that you would be the only Captain who would take a women aboard as a part of the crew. So I am offering her to you as a gift, should you so choose to accept."

"I'll offer her employeement on the strength of your recommnedation, but only if she choses. I take no one as a gift" Then Morgan grinned devilishly "Unless it's a lover, and most are too afraid of me for that."

She sat back and savored some cheese herself, paired with a slice of fine sweet apple. "We pull this off and we are set for life; each of us an ancestor to found our own dynasties. And you can afford better pipe weed than that Patrick, though it smells not as bad as many."

Ro-zu chuckled. "I am sure she would jump at the chance to be part of your crew. She is afraid of mine, even though I ordered that any man that touched her would have his genitals removed. I am the only one who showed her any kind of decency or compassion in her life, and I hope you might continue that trend. She's heard about you and your expliots from my own crew."
He sat back and listened to Morgan. It was true: Should he ever have an heir it would all go to him; or, concevibly, her. And they would become...well, whatever they chose to do with the money. Ro-zu could only guide whatever children he may have in the future. Assuming of course he found a suitable women.

"Well then" Patrick snuffed out his pipe and stood up, "I think it's time for some preparations don't you? My vessel is patched up nicely and my crew filled out again with more cannon fodder. I think it's time we put to the sea and try to track down Senior's Treasure chest?" he smiled as he put the pipe carefully away on his belt, "I reckon three days hard sailing with the wind should bring us up on her although we can only hope"