| abstract
| - Harbor Walk - Port Poxy - Rogue's Isle Tall, gently swaying palm trees form a perimeter around about three-fourths of the ramshackle town of Port Poxy, with its motley mix of whitewashed stone construction, thatched roofs, and cobblestone roads. The main street, known as Harbor Walk, leads from the moorings at Scurvy Wharf to the looming Fort Amalgado. A winding path leads down toward Creepy Cove, on the shore of the harbor. Ax is curled up on the edge of the pier, dozing in an errant sunbeam. Blake and his crew are loading up the Sorrow with various supplies, mostly gun powered and rum, but there's water and food and the like in there too. The fedora-wearing redhead that is Shafi strides into the area, taking a deep breath of the salty sea air as she makes for the Sorrow. Shafi's armor, usually stark-white banded-mail, looks like brown leather today. Probably to match the hat. "Evening, Captain," she calls ahead cheerfully, steely grey eyes then falling on the felinoid. "Aww, pretty kitty's taking a nap. How cute. Evening, Ax." "Ahoy, matey," Blake calls to Shafi, waving his hook hand at her, "We be ready to set sail soon," he turns back to the loading. It's at that point though, that that familiar 'EEEEEEEEE!' noise can be heard, and yup, there's Stormy, the doll running full tilt at the pretty sleeping kitty. Ax blinks awake at the sound of both Shafi and Stormy running at him. Rather rapidly he jumps to his feet, looking ready to kick at it. "You're in for very fuzzy fur if you touch it, Ax," Shafi remarks with a giggle, "Ask Ravus what the little guy did to our armor sometime." The Elf winks and boards the boat, before extending her arms out to her sides, "Hey, Stormy! C'mere and gimme a hug - I've missed you!" Stormy does just that at the suggestion, running straight towards Shafi and into those outstretched arms, EEEEEEEing the whole time. Ax blinks at the doll, several times. "..The fuck?" The Elf cringes as she's shocked a bit, but hugs the little doll enthusiastically. Her hair stands on end, but since her armor's not metal today there is no electromagnetic effect. "He's a sentient storm," Shafi remarks to Ax, "We ran into him on our last expedition. He wanted to play, but his games were a bit too rough and Linnael ended up having to basically give him a firm spanking. Then he made this doll and Stormy managed to fit himself into it. Easier to play this way." "Play!" Cries the storm, it's voice seems to be coming from the hole in the top of it's head, and it sounds as if someone was blowing across the top of a bottle to speak, and with that it runs at Ax. "...Umm... ahh..." Ax says, quickly ducking down to try and pick up the doll, causing -his- fur to stand on end. "...Agh!" Shafi cackles merrily at the fuzzy felinoid, "Oh, that is /precious/! Hey, does anyone have one of those... oh, what in the Light's name is it called? It makes a little instant painting, sort of?" The Elf scratches her chin and tries to think of what she's talking about, leaning against the main mast. "All aboard!" Blake calls to any not on already, Stormy, for it's part, just keeps hugging Ax, "Play!" it cries again. Ax sighs, shaking his head. "..Bah. My fur... it took -ages- to get like it was." Deep deep sigh and he heads up the ramp. "I'll play with you, Stormy," the healer says after a while, "Let Ax alone to fix his fur, okay?" Shafi takes a moment to think, "I can't think of a game. Is there any game you want to play?" "Hide and seek! Hide and seek!" Stormy exclaims as it lets go of Ax and rushes back towards Shaif. When all are aboard, the Sorrow sets sail again, Blake at the prow and Al taking the helm. Ax moves to sit near the prow as well, watching the water as he licks his fur flat again. "You actually lick your fur?" Shafi asks as she detaches herself from the mast, "I know you're a felinoid, but really. That doesn't bother you at all?" She smiles down to Stormy, "Okay, we'll play Hide and Seek. You go hide first." She covers her eyes and starts counting. After many exciting games of Hide and Seek, the ship finally nears land. After the usual calls of 'Land Ho!' and the like, said land comes into view for those without spyglasses or Elven sight. It looks like an island, and tropical as well, jungle starting after the short strip of sand that counts as a beach and covering the rest of the island. "...yes. But I had a bath earlier," Ax tells Shafi at some point. Later, when Land Ho has been called, he stands up and peers around. "...Pretty!" "Oh, wow," Shafi remarks, regarding the island with interest, "That's gorgeous... Nothing like that back in my world at all." The Elf steps towards the prow to try and get a better view, "What sorts of animals do you suppose might live in there?" "Throw the anchor, get some rowboats ready!" Blake calls out to his crew, who scramble to do his bidding, he looks to Shafi and smirks a bit, "We're about to find out now, aren't we missy?" "Where do they throw the anchor?" Ax asks curiously. "Into the water," Shafi remarks, blinking over at Ax, "It catches on the bottom and keeps the boat from floating away while we're on the island." She makes for the rowboats and finds herself a seat on one of them, "I suppose we are, Captain. I'll be prepared for claws and poisons, myself. And undead. Just to be safe." And yup, if Shafi's answer wasn't enough, the anchor gets thrown overboard with a *SPLASH* Blake nods to Shafi, "Aye, bring ye weapons mateys," before he himself gets into said rowboat. "Oh... I see," nods Ax, looking over the edge. "Cool..." He checks his claws. "Yup, still there." The Elf pats at her whip and her book, and checks her armos briefly. She also presses her fedora a little more tightly onto her head. Leaning back a bit, then, as Shafi is seated in the back of her rowboat, the healer regards the island more, eyes glimmering with curiosity. When enough pirates have gotten in, including Blake, Al, and Mr. Rum, the pirates start rowing towards shore, "That's a nice hat ye got there, missy," one particularly rugged looking pirate comments to Shafi as he rows. Ax looks over the edge of the rowboat, smiling. "Really cool... I like water." "Water's great, isn't it?" Shafi asks of Ax with a bit of a grin. She looks over to the pirate, then, "Thanks. Rum-boy the Target Dummy over here was wearing one when we ran into Stormy and I thought it looked nice." The trip to land isn't too terribly long, the one pirate comments back to Shafi, quieter, "We keep him around fer that, if he dies, then we know we're in trouble," "That's always good to know<" Ax says dryly, lookign about. "Nice beach..." "Yeah, soon as he opens his mouth, the hairs on my neck bristle," Shafi replies softly, "It always seems to be that he talks, then he dies, then we're in deep shit. I wonder what'll happen on a day we don't bring him along?" "Then we /all/ die," the scruffy pirate answers, he looks as if he's going to say more, but Blake calls out, "Alright ye sea swabs, let's get exploring!" and climbs out of the rowboat. The pirate shrugs and follows. "Dying isn't a problem here," Ax laughs quietly. "It's uncomfortable," Shafi remarks as she exits the boat and detaches her whip and book from her belt, "And you won't be saying that if you get stabbed by a soul-eating dagger... which reminds me, I still have to study that thing..." The Elf shrugs and keeps her keen elven eyes on their surroundings. "Or being eaten alive by zombies," states one pirate. Blake looks to Shafi and Ax, "So mateys, how think ye about searching this jungle, we split up or go as a group?" "What are we lookign for?" Ax asks curiously. Shafi blushes at the mention of the zombies, "I-I'm sorry... I wasn't thinking, I could've..." A sigh and a shake of her head, and the Elf says, "As a group. There's only one healer and it's easier for me to get to people when they're all nearby. "Anything we can find that's interesting," Blake replies to Ax, "Alright mateys, if we be going as a group, let's set off, aye?" and with that, he trudges into the jungle. "Okay!" Ax says cheerily, turning to follow Blake. The Elf follows along with the group, attempting to stay in the middle as well as she can. While they walk, Shafi raises her book into the air and concentrates on protective lightning, which crackles up her arm, around the book, and then crawls over the entire group, leaving a faint aura of blue before fading. Once that's done, she returns to looking about. The trudge through the jungle is relatively slow going, the underbrush is decently thick. Monkeys are in the trees, and various other jungle wild life can be heard, if not seen. Brightly colored birds flit under the canopy of leafy branches. What may be more interesting though, is the occasional glimpse of hewed stone in the distance, towards the right. Ax tilts his head curiously as he wanders along, eyes flicking to the right now and then. "...Is that something there?' Shafi's eyes have caught it as well, and her brows knit a bit as she looks rightwards. "Stone," she remarks, "Worked on? I can't really tell from here." She points her whip - still coiled - in the direction in which she caught the glimpse, "Maybe we should take a look." Blake, having one eye, doesn't seem to be able to see said stone very well, "Lead the way, I can't see anything," Ax nods a little, moving to take the front. "No point havign the healer at teh front, don't want you to get hurt." "Fair enough," the Elf remarks, "But I held my own against Ravus for a good while, once upon a time." Shafi smirks and moves slightly forward in the group, but allows Ax to take the lead. The way to the right opens up after just a short time, revealing ruins of some lost civilzation. Various buildings, all in stages of being overgrown or dismantled. Six of these once identical buildings circle a smaller building, which seems to have various glints coming from inside, when the light hits it right. "Wow.. so cool!" grins Ax, sniffing the air. "...And yeah, I'm sure you could, but still, you're the healer, right?" "Right," Shafi allows, "And the only one here. So I suppose you have a valid point." She regards the ruins with a mixture of wonder and caution. The latter applies more to the state of the ruins and the glittering within. "I wonder what happened here," she says with a bit of a frown, looking around a bit more as though half-expecting something bad to happen. One of the pirates however has a different idea than Shafi, and runs towards the center building. He disappears inside it and cries out. Ax blinks at the cry, starting to run after the pirate who's disappeared. "No, stop!" Shafi calls after Ax, having been too slow to bar the path of the pirate. The Elf starts forward to try and grab hold of the nearest bit of the felinoid she can reach, "You don't just dart in alone, that's why that idiot's in trouble in the first place. We need a group to check it out." That pirate keeps crying out, and rather loudly at that too. The rest of the pirates just kinda look at each other for the moment. Ax yowls as his tail is grabbed and pulled, spinning around, claws unsheathing. "..Alright, alright! Don't grab my tail again!" he hisses. "Sorry," Shafi replies. It's short, but she does look a bit sheepish. The Elf turns and points, "You, you, you..." she starts picking out pirates, and then her finger hovers over Mr. Rum, "And you. Come with me and Ax." And then the redhead starts towards the small building, taking the lead in spite of Ax's earlier point about her being the healer. The pirates follow after Shafi and Ax, and the one pirate inside keeps on howling. There's some clinking and a roughly man shape comes running out of the little building, some of the pirates draw their weapons at it, but to those that can see, it's the pirate that ran in, carrying an armload of gold, jewels, and just general treasure. Exotic necklaces of gold, rare stones and gems are slung about his neck and arms as well. Ax just blinks at the man and the treasure, then dryly at Shafi. "..Ah yes, the danger of all that gold. Think it's cursed?" "It might be," Shafi replies lightly, "Because I have the sudden unexplainable urge to beat his head in." She lets out a sigh and looks back to the pirate. "I know there's a lot of shiny things to make you filthy rich, but is it /really/ necessary to be so loud about it?" "Haha, yes!" The pirate exclaims, and upon seeing the gold, the rest of the pirates, rush towards the man and the room, "A light, we need a light!" calls one. Ax rolls his eyes, hanging back. "I'm not going in there..." "Me neither," the healer remarks, before calling after the pirates, "Doesn't this strike any of you as being just a bit too easy?" Shafi rolls her eyes, then, and looks about at the ruins again, "This entire area... just abandoned? And with all of this treasure just sitting there? It's too suspicious for my liking." The pirates get their light, amid much whooping, they eventually come out of the ruins laden with treasure, jewels, gold, gems, and all of that. Nope, there's nothing here, honestly! Nothing in the jungle except the birds and beasts. Ax sighs, shaking his head. "I really don't feel right about this whole situation..." "Tell me about it," Shafi replies, still looking about, "Where's the catch? There's always a catch..." The healer has taken to a nervous habit of wrapping and unwrapping her whip. And those steely eyes? Having nothing suspicious to rest on, they have taken to peering at Mr. Rum. And then, all at once, the two's suspicions are confirmed. A tribe of maybe twenty savages show up in the opposite direction from where the ship is. All painted completely in brown and dark green paint, and carrying a mix of spears, blowpipes, or both. For the moment, they stay mostly in the cover of the foliage, except for one who must be the chief, as he wears a shruken head around his neck (by a string of course) and has skulls attached to his spear. The pirates just stop for a moment, before Mr. Rum states, "Time to go!" and takes off running, with his armload of treasure, towards the ship, he's quickly followed by most of the crew. "...Run!" suggests Ax, starting off at a rather fast gait towards the boat. If Shafi lags behind? He tries to carry her. "Oh... Light," Shafi's eyes widen, more at the fact that Mr. Rum spoke than anything else. She certainly doesn't lag behind, taking off with the rest of the group at as fast a pace as she can manage without tripping over anything. Which is pretty fast, given her natural agility. "I told you it was too easy!' she yells to the others. The running pirates are answered by a volley from the blowpipes, three pirates going down, not dead, but definitely unconcious. The canibals with spears move to give chase to those still running. "Holy shit!" Ax yells as he trips over a branch, and just about keeps going, barely. "....Ruuuuuuun!" While Ax and the rest run, Shafi sees the pirates go down and - perhaps foolishly... okay, maybe /very/ foolishly - skids to a halt and heads to make a daring rescue. "Not smart, not smart, not smart," she chants to herself, bringing her whip around against any spear-wielding cannibals within range as she makes for the nearest unconscious body. While the whip doesn't nessecarily hit any of the canibals, it does cause them to duck or otherwise avoid the whip, which gives Shafi a little bit of breathing room. The blowpipes send out another volley, and take down four more pirates. The scene is as follows: It's a jungle island, and the pirates (and Ax) are running for their unlives back to the boat, laden with treasures. Mr. Rum is still alive, as is everyone else for the moment. They are being attacked by a tribe of cannibals, 3 pirates having been struck unconscious by blowdarts while other natives with spears give chase. Four more have just gone down. "Son of a wildling's left nut!" the Elf curses, her agile body delivering her from harm in what would be an impressive show of flexibility if anyone was paying attention. Seeing at it's yet another unlife-or-redeath situation, though, Shafi merely continues on. She reaches the first downed pirate (out of 7 now) and lets out a sigh. "Light, let this work," she mutters, before extending her book above her head and letting out a determined growl. Cobalt blue flames erupt all around the redhead, swirling about her form in a maelstrom of fiery rage before erupting out and roaring over the area to try and awaken the unconscious pirates (and maybe, hopefully, scare the natives). The pirates who are down wake up, if a bit groggy, they attempt to get to their feet, some failing and falling back down, others managing to get to their feet. Mr. Rum however, gets a spear thrown at him and gored in the back, going down with his treasure. The pirates do manage to dodge the next volley of blowpipes as the chase through the jungle continues, although Shafi does have two spear wielding savages bearing down on her, the third running after the pirates. With a startled curse, Shafi backpedals and brings her whip around again to strike at her aggressors with a deafening -CRACK!-. "GET UP, DAMNIT!" she barks at the pirates, "I CAN'T DO EVERYTHING FOR YOU!" Alexia wanders out of the ship all sleepy eyed, "What the hells going on?" she asks with a little frown, her eyes taking in the scene and she immediately tries to asses the situation, her hand going to the whip at her side. Shafi manages to hit one of the canibals, who goes /down/ fast, most of the pirates are nearing the rowboats as another volley of blowpipes are shot, narrowly missing most of the pirates. Those on the ground as trying to move, one or two picked off by spears, but they're moving fast. That one canibal that Shafi missed sends his spear at her in a thrust. The redheaded elf twirls out of the way of that spear and uses her momentum to lash out at that savage with another strike of her bullwhip. Shafi's face has set into grim determination by this time, and her hat, it might be noted, is still set firmly atop her head. Alexia rushes to aide the other Elf, her whip coming out and striking at the first cannibal to make himself a target, "What do you need me to do?" she calls to the redhead. Both Alexia and Shafi drop their targets as the pirates clamber into the rowboats, "Mateys, lets be off!" Blake calls to them, his rowers getting ready as the straggling pirates move towards the boats. Another volley of blowpipes are sent out, but none of the savages seem to be willing to get in whip range of the two Elves. "Make sure the stragglers get away," Shafi replies, and lets out a sigh. "Still lost some," she remarks to herself, shaking her head as she makes to assist any of the pirates who need it. "Come on, we have to get out of here." Alexia holds her whip at the ready and tries to hurry the stragglers along, "Ships leavin' boys, don't get left behind," she calls out, as she gets low and runs in that direction herself, following Shafi's directions. The last of the stragglers who are still alive make it to the boats as the rowers start to move the boat out, they wait in the shallows for the two elves, but it looks like they want to get out of there /fast/. The savages are still giving chase. Not even a full moment after the last of the living pirates is in a boat, Shafi is beckoning Alexia to one and making to take up the rear. As soon as the other elf is situated, the redhead will get into the rowboat and give the men the okay to head out as quickly as humanly possible. Alexia hops in the boat, careful not to upset it, and she takes a seat, ducking low to hopefully stay out of range of those blow darts. None of the pirates get hit in the next volley, although some of the darts definitely thud into the wood as the pirates row back out to sea, the savages lining up on the beach and shaking spears at them. Once that volley has passed, Shafi sets about plucking darts out of the side of the rowboat. The redhead tucks them into her bag of jingly jars, muttering something about looking into the poison in them. Alexia does the same, only hers are placed in a bit of cloth which she wraps up tightly and places in a little sack at her hip, "Interesting," she says. "And why didn't anybody wake me, and what were we doing there, and....what's going on in general?" she asks nobody in particular. "We got treasure out of it," one pirate comments to Alexia, and the others all nod in agreement, looking at said treasure piled up in the rowboats as they close in on the Sorrow, seems that they've already forgotten about their dead on the island, they have gold. "Sorry, Lex," Shafi replies, "I must have gotten on the boat after you headed below decks. Didn't realize you were even with us." She tilts her head, then, "We're out on the uncharted seas of Atrum Viscus. We were there because it's the place we ran into while exploring. Better than the last island, all told. Ghouls and vampire-bat folks." She narrows her eyes at the men, shaking her head. "Bloody pirates... Remind me why I come along on these trips with you guys?" Alexia shakes her head too, "Bunch of bloody vulchers," she mutters about the pirates, "And it's fine, just...worried about all of you is all," she says with a little frown. "Anyway, so better than the last place you say?" "Because we have good grog," one pirate chimes up to Shafi as they reach the boat again, attaching the boat to the bigger boat. "I don't drink when we head out, moron," Shafi replies, rolling her eyes, "And you pople shouldn't, either. Do you have any idea what drunkenness does to your reaction time and aim?" She exits the rowboat onto the ship and lets out a sharp whistle, "Stormy! I've got a big favor to ask you! And if you do it for me, I'll teach you a new game that's even more fun that hide and seek!" Alexia climbs up after Shafi, not saying anything as she gets herself back on the ship and waits for the others to get aboard too. "EEEEEEEEEE! Game!" Stormy calls out, rushing towards wherever Shafi may be. The redhead grins and bends over to whisper into the hole on top of the doll's head. Once Shafi has finished with that, she leans against the main mast and crosses her fingers. Alexia waits quietly, her eyes on the redhead, curiosity in her eyes at the whispering and finger crossing. "EEEE!" Stormy replies to Shafi, and runs towards the treasure that's being unloaded. The electrical buildup from a storm contained in such small a space makes the metal in the gold stick together in one clump on the deck. The redhead grins. "Handy little guy," Shafi remarks, making to the pile once it's been gathered. Her belt buckle wiggles threateningly, but she ignores it for the time being. It may be worth noting that the whip still hasn't been put away yet as the Elf sets a boot on top of the pile. "Can we talk?" she asks of the boatload of pirates, mock-sweetly. Alexia still waits, her eyes on the redheaded elf for now, her whip in her hands, but not put away yet either. The little metal pieces on the ends threatening to get caught up in the magnetisim. The pirates all kinda blink and look to Shafi, turning their attention to her. "Thank you," Shafi says, straightening up a bit at having everyone's attention. "So, do you abandon your own for shiny things often, or is this a new development? Because I'm seing a real problem with the fact that Lexi and I were the only ones willing to help the folks who weren't killed." Alexia nods, but doesn't add her two cents yet, just waits for an answer from the pirates. The pirates really don't have anything to say at the moment, looking like scolded children for what it's worth, "We don't know how to help them," one pipes up eventually, "None of us're healers," "It doesn't take a healer to help," Shafi replies, "Any one of you could have tried carrying someone, which is exactly what I intended to do had my healing not worked. Quite frankly, the way some of you act, I'm surprised the rowboats even waited for us." Alexia smirks and nods to what Shafi says, "I can make potions for you to administer too," she says, "That way they have a chance, and you don't have to do more than pour it down their throats. "None of them would have waited for us," one of the pirates replies, but still looks and acts as if scolded, "It's one thing when we're fighting but...yah know, when we're trying to run and all..." "That's no excuse," Shafi remarks firmly. "I am well aware of the fact that none of you would think twice about leaving me behind if I was shot by those darts, and I still turned back to save some of your sorry asses." She gestures to the groggy pirates, "You'd think the fact that we're all already dead might promote a little more selflessness." She shakes her head and turns to Stormy, then, "You know that game I said I'd teach you? It's called 'King of the Hill'..." she explains the game and points out the pile of treasure as 'the hill', before looking back to the pirates, "You're not getting to spend Stormy Hill until you learn. And if you somehow manage to get it away from him before then? You lose your main healer." Alexia laughs, "Nice," she says with a smirk. "Maybe they'll think twice next time. And think it's time to head back then?" she asks. And with that, the scolded pirates shuffle off to do the work to get the ship back home. Stormy just EEEEEs and stays on the pile.
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