Jrahk smacks the Elemental once. It fuzzes, but stays alight.
Ace, being the forgetful magus he is, remembers he has flight prepared, and takes off towards the elemental.
Ace spams out more missiles.
Ace drops the elemental, it fuzzing out of existence as it slams into the ground.
"Hm, too bad it didn't try to attack Jrahk. This could've gotten a lot more fun."
Jrahk stops raging and lands next to the wheel.
"Thanks, Sandra. Now, go patch up Odan."
As she leaves the wheel, he takes over.
"Now, let's get out of this storm!"
Odan will cancel his manefestation (and not spend those last 7 PP).
You limp forward, and lo and behold, the finish line is in sight!
Good news: The Brine B$$+# is nowhere to be seen. And, miraculously, none of the ships behind you have caught up. Seems they had a rough time as well.
Bad news: The Wormwood is like, 30 seconds from crossing the finish line up there. Unless you have rocket thrusters, you're gonna have to settle for second place.
Wand of gust of wind?
That gives you no significant speed burst. It would have given you +5 on a single check per use though, as I mentioned at the start.
Yeah. I was hoping for a dramatic exception. :). I got nothing. None of my powers (not just the ones I have, but any psionic power) works with moving things as large as a ship. That's the realm of magic.
Jrahk grudgingly accepts second place.
"Next year, we'll find a way to get the giant turtle to attack the Wormwood."
Yeah. I was hoping for a dramatic exception. :).
You scoot your way to the finish line about five minutes after the Wormwood does. The crowd gives a lackluster cheer as the ever-unpopular Captain Harrigan looks smug and full of himself.
He looks back at you and gives you a smirk, which transforms into a toothy, menacing grin.
Jrahk simply nods at Harrigan.
"Good race."
Jrahk'll tear that smug grin off your face one day.
You guys aren't exactly discrete.
About an hour later, more ships arrive, though considerably fewer than what started.
Off of Pharasma's Price stomps a waterlogged woman, and a few crewman who try to retrain her as she stalks toward Harrigan.
"Liar! Coward and cheater!" she accuses. "Harrigan sank my B#$@*! I barely escaped alive, and would have drowned if the Price hadn't come along! I demand he pay for this!"
The Master of Gales steps in and takes her aside for a moment, talking to her quietly for several minutes.
Jrahk steps forward.
"Now, what's this about? Aren't you a good enough sailor to win without resorting to cheating?"
"Cheating? We're f*$#ing pirates you empty-headed greenskin piece of shit. 'Rules' aren't for free men."
"And tough talk from the incompetent who looks like he put his ship through a blender just to come here and take second place...which'd be third or less if not for me."
Jrahk scowls. "Your ship would look like that too, if you'd had to deal with the monstrous Hirgenzosk!"
He sighs, calming himself.
"But, Jrahk agrees with you about rules. They take all the fun out of everything, don't they? It's just that, from all Jrahk's heard about you, it seemed like you would be the best sailor of all of us, with the finest crew and the fastest ship."
He shrugs. "But then, Jrahk hears a lot of stories about "legendary" pirates. Guess they can't all be true."
Excuse me. You are talking to the man who faced head on Hirgenzosk and not only lived, but caused it to flee. A man who charged a lightning elemental and grounded t with his own claws. And you're talking to the Captian who understood that tampering with a rival ship or attacking its crew will result in immediate disqualification from the race.
Pirate or no, you're admittance of such tampering which cause us to gain second also means that you are now speaking to the man who won the [name of this race] race.
Jrahk grins, somewhat galvanized by the support of at least one member of his crew.
"Good point, Odan! Jrahk can almost see his new private island already!"
Harrigan laughs.
"That limp little turtle? Almost losing your ship to that is pitiful. As for the piddling elemental, what of it? I-"
The Master of Gales returns at this point, cutting Harrigan off.
"In light of these events, I have no choice but to disqualify Captain Harrigan and the Wormwood, and declare Captain Jrahk and the good ship Devil's Pallor as the victors. Come speak with me at your convenience."
Harrigan's face contorts in rage, but he visibly wrenches control back for now.
"You may hold the title, little fish, but you and I both know I won this race, and so does everyone else here. And if you doubt my prowess...come at me."
Jrahk's grin widens.
"You read Jrahk's mind."
He casts Mirror Image.
"Let's both use every trick we have. No rules, just like you wanted."
All of you, don't interfere until it's over.
...On second thought, if he's as strong as he thinks he is, let's see him take on all of us!
come at me."
If we are all to assist, we must only do so in a way to make Jrahk look like he is fighting on his own and to prevent anyone else from joining the fray. I can minimize the damage Jrahk takes; Ace and Ixrul - the two of you do whatever you can to prevent anyone else from interfering.
You both draw your weapons (Jrahk's Falchion, Harrigan's Handaxes) and face one another. A circle forms around you of cheering pirates.
"Yeah, kill him!" many shout, but it's unclear as to who that's directed towards. Should anyone look at the Master of Gales to see if he'll intervene, he watches the fight with apparent disinterest.
Harrigan, ever swift, immediately takes the upper hand.
Luckily, this most brutal of blows merely decapitates one of Jrahk's images.
The second and third miss due to overcompensating for the images.
And the third destroys the last image.
The fourth due to Harrigan's own incompetence.
And the fifth likewise.
Harrigan just grins however.
"I can see you clearly now, whelp. Next time my axes strike true."
Harrigan hacks into Jrahk with three brutal blows, sending blood flying everywhere before the Rager gers a chance to even react. The crowd goes silent.
Jrahk gasps and staggers, his orcish ferocity barely keeping him on his feet.
"Gah...alright...you really are as good...as everyone says..."
He takes a step back and lowers his weapon.
"You win. Jrahk...yields."
Heal Jrahk. Now.
"Whichever one of you moves to help him dies next." Harrigan says.
Jrahk gasps and staggers, his orcish ferocity barely keeping him on his feet.
"Gah...alright...you really are as good...as everyone says..."
He growls. "But Jrahk...is no coward..."
Then he begins his raging transformation. With a roar of fury (or perhaps desperation), he takes a couple of swings at his terrifying foe.
Jrahk puts up a mighty effort, but Harrigan merely sidesteps the attack.
"Pathetic. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he cries.
"DID!" Harrigan yells, as Jrahk's skull and part of his chest splits in half from the axe buried in it.
*THUD* and his arm flops to the floor as the body collapses.
"YOU!
*THUNK*
On the ground now, the axe bites into Jrahk's quivering body, axe cutting though his spine and hitting the wood below.
"REALLY!"
*SQUISH* as the head is crushed to melon-like pulp.
"THINK!"
*CRUNCH*
As his ribs are splintered.
"YOU COULD!"
*CRACK*
As the pelvis is destroyed.
"TAKE ME!?!" he roars one final time.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGH!" he screams, shouting at the heavens like a wild beast. Most of the crowd trembles in fear, while your allies try to push through them to reach Jrahk's side.
Harrigan pants, calming slightly, and spits on Jrahk's corpse.
"THIS is Pirate Council material!?!" he shouts, and points his finger at the pile of mush that used to be Jrahk "Razortusk" Lacertus.
Not getting any answer from the stunned crowd, or the still ambivalent Master of Gales, he turns on his heel and stalks back to the Wormwood, pulling Peppery Longfarthing along by her hair as he goes.
"Short-lived species tend to be very foolish."
"Anyways, I suppose he'll want a proper resurrection. A waste of a couple thousand gold."
Ixrul has someone gather up the remnants of Jrahk's corpse.
I think I know how we will kill him, when the time comes. And the time will come.
Ace stays quiet through the whole ordeal, observing with intensity.
Jrahk impatiently wanders around in Purgatory, with all the other mid- to high-level adventurers waiting to be reincarnated or resurrected.
Maybe we should just give him a proper burial. He died like he lived - a pirate.