Having nothing to add to a nautical discussion on the nature of seafaring vehicles, Robert waits for the group to move on to their new destination. Wondering, not for the first time and probably not the last, how he managed to get himself mixed up with such a motley bunch of adventurers.
Old Grimbones harumphs.
"The maiden IS a ship... bless my bleached bones if I had my arms again, I'd wallop the lot of you."
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The Maiden sits at high tide, docked at a rickety wooden wharf. From where you are you can spot a half dozen men and women of rather rough appearance... obviously pirates.
A tall man appears on deck and begins bellowing orders around.
From your vantage point, you are roughly 150 ft. away hidden within the bushes.
The skull whispers to you... "That be her... she's certainly seen better days..."
Looking out at the scene before them, Tomas shakes his head in response to Mario's question. "I have never seen him before. In fact, I do not recognize any of them."
Aras looks at the ship, then back at his companions, and then to the ship once more.
"I don't know who the tall man is, either." He pauses, casting a sideways glance at Old Grimbone, but then carries on anyways.
"Look, I'm no sailor, but is that...ship, boat, whatever, is she even sea-worthy? If so, there's only like a handful of them. With surprise on our side, we should be able to take 'em without much trouble."
"Well, regardless, if that's the ship we're to have, then that'll be the one. Let's get to crackin' some skulls. I'd say if we take out the big guy..." the dwarf adjusts his pants. "Then we should be able to whip the rest of those men into proper shape without much trouble. It's like cutting a tree down."
He takes a moment to think, pausing. "Except, this tree will probably scream."
Aras scratches at his beard with his left hand while fidgeting with the hilt of his greatsword with his right hand.
"Sounds simple enough. Any suggestions on how to accomplish that? I could always walk up and challenge him to a fight and let the rest of you attack from behind while he's preoccupied. Unless someone's got a better idea."
"If we are going to attack, I counsel a stealthy approach. Once near to the ship and in hiding, we make a coordinated effort. My own speciality is with the net and the whip. I could focus on slowing and entangling those sailors while the main party makes for the gangplank. That could keep them occupied while also keeping them alive as the rest focus on taking down that man mountain."
Robert quietly interjects."Get me to the mountain, I can do the rest." Robert rhythmically cracks his knuckles and back before pointing towards the ship."And the polite thing to do would be to walk up and announce ourselves. It is currently their ship."
"It is not their ship. They are merely in possession of it. They will soon discover the difference."
"Technically, it's the skull's ship, so they're thieves, and if any of them are former members of the crew, they're mutineers." The dwarf chuckles and cracks his knuckles.
"What say you, bone man? You got any preferences for the interlopers?" The seafarer seems to have a good idea on the only chain of command he respects, whispering to the skull, pulling his axe out as he watches the crazy wizard.
The elf is not a patient person.
Walking out into view Vedic says nothing until drawing close to the ship then raises his hand to hail the sailors.
"Excuse me gentlemen. I have a question for you regarding this vessel."
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Looking through the foliage, Mario frowned.
"Hate to say it, but we only have Old Bones word these guys are pirates. If he's lying... well I'd feel a lot better if we could put a name to the leader, then..."
He stops abruptly as Vedic strides past them and into full view of the sailors.
He shares a glance with Thomas. "Well, all that planning, shot to hell." He said, shaking his head.
He drops his heavy crossbow from his pack and starts to crank its bowstring back...
Tomas shrugs at Mario's words. "We can always wait here until the elf is done."
Robert steps up behind Vedic as he moves."Well at least someone can be neighborly about this." He waves at the crew in a friendly manner.
Aras looks over at Mario, Tomas, and Kilgar, then to Vedic and Robert. He glances back at the group in hiding once more and sighs.
"Any of the rest of you get the feeling this elf is going to make a habit of rash decisions?" Without waiting for a response for his rhetorical question, Aras rolls his shoulders and cracks his neck.
"I'm no good at a distance, so I'm going to go stand out there and make sure those two don't get killed." A quick glance at Mario's crossbow is followed by a smile.
"Kindly avoid shooting me in the arse if this all goes sideways, if you please."
Aras then steps out of the foliage and moves up behind Robert and Vedic, taking care to stay back and trying to make himself look like miserable hired help for the other two.
Kilgar just sighs and shakes his head. "T have a feeling this is just going to end badly. And I thought I'd be the rash one." And with that, Kilgar sheaths the axe and heads up after Aras.
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"Kindly avoid shooting me in the arse if this all goes sideways, if you please."
Mario grins back.
"Well, I'll do my best, but no guarantees!"Looking down when the locking mechanism clicks into the 'ready to fire' position, he slips a blunt bolt into launch position and rests the foregrip on a handy branch to cover his allies.
As you break from cover, and as Vedic brazenly announces himself, the pirates all cease what they're doing. Most of them just gawk at the sight.
The tall man, undeniably the captain of this band now that you have a closer look at him, steps down from the Maiden and advances towards you, sword still sheathed. What you took for a crimson overcoat is now shone to be a gray overcoat stained with blood.
On closer inspection, it looks like the pirates have all been through some rough times as many sport recent wounds.
The man steps up to Vedic.
"And what manner of question do you have mate? Maiden catch your eye? Of course, I doubt you'd be out here for any other reason... So tell me... what are you doing here?"
Tomas stands up and starts jogging to catch up to the others, patting his leg as he does.
"Indeed. Is this Maiden a boat? Or a ship?" Vedic says, his tone completely serious and earnest.
"It's a ship... and I hope you are jesting or it won't be funny in a moment."
"We had a discussion on the subject on the way here. Her owner has agreed to let us use her for an endeavor. I was concerned that we would not have a full crew allotment, so I am glad that you are here safeguarding her for us. With a quick discussion of wages we can be on our way."
As he speaks he flips through his book idly and lays a hand on one of the pages. The letters briefly glow and fade.
"I'd put that book away friend if you value your life. However, on the subject of getting the Maiden, I'm afraid I can't allow that. I made a promise to an old friend a long time ago that the Maiden would sail to a very special place and I'll be damned if I'll allow anyone else to take her."
He gazes out to sea and to the rest of his men.
"The sea calls to us mates."
He turns back to look at you.
"And I'd rather die than ignore her."
Vedic looks to Old Grimbone. "An old friend?"
The skull looks at the man.
"I don't recognize him... but many years have passed."
"Can we ask the name of this friend, Captain?"
The Captain looks at you with a faraway look in his eyes.
"Her name was Zaveena. She and I traveled on the Maiden once, when we were young."
He gets a hard look in his eyes.
"And what about you folk... what has the Maiden got to do with you. And no more jabber from the voodoo skull."
"The voodoo skull is the Maiden's owner, and we have somewhere special to take her also. It would seem we are at an impasse."
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Behind the concealing foliage, Mario looks down the stock of the crossbow at the pirate. He shifted the aim point back and forth, but his companions were in the way! Furiously blinking the sweat out of his eyes, he moved the aim point up to the pirates still on the ship.
Vedic should be able to take the pirate leader. He thought. I wonder what they're talking about?
Aras crosses his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes at the Captain.
"So what's this special place you need to be going? If it happens to align with where we need to go, we might not be at quite as much of an impasse as my friend here thinks. On the offhand, if your intended port of travel differs from ours..." Aras intentionally trails off, a bit of a twinkle in his eye.
"It'd really be much better to join forces, all in all. Because it's a good deal of wasted blood otherwise."
The dwarf keeps his fingers relaxed.
"The place doesn't have a name as far as I can tell. In fact, I have never visited its shores... I simply made a promise to do so."
He gives you all a hard eye.
"What say you to sail with me? I'll drop you off wherever you wish to go and I'll take the Maiden afterwards. All I ask is that each of you works his share on the ship."
"I am inclined to agree, but there is the matter of getting back. I would not want to agree to terms that leave us stranded."
Vedic looks to Old Grimbone.
"What say you, skull?"
The skull speaks up.
"I reckon where we're going we'll find a way back. Though I'm curious pirate, Zaveena IS a name I remember faintly. We'll need to speak of this one day."
"A moment to concur, and we should be ready to join your crew, captain."
Vedic waves the others over.
"We have been offered passage in return for temporary work as sailors."
"Trust a pirate to his word, but prepare for him to break it." The dwarf says with a smile. "If he tries to double-cross us, then we take it up with the captain... or keelhaul him, if necessary."
He pulls out another stogie and waits on a decision before lighting it.
"I think we will be OK, as long as we keep an eye on them during the trip."
"Captain," Vedic says, returning towards the boat. "we accept."
Tomas quirks an eyebrow as he regards the impetuous elf. "Thank you so much for considering my opinion, too."
The dog at Tomas' side balefully glares at the elf, "grrrrr"
Tomas nods, "Yes, quite right. Our opinions."
The captain looks at the ever growing crew approaching him.
"That's quite a rabble you have there... Anyways, we set sail at dawn tomorrow. Feel free to set yourselves up in one of the spare cabins. You'll have to cram yourselves all in there... maybe the hound would prefer the air on deck... in any case, feel free to do as you please until then. And be ready for some work."
The captain returns to his men, bellowing out orders.
"I do not often consult the opinions of dogs, but perhaps I have been hasty. Perhaps you have another way of getting us where we want to go without bloodshed?" Vedic says dryly.