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Dibbets sees a mate fall, but Corliss is on it. Unfortunately, the press of melee is too hot for him to reach the sailor to render aid. Kaul keeps a downwash of death going as another Aspis goon is mortally hacked. Jim leaps across with the next boarding crew and readies his light blade for a deadly parry.
The two crews battle wildly on the deck of the White Moon. First, the Freeporters have the advantage and an injured defender falls to swinging cutlasses and clubs. Then the Aspis lackeys rally and a Freeporter falls to the deck. Several on both side bleed freely as they fight. Jim keeps his blade high ready for an attack, but he is caught unaware by a treacherous Aspis officer who dodges in and narrowly misses hamstringing him.
Corliss marvels briefly at Kaul's carnage and then again tries to stabilize his fallen ally. Next he moves to the next fallen sailor .
Jim rounds on the officer who cut him with a snarl, stabbing at them repeatedly .
As the bloody press continues, Kaul pushes forward bellowing for his own boarding party to clear from his path;
"Move ye scum! Lopper's 'ungry!"
The brute lumbers past his allies hacking as he goes;
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No easy way across and unwilling to commit his body to the leap... yet... Dibbets remains aloft and watching. He bellows "Blood and murder boys! Slick the deck and stain the sheets!"
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A leap into the shattered shrouds of the White Moon looks a little iffy so Dibbets holds to see how the battle below goes. Kaul surges over the corpses to hack down another foe. Jim's stormy blade flickers and wounds like a lightning strike, piercing the backstabber twice and then when the man desperately seeks to return the attack, Jim slashes his throat open. Corliss follows in Kaul's wake reviving the fallen Freebooters. Three more smugglers die as the boarding party presses forward over the bloody boards.
Seeing that there is to be no repelling the boarders as her crew dwindles, Captain Markessa calls for terms of surrender and orders her crew to stand down.
As the shouts of surrender and mercy fill the air, they fall on deaf cauliflower ears as the murderous thug targets another of Markissa's crew;
"Blood an' Murder! No Quarter! Lopper's Law!"
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Seeing Kaul still lopping when call's been made to stop Dibbs swears "Sh1te...' and pitches out of the rigging in the direction of the cauliflowerear'd marauder.
Acro:
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As the crews disengage and the sounds of battle fade, there is perhaps a faint keening sound from the heavy axe beneath Kaul's bloodthirsty shouts as he continues his rampage. The mad orc hacks down the nearest surrendering Aspis sailor. "Belay that! I give the orders here, Kaul. Stand down!" Captain Drake commands.
Dibbets sees his mate running amok and decides to risk a leap to get close enough to attempt to curb Kaul's killing. It is a long leap however and the one-legged halfling falls far short to tumble toward the narrow gap between the ships!
Seeing Dibbets attempt an ill-advised leap, Corliss considers his options briefly: Move to stabilize the second fallen pirate ally or move to help the peg-legged halfling. Figuring the halfling's probably not the strongest swimmer, the Besmaran looks around for some loose rope to toss to the short fellow to keep him afloat at least. Not seeing any unattended coils handy, he instead cries, "Man overboard!" while pointing to where Dibbets made his leap; the healer then sticks to what he's good at, trying to stabilize the second crewman from the Black Dragon.
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Miraculously, Dibbets' plummet is stopped in mid-air and the hairy wee halfling hangs rather indignantly thanks to Dingus' ready levitation spell.
Captain Drake's command finally stills the hungry axe. Kaul leers back at the helm of the Black Dragon. He digs a thick yellow fingernail into his ear and squints at Markessa. "Sorry Captain, could'n hear nothing over the screams... hur. Lopper's sorry, too. Aintcha, Lopps?" The hatchet head hangs low in shame.
"Fair enough," the captain allows. "The terms are full surrender and full cooperation, Markessa. It's that or getting personal with Lopper. Jim, get her weapons and lead her over. Boarding teams, likewise for the rest of the survivors. Once they're secured, we'll send a team to explore the rest of the ship. Quickly now!"
The Taldan wipes his sword clean on the fallen officer's tunic before sheathing it, then crosses over to Markessa. "Weapons. Don't think to keep anything back, hey?"
The defeated sailors offer no resistance. Corliss finishes patching up the crew in time to look up and see that Markessa and her first mate are handing over weapons and gear that look awfully familiar. In fact, among the blades and armor are his own +1 rapier, mithral chain, and blessed buckler.
The combined indignity of his tumultuous plunge and sudden jarring halt sends Dibbs stomach a roil and bile floods into his mouth. He maintains control until he's at least righted before hocking up a godawful mouth of spite to send spinning in a gobbet t'wards the sea. Shaking his head he sighs before turning to the others "Best we look tae secure tha hold afore tha crew go in eh? Drake! Keep a watch, we'll make sure there ain't pale bastards waitin fer ye below."
"Mine, mine, MINE!" Corliss says as he starts peevishly reclaiming his stolen gear. Belatedly realizing this might be a bit off-putting to his new allies, he turns to Drake and asks, "Permission to reclaim me gear, Cap'n?"
Assuming that the captain doesn't complain, Corliss begins gearing up while muttering to Dibbets, "Ye can count me in iff'n ye can wait a minute or so...."
Kaul eyes Drake at Dibbs' words;
"Permission tae check below decks Cap'n? Me an' Lopps'll try an' play nice hur-hur..."
There are some rumbles from nearby crew when Corliss begins helping himself to the plunder. His belated plea for permission gets a stern look from the captain. "You should know the Articles better than most, Besmaran. We'll put it up for a vote though. I'm sure, seeing that you've been kind enough to ensure that we lost no crew in this action, that the crew will gladly approve restoring your gear to you. Help Jim get the prisoners over here."
He gazes up at the dangling halfling. "And get him down."
In a few moments, the prisoners are fully disarmed and encircled by the crew of the Black Dragon and Dibbets has been pulled back over the deck and levitated down by Dingus. Drake shakes his head once again, as now the fleabag halfling starts taking liberties. He calls for a quick vote to restore Corliss' gear and then for a mixed boarding crew to take a look at the White Moon's lowers.
While the party prepares to explore belowdecks, Jim murmurs to Drake, "They're an odd lot, Cap'n, but none truer."
As the crew survey the damage and search for swag, Kaul's beady eyes flit to and forth hungrily;
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Corliss stands around smiling his slightly crooked grin, hoping to look affable as he awaits the result of the vote.
Attention is turned to the Dragons's quartermaster who oversees collection and distribution of the pile of plunder: arms, armor and collection of gold jewelry. Dingus gives it a look over and declares the only magical auras are the items that Corliss claimed and a pair of shark tooth necklaces from Markessa and her mate, Bloody Bjorn. Captain Drake calls for a vote to give Corliss his gear back and it narrowly passes mainly with the support of grateful casualties. The captain claims the magical amulets and gives one to Jim in appreciation for his fine piloting. This results in a cheer from the crew for the peerless pilot!
The Taldan accepts it with a grin and a wave to the rest of the crew. "Couldn't have done it without a fine ship and a finer crew!"
Kaul eyes the remaining shark tooth necklace in Drake's hands with a covetous gaze...
Lopper's head leans nestles close to the thug's battered ear and he nods to himself with a edgy smirk.
Dingus leans in toward Jim and smiles as he nods at the shark tooth. He shouts over the cheers, "I have no idea what it does!"
Kaul shifts toward Captain Drake, grinning like a loon;
"Hur. Quite the pilotin' from Jimmer... well worthy o' the reward... Hur...But Ol' Kauly lead the line, choppin' an' loppin'... Reckon that's worth the other tooth eh Cap'n? Hur..."
Dibbets fumes at the delay growing surlier by the moment. Finally, he decides to forge ahead, there's a white rat to sniff out. Like a determined terrier, the shaggy halfling pushes through the cheering throng to the rails and... BA-DA-DOOOM!
He's thrown back as a tremendous blast rocks the Black Dragon. It takes a moment for everyone to take in what has happened. The blast must have been in the hold of the White Moon since only a concussive blast from shattered hatches hit the crew nearest the Dragon's rails adjacent the captured ship. About a half dozen sailors are knocked back. Four appear badly injured, but all are conscious.
The White Moon is sinking quickly pulling the lines connected to the Black Dragon down with her!
Corliss is about to don his beloved mithral shirt when the blast rocks both ships. Balancing the lightweight armor atop his head like a silvery wig, the Besmaran moves into the midst of the wounded, reaches to the hand-carved wooden holy skull-and-crossbones dangling from a leather cord hung around his neck, and silently beseeches his goddess to again heal his new mates.
"Fer those o' ye not takin' a moment to thank me an' Besmara fer the healin'," he says to the crew, "CUT THEM LINES!!"
Kaul shifts as the taken vessel lurches from the explosion.
At Corliss' shout he mugs a hard grin toward Cap'n Drake;
"Lopper'll cut through them lines easy Cap'n... make the Dragon all safe like... Jus' cost ye the tooth amulet... Hur..."
He stretches his claw out expectantly and nods toward his keen edged hatchet.
Corliss springs to action healing the wounded. The ship roll slightly to port. The captain gives Kaul a look of distaste. "Best jump to it or you may have a full shark tooth necklace with the shark attached." He shouts to the crew, "As Corliss says, CUT THE LINES!"
Kaul scowls, then chuckles to himself as he doffs claw to scarred forelock.
"Aye-aye Cap'n..."
The brute thug shifts between the lines, hacking at them with his dread hatchet
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Kaul shoves his way through the crew and backhands his blade parting a trio of lines in one swipe. Other sailors hack at the remaining ropes and the taut lines recoil with great force injuring one sailor, but at least the ship is safe once again.
Bloody Bjorn and Markessa look on with shock and anger. "Da Vhite Bahstahd haz scuttled da ship!" the tall northerner growls.
Markessa spits and shakes her head in disgust. "Don't mind seeing the last of that gnome, bloody waste of a ship though."
The Taldan gets himself out of the way of the crew, figuring they know better than he what to do. Instead, he keeps his eye on the captives. "Cap'n, once everyone's secured and we're back under way, I think we need to have a long talk with the prisoners."
"I agree, Jim." Captain Drake turns to address the captives. "Markessa and what was it? Bloody Bjorn, are prisoners of Freeport and will be kept in confinement until we reach home port. The rest of you, have a choice: we'll leave you in Moak Harbor or you can join our crew. Keep in mind that any trouble from you and you're over the side to cry to the sharks. So what'll it be? We've got a schedule to keep." The three remaining smugglers decide that their fate is likely better than braving the Karikanti and elect to join the Black Dragon.
Drake assigns them to loyal mates and then gives orders to prepare to take advantage of the winds and set course for Freeport. Meanwhile, he has Markessa and Bjorn led to his quarters for questioning inviting Jim, Kaul, Dibbets, and Corliss to take part.
Kaul lumbers into Drake's quarters and sizes up the captives with a malicious grin;
"Hur... Kauly do 'ope you both ain't the chatty types... Gives me a chance tae get proper nasty... Hur..."
Shaking his head after it all Dibbs doesn't feel at ease "Ain't feckin right.... after all tha sh1te tha pale fecker put us through I can't see he wouldae gone out like that... bastards up tae summat... mark me grumble."
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Corliss says little at first but puts on a show of spit-shining his mithral shirt and emblazoned buckler, mostly to let the captives know he's pleased to have both back with their proper owner. He does ask Dibbets what the deal is with the pale gnome that has much of the crew upset.
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"... bastards up tae summat... mark me grumble."
Captain Drake pulls at his beard. "The bleachling upset more than this crew. He terrorized the whole city of Freeport with his bombs... and murdered my captain- Marcus Roberts. I don't know Dibbets, he could sure have a potion of water breathing, but then the sharks..."
Markessa points with her chin, "Those shark tooth amulets that you took. He had one, too. They keep sharks from noticing you so long as you don't attack them."
Drake nods. "Well, even then, no one inside the ship could have survived that explosion."
"I wouldn't put it past that one. We've crossed paths before, and he's always been slippery. Timed fuse, magic to pass unseen, and he's away. If he's aboard, best you set a tight guard on our powder, hey?"
To Drake's suspicion Dibbets shrugs "Dinnae know which way or what... but goan down wi' tha ship ain't tha bastards style. Whither he's up, left, down or inside out like... 'e aint done... which is fine wi' me... him n' Lopper's gots tae shake hands at some point."
To Corliss the grimy, salt encrusted halfling coughs up a solid lurgy and sends it sprayward "Fecker's been ahead o' us but out o' reach fer a while... always caught up in some sort o' horrible. Nei quite as bad as that raft o' left legs an' arms... but that sh1te inna sewers were 'im weren't it?" looking to Kaul for confirmation "Seen so much I shouldnaehave s'all blendin in"
Captain Drake nods thoughtfully at the advice given. He looks over to Markessa seated in a chair. "And you? Are you going to cooperate? What do you know of this mad bleachling?"
Markessa shrugs as much as she can while bound with ropes. "I'm just a Freelancer. My loyalty doesn't go farther than my pay. It's not like I've got a badge. Sounds like the halfling knew him better than I did."
Kaul grimaces in agreement with Dibbs' as he casts his mind back to the unsavoury sewer saga;
"Hur... Bad business..."
When Markessa signals she'll cooperate the thug looks visibly disappointed. He cast his baleful beadies towards the Northman;
"What about you Bloody? Ye want to kiss Lopper 'ere?"
Bjorn scowls at the leering thug. "I'm vit her," he announces.
"So tell us about the plan. What were you lot doing hereabouts?"