Bjorkus takes a seat and picks up his cards.
Bjorkus goes all in on the last hand.
Tsadok easily wins the first two and the drink seems to have little effect on him, though after that his luck turns and Bjorkus wins every hand, even the last one where Tsadok has to match and go all in. "Congratulations. Now feel free to give me back my money. It was just a friendly game, the stakes weren't real." He leans over to start taking his coin back...
Bjorkus raises a brow and scoops the money toward himself.
"And I'll be real friendly when I'm spending this coin later. Thanks Tsadok. The girls at the House of Stolen kisses are gunna appreciate it -I'm a great tipper."
"Alright, you did win the money. Now for the final test. All pirates need to be able to fight. Now all of you can do this if you want unlike the other tests. Bring out Fishpork!!" He yells as his cronies wheel a large covered cage onto the adjacent dock. Tsadok uncovers and opens the cage, revealing a large, hideously ugly and obese humanoid.
In this cage with this creature are piles of rocks.
"In this test, you have to defend your ship from this large very dangerous boarder. You can be anywhere you like on your ship, but the rest of your crew has to go ashore. You have to prove you can defend your ship on your own. Have fun."
Kal summons a ball of flame on the thing, and draws his bow.
Kal knows that its a living creature.
Fishpork easily dodges the ball of fire. Chubs steps forward bravely and shoots his bow.
The arrow pegs the giant humanoid in the shoulder and he roars in pain. He responds by picking up one of the conveniently placed rocks and throws it at him.
However he misses and there is a new hole in the ship next to where Chubs is.
"Hey! That's our ship you sod!"
Bjorkus begins his rousing northern warsong.
Kal steps over and fires his bow, willing the flames to do their work as well.
Opal fires off some magic missiles at whatever the hell that guy is.
The flames actually do their work as the giant is unable to avoid the fire. He growls in pain, so distracted that he doesn't notice the arrow and the missiles of magic hitting him in the chest.
Chubs sneaks up to the rail and then pops up and shoots an arrow at the thing.
Opal moves up a bit to get the creature within range and lets out two rays of lightening at it.
Kal begins casting a spell.
Luthor will toss move closer and toss a javelin.
Chubwart knows that Fishpork is a marsh giant. They can throw rocks and have fog cloud and bestow curse as spell-like abilities. He is also able to connect with another shot to the giant's shoulder. Luthor was not so lucky as his javelin bounces off his hide.
The giant roars in defiance and tosses another rock, but this one at Kal!
The giant deftly dodges the ball of fire again but he dodges it right into the way of Opal's twin bolts of lightning.
Kal begins casting his spell and everyone can hear the cackling of monkeys in the distance as if heralding their appearance before it happens.
Chubs sneaks around and pops up again to attack.
Chubs sneaks around and the giant is again surprised by the arrow lodged in his chest. He is looking pretty haggard, though he is still standing.
Luthor moves forward leaping to smash his elbow into Fishpork's fat face.
The giant lashes out with a meaty forearm of his own and he threatens to smash the half-ulfen's skull in. However at the last moment, Luthor puts his shield up and the fist breaks off a section of the shield instead.
And this giant proves to be quicker than he looks and he takes the opportunity to smash Luthor again.
Luthor tries to deflect it with his shield, but in it's current state, buckles under the pressure and he is slammed right in his shoulder.
Despite being bruised and bloodied, wielding a broken shield he lands a solid hit and the giant goes down!
Tsadok walks up the plan to your battered ship with a grin. "Congratulations! I have to thank you for being such good sorts about all this." He then turns to the crowd. "These folks are truly deserving of becoming Free Pirates of the Shackles! In fact, Hurricane King Kerdak Bonefist himself will give them their letter of marque tonight!" And there is much applause. "You are of course invited to the feast tonight at Fort Hazard as the King's guests."
Kal looks from the giant to Chubwart. "Captain?" he asks, indicating the obnoxious first mate questioningly.
After the giant falls, Bjorkus puts his cutlass away and gives the mighty captain a nod of congratulations.
"We'll be there", the minotaur says. "I'm looking forward to meeting the Hurricane King."
When you arrive, the revelry is already in full swing: tables are laden with roast meat and flagons of ale, mead, and rum, and loud, drunken buccaneers swagger and stagger around the main hall. Hurricane King Kerdak Bonefist presides over the revelry from his gold-chased, teakwood throne. A blustery man with long black hair and beard, Bonefist looks more pirate than king, forgoing his crown and royal regalia for the long coat and tricorne hat of a sea captain. A tankard of rum rarely leaves his hand, but his most noteworthy features are his pistol and his skeletal right hand, the source of his sobriquet. Already well into his cups, the Hurricane King blearily stares down as you are brought forth for introductions.
"SILENCE!" He yells to the room but he is ignored so he resorts to firing his pistol into the air to establish a deathly silence after its thunderous echo fades. He glares fierily about the hall until, with an apparent change of mood, he smiles and speaks in a calm voice.
“This fresh catch of scallywags want to add their fine ship to our brethren o’ the sea,” he says, erratically waving his still smoking pistol toward the PCs. “But before I award their letter of marque and make them Free Captains right and true, I say we hear from them.” Bonefist turns his dark gaze upon the PCs. “What say you tell us all a tale or two of how you came by the plunder in your hold?” The inebriated pirates draw closer to hear the you speak.
Bjorkus climbs a top a table and clears his throat to get his attention.
"So we were clearing out of Mancatcher Cove with a hold full of booty when we were ambushed by the Thresher and his giant captain, Knuckles Grype..."
"This Knuckles, though, he wasn't as tough as he wanted his crew to believe. Our Stonefist had him begging for mercy within half a minute."
[ooc]diplomacy
While showing a good bit of skin in her skimpy little outfit, Opal adds her own memories of their past to those of the men.
And then our honorary gobgob Minotaur, Bjorkus the Stud of The Fever Sea, impaled him with his horn in the gut as Captain Chubwart snuck up and filleted his shank with this here dagger!
Bjorkus' rousing tale seems to be a success as everyone chimes in with details, some true, some not so true. However midway through, someone from the crowd starts heckling the group. "That's not what I heard! I heard the mutt was all but beaten until your little slut offered to spread her legs for old Knuckles to distract him and he took a cheap shot!" And soon he is joined by others in the crowd, yelling awful things to make your group look bad.
Bjorkus makes it a point to bull-y anyone being excessively rude or loud.
"...And that brings us here before the legendary Hurricane King and his ugly-shit-mate Tsadok."
Kal unslings his bow. "The next person to interrupt our story gets an arrow through his forehead!" he shouts.
I heard the mutt was all but beaten until your little slut offered to spread her legs for old Knuckles
"Jealous much? I only spread my legs for real pirates, not whiney little posers."
Barkeep...This round is on the Raging Storm!!
Chubs attempts to win the crowd over with rum!
And one by one, each heckler is silenced. At the end of your tale, Bonefist calls for a show of approval. Slowly you hear a lot of "aye"s with very few nays, the loudest of which is from Tsadok. The grizzled old pirate nods his head. "Well that settles it! You are all officially Free Captains!" He actually gets off his throne and pulls out your letter of Marque to hand to Chubs. "Let's hear it for the newest members of our fold!" And much cheering can be heard echoing through the room.
Scribed with a firm hand in blood-red ink and emblazoned with an elaborate seal of crimson wax, this thick, waxed paper grants its bearer license to attack and capture ships of enemy nations as a privateer. It is not an uncommon practice for nations of the Inner Sea to issue letters of marque and reprisal to their ships, but those issued in the
pirate confederacy of the Shackles grant permission to engage in egregious acts of pillage and prize-taking, which can only be described as piracy by more lawful nations. Lawful letters of marque are issued to
specific ships, not individuals, but in the Shackles, they are granted to a specific captain and his or her officers. A Shackles
letter of marque accords its bearer the authority to seize or destroy cargo, incarcerate or slay crew and passengers, and sink or capture
ships from other nations, mercantile or otherwise. Within the territorial bounds of the Shackles, these manifold privileges also apply against any ships or captains who haven’t sworn loyalty to a known Free Captain or who doesn’t carry their own letter of marque (though bearing a letter of marque is no guarantee of safety from other pirates, who frequently strike first and ask questions later). Possession of a Shackles letter of marque is a crime in most civilized nations and regularly carries a penalty of death by hanging. As a result, a Shackles letter of marque is protected by a secret page spell, enabling its bearer to speak a secret command word to alter the text to something more innocuous, such as a cargo manifest, nautical chart, or page from a ship’s log. It’s common knowledge within the Shackles who has been granted letters of marque, and most Free Captains keep accounts of which ships and captains have them, making it extraordinarily difficult to forge these documents or steal them to perpetrate a deception.
Bjorkus grabs each member of the party in a gut-wrenching hug.
"You heard the man. We're sodding Free Captains!"
"I can't believe it.." Luthor is a little overtaken by it all, that he is completely surprised by the bull-hug.
Kal grins back at the minotaur and the Ulfen, his face flush with exultation. "Indeed we are!"
"I'm gunna find some company for the night. I'll meet up with the rest of you tomorrow."
The minotaur breaks away from his comrades to begin the hunt for eligible pirate wenches to celebrate with.
Kal heads back to the ship to celebrate with the crew and get in a nice nighttime swim.
The following morning, after removing himself from the tangle of limbs he got ended the night in, Bjorkus asks around for a spellcaster powerful enough to send a Message back to Tessa Fairwind in Quent.
Bjorkus is able to find a caster easily enough to cast the spell for him.