Bjorkus pays whatever the appropriate fee is.
We've met with the Hurricane King and earned a letter of marque. Thanks for the sponsor. Any suggestions for new marks?
Within seconds, Bjorkus gets a response.
Excellent! I knew you had what it took! Now that you're Free Captains, I have a job for you! Meet ya in a few days.
Content with the response, Bjorkus spends the rest of the day looking for trouble and/or leads on good hunting grounds.
Bjorkus wanders around the town, itching for a fight. He is successful as he wanders into the Riptide Alehouse. The Riptide is a boisterous and rowdy establishment, full of pirates and freebooters of all stripes, though most of the activity seems friendly enough.
Bjorkus takes a moment to enjoy the friendly atmosphere and looks around the busy bar.
Bjorkus notices a familiar face amongst the crowd.
“Caulky” Tarroon, Captain Barnabas Harrigan’s cabin girl on the Wormwood.
Bjorkus eyes go wide at the sight.
Is Harrigan in town?
She seems to be surreptitiously adding something to a few sailors’ drinks,
an activity suspiciously similar to the way oil of taggit was added to your drinks when they were initially pressganged at the beginning.
Not again...
Bjorkus bulls his way across the bar and tries to grab the girl.
As Bjorkus moves towards her, she spots him and instantly recognizes him.
At the same time, one of the sailors who Caulky was attempting to poison notices that her drink was tampered with. She loudly proclaims that someone is trying to drug her, and throws her drink over her shoulder, square on the head of a rough-looking buccaneer. The bruiser stands up, roaring in rage, and throws a punch, which connects with yet another bystander, and the situation in the tavern soon devolves into an all-out barroom brawl. Harrigan's cabin girl is now surrounded by angry brawlers.
With a roar, Bjorkus throws himself into the melee.
The bull throws himself into the fight, throwing brawlers out of the way. Most land on the ground with a thud, but some are put through the oddly frail wooden tables. Caulky is trying sneak her way through with little success. Her eyes widen as she spots Bjorkus beelining for her. "Crap." She utters as she tries to weave her way to the exit though her strategy is flawed as she is quickly caught. "Please, don't kill me. I was just gonna report to Harrigan so I can get on his good side. He's been in a foul mood since you mutinied and took the Man's Promise. I'll do whatever you want, just spare me."
Bjorkus grabs the girl by the collar.
"You're coming back to the Storm with me..."
The minotaur watches with disappointment as someone is slid across the bar top... and it isn't him doing the sliding.
"After I'm done here."
With entirely too much glee, the bull throws himself back into the fight.
Caulky just finds a corner to sit near while Bjorkus gets into the brawl. Fists fly everywhere as Bjorkus starts throwing hands until someone makes the mistake of breaking a beer mug across Bjorkus' back. This only enrages the bull as he picks him up on his shoulders and then slams him through a table, adjusting his attitude. This lasts for the better part of an hour. Afterwards, Bjorkus finds Caulky half asleep in the corner.
Bloodied and bruised, but feeling suitably content about the outcome of the brawl, Bjorkus wakes Caulky up.
"Come on girl. We're goin' to the Storm."
She follows quietly and with no resistance.
When Bjorkus arrives at the Storm, he quickly gets Caulky below deck and summons the others.
When they arrive, he shows them his catch.
"You wouldn't believe who I ran into Alehouse", the bull rumbles as he holds a bag of ice to one eye.
Kal raises an eyebrow. "Surely she was just quietly minding her own business, wasn't she?" he asks sarcastically.
"More like poisoning drinks to sandbag more crew for the Wormwood. I grabbed her before she could take off."
"She says she'll do whatever it takes to earn her life. I say we add her to the crew she was going to sell out."
The young man nods at the minotaur, and turns his gaze to the woman. "Harrigan is in town, then?"
"Yeah. Word of our ascension must not have reached him yet or I'm sure he would have sent someone to congratulate us. We should be careful as long as we're in Port for now."
"Why not go pay him a visit ourselves?"
"I like the way you think Kal", the bull snorts.
"What better way for new Free Captains to begin their careers than greeting their peers with open arms."
Kal unslings his bow and bends it experimentally, showing Bjorkus how widely his arms extend. He grins.
"Let's get the Captain and pay that sod a visit."
"Caulky, you stay on the Storm until we get back. In my cabin. I'll get one of my girls to keep you company."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, I mean if you value your lives anyhow. He's quite pissed about what you lot did. I even lost my cushy job and got demoted to swab and I was his right hand girl. He's liable to fire the cannons at ya."
Kal smirks. He reaches up and rubs the stubble on his chin, then leans over and whispers in Bjorkus' ear.
”Do you think he’d be bold enough to attack us in broad daylight?”
"In a word, yes. He's pissed enough to butcher you and make it look like an accident. You made a fool of him and he doesn't forgive things like that."
"In broad daylight? In public?"
"In any event, I don't know if we want our first act as Free Captains to be picking a fight with another Free Captain."
"Well if you're heading over to the Wormwood, he could claim you were trying to raid it and kill you in self defense. He was waiting on me to get new recruits."
Bjorkus rumbles in displeasure but relents.
”He’s going to have to assume that you’ve abandoned him. You work for the Storm and Captain Chubwart now.”
"That's what I figured, well it's better than being dead."
After making sure Caulky is set up with some work (and a couple pairs of eyes on her in case she considering flipping sides again), Bjorkus hunts down Alhazra.
Before departing...
"I sent a magical message to Miss Fairwind about our success. She sends her congratulations and mentioned wanting to meet us in person about something. She said she'd be here in a couple days."
After putting Caulky under watch, Bjorkus seeks out the Kelish oracle and finds her unhappily peeling potatoes in the Galley.
"I do hope she found some new guards."
Kal asks around town for interesting places to go swimming. Part of a day is spent in moving slowly up the coast the way he'd come down months before, pondering all that has happened since then.
"How goes adjusting to life as a pirate?", the minotaur asks while examining a skinless potato.
"I am certain it's more action than you were getting as a Pathfinder."
Kal finds out from various sources that other than Jeopardy bay, there isn't much swimming to be had. However there is a rumor about some hot springs not far from Port Peril, that is a bit of a legend. It might be a fountain of youth, it might curse you into the form of whatever drowned there. No one is sure mainly because no one has found it.
====================
Alhazrha looks up, knife in hand as Bjorkus approaches. "No, as a member of the Society we raided tombs, searched for lost arcs, and explored ruins. Here, I'm a just a petty thug who spends most of my free time peeling gods forsaken vegetables" She glares at him with her oddly colored eyes.
Bjorkus shrugs.
"That doesn't sound so different from what we do here. Mancatcher Cove was only thought a legend until we found it and emptied it out. What makes your Pathfinding so much better?"
"Because I'm not some lawless hoodlum who can get shiv-ed at any moment. You had someone sleep with me so you could kill my friends!"
"I think you're getting too caught up in the details", the bull laughed. "Bein' a pirate's all living for a moment."
"At least the company's gotta be better lookin'."
"I can see that. Though Valeros had his charms. If only he didn't chase after that lost cause Kyra, we could have had so much fun. But anyway, what do you want? Can't you see I'm busy doing important pirate work?" She says sarcastically holding up a half peeled potato.
"When we're stuck in port for more than a couple days I like to keep an eye on the crew. Food prep isn't glorious but it's important work. A girl like you should understand that."
"Come by my cabin tonight and I'll show you the rest of what you've been missing those years you were wasting chasing tombs", the bull says with a snort.
Alhazrha eyes the bull up and down, trying to peek behind his loincloth. "Maybe this won't be so bad afterall. I'll be there." She says trying to hide any excitement she might have.
Bjorkus lumbers away and spends the rest of the day checking on the crew and making sure nobody has gotten into too much trouble.
Kal's questioning becomes focused on the mysterious spring, as he tries to find out anything more concrete about it.