"You know what, scratch that-on second thought, we're all in the same room anyways for sleeping, and if Ambrose wants to meet, it'll probably be there. Find Lucy and Ace if you can and have them meet us there." Hesitating for a bit, he adds "Maybe Riza too, if you think we should. I doubt she'd ever rat us out...she hates Plugg more than we do."
"Sure. Also - anything you want me to bring to the meeting? Weapons, extra fire, etcetera? Also, Riza's cool with me now, which reminds me..."
Soundlessly, Slickjaw retrieves the pike and hides it in Riza's locker.
The rest of the day passes by, and the grumbling grows more pointed. The prevailing opinion seems to be that Plugg is deciding to claim the Man's Promise for his own, an opinion bolstered by the fact that Cyrdic isn't the only one who notices the ship has changed course.
That evening, a bunch of the pirates meet up in their quarters, as Kroop, in a remakably sober mood, explains what he thinks is up.
"A lotta ye have noticed by now that we're not headed for Port Peril, for sure. I know a good deal less of ye know where we ARE headed, which is why I wanted to speak wit' ye. I've been there afore, many a time, I recognize these waters now. We're headed fer Bloodcove, a dry dock off the Slithering Coast. There's only two reasons someone would willingly visit Bloodcove: Their ship needs repairin', and it's the only dock within distance...or they're visiting Rickety's Squibs to get a ship refitted and made unrecognizable. It's pretty clear what Plugg's up to. He's gonna take this ship for hisself, and it don't bode well for any o' us he's got a bone ta pick with fer whatever reason."
With that, he leans back in his chair and lets the muttering take over.
Slickjaw coughs, and looks around. "Then I don't thing it's lookin' good fer many of us, least of all me. So, whatchya'll gonna do?"
After listening to the people around him mutter for a few moments, Cyrdic stands up.
"Right then. Seems like it's rather obvious what we've gotta do, if any of us is going to make it out of here alive. First things first-we gotta take inventory. Who's definitely on Plugg's side, and who can possibly be convinced to help us out? Because if we outnumber Plugg's men at all, I don't see any reason why we should bother waiting for him to come to us. My old man always said-if you find yourself in a fair fight, something's already gone wrong."
"I approve of your old man. Also, I'm pretty sure I can kill Plugg and Scourge silently."
Kroop speaks up again.
"Loyal to us? Yer lookin' at 'em. Everybody else on this ship I've seen cozyin' up to Plug at one point or another."
He counts them on his fingers.
Rosie, Conchobar, Sandra, Kroop, Riza, James, and Colin, along with the four of you.
"There's 11 of us, includin' meself, and I'm no good in a fight. So 10 a' you what's can handle yourselves, and 10 a' them, including Plugg and Scourge who might be able to handle a couple of us on their own. At best, we got a fair fight on our hands."
"We need a plan, but I'm no good at that sorta thing. Something we can do to sweep in and take 'em by surprise."
"I could kill scourge, flay him, burn fake ritual marks into his skinless bodies, and then while everyone is distracted, we wreck 'em. Actually, that might not work as well it did last time, considering that we're on a boat..."
Cyrdic just kind of stares at Slickjaw for a moment. "...Dude. What the hell." Turning back to Ambrose, he says "You forgot Owlbear. He's not the smartest guy, but he's pretty good in a fight. I should know. Plus, he seems to really like me, at least."
"I wouldn't rely on one with a... child-mind... in a fight. I should know."
Ambrose leans forward, suddenly more interested.
"You've got Owlbear on your side? That's...very good. He's the only thing guarding Plugg's cabin right now. If you can get him to step aside, or even help out..."
He leans back and strokes his scraggly beard.
Ace, now listening to Amborse, asks him "Ah, so you can sense there's something in there too, eh?"
"Not sure if it's that, but if we get into Plugg's cabin, then we can just make it us against him."
"If there's magic in the way and ya'll deal with it, I can just dispose of Plugg quietly, then move on to the other officers 'til they're all dead... 'cept we need 'em to pilot this boat. We're on a skeleton crew as it is."
"Well, if we somehow got rid of Plugg, perhaps we can "persuade" the others to listen?"
"Plugg and Scourge. Then, maybe."
There comes a loud banging on the door, causing everyone to jump.
"Get ta sleep, and put out that lantern!" Scourge yells through the door.
Holy mother of Besmara, that scared me. Cyrdic leans back in his bunk a bit and yawns. "So-we going to sleep on this? Or we doing this now?"
"How about we take turns to be on sentry duty, just lay down, but dont sleep, so if Scourge or Plugg decides to do something, the sentry can wake the rest of the crew" chimes in Ace.
"Probably best not to do it tonight - they still need us, and I've used too many of my abilities today. G'night."
With this, Slickjaw slips into bed, keeping his new magic dagger close.
The night passes without issue.
Day 3 begins, and with it, work.
Cyrdic and Ace, distracted, fail their work, Ace doing so horribly.
Slickjaw sets his mind to working to avoid giving away anything in his nervousness, working harder than he intended. He ends the day having been an exemplary worker...but is bone tired.
After getting back, Slickjaw reaches into his pouch of emergency ingredients for something to help with his fatigue - that also won't prevent him from killing people quickly and quietly.
Slickjaw, tired and expecting trouble, pulls a chemical out of his Alchemist's Kit.
He thinks to himself. This should perk me up a bit! and pops it in his mouth, crushing the tiny crystal with his hard goblin teeth.
After a few minutes, he begins to feel better, perkier, no longer tired.
A few minutes after that, his stomach ties itself in knots, and he falls to the ground.
Slickjaw continues to roll around on the floor, massive stomach pains wracking his body.
After a few minutes of this, he gets it under control somewhat, able to move slowly.
He makes it to the side of the boat and sticks his head through the railing, puking over the sides for a good 10 minutes straight.
For the next 4 hours he is nauseated, almost unable to move, periodically throwing up over the side of the boat.
But after the time passes, he feels cleansed, and surprisingly full of energy!
After finishing his vomiting, Slickjaw snarls and goes to subtly alert the others that tonight seems like a good night to do it, and they'd figure out exactly what to do after light's out.
Cyrdic sniffs a bit as Slickjaw approaches, and his nose wrinkles up in distaste. "Dude. It's been almost 3 months...how do you not have your sealegs yet? The boat's barely rocking at all, either. Are you really that sens..." Seeing the expression on Slickjaw's face, the easy smile slowly fades from Cyrdic's. He quickly switches to Goblin, just in case anyone's listening. "Oh. It's time? What's the plan?"
"I slip in, do Plugg nice and quiet. Next, we move to Scourge and the others. I'll start with Scourge - anything goes wrong, ya'll hurry in. Some of 'em might be able to kick my ass in a straight fight."
"Seems risky. Where'll the rest of us be? Also, Owlbear-he guards Plugg's door and well...doesn't really have a concept of an 'inside voice'. Any idea for him?"
"Iunno. You deal with him. In case you haven't noticed, I've got no people skills."
"Really? Huh. Couldn't tell. I guess I'll try and handle him then...we gonna do this now?"
"It all goes down at midnight. I've got a great internal clock, so I'll wake ya'll. Ace will hang back, you'll distract Owlbear, and I'll slip past him and kill Plugg. You hear my yell, it's going down and you get the hell in there."
Cyrdic nods briefly to Slickjaw, then goes to his bunk to get whatever rest he can before the time comes. You left me alive 10 years ago for whatever reason...is this why? Has everything been leading up to this? Or is this going to be yet another of your jokes? As he drifts off to sleep, he could swear that he heard a small voice chuckling in his head.
Like I said-you're going to be such a great pirate...if you survive.
Slick also checks with everyone to see who needs weapons.
1) Cyrdic, Lucy, Slickjaw - remove Plugg silently.
2) Ace, the other crew members - as soon as Slick shanks scourge, they throw a non-ship-burning flask of alchemical fire into the room of Scourge and the rest.
3) Once Plugg is dead, Cyrdic, Lucy, and Slick go to help Ace and the others.
Once everyone is gathered that night, Slickjaw quietly informs them of the plan.
"Me, Cyrdic, and Lucy will take Plugg. I'm pretty sure I can kill him in his sleep, and if not - well, I can see in the dark and he can't. Only issue, he's got summat magic with 'im, if Ace is right in his judgment. Also, if any of ya'll need weapons, speak now."
After briefly hesitating, he continues, saying, "Spare as many as you can. Way I see it, only Scourge and Plugg absolutely have to die."
"Lets go!"