OOC - Just for you, Pach, I am resurfacing in this forum exclusivly.

Trudi - A feisty young human girl, straight talking and tactless. Although she hasn't been desperate for any kind of adventure, she often follows her curiosity when she is interested in something.

IC - Trudi spat her ale across the person sitting next to her in shock as the apparation hovered before the young man at the table across the room.
It soon vanished, however, leaving the room awestruck.
Trudi began to think. Hmm, being a pirate would be fun. She always played it with her friends as a child. And she just had to know what was hidden at that cross. She had to...

Almost as soon as the pirate began talking, Deckman entered the tavern. Everyone was too busy paying attention to the pirate's treasure-hunting challenge to notice the 14-year-old boy with long black hair stepping inside, which was well enough since he was probably too young to be there anyway.

As soon as Deckman found out what the center of attention was, he listened with growing interest. As dangerous as it seemed, it looked like an opportunity to finally have a real adventure instead of staying indoors all day. The thought of finding treasure seemed pretty nice, too.

And yet, like Pach, he wasn't sure if he wanted to be a pirate. Then again, it's not like he had to be a bad pirate. Not all pirates did nothing but raiding, pillaging, and killing, right?...right?

After the pirate finished talking and left the tavern, Deck walked up to Pachamac.

"So, Pach, what do you think? We could probably find a ship somewhere and go on the hunt ourselves," Deck suggested.

"Are you serious, Deck? I'm not going to become a pirate. You know what they did to my family."

"Come on, you unsexy beast, you'd make an awesome pirate. Besides, we're not going to be those kinds of pirates. We'd be good pirates, just like Pirates of the Caribbean! I'll be Jack, and you'll be Will."

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Pach made his decision. "Alright, I'll do it. But we're not going to do anything illegal."

"I'm not so sure about that, Pach."

"Fine, we won't do anything that'll give us prison sentences or the death penalty. Anyway, I think I know where we could find a ship, but it might cost us."

"Awesome. I'll be right back. Just let me get my trays."

OOC: I'm scared of the RP Guild. Pach, hold my hand. =(

Ori looked over from his glass of beer. The beer had long since gone flat, since Ori had left it completely untouched since the stranger began talking. Whole crew dead, eh? Treasure enough to make a ship's crew individually rich? This was too good to pass up.

Looking down at his toolbox, he thought. Sure, he made the bills every month. But that kind of money could let him build his dream workshop! He stood up, downed his now-flat beer, grabbed his toolbox and walked over. "I understand your newfound vessel needs a good crew. Need an engineer?"
"Engineer?"
"Well, engineer, smithy, inventor, blah blah blah. I dabble in all the inventive fields. Name's Ori."

THS sipped from his can of grog he had purchased from a vending machine nearby not too long ago (after some additional persuasion from his boot when it turned out that money wasn't enough) and lounged in the Ale and Wenches tavern. He only came here nowadays for nostalgic reasons - he was, at a time, a Mighty Pirate. However, his ship was destroyed a few years ago when someone failed to light the lighthouse beacon as he came into port (although, to be fair, the crash did happen in daytime - turned out another pirate had snuck aboard his ship in the night and painted his sunglasses pitch black), and he ended up stranded in Espoir Gauche.

The few attempts he had tried at gathering up a crew and ship had been unsuccessful - pirates were mercilessly hunted and condemned on this island, which made gathering a crew nigh impossible, while ships were highly expensive due to high demand. In hope to gather funding, he took a hopefully temporary job as an assitant private detective, which ended up being an dead-end lifestyle due to the amount of taxing there was in place on the wages.

But it seemed that today might change things; he watched as the aging pirate stumbled in to the bar, and told the nearby fox his tale of treasure. He was intruiged - this could finally be his chance to get off this forsaken island and back to the work he loved. He was about to head over to the apparent captain for the expedition, but suddenly found himself drenched in a combination of cold ale and spit protruded from a mouth of a nearby patron.

She had seen everything, from the moment the old pirate stumbled into the tavern, till the very last trace of his ghost had vanished into thin air. She had heard his tale of treasure and looked upon the map he had waved so boastingly in front of the others around him. And last but not least, she saw in the faces of many a person the debate of whether or not they should join up.

And she didn't like it one bit.

For one thing, the black-furred vixen thought pirating was a very unpredictable and dangerous line of work. No telling when you might be killed because people might fear that you were going to rob/raid their town. Also, she had a profound fear of the ocean and did well enough to stay as far away from the docks as possible. Past experiences with the great waters that surrounded the island forbade her to set foot on any vessel of any kind. She knew nothing of the people who might join this ridiculous quest, nor what would happen if they ran into the dangers the old pirate had spoken of.

And so Arista (AKA the "Lady of Shadows", so named for her quiet steps and black fur) decided that she would just ignore what had taken place moments ago. Pulling her jacket tighter around her waist so as to hide her father's sword (which she had no idea how to use, by the way) and the various other tools clinging to her large belt, she turned her attention back to her drink with a frown.

In a corner of the bar, another one of the regulars to the tavern, a 17 year old boy named Aidan was drinking a glass of his favourite Orange Squash (As he didn't drink alcohol, there weren't many taverns in town that served anything but the stuff). He was flipping a coin aimlessly when the old pirate started shouting and waving a scrappy peice of paper around, making him impossible to ignore. However, at the mere mention of treasure, Aidan began to take notice.

"Treasure eh? Sounds like it could be a laugh, I've got nothing better to do either way" He picked up his lucky compass, put it around his neck, and walked over to the rest of the crew.

"I wouldn't mind joining this little escapade myself" he said. "The names Aidan Wells, I'm a student in the geography of the world, and I know the seas rather well, I'd be glad to join you as a navigator, what do you say?"

Lokki had been leaning against the bar, facing outwards, and watching the scene unfold whilst nursing a tankard of lukewarm metheglin. He had to admit the whole idea piqued his curiosity greatly, what with life on this island being so frightfully uneventful. He would have long since ventured off of his own accord had the very reason he was here in the first place not been that the ship he had sailed in on all those years ago been a limping wreck that had somehow managed to sink itself in the harbour. And since he had as of yet been unable to find any way off this drearily mundane hellhole, this whole treasure quested very greatly intrigued him.

It seems he wasn't the only one. The murmur of conversation that had existed before the appearance of the pirate had returned a thousand-fold and there was a tension and excitement in the air unlike any Lokki had experienced in this particular tavern since... well, since he had arrived on the island. All around him people were chattering away - debating whether to volunteer for expedition, debating the authenticity of this so-called Captain Fishear and his treasure map, even some people debating whether they had actually witnessed what they thought they had. Lokki would not have been surprised to learn of some shady characters in certain secluded corners plotting and scheming to obtain the map for themselves by less-than-legal means.

Presently, he noticed the girl sitting beside him, who had also been studying the curious turn of events, turn swiftly back to the bar with a frown and shift uncomfortably. He nudged her. "Go on," he said encouragingly.

The vixen turned to Lokki and blinked. "Pardon?"

"You know, join the quest, find the treasure and all that," he explained. "You know want to."

"No, I don't," she replied.

Lokki chuckled. "You don't reach over a century in age without absorbing at least the most miniscule understanding of body language along the way. You're telling yourself you don't want to go, maybe even you believe it, but I'll wager deep down in your subconscious you do want to, if not for the potential reward then at least to sate your curiosity. We mammals are naturally inquisitive beasts, after all; I of all people should know."

She glared at him. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said flatly, then returned to her drink into order to studiously ignore this strange and annoyingly obtrusive man.

"Suit yourself," said Lokki, half to himself. He got up, ambled over to the young fox to whom the pirate had spoken and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, my good sir," Lokki intoned politely, "Might I be so brash as to request that I might join you on your treasure-hunting voyage? That is, if you intend to go at all. The name's Lokki, by the way. Lokki Gallansbayne."

Goldstein sat on a stool at the bar sipping a flagon of mead or whatever they drank in those days, which would not have been odd were it not for the fact that Goldstein was a mountain goat.

Yes, a mountain goat.
A talking mountain goat
A Jewish talking mountain goat.
A Jewish talking mountain goat with wings.

He watched unconcerned as the old man came in, spilling tales of treasure and all that nonsense. This didn't concern him much as it happened pretty much weekly, but the young'uns didn't care about that.

What did concern him, however, was the part about anyone who helped find the treasure becoming exceedingly rich. I am by no means implying that this attracted him simply because he was Jewish, as that would be racism and racism is wrong. It concerned him because, as a goat, there were not many jobs he could take that did not involve being shaved to make sweaters or slaughtered to make Kebabs, and so Goldstein was faced with crippling poverty, mostly working as a street performer until his big break as a novelist came through.

Goldstein finished off the rest of whatever kind of alcohol it was that he had been drinking (It smelled of airplane fuel and burned like the fires of a hundred thousand suns, but it was 50 cents or whatever the old-timey equivalent of fifty cents was, and that was hard to beat.), and wandered over to where a small crowd of young adventurers was gathering. Goldstein thought to himself that these young'uns were far too inexperienced to find the treasure by himself and that they might need the help of a wiser, more experienced mountain goat. Plus he could fly and breathe fire occasionally, and that would be pretty useful, he reckoned. You may at this point be wondering both how I knew what he was thinking, having not been there, and how he could talk and all that junk. The answer to the first question is that I'm the narrator for this particular part of the story and it's my character, and the second is that a wizard did it (No, really, a wizard is responsible for him being a talking goat. It's a long story, one I shall probably use as filler in a later post wherein a character asks Goldstein about his past and he explains it to them in a long and windy narrative.)

In this paragraph, Goldstein, I suppose, introduces himself to the group gathered around Pach, who I assume is still holding the treasure map and talking to the others about the treasure. Also I suppose people ask him questions like "Why can you talk?" and "I thought they didn't let animals in here?" and other things like that, but they are for other people in this RP to ask, as I'm not about to put words in anyone's mouth.

Anyhow, this post has taken me far longer to write than it has taken you to read unless you read exceptionally slowly, so I suppose this is the end of this post and the start of someone else's, unless there are no posts after this one, in which case I would feel terrible bad for having killed an RP with so much potential.

OOC: Awesome work so far, me hearties. Its nice to see so much support for it so quickly. A good list of characters so far, a lot of them seem to have some useful abilities e.g. mechanics, whereas others seem to be completely silly Great writing so far, and it looks like well be able to get this set up well enough. Good job, people.

Btw, I mentioned this to Deck earlier in the Chat but basically, Deck, ignore what I said. :O I think a limited control of characters is fairly doable, as long as its only limited speech and not direct controlling of their characters. Basically, dont make others peoples characters do decisions that they might not want. Also, you dont necessarily need to use some of the others speech either, if you feel a bit uncomfortable. At a stage this early, Id recommend being careful, as I dont think you guys know the other RPers characters so well, no? Anyway, just a suggestion.

Its alright, Deck, Ill hold your hand. Ill protect you from any powerplaying :O

And Wonder, wow. Talk about an original character. o.o Nicely done.

IC:
Espoir Gauche Tavern

It was too much, too quickly, it seemed. The tavern was once quiet but now erupted into a loud frenzy, making it difficult for Pach to collect his thoughts together. So many people were all speaking at once

To silence the room, he slammed his hand against the nearest table, followed by shouting aloud H-hold it! This silenced everyone else, and diverted their attention to him.

Uh hi. My names Pach, and well, no doubt this sounds like an exciting thing, eh? He scratched the back of his head. Anyway, er, those of you who dont want to do this arent well, obligated. I guess Ive been cursed, meaning I have to. Im not preventing anyone from coming with me, either. I cant do this alone, and I dont want to end up being cursed by a nagging ghost forever.

Eeeg yag, eeeg yag!! The pirate ghost laughed. Good speech, meboy.

Pach looked to him, then looked away. Doesnt mean Im comfortable being a pirate though, but Id appreciate the help, yknow? Pach spread the scroll out across the table, showing the map clearly to everyone else.

Alright, so this is the map? Were here, at Espoir Gauche, and x is Pachs eyes widened. Youve got to be kidding me. Its on the other side of the world?!

Eeeeg yag The pirate ghost said in a sigh. Me crew and I didnt get too far before we got destroyed by thee rough seas and other lilly loving sea dogs. But we be lucky, laddy! Even though practically everyone knows the treasure exists, only we be knowing where it is! Lucky, eh?

Uh huh, Pach replied, folding the map up again and putting it in his court record. Well, I want to know who exactly is coming with us and do we even have a ship?

Do we have a ship?!? cause we be having a ship, laddy, howd ya think I got here? tis a real beaut of a ship too, just wait and see. The ghost smiled broadly.

OOC: Gives the opportunity for your chars to do a bit more interaction amongst yourselves, if you want.

IC:

Espoir Gauche Tavern

Arista had regarded Lokki with a guarded look, which hid how shocked she was on the inside. He had picked up on that tiny little piece of longing she hid, the longing for adventure that she had always buried and ignored because of her timid nature. When her father had been alive she had done quite a few bold and outrageous stunts, bravely ignoring the danger. But it seemed so long ago now that she barely remembered what it meant to be brave. Or the thrill of being spontaneous now and again.

As soon as he had his back turned to her while approaching Pach's group, she allowed herself to watch openly what was going on. The young fox yelled for silence, and Arista looked on as he spread the map out very carefully. From where she sat she didn't have as good of a view of the thing as she would have liked, but she could vaguely see the tiny point that was Espoir Gauche and the large X planted on the other side.

And of course she heard Pach's exclamation. The vixen's eyes widened a little. "The other side of the world?? Good Lord, that's absolutely crazy!"

She hadn't said it loud enough for Pach's group to hear, but others around her gave her looks of curiosity at her sudden change of heart. Most ignored her, which was just as well. Nervously she fingered a strand of snow-white hair that hung midway to her neck, her blue eyes looking down. Arista knew now that Lokki had been right; she DID want to go, but her mind jumped ahead of her, throwing out all sorts of terrible endings to the journey. Biting her lip she attempted to stand, then sat.

What if she fell overboard and drowned? What if she was shot or stabbed to death? What if they were caught in some crazy storm and marooned on an island with no food or water? What if, what if, what if! Tons of things could go wrong, and she'd end up wishing she hadn't gone along.

But then that little piece of her still longing for adventure spoke up saying: What if nothing went wrong at all? What if everything went relatively smoothly and you had the greatest adventure of your life? Of course things would go wrong, but she hardly had any control over that! It would be such a nice change from her timid, safe, and predictable lifestyle...besides, her father would want her to take a chance! Be bold for a change, why wouldn't you?

So before her mind could make up any more excuses to challenge her smidge of adventure-wishing, the Lady of Shadows pushed herself off her chair and walked quietly over to Pach's "crew". Purposely she stood beside Lokki, smiling despite her nervousness.

Ori laughed. "Quite the traveling companion, eh? Count me in." He brushed a mop of sandy-colored hair aside from his face and out from over his piercing green eyes. If the pirate's story was true, he couldn't in good concience let any of them get on that ship before he'd effected repairs...and maybe a new paintjob.

"SORRY" trudi yelled in the man's face, before jumping up and running over to the young fox.
"Oi, you going to need some help, right?" she shouted at him.
He blinked, apparently stunned by her vicious rudeness.
"I'll join you! I can do any job, right?!" she thumped him on the back. "Come on, it'll be a laugh"

THS shook himself down from the spray as the woman shouted a brief apology into his face before rushing off. He wasn't all too concerned - the clothes he was in were old and worn from detective work, and hardly ideal for piracy - he'd try to get away and change before they set sail. On top of that he was intruiged now that he had an opportunity to get off this forsaken island - now that he had his chance, he wasn't going to let it pass by without a fight. He headed over to the bar.

He lent over the fox's shoulder upon the map, being careful to keep clear of the ghost, due to some bad experiences with ghost pirates in the past (as well as the general creepy factor overall). He let out a long, low whistle as he surveyed it. "Around the world in 80 days, huh?" he said. "Well, without quite the time limit I guess. My name's THS (you might not want to ask, it's a long story), and I've had experience as" - he took quick mental note of the lawyer outfit - "a sailor in the past. I should be comfortable in whatever position needs manning, really."

Lokki waited for a reply, but young Pach was understandably overwhelmed with volunteers, so no direct response came. Instead, Lokki stood back and listened to the fox's impromptu speech.

Just then, he caught a movement in the corner of his eye and turned to see vixen from earlier had sidled in beside him. He said nothing, but gave a wink and a knowing smirk before returning attention to Pach. He did so love to be proved right.

Once Pach had finished speaking, Lokki waited until a few people had expressed or re-affirmed their interested, so as not to seem unduly impatient, then spoke up: "As I said, all persons and circumstances permitting, I should like to take part in this venture. I'm afraid I can't offer much in the way of unique skills or expertise, but I've been around a bit and I know a thing or two about mle and ranged combat in a pinch. If nothing else, I'm an accomplished writer and could serve as a chronicler for the mission, if necessary or desired."

Pach nodded at all of the helpful and eager volunteers who would join the journey. It was reassuring to be able to get such support, so quickly. Alright then, lets make our way down to the docks and to this ship. I shouldnt think itd be hard for Deck to find us there, hmm? he turned to the bartender, his eyes hopeful and giving the bartender the appropriate signal.

The bartender nodded. Of course, monsieur, I will tell your friend. However, in return I must ask of one favour, yes?

Pachs queried face looked back, awaiting an answer.

Could you please remove this rotting corpse? It is, as I say, bad for business. The bartender responded.

Ah! Right, the crew responded, referring to the dead pirate captains body. One of them members within the tavern picked it up, walked outside, and chucked it in whatever was the nearest empty barrel.

Yar, hey there! Be careful with that beautiful body! Captain Fishears exclaimed.

Whats the point? You arent going to me using it anymore.

Captain Fishears fell silent.

Minutes later, the group who had decided to venture on this remarkable voyage arrived at the dock, all of them looking upwards at the ship that would be theres, and all of them were equally speechless. It wasnt a massive ship per se, it was just big enough for all of them, but the condition

It was lucky to still be ashore.

A beaut of a ship, you said. Pach muttered, looking at the worn and torn ship.

Yarr it is, when it be in brand spanking new condition. These are just a few scars of me last attempt to find thee treasure. Captain Fishears replied. Pach looked at him, his face not sure.

We cant set sail in something like that, it will sink as soon as we start. And I should imagine well need supplies. How on earth do we start?

Start? Captain Fishears replied. Why, thats easy, me boy! First we need to pimp up our ride with thee latest bling, you follow? That way, well be the best pirates with the best cred on thee five seas!

"Indeed..." was all Ori had to say about the bling remark. He then piped up. "Think you can take it down to the drydock about a mile south of here? My workshop's down there, I think I can have it seaworthy again in two days' time."

"Alright, I'm ba - Oh dear."

Deckman had left for about five minutes to get everything he'd need on his journey that could fit in a suitcase, including two of his trademark weapons of choice - trays. When he returned, the tavern was almost empty.

"Where is everyone?" Deck asked the bartender, who seemed to be the only person left in the room.

"They all went to the docks, monsieur," he replied.

"Merci."

When Deck left the tavern, he noticed something that he overlooked when he entered a minute ago: a pirate hat sticking out of a nearby barrel. Curious, he went over to the barrel and looked inside.

In it, he found the corpse of the old pirate. He flinched and almost screamed, not even thinking about taking the awesome-looking hat for himself. He then ran off to the docks, where an old, soon-to-be-pimped ship was waiting for him, along with its future crew.

"Well, I've got a new sail we can use" Aidan said, looking at the ship. "I've also got a load of maps we can use to plan our route with, I suppose I can go and get those..."

Trudi stared at the ship with a mixture of horror and general dissaproval.
"Pfft! Where's the cork?" she said. She realised that she hadn't shouted it so she repeated it, louder.
Somebody glared at her, but she ignored it. "I'll go pack my bags. Then I guess I'll help you rebuild it, not got anything better to do"

"Well, I suppose I'd better go find a, uh, a..." Goldstein began, his gaze drifting from the ship to the ragtag band of would-be pirates gathered on the dock, "...A steering wheel! Yes, that's it, I've got to go get a steering wheel, so we can, uh, steer the boat. You know." He looked sheepishly around and grinned widely, which, given the head structure of a mountain goat, is not an easy thing to do.
"But the boat's already go--" Pachincomack (Or whatever his name was, it's been quite a while now and I can't really remember) began, but was quickly cut off. "A SPARE stering wheel, young man, you know, in case the first one breaks. Wouldn't do too well to be stranded in a storm with no steering wheel, now would it?" "I guess n--" "Exactly! Now you see my point, young man!" And with that, Goldstein took a galloping leap back towards town, and proceeded to glide directly back to the tavern he had begun his day at, sitting down at the bar and ordering another serving of the "Captain's Special Brew", thus avoiding doing any actual work before the boat set out.

Lok looked around at all the heavy lifting and work that would be requiring to fix the boat, and decided that alcohol would very much help the situation. So he politely excused himself to pach and that one chick he's trying to score with *shyea right* to head back to his house and pick up some bottles of Captain Sparrow's Black Pearl Bay.

Returning to his property, he peaked into the doorway before slowly opening it and sneaking in. If he could get the booze and get out withotu waking his roomate, he might be able to avoid trouble.

"Wotho chaps this liqour will surely suit the recreational enviroment of the friendships i have just aquired, mmyes quite-" "DUDE WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY BOOZE MAN!?"

A figure of average build emerged from a side room, which when opened immediatly let out a bunch of smoke. Through the haze, Dark Side of the Moon could faintly be heard. The man had long black hair falling past his shoulders, kept off his face from a bandana wrapped aroudn his head that said "BLS" in white letters. One got the idea from looking at him that he was a loose cannon ex-cop on the edge that played by no rules except his own rules, which were no rules. Also, for some unexplainable reason, the chap and the smoke around him smelled heavily of opium.

"Oh, damned shame, appears as though my classy monologue has alerted my presence..." Lok turned to him still holding the bag full of rum, "Well, Geo, I'm about to go on a fantastic journey around the world to get treasure."

"Man, sounds like something some 14 year old made up after watching a disney movie"

"Myes. Quite. Well, seeing as though this is a journey, I have top bring the booze."

"no way, man, my grandfather gave me that rum!"

"You stole it from the bar yesterday." Lok picked up another bag full of rum bottles and started walking towards the door, "So, old trouser leg, you have two options: Stay here as I walk away with the liqour, or come with on the journey." Right before the century-old adventure type set foot outside the door, he leaned back and sternly stated "Remmeber, it'll be a long and hazardous journey. Bring what you'll need, and don't forget the cannon, it's over in the corner in that black bag."

Geo stood there in shock. Not so much because of the journey that faced him, but because he couldnt feel his hands. Whoah, wait, nevernmind, there they are.

He stumbled over to the corner Lokki formely pointed at, and slung the heavy leather black bag over his shoulder. He walked back into his room and grabbed Wesley Pipes(sic) and havign everything he needed for a prolounged journey quickly headed after Lokki back to whereber he was going.

ooc- hay guys asl

OOC: Awesome work, people, good to see such fun posts and good imagination throughout.

Okay, now I'm gonna close this RP for newcomers. We've got enough people in this now, if there's anymore then it'll get needlessly hectic and an ass sore to deal with.

Anyway, this might be helpful, having a list of RPers and their characters:

Pachamac- Pach, Captain Fishears; Trudi; Deck; Cy- Ori; THS; SL- Arista; OTB-Aiden; Nutch- Lok; Bat-Goldstein; Geo; and tentatively HSW and Creo.

Alrighty then, back to pimping up our ride.

IC:
Pach looked to Aiden and nodded. Maps that were more in-depth and detailed then the one they had would be necessary and very important. They couldnt go off half-cocked only to get lost and what have you. Besides, the x on his own map was vague.

He then turned back to Ori, and his comment on getting the boat ready in two days. Good news. Lets hope that if all of us chip in, we can get it sorted in one? Pach suggested. Ori nodded.

We need some people to get some food for us, loads of meat for definitely. But uh, I dont know about the rest of you, but I dont want scurvy, yknow? Pach explained.

Yarr, I can second that one. Ive lost a good few men to scurvy. Good men. Traitorous Timmy, Mutinous Mark, Double-crossing Dave. All of them the loyalist followers, it was a right shame, yarr The old ghost sailor reminisced. Anyway! The pirate suddenly jolted up. Lets move this olbeaut to the fixing biz.

OOC: Of course, we dont actually need to go through the whole thing of moving it to the drydock, well just say some time has passed on and the ship is there. However, you can have your characters anywhere, still interacting for the moment, whether it be at the port of wherever else in the town you wish.

IC: Two hours earlier . . .

One of the figures in a dark corner of the tavern had been in the know of Fishear's Treasure, and had taken leave discreetly to report to the commander of his spyship; he had been followed just as discreetly by another knowledgeable party and done away with before he could make the docks, as close as they were to the tavern.

The victorious party considered the strange turn of events. Imagine that old capin' Fishear had anchored his corpreal form to the lawyer-in-apprenticeship, Pach! And he had made it so far, and to this very port, against the odds of it all!

He shook his head and wondered at the unlikelyhood of it all, then decided he had time to get the neccessary supplies together and intercept the treasure hunters as they left the port.

He would see that justice was done!

OCC: Sorry Pach, I was working this up as you were posting the cut-off. I withdraw under grace and will edit this post as you instruct, but PM me because I have to run.

At length Lokki returned with his bounty, conveniently enough just as Pach and Fishear were discussing the need for supplies for the voyage.

"What ho, my good fellows!" announced Lokki jovially. "How quaint that you should be discussing inventory, for I happen to have with me" - he dumped the two large sacks of rum heavily in front of him, the bottles clinking noisily against each other inside - "copious amounts of booze for the trek. Of course, it doesn't resolve the matter of sustenance, but 'tis a start nonetheless."

"Moreover, I seem to have inadvertantly recruited another person to our cause," he continued, gesturing vaguely backwards at the Geogwe, who was currently arriving with The Cannon in tow. "I hope you don't mind terribly. His name's Geo, by the way."

OOC: Short post really just consolidating Geo's post and letting everybody know he's not some madman randomly posting with other people's characters.

Not many people had noticed that Ori had since vanished...until the shrill cry of a ship's whistle could be heard. "AHOY THERE!" came Ori's voice from what had to be the unlikliest contraption ever. It appeared to be a small fishing boat...rigged with two massive wodden poles held on an adjustable axle. Two long metal pipes rose from the deck; smokestacks. The ship belched another one as Ori began to tuan a winch. As the winch turned, the wooden beams placed themselves around either side of the ship. "Gimme a hand tying this down, will ye?

OOC: yes. You've recruited a mad scientist o.o

THS stared up at the ship. It wasn't much to look at right now, but he knew that with a bit of tar (or, as it has come down to in the past, melted cheese - don't ask.) to patch things up, it could be reasonably seaworthy in a passable amount of time. Then there was the matter of pimping up the ship...and he knew just where to start.

"I'll be back in a tic," he shouted to his crewmates. He ran back into the town, and returned a few minutes later wheeling a Grog vending machine ahead of him and a large sack full of cans heaved over his back.

Pach gave him a somewhat disapproving look as he approached and questioned, "How did you manage to get hold of that?"

"It was lying around," the detective replied calmly, setting the grog machine to a rest (meanwhile, the tavern owner finally managed to untie himself and pulled himself from the barrel next to that which contained Fishears' corpse. He began to run in the direction of the port, then stopped at the realisation that the insurance payoff would be notably large, so headed back inside to mix himself a Threepwood Surprise.). He pointed to the bag on his back. "Also picked up some extra stock for the journey. Got some non-alcoholic stuff, too, so if you want one now I'll be willing to drop you a discount."

"Discount...?" Pach asked, even more confused than before.

"You didn't think I was gonna give these away for free, did you?" THS replied smugly, and drew some keys from his pocket. "This vending machine's mine."

"...You sure are fitting into the role of a pirate comfortably. You said you spent some time as an honest sailor?" asked the fox.

"Are you calling me a liar?" said THS, keeping a straight face and with no hint of malice. He began to move the supplies onto the ship.

"If you're not you'd better learn fast," Pach shouted after him. "Useful ability for a pirate...especially if they come under trial."

Everyone stood around scratching their asses as the engineer posed dramatically on what looked like a shoddy tossed-together tugboat.
After a couple minutes of akward silence, Geo looked up to him and said
"So, fix the damned thing."

ooc: yea there was a lull and s**t

Deckman wracked his brain for any skills that would be needed in the pimping of the ship or any other supplies he forgot. The only things he could think of was the plastic cutlass that someone had affectionately dubbed the cocklass and his stash of pizzazz and jam. But he'd retrieve those later.

Until then, Deck decided to make himself useful by helping one of the new crew members, THS, load supplies onto the ship. He walked over to THS while everyone else was staring at Ori and his magical creepy tugboat.

"I heard you saying something a little while ago about fixing the ship with melted cheese."

"Shhh. >>" THS actually pronounced the smiley.

Arista looked distastefully at the rum Lokki had brought, and then at the grog vending machine THS had wheeled over. She had been taught to "drink responsibly" and whatnot by her mother, (Remember kids, don't drink and drive!) who only barely tolerated alchohol. Sighing, the vixen turned to Lokki.

"Are you totally certain all that's necessary? It won't be of much use if we don't have any food." Hands in her pocket she wondered...

Perhaps she should have mentioned the fact that she was a great cook....

OOC: Actually, Shadow Lady, I find it funny for you to mention that. You see, your fictional questioning of Lokki's actions brings me to give you all a non-fictional history lesson.

Back in the day of Piracy and Exploration, crews were not very happy. There were sub-par living conditions, no women, no fun, nothing to dso at all but work. Many times they got so bothered by this that they mutinied against their captains.

Y'see, Captains, either of trade, navy, piracy, or exploration all found a cure for this. Alcohol. A drunk sailor is a happy sailor. Because of this, ships began stocking their supplies with about four times more beer, rum, etc than fresh water and juice. Sailors frequently got intoxicated, and because of this forgot about how terrible their job was and became contempt.

So I say, bottles up to history!

"Are you totally certain all that's necessary? It won't be of much use if we don't have any food."

Lokki turned to Arista, "Hm? Necessary? Why of course; absolutely vital," he replied, "Tell me, have you ever been at sea for months on end with no sign of land and nought but the same few men for company? I'll tell you one thing: the sheer tedium drives many a sane man to distraction. Hence the need for alcohol - keeps the crew merry and entertained. Besides, all the food in the world will get you nowhere without some form of liquid. You can't exactly drink the sea water, seeing as 'tis horrible stuff, full of unwholesome quantities of salt, not to mention all the fish that piss and crap in it and goodness knows what else. Thus we bring rum, since at least then you know how you're being poisoned."

"Then again," he continued, "You are quite right, in that we will need nourishment, and plenty of it, because we can't know how long will be our journey. However, since fresh food spoils rapidly (whereas unopened spirits will keep for years) and most preservative methods detract from the flavour and nutritional merit, I tend not to keep vast stockpiles of victuals stored in my abode. Do you, per chance?"

OOC - Wee, didn't realise that another page was added. Thought this thing had died. But yay! it hasn't. Sorry for the long gap in my posting c.c;

IC - Trudi looked down from her vantage point hanging over the side of the ship, and wished she hadn't. Ack, heights. She continued fixing neon lights onto the side of the ship absent mindedly, watching the people milling around below.
She just hoped that the owner of the chippy didn't realise that his sign was gone. or that the pirate ship now had a garish pink "Charlie's Chippy" written down the side in neon.

Ori slid out on a dolly and looked up from under the ship; he'd just finished rebuilding the keel to see Trudi attaching a neon sign to the side of the ship. "Um...WHERE are we gonna fit the extra room for a generator for that thing? And who's Charlie?" He yelled over at whoever was re-pitching the hull. "How's the pitch coming?"

OOC: Nuch, you just gave me another reason to never set foot in the ocean ever again. (XD)

IC:

Arista had placed her hand over her mouth while Lokki had been talking to hide her grin, though anyone else watching took it to be another sign of distaste. When she felt she had composed herself enough to look at him with a straight face she removed her hand and did so. Realizing he had asked her a question, she blinked.

"What did you say?" She asked.

"Do you have food we could use, perhaps?" Lokki rephrased his question in case she hadn't understood.

"Oh. Yes, in fact..."

At that moment, she looked up to see the neon sign Trudi was attaching to the ship. Arista cocked her head.

"You know," She said, "I had a cousin named Charlie."

"Oh?"

"He was eaten by a shark." And, leaving Lokki and his rum supply, the vixen left to go back home and gather her things, stopping briefly to tell Pach that she'd be right back with food.

Aidan was busy on the inside hanging up a huge map on the wall, and trying to clean up the huge mess that had piled up in here. Obviously the previous owner hadn't payed much attention to maintaining this ship at all, he began to wonder if the previous captain actually had any crew members to clean it up at all.

"Okay, that's this section of the ship done" Aidan puffed and went to step outside for some fresh air.

Outside, everyone else (well, mostly everyone else) was busy working on the ship. His new sail had been fixed to the mast, but there was one thing missing...

"hey, anyone got a flag? We can't be pirates if we haven't got our own flag, y'know?"

"Yarr, now that you mention it, me laddy, I do have a flag," Captain Fishears exclaimed. Aiden jumped up in shock at the sudden apparition's appearance.

"It's in that scroll, rolled up." Fishears pointed to a desk in the corner, where a scroll was placed. The way it was presented seemed far too awe-inspiring that none of the would be Pirates even dared touched.

But for Pach, he simply walked up to it, picked it up, and withdrew the flag, looking it up and down with surprise. Aiden too, looked at the flag credulously.

"...you've got to be kidding me. This is your flag?!" Pach exclaimed.

"Well, why not? It contains the best things of a pirate's life, y'know!" Captain Fishears responded.

Pach facefaulted, before putting the flag back into the scroll until they would set sail.

Later that day

Through the total efforts of the entire crew, the ship had suitably repaired and pimped out. It might have been quicker to have simply bought a new ship (and maybe cheaper, all of the booze they had brought with them far outstripped the cost of a standard ship, but then again, it was mostly stolen, so go fig). In the relative darkness of the ship, the entirety of the crew sat nestled around a wooden circular table, looking out across a large map. Pach was leading the group's speech, as the rest quietly sipped their drinks, their ears attending the information.

"A-alright, guys. We did a great job. We actually managed to fix this wreck and we're all supplied, too. We've got food, alcohol (even if I'm against drinking it)... the works." Pach explained.

"I particularly like our neon lights and thee ol'sign was a grand touch too!" Captain Fishears prompted, standing next to his Captain apprentice. He leaned in closer to Trudi, nudging her on her shoulder. "Good eye on taking that!"

"Anyway, we're gonna set sail for the treasure starting tomorrow, but first of all its important that we get our bearings, and how exactly we're getting there." Pach exclaimed, before he pointed his finger in an overly exagerrated manner to the map.

"Alright, we could go this way. It seems the quickest way to get to our destination. However, the problem with that is... there's barely any islands before us. We'll be out on the ship, alone, for a long time. A very long time. I don't recommend it." Pach explained his thoughts.

"Yarr, ye be speaking right, Cap'n!" Fishears interjected. "That's the way me own crew went. The seas there are rough and the monsters fierce and mighty. Going that way is certain death as yee can, uh, see." Fishears used his hands to motion up and downwards, showing himself and his ghostly transparency. "Best tee play it safe and stick next teh civilisation."

Pach's finger motioned across the map, showing the recommended path. "It might take longer, but I figure it's best if we actually get to the treasure alive, y'know?"

There was a murmur of approvals throughout the crew. Sure, it would take longer, but it would be better to spend their winnings alive rather then take the face of their fishearred friend.

"Alright then, get some sleep and we'll set off first thing in the morning. You can either go to sleep in the hammocks, or find some better accomodation in the town. At any rate, make sure you're here." Pach said, before the discussion was over.

The next morning

The night had been pretty uneventful. The majority of the crew had been far too tired after the busy day's activities to go out partying, and slept smoothly (apart from Geo, who accidently set fire to a local butchers). The next morning, all of the hopefuls who joined the crew stood upon the deck of the ship, the great vessel slowly moving forwards from out of the dockyard after the initial take off. All that was needed to tie the smaller crew's pirate flag at the top of the mast, to which Lok was busy ascending and tying up.

"Rightio, chums, done!" Lok said, unwrapping the flag and letting it billow in the sun as the ship set sail on its new voyage.

OOC: Okay then chums, sorry about the largish size of post but its needed to move the RP along. Anyway, now what we can do is set sail and do merry stuff like what pirates do. Of course, I've got some idea of where we're going next... so you can have your guys interact, do madcap stuff or introduce something that will affect the crew here now for a short time or something.

Trudi stared at the flag for a moment in disgust. She then flipped some sign language of the offensive kind at it, and screached some strong swear words as well.
"What the hell is up with THAT?!!!!!" she bawled, giving Lok a glare which could cut through stone. She would have glared at the ghost, but she couldn't see him. Besides, as proved last night when he nudged her and commented on the lights, she couldn't strangle him as much as she wanted to.
Hissing to herself, she climbed up the netting on the sails towards the crows nest.
It was a job tailor made for gobby, annoying people like her.

"Don't blame me," said Lokki to Trudi as he swooped down dramatically past the Crow's Nest on a handy bit of rope. "I flew the flag; I didn't choose it," he finished, just in time to mis-judge the strength of the poop-deck and crash through into the aftercabin.

After a time he emerged, holding a bottle of rum triumphantly aloft and with many more secreted about his person. "Now then, chums," he announced, "It occurs to me that we've successfully succeeded in leaving port with but the one casualty (not that it stopped the good Captain from accompanying us anyway) and I do believe this is cause for celebration."

He set down his bounty atop a nearby crate, tossed a few bottles to arbitary shipmates, then uncorked another and took a hearty swig. "Drink up, friends; there's plenty more where that came from and doubtless we'll have opportunities to restock along the way. Besides, 'tis a joyous occasion - we must make merry."

Ori stepped into the room towards the last part of the speech, covered head to toe in dirty coveralls, tool belts slung on like bandoliers with wrenches and screwdrivers like the bullets, two drills holstered at his hips like Derringers. He'd just finished putting in a small generator towards the bottom of the ship's hold. His eye caught the flag. "I donno. I kinda like it." At the mention of sleep, he said one thing. "I'll be upstairs in my house above us. You can stay there if you want, but there's not much for bedding." He turned around and walked out, towards a gangplank leading fromt he drydock. He'd just finished putting the final touches on the ship, a new compass, he had to overhaul the steering, had to PUT IN a galley, and to say nothing of having to seperate out the cabins for the guys and girls. He flopped into his bed. Tommorrow, he'd open the floodgates on the drydock...

OOC: Uh, Cy. You do know it's morning and we've already left, right?

OOC: Following on from Nutch's point, if you DO know, and you've decided to add a house onto our ship... then no, just no. Pimping it up to a degree with vending machines and neon lights is okay, but a house, no.

And just checking, but who is Hayrum? Is the last name of Ori? Or a different character? Because I think 1 character per person atm is the most ideal.

IC later.

OOC: a. I thought it was still night before. b. Hayrum is my FFXI persona. I just got off a three-hour binge of FFXI before I logged in here. c. as I thought it was still night before, I thought we were in Ori's drydock, which is under his house.

OOC: Alrighty then, Cy. Well say that your post happened before my post, just to make it easier and remove the need for editing.

This thread has suddenly ground up, so Ill start rolling things along again.

IC:
The pirates mood seemed to be good, which was beneficial to Pach. As the groups designated leader by Captain Fishears (he was, afterall, the one with the treasure map, so it made sense he would be in charge of sorts. Of course, he had no real idea what he was doing, so decisions were determined by the whole group). He stood on the deck of the ship, next to the bow and looked out towards the sea. It looked peculiarly calm, and this reflected in Pach. He thought it would have been far more temperamental, given Captain Fishears tales.

What is there to do before we get to the next port of call? Pach said aloud.

Well! cried out a sudden voice which surprised Pach and nearly sent him falling overboard. The ghostly apparition of Captain Fishears suddenly phased into appearance, and he had what would have been his hands rested against his waist. If I recall correctly, me laddy, then I be having a spot of treasure on the nearest deserted island!

what? Pach said aloud, confused and surprised.

Thats right. We olPirates cant be carting off all our gold incase we lose it or some lilly loving scourge of the seas come and pilfer it. As such, we placed some of our treasure on a nearby island, before we set sail for the big treasure, yknow? Captain Fishears explained. His tale attracted the rest of the crew, who all surrounded the pirates tale.

I was planning on reclaiming some of that gold after I was defeated on my way to the main treasure but, well, Im sort of dead now. Still, it should come in handy on our trip, yar? Besides, theres the opportunity for some adventure, yeah? Fishears explained.

Pach slowly nodded, taking in all the information. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a landmass nearing. Another island was approaching, one which seemed to be thick with forest and a mountain in the centre.

Theres no settlement on that island, which made it better to hide our treasure on. Fishears explained. Now, let me get my map out which we used to dictate the location of it on The ghost felt around his body, before he came to the cold shocking realization. Darn! Me other map is in my body! My real body, I mean!

the corpse? Terrific. Pach said, his eyes rolling. Theres no point going back to get it, but you can remember where you put it, right?

ah. About that I kind of, uh forgot? Fishears tried to explain. The crew looked at him, disappointed and disgusted with the Captains orders. No, wait! If I recall correctly, mee crew went out to hide the treasure, whilst I stayed onboard ship. The ghost lied, his eyes shifting from side to side.

Pach sighed.

Whatever, the money will be good, right? Lets land on the island, get off, split up into teams and find the treasure. He suggested. If nothing more, itll be good practice.

There was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the crew.

Deserted Island

The ship was steered to the edge of the island. Once close enough, the anchor was thrown over to weigh the ships position down. A plank of wood was thrown from the side of the ship to the land, creating a sturdy path from the wooden vessel to the island.

Rightio, then. I guess this could be a good bonding experience do you guys want to decide what teams you go in? I dont particularly mind. Pach shrugged. It wasnt a particularly well done decision for a captain.

Arista glanced around at her shipmates, wondering who she should pair up with. She hovered toward Pach, somehow feeling better with their designated "captain". Even if he was more lax with the crew than any ordinary captain, he did act as a sort of leader. That said, the Lady of Shadows was willing to go any which way Pach did, providing it wasn't over a cliff or something.

"Perhaps," She suggested to him, "Since there are twelve of us (OOC: I believe...), we should divide into three groups of four. Or vice versa."

Trudi blinked for a moment, then stomped over to Geo. She seized him by the arm, then dragged him over to Lokki, and then dragged them two to Goldstein.
"RIGHT, WE'VE GOT A TEAM LETS GO!!!" she bellowed at them, grabbing some shovels, before dragging them off the ship onto the beach below.

Twelve? That didn't sound right. Lokki started mentally cataloguing the crew: there was himself, Geo, Pach, Deckman, Goldstein, THS, Trudi, Aidan, Ori and Arista. That made ten, or eleven if you included Fishears. Before he speak, however, he found himself suddenly and forcibly allocated to a team.

Lokki blinked and arched a quizzical brow. "I say," he exclaimed, "Tell me, ma'am: are you naturally this obnoxious, or is it simply that time of the month?"

OOC: Okay for some magical reason I thought of continuing this again even though it sort of died. Youre all wonder people so I thought we could maaaayyybe continue this and make wonderful Pirate action.

Ahem. Ill *try* to make sure it doesnt die again.

Promise.

IC:
Pach noticed it was taking far too long just to divide up into teams, when they could have been out there hunting for the stashed gold already. It felt like an eternity, like a month and 16 days, but in actuality, was no more then three minutes.

There was just one group formed, but

Damn, this be taking too long! cried Captain Fishears. Okay, since yeell all indecisive, Ill make the teams meeself!

Fishears spirit went to THS and Deckman, and spiritually slapped them. They felt nothing, after all he was a ghost and his hand passed right through them, but it was irritating nonetheless and a reality shaker.

You two will be going with me and my prodigy! Fishears shouted. The two gave each other confused glances, but nonetheless shrugged, and moved forwards. Fishears then turned to Aidan, and, pointing at him first, told him to join their group too.

This left Arista and Ori.

You scallywags can stay and guard the ship! Fishears shouted. Before either of the two could protest, the other two groups that into the thicket of woods in separate directions, looking for the gold stashed here.

Minutes later, in one part of the woods, the group comprising Pach, Capn Fishears, Deck, Aidan and THS walked through the thicket to the best of their ability, searching the ground for anything suspicious enough to have hid the treasure. Pach kept asking Fishears if anything seemed familiar, but he declined, saying he couldnt remember anything of the sort.

Useless git, Pach spoke, sighing.

Suddenly, as the party was advancing, he stopped.

Noticing this, Deck turned around. Whats up? he asked.

Dont you feel as if were being watched? Pach replied.

What? Youre crazy. Stop trying to scare us, this isnt the Blair Witch Project, man.

Pach frowned. >=/

But surely enough, red, glowing dots started to appear in the grove around them, increasing in number until they were surrounded.

What the hell is this? Pach asked, turning to Fishears for explanation.

The ghost shrugged. tis nothing, just the peaceful inhabitants of the island

A blur escaped the bushes and rushed towards Captain Fishears, before passing through his astral body, landing on the ground behind him. The group turned to face it, wondering what the hell it was. Squatting before them was the back of a small monkey in a t shirt.

monkeys? Pach spoke in bewilderment.

Turning sharply, the monkey revealed its face, its eyes beaming red with hate, and massive sharpey teeth and claws and deliciously cute curled ears. The monkey then sprang up from the ground into the air in a blink of an eye, and in the next instant, was right in front of Pachs chest. Reacting only slightly, Pachs body managed to move back just enough so that the monkey, slashing away, was only able to slightly graze Pachs body, before falling to the ground in front of them.

Pach was stunned. What the hell, you ruined my favourite suit!

Yarr, these monkeys not be so friendly now, me laddies! Protect yourselves, they be out for blood!

Geo Lokki Goldstein and Trudi were already well into the foliege when they heard lots of shouts behind them.

They stopped for a moment, listening.

They heard Pach shout something, but couldn't make out what he said.

Then they heard rustling.

"What's that?" Geo asked, holding his pockets to quieten the sound of his bottles chiming against one another

"Um... I think we need to go that way" Goldstein said, pointing a hoof in the opposite direction of the commotion.

Without waiting for their desision, he turned tail and legged it.

Lokki and Geo exchanged glances, then followed, with Trudi bringing up the rear screaming obsenities, the lot of them making far too much noise than they should.

Pach was stunned. What the hell, you ruined my favourite suit!

"Dumbass, that's what you get for wearing a suit while treasure-hunting," replied Deckman, keeping one eye on the monkey that had appeared. "What pirate wears a suit? Seriously."

Pach frowned again. >=/ Well, he would have if he and the rest of the group weren't too busy running from an angry, t-shirt wearing, possibly radioactive monkey and his friends. After a moment, when they thought they had lost them, the group stopped and hid behind a couple of bushes.

Deck looked around, and noticed something missing. "Where's Fish?"

"I think he buggered off somewhere," replied THS.

"The git," sighed Pach. "What did I tell-" He was interrupted by the screeching of a monkey 5 feet behind them.

"Oh crap," Deck said just as the monkey ran towards him. It slashed at him and narrowly missed his face. In retaliation, Deck raised the metal tray he was carrying.

→B, B, A

He smacked the monkey twice on the head with the tray, then slashed at it horizontally, knocking it to the ground. 42% DAMAGE! But instead of running away, it charged right back at him, considerably angrier and with redder eyes than before.

← →A+B

Before the monkey even had a chance to attack, Deck the powerplayer jumped up, raised the tray over his head, and slammed it down on the red-eyed, t-shirt-wearing, rabid, possibly radioactive furry bastard. 57% DAMAGE! It fell, and this time didn't get back up. KO!

YOU HAVE GAINED 200 EXPERIENCE POINTS

"o.o," said Pach and THS.

"Did you just kill a monkey with a tray?"

"Probably not, Pach. Anything with evil red eyes like those couldn't be killed that easily," Deck replied, checking the tray for damage.

"Not all monkeys are good and kind; some have red eyes," said Wesley wisely. That's a funny sentence. Did you know that if you rearrange "Wesley Martinez" you'll get "Weezer, it's manly"? It's true! And if you rearrange "Ashley Barrett", you'll get "Shlbet aeyt arr". I think it's Klingon.