Danny's cheek was twitching by the time they ended up in the throne room. She had been too busy with her own thoughts of half truths and mostly lies, working herself up into an unnecessary and unexplainable rage.
'They stole all the ink.'
'Probably poured it all into the streets.'
'They're going through my maps right now.'
'Dirty scum, if I find out any one pirate was in my book room, there will be no mercy.' When she looked around the room they had been led into, though, her jaw dropped. The sheer air felt fancy to the girl, as she had never seen a building so big.
"All the buildings on the island can fit comfortably in here..." She said quietly, more to herself than anyone else. She hardly noticed the captain's signal to hold off when it was given, and only when Kai and Luro jumped forward that she did, squealing with delight as she dodged the oncoming sword. Gripping the wrist that held it and pulling down, Danny turned her back so the pirate's arm was straight and tight in her grip, and snapped quite loudly when the tiny girl sent her fist into his elbow, effectively dropping the pirate, and obtaining his sword. She giggled as she continued on, weaving her way as usual through the crowd of pirates, using their sizes against them. Two came running at her, so she approached the one with the gun, jummping to slam the hilt of her newly acquired sword into his temple before pulling his arm up, aiming for his comrade. When it missed, the girl twisted so the bleeding pirate was across her back, an efficient shield. She giggled again, settling to the side and letting the man drop to the floor.
"That death is on you." She stated, brining the sword across his gut. Danny paused to get a look around the massive room. Luro was on the throne, Kai and a few others were leaving, presumably to find the royalty, and there were two small groups of pirates approaching her from both sides. Dropping the sword to gain better speed, Danny ran full tilt at a nearby pillar, leaping towards it and pushing off its smooth surface. Twisting around mid-air, she drove both her heels into two separate faces, pushing the pair to the floor. Danny didn't pause as she pushed up from the floor, adding force to the upper cut she drove into the nearest pirate's gut, sending his stumbling back and knocking a few other off guard. With them distracted, Danny scooped up a cutlass, swinging it towards anyone who approached her. When she paused for breath, she was alone, except for Luro nearby. Grinning, she gave a thumbs up.
"This is the absolute coolest situation I have ever been in." She stated, quivering with energy.

Waterdeep

The castle was unlike anything Nolan had seen in his life.

It was fancy and pristine, everything his small town by the dock was not. If they hadn't been dragged in by murderous villains, he would have liked to come as a tourist and would have oohed and ahhed over everything. Eventually they reached King Fenn and he asked them to join in. Nolan raised an eyebrow as his gaze fell on their captain's signal. She refused and after King Fenn's angry outburst yelled out for them to take action.

"Kai! Nolan! Follow Haru and get the royal family to a safe spot."

"Aye, aye Captain!" Nolan pulled his rifle out from over his shoulder, and while he was scared, he was doing a pretty darn good job at hiding it. "Haru, I'll cover you, lead on." It was a good thing Kai was with them, that was a comforting thought. "Stay safe captain!" He called out before dashing down the hall after both Haru and Kai. The latter dispatched pirates left and right. He was like a well oiled machine! Nolan would need to ask for lessons some time, it could pretty much be the difference between life and death for him later on. "I'm right behind you!" He called out in response to Kai's call.

A pirate lurched towards him but the cook quickly pushed him back by slamming the butt of his rifle into the man's face. He fell to the floor with a thud, both hands clasping a now bleeding nose. Nolan could have sworn he heard a crack.

They followed after Haru down a hall that led deeper into the castle. Eventually, Haru led them towards a door. It was baricaded shut and two pirates stood guard. Upon noticing the trio their eyes went wide. Nolan's expression mimicked their own, they were running so fast that there wouldn't be time to just stop or turn around. He was no good at fighting but he was pretty strong from working his parent's vineyard. He charged towards one of the pirate and slammed his shoulder into the man's face. The pirate hit his head on the door's wooden frame and sunk to the ground in a daze.

When the cook spun around the other guard punched him the face and he almost crashed into Haru. He could hear Haru talking about how the royal family was locked up inside but he was too busy seeing stars to really comprehend much.

“Woah, woah, easy there, ma'am,” Ray raised his hands defensively and backed into the corner nearest to the door. “I just got here and I have no idea who's who and what's what.” The mother, who had been advancing menacingly towards him lowered her iron pan slightly. “All know is that King Fen-” Ray was cut off with a hollow metal CLANG as the pan swung towards his head with more speed than he imagined possible from such a heavy object. He reflexively raised his arm so the blow hit his elbow instead of his head so the blow was far less critical, but no less painful.

“That scum of the seas is no King of mine!” the woman shrieked. Ray slid into the corner, raising his hands defensively as she advanced on him with renewed fury.

“That Fennel bastard has my friends!” Ray blurted, causing the coming choleric storm to halt once again. The mother stared in slight confusion as the little girl whispered, “You said a bad word mister.”

“He is trying to pressgang my crewmates and and I know them all well enough that none of them will stand for it. I need to help them.” Ray explained, keeping his arms raised, but relaxing slightly.

After a few tense minutes, the woman smiled and started chuckling. Of all the reactions Ray expected, this wasn't even on the list. She explained between chuckles, “You meant Captain Fenn.”

“What?”

“His name isn't Fennel, silly, its just Fenn.” The little girl smiled and began to laugh too, now understanding the misunderstanding. Ray couldn't help but join in the laughter at the absurdity of the situation. He slumped to the floor, finally letting the adrenaline recede and letting his weariness be felt.

After a minute the laughter died out, and Ray remembered his purpose. “Oh shi-oot,” he said, trying to catch himself from using profanity around the girl. “I need to help my friends. Do you know where I can find Captain Fenn? They were taking them to him and I haven't the slightest idea where anything is.” He nervously ran a hand through his hair. “I don't even have a plan....” He muttered sotto voce.

As the group stood in the castle room, Marcos held his hands together, calming himself for the moment. He could feel the tension build again. And it wasn't just him, this time. There was something that was fixing to happen. He was right. In an instant, everyone was starting to fight. Marcos didn't bother with a weapon. Instead, he used his bare hands. To the pirate that was drawing his cutlass at him, Marcos punched him in the lower torso before throwing him in another guard's direction. This made the second guard fumble to the ground, under the first one.

Marcos felt this was a good time to let out all the fear and anger he had built up inside of him from his life as a slave. He grabbed a pirate by the frock coat and started punching him repeatedly. When his arm tired out, so did the pirate. He fell to the ground in pain, holding his face. Marcos brought a kick to his groin before starting to swing at another pirate. He wasn't against fighting dirty. When Marcos fought, it was with a primal mindset. Either him, or Marcos. Did that make him a good fighter? No, not per se. Just a determined and driven one.

Marcos, in the midst of fighting a random pirate, was grouped up upon by three others, all of them pointing weapons at him. Cutlasses, flintlocks, axes, knives, and the like. This was when Marcos thought about using a weapon. He went for one guy's axe. It was a woodcutting axe. So, it was easy to grab and disarm the pirate. Running through the now disarmed pirate and knocking him down, Marcos raised the axe and brought it down, striking in his center mass, killing him after a second, similar swing. He was already now covered in blood.

Marcos then turned to the others, who watched a rebellious ex-slave turn into something deadly. In his anger-fuelled attack, he hit another in the side of the head, almost separating his skull from his jaw. That was two, now. One tried to catch him in a vertical strike by a cutlass. It got his shoulder, but Marcos had the upper hand, catching him dealing with the rest of the swing. He swung the bloody axe at him, severing his spine at about the shoulders. Three down. The last one had a knife. And, being a complete idiot, running towards him with the blade. Marcos hit the man in the face with the blunt end, causing him to stagger back and drop his weapon, on his knee, in pain. Marcos then brought the axe up, and then down, splitting the man's head like a block of wood.

Now here he was, surrounded by pirates defeated by him. Some were incapacitated by his unarmed ability. Others, killed by his usage of the woodcutting axe. He was covered in blood and body matter now. "One hell of a first day on the job," he thought to himself, spitting someone else's blood out of his mouth. He took a moment to catch his breath, assessing his surroundings. No pirates were focused on him, now. He saw Danny and Luro, both of them having fended off their attackers. He half-walked and half-ran to them, being by far the bloodiest of the three. "We should follow the others and help them out, being finished here," he suggested.

Ray's location

After they shared a short laugh, and the woman put her frying pan down, she sat in a chair. The curious little girl moved a little closer to Ray in order to get a closer look at the pirate. "A stray pirate without a plan? Well you're a deadman you know? This place is crawling with those filthy pirates. Even with a crew, they practically have an army. You guys don't have a chance. It's been like this for a couple of weeks." The woman sighed and watched as her daughter looked at the weapons he possessed. "Starla, leave him-"

"Mom! If he needs an army, couldn't he break the soldiers out of prison?! That's an entire, huge army! He'd have numbers then! Then they'd all battle, and we could get our homes and our lives back!" The little girl was excited at her little scenario. She ignored what her mother said about leaving him alone and tugged on the scarf that had the StarDusk symbol on it. "The prison isn't too far from here! The king and queen put it towards the edge of the island, to keep them away from the nice town. But then again, this place is pretty nice. No one just steals things and such!"

Her mother sighed and shook her head. "My apologies for my child. Sometimes when she talks, she just can't stop... What she says is true though, about the prisoners. They were all imprisoned, the soldiers. I'm not asking you to be a hero or anything. It was only an answer to one of the future questions you might ask me. Just trying to clear up the info." The girl's smile faded and she sighed.

"They have my big brother... He didn't do anything, but those evil pirates took him away..."

- - - - - -

Kai and Nolan's location

When the door was forcibly opened, King Richard held onto Queen Natalia as if to protect her. When they were escorted back, the two had gotten a bit bruised by the two pirates by the door. The king had bruises on his face and the queen had red marks on her wrists from when she was grabbed. She had torn her nice red flouncy dress in order to make more running room.

Haru ran into the room first, happy to see they were okay. "You're okay! Splendid! These pirates, they are on our side. They call themselves the StarDusk pirates." They started to say something, but upon seeing Kai both of them stood. Natalia jumped up in delight. "Is it really you? The Leviathan, Kai? My, it has been awhile hasn't it dear?"

"Indeed it has. The last time he was here he was defending the town from pirates. How ironic that he come now." Haru blinked and immediately remembered.

"Oh! Of course! How could I forget?" The royals looked to Nolan and they smiled. "And who are you? One of Kai's new recruits? I would appreciate the name of both my saviors." Queen Natalia turned her smile to Nolan.

Haru cleared his throat as the Queen wanted to converse with the two pirates. "Pardon me madame, but we need to get you two to a safe place. And there are other pressing matters, like the princess and the army. "

- - - - - - - - -

Captain, Luro, Danny, and Marcos

"Some of them escaped! Luro, Danny, Marcos! After them and to the Coral Pearl. No doubt that's where they're going. If you can intercept them before they get there, it'll be easier to get the ship out of harm's way." The captain went the opposite way of them, to a passage way she noticed Fenn slip through. "I'll catch up to you guys. Be careful!"

Without another word she ran off. She entrusted the three would listen. They needed to take down as many of those pirates as possible. They were at a disadvantage, and it would only get worse for them if they were surrounded. And if Fenn was dead, the pirates would disengage and leave Waterdeep.

...And they still had to find Kai's flag!

This went from a simple visit to saving their hides, along with the rest of the island. To think the seven of them would end up getting into trouble with an army of pirates. Ha, the stories she could tell her family when she went for a visit.

Runali focused on the mission at hand: find Fenn...And that kid Haru talked about. Normally ransoms went with the one in charge, so find Fenn. Find the kid.

Waterdeep

The king and queen were safe. They were roughed up a little, but were otherwise unharmed.

Nolan let out a relieved sigh. Aside from his split lip, he was doing alright. Kai immediately came to back him up and made pretty quick work of the man who had punched him in the face. The cook pretty much threatened the other man at gunpoint and after hesitating for a moment he decided to flee.

It seemed that everyone was familiar with Kai. The man told them about Waterdeep on the ship, and about the Kraken Skull Pirates, but Kai didn't say much about the royal family. So while the king and queen talked, he couldn't help but stare at Kai with respect in his eyes. Nolan looked over his shoulder rather nervously before he decided to simply face the door with his rifle drawn.

"And who are you? One of Kai's new recruits? I would appreciate the name of both my saviors."

Nolan snapped out of his thoughts and it was only then when he realized that standing with his back to them was probably rude. The man turned a light shade of red before he swiveled around and bowed deeply. "Nolan Fischer, at your service, your majesty. I'm the StarDusk's pirate's cook." He nodded his head then listened to Haru talk. "Sorry to interrupt your reunion your majesty, but I agree with Haru. We best get you both to safety while we can. Kai and I will protect you." He turned to his fellow pirate. "Kai, maybe we can get them out through the backdoor? Haru can help lead them into town and we can finish up here?" He wondered if there were a safer alternative. They could always hide the king and queen somewhere inside the castle, but that sounded rather risky.

The farther away they could send the king and queen, the safer they would be. "It's your call." Nolan gave his friend a nod. Whatever Kai decided to go for, he'd do. The man clearly had years and years of experience under his belt and Nolan trusted he would make the right choice.

Luro brought a hand to his chin happy to see Marcos and Danny so into their fights, it was good to let out pent up energy and they did just dock after all, it was only natural for a release. A drink would make the situation absolutely perfect he was pretty sure there was something around here but there wasn't time to go looking and they were helping right now after all. He lowered his hand as he noticed Danny speak to him, he rested his rifle on his shoulder and grinned at her before returning the thumbs up.
"It only get's better from here so keep enjoying it!" Luro exclaimed laughing a little afterwards.
Luro started to speak again but stopped seeing Marcos was making his way over to them, he grinned seeing he was covered in the blood of the pirates they just finished taking out, when he spoke to him he tilted his head slightly not fully disagreeing with him and he wasn't going to pass up a chance to obtain that chair.
"That sounds pretty good and it's good to see you're enjoying yourself Marcos, that's the most important thing," Luro said smiling at him. "I was a little worried since all I've seen is serious face on you."
Luro turned hearing the captain his eyebrows arching hearing a few of them actually got away, there wasn't time time to reflect too much on it as reinforcements would happen if they got back to the ship, that and the Coral Pearl might get hurt which he couldn't allow.
Luro watched the captain run off and lowered his rifle from his shoulder, for a moment he stared the same small smile on his face, Luro turned with a smirk and headed towards the door.
"The captain can handle herself so I'm heading towards the Coral Pearl, that's my special lass after all," Luro said before glancing back at the two. "Well our special lass anyway, I'm running ahead then."

Luro dashed out immediately after making his way down to the Coral Pearl, he noticed three pirates as he made his way down the street grinning as he sped up putting his rifle on his back. He wouldn't be surprised if there were more but taking out these three would keep them from reaching the ship at the very least, with that in mind Luro sped up laughing as he started closing the distance between them, he noticed the pirates look back at him as he got closer, his eyes went to their guns seeing the two in front reaching down to draw them. The pirate furthest back stopped and turned to fire but Luro eyes went to the gun and he ducked causing the pirate to readjust his aim but Luro had already closed the distance, he grabbed the pirates wrist and raised it as he slammed his fist into the man's stomach.
Luro grabbed and turned the man around as another pirate fired at him using his body as a shield, he tossed the body aside only to see they were now further away, Luro put his new pistol on his belt and grabbed his rifle.
With a grin he fired and hit the pirate in front of the other causing the pirate behind him to trip over the body, Luro lowered his gun with a chuckle and made his way towards him.

Luro knelt down and took the pirates gun seeing he wasn't going to use it anymore continuing to make his way towards the Coral Pearl, he started to run again but froze as he came a cross a few wanted posters. He blinked a few times before walking up to one and pulling it down, with a small grin Luro folded the parchment and stuck it into his pocket before turning and continuing towards the ship, remembering there was something to drink on board fueled him with an almost endless supply of stamina as he made his way forward.

Danny returned Luro's gesture with a pair of thumbs herself, grinning broadly. The grin turned to a look of panic as she laid eyes on the blood on Marcos.
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Is that yours? It better not be. How are you alive if it is? I hope its not yours. Even if its not how are you going to get the stains out! I mean, I'm not clean or anything, but your sopping wet with the stuff! Geeze! How many did you kill? Did you roll around in it? I heard once thats good for your skin, bathing in the blood of the youth and all. I guess your enemies blood would do the same, its all blood in the-" she stopped when the captain spoke to them, running off in another direction. Danny looked to Luro, who paused where he was, looking to him for a course of action, as he was the most experianced there, or so the girl assumed. She nodded at his comments.
"No doubt, girls have the advantage of being girls when it comes to fights." She chuckled, chasing after Luro. Danny could run fast, but she couldn't catch up to them. the difference in leg length lenght was just too great, so Luro was still ahead of her when she passed the fallen pirates. She made sure to go out of her way to jump on them, giggling slightly.
"I shall not respect you, for you have disrespected all of mapmaker kind! Rule three! Always leave ink for the next one!" She said triumphantly as she continued on, jumping twice on the one who tripped, as he wasn't quite down yet.

“Starla!” The mother scolded her child, but Ray was already lost in thought.

"The prisons? That's a start." Still not much of a plan, but its infinitely better than charging headlong into a deathtrap. Only now, I'm charging into a deathtrap with a few hundred potential allies as opposed to only half-a-dozen. “I could probably find a disguise and sneak in,” he started thinking aloud when he noticed little Starla still looking to him pleadingly. He took a knee and placed his hand on her shoulder. “I will do all I can to help your brother. You have my solemn word.”

Starla smiled. “He's 17 and has red hair, you can't miss him. His name is Arthur and he's kinda skinny. He was a guard in training, but the Pirates took him.”

“Thank you,” the mother said. “I had hoped, but didn't want to impose.”

“No, thank you, Missus...” Ray trailed off, lacking a name.

“Lisset.” Ray blinked, the corner of his mouth curled. “Lisset Hester. Oh, here.” She rummaged through a dresser drawer before pulling out a grenade and handing it to him. “Arthur once forgot to put this back in the armory, and its been sitting here since then. Maybe it can help.”

Ray nodded in thanks. He got directions to the prison and bade the family farewell, then finally set out. He slipped from alley to alley and made extra sure to keep an eye out for street patrols and focus on his task at hand. He couldn't dwell on that name. He simply couldn't afford to.

Luro's team

When the three managed to get to the Coral Pearl, it looked the same as how it was left. No one had touched it, and no one was on the ship. At least they were true to their word. Spotting them, the same one who confronted them before hopped on their ship to speak to them. "Aye, you're still alive! That means you must've joined our army. Good choice! Where's the rest of yer crew? Did the King give them some orders?" They seemed relatively friendly all of a sudden. Any time a pirate crew said no they were killed and a pirate from their crew would notify them to raid the ship. This wasn't the case- so it seemed. Other pirates leaned against the railings of their ship and cheered for their new any division.

Marcos eyed the pirates skeptically. "I see he spared your life." The male spoke again, mentioning the man's bloodstained clothes. Obviously, he was unaware that they just fought through all those pirates. He assumed Marcos was defiant and needed to be put in his place or something. It was now the time for fight or flight. The group could come up with some elaborate lie to get Pearl to safety, or they could fight their way out of it. Marcos waited for Luro's signal. He was their team captain since he was on the ship longer.

- - -- - - - -

Ray's location: Prison Entrance

Street patrols weren't as thorough as one would think, but that was considering that everyone was cowering away in their homes and most of the weapons were stored away somewhere. At the entrance of the prison there were two pirates supposedly guarding the doors. But in fact, they were sound asleep, hugging their weapons. The keys to the cell were tied to one of the pirate's hips, but he adjusted it a little to rest it in his lap.

Inside, the prisoners were all soldiers, every last one. There was for to reach cell, and each group was trying desperately to find a way out. They all had a city to protect and a royal family. They couldn't do that stuck here. The prison itself wasn't as large as one would think- but that's because crime wasn't too much of a problem for Waterdeep. Walking in, one could see the back of the prison being only a couple of feet away. It was shaped like a U and had only two levels.

- - - - -- - -- -

Team Kai and Nolan

"Oh, right. That's a good idea." King Richard stated at the mention of being transported somewhere else. He guided his wife towards the door and looked back at Kai. Je was stuck in thought, trying to figure out where to put them. It was way too dangerous for them to be in the city, and he wasn't so sure hiding them in the castle was a good idea. Eventually he came to an idea.

"Behind the castle, is that large garden still there?"

The Queen nodded and smiled proudly. "And it's in tip top shape. I take pride in my flowers." The King stopped his wife before she ran off on a tangent and spoke up. "That's there, along with the shed where the help keeps the tools. Though no one has been back there since the pirates raided." Kai nodded and herded is group out.

"That's where we'll be taking you two. You'll hide out there for now. Haru, you'll have to be a messenger since the pirates think of you as their lackey." Haru nodded reluctantly and proceeded to follow the group.

The king and queen both nodded and hurried off to the back of the castle and to the garden. Kai took the front, just in case a few stray pirates wandered the castle and got in their way. And unfortunately for those pirates or the group? , there were a few pirates that had still been trying to loot the place. The Queen gave them away when she spotted some taking more of her jewelry.

"How dare you! That is a family heirloom!"

"The royal family! They've escaped!"

"After them!"

"Kill the intruders!"

Luro walked onto the Coral pearl a sense of ease filling him glad to be back on the ship, he still needed to make a few repairs but she was good to sail which was the most important thing. Once on the ship Luro noticed the man from earlier and smiled at him, he liked people who kept their words and seeing the ship okay put him in even more of a good mood, also knowing there was rum nearby contributed to that.
When the man spoke to him Luro brought his hand to his chin but he didn't correct him, he realized they didn't know what really happened and that meant they had the element of surprise on thier side, if he thought for a moment he might be able to figure out a plan to get the ship out of there, something ingenious but after a few seconds of thinking he started getting bored coming up with a strategy.

Luro did think it was funny the man misunderstood the blood on Marcos' clothing, it was going to be hilarious when he found out the reason why.
Luro turned to Marcos and Danny and whispered to them with a small smile on his face.
"Don't worry I have a plan and it's pretty good," he said before winking at them and turning back around.
Luro walked over and opened the barrel he put rum in before grabbing two as the pirates cheered, he handed one to the man and opened his own.
"To friendship and bonding!" Luro said and took a long swig out of his bottle. "Ah it's good to have another friend, oh right I forget to tell you my name, it's Luro Makachi. It's nice to make another friend especially another pirate."
Luro laughed placing his hands on his hips as he did a toothy grin on his face unable to contain his joy, however he realized he hadn't answered his question and slowly stopped laughing remembering he had to respond.
"Oh right new friend I didn't answer your earlier question," Luro said before setting his drink on top of the barrel, he looked back at the two and winked at them again before turning back around. "We didn't join you at all, we killed your friends and now we're here to kill you and steal everything you own!"
Luro reached over and pat the man's shoulder laughing again but abruptly stopped before glancing back at Marcos and Danny.
"I just realized my plan may have a few holes in it, I was going somewhere with that but I forgot what...oh well we'll just go with plan A."
Luro pulled the spare pistol off his belt and put the gun point blank in the man's face before pulling the trigger, he casually took his rum from him as before he hit the ground.
"Last time I start with plan B, A is just easier to do. Let's just use violence and strategy to solve this problem, take out everyone, steal their stuff, on their persons and ships, and make sure the Coral Pearl is safe for a quick escape if necessary." Luro said throwing the gun aside and grabbing his rifle. "Fellow pirates you will have to excuse me if I'm a tad upset while I attack you, I did just lose a friend after all."
Luro immediately dashed forward and engaged some of the the other pirates, if they were able to clear a way fast enough he'd be able to send the two of them back to check on the others, he couldn't help but grin as he slammed the butt of his gun into's a man's skull, getting to fight fellow pirates was always entertaining.
"Try not to get too much blood on the ship or you'll be cleaning it up later," Luro said slamming the skull of one of the pirates into the mast. "Oh...well I should take my own advice shouldn't I? I'll get this later."

The Garden

"That sounds like a solid plan," while Kai took the lead, Nolan trailed behind the King and Queen, his rifle clutched tightly between his hands.

Things went rather smoothly at first, and he turned to whisper something at Haru. "You be careful out there, okay? We'll make sure to watch over them, you can trust us, especially Kai." The garden was beautiful and it was a shame that pirates were looting the place. Had the situation been more favorable, he would have asked the queen about those specific purple flowers.

Since his parents owned a vineyard, Nolan was no stranger to plants and flowers. His mother and Annie would have liked these as well. Maybe if they succeeded, he'd ask the Queen if he could perhaps buy a few. Wait, wait, the pirate shook his head. They needed to focus on more important matters at the moment. "The shed is on the other side of the garden, if we can get them there quietly, we should be in the clear...oh gosh!" Before he could say more the queen let out a yell and gave away their position.

Uhhh, he felt like turning into a puddle, so much for avoiding conflict.

"Your highness!" Nolan leaped in front of the queen. "Stay behind us," Nolan didn't exactly feel confident, but Kai was with him and the master pirate knew how to handle almost anything. As the group rushed towards them, he put on a steely face.

He wasn't going to let Kai do all the work. Nolan gritted his teeth and took aim. He manage to shoot one of the pirates in the knee and the man crumpled to the ground, a string of yells and curses leaving his lips as he did so. There was no time to feel sorry and when another pirate rushed towards the king and queen, Nolan shot them in the shoulder and sent them falling onto their back. Kai easily took care of the rest.

"T-That was intense," the cook spun around. "Are you both okay?" He eyed the king and queen up and down, looking for any injuries. They seemed fine, so he led them towards a garden shed. "We might need to leave you hear, we're really sorry. Please lock the door and don't come out." He bowed quickly, "we'll try to resolve this as soon as we can and with this fella over here." He tapped Kai on the back, "we'll be sure to be done with it in no time."

Ahhhh! He didn't even feel that confident but he had to pretend because he didn't want to scare them. "What's next on our list Kai?"

Danny smirked when she realized the pirates didn't understand the situation, going as far as assuming the blood on Marcos's shirt was his own, despite how much there actually was. The tiny girl stepped forward, opening her mouth to respond when Luro whispered to her and Marcos. Raising a brow, Danny watched as the older pirate started drinking with them. Was he going to out drink them all? Wait until they passed out? Was it secretly poisoned or drugged? Shrugging, Danny moved onto the other ship, grinning to someone who looked like he did inventory.
"Since we're buds and all now, you wouldn't happen to have obtained coloured ink?" She asked, confident. The man nodded, smiling disbelievingly.
"Yeah, the stuffs cheap, costs only a bit more than black. We've got some-"
"-kill you and steal everything you own!" It was still for a second, before the words sunk in and everyone around the girl drew weapons while Luro continued rambling, shooting the first kill of the fight.
"Danmit Luro!" The gurl bellowed, dodging attacks and planting hits. "Leave the lies to me next time! You're too drunk to tell the difference between a lie and a fact! I nearly had my goal!" She growled, viciously dragging her nails down a man's face before turning to punch another one. Soon, she had obtained a sword, though one shaped like nothing she had seen. It was long and flat, with only one side sharpened. The hilt was long too, wrapped in a type of cord. Had the girl been more worldly experianced, she'd recognise it as a katana. As she cut through the groups of pirates, she furrowed her brow, concentrating on the movements of her stolen blade. Finally, as many of the blades she used did, it got stuck, this time in someone's side. The girl pushed it forward, letting the body fall onto another pirate. Picking up the next sword she saw, she found a short sword. With this she continued around the deck of the other boat, until there wasn't anyone directly coming at her. She stood straight, looking around. It seemed as if Marcos and Luro had finished with their own groups, the rest running into the streets like so many spooked rabbits. Turning and glaring at Luro, Danny shook her fist, though she couldn't hide her smile.
"Luro, you drunk! Always stick with plan B! B for best, A for awful!"

Kai was surprised, Nolan had performed admirably given the circumstances, he was beginning to get the hang of being a pirate. Although there were still a few things that he didn't quite seem to get, he was well underway. Kai looked at the cook and nodded, although his face was serious, inside he was glad to have someone at his back "Next on the list my boy, is the princess Vivi Halister." He said as he frowned, glaring back at the castle. "Captain Runali went off to find Fenn, the captain of the Kraken skull pirates. If he knows he doesn't have the king or queen anymore, and that pirates have driven his men from the castle. Madam Vivi is the only card Fenn has left to play." he said as he began running back towards the castle, beckoning for Nolan to follow.

He followed the path that lead to the royal bedroom, surely this was where Fenn was, it was one of the most protected places in the entire city. However, due to his knowledge of the castle, Kai was able to traverse the labyrinth of walls and staircases with ease, until finally they reached a large wooden door. He pushed on the door but it did not yield to him. He frowned and looked at the door wondering if this was indeed where Fenn had run to.

Marcos waited patiently, ignoring any remarks of his state, covered with half-dried blood and a semi-severe cut on his shoulder that stopped bleeding a while ago, with enough pressure applied to it. Oh, but they didn't know that about a fifth of the blood on him was his own. The rest was their fallen comrades', chopped like wood. He didn't part with his woodcutting axe, not yet. It was fastened to his belt, cleaned off enough to disguise its use a short time ago. He kept it on him for now.

When Luro gave the signal and started fighting, Marcos kicked the man closest to him in the knee, making him fall over onto his stomach. While the pirate struggled to get up, Marcos drew his axe and brought it down right on the back of his neck, severing the head from the shoulders. "Whoops, too late. I'll clean, don't worry." Marcos picked up the decapitated head and threw it at another pirate, with enough force to knock him on his backside as the head of his crewmate clonked him in his own head. While Marcos was distracted, the blade of a saber was brought across his side, slicing him just above his hip. Marcos grimaced and winced in pain at the slash, gripping his side. He turned to face his attacker, who was getting ready for another strike.

Marcos was able to get over the pain long enough to move out of the way and swing his axe, hitting the man in his shoulder hard enough to make his arm almost lop off. The man stumbled to the nearest support, which was a railing. He leaned onto it and tried to stop his bleeding. In his distraction, Marcos picked him up by his hair and threw him to the ground, chest up. His final strike was at the pirate's chest, right below his ribs. "Like I said, I'm cleaning later, feel free to let blood as much as you want." That was how sure Marcos was that they would win. He felt a bit weak, having lost a good amount of blood. He had to avoid getting hit much more, or they'd have a serious problem on their hands.

"Here Fenny, Fenn. Come out, come out wherever you are." Runa called out gently. Her footsteps were silent as she searched around the darkened halls in the castle. It had gotten silent some time ago so Runa assumed she was either really far away this time or the others had finished getting rid of all the pirates. So far, Fenn had escaped through some unused hall of the castle and Runa was just wandering around. "I'm wasting time." She managed to find an opened secret escape route behind a picture and climbed through. She could've sworn she heard the shrill cries of a child. "Don't worry, here I come."

At the end of the passage, she found herself outside by the shore. She stumbled on the rocky and unbalanced ground.

- - - ! ! - - -

The sudden outbreak of a fight caught them all off guard, giving the StarDusk pirates a small advantage. After the three managed to take a lot of them out thanks to the sudden surprise, some of the pirates began arming their cannons. "Sink their ship! Don't let them escape!" Two of the cannons hit the ship. One hit the right side, while the one on the left hit the main deck. The Coral Pearl was pretty strong, it could hold a lot of damage, Runa made sure of that, but if the ship kept taking head on damage it wouldn't last long.

It didn't look too good for the Coral Pearl, even with most of the Kraken Skull Pirates were defeated. Well, most meaning the ones on the two ships. There was still a third ship on their side, along with various pirates amongst the city. This wasn't going to go so well for just three pirates.....

But suddenly,

[This caught their attention]



The bright red flare made everyone stop, the sound echoed for all to hear and the explosion was larger than any normal one. It could be seen from most of the city. The source was off to the side of the castle where the shore was rocky and the waves were dangerous, where the captain was (though, of course, they didn't know she was there). "Team 1 and 3 go, go! Team 2 on foot!" Commands were shouted and the StarDusk pirates were forgotten. The ship farthest away from them and the one on the left set sail for the the source of the flare. The remaining pirates hopped off the ship with their weapons and ran to that side. The Coral Pearl was in too much damage to use the cannons to attack, or follow after the other ships.

- - - - -

"Soon enough, you'll be surrounded by pirates! Fool, did you really think you could go up against me!? I am a king! And I have an army. Your puny crew should have just joined us and spared yourselves." Fenn was standing on the edge of his ship yelling out to Runali. She was at the edge of the shore, trying to figure out a way to grab what he held over the edge: Princess Vivi. The small girl had a chain wrapped around her legs and arm to quicken how fast she sank to the bottom of the ocean. If she moved, the kid would fall- If the others showed up, the kid would fall. There wasn't much she could do that wouldn't prevent Fenn from tossing the princess overboard. And the longer she waited, the more dangerous everything was.
'Where are those guys...

Runali had completely ignored his ranting at this point in order to figure out a plan.

- - - - - -

When Ray entered the prison, he was met with nasty remarks in anger. They had full right to be, considering they were locked up in prison. And they had been there for quite some time. "I'm trying to get you guys out. I'm not one of them!" Persuasion wasn't working so well for the stubborn soldiers.

"How can we trust you?!"

"You're just a filthy pirate!"

The pirate grimaced and sighed. There was no getting through to these people. And if he let them out, they'd probably kill him- or try to. And then he got an idea. Hurriedly, he looked around the prison, in search of one person in particular. And just as his mother stated, he couldn't miss him. That bright red hair stuck out like a sore thumb. "Hey! Kid! Your name's Arthur right?" This made the kid stand up and stare through the bars. "Is your name Arthur?" Ray repeated. He didn't get an answer fast enough so he continued. "You have a little sister named Starla and a mother named Lisset. Right?"

This seemed to infuriate the young man. Arthur slammed against the bars of the prison. "You filth! What did you do to them!? I will kill you if you touched them!" Ray put his hand up for the boy to calm down.

"Relax, I didn't do anything. They asked me to come and help. And my crew is out there. They need my help, and you guys need my help. This city is in danger and unless you want it to go in shambles, I suggest you all calm down and let me unlock the prisons." Of course, by then Ray was talking to the whole prison. It got silent and Arthur nodded. "Well we don't have all day." So, Ray began unlocking cell by cell...which would take awhile. So the soldiers crowded around in order to wait for the entire army. They did need a plan to retrieve their weapons and save the king and queen. Even though one part was in decent hands at the moment.

(This takes place before Aki's Post.)

“Not terribly big, but then it probably doesn't have to be.” Ray murmured to himself. Okay, two sentries, both asleep, giving me the advantage, but if one wake up, its all over. Still very risky. He looked over their outfits and inwardly cringed. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing one of those outfits. But I probably need them. Even if I take out those two silently, all it takes is a single guard inside to spot me and its all over. He selected the outfit of the larger one, deciding he'd rather have clothes that are too large than too small.

Sneaking forward seemed like the most tense moment of his life. There was nothing to hide behind as he approached the gate, so he instead tried moving as slowly and as silently as possible. Once he got to the gate, he stood behind the guard whose clothing he meant to steal, raising his saber to his neck, and grasping the back of the blade to pull forward on his neck. He hesitated; the idea of murdering a man in his sleep seemed repulsive and unsporting. He quelled his reluctance by reminding himself of the stakes: either he dies unfairly or you die unfairly with all your friends, having broken your oath to protect the Captain.

He steeled himself and did the deed, dragging the corpse around the corner of the prison. He reached out to remove the man's clothing, but realized the pirate clothes were more soaked in blood than his. Swearing silently, he searched for something to cover the body or someplace to hide it, but found nothing. He decided he had no choice but to take the other pirate's clothing and carry on; he cursed his lack of planning. The second pirate, the one with the keys, went down to a pistol whip. Ray cut the keys from his belt and set him upright in his chair. He spontaneously decided to leave the outfit on him, two missing gate guards or one naked one would be way too suspiscious. Hopefully, if a guard chanced by them, he would assume one guard had gone for a leak, and not look close enough to notice the trail of blood.

Dueling is simple. Dueling is honorable. Dueling is a controlled environment in which you either know all the variables beforehand or learn them quickly. This is lunacy. Ray nervously peeked in the gate before opening it. He slipped in, closing the squeaky iron gates behind him. He quickly tiptoed through the courtyard, seeing the premise was all clear. It looked like the two gate guards were the only guards. He got to a prison cell nearest to the southwest staircase and started trying the keys.

“Hey!” Ray jumped, dropping the keys. One of the prisoners in the darkened cell had noticed him. “What are you doing?” the prisoner.

Ray grabbed the keys, “Getting you out of here.”

The princess...

Nolan winced, what kind of person even threatened to harm a child? He followed after Kai to the castle and both men made their way to the royal bedroom. However, upon entrance, they found that it was empty. "They must have left." The cook muttered as he eyed the empty room.

"Let's head out, I think everyone decided to hightail it out of here." If he were an evil pirate, where would he hide a child. Nolan didn't know, so he and Kai exited the castle instead and as soon as they did, a bright red flare lit up the sky. The first thought that ran through Nolan's head was that it was all a trap, however it could also have been his teammates or a warning or SOS sign of some sort. He clutched his rifle to his chest, "do you think it's the others?"

The cook remained hesitant for a good couple of moments before finally deciding to take the risk. "It's this way right?" The more nervous Nolan got, the more chatty he became. It helped chase the fear away. He and Kai made their way around the castle before they finally reached the shore. The captain was there and so was Fenn. It took Nolan a couple of seconds to understand what was going on, but when he did, it rendered him speechless.

He was planning to drown the princess? Oh Gods no...

This situation, it could go wrong in so many ways. If they made the wrong move, the princess would die. If they attacked, Fenn could easily drop her. If he shot the man with his rife, the girl would most likely fall into the water. Nolan's mind went into overdrive and he pointed his rifle at the crazed captain Fenn. "Don't move! We can settle this like civilized people if we tried!" He had gone red due to anger. "If you drop the girl, I'll put a bullet right between your eyes!" Aside from his cooking, Nolan took pride in his aim.

It felt like all the air had been pulled out of his lungs. Hopefully king Fenn loved his life enough to consider the threat.

Kai nodded as Nolan lead him out of the castle, his thoughts turned to Vivi as they hurried out towards the shore. She was a cute kid, one of the few ones to actually trust him to act as a protector rather than a pirate. Even his own crew had begun to take a liking to the young lass, he'd even gone so far as to make her an honorary member of his crew, much to the displeasure of her mother. No tattoos or anything, to her it was simply a fun game of pretend. But now, that simple game of pretend had escalated into a true life or death situation. Simply abducting the princess was enough reason for Kai to want to gut Fenn, regardless of what he'd done in the past. Now as the two approached the water, he could see just how perilous the situation was.

Kai walked up beside Runali, "Quite the predicament isn't it Captain?" He said as he looked up toward the ship, the rage in his heart not reflected on his features in the slightest except for the slight gleam in his eyes when he looked at Fenn. "This man, he sank my ship, killed my crew, stole my flag, took over my town and kidnapped a little friend of mine." he said as he clenched his swords even tighter. At that moment a fair skinned woman in a black dress with white lace and snow white hair approached the group. "A dangerous situation indeed" She said as she walked up beside Kai, who's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden appearance "Wisaria." Kai said, his voice showing his emotion quite well. "I came to help you lot get our dear Vivi back." the woman said as she looked towards the ship as well. At this Kai nodded in agreement and turned back to Runali.

"Captain this is Madam Wisaria." Kai introduced "She's someone I personally trained to use a sword." he said as he turned back to the ship "Good thing too, looks like we'll need all the help we can get, although, I do happen to see a glaring flaw in their strategy." Kai added as he eyed the chain. Perhaps a straight shot with a sword could pin the Princess to the ship with a sword.

Luro ducked under the attack of one of the pirates before kicking him and slamming his gun into his face watching him fall to the ground, he looked over at Danny hearing her comment about his plan A and just flashed her a toothy grin. There was still another ship to worry about so he didn't want to stop moving, he did take the time to flash a smile at Marcos hearing he would clean up the blood, that meant he didn't have to worry about it himself later. Luro started to move forward again getting even more into the fight when the cannonball hit the side of the ship, he staggered a bit as the ship hit but slammed his foot down regaining his balance, the second attack he kept his balance and raised his gun to the ship that hit the main deck getting ready to fire at one of the pirates at the cannon.
He stopped however as the flare went up drawing his attention to it, he blinked a few times and lowered his gun before he heard the pirates start shouting commands and immediately start moving towards the flare.
Luro watched the pirates run off noting that flare came in the direction of the castle or at least he thought so, Runali, Kai and Nolan were still at the castle now...and all the pirates were heading in that direction.
"That's probably not good," Luro said bringing a hand to his chin a small smile on his face. "Not sure what that is but if those guys are heading in that direction probably has something do with their boss. I mean they were about to get serious I wouldn't leave a fight like that unless my captain ordered me."

Luro put his rifle on his back and grabbed the bottle of rum he had sat on the barrel, he turned towards Marcos and Danny before leaning against the barrel pointing at the two of them.
"I'm going to stay behind with the Coral Pearl, thanks to those guys my repairs are going to take even longer and I want to guard the ship too. I have to make sure the Coral Pearl is in enough of a condition to sail at a moments notice, it's part of my job after all and we may need too soon. We don't have any flares as far as I know so it's probably from the Kraken guys. I wanna send you two where all those pirates went, you know the one that were trying to kill us. Well actually I want to send you Danny, I know not all the blood on Marcos is his own so I wouldn't mind treating him first if he'd like me too. I'm sure the others will find the captain but that's no reason for you to miss out on the fun that's going to follow when we get our hands on Captain Fe...Fi...uh...the guy with the nice mustache. I'm pretty sure the captain went after him, so find him and we'll probably find her. We're her crew so it's our duty to protect our captain as well."
Luro took a drink from the bottle and grinned at the two before sitting fully on the barrel leaning forward a little resting his arm on his leg.
"How'd that sound, did I sound like a senior crew member for a moment, I was mature right, fall in love with me? Respect me a bit more? Anyway that aside it's up to you two what you do, I'm not the captain I'm just a friend letting ya know my opinion on the situation. I want to be in on the action too but my duty lies with the Coral Pearl's safety and condition which ties into my duty with the captain. I'll have her able to move by time you guys get back of course."
Luro hopped off the barrel and looked in the direction of the flare, the captain ran off after the fight and he had no idea where Ray was, Kai and Nolan went to help the royal family and they took care of the Coral Pearl. Those pirates shouted some kind of command when they left, he was absolutely positive Fenn was the source of that flare.
"Ugh all this thinking is making my head hurt, I joined as the carpenter so I wouldn't have to think so much," Luro said rubbing his head. "I hope Kai hurry up and kills that guy so I can find a lass to listen to my troubles later. At least I hope Kai kills him, if anyone deserves to cut that guy apart it's him after all they've done to him...though I forgot most of it."