-Private Quarters-

Delilah Laxen paced at the bay window at the rear of GREAT AQUARIUS as the events leading up to now played out over and over in her head. As a mercenary ship it was their choice to take contracts and following Izals illustrious career as a fighter not a lover they had taken up a contract with the dockmasters of Karaz Kharagul. According to what they knew, an honest mercenary ship had run rogue and made off with a large shipment of wine, iron ore, and various other goods shortly after leaving the docktown. A month later they found the ship in the hands of mutineers and brigands, the dockmen believing they had been plotting to take over for quite some time.

It was a small vessel meant for crossing large distances quicker than your average crew could manage without a team of dedicated rowers. If the original casters on board had turned over to the brigands then the ship would be well prepared for a quick escape. Fortunately that was not the case, one of said wizards having run along with the scheme while plotting his escape. They were charged with aiding the brigands but the fine and subsequent punishment had been waved entirely, should they agree to aid whatever crew went off to finish the new handlers.

In the back of her mind Delilah trusted her own crew to watch their backs when a new face came aboard, knew that the caster on their ship was here to clear his name by aiding them and return a free man, but doubt and suspicion were a big part of how she operated. Every captain worth their name along the Shallows eyed GREAT AQUARIUS as competition. Two failed attempts on Delilahs life, one taking place aboard her own ship no less, had forced her into being more suspicious than ever.

"No sense hiding in my quarters. We've got a ship to tame and brigands to punish." While outwardly confident in tone and posture, that nibbling doubt ate at her chest as she strapped on her sword belt.

---

-Main Deck-

When Delilah made her way on deck, all hands had weapons near. A ballista sat at the raised main deck. Nearly two dozen great iron headed bolts rested close by as a team worked the strings back and loaded. Many ships sported such weaponry or cannons but the Captain of GREAT AQUARIUS doubted any other ship sported the accuracy they did. As a pirate hunting ship on the regular it paid for itself to know how to hit your targets where it hurt.

Below deck on either side of the ship were 3 cannons, a total of 6. Black powder wasn't terribly expensive but it could get messy if a stray spark touched the kegs. With fire magic being just as unsteady it came down to black powder anyways. For ammunition they used smooth marble stones enchanted with sturdiness, capable of being used over traditional balls of equally heavy but expensive iron.
Word had come down an hour ago that TRUE BLUE, the vessel gone rogue, had been sighted moored close to one of the many islands dotting the shallows. They were quick to raise anchor and set sail when they realized what was heading their way.

Making her way up to the Helm, Delilah gave a nod of approval to everyone she passed before reaching the Wheel. As always, Izal Valencia guiding the ship towards its intended prey. Behind him was the magic caster Rollard Dulin, chanting from his tome to conjure gusts of wind into the sails regularly. With his aid they'd made great progress on catching the supposedly faster ship in record time. To him she gave a friendly head nod before taking up a spot beside her oldest friend and father figure.

"Mr.Valencia, I trust we are ready for a fight?"

A silly question for someone like him but it was pointed more at the others aboard. Anyone strong of arm without a dedicated task had been delegated to whatever task handed down to them by their superiors. If they weren't willing to scrub the decks they weren't kept on board for long. Delilah had no patience for those with overwhelming pride that deemed themselves too good for honest labor.
Battle would be upon them in short order. As soon as they were in range Delilah expected to receive a volley of arrows and shots from TRUE BLUE. Death was their sentence and everyone on that ship knew it.

Izal was present atop the deck of the Great Aquarius and had been at the helm for many hours in truth, rarely leaving for little more than what was absolutely necessary for his health. It was here that he was found be Lady Delilah, a woman who had taken the title Captain under his desires, and one who served him in turn as well as a daughter-like figure and friend. Delilah knew what Izal expected of her as Captain, and what he expected of her as someone who had grown to shape her as she is now in ways. This is why he greeted her with a smile and a nod, for she spoke to him of something he cared about greatly.

"Aye, Lil'Delilah, we are rarin' and stocked. I am itchin' for their rudder to dance before us. I seek a good fight, it has been a few too many since one has made me smile. I hope this ship keeps to it's name." Izal spoke to her with a deep voice of rather interested tone. "I wanna see'em put a fight in this ole Ship's Sails. Aquarius has been restless, she deserves a good fight, ya'know?" Izal turned to look at Delilah a moment before raising his brow. "How'bout'ya? Ya'ready for a good fight Delilah?" He asked sarcastically followed by a hardy laugh before turning to face his left foot and in-turn Delilah. "Ya'listen to me now. I can't make'ya not fight, but I can keep'ya safe. If ya'happen to get fightin'.. Ya'stick with me, and don't stray." Izal spoke firm and commandingly, but with a tone that was almost respectful, fatherly at most, and determined.

He would ensure her safety, and the safety of his crew as they earn it in their duties. This was a duty of his own and he would always uphold it for those who earned his respect and care. However earning such would take great time and dedication to the Great Aquarius, Delilah, and himself. Those who disrespected him, failed to do their duties of free will, or tried to mutiny for any reason were subject to immediate punishment on the water, of which mostly meant Izal cleaved them or through them overboard tied and knotted to the rudder. This is why he speaks with force and determination to all, and this is why Delilah is happy to keep him force over the ship and crew.

No more than a minute passed after Izal's words to Delilah before he quickly roared out over the ship with a tone of power and command. He raised his right hand with a tiny firearm clenched in it, it was a firing blank, a firearm meant to make noise and attract attention. He did just that as he squeezed the trigger and fired the small burst of noise that garnered the crew's attention as they worked.

"Aye! Heed me now. Bosun! I need'ya to walk'bout and tend the men, sure up the sails and keep us full less I have to start droppin' dead weight! Gunnery Officer! I expect ya'best be mountin' and preppin' the weapons, as well as readyin' all the gunnery men. There had better be no wet powder and no unloaded arm when we reach this fool of a wood-block, the True Blue." Izal commanded to his Bosun and his Gunnery Officer the simple and obvious orders of preparation before a fight, but he would soon give more words to his crew when the time came.

@Zelosse@Kalleth@Ookawa

Garret quietly walked out the door with narrowed eyes, surveying the situation. The crew had spotted their quarry, and were getting ready to engage. That meant it was work time. The figure of the enemy vessel became clearer as the ship moved toward it. He made a dissatisfied scowl and looked around at the figures rushing around the deck. Some of the crew would no doubt be nervous. They were an experienced mercenary vessel so they didn't show it, but Garret knew that, at least inwardly, there was no one who wouldn't be on edge to some degree at the prospect of naval warfare. At least on land they could rely on the ground beneath them, but on the seas, their footing was in the hands of the helmsman. The guns were in the hands of the crew, but judging the from the small size of their target, hitting it would be difficult. The contractors probably wanted the thing intact anyways, and he was sure they'd gotten some fingers into how they wanted the mission to run. Even if they didn't, he was in unfamiliar territory. He hadn't known the crew of the Great Aquarius for long so he couldn't be sure what he was in for. In short, Garret didn't like the arangement, but he supposed it could be worse. He didn't like many things anyway, but one thing he liked was gold, and he stood to get a fair amount of it if he contributed here.

Garret walked out of the doorway to the inner hold and got himself ready. For the 12th time or so he checked his equipment. His dirk was sharpened, his crossbow was working perfectly, and his throwing knives were within easy reach. His grappling hook was there in case he needed it, slung on his belt at the back, hidden by his body on one side and his cloak on the other. He could feel the reassuring weight of his chain mail under his leather vest. He was just about ready. He threw a quick glance at the others on board, trying to judge how reliable they would be when push came to shove. He wasn't sure how much he liked the captain of the Aquarius. She was more of a diplomat than a fighter, which was always a negative in Garret's eyes. Someone who played with words was harder to read because it was difficult to figure out what they were really saying, and to make things worse, she was from a noble family. At least he assumed so, judging by her surname. Still, he had to begrudge some respect for her management skills. Though, in the end, a man that commanded equal (if not greater) respect from Garret was also on the ship, and at the very least, that man was somewhat easier to trust.

Garret turned his eyes to the grey-haired man on the deck. Izal Valencia, a man who Garret thought as the true captain of the Aquarius, to some extent. The man used his considerable experience to command the crew in combat situations, and when Garret had first arrived he had been surprised to see him defer to the actual captain, Delilah, given the grizzled mercenary's storied reputation. While Izal was named the vice-captain, Garret felt it was more that Delilah took half of the captain's duties and Izal took the other, bloodier half. There was something significant between them, some deep bond, and Garret didn't really know what to think about the arrangement. But, then again, that wasn't really his job.

Garret turned his head and shifted his gaze to the approaching ship, the True Blue as he'd heard it was called. Although, technically, they were the ones approaching it. He briefly reflected on what had carried him here, thinking of the previous job he'd performed, the recommendation he'd been given to look for the Great Aquarius, and particularly the money the last job had given and where it had gone. The money had disappeared slowly, mostly into food and restocking his knives and bolts, while he waited for the Aquarius to come into harbor. He still had some left, but it wouldn't last him long. Garret readied his crossbow, pulling the string back as he knocked a bolt to the body. He had a great deal to gain from this job, and he was looking forward to looting the True Blue for whatever he could. It was small but he usually stole small things so it evened out. Even if he didn't get to loot, he'd need to participate. He had a lot to gain from this job, but first he'd have to prove himself.

Eiko climbed on the riggings, she was heading for the crows nest and when she climbed up into the basket she popped out her spyglass to get a better view of the ship in the distance, she didn't care about its name or it's crew if they were gonna attack it would've been best for them to show no mercy and attack without hesitation, she checked her rifle to make sure it was loaded and patted her coat to make sure she had enough bullets on her and removed the bayonet from the barrel.

The Sharpshooter licked a scarred finger to get an idea of which way the wind was going before she aimed her rifle crouching down and letting the barrel of the rifle rest on the rim of the basket in the crow's nest, she was aiming at the enemy's crow's nest before slowly squeezing on the trigger, Eiko adjusted her barrel for wind conditions as she squeezed back on the trigger.

The thought came to her mind that usually comes up when she fires a shot, it was better they died this way than any other way at least by being shot they could die quickly and painlessly, besides drowning is one of the worst ways to die. The thought of her father telling her about how bad drowning really was, came to the front of her mind; the lungs fill with water, even when someone holds their breath it's like putting a lid on a hole filling with water it just crashes in when you're at your weakest then the lungs burn as salt water enters your nose and mouth before going into the rest of your body.

The memory of sea elves dragging men off her father's boat during skirmishes came to thought as she spotted the sea elf scurry under the deck out the corner of her eye, and taking her eye off her target. At the moment Delilah wasn't as cruel as her father looking after the non-combatants and sending them below deck and out of the way of combat, with the old man yelling at others to stick with him for some form of protection, she couldn't understand a word he was saying, but kinda got the gist of it, if she needed to understand him she could just ask Delilah for a translation.

The sky was a blue-black bruise. Ellie eyed it, hands planted firmly on the rail at the bow of the ship. Their webbing stretched between wide-open fingers. Choppy waves unsettled her stomach more than usual on the eve of battle. Behind her, the deck was alive, frantic with energy, like static in a gathering storm. She strained her ears to listen to the winds, the ones speaking underneath those complaining about being pushed and pulled about by magic, but their mood was unclear; the weather could hold. She sighed. At least the sea was excited.

TRUE BLUE grew ever closer. Pushing off the railing, Ellie turned, her bare feet slapping the deck as she weaved through the crewmen. It was an erratic dance of evasion. She passed Gareth – was that his name? – loading his crossbow, and gave Eiko a wide berth, quickening her step and gluing her eyes to the floor until she passed, before coming to the captains.

“Uhm,” she stopped short, looked at their faces, then at her feet, “Uh, the winds are in an odd mood to day,” she squeezed her arm, eyes wandering to their weapons. She shivered. “But I - the weather should hold out. I think.” Her eyes flitted to them again, “Sorry.”

After a jerky half-bow, Ellie scurried off below deck.

The salty air tasted good... too good. That could only mean that blood was in the air or would be soon. Chirina loved that smell and taste. Of combat soon to be had.

Chirina of Tuul released her grip on the railing and turned around facing the rest of the ship she had joined not very long ago. Activity was buzzing, so close to the engagement. But she, personally, was ready for anything to happen. Her musket slung over her shoulder, with powder bags on her belt, she inspected the work the crew did, even if she technically wasn't responsible for that. It didn't matter to her, really. If the ship ran well, everybody on it would profit.

She sighed and marched down the line to the stern of the ship where the first officer awaited to order her to prepare the guns.
Chirina saluted. "Aye!"

Stiffly, she turned around and headed downstairs to the gun deck, inspecting one gun after the other. To be honest, she found that the armament of the ship was kind of laughable. For a mercenary ship that would want to go against pirates, who sometimes are quite well equipped, six guns in total seemed wholly inadequate. She hoped, for her own life's sake, though, that the crew would be at least capable in musket combat and later in hand-to-hand combat. She didn't exactly want to go back and find yet another crew to join.

Knocking with her gloved fist on one of the steel guns, she nodded satisfied. At least those guns they had were of decent quality, that was better than she had expected when she had taken a look at the ship for the first time.

Satisfied with what she had seen, she went even further down to hold, where the magazine, protected from the water by not being directly on the hull, but separated from the outer hull by an extra chamber, lay. A safety procedure that she was thankful for. The last ship she had joined did not have that measure, since it was a very old ship, built before the prevalence of firearms. As soon as a single shot pierced the hull under the waterline, the powder magazine was already unusable, which had, in the end, cost almost the entire crew their lives.

But here? This seemed too perfect... and it worried her. When things went perfectly, she expected something to go wrong at one point or another. Carefully, she opened a barrel of black powder, sniffing on it and testing its consistency. Everything seemed fine.

After another short visit to the armoury, she went back up to the spar deck to report in.

With a slovenly salute she stood in front of "vice captain", as he seemed to be called, Valencia.
"Reporting in: Everything is in order, sir. As gunnery officer, there is nothing on my side that would prevent us from engaging. On a personal note, I cannot wait to taste their fear... and their blood."
A vile grin spread over her previously professional looking facial expression and her tongue rolled over her exposed teeth, the canine teeth unnaturally long with her and her entire clan. Not even humans were safe from the mutations the new water world brought.

@ManoftheNorth

Bertol sat cross-legged beside the table, rolling on a set of 5 dices. He adjusted his straw hat, taking a puff on his gold-rimmed tabac pipe. The TRUE BLUE ship would be approaching in any moment now. As per usual, the die landed on all sixes. Five Sixes would be the strongest roll or the weakest, depending on the game. Of course, he wouldn't use his shaved dice carelessly.

Undoing the creases of his dark green sleeves, Bertol took out a moon-shaped Materia from his fat leather purse laden in gold coins. His Moon Materia glowed as he mantained out a small trickle of his magic that is ready to be casted at any timing. "How much treasure does they have? I wonder." He grabbed his wooden staff, as he turned to observe the TRUE BLUE vessel. Best that he do nothing for now, for he is the type of person who prefers catching his opponents by surprise.

The female land-dwelling elf approached Delilah hurriedly, though as the ship's proper druidic repairwoman she was giving a quick update on the ship's status before the battle would start. It had taken a while to get the thing patched up after the last scuffle though, though for six months she had become accustomed to this type of work. Grow the food, keep the ship's wood intact and grown back together, and such things. Magical support of the battle came onto their ship was also another forte she had been forced to take on at least a few times, but in the end she had the crew to lean upon as well. And it was interesting how that worked, crew member relying on crew member in a sort of web of necessary trust to keep this place running and shapely. Not that other things didn't factor in, but still.

"The ship's in top shape, Captain! Hull is holding up fine, and the food store has been secured! I'll continue reinforcing the sides of the ship in case of any upcoming barrages!" the mage said, reporting dutifully albeit with a bit of an academic's tone to her voice as was common for her, "Is there anything else you need of me?"

They were getting close to the enemy ship, close and closer to the enemy who only might know that doom approached on the wind-filled sails. Albeit, taking on that new mage was at least allowing her to not have to take on that job if putting wind in the sails as well at the same time. Though she didn't feel a sense of trust for that man, she had Valrima keeping a hidden eye on things...albeit the demon had other "commentary" to add to that at times about crew gossip.

At the same time, the demoness, in the guise of a human woman dressed for battle, walked up to where Nyaleth was, rifle in hand load and read to go....and one-handed axe by her side on a leather belt. It was all a normal guise for her on the ship to avoid the...discomfort of her true appearance. Albeit the bust size hadn't decreased in this form, as Nyaleth had noticed but didn't wish to state aloud for fear of more teasing. Not that she didn't find that bust attractive, but especially now was not the time to think on such things.

"I'm ready to lay into these guys, whatever way works best~" Valrima said, the said, winking at the Captain and Nyaleth as she adjusted the position of her rifle, the demoness teasing them with a double-meaning as always but visibly still being ready for the fight soon to happen.

@Zelosse

Leaning upon the railing of TRUE BLUE with a cup of wine in hand, the freshly appointed captain stared at the approaching ship blankly. Eyebrows and frown putting his mood somewhere between amused and annoyed. From the stairs behind him came a Dwarf with a beard that would have stretched down to the gentlemans boot laces had it not been tucked into his belt.

Wringing his dirty bandana between his bloodied fingers he approached the captain hesitantly.

"Ah, sir. We have a problem."

"I can see that, Dran. Can we outrun them?" The wine glass in his jewel studded hand swirled to the tempo of his displeasure. Captain Goldwater was a large man, standing over 6 feet of calloused muscle, covered by fine silk and exquisite leather boots struggling to shine in what little light there was the be found. A longsword rested at his hip, the handle showing it was well used.

For his own part, Raz Ironbrow was standing firmly if hesitantly against the captains displeasure but carried on with his duties. "The, uhh, cargo, sir. Not settling well."

Goldwater turned just enough to shoot the Dwarf an icy stare, dropping the cup of wine into the waiting waters below for added effect. Truth be told he wasn't annoyed but wanted to keep usurpers reasonably off balance. Nobody could tell if his mood would turn violent and so followed orders hastily.

"We have bigger problems that shifting cargo, Ironbrow. That damn hunter ship is coming in and we're too far into the shallows to make an escape out on the black reef." Goldwater tugged at the whiskers on his chin as he ponderedthe available options. Worst case scenario he used their cargo to dispose of the threat, best case scenario was TRUE BLUE catching a break. True worst case scenario would see Goldwater back to the islands thanks to a recall scroll.

"Ironbrow, tell the crew to ready up. We can't hope to outrun that ship with ourcargo weighing us down.." A devious grin stretched across his weathered face. "Have someone go ready our cargo, while we're at it."

Knuckles turning white from tension were eased as Raz blew out a sigh. Captain was in good humors so he would be too. "Aye sir!" Flashing a salute, the dwarf stomped his way down the slick staircase leading to the cargo hold as he shouted orders at everyone around, a great cheer went up as weapons quickly found their way into every available hand. Crossbows, pistols, spears, swords, boarding axes.

Captain Goldwater returned to his spot at the railing staring out as Great Aquarius inched closer, drawing out his regular expression of annoyance.

"I should have kept that wine." He remarked to himself dryly.

---

@manofthenorth

"Watch over our lads and ladies as you always do, Da- Izal. I'll hold our ship like always." She quickly corrected her near blunder, sometimes calling the aged man her father instead of his name. It was second nature after so many years with the man aboard this ship. Her ship, now. Silently she smiled at at the thought of how long they had run their business together as equals. Everyone aboard tried to work to their strengths.

"Watch your back. Please." She whispered, just loud enough that only Izal could hear it.

To the others on board she called out loud and clear over the clatter of preparation. "Expect no quarter, give none back." Delilahs tone was cold as ice. The only one she would accept as prisoner was the captain of that stolen ship, to be returned to the Karaz Kharagul.

Turning back to Izal, she took position to take the wheel so the main fighting force aboard the ship could focus on their tasks with proper leadership. "Have the ballista loaded with the special rounds. I want their rudder and sails mangled before we step foot on board." Once they had crippled TRUE BLUE and boarded, Delilah was confident they would sweep across every inch of the stolen merchant vessel like a hurricane.

Behind them both, Rolland chanted more wind into the sails with renewed fervor. Eager to be done with the bloody work ahead.

In a matter of minutes the crew were within shooting distance. A stray arrow from TRUE BLUE fell short of the prow of Aquarius, putting them well within range for retaliation. On the deck readying pistols and bows were well over two dozen unarmored combatants jeering and waving their blades in anticipation.

"You know what to do, so do it. Make me proud." Delilah winked.

Garret stood silently on the deck, ready to go at any time. His hood was raised and his eyes glanced around, at the approaching boat and its inhabitants and at the deck just around him. It was a survival instinct, as you never knew what could happen in a pitched battle. Most on the ship were honorable enough, but there was certainly a fair amount of questionable people too. Would they try something on the Aquarius, under the watchful eye of the captain and Izal? Probably not, but it didn't hurt to be extra careful. Chain mail helped his defenses against the unexpected but he wasn't stupid enough to rely on it for everything. Prevention is the best defense, after all. What doesn't happen can't hurt him, that was Garret's (other) motto.

He readied his crossbow as the True Blue inched closer and closer. He wasn't a big fan of pitched combat, but he'd been paid to fight. He wouldn't fire the first shot and he probably wouldn't put himself in any real danger, but he'd fight nonetheless. Garret tracked the movement of the sailors on the True Blue, eyeing up his targets. He felt the wind on his face, measuring its force and direction.
"A little to the left..." He muttered under his breath. "Wave's coming up. Gonna have to adjust..."
He kept his finger on the trigger and waited for the ship to come closer. There was some part of him that didn't want to be there, but he knew of a universal truth in this watery world. Those who don't work don't eat! Of course, there was a method of getting a lot from a little effort; make others do the work for you. Needless to say, Garret was no stranger to that strategy, but he'd have to pull his weight here. He wouldn't put in any more work than he had to, but he'd do what he was paid to do.

---

While various members of the crew were given their orders and making their final preparations, Anemone was stirring from the nap she had decided to take while waiting for the battle. Well, at first she was meant to have just been resting her eyes but it came as no surprise that she actually had dozed off.
Looking around blearily, she noted that the rest of the crew seemed to be buzzing around, some more frantically than others, like a stirred up hornets nest. Just by reading this atmosphere it was clear what was happening; they had found their prey.
A quick glance at the ship they were fast approaching confirmed such thoughts, the former noble stretching her arms up high and letting out an overly loud yawn.
Suppose that meant she couldn't slack off anymore, huh? Better get to work before the old man handed her her ass on a silver platter.
Grabbing her crossbow and a quiver of bolts, she stumbled slightly to the ship railing while also trying her best to load her weapon. The young woman still felt half asleep, the sooner she cracked some poor saps skull open and threw his hapless crew-mates overboard to be fish food the sooner she would feel better.
Not wanting to wait any longer than necessary, the sooner this crew of festering scum were taken out the sooner she could go back to sleep, and having been given the a-OK from the captain, Anemone bought her crossbow up and took a deep breath.
It was showtime.
Pulling the trigger, Anemone ducked back behind the railing without even seeing if the bolt had hit it's mark. Her target having been some large man with an undersized shirt wielding a crossbow near the main mast. Staying up after having fired off a crossbow bolt would be folly, even for her.
Yawning, she slowly began to reload her crossbow. She was more waiting for the ship to come closer before doing anything too rash to be honest. Once it was reloaded, she would just aim and shoot at the first person she saw on The True Blue.

Once she had taken up her stance in the crow's nest basket she didn't move, her body had become almost frozen in its position even as the waves crashed into the hull of the ship and they got into firing range, the stoic woman closed her eyes, shut out the noise around her, took a breath, then opened her bloodshot eyes and squeezed the trigger. Her rifle gave off a loud bang sending its ammunition through the air with its target being the rival scout in the crow's nest of the enemy ship; the sharpshooter set her rifle down before looking through her spyglass quick enough to see her shot hit and take down her target." At least it's instant instead of being slow and painful." She told herself before looking for another potential Target to snipe. She quickly began reloading her rifle, moving on instinct and packing the ammo down and finding her rifle ready for another shot.

---

Below deck, Jack had his favorite, and his best shirt, well his only shirt hung up on a post, he sat on a nearby barrel sharpening one of his throwing knives, while he sang a tune." Making ya way in the world today takes everything ya go, Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot, sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name!" He checked his blade." And they're always glad you came, you wanna be where you can see the troubles are all the same! You wanna be where knows your name!" Before he could continue with his song Jane rushed down below deck looking worried.

Knowing Jane as one of the few women on board that wasn't a dirty elf, or wearing something that didn't leave much to the imagination, Jack decided to actually pay attention to what she was yapping about, hearing about a soon to be battle put a smile on the twin's face as he yanked his jacket off the wall." Finally, about time, I thought I was gonna need to start slicing up the other sailors." He joked before putting on his shirt and jacket. As he started to head up to the top deck Ellie bumped into him scurrying below deck like a roach escaping from the light, he stopped on the step before telling the sea elf." Watch where you're going shark bait." He told her without looking over his shoulder, he didn't have to like the elf, but by the captain lady's rules he couldn't lop off her head and kick her into the sea for the sharks.

Once he made it to the top deck he first noticed Anenome yawning and stretching her arms, he walked by her before looking away from the woman." Why are you wearing that into a battle?!" He yelled." What type of advantage will you get from wearing a dress that small? One good gust of sea air and it will show all of your goods downstairs to every guy, then your armor only covers your breast what idiot would wear that armor and think of the boobs as the most important part?!" Suddenly he heard a loud bang, his attention turning from the big fork wielder before he went to the helm where Delilah, Izal, and the pint-sized." Hey White hairs where do you want me for this action? On their ship dicing them up like fish? Or behind ya to pick you up when you fall over?" He asked unable to hold back a massive grin showing how ready he was for the battle, his hands were even shaking from the excitement." If not that I wouldn't mind keeping small fry here from getting snatched up by some shark people."

@jdh97@ManoftheNorth@Ookawa@Lunarlors34

---

---

“Watch where you're going shark bait.”

Icy fingers clawed up Ellie’s spine, freezing her. Without turning she mumbled something that might have been an apology, her tongue leaden in her mouth. When she heard the creak of wood as Jack moved away she sighed, her whole body shaking as she made her way onward. She said a silent prayer that both siblings had better things to do right now than torment her.

The dingy light of foxfire greeted her as she squeezed into her workspace. Phials and jars crowded shelves the height of the wall, though the workbench was kept clear of any loose materials. Ellie lifted one of the pieces of damp wood the glowing fungus grew on and used its light to scan labels. Methodically, her hands still shaking slightly from the encounter with Jack, she began sorting through various poultices and elixirs, setting several into specially designed nooks on the work surface, only Ellie knowing why.

BANG!

Even below deck, the painful ring of the rifle shot made Ellie jump. She almost dropped a bottle of laudanum, but juggled it in the air, then snatched it close to her chest and waited for the shaking to stop. She set it down carefully.

From a high shelf she pulled a large jar of numbweed. She folded up a leaf and put it in her mouth. It was dry and salty on her palate, and fibrous in texture, and her jaw began to ache, but she almost immediately felt better, her mind calming; the world numbed, the light seemed softer, and it was as though warm bubbles caressed her skin. Numbweed was curious; it acted as an analgesic and sedative in Sea Elves, but if a human was to consume it, they’d find altered affects only appeared six hours later, more akin to a certain species of fungus, by which time it would be fully absorbed into their system and unpurgeable. They would shit and spew themselves to death, wracked by violent convulsions.

Ellie was glad of her heritage.

"They're starting to exchange fires, but they're barely at the range of my magic, hmm..." Bertol caressed his wooden staff, watching the start of the battle as he let out a whistle. His quickcast is ready for any stray bullets, but it seemed he had barely attracted any attention from the enemy crew. He doesn't consider himself as slacking off, doing nothing was considered a good strategy back in the scheming days as a noble. Once the timing is right, I will make my move...

Izal nodded to his captain/daughter with respect, moving from the wheel of the ship as Delilah stepped in to take control while he focused his attention on the task at hand. Resisting the urge to lick his lips was always difficult when a fight was so near. As he stepped away he shot a glare at Rollands way, threatening him with just a look to so much as think of betraying the trust Delilah showed him. In the veteran former captains eyes there was only the promise of gruesome and slow end.
Rolland caught the look and tried his best to not look intimidated but knew without doubt he had failed.

To the raised main deck and the Ballista he went, unconcerned with the projectiles hastily launched by both sides. Crossbows and firearms had good range but there was still too much distance between the two ships for anything substantial to take place. The ballista anchored to the main deck was a different beast entirely.
Up the steps he went, hoisting a heavy steel tipped bolt from its resting place nearby. With the ease born from years of practice he had the bolt in place and the string brought back, taking aim with care. One figure on the back of TRUE BLUE was resting leisurely but wasn't the target, unwilling to waste a bolt on a single target of potentially no importance to the sortie to follow.

The only way they could guarantee a fight was to cripple the enemies ability to run.

"All hands, prepare to board!" Izal shouted to the crew down below, already armed and ready for the fight to come. Teams with ropes and hooks were standing by to throw and pull. If all went smooth it would be a quick fight. Pulling the lever, the iron headed bolt shot straight and true. A single bolt was often incapable of doing much damage but the GREAT AQUARIUS was not armed with regular means.
The tip of its bolts were far more destructive. Hollowed out and filled with a dangerous and volatile oil, impact promised a strong payout.

Izal watched the bolt fly across the blue ocean waves, arcing above TRUE BLUE's quarter deck.. A brief flash of light and the sound of splintering wood was a good sign of a hit, but his sharp eyes caught what he was hoping for.
The wheel had been blown to splinters. Unable to maneuver, they faced the very real problem of crashing into an island or spinning endlessly through the waves as the currents chose their course.

GREAT AQUARIUS would never give her enemies a chance to recover.

---

Delilah knew the shot would fly true, trusting in her close friend and the years of experience they both drew on. To the wizard behind her, she gave a shrill whistle to get his attention.

"Mister Rolland, if you would."

The wizard, still shaken, shook himself from the sight of Izals gaze and turned his attention back to conjuring mighty gusts of ethereal wind into the sails. Every gust of wind saw the ship inch closer to their target now unable to maneuver until finally they were in range.

From the wheel, Delilahs voice cut through the air.

"Fire at will!"

---

From the dock of TRUE BLUE, a similar shout echoed across the deck as a dozen pirates armed with daggers and axes all whooping. Every single one knew the fight was inevitable and most were eager to take over a superior ship for their own needs. The long bearded dwarf Raz, armed with a heavy crossbow, was first to draw blood.
From the quarter deck he leveled the weapon and fired, the bolt striking one of GREAT AQUARIUS' many shipmates readying a hook and rope with a dull thump as it pierced his heart.

The other pirates let loose their own inaccurate barrage, firing blindly at the mass of bodies pulling up next to their significantly slower ship. Despite the numbers difference none of the pirates seemed particularly afraid.

Raz bellowed from the deck as he pulled out his gleaming machete, "FOR GOLDWATER!" The others echoed his cheer and warcry, climbing the rigging to grab a rope. A dozen or so pirates, emboldened by their reckless natures, swung high as the GREAT AQUARIUS pulled in. The distance between each ship was roughly 10 feet.

The first group of pirates landed at the raised main deck with Izal, blades drawn.

Others tossed their own hooks to latch onto the railing of GREAT AQUARIUS.

The sound of something splashing the water was lost over the sound of gunfire and shouts.

Garret watched impatiently as the fight approached. He held his breath as the ballista bolt sailed through the air, tearing through the enemy ship, destroying its wheel and starting the fight properly. Ballistae were fairly expensive, particularly taking into account the bolts used, so they should be used carefully. But Garret could see that the crew of the Aquarius had good aim, if nothing else. He supposed they could be relied upon, but now wasn't the time to worry about that. As soon as the first bolt flew, Garret took aim. He was as close to the railing as he wanted to be, enough to get a good shot. Normally he'd worry about getting shot himself but that didn't apply as much here, considering the height difference of the ships.

Garret took aim and pulled the trigger, pinning a swinging pirate in the chest.
"Stupid bastard." He muttered, reloading his crossbow.
Soon enough, hooks from below latched onto the railings around him and Izal jumped down with a portion of the crew to clean house on the smaller ship's deck. A hook latched close to his position, pulling taut just too late after Garret kicked it off. He took aim once again, surveying the situation. He was particularly looking to cover Izal and crew's position, as he knew that they were in one of the most dangerous situations. With that being said, there didn't seem to be too much danger. The ship was smaller than the Aquarius, meaning it had less people. It was also more of a transport vessel, while the Aquarius was a real mercenary vessel, so it had the upper hand in ship-to-ship combat. That being the case, there was something bothering Garret.

Garret fired once more. He would've been among the first on board in a scenario like this, but he felt something was off. For brigands, the enemy crew were awfully enthusiastic to engage the Aquarius's superior forces; he'd been hoping they'd just give up when the Aquarius arrived. Surely, even if the enemy won the engagement, it would be too costly for them to be sustainable. Perhaps it might've been the effect of the enemy captain. If they were anything like captains of stolen vessels Garret had been on, they solidified their rule with fear, so that could explain the crew's fervor. Or, they could be desperate. They were wanted men so there wouldn't be any escape if they surrendered, maybe they were trying their luck in an upfront fight. Either way, Garret was suspicious. He couldn't know what the enemy had up their sleeves, and that made wading into melee infinitely more dangerous. It seemed that the best course of action was to stay safe and provide fire support. Even if he wanted in on the fight, he wouldn't go now. At least, not without some meatshields to soak up the fire as they came in.

Bertol let out a whistle upon the sight of the ballista arrow 'boarding' the TRUE BLUE ship. The ballista's accuracy is better than he'd thought. And that's before complimenting about the craftswork of the arrow. Quite brilliant fireworks this one makes.

The corner of his sight caught a glimpse of someone standing too casually at the back of the ship. Too suspicious for someone to relax at one corner of the ship, not to mention inappropriate. "It isn't a good thing for someone to go slacking off in a crew..." Bertol grabbed a rope from the rigging, carrying his staff by his shoulders, swinging down the TRUE BLUE's quarter deck. His left hand had maintained his grasp on the Moon Materia.

Boarding the TRUE BLUE, he swung out his staff in a whirling arc, clobbering a crew member of the enemy ship on the head. Time to move. A familiar chuck of rock appeared beside the yellow-haired man, as Bertol sent it towards the back of the ship, on the direction to the one who was slacking off in the ship. You can slack off all you want in the afterlife, fool. He let out a smirk, getting a firm one-handed grip on his staff.

---

---

A small tin of something heavy thumped onto the work surface, bringing a brief tinkling from nearby bottles. Ellie dusted of her hands. Above, the sounds of combat were all too audible. Delilah had been unmistakable. But that seemed distant and far away; right now, Ellie’s focus was on her craft, her hands kept steady not just by the numbweed she sill chewed.

The slight elf went to work, transferring a purple-brown extract made from the leached ash of several species of seaweed into a larger brown-glass container for dilution, before setting it aside – a quick task. Ducking down, she retrieved a pestle and mortar of solid, trusty granite, requiring her to use two arms to lift, and even then, her muscles shook. Various herbs, roots and dried samples of kelp and other marine plant life flew from their containers into the mortar, elven hands moving deftly. They were ground up, their ratios and quantities somehow tracked by Ellie, even though many were near identical.

Whilst she worked, she hummed a simple tune, a favourite of her brother’s.

---

As the pirates landed aboard The Great Aquarius, they were met with a rather nasty surprise. Having tracked their movement as they swung, Anemone shot one with her crossbow before discarding the weapon by the railing before drawing and throwing her trident from the specially made clip on sheath on her back.
With two of the intruders at least incapacitated, Anemone quickly made her way up to where the 'vice-captain' was. Both keen to back up her commanding officer, and keen to smash some heads in. In a few bounding steps in a speed that defied her usual lazy demeanour, the young lady slammed her shoulder into the nearest boarder to knock him over board.

"That makes 4." Mumbling under her breath her 'kill' count, she barely had time to breath before the other pirates no doubt would come bearing down on her.
Not even bothering to use her magic against these 'small fry', Anemone quickly kicked up the dropped sword of the man she knocked overboard and engaged the nearest pirate.

After knocking his blade to the side, she slammed her armored elbow into his face with a sickening crunch. Following up with that, she slashed him across the chest and kicked him into another pirate. While the two of them were downed, Anemone looked to engage the rest of them.
She was determined to put an end to these traitorous scum quickly, and show off her her usefulness in a battle to her new Captain.

Still, up in the crows nest, Eiko watched from above as they closed in on the enemy ship and began and got alongside the enemy, she didn't waste her chance to fire on an enemy as he was jumping across to their ship, making it a bit easier for the trident girl before she let muscle memory take over and reloaded her weapon quickly and stopped before she could drop the musket ball into the barrel. She felt eyes on her and froze where she was before putting the sling on her shoulder and leaping from the crows to the riggings as a small volley of arrows perforated or found a new home in the crow's nest basket.

Eiko searched around for the people who targeted her looking around their ship for an archer or archers and spotted a couple of them, Eiko dangled from the riggings before she performing a reloading with her arm locked around the rigging's ropes and dropping the musket ball into the barrel, she shouldered the rifle getting an idea of how the shot will travel and fired a round into the shoulder of an archer taking aim at someone by the captain's wheel, her shot injured the guy, but if she was in her former supported stance she figured she'd hit him in the head. Soon her dangling came to an end when one of the archers returned fire hit Eiko in the shoulder, she grimaced in pain before letting go of the riggings and landing knee first into the hard deck and nearly dropped her rifle. Still being alive she figured she had gotten lucky not dying from the fall and only got pain in the knees.

The apathetic sharpshooter broke off the shaft of the arrow and tossed it aside before getting next to a ballista reloading her rifle to be ready for another shot.