[IC] Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

[Ryonara]

Once the captain gave the signal, Noelle had stealthy dropped into the water, drinking the contents of the potion before her head went under. Unfortunately, her mage robes were hardly suited for swimming and gave her a lot of drag. She lagged behind the others, which she noticed when Sharee seemed to be waiting on her. Not wanting to be the weak leak of the crew she sped up. Soon enough they managed to reach the boat where Noelle used the net to get up to the deck. By the time she got there most of the crew was already fighting the East Company guards. Noelle was about to join when an arrow whizzed pasted her face. An inch or two closer and that would have gone through her head. She turned and saw an archer notching his next bow, which was more than enough incentive for Noelle to take cover. She bemoan her lack of range weaponry, but she did managed to fire off a Frenzy spell at the archer before he could let loose another arrow. Noelle quickly ducked back into cover as the archer began to shoot his own allies, before he was eventually taken down by one of the other recruits.

And just as fast as it started, the skirmish was over. But the battle was just beginning. Noelle saw two Khajiit raise the sail as she herself when below deck to clear out the other East Empire crew members. Noelle took out her silver blade and turned it into a short sword, covering it with her special "Lover's Spite" poison. She also put on some Mage Armor since she's going to have to get in close. She followed after Sharee, but soon took point herself. The first crew member she ran across Noelle stabbed him with her blade, and the effects of the poison was immediate. His body slumped to the ground, paralyzed and slowly dying. If no one came by to finish him off, the poison would do him in. Noelle still had a bit of poison on her blade too, so she went on ahead to face the next enemy. It was an orc , who probably head the commotion topside because he was armed with a warhammer. Noelle didn't get a chance to check what kind because the moment he saw her he charged at her. She slashed him with the poison and he went down as well. However Noelle wasn't sure if he would die from the poison like the last one, so just to be safe she stabbed him in the back again, give or take somewhere around the heart. She stabbed him again just to make sure, before she used her Illusion magic to turn invisible to sneak up on a new enemy.

[Leon5431]

All around the ship the fighting began to die down as the guards fell one by one, until only a few remained, scattered, divided and for the most part doomed. One of which a rather seasoned looking imperial guard was fighting off two recruits at the same time. Wielding his dual cutlasses he was able to hold his own even wound one of his assailants with a deep slash across his chest while he himself stood lacking any fatal wounds.

The unharmed recruit rushed after the soldier, his scimitar in hand. The Redguard slashed at the guard's stomach but was easily parried by one of the guards blades, he was exposed and would have fallen then and there if the other recruit hadn't blocked the guards retaliating strike. For countless moments if fell down to the trio exchanging blows with one another. Finally the two recruits rushed forward at the same time, having eventually gotten it into their heads that it was smarter to use teamwork then to go at it alone. The guard barely managed to parry the attack and exploiting the wounded recruits lack of reaction time kicked the recruit in his gut before rushing the second recruit. The guard slashed both his blades at the recruit and just barely in time were they parried. But with each parry the recruit was forced to take a step back, by the end of the second blow the recruit found himself with his back pressed up against the side railing of the ship.

The Imperial smiled monstrously and prepared to launch a second barrage of blow, but the recruit took the initiative, he rushed forward and tried to slash the guard but only met with the guards blade and was given a deep slash across his gut. The recruits eye shot open wide and they dropped down to where he had been wounded. He looked down in shock at his wound and did nothing as the guard plunged his blade through his chest. The recruit collapsed back lifeless as the guard turned to face down the already wounded recruit.

Around him the guard saw more of the invaders catching notice of him putting him in their ire. He knew they would come after him and he would surely die, he was outnumbered and perhaps even outmatched against some. He would die this day, he would never surrender to these...pirates. The least he could do is some of them with him, starting with this pitiful weak whelp before him.

The guard raised his cutlasses and charged the remaining recruit. The recruit was only able to block three attacks before his guard was broken. The guard smiled again as he saw the end of this whelp's life drawing closer, he readied his cutlass to drive it through the recruits chest and shouted, "Get off our ship your worthless scum!". But before he could stab his sword forward their was a sharp pain in his shoulder and he had to fight to stop himself from crying out. He spun around catching a glimpse of the knife in his shoulder as he did.

As he spun around he saw a swirling ball of fire come flying through the air right at him before exploding on his chest burning his clothes and flesh alike. He screamed out in pain as he toppled back onto the floor wounded terribly but alive. He gazed up towards the sky admiring for what would be the last time the beauty of a open sky before the figure of the wounded recruit from before stepped over him and slowly slide it's blade into his neck starring grimly down at him as it did.

Kayal watched from a foot behind as the recruit slowly stabbed through the guards throat, as the recruit pulled his blade free Kayal kneeled next to the quickly dying guard. "No my friend, you get off our ship." He said with a grim smile before retrieving his knife and standing up one more.

All around the ship the fighting had ended and he heard Sharee shouting orders to a pair of Khajiit. As the two began to go about their task Kayal looked to Nalla who was staning nearby him, "Go help them too, just to be safe." He said before looking to Zana, "And you, go help the land party, make sure this ship stays in our hands, I am going to go with Sharee and the others." He said in the much more serious tone he usually used while in dangerous situations such as these. Zana nodded towards Kayal before speaking up, "Alright, just be careful." She warned. He smiled back at her, "You know me." He said in response before the two turned their separate ways.

Kayal followed after Sharee taking up a place just behind her, soon the female Breton from the beach took point wielding a silver shortsword, Kayal thought he saw something glisten on her blade but he was not sure quite what it was. Soon they came across an enemy who she gracefully dispatched with a stab from her blade, as the guards body went stiff and collapsed to the floor Kayal realized that she must have been using some form of poison and assumed that is what he had caught a glimpse of on her blade. From what he could tell she was rather skilled and her poison seemed to be rather effective, as was proven as she dispatched an Orc guard wielding a war hammer, he decided to make a mental note to speak to either her or Sharee about getting his hands on some of their poison, it never harmed to have an extra edge on your foes when in a fight.

[EliteCommander]

After heading down the stairs to the ship's upper deck, a Breton woman ran in front of Sharee to take point, which was perfectly fine by her. She had no problems letting one of her allies jump in front of the enemies' blades in her stead. Kayal and some other recruits were close behind, and at least initially, they seemed to be performing fairly well. Sharee would have liked to just let them do all the work, but they needed to clear the ship quickly, and there was still the entire lower deck to deal with.

"You two take over up here." Sharee ordered, pointing to Kayal and the Breton. "I'm going to clear out the lower deck."

The staircase going down to the lower deck was located directly next to the one leading up above decks, and as she passed, she saw another group of her recruits heading down from above. She pointed to them, then motioned for them to follow her. "Follow me, we're heading down to the bottom deck." She commanded, not even bothering to stop and wait before heading down the staircase. Just as she was heading down, one of the enemy guards was rushing up as well. He was obviously caught off-guard, as Sharee was able to kick him in the face before he could raise his blade, causing him to tumble back down the stairs until he came to rest at their base. His own sword sliced up his arm as he fell, so it was easy enough for Sharee to plunge her blade into his chest to finish him off. His friend behind him, however, was another matter, The Dunmer woman wasn't armored like the rest of the guards they had encountered, indicating that she was perhaps one of the regular sailors, but she was armed and fighting back. Sharee was able to reach up with her parrying blade, the dagger in her left hand, to block the strike easily enough, but since her shortsword was still in the chest of the guard at her feet, she wasn't able to follow through quickly with a response. Fortunately, one of the recruits behind her had sense enough to move beside her and strike at the Dunmer with his axe. She dashed back to evade, but by that point, Sharee had already pulled her blade from the guard's corpse and was able to bury it into the Dunmer's neck to finish her quickly.

At the end of the hall just ahead, Sharee could see more guards, but this time, they were actually organized. There were five of them, all armed an armored. Two had shields and longswords and were up front, while the other three were in the back with standard Imperial swords. None seemed to have any ranged weapons, but in the tight and narrow halls of the ship, they wouldn't be that useful anyway. Since they weren't in utter disarray, this fight could prove to be a bit more difficult.

[Leon5431]

Kayal had just taken the life of one of one of the boats many sailors, who had just stepped out of a nearby room, when Sharee spoke to him and the Breton woman. Her orders were simple, they were to take over clearing this deck. As she turned and ordered a new group of recruits to follow her it was made clear that she was leaving the first group of recruits with them to help clear the deck, which Kayal was indifferent about, they could help or they could also get in the way, but he was not about to turn down the help.

"Aye aye captain, it will be a pleasure." kayal said after her as she vanished into the lower deck. As the second group of recruits vanished after her, Kayal turned to face the Breton woman and smiled at her, "Well, looks like we've been given a little mission haven't we? Let us be sure not to let Sharee down, I have the utmost faith in both mine and your capabilities." He said in his usual cheery tone.

He took this moment to look the girl over, she wore something much more akin to a mage then a fighter, but she fought with a grace in her form that said she was not unfamiliar with this type of fighting, though he could still see flaws in her fighting form, but that was understandable, given her likely primary role as a mage. There were other things he would have admired about the girl but this was neither the time nor the place so he pushed those thoughts out of his head and forced his eyes back towards her face before looking away further into the ship.

"We best get on to this little mission, but first, what would the name of beautiful woman like yourself be?" Kayal asked as he turned back to face her with something of a sly grin on his face.

The recruits waited around them, some of them clearing out the nearby rooms, ending any inhabitants they found in there, but otherwise awaiting the word from the two Sharee had, somewhat, put in charge.

[Ryonara]

Sharee ordered Noelle and another recruit to take care of the second level as she and others cleared out lower ones. Fine with her, so long as they set sail soon. The current guards might be fairly pathetic, but she didn't want to see what'll happen if they went up against the Imperial Legion. Pouring another small vial of her special "Lover's Spite", Noelle was about to head off when another Breton spoke to her. He was being flirty, despite the situation. But she herself wasn't an innocent wallflower. "I don't have names for dead men. See me when this is all over, and you and I can get better acquainted." She gave the man a wink and a smile before she noticed the other recruits waiting on them. Seems like the captain put the two of them in charge, even though Noelle wanted nothing to do with it. Still, better that they get stabbed in the face than she did. Reapplying her mage armor Noelle began to bark orders at the rest of the crew.

"We split into groups of three. Any left overs look for each other or join a group already formed. Watch each other's backs and don't get scared if you see your friend take a fall; a long as you don't lose your head we're all going to ship out alive." Noelle pulled a redguard woman in for her group and the breton male from before. "Now let's see how you handle that sword. You take point, redguard you follow after him. I have some spells ready to support you." She gave both the Breton and the Redguard a fairly low level Shield (10% Protection from Damage) and attack boost (Fortify Blade +10) but had a healing spell ready for the both of them in case they get hurt or poisoned.

[Lucius Cypher]

After he had missed with his axe, Malakaus sheathed it for his shield, seeing the corridors getting smaller and tighter. He had tried to kill the dunmer that threaten the captain, but the dunmer was slippery, and the captain faster at the blade. Still, the old orc wasn't about to get retired yet. He moved on ahead of the captain with his shield up and his blade drawn. Over in the next corridor he saw something that would even give his captain pause; five men, dressed in Imperial Armor and ready for a fight. But they were not dealing with mere brigands who were only good for stealing the coin purse of old and weary travelers; they were dealing with an orc, who's ferocity and strength they would soon regret to face. Raising his shield up Malakaus charged forward, a faint green aura emitting from him. The soldiers branced themselves for the charge, but they may as well had tried to stop and avalanche. Malakaus bowled through the formation, sending four of the warriors off their feet and into the walls. Only one managed to escape, barely. Now with their formation broken and Malakaus flanking them, the orc turned towards his foes and gave them a deafening roar.

He tapped into his primal rage, jumping onto the first fighter he saw, a lightly armored imperial with a standard issue sword. He didn't even get a chance to raise his blade before Malakaus smashed his face with the spikes on his shield, finsihing it of fwith a stab into his face. By the time some of the guards got up, Malakaus was already fighting another, one who fought with a sword and shield. He fought defensivley against the orc's savage attacks, but he was losing as the orc was simply overpowering him. With a powerful bash the orc even managed to knock away the guardsman shield, leaving him exposed to another one of Malakaus's bashes. The guard hit the wall, and before he fell Malakaus sunk his sword into his chest. With two down Malakaus stepped back and took on a defensive stance of his own, his rage slowly dying down. "Pray to Stendar while you can!"

[The New Yorker]

Shink, slash, shink. Sarel’s blade finds it’s way around a stalwarts shield, slicing into the man’s breast. Sarel rolled between the two Company guards and stood on the other side of their offense. He quickly turned in order to slice through to one of the guards spleen. His wakizashi was then plunged into a second guards throat. Even more guards from the east ran across dock lanes, two by two they jogged along to defend… what? The precious cargo of the East Empire company? Not so much. They fought for honor, because they were told to. Sarel fought for similar reasons, but he had something else as well. Sarel had personal stake in this heist, he wanted the brisk ocean air again, the unsteady ground of the wooden deck. He wanted to be free of his own accord, he wanted a stake in his own destiny, once and for all.
The onslaught of guards tripled by the time Sarel had taken out his third victim in the last, short ten seconds.

“Oi, I’ve been wounded elf” one of the imbicile’s said. His forearm was bleeding all over the man’s hand, which he held in place to staunch the wound. Sarel was trying to count the incoming forces and so only shrugged his shoulders. “Blasted, Elf! You know magics, heal me!” The man placed the hand of his wounded arm atop Sarel’s left shoulder, he squeezed as tight as he could, which was pitiful.

“I’m not that kind of Elf.” Barked Sarel, not raising his voice. The fight from the ship seemed to move downstairs, Sarel had an inkling that the crew might have to depart ahead of schedule. Without paying any more mind to the oaf Sarel walked to his side, toward a different lane which the guards would have to walk down to reach the ship. Sarel now felt rather relieved that he’d blown the other lane to bits, and the guards would have to take a detour to reach him. As he jogged, which he did to intercept the first group of guards, he noticed a figure in the distance, running toward him. Sarel stopped at a juncture and watched the figure break through the treeline and sprint down the dirt road toward the dock. The movements were consistent and dedicated, each muscle moved with exactness. Some sort of plated armor gleemed in the darkness of the moonlight and Sarel knew at once who it was.

Serge, corundum plated armor clunking deftly in the sea air, finally walked into torchlight on the docks. Sarel smiled for a moment and wait for his friend to join him. It was a strange turn of events that Serge might end up here. Then Sarel noticed the red banner which flowed from Serge’s waist so coyly, it was Imperial colors. Serge sauntered up, his hand resting on the longsword which hung from his hip with a weight befitting an anvil. He looked resolute, and Sarel thought he might have to fight this man. Instead Serge stopped right in front of Sarel and offered his hand.

“I figured I’d join you after all.” He said, the Breton manners shining through.

Sarel decided he’d need to wait to ask questions, which meant he didn’t fully know Serge’s intentions, something he’d have to live with. Instead he asked Serge for a favor.

“Could you gather the men on the boat, tell them to get it up and running? We need to leave.” As Sarel spoke several dozen guards were making their way down the lane. Serge nodded and went off.

Serge was quick and competent. The other recruits might not have recognized him, but they recognized his type. He was born leader, as he was now.

“Raise the main sail! Oh, it’s already up, never mind, it’s bloody dark. Let it fly, all hands on deck!” He called out to those left on the docks. The two morons guarding the loading ramp joined the others on the boat.

Sarel hurled fireballs down the isle with little regard, he hit someone every time. The smell of charred leather and skin alike wafted in the air as Sarel relentlessly pelted the oncoming horde of guards. The narrowness of the lane made it very difficult for them to fight back. Some archers took aim but either missed or were promptly taken out by a fireball. Soon the troops fell into rank, smartly, and shielded themselves, like good Imperial soldiers. They inched forth, filled with fear, fire raining down upon them. Sarel was sweating profusely, his eyes rolled back into his head and he was taken over by the ancestor. He let fire fly from his hands and strike out at his enemies, he’d never felt quite as divine as he did at that very instant.

Serge watched from the wheel of the boat at the fiery display. Eventually the boat was all set to leave and one of the recruits came over to Serge to say so. For some reason the recruits had taken instantly to Serge’s commands, he was irrevocably in charge in Sharee’s absence, a person he, ironically, knew very little about. But, if he knew her plan, and if Sarel understood it as well, she’d want this part of the process to begin, and if she did not, it was too late now.

“Sarel!” the corundum clad Breton called out, “Come!”

Sarel awoke from his godly slumber and the heat around him shocked him. His clothes had begun to burn and his blood was boiling. Sarel quickly stopped and ran down the lane from which he came. His boots met the ground heavily as he raced toward the departing boat. The loading ramp cracked in two as the boat edged from the dock, fell into the briny deep. Sarel prepared himself for what he’d need to do. The sounds of metal clanking behind him propelled Sarel forth, he set his foot on a peg at the edge of the dock and jumped into the air. His jump was majestic, at least eight feet high, he floated through the air with grace, illuminated by the fire behind him, he moon above him, and the future before him. Sarel landed the ten foot gap easily and turned to get a good look at the sight behind him. The soldiers gazed in disbelief, scratched their heads. Sarel and Serge met eyes, and they smiled childishly as they had in their cells on that fateful day of their meeting. Sarel fell to one knee as all of his energy left his body at once. He collapsed against a barrel and rubbed his head, hoping everything had gone as planned.

[EliteCommander]

Sharee almost laughed. And here she thought the fight was going to be tough. Luckily, it appeared that one of the recruits she had hired was actually a battering ram in disguise. It helped that these guards didn't have plate armor, so they weren't immune to sword strikes like the Orc essentially was. Since he managed to knock most of them off their feet, it was almost too easy finish them off. Sharee moved quickly between targets, as she was keen on killing them all before they could recover. She ran in directly behind him and ran her sword through one before he had even hit the ground from the Orc's charge. Practically ripping her cutlass out of his torso, she moved to the next guard on the ground beside him. She kicked the guard's shield out of the way, then slashed his throat before moving onto the final target, an Imperial woman. She had been knocked against the wall, but had managed to keep her footing. Initially, she looked like she was going for the Orc, but after seeing Sharee approaching out of the corner of her eye, she raised her blade to her right. Unfortunately for her, it was too little, too late. Sharee impaled her cutlass into her stomach, then stabbed her dagger into the back of her neck once she bent over.

With the threats in the hall eliminated, Sharee glanced behind her and saw that the group of recruits which she had ordered to follow her were moving into the rooms on each side of the hall. Perhaps they would clear them, perhaps they were already empty, or perhaps the recruits would all die terribly. Regardless, Sharee decided that she would be of most use in the room just ahead. At the end of the hall was a single door, and if she knew these ships as well as she thought she did, then she knew it led to a large storage room. It could be empty, but she thought it more likely that the crew of the vessel would use it to store supplies, such as weapons and armor. If she was one of the crew when the ship came under attack, that would be where she would have run. Standing beside the Orc, she glanced at him and gave him a pat on his armored back. "Hey big guy, why don't you take the lead into this next room? That armor looks tough enough to deal with it if they're inside."

Above decks, the ship's new crew was hard at work getting things moving. The sailors Sharee hired, it seemed, knew what they were doing at least. They had already planned roughly what roles to take, so they quickly raised anchor and set the ship at full sail away from the docks. Other Imperial ships in the harbor did not exactly intend to let them leave, but their preparations the previous night helped to deal with that issue. The crews of the other vessels soon found that, no matter how hard they tried, their anchors would not raise. One ship even managed to collapse part of one of the docks when the rotted support beam its anchor was tied to gave way. Of course, their ships were not trapped. It was easy enough for them to cut the ropes to their anchors once they figured out that they weren't going anywhere, but it did delay them, and that delay allowed Sharee's crew to build speed and put distance between them and their pursuers.

[Leon5431]

Kayal chuckled and shook his head, "I'll be sure to remember that." He said before she began to give orders to the gathered recruits. She ordered them into groups of three then gathered him, herself and a redguard woman into a group. As she made her comment about seeing him use his sword he only smiled and spun the bloodied blade. He took up his position in the front of the little group turning his gaze towards the other groups, "Best of luck lads, you all head what she said, don't lose your head, these bastards are going to be more scared then you are." He said supporting the Bretons speech. With that said and done Kayal turned his head back to the hallway before them. Behind him he heard a pair of spells get charged the released then both his blade and his body glowed faintly for a moment before returning to normal.

"Gotta love mages." He said almost to himself before he started off down the hallway. He cleared every room they passed making sure there were no guards hiding in them. When they were about halfway down the hall Kayal pushed open a half opened door only for a mace weilding sailor to jump out looking to end him in a surprise attack. But Kayal easily hopped back and dodged the attack before stepping forward and ending the sailor with first a slash to his stomach then a slash across his throat. He stepped over the sailors withering body and continued down the hall. Soon the small hall opened up into a larger room, in this larger room sat dozens of bunk beds making up the sailors sleeping quarters. Six guards stood before them in the center of this room, the three on the left were armed with a mace, a cutlass and a sword and sheild, the three on the right were armed with a cutlass, a longsword and dual maces. Kayal stepped out into the room standing a little to the left of the doorway, shortly after the Redguard joined him.

Kayal looked over the group gathered before them, his eyes drifting over each one of them before passing to the next. "Give up you stinking pirates! Your outnumbered!." One of the barked angrilly. Kayal smiled at the comment. You two take the three on the right, I'll handle the three on the left." He said confidently, the Redguard looked at him unsure and a little scared. He smiled reassuringly and nodded towards her, she nodded still unsure and looked back towards her foes. As she did Kayal turned back to face the Breton woman leaning in close to her, "Do everything you can to keep her alive, enough of our people have died. You can handle these cowards with ease." He whispered before pulling back and looking towards their still surprisingly waiting foes.

"I think we'll take the second option mates. You know, the one were you lay down your weapons and jump out the window? Oh did you forget about that one?" Kayal asked sarcastically. The guards only glared at him angrilly, "Oh well, your choice then, guess we can do this the hard way too." Kayal said as he spun both his sword and dagger in his hands. He walked a little ways out to the left and the Redguard walked a little ways out to the right. Out of the corner of his eye Kayal eyed the Breton girl hoping she would do as he suggested. But soon his attention was stolen away when he heard the rapid footsteps of the approaching gaurdsmen.

Kayal looked to see the charging cutlass weilding guardsmen. He easily parried the blade and knocked it to the side exposing the guardmen's right side. After a kick stab with his knife to an area just below the armpit Kayal cut deeply into the guardsmen's side with his blade as he stepped past him. The guards men collapsed to the ground behind him quickly dying from his sustained wounds. The two remaining guardsmen looked at each other nervously before looking back to Kayal with an angry fire burning in their eyes.

The two guards rushed forward, Kayal lifted his blades as he awaited their attack. The mace weilder struck out at him but Kayal side stepped the attack only to quickly parry the attack from the sword and sheilded guard. Then the mace weilder came again with another heavy attack striking at Kayal but hitting nothing but air. Then Kayal stepped around the guard putting the mace weilder inbetween him and the sheilded guard. Then again the mace weilder struck out at him this time Kayal side stepped the attack but quickly rushed forward pluing his dagger through the guards forearm, holding the guards weapon hand in place as he drove his sword through the guards stomach. Just then the last guard thrusted his sword under the now dead guardsmens arm hoping to catch Kayal in it, but Kayal barely managed to dodge it. Then using the guardsmens body and tore his swords out and sent her falling atop the last guardsmens blade.

The guard's blade was knocked to the side as the body fell but he lifted his sheild to protect himself. Kayal dropped his dagger into his right hand so both his sword and his dagger were in the same hand, then he charged a lighting bolt spell in his left hand and shot it into the guardsmens leg. The guardsmen cried out as the waves of electricity shot through his body and he collapsed down onto one knee. With that he passed his knife back to his left hand and kicked at the guardsmen's sheild with enough force to knock the guard onto his back. The guard collapsed back onto the floor still with his sheild rasied to protect him, now having let go of his sword he clutched his sheild with both hands desperate to survive. kayal slashed the guard across his now exposed waist before hooking his dagger around the sheild and prying it away, this distracted the guard and kept him focused on keeping the sheild in place, but left him exposed to a stab under his sheild. Kayal took advatage of this and stabbed his blade under the sheild, into the guard's chest, ending the fight.

[Lucius Cypher]

Malakaus smirked as the captain dispatched the others with ease. She had more grace than he did, but he liked to think that this was all made possible thanks to his contributions. But no time to boast now, there was one more room to clear; the store room. That's where all the goods were at, as well as the armory. The captain ordered him to take point, which he smiled menacingly about. "With pleasure, Captain!" Wiping the blood off his blade Malakaus walked over to the door. He didn't even bother to open it convetionally; he placed one foot on it, gathered his breath, and knocked it down with his body weight.

Inside was at least ten of the crewmen. Not trained guards, just the crewmen who got themselves armed. They all were wearing light imperial armor and had swords or daggers at their waists. What was a bit more troublesome, however, was that they all had bows trained on the door. It might have been a problem were it anyone else but Malakaus. With his shield in front, he charged strait on in towards the closes archer. All of them let loose a volley of arrows, but those that didn't miss his Malakaus's shield harmlessly. Before they could notch another arrow Malakaus already ran over two of the ten archers, impaling one on the spikes of his shield, the second he trampled to death as he ran over the poor fellow. HE than slammed into the hull of the ship, taking over behind some crates. The other crewmen were in a bit of disarray now; they saw the orc coming crashing in and wanted to take him out ASAP, but they could not take their eyes off of the entrance in the event more pirates filled in. Some tried to rectify this solution by alternating, but their shaky, inexperienced hands made it all the more difficult for them to make a clear shot. Worse still was that Malakaus wasn't finished fighting.

Putting away his shield the orc took out another weapon of his; his repeating crossbow. Perhaps the only one of it's existence, and these sailors were about to have the honor of being the first to die by it. Inserting a box into the weapon, Malakaus popped out of the corner and took aim. He pulled the trigger, sending one arrow into the shoulder of an archer who fell to the ground screaming. Pumping the hand-grip underneath the weapon, Malakaus loaded a new bolt and pulled back the string in one motion. He fired and reloaded twice, hitting two more sailors, leaving five scrambling around to cover. When one arrow bounced off his helmet, Malakaus took cover and awaited for his allies to make their move.

[Ryonara]

Letting the two fighters take point Noelle got a potion out, this one for herself. Another mix of hers, "Lavender Flow", was made to accommodate her spellcasting. It would give her a larger pool of mana to draw energy from, as well as restore some lost energy. The breton man seemed to almost gotten himself into a spot of danger, but he seemed to be a cut of a different cloth compared to the rest of the crew. He didn't go down like a chump. "Guess I'll get to know him after all." Noelle smirked to herself as the trio entered another room. There was was six of the crew men ready to fight, each armed with a different assortment of weapons. But the fear in their eyes told her that they had little hopes in what was to come, and when they spoke it was less to intimidate the pirates, and more to uplift the crew. Too bad it wasn't going to be enough.

The other breton man told her and the redguard to take care of the three seamen on the right, while he takes care of the ones on the left. Hey, his funeral for trying to act tough. He went off to fight while the other three seamen braced themselves for battle. The Redguard warrior just about charged forth to attack herself when Noelle put a hand on her shoulder. "Wait and watch this!" Having put her blade away to cast her spells, Noelle shot off one spell that would cause the three seamen to go into a blind fury, attacking anyone near them. Another spell Noelle casted while touching the Redguard turned the both of them invisible, leaving the three sailors to kill each other. It was almost hilarious to see the three men at each other's throats, fighting more ferociously to kill each other than they would have to kill the pirates. Of the three, the one wielding two maces was the victor, the blood of his allies dripping from his cudgels. But just as the spell faded and the horror of his actions dawned upon him, he shook and spat out blood. Protruding from his chest was a steel cutlass from the redguard warrior who had sneaked a stab through his back. The redguard kicked the dead man off her blade as Noelle reappeared, seeing that the room was cleared out with little trouble. "That wasn't so tough. Now than, let's go see how the others are holding up, shall we?" Drawing her blade out, still soaking in the Lover's Spite, Noelle went to look for the next victim of their encounter.

[EliteCommander]

Sharee started to run in behind the Orc like last time, but as the arrows started to fly, she ducked back behind the doorway. She didn't have the same armor as the Orc did, and even untrained archers could hit a target at close range if there were ten of them firing at once. Glancing in, she could see that the Orc was being predictably tough; it wasn't as if the enemy could actually get to him through his armor with their swords. Maybe the bows if they could hit the right spot, but these guards didn't seem too accurate. In fact, from what Sharee saw, she doubted they were guards at all. They appeared to have absolutely no combat training by the way they were fighting.

Sharee looked down and reached into her satchel. In addition to her regular potions and poisons, there were two flasks in the pouch: one filled about a quarter of the way with a green liquid, and another with a bluish-black liquid. Taking the flask with the black liquid, she shook it until the liquid had turned to gas. It was a mixture of her own creation from a few different ingredients, most prominently void salts. Glancing around the corner once more, she judged that the Orc was far enough away from the surviving hostiles, probably. With a quick throw, she tossed the flask into the middle of the group of guards. It shattered as soon as it hit the ground, sending out a burst of lightning in all direction, enveloping each of the five guards and stopping just short of the Orc. Many other alchemists could probably create a similar effect with void salts, but she had figured out how to make it practical to carry around. The explosion would only occur if the mixture was struck with enough force while in gaseous form, and it would only become a gas for about thirty seconds after being shaken hard enough. It wasn't a perfect system, but it was safe enough that Sharee felt confident carrying it around.

Dashing inside, Sharee saw that the flask had done its job. The burst of lightning caused involuntary muscle spasms that sent each of the guards to the ground. A trained soldier could deal with the pain and get back up, but these were certainly not trained soldiers. Most were writhing in pain, and some had dropped their weapons. As a result, it was easy enough for her to move from one to the next, ending them with precision stabs to the heart or neck. Two of them tried to raise weapons against her, but were too disoriented to put up any real kind of defense. The last one had managed to bring himself up to his knees by the time Sharee reached him, but instead of drawing a blade, he held out his hands in front of him.

"No, wait, please! I surrend-" He began before being cut short by Sharee's blade sliding across his throat with a merciless expression on her face. She had no time for prisoners.

The room had been cleared, and if the other recruits had done their job, the rest of the deck should be as well. "Good job, now let's do another quick sweep of this deck, then head upstairs. If the upper deck is clear, and the sailors operating this vessel right now are semi-competent, then we should be in the clear. Otherwise, I'll need to finish what they can't."

---

After sweeping through both decks inside the ship, Sharee returned above decks to get a sense of where they were. They were already out of the harbor and could only barely see the land in the distance. Sharee had no doubt that Imperial ships were in pursuit, but as long as they kept up their speed for long enough, there was no way they were going to be caught while on the open ocean. Turning her attention to the crew, she could see that most of the sailors had settled into their roles. There were some who were standing around not doing much of anything, but they were mostly the fighters, who hadn't been ordered to do anything but fight. They had lost some of the recruits, so everyone would end up with some sort of daily duties to help maintain the vessel. Still, she would attempt to push most of that off on the noncombatants in the crew for morale's sake.

Sharee clapped her hands together twice to get everyone's attention, then proceeded to give her new orders. "Alright everyone, listen up. That was excellent work; everyone performed their duties to the letter and the plan went off without a hitch. You keep it up and you'll all be swimming in gold by the end of the month. It's not often that I give praise, so enjoy it while it lasts. Now, just because the fight's over doesn't mean we're done here. There are two main jobs left to be done. One, we have wounded to tend to. There should be a large room on the upper deck that we can use as an infirmary. Anyone with any kind of healing abilities, whether it be alchemy, magic, or just knowing your way around a bandage, get to work helping the injured. Everyone who isn't currently operating the ship, get to work on moving the wounded and gathering medical supplies. After that is taken care of, we need to move on to dealing with all these bodies. Strip them of anything valuable, then throw them overboard. I know some of you might want to give proper burials to your fallen comrades, but we don't have that luxury right now."

Walking towards the ship's stern, Sharee looked over the sailors manning the vessel. Their ages ranged anywhere from young to going on middle-aged and they were a mix of races, mostly Khajiit, Argonian, and Imperial. "Anyway, which one of you is the navigator?"

"That, uh, would be me." A deep, but nervous voice sounded behind her. She turned around and had to look up to look him in the eye. He was an Argonian, but by the muscles on him, she wondered if he was actually a scaly ogre. Strangely, he wasn't armed or armored at all and instead wore the same commoner's clothing as the other sailors. One of the most salient features about him, other than his size, was his bright pink scales and pink feathers on his head.

"Right, Khenarthi's Roost, an island south of Elsweyr, do you know where it is?" Sharee asked.

"Y-yes, captain." He responded, the nerves obvious in his voice.

"Well, get us there." She ordered.

"Of course, yes, right away." He said before turning and freezing up for a moment. "Ah, I need to get my tools, um, well we headed west out of Leyawiing so..." He muttered as he walked towards the helmsman, an Imperial male. "Helmsman, could you change our bearing twelve degrees south...please?"

Sharee sighed and shook her head for a moment before moving on to her next task, one she was actually looking forward to. The crew was already starting to get to work on the bodies, but there was another scared and confused individual in the crowd, this time one Sharee recognized. Allaina had boarded the ship along with the sailors, but had not really done much else. Someone had told her to pull on a rope while they were leaving port, so she did that until they told her to stop. Otherwise, she had just been waiting for Sharee. As Sharee approached the Bosmer girl, she put on a smile and placed a hand on her shoulder to help calm her down. "Ah, there you are Allaina. I have a special assignment for you. Go down to the bottom deck, to the big storage room at the end of the hall. They kept a whole bunch of weapons stored down there, but I also saw a few kegs. See if there is any alcohol in there; if so, bring a few back up top. Some mugs too, enough for most of the crew. After all the work is done, we're having a celebration."

Sharee saw out of the corner of her eye that two crewmen were walking past them, so she held out her hand to stop them. "You two, instead of the bodies, I want you to listen to Allaina here. Do whatever she says. Got it?" The crewmen nodded, so Sharee gave Allaina a grin and patted her on the shoulder. "Well, I'll leave you to it."

With all of her orders given, Sharee walked over to the bow of the ship and leaned forward onto the bannister as she looked out over the horizon. She had been hopeful that her plan would succeed, but until now, she didn't know for sure. The reality of her situation was starting to set in. Only a few hours prior, she had been nothing but an ambitious mercenary, but now, she was the captain of a frigate, with her own crew. She smiled, dragging one of her claws across the bannister of the ship. Her ship.

[Lucius Cypher]

Ah, menial labor. Something Malakaus was good at, unfortunately. He didn't like being put to grunt work, but he supposed that after all the fighting, they did need to make sure their ship didn't sink to the bottom of the ocean. The ship itself was in fairly good condition, so there wasn't anything in particular that he needed to fix. He just used his body to haul heavy objects and ropes around. He did take part of the looting, but what he mostly did was collect weaponry; once they hit land he'd sell or melt them down into ingots and see if he couldn't try to get some sort of forge on this boat. They had a small facility with an anvil, a grindstone, and a few other maintenance equipment, but if he was expected to making something from scratch, he'd need a good source of fire to heat the metals. A smelter would be nice, a forge even better.

Malakaus just set down a barrel of potatoes when he heard a disturbance towards the starboard of the ship. Picking up a potato to eat it, he saw that not all the sailors from before was dead. There was a heavily wounded nord with a sword backed into a corner by a bunch of the crew. However, none of the crew were armed, aside from maybe daggers. And this nord looked rather desperate. Malakaus had to act fast; he knew that the nord had no chance to escape, and neither did the nord. He'd likely try to go out fighting, wounding or killing more of the crew. Couldn't have that now. "Oi!" The nord shot a look at the orc, and got a face full of potato for it. The orc flung the root vegetable into the nord's face hard enough that it splattered all over his head and caused him to stumble. The orc than bull rushed the nord, tackling him off the deck and into the waters. The other crew men gave him cheers, but he quickly silenced it. "He was just one man! A wounded, weaken man! Honestly, having to wait for my intervention... Get back to work!" The cheers died down and there was some more grumbling. Probably didn't do himself any favors, but he wasn't exactly pleased that seven of their men didn't have the moxie to deal with a wounded guard. He hoped they shaped up into better warriors before long, because if those Imperials catch up to them, they crew won't have the advantage of surprise and fighting just mere sailors.

Malakaus went back to hauling things around, securing them to the deck. He just finished tying down a rope to the bow of the ship when he noticed the Sharee, the captain. "Good to see you captain. I hope the ships to your liking, we worked hard to get it for you."

[EliteCommander]

Sharee glanced over to the Orc behind her with a mildly annoyed expression. "Is there a reason you're not carrying wounded or dumping bodies?" She said, though she did not continue pressing on the matter. That would require her to care a lot more than she currently did.

"This is a suitable warship. I remember seeing some ballistas packed away in the hold when we were down there. Provided there are enough bolts, we should be able to hit our first target soon. I'll need to have all the ship's Imperial markings removed, change its name, but it's essentially ready. As for the crew, I don't pretend any of you did this out of the kindness of your hearts. There is one reason that any of you are here, and that is gold. Maybe adventure to some extent, but mostly gold. That is something I intend to provide. As I mentioned before, you all will be getting double the average share for the first target we hit. Honestly, I'll be getting practically nothing off of this one, but I consider it an investment. We're heading to Khanarthi's Roost. It's a small Khajiit settlement south of Elsweyr. Small place, not much there, except that its primary export is moon sugar. I have an idea of how to find a good target once we're there." Sharee explained, continuing to look out over the horizon. She would need to start helping dump the bodies soon enough. As much as she would have liked to push that off on the rest of the crew, they couldn't afford to have corpses laying around on their ship for long, not if they wanted clean food and fresh water.

[Ryonara]

Noelle was suppose to be helping care to the wounded, but she had... Other endeavors. All these bodies... Their hearts ripe for the taking. She was only interested in the humans; she didn't care for any elves or beast. She made sure no one threw off a body that she didn't get a heart from, as well as some skin just for some of her other mixtures. But it was mainly the heart she was interested in; it was vital to one of her most lethal poisons after all. After she had a nice box with thirty human hearts, she went to the lower decks to find something to put them in. She could whip up a preservative with some of the things from the kitchen, so after she got a empty barrel she poured the preservative and the hearts inside, for later. Now she needed to attend to the wounded.

"And... There. The wound should heal on it's own now, but you're life is not in danger. Now out with you." Dismissing a sailor who got stabbed in the chest Noelle took a seat on an open chair. She drank a simple magic potion to restore her energies. That was her tenth person she had to heal, and piled outside were some of the corpses of those who couldn't be saved. Out of respect (And so that their friends don't harass her about it) she didn't take their hearts. "What a bother. Maybe if these mean knew how to patch up their own injuries, we won't have so many corpses to deal with." She took a swig of Alto Wine as some strongmen came to move the corpses out to sea. Her work wasn't done yet however, and she imagined that someone topside is going to do something stupid soon. Before that would happen Noelle herself left the infirmary to take a better look around the ship. She really wanted to have a little botanical garden to grow her own reagents, but this ship didn't exactly have space for it. "Maybe if I could somehow gain access to the captain's quarters.... I wonder if the captain would allow a green house above deck...."

[EliteCommander]

Sharee turned around and let out a slightly annoyed sigh. The crew had worked surprisingly quickly on getting the wounded off the top deck...if only because their screaming was so annoying. She had stared off across the water long enough and really couldn't put off dealing with all the bodies any longer. The crew was already working on it and would probably end up dumping them all regardless, but she wasn't lazy enough that she was going to stand by and do nothing. Besides, a captain with a reputation for being lazy wouldn't keep a crew for too long. As she passed the Orc, she gave him two pats on the shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Anyway, it's time to deal with all these bodies. If even I can't get out of this, then neither can you. Besides, corpses do not do wonders for a ship's stores of food and clean water, so it's in everyone's best interest that we dump them as soon as possible."

The crew had already cleared the top deck of corpses, so Sharee proceeded down into the ship. The upper deck was where all the wounded currently were, so she decided it was probably a good idea to get it clear of corpses first. Near the base of the stairs in the hallway leading to the infirmary, she saw the body of one of the guards, a Dunmer man, leaned up against a wall, so she figured that was as good of a place as any to start. She started to go through any pouches or pockets she could find, though there really wasn't much to find. Three coins and a half-eaten leek were not exactly treasures.

[Ryonara]

Noelle was walking through the lower deck when she saw the captain pilfering a dead dunmer. Not unusual she supposed, but the dunmer didn't have much of value on his person. Noelle wondered if she should try to ask Sharee about adding the garden; she had noticed that Sharee used poisons during her swordplay so maybe she was a fellow alchemist. It would prove beneficial for the both of them. But just in case, Noelle cast a spell on her that made herself seem more appealing and charismatic (Personality +50). With the enchantment active Noelle sauntered towards the Argonian.

"Afternoon Captain. Looking for spoils eh?" Carrying a certain air of charisma around her, Noelle quickly began to try to charm Sharee. "Though to be honest, these sorts of vessels needs a more... Natural influence. Too man-made. I was thinking that next time we hit land, we should see if we could get a sort of alchemical garden built in. Not so much to feed the crew as much as to have a ready supply of potions and poisons at our hands. Don't you agree?"

[EliteCommander]

Sharee had given up on finding anything on the Dunmer by the time the Breton approached her. It was the one who had rushed into the fight ahead of her, the one who she tasked with clearing the upper deck along with Kayal. She seemed to get straight down to business, something Sharee appreciated. Strangely, when she looked up at her, she found her oddly...attractive, for some reason. She looked her over from head to toe, not quite sure where that was coming from, though she didn't dwell on it for long. Instead, she let go of the Dunmer and stood to her feet. "Yeah, don't let anyone say i don't do my part to maintain this vessel. We need to get rid of these bodies before they contaminate anything."

Reaching down to grab the corpse's shoulders, Sharee pointed to his feet. "Grab his legs, we'll talk on the way." She said, her tone making it clear that it was an order. As they started to make their way up the stairs, Sharee got around to answering her question. "I wouldn't exactly be against growing some plants on board, but there's a problem. Actually, a few problems. For one, you got to have space for it. The roof of the captain's cabin would work for that, but it does put it out in the open. We get into a fight, and there's a good chance of it being destroyed. The other, and honestly more important, problem is with logistics. We would need to start carrying water for both plants and people, since sea water would just end up killing the plants. If you can somehow find a way to solve all those problems, I'd say go right ahead. As it stands, though, we can really only afford to support a few choice plants. Still useful, but not exactly a sizable operation. A shame too, I would like to have a good source of plants for my poisons."

Once they reached the top deck, the two unceremoniously dumped the body into the ocean below. With that concluded, Sharee leaned up against the bannister, then tried to figure out why she was still staring at the Breton's form.

[The New Yorker]

Sarel let the wind dance across his ashen blue skin as he watched the waves cascading below flow upward into microcosmic jetstreams of fluvial action. Tiny water particles floated in mid air and brushed across the wooden deck only to flow back downward and join their brothers in the continuous universe that was the ocean. Sarel could only imagine the vibrant life that echoed itself below the waves, performing for no one but themselves, the truest understanding of nature was to be found under the ocean, Sarel thought. It was times like those where Sarel wondered if he were cut out to be a scientist. His attention was brought back to the deck when Share came up, ordering people to get the bodies off deck. Sarel had almost forgotten that the deck was slick with the hot blood of their enemies and that the moonlights only served to help him see the mounds of bodies pilled up around the edges like clumps of spider eggs.

Sarel threw a few of the bodies off board by himself, the weapons they carried were all they really had, and they were tossed to the bloody ground. After a few moments the deck actually looked livable. Sarel tuned to a tap on his shoulder, he found Serge’s smiling face to greet him.

“I didn’t get to say when I saw you on the docks, It’s a damn pleasure to see you!” The Dunmer said, his hand resting on his friends shoulder.

“Same to you.”

“And what made you change your mind?”

“Other than the fact that the Empire was ready to place my head on the block?” Serge’s smile spoke of the trueness of the statement. Sarel took the next few moments to think about what Serge had possibly done to deserve execution. “I won’t let a chance at gold slip away that easily” the Breton said finally.

“But you’re a Breton, man!” Sarel quipped. “What of your honor, your integrity?”

“Oh, damn that nonsense and damn the Empire while you’re at it.” Serge responded quickly.

“What was the saying at Sentinel? Honors do…” Sarel snapped his fingers as he searched his decaying memory.

“’Honor is as honor does…’”

“’and Bretons do.’” They completed together, Sarel with more enthusiasm than Serge.

“Yep, I don’t think I have to tell you that that’s a load of bullocks.” The Breton said, he leaned against the bannister.

“I don’t know, I generally find some scrupulousness in national sayings like that.” Sarel said easily, he too taking a leaning position on the bannister, his back facing the rest of the ship.

“Don’t tell me you’re a nationalist Dunmer? I never thought I’d see one of those in this day and age.”

“Hardly. That’d be a sight to see. Well, it’s a damn walking oxymoron is what it is.”

Serge chuckled heartily, offered Sarel a sip from a flask he conjured from seemingly nowhere. Sarel accepted, then noticed Sharee walking near him holding a corpse. Sarel tapped his Breton companion on the shoulder and pointed at the Argonian.

“Recognize anyone?” he asked playfully.

“Oh, the nine. What an interesting transformation.” Serge noted before putting his flask away.

“There’s a lot more interesting things about her other than her uncanny ability to change her appearance.” Sarel said lowly, making sure Sharee couldn’t overhear him, as he spoke he thought about her abilities in the bed and he couldn’t figure out a way to say the words without drawing attention to that. To cover it up he spoke again, “She also happens to be the captain. I should introduce you.” Sarel walked toward the Argonian woman and gestured for Serge to follow.

“If it isn’t too much trouble.” Serge joked as he followed.

Sarel approached easily, he let the corpse she was carrying flop effortlessly into the deep. “Sharee,” he said unassumingly, “I’d like to introduce you to someone. Actually, you might already know him. This is Serge Yncan. Once an Imperial officer, he is now a member of this crew. He is the one you can thank for getting this ship off the docks.” Sarel stepped aside and leaned on a crate of oranges.

“A pleasure to meet you, captain. My sword and my brain are fatefully at your service.” And then he bowed, as if joking.

[Lucius Cypher]

Malakaus simply kept his mouth shut as Sharee spoke to him. Quite a feisty one, wasn't she? He's seen her type back when he ran with the bandits. She had the drive, time would tell if she had the charisma to keep this crew together. Gold was good, but anyone could have enough gold to buy them out. What she needed to try to make within the crew was some genuine loyalty; if their alliance was only being made by the coin, than she's in trouble if they run into a sufficiently wealthy noble. Even Malakaus wouldn't stick by her side if half their crew changes over to the highest bidder. But for now, his axe was hers.

After Sharee left Malakaus lipped his chops. She mentioned that their next mark was a small Khajiit settlement south of Elsweyr. Moon Sugar would be their main export, and where there was moon sugar, there was skooma. "Oh... Sweet skooma...." Malakaus had himself a little bit yesterday when he decided that he would be part of this adventure. Sure, it would have been more useful taking it before he started the raid, but he didn't want to get caught before they even set sail. Shaking at the thought of the good stuff, he also remembered Sharee saying something about balaistas down below. He vaguely remembered seeing the devices covered in a tarp, but that was while he was moving bodies. They would be useful however, so he left the deck and went down below, to see what sort of repairs he'd need to do with their siege weapons.

The turn out wasn't as great as Malakus had hoped. Six balaistas total, three on starboard and three on port. Each one had a barrel of large bolts for them, but the rust and dust on the weapons told Malakus that this warship hasn't seen a lot of war. He'd have to spend some time buffing the metal and treating the wood, might even have to replace some parts all together. "Heh. Nothing I can't handle." Cracking his neck and knuckles, Malakaus picked up some tools nearby and got to work.