[IC] Golden Age of Piracy: Caribbean 1655 (OOC)

[Assallya]

The whore continued to smile and again was presented with a conundrum. Some men appreciate a woman who acted as such, were demure and obedient. Others preferred those with more fire. How she sat would speak volumes about her character, or at least the character she'd choose to adopt for this particular encounter. Now which was more likely to result in more coin slipping her way. It was the man's lack of footwear that decided her. A true gentleman would never be so comfortable in such a state. Grasping one of the rickety chairs on lifting it, she twisted it backwards and straddled it like a man would a mighty steed. It bunched up her skirts between her legs and put something of a barrier between herself and the three sailors but at the same time her yawning legs and suggestive posturing were quite brazen. Lucy, however, pretended not to notice.

"Hulloo Cap'n Cris," she greeted him cheerily and then delivered a nod to his fellows, "Mathews. Henry."

Did she give Mathews an extra bit of a look, a subtle twist of an eyebrow? No, that must have been their imagination.

Lucy then had to consider where next to take the conversation. She could be blunt. She knew the names of several pirate captains who would likely have loot to sell off. That was, after all, why most merchants came to Tortuga. It was either the tobacco or the loot. That, she decided could come later. For now it was just important to be amiable.

"Why aren't you all a bunch of strapping young bootstraps," she commented as she leaned forwards onto two chair legs, "Going to be in town long?"

[TheyMostlyComeAtNight]

Cris and Henry both gave her a long appraising look as she sat down, their approval given in the slight widening of smiles.
Mathews, face practically beetroot stammered out
"W..we're leavi-"
Cris cut in over him, giving him a look that promised words later.
"We'll be staying here for a while, heard there's some... interesting jobs going "
Henry ran his hand through his greying-coppery hair as he looked at all the empty bottles. "looks like it be my round"
He set some coin on the table and grinning at Cris spoke to Lucy. "Once you finish that"
he nodded to her drink "I do be willing to buy you another."
Cris's cocked an eyebrow at the challenging look, he shifted just ever so casually letting the click of coins from his pocket speak for him.
"As you will Henry, As you will"

[Assallya]

"Thank ye," Lucy said, "nothin' like wettin' the ol' whistle after a long day."

Lucy took herself a swig of the rum and made a show of her enjoyment of it with a throat "ah" and stroking her neck with long slender fingers. The additional theater had a two fold purpose. In addition to keeping all eyes on her and the men interested it also allowed her to slow down the consumption of spirits. She wasn't particularly smart but she'd learned that particular lesson the hard way. It wasn't uncommon for sailors to "liquor up a salty wench" as they called it and earn a little free entertainment. She'd awoken in an alley more than once with her skirts up over her head.

"Ye gents just drop anchor?"

[Jangel13]

as Angelo kept track of his course towards Santiago he heard the man in the crows nest call out "storm on the port side! looks like a big one!" Angelo instantly went to work measuring everything on his maps, if the storm was as bad as the crewman said it was then it wouldn't be possible to get through even if the ship was new its armor wouldn't last long in a storm, unfortunately Angelo never got around to getting a shipwright to join the crew so if they took to much damage they wouldn't be able to make it to Santiago. Angelo ran outside to see the storm itself and it looked like a hurricane headed straight for us, it would be stupid to think we could get through that unscathed so instead angelo made a call "cancel the trip men! full sails to the starboard bow! get us back to Tortuga before the storms gets us!" Angelo called out as men scrambled and the alarm bell was being rung to get everyone on deck and moving, we couldn't get caught in that storm otherwise we would be destroyed in a matter of minutes, at least in Tortuga he would be able to guarantee the safety of his men the ship would still be damaged however if it was docked in Tortuga it would be fix a lot quicker and easier

[Click This]

“Captain, I must protest. It’s too dangerous. As first officer, I should be the one to conduct the mission.”

The two senior most officers of the ship were seated in the captain’s cabin. The seas were rougher than earlier. It was not significantly worse, but enough for the first lieutenant to steady his cup of tea as the vessel dipped into a wave. Fir Hampshire sat at her desk, arms folded and legs crossed. She took a silent sip of her tea, before looking askew at Mr. Hudson.

The plan to investigate Tortuga had produced a fair bit of rebuttal from her first officer ever since she announced it earlier in the week. Briefly outlining the plan, the orders entailed sailing the captured raider into Tortuga, under Hampshire’s command to gather intelligence for an assault in the near future. The HMS Endymion would keep just out of sight over the horizon to provide ancillary support if needed.

”Alright,” she began, looking him in the eye. “I’ll place you on the mission. It would indeed be a waste of an opportunity to distinguish yourself if you stayed aboard.”

“I’m glad you’ve reconsi—“

“However, I will still be commanding our little foray into Tortuga. Robert, we’re not sailing into the Spanish fleet. Tortuga may be unlawful and unruly, but it is a functional town. Money and power are still the law of the land, and as the commanding officer, it would be better to see their current state of affairs firsthand. No issues should arise as long as you don’t look like a fool. My decision is final; let’s not ruin tea over it.”

Robert could only sigh. He was still mulling over the issue, but he knew as a friend and officer, anything further would be pointless.

“Alright,” he said, moving on. “Mr. Smith says we’ll be seeing gale-like conditions by tomorrow. We may have a hurricane on our hands.”

Fir nodded. She hadn’t been on deck since morning, but she suspected as much from the steadily rising seas and the sound of the wind against the glass panes of her cabin. She had already given it some thought, and in fact found the situation beneficial to her cause. Normally, ships would head out to sea to ride out a storm, but Tortuga provided an exceptional safe harbor due to its geographic features. Any captain worth his salt would realize this and make for port rather than riding out the hurricane at sea. If they were to sail in at this time, they would likely have a better impression of number of pirates operating in the area. With this in mind, she decided to accelerate the time schedule for the plan.

“Tell Mr. Gibson to signal the Orient Fortune to come alongside.”

And as it was, on the next day, a small sloop entered Tortuga under a cloak of heavy rain, wind, and all manner of high waves.

[Kho]

Bill O'Reilly watched with interest as the sloop came in to dock. It wasn't abnormal for captains with half their wits about them to come into the relative safety of Tortuga's docks when such a terrible storm struck. God only knew how many foolish vessels would go down in the night and as the storm went on. Time passed and Bill watched. He had seen some damn organised pirates, looters and smugglers in his time, but never had he seen such organisation and discipline. Heck, he couldn't even hear them bantering, though that might have just been the storm being too loud and the rain drowning out their voices.

He couldn't help but wonder, however, to whom the ship belonged. There was always good money to be had if one knew where to sell information, and news about new captains and pirates always fetched a pretty penny in the underground, particularly if you could hint at when they'll be setting off to loot and when they should be coming back - looting looters could only mean more money for less after all.

Bill slowly made his way down to the docks, his long hair peaking out from under the wide-brimmed hat he wore.
"Ahoy there mates," he approached a few of the sailors who appeared to be finished with their duties and taking a small breather, "'tis be fine weather to be coming into dock, eh? How was't? Good huntin' this time around?" allowed himself to survey the small vessel as he waited for their response. It was very nice, and didn't look like it had seen much battle - of what he could see in the darkness anyway. He might want to stick with this lot for a bit, their next destination would probably be the tavern, and tongues always loosened with a bit of drink...

Not too far away, a - rather dunk - companion of Bill's happened to be sitting around in just such a tavern, staring intently at the back of a red-headed woman who had made herself comfortable round a table with some sailors.
"Ya know..." he muttered loudly as he got up, more to himself than anyone in particular, "if ya're lookin' for some coin'n a bit a fuuun..." he stumbled towards the table, falling into the rather flustered sailor before righting himself again, "I can give a lotta both!" he shoved an empty bottle into the hand of the same sailor (Mathews he thought they'd called him) grabbing a chair from a half empty table and making himself comfortable between the red head and Mathews, "ya know that dontcha Lucy-loo? Ya promised me last time there ain't no man for ya but me, only so many times I can forgive ya, ya know?"

[TheyMostlyComeAtNight]

A heavy gust of wind whipped over the inn and as the ceiling rattled disconcertingly Cris and Henry looked up, alarm written across their faces. Cris stood up and gestured for Henry to get up aswell.

"Sorry to say we have to leave" the inn shook as another gust of wind flew through the streets of Tortuga. "Now"
He grabbed Mathews shoulder but upon finding him too far in his cups to be useful let him go.
He looked over to Lucy "Give this one a good night would ya?" he threw some coins onto the table and then bolted for the door, Henry close on his tail.

Outside rain and wind filled the air making it impossible to see far down the street.
"If we get separated meet at the boat!" he shouted into the wind, Henry gestured agreement and they ran off into the storm.

[Joegreenbeen]

"Oh my," Jim muttered to himself as he heard the wind. He hadn't have a coin to his name, so there was no way he could stay here for the night. "Well," he began as he stood up from the chair he'd been in, trying to find a way to finish his task, "I guess it's time to go.". He quickly stood up and headed towards the door, prepping himself to go out in the storm. It was going to be a long night in this weather. As soon Jim took a step out the door, he was pushed back by a gust of wind, and he had to steady himself before he could push on towards the docks. As he was persevering through the harsh weather he saw two buildings with a gap between each other, one of the building's roofs was a bit farther out than most and he quickly took shelter. As he was sitting their, his hands on his knees, out of breath, he heard something move in the shadows down the alley. Jim hurriedly stood up in a panic, Tortuga was a hub for criminals and he should have been more weary entering a dark nook like he did. He quickly grabbed his dagger from his belt, holding it in his right hand like a mini sword. Suddenly, he was hit in the jaw with the but of a dagger as two men came out of the shadows, both holding rust old daggers of their own in their hands. Even though Jim's well-taken-care of dagger was easily a superior weapon to the two thieves' daggers, they obviously had a better handle on how to use them then he did. "Well," the pirate began, rubbing his jaw and getting into a combative stance, " I don't think you'll want to mess with me boys. I have a couple of people who wouldn't be happy to hear that you took the life of me. Besides, I don't have anything worth taking.".

"Well," one of the thieves, a taller man with dark skin and hair, replied in a mocking tone, " I think we want to mess wit' you. No 'un will know who killed you. Besides, you have such a nice dagger.". With that he left his partner's side and charged the pirate his dagger ready to rip into his prey's stomach. Jim clumsily side stepped the man, almost tripping in the process. He was quick to recover, though, and he kicked out at the thief. He connecting with the thief's ribs and sent the man sprawling. In the sudden action, Jim forgot to pay attention to the other man and received a deep cut in the in his right arm, he quickly elbowed his attacker in the face. Jim called out as a sudden pain shot through his cut arm on contact with the mans face. In anger, he took his dagger in his other hand and rammed it into the other mans shoulder, in jurying him, but not killing. After that he gave the second thief a kick too, his weapons still lodged into his attackers shoulder.

As he began to examine his arm and clear his mind in the brief second he had before his attackers retaliated, he heard voices. In the wind, he soon began to recognize them as Cris and Henry's, two people he overheard talking in the bar. Jim took a chance and called out, "Cris, Henry! I need help!" into the storm, hoping that they would think he was a friend and that they would come to his aid. Hopefully, the pirate thought, they wouldn't try to attack him after the thieves were taken care of. Tortuga wasn't a safe place.

[Jangel13]

Angelo stayed on deck with his men calling out orders "move men! I don't want to see anyone slacking off or we're all going to be swimming in davy jone's locker!" Angelo called out as every man available went to work hoisting the sails as the man in the crows nest called out "rouge wave captain! larbort bow!" he screamed out and although we weren't in the storm the rouge waves being produced from said storm were able to reach us as Angelo called out for his shipmate to turn opposed of the larbort bow to ride the rouge wave and avoid damage as the ship turned the rouge wave got closer until it finally got to the ship but thankfully the ship was turned in the right direction and the ship suffered minimal damage as a result but that was all the more reason to get back to Tortuga during this time Angelo went back to his quarters to grab his maps and compass just in case the storm would do damage to the ship while they made port.
after an hour of sailing back they finally made it back to Tortuga and Angelo called out "men dock the ship tighter then a tavern wench! if this ship sinks so does our chance for further plunder!" Angelo called out as the men went to work tying down the ship and tying up the sails once Angelo believed the ship was secured enough and he had his maps he called out "into the tavern to avoid the storm!" he called out as the men and himself ran through the street which would usually be covered in the debauchery of women selling their bodies to the men that would pay for it or the men singing merrily of sea shanties grew silent other then the noise of the wind banging the wood of the doors and windows as they made their way into the closest tavern to stay

[Assallya]

"Wait? Wot?" Lucy said, the floor nearly dropping out from under her as two of three men just got up and walked out with next to no warning and no apparent cause. Nobody had come in and spoken with them. No one had threatened the three or otherwise interacted with them. They had simply decided to leave, their drinks unfinished. People simply just didn't do that. Sailors didn't leave rum unpartaken either.

It left her wondering what she had said or done to offend them.

Then the captain tossed several coin on the table, requesting that Lucy take care of their man and walked out. That would have been good easy money for Lucy if it hadn't been for the other man the captain had simply ignored. The man, in his drunken stupor, took it that the coin was meant for him and that she should show Lucy a good time with it and thanked Cris in a garbled mumble since he didn't want to take his eyes from his red headed vixen. He scooped up the coin as if it were meant for him and pocketed it for paying Lucy later. If he even remembered that was.

"Oi! That ain't what 'e mea-" Lucy began to complain before being cut off.

She squealed as his hands clamped down on her hips and lifted her up into the air. Lucy's bare feet kicked a foot off the floor as he lifted her up and tossed her over his shoulder, much to the amusement of several of the sailors in the establishment. Some hollered, others cajoled at the sight of her red curls cascading down the drunkard's back as he carried her kicking form towards the threshold and towards the stormy streets.

[TheyMostlyComeAtNight]

"Cris, Henry, I need help!"

Cris slid to a stop, Henry leaning on his knees breathing heavily peered through the rain in the direction the cry had come from.
"Who the blaz-" Cris motioned for quite cutting Henry off, he drew his cutlass, Henry reached into his heavy jacket pulling out a heavy boarding axe. They cautiously walked down the street searching for the source of the cry. Henry gestured that he had found something, he was glancing down an alley between two buildings. Cris on the other side of the street, moved so that he could see down the alley. There were three men, each in varying states of upset. The tattered old clothing of two of the men gave them away for gutter rats, the other perhaps a sailor. It was no great riddle, but peering through the gloom he did not recognize the man that must have called for help, ah well perhaps he had rich friends and he'd already unsheathed the cutlass.

He brandished the cutlass in the air above his head, and as he charged bellowed "AIRSPRITE!"
he entered the alley Henry close on his heel shouting "AIRSPRITE AND C'PTAIN CRIS!"
The reaction of the gutter rats was comical to behold, the one with a dagger in his shoulder wrenched himself away from the better dressed man and sprinted off down the street, the other tripped and landed face first on the hard ground, he scrambled onto his feet and made after his friend. That left the other man, Cris looked him up and down noting the wound he'd taken. "I know you?"
Henry stood back a bit axe still at the ready.

[Click This]

Captain Hampshire stood at the stern of the small sloop as her crew worked on securing the vessel’s mooring lines. The wind and rain was deafening, such that orders had to shouted at absurd volumes to even be heard. Like the rest of her crew, Fir had wrapped herself in a heavy cloak to protect herself from the elements. She had selected fifty of the most able crew from the HMS Endymion for this endeavor. She trusted these men to their full capacity to not incapacitate themselves or desert—they were the best men aboard. Of course, that also meant a significant loss in fighting power and productivity aboard the HMS Endymion, but she trusted her second officer to deal with any situations that might rise aboard the frigate.

From her vantage point, she was able to see the silhouettes of the town and other ships through the fog and heavy rain. The small vessel rocked heavily, and she could see the same for the other vessels as the gray forms of their masts crisscrossed each other. She concluded it would probably be best for the better part of the crew to stay aboard and mind the boat, so to speak. An unmanned vessel in this weather would be disaster, and the more men out of the way of temptation and scrutiny, the better.

“Mr. Hudson! Have we secured the mooring line?” Fir’s call into the wind seemed almost futile, but the first officer managed to hear her shout and trudged his way over to the quarterdeck.

“Secured nice and tight, captain. You won’t have to worry about any waves dashing us against the piers.”

Fir nodded in acknowledgement, before waving to two midshipmen and the ship’s boatswain. “Very good. Robert, you’re with me. Mr. Clark, Mr. Smith, and Reeves—You too. We are heading into town. Remember now, we are privateers, of French import, pursuing English shipping. I hope you’ve practiced your French well.”

Shortly after descending from the ship’s ladder with her entourage, they were met by a peculiar long-haired pirate on the dock. He seemed keen and his wits about him –He was clearly watching as the sloop came into port. As the captain expected, he began to ask questions.

Captain Hampshire frowned, and gave a nonchalant shrug. “Hello, there. Weather’s a shame, really. We caught an old brig with a bit of rum for cargo. Then this fine weather here forced us to port.”

She shrugged again, with a shake of her head to emphasize her disappointment.

“We’re heading to the tavern, if you’d like to come with us. The dock isn’t a fine place to talk in this weather, after all.”

[Kho]

“We’re heading to the tavern, if you’d like to come with us. The dock isn’t a fine place to talk in this weather, after all.” Upon closer inspection of the speaker, Bill was rather surprised to find it was a woman, and the way she spoke suggested, beyond a doubt, that she was the captain. Or if she wasn’t, then she was certainly a senior member of the crew by the way the others were acting around her.

“Aye, I agree, nothing better than a nice bit of ale, a warm fire and good company in this kind of weather. Would gladly join ya, and perhaps we could even discuss potential…business…for this rum you’ve…uh…earned.” Bill turned as the crew began heading out, he glanced back at the lady and flashed a friendly smile, “name’s Bill by the way, and what’s this fine lady’s name if I may be so brave as to as- ” before he finished his sentence, a rather large group of men appeared before them, stampeding off to wherever they were headed.

“Into the tavern to avoid the storm!” one of them shouted, before running head first into one of the crew members Bill had just become acquainted with.

“Hey you! Watch it!” he growled. The crew member was helped up quickly, but the other seemed rather dazed. Inspecting him more closely, Bill’s eagle eyes fixed the man’s appearance to memory. A tall man, about six foot, with short, obsidian black hair which barely reached his eyes – which were a rather shocking green. He had a well-trimmed moustache, and his pot belly did not seem to take away from the apparent strength in his arms. A few of the men who had been running with him stopped and we calling out to him.

“Cap’n Angelo, y’alright? That man givin’ ya trouble?” Bill ignored them and extended a hand to help him up.

“Angelo, eh? And a captain too? You must be headed to the tavern too, right? Right where we’re off to, might as well join us methinks.” Helping the man up, Bill turned back to the others and they continued their brisk walk through the rain.

“Yeah, so as I was sayin’, what shall I be callin’ you b- ” once more, before he finished his sentence, Bill stopped abruptly. Having reached the door of the tavern, he was surprised to find himself face to face with William – or Will as he preferred to be known. And he had what was clearly a prostitute over his shoulder – he could just about see the red hair of what was undoubtedly Lucy, Will’s most recent ‘eternal love’. And he looked half drunk.

“Will? What are you doing?” upon hearing Bill’s voice, Will immediately perked up, all drunkenness left him and what one could have, perhaps, mistaken for fear lit up in his eyes.
“Uh, nothin’, just, uh…helpin’ out this lady…she…fell down…” Bill raised an eyebrow, he was clearly not falling for it. He’d told the imbecile to wait quietly for his return, and now he’d made a ruckus.

“Put ‘er down you blundering buffoon! And give ‘er somethin’ for the trouble you’ve caused.” shaking his head, Bill walked past the tall man and into the tavern.

Outside, as the others walked in, Will put Lucy down reluctantly.
“Uh…Bill said I should give ya somethin’…do you reckon a kiss is fine?” he grinned mischievously at the redhead, his recently cleaned, brilliant yellow teeth – and one decaying to the right – showing in all their glory.

[Jangel13]

Angelo ran towards the tavern but upon hearing his name being called out he suited seeing a man that is extending a hand to help him Angelo grabbed his hand getting himself up "I don't see why not" Angelo nodding to the man, why not go to the tavern together watching him curiously wondering what the problem was with these two men that was keeping them from being in the tavern to get safe from the storm itself.