Trouble on the Seas

A small group of adventurers had been thrown together, seemingly by circumstance, on a humble merchant vessel.  Unbeknownst to most of its passengers and crew, the Mithril Flower was carrying some precious cargo.  The adventurers on that boat, not yet knowing they're meant to work together, are aboard for various reasons -- some traveling, others hired help, some on an unrelated job, and others trying to transport their own valued goods.  The Mithril Flower boasted a few well trained guards, but not many, and the seas through which it was traveling was known for being hazardous with pirates.  Of course, there would be trouble -- travel was rarely simple.

So... who was on the boat, then?

((Open invite for some people to join in on some pirate high seas high fantasy slapstick shenanigans, complete with a fair bit of adversity for the protagonists but with a really sweet payoff, I'm hoping.  Who would like to play?))

The weather might have made for calm sailing that day, but any passengers near their cabin might have heard the storm that Irlana and Jessica were cooking up in bed. Boards creaked, screams were heard, if it didn't sound quite like a storm at sea, at least it sounded like the loudest poltergeist anyone had ever imagined. The two women had saved money by travelling in a tiny cabin, of the kind usually reserved for an officer of just high enough rank to have single quarters. As the room was designed for one, both buxom women were crammed into one tiny bunk, and the playful Irlana had decided to make the best of it. Jessica was certainly on the same page today, although yesterday morning she had been complaining about trying to sleep in such cramped conditions.

The noise had started early enough in the morning that it woke some of the crew from the prior shift. It was now nearing noon, and and exhausted Jessica sat up awkwardly on the small cot, holding on to Irlana to keep her balance. "It must be late, we should get up." Irlana, not raising her head cooed sensuously, "Why? We have everything we need right here." "Well," Jessica joked, "you might be some salty dog who sailed from Almerida, and before that, from who knows where, but this is my first sea journey, and I want to get as much as possible out of it. Let's get dressed and go above decks."

"Oh, alright," Irlana said, stroking Jessica's hair. "But tonight, after dinner, you're mine again!" Jessica climbed up first, grabbing her red robes from the hook across the closet-sized room. "It's warm enough, I won't need my overrobe today." Irlana nodded as Jessica slipped the dress on, and sat on the bed to make room while she stood up and pulled on her accustomed purple dress. Unlike Jessica, she had packed a small bag of practical clothes as well, but her purple dress was a sort of trademark, or at least she intended it as such.

So attired, they left their cabin and climbed the ladder into the outside air. Irlana felt the breeze in her hair and smiled as she watched Jessica squinting, her eyes adjusting to the sunlight. It was a beautiful day to be at sea, she thought, but ocean weather can be notoriously capricious.

Rosa was up bright and early, the sea itself seeming to roll in her veins. The rocking of the boat and swelling of the ocean was familiar to her, and filled her with a jittery sort of energy that she couldn't quite contain. The ship was in well enough shape, but Rosa had to go around and take a look for herself; to get a better feel for the vessel she was on. After all, she'd have her own ship someday- she needed to see as many different types as she could.

Rosa had heard tell of pirates in these waters, and though she was aiming to one day add to that problem (and likely had in the past, meaning she kept her head down near the guards) she was simply hoping to get to the port at the end of the journey, where there was supposed to be need for reliable deckhands and plenty of trade, meaning lots of potential wealth for a sailor/scoundrel such as herself. Feeling a splash of seawater dark across her dark slacks, white blouse, and brown skin, smiling as the familiar rushing air filled her lungs.

((excellent work on the boat, Myds! I'll be posting the official start of this thread hopefully later tonight or tomorrow night, so I just wanted to give one last call for whomever wanted to sign up for this adventure!))

Jallan sat on a crate, pale and unhappy. It turned out, the mighty sword master hated the ocean.

She hadn't even known this when she'd signed up to help defend this boat from possible attacks. She'd never ridden a boat except for short Ferry rides. After several hours on the open ocean she found herself hopelessly sick. She hoped that if pirates found them she'd be able to prove her skill, rather then just vomit. With luck she'd get her sea legs soon, or she may be useless in any battle...

Seline sat, surveying the Sea under her decorative shade umbrella. She sat a fine lacquered chair which she'd had the deckhands lash down to the deck. They had recommended against exposing such a fine chair to the salty sea air, advice Seline had pointedly ignored. She would NOT be told what to do by such low class sailors! She was here to protect the cargo. In her mind that put her far above these petty men!

Seline caught many eyes upon her. The crew was marveling at her exotic dark beauty. She pointedly ignored this as well, though couldn't prevent herself from smiling a bit. She sat, staring over the horizon for other ships. Pirates did seem a real threat out here, and one worth taking seriously, even for a mage of her caliber.

"BLEH!" Seline's face scrunched in disgust. She looked to the woman who was still vomiting, leaning over the railing. Some sort of sword master supposedly, though what kind of sword master got sea sick? Seline rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the disgusting display...

"Alright, everyone, stay calm," barked out the charismatic captain of the Mithril Flower, a striking woman by the name of Jilena.  Her sun-kissed skin gleamed in the afternoon sun.  A hand rested on the hilt of her cutlass which idly dangled from her thick belt, and she struck a pose that made her skintight leather breeches very flattering on her curves.  Her exotic, dark eyes lingered over the gathering crew and whatever passengers were curious enough to come closer. Dark chestnut hair that usually hung just past her shoulders fluttered in sea wind, picturesque.

"We've spotted pirate sails on the horizon," she began confidently.  "The Mithril Flower is one of the fastest ships in this sea, and can outrun any pirate vessel.  I know because this ship used to make a good living off of mere passenger vessels by beating all the others to the prize," she smirked, a casual allusion to the illegitimate life she used to lead.

"In the unlikely event that they somehow catch us..." she began, rolling her eyes and shifting her weight from one leg to the other.  "I want anyone who doesn't feel like fighting pirates to go below deck.  If you can swing a sword or throw a spell, feel free to stay topside and ensure your continued freedom.  But don't bother trying to fight if you're going to panic and hit one of my crew... got it?"  She turned specifically to her crew, next.

"You know how we deal with this.  Get to it!" she barked, gesturing dramatically and shouting out nautical terms that were lost on most of the passengers and may as well have been gibberish.

As dozens of passengers scurried below deck, murmuring concerns, Jilena narrowed her eyes and raised a spyglass towards the horizon.  Squinting into the primitive telescope, Jilena sighed and murmured.

"They're using magic, that's for sure.  Powerful sorcery, by the look of it.  I told you we should've hired a mage," the captain said to a similarly exotic, attractive woman at her side.  Zetana stood with her arms folded, her thick lips pursed and her kohl-lined eyes narrowed skeptically. She was dressed simply as well, in a rust-brown tunic that barely contained her prominent chest, but armed with a nimble-looking sword at her side.

"We probably have a mage on this boat," she responded cooly in her thick, implacable accent.  "Hey!" she shouted suddenly to the passengers who had remained.

"Any of you have magic that can make a boat go faster?" she shouted matter-of-factly.

"And, if you're going to fight, let's have a look at you now.  I am Zetana, first mate, let us see the volunteers..."

Jessica stepped forward, Irlana right behind her.  "My name is Jessica, and I'm a mage.  I can't make us go any faster conventionally, because I conjure fire, which might be a dangerous thing on a ship.  But in small doses, it might be able to help."  She could see Zetana looking over her red robes, and she wondered if she recognized the uniform of the Pyromancer's Academy.  "If she did, would it make her respect me more?" she thought to herself, "or would she think I'm just another schoolgirl out of her depth?"

Irlana was already talking a  mile a minute with her colonial dialect Almeridan accent.  "In Almerida they called me Irlana Garcia Gomez de Colonia de Honduragua, but I don't really know if my parents had all those names.  I think they made them up to pretend I fit nicely into their society.  You can just call me Irlana, the Magnificent.  And I can fight.  Boy, can I fight." she held up her wand, to show it, "With this thing, I can cast some spells." "Thing!  Thing!" said a disgusted male voice from the wand.  "Oh, shut up," she continued, "I'm not sure I can make us go faster...the magic exerts force, and a force coming from the deck to the sails may not really amount in any net gain of velocity."  "THING, she calls me.  I may just refuse to cast spells, now...maybe I'll just become a fancy hairstick...or one of those Eastern eating utensils," the wand continued.  "WILL YOU BE QUIET?!  I'M TRYING TO TALK TO THE CREW!"  Irlana coughed, embarassed at her outburst, then turning back toward Zetana, she continued, in her normal tone and volume, "And without this THING, I can fight rather well."  One more sound came from the wand.  It resembled, "Harumph."

The captain quirked a brow, standing next to her first mate and folding her arms, feet at shoulder width. She gave Irlana and Jessica a long, appraising look, before nodding and looking at Zetana. The two exchanged a few quiet words, whispering and nodding as they looked between the pair that had stepped forth and the rest of the gathered passengers. Jessica could've sworn she heard or saw the words mouthed: "Lovers... arena..." and plenty of other things she couldn't quite make out but that seemed to be both suggestive and intriguing to the people muttering them.

At length, Jilenna stepped forth and nodded to Irlana and Jessica. "You two, if you perform as you claim, you'll have earned more than your passage," she said enigmatically. Glancing over everyone's heads, she narrowed her eyes at the horizon again, her dark expression suggesting the inevitability of the fight ahead.

"Zetana, come back to me as soon as you see just whose sails those are," Jilena said dangerously. Zetana nodded silently as if she understood, and hurried off.

"Very well, anyone else among you who thinks he or she stands out?" the captain shouted, whipping her cutlass out of its hilt. The gleaming, ornate blade shone almost unnaturally brightly in the sun. Looking directly at it was actually painful. "Because it looks like they're pretty intent on getting this boat, and I don't know about all of you, but I have a problem with that!"

((I tried to get a little of everybody in here!  Surprisingly, my computer didn't break down with 7 figures, two boats, and an ocean! I wanted to get more shots of Seline, but sitting in the dress she's wearing is tricky, so I have her looking disgusted at Jallan.))

I posted a reply but it got deleted or something. will post a new one in a bit

Seline saw her moment. She rose from her chair, gliding coolly through the gathered crowd of warriors and mages. Her robes flowed behind her as she strode forward, sandal clad feet peeking under her fluttering robes.

"I am the most powerful mage here." She declared confidently. There were glares and angry mutterings from the other mages. "I am from an elite order called the Spatial mages. And, while I cannot move the boat, I can make the pirate crew SEE the boat somewhere else. They will pursue that illusion while we make our escape! That is, unless you would rather fight the pirates?" Seline asked sarcastically.

Jilena looked down at Seline appraisingly.

"Special mages?" Zetana asked skeptically from a nearby perch. Jilena waved a dismissive hand.

"I have heard a thing or two about these... Spatial mages," she said, still wary of the woman to step forth. "Can you make it seem like we're diverting course..? Right now... I see... three black sails pursuing us," she said carefully, glancing through her spyglass once more.

"If you can shake even one boat from our pursuit, you'll have pulled your weight. But you've got to be better than whatever spellslingers they have employed," she declared. "But let's see what you can do..." she trailed off.

"Your name, mage?" the captain inquired, realizing she couldn't recall.

Rosa bounded down from the top deck, springing into a waiting position before the captain. "Rosa Valdez, at your service, Captain." Rosa had her own aspirations towards becoming a Captain, and held those that she met (and found agreeable) with a good amount of respect. "I've sailed these waters before; point me to where you need me on the ship, and I'll make sure we can shake off these troublemakers!" She said, offering a quick salute.

Irlana admired Seline's confidence, but she couldn't let the comment go.  "Most powerful mage here. And to think I bet on you when you lost your bloomers to that painted witch....I had to--"

Jessica cut her off, "We agreed we wouldn't talk about that anymore."  Irlana shook her head in resigned assent, but looked riled up like she still wanted to talk about it.

"My name is Seline, and I can easily deter a ship." Seline almost said all the ships, but decided to hold back. Really, she didn't know. She had never cast an illusion the size of an entire boat! Also she knew nothing about these mages. There was a real chance that they could see through her illusions, unless perfectly cast. She slightly regretted her earlier confidence. Still, she was sure of herself!

Jallan raised her hand, wobbling.

"I can help too!" She said. "I can.. I am... BLLEGGH!" Before she could even finish her sentence she had to run to the railing and vomit off the edge. Everyone rolled their eyes. What good would this woman be, she didn't even have her sea legs yet!

((A little outfit change for Seline...you never mentioned the gold trim, but with the gold jewelry, it seems like she could rock this gold-trimmed Moroccan outfit.  I actually just felt the need for her big, covering robes to have some better form of definition, so it doesn't become an amorphous mass.))

Love Seline's new robe, very in character. Much better then the old plain robe. I saw a girl who was the splitting image of Seline the other day, even down to the hair!

((Thanks...I was hoping they were in character. I'm a little jealous that you saw her lookalike. Sounds gorgeous.))

((hey everyone, don't fret, I'm around. Thanks for bearing with me. Been sick as a dog the past two days, but I will have recovered pretty soon. Looking forward to this adventure ^_^ ))

((Was worried about you there. Hope you feel better soon.))

((alright... it's late, but hopefully not too little. I'm out the hospital, and, while I don't expect that everyone was waiting with baited breath for my return and will continue immediately... I do hope we can get this rolling again despite my brief stint in the hospital... So, without any further ado, I'm going to advance things a touch))

"Impossible! They're going to board us!" someone cried from the crow's nest. One of the ships had seen through Seline's illusions and had caught up very quickly with the Mithril Flower. Thankfully, the other two boats seemed to have drifted away from the impending battle.

Before the battle truly began though, everyone aboard the ship heard a fierce, ominous female voice boom above the crowd: "You are being boarded! Those who resist us will suffer greater consequences..!"

The ship that careened into the Mithril Flower with its side, causing both boats to shudder violently with the creaking of wood, was a large blue-green vessel with faded black sails. It was large and intimidating, given how fast it was, and swarms of female pirates were pouring over the edges and swinging onto the Mithril Flower from grappling hooks with practiced ease.

It was definitely an all-female crew, the adventurers noticed. They weren't all pretty and picturesque, but some of them were. The diversity of the crew was noteworthy -- there were a few more exotic races among the pirates (e.g. a dark elf, it seemed, and perhaps a half orc or two). Some of them were tanned and fit and still young and pretty (think modern day surfer girls), but a good number of them were swarthy and had seen a little too much time at sea. The majority of them were wielding strange cutlasses with dark grey, almost black blades.

The promised fight began with a rush. Rosa was clashing blades with a pair of younger, lithe, fit looking pirates, one with short blond hair and one with black hair tied in a ponytail, eager to try their moves on someone with sea legs, and were keeping her on the ropes, so to speak. With a feinting motion, she tricked one into lunging for her, only to trip her and send her right into her compatriot's arms. The two tumbled to the deck with a collective "oof!" and Rosa, without hesitating, slashed down the prone woman's back in a manner that would've incapacitated her under normal circumstances. To her amazement, her blade refused to even wound her flesh, but ran a ragged hole along the back of her tunic and down one of her pants legs. The limber young blonde shrieked as she realized her toned little body was suddenly almost nude, save for cloth wrappings around her chest and bottoms. Rosa found it strange that she was more surprised about her state of dress than the fact that her sword hadn't so much as pierced skin.

Irlana and Jessica found themselves back to back, fighting with practiced ease. Irlana grunted angrily and immediately brought her fist into the face of the first pirate that charged her, a shrieking waif of a girl with deeply tanned skin and more than a few missing teeth. Irlana grinned in satisfaction as the girl reeled backwards, surprisingly not missing any more teeth when Irlana was done with her. The attacker flailed as her ass hit the railing and she went toppling into the water with a scream.

Jessica found two burly pirates grinning at her with teeth made out of various metals. Apparently they'd gotten some dental work done, unlike their less-toothed friend now flailing in the water. One of them must have been an orc or half orc -- the tanned green skin, short black hair, and protruding lower canines gave it away, and her large black cutlass may as well have been a falchion or some other two-handed great curved blade. her human compatriot was not nearly as well muscled (in fact, her strength came more from her thick, fatty limbs and massive torso) and kept her braided blond hair in a ponytail behind her back. Her cold-blue eyes suggested she'd done this many times before, and when she moved in to attack with her two smaller curved blades it was with dangerous intent. Jessica might not have wanted to harm them -- it was irrelevant though. Fire came out of her hands as she cried out, blasting her two attackers, who immediately hit their knees. There were no friendlies around to shout "no fire magic on the boat!" but it seemed the gout of flame that shot from her hands merely washed over the two pirates.

Blinking, they looked down to see that their bodies were unharmed, but their clothes had quickly turned to ash. There was a fine, dark coating of the stuff all over their bodies where clothes had been that blew away in the wind, prompting little cries of alarm from the chunky human one, who covered her heavily sagging, massive, pale breasts. The orc woman scowled and slapped the woman next to her on the side of the head, seemingly unfazed by her sudden, sooty nudity. Small breasts that seemed absurd on her muscular body stood out perkily, her dark green nipples stiffening into points.

"Hey!" she grunted. "We can't be harmed while we're under her spell, remember!?" Jessica and Irlana heard her say.

Seline had stayed pretty safely to the side, thankfully avoiding notice. One slender, dangerous-looking woman with dark eyes and chestnut hair under a bandanna stopped suddenly as she was passing by Seline's conveniently out-of-sight spot. Not that she had been hiding necessarily, she was just strategizing.

Seline's eyes widened as the woman turned towards her, smiled, and began to pace forward with her blade. She charged suddenly, her blade coming up in a slashing motion. Seline, thankfully, had been working up a defense -- when the woman's blade swung to slash her, she wove a little spell to twist space around her. As a result, when the sword came up, it instead slashed along her attacker's collarbone and down.

Seline immediately noticed the woman's eyes go wide, but no blood came forth. Her black tunic fell apart in front, though, revealing the lack of wound, and her bouncy, surprisingly ample breasts, crowned with large pink nipples. She shrieked at the abrupt change, looking down at her blade and seemingly growing weak. Her eyes fluttered, she tossed the sword to the ground and cursed quietly. She then, promptly fainted. All of this seemed quite strange to Seline -- the dark grey-black blade in particular. Not only did it seem to not wound flesh, it seemed to make her grow weaker...

"Take them all alive," the strange female voice repeated, and more pirates swarmed onto the boat.

((we'll call this post a part 1 as I do some catch up -- here, everyone can chime back in whenever they can and I'll get the next part going ASAP.))

((Glad you're doing better! Wishing you the best health.))

"Irlana...." Jessica called, as the taller mage turned toward the hulking but nude figures who were getting their bearings for another attack, "Did you hear that? It's like the arena...we can't hurt them." Irlana responded with a calmness that only one who ahs survived many adventures could muster, "Then stop setting the boat on fire and get some rope. We'll tie them up." Jessica found a loose line while Irlana threw herself at the heavy blonde, trying to grab her wrists and get her into a position where Jessica could tie her.

((Pictures of round 1 coming soon))

((Nicely! I understand you don't have to render all the characters -- I have some impending descriptions of important characters that will require your special touch, so don't get worn out haha...
If I get out of work before 1 am tonight I plan to go ahead with the next bit -- nothing immediately demands any characters' actions just yet...))