ITT: We Are All Pirates' Revenge

"Back in town, then. They'll probably have guards of some variety, or at least better weaponry than we do. Can you walk by yourself?"

Tom addresses this last part to Kauri, not entirely trusting the child not to run off again. Sure, it's not his responsibility, but he'd rather not have someone die doing something stupid. Not good for his conscience or the general mood.

Kauri, having recently lost his voice, simply nods at Tom. He grabs the back of his shirt, ready to follow.

Uh, we're the crew of...uh... (Ira trails off and looks to Melvin and Duane.) What are we called again?

Melvin shrugs. "We don't have an official name for the crew itself. My ship is called the Zenpance, we're just the crew of the Zenpance I guess."

"...Anyway! Pleasure to meet ya, Ify... wherever you are."

Ezekiel crosses his arms and keeps silent for now, what's left of his tail swinging impatiently behind him. Again, that niggling feeling of familiarity comes up, but at this point in his life, any semi-notable pirate crew would ring a bell between his ears.

Gabrielle closes her eyes, focusing her mind, and holds her hands in front of her in a praying position with her palms a few inches apart. A small orb of light forms between her palms as blood begins to trickle from her nose.

Edited by CustardAndPie on Jan 30th 2019 at 12:45:15 PM

Oh... well, uh, have ya found the egg down there?

Gabrielle's ball of light will reveal not much. She sees the crew, the tunnel, the torches, and indeed, the dead end.

Ify and his crew are too far away to see.

Edited by TacoBadger on Jan 30th 2019 at 12:03:07 PM

Not yet... (Ira calls out to Ify.)

In the distance, the crew sounds like they’re trying to whisper, but their speech is just audible.

Sir... this sign has no markings... what do you think?

Huh... Check it out.

Ify speaks up. May we come in to see you, perhaps?

"Depends. Are you armed?"

Of course! You are too, I hope. You’d be idiots not to be!

The Captain has a very casual manner of speech. He seems more curious than paranoid.

Edited by TacoBadger on Jan 31st 2019 at 3:36:56 AM

"...Right. We're pretty evenly matched, wouldn't you say? So this doesn't have to end in violence, I hope you'll agree. ...I suppose you can come."

Melvin leans in to whisper to Gabrielle. "Keep that light shining as much as you can. I want to keep an eye on this Ify."

Edited by DrNoPuma on Jan 31st 2019 at 4:40:04 AM

Ify approached the crew, and through Gabrielle’s light, everyone got a look at the man, or should we say, the tiger. Indeed, much like Ezekiel, Melvin, and others, he was a mammal on two legs. He was tall, nearly seven feet in the air, draped in a long, brown, trench coat, a black tricorn hat, and a blue handkerchief slipping outside of the front pocket of his jacket. His jawline was strong, and his gaze looked over the Crew with a childlike wonder.

Ezekiel, through his entire career of pirate-hunting, wouldn’t remember Ify one bit. From Zeke’s eyes, Ify seemed something of a greenhorn.

Ify looked down at Melvin and bore a toothy grin. Hello, Captain.

Edited by TacoBadger on Jan 31st 2019 at 3:59:30 AM

(Ira remains in a defensive pose and looks warily at the new arrival.)

Melvin is speechless. Although he himself is quite tall, this tiger still towers over him. Melvin is filled with a sense of dread, combined with something else he can't put his finger on.

"Ah... pleasure to meet you. I am Melvin Marcel, known as "Melvin the Grungy" to some. And this is my trusty crew. Or some of them, anyway."

"So... where do you come from?"

Zeke gets a better look at this captain, brow furrowing. "Hmmm..." No, his memory has failed him this time. This was an entirely fresh face. More than anything right now, he looks disappointed. He uncrosses his arms, resting his hand on his belt with his thumb tucked inside it. The hand happens to be resting over his scabbard...

Duane, meanwhile, is slightly intimidated, and, as such, doesn't speak up.

Well, I come from a small island called Hanuka. Real podunk, you might not have heard of it. But, one day, I guess this whole egg thing really called to me. You know, with the wishes and such. So, I gathered a crew as I went on my way, and here I am, trying to find my first shard.

"I see..." Melvin says, still taking in the big cat before him.

"Well, we're pretty sure the first piece is in here somewhere, but we don't know where to find it. These signs are awfully strange..."

(Hanuka...the name seems vaguely familiar to Ira. Maybe he overheard someone mention it somewhere. He digresses, mostly because he's worried about someone else getting the shard besides himself and the others.)

Uh...you have any answers? (He asks Ify.)

Obeying Melvin, Gabrielle keeps the ball of light going. However, the longer she keeps it lit, the dizzier she feels...

Well, all the signs have highlighted “No egg”, except one has no highlights. I sent a man of mine to investigate.

Melvin sees that Gabrielle is getting dizzy and puts a hand on your shoulder. "Is it too much to handle? I'm sorry, Gabby. If you don't think you can keep it up much longer, you can go back up where it's lighter if you need to. We'll be okay here, now that we know we know what our mate here looks like."

"Good idea," he says to Ify. "So, I guess there's not much else we can do until he returns, huh?"

Edited by DrNoPuma on Jan 31st 2019 at 12:40:38 PM

Ify shrugs. We could follow him, I suppose.

This entire time, Ify has failed to notice Ezekiel’s hand on the sword.

"No no, it's fine," Gabrielle whispers to Melvin.

Truthfully, she isn't. Her brain, and by extension her body, is burning lots of energy to keep it going. She needs to rest, and by Jove even her ears are bleeding alongside her nose! But then she remembers the egg shard. The reason they bothered to even go inside.

The orb between her hands continues to glow.

"True, true. You'd have to tell us who we're looking for, though. Who's your crew, anyhow? How'd you get together?"