The Last Laugh

Akeno · Mar 14, 2018

The Last Laugh

It seemed that, luckily for Jon-Jon Rumbottom, while the townsfolk had not heard his mad plea of discovery, there was a batch of adventurers prepared to test his tale! But before his tale, his mighty theory, can be weighed and measured, he must tell it-- and as all aged folk become, a fantastic story teller Jon-Jon was.

Upon the top of his head, the old fellow boasted an aged and rugged captain's hat. The pants he equipped himself with were white, riddled with many holes and tears. His coat was one of a naval officer, with prodigious tassles dangling from the sullen yellow shoulder pads. These clothes were the ones that Captain Rumbottom had always taken to sea in his youth. After retiring as a captain, this garb had also retired, but just as a sailor is bound to the sea, so inevitable was Jon-Jon's return to the ocean. He had faithfully returned to the waters, like a young lover to his dreams, wearing his outfit as though it were still new. In reality, anyone within a mile could tell from the sight and the scent, those clothes were anything but fresh.

"Some say it be sharks, infestin' the waters and strikin' down vessels. They say it be the vast one, ye ol' Mama Taurus, mother-o-all sharks! But I say it ain't so, mates. Mama Taurus is a kind lass, I tell ya-- I met her! All for lovin', none for ruckin'!" The older fellow hobbled back and forth on the dock in an adamant pacing, his feeble frame in dire need of a cane, but his pride far too tough to bother. "... I know what be in these waters, felt it in the waves not but seven nights before this one, what be vanishin' fishin' ships." In this instance, his pacing halted, turning to face each of the adventurers who had gathered in front of him. "Avast, it be ol' Captain Olly Mango-Leg, I say! Back from the dead, back to rule the seas with an undead cackle!" He raised a finger, waving it at each in front of him menacingly.

"Now! Aboard the Grubby Skipper, my proud lady 'o' the sea, my man-o-war!" Jon-Jon hobbled off the dock and onto a generously sized sailing boat, waving for the others to follow him. Towards the stern, only halting his approach to take a seat next to the wheel. "Wakey, wakey, Lumberface!" Pulling off his shoe, the old man flung it towards a pile of what looked to be backup sails not far from him. Upon striking the cloth, and apparently impacting something from within, a shuddering came, and an instant later, a middle-aged woman leaped from her hideout, the signs of sleep moments prior evident across her face.

"Umber Lumberface, reporting for duty-- Captain Rumbottom?" Her initial salute had mutated into a much more casual stance, as she realized who exactly it was that had awoken her. Tilting her head she raised a brow. "Ye be requestin' for me vessel?" Rumbottom shot her a smirk that informed her 'requesting' was not the correct term. Rather, he was procuring the ship for the night. "Understood, Captain. Where are we headed?" He needn't even say a word to Lumberface... Perhaps this was not the first time an interaction like this had occurred between the pair of them. She immediately began preparing the ship for departure, untying the rope that bound it to the dock.

When she was born, Umber Cucumber Lumberface was thought to have been a boy. Not because of her down-under bits, but because of the rather masculine, gruffness on her infantile face. While nearly all children are born crying, Lumberface was born with a stern grimace, shedding no tears as though the task were one of formal, serious nature. This frightened her parents, and as she grew, these boyish mannerisms met a bold spirit, and she became a sailor. While many believe that it is bad luck to bring a lady aboard a ship, Lumberface was not someone to be left behind, for after that voyage, if it is not the sea that consumes you, it will be the virile lady upon your return.

"Rum and apples in the captain's quarters, if ya fancy." She turned to face the strangers, apparent that the troop was with Captain Rumbottom. "Otherwise, could someone give me a hand o'er here with the sails?" She headed over and began unfastening some ties on one of the pillars that lead up to the sails. A rat squeaked and scampered past her boot, narrowly dodging her as she stomped the ground. "Damn rats! Someone catch that devil and toss him overboard!"

Legend has it, on her first voyage, Lumberface had singlehandedly defeated a pirate crew, taking one of them as a prisoner. On her way back to shore, the tale says that she had lost her map. Still an unseasoned captain, she knew not how to read the stars, and became helplessly lost. For four long months, they say she roamed the ocean, sustaining herself and the prisoner. The story tells of a bet between Lumberface and this pirate, pondering who could grow the longer beard. Against all odds, they say after those four months, Lumberface returned to shore with a foot long beard hanging from her chin, while the pirate didn't have but half that. A day later, with no purpose, the beard is said to have fallen from her face, leaving her cheeks smooth and hairless once more.

"I'll tell ya the story of Olly, far as I know it." Rumbottom reclined in his wooden seat, Lumberface soon making her way over to the wheel, where she took it in her hands, stretching her fingers over it's structure, as though saying hello to her ship. "I met the man first while I was huntin' 'im, when I was a boy. Once a pirate, it always be so, but there was somefin different bout 'im. Ain't like the others, he wasn't, he was a trickster. More mischief than plunderin', I say. I hear years later, some stern captain hunted him down and sunk him. Poor sap didn't deserve to go like that. Now, that jokester's back, for he ain't had his last laugh. I tell ya, we'll give it to him, won't we lads!!" Pulling a bottle from behind the leg of his seat, he raised it high in the air, then took a long chug of it. Suddenly, with a swish and a swash, they were off, and the boat began drifting into the sea.

The fishing vessels didn't disappear until they were over the horison, so there was still some time to lollygag before things got down to brass tax. While Lumberface was occupied with captaining the ship, Rumbottom was very busy drowning himself in the nostalgic taste of stale rum. Certainly, both wouldn't mind some company in their respective, oh so demanding tasks. Alas, a sailor's life.

OOC

@Luna Avalbane @Alric Stalwart @Corvella @Ueno Mizuki @Magdalyn

Minimum of 100 words, maximum of 600.

1 post per character, per cycle. DM post resets cycle.

No posting order because anarchy!

This first post should detail your character's arrival and reaction to the current events.

Ueno Mizuki · Mar 14, 2018

Why she decided to take on this task Mizuki didn't know for sure, since from the description she could just as easily have signed up to go chasing shadows while being guided by some crazy old man who was making up insane theories in the wake of the mysterious disappearance of several ships. Sure, it was likely that something strange was going on: ships didn't just randomly start disappearing all at once, so something must be causing it. But she didn't know whether the old man knew the exact cause or if he was just seeing ghosts.

Well, she'd decided to come so she might as well make the best of it. Arriving at the docks she sniffed the air, smelling the salt of the sea before anything else, quickly followed by the strong smell of fish all over the place. As you would expect from a medieval harbour, if there was anything you'd find in large amounts it'd be fish, even more so than in more modern harbours. That and people wearing funny clothes, but that wasn't mentioned as often in the history books.

It wasn't very difficult to find the man who knew the source of the disappearances: he was old, he wore clothes which looked like they'd been left to gather dust for years and year, and he was undeterred in talking with a grin as he quickly got to explaining what he thought was going on. While his clothes helped add to the stench that was making the Lupis's eyes water she had to admit that despite his age he still looked relatively spry, and at least had enough vitality to tell his tale with vigour. Although why would the mother of sharks be called Taurus, and why would she be friendly of all things?

"So you're saying that the one who has been making those ships disappear is a ghost?"

While Terrasphere wasn't the place to be sceptical about things the idea of a ghost... pirate? being guilty of making ships disappear felt so much like an old story that for a moment the Caenis just stared at their employer. She then shook his head and followed the man, deciding to not argue and instead just see what they would encounter. If there was any place where some old fisher story about ghosts could be true it was in this world, even if it still sounded silly.

Once aboard Mizuki looked around. She didn't know much about ships but this one at least looked like it was in pretty good condition, and the woman who was responsible for taking care of the thing certainly had a capable impression, muscular to the point that she could be mistaken for a man if you weren't careful. Mizuki herself was about to try and help with the sails when a rat suddenly burst out from its hiding spot, resulting in Lumberface yelling at them to get rid of the vermin.

Activating her Investigation Mode to make sure she wouldn't lose track of the rat the wolfwoman chased after it, eyes glowing as she swiftly made her way across the ship in hot pursuit until she narrowed her eyes and raised one hand, a bluish green glow enveloping it before the rat suddenly squeaked as it found itself launched into the air, followed by Mizuki quickly grabbing the nuisance while it was still airborne and throwing it off of the boat, into the water since she was pretty sure that rats were decent enough swimmers.

Alric Stalwart · Mar 14, 2018

Ambient Music

What a lovely day this was turning out to be. Usually when Alric used that line it would be laced with sarcasm, but as a nice change of pace he was genuinely enjoying what the game had to throw at him this time around. Unless someone lived under a literal rock staying oblivious to chatter surrounding the missing ships in this area would have been impossible. Normally this wouldn't have been anything to bat an eye over though; with the monsters he had encountered alone thus far, Alric was surprised ships weren't disappearing more often. No, what made these particular vanishing acts interesting was a man who stepped forward and was crazy enough to investigate them.

Jon-Jon Rumbottom. Not a name he had heard before but the guy seemed famous among the sailing community. Or maybe infamous would be the better word. Most people had written off the aged captain’s words as the ramblings of a washed up old man, Alric found solace in his hypothesis. With the ability to wield spirit magic, he had a higher sensitivity toward ghosts. If a restless soul really was terrorizing these waters he had an obligation to exorcise it. Saving a lost spirit, saving the living, possibly making a name for himself as a seasoned adventurer… It was all too tempting to pass up. After Rumbottom finished spinning his yarn and beckoned the group on board Alric swiftly followed, leaving dry land behind in favor of the Grubby Skipper’s wooden planks.

---

While some people were prone to seasickness, he had always found the ocean to be soothing in a way. The cool, salty breeze coupled with the gentle swaying of their boat was almost enough to lull Alric into taking a nap. Excitement was enough to keep him awake though. Glancing around the deck it seemed everyone had gone their separate ways for now and although their party was made of strangers, the most interesting of the crew had to be Rumbottom and Lumberface.

He would speak with Jon-Jon first. Moving to sit in front of the man, he crossed his legs and looked up at the sailor like an eager child waiting for story time to start. A uncontainable grin slowly crept across his face as he began to speak.

“Hey, Captain Rumbottom, do you have anymore cool sailing stories? I haven't really met any experienced adventurers like you so I'd love to hear one.”

@Akeno

Corvella · Mar 15, 2018

Captain Rumbottom looked much like a stereotypical old sailors would be; an energetic storyteller. His appearance, well, she did not want to describe much other than it might have seen better days in his youth. Along the way she stopped on port-towns and heard many rumors about Jon-Jon Rumbottom, mostly about his unlikely magnificent adventures. Seeing him in person gave Corvella the much-needed impression.

Among all the dodgy thing is his stories, Corvella only reacted on a single thing. "Captain Olly... Mango-Leg?" Is there a specific naming convention on sailors and pirates? Disregarding that, the ghost story that caused disappearances of ships might be unlikely. The blonde hated ghost stories, not because she is afraid of ghosts (she is) but she thinks that ghosts stories are usually ridiculously made-up. On the other hand, when ghosts exist in Terrasphere, there's no way a single ghost made all the ships disappear unless he commanded a whole pirate crew of undead like that old disney pirate movie. Interesting indeed.

As the knight stepped on the wooden planks of the Grubby Skipper, she is reminded of her earliest adventure in Terrasphere; out in the sea on a ship. Immediately she was introduced to Umber Lumberface, a middle-aged wo... man? A legendary woman of the sea, who might has Cucumber for her middle name. The blonde then helped Lumberface untying the sails while introducing herself cheerfully to the hardened sailor "Corvella, ready for duty!"

The Grubby Skipper sailed and Corvella hasn't forgotten the taste of seasickness yet. To combat it, she walked around the ship to keep herself busy. Occasionally, she would stop near Captain Rumbottom to hear a portion of his tale, before deciding to stand beside Lumberface for a chit-chat. Having heard Jon-Jon's perspective on Captain Mango-Leg, she asked if Lumberface has a opinion on him. "So, Ms. Lumberface, have you met Captain Olly Mango-Leg before on your adventures on the sea?"

@Akeno

Luna Avalbane · Mar 15, 2018

This was honestly a first time for Luna, she'd never been on a boat before after all, either in reality or right here in the game! There was the small part of her soul that prayed that she weren't seasick, that she'd be totally fine even if the seas got choppy and stormy, but usually captains didn't try to set course through the awful, terrifying storms, right? At least, pirate films and sailing movies had told her that, so for now she was going to put her faith in them, as naive a choice as that might have ended up being down the line. Nobody had come with her, at least not from Lucia's group. She was all on her own on this one and it was honestly pretty exciting.

A nudge to her hip reminded her that, actually, she wasn't alone and still had the white tigress, Natiri, by her side. Luna chuffed lightly, a sound that the beast returned in affection, still standing by her protectively. It was hard to get the tigress to leave her side for more than a few moments, but she was sure that people would appreciate having the tigress around for one reason or another. Hopefully they did, at least.

Still, all the talk of ghost pirates and legends was making the entire thing pretty spooky, as far as Luna was concerned. Not that she was scared, she'd seen real undead with Lucia, so ghosts didn't really scare her all that much. No, what really worried her was how they would actually deal with such a thing if it were true. It wasn't as if anybody aboard had the ghostbusters on speed dial or anything like that, after all? Was there even a mastery that could deal with ghosts?

As people settled in, yearning for stories and doing.....whatever it was that sailors did with the sails, Luna spied a woman running around after a rat, before tossing it overboard with magic. She smiled, awkwardly shuffling over with her tiger companion in tow. "Umm, hiya there! D-do you want some help dealing w-with the vermin on board? I-I have Beast Taming a-and Natiri here could probably help..." She shifted, before gasping. "Oh, uh, right! My name is Luna Avalbane! Who, uh, what's your name?" @Ueno Mizuki

Magdalyn · Mar 15, 2018

It would be easy enough to craft an excuse for Magdalyn to take on this particular quest. One might say it was the thrill of the vast ocean, so incredibly powerful, though wearing a cloak of calm today. Or her concern for the well-being of the passengers aboard the missing ships. Or even the simple curiosity, and desire to uncover the mysteries behind the vanishing vessels. All of them sounded believable enough, and any one of them could be the truth. The actual truth was, in fact, far less impressive.

Mags had just finished binging on the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

I wish I could be a pirate had led to I bet there are pirates in Terrasphere, and concluded with her climbing aboard the ship. And what a nice ship it is, the young woman mused as she wandered, one hand gingerly trailing along the thick rail as if it were a priceless artifact. Everything in the game was so real, and even after months of playing, she sometimes found herself lost in the magic of it. But maybe that was not so bad. Maybe she could let herself go full-pirate, just for a little while.

As was often the case, the players around her was just as foreign as the NPCs. The Terrasphere community was large, and she would have sworn that it was growing every day. It would be absolutely impossible to meet everyone, and given the vastness of the world, she spent little time in the same place. Her roaming introduced her to many wonderful places, and fantastic people. That had been her goal all along, had it not? To meet people? So she never found herself too upset over it.

Magdalyn was startled when she spied a familiar face, sitting crosslegged before Jon-Jon. How had they managed to miss each other while boarding? Were she not so surprised to see the boy, she might have found humor in the scene, akin to a child preparing for story time. It was only once she drew nearer, and overheard Alric's request, did she realize her initial interpretation had been pretty accurate.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked pleasantly, dropping down beside Alric, and mirroring his pose. She cast the other player a wide grin. It had been a while since they had seen each other, and it might actually be nice to have an acquaintance on board.

@Alric Stalwart

Akeno · Mar 15, 2018

The Last Laugh

" 'Fraid it be so, lass." Rumbottom sighed, responding to @Ueno Mizuki 's initial question. Even though his expression was one of relative dismay, there was a scent of exhilaration in his voice. Finally returning to the ocean was giving him a familiar chill that somewhere within he had long since waned for. "I've know the sea for longer than any man oughtta, so I know what she be saying when she whispers." Suddenly, Rumbottom's was intrigued. His attention and focus of his mind went from 'ghost pirate', straight to 'sailing stories', as he was approached by @Alric Stalwart.

"Oh, feed the fish, Captain will go on for ages if you get him started." Lumberface turned her head to the side, a smirk upon her visage, as she glanced down towards her captain. "Belay your mouth there! All me tellin' tales be great ones!" The gruff lady at the wheel of the ship only kept a content expression, knowing that once that floodgate was open, there wasn't much that anyone in the seven seas could do about it. "Join, join! I've got plenty of stories to go around! The more the merrier!" Rumbottom exclaimed to @Magdalyn as she joined the other in front of him. As the words escaped him, almost upon instinct, his arms rather misguidedly flung into the air, a couple drops of his drink sloshing from the bottom onto his own hat. Not that he noticed, of course.

"Oi, never met the lad." The lady guiding the ship from its wheel turned to Corvella, a slight furrow in her brow, with an even slighter shake of her head. "But if I've learned anything from my time at sea, it's that he know what he be talkin' bout when it come to the ocean." Being so close to her captain, she made certain to lean to one side, and lower her voice as she spoke the final statements. Needless to say, she was not going to make the mistake of plainly complimenting Rumbottom, as she had made it before many years prior! "Fella seems to have a knack for hunches. His gut-aim is true."

"Aye! Ye be a wonder." Umber's eyes, however vigilant upon the waterborne road ahead, noticed @Ueno Mizuki 's catching of the rat. "Damn things sneak on board when we tie up at dock. Quick as devils and stuffed with sick. Best to 'void the teeth." In the meantime, her quick eyes were quite hesitant towards the tiger on board. She'd seen parrots, monkeys, dogs, rats, and even a groundhog as companions, usually to pirate captains, but never had she seen a tame tiger. Somewhere behind her proud exterior, she held a bit of fright for the thing, as she was certain many others did also.

"So there I was, with a pirate vessel sailin' straight towards us, quick on the trail to rammin' us clean outta tha sea!" The floodgates had been opened, and with each word, the deep scent of alcohol leaked off of his breath. Captain Rumbottom had begun a tale. "A ship bigger by two full times, comin' for us. Me men were sayin' prayers, but not me. I stood me ground, told em', 'I'm not goin' down without a fight 'ere!'" A fist shook to the sky, rebelling against the gods. A man decided to forge his own destiny! "So I ran to my close mate, Fin Figton, asked him where we kept the gunpowder. So I took our treasure, all that we had, poured it in a barrel of buckshot! stuffed it with gunpowder and ran to the port side!" The only pause in this righteous tale was given to the completely, one hundred percent necessary, gulps from his bottle. "Held it to the sky, I did! Said louder than Mama Taurus in heat, 'WE SURRENDER!'--

"You surrender already, do you?" A ghastly voice whispered in the wind, with sharp, punctuated consonants loud enough to shatter the tale of Jon-Jon Rumbottom. It swept through the ship, loud enough that everyone could hear it without question... But as with all voices carried by the wind, there was some level of uncertainty in it all. Was it truly a voice? Or was it merely the whistling of the air about, practicing it's jolly mischief?

"On your feet, crew. He is coming..." Rumbottom's jubilant tone became one of seriousness, and his story was cut short. It seemed that while there were very few things in the seven seas that could prevent him from telling a whole tale to completion, they had come upon one of them. Even he, as lazy and drunk as he was becoming, stood upon his two feet, the hint of a drunken sway in his stance. "Careful, we don't know where he be hiding!"

"Hiding?! A pirate don't hide!" Perhaps from the void, or whatever horrible emptiness that spits out ghostly entities, it appeared, with its arm over Captain Rumbottom's shoulder, a mug in it's dangling, wispy hand. "Ayeeee, nice to see ya, Rummy! Never caught me, did ya? Shame... Someone else beat ya to it!" As the ghostly shape vanished from beside Captain Rumbottom, it reappeared in the center of the ship's landing. "Fire away now! I can't wait to see what you're capable of! Don't keep me waiting!"

Olly Mango-Leg
❰ 400 / 400 HP ❱

OOC

Minimum of 100 words, maximum of 600.

1 post per character, per cycle. DM post resets cycle. I'll do my bestestest to keep up posts every 24 hours, so try to get it in by then!

No posting order because anarchy!

Roll Thread / Communication Thread

Message me here or on discord before your post to see what you will be rolling for your action! ^_^

Corvella · Mar 16, 2018

Corvella raised her hand to feel the air of the sea flowing through the sails, blowing her hair as the ship speeds up. With her seasickness finally defeated, she went around the ship once more to see what's the rest of the party are doing. There are more familiar faces, like Magdalyn and Mizuki, but she also have seen the other two back from the Bandit Fortress Reclamation. The one with tiger is Luna, and the other one wearing the coat of the legendary Bandit King is Alric, is it?

Captain Rumbottom seemed to be drowned in his own stories and also his drink, retelling his tales loud and energetic to be heard by the whole ship at the request of Alric. Not that she mind, but Corvella hoped that Jon-Jon wouldn't be too drunk in case something happen. And that something suddenly happened in the middle of the story, a voice whispering to all of the people onboard the Grubby Skipper. The knight felt shiver on her body as the atmosphere turns grim, too grim for the light-hearted sail. Clearly in fear, she spoke to the other people around her who might looked just confused as she is. "Uh, that was funny. That was one of you guys, isn't it?"

And there it was, ghostly body of someone formerly known as Captain Olly Mango-Leg appeared before them, complete with a big-bad style boast. At this situation Corvella would have shrieked and ran behind the closest person available on the deck, but instead she finds herself slowly walked towards the apparent ghost with arm extending forward, face looked confused more than curious.

Maybe the ghost doesn't match her expectation? She did expect a Pirate of the Caribbean-style skeleton should an undead appear but no, this guy looked more like the Flying Dutchman from that old cartoon. "Captain Mango-Leg? Do you actually have mango as leg?" She tried to clumsily touch around the ghostly body of the deceased pirate captain (especially the legs), making sure if it's actually a ghost, a tangible body, or even a magical illusion. If it was an illusion, she would have known.

A wise woman once said, Touch first, scream later.

Alric Stalwart · Mar 16, 2018

“Oh, hello Magdalyn-”

But before he could answer her question Rumbottom had taken the words right out of his mouth. As expected the captain was eager to spin a yarn for his passengers and Alric being the catalyst for this story listened intently; disappoint becoming apparent on his expression as it was cut off at the best part. A groan escaped his lips while he rolled his eyes in dissatisfaction at the uninvited guest. Needless to say, fighting alongside ghosts in battle for so long partially desensitized him to these kinds of things.

The apparition had teleported away by the time he got to his feet and was even egging the party on to engage, but to his surprise no one moved to accept Olly Mango-Leg’s challenge. @Corvella had closed the distance with the deceased pirate, but only to do… Something. He wasn't sure what her intentions were to be honest. A quick glance around was all he needed for him to decide to be the next to act.

“No offense, but I've fought goblins that were more scary than you. If you're haunting these waters though, then you might be useful to us. Let's hear what you know about the ships that have been disappearing out here.”

A hand traced out a spell using his ring as he spoke. The words quickly took shape in the air and a magic circle appeared beneath Mango-Leg. It wasn't a skill particularly liked using and this was his first time trying the technique on a soul of this caliber, but if all went well ethereal chains would rise from the circle to restrain Olly’s limbs and at least grant the mage enough control to get the trickster to talk.

@Akeno

Roll / Tracker

Result:
65 (Roll) + 20 (Spirt Magic) = 85 Total

Ueno Mizuki · Mar 17, 2018

Mizuki nodded as Lumberface explained about the rats. If there was one thing all those stories about sailing and piracy agreed upon, it's that it was nigh impossible to escape the terrible wrath of the rats.

"Not very satisfying to take care of either."

With how much time the Lupis had spent in the game doing the hunting thing she'd begun to automatically link what she was doing to hunting unless she caught herself doing it, and something like a rat was just embarrassing, honestly. Too small to be worth anythin, and more of a nuisance than anything else.

When @Luna Avalbane approached her MIzuki studied her for a moment, noting that the woman appeared to be rather shy. Which was an impressive feat, considering she was being followed by a white tiger. She would have thought that anyone who could get themselves such a dangerous predator as a pet would make other people nervous. Well, no reason to not try and help the woman be a bit more at ease, so Mizuki smiled and held out her hand.

"The sooner we get the little plaguebearers off the ship the better, so go ahead. Although I'd advise you to tell Natiri not to eat them. I might be able to cure her if they got her sick, but it would be better to not take any chances."

She'd become a bit more confident in her healing abilities gained from her Nature Magic, but she still didn't think she really qualified as a full-fledged medic or healing character. Besides, it was always preferable to avoid getting sick over eating something that made you sick and then getting cured, unless it was really delicious. It was just a hunch, but the wolflike woman doubted that these rats would be very tasty.

"I'm Ueno Mizuki. It's nice to meet you Luna."

There wasn't much more opportunity to socialize, because at that point an otherwordly voice swept through the ship, the Caenis's ears going down as her eyes narrowed and she looked around. It sounded like the wind playing tricks, but eerily so. And their captain was sure that the cause of the disappeared ships was a ghost pirate...

Fortunately their adversary didn't leave them in the dark for too long, appearing right next to Rumbottom the moment the flesh and blood sailor implied that the pirate might be a coward. It looked like the ghost still had its pride, which was good because... well... she had to admit that he wasn't very good at being scary. He was a ghost pirate and everything, but he was way too down to earth in both his behaviour and his appearance, so the original illusion got shattered pretty quickly.

Still, better not to just stand there and stare. Mizuki raised one hand towards the ghost captain and concentrated, a bluish green aura appearing around her hand just like when she had grabbed the rat as the wolfwoman concentrated. The wood that made the ship may be old and dead, but it was still wood and besides, only a small portion of a tree was truly 'alive', so why would it be any different to control this wood?

From the planks below the ghost pirate roots began to rise upwards, trying to wrap around the pirate's legs. @Akeno

Roll / Tracker
98 (Roll) + 25 (Nature Magic) = 123

Luna Avalbane · Mar 17, 2018

Luna was glad that Ueno wasn't the type to pridefully deny any help that was offered to them, instead the dog woman seemed like a really nice person! She'd accepted her help without any sort of complaint and even offered a suggestion for her to help her take care of Natiri and make sure the tigress stayed healthy. Luna smiled warmly, accepting Ueno's hand gently, with an ever so minute hesitance that was barely even noticeable, even if it was still there. "I-It's nice to meet you, U-Ueno!" She managed to stutter out, watching the woman for a moment or so. Those were really pretty eyes.

Still, she definitely had to agree with the Caenis' recommendation, turning to Natiri and crouching slightly. "You heard her, Natiri. Please don't eat the mice, just sniff them out and scare them for Ueno to find." She definitely didn't want to risk the mice having some sort of disease or infection that could be passed across species, especially since she didn't actually have a way of healing anything, beast or otherwise. She'd just never had the chance to learn how to heal, besides when she'd first started the game and being able to survive had seemed more important then.

Before she could say anything else, the strange voice called out and Luna was instantly on edge, before a cry of coward made the ghost pirate reveal himself. Luna blinked, in shock that she was seeing an actual ghost pirate in front of her, staring at it in a sort of morbid fascination. Was Lucia able to make ghosts with her power, or was she only limited to zombies, skeletons and abominations? Either way, it hadn't actually attacked them yet, so she was hesitant to attack it. She stayed where she was, crouched with Natiri by her side.

Magdalyn · Mar 17, 2018

The arrival of the ghost pirate gave Magdalyn a jolt. First, it was mere surprise. But then, the surprise turned to excitement, the thrill of it all sending shivers down her spine. She was facing a Scooby Doo-esque bad guy. Hell, his arrival only enforced that Pirates of the Carribean feel. Even though the woman knew she should be paralyzed with fear, she found herself overcome with the sudden urge to draw an old flintlock, or wave a sword around.

Of course, fighting the ghost did not seem like a viable option. It was a possibility, sure, and more violent players may have defaulted to it. But something told her this was not a boss meant to be slain. Perhaps he could be useful in other ways?

Her friend from the orphanage seemed to have the same thought. As he asked the spectral stranger for help, she moved to his side, and gave a small nod. His request had been a bit more forceful than she what would she would have done, though...

Her orange eyes widened as an idea came to her. Good cop, bad cop? “If you were willing to share what you know,” she began, smiling warmly, “we sure would appreciate it. We are trying to track the missing ships. Maybe save a few lives in the process! It would mean so much if you could help us out.”

@Akeno @Alric Stalwart

Roll: 77
(Will edit in links! Sorry, posting mobile.)

Akeno · Mar 17, 2018

The Last Laugh

@Corvella's hand made contact with the physical form of Olly Mango-Leg. It seemed very apparent by this that he truly was, at least in some physical capacity, among them aboard their ship. "You heard 'em! Spill, Olly!" Chimed Rumbottom, as Lumberface raced from the wheel, charging across the ship towards the mechanism that lowered the anchor. There was no need to proceed further into the waters, as it seemed they had found that which they had set out to find.

"Aye, didn't realize I be walkin' into an interview! One question at a time!" The ghostly visage turned his gaze towards @Corvella first, a relatively friendly smile. "No, ma'am, my leg be all meat, as you can see!" But before he could slip off his shoe, he found himself, from the stomach down, bound by boards from the wooden vessel that had somehow come over with a mind of their own! @Ueno Mizuki 's fabulous doing! "Well, I'd show you, but it WOOD be far too hard for me! Hah!"

"Next, the pair of you! Thank ye for waitin'!" He peered towards @Alric Stalwart and @Magdalyn, who had taken different approaches in prying information out of him. The first had chosen to use his mastery over things of spiritual nature to try and force the truth from him, while the other had chosen good, old fashioned kindness! How civil! "I'll tell ya plain as day, mate! That be my kidney ya squeezin' on with that stuff!" With his arm still trapped in the same wood that captured him, he wiggled it till it popped free, pointing far out onto the dusky horizon. Following the direction of his notion, a spec could be seen somewhere far in the distance.

"Ships don't just vanish, do they? Naw, they don't! There the first be, but the other be much farther!" A proud, somewhat mischievous tone came to his voice, as he conjured up his next statement. "Now I'll ask ya, why do you think those fishermates didn't shower before I made 'em walked the plank?" After a brief silence, where he wasn't really waiting for anyone to answer, he finished the jest. "Because they'll just wash up on shore eventually!!"

What came next was a haunting cackle. One that was sure to shiver timbers to any who heard it. Raising his arm in the air, his palm opened wide, a mug sloshing with an unknown, terribly smelling liquid fell into the open hand, only spilling a single splash of the drink. "Aye, thank ya, Lime!" If players were to look up, they would find a gloomily glowing crows nest, atop the mast of their ship. "Cheers!" From somewhere unknown on the ship, a phantasmal projectile was fired, just as the mug was raised to the sky in cheer. This dangerous, airborne object did not embed or pierce, but merely struck harshly at @Ueno Mizuki 's chest, with the force of a strong punch. "I don't like being BOARDED up, lass!"

"It be Johnny Lime! Mango-Leg's lookout!" Lumberface cried, moving in front of her aged captain protectively. "Someone shoot him down!"

... Ever since her hand had made contact with the ghost pirate, @Corvella had noticed a tremendously irritating itch radiating from the center of her palm. Finally turning down to peer into the source, she found a grotesque, horrific black mess of twisted skin. The itch suddenly became an ache. One that churned within her palm, pulsing through and weaving between the bone structure. Her fingers twitched uncontrollably, this spamming only able to be quelled with strict focus.

Apparently fearless, Olly was overjoyed at the chaos that was beginning to ensue. He sure hoped the silly players were having as much fun as he was beginning to have!

Olly Mango-Leg
❰ 400 / 400 HP ❱

Yo Ho Ho: Deal 8 damage to a player.
Black Spot: Player takes 3 damage every cycle for the rest of combat.
Damned: Passively, players who attack Olly deal +50 damage for each death their character has sustained in the past.

Johnny Lime : ❰ 300/300 ❱
Crows Nest: Passively can only be targetted by ranged attacks.
Lookout: Passively enables Olly Mango-Leg to use two active abilities every cycle.

OOC

Minimum of 100 words, maximum of 600.

1 post per character, per cycle. DM post resets cycle. I'll do my bestestest to keep up posts every 24 hours, so try to get it in by then!

No posting order because anarchy!

Roll Thread / Communication Thread

Message me here or on discord before your post to see what you will be rolling for your action! ^_^

@Corvella takes 3 damage from Black Spot.

@Ueno Mizuki takes 8 damage from Yo Ho Ho.
HTML:
[bg]
[health]000[/health] [energy]000[/energy]

[/bg]

Post here

[CENTER][b2] Action [/b2]
[score]Roll + Modifiers = Result[/score]
Roll / Tracker
[/CENTER]

Ueno Mizuki · Mar 19, 2018

131/139 HP

120/120 EN

-8 HP from Yo Ho Ho

The ghost pirate appeared to be just as surprised that everyone would rather talk to him rather than attack him on sight as they had been surprised at his sudden appearance. Mizuki had to admit that if there was any tense atmosphere before, it was long gone by now, and the pirate wasn't making any attempts at getting it back. Every time he talked it sounded more like one of those jolly pirates from a kids cartoon, although at least... nope, never mind, he also used the really crappy puns.

On the bright side, at least now she knew that this particular ghost could actually be touched by physical objects. She doubted that he would be immune to flesh and blood when he wood had no issues, so she went with the idea that if necessary she could beat the guy up. Although now the question was whether she had to beat him up... For all that Captain Rumbottom claimed that he was the one to make the ships disappear so far he hadn't done anything beyond just arriving without warning and generally acting like he wanted them to attack him.

However then things became a bit more ominous, as he began to talk about where the ships had gone. Mizuki looked in the direction that the ghost was pointing, squinting until she could actually see the ship in the far distance. What... was that? She blinked, and she would have rubbed her eyes if that didn't mean losing her focus. Why would the ships reappear now...? She found herself confused, not sure how to process this even as things developed even further. Another ghost appeared, and... Mizuki got shot in the chest.

Not having expected the shot she gasped, the air painfully knocked out of her as she stumbled backwards and covered the hit area with one hand. It hadn't actually penetrated, which was a blessing, but a hard impact on the ribcage still wasn't a very pleasant sensation. Looking up she saw the ghost up in the ethereal crow's nest, her eyes narrowing and her fur bristling as her yellow eye darkened before she regained her calm. Attacking that one would be difficult, since she was mainly a hand-to-hand fighter. She could use the wood of the ship as projectiles, but that wasn't exactly ideal. Instead she focused on the ghost captain.

"You boarded us first, so don't complain when the favour is returned. Now, as for what we're capable of..."

Just disrupting Mizuki's concentration wouldn't make the wood that had wrapped itself around Olly's lower body disappear, but it would mean that instead of a magically enforced trap her now had a bunch of wood around him. Still something that could keep him busy, but not what you'd call a perfect prison. Which was why Mizuki didn't waste any time and dashed forward, curling one hand into a fist before striking the ghost captain squarely in the chest, in the same spot where his spotter had shot her moments before.

Punching Olly Mango-Leg
61 + 30 (Mastered Martial Arts) + 25 (Rare Fist Weapon) = 116
Roll / Tracker

Corvella · Mar 19, 2018

145 HP

100 EN

-3hp from Black Spot

Hm? She was pretty sure that it's a body that she touched. It couldn't be an illusion or ghost, maybe an undead? Doesn't explain how it was able to appear and disappear in such fashion. "Oh." Corvella expressed in disappointment after finding out that the pirate's leg wasn't made of mango. How come he is called Olly Mango-Leg then?

After throwing some pirate puns, Olly finally revealed that he was in fact responsible for the disappearances of the ships. They did not disappear, but rather hijacked by the supposedly dead pirate. Then suddenly a projectile shot out from nowhere, hitting Mizuki sending her few steps back stumbling. The knight quickly took a step back from the pirate captain, scanning the vicinity before finding the ghastly crow's nest that wasn't there before. Mango-Leg's crewmate, Johnny Lime was the one firing the shot. She really need to read some book about naming conventions among sailors in this world.

Corvella reached for the shield in her back with her right hand, gripping it before realizing she couldn't move her right hand properly. The pain quickly spreads into the lower arm, sending the fingers twitching uncontrollably. "What's happening with my hand?" The middle of her palm has become a black mess, just looking at it one can conclude that she had been cursed from the earlier touch. The immense itch and pain made the knight drop her shield, trying to focus and get the hand back in control.

She picked the shield back and looked at the crow's nest. There's no way she could attack Johnny Lime up there. Instead, her eyes locked to the pirate captain unleashing a menacing laugh in front of her; the one that caused her right hand to be cursed. With the spell ring on her arm, she casted a illusion spell on herself to completely ignore the pain; still didn't help with the twitching touch. The knight leaped to the front, swinging her shield at the pirate captain's head. If she can touch him, she can hit him. Unfortunately, the swinging arm lost it's strength mid-attack, causing Corvella to fumble and lost balance. The strike still connects, but not where she aimed and only at a fraction of power exerted.

Bashing Olly Mango-Leg's head
16 + 20 + 20 = 56
(Roll) The Last Laugh / The Last Laugh Tracker