The Pirates of Dark Water!

[Guest]

Narrator:
The alien world of Mer is being devoured by Dark Water... Only the young Prince Ren can stop it by finding the lost thirteen treasures of Rul. At his side is an unlikely, but loyal, crew of misfits; at his back the evil pirate Lord Bloth, who will stop at nothing to get the treasures for himself... It's high adventure with the Pirates of Dark Water!

It was a typical spring day in Janda-town. The gulls cried in the harbor, the sharp sea water could be felt in the crisp air, merchants, peddlers, and townsfolk went on their merry way, acknowledging each other with a nod as they passed. Life was good. Life was also simple in this sleepy little trading post of a town. Ignorance of the harsh real world was bliss.

People came and went on a daily basis. Most were sailors looking to tantalize their pallets with food and drink, or to rest their weary bones on solid ground, but sometimes, just sometimes pirates came to dock. When they did, nothing was predictable. Anything was possible. Anything could happen, and often did.

In the center of this sleepy little town was the home and business of an ex pirate himself, Zoolie. He ran the town's only tavern, inn, and brothel. It was a common grounds for trade, food and spirits, entertainment, and rest. Without the business Zoolie brought this town, it would not exist today.

Just as without the help of Zoolie, Tula would not exist. Having been orphaned at a young age, Tula would not have had the change to live and grow had Zoolie, a dear and old friend to her parents, not taken her in. He became a father figure to her. He was her mentor as well as her friend. Though he tried to shelter her from the harshness of the real world beyond Janda-town, he was good to her, and she was thankful to have known him...


Tula:

Tula held her breath as she pushed against the swinging door that separated the small kitchen from the rest of the tavern. She held the large serving tray in front of her like a shield for protection.

Though feeling the penetrating stares of men who frequented the tavern was nothing new to her, there was something different with tonight. Tonight she felt leered at, as if she were a piece of cooked meat ready to be sunken into. From her head to her toe she felt dirty and cheap, as if she were one of the hired entertainers Zoolie employed in back.

She glanced down to the far end of the bar as she walked past. The stranger, new to the tavern scene, was still sitting down there. Though he was staring down into his mug of ale, Tula had the feeling he had been the one looking at her moments ago. A shiver ran down her spine. Looking at him, she was repulsed yet intrigued at the same time. She felt a burning deep within her loins though she could not understand why she felt this way.

The stranger looked up from his mug and caught Tula looking at him. A smile played at the corner of his lips, though it was not a warm and friendly smile. It was more of a smile of evil and all things impure. Tula felt herself blush, the burning strong along her cheeks, and turned away. She made her way to the back of the tavern, to serve a table of diners their meal, with her head turned downward.

 

[The GrandMage]

Niddler

Like a black plague upon the water, The Maelstrom moved closer to the port. It pulled up and dropped anchor far enough offshore to be seen, but still too far away to worry about. The ship, made from an ancient leviathan, was the ship of the Pirate Lord Bloth, a fat tub of evil, as far as Niddler was concerned. Not that there was much he could do about it, of course.

A bright ball of feathers and fur lay in the cage, sighing with resignation at his lot in life. The monkey bird barely stirred as one of his captors walked up to the cage. Like most of his kind, Niddler was a slave, and treated like garbage. A half-rotten Minga melon was tossed at him, and he let it hit him, rolling around the edge of the cage. Once Konk had satisfied himself with a string of curses, Niddler slowly started in at the horrid melon.

He was halfway in when he heard it, heavy steps and the creaking boards that signaled Bloth's approach. Balling himself up in a corner, he watched as Bloth went close to the cage. Konk spoke up, probably talking about how useless Niddler was, the same speech he'd heard hundreds of times before. He sighed, knowing what was coming. The door clanged open, and Niddler was pulled out by his collar. Once again, Konk was ordered to give Niddler a work-out, see if he was worth more alive or as Constrictus feed.

Once again, he was lead out onto the deck, and forced by whip to fly around. But today, luck was on his side. They were close to an island. Swooping down, Niddler lifted Konk of the deck, dropping him over the edge of the ship as he made for land, quickly taking off the collar that had been around his neck so long. He heard Bloth's angry roars at his back, as he reached down. Falling down into an alleyway, he wondered what he'd gotten himself into.

He'd certainly be killed now. He quickly took off, keeping himself to the ground to avoid being spotted. It was better to die that put up with that. Slowly, he made his way to a tavern. He knew better than to try the front. He'd likely be thrown back to Bloth face-first, of enslaved my someone new. Making his way to the alleyway in back, he settled himself in the trash littering the alleyway, slowly gnawing on what fruit had been tossed back there. A few half-eaten Junda Fruit littered here and there managed to sat isfied some of his hunger as he pulled a dingy cloth about himself.

"What now? Could I get myself in any more trouble?"

 

[poohlive]

Zoolie laughed heartily. It was the kind of laugh that not many people could honestly have anymore. It was a laugh that few people could experience. A laugh that meant life was nothing more than a simple breeze in the wind.
He poured another man a mug of ale.
"Hey, you," he let the mug slide down, as the guy caught it, "On the house, provided you promise to tell all your friends about Zoolie's."
The man nodded, laughing as he took a sip.
Business was good.
No, better than good. Fantastic. Since the dark water had begun, most people were trying to get as far away from it was possible. Luckily, his bar was about as far away as you could get. Hence, people came from all around, and were staying.
This was the most business he's had in ages. He had more gold than he knew what to do with.
He spotted a couple of newcomers, taking a coupld of mugs he let a pleasent smile.
"What can I get you gents?"

 

[badmatt]

Ren

Ren felt lost, he had only a few days ago learned that his father was the long lost king, and that of course meant he was a prince. And now, he had taken it upon himself to find out just what had happened to his father that had caused him to wash up on the shore near the lighthouse.

He was wandering through town, and kept hearing talk of a tavern, run by a man called Zoolie. He thought he might find answers in such a place, and he headed for it.

Pushing his way through the front door he was assaulted by the sounds and smells of the place. Food cooking and probably not a little burning in the kitchen, mead and ale flowing freely around the main room. He headed for an empty seat about halfway down the bar.

"Hey!" He tried to flag down the bartender who he assumed must be Zoolie.

 

[SadnonMage]

"Konk, you imbecile!!

How could you let that "thing" get away!!!"

Bloth was seething, "Oarsmen a boat in the water now, we'll hunt it down, and if it can't work, we'll just have to put it out of my misery."

A boat wsa lowered and the small crew made for port.
When they got there Bloth would find his Monkey-Bird, and make use of it or kill it.

 

[crysede]

Lara

Trying not to draw attention to herself, Lara followed nervously at Bloth's heels - Konk might be current object of his wrath, but she knew from experience that when her Master was angry everyone was a potential target and remaining unnoticed the only defense.

She knelt quietly by Bloth's feet as the oarsmen brought them to shore. Usually Lara relished the opportunity to accompany him on shore, it was a welcome change to life aboard ship, but given his current mood she had little hope of this trip being a pleasant experience for any of them.

 

[poohlive]

Zoolie grabbed the plate, a huge slab of roast beef and mashed potatoes. Gravy spilled on the ground, but that's what he liked about it. At Zoolie's, there wasn't such a thing as a small portion. He dropped it on the table, grabbing some more orders.
Yeah, I'm trying something new on the meatloaf tonight. It's in the oven now, could you wait to try a piece fellas? On the house, I promise, all new recipes are."
There was a small hooray from the crowd. One of the maidens took out the still steaming pan, and slices were cut. Small plates were handed out, and they went aruond fast.
He saw someone yelling at him, which was odd, since everyone else was yelling for the meatloaf. Grabbing a slice, he passed it down.
"There you go," he looked at the man's garb, pirate. Didn't look as bad as half the other guys in there, a sharp dressing pirate. Those you don't find every day.
"New recipe, I used some sausage that came in from a shipment a few days ago, and used some rare spices that came from the far east."
He looked at the man, nodding for approval. All over the tavern people seemed to be liking it very well.
"Oh, my mistakem, I'm sorry, you probably wanted a mug of ale."
He laughed, pouring the man a drink.
"There, something to wash it down with."

 

[White Queen]

Darla

Zoolie´s tavern was full, and this was good for business, but Darla hated it, she had to be walking all over the place, avoiding pirates, serving food and drink and of course putting up with drunk men who could barely uttter a word... but this was her life... up till now at least... soon she would be out there on the sea... soon...

Darla woke up from her little adventure dream and ran to the bar, picking up a couple of trays and immediately dropping them on their respective tables...

 

[badmatt]

Ren

"Well, I didn't particularly want the food or the drink. But I will take both. What I was hoping for was some information." He'd decided as he set out on his journey that he should try to pass himself off as a tracker or something to that effect that had been hired to follow the long cold trail of the lost king.

"I was looking for information on the king of Octopon, you know, Primus, the one who went missing all those years ago. THe remaining members of his family have hired me to find out what happened. Last rumors I was able to track down said he might have been through this town, maybe even here before setting sail. Only other thing I've heard is that at one point or another he might have been captured by pirates, maybe sold as a slave. Anything else you know?" He shifted nervously on the stool. The sword at his side sitting uneasily as he'd had little practice, but he thought himself safer with it than without. His eyes darted the room and he caught sight of two barmaids, and just hope they didn't notice the blush that came to his cheeks when they saw him looking.

 

[poohlive]

"Last remaining members of his family eh?" he smiled, giving a nod. In one hand was a mug, and the other was a towel, which he was cleaning the thing with properly.
"I hope they paid you good," he eyed the man carefully, was he lying, or did some fool actually pay him to search the old trail of Primus?
It didn't matter, either way he was after one thing and one thing only, the lost jewels.
"Listen, kid, I've heard better. If you want to go on a treasure hunt, go ask the boys in the back, they've got a bunch of maps to sell, hell, some of them even take you to some decent booty. As for me, I've got a place to run, good day."
Long lost relatives, hah!
Anyone who knew anything knew that Bloth had purposely killed every single member of the Octopon family years ago, and with the exception of rumors of a long lost son rolling around, they were all deceased.
Zoolie took away the meat from the man, passing it to someone else.

 

[badmatt]

Ren

At the bartender's reply he didn't think he'd get anything further from him, but he did slide a silver coin to him and lean over the bar quietly saying, "Anything you can tell me will be appreciated, I don't really want to deal with the treasure mappers, it's not what I'm after." He let the words linger a moment and then turned to observe the room, knowing if the bartender had anything to tell him, he'd let him know with a tap on the shoulder or something else to catch his attention.

 

[SadnonMage]

Konk, if we don't find that monkey-bird

it's your head that will roll!'

The longboat made it's way to shore, and up to a dock. Bloth got out of the boat adn began shouting orders from the daock to his crew. "Konk, we need to find that beast quickly. We should probably start at Zoolie's and ask there if any of the em have seen the vermin."

With purpose Bloth set out for Zoolie's, tugging on the leash of the slave girl, that until now he had nearly forgotten about. Striding strongly, the group of pirates approached the tavern, throwing the door wide open, Bloth bellows "Have any of you seen a mangy monkey-bird wandering around her, if you have it's an escaped slave AND MY property."

 

[Lady_Siren]

Sheila hummed a soft tune as she stirred the stew she was making for a crew of very hungry pirates. Pirates weren't that bad though they could be rude at times. A girl just needed to know how to mold them. She smiled wickedly at the thought as she added some spices. She heard a ruckus outside and knew that Zoolie had introduced his meatloaf. She felt her smile grow and wondered at her good mood. This was a bit much even for her. Oh well she thought as she shrugged. Leaving the stew to simmer and whiped her hand on her apron and stepped out of the kitchen surveying the customers with curiosity.

 

[crysede]

Lara

She stumbled slightly as Bloth tugged impatiently on her leash, but thankfully she was able to stay on her feet and thus avoid further aggravating him. He set out for the tavern at a swift pace, forcing her to break into a trot to keep up with him. As soon as the group arrived at Zoolie's Bloth began yelling again, but Lara didn't bother to listen to what he was on about - it was clearly not directed at her, and she was far more interested in the delicious smells filling the room.

 

[poohlive]

Zoolie sighed, putting the coin in his pocket. If the poor man wanted to kill himself for a long lost treasure, let him. Zoolie tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the large menacing man talking.
"He's the last person to have contact with King Octopon, you want answers, go talk to him."
With that, he went into the back kitchen, grabbing up a few crates full of empty trash. He gave a smile to the new cook. She was doing pretty nicely.
"Don't forget to stir the bottom," he nodded, "If it gets caked on, that means extra cleaning duty for you."
He was lying of course, and laughed heartily as he left. He wouldn't give a person extra work if they burned his place down. Of course, he would hhave them killed, but he wouldn't make them work a minute more than necessary.
Maybe even let him go early so he could say goodbye to his family.
He set the crates down in the back alley, giving a huge gruff as he did so. Man, were they just getting heavier, or was he getting older? He looked down at his full beard, a few grey whiskers poking out. No longer a young boy who had just enherited a bar, but a full working man.
A movement caught his eye, he looked down curiously.
Was that a monkeybird? No doubt the one that Bloth was yelling about. Carefully he kneeled down, grabbing a discarded piece of Junda fruit, holding it out.
"So, wanna tell me why there's a big oaf of a man screaming his head off about you in my bar?"

 

[White Queen]

Darla

Just when Darla thought the tavern could not get more crowded that how it was... Bloth arrived, and he immediately started yelling otu loud, talking about some monkeybird that had escaped from his ship...

Darla walked towards Bloth, a common custumer of Zoolie´s and one Darla liked attending, he was a famous pirate and has a great ship... one Darla hoped she would one day be part of its crew...

" Bloth... uh.. Sir... will you be staying for food... I can get a table cleared for you in no time... "

 

[SadnonMage]

"What, staying........I don't know, I have a missing slave

that I really should have fould first."

Looking at her he thinks to himself, well maybe I should, I could always use another wench around.
Tugging slightly on the leash, to make sure that slave was still there, Bloth muttered..

"I suppose, a drink wouldn't be a bad thing, but only for a few moments though I need to recapture that bloody monkeybird."

"ZOOLIE, drinks whereever this wench here clears a table." indicating Darla.

 

[The GrandMage]

Niddler

The monkeybird shook with fear, eyes darting about in the alleyway, checking his means of escape. Bloth was here, already? He hadn't expected that. What should he do?

"Th-th-that's pro-probably because I escaped."

 

[Lady_Siren]

Sheila served the stew a few minutes later to a bunch of happy pirates. One slapped her ass and she kicked him in the leg. He grunted but didn't seem upset he just slapped her ass again. She shook her head in exasperation then turned to leave. One grabbed her arm and pulled her into his lap. "Hey wench, hows about you and me get a room. I got some extra coins!" she shook her head and tried to get up but he held her down. She leaned forward her mouth next to his ear "If you dont let me go I will cut what little you have between your legs and shove it down your throat" as she said this she pressed a small blade between his legs that only he could see. His face paled and he let her up quickly. His friends all chuckled but he shrugged and mumbled something about not being his type. She laughed softly as she turned and headed into the kitchen.

 

[crysede]

Lara

Her ears perked up when Bloth agreed to eat before continuing his hunt for the escaped monkeybird, she licked her lips hungrily at the thought: it had been quite a while since she'd had any really good food. Now, it was just a matter of wheedling some morsels away from her master, or perhaps one of his men if Bloth himself was not feeling amenable.

Lara followed him eagerly to the table, taking her place by his feet, looking up at him entreatingly and leaning slightly into his leg, so that her full breasts were pressed firmly against him with each breath, a tingle of pleasure coursing through her as her nipples hardened at the contact. Still cautious of rekindling his earlier rage, she decided to leave it at that for the moment, until she could be certain her actions were not angering him: Bloth's temper was at best unpredictable, and often downright volatile.

 

[poohlive]

Zoolie nodded, looking down at the far coast.
"Well, this isn't a good place for you. I don't doubt if he already has people searching for you, here's what you do. Go down to the warf, right? And Stowaway on the first ship that leaves, you got that? With any luck, you'll get as far away from here as possible."
He went inside, grabbing a couple of ripe Junda fruit, and tossed them out to the monkeybird.
"There, so you won't get hungry. Now hurry up, I'll keep Bloth and his pirates busy."
Inside, he opened up the oldest barrel of ale they had supplies. Stuff that was more potent than most hard liquor's. He poured them into huge mugs, handing them over to Darla.
"Tell them these are with my compliments," he began pouring ale for some of the other customers, who still had a few gold coins to their names.
"So, what is so special about this monkeybird anyway? All I heard they ever did was stink up a ship and steal whatever they could, doesn't sound like a very good pet to me."

 

[badmatt]

Ren

He couldn't believe it as he saw Bloth enter the tavern. For a moment he just sat and stared. Wondering if the rumors were true and he was responsible for his father's years of slavery. He tried to avert his eyes but they kept wandering back to the pirate/slaver.

'I can't confront him here and now. I need to find a way to get him on my own. I need a ship, I have to get out of this town.'

He was trying to flag down a barmaid or the owner so that he could inquire about a ship.

 

[Lady_Siren]

Sheila saw the man trying to flag down a barmaid and decided to see what he wanted. She had a few minutes and plus he was kind of cute. She stopped in front of him an eyebrow raised "can I help you? she asked purposely adding a bit of sultriness. "I only aim to please.." her voice trailed off as she awaited his reply.

 

[The GrandMage]

Niddler

With a flap of his wings, he took himself up to the roof, setting the Junda fruit down. He looked around. Bloth had taken the land route, so if he stayed up here and out of sight, Bloth would never know he was there. He gave a sigh of relief that things had turned out the way they did.

Picking up a Junda fruit, he bit deep into it, closing his eyes to the sweet taste of ripe fruit. He ate slowly, trying to make it last as he watched over the small alley, waiting for Bloth to leave. He couldn't just stow away, he was a monkeybird. There was only one island where monkeybirds weren't sold into slavery, the home island of Pandawa, but only slavers went there. Stowing away on board a ship was like blindly selling himself back into slavery.

And that, he did not want.

 

[White Queen]

Darla

Darla immediately walked to a table where a couple of drunk pirates were drinking and talking out loud...

" Out of the way " Darla pushes one of them and with little effort falls to the ground... pissed of, his friend takes a knife from his belt " you shouldnt have done that wench... "

Darla smiles and hit the man on the head with her serving tray, knocking the man unconcuious. She turns to Bloth...

Your table is ready Sir... she runs to the bar and picks up some beers taking them to Bloths table and laying them down in front of him...

" Anything else Sir? "