Pirate RP - Quest for the Snark

[Robyn]

Sleep-deprived and fighting to reveal anything that would allude TOO much to her joy of having been accepted into a pirate crew (no matter how leery that acceptance might have been), Robyn didn't quite have as quick of a reaction as some of her shipmates when a young man hopped aboard mere feet from where she was standing. Someone had said something about a cup of sugar, she recalled, and she'd mentally noted that this mixed into a cup of coffee would be just perfect. Felt like she'd been standing in one spot for nearly a month.

"What are you doing here?" she heard someone snarl.

"Me? Oh, I've--" Robyn let a yawn roll out over her tongue. "--ah! I've been here." The slight shink! of metal against material caught her ear, so she spun on her heel, fully expecting to be accosted once more by someone who hadn't seen Hunty scrawl her name on that crewscroll. But no-- turns out it was an unfamiliar fellow being suspiciously looked at this time, and in her insomniac stupor, she could only think of how nice it was that someone else was getting eye-killed for a change.

Word seemed to have it that this guy was a ninja. Robyn paused. That wasn't the way things were supposed to work. Pirates plus ninjas were supposed to equal mammoth on-ship battles rife with the clash of swords and the whistle of shurikens slicing by, as far as she knew, and all she heard right now was conversation. Tense on some ends, perhaps, but just words nonetheless. Mind-fogged and distractable, she peered back over the banister when she heard the roar of falling water.

Something was staring up at the ship. Something huge. Something...furry. Its bellow shook the seas and made the planks under Robyn's feet quiver.

"Foooood?"

Robyn grinned. "COOL."

[Draco]

Draco tilts his head over to Kovaran.

"We can still fail depending on what we choose to do from here."

Looking over the rail, back to the pirates, then to Kovaran he shrugs.

"We still don't totally know what's going on. So I say we stick with them. I'll message the others to follow the Weewoo wherever they are going."

He removes a parchment and pen from a pocket and begins to scribble something down. He rolls it up, ties it to a kunai, and drops it down towards the ninja boat below. Making sure to call out to them after he lets go of the kunai.

"Kunai, dropping your way!"

The kunai hits the boat and one of the sailors reads it.

'We're staying on the ship. Follow us. Prepare for when we reach our destination.'

The ninja sailors move around the boat, and the boat soon floats away from the White Weewoo a little.

[Huntress]

Looking at the time, or more specifically the calendar, I shall hereby assume that everyone's cool with a timeskip. If you're not, please express your discontent during the last forty days.

* * *

Two natives were squatting atop a small hill.

The Isle of Toves, a small chunk of rock in the archipelago that consisted mostly of cliffs and a lush jungle, wasn't exactly overpopulated. There were a few tribes scattered across the jungle that occasionally waged war and stole each other's women when they had nothing better to do. As all the women knew the island like the backs of their hands, they tended to just wander out of the kidnapper's hut and go back home within the first hour, which made the whole thing look slightly embarrassing, but on the whole it beat sitting around looking at branches and leaves all day.

Due to that, all local villages made their men stand watch to keep an eye on possible treacherous behavior by all other villages. It was a dull sort of job, sitting atop the nearest hill staring at the foliage, but like in every society, you soon found the right people who fit in this job. Like these two.

They were the best watchmen this village had, mostly because whenever trouble arose, they both ran back to the village very fast to scream their lungs off. Sometimes they'd managed to warn the others before the neighboring village had even finished mixing up the war paint. But that day, the other villages were quiet, so the two natives' attention was mostly focused on the strange white ship that'd docked a few miles downwind.

"This could be trouble," the bigger, fatter watchman said anxiously. He had a bone stuck through his hair. It had meat still attached. The watchman believed firmly in bringing lunch along to a long shift.

"Dunno, looks like explorers," said the other, a small skinny man who looked like the missing link between man and baboon. "Always liked them. They'll bring you beads and cigarettes in exchange for food, and food just grows on trees. High time for a new batch, really, I'm all out of cigarettes."

They edged sideways a bit to get a better look at the path that wound up from the coast. Explorers usually came this way. They'd waged many a war with neighboring villages over the right to watch over this path, and had eventually settled on a schedule. Luckily, this was a Tuesday.

Voices could be heard from the path already. The watchmen exchanged glances.

"In the juuungle, the mighty juuungle the lion sleeps toniiiight," roared a hoarse, slightly unstable voice.

"I told you that these fruits looked funny," said another, female voice.

"Eh, I've a very tenacious system," slurred the first voice. "How'd this go again... iiiin the jungle, the mighty jungle..."

All of a sudden, the thicket parted and the watchmen found themselves face to face with humans that most definitely weren't walking the path a nice safe twenty feet below. Instead, they were riding a huge black furry mountain.

"Oh look, humans," said the owner of the female voice, a blonde girl in black. On her shoulder, something small, round and blue hummed "...toniiiight, a-wum-a-waka-um-a-waka-um-a-waka-um-a-chaka..."

The watchmen looked down at the furry black mountain. It looked back, opened a mouth of three rows of fangs and said, "Blarp." They looked at the girl again.

"Snark?" she asked.

The watchmen exchanged glances again. They weren't that good at the language spoken on the east coast of Mare Mille Barcos, although they were much better at it than most explorers expected, thanks to, well, most explorers. But this was a word they hadn't heard before.

"What?" the fatter watchman ventured.

"We're looking for the snark," Hunty said. Her usual technique of talking to foreigners was "glare at them until they magically understand you".

"Um," said the other, skinny watchman. "No snark. Cigarettes?"

Hunty stared blankly at him. "No. No cigarettes. Snark?"

Both sides paused, unable to figure out how to back out of this linguistic dead end. Then the fatter watchman pointed at a small bare cliff poking out of the foliage a short distance ahead.

"There," he said.

"Kay, thanks," Hunty said, nudging the blarf with her heels. The crew set off again and shortly the only thing that marked their passing was a fading "...wum-a-waka-um-a-waka-ga-ga-chaka-chaka-na-na-fa-fa-fa-ga-ga-ooh-la-la-roma-roma-ma..."

Then silence fell.

"Explorers are really getting lazy these days," the first watchman then said. The other nodded glumly and reached behind his ear to pick a half-smoked rolled-up leaf.

The bare cliff up the road turned out to host a big damp opening to a cave. It was too small for the blarf to fit through, so he sat down in front of it, the first two pairs of legs dangling in the air, and began munching on nearby fruit. Hunty eyed him suspiciously.

"If you're singing by the time we get back, I'll shoot you," she warned.

"Blarf."

"Okay then." She turned to look at the cave. "Keep your eyes peeled, guys."

Somewhere in the cave, a big figure stirred. Huge paws stretched out across the rock, sharp claws sliding out and back again. A tail jerked from side to side, stirring a cloud of dust. A pair of nostrils flared. Something big raised its head, cold black-rimmed eyes glinting, and sniffed the air.

The Sphinx smiled.

[Zylaa]

"A-weeeeeeeee ee ee eeee A-weeumbumbaweh...." Zylaa continued singing, ignoring Bloody Mary's switch to another tune, because it was clearly inferior to one appropriate to a jungle setting.

No, she hadn't eaten any of the suspicious fruit, but she saw nothing wrong with a sing-along. She continued humming as she hopped off the Blarf's back, followed quickly by a couple of weasels who had wanted to come along for the ride. Zylaa had readily agreed, realizing that their interesting musical abilities would be a nice barometer of impending doom. It's surprising how often the pirates seemed to need one.

One weasel perched on her shoulder with its miniature drum, which it was using to tap out a slow beat. Zylaa figured the noise was meant to be atmospheric, as that was clearly the appropriate mood for approaching a dark dank cave.

When the other weasel started humming the beginning of "Jaws," though, Zylaa took a step backwards from the cave, but managed only an "Um, guys" before the Sphinx stepped out. Zylaa considered it.

"Hello," she tried, falling into a sort-of-bow. She figured it was wise to be respectful to large, carnivorous, sentient creatures, but also rather stupid to take her eyes off one. "Is this your cave?" If it was, they could always go around...

[Draco]

Draco was pretty much tuning out the music. Something he learned to do while being around Kovaran for long periods of time. Something he did note was the fruit that was causing the singing. He managed to take some and stash them in a pouch, and continued on with the others.

It felt a bit weird hanging out with the pirates, but it wasn't a horrible time. And riding the Blarf was fun. So he just sat and enjoyed the ride, until they had to get off. Then he heard the weasels change music, and looked around. His eyes stopped at the cave, and his hand went to his kunai pouch slowly.

[Ikkin]

Ikkin had been walking a few steps behind Zylaa, so she did not jump back when the Sphinx stepped out of the cave. Instead, her right hand shot to her hip and her left grabbed the sheath of her sword before she could stop them; her reflexes were trained more for battle than diplomacy, no matter how bad a welcome such wariness would make for anyone who wasn't an enemy.

She noted Zylaa making a half-bow to her side, but didn't move to do the same thing. Sphinxes, as far as she knew, did not have any expectation of politeness (that would be kappas), and it might get in the way of whatever she might need to do.

"Huh," she said, keeping her eyes on the sphinx for any reaction, "either the Snark is much larger and more dangerous than I expected, or we've been lured into a trap. I certainly hope somebody's good at riddles."

[Fraze]

Although this trip might have been Serious Business for the Pirates, it was quite a nice vacation for Fraze. This was a part of the planet he had never experienced before. And of course spending time with Hunty was quite nice, though privacy was difficult and discretion all but impossible on a sailing ship. And of course, time away from his duties was refreshing. Being Commander was a necessary duty, but it was wonderful to be able to act independently of the 'Fleet.

There had been some shipboard Politics going on a bit after the little thing with the dragon. Fraze was happy to stay out of this, since he had more than enough of politics while on the job.

Right now, he was quite happy to be riding blarfback through a jungle, discreetly humming along with Bloody Mary's rasping. He kept finding himself losing the tune and moving to something else, this fruit worked in strange ways.
Fraze made a note that the natives here here were apparently used to outsiders coming in. Not surprising, really--the planet had a low level of development, but there was so much ocean traffic that undiscovered tribes would be nearly nonexistent.

"Na-na na-na-naaa-na hey hey hey awimoweh awimoweh awi--ooh."
There was a cave. Fraze slid carefully off the beast and onto the ground. He walked toward it and peered in.
And there was a creature, too.
Ikkin began to draw her sword. Fraze had grown to respect her during their various meetings, but he was sometimes worried by her impulsiveness.
"A-tut-ut-ut-ut-ut," he stammered at her, holding up a hand. He turned back to the thing, which a few mental queries identified as a sphinx. "Pardon us, may we come through here?"
The sphinx raised itself onto its paws and walked toward him. Unnervingly close. Its eyes fixed on his. The security drone sensed Fraze's heart rate spike and put itself on standby mode.
"Perhaps. Why are you here?"
"We're looking for something."
The creature waited.
"A snark."
The sphinx's eyes lit up. "In that case, I can help you."
"But there's going to be some cost or challenge, right?"
"Of course, I've got thousands of years of precedent to follow."
"And will the challenge involve riddles?" Fraze guessed.
The sphinx grimaced and stuck out its tongue--an impressive gesture. "No way, I can't stand those things. Never use them unless I'm on duty. They wear out too soon, anyway--keep using the one about the old man with the face of three suns who wears his hat on his feet and after a few years everyone knows that it's about a crocodile. No, I prefer challenges with more replay value."
Fraze raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"
The sphinx smiled broadly. "Ever heard of Blackjack?"

[Ikkin]

((Fraze, Ikkin didn't actually start drawing her sword, she just moved her hands into drawing position. If Fraze is behind her, he might not have even noticed what she did -- it's not a big movement, especially from the back, and it shouldn't look nearly as threatening as a drawn blade))

Ikkin relaxed and let her hands fall to her side at Fraze's admonishment, wondering what she'd done that was such a problem. Sure, the Sphinx didn't seem like a threat now, but being unprepared for an attack seemed to her to be a worse outcome than looking a bit jumpy.

She watched warily as the Sphinx drew close to Fraze and he started questioning it. Apparently, it didn't like riddles, which Ikkin thought was odd, though she'd certainly seen stranger things.

The type of challenge it was asking, in any case, seemed less important than the stakes. The Sphinx had claimed it could help find the Snark, of course, but it hadn't mentioned what they'd have to risk if they lost.

"Yeah, I've heard of Blackjack," Ikkin said. "And you say you can help us find the Snark. That's all well and good... but what do you get out of it? Blackjack is a game of chance... what happens to us if we lose? Are we just betting money and treasure, or the stakes higher than that?"

[Huntress]

Hunty breathed in with a hiss when she saw the Sphinx.

She didn't know much about mythical creatures, which was kind of a grave oversight in the NTWF, but she did know that sphinxes, while some of the rarest, were some of the least mythical. They never tried to hide themselves. They were powerful, they were solitary, and they made a point of letting the world know that.

Unfortunately, they were very rare, so most people still didn't remember that they existed. Or what their powers were, for that matter.

"That's all well and good... but what do you get out of it? Blackjack is a game of chance... what happens to us if we lose? Are we just betting money and treasure, or the stakes higher than that?" Ikkin asked at that point. The Sphinx turned to smile its puzzling smile at her. The captain caught herself wondering if it was a he or a she. It had shoulder-length black hair and black-rimmed eyes that she recalled somewhere to just be skin markings, but with the homeland of those creatures, this could mean anything. Its low, melodious voice didn't give any hints either.

"Well," said the Sphinx, "what do you suppose my kind eats?"

Oh.

"Auras," Bloody Mary grumbled on Hunty's shoulder. He'd long since accepted that he needs to remember everything vital, magical and potentially plot-important since Hunty herself could never keep her data straight. "They eat auras. And turn people into stone."

"That's a nice concise way of putting it, yes," the Sphinx purred. "So here's my deal. You win, I'll tell you where to find the Snark. I win, I turn you all to stone and consume you, one by one. Fair deal, no hooks anywhere."

Hunty made a thoughtful grimace. "And... if we win, you tell us where to find the Snark and won't turn us to stone and eat us immediately afterwards?"

There was a pregnant pause. The Sphinx's thick tail twitched across the ground, stirring up clouds of dust. Then it pouted.

"Very well. Deal." A pack of ancient-looking cards suddenly appeared in its paws. "Who's in?"

[Ikkin]

"Who's in?" the Cap'n asked.

Ikkin didn't answer right away. She really didn't like the idea of risking her life to the whim of the cards -- she'd much rather count on spells and steel -- but it didn't seem like there were that many other options, and even if she tried to avoid the game, she might not have a chance to do anything to protect the others if they lost anyway.

"I'm in," she said. "And I'll be watching to make sure you don't try anything later, too," she added to the Sphinx. "Immediately afterwards" doesn't last long, and I'd be really annoyed if you came after us ten minutes, ten hours, or even ten days later or something."

[Robyn]

Robyn tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, and her dark eyes slowly made their way from the sweeping, inquisitive eyes of the Sphinx to the faces of her tripmates. She rather disliked the thought of her aura being eaten-- and yet, she loved Blackjack. Loved it. The bad luck that seemed to trail her in most aspects of her life didn't usually bleed into games of chance, fortunately enough, and back in her old kingdom she'd been considered quite the card shark. (The suits they'd used were a bit different, but it hadn't been hard to adjust to hearts and spades and such after she'd left.)

"I'll go," she said, feeling heady with the gravity of the situation. She knew what she signed up for. It was just a thrill to finalize it. Not to mention she was excited about the chance to perhaps prove her newfound loyalty to her new captain-- although if Hunty herself didn't go in, she might just prove herself as merely incredibly stupid. That'd suck.

But no, it was done. Robyn's face was bright and solemn as she glanced over at the other girl who'd volunteered, and silently wished her luck. The Sphinx's tail swayed like golden kelp in a slow current as a smile crept onto its lips.

[Draco]

Draco moves his hand away from his kunai and stares at the Sphinx, thinking to himself.

"A game of cards? That is going to decide this? Maybe we should just kill this thing and move on.... Wait."

He looks around for a moment then back at the Sphinx.

"That didn't sound like something I would normally think of first. Maybe a second or third thought... Must be something I ate."

He takes a step forward.

"I'm in."

[Fraze]

Fraze thought.
"Sorry guys, I'm sitting this one out," he said, backing up a few paces. "I've got no stock in this little adventure."
The Sphinx turned to him amiably. "If you're fine with seeing your friends turned to stone, be my guest."

darn it, he was the Commander of Spacefleet. He had to be more responsible than this.
Buuuuuut he was on vacation right now.
And he'd been in worse situations before.
And the odds would be more in their favor with more people playing.

"You're evil," he answered jovially to the Sphinx, stepping back toward the crowd.
He felt a presence behind him. The laconic urchin, who had been quietly in tow this whole time, was standing near his leg.
He knelt down. "Go sit on the blarf, okay?"
The child nodded, climbed back up the furry six-legged vehicle, and snuggled into a patch of fur. It was the sort of adorable sight that might prompt one to draw it.

The game began.

((Guys, let's remember: this is a game within a game on an online forum. There's nothing at stake here except the direction of the story. It's certainly possible to cheat by manipulating dice rolls if you really want to, but there's no point and it takes away from the spontaneity and uncertainty of the game. And Hunty has asked me to say that she will be Very Displeased if someone tries to do so.))


The Sphinx dealt cards to all those playing. It dealt for itself first:
[dice=13][dice=13]

It grinned. "Interesting. Good luck."

Fraze examined his cards.
[dice=13][dice=13]
He took a deep breath. "Hit."

He was given one more card.
[dice=13]

22. Crap, over by one. He leaned back. "Well, guess that's it for me. Someone else had better win this thing."[rand=4736602494958788817512861220166135979293216951195863086164463311]

[Huntress]

Hunty wasn't actually much of a gambler. She treated gambling like she treated alcohol: it served its purpose, in occasional information-gathering ways, but if you let it interfere with your thinking, you were a goner, and it was good at interfering.

Still, she was the captain. She had responsibilities. And she rather liked card games or is it now a dice game? Dang, I don't even know any more. Let's call it a carddicegame. The dealer is a sphinx, I dare you to make it any weirder than it already is.

It would've been easier if she remembered the rules of the game better. But at least she was at home with maths.

[dice=13][dice=13]

"Well, this has room for one more, I should think," she said, shooting a glance at Bloody Mary who, against all odds, kept himself pointedly quiet and was staring at treetops at that point. Meepits have a good sense of self-preservation. He wasn't playing against a bleedin' sphinx, and he had no intention of starting it either.

[dice=13]

There was a pointed silence. Possibly also sharpened and poisoned.

"The numbers won't change if you glare at them long enough," Bloody Mary said kindly.

"You'd be surprised, I knew an accountant once," Hunty snorted. "He worked for the mob. Well, not for particularly long, come to think of it." She put her cards down. "Have fun with it, folks. I'll be watching you."

"Aw, encouraging," said the meepit, sidling off her shoulder; a move the captain couldn't help but suspect to be tied with getting a better position for bailing out. "You know what they say, he who has bad luck in gambling has good luck in love."

"That so?"

"Supposedly. Remember the guy in Le Singe?" The meepit was maneuvering himself out of the sphinx's direct way now. "The one with the pinstripe suit and the weird little pencil mustache and a smile so greasy you could catch flies with."

"The one who was convinced that he has good luck in both?" Hunty stretched herself out on the grass. It was a nice day and if she needed to battle one of the most powerful mystical creatures later, she was planning to do that rested.

"Yeah. I saw him on the street a few days back, y'know, when we were in town again."

"How's he doing?"

"Not limping any more, it seemed."

"Good for him."[rand=176591272616381409213943664817398730698883220520226620048926798084]

[Draco]

It only takes Draco a few moments before he receives his cards. He takes a deep breath before looking down at them.

[dice=13][dice=13]

"Hit."

[dice=13]

With a smirk he looks up at the Sphinx.

"I'll stay with what I have."[rand=0945344255305826706362159154377878795289572328329104112475854344666]