Last update: tammarr@iconn.net, Thu, 23 Jan 1997

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=        A Trip to Dragon's Island - 1.16 - Flotsam & Jetsam          =
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Keirgan Crull stood atop the foredeck of The Scourge, overlooking his men
as they prepared to board the merchant ship.  He wore a vest of tanned
leather, reinforced with a fine mesh of chain mail that covered his torso
and the upper portions of his arms and legs.  Underneath, he wore a simple
brown tunic and breeches, along with a pair of hard-soled boots.  Buckled
to his waist was a cutlass, it's fine sheath fashioned from softened
leather and encrusted with two large rubies.

Jet black hair hung to his shoulders, and his piercing black eyes, perched
above a hooked nose, soaked up every detail of his surroundings.  His eyes
immediately drawn to the three figures standing near the port side of the
ship.

They made an odd trio - an elf, a dwarf, and was that a half-orc? - but
judging by the way they held themselves and their weapons would provide the
greatest resistance.  As his gaze panned across the rest of the ship, he
noted the first mate - a huge black-skinned man, whose eyes appeared to
glow even from this distance.

"Arr!  Ready to board men!  Give no quarter 'n take no prisoners...
excepting for the women-folk!"  The pirates laughed cruelly at their
captain's inference, knowing his rapacity for members of the opposite sex.

Then, more quietly, to the cowled figure beside him.  "We'll need your
magic again, wizard.  That fog o' yers did it's job, but these aren't no
simple merchant crew."  With that, the captain drew his cutlass, which
glowed with a blue sheen of magic that coursed down it's length.  Ever a
lover of blood and the ring of steel, Keirgan lunged down onto the main
deck to enter the fray along with his men.

Behind him, the cowled figure nodded and then became invisible...and waited
for the battle to begin.

                     ------========0000000=======-------

The sailors had begun to collect their weapons as the pirate ship prepared
for boarding. They could be seen standing on deck, as they began to throw
the grappling hooks over the gap to Valjean's ship, shouting savagely. The
sailors cut the first ones but there were too much and soon, the first
pirates were jumping on the board.

Adain snatched his sword from its scabbard very slowly, producing a
metallic sound that sounded to his ears like a wind of war. It was in
moments like this when he remembered the lessons of A'nar' Tshabar', his
first teacher in the art of the sword. "EVERY battle has its pulse, its
timing. Just be sure that it doesn't take yours as you immerse yourself in
it".

"Come, my friends, it's time to join our destiny" Adain said to his
comrades as he picked up one of his daggers with his left hand "Just take
care of yourselves". He then jumped into the carnage that was the main
deck. One of the pirates advanced to cut him in two pieces with his axe,
but Adain made a simple moving to his right, in order to unbalance his
opponent. It worked: making a graceful move, he jabbed the pirate in the
side with his sword, making a deep thrust. The pirate shouted in agony as
he fell to the ground, bleeding.

Then, he went to the board, trying to cancel the pirate attack. In that
moment, two of the pirates attacked him. Instinctively he brought up his
sword, parrying the jab of one of the pirates. He then fell back a little,
keeping his two attackers at bay with wide sweeps of his sword.  He had his
dagger in his left hand, moving like a damer to prevent them from racketing
him...

While Adain fought with the lethal gracefulness of a tiger, Thanin's
fighting style was more akin to that of a badger.  Though his sword was
his primary weapon, the dwarf head-butted, shield-bashed, kicked and even
bit when an enemy closed.

Thwuck saw Adain move into the thick of the fight, brandishing his sword
with evident skill. He watched the scene of the battle for a few seconds,
then rushed over to the front of the ship, where a new swarm of pirates was
boarding. He shouted a horrific Chameros battle cry, which caused several
attackers and defenders to look up in dread. Most of them lost their lives
to that mistake.

As he closed the distance between him and the new pirates, Thwuck started
swinging his mace in slow circles. His sharp eyes picked the biggest
opponent from the group, a pirate with a disorderly brown beard and nearly
bald head. Still running, he put his left hand to the ground, and made a
half spin half summersault into the crowd. The circling motion of the mace
was enhanced by this action, and its impact with the head of the big pirate
devastating. The man was dead even before the force of the blow threw him
back over the railing, his face resembling a squashed tomato. Thwuck let
out a low howl, which seemed to blend in with the echoes of his battle cry.

The other pirates in the group were shocked by the brutal action, but only
for a second. They closed in all around him, intent on killing.  Thwuck
felt his pulse rise, and the familiar feeling of war-lust came to his
heart. Without realizing he started a battle-song, which picked up pace in
harmony with his heartbeat. The pirates were unfazed, even though they had
never heard a warrior-bard in action. "The beast can sing," they
jibed. "Let's see if it bleeds as well."

Thwuck had a great advantage over the pirates: his long arms and big mace
provided him with a reach beyond any sword. But the pirates were with
many. When the first started his attack, Thwuck's song moved from
introduction (the ha'neth) to the first theme (the dormu'ib). His body
movements changed patterns as well, the steps and turns resembling a dance
rather than a fight. Every move was combined with a swing, parry or thrust
from his knife and mace, bringing death to the circle around him.

"KAH-da-re'. D'h LA-vith dir-m'a-NETH." Thwuck sang the Arrest of
Heinous Invaders, which strengthened the heart and arm of the righteous,
but grated on the ears of aggressors. As his fight continued, his voice
grew louder until it carried all over the ship.

[ADMIN (Mark): I hope nobody minds a little singing :) ]
[ADMIN (Chewie): Not at all :) ]
[ADMIN:(Tammar): Did we lose part of this where someone 
        yelled "we're boarded" and the rest of us came running up?!?!)]

The wolf had been quick to find a vantage point over the decks, his coat
blending in with the sails.  He watched the pirates' boarding tactics
carefully, realizing all too quickly that they were indeed professionals.
The pirates poured into the center of the deck, effectively splitting the
ship's crew into two fighting forces.

[ADMIN: (Chewie)I am assuming that Thanin and Adain were up on the
  quarterdeck (rear deck) when the fighting started, because of their
  conversation with the captain and helmsman.  Entering "thick of the fray"
  would put them on the main deck of the rear half of the ship.  Thwuck would
  be either off to the right or left side of the quarterdeck, entering the
  fray also in the rear half.]
[ADMIN: (Tammar) I guess that leaves me stuck in the middle at the door to
  below....]

Thanin and Adain seemed to be holding out quite well, working as a team and
covering eachother's back.  Although Thwuck appeared to be outnumbered,
he seemed to be holding out just fine with his long reach and his deadly
mace.  The pirates were fighting, but not pressing.  Out of the corner of
his eyes, the wolf caught why.  A pirate had somehow slipped behind the
front line and was approaching Thwuck from behind.

Grak grinned as he raised his dagger and poised for the attack.  The orc
that killed his hero, the big pirate Dan, was about to meet his maker.  He
would avenge Dan's death.  The arm descended in a fluid motion toward the
heart of the orcish fighter but was deflected to the side for some reason.
In the next instance he realized why as the large wolven teeth crushed his
neck and whipped him to the side.  The wolf growled menacingly and leapt
into the ranks of the pirates to the left of Thwuck.

[ADMIN (Chewie): is that something like you guys had in mind? :) ]

[ADMIN (Darren): Yep! :)]

Thanin drove his elbow into the crotch of the swarthy pirate who had
thought to ambush him from behind, and slashed backward with his weapon
into the man's abdomen.  At the same time, the dwarf parried a second
pirate's morningstar.  Changing directions abruptly, Thanin threw himself
head first into the morningstar-wielder's chest, blasting the air from his
attacker's lungs.

The dwarf's momentum carried him forward over the top of the pirate's prone
form, and he slammed a hard-booted heel into the man's face.  Thanin
continued forward, legs pumping, toward three more pirates, his face split
into a merciless grin.  He loved nothing more than chaotic melee -
except for ale, of course.

Howling and laughing as loudly as possible - his own form of music, if
less refined than that of the Chameros - Thanin dove at the pirates.  The
first, he side-swiped in the head with his shield.  The dwarf ducked to
avoid the second and third attackers weapons - both wielded spiked maces -
and then drove his weapon to the hilt into the first man's belly.

The remaining two attackers took a step back, alarmed by the feverish
gleam in the dwarf's eyes.  A mistake.

Thanin roared and leapt between the two men, stabbing right with his sword,
and swinging left with his shield.  His sword sunk into the man's weapon
arm just beneath the elbow; the mace fell from his lifeless hand as he
clutched at the wound.  The dwarf's shield attack sent the mace flying.

The wounded pirate sank to his knees, weak from the loss of blood and the
pain in his arm, but the second tackled Thanin to the deck.  The dwarf
instinctively let go of his sword as it would serve no purpose in these
close-quarters, and clamped onto the man's forehead.

"YEEAOOOW!"  The pirate's scream echoed over the din and clash of steel,
and ended in a gurgle of blood as Thanin sheathed one of his boot daggers
in the man's throat.

The dwarf rolled to his feet, reclaiming his sword as he did so, only to
be met by another rush of pirates.

Brianna stood at the top of the stairs to the decks below.  She had her 
sword held in front of her ready for action.  It didn't take long for 
the pirates to notice her.  "Aye," spoke Blarth, one of the pirates, to 
his companion,  "what have we got here, matey?  Don't hurt this one too 
much, I've got something for her later.."  

Brianna interrupted him, "Well I've got something for you NOW!" With 
this, she thrusted her sword into his belly.  "Well, don't look so 
surprised," she said as she pulled her sword free and stepped back.  She 
turned to his companion as Blarth slumped to the floor holding his 
stomach.  "And will Ye be next?" She asked his companion as she settled 
into a fighting stance and prepared to kill her attacker.

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=  [Dragon]     Volume 01  Scene 16       Copyright (c)  27/3/97        =
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=  Adain        --  The Cheshire Cat      --  cat@adi.uam.es            =
=  Thanin       --  Darren Robinson       --  drobin02@uoguelph.ca      =
=  Brianna      --  Ann Straut-Esden      --  tammarr@iconn.net         =
=  Thwuck       --  Mark Vanhommerig      --  mvan@oce.nl               =
=  Prytzouth    --  Chad C. Walstrom      --  cwalstro@d.umn.edu        =
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