worst pirates ever

[commentboxtroll]

Date & Time: 7/12 - 7/14
Location: The Chinese Seas, 19th Century
Characters: Caesar, Gamora, Jericho, & Oz
Summary: The Initative needs a new device to be tested and Caesar needs some treasure stolen; both dilemmas can be solved by robbing a bunch of Chinese pirates!
Warnings: gamora kills a lot of things, the end.

The Chinese Seas, 19th Century. The objective is to obtain control of a merchant ship carrying iron ore, gun powder, and various spices that was historically lost to a particularly infamous pirate crew. It's recorded as their only ever win, and the ship itself never returned to port.

The goal is actually to be sent to the merchant ship a day or so before the pirate boarding, survive the pirate battle and get into the pirate hold, and to secure the Treasure of the Nine Kingdoms so that it never returns to Chinese hands. It is indeed gold-plated, and part of a smaller, more modest hoard of gold on board, along with various other goods, spices, and precious stones. There is also a gold plated chamberpot. (Go figure.)

Comments

[commentboxtroll]

Hey, wait. I was--

[ Caesar raises a hand after him, but he's already gone. He was only joking, Jericho. Geez. He sighs over people running off on their own, but okay, fine. Let's see what he can do.

He turns back to watch the previously indicated group with his spyglass again. ]

[eyecontact]

[he can watch Jericho, disguised, approach one of the men in the group, trying to impress some kind of urgency that seems to be brushed off – geez, get away, weird stranger child! – until he somehow wins one of the other ones over simply out of exasperation. whatever he's on about, he seems to be pointing around the other side of the building nearby.

please enjoy six minutes of hold music or whatever it is not-Irish strategists think about in six minutes of idleness, because it will be quickly broken by a stranger's stilted voice:]

We can...use this money.

[behold the man Jericho had vanished with, stiffly holding up a money purse. black and green eyes. COMPLETELY NOT CREEPY.]

[commentboxtroll]

[ He is so not-Irish. So very not-Irish-- I mean...

Caesar watches, frowning as he tries to figure out just what Jericho is up to. He hasn't the faintest, seeing how the other boy got shoved into the crew at the last second! What can he do? Something, obviously, which is much more apparent when the man with intensely creepy eyes comes walking up to hand over... a purse of money?!

Now that has all of his attention. ]

Uh. [ Uh, indeed. ] Oh, well, that's... very generous of you, sir.

[ What is going onnn? Okay, okay, whatever, Caesar reaches out to take the purse. ]

Thank you.

[eyecontact]

Cae-sar.

[the man lifts a hand and makes the j-sign with his pinky.]

Whenever you see. This? It's Shericho. [half-beat.] Jer-i-cho.

It's. Hard to talk. Sorry. [considering the guy's kind of fighting it. tHERE'S NOTHING CREEPY ABOUT THAT, THOUGH.]

[commentboxtroll]

[ NO, NO, NOT CREEPY AT ALL. Caesar's staring for some other reason! Really. Not for long, though. There are weird things in his world, too, so sure, why not this? ]

I... see. [ Here's him quickly finding a place on his person to stash the bag of money out of sight. ] Will he be alright? The man you're possessing.

[eyecontact]

Yes. [the nod is much, much smoother than the words. the expression the guy's wearing, though, is a bit too twitchy.] He has a friend...who ow-owns one of these boats. We can say we're friends...use the money.

[commentboxtroll]

That certainly beats trying to sneak aboard. Is there anything in particular we should mention to have ourselves be believed? Or are you taking him with us?

[eyecontact]

I d-don't think I can...I think my time is almost up.

[he takes a knee, writing something in the dirt with a finger even as he talks. Chinese characters: I'm sorry.]

We should...offer to help. Work. Not be dead weight. Carry this... [done writing, he pulls a small lead seal out of the man's pocket and offers it.]

[commentboxtroll]

[ Help work... Great. ]

We'll see. [ Caesar takes the seal and pockets that as well, then looks around. ] Uh, should I, you know, not be here or...?

[ If that guy is going to go free here and may or may not be aware of what's happened, Caesar might not want to be around for that! ]

[eyecontact]

No, I– [he's on both knees, straightened up, bracing for something?] I may need help. Holding him up.

[a beat. and, almost like an afterthought:] This is a really strange dream, isn't it?

[Jericho hopes that might be enough to keep the guy from flipping out too badly later (he'll hope he finds nothing of this man in the history books...).

he reappears, for a moment like a ghost exiting the body and immediately growing solid and whole again...and the guy he's just left behind wobbles and falls forward, out like a light, on top of him. oof!]

[commentboxtroll]

[ Holding him up? What's going to happen-- oh.

Well, so much for holding the guy up, seeing as he topples over right onto Jericho immediately after. Caesar leans over the two, though mostly checking on the unconscious man than he is Jericho. Is he really out? ]

As strange as them come, I'd say. Need some help?

[ Does he have to roll this guy over or what? ]

[eyecontact]

[he could use a hand or two; this guy's heavy. he grimaces, trying to lift himself with a bit of a pushup underneath that drooling bulk – ew.]

[commentboxtroll]

[ Fine, fine, that message is clear. Caesar drops down into a crouch next to him and the sleeping jerrypaperweight and gets a handful of the man's arm and shoulder.

A one, a two, a... shoooovvvvve-- ]

...geez, what does this guy weigh? Hey, push the same side I'm trying to push up some.

[ If they can just roll him over! ]

[eyecontact]

[Jericho wriggles his legs out from under him enough to actually do as Caesar says, and somehow the guy gets settled – a little uncomfortably hunched – against the wall. it won't be a happy awakening, but...it's better than being facedown, right?

his face is twisted with the dubious thought of that even as he sighs, relieved for that to be the end of that, and after a beat to clear his head, looks to Ceasar.

Well?]

[commentboxtroll]

[ He must not be too happy about this idea, is what Caesar gets from that look, but he can only shrug. ]

I can work with this plan. Besides, we're going to be fighting pirates, not the ship's crew, so it can't be that bad.

[ See? They'll be causing mostly non-innocent deaths. ]

[eyecontact]

[right...

Jericho nods a little, resigning himself to this. the smaller the bodycount, the better. that's why he's here, isn't it?

he stands up, dusting his knees off and fishing his gloves out of his pockets. he gives Caesar a look once he's taken care of that.

you make the calls from here on out, right? let's see how this one goes.]

[commentboxtroll]

[ Yeah, now there's a look he's familiar with. ]

Alright. Let's go find the other two and get ourselves onto that ship. Hopefully they haven't ruined anything just yet...

[ That said, he's off, turning to head back down towards wherever it was he'd last seen Gamora and Oz, very much hoping they haven't killed or offended anyone while they've been on their own. ]