Post by Khornate Marksman on Feb 20, 2007 19:29:43 GMT -5
The deck of the ship was slick with blood and water. The stormy rains and sea waters splashed over the tiring pirates as they battled the norse warriors. Swords clashing, handguns firing, and screams of agony from the dying filled the air. The two ships were locked together in a violent embrace. Huge, powerful Norse warriors scrambled onto the pirate ship's deck to carve them to bits with their axes and swords.
Lightning flashed across the sky, lighting the night sky up. Captain Lukas drove his cutlass through the chest of a norse warrior clothed in fur armor. The sharp blade easily pierced the weak armor and cut through his heart and out his back. Blood bubbled from the warrior's lips as he fell over and died.
Lukas withdrew his sword from the corpse and blocked a strike from another warrior aimed at his head. He grabbed a pistol from it's holster and jammed it up against the bottom of the norse warrior's jaw. Lukas pulled the trigger and splattered his enemies brains all over the deck, adding to the gory mess. He quickly holstered his prized weapon and ducked a horizontal slash aimed at his neck. Captain Lukas kicked the norscan in the groin and drove his cutlass into the man's stomach as he keeled over.
The storm still raged on, tossing the ships up and down. Pirates and norse fell overboard into the dangerous seas screaming. They were silenced as they drowned or were devoured by the many sharks that were swimming around the ships hungry for blood.
The norse captain jumped over to the pirate ship and slammed his axe through a pirate, cleaving him in two all the way down. The dead pirate split and his two halves fell away, sliding across the slick deck. The warrior roared, his blond hair blowing wildly in the wind and his ice-blue eyes shining with fury.
"I am Felgar Head Crusher!" he bellowed. Raising his double-bladed axe up, he roared again. His norse warriors joined him in the howling chorus. A bolt from a crossbow struck him in the neck, but didn't pierce his immense muscles. Felgar grabbed the shaft of the arrow and ripped it out. Blood sprayed from the wound, but stopped as it healed shut almost instantly.
"What in Sigmar's name is he?" said the crossbowman invoking the name of the Empire's warrior god. The crossbowman stared down at the massive norscan captain. He saw the warrior draw a throwing axe and look up at him with a wicked smile. The crossbowman began to reload his crossbow as fast as he could.
Felgar kicked a charging pirate in the chest, caving his ribs in and tearing his lungs. The pirate clutched his throat as he suffocated to death. The mighty norscan captain through the smaller axe with all his might at the crossbowman. Out of all his tribe, he had the best aim. No one could throw an axe as far or hard as Felgar. He had won many tournaments throughout his people's lands.
The throwing axe thudded into the crossbowman's chest cutting through his lungs and out his back. Blood bubbled out of the pirate's mouth as he fell off the main mast and into a pile of barrels lashed together with a rope. The barrels splintered as the man hit.
Felgar didn't need to watch the pirate die. He knew that he had hit the man. A pirate armed with a spear ran at Felgar shouting. The pirate jabbed the spear towards Felgar's heart. The norscan stood in place as the pirate continued his foolish charge.
The norse warrior grabbed the spear right below the point, bringing the pirate to a stop. He smiled as jerked the spear up and flipped the man into the waters of the Sea of Claws where he would be torn into bloody chunks by sharks. Felgar threw the spear at a large pirate swinging two swords, nailing him to the center mast as it punched through his stomach. The pirate dropped his swords to pull the spear out of him. A norscan, seeing the man was trapped, cleaved the pirates head from his shoulders. The decapitated body slumped forwards, arterial blood spraying.
Captain Lukas was surrounded on all sides by norse warriors. Even though they were bigger and stronger, he still fought them. Thanking Sigmar for every kill and lucky dodge he made. The pirate captain jumped over a sword slashing towards his legs and stabbed his cutlass through the throat of the norscan. With a quick jerk of his wrist, he pulled his sword from the norscan and turned to cut off another's arm at the shoulder.
The norse warrior's arm and hammer fell to the deck and slid off into the sea. The nimble pirate sliced his cutlass across the norscan's stomach, gutting him. With one arm, the norscan tried to keep his intestines from spilling out as he screamed in pain. Another norse warrior punched Lukas in the face, knocking him a back a couple paces. Lukas drew another on of his pistols and shot the norscan in the face. At such close range, the bullet blew the norscan's face apart in a bloody shower of gore. Lukas holstered his pistol and wiped blood from his face as more norscans closed around him.
The two norse warrios on both sides of him jabbed their axes at his stomach, aiming to pin him. Lukas rolled forward and sprang to his feet in time to duck under an enemy's axe and stab him in the heart. The two norscans that had tried to pin Lukas had ended up stabbing themselves and laid on the deck clutching their sides as the bled to death.
The norse were outnumbered by the pirates, but there axes and swords killed two pirates for every one of them that was cut down by the pirates. Lukas saw one of his men slaughtered by a norscan twice as big. The blond haired brute swung his warhammer at the pirates head, tearing it off and sending it flying into the sea.
"Handgunners!" shouted Lukas. He swung his cutlass two-handed through a norscan's wrists as he raised his hammer. The two hands and hammer fell off the new stumps the norscan had at the end of his muscular arms and landed on his feet causing him to yelp in pain. Captain Lukas rammed his cutlass through the warrior's open mouth with the blade pointed up. The pirate pushed his sword up with all his might, slicing the blade through the thick bone of the norscan's skull and out the top of his head in an explosion of blood and brains.
"Handgunners!" Captain Lukas yelled again over the sounds of battle. "Fire!"
Many shots rang out all over the ship. On the upper parts of the masts the handgunners all fired their weapons with precision accuracy. A hailstorm of burning lead struck the norscans, blowing chunks from their bodies and blasting their skulls apart in a rain of blood and gore.
Many norse warriors had been cut down, but there were still more to fight. Captain Lukas traded blows with a smaller, stubby norscan wielding a small axe and hammer. The norscan was small, but his attacks were lightning quick. He swung left and right at the pirate captain.
Lukas dodged a blow from the norscan's hammer and blocked the attacked from his axe. He swung his leg in and kicked the stubby warrior in the ribs, breaking a few with his steel-toed boots. The norscan yelped in pain and dropped his axe to feel his ribs.
"Bad idea," snarled Lukas as he swiped his cutlass across the warrior's face, cutting his skull clean in half. The norscan stood there for a few seconds unmoving, the last moments of his life being felt with immense pain. The pirate captain pushed the new corpse aside as the upper part of the norscan's head slid off.
Felgar spotted the pirate captain as he slew one of his chosen warriors. He roared and charged through the mass of fighting bodies, battering both pirates and norscans out of his way. One unlucky pirate fell to the ground and his head was squashed as Felgar stepped on it.
Captain Lukas saw the norse captain coming towards him. He reached down to the enchanted dagger in his boot. The elven runes glowed white along the black blade of the dagger. Lukas could feel the heat radiating off the weapon. The enchanted weapon could sense the chaos around it. The runes burned brighter as the norse captain jumped over a group of three pirate handgunners, kicking one in the face and another in the shoulder. The third handgunner was distracted by the immense norscan captain. He suddenly a large cleave was protruding from his chest. The pirate turned his head around the best he could and saw a norscan with blood all over his face grinning at him with yellow teeth.
The handgunner pointed one of his pistols over his shoulder at the grinning norse warrior. He pulled the triggered, spraying blood and splinters of bone from the norscan's ruined face. The pirate pointed his lst pistol at the side of his head and pulled the trigger. The fresh corpse fell over onto the deck with the cleaver still stuck through its torso.
Lukas drove his dagger into the enemy captain's ribs below his heart as he swung his massive axe. The norscan grunted in pain as the dagger cut in between two of his ribs. Felgar punched the pirate captain in his back, knocking him to the ground. Raising his axe high, Felgar snarled like an enraged beast.
Captain Lukas didn't give him the chance to bring the axe down upon his head. He got to his knees and slashed his cutlass through the norscan's calf, cutting it almost in half. Blood seeped from the wound and white hot pain surged through Felgar's leg. He looked down at the wound and saw that it wasn't healing at all.
"What did you do, pirate?" howled Felgar. He spat the word pirate out with pure distaste. Then Felgar realized what was wrong. The dagger the pirate had stabbed him with was enchanted. He reached for the magical dagger to pull it out, but his massive chest plate prevented him from grabbing it.
Captain Lukas just smiled and cut the norscan's other leg off at the knee. The norscan fell to the deck screaming in agony. The pirate captain cleaved the norscan's axe arm off at the elbow. The ship pitched upwards and Felgar was thrown onto his back, his wounds still spewing blood.
"May Morr devour your soul, chaos filth." swore Lukas as he decapitated the norscan captain. He picked up the head before it rolled off the deck. "Norse warrors!" he began. "Your leader lies dead. Get the hell off my ship or be killed."
Seeing the pirate captain holding their leader's head up high for all to see, the norse warriors panicked and fled back to their ships. They trampled eachother as they fled in terror. The same thought ran through all their minds. If Felgar had been bested then they would surely be killed too.
"Alright men, fire!" shouted Lukas as the norscans scrambled back onto their ship. Arrows, lead, and bolts rained down into the ranks of the norscans as they retreated, killing dozens in bursts of gore. Some fell scraming into the still raging sea.
Some of the norse warriors made it to their ship and began to steer it away. Unfortunately for the norscans, Lukas's ship had its cannons loaded and ready to fire. The crew below in the gundeck fired the cannons at the fleeing norse ship, bashing through the wood and through the norse hidden below the decks. The cannon balls and grape shots tore massive holes in sides of the ship. Norse warriors were shredded by cannon balls and grape shot. They screamed in agony as the iron balls blasted through them, tearing limbs off and bursting through chest plates.
Another broadside barrage of cannon fire rang out and the norscan ship began to sink. The warriors that were still alive piled onto floating wreckage. Lukas heard their screams as they were torn to bloody ribbons by the sharks of the Sea of Claws.
The pirate captain looked around his ship. Lukas looked down at the norse captain's head in his hand. He tossed it overboard into the sea where a shark jumped out and caught it. The deck was covered in blood and corpses. Little more than half his crew lay dead or dying. Thankfully the norse were not intelligent enough to utilize gunpowder which meant that they didn't use cannons. So Lukas didn't need to worry about having his ship blown apart. He found the corpse of the of the dead captain and retrieved his dagger. Wiping the blood from his weapons on the norscan's fur pauldrons, he stood up and turned around at the sound of footsteps.
His first mate Alfreck walked towards him, clutching his side and limping slightly. Lukas could see that Alfreck's shirt was stained with blood. Some was Alfreck's, but most of it was from the pirates and norscans.
"Sir," said Alfreck saluting quickly.
"Are you okay Alfreck?" asked Lukas.
"Just a scratch. Nothing serious. You know this old dog has had worse." The first mate was telling the truth. He had sustained worse injuries. Lukas had seen Alfreck take five rounds from a handgun and get back up to fight. A small gash in his side wasn't enough to stop the old pirate.
"Alfreck, have the crew recover ammo and weapons from the dead and then clear the deck of the corpses."
"Aye sir," said Alfreck. He turned to look at the crew. "Alright ye scurvy dogs. Take the deads' ammo and weapons. Then feed 'em to the sharks."
The men all shouted and began their work. The storm was starting to clear and the sea was becoming calm again. Lukas walked up the stairs to the helm.
"Havlok," he called. "Get up here and steer."
"Aye, sir," said Havlok as he threw a norscan corpse overboard. The pirate jogged up the stairs lightly and took his place at the ship's wheel.
"Havlok take us to the port of Marienburg. We need to hire some more crew," said Captain Lukas.
"Aye," replied Havlok.
Lukas looked over the side of his ship. The name Red Dawn was wrtitten in gold lettering on the side. She was a fine ship. The Red Dawn belonged to Lukas's father until he died from the wasting sickness and passed it along to him. Lukas loved the sea. The wind blowing through his long, shaggy black hair. The cool sea water splashing over him, chilling him down to the bone. Lukas was a true pirate. He enjoyed nothing more than raiding villages and stealing treasures.
After two weeks of sailing Lukas and his crew of Pirates reached the port of Marienburg. Hidden in the Gulf of Loren, Marienburg had become a safe haven for pirates and raiders. The taverns and shops welcomed all who had coin to spend. Sailors could enjoy many comforts. From a hot plate of food served with a pint of ale to the warm embrace of a woman.
Lukas was glad to see the old wooden and stone buildings of Marienburg. The merchants shouting at people walking by their stands and pirates arguing over the spoils was music to Lukas's ears. After four months of pillaging and sailing he was finally home. Havlok sailed the ship towards the dock. Lukas's crew proceeded to tying the ship to the pier with ropes without being ordered to. Most of them had done this many times before.
After the crew secured the ship to the dock, Lukas assigned watch shifts to his crew, so that there would be men on the ship to guard it against thieves looking to steal their treasure.
Captain Lukas, first mate Alfreck, and six other pirates left the Red Dawn to head to a tavern and buy some drinks. They strolled down the cobble-stoned streets to a tavern with a sign that read Luckless Laddies.
"This is the place," said Lukas.
"Do you think he's here sir?" asked Alfreck.
"He better be."
Lukas and his men stepped through the open doorway into the tavern. Drunken pirates danced around while someone played a piano. Serving girls were pushing their way through the crowd to deliver the drinks and platters of food, ignoring any calls or taps to their butts they received from the pirates. Lukas let all his men go enjoy themselves except for Alfreck.
They rushed to the counter and slapped their coins down on it with smiles on their faces. Lukas saw one of his men down a large glass of ale in less than a minute. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, the pirate held his mug out for more.
Alfreck spotted a lone figure sitting in the far corner of the tavern smoking a long cigar. Black smoke curled up from the man's taut lips. The figure was wearing a long black cloak and had his hood up. All that could be seen of the man's face was his mouth and shaved chin. Alfreck pointed towards the man.
"That's him, Alfreck," said Captain Lukas as he and his first mate began to weave through the growing crowd of dancing drunks. Lukas laid his hand on the pommel of his cutlass as they neared the table the cloaked man sat at.
Lightning flashed across the sky, lighting the night sky up. Captain Lukas drove his cutlass through the chest of a norse warrior clothed in fur armor. The sharp blade easily pierced the weak armor and cut through his heart and out his back. Blood bubbled from the warrior's lips as he fell over and died.
Lukas withdrew his sword from the corpse and blocked a strike from another warrior aimed at his head. He grabbed a pistol from it's holster and jammed it up against the bottom of the norse warrior's jaw. Lukas pulled the trigger and splattered his enemies brains all over the deck, adding to the gory mess. He quickly holstered his prized weapon and ducked a horizontal slash aimed at his neck. Captain Lukas kicked the norscan in the groin and drove his cutlass into the man's stomach as he keeled over.
The storm still raged on, tossing the ships up and down. Pirates and norse fell overboard into the dangerous seas screaming. They were silenced as they drowned or were devoured by the many sharks that were swimming around the ships hungry for blood.
The norse captain jumped over to the pirate ship and slammed his axe through a pirate, cleaving him in two all the way down. The dead pirate split and his two halves fell away, sliding across the slick deck. The warrior roared, his blond hair blowing wildly in the wind and his ice-blue eyes shining with fury.
"I am Felgar Head Crusher!" he bellowed. Raising his double-bladed axe up, he roared again. His norse warriors joined him in the howling chorus. A bolt from a crossbow struck him in the neck, but didn't pierce his immense muscles. Felgar grabbed the shaft of the arrow and ripped it out. Blood sprayed from the wound, but stopped as it healed shut almost instantly.
"What in Sigmar's name is he?" said the crossbowman invoking the name of the Empire's warrior god. The crossbowman stared down at the massive norscan captain. He saw the warrior draw a throwing axe and look up at him with a wicked smile. The crossbowman began to reload his crossbow as fast as he could.
Felgar kicked a charging pirate in the chest, caving his ribs in and tearing his lungs. The pirate clutched his throat as he suffocated to death. The mighty norscan captain through the smaller axe with all his might at the crossbowman. Out of all his tribe, he had the best aim. No one could throw an axe as far or hard as Felgar. He had won many tournaments throughout his people's lands.
The throwing axe thudded into the crossbowman's chest cutting through his lungs and out his back. Blood bubbled out of the pirate's mouth as he fell off the main mast and into a pile of barrels lashed together with a rope. The barrels splintered as the man hit.
Felgar didn't need to watch the pirate die. He knew that he had hit the man. A pirate armed with a spear ran at Felgar shouting. The pirate jabbed the spear towards Felgar's heart. The norscan stood in place as the pirate continued his foolish charge.
The norse warrior grabbed the spear right below the point, bringing the pirate to a stop. He smiled as jerked the spear up and flipped the man into the waters of the Sea of Claws where he would be torn into bloody chunks by sharks. Felgar threw the spear at a large pirate swinging two swords, nailing him to the center mast as it punched through his stomach. The pirate dropped his swords to pull the spear out of him. A norscan, seeing the man was trapped, cleaved the pirates head from his shoulders. The decapitated body slumped forwards, arterial blood spraying.
Captain Lukas was surrounded on all sides by norse warriors. Even though they were bigger and stronger, he still fought them. Thanking Sigmar for every kill and lucky dodge he made. The pirate captain jumped over a sword slashing towards his legs and stabbed his cutlass through the throat of the norscan. With a quick jerk of his wrist, he pulled his sword from the norscan and turned to cut off another's arm at the shoulder.
The norse warrior's arm and hammer fell to the deck and slid off into the sea. The nimble pirate sliced his cutlass across the norscan's stomach, gutting him. With one arm, the norscan tried to keep his intestines from spilling out as he screamed in pain. Another norse warrior punched Lukas in the face, knocking him a back a couple paces. Lukas drew another on of his pistols and shot the norscan in the face. At such close range, the bullet blew the norscan's face apart in a bloody shower of gore. Lukas holstered his pistol and wiped blood from his face as more norscans closed around him.
The two norse warrios on both sides of him jabbed their axes at his stomach, aiming to pin him. Lukas rolled forward and sprang to his feet in time to duck under an enemy's axe and stab him in the heart. The two norscans that had tried to pin Lukas had ended up stabbing themselves and laid on the deck clutching their sides as the bled to death.
The norse were outnumbered by the pirates, but there axes and swords killed two pirates for every one of them that was cut down by the pirates. Lukas saw one of his men slaughtered by a norscan twice as big. The blond haired brute swung his warhammer at the pirates head, tearing it off and sending it flying into the sea.
"Handgunners!" shouted Lukas. He swung his cutlass two-handed through a norscan's wrists as he raised his hammer. The two hands and hammer fell off the new stumps the norscan had at the end of his muscular arms and landed on his feet causing him to yelp in pain. Captain Lukas rammed his cutlass through the warrior's open mouth with the blade pointed up. The pirate pushed his sword up with all his might, slicing the blade through the thick bone of the norscan's skull and out the top of his head in an explosion of blood and brains.
"Handgunners!" Captain Lukas yelled again over the sounds of battle. "Fire!"
Many shots rang out all over the ship. On the upper parts of the masts the handgunners all fired their weapons with precision accuracy. A hailstorm of burning lead struck the norscans, blowing chunks from their bodies and blasting their skulls apart in a rain of blood and gore.
Many norse warriors had been cut down, but there were still more to fight. Captain Lukas traded blows with a smaller, stubby norscan wielding a small axe and hammer. The norscan was small, but his attacks were lightning quick. He swung left and right at the pirate captain.
Lukas dodged a blow from the norscan's hammer and blocked the attacked from his axe. He swung his leg in and kicked the stubby warrior in the ribs, breaking a few with his steel-toed boots. The norscan yelped in pain and dropped his axe to feel his ribs.
"Bad idea," snarled Lukas as he swiped his cutlass across the warrior's face, cutting his skull clean in half. The norscan stood there for a few seconds unmoving, the last moments of his life being felt with immense pain. The pirate captain pushed the new corpse aside as the upper part of the norscan's head slid off.
Felgar spotted the pirate captain as he slew one of his chosen warriors. He roared and charged through the mass of fighting bodies, battering both pirates and norscans out of his way. One unlucky pirate fell to the ground and his head was squashed as Felgar stepped on it.
Captain Lukas saw the norse captain coming towards him. He reached down to the enchanted dagger in his boot. The elven runes glowed white along the black blade of the dagger. Lukas could feel the heat radiating off the weapon. The enchanted weapon could sense the chaos around it. The runes burned brighter as the norse captain jumped over a group of three pirate handgunners, kicking one in the face and another in the shoulder. The third handgunner was distracted by the immense norscan captain. He suddenly a large cleave was protruding from his chest. The pirate turned his head around the best he could and saw a norscan with blood all over his face grinning at him with yellow teeth.
The handgunner pointed one of his pistols over his shoulder at the grinning norse warrior. He pulled the triggered, spraying blood and splinters of bone from the norscan's ruined face. The pirate pointed his lst pistol at the side of his head and pulled the trigger. The fresh corpse fell over onto the deck with the cleaver still stuck through its torso.
Lukas drove his dagger into the enemy captain's ribs below his heart as he swung his massive axe. The norscan grunted in pain as the dagger cut in between two of his ribs. Felgar punched the pirate captain in his back, knocking him to the ground. Raising his axe high, Felgar snarled like an enraged beast.
Captain Lukas didn't give him the chance to bring the axe down upon his head. He got to his knees and slashed his cutlass through the norscan's calf, cutting it almost in half. Blood seeped from the wound and white hot pain surged through Felgar's leg. He looked down at the wound and saw that it wasn't healing at all.
"What did you do, pirate?" howled Felgar. He spat the word pirate out with pure distaste. Then Felgar realized what was wrong. The dagger the pirate had stabbed him with was enchanted. He reached for the magical dagger to pull it out, but his massive chest plate prevented him from grabbing it.
Captain Lukas just smiled and cut the norscan's other leg off at the knee. The norscan fell to the deck screaming in agony. The pirate captain cleaved the norscan's axe arm off at the elbow. The ship pitched upwards and Felgar was thrown onto his back, his wounds still spewing blood.
"May Morr devour your soul, chaos filth." swore Lukas as he decapitated the norscan captain. He picked up the head before it rolled off the deck. "Norse warrors!" he began. "Your leader lies dead. Get the hell off my ship or be killed."
Seeing the pirate captain holding their leader's head up high for all to see, the norse warriors panicked and fled back to their ships. They trampled eachother as they fled in terror. The same thought ran through all their minds. If Felgar had been bested then they would surely be killed too.
"Alright men, fire!" shouted Lukas as the norscans scrambled back onto their ship. Arrows, lead, and bolts rained down into the ranks of the norscans as they retreated, killing dozens in bursts of gore. Some fell scraming into the still raging sea.
Some of the norse warriors made it to their ship and began to steer it away. Unfortunately for the norscans, Lukas's ship had its cannons loaded and ready to fire. The crew below in the gundeck fired the cannons at the fleeing norse ship, bashing through the wood and through the norse hidden below the decks. The cannon balls and grape shots tore massive holes in sides of the ship. Norse warriors were shredded by cannon balls and grape shot. They screamed in agony as the iron balls blasted through them, tearing limbs off and bursting through chest plates.
Another broadside barrage of cannon fire rang out and the norscan ship began to sink. The warriors that were still alive piled onto floating wreckage. Lukas heard their screams as they were torn to bloody ribbons by the sharks of the Sea of Claws.
The pirate captain looked around his ship. Lukas looked down at the norse captain's head in his hand. He tossed it overboard into the sea where a shark jumped out and caught it. The deck was covered in blood and corpses. Little more than half his crew lay dead or dying. Thankfully the norse were not intelligent enough to utilize gunpowder which meant that they didn't use cannons. So Lukas didn't need to worry about having his ship blown apart. He found the corpse of the of the dead captain and retrieved his dagger. Wiping the blood from his weapons on the norscan's fur pauldrons, he stood up and turned around at the sound of footsteps.
His first mate Alfreck walked towards him, clutching his side and limping slightly. Lukas could see that Alfreck's shirt was stained with blood. Some was Alfreck's, but most of it was from the pirates and norscans.
"Sir," said Alfreck saluting quickly.
"Are you okay Alfreck?" asked Lukas.
"Just a scratch. Nothing serious. You know this old dog has had worse." The first mate was telling the truth. He had sustained worse injuries. Lukas had seen Alfreck take five rounds from a handgun and get back up to fight. A small gash in his side wasn't enough to stop the old pirate.
"Alfreck, have the crew recover ammo and weapons from the dead and then clear the deck of the corpses."
"Aye sir," said Alfreck. He turned to look at the crew. "Alright ye scurvy dogs. Take the deads' ammo and weapons. Then feed 'em to the sharks."
The men all shouted and began their work. The storm was starting to clear and the sea was becoming calm again. Lukas walked up the stairs to the helm.
"Havlok," he called. "Get up here and steer."
"Aye, sir," said Havlok as he threw a norscan corpse overboard. The pirate jogged up the stairs lightly and took his place at the ship's wheel.
"Havlok take us to the port of Marienburg. We need to hire some more crew," said Captain Lukas.
"Aye," replied Havlok.
Lukas looked over the side of his ship. The name Red Dawn was wrtitten in gold lettering on the side. She was a fine ship. The Red Dawn belonged to Lukas's father until he died from the wasting sickness and passed it along to him. Lukas loved the sea. The wind blowing through his long, shaggy black hair. The cool sea water splashing over him, chilling him down to the bone. Lukas was a true pirate. He enjoyed nothing more than raiding villages and stealing treasures.
After two weeks of sailing Lukas and his crew of Pirates reached the port of Marienburg. Hidden in the Gulf of Loren, Marienburg had become a safe haven for pirates and raiders. The taverns and shops welcomed all who had coin to spend. Sailors could enjoy many comforts. From a hot plate of food served with a pint of ale to the warm embrace of a woman.
Lukas was glad to see the old wooden and stone buildings of Marienburg. The merchants shouting at people walking by their stands and pirates arguing over the spoils was music to Lukas's ears. After four months of pillaging and sailing he was finally home. Havlok sailed the ship towards the dock. Lukas's crew proceeded to tying the ship to the pier with ropes without being ordered to. Most of them had done this many times before.
After the crew secured the ship to the dock, Lukas assigned watch shifts to his crew, so that there would be men on the ship to guard it against thieves looking to steal their treasure.
Captain Lukas, first mate Alfreck, and six other pirates left the Red Dawn to head to a tavern and buy some drinks. They strolled down the cobble-stoned streets to a tavern with a sign that read Luckless Laddies.
"This is the place," said Lukas.
"Do you think he's here sir?" asked Alfreck.
"He better be."
Lukas and his men stepped through the open doorway into the tavern. Drunken pirates danced around while someone played a piano. Serving girls were pushing their way through the crowd to deliver the drinks and platters of food, ignoring any calls or taps to their butts they received from the pirates. Lukas let all his men go enjoy themselves except for Alfreck.
They rushed to the counter and slapped their coins down on it with smiles on their faces. Lukas saw one of his men down a large glass of ale in less than a minute. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, the pirate held his mug out for more.
Alfreck spotted a lone figure sitting in the far corner of the tavern smoking a long cigar. Black smoke curled up from the man's taut lips. The figure was wearing a long black cloak and had his hood up. All that could be seen of the man's face was his mouth and shaved chin. Alfreck pointed towards the man.
"That's him, Alfreck," said Captain Lukas as he and his first mate began to weave through the growing crowd of dancing drunks. Lukas laid his hand on the pommel of his cutlass as they neared the table the cloaked man sat at.