Pirate Ship Mafia II: Information and Summary thread

[GeneralHankerchief]

PLEASE DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD.

May 23, 1720
Aboard the Spanish Treasure Galleon Marquesa

The impact of the Spanish treasure fleet had on its country’s economy could not be overstated. Every year since the 1590s, a flotilla of the largest ships imaginable would make their way around the Caribbean picking up gold, silver, and other riches from all the Spanish colonies and then take them back to Mother Spain. Even though the Spanish Empire had been on the downswing for quite a while now, the amount of riches that the treasure fleet held was incalculable.

Naturally, the men on board the Presence wanted some for themselves.

One ship trying to take down the entire fleet would be folly, of course – only a Dutch admiral and a Category 5 hurricane had ever accomplished that – but it wouldn’t be too much trouble to pick off two or three ships, coming up from the rear. It would be risky and bloody, of course, but that had never stopped the pirates before. And so, it fell to the Marquesa, being the rearmost ship in the fleet, to be especially on the alert for pirate attacks.

Unfortunately for the Marquesa, the pirates quite literally caught the Spaniards napping. At around two in the morning, Diego Sanchez, the sailor who was supposed to be manning the Crow’s Nest, was instead sound asleep, and thus unable to spot the dark silhouette coming up on the horizon. The Presence took the Marquesa in complete surprise.

The ship was taken easily, but the next two closest ships in the treasure fleet had more alert sailors, and pretty soon a sneak attack had turned into an all-out battle on the high seas. The Spanish had the numbers, but the pirates had better men, and at the end of the fighting the men of the Presence triumphed in a very bloody victory.

The survivors of the battle quickly hauled as much treasure as they could off the three Spanish ships and onto the Presence, wanting to make a clean getaway before the rest of the treasure fleet could realize what had happened. And so, a little after four in the morning, the Presence sailed off in the direction of its base at Nassau with an incredible haul. The entire attack, wildly successful, had only taken a little over two hours.

However, the attack had not come without a price. Once the chaos had subsided, the men on board did an impromptu roll call and found out that their Captain and most of the ship’s officers had died in the fighting.

“Right, boys,” said the seniormost sailor on board after the roll call had concluded, “It’s been a long night and there be no sense in dragging it out any longer. Let’s all get some sleep now, and come morning we’ll be electin’ a new Captain. Sound good?”

He was met with a chorus of hearty “ayes”, and everybody went below decks to get some much-needed sleep. The mission had been completed, the attack an unqualified success.

The adventure, however, was just about to begin.

Pirate Ship Mafia II

Overview:
Pirate Ship Mafia II is a mafia game in the mold of its predecessor and the Capo di Tutti Capi series in that it gives every player a lot of freedom to do whatever they want at night. Since you guys are probably most familiar with Capo IV, this game is the result of my work to rebalance some of Capo's imperfections to keep things more fun for everybody, in addition to adding some new elements that add a new element to the game: treasure. Maintaining a perfect balance between team cooperation and individual competition will be the key to obtaining victory.

Setting:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The North Atlantic Ocean, spring of 1720.

It’s a bit past the Golden Age of Piracy, when buccaneers ruled the seas and king’s ransoms of gold were looted and spent in a matter of weeks, but the window of opportunity for those who sail under no colors but their own is still open. Three years after the Presence sacked Charleston, they're at it again, this time taking a significant portion of the Spanish Treasure Fleet. However, their actions have attracted the attentions of the dreaded Guardacosta, who almost certainly have snuck agents aboard to enact retribution.

*Note: In reality, Nassau, which the Presence uses as a base, stopped being friendly to pirates in 1718, or two years before this game is set. For the purposes of fun, we'll say that the events of the first game set back British naval efforts to stamp out piracy in the area and granted the buccaneers at least a couple more years of leeway.
/obligatory history major disclaimer

Basic Rules:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

At the start of the game, you will randomly be PM’d a role and its description. Once all roles are sent out, the game will begin. Pirate Ship Mafia will begin with a day phase, taking place immediately after the death of the original Captain as per the above story. Instead of voting to lynch someone on Day 1, the only decision made will be who will be the new Captain. Upon conclusion of that phase, the Captain will appoint his two Officers (see below) and Night 1 will begin. In every night phase, players will PM me their night orders which may vary. Starting Day 2, players will vote to lynch and, if applicable, commit mutiny. This night/day pattern will continue until the game concludes.

Night actions:
Players may do a variety of things at night, depending on their roles. There is always the option to rest up, but treasure is awarded for those who take a more active role at night. Many of the actions must be coordinated with other players in order to be successfully executed, similar to Capo.

For the standard able seaman of the Presence (this game’s version of the townie), the following actions may be performed at night:

Sleep (no treasure awarded)
Kill an individual (treasure awarded) – must form a group of at least 4 to kill any individual
Protect an individual (treasure awarded) – must form a group of at least 3 to protect any individual
Abandon ship - Depart the Presence with all the treasure you have collected, a useful option if you think you're about to die or you think your team is going to lose and want to improve your own victory standing. Note: this option not available to some players.
Steal treasure - A new feature to Pirate Ship Mafia II, you can use this option to make up some financial ground by eschewing group activities for a night in order to directly take money from a crew member.
Guard your treasure stash - Another new feature which allows the paranoid to counteract the above action, at the expense of doing anything else for the night.

Other roles may do more or complete the same tasks with less people. You may only perform ONE action per night, unless otherwise noted in your role PM.

When actively performing at night, in your orders PM you must send me the exact specifics: What you are doing, the name of every person who is doing it with you, and who you are doing it to. If there is miscommunication and the orders do not match up, they will not be executed. Not only will this deprive you of treasure, but it may also put you at risk of dying! Beware!

Example orders PM:

GH – night 3 orders

GeneralHankerchief, Sasaki Kojiro, Kommodus, and Kagemusha will kill Seamus Fermanagh.

At the end of every night I will send feedback PMs detailing how successful you were at night. If the group failed, I will not reveal what exactly what went wrong. I will also let you know your current treasure count at the end of every night.

PMs and orders:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It is in your best interests to PM me every night with your orders. Active participation not only helps your team out, it also helps you individually. Not to mention the fact that it makes for a more exciting game! You will get two types of PMs from me: Role PM and feedback.

The Presence Able Seaman (townie) PM has already been provided in the GAH thread and will be posted in the main thread shortly after the game begins, as will the skeleton feedback PM.

In addition, at any time, you may PM me with your Will. Wills, to be explained more later, dictate who some of your treasure goes to should you die.

Voting:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Voting is your primary action in the day phases. Every day, aside from Day 1, you will be voting to lynch the person you think is guilty. Voting will be done in the usual style, like so:

Vote: GeneralHankerchief

Should you wish to change your vote, please do the following IN A NEW POST:

Unvote: GeneralHankerchief
Vote: Andres

You may also Vote: Abstain should you have no preference as to who is lynched. You may NOT vote “No Lynch”. All votes must be bolded and votes may not be edited. Should you edit your vote and not change it in a new post, you are faced with a loss of treasure and potentially, removal from play. The person with the most votes at the end of the day phase is lynched. Should there be a tie, the Captain and his two Officers will vote to determine who is lynched. Should there still be a tie (say, if there are three players with the most votes and each Officer votes somebody different), the Captain’s vote takes priority.

There will be at least one occasion in which you will vote to elect a Captain. The format for choosing a Captain is as follows:

Elect: GeneralHankerchief

Unelect: GeneralHankerchief
Elect: Andres

In addition, at any point in the day phase you may vote to mutiny. You may do this by adding in a Vote: Mutiny in with your normal vote. If over 50% of living players vote to mutiny, the Captain is lynched along with whoever has the most votes, and instead of proceeding to night, a new Captain selection process follows. If the vote is tied, the status quo remains.

Should you decide you don’t want to mutiny, you may simply write in Unvote: Mutiny at any time in the day phase. There are no official consequences for participating in a failed mutiny, but the Captain will almost surely remember those who were not loyal to him. A successful mutiny results in large amounts of treasure gained for all those who voted for the mutiny.

***New for Pirate Ship Mafia II:*** The treasure bonus for a successful mutiny has been significantly ramped up. For the exact specifics, see the publicly-available Able Seaman (townie) PM.

The Factions:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Unlike in the first game, there is only a two-way fight for control of the Presence going on. However, there may be additional threats lurking on board, waiting for their chance to strike...

The crew of the Presence: The main faction of Pirate Ship Mafia. Having just engineered a wildly successful (if not a little bloody) raid on the Spanish Treasure Fleet, they are on their way back to Nassau to spend their riches as irresponsibly as they possibly can. However, the Guardacosta is not an enemy so likely to be defeated so easily, and many sailors are predicting the need for further swordwork before the ship makes dock. In addition, even the small fortunes that all of the pirates have collected may not be enough for some sailors, who will be looking to increase their own treasure counts at the expense of others aboard...

The Spanish Guardacosta (starts with 3 players): King Philip's forces in the New World is not all just about galleons and patrol ships that have been making life miserable for pirates used to formerly easy pickings. There is a branch that deals with more covert activities, such as infiltrating a pirate ship that just made off with a significant portion of the country's budget. Guardacosta agents can work to determine which members of the crew are susceptible to their influence, and eventually, offer them a Letter of Marque. Letters of Marque allow Presence crewmen to switch over and let the Spanish numbers grow. Agents can, of course, kill as well. Their ultimate goal is the elimination or subordination of every non-Guardacosta agent on board. At least one original agent must survive.

Once you are dead:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Standard stuff here. If there are any questions, PM me.

The dead may post, but not vote/select nor carry out any night actions. Dead players may not reveal their roles publicly or privately and may not reveal their faction or role particulars either. Dead players may not quote from a PM unless that PM has been posted in the public thread by a living player. Dead players may not reveal, recount or allude to their previous night actions (or results thereof in the case of investigations) publicly or privately – even to confirm a previously made public or private reveal. Remember, even if dead not all of your treasure goes away – pirates do have *some* honor. Your participation must be circumspect, but your continued participation IS encouraged.

No screenshots may be used, from or to anyone, for ANY purpose – this includes during PMs. Feel free to quote from my Role PM’s to you or to fabricate as you see fit. Chatlog conversations may be referenced/quoted, but may not be copied via screenshot. Note: it can be difficult to maintain role secrecy during chat conversations.

"Suicide" will not be allowed in this game (it is possible to create an unplayable game with nothing but suicide pact challenges going on. This is not the intended mode of play for this game).
Players who must remove themselves from play for schedule reasons should send me a PM. I will then write them out of play.

Clarity to balance the ambiguity:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Again, if you played the first Pirate Ship Mafia or Capo-like games, nothing new here.

Upon death, the captain will launch a full investigation of that individual to try to determine the reason they were killed. Though slow (results reported on the 3rd morning after death), their then-current role will be revealed. Unfortunately, the specific actions of that individual -- what they did with their role -- will remain a mystery (until the post-game!).

The Roles:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Crew of the Presence:

Able Seaman
The standard Townie of Pirate Ship Mafia. Able Seamen have no special powers but may form groups of 4 and 3 to kill or protect a target, respectively, in addition to trying to steal or protect treasure. Their goals are to rid of the Presence of its many threats and get more treasure than anybody else (pirates are a very competitive bunch, you see). Some Able Seamen may be susceptible to offers of Letters of Marque, however, they will not know how susceptible they are.

Elected/Appointed Roles:

Neither the Captain nor his Officers can switch sides for as long as they hold their offices.

Captain
The Captain is elected by the crew on Day 1 and will remain Captain unless he is removed by a mutiny. This is a position of extreme power in that the Captain gets a set salary of treasure every turn he is Captain without having to actively do anything. Most importantly, the Captain gets to appoint his two Officers, the First Mate and Quartermaster, who, if loyal, can represent the greatest threat to the enemies of the Presence. The Captain cannot be killed at night but may take part in nighttime activities. The Captain has no vote unless there is a tie (see above), however, activity treasure is still given to him for posting in the day phase.

First Mate
The Captain names his First Mate to me privately before the Day 1 voting phase is over when it appears that he has a legitimate chance of becoming Captain. The First Mate can be replaced at will at anytime either by PM (preferred) or posting in the thread. Changes in officer position will take effect at the end of the phase, day or night. The First Mate is the Captain’s right-hand man on the ship and may individually kill one person or investigate two persons per night. Attempts on his life at night have a 50% chance of failure, regardless of numbers used against him. The First Mate also collects a salary for his efforts.

Quartermaster
The Captain names his Quartermaster to me privately before the Day 1 voting phase is over when it appears that he has a legitimate chance of becoming Captain. The Quartermaster can be replaced at will at anytime either by PM (preferred) or posting in the thread. Changes in officer position will take effect at the end of the phase, day or night. The Quartermaster is in charge of discipline on the ship and may individually protect or block one person from committing an action per night. Attempts on his life at night have a 50% chance of failure, regardless of numbers used against him. The Quartermaster also collects a salary for his efforts.

Guardacosta:

Spanish Special Officer (1)
The agent in charge of the operation on board the Presence, the Spanish Special Officer is probably the single most dangerous threat the ship's crewmen will go up against. He is the only one out of the three starting agents that can determine susceptibility to Letters of Marque among the crew of the Presence. He may investigate two persons per night to find out how susceptible they are in addition to sharing the same powers as the Guardacosta Lieutenants, described below. The Spanish Special Officer is extremely important to his team's cause, as without him, the Guardacosta agents take a huge risk whenever they offer Letters of Marque to uninvestigated targets.

Guardacosta Lieutenant (2)
The Guardacosta Lieutenant, working in pairs, may kill any one target at night. In addition, a Lieutenant acting alone may offer a Letter of Marque to any one target at night. Should that person be susceptible to Letters of Marque, he immediately joins the crew as a Guardacosta Convert (below). Should he not be susceptible, the Guardacosta agent who offered the Letter of Marque has a chance of being discovered (percentages vary from player to player, power roles have a better chance of discovering who offered Letters of Marque to them). If only one Guardacosta Lieutenant remains and there are no Converts, the Lieutenant may kill on his own. The Spanish pride themselves on being better at subtlety than their British counterparts, and as such will be able to hide flawlessly in protection groups.

Guardacosta Convert
Individuals who have accepted offers of Letters of Marque become Guardacosta Converts, who immediately obtain the same powers as Guardacosta Lieutenants. However, at least one original Guardacosta Lieutenant or the Spanish Special Officer is required to survive the game – should all three original agents be killed, all Guardacosta Converts will immediately commit suicide out of shame for abandoning their original comrades.

Secret role(s):

Well, you'll just have to wait and see.

Treasure and Wills:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Treasure
The primary standout feature of Pirate Ship Mafia, the pursuit of treasure will significantly motivate you and guide your actions. Everyone starts out with 100 treasure and can accumulate more through various means. For the most part, the more treasure you have at the end of the game, the better off you’ll be. Treasure is disclosed privately to each individual at the beginning of every day phase.

The list of actions you can take and the amount of treasure accumulated for each is below:

100: Base amount
10: For each person you recruit to play Pirate Ship Mafia
3: For each round in which you lodge a legitimate vote (for Captain, you get the three if you make a post in the day phase)
2: For each round in which you submit a night order, whether it is successful or not (can even be simply “sleep”)
10: Amount awarded for successfully killing an individual with the minimum group size of 4.
8: Amount awarded for successfully killing an individual with anything larger than the minimum group size.
10: Amount awarded for successfully protecting an individual (even if he wasn't attacked) with the minimum group size of 3.
7: Amount awarded for successfully protecting and individual (even if he wasn't attacked) with anything larger than the minimum group size.
5-20: Amount awarded for successfully stealing someone else's gold.
15: Captain's nightly salary
12: Nightly salary of First Mate/Quartermaster (kill/protection awards do not apply)
Mutiny: Every mutineer gets 10 gold; captain’s entire gold supply is then divided evenly among mutineers.

Furthermore, you are allowed to transfer small amounts of treasure between crew members. The caveats to this are that is a maximum 10 treasure per person per day, the transfer must be for services rendered, and the services must be publicly available (in other words, no breaking the game by pooling all of your gold into one source).

Finally, at any point in the game you may receive a special "random event" PM from me giving you a one-time choice between two options, usually involving treasure. The exact specifics of this will be detailed in the PM.

Wills
Players may privately message me at any time, saying, in the event of their death, who their treasure goes to. Players may not donate more than 50 of their treasure total – the remainder stays to their name (the only exception to this is if the Captain dies in a mutiny, in which case he loses all of his treasure to the mutineers). Players may divide up their 50 to multiple persons if they wish or choose not to have a Will at all. A Will may be changed at any time and must be sent to me (or updated) at least 3 hours prior to the individual’s death to be considered valid.

Legalese regarding wills:
A player is considered “dead” at the exact minute I first post his death in a public thread, either the main game thread or the game’s story/reference thread.

For example, let’s say Player X’s original will was as follows:

Give GeneralHankerchief all 50 of my treasure.

...but then at 13:00 he changed it to:

Give Andres all 50 of my treasure; GeneralHankerchief has been written out of my will.

Let’s say that I first posted Player X’s death at 15:59 that day. If this was the case, GeneralHankerchief would get the 50 treasure. If I waited one minute later and posted the death at 16:00, 3 hours would have passed and Andres would have gotten the treasure.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Townie PM:

Your role is:

Able Seaman (townie)

"[Pirate Quote Here]"
~ [Quote Author Here]

Welcome aboard! You signed onto the crew of the Presence seeking treasure and adventure, and boy, are you getting both. You fought well in the boarding action against the Spanish Treasure Fleet and now possess a king’s ransom of treasure just waiting to be spent in Nassau… provided you get back alive, for it is apparent that the dreaded Guardacosta has snuck agents aboard. It is going to take some work if you ever want to see dry land again, but you’re confident in your abilities. Besides, history is on your side. The last time the Presence was in such danger, it was ordinary crewmen such as yourselves – not the officers - that was the biggest factor in the ship making it home, taking down four enemies in random vigilante hits. Not bad for the unwashed masses, eh?

Your goals: You have two main goals, each of which is equally important.

First of all, you want to eliminate every last threat on board the Presence. Naturally, this threat comes mainly in the shape of the Guardacosta but there could be other enemies looming…

Secondly, you want to acquire as much gold for yourself as possible. While there will most likely be a winning faction on Pirate Ship Mafia, in essence there can only be one *true* winner, and that’s whoever has the most gold. However, you will also score well if you survive and stay on board period, accumulate a lot of treasure before dying, or abandon ship with a lot of treasure and the Presence crew ends up losing.

You will not score so well if you die early on, abandon ship with little treasure, or abandon ship and later witness the Presence crew win.

If there is a Presence victory, the game will end the first night there are no kill attempts after all outside threats have been eliminated.

Powers: Each night, you may perform one of the following actions:
- Sleep. This means you will do nothing for the night. However, still sending in the order will net you a small gain in treasure.
- Protect a target with a group of at least three people, including yourself. The chances for a successful protection increase with numbers. All orders must match for a successful protection. You will be awarded the full amount of treasure if the target is still alive at the end of the night, even if he is not attacked.
- Kill a target with a group of at least four people, including yourself. The chances for a successful kill increase with numbers. All orders must match for a successful kill.
- Individually steal gold from a target of your choice. You will receive anywhere from 5-20 gold, unless your target is guarding his gold.
- Choose to guard your stash of gold. Should anyone try to steal from gold the nights you are guarding, they will be unsuccessful and their identity will publicly be revealed.
- If offered an event by me, you may choose to take part in that event as opposed to your normal night actions. Further details will follow in my “event” PM.
- Abandon Ship: Leave the Presence with all of your treasure. Abandoning ship means you depart the game permanently, so choose wisely when you do this.

In addition, you may perform the following actions during the day:
- Vote to determine who will walk the plank.
- Vote for a new Captain on Day 1 and whenever else it is necessary.
- In addition to this, you may also try to remove the Captain by voting for a mutiny. The proper way to do this in the thread is Vote: Mutiny. If 50% or more of living players vote for a mutiny, the Captain is removed from his position and executed along with whoever has the most votes. You automatically gain 10 treasure for a successful mutiny, plus the Captain’s entire stash of gold is evenly divided up among mutineers. In addition, only those who mutinied will be eligible to select the next Captain.

At any time, you may privately send me a Will detailing who your treasure goes to in the event of your death. You will automatically lose 50 treasure upon dying, but you can dictate who that treasure goes to, if anybody. Wills will only be considered valid if they are sent to me/updated at least three hours prior to your death.

Furthermore, you are allowed to transfer small amounts of treasure between crew members. The caveats to this are that is a maximum 10 treasure per person per day, the transfer must be for services rendered, and the services must be publicly available (in other words, no breaking the game by pooling all of your gold into one source).

Lastly… good luck!

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 1 of main thread.

Night 0

Everybody rose late the next morning. The previous day had been quite intense, and with a lack of officers on board there wasn't much discipline on board anyway. General consensus went that the crewmen would get a very well-deserved lie-in and then spend the day electing the new captain to take them back to Nassau. This would not be a day of hard physical labor, but the week ahead would most likely be trying.

There was a more sinister undertone to the day's proceedings though. Raids on Spanish ships and holdings had dropped significantly over the past few decades. The main reason for this was the presence of the dreaded Guardacosta, or Coast Guard. Their ships were actually effective at patrolling Spanish lands, they were ruthless about hunting down pirates... and it was rumored that there was a special, more secretive branch that was devoted to more covert activities - such as killing everyone on board a pirate ship that had recently pillaged the Treasure Fleet. There was no telling how far this branch's influence spread.

A lot of the sailors were noticeably uneasy as they were waiting for the voting to begin. In this era, *nobody* got away with such a haul against the Spanish this easily. There had to be Guardacosta agents on board. Some of the older sailors, those who had been present for the sack of Charleston and its aftermath, were definitely pale. After that sack three years ago, they had to fend off British agents and men from a rival pirate ship just to make home with their loot. They were successful, but by no means did they want to go through anything like that again. And so, they hoped. They prayed to their deity of choice that they had honestly just beaten the Spanish, caught the Guardacosta napping, and were electing a Captain who would do no more than peacefully steer them home.

There would be other threats, too. After all, they were on a ship filled with greedy pirates. Greedy pirates that had just risked a lot to get a lot of gold. What would stop them from being satisfied with their own shares when there would be ample room to increase them? If the Guardacosta was on board (and most privately agreed that this was likely) then what was to stop some of the more... enterprising pirates from using the chaos to become even richer?

The seniormost sailor pulled everybody out of their thoughts by ringing the ship's bell.

"All right, lads," he said, "Ye all know what it be time for. We had a really successful raid last night, 'tis true, but the voyage not be over yet. There's an old saying that goes 'A ship without a Captain is no ship,' and I don't know about you, but right now I be standin' on some slats o' wood and iron that are makin' sure I don't drown. If that's not a ship then I don't know what is. So let's elect a Captain!"

Since most of the pirates were illiterate, it fell upon the few who knew their letters to have tallying duty, and they swore oaths up and down that they would be true with their counts. By general consensus, voting would last all day and, come sundown, the clear favorite would ascend to the Captaincy and name his new First Mate and Quartermaster.

Before the voting started, the seniormost sailor said one final thing. "Remember lads, in terms of treasure and power, the Captain be gettin' a salary of 15 gold per night. If there need be any daily matters that require a full vote o' the crew, he be forfeittin' his vote, however, he and the officers have tiebreaking power. Should the three o' *them* be deadlocked, then the Captain has final authority over what does and doesn't go. Finally, I know this boat's better disciplined than that, but if ye be enterprisin' to sneakily kill the Captain at night, good luck with that, mateys. Once you elect him, the only way we're gettin' a new one between now and Nassau is if there's a mutiny, and if heaven forbid there is, then we be havin' bigger problems on our hands."

The man sat down and thus, the voting for Captain began. It was a beautiful day with just the right amount of wind, and the possibilities were endless.

OOC: It is now Day 1. As stated above, you will not be voting someone to walk the plank, you are electing a Captain. The proper format for doing this is as follows:

Elect: GeneralHankerchief

Vote changes are made like so:

Unelect: Andres
Elect: GeneralHankerchief

You will be rewarded 3 pieces of treasure for lodging a legal vote.

Voting will last until 22:00 US Eastern Time on Thursday, September 27th.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Souls aboard: (35)
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
Arjos
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Buddhafish
Chaotix
Choxorn
DaveShack
Diana Abnoba
Double A
edse
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Jolt
Kagemusha
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
Makrell
Memnon
Montmorency
NinjaCow64
Thermal
Tiaexz
TinCow
topsecret
Visorslash
Xenoneb
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 123 of main thread.

Day 1

As to be expected, the election for Captain was a loud and boisterous affair. On the day after the great raid on the Treasure Fleet, spirits were generally high. There were promises of great loot and glory from those who sought the position, which (probably inevitably) degenerated into blatant deals being made and bounties being put out. Ah, what the presence of gold and the promise of more can do to a person...

It became established very early on that the two main candidates for the Captaincy were TinCow and Zaccino. TinCow jumped out to an early lead, taking the stance of being an openly corrupt captain, which he figured would be very profitable on a ship filled with pirates who eschewed normal forms of law and order. He was already deep in negotiations about how much he was to be paid for the positions of First Mate and Quartermaster and Zaccino made a late charge for the position.

Zaccino made far fewer promises, instead noting the fact that as the official ship's recruiter, he had already brought a lot of the souls aboard who had, so far, seen riches aplenty. This in particular seemed to work with the crew that he had personally brought on board, and soon he and TinCow were in a dead heat. Perhaps annoyed by TinCow's open corruption, most of the votes to third parties, realizing that their candidates would not win, went to Zaccino, ultimately winning him the election.

At sunset, Zaccino, victorious, addressed his crew. "All right, gents," he began, "I thank ye for puttin' yer faith in me during these times. Hopefully my Captaincy will be quite the boring affair as my plan is to get ye all back to Nassau as soon as we can so we can spend all our loot as irresponsibly as we can!" There was a general cheer to this. This seemed to be the end of the speech, as Zaccino turned and seemed to be ready to retire to what was now his cabin. However, someone then called out.

"Cap'n, sir, who be the new officers for the ship?"

"Ah, right." Zaccino turned. "I be namin' Choxorn as me First Mate and BSmith as Quartermaster. I'm confident they'll do their duties to the ship. Be that it?"

There seemed to be no further business, as silence followed this. Choxorn and BSmith, Zaccino's first two supporters during the voting, smiled as they too moved to retire into the Captain's quarters. "Right then," Zaccino said, "everyone not on night duty, back below decks and get some shut-eye! We be havin' a long day ahead of us!" Everyone on crew obeyed, and thus the first day aboard the Presence after the raid drew to a close.

Day 1 tally:

Zaccino: 12 (Zaccino, BSmith, Choxorn, Diana Abnoba, NinjaCow64, JoanK, Double A, autolycus, Montmorency, Visorslash, a completely inoffensive name, El Barto)
TinCow: 11 (issaikhaan, TinCow, Arjos, Askthepizzaguy, Chaotix, johnhughthom, Ishmael, Xenoneb, edse, Memnon, Ironside)
Andres: 2 (Andres, Makrell)
Kaiser Friedrich III: 1 (Kaiser Friedrich III)

Didn't vote: 9 (Buddhafish, DaveShack, God Emperor, Jolt, Kagemusha, Lyra, Thermal, Tiaexz, topsecret)

It is now Night 1. Please send in your orders. Night 1 will conclude on Saturday, September 29th, at Noon US Eastern Time.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Souls aboard: (35)
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
Arjos
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Buddhafish
Chaotix
Choxorn
DaveShack
Diana Abnoba
Double A
edse
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Jolt
Kagemusha
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
Makrell
Memnon
Montmorency
NinjaCow64
Thermal
Tiaexz
TinCow
topsecret
Visorslash
Xenoneb
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 145 of main thread.

Night 1

As the moon rose over the Atlantic, so too did a sailor rise from below decks on the Presence, his cutlass out.

He quickly identified his target: TinCow, sitting alone on the edge of the ship, staring out at the sea. Excellent. He would make a perfect first victim. The attacker crept up to him, trying to be as silent as he could, but when you were walking on wood on a moving ship there was only so much you could do to muffle the noise. Eventually, TinCow turned, alerted, and the element of surprise was gone.

The attacker, realizing this, ran straight for TC now, trying to use his momentum to just push him overboard, but TinCow slid his hat on the ground, causing the man to trip before he got close. He was quickly back up on his feet before TC could take advantage of this, and the sword fight was on. "En garde!" TinCow yelled, causing a brief break in the action as his attacker looked at him quizzically.

"Sorry," he said, "Old habits." And the fight resumed.

It was a fairly even affair. The attacker was constantly forcing TinCow to backpedal, but TC never lost his footing and had plenty of room to work with on the relatively open ship. They fought at a relative stalemate for about 10 minutes when the clatter finally drew some attention from below decks: three more sailors, all with their cutlasses drawn, ran upstairs and charged straight for TinCow's attacker.

This fight was very brief, as the attacker soon realized that the only one liable to die in this action would be himself. Sensing defeat, the attacker climbed the ship's rigging, getting TinCow's defenders to follow. With a little bit of a lead, he took a rope hanging free and swung all the way back down to the deck, smoothly dismounting right at the stairs that led below deck. By the time TC's protectors caught up, his attacker would simply be one of the many anonymous sailors sleeping that night.


Zaccino was woken slightly after dawn by some loud banging on the door to his quarters. He had ordered his officers to send whoever it was away, but this had proven to be ineffective as there were simply too many people knocking on the door. Reluctantly, Zaccino emerged from his cabin and addressed the crowd. "All right, mateys, what be the problem?"

A multitude of voices greeted him at once. "Cap'n, some of me gold's missin'!"

"Mine too! There be thieves aboard!"

"They tried to murder me!" That was TinCow.

"What should we do?"

"Everybody quiet!!!" Zaccino yelled, and the cacophany died down. "It be clear to me by yer stories that there be some thievery aboard, and worse. I can't be havin' this. Now, I know we be pirates who have rejected the shackle of the mother countries in favor of freedom, but aboard this ship we still need discipline. We can't have everyone tearin' each other to bits, not with crimes punishable by death on our way home after a big treasure haul. Therefore, I be institutin' the same criminal proceedings that happened after Charleston three years ago. Every day, for as long there is crime at night, we shall vote for one person who we think is responsible to walk the plank. This may be seemin' harsh, but it worked once before, and in truth it be the only way."

Everybody was silent after this, pondering on the meaning of what the Captain had just said.

"Come on, lads, the sooner we finish with this task, the sooner we can set our minds back to the drinkin' and whorin' awaitin' us once we get back to Nassau!"

That roused a cheer from the crew, and the voting was on.

OOC: It is now Day 2. Voting will last until Sunday, September 30th, at 23:00 US Eastern Time.



Feedback PMs incoming, please alert me if you think there are any errors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attacked: TinCow (n1)

Souls aboard: 35
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
Arjos
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Buddhafish
Chaotix
Choxorn
DaveShack
Diana Abnoba
Double A
edse
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Jolt
Kagemusha
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
Makrell
Memnon
Montmorency
NinjaCow64
Thermal
Tiaexz
TinCow
topsecret
Visorslash
Xenoneb
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 287 of main thread.

Day 2

It did not take long for the accusations to get rather heated aboard the Presence.

However, the surprising thing was that the loudest accusations in question were not regarding murder attempts or even direct thievery of treasure. No, these accusations were regarding a bit more murky violation of the Pirates' Code: a possible reneging of a deal that that had already been in place.

The sailor Askthepizzaguy was yelling rather loudly and without pause that there was a deal in place with Montmorency to provide protection in exchange for gold, and now Monty was being stingy with his gold. Or possibly it was his promised protection, after about an hour of the yelling where ATPG somehow never needed to pause for breath the sailors started to get the details confused. Some of them who were better able to make out the argument decided that ATPG was making a lot of sound of fury that signified nothing and voted him and there was a cadre of sailors who washed their hands of the entire fight and put votes on El Barto. However, volume seemed to be winning the day.

Eventually, Captain Zaccino and his officers emerged from their cabins to finalize the vote. Zaccino, when he read the tally, paused.

"All right, Monty, do ye deny that ye've been a hardass over the past day and have the actions o' too many sailors under yer control, even though I should rightfully have this duty, bein' the fairly and justly elected Captain?"

Montmorency was impassive. "Tell me, what precisely is my crime? Am I being accused of attempted murder or thievery, or conspiring with the Spanish?"

"Yer crime be doin' too much too quickly. It be unseemly."

Monty's eyebrow raised - the one over his eyepatch, which caused a weird sort of effect. "And my sentence for that is apparently to walk the plank? For such bastions of freedom and democracy as we style ourselves, this seems a rather harsh and arbitrary sort of punishment for free folk such as we."

"Well, technically speakin', this is a democratic vote done be previously set-upon guidelines, so that line of argument not be holdin' water. But stop stalliln' and delayin' yer fate. Get on that plank!" Zaccino pointed emphatically at said plank, and his last sentence quickly turned into a chant among the sailors. Montmorency, defeated, could do nothing else but serve his sentence, waving a little salute to the crowd before disappearing overboard.

Between Pizzaguy's daylong protestations and Monty's final argument, the sailors were more than happy to go below deck to get a night of quiet.

Day 2 tally:

Montmorency: 12 (ATPG, Xeno, Diana, El Barto, Buddhafish, khaan, NinjaCow, Choxorn, BSmith, Arjos, Makrell, JoanK)
El Barto: 6 (TinCow, God Emperor, autolycus, Memnon, JHT, ACIN)
Askthepizzaguy: 4 (Andres, Chaotix, Ishmael, Double A)
NinjaCow64: 2 (Visorslash, edse)
TinCow: 1 (Jolt)
NinjaCow64: 1 (Kaiser Friedrich III)

Abstained: 2 (Zaccino, Monty)
Didn't vote: 7 (DaveShack, Ironside, Kagemusha, Lyra, Thermal, Tiaexz, topsecret)

OOC: It is now Night 2. Please send in your orders. Night 2 will conclude Tuesday, October 2nd, at Noon US Eastern Time.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attacked: TinCow (n1)

Walked the plank:
Montmorency

Souls aboard: 34
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
Arjos
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Buddhafish
Chaotix
Choxorn
DaveShack
Diana Abnoba
Double A
edse
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Jolt
Kagemusha
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
Makrell
Memnon
NinjaCow64
Thermal
Tiaexz
TinCow
topsecret
Visorslash
Xenoneb
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 318 of main thread.

Night 2

Makrell was awoken in the middle of the night when his body registered that it was no longer receiving oxygen. It took him a further second to realize the cause: he couldn't see, and something was blocking his face. It was clear that someone was trying to strangle him with a pillow.

Despite his situation, Makrell was still cognizant enough to recognize that screaming would be of absolutely no help. The pillow would muffle any noise he made, and it would only serve to further deplete his supply of oxygen. So instead, Makrell started groping wildly around, searching for anything that might be of assistance in his fight for life.

After a few seconds, he connected with flesh! Makrell was greeted with a fresh surge of oxygen and renewed sight as the attacker had dropped his pillow. Makrell was able to glimpse someone staggering back, clutching his neck, gasping for air. Apparently Makrell had managed to punch him in the Adam's Apple. Now fully awake, grabbed his knife and pointed it in the direction of his attacker, Xenoneb, but Xeno declined to further pursue the matter and instead retreated out of sight.


The feel of steel pressed against Arjos's neck was never a pleasant experience. Nevertheless, that was the position that Arjos found himself in. Taken by surprise above deck, he had run afoul of somebody with a cutlass who was clearly out to get him. Without an opportunity to grab a weapon of his own, Arjos was certain that his life had mere seconds remaining.

However, Arjos had accomplished much over the past few years. While before he was a hopeless swordsman, once his life had gotten purpose, he had become better. Arjos was always a wily sort but now he had some physical tools to match his natural charm and mental ability. If Arjos could get his attacker to drop his guard, even if only for a second, Arjos could take his own sword out and then have a serious chance of escaping.

"Say, uh... what's that over there?" he said, his eyes flashing to a point behind his attacker.

The attacker merely rolled his eyes. "Pathetic," he said. "Like that actually be makin' me turn around. That has got to be the worst attempt at a distraction I've ever-"

But the attacker had lowered his guard in that second while he was expressing his contempt, and that second was all Arjos needed. In a flash, Arjos's own cutlass was out and in another second, his attacker's sword was clattering on the ground. Now Arjos had the upper hand, having disarmed his opponent.

"Unlike you, I not be needin' a distraction to regain the advantage," the attacker said, apparently unperturbed by this reversal of fate. "I'm a pirate, mate. I fight dirty." And without another word, before Arjos could react, the attacker punched him square in the face, hard. Arjos could feel his nose break and reflexively put up his hands to cover his face. A second punch to the gut sent Arjos sprawling to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Right, enough with the swordplay," said the attacker, picking Arjos up by the hair. "We do this the old-fashioned way." And dragging Arjos to the edge of the ship, still by the hair, he flung him overboard.



issaikhaan was pacing the deck of the Presence, muttering to himself about gods appearing in the form of stannic bovines. Most of the crew had pretty much left khaan alone since the first day's Captain election, seeing as how a previously mild-mannered sailor had become basically a zealous acolyte (to a fellow pirate, no less!) with absolutely no warning. It almost appeared as if he was speaking in tongues.

This isolation made khaan the perfect target at night, and he was snuck up on by a man who clearly had the intent to kill. khaan managed to get his sword out and parry the blows, and the fight appeared to be pretty even, but those odds weren't good enough for khaan's liking. Mustering all of his vocal capacity, he called out to the heavens.

"O RIGHTEOUS ONE, SEND YOUR HUMBLE ACOLYTE SOME PROTECTION ON THIS NIGHT!!!"

khaan's attacker hissed in frustration. Somebody would hear khaan's prayer, all right, but it wouldn't be any deity. He had most likely yelled loud enough to wake up half the entire ship. The attacker kept up the fight for another few seconds, and then broke it off, retreating. He had decided to cut his losses. This was evidently a good decision, as three sailors had bounded up from below decks, ready to help stop the attack.


Xenoneb had mostly regained his breath after the failed attempt on Makrell earlier on in the night. He had gone above deck for some fresher air, staring out at the sea and letting the calmness right himself. He became so zoned-out that he didn't hear the four pairs of rather loud footsteps approach him.

The sound of four cutlasses being drawn finally alerted Xeno that something was amiss back on the ship. Xeno turned, his eyes widening in surprise at the sight of four people so obviously trying to kill him. He had enough time to draw his own sword, but it was 4-against-1 and Xeno was simply getting overpowered.

Remembering what issaikhaan had pulled earlier in the night, he tried to scream for help, but only managed a weak yell. Apparently his throat still hadn't entirely recovered from the punch it had received. The attempt left him gasping for air once again, an opening which his attackers mercilessly exploited. Seconds later, Xenoneb was alone, bleeding out on the deck of the Presence, and his attackers had already returned.


The First Mate of the Presence, Choxorn, was in the fight of his life. He was a good swordsman, racking up his share of kills in the raid on the Treasure Fleet, and had also received some extra security by being First Mate, but it was abundantly clear that he was flat-out overmatched.

Choxorn's attacker had not used the element of surprise, instead walking right up to him and initiating the sword fight while Choxorn was making his nightly rounds. Frankly, he was a little bit shocked by the brazenness of it all, but this shock quickly wore off in favor of the terrifying realization that he was not nearly as skilled with a blade as his opponent. If Choxorn had been less of a fighter than he was, or if he wasn't in his capacity as First Mate, this duel would have already been over.

He needed to do something - anything - to stop this withering assault. Thinking quickly, he decided to disrupt the rhythm of the fight by stepping forward instead of back. Finally, this was something which the attacker had not anticipated, and made a small gasp in surprise. Choxorn used this advantage to push, hard, and sent the attacker sprawling to the ground.

Closing in quickly, Choxorn decided he was going to just make a quick kill and be done with the night. Choxorn knew his tactics and knew that, with the route he had chosen to finish it off, the attacker had roughly a 1-in-4 chance of escaping. 75% wasn't great, but it was better than what he had given himself at the start of the fight.

He moved in to stab the attacker in the gut. But, against the odds, right before he thrust down, he felt a poke in the neck. The attacker had made exactly the right move to beat the situation, piercing Choxorn's throat with his regained, longer blade. Choxorn gasped in surprise, dropping his own weapon. The attacker rose, grinning. The last thing Choxorn saw was the man's pearly white teeth - extremely unusual for a pirate - as he slit his throat.


That morning, Zaccino, looking rather pale from the death of his first mate, called the crew to a meeting.

"All right, mateys," he said, "It appears that we be havin' a bigger problem than simple thievery on our hands. There be five separate attempts at murder last night. Five! And worse, three o' them succeeded. Even worse, one of them was our former First Mate!" Everyone gasped at the news.

"I cannot be havin' this aboard the ship," Zaccino continued, "And I especially cannot abide by the fact that someone's killin' me officers! We need to vote, again, and this time I be hopin' you condemn somebody for a worse crime than not followin' through with promises o' gold. You have until sunset, by which time whoever has the most votes will walk the plank, and I'll name a new First Mate. Get to it!"

And so Zaccino retreated back into his cabin, clearly to drink off the shock of Choxorn dying, leaving Quartermaster BSmith in charge of the vote for the time being.

OOC: It is now Day 3. Voting will last until Wednesday, October 3rd, at 23:00 US Eastern Time.



Feedback PMs incoming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attacked: TinCow (n1), Makrell (n2), issaikhaan (n2)

Killed: Arjos (n2), Xenoneb (n2), Choxorn (n2)

Walked the plank:
Montmorency (d2)

Souls aboard: 31
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Buddhafish
Chaotix
DaveShack
Diana Abnoba
Double A
edse
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Jolt
Kagemusha
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
Makrell
Memnon
NinjaCow64
Thermal
Tiaexz
TinCow
topsecret
Visorslash
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 471 of main thread.

Day 3

As Captain Zaccino had spent most of the day in his quarters, drinking and mourning the loss of his first mate, it fell to Quartermaster BSmith to keep track of the voting during this day. By sundown, BSmith was starting to wish he was back on swabby duty.

There was absolutely no consensus whatsoever. A full thirteen sailors aboard the Presence received votes, including, bizarrely, one man who, presumably drunk, voted for himself. Several sailors were active in the discussions but did not register an actual vote. Some of the pirates did not even appear to be speaking any recognizable tongue, yet alone English.

The Quartermaster was starting to break down from the stress when finally, mercifully, Captain Zaccino re-emerged from his quarters, looking businesslike once again. Everybody fell silent upon his entry, and BSmith savored that fleeting moment of peace.

"Quartermaster," he said, "Who be the day's victim?"

BSmith scanned his tally. "Well Cap'n, it be, uh, Makrell, by a margin o' seven votes to two to two to two to one to one to one to one to one to one to one to one."

The Captain looked briefly puzzled. "Hellfire," he said, "Seven votes be enough to lynch among a crew o' over thirty sailors? Well, I suppose that rules are rules. Makrell, have ye any last words?"

Makrell, all attention on him, started stammering on about how one sailor was more guilty than he, but couldn't seem to get it out and people swore that he changed his target mid-speech. He was still trying to say something coherent as Zaccino led him from the decks to the plank, and was finally pushed overboard midsentence.

"That be the last o' that," the Captain said. "Now, a bit o' housekeeping. First, it appears that there was a mistake in the crew registry. Our registry had the sailor topsecret down, but apparently that was a mistake and the sailor aboard was actually Captain Blackadder. I have updated the ship's roster to note this change.

"Secondly," he continued. "The position of First Mate has been filled by NinjaCow64. Please welcome him in his new position and pray that his lifespan be a tad longer than the last man to hold the office." There was a smattering of polite applause at this announcement, and NinjaCow got up and said something completely incoherent. The applause was slightly more uncertain after he sat down, and even Zaccino looked puzzled.

"Right then," he finished, "I hope that we be makin' progress. Don't be makin' too much trouble at night, mateys!"

Day 3 tally:

Makrell: 7 (TinCow, JoanK, Lyra, Diana, JHT, Ishmael, Buddhafish)
NinjaCow64: 2 (El Barto, Memnon)
edse: 2 (BSmith, Double A)
Andres: 2 (ATPG, Makrell)
JoanK: 1 (autolycus)
Askthepizzaguy: 1 (Andres)
Ishmael: 1 (NinjaCow)
Diana Abnoba: 1 (khaan)
TinCow: 1 (Visor)
Double A: 1 (edse)
Visorslash: 1 (Chaotix)
Kaiser Friedrich III: 1 (himself)

Abstained: 2 (Zaccino, ACIN)
Didn't vote: 8 (DaveShack, God Emperor, Ironside, Jolt, Kagemusha, Thermal, Tiaexz, topsecret)

OOC: Some housekeeping:

Please remember to vote if you post/unvote if you've already voted! I got a bit tripped up on the tally today because of that.

As mentioned in the writeup, @Captain Blackadder has replaced topsecret by topsecret's request. @LazyMcCrow is next in line to replace somebody.

It is now Night 3! Please send in your orders. Night 3 will conclude Friday, October 5th, at Noon US Eastern time.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attacked: TinCow (n1), Makrell (n2), issaikhaan (n2)

Killed: Arjos (n2), Xenoneb (n2), Choxorn (n2)

Walked the plank: Montmorency (d2), Makrell (d3)

Souls aboard: 30
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Buddhafish
Captain Blackadder
Chaotix
DaveShack
Diana Abnoba
Double A
edse
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Jolt
Kagemusha
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
Memnon
NinjaCow64
Thermal
Tiaexz
TinCow
Visorslash
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

Good news, everyone: I now have a job!

The bad news for us is that I'm doing deliveries, which means there's no telling when I might be called away from the computer. The precise timing and relative speed with which I've been ending rounds and getting results out will most likely drop from here on out.

You'll be seeing this immediately; because I'll be out when the round ends tomorrow, Night 3 is indefinitely extended until I specifically end it in the thread. I don't think it'll be more than a few hours late.

Thanks for your understanding.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 493 of main thread.

Night 3

Captain Zaccino had only started to nod off when he was awoken by the sound of someone trying to sneak in his quarters. Immediately his mind went to the gold. Nobody would be foolish enough to try to murder the Captain at night, and there was no other reason that somebody would try to break into his cabin. Zaccino rummaged through his bedside drawer, found his Captain's pistol, and simply pointed it at his treasure stash, waiting.

Two minutes later, the entrant finally broke through. As expected, he went right for Zaccino's gold stash. For the first few seconds, Zaccino did nothing, trying to lull his would-be robber into a false sense of security. But after a while, he couldn't take it anymore. Using his free hand, the Captain lit a candle which illuminated his other hand, still with the gun in it pointed right at the thief.

Taken totally by surprise, the thief uttered a very loud swear and swiftly exited the room, taking nothing. Zaccino wasn't able to get a glimpse of the thief's face, but the culprit's figure and the almost lawyerly way he swore pointed to only one possible suspect: TinCow.


Elsewhere on the Presence, Diana Abnoba had decided that she too would be prepared for anyone trying to thieve her stash of treasure and spent the night in her bunk cradling her bag as hard as she could. Eventually she drifted off, but was woken up by someone trying to wrestle it away from her - a very bold move, but a futile one, as Diana had a death grip on her bag.

Diana and her would-be thief silently wrestled for two minutes before the thief finally realized the folly of further effort, muttering something about "Divine protection" as he slunk away. Clearly, this had to be issaikhaan.


DaveShack had been doing the same thing this night on the Presence that he had been doing every night: absolutely nothing. The man had apparently evolved beyond the need to take care of certain bodily functions such as sleep and eat and even talk, for he had done nothing of the sort since the raid on the Spanish Treasure fleet. Instead, he just... stood out there on the decks, staring out at the sea.

For the first few days, this behavior was viewed with some amusement, and an enterprising thief or two had used this zombielike behavior to steal some gold from DaveShack's treasure stash. On this night, however, DaveShack's use to the crew would run out - after one final time being taken advantage of, of course.

Four sailors emerged from below decks and saw DaveShack in his usual spot, unmoving, completely not registering anything that would happen. This would be the easiest kill of their careers. They walked right up behind Dave and started slashing away with their cutlasses, leaving nothing to chance. Still without any sort of reaction from DaveShack, they finally dragged him to the edge of the ship and pushed him overboard.

The four sailors went back below decks, smirking. Meanwhile, DaveShack would soon find that he did, in fact, need oxygen to survive, as the crushing depths of the Atlantic would soon claim him forever.


A few hours later, two separate sailors were being dangled off the edge of the Presence. It was unclear whether their fear or their pain was greater, as each sailor was gripped only by the hair. Naturally, it did not take long for them to start begging for mercy from their tormentors.

"Please, why do you do this? What do you want from us?! Stop this madness, mateys!"

The two above decks merely laughed. "Save you? You have violated every law known to man. You have forsworn your national origin in favor of the black flag and now live in a lawless, ruthless, and Godless society. You steal from His Majesty Philip of Spain and you expect there to be no consequences? Why should we do anything to spare either of you?"

A pause. Then...

"Because we want to live!" one of them screamed. The other nodded vigorously in agreement. "We see the error of our ways, senors! We will join your side, please, just bring us back overboard!!!"

One Guardacosta agent looked to the other. "Yes, I think that will serve," he said, and they both lifted their victims up (still by the hair). "By the power vested in us as agents of King Philip V, we hereby offer you two Letters of Marque in exchange for your service against Spain's enemies. Keep in mind that if you ever defy the crown again, you will be dropped *all the way* overboard."


That morning, Captain Zaccino emerged from his quarters to begin the day's vote proceedings as usual. "Be at heart, mateys, the number o' kills last night dropped from three to one. In addition, we will begin to get results back from the dead starting tomorrow morning. Keep it up, lads, and we be puttin' all this nonsense behind us!"

There was some mild applause, and then the voting began once again.


OOC: Thank you for your patience.

RULE CHANGE: Because of the potentially game-breaking nature of being intentionally caught stealing treasure, I am instituting a new rule where if you are caught stealing three times, you are automatically lynched. This rule change is *not* retroactive, meaning that TinCow and issaikhaan's "caught stealing" counter is at zero just like everyone else's.

It is now Day 4! Voting will last until Saturday, October 6th, at 23:59 US Eastern time.



Feedback PMs incoming, hopefully I won't be interrupted while sending them out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attacked: TinCow (n1), Makrell (n2), issaikhaan (n2)

Killed: Arjos (n2), Xenoneb (n2), Choxorn (n2), DaveShack (n3)

Walked the plank: Montmorency (d2), Makrell (d3)

Souls aboard: 29
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Buddhafish
Captain Blackadder
Chaotix
Diana Abnoba
Double A
edse
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Jolt
Kagemusha
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
Memnon
NinjaCow64
Thermal
Tiaexz
TinCow
Visorslash
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 645 of main thread.

Day 4

The revelation that the Guardacosta had been out successfully recruiting sparked a fury of activity aboard the Presence as everybody weighed in with their interpretation of what it all meant, as well as their suggestions of what to do next. All in all it made for a very active, confusing ship that day of voting, leaving Captain Zaccino and his officers to try to sort it out.

Compounding things was the fact that First Mate NinjaCow64 seemed to be less and less on top of things. This seemed like a logical conclusion considering that NinjaCow wasn't as active in the discussion as some and the fact that damn near nobody on the ship could understand what he was saying when he was around. All in all, it meant more work for Zaccino and Quartermaster BSmith.

Stepping into this breach was, naturally, Askthepizzaguy, who seemed to alternate his tune throughout the day, first waving his traditional long list of parchment that went all the way down to his feet and even then was folded a few times which detailed what everyone could possibly have done at night and who that left to lynch, and then later saying how he was openly plotting to mutiny against the Captain because it would be good for his treasure stash (but not yet). Somehow, people were able to make sense out of this behavior and ATPG, while getting mild pressure, survived the lynch.

The day's victim was instead Memnon, who was a big fat question mark on ATPG's list. There had seemed to be quite a bit of backroom discussions going on throughout the day, with several people retiring below decks at various times and then emerging later with different opinions, but Memnon was privy to none of this, instead staying above deck all day and tending to his normal duties as a sailor aboard the Presence when he wasn't directly involved with the voting. He looked puzzled after receiving the first few votes, a look which gradually shifted to anger and then resignation as the day grew longer.

At sundown, Memnon was far and away the leading candidate for the day's lynch. He refused to go without one final word, though, gathering his bag of treasure before he walked the plank. "Fah," he said, "this ship be in such poor condition anyway that I'm sure I'll be able to find a spare piece o' wood that came off this mess and float away to safety! Just watch, you mateys, the current will be takin' me right to Nassau where I can spend me gold right away while ye all intrigue against each other and get killed by yourselves and the Spanish! Compared to that, I'll take a few days o' floatin' on the-"

Memnon's speech was interrupted by Captain Zaccino, who booted him right off the plank. Evidently, the Captain had a couple of his own things to say and was tired of Memnon preempting him.

"Right then," he said. "A bit o' official business. I be doin' some housekeepin' with me officers. NinjaCow64, sorry mate, but ye be demoted back to regular Able Seaman." NinjaCow muttered something incomprehensible at this. "To take his spot, I be relievin' BSmith of his Quartermaster duties and makin' him me new First Mate. To fill BSmith's old role, Askthepizzaguy is now Quartermaster."

ATPG bounded up besides Zaccino and immediately launched into a speech, but Zaccino silenced him after three words. "Shut it, Pizza. Ye were just made Quartermaster, not Lord God o' the High Seas." The captain got a minor chuckle out of the crew, and everyone retired for the night.

Day 4 tally:

Memnon: 8 (Visor, ATPG, BSmith, Double A, El Barto, Ishmael, Buddhafish, Diana)
edse: 3 (Blackadder, NinjaCow, JoanK)
Askthepizzaguy: 3 (TinCow, Ironside, Andres)
El Barto: 2 (edse, JHT)
Visorslash: 1 (Memnon)
Kagemusha: 1 (Chaotix)
Lyra: 1 (Jolt)
johnhughthom: 1 (Thermal)

Abstained: 3 (Zaccino, Tiaexz, ACIN)
Didn't vote: 6 (autolycus, God Emperor, issaikhaan, Kagemusha, Kaiser Friedrich III, Lyra)

OOC: It is now Night 4! Please send in your orders. Night 4 will conclude Monday, October 8th, at Noon US Eastern Time.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attacked: TinCow (n1), Makrell (n2), issaikhaan (n2)

Killed: Arjos (n2), Xenoneb (n2), Choxorn (n2), DaveShack (n3)

Walked the plank: Montmorency (d2), Makrell (d3), Memnon (d4)

Souls aboard: 28
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Buddhafish
Captain Blackadder
Chaotix
Diana Abnoba
Double A
edse
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Jolt
Kagemusha
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
NinjaCow64
Thermal
Tiaexz
TinCow
Visorslash
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 678 of main thread.

Night 4

An unearthly mist seemed to engulf the Presence and nothing else on this night, making for very poor visibility aboard. The really old salts among the remaining crewmen were certain that this mist would be the cloak of madness tonight. In other words, there was going to be a bloodbath.

Visorslash was the first target of the night's activities. The attack began rather ingloriously, as one of his assailants outright bumped into him as they were prowling the ship on the lookout for him. There was a grunt of pain, followed by some cursing, followed by shouting. Visorslash could barely make out the figures, now running for him in the mist, but he heard three distinct voices.

Immediately, he bolted in the other direction. Visorslash really wasn't able to formulate a plan in his mind; he was just making it up as he went along. Sensing the edge of the ship through the fog, Visorslash looped around and continued running full speed in the other direction. This time, he full-on crashed into one of his pursuers. The would-be assailant took the worst of it, screaming in pain and crumpling to the ground. Visorslash was only a little bruised up and managed to stay on his feet, running.

Eventually he made it back to safety, no longer pursued. Evidently the injured attacker's two companions decided to help him out rather than give up the chase.


Lyra found himself in a similar situation as to Visorslash: Alone on the ship, at night, and three attackers coming in the mist. Lyra though, by way of his placement, wasn't able to pull Visor's strategy and run to safety. Lyra was already backed into a corner.

"Nothing to do but to fight, I s'pose," he muttered to himself and drew his cutlass, watching as his three attackers did the same as they advanced upon him.

"Right then, I'm already goin' to Hell so I guess a bit o' dirty fightin' won't hurt much in the long run," he said, holding his cutlass in a guarded post around his midsection. Naturally, Lyra's lead attacker and saw this, going high with his attack by raising his own sword well above his body for the kill swing. This was all the opening that Lyra needed, as he kicked the lead attacker right in the privates.

Lyra now stepped back as the other two attackers broke off their assault in order to check on their friend, now moaning softly on the ground, curled up into the fetal position. Disregading Lyra entirely, they peered in through the mist to see how their buddy was doing. "All too easy," Lyra said, smirking for the first time, and he crunched both of their heads together.

With one attacker probably no longer able to reproduce and the other two out cold, Lyra was in no further danger that night, and whistled a merry sea shanty as he went back below deck.


"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Visorslash said to himself as he saw what was happening in front of him. Due to the sheer amount of volume coming his way, the mist was actually starting to become displaced, so Visorslash could clearly see what faced him: a full six sailors, their swords out. There would be no running circles around this group.

The six attackers charged, and now Visorslash stopped thinking entirely, instead operating solely on instinct. He parried the blows he could, with priority for the attacks that would be fatal. There was no blocking all six, so he let some minor cuts accumulate. Hurt was better than dead, after all, and it bought time for him to come up with a plan.

He knew that it would be impossible to fight off all six attackers using nothing but his sword. Therefore, the only possible way out of this, assuming no squadron of Good Samaritans would charge in to save him, was to use the ship to his advantage. There were plenty of ropes and heavy things aboard. The ropes could help him make a quick getaway when needed and the heavy things could knock out some of the attackers, making it a fairer fight.

Visorslash had now succeeded in making a very rough outline for how to survive this night. Taking a few more minor cuts as he adjusted, he started backing up to the ship's rigging. Using his left hand, he grabbed a rope. Using his right hand, still gripping his sword, he parried the latest attack, knocking the man off balance. Now, taking a risk, he swung his sword high above his head, cutting through a different rope in one fluid motion. The result carried Visorslash up far out of the attackers' reach, putting him out of harm's way a nanosecond before he would have been stabbed in the heart.

At a height that was about level to the crow's nest, Visorslash started to think. The crow's nest, after all, was not the safest place to weather out an attack. If memory served, in the aftermath of the sack of Charleston, the British Special Officer tried the very same tactic. He quickly realized the folly of his action when the Four Horsemen - the *true* Four Horsemen, not this squad of pretenders that had bungled as many kills as they had succeeded in - simply wheeled a portable cannon above deck, aimed it right at the crow's nest, and fired.

Then, the idea came to him all at once. A cannon!

Ignoring his wounds, Visorslash started to climb down the rigging, while his six attackers were simply waiting for him below, their swords drawn. While he was climbing, Visor completely cut away a few strings of rope and pocketed it. About ten feet out of range, Visor more blatantly cut a different rope, causing a large block of wood to start falling... directly over the attackers' location.

"Scatter!" one of them said, and the six of them did, leaving the block of wood to crash down harmlessly and providing Visorslash with enough time to safely get down. He immediately sprinted for the other side of the ship, his attackers in hot pursuit. He opened the door to a different cabin, dashed inside, shut the door, went downstairs, opened another door, entered that one, and shut it.

Three seconds later, the door blasted open, and the six attackers saw Visorslash, bleeding from several wounds, but still with a triumphant look on his face. You see, they were all in the ship's powder magazine, and Visorslash held in his hand a few strands of slowly burning rope.

"Right then," he said (and quickly, for the rope was still burning), "This be endin' in one o' two ways. Either you leave me alone and we go our separate ways, or this rope here burns all the way out and nobody on the ship sees any treasure o' any kind. What'll it be, mateys?"

The six attackers loudly swore and backed away. After a torrid pursuit, Visorslash had checkmated them.


After three days of quietly doing his duty aboard the Presence and really not taking much of an interest in the greater intrigues that went on around him, Thermal finally showed some signs of life late yesterday by lodging a late vote. In the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter that much, as his vote was not for any of the main candidates... but evidently it twigged one man's interest.

That night, Thermal was visited by a large man wielding a sinister-looking cutlass who didn't look much the type for answering questions. This character trait was confirmed when Thermal asked him if this was about the vote he had lodged earlier that day, to no avail.

Thermal parried a few blows, then tried again with a different tactic. "You know what they say about a man with a big sword," he said with a tinge of humor. Perhaps not surprisingly, this approach too accomplished absolutely nothing.

From here on out, Thermal decided that it was best if he just concentrated on fighting, but for the third time this approach wasn't working either as it became clear that Thermal was losing. Of all the rotten luck... Thermal estimated that he was a better fighter than about 50% of the sailors aboard, but this man was clearly in the upper bracket. Thermal held out for as long as he could, hoping in vain that protection would come, but eventually the killing blow hit. Thermal bled out on the decks, his last thoughts being that at least he was able to make a somewhat good joke to his attacker. Who knows, perhaps dark humor would serve him well in the next life...


Captain Zaccino had just finished being debriefed by one of his sailors on a mission that he had assigned the sailor when the attack came. He saw a cannonball get tossed through his window, followed immediately by a man leaping through it. He regarded the Captain coolly for a minute, his rapier drawn. If he expected the Captain to show some sign of shock, he was disappointed.

Zaccino calmly drew his own sword. "I'm a little surprised to see you here," he said.

"La Presence est à moi," the attacker replied, his white teeth gleaming. "You have no idea how far I will go to get her back, Monsieur."

"I guess we'll see," Zaccino said, the the duel was on.

Almost immediately, Zaccino knew that he was outclassed as a swordsman by this attacker. The rapier was a very finely-made weapon, and its quality was equal to that of its wielder. Together, the two made for an extraordinarily deadly weapon. Zaccino was no slouch with a cutlass himself, but this was comparing a bar fight to the Thirty Years' War. Zaccino quickly found himself on the defensive and retreated out of his cabin in search of more room to play with.

As he barely dodged blow after blow, Zaccino started thinking to himself. The power of his Captaincy was determined by the loyalty of his men. His greatest fear was that of a mutiny. But perhaps worse than that, perhaps what he was facing right now, was a coup. His cabin, after all, was farther back on the ship. Any attacker would have to pass by the Quartermaster's and First Mate's cabins to get to him.

Did BSmith and Askthepizzaguy - "Ow!" He was poked in the shoulder, but the wound was very minor - did his officers willingly allow this attacker to pass by? If this was the case, then he was doomed. There would be no help from the regular sailors coming for the Captain. They all assumed they wouldn't need his help to survive.

Zaccino was desperately hanging on as the fight moved to the middle of the ship, above decks. The mist was clearing up by now, allowing the Captain to see every single expression of determination on his attacker's face as he rained blow after blow down upon his target. This attacker obviously wanted Zaccino dead very badly.

Unlike Visorslash against his army of attackers, Zaccino was not even able to formulate a plan. He was just mindlessly trying to parry every single rapier attack that came his way. All of this was tiring him out. His already-thin margin of error became even less existent. Not only was his attacker a better swordsman than him, he also clearly had more stamina...

After about ten minutes of intense swordfighting, the attacker finally scored a major hit, slashing Zaccino from roughly his navel to his armpit. The slash was not terribly deep but still Zaccino went down to his knees from the pain. A second later, he felt the rapier point at his neck. "It was a good fight, monsieur," the man said, almost sympathetically. Zaccino felt the break of pain on his neck as the attacker pulled back for the killing blow, and then -

Two figures burst out of the Officers' Cabins. Zaccino clearly could tell that it was his First Mate and Quartermaster. He made the loudest possible sigh of relief as the attacker stepped back, cursing about the lost opportunity. The four of them stood at the middle of the Presence, facing each other, none making a move. Finally, Zaccino, still on his knees, addressed his officers.

"Did ye allow this man to get through?" he demanded. Both officers instantly and vehemently denied it.

"Good," the Captain continued. "I suppose I should be thankin' ye fer comin' when you did. A second later and I would have been dead. This was a very close call indeed, mateys, but now order must be restored. I tolerate dissent aboard me ship, aye, but there be a clear line between dissent and out-and-out mutiny. And that line was crossed." At this point Zaccino got back up to his feet and drew, for the first time, a very dangerous-looking blunderbuss.

"Now, it only serves to reason that mutiny must be punished. As Captain, it be my duty to set an example in situations like this. After all, when I told my crew that I did not tolerate mutiny..."

He fired the blunderbuss...

"I meant it."

...right at his Quartermaster, Askthepizzaguy.

In the bedlam, the attacker, not believing his luck, slipped off into the night, while Zaccino and BSmith discussed what had just happened. "We be needin' a new Quartermaster," the Captain said, "seeing as how the last one went and got himself shot in the heart. String him up on the mast, BSmith, let the entire crew see what happens to those who would undermine my authority."

"Aye Aye," the First Mate said, and went to work. The rest of the night passed without incident.


That morning, Zaccino called the crew to order and addressed them. "All right, mateys. As ye can see we had two more kills last night. One o' them, as ye can see, is accounted for." He pointed at the mast, where Askthepizzaguy's body was grusomely displayed. "But clearly, there still be crime aboard the ship, so as a result the votin' system will stay. Now, for me next order o' business, I be appointin' TinCow as my new Quartermaster, and may you be more loyal than the last.

TinCow nodded, took a look up at ATPG's corpse, and gulped.

"Now, for some results! Montmorency, Choxorn, and Xenoneb were all loyal sailors and their deaths were all our loss. Arjos, on the other hand, er, seemed to be a woman. I'm not exactly sure what she was doing on board, but her only possession aside from her treasure was a love letter written in French. I be havin' no idea what that's about, seeing as I can't read French. Anyway, there's bound to be some Spaniards farther down the pike, so perk up, lads!"


It is now Day 5! Voting will last until Tuesday, October 9th, at 23:59 US Eastern Time.



Feedback PMs are incoming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attacked: TinCow (n1), Makrell (n2), issaikhaan (n2), Visorslash (n4, 2x), Lyra (n4), Zaccinio (n4)

Killed: Arjos (n2), Xenoneb (n2), Choxorn (n2), DaveShack (n3), Thermal (n4), Askthepizzaguy (n4)

Walked the plank: Montmorency (d2), Makrell (d3), Memnon (d4)

Souls aboard: 26
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
autolycus
BSmith
Buddhafish
Captain Blackadder
Chaotix
Diana Abnoba
Double A
edse
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Jolt
Kagemusha
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
NinjaCow64
Tiaexz
TinCow
Visorslash
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 776 of main thread.

Day 5

The voting began almost immediately with a damning accusation from Captain Zaccino himself.

"Visorslash be the cur who nearly killed me last night!" he shouted to the crew. "He's got a rapier as opposed to a proper cutlass! He murdered me first First Mate, Choxorn! He aims to take command of the Presence himself! He's - he's French!" he finally sputtered out, this last accusation levied upon Visorslash easily being the most serious one.

"We can't be havin' impeccable, cultured people on our ship!" one of the crewmen called out. "It be unseemly!" There was a shout of agreement and the votes started piling on. There were literally no other candidates. The corpse of Askthepizzaguy, still tied to the mast above them and now starting to rot in the sun served as a reminder to everyone what happened when you defied the will of the Captain.

About halfway through the voting, Visorslash, who had been trying utterly in vain to convince the crew to switch their votes elsewhere, tried a different tactic. Gulping, he made his way through the crew and stood before the Captain... and then knelt.

"Captain Zaccino," he said in a neutral tone of voice, "I may be many things, but what I am not is dishonorable. I have made a play for the Captaincy and failed. My consort and accomplice that I boarded this ship with is most likely shark food by now. I freely admit that I have been defeated on this voyage. You, sir, have bested me and I commend you for it."

Zaccino looked bemused. "Go on," he said.

"Like any sane individual aboard this ship, I value my life," Visor continued. "Right now, clearly, the best way to preserve that life is by siding with you against the Guardacosta agents that still plague the ship. I have a very particular set of skills; skills which I believe could be of use to you in this fight against King Philip's dogs. Spare me and I pledge to do my utmost to serve you."

After this speech, Zaccino beckoned his officers to retreat into his cabin to discuss this offer. The crew waited with baited breath. Some time later, the three men emerged. "Very well, Visorslash," Zaccino said, "I be sparin' you, for now. In return, I be makin' a list o' demands; I'll discuss these with you later in private." Visor nodded as Zaccino now addressed the crew. "Boys," he said, "Put yer votes elsewhere, it looks like Mr. Upper Crust Frenchman be swabbin' these here decks a little longer! Haw haw haw!"

Five seconds later, Buddhafish somehow got 14 votes put on him. Buddha, who had been enjoying a nice lie-in after he surmised that Visor would be the day's lynch, was quite taken aback when he was literally dragged above decks. "But... but..." was all he could manage, as he was still trying to wrap his head of a situation that had gone downhill all too quickly for him.

The English language failing him, Buddhafish resorted to grabbing out for whatever he could hold onto in an effort to stop from being thrown overboard. Right before the final heave, Buddha finally managed to latch onto something: Another sailor, Kagemusha. Before anyone could stop it, the two of them went over together.

"Man overboard!" the Captain yelled, trying to direct efforts to get Kage back. However, he quickly saw that this would be in vain, as the current was too strong and Kage was never that good of a swimmer. After about fifteen minutes of futility, Zaccino called it off, chalking up Kage's loss to "collateral damage".

"All right, mateys, now that we have the Frenchman good and culled and on our side, there be no hope for the Spanish now!" This got a hearty cheer from the crew and everyone went and prepared for the night.

Day 5 tally:

Buddhafish: 14 (Visor, Blackadder, Andres, Ishmael, BSmith, Ironside, TinCow, edse, JHT, auto, Diana, JoanK, NinjaCow, khaan)
Visorslash: 4 (God Emperor, El Barto, Chaotix, Double A)
Chaotix: 1 (ACIN)

Abstained: 2 (Zaccino, Buddhafish)
Didn't vote: 5 (Jolt, Kagemusha, Kaiser Friedrich III, Lyra, Tiaexz)

OOC: It is now Night 5! Please send in your orders. Night 5 will conclude Thursday, October 11th, at Noon US Eastern Time.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attacked: TinCow (n1), Makrell (n2), issaikhaan (n2), Visorslash (n4, 2x), Lyra (n4), Zaccinio (n4)

Killed: Arjos (n2), Xenoneb (n2), Choxorn (n2), DaveShack (n3), Thermal (n4), Askthepizzaguy (n4)

Wrath of God: Kagemusha (d5)

Walked the plank: Montmorency (d2), Makrell (d3), Memnon (d4), Buddhafish (d5)

Souls aboard: 24
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
autolycus
BSmith
Captain Blackadder
Chaotix
Diana Abnoba
Double A
edse
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Jolt
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
NinjaCow64
Tiaexz
TinCow
Visorslash
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 796 of main thread.

Night 5

In the Officers' Cabin, Zaccino, BSmith, and TinCow were discussing strategy. There was the sense among all of them that the supreme moment - the previous night - had passed. Zaccino had survived the challenge to his Captaincy and curtailed the threat of the Frenchman. There was nothing left to do but to consolidate his hold on the Presence and eliminate the Guardacosta.


"Shhhhh!" the four people hissed at each other as they did their work. This was a rather difficult goal to accomplish, as they were wheeling a heavy cannon over hard, unpolished wood, but it was the thought that counted.

Their target was Double A, who, luckily for them, was staring out at the sea above deck. Were he back in his bunk, this would have been a far... messier... operation. Nobody wanted to blow a hole on the inside of a ship, after all.

*Clackclackclackclackclack* the cannon went as it rolled over the wood. Everybody groaned. There was just no muting this thing. By silent consent they stopped wheeling the cannon and engaged in a quick strategy discussion. "Okay," one of them said, "Anyone good at gunnery? Do we be havin' a realistic shot at taking him out from here?"

"It be hard to judge the distance or the trajectory in this night," another one whispered. "Give it a few more feet, beyond this bit o' rigging, before we give it a go. I want a clear field o' fire." They others agreed with this, and slowly, hesitantly, continued wheeling the cannon forward.

*CLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACK*

"Enough," one of them finally said. "This be sufficient." He turned to the others. "Aim high, boys, I don't want the entire boat takin' on water just on account o' us. We miss, we charge in and corner him before he has the chance to realize what happened. Sound good?"

There were three soft "aye"s at this. And so, the sailors laboriously began the process of aiming the cannon and lighting the fuse. They had already prepared it to fire well in advance, before the process of wheeling it across half the ship. At last, it was ready to go. All there was hope for now was that Double A wouldn't spot what was happening until it was too late.

Double A, for his part, finally noticed the hissing noise, and turned around just as the loud *BANG* echoed across the ocean... just in time to see the cannonball headed straight for his face.

"Direct hit!" one of his attackers cheered, and indeed, the cannonball had taken Double A's head off completely, sending it on a ride to some other part of the Atlantic. Blood fountained from Double A's neck as his body lurched around for a few seconds before finally toppling overboard. Everybody cheered. This kill was so efficient there would be minimal amounts of swabbing required the next day to clean up after it.


The sound of the cannonfire had woken up almost everyone on board, which means that plans for any other subtle murders this night would be out. Tiaexz, once recovering from the shock, saw four men charging straight for him and bolted.

As he was running, Tiaexz was frantically patting all over his body, searching for his cutlass. Alas, he quickly realized that he left it back at his bunk, not thinking clearly enough to take it when he was running. This would require some improvisation.

He could head for the powder magazine, as Visorslash had done the previous night, in hopes of creating a New Spanish sendoff, but had absolutely nothing to burn anything with. He could head for the Officers' quarters, but ever since the attack on the Captain last night, Zaccino had everything triple-locked and most of the windows boarded. There would be no getting in that way.

One thing that Tiaexz was good at, though, was climbing. He could try to ascend the riggings, but all this would do was buy him time. Furthermore, they might just cut the riggings down with their cutlasses while he was trying to scale them, and then he'd truly be in a pickle. No, something more unorthodox was required.

Then he realized it. He'd climb the side of the ship itself! This would be quite simple. He'd make his attackers think like he was jumping overboard, prepared to test the great unknown against the certainty of dying on board the Presence, while in reality he'd simply cling to the side. Once the attackers got back below deck he'd climb back up and resume his sleep, safe and secure. This wasn't the best strategy ever, but it was better than anything else he had available to him. It would have to work.

Tiaexz ran straight for the side of the boat, jumped... and was swallowed whole by a great white shark which had also jumped in midair, clearly attracted to the boat in the first place by Double A's blood leaking into the water from earlier.


Jolt felt something drop right beside him, hitting a couple of inches to the right of where he was standing. He looked up to see where the source was, and then gasped in shock. Somebody had ascended to the crow's nest, somebody who had access to quite a lot of debris. He was now purposely bombing Jolt with it, trying to knock him out or even kill him!

Well, this was easy enough to avoid. He'd simply run back below decks. He immediately started doing so, but stopped when he saw a sailor brandish a cutlass at him. Quickly changing direction, Jolt stopped again when another sailor had this exit covered, and stopped a third time when this path too was blocked. Well then. They had trapped Jolt, but oddly enough they weren't moving in for the kill. All Jolt could hope for was to outlast this aerial assault... and then he'd see what happened next.

The bombings were easy enough to avoid. The man in the crow's nest telegraphed his attacks and Jolt was far enough down to be able to judge trajectory and get out of the way before he was hit. He danced for about fifteen minutes before the attacks finally stopped. The man in the crow's nest had at last run out of ammo.

Now, Jolt figured, taking his eyes away from the crow's nest, the hard part. He would have to get by these three sailors, who were still unmov-

CRUNCH.

Evidently the man in the crow's nest was not entirely out of ammo, having used *himself* as one final bomb. As to be expected when jumping from a significant height, he moaned in pain afterwards, but aside from a few bruises was not harmed. Jolt, being dead, made no such noises.

The other three sailors walked up to their companion, all of them shaking their heads. "I told you this was a stupid idea," one of them said, "Frankly, I be surprised that you didn't end up like Jolt here."

"Nay," said the jumper, who was just getting up and brushing some dust off. "I be studyin' me Newton, see. Landings be a lot easier when the body ye be landin' on has a lot o' give, like say, a huge pillow as opposed to rock. Looks like Jolt here had a lot o' give." The four sailors laughed and went back below deck.


The next morning, Captain Zaccino addressed the crewmen once again. "All right, mateys, as ye can see we be havin' three more added to the butcher's bill after last night-"

*Snap* *Snap*

"Er..." Everybody turned, and saw the bodies of Chaotix and Diana Abnoba dangling six feet above the ground, their faces an expression of pure misery. Evidently they were hanging themselves.

"Everybody cut them down!" Zaccino screamed, but it was too late. Chaotix and Diana were goners.

"Uh, as I was sayin', five more have been added to the butcher's bill last night. However, I be havin' some good news. Some more names came back, and it turns out that Makrell was a dirty bleedin' Spaniard! DaveShack was a loyal crewman, but still. It's official that we got at least one! Keep on, boys, there be daylight ahead!"


OOC: Rule Change: Voting "No Lynch" is now allowed.

It is now Day 6! Voting will last until Friday, October 12th, at 23:59 US Eastern Time.



Feedback PMs impending.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attacked: TinCow (n1), Makrell (n2), issaikhaan (n2), Visorslash (n4, 2x), Lyra (n4), Zaccinio (n4)

Killed: Arjos (n2), Xenoneb (n2), Choxorn (n2), DaveShack (n3), Thermal (n4), Askthepizzaguy (n4), Double A (n5), Tiaexz (n5), Jolt (n5)

Wrath of God: Kagemusha (d5)

Committed suicide: Chaotix (n5), Diana Abnoba (n5)

Walked the plank: Montmorency (d2), Makrell (d3), Memnon (d4), Buddhafish (d5)

Souls aboard: 19
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
autolycus
BSmith
Captain Blackadder
edse
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
NinjaCow64
TinCow
Visorslash
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 855 of main thread.

Day 6

Sunset.

For once, there was a calm atmosphere aboard the Presence. There was the sense that permeated around that the danger had passed. Perhaps realizing this (and also perhaps because he knew more than the rest of the crew), Captain Zaccino allowed No Lynch as a voting option for the first time. He offered no other endorsement beyond that.

Putting two and two together, the crew figured out that this might, in fact, be the end of it, and they quickly followed the Captain's implied lead. There would be no more bloodshed today, no more wearing out the plank. No actual individual received a single vote.

"All right, mateys," the Captain said as the voting drew to a close. "It be lookin' like the threat be truly well and passed us!" Everybody cheered. "Now, I estimate that this boat only be a day or so out o' Nassau, so I want ye to spend the night tidyin' up and gatherin' what's yours! There'll be plenty o' time to act like the savages ye all are once we touch dry land!"

There was another cheer from the crew at this. However, as they made their preparations, some of them knew the night wouldn't be entirely about uneventful organization. After all, they were still pirates, and pirates did what they wanted.

Day 6 tally:

No Lynch: 13 (edse, TinCow, Visor, BSmith, God Emperor, autolycus, Andres, Ironside, Ishmael, El Barto, JoanK, NinjaCow, Blackadder)

Abstained: 2 (Zaccino, ACIN)
Didn't vote: 4 (khaan, JHT, Kaiser Friedrich III, Lyra)

OOC: It is now Night 6! Please send in your orders. Night 6 (and the game) will conclude Sunday, October 14th, at Noon US Eastern Time.



REMINDER: This will be the final night phase of the game!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attacked: TinCow (n1), Makrell (n2), issaikhaan (n2), Visorslash (n4, 2x), Lyra (n4), Zaccinio (n4)

Killed: Arjos (n2), Xenoneb (n2), Choxorn (n2), DaveShack (n3), Thermal (n4), Askthepizzaguy (n4), Double A (n5), Tiaexz (n5), Jolt (n5)

Wrath of God: Kagemusha (d5)

Committed suicide: Chaotix (n5), Diana Abnoba (n5)

Walked the plank: Montmorency (d2), Makrell (d3), Memnon (d4), Buddhafish (d5)

Souls aboard: 19
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
autolycus
BSmith
Captain Blackadder
edse
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
NinjaCow64
TinCow
Visorslash
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 864 of main thread.

First of all, you guys are as boring as hell.

Night 6

Day breaks over the Presence. All is quiet.

Despite Visorslash's loud protests, Quartermaster TinCow had thrown him in the brig the entire night as a way of deterring any last-minute bids for the Captaincy. Naturally, this worked, and the only thing Visorslash was left to do was engage TinCow in a long conversation about his personal history, what he had given up on in France to come here, and why the Presence was so important to him. He talked about his now-departed Consort, Arjos.

TinCow listened to all of it, perhaps more understanding than most men, almost as if he had gone through the same thing three years before. There was clearly sympathy in his eyes, but it didn't change the fact that he was keeping Visor in the brig all night no matter what.


Lyra heard rummaging noises in his bunk twice overnight, but was in too deep of a sleep to think much upon it - instead simply incorporating the noises into his dream that involved five women, two men, fourteen cases of rum, a hat, and one muddy pig.

Naturally, when Lyra awoke out of this fantastical dreamland, he screamed in horror: his bag of treasure was significantly lighter than it had been the previous night!

Lyra marched straight up to the Officers' Cabin to lodge an official complaint with Captain Zaccino and had gotten through his opening monologue when everyone was interrupted by a voice shouting down from the crow's nest.

"LAND HO!!!"

Nassau was in sight.

OOC: And that's all, folks! Thanks for playing, I hope you guys had as much fun as I did. Epilogue/other postgame stuff is forthcoming, I hope to get to it all by today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attacked: TinCow (n1), Makrell (n2), issaikhaan (n2), Visorslash (n4, 2x), Lyra (n4), Zaccinio (n4)

Killed: Arjos (The Frenchman's Consort) (n2), Xenoneb (n2), Choxorn (n2), DaveShack (n3), Thermal (n4), Askthepizzaguy (n4), Double A (Spanish Special Officer) (n5), Tiaexz (n5), Jolt (Guardacosta Lieutenant) (n5)

Wrath of God: Kagemusha (d5)

Committed suicide: Chaotix (n5), Diana Abnoba (n5) (Guardacosta Converts)

Walked the plank: Montmorency (d2), Makrell (Guardacosta Lieutenant) (d3), Memnon (d4), Buddhafish (d5)

Survived: 19
a completely inoffensive name
Andres
autolycus
BSmith
Captain Blackadder
edse - Drunken pirate
El Barto
God Emperor
Ironside
Ishmael
issaikhaan
JoanK
johnhughthom
Kaiser Friedrich III
Lyra
NinjaCow64
TinCow
Visorslash - The Frenchman
Zaccino

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 907 of main thread.

Epilogue

Another Fine Morning in Nassau

The Presence made port at around eleven that morning, which was good news for Nassau's various tavernkeepers as it meant that there would be a full day of debauchery ahead of them. Nineteen sailors came off the ship that day, having to disembark one at a time due to the staggering amounts of treasure each one was carrying. All but one of them looked absolutely ecstatic to be in such a lawless place with so much booty to spend (and so much of a different type of booty available to be spent on). The merriment began immediately and lasted well into the night.


Wanting to experience a little bit of everything, most of the crewmen went straight to the main bar, drank their share and whored, then moved onto the next bar, repeating this process multiple times throughout the day until they had hit the main tavern on at least three separate occasions. Kaiser Friedrich III, however, was simply content at staying at the main bar and quietly enjoying his favorite brand of rum. His sack of treasure was slightly smaller than most, at a mere 108, however, he was still alive. The people that made big plays for their treasure and didn't make it off the ship wouldn't be able to spend it, and what was the sense in that? Yes, Friedrich figured, he had the system gamed.

edse, the Drunken pirate, and his partner Lyra, were at a different section of the main tavern, with edse currently being the source of much of the shenanigans that were going on. edse had acquired a good amount of gold for himself, 213 in all, and it looked as if he was spending every cent of it on liquor, as was his custom. When asked about this, he slurred something so thickly that nobody was able to understand what he said, save for Lyra.

"He says he needs the liquor to replenish his bloodstream," Lyra shouted, nursing his own smaller stack of treasure. The two separate thieveries the previous night had really cut into his stash. "Otherwise he goes through withdrawal symptoms!" He laughed and edse continued his raucousness, reaching record-setting levels of drunkenness. Somehow, he only blacked out well after midnight, about 16 full-sized bottles of rum in.


All throughout the taverns, that cliques that stuck together on the Presence mostly drank together in Nassau. Andres, Ironside, johnhughthom, and issaikhaan, who had killed together and at times had stolen from each other, shared a table, reminiscing and laughing about their adventures and exactly why khaan put on his strange "acolyte" persona aboard the ship, to which khaan simply laughed and took another sip of his ale.

The same thing was happening at a different table, where JoanK, NinjaCow64, and Captain Blackadder - who had done quite well for himself in the treasure count despite being mistaken for someone who wasn't even on board the first half of the trip - were discussing to themselves about the raid on the Marquesa and the other ships in the Spanish Treasure Fleet and how they could have potentially picked off a few more ships. It seemed as if some pirates could never entirely be satisfied.


The three remaining members of the New Four Horsemen, a completely inoffensive name, autolycus, and God Emperor toasted their fallen comrade Chaotix and then drank, mostly in silence. They had lived, yes. They had killed, yes. However, had they caused chaos by killing randomly and turned out to be the deadliest and most effective force aboard? Not quite, not this time. Perhaps, they ruminated, if there was to be a next time, the next time they could reexamine their options and go back to basics if the names of a completely inoffensive name, miotas, A Very Super Market, and Subotan were to live on in glory.

Still, though, they had lived, and that particular night, there was nothing wrong with that. 172 gold, which both God Emperor and ACIN ended up with, could provide a lot of pleasure, and autolycus's 167 was right behind.


There had been one super-dedicated thief aboard the Presence: Ishmael, who had opted to steal treasure almost every night before he decided to do his duty assigned to him before the raid and take inventory of everyone's gold. This pursuit of treasure had turned out quite successful for Ishmael, who had 201 gold to his name when he stepped off the boat.

Now, the question was, what was Ishmael going to do with all of this treasure? He certainly had a lot and could spend it on a truly epic night. However, taking inventory had also keenly attuned him to the fact that quite a lot of other people were filthy rich right now. After all, why be satisfied with 201 gold when you could have 401 gold? 1000 gold? Ishmael grinned. Everybody was already drunk. This would be like stealing candy from a baby.


El Barto, the last Musketeer, pondered to himself. He had most definitely enjoyed himself earlier in the night, but now was the time for some reflection on his part. His original group, consisting of himself, Diana Abnoba, and Askthepizzaguy, had made a vow to be absolutely merciless in the pursuit of gold. In the end, it had gotten ATPG killed and Diana most likely targeted for conversion to the Spanish, but it had certainly worked out for him. His count of 226 treasure was second-most on the entire ship, behind only Captain Zaccino's.

Were there any regrets? Probably - it would have been really nice had any of the other Musketeers survived, and there was most likely some actions he or they could have changed in order to reach this goal, but in the end his main goal had been accomplished. El Barto was rich. Now, the only question that remained was what to do with this money? Certainly everyone was currently having a great time - it sounded like edse was gunning for some sort of record - but that was the thing, they'd only be able to have this great time once. El Barto, see, was more of a long-term thinker. El Barto was thinking ahead to the means where he could enjoy nights like this on a regular basis.

He decided that he was going to start up a bank.


The Officer's Club was the swankiest, most exclusive tavern in Nassau, a place to go for the folks who had embraced the life of piracy but still weren't ready to cut all ties to the Old World notions of station being important. Hence, it wasn't much of a surprise to see TinCow, BSmith, and Captain Zaccino inside, enjoying a finer quality of brandy and smoking some of the best tobacco from the colonies. Between the three of them they had racked up 634 treasure, including a mammoth 260 for Zaccino. Not bad for the self-described "Triumvirate of Booty".

All had good reason to sit back and enjoy the finer things in life. TinCow had been denied the Captaincy, but he was still able to work his way into Zaccino's good graces and prove a useful asset to the Captain whilst still being able to acquire treasure for himself. BSmith was in a position of strength from the start, eventually rising to Zaccino's unquestioned right-hand-man and probably being able to decide the very fate of the Captaincy itself by choosing to support Zaccino over Visorslash in the Frenchman's coup attempt on the fourth night. Finally, Zaccino acquired the most treasure on the ship and had successfully defended his Captaincy from all pretenders, taking out the entire Guardacosta force along the way.

Yes, life was good for these three officers. The ship had survived, and while piracy was unquestionably on the downswing throughout the world, the Presence, at least, still struck fear in the hearts of civilized folk everywhere. That was the way it should be.

"Say," said the Captain at some point during the night, "either of you happen to see where that Frenchman went after we got off the ship? I still be a bit uneasy over him."

TinCow and BSmith looked at each other and shook their heads. "I wouldn't worry about it," said the Pirate Lawyer. "He be defeated, and in mourning to boot. He'll be lickin' his wounds for a while."

"I suppose you're right," Zaccino said, and the three continued drinking.


Meanwhile, at midnight, two figures met on a small hilltop that marked the highest point on the island. A rough wooden cross, about a foot high, was stuck into the ground.

"It's been a while," said the first figure, moving to shake the second figure's hand. "How be life treatin' ye?"

"They killed my consort," the second figure, Visorslash, said, motioning to the cross on the ground. "Right near the start. We didn't have enough time to do anything. I loved her, I truly did."

"Ah, I be sorry about that, matey."

"I'm sure it will pass," the Frenchman said. "Maybe you'll have to tell me one of your stories to cheer me up, but some other time. How about you? How fares business?"

The first figure sighed. "Business be tough. We mortal folk can't just go raidin' some Treasure Fleet every time we feel like it. The navies be crackin' down everywhere, you know that."

"So then, you should be happy that I have a contract for you, yes?" The Frenchman leaned in closer. "This wouldn't be an attack against any colonial power, so there will be little risk of a ship of the line coming in and leveling its guns at your boat. What do you say, are the men of the Maven up for it?"

The Captain of the Maven paused. "What be the target?"

"I'm done playing around," the Frenchman said. "I want the Presence."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please note: The order listed below is the order of finish. All Presence crewmen fulfilled at least one victory condition.

The victorious crewmen:
Zaccino - 260 (first place)
El Barto - 226
BSmith - 216
edse (Drunken pirate) - 213
Ishmael - 201
Andres - 179
a completely inoffensive name - 172
God Emperor - 172
autolycus - 167
JoanK - 165
johnhughthom - 160
TinCow - 158
Ironside - 154
NinjaCow64 - 151
Captain Blackadder - 138
Askthepizzaguy - 133
issaikhaan - 126
Lyra - 118
Kaiser Friedrich III - 108
Choxorn - 84
Tiaexz - 81
Buddhafish - 80
Memnon - 74
Montmorency - 69
Xenoneb - 58
Kagemusha - 50
Thermal - 43
DaveShack - 27

The defeated Spanish:
Diana Abnoba (Convert) - 161
Jolt (Lieutenant) - 125
Chaotix (Convert) - 74
Double A (Special Officer) - 70
Makrell (Lieutenant) - 61

The mourning Frenchman and his departed Consort:
Visorslash - 131
Arjos - 80