Post 910 of main thread.

Night 3

All was calm on the North Atlantic as the sailors on the Presence did their nightly dance into madness.

"Psst... wake up." Tratorix didn't move.

"Wake up," the voice said a bit louder, jostling Tratorix a bit harder.

"Mmm... mmph!" he muttered as the voice's owner jostled him harder still. "Okay, okay, I'm awake! What is it?"

"We're about to pass Ile de Tresor," said the voice.

"So...?" Tratorix muttered. He had never heard of Ile de Tresor, and especially didn't care about anything that sounded remotely French.

"Have you never heard the tale of the natives of Ile de Tresor?" Tratorix shook his head, so the voice continued, all the while nudging him out of bed and leading him above deck. "As the story goes, one of the Spanish Conquistadors came upon the island on their way to searching for more gold, or possibly the Fountain of Youth. I can never remember. Anyway, at first he and his men were wary of the natives, for they seemed like the normal bloodthirsty savages. But then... then night fell, and one by one his soldiers deserted their posts, headed for parts unknown. Eventually it was about 3 in the morn when the Conquistador had had enough, and decided to see things for himself. Almost instantly, he was taken by an ethereal glow, so lovely in the pale moonlight, that he had no choice but to follow it; it was almost as if he was pulled to it..."

Tratorix could only stare in wonder. "What was it?" he asked.

"Upon closer inspection, the Conquistador realized, in his amazement, that it was actually people. The young female natives of Ile de Tresor had a skin unlike anything found in the rest of the world. It mimicked the sea in the way it was able to reflect the moonlight so beautifully. That night, the sky was clear, the moon was full... and the women were naked, bathing in the silver light. At this point every fiber in the Conquistador's very being was urging him forward; it was impossible to resist. It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen... until he got closer."

They were now at the edge of the ship when Tratorix grabbed the second person by his shoulders, begging him to finish. "Well?" he demanded. "What happened when he got closer?"

"The natives turned, eyed him seductively... and then tore him apart with their bare hands, just as they had done with the dozens of other soldiers previously that night." Tratorix's eyes widened, but not in shock over the story. Rather, it was the pain of a blade slicing clean through his chest.

"The moral of this story is simple," his attacker said calmly. "If someone points out Ile de Tresor to you at night... it's best if you don't follow, for your own sake." He withdrew his blade and tossed the bleeding Tratorix overboard.


On the other side of the ship, Andres was hauling a fat sack of gold, a cutlass in his mouth, lugging everything to the edge. He was looking for a boat, and secondly a rope to cut...


Iskander 3.1 had no thoughts of abandoning ship, at least not yet. Despite the numerous threats on board, he saw no reason to panic. The Captain had everything in hand, after all. If everybody would just listen to him, maybe order would be restored and they would be able to dispatch their enemies quicker.

Four cutlasses were drawn. "Oh, *#%!," Iskander muttered, hoping to God that the cutlasses were for somebody else. They weren't.

All of a sudden, Iskander was now in full panic mode. As his attackers drew closer to him, he fell to his knees, begging, pleading, spewing his thoughts out as fast as they came through his head, much to the annoyance of everyone who heard him.

"Oh please God don't let me die, I didn't do anything wrong, I know I be a dirty pirate all these years and committed more than my share of trespasses against my Lord, but I did it for me own benefit, I swear, I had to, otherwise I would have lived a miserable life, oh why are you going after me, what did I particularly do to you, I don't deserve this, take my treasure please all of my treasure anything you want it's all yours just please leave me alone I DON'T WANT TO DIE let me see Nassau one last time let me see me best wench one last time I'll do anything you ask just don't-"

His blubbering was interrupted by a blade slicing through his neck. After a second of merciful silence, the four attackers grinned and walked back below decks arm in arm.


Meanwhile, Andres was still looking for a boat, getting more frantic and desperate as time passed. He was already running late as it was, he had meant to have left several hours ago. Eventually - eureka! - he found one. Dropping his sack of treasure loudly, he gripped his cutlass, cutting the rope. The dull "thud" and, a second later, the "splash" of the boat hitting the water was drowned out, however, by the sound of four additional cutlasses being drawn.

"Going somewhere?" one of the new arrivals said. Andres muttered to himself, turning to face his attackers...


Beefy187 was being chased. Not by a beautiful lass in real life, as he would have preferred, or even one in his dreams, as would also have been acceptable. No, instead two very imposing, very serious men were out to get him, and in real life too. Beefy had been running around, trying to hold them back with his cutlass, but he was running out of gas and his pursuers seemed to be as fresh as ever. So he had decided on a different option - hide.

Where to hide on a pirate ship? The Captain's quarters, for one. So Beefy took to putting all of his eggs in one basket and started desperately pounding on Crazed Rabbit's door, hoping for safety. "HELP!" he shouted, pounding relentlessly. "They're after me! I can't hold 'em off much longer, and they're out to kill me! Let me in, please!!!"

Another fresh burst of pounding. He saw a light flicker inside, which only caused him to pound harder. "QUICKLY, QUICKLY, LET ME IN! THEY'RE COMING UP! BE QUICK AND YOU MAY SEE WHO THEY ARE!" He could hear footsteps, not just at his back but also inside the cabin. He started yelling and pounding as loud as he could.

Finally, there was one final sound, a "crash"! Beefy's pursuers had caught up and slammed his head through the glass, only seconds before the door would have opened.


..."Can't ye be lettin' an honest sailor abandon a sinkin' ship with his life?" Andres said.

"What, you mean like a rat?" The others laughed at this.

"So this is how it's going to be," Andres said to himself, sighing. "All right, lads," he called out to his attackers. Have at me, then!" They all charged, but one man in particular was faster than the others. Andres, being a particularly adept sailor at fighting, took advantage of this and grabbed him as he was passing, using his momentum to toss him overboard.

Everybody could hear a loud cracking sound below, and the fight stopped temporarily as everyone looked to see what happened. It became immediately clear: Andres's escape boat had broken apart on impact with the falling attacker.

"Well me hearties, it appears as if ye have a choice now. Ye've got me trapped on this soon-ter-be-ghost ship for another night, at least, that much is certain. But do ye kill me or do ye save yer friend, who most certainly will be a-drownin' without yer help?"

The three remaining sailors put their heads together for a moment before two of them went to the ship's edge to try and reel their comrade back in. The third, meanwhile, looked Andres dead in the eye. "We'll be seein' ye tomorrow night, cully."

"Aye, I bet ye will," Andres said, and tried his best to nonchalantly walk back below deck.


That morning, Captain Crazed Rabbit arose, and was immediately greeted with half of Beefy's corpse poking through his cabin door. "My God, what a bloodbath," he said to himself as he saw the other bodies. This day's meeting was especially grave.

"All right, laddies, ye all know the score, so I not be repeatin' it here," he said. "I do have some additional information to give ye, though. Me and the officers be checkin' out LittleGrizzly and it appears as if he was loyal to the ship until the end. A foul man he may have been, but not foul towards the Presence, at any rate." He paused, only getting a half-hearted chuckled from the crew.

"All right then boys, let's make it a good one."

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

It is now Day 4. Voting will conclude Wednesday, October 7th at 23:00 US Eastern.

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

Attacked: Centurion1 (n1), LittleGrizzly (n1), taka (n2), Andres (n3)

Murdered: LittleGrizzly (n1), atheotes (n2), gibsonsg91921 (n2), Tratorix (n3), Iskander 3.1 (n3), Beefy187 (n3)

Lynched: woad&fangs (d2), Sigurd (d3)

Removed from play: Xehh II, johnhughthom, YLC

Souls aboard (40):
a completely inoffensive name
A Very Super Market
A1 Unit
Andres
Askthepizzaguy
Beskar
Captain Blackadder
Centurion1
Chaotix
CountArach
Crazed Rabbit
Cultured Drizzt Fan
Death is Yonder
Diana Abnoba
DisgruntledGoat
Double A
Jolt
Joooray
Khazaar
KukriKhan
Lord Winter
Louis VI the Fat
miotas
pevergreen
Psychonaut
Reenk Roink
ricera10
Sasaki Kojiro
scottishranger
Seamus Fermanagh
shlin28
slashandburn
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
SSNeoperestroika
Subotan
taka
TinCow
White_eyes:D
Yaropolk
Yaseikhaan