Pirate Ship Mafia III - information and summary thread

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 165 of main thread.

Night 1

As the Presence sailed northward to its destination in Nassau, very few of its crewmen slept. Some of them worked, completing their assigned nightly tasks. Some of them lay awake in their bunks, ruminating on the past two days and what was in their future. And some of them emerged from below decks, cutlasses in their hands and murder on their minds.


spaceman98 was their target. The three crewmen that had strategized about ending him beforehand had decided that the direct approach would be best for this. After all, as far as the crew was aware, there were no identified threats aboard the Presence. Oh sure, certainly there was that persistent rumor about the Frenchman finally returning to reclaim his ship, but they had been living under that specter for the past three years. No, there was no reason for anybody to suspect foul play.

And so they charged in, cutlasses out, screaming bloody murder. spaceman turned around, looking shocked. As the three had expected, he had been caught completely by surprise.

But then one of them tripped over a loose board, crashing down to the ground hard. One of his compatriots instinctively stopped to check on him, leaving only one man to take on spaceman. These were odds he could deal with. Finally getting his own cutlass out, spaceman dueled his lone assassin while said assassin was screaming for the other two to get back up and join him.

"I think he's got a concussion," the one who had gone down to help said. "Couldn't tell how many fingers I was holding up, didn't know where he was. Probably safest if he sit this one out, matey. I should bring him back below deck, make sure he be gettin' some rest."

"WHAT IN BLAZES BE A 'CONCUSSION'??!?!" shouted the lone attacker, completely furious at this turn of events. "Of course he didn't know where he was, he hit the bad grog from Itchy Lou's stash hard not 30 minutes ago! And of course he didn't know he many fingers ye were holdin' up, ye've got a bleedin' hook for a hand!"

The concussed sailor's helper took umbrage at this. "Well excuse me for not wantin' to follow proper safety protocol! Wouldn't be seemly to put men in danger so early on in the voyage home!" The two sailors started screaming at each other about proper concussion protocol and "overall misplacement of priorities", completely forgetting about spaceman, who slipped off quietly, not quite believing his luck.


TFT, one of the two crewmen who had not voted in the election for Captain that day, was resting peacefully in his bed. A relatively new signing aboard the Presence, he did not share the concern that many other sailors had that there was imminent danger ahead. Perhaps this was because TFT did not have much time to socialize with the crew, perhaps it was because he had not yet experienced a journey home after a big haul firsthand, but overall TFT felt that there were nothing but good times ahead.

The Golden Age of Piracy may have all but ended, but you could have fooled TFT. He was aboard the legendary Presence, the ship that had now pulled off three gigantic heists in six years and had gotten off pretty much scot-free. New Tortuga was founded because of the uptick in piracy that the Presence had almost singlehandedly brought back to the region. All the major navies in the area wanted nothing more than to capture the ship and bring its crew to justice, but there seemed to be a mystique around it, that nothing could go wrong for the ship or its sailors.

This would prove to be a colossal mistake on TFT's part. As he was lost in his own thoughts, he did not hear the footsteps of four sailors sneaking up to his bunk. One of them, coming in first, smothered him with a pillow to muffle any noises TFT might make in resistance. The other three then proceeded to stab him mercilessly - and quietly - until he bled out from his wounds.


Three sailors were chasing Askthepizzaguy around the ship, and ATPG had no such reservations about their intentions. He was running for his life. In a confined space like the Presence was, there was really no such thing as being able to run out of sight, but he had at very least managed to avoid being cornered... at least so far.

He knew it was only a matter of time though; his heavy breathing was proof enough of that. It wasn't looking good for him overall, because despite his running out of breath he still had far too much adrenaline pumping through his system to be able to formulate a rational plan to get out of this. And so ATPG continued running around, gradually losing more and more wind, still pursued, because this was all that his body was capable of doing. Eventually the adrenaline rush subsided and rational thought once again resumed, but at his point ATPG was too tired to be able to do much.

In the end, fate prevailed where his own condition and adrenaline could not. ATPG, still running, tripped over a familiar-looking loose board and went tumbling down in a heap. Before he could even process this, his three pursuers tripped as well, one over the board, two over *him*. The end result was a big pile of all four crewmen involved in the chase, all helplessly tangled together.

ATPG started punching and kicking, biting whatever he could, in an attempt to start a general fight amongst everybody involved. This plan was an instant success, and while ATPG's attackers were now all blindly doing everything they could to pummel each other, ATPG crawled out of the pile and went back below decks. He would live to fight another day.


The morning, Captain Kagemusha awoke to the sound of several people pounding at his cabin door - frantically so, by the sound of it. He sighed. This was the bad part of the Captaincy, he surmised.

"All right, all right, what be yer issue?" he got out, before he was accosted by seemingly half the ship demanding justice.

Stealing!
Attempted murder!
More stealing!
Unjust lockup!
Another attempted murder!
Even more stealing!
"Captain, we be havin' a corpse over here." That one was his First Mate, reporting on TFT's demise.

"Quiet, quiet, QUIIIIIIIII-ET!" Kage roared. Finally there was silence.

"Now then, obviously this past night wasn't exactly as peaceful and restful as I asked for. We be havin' as many crimes and complaints aboard as Bessie's Brothel has girls with the pox, and obviously we can't be havin' any such thing if we want to get home from Nassau safely. It be as I feared: that blasted Frenchman has finally made it back aboard and he be doing what he does best."

"Trying and failing to get the Captaincy?"

"No! Well, maybe, too early to tell. I meant to say sowing discontent and mayhem among us upstandin' crewmen! So it leaves me no choice but to institute the same policy we had in the past when this situation has arisen: 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. By the time we make it home, there may be fewer of us, but we all be safer and richer than ever before."

There wasn't that much of a reaction to this. The veteran sailors of the Presence surely knew it was coming. And so the rest of the crew, following Kage's lead, began the process of voting for the day.

OOC: It is now Day 2. Voting will last until Tuesday, September 29th, at 13:00 US Eastern Time.



Feedback PMs are incoming, please alert me if there are any errors. I will post in the thread once I have sent them all out.

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

Attacked: spaceman98 (n1), Askthepizzaguy (n1)

Killed: TFT (n1)

Souls aboard: (27)
Andres
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Choxorn
Csargo
Double A
El Barto
Gaius Scribonius Curio
Golden1Knight
Ice
Ironside
Ishmael
Ituralde
johnhughthom
Kagemusha
landlubber
Lissa
Montmorency
NotJimRV
seireikhaan
spaceman98
Sprig
TheFlax
Visorslash
Xiahou
Zack

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 437 of main thread.

Day 2

The tale of Kagemusha, "The Fearsome Finn" as he was sometimes known, was an interesting one. Born in a fishing village on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, a little southwest of Helsinki, Kage felt a natural affinity towards the sea from a very early age. He liked nothing more than going to the docks and gazing out the horizon, wondering what lay beyond. When he was of an age to do so, he signed up for whatever ship crew he could, quickly becoming adept at a number of sailing tasks and features.

When Russia invaded and occupied Swedish Finland in the isoviha as part of the Great Northern War, Kage, seeing the oppression and atrocities that his countrymen were experiencing, decided to strike back the only way he knew how: he took to piracy, quickly acquiring a crew and doing his very best to plunder and disrupt Russian trade interests in that area. He acquired his nickname during this period, a direct result of him singlehandedly storming a small Russian fort along the coast, blowing it up, and taking the time to arrange the ashes into the pattern of a nude woman and rude insults directed at the occupiers afterwards.

Eventually, the situation in Finland became too dangerous and untenable for him to stay, and if Kage was being honest, he had had enough tragedy in his life. So, bidding goodbye to his crewmates, he set forth to the New World, where slates were wiped clean and opportunity was limitless. It took him nearly a year, but eventually Kage arrived in the Lesser Antilles. His skillset being what it was, he quickly joined up on a crew of a merchantman shipping goods back and forth from minor islands to the port of Barbados, but this proved to be unsatisfying. After all, engaging in partisan warfare and piracy to protect your homeland was slightly more than just one step up from being a boring trader. And so, for the second time in his life, Kage turned pirate.

Sadly, Kage was about fifty years too late - the Presence's exploits aside, piracy was clearly on the downswing in the New World as navies cracked down. His new ship's Captain was brave, but not much else, and the crew was quickly hunted down and defeated in battle by the Spanish Guardacosta. The crewmen who didn't die were left to rot in a Havana prison, awaiting execution.

Kage was going to have none of that - the devil, after all, would have an eternity to deal with him, but he wasn't ready to meet him yet. That night, as he was being delivered last rites, Kage subdued his priest, stole his clothes, and escaped, getting out of what what was previously considered to be an impregnable fortress. After robbing a villa on the outskirts of the city, Kage decided to head north, to join a pirate crew that had a track record of success. And so, Kage made his way to Nassau and joined the Presence.

The rest was history. He acquitted himself well, made friends among the crew, and took his share in the Presence's many adventures. Finally, during the retreat from New Tortuga, Kage saw his chance: the previous Captain had been left behind in the flight! Kage saw his opportunity to attain the pinnacle of pirate-dom. He would become Captain of the single most successful ship left!

It was to last all of one day. The election was extremely closely contested, and those who did not vote for Kage made it clear that they were displeased by this turn of events. Kage, the old survivor, who pretty much only had to rely on his skills at war and combat up to this point so far, now found himself in an unfamiliar position: he had to use diplomacy.

In the end, it was simply too late to teach an old dog new tricks. The loudest sailors banged the drum of mutiny early, they started politicking and making promises to get more people on board, and pretty soon more than three quarters of the entire crew was out for their newly-elected Captain's blood, apparently dissatisfied with his performance over a span of less than 24 hours to the point where they were going to commit the single-worst and dishonorable of all piratical actions, damning all of their souls to the deepest and coldest layer of Hell.

Some of the mutineers were more apologetic than others, clearly just in it for their own share of Kage's treasure. Kage gave his blessing to others, notably when Quartermaster Double A, looking conflicted, joined the vote. At the end of the day, Kage was at peace with the result. His final thoughts as he was being slashed mercilessly and unceremoniously dumped into the ocean were of large-breasted women, beer, and home.


This vacancy in the Captaincy left some administrative duties to be taken care of. Some of the initial mutineers looked more and more aghast as the day went on and more and more people piled on the bandwagon, meaning that their share of Kage's loot would be less and less.

"Right lads," said one of the mutineers, after having emerged from the cabin with a moderately-sized bag, "It looks like Kage's share of the treasure comes out to 108 gold. Now, what was the final count for mutiny again?"

"Twenty-one sailors out of twenty-eight souls aboard, meaning that each of us gets... 5 gold apiece. It not be a perfect division, so the first three to vote for the mutiny get the leftover pieces. In this case, this be Zack, Visorslash, and Lissa."

Everybody groaned. After all the effort and heartache that had been expended over the past several hours, this was the fruits of their labor? A mere five gold, six for three of them? Some were starting to wonder if this is worth it.

"Anyway, might as well resolve this sooner rather than later. The Presence needs a new Captain, so let's make it happen before we go to sleep tonight! The six sailors who not be supportin' this mutiny can't vote in this, but should we mutineers want them to take the tiller, that be fine."

"Wait!" one of them said. "What about Andres?" In the confusion of the mutiny, he had received the most votes for execution that day.

"Ah, right... well, no sense in further killin' in case we really want to, I guess. Let's decide his fate at the same time we're voting!" Everybody nodded at this, new scraps of parchment were brought out, and the second election for Captain of the Presence in as many days begun.

OOC: We are still in Day 2. Only those listed under voting for Mutiny are allowed to participate in this election. They will be deciding two things:

First of all, the new Captain. The voting procedure is the same as it was the previous day:

Elect: GeneralHankerchief

Unelect: GeneralHankerchief
Elect: Beskar

Furthermore, the mutineers will also be deciding Andres's fate. You have two choices here:

Vote: Kill
or
Vote: Spare

No treasure will be awarded for taking part in this vote, it is purely an administrative one.

Day 2 tally:
Andres: 8 (Montmorency, Sprig, spaceman98, El Barto, Lissa, Ishmael, Choxorn, Golden1Knight)
landlubber: 6 (Xiahou, seireikhaan, Gaius Scribonius Curio, johnhughthom, Ituralde, Andres)
Ironside: 4 (Askthepizaguy, Visorslash*, BSmith, TheFlax)
Zack: 2 (autolycus, Ironside)
autolycus: 2 (Zack, landlubber)
El Barto: 1 (Double A*)
Lissa: 1 (NotJimRV)

Abstained: 1 (Kagemusha)
Didn't vote: 2 (Csargo, Ice)

Mutiny: 21 (Zack, Visorslash, Lissa, Ishmael, Montmorency, landlubber, TheFlax, Sprig, NotJimRV, Choxorn, autolycus, BSmith, spaceman98, El Barto, Xiahou, Double A, Ituralde, seireikhaan, Ironside, Gaius Scribonius Curio, Golden1Knight)
Not eligible to vote in this election: 5 (johnhughthom, Askthepizzaguy, Ice, Csargo, Andres)

Voting will last until Wednesday, September 30th, at 14:00 US Eastern Time.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 502 of main thread.

Day 2a

It had been an extremely strange 24 hours for Double A. Having first been appointed to the rank of Quartermaster the previous evening, he had spent the night witnessing an argument several people unhappy with the outcome of the Captain election and Kagemusha himself. Some of the more vocal parties in the argument had insinuated mutiny should Kage not lead to their satisfaction, and an official mutiny was thus instigated early on the next day.

Almost instantly the other two officers in Double A's regime - Kage and Andres - came under heavy fire. The mutiny started out strong, stalled in the afternoon, and then surged to become an inevitably by the end of the day. Andres, meanwhile, was not spared. Despite the mutiny currently brewing, there was still a regularly-scheduled execution to be carried out, and the First Mate looked like the obvious target. As a full three quarters of the crew of the Presence descended upon their Captain and cut him to pieces, Andres could only watch in horror. He knew he was next.

Despite this, Double A somehow came out of the mutiny not just as the only officer seemingly unblemished, but also as the leading candidate for the next Captain! As the votes started rolling in, he couldn't help himself from laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. Truly, pirates were the most fickle of creatures.

A moderate challenge from Curio as the "outsider" candidate proved little competition. Double A, disgraced ex-Quartermaster as of merely a few hours before, was swept into office as Captain with a huge margin of victory under his belt. He noted with some pleasure that Andres had survived his execution vote - apparently, the mutineers' bloodlust had been sated for the time being.

"I, uh..." Still not quite believing the situation he was in, Double A wasn't quite sure where to begin. "I, uh... thanks? I guess?" Some of the crew shifted around uncomfortably. This was it?

"Anyways, yeah, I promise to be a good Captain who be listenin' to and respectin' the opinions of his crew and all that, and makin' sure we be gettin' the most out of our haul from New Tortuga. Any questions, or if anybody needs to see me tonight, ye know where to find me."

"Captain, who be your officers?" The tension in the air was palpable. Surely he wouldn't pick Andres, would he?

"Ah, right. That. I hereby name NotJimRV as me First Mate and Visorslash as Quartermaster. Any other questions? Right, try not to kill each other tonight and see you all in the morning." And with that, Double A and his new officers retired for the evening.

Day 2a tally:
Captain election:
Double A: 14 (Double A, TheFlax, landlubber, Visorslash, Zack, autolycus, Choxorn, Ishmael, NotJimRV, seireikhaan, BSmith, Lissa, Golden1Knight)
Gaius Scribonius Curio: 3 (Gaius Scribonius Curio, Ironside, El Barto)
BSmith: 1 (Sprig)
Andres: 1 (Xiahou)

Spare Andres: 13 (Golden1Knight, Gaius Scribonius Curio, Ituralde, Double A, TheFlax, Ironside, landlubber, El Barto, Zack, autolycus, Xiahou, seireikhaan, BSmith)
Kill Andres: 7 (Visorslash, Sprig, Choxorn, Ishmael, spaceman98, Lissa, NotJimRV)

OOC: It is now Night 2. Please send in your orders. Night 2 will conclude on Thursday, October 1st, at 22:00 US Eastern Time.



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

Attacked: spaceman98 (n1), Askthepizzaguy (n1)

Killed: TFT (n1)

Mutinied: Kagemusha (d2)

Souls aboard: (26)
Andres
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Choxorn
Csargo
Double A
El Barto
Gaius Scribonius Curio
Golden1Knight
Ice
Ironside
Ishmael
Ituralde
johnhughthom
landlubber
Lissa
Montmorency
NotJimRV
seireikhaan
spaceman98
Sprig
TheFlax
Visorslash
Xiahou
Zack

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 551 of main thread.

Night 2

The Presence's northward journey continued, though this time the stars were not out, playing havoc with the navigators. In addition, the wind was starting to pick up uncomfortably. Conditions were clearly starting to get worse, but it was nothing out of the ordinary... yet.


seireikhaan had the unenviable task of Crow's Nest duty that night. As long as it wasn't raining, the job was bearable, but the cloud cover meant that he wasn't able to look at the stars, which was his usual activity whenever he drew the duty. Instead, he now actually had to focus on - ugh - his job.

khaan looked all around, searching for any sign of activity on the Atlantic. This could have been land (though he doubted he could see it anyway), possibly random debris floating around in the sea, or sailors who had accidentally gone overboard and needed help. However, the thing that khaan was most on the lookout for was ships. Being a pirate vessel in 1723 necessitated constant watch for naval activity. Doubly so if you were the most infamous pirate ship in this part of the world. Triplicate if you were coming off a hasty flight fresh off sacking a city with La Royale in known pursuit.

And so, khaan continued to look fore and aft, port and starboard, doing his duty by covering all directions. However, in all his viewing, he never once looked down. This proved to be a fatal mistake on his part.

Somebody had scaled the main mast from below and joined him in the Crow's Nest. khaan, befuddled, was just about to ask if his relief had come early when the sailor, looking particularly angry, grabbed him and physically threw him out of the Nest.

Screaming, khaan had managed to somehow grab onto a piece of rigging, which saved him from an immediate death. Instead of crashing to the ground in free fall, he instead landed very awkwardly. Immediately he tried to run for it, but was set upon by four sailors who did not let him get back up. Not even bothering to draw their cutlasses, the four of them - soon joined by the fifth who had originally scaled the mast - mercilessly pummeled khaan to death. After they threw his corpse overboard, they went back below deck, pleased with their work, the one who had originally scaled the mast with hat in hand.


For a while now, Csargo had been known as the most skilled gunner on the Presence. Nobody could quite handle a cannon like him, and he had proven it to great effect over the course of many adventures. Over the past year, the practice of gunnery had become something of an obsession to Csargo. He had recently taken to telling his fellow crewmen that his life's ambition was to fire the shot that sunk ships on all seven seas.

The three men who attacked him - some of whom looked confused as to the exact makeup of their squad - probably should have kept this in mind when they approached him. As he came into sight, there was a deafening *BANG!* and, an instant later, the unmistakable whistling sound of a heavy object passing very closely overhead at a very fast speed. Csargo was ready for them.

"I already be havin' me next shot loaded," he yelled, supremely confident, "and this one won't be a warning shot! What'll it be, mateys, retreat, or play dice that my cannonball doesn't take *your* head off and just one of yer fellows instead?"

Csargo's attackers stopped dead, briefly looking at each other. Luckily for them, they quickly achieved consensus: This wasn't worth dying for. Cursing, they retreated back below decks, leaving Csargo to smirk and resume practicing his gunnery.


For most of the night, Ironside had been making his preparations. An old salt like him always knew which way the wind was blowing, and he didn't like the directional change he was seeing. Not with the mutiny the previous day and several insinuations the mutineers had made about what the crew of the Presence was to do next. He had acquired a good haul, made the most of his time aboard, and survived the tumultuous first days and night aboard. Any longer than that and he would seriously be pushing his luck.

"Right... gold, personal effects, cutlass, change o' clothes... I think that be everything!" he muttered to himself. "It's been fun, Presence, but I think it be time for us to part ways. I not be particularly fancying me -" he stopped midsentence - "oh, come on! I was so close!"

Four sailors, cutlasses out, had approached him, their intention quite clearly read on their faces.

"Aha! Tryin' to bail with the goods, eh? What's the matter Ironside, it get too hot for ye Frenchies?"

Ironside sighed. He wasn't particularly scared, just tired. "Alright lads, ye caught me. Look, if it's all the same to ye, I'd much rather live through this. Ye clearly want me off the ship, right?" They nodded. "Well, ye be in luck - that's what I was plannin' to do anyway. Now, what be the going rate for killings again? 10 pieces of treasure per?" That sounded right. "What say I just give each of ye that rate from me own personal stash and then we part ways. Would that be a fair accord?"

The four attackers briefly lowered their cutlasses in a quick conference with each other. In the meantime, Ironside, clearly not caring for the answer, continued to make his preparations. After a minute, one of them spoke to him.

"Alright, it be agreed. 10 gold a head, and be quick about it!" Ironside nodded, paid each man his fee, and lowered his dinghy into the Atlantic, himself and his significantly smaller sack of treasure inside. Not sparing a single look back at the Presence, he paddled off to parts unknown, hoping he had made the right decision.


The next morning, Captain Double A, appearing to almost dead what was waiting for him, gathered the crew to make his announcement. "Well mateys, we lost two more overnight. I can't be findin' no trace of either seireikhaan or Ironside, though judging by the missing dinghy I be guessin' one or both of 'em decided they had enough.

"Cap'n, I can report that only Ironside left, some of us was tryin' to kill him as it happened."

Double A goggled. "And why were ye trying to kill him? And why'd you openly admit that???"

The other sailor shrugged. "I don't know, gold I guess? Oh, and he might have been French too. Yeah, that."

Double A sighed. "Fine. Let's assume we've got one murder and one abandoning. Clearly there still be crime aboard. Therefore, the system remains in place. Get voting!"

OOC: It is now Day 3. Voting will last until Saturday, October 3rd, at 14:00 US Eastern Time.



Feedback PMs are incoming.

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

Attacked: spaceman98 (n1), Askthepizzaguy (n1), Csargo (n2)

Killed: TFT (n1), seireikhaan (n2)

Mutinied: Kagemusha (d2)

Abandoned Ship: Ironside (n2)

Souls aboard: (24)
Andres
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Choxorn
Csargo
Double A
El Barto
Gaius Scribonius Curio
Golden1Knight
Ice
Ishmael
Ituralde
johnhughthom
landlubber
Lissa
Montmorency
NotJimRV
spaceman98
Sprig
TheFlax
Visorslash
Xiahou
Zack

[GeneralHankerchief]

As the voting continues, weather conditions get progressively worse throughout the day.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 872 of main thread.

Day 3

Captain Double A had spent most of the day in his cabin, going over figures and trying to get some work done. Very early on, though, he realized that he wasn't going to get much done as there was an almost rhythmic sound coming from the main deck of the Presence. He tried to ignore it as much as possible, but it just wasn't going to work - that sound only varied in volume, and even then it never got softer, only louder.

After some time of this (conveniently right around sunset), Double A finally had enough, emerging from his quarters to figure out what on earth this rhythmic racket could be.

"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"

"I absolutely do not have 200 gold!" Xiahou shouted. "If this be the figure you're staking yer life and honor on then we have our Frenchie right here, boys! I'm telling you all now that if 200 is the figure you stick by then it's incorrect and we need to throw him off this boat!"

"Why are you being so obstinate about this?!" Visorslash, the Quartermaster, shouted back. "I threw you in the brig last night! I got an accurate count of yer loot! This be what I *do* as Quartermaster! When Captain Double A was Quartermaster and he threw *me* in the brig the other night, *he* got an accurate count of my loot! Why wouldn't I be as correct? What could ye possibly be hiding? Why on earth are ye lying? I know for a fact that you have 200 gold!!!"

"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"

"ENOUGH!!!" Double A finally roared, everyone on the Presence finally quieting down. "Blasted ovens o' Hell this be annoying! Is this the only line o' conversation that's happened all day?" Everyone looked around uneasily, then at the ground. Yes, pretty much, was the consensus. "Well, I'm glad we all felt nice and productive then. Now, Visor, you accuse Xiahou of lying about his gold total, correct?"

"Aye."

"Let me just first sort this out from your side. What is the exact amount of gold you attribute to Xiahou's name?"

"199," the Quartermaster replied. "I rounded up."

"Right," Double A said, moving onto Xiahou. "Now, Xiahou, do ye confirm or deny the fact that you have 199 gold to your name?"

"I said that Visorslash was wrong when he accused me of having 200 gold. This time, however, his count be accurate."

Double A couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Wait, so, all this because you idiots were one gold off?"

"Yup!"

A loud groan emitted from pretty much everyone on board. This couldn't be happening. "You have got to be kidding me," Double A muttered. "Right, I guess that's cleared up then. Resume voting, lads." They did, but nobody's heart seemed to be in it. It appeared that the wind was taken out of everyone's sails from the previous argument, and at the end of the day, Xiahou still had the most votes.

"Right then, let's get this over with," Double A said. "Xiahou, ye be found guilty of either being the Frenchman tryin' to take control of our good ship Presence, or aidin' and abettin' his efforts. Any last words?"

"Visor was still technically wrooooooooooonnnng" - *splash*

That was the end of that. Double A was about to say some final words, but was interrupted by a loud peal of thunder emitting from overhead. Tonight was going to be ominous indeed.

Day 3 tally:
Xiahou: 5 (spaceman98, Zack, Lissa, Choxorn, NotJimRV)
Andres: 2 (Montmorency, El Barto)
Montmorency: 2 (Andres, Xiahou)
Sprig: 2 (Askthepizzaguy, landlubber*)
TheFlax: 1 (Gaius Scribonius Curio)
Lissa: 1 (Ituralde)
landlubber: 1 (autolycus)
Choxorn: 1 (Csargo)

Abstained: 2 (Double A, Ishmael)
Posted but didn't vote: 5 (Visorslash, BSmith, Golden1Knight, johnhughthom, Sprig)**
Didn't vote: 2 (TheFlax, Ice)

* landlubber's original vote was on Csargo but forgot to unvote, but due to a tally error he was under the assumption that he didn't vote at all. Seeing as this didn't affect the lynch I allowed it.
** In the future you must actually have your vote on a target (even Abstain) to get gold. I will allow it this time but not anymore.

OOC:

Event 1: The Hurricane

The Presence is set to sail through the heart of a very nasty storm this night phase. All groups of minimum size (including mafia kill groups) have a 25% chance of failure. All groups of a size greater than minimum have a 1/6 chance of failure. Individual actions are not affected.

It is now Night 3. Please send in your orders. Night 3 will conclude on Sunday, October 4th, at 20:00 US Eastern Time.



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

Attacked: spaceman98 (n1), Askthepizzaguy (n1), Csargo (n2)

Killed: TFT (n1), seireikhaan (n2)

Mutinied: Kagemusha (d2)

Abandoned Ship: Ironside (n2)

Walked the plank: Xiahou (d3)

Souls aboard: (23)
Andres
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Choxorn
Csargo
Double A
El Barto
Gaius Scribonius Curio
Golden1Knight
Ice
Ishmael
Ituralde
johnhughthom
landlubber
Lissa
Montmorency
NotJimRV
spaceman98
Sprig
TheFlax
Visorslash
Zack

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 889 of main thread.

Night 3

Nobody was going to get any sleep that night. The Presence was continuing north... theoretically, anyway... but in reality it would be tossed around like a ragdoll for the entire night as it sailed directly into the teeth of a major storm system. It would take all of the crew's might, skill, guile, and effort to get them through the night alive - and that was before you accounted for the foul play that continued to work aboard.


"Ack!" Ice got sprayed with a big wave for what seemed like the millionth time in five minutes. By this point in the storm his clothes were well on their way to chemically fusing with his skin, but that didn't stop him. His job was to help keep the Presence upright, and by god, he would see it done. As the ship scaled over another massive wave, Ice braced for impact. It came... but not from the direction in which he was anticipating. He took a huge splash of water directly in the back.

Turning around, looking wildly, Ice tried to find the source of this new blast of water. The rain was coming in sideways from all directions, but it wasn't nearly enough in one direction to account for that. Finally, Ice found the source: a number of sailors, one of them with a recently-emptied but now rapidly filling bucket.

"What-" *CLANG* The one holding the bucket whacked it over Ice's head, sending him sprawling to the floor. He scrambled, trying to get up, but the deck was so wet that it took him three tries to do so. When he finally did, he took his cutlass out and charged at the only person he could see, but got about a half a step before he slipped and fell right back down.

Ice could now hear laughter over the near-constant thunder of the storm. If these were to be his final moments, they certainly weren't turning out well. He had imagined a glorious death in battle in a boarding action of the Spanish Treasure Fleet... or maybe his heart finally giving out after a marathon session of rum and whores back in Nassau... or, more likely, a long rope and a short drop at the gallows of a more respectable port... but not this. Not while getting humiliated by people on the very same ship as him.

Using his cutlass for balance he tried to get up once again but had it kicked out from under him, sending him back to the deck for a third time. This time, he would stay down, as he started to get slashed repeatedly. The slippery deck combined with his rapidly-failing energy from the wounds ensured that this was to be Ice's final resting place. As the rain quickly washed away his blood, Ice's final thought was that he had no idea who killed him, or how many people were in on the act.


Back below decks, Andres was lovingly cradling his sack of treasure. Sure, he along with everyone else had been assigned a duty on the ship that night, but there was no sense in actually completing it. Not in this nightmare of a storm, not with all discipline breaking down on the Presence anyway. No, Andres would instead be spending his evening dry(-ish), cradling his truest of all loves: gold.

This relatively quiet part of the cabin, combined with the fact that Andres wasn't making much noise (aside from occasionally softly cooing to his bag), meant that he was easily able to hear the footsteps advancing in his direction. Without even hesitating, Andres picked his bag up, swinging it in the direction of his attackers. The "ow!" sound plus the satisfying feeling of the bag hitting weight made Andres knew he connected, and he took the time to sprint above decks, into the storm, in an attempt to lose his attackers.

As soon as he emerged, he slipped, much like Ice did earlier in the night. Panicking, Andres's first instinct was to grab his bag, and in an attempt to use it to right himself he inadvertently swung it and made another hit with somebody coming up from below decks. "Ow! Dammit! Stop hitting me with that!"

"You be tryin' to kill me!" Andres shouted in reply. "Sorry if me manners ain't exactly upper crust British Navy in this situation!" Over the sound of the thunder Andres could hear cutlasses being drawn, but he wasn't precisely sure of how many. Thinking fast, Andres scrambled to his feet and, seeing how his attackers were still coming up from below decks, made sure he had solid footing and pushed the lead pursuer back down with all his might. An extremely loud series of crashes and curses told him that he had bought himself even more time.

It was time to ensure his safety once and for all. Andres next made his way to the anchor, cutting the rope with his own cutlass, and dragging it back to the stairs. Without waiting to see what the situation was, he heaved it down, where the crashing and cursing became even louder. Surely they wouldn't try to come up *again*, not after that.

Andres sat and continued to cradle his bag of treasure, albeit this time in the storm. He was not disturbed for the rest of the night.


"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Askthepizzaguy was startled as he heard the whooshing sound of swinging from a rope, directly in his direction. On instinct, he ducked just in time, as the man on the rope swung his cutlass in the exact spot where ATPG's next used to be an instant before. Unperturbed, the attacker somehow smoothly dismounted and turned to face ATPG. A duel in the rain was on.

The two men's cutlasses out, they didn't factor in the additional hazards posed by the hurricane at all when fighting. This was for survival - everything was already at stake. Ignoring the slippery deck, and slashing rain, and gale-force wind, and unstable waves, and lightning forking all around them, each man went for the killing blow. It was a duel in silence, for while there were the usual grunting noises and sounds of metal clashing against metal, all of it was swallowed up in the storm. Nobody else on the Presence was around: It was just the two of them fighting for their lives, with only a very angry Mother Nature as witness.

After a while, ATPG realized that the fight wasn't going well. The swordsman he was facing wasn't particularly skilled, but ATPG had expended too much early on trying to get a quick victory, whereas his attacker had conserved more of his strength. The result was now a rapidly-winding ATPG forced on the defensive, his margin for error growing thinner and thinner. He couldn't see much of his attacker beyond the outline, so he had no idea how he was reacting to this, but ATPG was certain the man was almost smiling at the thought of being near completion of his task.

Then, however, the ship crested a massive swell. Both men paused for balance, but ATPG was able to recover a little quicker and used the time to seize a rope. He started climbing, and his attacker followed. The two of them barely had any sort of grip on the wet, slippery, ropes but both men knew their business and continued to climb the rigging, occasionally pausing to slash at each other, unsuccessfully.

Finally, ATPG saw his destination in sight: The Crow's Nest. Making a leap of faith, he was barely able to make it and hauled himself in. Once again, however, his attacker was right behind, and the two of them were again dueling on even footing, but this time in a far more confined space. At the very top of the Presence, very almost no room to maneuver whatsoever, in the heart of a hurricane, Askthepizzaguy was fighting for his life - and he was losing.

He figured he had minutes - if not seconds - left before his attacker finally landed a killing blow. So ATPG decided to strike out blindly, leaving himself completely exposed if his attack didn't connect. Luckily for him, it did, striking the attacker's arm. Crying out in pain, the attacker dropped his cutlass over the edge. There would be no retrieving it now.

An immense blast of lightning finally illuminated the attacker's face for ATPG to see before the attacker dove out of sight for the rigging to get back down. It was black out again just as quickly as it had been light, but there was no mistaking the man's face. Sprig had just tried to murder Askthepizzaguy.


The night went on, the Presence continued its journey, and there were no other public incidents to speak of. After what had been the longest 10 hours in everyone's life, the clouds broke enough for them to see the sunrise. They were out of the storm.

"Of course," said Captain Double A, "Our newest storm be what will happen to us all if we don't find and kill that thrice-cursed Frenchman! Get voting ye scurvy bunch o' barnacles!!!"

OOC: It is now Day 4. Voting will last until Tuesday, October 6th, at 10:00 US Eastern Time.



I'm going to start sending out feedback PMs in about 10 minutes - thank you for your patience.

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

Attacked: spaceman98 (n1), Askthepizzaguy (n1), Csargo (n2), Andres (n3), Askthepizzaguy (n3)

Killed: TFT (n1), seireikhaan (n2), Ice (n3)

Mutinied: Kagemusha (d2)

Abandoned Ship: Ironside (n2)

Walked the plank: Xiahou (d3)

Souls aboard: (22)
Andres
Askthepizzaguy
autolycus
BSmith
Choxorn
Csargo
Double A
El Barto
Gaius Scribonius Curio
Golden1Knight
Ishmael
Ituralde
johnhughthom
landlubber
Lissa
Montmorency
NotJimRV
spaceman98
Sprig
TheFlax
Visorslash
Zack