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Post by ivory on Oct 21, 2009 20:38:12 GMT -5
Angel heard only Rip's muffled words as she took off along the cave walls, but she thought she got the gist of it. Still, she kept to her own plan even as he ran straight toward the exit, noting the action in his profile. Either it was a sign of stupidity, confidence, straight-ahead, pride, instinct, a mix, or something else she hadn't the time to think of.
As she stepped into the deeper part of the shadows, she changed her style of movement, making it flow more in an attempt to better blend it and dropping her speed down a notch for the same reason. She kept the knives' blades hidden in case light reflected off them, but held their handles in her hands. She was still feeling a little woozy from whatever they'd drugged her with, but the wind in her face helped to keep her awake and running.
She noticed a flash movement on her left and turned slightly in time to see a white tiger rip into a pirate's throat. She wasn't easily surprised, but what animal of such magnificence would even trouble itself with helping them? She came gracefully to a stop, but had to reach out and brace herself on the cave wall as her head gave a little spin. She blinked a few times in an attempt to right it and remembered where she'd seen the cat before. Curiosity satisfied, she took off again, but at a much slower pace having neared the group of men by the cave's mouth.
She thought about trying to simply glide past them, hopefully unseen as they were all occupied in the fight, but then realized this may be her one chance to see how Rip fought before she had to 'test' him. She figured she needed all the help she could get in exploiting his weaknesses so she could get rid of him before Dougal ever got wind of her little incident. So she stood back and watched, and wondered if he'd see the blow coming at his - nope. He hadn't. And serve him right too for taking his eyes off them. She wondered briefly what he'd been looking for, but dismissed it as the men advanced around him. Maybe they could get rid of him for her...
She dismissed that thought too, figuring they'd need all the fighters they could get if they wanted to get off this island without heading into slavery. She'd dismissed it, but she hadn't stepped in to help him out, not wanting to end her observations too soon. Besides, he had that tiger of his too help him out. At least, that was the plan, but as this was reality, it quickly came crashing to pieces as the shouts from behind jumped in pitch, warning them that they’d been found by the rest of them.
After a roll of her eyes and a grinding of her teeth, she smoothly slid out one of the knives and sent it spinning through the air even as she darted off behind it. She hardly acknowledged it as it slammed into the base of the pirate’s neck. She’d deliberately not aimed for the person still advancing on Rip, still wanting to take the chance to observe his actions in combat. She did however, attack the remaining man as she neared him, deflecting a blow with the other knife before giving a quick strike near the base of his neck, two fingers leading. He gasped/gagged in reflex, momentarily dropping his guard, and allowing Angel a quick killing move with a deep slash across his stomach.
On instinct, she kicked the man’s sword away when he dropped to the ground at her feet, having too many occurrences where the ‘dead’ came back to life for one more killing blow. She scanned the ship’s deck, wondering how many pirates where on it, before deciding the only way to find out was to take a look. First though, she retrieved the knife she’d thrown and cast an assessing look at Rip, making sure he was still up and standing…and that he wasn’t about ready to stab her in the back. She wasn’t one to ignore past experiences, especially when she had the scar to constantly remind her of it.
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Post by Tandar on Oct 23, 2009 9:45:37 GMT -5
A leering pirate slashed at Rift, but the blade did not fully penetrate the thick hide and caused no serious injury. As the great cat turned its bright blue eyes toward the man, he realized his mistake and the grin fell of his face. He turned to flee, but the white tiger closed the gap and knocked him to the ground before he had gone ten feet. The animal's powerful jaws snapped the pirate's neck.
Meanwhile, Cannon took action. He saw the quick flash as light reflected off the throwing knife before it buried itself in flesh.
Angel must be nearby, he thought to himself.
Then his gaze settled on the sword lying by the water's edge. Cannon sprinted toward it and slid to a stop to pick it up. The two remaining men advanced on him warily, their weapons at the ready.
Despite the fact that his head felt like it was about to explode, Rip smiled. He flourished the blade, daring them to come closer. The pair looked at each other, then charged simultaneously. The assassin was prepared. He ducked to avoid decapitation and used the sword to block the second attack. The move threw one of the pirates off balance, and Cannon took advantage of that to pull him toward the water and strike him in the back with the pommel. The man fell head first into the shallows where he sputtered and splashed around.
By this time, the buccaneer on firm ground had recovered and took a stab at the assassin. Cannon knocked it aside with the sword and thrust his hidden blade into the corsair's gut, stabbing him three times, just for good measure.
Rip staggered toward the boats, clutching his aching head with his free hand. One of the bodies on the rock floor groaned and moved slightly. Without hesitation, the assassin finished off the sea rover by driving the sword into his chest and leaving it there. As he stumbled into an empty boat, he realized how sore his recently dislocated arm was. Rift obediently followed and sat in the bow.
"Angel!" Rip called out hesitantly. He wasn't sure if he should shout or whisper, so he settled for a medium volume. After all, he didn't want to alert reinforcements from the ship. "Get over here, qui--"
His sentence was cut off as the corsair in the water surfaced suddenly, reached over the side of the boat, and dragged him into the water. Rip coughed as the liquid filled his lungs. As he planted his feet on the bottom and stood up, bringing his head clear of the water, he received a blow to the face. Warm blood flowed out of his nose even as his hands went for the man's tunic. Cannon kicked the buccaneer's feet out from under him and held him underwater by the front of his shirt. After much flailing, scratching, and struggling, the assassin released the still body and let it float to the surface. He was exhausted, but alive.
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Post by ivory on Oct 23, 2009 18:48:00 GMT -5
Seeing he was preoccupied by two other pirates and unfortunately handling himself well enough, she threw a look behind her at the issuing crowd of roused pirates before wadding out to the ship. She went sideways, trying to keep one eye on the deck and the other on Rip, still looking for any openings she could use against him. Too bad it wasn't daylight so she could see clearly, but she'd take what she could get...for now.
Angel paused at the finding of an empty boat, looking first at it then at the main ship. If she could slash through the sails it could buy them some time to escape, but if she did that then they didn't have a way off the island. There were a good group of suriviving sailers back at camp, but there was no way they were going to be able to steer it around there with just the three of them. She wasn't sure about Rip or Rift, but she didn't know how to steer a boat and one this size, she doubted it could be done with only two people heavily taxed by the last few hours of events. Best to just slash the sails....or at least find some other way to stall it. Ships weren't exactly her forte, but they had to use the sails right? Unless they could row. Did this ship even have oars? She couldn't exactly tell in the dark...
She'd unconsciously slipped down into the water as she thought it out, not wanting to make herself an easy target as she stood still and otherwise preoccupied herself. And fortunately for her, the habit had paid off, despite the fact that she didn't know it. The corsair hadn't noticed her and neither did she notice him until Rip called out her name. She started to turn toward his voice, his name on her lips to fill him in on the plan and see if he knew anything about ships, when there was a splash in the water. The boat rocked into her shoulder and combined with the waves and her current crouched position, she was knocked off her feet and shoved under the water. She come up immediately and brushed the water from her eyes to see Rip standing still a little ways in front of her. His back was to her and at first she thought he was simply exhausted, but then the low sound of a thrashing body in the water told her that she was wrong. He was simply drowning an attacker.
She gave him efficent enough time to kill the guy before closing the few feet before him and reaching out to touch his shoulder. As soon as her fingers touched, she had the thought that maybe she should've called out his name in warning first. Her luck, he was one of those guys whose nerves were easily wrung in time of combat, striking first and looking at who they were attacking only after that person was dead in the water.
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Post by Brandwyn on Oct 24, 2009 12:11:29 GMT -5
Rick saw the two pirates dodging toward him and stopped running to take aim. His pectoral muscle screamed at him as he drew the string back and set off an arrow in the expected path of one of the pirates.
His aim was true and the man went down with an arrow protruding from his abdomen.
Rick had time to get off another shot, but the other pirate was zigzagging around in the dark and Rick was having a hard time determining which way he was going to move. He drew the bow back again, the pain tearing at his chest from the knife wound but before he could shoot, some instinct told him to move.
He dove forward into a somersault and came up on his feet, his eyes quickly finding the crossbow bolt that had slammed into the ground just behind where he had been standing. He scanned the direction in which the arrow had come from and saw a pirate reloading a crossbow on the deck of the ship.
A quick glance at the pirate on the ground between him and the skiff’s showed that he was going to have to deal with this one before he could take aim at the crossbowman who was a threat to all of them.
Rick aimed and fired just as Ducky charged at him. Despite the arrow sticking out of Ducky’s chest, he landed against Rick and plunged a knife into Rick’s shoulder, above and further to the right of the other knife wound. Rick’s arm went numb all the way to his fingers and he involuntarily released the string and arrow he had been trying to knock.
He groaned in pain and staggered back a few steps under the dead weight of the pirate. Ducky looked up at him from lifeless eyes as he slid slowly to the beach. Rick knelt next to him and laid his bow on the sand and grabbed Ducky’s knife and pulled it out of his shoulder. Pain lanced down his arm and made him suck in his breath in agony. But he could move his fingers again, though they were still numb.
He picked up his bow and dashed towards the boats where he saw Rip and Angel in the water. The pirates were now behind them.
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Post by Brandwyn on Oct 24, 2009 12:40:54 GMT -5
Tony and Mortimer were discussing the conversation with the ranger they had captured when they both heard a series of thumps and then someone pounding up the ladder onto the main deck.
“Come on!” Tony growled and strode purposefully out the cabin door and to the ladder. By the time he got to the top he could see Lee scurrying down the brow to the beach. He looked down and saw an unconscious Ulrich lying at his feet.
“Well,” said Mortimer, noting Tony’s angry scowl, “you can’t really punish him if he is unconscious can you?”
“I suppose not.” Tony strode to the deck rail and scanned the area around the fire. His men were running around in confusion shouting, but Lee seemed to be making a bee-line for a dark shape in the shadows. The ranger, of course. Tony saw the man raise his arm and shouted, “Lee! Look out!” but he was too late, the arrow struck Lee in the thigh. “Damn it!” Tony muttered. He turned back to Mort, “wake him up,” he said, pointing to Ulrich.
He heard someone shouting to the men to get on deck and that the prisoners were trying to take the ship and saw several of his men run up the gangway and look around in confusion. “They are not up here you fools, they are making for the skiff’s.” Tony shouted at them. “Get back down there and stop them!”
He grabbed Longarrow and pointed him to the ladder, “get your crossbow and pick them off.” Longarrow nodded and started to turn away. “I want that ranger fellow alive, but you can kill the other two.” Longarrow waved his hand in acknowledgement and dove down the ladder to grab his crossbow and bolts.
Mortimer grabbed a bucket of soapy water and dashed it over Ulrich’s face to wake him up. He then knelt down to examine the wound behind Ulrich’s ear. There was a good sized lump, but the skin wasn’t broken. “Wakey, wakey, Ulrich!” he grinned at his friend. “Good thing yer head is so hard or that ranger mighta cracked it right open.” He laughed and pulled Ulrich up into a sitting position. “Yer gonna be fine though.” He patted Ulrich on the back affectionately.
Tony strode down the gangway behind his men and made his way over to Lee. “How bad is it?” he asked Lee, keeping an eye on the ranger to make sure there wasn’t an arrow winging its way toward him. “Maybe he was right,” Tony mused to himself, “and it is bad luck to try to kill a ranger.” Then he knelt down to examine Lee’s wound.
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Post by Cutebabys on Oct 28, 2009 21:04:02 GMT -5
Lee turned around as he heard someone call out to him, just to have an arrow struck in his thigh. He grimaced, falling to the ground. "Ugh..." he muttered. What could he do like this? Tony came to him and asked how bad it was. He shrugged, not knowing himself. He pulled the arrow out. His blood started to gush out. Eurgh... So maybe he wasn't the best medic there.
He gave up on his thigh, though it hurt a lot and let Tony examine it better. Hopefully he hadn't made it worse by pulling the arrow out, he had seen people doing that... He kept an eye on the ranger in case another arrow came, since Tony was looking at his leg. He bit his lip to endure the pain. This wasn't the worse he had gotten, but it was pretty bad.
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Post by Brandwyn on Oct 31, 2009 12:53:15 GMT -5
Tony ripped off a wide band from the bottom of his white silk shirt after probing the wound for a bit, trying not to cause Lee any more pain. "Probably should have some herbs in it, but I don't know nothing about that." Tony muttered while he wrapped the makeshift bandage around Lee's leg and pulled it tight. "Let's have Burn take a look at it. He should know about herbs since he cooks with them all the time."
Tony hefted Lee up onto his good leg and all but carried his quartermaster back up the ramp onto the ship and down to the galley. He asked Burn to take a look at it and lit another lantern as the cook undid the bandage.
"Arrow wound, eh?" Burn humphed as he rummaged around the galley and came up with bandages, mortar and pestle and a variety of herbs. He began grinding some of them up in the mortar and added a bit of rum until he had a good paste. He rubbed the herbs over the wound, pushing some down into the hole the arrow had made, none too gently. "Sorry 'bout that, Quartermaster." he grunted, shifting his bulk around to get the bandages.
The blood was already slowing down before he even started to wrap it up. After a few more moments he sat back, admiring his handiwork. "Should stop hurting in a bit, but when these nettles wear off, it will ache something fierce." He poured out some herbs into a tiny pouch and handed it to Lee. "Make some tea with this and it will take care of it. Won't taste good and it will make you sleep."
Tony nodded. "I better get back out there and see what is going on." He looked at Lee's leg. "Guess you better take it easy on that for the next couple days. Burn, there's others out there hurt and maybe dead."
Burn nodded and began clearing off the counter top. "Bring em on in here and I will do what I can. What happened anyway?"
Tony scowled. "an Araluen Ranger, and his friends." he growled, not happy to be reminded that only three people were out there wreaking havoc with his crew. "From the ship wreck across the island." Tony turned and stalked back out and up to the main deck He scanned the area around the boats and saw several shapes lying prone, but the only prisoner he could make out was the ranger making a dash for the skiffs. Then he saw movement in the water.
"Longarrow - there! Stop them!" He pointed at Rip and then glanced back at the ranger as Longarrow took aim on their escapees in the water.
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Post by Tandar on Nov 2, 2009 14:27:46 GMT -5
Cannon stood about waist-deep in the water, his chest heaving from the exertion. As he felt a touch on his shoulder, Rip reacted instinctively, the adrenaline rushing through his body. In a flash, Cannon grabbed Angel's hand and spun around to face her, twisting her arm as he did so. At the same time, his hidden blade slid out and he leveled it at her throat, the bloody tip barely pricking her skin.
He applied a little pressure to the blade before releasing her arm, retracting the blade, and rubbing his sore shoulder.
"We're even. Get in the boat."
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Post by Tandar on Nov 3, 2009 12:26:21 GMT -5
Rip's attention was drawn to the shout from the ship, and in the faint light, the assassin made out the form of a crossbowman taking aim, standing at the bow.
"Get down!" Rip yelled.
Cannon dove under the water to escape any bolts that could already be flying toward him. He remained submerged for nearly a minute before surfacing at the side of the skiff. The assassin made sure his head was no higher than the side of the boat so he would not be an exposed target for the pirate on the ship. Rip carefully glanced around for Angel.
"There's a crossbowman on the bow."
He wasn't sure if Angel had spotted the attacker yet, so he pointed him out.
"Use the skiff for cover. We may need to swim out of here. Can you swim?"
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Post by ivory on Nov 4, 2009 21:00:41 GMT -5
Angel froze as Rip twisted to face her, acknowledging the fighter's grace of which he immediately placed himself on the offense. Her cheek twitched as a shot of pain flashed up her arm. He hadn't dislocated it like she had, but wrenched it at an odd enough angle to do her harm. The touch of a blade rested beneath her chin and her eyes instictively flicked to it. She hadn't known he carried it and after bringing her gaze back up to face his, she wondered what else was kept hidden on his body. Her stomach knotted as she faced him, not in fear necessarily, but recognition. Though she had confidence in her ability to shove back twice as hard, she was now completely aware of his. Despite the fact that she'd watched him fight the sailors earlier, she hadn't been on the receiving end so most of the charisma had been lost; not now. At the end of the tip of his blade, she was forced not only to acknowledge it, but remember it.
He released her soon after and she took comfort in his rubbing of his arm, telling her a second before he did that it'd simply been an avenged moment. She gave a nod of her head in acknowledgedment, silently calling a truce, and was just about ready to ask him about a possible way to delay the ship, when he commanded her to get in the boat.
She gave him a sour look, though she doubted he caught it in the dark, and stood her ground. Dougal had 'broken her in' to take commands without a second thought on the battlefield, but there was just something about him that stuck her back up...probably the fact that he could very well get her kicked out of the SWC. She parted her lips to once again try to ask him, when once again he commanded her into action.
This time, she simply reacted. When someone yelled 'Get down!' and then followed the action themselves, it was usually a very good idea to follow without hindrance; so she had.
As her head swept under the surface, she couldn't help but find the humor in the situation. Get in the boat. Get down. Geez, couldn't the man just make up his mind? She often used humor to keep herself oriented in such situations and this time wasn't any different as bolts slammed into the water, one cutting an inch into the outside part her calf. She gritted her teeth as she kicked herself further into the water and hoped that there weren't any sharks this close to the shore. She breached on the opposite side of the boat from the crossbowman and quickly wiped the water from her eyes so she could see.
She'd instictivly turned to face the direction of the attacker and spotted him a flash second before Rip pointed him out. She gave a nod of acknowledgement even as she shifted to better protect herself from any more launching bolts by sticking the skiff between them.
"Use the skiff for cover. We may need to swim out of here. Can you swim?"
Angel hesitated a second before giving another nod of the head, having decided to ditch the idea of trying to hinder the ship. Not only was the combat zone too hot, but she didn't exactly know at all what she'd do to delay it. Besides, the longer they stayed here, the lesser their chance of escaping.
Another bolt slammed into the skiff's edge with enough force to rock it heavily toward them. The wood smacked into her forehead and she blinked a few times in an attempt to knock the birds from her vision, but at least she'd kept her footing. Yeah, at least she did that, she thought dryly.
"Ready to go when you are, captain." Dougal may have 'broken her in' but he hadn't exactly learned how to curb her tongue yet, a defeat she took great satisfaction in knowing and executing.
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Post by Brandwyn on Nov 4, 2009 23:11:21 GMT -5
Rick watched the deck where the crossbowman was as he sprinted toward the water's edge. He saw the man raise the bow and take aim at Rip and shouted a warning, "Look out!"
He stopped and raised the bow and tried to get an arrow knocked, but his fingers were still numb and he fumbled at the string. By the time he got it knocked the crossbowman had sent off a second bolt from his double barrelled crossbow.
Rick held his breath and drew and fired in one swift motion, but between the pain in his shoulder and the nerve damage causing his fingers to go numb, his shot went wide and whistled through the pirate captain's puffy shirt sleeve, causing no more damage than a tear in the fabric.
Rick saw that the pirates on the shore were catching up to him and took off running again to the water. He cut the lines on the other two skiffs that Angel and Rip were not hiding behind and pushed them out into the water, using them for cover. He knew the three of them couldn't steal all three skiffs, but he wanted to make it hard for the pirates to follow them.
"The tide! It is going out, push the boats out into the current." Rick could feel the water tugging at his feet and it was getting stronger. If they could get into the main current in the cave, the tide would pull them out to sea.
A crossbow bolt slammed into the wood of the skiff right in front of Rick's nose and he threw a quick glance at the archer on the deck. The man was reloading or having some kind of trouble with the crossbow now and the hail of arrows stalled for a couple of minutes.
Rick shoved one boat further out and then swam with the middle one. Somehow they were all going to have to end up in the same skiff if they wanted to be able to row it back to camp and not have it smashed on the coral reefs near the coastline. He peeked over the skiff to see if Rip and Angel had pushed their skiff out into the water yet.
(OOC: the skiffs are basically very large rowboats that normally take six or eight men to row and would hold at least a dozen men. They don't have a sail, since they are designed to carry men and cargo from the ship to shore. There are three of them. It is extremely difficult, though not impossible, for three people to control where one skiff is heading, especially if they are fighting currents.)
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Post by JezusBagels on Nov 13, 2009 0:13:22 GMT -5
Ulrich was a bit woozy. Rick had hit him very, very hard. He inwardly laughed at himself for not expecting it. How could a Ranger not hit that hard? Someone was talking to him, but he couldn't hear so well. The voice disappeared, as he started to regain vision, he saw several figures leave him. He inched his way to a wall so that he could sit up without much effort. He looked around with increasing difficulty. His head ached. What was happening? Had they escaped? He heard arrows being loosed. Damn.
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Post by ivory on Nov 13, 2009 16:10:47 GMT -5
Rick's shout of "The tide!" was all Angel needed to shove the skiff out into the current. The tide did most of the work, which her aching muscles and cut leg were grateful for. The saltwater stung viciously in her wound and with each step she took, the pain intensified. She simply gritted her teeth and kept moving.
She wondered briefly if they could set out before Rick got here, thinking that since the pirates saw him as a prize they might drop the hunt for her and Rip. And as a bolt slammed in front of him and he turned his head to look at its source, she had the urge to move in and strike, buying them some time to escape. She'd even started to move backwards a few inches before stopping herself. Who knew if despite it, Rick would evade capture? It'd be too much of a risk to show her hand now.
Shooting her eyes toward Rip once again, she wondered if he'd caught the action. And if he had, would he come to the rightful conclusion? More importantly, would he see her too much of a threat and attempt to take her out?
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Post by Tandar on Nov 17, 2009 11:21:05 GMT -5
Animal instincts kicked in and Rift laid in the bottom of the skiff, protected by the wooden side of the craft. His fur was matted with blood, most of it belonging to the slain pirates.
Since his cloak was soaked, Rip removed it and left it in the water. Grabbing on to the side of the boat facing away from the shooter, Cannon glanced back to make sure Angel did the same. The tide began to carry the skiff out to sea and Cannon nearly lost his grip as their craft collided with one of the unmanned skiffs.
Now that he could see the stars, the assassin was feeling confident. They would make it out of there, but what would their next move be? The pirates knew where they were, and there was really no place to hide on the island. Besides, the corsairs had the only ship in their possession. With the skiffs scattered, thought, it would be some time before the crew would be able to pursue.
The skiff had now reached rough water. By the faint light of the moon, Cannon saw the outlines of a pair of huge rocks getting closer. He blinked and struggled to wipe the sea spray from his eyes.
"Are those rocks?" he shouted over the roar of the waves. With his free hand, he pointed to the dark mass they were headed toward.
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Post by Brandwyn on Nov 18, 2009 1:21:38 GMT -5
Rick saw the boat Angel and Rip were hanging onto come careening into the boat he was using for cover. He moved to the stern just as the bumped and barely avoided being smashed between them. As the boats separated, he grabbed the same boat as Angel and Rip and made is way along the side until he could haul himself into the boat, rocking it slightly.
They had moved out of the cave and it was easier to see and he figured they were out of bow shot now from the pirate ship. He grabbed hold of the rudder in the back of the boat and steered it out away from the rocks.
"Get in the boat!" He hollared to Angel and Rip. "We need to row!" They were going to get smashed up against the rocks if they weren't careful. He glanced back but the pirates were still milling around on the beach. None of them seemed to be eager to go into the water after the skiffs that were floating out to sea with Angel, Rip and Rick. "We are out of their shooting range now." Rick reached down to help pull Angel into the skiff.
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