Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

[Graybeard]

Rip raised an eyebrow at the dismissal of "treasure." Well, if the girl didn't want to share in whatever wealth lay below, she didn't have to.

It would be a good idea to get a sense of how nasty a foe they were facing down there, though. He took a moment to count the number of dead bodies, or pieces, scattered around the cave lion's den. (Well, actually, he counted the number of leg bones and divided by two.) When he was done, he grunted respectfully. This kitty had obviously been eating pretty well.

"Looks like the carnage here can account for at least half of the missing crew of the Queen A," he remarked to Thurston. "Probably more if you figure there were some that the lion just ate outright. They don't all look like the lion got them, though. Some of the bones are scorched, others are shot, others are stabbed with pointy things. The lion had lots of help."

"RAAAWWWK," the parrot mused around his cigar. "Sure you don't want to just go knock over a liquor store or something?"

[liefone]

"Liquor store? Well, first off, knocking over a building, while fun, results in a lot of yelling, especial when it houses one of the dreadful poisons humans o' so love." Leana replies to the parrot.

[Graybeard]

Rip paused, put his hands on his hips, turned to Leana, sighed. "I don't get it. That's about the twentieth time I've heard you refer to humans in the third person. Just what are you, anyway?"

"RRAAAWWK," Thurston interjected; it must have been a pretty alarming thought that could make him drop his cigar in order to frame it. "Boss, don't ask the question if you don't wanna know the answer." Of course, it was too late...

[liefone]

"That depends; who are you asking Leanna or me?"

[Graybeard]

Rip thought for a minute. I'm probably going to regret this, but...

"Both."

[liefone]

"Well, Leana is a human, unfortunately, she is also my puppet. I think, she, not to recently had a birthday, or something like that. Now me, I am Athon'yataoe."

After a moment of silence he/she continues; "Currently Leana is unconscious, so, she has no clue what's going on! Don't worry, I protect her, can't have my puppet dieing, that's really inconvenient, it took," adding as much of a boring tone as possible, "soooo long last time to get a new puppet."

[Graybeard]

Rip's head spun with what he'd just heard. Leana unfortunately popped a birthday amphetamine and now she's unconscious ... was that it? Funny, she doesn't look unconscious to me. Well, no matter, there were pirates to be fought, treasure to be plundered, and a former lover to be won back (by fair means or foul). "Let's go," he said.

The sign pointed to a creaky-looking door in the side of a building that might have been ornate a thousand years ago, but now wasn't much more than a big heap of stones held together by mortar, and probably, magic. Rip gingerly opened the door, fearing the worst, and not particularly noting that right next to it, the wall had fallen down to the point where they could see what lay beyond. (In a word: rubble.) He stepped into the building, followed by the other doughty adventurers ... and the door slammed shut behind them with a clang of finality.

Of course, they could still have escaped through the busted wall, but the moment did need its drama.

[liefone]

"It would be hilarious to wake Leana now! However I wanna shock people, lets go!" Athon'yataoe declares merrily marching deeper into the ruins, lightning a flutter around Leana, striking objects that got to close.

[Sareth]

"Or you could, you know, give me a hand here?" The sudden intrusion of an unexpected voice came out of the darkness near the rubble. A quick examination revealed a hole in the floor leading down to an underground chamber. "I'm down here. No, down here..." That led to another search, and another underground chamber.

As the party started peering down the correct (rather than the incorrect) hole, a pale face looked back up at them. The individual below was clearly Tsuirakuan and clearly not a pirate, as he possessed all of his limbs and not one weapon at all. He was standing quite calmly there, casually waiting staring up from the darkness into the (relative) light above.

"You're with the rescue party from Tsuiraku, aren't you? It's about time. I'm worried they may be done with the main course already."

[Graybeard]

"You're with the rescue party from Tsuiraku, aren't you? It's about time. I'm worried they may be done with the main course already."

Rip's blood ran cold as he noticed the insignia on the man's collar. The Brotherhood of the White Skull! The most secretive, the most feared, the most dreaded of all of the secret societies of Tsuiraku, if you could believe the Weekly Weird News! Outsiders could not see this emblem and live! Why, right now this man's comrades could be planning to incinerate the whole party, hijack the Bonny Read, and move on to their dastardly plans of world domination! I'm completely screwed here! -- Oh, wait ...

The "insignia" turned out just to be an oddly shaped spot of bat guano. Never mind, false alarm.

"Yeah, we're, um, rescuers. So what's the sitch?" Rip asked, hoping he hadn't looked like too much of an idiot; first impressions are never forgotten, after all.