A Pirate's Life
by Bberke

The Man O' War "Argo" rested in the fae ocean, heavily damaged and immobile. It had grappled itself to a Khrait Scout ship. For hours it had fought fae serpents in order to lure the Khrait serpents into our land of Medievia. Its sails were in shreds and its crew occupied itself with the Sitharon and its deadly crew. It remains unknown whether they noticed Man O' War "A Drowning Woman" slowly approaching their ship. No cry of alarm was sounded, no action to prevent the inevitable.

Captain Bberke wiped sea foam from his brow as he pondered the fate of "Argo". He had no crew available to him with which to capture the Man O' War or the Sitharon. His heart burned with hate, a hate for all ships which sought to sail what he considered his seas. Still, he harbored a much greater hate for "the alliance". It was his greatest fear that the fae ocean would be a peaceful place.

Pirating had almost become extinct on the seas of Medievia. Shortly after a brief period of pirating all ships that ventured out of the safe areas protected by the Gods an alliance like none other was made. By last count between five and ten clans had made a pact to enact no hostilities against each other and respond in force to anyone daring to attack their ship. Sea dragons had already dealt a substantial blow to pirates allowing a ship who spotted a hostile Man O' War from far off to flee without risk. Pirates became fewer and fewer as one after the other either was chased away by fleets of Man O' Wars or felt their efforts were wasted when a ship they carefully snuck up simply seadragoned away.

Bberke wanted a strong and fear-filled world. Confidence, security, stability; these were the specters of stagnation he sought to destroy. He knew that Medievians would soon face a threat much greater than any other, a threat so horrible that all past evils would pale in comparison. Bberke loathed the sort softness and complacency the alliance sought to establish among its members. Allowing such weakness to spread among the captains of Medievia would leave the mainland wide open to the final assault by the creatures of afar.

Bberke did what he felt he must. He set both the sitharon and "Argo" ablaze with a few well-placed volleys feeling slightly guilty, but also exhilarated as he watched both ships sink beneath the waves.

It was not long before three Khrait scoutships appeared in a storm from afar. Bberke, his ship slightly injured, made short work of this threat, but when he was done his sails were crippled and his hull moderately damaged. Having had enough adventure for one day Bberke turned the wheel to port and began his journey back to Sea's End.

Bberke was tired; he had been shipping for hours. He had slain several serpents, khrait, a crippled Man O' War and three more khrait ships. He wanted to return his ship to the docks safely before any ship came to avenge the Man O' War "Argo". He let out a pained groan when "Obsidian Dreams", captained by his arch nemesis Angeliqa, arrived by Seadragon.

Bberke did his best to prepare his crippled ship for combat. He turned the ship at a ninety-degree angle to the wind, but with his sails only at fifty percent he was ill equipped to maneuver away from Angeliqa's ship. He cast wings of gull and waited till just before Angeliqa's ship was within firing range to order his deckhands to the guns. He used his telepathic powers to call out to all those who would fight to defend his ship, but all that responded were a small group of elite heroes from the single town he had allied himself with out of necessity.

Bberke knew this would not be a battle easily won. With a crippled ship he had two options: out maneuver Angeliqa, so his ship avoided her firing arc while continuously firing at her, or going for a grapple and attempting to capture the enemy Man O' War. Even though Bberke's power of perception indicated Angeliqa was alone on her ship, he knew there might be more hidden. He may end up grappled to her ship and outnumbered essentially surrendering his ship to the captain he despised most.

With little more than a handful of a crew Bberke turned the ship sharply as "Obsidian Dreams" approached. Only a few volleys hit Bberke's ship "A Drowning Woman" before Bberke floated out of Angeliqa's firing arc while continuously landing several solid volleys at Angeliqa's ship. As the ships neared each other Bberke had a choice, turn away at the last moment and hope the damage to Angeliqa's sails would be enough to let him maneuver away or continue his current course and attempt to grapple "Obsidian Dreams".

An epic ship battle commenced between two worthy opponents. As the two ships came within spitting range of each other it was "Obsidian Dreams"'s crew that secured the first grappling hook to "A Drowning Woman". A split-second later several of Bberke's crew secured their own hooks to "Obsidian Dreams". The crews boarded each other's ship and began to fight. All the clans that Bberke had smited in the past were present giving "Obsidian Dreams" a clear advantage of superior numbers.

The crews battled fiercely attempting to gain control of each other's ships. Each time one crew would begin to capture one ship the opposing crew would do the same to the other ship. Knowing he was outnumbered Bberke decided to risk everything and began to order his deckhands to fire volleys on Angeliqa's ship. His efforts were hampered by Kaeodan emptying his guns of ammo at nearby serpents that had begun to surround both ships. Angeliqa's ship was the first to be rammed, breaking the grapple between the two ships.

Angeliqa's crew was partially stranded on Bberke's ship and began to do everything possible to sabotage "A Drowning Woman". Bberke still managed to fire volleys of firecasters at "Obsidian Dreams" and his crew fought bravely to kill the remaining enemy combatants on the ship, but it was to no avail. Even as "Obsidian Dreams" finally sank beneath the waves, Bberke found it impossible to turn away the increasing amounts of serpents aggressive towards his ship. If he didn't order a volley fired the moment the guns were reloaded Kaeodan quickly fired them leaving the ship vulnerable to being rammed.

As his ship approached its demise Bberke prayed that Ruby Kah might prevent it from sinking, by boarding the ship and scaring away the aggressive serpents. His prayers went unanswered as a small violent serpent fatally rammed Bberke ship. Despite his brave crew's best efforts, "A Drowning Woman" sank beneath the waves of Medievia.