The Ocean
1st Ymiden, 717
1st Ymiden, 717
In general Tio was quite proud of the fact that over the course of his life he'd tried a wide variety of new experiences. A lot of them may not have worked out for the best, but even when they turned out badly the fact that he'd given them a go was an achievement in itself. Every seized opportunity gave his life an interesting flavour.
It was thanks to this outlook on life that Tio was able to maintain his unusually cheerful disposition as his crew prepared to do something entirely unusual even for him: ransom a hostage. Well two hostages technically, but only one worth an amount large enough to make this whole debacle worth it. Last season his crew had chanced upon the ship of Estella Lancaster, a cousin to the head of one of the Rynmerian merchant families, and the knight that'd been escorting her. The two had been his ‘guests' ever since then, and Grace had written a letter to house Lancaster offering to help deliver them halfway back home after a ‘small finders fee’ had been negotiated. It had been implied that there wasn't much spare room on the ship, and so if their offer was refused then Lady Lancaster and her gallant champion would need to disembark immediately. As they were currently at sea she hoped they'd both had swimming lessons.
Tensions were running a little high as his crew navigated The Rude Jester towards the meeting point: an empty stretch of ocean far away from any shipping routes. This was the first time that any of them had earned the personal ire of a large, powerful organisation like a merchant family, and all eyes were peeled on the horizon for any sign of trickery. After all you could never trust a merchant to give up his money without a fight. The fact that their captain had also inexplicably woken up that morning missing an eye and with a peacock on his shoulder certainly hadn't helped matters either.
Tio raised his spyglass to his one good eye as they reached the meeting point and smirked when he saw a single Rynmerian ship waiting for them. He'd decided that arriving fashionably late would remind them who held the power here and make them less likely to try any funny business, and so had arrived a break late. Judging by the anxious expressions on the faces of the Rynmerian crewmen his tactic had worked.
“Okay everyone! Get your masks on! It's showtime!” He declared to his accomplices as he fit his own mask across his face, assuming the identity of Taboo. The distance between the two ships grew closer, and when Tio could see people moving about on the other vessel without the aid of his spyglass he signaled to Teddie to fetch the two hostages from below deck. “Make sure someone keeps their eyes on the knight at all times. There's no telling what kind of stupid move she might pull at the last second in some vain attempt at being honourable.”
He then strode to the front of the ship and stood on the masthead, making sure that the Rynmerian’s would be able to identify him as the leader. He glanced over to the Peacock on his shoulder. “Alright then Diva, let's see you earn your keep.”
This mysterious bird that'd suprised his crew was not in fact a real bird at all, but a familiar granted to him by Delroth. At the stroke of midnight last night, the turn of the season, Tio had suddenly bolted awake yelling in pain as the version of himself that'd been in Emea competing in Cassion’s game remerged with his real body. Everything he'd earned in that contest: the missing eye, the magical items, the horrible memories, all came flooding into him, as well as an aparent bonus prize from his patron Delroth in the form of a blessing mark. Now that he knew the truth about what the Immortal’s blessings were really for Tio found that he didn't want his blessing, or any blessing for that matter, but realised that he didn't have much of a say in the matter. This was Delroth’s way of staking a claim on him, and he very much doubted that the Immortal of greed would react anything but violently if one of his followers, his possessions, wanted to leave him. If Tio wanted to be rid of his two blessings he'd need to find another way to go about it. The powers they granted him were too useful to ignore until then, but he'd at least be cautious not to get too reliant on them.
Diva took flight from his shoulder and soared into the air, gaining a bird’s eye view of the Rynmerian vessel. According to her observations they didn't seem to have any tricks up their sleeve, but they did have a large group of knights with them who seemed to be calling the shots. If it came to a fight the chances of Tio’s crew winning was astoundingly low.
In short if the negotiations failed they were all dead. At least that gave him some incentive to take this seriously.
“Good morning everybody!” Tio shouted as the two ships got close enough for them to hear each other. He gave the band of knights a friendly wave, as if greeting old friends instead of people who wanted to kill him. “Thank you for turning up. We were so worried when we found Ms Lancaster here sailing through such dangerous territory! Who knows what could have happened if some dangerous vagabonds found her instead of us?” The smirk on his lips could be heard in his tone even with his face covered. “So how about you hand over the finders fee, I hand over the lady and her valiant protector, and we all go our merry ways?”
His taunting seemed to get to one of the younger knights, who glared at him with unabashed fury and stomped forwards. “Cut the crud pirate! You think you can kidnap a member of the great houses and get away with it?!”
“Pirate?! Kidnap?!” Tio replied with mock hurt. “Sir, you wound me! We are not pirates! Merely self-employed privateers! Nor are we kidnappers but rescuers; honest folk who would merely see our honesty repaid. Take a look for yourself, you'll see that our two guests have come to no harm during their stay.”
He gestured to his crew, and a trill later Teddie and a few other men emerged from below deck with the captives. Tio hadn't been lying; neither of them had been harmed anywhere except their pride.
“Now as we have been so kind as to show you our guests, surely you will return our kindness by showing us the money?”
The knights looked at one another cautiously, particularly at a grizzled older man who seemed at a glance like he might be the one in charge. After a moment of thinking the older knight nodded his head slowly, and one of the other knights scurried off below deck while the younger one who'd made the previous outburst swore loudly.
For a tense few trills both sides waited in silence, until finally the knight returned from below deck carrying a chest. He opened it up to show that it contained a large pile of gold nel.
“Here pirate, the amount you requested.” The lead knight said calmly, his face a mask of cool confidence. “I'll send two of my men halfway across a gangplank with the chest, and you send two men with your two… guests… halfway as well. Our men can swap right in the middle, and we'll both be on our way."
Tio nodded to show that he agreed, and the Rynmerian ship drifted over so that the two vessels were parallel to each other. The air on deck changed as Tio’s crew saw victory in reach, but Tio himself couldn't help but frown beneath his mask. Were hostage negotiations supposed to go this smoothly? The old knight betrayed no expression, but the younger, angrier knight had stopped his tantrum and instead seemed… pleased? Something wasn't right here, but what?
“Diva, get me one of those coins.” He mentally instructed.
The Rynmerian ship sent out a gangplank that one of his crewmen prepared to tie to their ship, but just before it connected Tio held out a hand in a halting motion. At the same time Diva swooped down from the sky and plucked one of the gold nel from the chest before the soldiers guarding it could react, then quickly climbed high back into the sky and dropped the stolen coin so that it fell into Tio’s hand. Tio slipped the hand under his mask and put the coin in his mouth, gave it a quick taste, and then spat it out again.
“Disgusting! This isn't a gold nel, it's a painted copper nel!” He spat, drawing his cutlass and levelled it straight at Estella’s neck. “Bloody cheapstake merchants! Don't even want to pay the full price for their own flesh and blood!”
The rest of his crew followed suit and drew their weapons, which prompted the Rynmerians to do the same. In the span of a couple of trills the tension had gone from relaxed to the verge of breaking, and Tio mentally kicked himself for letting the attempt at deception get to him. The one thing he'd had to do was make sure this situation didn't end in a fight since in terms of military might they were heavily outmatched, but he'd let anger get the better of him! Somehow he had to backpedal his way out of this!
“Give the order to engage Sir Ulvich! We can crush these peasants!” The angry young knight hissed to the commander, the gleam in his eyes betraying how much he wanted to fight. But instead the commander looked around at his men sternly.
“Enough! Sheath your weapons now!”
“But commander!-...”
“Enough I said! We came here to ensure Lady Lancaster’s life, not slaughter a meaningless handful of pirates! Now drop your sword Daniels or so help me I'll strap your sorry ass to the anchor!”
The angry knight, Sir Daniels it seemed his name was, huffed in irritation and sheathed his blade. Sir Ulvich looked back to Tio and resumed his previous poker face.
“I apologise for the subterfuge pirate; had it not been for orders from above I never would have been a part of such falsehood. Rest assured there is a chest if real gold nel below deck. I'll have it brought up now.”
Fortune seemed to be on Tio’s side today after all. The elder knight at least seemed to have experience in negotiating, and was more concerned about Ms Lancaster’s safety that the money. Thank the spirits that there was someone here who knew what they were doing. The real chest of gold nel was soon brought up, and after Diva brought a piece over for him to sample Tio confirmed that it was real gold this time.
He nodded sharply for the trade to continue, and once the gangplank was secure Teddie and another crewman took the hostages halfway while the knights brought the chest of gold. Slowly, carefully, the exchange was made, and Teddie came back to the deck holding the chest and set it down in front of Tio.
“Well Sir Ulvich, it was a pleasure to be of assistance to Rynmere in this matter.” Tio anmounced cheerfully, unable to resist smiling at the livid expression on Sir Daniels’ face. “But I think it's time we were on our way. Give King Cassie my love for me, won't you?”
“I’m sure he'll be thrilled.” Ulvich replied dryly as his crew retracted their gangplank. “I warn you now pirate, do not meddle in Rynmere’s business again. You've made an enemy of us today, and next time we won't hesitate to bring you to justice.”
“I'll looked forward to it!” Tio shouted as his crew unfurled the sails and The Rude Jester began to move away. “Until then!”
It was thanks to this outlook on life that Tio was able to maintain his unusually cheerful disposition as his crew prepared to do something entirely unusual even for him: ransom a hostage. Well two hostages technically, but only one worth an amount large enough to make this whole debacle worth it. Last season his crew had chanced upon the ship of Estella Lancaster, a cousin to the head of one of the Rynmerian merchant families, and the knight that'd been escorting her. The two had been his ‘guests' ever since then, and Grace had written a letter to house Lancaster offering to help deliver them halfway back home after a ‘small finders fee’ had been negotiated. It had been implied that there wasn't much spare room on the ship, and so if their offer was refused then Lady Lancaster and her gallant champion would need to disembark immediately. As they were currently at sea she hoped they'd both had swimming lessons.
Tensions were running a little high as his crew navigated The Rude Jester towards the meeting point: an empty stretch of ocean far away from any shipping routes. This was the first time that any of them had earned the personal ire of a large, powerful organisation like a merchant family, and all eyes were peeled on the horizon for any sign of trickery. After all you could never trust a merchant to give up his money without a fight. The fact that their captain had also inexplicably woken up that morning missing an eye and with a peacock on his shoulder certainly hadn't helped matters either.
Tio raised his spyglass to his one good eye as they reached the meeting point and smirked when he saw a single Rynmerian ship waiting for them. He'd decided that arriving fashionably late would remind them who held the power here and make them less likely to try any funny business, and so had arrived a break late. Judging by the anxious expressions on the faces of the Rynmerian crewmen his tactic had worked.
“Okay everyone! Get your masks on! It's showtime!” He declared to his accomplices as he fit his own mask across his face, assuming the identity of Taboo. The distance between the two ships grew closer, and when Tio could see people moving about on the other vessel without the aid of his spyglass he signaled to Teddie to fetch the two hostages from below deck. “Make sure someone keeps their eyes on the knight at all times. There's no telling what kind of stupid move she might pull at the last second in some vain attempt at being honourable.”
He then strode to the front of the ship and stood on the masthead, making sure that the Rynmerian’s would be able to identify him as the leader. He glanced over to the Peacock on his shoulder. “Alright then Diva, let's see you earn your keep.”
This mysterious bird that'd suprised his crew was not in fact a real bird at all, but a familiar granted to him by Delroth. At the stroke of midnight last night, the turn of the season, Tio had suddenly bolted awake yelling in pain as the version of himself that'd been in Emea competing in Cassion’s game remerged with his real body. Everything he'd earned in that contest: the missing eye, the magical items, the horrible memories, all came flooding into him, as well as an aparent bonus prize from his patron Delroth in the form of a blessing mark. Now that he knew the truth about what the Immortal’s blessings were really for Tio found that he didn't want his blessing, or any blessing for that matter, but realised that he didn't have much of a say in the matter. This was Delroth’s way of staking a claim on him, and he very much doubted that the Immortal of greed would react anything but violently if one of his followers, his possessions, wanted to leave him. If Tio wanted to be rid of his two blessings he'd need to find another way to go about it. The powers they granted him were too useful to ignore until then, but he'd at least be cautious not to get too reliant on them.
Diva took flight from his shoulder and soared into the air, gaining a bird’s eye view of the Rynmerian vessel. According to her observations they didn't seem to have any tricks up their sleeve, but they did have a large group of knights with them who seemed to be calling the shots. If it came to a fight the chances of Tio’s crew winning was astoundingly low.
In short if the negotiations failed they were all dead. At least that gave him some incentive to take this seriously.
“Good morning everybody!” Tio shouted as the two ships got close enough for them to hear each other. He gave the band of knights a friendly wave, as if greeting old friends instead of people who wanted to kill him. “Thank you for turning up. We were so worried when we found Ms Lancaster here sailing through such dangerous territory! Who knows what could have happened if some dangerous vagabonds found her instead of us?” The smirk on his lips could be heard in his tone even with his face covered. “So how about you hand over the finders fee, I hand over the lady and her valiant protector, and we all go our merry ways?”
His taunting seemed to get to one of the younger knights, who glared at him with unabashed fury and stomped forwards. “Cut the crud pirate! You think you can kidnap a member of the great houses and get away with it?!”
“Pirate?! Kidnap?!” Tio replied with mock hurt. “Sir, you wound me! We are not pirates! Merely self-employed privateers! Nor are we kidnappers but rescuers; honest folk who would merely see our honesty repaid. Take a look for yourself, you'll see that our two guests have come to no harm during their stay.”
He gestured to his crew, and a trill later Teddie and a few other men emerged from below deck with the captives. Tio hadn't been lying; neither of them had been harmed anywhere except their pride.
“Now as we have been so kind as to show you our guests, surely you will return our kindness by showing us the money?”
The knights looked at one another cautiously, particularly at a grizzled older man who seemed at a glance like he might be the one in charge. After a moment of thinking the older knight nodded his head slowly, and one of the other knights scurried off below deck while the younger one who'd made the previous outburst swore loudly.
For a tense few trills both sides waited in silence, until finally the knight returned from below deck carrying a chest. He opened it up to show that it contained a large pile of gold nel.
“Here pirate, the amount you requested.” The lead knight said calmly, his face a mask of cool confidence. “I'll send two of my men halfway across a gangplank with the chest, and you send two men with your two… guests… halfway as well. Our men can swap right in the middle, and we'll both be on our way."
Tio nodded to show that he agreed, and the Rynmerian ship drifted over so that the two vessels were parallel to each other. The air on deck changed as Tio’s crew saw victory in reach, but Tio himself couldn't help but frown beneath his mask. Were hostage negotiations supposed to go this smoothly? The old knight betrayed no expression, but the younger, angrier knight had stopped his tantrum and instead seemed… pleased? Something wasn't right here, but what?
“Diva, get me one of those coins.” He mentally instructed.
The Rynmerian ship sent out a gangplank that one of his crewmen prepared to tie to their ship, but just before it connected Tio held out a hand in a halting motion. At the same time Diva swooped down from the sky and plucked one of the gold nel from the chest before the soldiers guarding it could react, then quickly climbed high back into the sky and dropped the stolen coin so that it fell into Tio’s hand. Tio slipped the hand under his mask and put the coin in his mouth, gave it a quick taste, and then spat it out again.
“Disgusting! This isn't a gold nel, it's a painted copper nel!” He spat, drawing his cutlass and levelled it straight at Estella’s neck. “Bloody cheapstake merchants! Don't even want to pay the full price for their own flesh and blood!”
The rest of his crew followed suit and drew their weapons, which prompted the Rynmerians to do the same. In the span of a couple of trills the tension had gone from relaxed to the verge of breaking, and Tio mentally kicked himself for letting the attempt at deception get to him. The one thing he'd had to do was make sure this situation didn't end in a fight since in terms of military might they were heavily outmatched, but he'd let anger get the better of him! Somehow he had to backpedal his way out of this!
“Give the order to engage Sir Ulvich! We can crush these peasants!” The angry young knight hissed to the commander, the gleam in his eyes betraying how much he wanted to fight. But instead the commander looked around at his men sternly.
“Enough! Sheath your weapons now!”
“But commander!-...”
“Enough I said! We came here to ensure Lady Lancaster’s life, not slaughter a meaningless handful of pirates! Now drop your sword Daniels or so help me I'll strap your sorry ass to the anchor!”
The angry knight, Sir Daniels it seemed his name was, huffed in irritation and sheathed his blade. Sir Ulvich looked back to Tio and resumed his previous poker face.
“I apologise for the subterfuge pirate; had it not been for orders from above I never would have been a part of such falsehood. Rest assured there is a chest if real gold nel below deck. I'll have it brought up now.”
Fortune seemed to be on Tio’s side today after all. The elder knight at least seemed to have experience in negotiating, and was more concerned about Ms Lancaster’s safety that the money. Thank the spirits that there was someone here who knew what they were doing. The real chest of gold nel was soon brought up, and after Diva brought a piece over for him to sample Tio confirmed that it was real gold this time.
He nodded sharply for the trade to continue, and once the gangplank was secure Teddie and another crewman took the hostages halfway while the knights brought the chest of gold. Slowly, carefully, the exchange was made, and Teddie came back to the deck holding the chest and set it down in front of Tio.
“Well Sir Ulvich, it was a pleasure to be of assistance to Rynmere in this matter.” Tio anmounced cheerfully, unable to resist smiling at the livid expression on Sir Daniels’ face. “But I think it's time we were on our way. Give King Cassie my love for me, won't you?”
“I’m sure he'll be thrilled.” Ulvich replied dryly as his crew retracted their gangplank. “I warn you now pirate, do not meddle in Rynmere’s business again. You've made an enemy of us today, and next time we won't hesitate to bring you to justice.”
“I'll looked forward to it!” Tio shouted as his crew unfurled the sails and The Rude Jester began to move away. “Until then!”
As always, it was a delight to read Tio. Seeing him handle himself in a hostage negotiation is cool, and getting acquainted with his mark familiar. Wonder how he'll proceed with getting it removed - or utilizing it more.