Prudence sat at the table along with everyone else, glancing down occasionally into her flagon of Severed Head Ale. She watched as the red liquid rotated slowly around, while her reflection remained completely motionless. It was the kind of drink that would put most men under in a matter of seconds, but Prudence had barely noticed any effect at all. She was too busy recounting the adventure with the others.
"To the spicy rat caper!" She said with a smirk as everyone toasted and raised their flagons (Merilwen needed to hold hers with both hands) Beverages were consumed, and more laughs were had. At one point, a pot bellied, middle aged tavern goer gave Prudence a little wink. She responded by pulling out her sacrificial knife and twirling it around in her hand. Suddenly the man seemed more interested in his meal, which was fine by Prudence.
"I couldn't believe how spicy that rat was." Corazon said before taking another swig, now looking a bit more comfortable with the group, having alcohol in his procession probably helped matters. "Then remember when Prudence murdered that guy?"
"That was a good one." Prudence deadpanned as she looked around. They were currently drinking at The Bawdy Flamingo, which was a shady joint no doubt, but she also recalled being in far worse places (and having to kill the patrons of many of them)
Dob continued the conversation as he glanced down at Merilwen, who's tiny stature made him look even more massive than he already was. "Oh Merilwen, the look on your face after you realized we'd torched all those guards that were tied up, classic!"
"Classic Merilwen." Prudence added as she chuckled at how suddenly uncomfortable they had made the small wood elf. Merilwen slowly sunk into her seat as she blushed heavily. Clearly the girl was but a novice killer, Prudence would have to keep that in mind.
Corazon took this moment to go up to the bar, which was tended by a pig like creature missing an eye. Suddenly, Prudence noticed a small child scamper her way past the bar patrons and go straight to Corazon. She was dressed in filthy rags, with no shoes to speak of, and was wearing a beat up cap. The girl's hand reached into a little purse slung on her side, and she pulled out a folded up piece of paper. Before Prudence could see more however, she felt a light tug on her shirt.
Merilwen was trying to get her attention, her usual mask of calm was now replaced by concern. "He's watching us." The wood elf whispered to Prudence.
"Who?" Prudence started looking around the bar, no seemed to notice them, let alone be staring at them.
Merilwen pointed to the far back corner of the bar. "Over there, do you see him? He's the bloke in brown." Prudence scanned the back corner, and her eyes narrowed.
Sure enough, there was a rather large looking man (at least she guessed it was a man) wearing clean brown robes over his chain mail armor, though his hood was up. Because it was so far from where they were sitting, Prudence couldn't make out anything about what the person looked like underneath the hood. The only thing that she could tell was that Merilwen was right, he was definitely looking at them.
Her attention was then averted again when she heard Corazon audibly gasp. "Oh god it's the black spot." He put a hand over his mouth, and Prudence watched as the color rapidly drained away. He was so stunned that the barkeep had to growl (oink?) at him to pay for the drinks he had bought for the gang. Corazon shook his head, grabbed the drinks, and walked back to the table where everyone was staring at him. After he realized this, he attempted to regain his cool, devil may care attitude, passing drinks around and flashing a goofy grin, but everyone could tell that his heart simply wasn't in it.
"What's that?" Dob asked.
"What is it?" Prudence added, just for good measure.
"Ah, uh, nothing. I think it's just, they spilled some ink on this bit of paper, nothing to worry about. Uh-who wanted ale?" Corazon finally managed to sputtered out.
"Me!" Dob yelled almost instinctively, before calming down.
"Me." Prudence replied, while she rapped her fingers on the table, thinking hard.
Prudence exchanged a concerned look with Dob, his eyes, usually filled with bright untamed creativity, were now darker and more focused. His fingers had stopped tapping and occasionally strumming the lute, which was also unusual for him. Or so Prudence guessed.
"Well that seems mysterious Dob." Prudence said while she pulled out a large brown book from her satchel. It was bound by a tiny skull shaped locked (or maybe it was the actual skull of a fairy, Prudence honestly couldn't remember)
"Yeah, why's he freaking out?"
"It's just a black spot I mean..." She trailed off as the book opened up, and she began trying to find an entry regarding black spots and pirates.
Just as she began to flip through the pages however, looking for the right section: black bear, black betty, black background. Dob clasped her on the shoulder and leaned in close.
"Does he not like kids or something?" He asked her feverishly, this sudden moved jarred the book from her hands, she couldn't keep a grip, and it flew out of her grasp. Landing with a thud onto the filthy bar floor, which was coated thick with dried alcohol, sweat, and possibly pigs blood.
Prudence wheeled around and gave Dob an unforgettable glare, "Hey! Music man! How about you watch what in Cthulhu's name you're doing?" She barked at him, perhaps a bit more harsh than was necessary, but this seemed serious. Whatever she thought about Corazon (which wasn't much) nothing ever seemed to faze him in the slightest, even the life and death situations they had already encountered. The sight of this black spot however, had turned his face white, and he was now nervously playing with the collar of his excessively ruffled shirt. With her book on the floor, and since removing it from said floor would likely require a lot of strength because how sticky it was, she had to go on memory.
What kind of message could a pirate like Corazon receive that would scare him? What message would require only a black dot? Then it suddenly hit her like the time she tested to see if she could Eldritch blast herself (she could) His terrified expression obviously meant that he had been invited to a secret pirate party! It also made sense as she pictured it, a bunch of scraggly looking men dancing around a massive bonfire in various states of undress, drinking a stupid amount of alcohol, and surrounded by captured treasure. He was also obviously worried about looking bad in front of his fellow pirates. It was actually kinda cute, except Prudence didn't trust him, so it obviously wasn't cute, at all.
With this new information, Prudence straight up asked the now glum looking Corazon de Leon: "Does that mean a bunch of pirates are coming over here to throw a party?"
The pirate looked at her, but not really, it was more like he looked through her, his eyes were definitely far away. Then he shook his head, which sent Dob into a state of visible distress. Corazon looked around and spoke, without the usual salesman pitch tone that Prudence had gotten sick of about seven seconds after she had met him. "No, no it doesn't mean there's a party happening, it means a bunch of pirates are going to come here and kill me." He ended with a sigh.
"What are you going to do man?" Dob asked, now looking on the edge of panic. He was no nervously strumming something that sounded like 'Flight of the Bumblebee' on his lute.
"Yeah what are YOU going to do?" Prudence added coldly.
"I mean we're party right guys, you guys have got my back?"
The table was completely silent and still, everyone seemed to be processing it in their own way. Even Merilwen, who Prudence thought might turn Corazon into a pine tree or something equally painful after the whole chicken kicking incident, looked completely and utterly devastated.
Eventually, Dob broke the uncomfortable silence. "I mean we'll help out, but...why are they, why are, why are they trying to kill you?"
This was when Corazon's eyes became suddenly shifty, and Prudence subtly activated her internal bullshit detector. "Well..it's a long story, I don't want to get into it right now.."
Dob leaned a little closer, now his lute had stopped playing. That serious look had come back again, that focus. "Well I'd like to know what I'm fighting for."
He glanced over at her, and she replied by just twirling her finger forward. Go on pirate. "Uh-they are just bad pirates, and I was too good of a pirate. I wanted to give our treasure to the poor, and they wanted to keep it for themselves to spend on, um, the arms trade."
Prudence may of believed such a story if she was a small teethling child, back when she assumed it was completely normal for a foster parent to give you a name like Prudence because he thought it was funny for a teethling. But now, despite how she hadn't known Corazon for long at all, this was obviously a lie.
Even Corazon himself knew how bad this lie was judging by his wry, apologetic smile after he finished speaking. Then by his "at least I tried" shrug following that.
Just as Prudence was about to respond with something both witty and intimidating, there was another tug on her shirt from Merilwen. She snapped her head back towards the wood elf, who with eyes bigger than Prudence thought possible on a humanoid, slowly pointed one of her small trembling fingers across the room. It took a second, but Prudence looked back across the bar. The cloaked figure was no longer sitting in a booth in the corner of the dank room, they were striding over towards their table. Pulling a chair behind them to boot, making an irritating squeaking sound."
But before she could even consider blowing the hidden figure in an array, of small, medium, and large chunks of flesh with her Eldritch blast, the figure threw of its hood off. Wheeled that chair around, and took a seat at the table.
"Hi, I'm Egbert the careless!"
Well things just got stranger and Prudence had seen some pretty strange things in her time. Egbert was, as she had guessed a male, but that's where her predictions became less accurate. Egbert wasn't human at all, in fact he wasn't even a humanoid like herself. Instead, he was a six foot tall dragon man, his scales were yellow, almost like shining gold. His brown tunic was in fact the cloak of a member of the Dragondaw, a mysterious organization of dragon warriors. The last time she had seen one was during her attempted assassination of the entire Duros assembly (long story) she didn't think she would ever see any around here.
Dob beamed at the stranger. "Egbert, happy to know you buddy!" He proved this statement true by sliding him a flagon of ale over and toasting with him. Perhaps he was pleased to meet someone who he could have competitive arm wrestling matches with.
Corazon scowled, leaned back in his chair, and crossed his arms. "Egbert this was kind of a private conversation."
"I heard you were in a...spot of bother, and these guys didn't seem super committed to helping you out." The Dragon replied, seeming to only be half joking, with an impressive combination of professionalism and relatability. He eyed all of the others sitting at the table, like he was daring them to disagree.
"Cause of your black spot." Dob added helpfully.
"The black spot is no laughing matter Egbert." Corazon looked like he was trying to ignore the bard the best he could. "But I mean, I am in trouble, any help you could offer..." he trailed off before nodding.
Egbert took a swig of ale and scratched his head, probably weighing some things. "Well listen, I was just wandering around, looking for absolution, and I thought this might be a good candidate for potential absolution. They weren't super specific on how I was to absolve myself, so this is as good an offer as I got, so I'd thought and help you guys out." Then he beamed at the rest of the group, like he was waiting to be voted in.
"Where do you hail from buddy?" Dob asked while he leaned back and plucked a chip from a different table. Merilwen giggled, but as usual, she was simply observing from the sidelines.
"Well I kinda grew up as a stable boy, I wasn't always a dragon with a sort of golden sheen, as depicting my lineage. But you know, I was taken in by the noble order of the Dragondaw, it was after a particularly attritional battle with the godless heathens, and they're a paladin sect-"
"Is there gonna be a lot of religion stuff?" Corazon cut in, and for once Prudence was glad. She had gone through some rough experiences with holy organizations, calling her "demonic" and "a threat to all that is good in the world" bunch of twats the lot of them.
"I mean, I think everyone could do with some religion in their life, some meaning, some-"
"Are you here to sell of pamphlets or books?" It was Dob who cut in this time, though he was definitely sounding more curious than irritated.
Egbert was silent for a long time, clearly that large bag next to his chair had more than weapons and extra chainmail, somehow, he seemed as if he was blushing.
"Look I've been trying to work them on the nature thing, and even that's difficult." Prudence was surprised that Merilwen had broken the silence, she straightened up and leaned in a bit to talk to Egbert. Maybe since he was closer to an animal he was easier to talk to?
"I know right? I mean you're hanging out with a demon." Egbert replied with a very toothy smile to Merilwen. Prudence thought about this statement, but let it slide, he wasn't really wrong at all.
The Dragon continued. "Anyway, I thought I would help out however I can, I've mastered my gift, and taken on some of the attributes of a dragon."
Corazon rapped his fingers and then shook Egbert's hand. "I mean, yeah, I appreciate your offer stranger, that's very kind of you. I'd say, don't panic just yet, and let's get another drink in, and see how things pans out."
The group sat for a while, drinking more ale in virtual silence. Dob continued to take more chips from the next table, and the patrons of said table seemed too scared to complain about it. Prudence was glad, she didn't feel like spilling blood in here, though she had a sneaking suspicion that it was going to happen today anyway.
"Hey Corazon, how long do you reckon we got until those pirates get to where we are?" Merilwen asked, pausing from her small talk with Egbert.
"I'd say like six hours." Corazon answered.
"So what should we-" Merilwen stopped talking as Corazon gestured for her to quiet down, before stroking his beard. Then he sat up and leaned into the table.
"A bunch of pirates are going to be here in six hours, should we be here in six hours? I thinking no. I mean, this is something I deal with periodically. I ran away last time, and they didn't find me." His voice had no fear now, he was turning back to the old Corazon.
"Aren't you tired of running?" Dob questioned, though he had a chip in his mouth, so Prudence wasn't 100% sure.
Corazon waited, before nodding slowly. "To be honest, I've got like three or four of these black spots. Honestly, it's a real hassle."
"Do they stack?" Prudence asked, which prompted Merilwen to chuckle. Prudence didn't see what was so funny, she was genuinely curious. If you had more than one black spot, would they make sure you were extra dead?
"Maybe that previous high profile job, where you were turning animals back to people, got them back on your sent." Egbert suggested.
"Yeah, the town cryer was shouting about it, I probably shouldn't of given him my real full name." Corazon said sadly.
"You wouldn't give the child your full name!" Egbert almost screamed at the pirate's face.
"I just wanted to be in town criers shouting."
"I'd like to finish my drink, otherwise, we should probably hightail it." Egbert then took another sip of his drink. The table began to erupt into more questions.
"How killable are they, on a scale of not to ten?" Prudence asked
"How many are there do you think?" Dob asked over her own voice.
Corazon put his hands up again, wanting quiet. He rubbed them on his temples with a sigh. "I should probably lay some things down, the pirates that are here to kill us, all of us, are-"
"Wait what?" Prudence nearly blasted him on the spot, she had NO CHOICE but be a part of this?
"They'll know about you guys now, you're all in it now." Corazon tried to calmly explain why they were destined to die themselves now. Before shaking his head, and continuing his confession.
"They are, to an extent human...there's a curse."
Prudence facepalmed. "Oh I see." A curse, why did everything involving pirates have to have a curse with it?
"They can't be killed, but they can be defeated."
"For how long," Dob had swelled his chip, now looking more concerned, undead pirates had a way of doing that.
"For two years, then they come back, so I have had this fight before."
Dob shook his head, and began to pick at his lute, while keeping his dark eyes on Corazon. "I'm not saying that I'm not up for this, but you are asking an awful lot of us, without giving much information."
"I've never even been on the ocean, and now I've got pirate skeletons after me." Merilwen sounded more annoyed then anything.
"They're not skeletons. They're just really terribly cursed pirates." Corazon corrected, how helpful, at least they'll be nice to look at. Dob suddenly stood up, and slung his lute over his back, his rapier gleamed at his side. Prudence began to realize how much he could look like a proper hero if he worked a little.
"Here's an idea, why don't we not stand our ground, but also not run. We've got six hours right? Why don't we try an find them in that time, catch them off guard, hit them where they are now."
"Ooooh, that's good." Prudence said, standing up with Dob.
"We'd need to track them somehow, I don't have any ideas."
Corazon began to smile, nodding to himself. Like he was in his element all a sudden. "I'd presume they're coming into port, they'll arriving on a ship."
"So why don't we go scope out the harbor?" Dob offered his hand for Corazon to get up.
Corazon broke into a goofy grin, and he grabbed Dob's hand to pull himself straight up. "See if they're expecting any boats to turn up."
All of the other party members stood up. Looking very determined indeed, Prudence nodded in satisfaction. This wasn't the worst group to go to war with. Egbert handed Dob a pamphlet and began to speak about his life's work as they walked out the door, Corazon held the door open, looking around the bar as if in a pose, before leaving himself. Prudence then strutted over to the bartender, and tossed some coins as a tip. Merilwen followed, looking excited and scared at the same time.
"Do you think we'll make it out of this alright Prudence?"
"Of course, except maybe Corazon."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because if he's not telling the truth about those guys, or what we're walking into, it won't be the pirates who kill him."
Merilwen audibly gulped as she followed her crimson ally out the door, no one in the bar had seemed to notice the seriousness of the discussion that had taken place not a few moments before, but everyone at that table knew. Things were going to get messy, and they were going to need to decide how much their new friend meant to them.
