[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/PRibzDC.jpg[/img][/center] [color=1BF285]Time: Afternoon Location: The Nest Interactions: Mentions: Cap’n Lizzie; The Oceanblessed and Goddess of the Seas Equipment: A cutlass, 2 knives, 1 dagger, a spyglass, a wayfinder, a pouch of amas, and various jewelry. [/color] [hr] [color=C1E9EC] [color=F9B95C]“Any’un heard from Bamvur?”[/color] A shifty-looking demifox approached the bar, asking those he seemed familiar with. [color=0CAEEF]“Been at least a day or so since he was in ‘ere.”[/color] The bartender offered with a sad shrug. [color=A0AAE1]“Saw the ol’ bastard yesterday, went and got himself hung up with the rest o’ the fools. Ain’t no sense in it. Can hardly explain that to an orc though can ya?”[/color] An elf near them pipped up, shaking his head. Roshmi was plagued by public executions, bodies were left rotten in public view as a warning. [color=F9B95C]“Fools? Hardly call having a bit of courage left in ya foolish. Damn sure it’s what we all outta be -”[/color] The foxman was cut off when the bartender slammed a fist against the bar. [color=0CAEEF]“Ain’t gonna allow no talk like that in here. You don’t know whose ears are about.”[/color] The barman was stern in his warning. [color=1BF285]“Gonna have to agree with the lad, if ya can’t live free best to die free.”[/color] Nym spoke up. [color=0CAEEF]“An’ so what brings a pirate into Roshmi?”[/color] The bartender eyed Nym with a bit of suspicion. Roshmi was now a bleak place full of suspicion, folks turning on each other to keep themselves safe from Dark Elf vengeance. Now as far as Nym was concerned this was an elf war and he wasn’t keen on getting too caught up with either side. There were some dark elves he liked and some he hated. The same could be said of light elves. He had no ties to any nation; his nation was the [i]The Harem[/i] and his people its crew, simple as that. But the environment that the dark elf occupation in Roshmi had created was a ripe one for the story he planned to tell to catch and spread. [color=1BF285]“Anyone ever tell you the tale of Cap’n Lizzie the Oceanblessed?"[/color] Nym offered instead of a real explanation. Those around him gave a shake of their heads or shrug of the shoulders. [color=1BF285]“Aye finest cap’n I ever sailed with; a voice more compelling than a siren’s song, hair like the cannon’s blast, and eyes that held the sea within ‘em. I tell you this, ain’t never met a creature more born for the sea than this force of a woman. They say she was the daughter of the goddess Cari herself, raised deep within the sea’s trenches, gifted by the Leviathan with a piece of the beast’s own soul. Cap’n Lizzie, aye she was no ordinary creature, she bent the seas and all their powers to her whims.”[/color] He began the tale before one of the men interrupted. [color=F9B95C]“Hogwash. Them celestials ain’t havin’ no kids. Ain’t even sure they’re real anyways.”[/color] The foxman spoke up. [color=1BF285]“You callin’ me a lair lad? I seen it with me own eye and I’m tellin’ ya, Cap’n Lizzie could summon the mightiest gale in a blink, could sink a Man'o'war with a single thought, and call for the creatures from the depths of the ocean to swallow its sailors whole.”[/color] Nym spoke with absolute confidence in his tale, eyeing the foxman until the lad broke and shook his head, indicating that he wouldn’t dare call Nym a liar. [color=A0AAE1]“You sure this wasn’t a human?”[/color] The elf asked. [color=1BF285]“Aye, now humans ain’t nothin’ more than old elven fairy tales, and even in them ol’ tales no mere human could do what The Oceanblessed could. Now I know ya got a whole mess going on here but things ain’t all that different on the seas. A tyrant sails the oceans, fella named Ardyn himself the Pirate King, but ya see the sea, she holds no love fer a tyrant, and neither did the sea’s daughter, Cap’n Lizzie.”[/color] Nym continued on, unbothered by the interruptions, knowing that they only meant he was piquing their interest. He made the parallels simple enough and tweaked his story into something that would want to believe in, something that they would want to tell others. [color=F9B95C]“And if this cap’n is all ya say how come we ain’t heard of her?”[/color] The foxman asked, but his tone was more excited than doubting. [color=1BF285]“Dead men tell no tales, and them what crossed Cap’n Lizzie all lay at the bottom of the seas or in the belly of a beast.”[/color] Nym offered, and the fox lad grinned at that. [color=A0AAE1]“And where’s your captain now?”[/color] The elf asked, he still held doubts and Nym didn’t mind a challenge. [color=1BF285]“The tragedy of sailin’ with a creature not entirely of the mortal world is they ain’t destined to stay. An’ Cap’n Lizzie, aye she was more akin to a goddess than a mortal. Them celestials, they never leave us, they watch down from the stars, eyes always looking into the darkest parts o’ this world. They watched as the seas, the one place on this world with infinite freedom, was being strangled by some self-declared Pirate King prick. So they sent us the Oceanblessed, a gift to teach us to free ourselves from tyranny. An’ that’s what she did. Took a stand far off in the seas against Ardyn the Tyrant, had we not had the power of a goddess with us the whole crew of [i]The Harem[/i] would’ve fallen that fateful day.”[/color] Nym continued his tale, one he’d spun through every port they’d stopped at along the way to Roshmi, the story of Captain Lizzie’s last stand against the tyrant Pirate King. In Nym’s version, the Oceanblessed took on a small fleet with a single ship and skeleton crew, there was a great sea monster with many heads that rose from the deep and fell under Lizzie's command. There was a typhoon in the sky powerful enough to fling sailors from their ships, a maelstrom that swallowed ships whole, and a use of mana so powerful that it lead the goddess he called the Oceanblessed to make the most final sacrifice and return to the seas. He painted Lizzie as a martyr for freedom, spoke of how her soul left her body in the form of a wave and returned to the seas, and claimed to have seen her mortal body dissolve into foam before them. [color=A0AAE1]“And the Pirate Tyrant? What happened to him?”[/color] Asked the elf, eyes sparking as he spoke. [color=1BF285]“Aye, now there’s the rub of it. Ardyn proved to be nothin’ more than a chickenhearted coward, there in hologram alone, too gutless to face his fate in person, he only sent his men to die in his place.”[/color] Nym spat onto the floor as he spoke of Ardyn, and the foxman watched and did the same. He went on to explain that he and his crew were in the process of recruiting before tracking down the cowardly Pirate King once and for all. The Nest proved to be an ideal spot to find future pirates, the overall crowd was both tough and rowdy and folks with lax morals and a thirst for freedom were plentiful here. Those interested in a life of piracy were sent to the docks for further assessment. [i]The Harem[/i] had been restocked, ready for the next excursion, recruitment was going well enough, and he was keeping his promise to ensure tales of the fallen Cap’n Lizzie reached every corner of Avalia. Nym was keeping himself occupied because their other goal, a rescue mission for a pair of Helio’s friends was proving fruitless. Nym was about ready to just find himself a few random fae folks looking for an adventure and tell Helio to forget about his missing pals and make some new ones. Based on what he’d seen in Roshmi so far it seemed more than likely that they were already dead anyhow. Course he knew enough to know about how well that would go over with the lad but they couldn’t continue to lounge around Roshmi for the rest of their days either.[/color]