Location: Out at Sea
“I’m with Masu on this one Jack,” Luro said holding a hand up to the man. “The Lady’s reinforced but they have a lottt of ships. We’re in trouble if they attack us on two sides. Eventually they’ll wear us down. Oh and Masu so you know we’ll have fun they’re good at fighting anywhere, even in burning mansions!”
“I want to ask...but I feel like I won’t understand why it happened at the end of it.” Zilia thought opening her notebook.
Luro grinned and walked over to the side of the ship, he couldn’t help but feel a bit excited, getting to see those three again would be great. He already ran into Lily and he couldn’t help wonder about the others, he wondered if Nura knew anyone else who was still alive.
“It’s hard to play dead around them Kadi. I tried...they stabbed me in the shoulder to make sure I was really dead, they like to double check with violence...they might do that by sinking the ship like last time so that might not be a good idea…”
Luro stared at the three at their comments of the danger of his friends causing a small smile to form on his face.
“The Raven’s don’t hurt innocents. They only want us, hurting innocent people goes against their code. My friends have nothing to do with this, the Raven’s won’t hurt them. They never hurt my other friends to get to me. We’re pirates though so they’ll hurt you guys.”
Luro grinned at this waving his hand at them.
“They won’t do anything to do them.”
Nura’s notes essentially went over everything she had discussed but there were very specific entries that seemed to stand out, and upon closer inspection it seemed to be what little she knew of the code, from both her personal experience and from what Luro had told her.
The main part was just that Raven’s always challenge their targets to duels, as far as she can tell there’s no honor lost from actions taken during the duel so it’s not a formal one. It seems to be their way of giving fair warning of their attacks beforehand.
The second and what she considered extremely important was the acceptance of said duel.
If a Raven formally challenges someone to a duel, then they’re already surrounded. Nura can’t recount how many ships she’s lost to the Raven’s for trying to run. Accepting is the easiest course of survival, if the Raven is bested they’ll stop attacking, especially if they don’t have a kill order. In the end they want information, and they’ll attack whether the duel is accepted or not, the only difference is accepting it only gets you attacked by one, declining gets you attacked by everybody.
The third point was a reminder of Raven marks, that they rest on the right wrist of actual members, it’s the only way to tell them apart. However they do hire civilians to spy on others so not everyone working for the Raven’s will have a mark, Nura made sure to remind herself of that on each page.
She put an extra note at the bottom for Runali and Stardusk, that Luro is only safe because of the loophole, she requested Stardusk not give the Raven’s a reason to attack him. He won’t last five seconds again a proper Raven, especially the one that hunted him the past.
And Kadi’s comment confirmed it, although it did make her laugh. “You’ve got a good plan there. I like the way you’re thinking Kadi! But, I’d rather not ruin Lady.”
“And, well, at least we don’t need to worry about collateral damage? That and y’know, them not murdering people just to get to us.” She shook her head before glancing over as Jack spoke. “If we do the opposite of what she suggested…” Runali trailed off, looking at the note that she gave to Kadi. She wanted to commit a few of those things to memory- but to her it was mostly summed up as: When you see the Ravens, you’re probably going to have to fight them. “Well, what would be the fun in that?” She raised a brow at Jack, only to nod towards Sara and Luro’s sentiments. “See? More reason to go find Luro’s friends. Although I‘m sure that’s just a reason for Sara to get off a ship.” The last part about Sara was mumbled and she continued on, grinning at Jack.
“But anyway! Can’t be that bad if Zilia and Alicia aren’t saying, no.” She looped an arm around Zilia and laughed but before they could interject, Runali was in front of Jack again with a grin. “Don’t you wanna help me prove he’s half giant? Or possibly not half giant??” Her constant movement didn’t end as she walked towards the edge of the ship to watch Nura’s ship leave and then signalling for the crew to help adjust the sails.
As they did, Runali couldn’t help but mention, to Luro specifically but loud enough for the rest of the crew to hear, “Y’know, I don’t think I’ve ever trusted Nura since I met her. Maybe once, but it was short lived though. Anyhow, I trust you and you two are close- in some odd way. So,” She actually paused in thought and shrugged. “Actually, there’s no real point there. Just thought you should know.” Her attention turned back to the sails as she stretched her arms over her head. “Still, Jack’s probably right. But Alicia can vouch that I don’t listen very well.”
Luro tilted his head at the half-giant comment but didn’t pay too much attention to it, preferring to focus on the town, Nura’s notes mention it’s a small placed called Zivera. There’s not much too it from what she saw, a few farmers here and there, people living off the land and sea, the place is about the size of a small town. They don’t get too many guests or new faces so it was pretty easy to find their friends who were the newest people to arrive in years, much less stay.
When the Captain spoke to him about Nura he grinned and gave a small nod, he responded making no attempt to lower his voice as usual.
“I don’t blame you Captain, Nura’s stabbed me in the back hundreds of times, sometimes literally to slow me down so the navy catches me instead of her…but…well I can say nothing in the world was scary knowing Nura was out there, she’s all I had for a long time,” Luro said sitting down on the edge of the ship. “It really was good to see her again, I got you guys now though and no one here has stabbed in the back with a dagger yet soo….yeah that’s a good sign.”
“I doubt anyone here is going to stab you in the back.”
“I don’t know…I think Kadi wants too a little bit…Alicia’s too macho for back attacks, I expect one in the gut from her.”
Luro laughed after this making it hard to tell if he was joking or not.
“Let’s just head that way guys, who cares if it’s a trap I don’t want any damage to Lady Luck anyway.”
One -insert amount of time here- trip later
Location: Zivera
When the group approached the island there wasn’t much to necessarily look at it, the place seemed like a little side area of a larger town. It was easy to see the other side of the island from the dock they were pulling into. Judging by the small rowboats nearby it was more for the fisherman than visiting ships. A few people who were in the area raised their gazes to the new ship a bit of surprise on their faces from the new visitors, they stared at Lady Luck their eyes moving to the flag before they returned back to their tasks at hand. A few people went inside noticing the pirate flag but that was the extent of a reaction, the rest of the people continued messing around in their gardens.
A large dirt path rested just past the dock and following it led up a tall slope where a small church with a steeple rested where the path ended. There were a few houses resting on the side of the dirt path, enough to count on one’s hands. The dirt path split halfway forward one leading towards the other side of the island into a large forest, and judging by the faint presence of smoke coming from the tree’s, it was safe to assume there were houses in the woods as well.
She patted Kadi’s shoulder in thanks when they finally made it to their destination. “Huh. Looks pretty cozy.” Runali was leaning against the edge of the ship, watching as the houses and people came to view. “Looks pretty quiet here too.” She couldn’t remember the last time they were in a town, or a whole island, where things were… calm. There were no tourists attractions, no immediate signs of panic thanks to the the pirate flag, nothing. There were just people living their lives. “I’d say we can take the time to check our supplies, but after Brass Cape, I think we overstocked. Hmm,” Runali petted C.P.’s head as the bird landed by her side.
“So, Nura said something about a church. It looks like we could walk around this whole island in less than a day, but,” She looked over at Luro with a raised brow. “Do you wanna be in charge of leading the way? Unless of course you don’t remember, then we could just ask one of these folks for directions.
She began to usher the crew off the ship, only to pause and look at the bird perched off to the side. “Keep an eye out, will you?” CP bobbed her head, mimicking a nod before taking off to the skies and the captain continued after the crew.
The moment they landed on the island Luro leapt off the ship, he took a quick look around before turning to look back at the others.
“I’ve never been here before,” Luro said. “I think that’s the church at the top of the hill though.”
Luro pointed at the building resting in view a bit of a distance away, he wasn’t too necessarily worried about the Ravens, since they didn’t hurt people other than pirates he could visit all he wanted.
“Ah good you’ve arrived.”
When a voice filled the area Luro froze and Zilia stopped herself taking a quick look around, though it wasn’t hard to find the source of the voice as two people stood in the direct path of Stardusk. A man with bright red hair peered at them, his arm resting on one of the two swords attached to his waist. He was dressed a bit more extravagantly then the people around them, not so much as nobility but it seemed to be a uniform, his white coat fluttering in the breeze as he made no attempts to move out of the way of Stardusk. He offered a small smile to the crew and a small bow of his head, from a distant glance he seemed to be eye to eye with Kadi.
The woman next to him was considerably shorter than he was, standing around his chest level she was garbed in a black dress, white frill hanging off the edges of her sleeves and the bottom of her outfit, a large headband rested atop her silver hair which was the same color of unfocused eyes. A single large red rose rested on the item itself, its petals fluttering slightly as she moved. Unlike the person next to her she trembled at the presence of everyone, though she remained focused forward it was clear she was trying not to meet the eyes of anyone there. It was akin to a rabbit trying to act tough in the presence of a lion.
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance formally Stardusk. My name is-”
“Nikos!” Luro yelled throwing his hands up. “I missed you! How are you doing?!”
The smile on the man’s or rather Nikos’ face immediately faded as he glanced over at Luro who waved at him with both hands.
“Luro…kind of busy right now.”
“It’s been so long though I mean-”
“Luro how many apples are in a banana?”
Luro blinked at the question and started to speak only to close his mouth and bringing a hand to his chin looked at the ground.
“That should keep him occupied for about two minutes,” Nikos said. “My apologies for that, my name is Nikos and I’m a Red Raven, a Red Messenger to be precise. We’re here to challenge you Stardusk in a proper Raven fashion. First though, allow me to apologize to the ones given a horrible first impression. You met Renegades who went after you life without our formalities and though it’s not much I’m sorry such a matter occurred.”
Nikos and the woman next to him bowed their heads to Stardusk before raising them up.
“Allow us to properly greet you as Ravens,” Nikos said.
The man turned his attention to Runali bringing a hand to his chest offer a formal bow to the Captain. He seemed to be a polite man and his actions weren’t grandiose but simple, offering respect to the ones who stood in front of him, it was clearly a practiced movement.
“I’ve waited over two years for this moment Captain Runali Lev. It is an absolute pleasure to finally meet you. I Nikos the Fallen Phoenix formally challenge you to a Duel of Conflicts.”
He spoke in a polite tone to the Captain as he issued the challenge before raising his body and looked over at the woman next to him, giving a small nod she took a small step forward, her gaze immediately moved over to Alicia.
“A-A-A-Alicia…T-T-Tashigi…I-I…c-ch-challenge you…to a…D-D-Duel of…C-C-Conflicts. M-my name is T-T-Tari….t-the..F-False…S-Saint.”
The woman who was apparently named Tari seemed to struggle with every word as she spoke it, having to take a breath just to catch herself through most of the sentence, stuttering and shaking nervously. She let out a relieved sigh her piece said took a step back. Though she was clearly nervous that didn’t stop her from glaring at the female swordswoman. Judging by the large blade attached to her back it was clear she was a swordswoman herself, and though the blade was easily twice her size she seemed to have no trouble moving about.
Tari turned her attention to the empty spot next to her, there was nothing there but dirt but Luro who had apparently figured out the riddle looked at it along with Zilia. After a brief moment a hand burst out of the ground causing Zilia to jump back. A cloud of dust and dirt exploded from the spot obscuring the crew’s view, a dark silhouette seemed to climb out of the dirt and as the cloud faded a young woman in a rather extravagant dress could be seen dusting herself off.
The woman had long brown hair and wore a small hat accompanied by a veil over her face. She was in a simple brown dress that seemed akin to the outfits of Brass Cape due to the vest accompanied to it. The dress went to her legs white frills coming off the end of it similar to her cohorts. Her eyes seemed to move to each Stardusk similar to her, but there was something off about her gaze. It seemed…uninterested, at least as she looked at the others, however her eyes would light up when it passed over one particular person life flowing into them, though she only closed her eyes and shifted slightly after going over each face a few times.
The woman had seven swords attached to her, three on each side and large Zweihänder attached to her back, but she paid little mind to them as she dug into her pocket. Nikos and Tari stared at the earth woman and after a moment Nikos’ eyes narrowed slightly, she seemed oblivious to the stare of her cohorts stuck in her own world.
“Nina…introductions,” Nikos said motioning to Stardusk. “How we rehearsed…remember?”
The woman named Nina looked over at Nikos and pulling out a wanted poster with Kadi’s face on it pointed at it.
Nikos lowered his head and ran a hand through his hair seeming to take a moment to compose himself as he let out a long sigh and pointed at Kadi.
“No introduce yourself…then point them out so it’s absolute.”
Nina looked over at Nikos tilting her head at him; with a sigh he just shook his head.
“Let’s…just move on. I apologize Nina is…eccentric. Now ne-”
“Nina the Dark Goddess. I’m here to kill Mikchail Arcadius,” the woman said pointing at Kadi. “Wait that’s not right, I can’t kill you yet. A Duel of Conflicts.”
“…thank you Nina.”
Squeezing the bridge of his nose he raised his head seeming to look at the sky, the other two did the same which caused Luro and Zilia to turn and look up. What Zilia saw however caused a chill to run down her spine, someone was standing in the crow’s nest of their ship and they raised a hand to Stardusk before stepping off it and leaping over them. Turning their body in the air they landed directly next to Nina.
“That was a bit much Kaim,” Nikos said.
The man named Kaim only grinned and rotated his shoulders, unlike his cohorts he was dressed a bit strangely, his white clothes seemed baggy especially the legs and a wrap rested on his head. It was clearly the garb of a foreigner, or at least someone who didn’t reside in the normal area; the golden necklace around his neck seemed to be the only fanciful thing on him as the rest of his outfit was rather simple. The man himself seemed a bit light on his feet hopping from foot to foot with a smile on his face, he didn’t really put off the aura of the others, at least the first two, he didn’t seem big on formalities.
“Haha you guys are pretty interesting. You really like discussing your plans out loud huh,” the man said smiling at Stardusk. “Sorry for spying on you, kind of my job.”
He spoke jovially, his tone light and playful. Raising a hand he gave a quick two finger salute to the crew.
“The name’s Kaim the Gentle Friend. I got dibs on Miss Sara Masuma there. Been waiting to have a go at you Thorn, I’ve heard good things.”
Kaim smiled at Sara shoving his hand in his pocket; though with his intro done he looked past Stardusk. Seeing the others do the same Zilia hesitantly looked behind her, though she looked back at the ship there didn’t seem to be anyone there, but after a brief moment bubbles seemed to form on the surface of the water.
Bit by bit the bubbles seemed to grow in intensity and eventually something brown poked out of the water, after a moment it was clear it was the top of a person’s head. The face of a woman came out of the water as she seemed to stroll out of her hiding place. Unlike the others she didn’t seem all that much alive, a sleepy gaze rested on her face, a few dark circles under her eyes as she continued to calmly and slowly walk out of the water. Her eyes seemed dead, almost empty and for being underwater for most of their introductions she seemed to be breathing normally which raised the question how long she had been waiting to be introduced. She was dressed in a simple brown cloak, the sleeves currently rolled up and as the rest of her body came out of the water she seemed to be dragging two sickles on a chain behind her. Once she was fully out she flicked her hand the sickles flying into her grip before she attached them to a belt on her waist. Calmly walking past Stardusk she took her place next to Kaim before raising a pale finger and pointing it at Jack.
“My name is Ria…The Enigmatic Gravekeeper…I’m here for you Jack. A Duel of Conflicts.”
Even her tone of voice seemed devoid of energy, monotone but she seemed sincere in her declaration.
“…why was I the one underwater?”
“Cause you lost the card game, I got top you got bottom” Kaim said folding his hands behind his head. “You have a terrible poker face.”
The blank faced woman stared at him and Kaim only offered a grin at her over his terrible joke, though a small smile came from her as a chuckle escaped.
“…that was a good one actually.”
“Right? Oh right Sara Masuma I challenge you to a Duel of Conflicts, forgot that part.”
Nikos’ raised hand seemed to stop their conversation and the group looked at the empty spot next to them for the next intro.
“Huh…where’s Kara?” Kaim said pointing at the spot.
The door to one of the nearby houses opened and a woman carrying a case quickly ran towards the Ravens, though in her outfit it seemed rather difficult. Zilia’s eyes moved to the garment as she recognized it. Women she met in a convent during her travels had worn garb similar to that, though there seemed to be slight modifications in her own, she didn’t recognize the silver belt around her waist as she approached. The woman who judging by the narrowed look of Nikos was probably Kara set her case down.
“My apologies, Mr. Harold’s back was acting up, I’m here now,” Kara said.
She offered a small bow to the members of Stardusk, raising her body she offered a soft smile to the crew. There wasn’t an ounce of malice coming from the garbed woman, and clapping her hands together she seemed utterly delighted to finally make the acquaintance of everyone.
“My name is Kara The Mild Executioner, I’m afraid my Target is Zilia there.”
The woman pointed at Zilia causing her to flinch slightly.
“If it’s not too much trouble I challenge you to a Duel of Conflicts.”
The Red Messengers bowed once more to Stardusk and after raising their heads Nikos looked back at Runali.
“Though not perfect…that is a proper introduction. Attacking out of the blue like animals is not how we do things,” Nikos said with a small nod. “Let me make something abundantly clear however, there will be no manner of deception, and there is nowhere you can run where we cannot follow, even should you return to the Undersea. So let me end those delusions now to prevent future complications.”
Nikos said this and made a motion to his fellow Messengers.
“I would prefer a proper conversation, and a good clean fight…but don’t follow Luro’s mindset. We’ve hunted those two for over five years there are plenty of us around to attack you. Unfortunately a few years back I was given very specific orders not to kill Luro and Nura left our jurisdiction at least until recently. So long as you don’t interrupt the sanctity of the duel Luro or things don’t go terribly wrong I’m not allowed to hurt you.”
Nikos pat his sword and looked at the others.
“I’m sure you know we’ll attack you whether you decline or accept but…we can keep this nice and clean by your acceptance or complicated and messy by your decline…which will permit me to kill your friend here.”
Nikos nodded his head towards Luro.
“We’ve waited a long time to take you on, so we’d prefer fighting you one on one, but we have troops nearby if you want to test the ‘kill them all’ theory that Luro tried seven years ago. What’s your answer Stardusk Pirates?”
Runali counted four steps.Four single steps on the island before they were approached. One by one, those birds- the Ravens appeared. Her simple and content expression hadn’t faltered while each one introduced themselves. One for each of her crew. The only time there was the smallest of a reaction, is when Runali’s gaze turned to the one called Kaim. She didn’t like that he was on her ship, but she didn’t say anything. In fact, she stayed where she was at the front of her crew and said nothing until she was sure they were done. After all, she didn’t want to interrupt such… odd and formal introductions.
Runali’s eye closed once she was sure Nikos was done, and she heaved a small sigh. Her hand went up, in a ‘pause’ motion and she turned her back on him to face her crew, almost as if she had completely ignored them.
Before her crew could talk, she raised her hand up to shush them. “Now, before you give me the ‘I told you so’s, consider, I never said you were wrong. And to be fair… not like we ran into the Navy?” Runali’s eye opened again and she rolled her eye- never really effective with just the one. “But you gotta admit, the… diligence and uh, determination is pretty impressive. When do we ever get personally challenged?” She nodded over at Kadi. “The ‘kill them all plan’ is still a pretty good plan, but,” She looked over her shoulder, eyeing the Ravens for a moment, before once more turning back to her crew as if they weren’t there. “Let’s start with them. As if we really have the choice.” Runali looked between each of her crew and gave a small smirk. “Y’know, like the saying goes, kill...seven birds with- well, seven stones in this case- or six since Luro gets the short end of the stick and has to watch.” Runali snickered and turned on her heel. With hands behind her back and a content gaze once more, she took a few steps towards Nikos.
“I’m not going to lie to you, I’m not going to remember all of your names.” Runali flashed a smile and straightened up. “But don’t worry. Yours, I definitely won’t forget, Nikos.” There was an undertone of a threat hanging as she spoke, but by her facial expression alone it was hard to tell. “And seeing as you’ve given us no choice, and have been so… wonderfully polite, we-” Runali paused to nod at her crew, indicating that there was ‘no going back now’. “We all accept this challenge- or, Duel of Conflicts as you’ve called it.” She held her hand out to shake Nikos’ before adding. “And there’s no need to worry about Luro getting involved. If we’re going to play dirty, we’ll do it ourselves. A pirates’ life, y’know?” Over her shoulder, she called over to Luro. “Hear that Luro? No fighting, but you get front row seats to watch ‘em. Unless things go bad and I say otherwise, okay?”
Runali took a step back and looked up at the sky, only to hold a finger up. “One request though. You can give me one, yes? Actually,” Runali shook her head. “Never mind it. I’ll save it for later. But, I don’t suppose we get time to stretch our legs and have a nice lunch? Or is this a right here, right now deal?”
A very faint smile formed on Nikos’ face at Runali’s words, eventually a small chuckle even escaped from him as he approached the Captain. He reached out and shook her hand, a bit of a grip on it, almost like a silent response to her earlier words.
“You don’t disappoint Captain Lev, I’m honored you’ll remember my name,” Nikos said with a nod. “I’m happy you’re willing to accept our challenge. It makes things easier for both sides. Just because you're pirates doesn’t mean you’re not people. Not treating you as such makes us no better.”
With a small shrug Nikos backed away and looked over at Kaim who rubbed the back of his head.
“Though the challenge has been accepted we’d still like to hear agreement from our respective targets, it’s formal but we’d feel better hearing it from your own mouths,” Kaim said. “We did address you after all.”
Zilia didn’t like this but Kara’s eyes seemed fixated on her, and looking at the others each Messenger was staring at their targets in silence. Ria’s fingers gently ran over the blades of her sickles as she watched Jack and Nina…well she hadn’t stopped staring at Kadi so no real change there. With a sigh Zilia pulled out her notebook, she had to respond to them, and no wasn’t really an option anyway.
Luro on the other hand pouted and lowered his hand from his rifle, he gave a small nod to the Captain at her order. The moment his hand return to his side Nikos’ hands moved back to his own and his eyes moved away from Luro.
At Runali’s request Nikos held a hand up before motioning to the Messengers who took a small step back.
“Normally we would attack you right here and now but we have orders not to interfere with your business here, since it involves Luro. You’re visiting your friends yes? We will leave you to your business. Granted we’re permitted to defend ourselves but…”
Nikos looked over his shoulder at the people who had started staring at the group now.
“We’d prefer not to get innocent people caught up in our fights so we’ll just approach you later for the challenge. We’re always watching so we’ll see you very soon anyway.”