Kindred[Haia's D- C Rank Up Exam]

"Hey boys we got ourselves an easy target!" A lookout shouts and his fellow men below laughed and cheered. They are going to have a fun time. The Seaslug, a pirate galleon that roams the Calm Sea, cannons lining the body, harpoons and swivel cannons to bring ships to them or shoot them down with accuracy. Its flag, a black skull with teeth cracking a snail shell, flapped in the wind as they approached a tiny fishing boat.

The owner face away from the incoming monster, her eyes fixated on the line. She saw the shadow loom over and she turns to face the bow and grappling hooks caught her boat. She pretended to panic, her eyes unseen with their glint of deviousness. Haia had been sitting in the same spot fishing, waiting for their boat. The pirates grabbed her, a bit disappointed it was just her, her small catch of fish and Orion and its quiver full of arrows.

She lets herself be brought to their captain. Out of the corner of her eye she sees that her boat is taken on board, they were calling it a good size for an escape raft if needed and keeping it along with her fish. Haia's hood remained over her head and they walked through a door.

A man, muscular and stoic looking, his coat hung over the chair as he counted his jewels. He looks at Haia and then his men, his eyes seem to talk to them. The brute beside her spoke.

"Found someone fishing captain," The brute said as he pulls her hood off. "And it's a pretty young lady!" Haia looked at the brute and then the captain, who seems very happy, his grin from cheek to cheek, gold tooth giving a glint in the light. He gets up, the chair creaked and groaned against the floor. He walks around his table, heavily covered in navigational tools and trinkets. His big hands grabbed Hai's head from the cheek and inspected her, his eyes fixated on her like a greedy crow. He lets go and gives Haia a pat on the shoulder.

"You would serve well when satisfying my men," He said as he waved at the brutes. They needed no further instruction. Haia noted the tightly knitted team work they got as she struggled, faking her want to fight back. They were so gullible so naive. They lead her below deck to the bottom level and tie her up before throwing her in the wooden boxes of supplies. Now she could begin step one.

"What idiots..." She said as she got on her feet with ease, she shifts her hands and slips them out easily. They used lousy knots, they obviously let their guard down too much. A girl fishing on a small boat, any pirate would have dropped their guard by a bit. She unties her feet and looks at their box of supplies and grabs herself some bread and eats. She must make haste. Her infiltration was a success, now all she needed was the map the Captain wanted and get out with all limbs attached.

Haia moves up the steps quietly, right now her only way to live was to avoid trouble till she grabbed her bow and arrows. She lays her body against the wooden planks, her eyes watching for movement. She sees a skin-and-bones man carrying her bow and arrow to what seems like a different flight of stairs. She looks around and follows him down to their armoury. Seems like the man infront of her was their quartermaster and he kept the place neat incase of battle.

Too bad. She balls her hand into a fist and gives the man a good hit to the head, knocking him into the wood and rendering him unconsious. She pulls his head out of the crater she made and and rolls him down the stairs. She picks her bow and quiver and smiles to see them back in her possession. She goes up to the quartermaster and pins him to the floor with swords and knives. She hears the sloshing of water against the bottom of the boat. She thinks to herself to make them feel useless. She grabs her bow and bashes a hole into the side. Just above the water level. She starts throwing guns, swords, knives, bullets even cannonballs through the hole. With that done, she sees the evening glow. She needed to move quickly.

She heads up the steps, the two brutes from before now heading to the supplies. She shoots them quickly with two arrows before they could react and watch their bodies drop to the floor. She does not bother to pick her arrows back, she has 48 more after all and they probably broke under their weight. She makes her way over them and up to the second level.

She looks at the second floor, it seems to be their sleeping quarters. Hammocks swing from side to side, the ship seemed to be anchored. She looks around, some members seemed to be sleeping. She slowly sneaks up and is now on the first floor, just under the poop deck. Ropes swung from side to side as the ship rocked and creaked. She had not need to waste time here. She proceed to the trap door that lead to the poop deck.

Haia looks around, they have yet to notice her. The captain and the crew members seemed busy trying to figure out what to do with her body than actually note that she has escape and now breaking into the captain's quarters. Every step she took, she could hear them, her heartrate increasing.

She had little time, she takes a quick search of his desk. She grits her teeth, no map. She then notices a snail shaped clock. She looks at it, reaches to it. The clock was smooth in a sense, she could feel the engravings like it was an actual snail shell. She then looks at the clock. It had a segment of a sea chart. She then notes the fact that, it seemed like it was folded inside. She smiles. She found it.

Then the door opens and the Captain walks in. He glares at Haia and the clock in her hand. He turns around and calls out to sound the alarm and grab the weapons. He then faces her once again and has an arrow pointed at him. Too easy for a fight. The arrow penetrated his skull and he falls to the ground.

She finds herself face to face with the whole crew. Looks like they kept their own weapons. Some had guns, some had longswords and some had knives.

The pirates with guns, Gunners Haia is gonna call them, seemed the toughest of the bunch. They were definitely the scurvy dogs of the boat. Their guns definitely going to hurt. A good 5 hits Haia thinks is need to make them sink.

The pirates with swords, Swordmen Haia names them, looked like they could handle themselves in a fight, but maybe not as well as the Gunners. Their swords were sharp and pointy and ready to slice. They seem to take 3 before dropping dead.

The pirates with daggers, Fries she dubs them. They were total small fry, nothing more than cannon fodder. They were only there give manpower and do manual work. No more than a shot will kill them.

She lifts her bow, this is just going to be like back in Hargeon Town. She removes her gloves and stuffs them into her belt. They saw the mark on her hand instantly and seem to back off a bit. She wields her bow and gets ready for a fight.

Word Count:

The pirates, they stared at her, and she stared back. The clock is in her possession, though none of the crew members knew about the hidden map in it, they knew that she had murdered their captain in front of them and they were not going to take it without revenge.

Mr S.N. Ailey, aka Mr Snail was their captain, he was a good man to them. They were nobodies, just plain fisherman out at sea. When Mr Snailey took control of their village, he had let them prosper as long as they obeyed him. When he wanted virgins, they would drag screaming woman into the ship to be chosen by him. When he wanted good food, they would threaten the best chef in the village to cook for him, and if it was unsatisfactory, the chef's tongue is cut off. In exchange, the village had more jewels, more materials, more food and of course more power. He trained the village's men to be strong and taught them how to live on his boat. The best were taken to sea on his ship while the others stayed and defended the village.

Together with Mr Snailey, they raided villages in the Calm Sea, no boat was safe from their pillages and rival pirates were forced to watch their ship sink before gouging their eyes out and throwing their bodies into the sea. Their suffering was their entertainment. The men of the ship became closer to Mr Snailey with each raid, each battle and each loss. Though he was a cruel man of the sea, they were like brothers on the boat. There was rarely a doubt whenever Mr Snailey made a decision, because they knew he made the right choices. Once the son of the First Mate dreamed of becoming one of Mr Snailey's men, to be declined by him. Mr Snailey would not let the boy go into the ocean yet.

The First Mate got angry and argued. Mr Snailey, he did not become furious or tried to kill him, he looked tired, pale and at a loss. There was a reason behind this. It was the day his son died.

Mr Snailey loved one woman very much, they had a child together. When Mr Snailey had to leave, she said that she believed he would make her son a good man when he returned. He agreed and left out to sea. The boy grew up on his ship, and by 10 he could fight in battles better than a soldier. But, reality struck. One night, the ship was attacked, raided by a rival pirate crew. They tried their best, they managed to fend off the attackers, but not without lost. Many good men, including the old First Mate, many rookies and crew members. But the one that struck them the hardest was the death of Mr Snailey's son. He never returned back to his beloved, he felt too ashamed to even sail near the oceans of her home.

Mr Snailey was growing old, he did not want his last regret to be seeing another child go and watching a father mourn. And with no wife to comfort, the pain of regret and loss was a mountain on his back. Mr Snailey had cared for them, and now they were not going to let him down.

Haia had not moved, she going to let them show that she is free to passed. But she sees a spark in their eyes, the spark of wanting to kill her. She knows that spark very well. Beasts of many kinds have tried to kill her, and all had that spark. She look to her arrows and drew her arrows, she could see them getting braver, a fire in their soul, a spark of determination. Haia may be the more peaceful one at home. But she was going to the the Hunter and not the Hunted.

The wind blew softly, her cloak flapped in the wind.

Word Count:

The member 'Starstruck XD' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Monster Dice' :

Four Swordsmen lead the charge, a Gunner behind them with his rifle load and ready to fire. They roared their battlecry and showed no mercy in their eyes. They were going to take revenge for Mr Snailey no matter what, no matter what. Haia smiled at their impressed sudden bravery, she quickly shifted herself up onto the upper deck where the 4 Swordsmen chased behind. Their Gunner raised his gun, left foot forward, right hand on the trigger. He lined his gun up with Haia's fleeting body, his eyes fixated on her like a hawk in the sky.

The crew behind them roared and cheered, they wanted Haia dead. They cheered for their brothers in arms, raising their weapons high as the Gunner finally decided to shoot, but an arrow was already flying towards him. Haia had got out of the way of the 4 Swordsmen for now and fired an arrow at the Gunner.

Word Count:

The member 'Starstruck XD' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Damage Dice' :

The arrow whistles, and gives the Gunner a good remainder of how arrows can pierce his flesh like a butterknife. The arrowhead is deep inside his shoulder, the tip cracked the bone. He had to drop is gun to clench his screaming shoulder and curls up in pain. His allied all stood and watch the Gunner in pain.

Mr Snailey never had a doctor on his ship, they were all fighters not healers. Whenever a crew member fell ill, Mr Snailey would have the person thrown onto a boat and makes him sail beside until they recover solely through their own body's immune system. If they don't, their dying body is covered with their hammock and set on fire. They look at each other, unable to help.

Meanwhile the 4 Swordsmen had Haia cornered against the mast. Their eyes glared at Haia like a pack of angry dogs. Their swords gleamed with evening light. Then they started to attack the cornered mage.

Word Count:

The member 'Starstruck XD' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Block Dice' :

Haia gets the unfortunate first hit, a wound opens and spurts blood as her arm gets sliced with a sword. She staggers into the mast and quickly blocks the next attack with her bow. She then gets stabs at her side and she rolls away from the next attack. She held her side and felt the pain course through her body. She throws aside her cloak and readies her bow once more. She needed a bit more coverage. She then activates her spell: Yumi.

Three orbs appear one by one around her, the 4 Swordsmen now a bit cautious to approach. They did not expect a mage to be hunting them down, even more a mage from the Black Sails. They drew their swords closer to themselves as Haia has chosen a Swordsman, whose figure was lean and tall. The orbs suddenly morphed into three arrows, glowing brighter and brighter each second the sun sets. She raises her bow and they step back, now afraid to get closer. She then released another arrow at her target, praying it lands.

Word Count:

The member 'Starstruck XD' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Damage Dice' :

Haia watches as her arrow flies, the three arrows then started zooming along its path at the same speed. The 4 Swordsmen made grunts and yelps as the arrow flew closer. But Haia's grew wide open, she realized she miscalculated her shot, the arrow lands on the wooden planks in front of the Swordsmen and the light arrows flew out in a cone of 20 degrees, their pointed bodies now flying towards whatever is in their path.

Meanwhile the crew cheered below, happy that so far they had the upper hand. They cheered even louder now that the Gunner had recovered from his pain and pulled out the arrow, blood spurting out of his wound as he stabs the arrow into the floor. He picks his gun up, his shoulder slacking a bit as he once again got ready to fire a shot.

Word Count:

The member 'Starstruck XD' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Damage Dice' :

One of the Swordsmen got unlucky and got an light arrow to his thigh and staggers back, kneeling as his thigh goes through immense pain. His buddies dodged the light arrows and watch them disappear while the arrow in the thigh disappeared too, only to reappear beside Haia once more. She only got 1 light arrow left, so she prays the next one hits. She then heard a gunshot and quickly turns.

The Gunner had managed to pull the trigger, but the recoil had broke his shoulder. Unable to even the gun, he gets dragged out of danger by his crew below deck, some remaining to watch the fight as they cheered the 4 Swordsmen on. Then came a shouting from below. The ship was sinking. Haia smiled knowingly, her arm and side no longer bleeding as she shakes off the pain. She just hopes she could move out of the way of harm from getting shot and getting sliced again by the swords of the Swordsmen, their growls coming closer.

Word Count:

The member 'Starstruck XD' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Block Dice' :

The bullet misses, and Haia almost sighed in relief before quickly dodging a sword slice from the left but gets struck by the flat side of a sword from the right, increasing the pain there. She gets hit once more with a kick and she stumbles down the stairs. They started rushing down, ignoring their injuries as Haia coughed blood out while grabbing her side.

Haia remembers what the Captain told her. Infiltrate the ship, grab hold of the map, make out alive with it. She remembers the clock in her hands, clutching to it tight. She was going to make it out alive, she is going to do that. After all, once she is done, a good dip in the Glowing Pool would fix her up real nice, and also with a funny glow. She looks at the incoming Swordsmen, she needed a plan, then she looks up, the crow's nest. Her eyes quickly skimmed the area, gathering in information while the roars and shouts grew louder and louder. She then snapped back on to her feet and ran, the light orb following her. She tumbles out of the way of a swordthrow and watches the blade hit the barrel beside her. Her boots squeaked and stretched as she jumped over the railings and to the side of the side to avoid the next sword throw. Grabbing the rails she spun back around and swung back into the ship, crashing through the window and rolling across the floor. Ignoring the sound of shouting she rolls out the window parallel to the one she came through and climbs back on board to see a bunch of confused Swordsmen.

She quickly drew an arrow, and made Prism copies. Two exact copies of her appeared with bows ready and arrows nocked into their version of Orion. She raised her bow and they raised theirs. She then aims for the middle Swordsmen, the line stretched and the bow groaned as Haia pulls the arrow back with full strength. She had to fight more seriously. All this time, she treated each battle like a hunt, she always thought she had the upper hand and she could go solo. But no, in enemy territory, she needed to avoid trouble, but she called it in. She was not sneaky enough, not capable enough of leaving an enemy ship unscathed with or without a fight. The aching in her side and arm was proof of that.

The wind blows a gale, her cloak on the ground flapped slowly as the Swordsmen turned around to face Haia. Haia and her copies released their arrows in a mighty barrage. Haia released 3 arrows in quick succession, and so did the copies. The single light arrow flew along one of the arrows and is followed by more light arrows. In total, 19 arrows were in the air, all aimed at the 4 swordsmen.

They were all terrified, shaking in their boots. They never faced this before. Never in their life. All they did was had easy pickings with other fishermen, defenseless villages, small towns with weak arms and rival ships who were small fry compared to Mr Snailey's fleet. They had yet to face a single mage in their life. And with them being out at sea, the Magic Council found them too small of a threat compared to everything else and they needed to find them. But this felt like it was no Magic Council work at all. It was the work of a strong pirate group. A guild of pirates, the sky pirates called Black Sails. They should have just let her leave freely, no, they should not have even picked her off the boat.

Word Count:

The member 'Starstruck XD' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Damage Dice' :

The wind blew a sad song.

The arrow that was required to hit sinks itself into a Swordsman's shoulder and his allies get hit by the light arrows in different areas. Haia watched as a light show begun. Flashes of light ravaged the bodies of the Swordsmen a pack of hungry dogs. They flew into the bodies like demonic bees, leaving the bodies held up by arrows made of light and wood. When they disappeared, Haia inspected the dead bodies. Their eyes were no more, their chest riddled with holes and stomach gaping open. Their thighs trickled blood as Haia pulls her arrows out of their lifeless corpses. She hears mumbling below and then some crying. She sees the blood had trickled between the spaces of the wooden planks and on top of the crew members hiding underneath. She grins maliciously. She pulls the rest of arrows out and cleans them up with whatever clean cloth is left on the dead. She lifts the bodies up and throws them down the trapdoor. She could heard mumbling and panic. It was nice.

She looks at the clock, the battle had broke the glass. She wraps the clock in a clean cloth and ties it up so she could carry it around. She looked at her blood stained hands. They felt so different. The first person she killed was an old man who wanted to die in battle, then she killed more back in Hargeon Harbor. But this felt different from those experiences. She felt a bit... evil.

Haia winced, she grabbed her aching side once more. They did a number of her. She hears the muffling of footsteps as she walked across the poopdeck. They were listening to her, watching from below. She could hear whispers of how she managed to kill them with almost no effort. Well that was not 100% true, it took her a bit of effort, the aching from her side was not comfortable and rendered her feeling weaker. But she done what she needed, she got the map as Captain Ana asked, mission accomplished. She looked towards the rising moon, and then to her cloak laying on the ground in a heap. She stares back at the moon once more. She then laughs to herself for a while, despite the whole rest of the crew right below and capable of killing her now if they all attacked right now. But that danger never came and Haia knew it. She found it funny that she was suppose to infiltrate, get the map without getting caught and leave. Her whole plan had to be diverted because she messed up the get map without getting caught part. She should have assassinated Mr Snailey in the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping. She laughed a bit more before she stopped and sighed. No point remembering the past. No point going back to the old memories. No point with that at all. She looks up at the moon, it was a night like this when she heard it. She slowly walks over to her cloak and picks it up, feeling the fabric as she stains with blood. She puts it on and counts her arrows. She needed to restock. She looks at the floor, wondering what she should do next. She cuts her boat of the ropes and with a plop it drops to the water. She jumpes down and winced. The pain returned again. She grabs her side and sighs. She really really needs that dip. She puts everything down, the cloth, her bow and quiver and grabs the oars. This was going to be a long long row back to the Lair, she should last long enough to get back alive. Hopefully.

Word Count:

Good job.