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Auld Lang Syne of Things to Come

"Kodyax Zulluvuhn Maelstrom!" A midnight black furred boar in a piratical outfit of black leather that includes pants, coat, boots and doo rag featuring a knife and fork wielding a cutlass and a cat o' nine tails as he faces a russet brown furred wolf-bear or lurpsus with moss green hair in gray leather boots, pants and coat as well as a black silk ruffled shirt the back of the coat features a depiction of a giant octopus in black and whom is armed with twin cutlasses while the weather in which they have their nocturnal meeting is most foul: rain coming down in buckets with only fading lanterns and the occasional flash of lightning providing any illumination. "We meet again for the final time."

"Porkos De Le Rossa!" Kodyax growls back angrily as he and the pig eye each other up almost like butcher looking to carve a hunk of meat into the choicest cuts for sale to an eagerly awaiting customer, "I take it ye mean to try me at murder blade?"

"Aye, Master Maelstrom," A second pig, this one looking more like a perfumed popinjay with the smooth pink skin and deep blue sea eyes of a prize farm raised swine with the physique to match as he was more from the mainland than a seasoned pirate despite the fact he is dressed in bloody finery with a hook for a left hand and a rapier in his right hand, "We do, ye've been a thorn in out side long enough. I don't care if ye are a recognized agent of that damnable Druid Council, no goody two shoes is impeding our profit or our pleasure."

"Hampton Bacon," Kodyax says with a smirk, "I was wondering when I'd be seeing you, boy, as usual you're at Rossa's beck and call."

"Tough talk coming from a dead man," Porkos jokes, "I'm going to have fun caving you up like a hunk of meat tonight."

"I'm glad you're amused," Kodyax says without losing his smirk, "I see two dead pigs on either side of me. So, how's this going to go down? One at a time or do you think you can actually rush me as one and not prick each other with your metal sticks?"

"We decided to be sporting for once," Hampton admits with a laugh, "Porkos gets first crack at you. Beat him and you face me."

"Sink me!" Kodyax exclaims, "A sense of fair play? To what do I owe the honor?"

"Call it a wager," Hampton states with a dangerous smirk, "That damn fool Rosen said we two partners in crime lacked the individual skills to kill you. Before I ran that damn otter through for postulating such insolence at our august personages."

"Besides," Porkos states as he thumps his belly, "We need some exercise."

"The price on my head from the dragoons not withstanding," Kodyax challenges, "I understand it's up to eighty-eight pieces of eight."

"We plan on shopping your corpse around," Hampton promises, "We're all pirates here after all."

"Of course," Kodyax retorts with a similar smirk as the one still on Bacon's muzzle, "But you two also have bids as well. I might get enough for a letter of marquee."

"Look who fancies himself a Captain, Hammy, and a privateer to boot, how cute," Porkos mocking calls out to his friend and bosom companion as he makes a lunging swipe at his intended victim of the evening.

"Lucky parry! I guess you were paying attention at shark school," Hampton grumbles as Kodyax turns aside Rossa's thrust and makes a slashing riposte of his own. "Nice try, lurpsus! I can't wait to sink me hook in ye!"

"Ye fat sow!" Porkos roars as Kodyax manages to use a special skill of the shark school of fencing, a school exclusive to pirates that favors a special kind of cutlass that Kody is using that features a serrated blade which has led to term it a shark tooth saber, to cut a gash across the pig's wrist that almost completely severs his left hand, "Ye jinxed me!"

"Oh, stuff it and kill this fool!" Hampton retorts at full volume but inwardly winces as it was a maneuver like that which cost him is own lost hand in a duel in which he cheated his way to victory. "We can see a healer later!"

"Quit yer yammering and fight!" Kodyax challenges as he follows up the first slash and manages to completely sever De Le Rossa's off hand at the wrist, "That's more like it! If ye do manage to beat me, ye can get yerself a nice and shiny hook like yer boyfriend and the two of ye can look even more like twins separated at birth."

"That tears it!" Hampton thunders as he impales his rapier in the rotting planks of the deck on which he is standing and draws a pistol from an inner pocket of his paisley calico coat. "I'll ne'er be tolerating such an aspersion on me nether regions by the likes of you, Maelstrom!"

"Make it count, piggy," Kodyax warns sternly with a tone of voice that brooks no challenge to his sincerity from the likes of the pig pointing that flintlock straight at as the lupursyn traps the boars rapier with saber in his left hand while simultaneously severing his playmate's other hand holding said rapier with the blade in his right hand, "Because after I give lover boy's neck a shark bite, you're next!"

"Headshot the fucker, Bacon!" Porkos orders his compatriot as Hampton lines up a brain buster with his pistol and gets a deadly smirk on his countenance as he can be a crack shot when he needs to be.

"Already on it," Hampton promises as he takes careful aim but at the last second Kodyax swaps places with his dance partner and Bacon's perfect shot hits De Le Rossa, his life long friend and secret lover, right between the eyes. "Sink me! That was a dirty trick, Maelstrom!"

"This is Murder Blade, boy," Kodyax counters with a stinging retort and the deadly smirk of a shark in the midst of a feeding frenzy as he advances toward the other pig across the slippery rain soaked deck boards that creak a potentially fatal warning that they could give way at any time as behind him De Le Rossa drops to his knees, his head rolling away as the lurpsus decided to add injury to insult and decapitate his opponent anyway, "There's no right way to kill a man and there sure as bloody hell ain't no wrong way. Looks like Rosen was right."

"Joke's on you, hero!" Bacon cackles as he pulls back the hammer of his flintlock and brings it to bear on the large pirate lupursyn before him with a look of confidence on his face. "This pistol that I hold in my one good hand is an enchanted, eternally loaded firearm. I do not need to reload it unless I want to use a special bullet. And you certainly are not important enough to rank that."

"I'd ask who you stole it from," Kodyax half heartedly and thoroughly mockingly inquires, "But I can probably guess. No matter, I have counter measures already in place against such treachery. Besides, I already have a pair of the same kind of pistols."

"Two!?!" Hampton asks with an incredulous tone as he stares at his opponent in utter disbelief. "How come ye have two such guns? I simply must know! A pirate like you is too honest a killer to have stolen them unless you took them off somebody's corpse."

"I made them," Maelstrom states matter-of-factly as if this were nothing more than a piece of trivia about his skills as a noble scoundrel of an adventurer.

"You're no wizard!" Hampton snarls as he fires his pistol and aims low in attempt to splatter the giblets of his quarry or at least shatter a kneecap, "How is that a mere ranger can craft an enchanted pistol? I know you can cast spells, old sinner, but surely not the same type of magic required to create a beauty such as this."

"Ye want a shoot out then?" Kodyax asks as the wind picks up to hurricane force as he sheathes his blades and takes out twin pistols. "I can accommodate that to be sure. And you will see that each pistol I hold in my hand is of the same general type that you hold yourself. Do you not think that nature itself would grant me the thunder to enchant pistol as well as any mage? I am a favored servant of her cause after all."

"Twin pistols," Bacon says with a twinge of fear, "I can see the gleam of enchantment coming from them, even if you are lying about how you obtained them the fact of the matter is that I cannot dispute the evidence in front of my own eyes." He jumps back behind a keg of something lodged in the floorboards of the rotten deck and loses his footing which causes him to drop his own gun which skitters across the floor just out of reach as he has sprained his ankle in the prevailing fall. "My pistol! Mercy, Maelstrom! I am without weapon!"

"You still have your hook," Kodyax counters as he shoots both pistols at once with one shot hitting Hampton's knee and the other going into his shoulder which causes the evil pig to cry out in agony whilst the predator cocks back both hammers simultaneously which magically refills the chambers with bullet, powder and wadding making both pistols ready to fire once more. "I'm sure mercy you would have given me would this situation been reversed."

"Curse you, Kodyax!" Hampton screams as Maelstrom's next pair of shots bury bullets into his braincase via his eye sockets, the gelatinous orbs contained within exploding whence struck with such force as the predator's expertly aimed shot produces.

"I doubt it," Kodyax states as he starts to walk away from the two corpses shaking his head in disgust at what he just had to do when the dead pigs start to regain their footing as revenant zombies.

"We're coming for you, Kodyax," Porkos De Le Rossa promises in a gravelly voice with his head levitates back into its proper place with his hands orbiting the main of his body.

"NO!" Kodyax screams as he bolts upright in his bed with two females flanking him, the one being a lithe amalgamation of fennec fox and queen cheetah, her raven hair cascading behind her as her golden fur displays the typical rosettes of her feline side even if the main of her body remains the canine body type of a vixen; on the other side is the near perfect blend of rabbit and tigress one might hope to find who also has raven hair cascading behind but whose features are more half and half between the two distinctly different types that make up her being with long ears and tail like her feline side and the unmistakable coloration of a tigress; both ladies quite content in their nakedness lying with the utterly male Kodyax Zulluvuhn Maelstrom who blinks and stares almost disbelievingly at the surrounding environment of his own cabin as Captain of his own ship and questions his own sanity: "A dream?" He fondles the racks of both women simultaneously and smiles as he sighs. "It seemed so real. I killed them. They ambushed me on a wreck and I slew them both. Is this a warning of some kind?'

"What trouble ye, master?" The cat-fox asks in a sleepy tone, "It's too early to greet the dawn."

"I had a most disturbing dream, Sirocco," Kody tells his first wife, an oracle of the wind that officially is his indentured servant to settle a blood debt owed the captain by her father Emir Sargon, a king cheetah who has a great harem of dancers to keep him company including her fennec vixen mother, "Of the evening Hampton Bacon and Porkos De Le Rossa tried to murder me." He moves past her to get out of bed and towards a stained glass windo that goes from floor to ceiling and depicts a giant octopus attacking a sailing ship. "But it was different this time."

"My Lord Husband," the tiger bunny groans as her feline tail stirs restlessly on their marriage bed that she shares most willingly with Sirocco, "Come to bed, please, we can analyze this in the morning."

"I'm not so sure of that, Yuriko," Kody says to his other wife as he stares through the tinted glass as rain drops beat against it lightly in the moon light and the ranger breathes heavily as if fearful of what he might still see with his waking eyes. "The pigs became walking corpses after I killed them wanting vengeance."

"I know their spirits are very angry with you, beloved," Sirocco says as she presses her whole body but especially her breasts into his back, "The resent the fact that you put them into the grave instead of vice versa." She then traces a tattoo on his back of a mountain, a tornado, a bar of flowing waves, a ring of fire and a spirit orb configured much like the Celtic cross, "The elemental cross tattoo you bear on your back has always fascinated me. It's an emblem of the Druid Council is it not?"

"Aye, recently adopted," Kodyax intones with a knowing smirk as he extends his vision past the tinted glass to the waves below as if expecting something to surface, "It's almost the same conditions it was back then; a full five years ago."

"Kruxzam ends today does it not?" Yuriko asks as she walks over and cups his balls in her hands to try and change the subject if not distract him if he will not come back to bed of his own recognizance. "Or is it tonight?"

"Tonight, Yuri," Kody reports before giving his second wife a passionate kiss as Sirocco reaches out to fondle the breast of her friendly rival for their husband's attentions. "Kruxzam is all month long."

"Which starts another year," Sirocco as she hugs her husband and nuzzles the back of his neck to give physical affection, "Beginning with the fifty days of Debtanuary, the month of reckoning and toil."

"As opposed to the fifty days of Kruxzam, the month of inflection and celebration," Yuriko teases as she slides under them both; licking at Kody's scrotum and fingering Sirocco's snatch to tease her a little and going back to her physical distraction of her husband. "I arranged for us to have special fireworks as in I made them myself. Being a shinobi steeped in sorcery comes in handy at times. Unless..."

"Yuriko," Kodyax demands to know in a tone of voice that tells her that she needs to be completely honest with him if she knows what's good for her, "What do you know?"

"Know is such a strong word for it," Yuriko says cautiously, picking and choosing her words with great care, "It's really little more than hearsay and supposition the way I categorize such things. But there is a rumor that the pirates of the yellow glyph are prowling about. You know how they can be."

"Far Sight," Kodyax orders as he taps the kraken's eyes which causes a globe of blue light to materialize in front of him and sees a pint of interest in the display which shows the surrounding waters for miles in any given direction. "Home in on that ship," A ship in the distance appears in globe itself painted in a bright yellow with sparkles as if potentially gilded in gold leaf its flag is a deeply sable affair with the emblem of the King in Yellow emblazoned upon it and whose figurehead is a vision of King himself. "I dare say the rumor is now confirmed." Kodyax glowers at the ship in the sphere. "The Majestic Marauder is behind us. That donkey rat bastard Zulu Hastur is never up to anything wholesome. Looks like they're skulking the shipwreck Sargasso in Dagon's Palette and the teeth reef contained within."

"Didn't you consign, Bacon and Le Rossa to the sea there? Sirocco asks nervously as the two pigs frightened her in life.

"Aye," Kodyax states with a grim smile knowing this can't be good especially with the dream still so very fresh in his mind, "That's were I killed them too."

"The Huntmaster is not equipped to explore the mouth of Dagon's Palette. Beloved," Sirocco cautions as she catches her husband's tail in her camel toe, "But no ship is which is why it is such a graveyard of vessels."

"Scavengers still manage to escape with miscellaneous bric-a-brac," Kodyax states half heartedly as a counter argument, "But they use smaller vessels and I made my cutter to hunt leviathans, merchant caravans and the occasional pirate hunter."

On board the Majestic Marauder, a yellow furred capybara or donkey rat in pirate finery of a sickening similar hue climbs into an egg shaped wooden submarine a quarter of the size of the main ship. Delicate clockworks turn the screws linked to bicycle pedals combined with special enchantments he put in himself make this undersea exploration vehicle uniquely suited for the purpose its creator has in mind at present. Zulu Hastur has a vision from his master to reanimate the corpses of Porkos De Le Rossa and Hampton Bacon as revenants to harass Kodyax Zulluvuhn Maelstrom along with other zombie and skeleton pirates.

While their Captain is looking for the Captain and first mate of a ship of the damned the rest of his crew is either looking for more or less intact corpses to animate, a suitable wreck for them to crew or holding down the fort until Zulu returns. A ghostly blue-white ship arises from the depths of the Sargasso, crewed by a random assortment of specters of sailors whose graves this region has become along with the vessels interred here. Porkos De Le Rossa's vengeful wraith is at the helm; Hampton Bacon at his side like always when out pirating the seas with rats, dogs, cats, otters and other species filling in for the rest of the crew as best they can.

The ghost ship captures a trio of cats and a pair of otters clad in the yellow attire Zulu demands all his crew wear: breeches, shirt and bandanna of a nauseating bright yellow and every last one of them is branded and indoctrinated in Zulu's faith. Porkos is informed of Zulu's planes as best they know and it pleases him enough that he lets them live. In fact Captain De Le Rossa parks his ship alongside the Majestic Marauder both to confirm Zulu's plans with the evil priest himself and to protect the other ship of living ne'er-do-wells like he was in life.

Underwater the Crab Fish, as Zulu has named the craft, mostly to amuse himself, makes its way to a submerged vault of iron, remarkably untouched by rusting caress of the sea floor with conjured claws of pure ice takes possession of it as glowing eyes watch from the shadows of countless wrecked hulks lying on the sea bed. Tentacles flowing from a spiral shell reach out with dark curiosity as eye spots deep within monitor the situation at large. Captain Hastur activates a switch that causes his vessel to vibrate with a disturbing harmonic resonance reminiscent of evil melodies the dark cleric barely remembers from his most fervent nightmares but the result is that titanic alien nautilus is pleased; withdrawing its arms and retreating with a kind of salute given by the creature to the occupant of the craft.

Zulu manipulates the vault so as to make it easier to transport to the surface where all his ritual material are kept aboard his ship. Once he himself has surfaced with his prize he finds the ghost ship awaiting his arrival. The back of the Majestic Marauder opens up at his own mystical command to allow the Crab Fish passage as ghosts float overboard to the other ship with Captain De Le Rossa leading the way in his eagerness to converse with the sinister clergyman of the dark powers who commands the living crew that prompted their curiosity in the first place: Zulu Hastur.

"Well, isn't this awfully convenient, I reckon," Zulu says with a devilish smirk that bespeaks volumes of the dark intentions upon his depraved mind involving the mortal remains of the ghost pig pirates at the very least which levitate out of the vault at the dark priest's unconscious necromantic command. "I was going to do a ritual in order to conjure your spirits anyway, but you have saved me the trouble by presenting yourselves before me right here, right now," he makes a grand bow that is both utterly sincere and totally mocking of the fallen scoundrels that float before him, "Greetings Captain Le Rossa and Mister Bacon; welcome to the Majestic Marauder."

"Salutations, Captain Hastur," Hampton says with sinister intent dripping from every syllable he utters from beyond the grave while returning Zulu's bow in every respect mirroring its very intent, "I understand from our interview of your loyal crew that you may have a bit of proposition for us?"

"Something to do with avenging out personages upon a traitor to the very time honored and dishonorable code of piracy?" Pokos states matter-of-factly as a black goat with white skeleton markings in a top hat and funeral finery emerges from the opened vault behind them.

"The only betrayal involved with your deaths," The goat bleats in a Jamaican accent as he adjusts his top hat upon his head and smirks at all in a very dark manner as he takes a great draft from a lit cigar billowing smoke all around him and taking a swig of rum as his eyes portray a very dark sense of amusement at the circumstances and situation in which he finds himself presently, "Was perpetrated by yourselves. The fact that your intended victim was able to slaughter you instead is a testament to the level skills involved in the contest that was perpetrated. Your lack of skills in the art of swordsmanship not withstanding."

"BARON SAMEDI!!!" De Le Rossa and Bacon yell as one in a shocked panic at seeing the gatekeeper spirit to the land of the dead take an active role in the proceedings.

"At your service," Baron Samedi says with a mocking bow, doffing his chapeau as appropriate, "I do hope you weren't contemplating any zombie making without consulting me, Zulu."

"But of course not," Zulu says cordially but nervously betraying the fact that he never intended to do anything of the kind as he returns the Baron's bow. "This is quite the morning I am having; such... convenience is unprecedented in my line of work."

"Setting these two free to continue their reign of terror amuses me," Baron Samedi admits with a fiendish grin upon his face while thumbing to Porokos De Le Rossa and Hampton Bacon to indicate of whom he is speaking of, "But I must insist on a certain [provision being made as part of the deal."

"Name it," Zulu promises with fingers crossed behind his back as Samedi gives an evil grin as if he knows what the dark cleric is doing, "And it shall be done."

"Whatever protections you give them," Baron Samedi pronounces in a loud and booming voice as if to brook no derision or dissension from anyone, "Shall be null and void against one whose name I shall keep to myself but he and his are related to their rightful and honorable original demise."

"And thus, the bargain is struck," Zulu announces with great flourish and pride creeping in his voice like a proud poppa proclaiming the triumphs of his progeny, "Captain Porkos De Le Rossa and Hampton Bacon are no longer mere ghosts but revenants free to wreak havoc upon the world of the living. Let a dreadnaught be raised! Crewed with the damned until such time as both Captain and First Mate be vanquished once more!"

With that a cutter wreck rises to the surface with zombiefied and skeletal otters, dogs, pigs, rats, cats, snakes, frogs and gators as her crew. All members of the damned crew raise their cutlasses and boarding axes high in silent salute as Captain De Le Rossa appears before the ship's wheel cackling with the evil glee of a villain freed from prison to visit his nefarious schemes upon the world once again with his partner in crime behind him as always as the Malefactor sails out of Dagon's Palette.

Sitting high in the crow's nest, Baron Samedi looks down and laughs as he takes another swig of rum and fills his lungs with cigar smoke to puff out the form of a goat's skull as if he is privy to some hilarious jest to which only he is privy to the punchline. "If only they knew," he tells himself with a giggle, "that the one person who can destroy them is the one person they most want to murder. For it shall be Captain Maelstrom himself that sends them back to my court in the realms of the dead." Upon proclaiming his prophecy, Baron Samedi jumps into the darkness from whence he came to return to the land of the dead and watch with grim amusement at the chaos he just unleashed, laughing to himself all the way.

By the dawning light of the second sun the Huntmaster sails into the sea cave under the Tower of Enlightenment; an island near Port Freak, where Captain Maelstrom normally stays close to as his home base and main port of call to sell off whatever goods he and his crew have liberated from the cargo vessels of the Merchant Princes that do their very best to keep a stranglehold of control over as many islands as they can their grubby claws into, that functions as a combination of fortress, library and lighthouse principally with an observatory that is shared by those that keep the flame and the librarians, most of whom are part of the clergy of the deity called Libram, whose general areas of interest includes Scholarly Magic and Knowledge of all things. A lion in the full plate armor of a Paladin stands sentry in the vestibule just outside the main gates leading into the Tower itself from the sea cave docks and glowers at pirates approaching his station. Libram's emblem of bell, book and candle is emblazoned on his breastplate and shield with a basket hilted broadsword unsheathed but idle besides yet ready to be wielded at a moment's notice as the three pirates, Kodyax and his two wives, are known to him and his superiors, although unlike Sir Boris Vatexan the higher ups are more than willing to let the pirates use their facilities provided they behave themselves which they always do as this is a resource they know they need in order to not only survive but thrive in the cutthroat climate of piratical politics.

"What do you pirates want now?" Sir Boris growls with great malice in his voice as his tone has the righteous of indignation of a paladin forced to converse with those he would much rather put to the sword as outlaws and worse. "We are not yet fully operational and the majority of the staff is off in that godless heath haven of villainy and loose morals you degenerates generally hail from."

"We have research to do, Boris," Kodyax snarls back with the indignation of one who knows the knight is just harassing him to alleviate the boredom of his post given some semblance of a moral high ground coming from the brainwashing all those in his position receive and the false security of having so much steel wrapped around their carcasses they feel they have some degree of invincibility, something the ranger can prove to be quite false with a single shot from one of his enchanted pistols, "I need to know what a dream I had potentially means."

"Oh, Boris," Sirocco seductively coos as she moves in such a manner that she was trained in her native lands as a harem dancer, the motion of her hips and other assorted body parts making any heterosexual male viewing her become unconsciously filled with lust and desire for her in ways that unbecoming a man of his stature and position but his body ultimately betrays him as he is only mortal despite what he might vocally attempt to proclaim otherwise, "Was anyone on duty watching Dagon's Palette last night? We really do need to know as it plays into certain aspects of the knowledge collected here we wish to gleam for the good of all."

"None on duty, Ma'am," Boris manages to stammer out nervously as the seductive form of movement Sirocco often adopts to distract guards for the benefit of her fellow crew members gets a reaction from him that he finds uncomfortable to say the least as it stirs feelings inside of himself that he tries so hard to suppress, "I did see a ghost ship alight before a dreadnaught was raised. Terrible vision indeed; I was glad to be in the safety of the Tower last night to be sure."

"A dreadnaught?" Yuriko asks sternly of Vatixan who only fearfully nods as the tiger bunny frightens Sir Boris as much as her husband even as the very presence of Sirocco ignites the lust he has vowed never to partake of, an answer that prompts her to turn to her husband and say: "I don't like the sound of that. Your dream may have been prophetic after all."

"If it was I'll send those pigs back to their watery graves as fast as I can," Kodyax promises with all the dark seriousness that the righteous indignation of a man in his position can muster in the sheer tone of his voice, the inflection of which kills any boner Boris might have started to have and chills his spine as to make him even more rigid than his armor could ever force upon his posture as the pirate ranger continues with: "Bacon and Le Rossa were a terror in life. If they come back as revenants there's no telling what sort of havoc they'll wreak before they're through. Unless we can figure out how to spoil their fun and destroy them as quickly as possible of course."

"The Butcher Boar?" Sir Vatixan asks fearfully as if just uttering the name would conjure up the bloodthirsty buccaneer to stand before them. "That cannibal has been inactive for quite some time."

"Yeah, because Kodyax killed him!" Yuriko snaps back with an angry growl with more than a little bit of an annoyance at big cat wrapped in steel from head to toe but in certain cases that armor is better able to withstand the terrors of the night physically than he can emotionally or mentally. "You didn't know? It's been five years since the Butcher and the Poker died. They tried to murder my lord husband and paid the price for their folly."

"I always knew those two would try the Murder-Blade Game on somebody who could turn the tables on them eventually," Sir Boris says with a self-satisfied smirk that thoroughly annoys Yuriko further. "I have not left this island in twenty years and don't pay much attention to the outside world. My vows permit me to imbibe on special occasions and the news you brought me today certainly qualifies! Tonight, I will drink to celebrate the deaths of two evil-doers."

Kodyax and company pass by the holy sentry and into the library itself where upon they drift apart temporarily as Sirocco checks the observatory log books while the Captain himself chooses tomes on the undead and dreams to peruse in order to complete the grizzly business that brought him here in the first place. Yuriko soon joins Sirocco in the observatory to play with the telescopes and spy upon potential targets for later as well as a means of alleviating boredom. It's while she is scanning the seas that she bears witness to the first victim of Captain Porkos De Le Rossa's second reign of terror.

The crimson coffin with gold coin and gem strewn flag of the Undertaker is spotted first by Yuriko through the observatory telescope in the Tower of Enlightenment with its Captain Walter Street, a smuggler as well as a respected Merchant Prince of a bull, before the black flag of Captain De Le Rossa with its bloody knife and fork that became synonymous with his penchant for eating those that crossed him as well as anyone else that otherwise displeased him comes into view above a cutter that by all accounts should not be afloat, at least not its own power. The golden bull with gilded horns does his best to outrun the other ship, Street can be bold but a fool he is not and he knows he cannot hope to beat the cannibal Captain in life let alone in undeath as he already knows the tale of the other's initial demise, but the Revenant is supernaturally swift and easily overtakes its prey. In the Tower, Yuriok bears silently horrified witness to the slaughter of the Undertaker's crew with Porkos De Le Rossa sodomizing her Captain as he slowly and sadistically slides his razor sharp cutlass across the bull's neck as if carving like a mere piece of meat to be served at a banquet of evil celebration.

Sirocco molests Yuriko from behind, grabbing at her breasts as the cat-fox nuzzles the tiger bunny's neck, as the sorceress watches the slaughter on the waves in abject horror. Yuriko shudders and partially collapses into Sirocco's arms which piques the oracle's curiosity as she guides the ninja into a chair so she can see what is going on for herself. What Sirocco witnesses almost drains what little color she actually has and it prompts both of them to go rushing off to find their husband.

"KODY!!!" Sirocco and Yuriko yell in unison as they rush towards him as one while a black goat with a bleached white face in the brown robe of a librarian walks by and places a pamphlet on the boo Kodyax was perusing when the oracle and sorceress barge in but looks up to regard his wives and while the ranger is distracted, the librarian makes his product placement and moves on with none of those he intends on reading said literature ever noticing his presence through out the maneuver he performs with the deftness of a trickster god.

"Alright you two," Kodyax says in a guardedly calm manner as a look of concern creeps upon his face to see his women so excited and such a manner of emotional distress, "What's going on?"

"Porkos De Le Rossa!" Yuriko yells, "I saw his flag on a dreadnaught that took out the Undertaker!"

"Somebody raised him and Hampton Bacon from the dead to wreak havoc on the land of the living!" Sirocco shouts. "I swear, beloved, I saw it in the observatory!"

"Hello!" Captain Maelstrom says as he just notices the pamphlet, "What's this?" He reads it to himself silently before smirking and sharing it with his two wives. "I hope that's accurate."

"The bane of a revenant," Sirocco reads off the pamphlet in a sort of incredulous mixed with guardedly hopeful tone of voice, "of a rightfully slain villain is the person who killed them in the first place."

"Which means our Lord Husband," Yuriko says with a smirk, "is going to have an easier time than most in taking them down."

"Hell Sun is reaching its apex," Kodyax observes as the third sun climbs high in the sky, which causes him to frown, "Even if we were to launch now the rays of the evil sun would cloak their ship. Diamond Sun has to burn if we're ever to learn their location."

"Love is Life," Sirocco sings as she presses herself against Kody's right side.

"And Life is Love," Yuriko sings as she presses herself against his other side.

"But what have we done?" Kodyax asks in song and with a loving smile he kisses the foreheads of both his wives.

"Blood Sun diving to the sea, Cap'n," A turtle who looks to be a member of Kody's crew from the octopus emblem he has burned into his shell along with scores of marks that look like they came from failed attempts by sharks to crush his shell observes and tells Kodyax with a salute, "We need to go home or we'll miss the fireworks competition."

"Have the crew start prepping to leave, Mister Sharky," Kodyax orders with a knowing smirk and the turtle bows before heading back to the ship. "We'll be along shortly."

"Aye,. Aye Cap'n!" Sharky calls back enthusiastically as he bounds off to do his duty."

"Sir Boris!" Kodyax calls as he sees the paladin relaxing with a beer. "I wouldn't get too comfy if I were you. Some fool raised De Le Rossa and Bacon as revenants. This place would make quite the target if you catch my drift."

"Aye, that it would," Boris says in full agreement as he heaves a heavy sigh before finishing his beer. "What sort of ship do they have now?"

"Look for a dreadnaught cutter flying the flag of Porkos De Le Rossa," Sirocco warns rather sternly to which Boris nods solemnly.

"Duly noted," Sir Vatixan assures as he looks down into his empty mug and again heaves a heavy sigh. "So much for the celebration."

Skeletal vipers watch the exchange just beneath the surface of the waters and once the Huntmaster leaves the cave they strike. Sir Boris Vatixan never knew what killed him as the twin vicious vipers quickly drag him into the water and drown him there. The fact that he wears heavy armor only helps to hasten his demise as he sinks to the bottom of the bay.

But Sir Boris has the last laugh as his spirit activates buoys put in place long ago to ward the Tower against undead attack. The skeletons come apart as soon as they get into the warded area. Captain De Le Rossa can sense the Holy Aura the buoys projects as was guiding his ship to sack the Tower but changes his mind and his course to avoid the location.

Captain Porkos De Le Rossa perceives the aura as a wall of white light around the Tower and a feeling of uneasiness that threatens to sicken him if he proceeds any further. As a villain returned wrongly from the grave Le Rossa knows he cannot pass through the barrier and to try could mean his demise. Neither he nor his first mate is willing to return to the nebulous existence of a specter, De Le Rossa shies away to find easier prey.

Port Freak looms in the distance as the Huntmaster leaves the Tower of Enlightenment behind. A wave of warm air washes over the crew as the buoys activate and cause Captain Maelstrom some concern as he looks over his shoulder to see what could be going on. Sirocco opens a scalloped clam shaped box to reveal a huge pearl with which she uses to scry on the Tower and find out what has gone wrong.

"Porky sent skeletal vipers to raid the Tower," Sirocco reports grimly as the scene replays itself for her eyes only, "The wards are up but Boris has been murdered."

"And the Skeletons?" Kodyax asks with due respect to his wife and her ability to perceive events as they transpired accurately.

"Destroyed by Holy energy," Sirocco confirms as she gets a half smirk herself that even in death, the paladin managed to do his sworn duty.

"But Le Rossa steered clear didn't he, the scurvy bastard?" Kodyax asks as he curses the pig with all his soul.

"DREADNAUGHT AFT!!!" A voice from the crow's nest calls down to confirm the Captain's inquiry as being entirely too accurate for their collective tastes.

"Does that answer your question?" Yuriko asks in a sarcastic manner that at first causes Kodyax to just shrug his shoulders and nods but the next time she is near enough earns her a swat on the buttocks from her husband.

"Aft gunners!" Kodyax bellows down from the ship's wheel in a tone that brooks no dissension from anyone. "Give 'em Hell!"

A wolverine oversees the cannons and their crews as the dogs tending the twenty-four pound guns take careful aim. Brom Blackstar is chief gunner with a practiced eye and the expertise in gunsmithing and alchemy needed to make any special powder and cannon balls the ship requires to take its prey is match by a very few others. On his command the cannons fire straight and true with uncanny accuracy.

Captain Porkos De Le Rossa snorts as he sees the Huntmaster fire her guns thinking they will fall as easily as the Undertaker did but finds that the cannon balls splinter his prow like a normal well placed hit. Baron Samedi's words come back to his mind unbidden as an indication that maybe, just maybe the old death spirit has decreed that Captain Kodyax Zulluvuhn Maelstrom and those under him will be able to bypass his defenses as a revenant and dreadnaught. He orders his ship to dive, to take shelter in the waves below as he tries to make sense of that has just happened.

The sinking ship causes the rank and file to cheer as if they just won a great fight but the Captain is none too convinced. Sirocco confirms that the Revenant sank to avoid a fight and the dead are not destroyed but running away. Porkos De Le Rossa was always a coward and a bully at hear so it makes sense he would continue to do so in unlife.

Captain Maelstrom tells his wives to call an officer's meeting tomorrow in Port Freak but tonight they will fulfill their contract entry into the contest to see which group of pirates can fire off the best and most spectacular fireworks display in celebration even if they feel uneasy about the situation. Yuriko is in charge of the fireworks as is her wont as the crew eagerly looks on from the rigging and the gunwales. Sirocco is on the poop deck with her husband pressing her front into his back as they watch the display as it unfolds.

Green and purple dragon of Chinese style fly through the night sky above Port Freak as the enchanted fireworks made by Yuriko herself in the manner she was taught back home in the Dragon Islands burst as they were made to do. Blue and red kraken swim menacingly before the Majestic Marauder launches a single rocket of its own display: the mad logo of their master in luxurious and mystifying gold which is enchanted but unlike the rockets of Yuriko these are designed with a decidedly sinister purpose in mind. Waves of madness wash over the Huntmaster and Port Freak as the crew of the ship steels their minds against the demons assailing them although the city does not fare as well as riots start in normally peaceful section of the port town.

Kodyax is getting his musket ready to fire when Sirocco stabs him in the back with her dagger, its blade curved to mark it as the manufacture of her native lands. Sirocco is subdued by her husband and pinned to the rail of the deck until she gets full control of her mind and the Majestic Marauder sails out of sight; its deviltry finished for tonight. Yuriko almost succumbs herself and resumes the show after a moment of brief battle with her own inner demons.

Sirocco falls to her knees and gives her husband head when she emerges victorious in her inner struggles and realizes what she tried to do. Kodyax holds the actions of her maddened state against Zulu Hastur with whom blames belongs and makes a mental note to kill the donkey rat bastard when he gets the chance. The Lord Mayor of Port Freak, a silverback lowland gorilla named Melzome Nandella, makes a note of the fact Zulu Hastur's ship launched the maddening glyph and prepares himself to offer a bounty on the capybara's head even as there will be those that will want to blame Captain Maelstrom and his crew for the crime.

Yuriko is ready to kill Sirocco when she sees the wound on her husband's back but Kodyax is unwilling to entertain such thoughts. Sirocco for her part is now very anxious to find Captain Hastur so she can cut off his head herself. Kodyax is angry at him as well and is just generous in spirit to allow Sirocco her vengeance if they can find the bastard, but for now he orders them to bed; an order they very readily obey.