Tales of the Ravens Revenge.

Stories of the those from House Dragoon Talanador, the Company of the Dragon and the Tavern itself.

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Tales of the Ravens Revenge.

Post by G »

Thursday. Captain Poe was in sour spirits much as he always was. The reason behind his mood this day had nothing to do with the weather matching his demeanor. Nor did it have to do with the way his knees were aching. It had to do with his lifestyle. Captain Poe was a Sailor, obviously, he was also a ropemaker, cook, navigator, astronomer and a passable medical doctor. But above all else, he was a shrewd pirate.

He had heard of Urnst through the years growing in fortune, its shipping lanes carrying all sorts of expensive goods, important people, and riches. Being a pirate, it makes perfect sense that he would soon be seeking out his own fortunes by preying upon the heavier, slower cargo ships which his vessel could easily overtake and capture.

He had done everything perfectly, at least in his mind, setting a personal blockade of his twenty four gun ship, the Ravens Revenge, off the coast of Trigole, the capital city of Urnst. He had the lanes sealed off, knew he had the advantage of speed and firepower against these larger galleons of whose holds would be weighted down by all the goods he wanted to take as a prize. He had both sides ready and waiting to open fire on any approaching vessel that might challenge him and his ship, daring to remove him from his place in the waters.

What he hadn't counted on was the size of G'nort Dragoon-Talanador's quicky growing navy being so capable of countering nearly every move he could come up with. It was this turn of events which caused Poe to become so irritable, and despite his being outmatched, he refused to budge. When the first pair of eight gun sloops began sailing near, he fired warning shots. Sloops were a bit quicker and lighter than his ship, so they kept their distance. But then came the next set of ships. The three Brigs that had at least fifty guns among them, and one rather large frigate that looked as though she had three gun decks and seventy two guns herself alone!

Clearly Poe was outmatched. He was, unfortunately, more stubborn than he was wise. A wise captain would have quickly cut his losses and sailed away as fast as his sails could take him, but Poe desperately wanted to prove he was a dangerous force to reckon with. When you look at the numbers, he was outgunned almost six to one, clearly he was outmanned, and ship to ship he was out numbered. The sloops could run rings around him and distract while the frigate and brigs were peppering her sides with cannonballs and chain shot before the Captain knew what he should do next.

So why wasn't anyone attacking?
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Post by G »

Rumor had it that the Commodore of the Urnst fleet was letting fear run against Poe. He figured, correctly mind you, that seeing the might of his navy against a single ship would put the Ravens men into a near panic, perhaps causing them to mutiny and give themselves up. Another theory was that at the very least, Poe would acknowledge he was outmatched and just leave. The fact was, however, that noone figured on how stubborn he could be.

So when all was said and done, Poe decided to charge. The Raven bore down between the large Frigate and one of the Brigs, causing the other four ships to do nothing in fear of blowing holes into their own ships. The Brigs captain was quick, however, and changed direction of his vessel to expose the aft section of his ship to both the Ravens Revenge, and to the Frigate, thus minimalizing the target of the Brig. Once the Commodore noted this, he open fire with all thirty six cannon, tearing viciously through the hull of the Raven and all but nuetralizing the cannon on the starboard side. The blasts took out nine of the starboard sides twelve cannon in the first volley, tore holes through several canvas sails, and shattered the mizen topsail and mizenmast.

Fires were breaking out all over, chaos was evident on deck as sailors were picking themselves up, trying to stop themselves from bleeding or helping others where they could. But Captain Poe stayed at the helm, guiding his ship fast through the seas and heading north, away from the other ships, which had turned to follow. The pair of sloops remained behind to guard the shores in case of another attack, this manuever probably being the first thing that allowed Poe to make his getaway. The Frigate and three Brigs werein a poor position, as they all had to come about to match the Ravens heading, giving the pirates a slight head start.

The commodore had, during the chase, allowed the ship captain to take control of the helm while he, himself was watching the Raven with a telescope. He'd report that he saw Poe and what looked to be the first mate yelling at each other vehemantly. He couldn't be completely certain, but he would swear that it seemed about to come to blows. Through it all, the Ravens Revenge sailed on.
Last edited by G on Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Location: Generally found at the Golden Ivy Tavern. If not there, then on the SpellJammer, his ship.

Post by G »

It was during this mad dash for safety that a sudden thick, soupy fog began rolling in around them all. First the Raven, then the Frigate, and finally the Brigs. The fog had an eerie feeling to it, the kind that caused the commodore to shudder when trying to explain the situations to investigators. It seemed tod deaden the sound of everything around them and there was almost no light to see, just the pale glow of the fog.

Visibility quickly became almost nonexistant. There was no wind, nor any sound of rowing. The commodore went forward to try and hear anything, but the only distinct sounds we sounds of an argument. Not exact words, mind you, but definitely a heated exchange. He could only assume that it was the first officer back against Poe, either placing blame or cursing him for his lack of common sense that got the pirates into this predicament.

Then it suddenly went even quieter, if that were possible. The pale glow turned more gray, and a sense of foreboding overcame the crew of the frigate. Two short minutes later, a deafening explosion was heard, and the force of that knocked everyone onto the deck. When everyone on the frigate came to their senses, they stood and saw clearly.

There was no fog.

Every man on the Frigate testified to what they saw and heard. They testified as to what they didn't see. But all mans description of events matched. The trailing Brigs, however, had a different story. While everyone on the Frigate say they followed the Raven into a huge patch of fog, the Brigs crews all agreed that there was never any fog, and that they didn't hear any explosion, but that the Raven, while somewhat ahead of them all, just simply vanished.

One moment it was there, clearly on the ocean, sailing and smoking from the fires on deck, the next it was gone. No sinking, no debris. Vanished without a trace.

The commodore would speculate that perhaps the first mate had delivered a powerful curse, and destroyed the ship himself. Others on the crew would say it was Captain Poes ambition and stubbornness that cused the destruction.

Noone, however, spoke of the fog that none of the other ships saw.

But, Later on, whenever a fog rose on the shorelines around Urnst, some people would swear that they see a vision of a burning ship. Not one clearly defined as a normal ship would be, but a ghostly vision, blurred and gray, sailing through the fog and appearing to block any lanes of sea traffic. In fact, if they were sometimes able to get close enough, the only clear objects they could make out would be the devilish red eyes of the captain, and the ships name.

Ravens Revenge.
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